2015: Looking Back, Looking Forward, Ever Grateful

Perpetual Calendar, photo by Plenty.R, used under CC license

I have done these year end posts going back to 2007 ( 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and as ever, the consistent theme is change. From last year's post, my main goal was:

  

 ". . . to stay open to new possibilities and new opportunities as they arise."

Well, I'm pretty sure I've managed to meet that goal. And along the way, I've done a ton of work writing, publishing, and networking, despite a year that was also full of personal struggles and loss. But that is what makes up a life. And despite grief, setbacks, and disappointments, I know that I am extremely fortunate.

I both love and am loved. I have the support from family, friends, and readers to continue to do this writing thing that challenges and fulfills me. Stories and characters continue to surprise and delight me. 

It's easy to lose perspective in the day to day slog of survival, which is one of the reasons I do these round up posts. 

So here's what I accomplished in 2015:

• In January of 2015, I published TIME AND TITHE, the sequel to 2012’s Fae Fantasy, The Between.
• Between Fall of 2014 and early Winter 2015, I drafted and revised ITHAKA RISING, book 2 in my Halcyone Space SF series.
• ITHAKA RISING was published in July of 2015.
• Bill Burrows recorded and co-produced audiobooks for both DERELICT and ITHAKA RISING.
• I wrote (and completed) the first draft of DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE, book 3 of Halcyone Space.
• Between this blog and others, produced close to 100 original posts, wrote dozens of poems, and a few short stories.

While the release of ITHAKA RISING didn't match up to the amazing and surprising success of DERELICT, I'm confident in my process. And I'm confident in the quality of the book. It will find its audience. I will continue the series through at least another book or three. It seems like the further in to the universe I get, the bigger it becomes and the more story I uncover.

What's on tap for me in 2016?

• DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE will be published Summer of 2016 (Here's a peek at the blurb!)

• After Ro Maldonado, a reckless young computer programmer, resurrects the damaged AI on a long dormant freighter, she and the accidental crew of Halcyone grapple with explosive secrets they exposed from a war that officially ended decades ago.
  
  Now, charged with protecting the location of Ithaka, the heart of the resistance, Ro and her friends must learn to lead double lives within the Commonwealth. But their plans to hide in plain sight disintegrate when an old enemy returns and threatens revenge. As they track him down, each course they plot endangers the life of his hostage and threatens to reveal Ithaka, brand them traitors, and reignite a war that could destroy them all.

•  I'm also working on a short story that takes place during the war 40 years before the events in the Halcyone Space books. It will be in STARBOUND, an upcoming anthology. 

• Draft book 4 in the Halcyone Space series
• And finally, for something completely different. . . I'll be working on a new kind of story in a new kind of way. Author (and friend) Rick Wayne and I will be collaborating on a SF/thriller: Vito Nonce - A man who cannot be remembered is sent to kill the woman who cannot forget. I am ridiculously excited about this project. Getting to work with Rick is an amazing opportunity. I love his writing and can't wait to get going!

To you, who have taken this journey with me, I offer my thanks and my gratitude. Writing stories for readers to enjoy is an enormous privilege. Beyond the sales numbers and the Amazon rankings, and the frustrations of signal boosting and struggle to reach an audience, is the sheer joy of seeing a reader engage with and be moved by something I've created.

That moment of connection is magic. It's what drives me to keep going during the solitary times where I'm staring at a blinking cursor, not knowing how to find the next words.

Thank you. If you have read a book of mine and enjoyed it, if you have reviewed it, or recommended it to a friend, or sent me an email, or signed up for my newsletter, or added a word of quiet encouragement, I am grateful.

My promise to you is this:  I will keep writing and keep creating worlds for you to lose yourself in. Or maybe to find yourself. If I can do that, I will be content.

Wishing you all the best for 2016.

#SFWApro

---

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The game of publishing: or why all writers are driven off the deep end

"crickets"
(Original photo by Barry Skeates, used under a creative commons licence; CC BY 2.0)

Pardon the pun.

I released my fourth novel into the world one week ago to very little fanfare. [crickets]*

*via urban dictionary: "To have a joke or comment followed by a silence substantial enough to make the chirping of crickets audible."

