You know, 2022 is turning out to be a year where I am struggling at times to remain productive. It's not because I haven't been writing, because I certainly am, but the words seem to be coming harder. Plus there have been a lot of distractions. Since writing is essentially something I do from home and I'm home all the time these days, you'd think it would come easy. Just sit down and type. Yeah, I wish it was that simple!
Writing is a passion for me. I'm a creative person, I've always dabbled in arts and crafts. I crochet, I cook, I've gardened. I enjoy the challenge of taking something that starts as a raw idea or a whim and working out the kinks until it becomes a finished project. It never quite looks the way you imagined it would be, but it's always fascinating to see what develops. I enjoy the books I've written. Sometimes they even surprise me. Which happened recently when I got back the galley draft of my latest release from Pro Se Press.
You can find this book here on Amazon, in both Kindle and in paperback. The Kindle version is on sale for a limited time at 99¢, so don't delay on that, because it's a great deal! Below is the company press release...
This is the 30th novel released with my name on the cover as author. Only 4 of those 30 books have a co-author, the rest were written entirely by me. That in itself is quite an accomplishment. 😀👍 I turned this book in back in 2017 and was beginning to despair that I'd never see it hit print. So I was overjoyed when Pro Se let me know it was on the production line. In going over the galley after all that time, it struck me that this had really turned out to be a fascinating story, and had someone else written it, I would have devoured the book. That is a great feeling, and I hope my potential readers have the same reaction. It is a fantasy world setting, but without a lot of the usual tropes. It involves some murder mysteries, the meeting of old friends and one-time lovers trying to investigate them, and power struggles between church and state as well as those who would profit from suppressing and subduing others. The title 'REDEMPTION' has multiple meanings within the story itself, as several characters have things in their past to amends for. Still very readable for all that complexity and packed with all the action, tension, and intrigue that fans of the old pulp style would enjoy. These are characters you can love or despise, and I bet you'll find yourself rooting for a couple of them.
That's what writing is all about to me, making tales that leave a lasting impression in your mind and heart. I've had a love affair with books and short stories since I was a young girl, and now at 65, I feel privileged to be able to author my own tales, and offer them up to the world. Writing is a solitary business, where you spend a lot of time alone locked inside your own thoughts, but it is a process I actually revel in. I've always been somewhat of an introvert, so working by myself on a project without having to leave my home for some other workplace destination suits me. That publishers will print what I write and people buy the books never fails to amaze and encourage me to keep going. So even with the occasional off day or setback, I'm still at my desk, pounding those keys every chance I get.
One of the things that keeps me going is having friends in the business who also hear that call to create. For that reason I have been part of a small but incredibly supported writer's group online since the middle of 2019. Started by writing pal Jaime Ramos, the 5 of us get together every week to discuss and read things we've been working on and to offer helpful critiques and support when and where needed. These people are my Scribe Tribe. All are published authors dealing with the same issues in writing and some divergent ones in real life that tend to make getting work done rather complicated. Back in March, Jaime was interviewed by Art Sippo of ArtsReview's Podcast about all his recent projects including the Golgotha one I am involved in. Recently Jaime posted a very short (under 10 minutes long) podcast on Facebook about his life situation and his writing. He's promised us more of the same and I hope so. Once I get organized and can sit down to record something, I'd love to do something like that as well.
So what have I been working on? Well, I'm making decent progress on the 9th Jezebel Johnston pirate novel. This one finds our intrepid young Jez back in the Caribbean world of her birth as captain of her own ship and crew. She has some frustrating and at times heart-tugging issues to deal with before she can go back out on the account. I'm rapidly approaching the halfway point on this one, even though I've been distracted by other projects. One of those was my Golgotha novella, which has been turned in to Jaime for review and editing and is now with the potential publisher. The Golgotha project is set in a Gothic/noir world of Jaime's creation, but all of us involved have been able to add our own characters to the mix. I had fun working on that one. I also wrote a new Chandra Smoake short for a possible open call submission I've been waiting to see announced. The publisher is looking for Occult Detectives, and since this is my 3rd Chandra Smoake, that's now right in my wheelhouse. What is taking me far longer is a horror novella I've been picking away at about genetically altered bees arising from the Amazon to spread across the world. I was recommended by a fellow author to the publisher and made the initial contact. The person who emailed me and I kicked around some ideas, and this was a concept that fit what they wanted. So at their request I sent a sample of the rough draft and a quick synopsis covering 4 potential small books. That was some weeks ago, and since then I have heard :::CRICKETS::: I assume that means they are not interested. Well so be it, I can still turn this into something for another market, and I don't have to meet their ambitious time table of a 35,000—40,000 word novella every 40 days. I don't write that fast, and I want this story to make sense, not read like some low-budget B-movie plot. One thing I don't do is chase people around begging to be published. If they like what I send them, I assume they will tell me. If I don't hear anything, I move on to the next potential market. I did warn them (politely) up front that I do have other places I can sell this story. With what I have worked out, I have enough material for a couple of standard novels.