And the rules of cricket are well neigh incomprehensible to anyone outside the cricket world. This is also the case with publishing. Except even the players don't really know the rules.

This is part of what drives the anxiety of writers - all the parts of the writing and publishing process we have control of are complete by the time publication day arrives. All the rest of it - how and if the book gets into the hands of readers - is, for the most part, not up to us.

I've had releases that sink quietly into the void.

I've had releases that steadily rise like a big, red, helium balloon.

The funny thing is (in the odd-funny rather than the humorous-funny), I don't believe I've done anything radically different for the former versus the latter.

It's similar to my memories of my early motherhood days. I had two sons, born almost 3 years apart. Spawn #1 slept through the night at three months old. I must have been the perfect mother. Did everything right. Got rewarded. Then I had spawn #2. Parented him in the same way. He didn't sleep through the night until he was well over two years old.

What allows one child to be an effortless sleeper and one to struggle is the stuff of thousands of parenting books.

What allows one book to rocket up the charts and another to be passed over is the stuff of thousands of publishing books.

So much of the business of publishing is random and capricious. DERELICT did great, right out of the gate. Within 5 days of its publication, it was selling in the upper hundreds of copies a day. TIME AND TITHE? Baby steps. Selling a handful of copies.

But here's the thing: I think it's written at least as well as its more successful sibling. I could probably list a host of reasons why this launch was not as promising, and some of them might even be accurate. With as many variables as there are in this business, I may never really know.

I come to writing after a long career as a physical therapist, where there was a large emphasis of science, outcomes, and data. Much (though certainly not all) of what we could offer for treatment had, at least, some objective support in the literature and we could expect to reach (often, not universally) predictable outcomes.

It's not like that in publishing. There are too many variables. Too few data points. While there are experts who will try to tell you otherwise (and sell you their services), no one has the answer.

What I am able to control, I control to the best of my ability. That includes writing the best manuscript I know how, then working as hard as I can to make it better. That includes beta readers and revisions. That includes hiring professional editors, professional artists, formatting and typesetting, and blogging and networking.

At the end of this process, I know TIME AND TITHE is a solid book. But that may not be enough. Some books never find their readership. Some books do. It has little to do with objective metrics. After all, who is qualified to be tastemaker for all readers? It is my hope that this newest of my novels will find its way into the hands of readers.

Only time will tell.

And while I'm waiting, I can be found at my desk working on the next story.

---

TIME AND TITHE is the sequel to THE BETWEEN, but can be read independently. You can find links to all purchase venues here.

Lydia's victory over the Fae came with a bitter price - her baby sister, Taylor, grew up without her, aging more than a decade in the mere weeks that have passed in Faerie. When Aeon's madness threatens both realms, the sisters, now nearly strangers to one another, are forced to fight the powerful Fae who was once friend to each of them.

Here comes the fear again. . .

Here comes the rain again
Raining in my head like a tragedy
Tearing me apart like a new emotion--From "Here comes the rain again" by the Eurythmics

Apologies to Annie Lenox - today this is running through my head with a slight change. . . Here comes the fear again.

Tomorrow I have a book release. I have done everything within my power to make TIME AND TITHE a strong book: multiple drafts, beta readers, revisions, professional editing, professional cover art, careful formatting and typography. I am proud of this story.

I am proud of this story.

I am proud of the publishing imprint I created and the professional product I am able to produce.

I am excited to have this book find its readers.

And I am afraid that it won't.

This is part and parcel of being an artist. Fear lives side by side with the ecstasy of creation. 

I've hardly ever begun a year with a gloomier aspect, in a gloomier mood, and I do not expect any future of success, but a future of strife.

and:

In the same way, in the matter of art, the problem, “Am I an artist or am I not?” must not induce us not to draw or not to paint. Many things defy definition, and I consider it wrong to fritter one's time away on them. Certainly when one's work does not go smoothly and one is checked by difficulties, one gets bogged in the morass of such thoughts and insoluble problems. And because one feels sorely troubled by it, the best thing to do is to conquer the cause of the distraction by acquiring a new insight into the practical part of the work.

From the letters of Van Gogh

I am a writer. I have always know this; it just took me until my 40s to understand that no matter what else I did in my life, that was my 'true north.' Years ago, when I was struggling to find an agent, a friend asked me if I would continue to write even if no one read my books. It was a question I had to give a lot of thought to. Would I write? Yes. After all, I have kept a journal and written poetry since I was a child with little to no expectation that those words would be shared. Would I write novels? Maybe not.

There is a difference between pure self-expression and creating art. For me, art is a constructivist process; it is not complete until it is received, until the reader (in the case of stories) makes a very personal connection to the work and finds their own meaning in it.

So, for me, a book that is not read has failed in its mission.

Which brings me back to the fear. What if no one reads TIME AND TITHE? What if it quietly sinks into obscurity like so many books that are published to a handful of sales and then nothing? Of the three (soon to be four) novels I have published, one has become successful - that is, it found a large readership of passionate readers, so I know the thrill of closing that loop between artist and audience. It's like a drug high. And I desperately want it again. I want my stories and my characters to matter to people. I want to share the ecstasy of creation, as readers discover something that speaks to them in what I have written.

The fear that it won't is a terrible companion. 

Part of writing this post was an exercise in banishing those demons - shining light on them and naming them in a way to rob them of their power.

And as an act of defiance, I will write today. I will write tomorrow. And the next day. 

---

TIME AND TITHE is available now for pre-order and will be available for purchase on Tuesday, February 10th.

When everything happens at once

There is a feast or famine aspect of life as a writer. In drafting a new novel, an important part of the process is letting the story 'marinate' in the subconscious. To the non-writer, this can look a lot like daydreaming or being lazy. I can assure you, when a writer is in her native habitat, looking to all outside appearances as if she is not writing, there is story happening.

Tigger and Dustin only look like they're completely at rest.
If I said the word 'w.a.l.k.' or picked up a tennis ball, they'd
be up in a flash.

And when you are a writer/artist/musician/etc, it feels as if your life consists of long stretches of nothing happening, punctuated by intense times where everything seems to crash down on you at the same time.

This is where I am now.

I am not complaining; this is the life I chose after my very predictable career as a physical therapist. I love what I do and feel inordinately grateful that I have the ability to pursue a creative life.

This past weekend, I was immersed in geek/fan/writing culture at Arisia. I have been to other SF&F cons before, but this was my first Arisia. It was a riot of color and sound, of incredible cosplay, and wonderful conversations and connections with both creators and fans.  

It was incredible to spend time with my fellow members of Broad Universe, an organization dedicated to promoting women writing in speculative fiction. And I participated in the art show, displaying my ceramics for the first time.

One of the struggles of so many creative folk - myself included - is that we can tend to be introverts. I am what I call a 'social introvert', in that I am very outgoing and not at all shy. However, I need my quiet/alone time to recharge, especially after the immersion of interactions that is a con.

If I had my 'druthers, I'd spend the next week in deep silence. Unfortunately, I am running up against some hard deadlines, that are adding to my overall stress level. Again, they are for really great and exciting things; they are just happening all at once.

TIME AND TITHE, the sequel to THE BETWEEN, will be released the second Monday in February. And between now and then, there are an overwhelming number of details to be managed. Publishing one novel is work enough; I am rebranding THE BETWEEN with a new cover to match the art for TIME AND TITHE, so some of the work has doubled.

Jules Valera's new cover art for THE BETWEEN

And the cover for TIME AND TITHE is not quite done yet. I know it will be soon, and it will be fabulous when it's finished. I'm just feeling the crunch of time.

Because all of this work has to be completed by January 31st. When I travel to Iceland.

Again - not complaining! This is a trip that was an unexpected and unplanned adventure, and one that I am extremely excited about.

And when I return from the trip, the book releases and Boskone begins 5 days later.

:takes big, deep breath:

I can do this.

I know I can.

Trying to find center

Centering the clay, photo by BLW photography, used with permission, CC by 2.0

We are only nine days into the new year, and I'm already feeling overwhelmed. Although I'm not sure why I continue to believe that my life starts on a blank slate every January 1st. I am starting to realize there are not really endings and beginnings, only continuations, as one day blends into the next, one year into the next. It puts the concept of New Year's resolutions into a different kind of perspective for me.