Working on the superbees novella (superbees is what I am calling them because they are 2-inch long biting and stinging honeybees that make huge hives in the thousands and swarm often) has been the most frustrating part of this writing year. Regardless of my status with the original interested publisher, I still want to complete the project. For one thing, this is my first foray into something that is completely a horror story. I've used horror elements before, but never something that has those heart-pounding massacre scenes all throughout. The idea of using bees came about because the publisher wanted something for the cover art that would be easily recognizable to the potential audience and I really didn't want to do another Kaiju or the standard horror monsters types (zombies, werewolves, vampires, etc). Killer bees have been done, but were always based on the aggressive Africanized bees that started spreading out of Brazil in the late 50s. I wanted something just a bit more intensely frightening and not as overdone. I've done a ton of (ongoing) research to make the potential menace more probable, and even with the entire internet at my disposal, that takes time. I've read through all sorts of science journals and beekeeping sites, watched Youtube videos on different types and bees and how they are handled—even how to breed new kinds of bees. I've always found bees interesting, but I know a heck of a lot more about them now than I ever expected to. So I plan to keep picking away at this project. I just need to set it aside now and then to focus on something else that isn't quite as intense or frustrating in what I need to know and still don't. Reminds me of my earlier days with the pirate series.
One project I need to get back to is making my final pass on Silver Pentacle #3. The book is finished in rough draft (with interior notes for revision) but still doesn't have a catchy subtitle. It's different from the other two books in that they were collections of 2-3 stories. This one is a continuous novel, it brings to the reader's attention a potential fourth elemental team member. So I want the subtitle to reflect that. I'm just not sure what to call it, and I'm hoping that when I go through it the title will suggest itself. My understanding is that #2 is in production now with both the interiors and the cover art in the capable hands of artist Guy Davis. Guy has been enthusiastic about the series since he read the first one and asked to be able to do the cover as well as interior illustrations. I'm all for that, and what I've seen from the first book showed his passion and energy. Gotta love it when the people who work on your books enjoy reading them as well!
One of the small projects that is near and dear to my heart and that I pick at now and then is writing the Tucker T. Bear book I promised my grandkids. My little granddaughter gave me a teddy bear she was going to donate because she thought I'd like him, and so I named him Tucker and promised her she could see him any time she came to visit. Tucker now sits on the headboard of my bed, along with his new little friend Miss Lily, a small white teddy bear holding a red heart who was a Valentine's Day gift from a dear friend. Like many other things in my life, Tucker became the catalyst for a whole bunch of story ideas about a teddy bear who comes to life and has all sorts of adventures while living with and traveling alongside his human companion. Granny Annie makes a good living writing poetry for greeting cards, and she travels often. She lives alone with her little Scottie McTavish, and one day when her granddaughter Rose gives her a cast off teddy bear, something the two of them do brings Tucker to life. What I'm working on is the initial tale of how that happened and what Tucker has to learn about being alive and fending for yourself when Granny goes off to a big convention and leaves him home alone. How much trouble can one teddy bear get into in a suburban household? Oh, you'd be surprised...
Just writing about all this has helped me realize that I'm just as busy and productive as ever. Sometimes I don't think I'm getting enough done. Then I look at what I have accomplished and how far I've stretched my writing ability, and I realize that I'm probably still doing more than I ever dreamed I could. I still do edit for other people now and then as well, but mostly these days I am focused on my own work. Now and then I take a day off for necessary appointments and errands, to do some cooking or cleaning, and most important of all, to spend with loved ones. Those are the days when I recharge my writing batteries by reentering the so-called 'real' world. With the exception of family, it's not always a place I prefer to be...
I honestly love what I do, and that is not going to change, even when things get a bit discouraging. I might drop one project for a bit, but I will usually boot up another and get right back to work. There is always something that I can write about, even if it's just a blog post speaking of my writing world. Because this thing I do with creating stories is what gets me up in the mornings and it's often the last thing I think about before I drop off to sleep. I'm in that part of my life where the nest is empty, my body fights me daily, and the world seems to have gone mad, so writing is where I go to remind myself that there are things I still can control. Heck, it's a better habit than booze and pills, and it's cheaper than therapy. A lot more fun for me than any of that too.
Writing ever onward! 💪😎
~NANCY
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