What it means is that at any moment, we can choose to take a new course; that paradoxically, every moment is a chance for something to begin or something to end.

Anyway, enough philosophizing.

Even centering - the title of today's blogpost and the photo used above - is not entirely a metaphor. In ceramics, if the clay is not centered, you cannot throw. That's what happened to me last Friday. I wedged up a half-dozen balls of clay, planning to throw medium and large serving bowls.

What I accomplished instead was an afternoon of mud pies.

Nothing would center. Frustrated, I tried to open the clay and pull up the walls anyway. For my pains, I got what potters affectionately term 'the death wobble.' That's where the opening is not centered (natch - because the clay on the wheel is not centered) and one side of the wall is thick, the other thin. When the wheel spins, the clay wobbles and torques or collapses.

In movement, too, we need to be grounded in our physical center - the center of gravity - in order to function. Otherwise, we fall.

So yes, centering is a very real, physical phenomena.

And it's also a metaphor.

Right now, I'm feeling out of center. There's a lot going on in the next several weeks - much of it wonderful - but still, I'm having trouble staying in balance.

Between now and the middle of February, I will be attending Arisia and participating in the art show, readying TIME AND TITHE for publication, traveling to Iceland for a week (Yikes! But cool!), launching TIME AND TITHE, and attending Boskone, where I'm both in the art show and on panels.

:Takes big, deep breath:

My job in the next few weeks is to look for centering. That means not rushing the process on the wheel at the ceramics studio. That means not rushing about mindlessly (which I was doing yesterday and which meant that I started the day dropping and smashing a wrapped ceramic cup meant for a friend because I didn't take the time to be present.) That means taking the time to breathe, to do yoga, to shut down distractions when it's time to write.

May you be centered in your day and find the balance you need.

2014: Looking back, looking ahead

Switchbacks; photo by Don Graham, CC BY-SA 2.0

It's funny. Every year ( 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)  I do one of these round-up posts, and every year it amuses me how my plans tend to take a sideways turn. I suspect this is inevitable, as life continually throws curve-balls. And being flexible to what comes is a strength.

When I was looking forward toward 2014, I was optimistic that DERELICT would sell and be published by one of the 'big guys'. I had planned to publish FUTURE TENSE under my own imprint, and focus on completing TIME AND TITHE, the sequel to THE BETWEEN, also planned for my imprint, figuring that any path to traditional publication would take a year or more. (One of my mottoes is always keep moving, or as Dory says in Finding Nemo "Keep swimming! Just keep swimming!")


However, When 2014 actually showed up, it had a very different shape to it.

I did end up publishing FUTURE TENSE in February of 2014, and that was just the start of what would prove to be a chaotic and exciting time for me.

 My agent and I parted ways in late spring after it became clear to both of us that we were not a good match for one another. That left me feeling someone at loose ends and more than a little nervous. But it also left me free to publish DERELICT under Interrobang Books, the imprint I founded in 2012.

 I had no expectations on June 1 when I hit the publish buttons on all the retail platforms. I knew I had written a solid book, but that didn't guarantee anything. My experience in publishing my first 2 novels was that I could sell a few hundred copies, reach some enthusiastic readers, and get some honest and thoughtful reviews. I believed that having more work for sale would improve my chances of discoverability, and I made sure the release would be in time with Readercon (where I was on the program) and joined Broad Universe (an organization of women writing in SF&F) so I could have copies of my books for sale in the dealer's room. Beyond that? I reached out to my newsletter subscribers the week the book came out and kept my fingers crossed.

After several days of modest and steady sales, something happened. Something magical and wonderful. DERELICT started selling. And selling. And selling. In the past 6 months, I have seen nearly 8,500 copies of my books sell. That is a significant number for an indie author. My earnings from DERELICT alone are higher than I would likely have made had my former agent sold the novel. (A good ballpark figure for the advance on a debut SF novel in today's market is $7,500. Most published books never earn more than their advances.)

And so, my writing life took a series of hairpin turns and now I'm traveling in a direction I had never anticipated.

I will continue to publish my novels under Interrobang Books. TIME AND TITHE is slated for a mid-January 2015 release, two years from the publication of THE BETWEEN. I am thrilled that I was able to return to the world of the Fae and continue Lydia's story.

DERELICT will become book 1 of a new series. Book 2 is well into its draft phase. My plan is to have it ready for release in June of 2015, and then a new book in the series yearly.

I will continue to blog here and pen the occasional short story.  (Which you will have early access to if you subscribe to my very occasional newsletter.) Which reminds me of another of 2014's accomplishments: I put together a collection of my short fiction, STRANGER WORLDS THAN THESE. It's for sale as an eBook for .99, but subscribers receive it free.

 In January, I will be at Arisia, reading with Broad Universe and I'll be exhibiting my pottery at the art show! (This is a new venture for me in 2015. While I have been doing ceramics for quite some time, I'm now confident enough to show my work.) In February, I'll be on program at Boskone, as well as in the art show. If you're at either con, please find me! There will be paperback copies of each of my books for sale. 

'it's full of stars'

 My goal for 2015 is also to stay open to new possibilities and new opportunities as they arise. I have joined The Scriptors, an indie author collective, and am talking with another author friend about a project he has in the works.

The world of publishing changes in an eye-blink. Indie publishing has changed significantly in just the 2 years since I published my debut title. I have no doubt that it will continue to evolve and shift. What doesn't change is my commitment to write books that delight and surprise readers. I have always believed that creation is a journey and a partnership between the creator and the audience.

I hope you will continue to travel this road with me. 

Time and Tithe . . . Waits for no Man

Edit flags on the hard copy of Time and Tithe

I took a hairpin turn from drafting DERELICT book 2 to return to TIME AND TITHE two weeks ago when my lovely beta readers began to return feedback on the revised manuscript.

I recruited a mix of readers - some who had not read the earlier book, THE BETWEEN, because it was important for me to know if I'd done a good enough job with the bread-crumbs so that someone could pick up book 2 and not be confused.

The good news was that I had gotten it almost right.

The better news was their feedback helped me push it even closer.

I've spent the better part of the past two weeks making small tweaks, expanding some chapters, and cleaning out cliches and repetition because the manuscript had a date with its editor in November.

Well, it's November. And besides that deadline, I'm heading out to a writing conference this afternoon that will have me pretty busy until Friday night, so I knew I needed to get the manuscript cleaned up for this morning.

And I did it.

I hope I managed to make the story work. Sequels are always a challenge. And hopefully, my editor won't be cursing me over the next few weeks.

Now I get to return to the SF world of DERELICT after two weeks immersed in the world of the Fae and glamour. My brain is certainly a strange place.

See you on the flip side!

Oh, hello, again!

It's officially Fall: aka the busy season. I got the last of the tomatoes canned and put away on the pantry, and it's about to be apple-palozza time. Apple sauce, apple butter, dried apples, apple-pepper jelly. . . Preserve all the things!!

I do need to slow down a bit - with both my sons away at college, it's just hubby and me needing to be fed. We still haven't figured out meal portioning for two. Which means we're only really cooking every other day, since the leftovers are a full meal for two. :)

I also finished the revision pass for TIME AND TITHE this week.

Thank goodness for post-it flags! Now I get to incorporate all those handwritten notes into the document so I can email it out to my beta readers. I'll have time for round two of edits/clarifications before it goes off to the editor on November 1. The cover artist is in her creative process, so we're on track for a mid-January 2015 release.

Next up: the first draft of DERELICT's sequel. I'm really looking forward to that unchained burst of creativity that comes with starting a new project. Before the muddle of the middle sets in.

What else am I doing? I switched ceramics studios in August. After years of working at the New Art Center (which is wonderful, but I was looking for the next phase of my development as a ceramics artist), I moved to The Potter's Studio and have been getting oriented to the new place: new clay bodies, new glazes. It's been challenging and fun.

I love the jewel toned glazes on these cappuccino mugs. Now I need to find combinations I like for my textured hand-built work.

And, as if I wasn't busy enough, I wandered into a fiber shop during our recent trip to Watkins Glen and ended up buying some lovely yarn, a set of needles, and a hat pattern. It's been nearly 20 years since I've picked up knitting needles.

I'm amazed at how the motor memory came flooding back. Now I have this jaunty little hat, just in time for the cooler fall weather.

So that's my update.

Have a wonderful day, my internet lovelies!

Promises Kept: Time and Tithe is finished

Working out the 'end game' (don't worry, it makes sense to me)

When I started writing THE BETWEEN in October of 2008, I had no idea it would become a novel, much less have a sequel. The story emerged from a prompt in a writer's group meeting at my local library. One of the other writers gave us the sentence: The sky went dark. We then had 20 minutes to write.

That was the beginning of Lydia's tale.

While THE BETWEEN was my first publication, it represented my fifth completed manuscript, and it took me 8 months to write its first draft. From that point in the summer of 2009 to its publication date in January of 2012, the story was revised four times before I believed it was ready for prime time.

It was only after the story was finished that I understood it was not complete. Or rather, while Lydia's original story has a complete ending, the conclusion of the novel raised a lot of new questions to be answered. I made a promise to myself that I would write an answer to those questions and tackle the monster that is a sequel.

But first I had other novels to write. Between 2009 and 2010, I wrote FUTURE TENSE. Between 2010 and 2011, an as yet unnamed and yet to be revised ghost story. Then in a furious burst of writing, DERELICT in 2012. I wasn't able to return to the sequel from hell until October of 2013, exactly five years after starting THE BETWEEN.

TIME AND TITHE took 9 months to draft. That's nearly twice the amount of time as it took me to draft DERELICT. I struggled with returning to the voice of the characters I had created so long ago, and since I had not initially planned to write a second novel in that universe, I had never created a reference bible for it. Now I had to find a way to inhabit the self I was when I wrote Lydia's story, and find a way to continue it, deepen it, yet remain true to the original. 

I think I have done that with TIME AND TITHE. What excited me about the story was the chance to explore relationships and how time changes them. In THE BETWEEN, Lydia is 18, her sister, Taylor is about 6. But time moves differently between Faerie and the mortal world, and when TIME AND TITHE begins, it's only been months for Lydia, but years for Taylor.

The sisters are now the same age.

And Faerie wants both of them.

I've been sharing snippets and short scenes on Google Plus, during #SaturdayScenes. You can read them by searching for #ljsatscenes (https://plus.google.com/u/0/explore/ljsatscenes) Scroll down to the bottom, as they are presented in reverse chronological order like in a blog.

While I'm hammering away at the revision, I've sent notes to the cover artist and am awaiting a concept sketch. If the stars align, TIME AND TITHE will be ready for release in January of 2014.

What's New in Your Corner of the World?

original cover art copyright Veris Maya

original cover art copyright Chris Howard

This Spring, I have two new projects in the production pipeline. A collection of short stories, "Stranger Worlds Than These," and an SF novel, DERELICT.

I'm very excited about them both, and I'm especially pleased to be moving forward on new things after what felt like a very long and difficult Winter.

The story collection (look for it end of April or early May) includes the SF story I contributed to our charity anthology, PEN-ULTIMATE, along with 6 others that have not been published elsewhere. Some have been included in my occasional newsletter, others are brand new. I used to think I didn't like short stories - not reading them and not writing them, but I realized that this wasn't true. My frustration with short stories is that they are hard. In some ways, they are far harder to write than novels, where the author has all kinds of wiggle room to explore and define character, setting, and conflict. With short stories, you have to punch it and hit your mark right away. There is no meandering around. Every word must count.

Short stories are much closer to poetry than they are to novels. But poetry is something I'm at home writing and once I realized this kinship, it became much easier to work with small narratives.

Another lovely thing about short stories is I can reward myself with one every night before I go to bed, with less of a risk of staying up way past my bedtime because I can't put the book down. :) I'm working my way through the Tor 5 years of story anthology this way and discovering several authors whose work is now on my TBR list.

I can't wait until I can release DERELICT (late spring or early summer, 2014) into the world! It's a story I love, with complex and diverse characters, an insane AI controlling a broken ship, and a chase through space. What's not to love? I have plans for multiple novels in this universe, so if you like space opera, stay tuned.

I'll be announcing the release dates on my newsletter, so please subscribe for the latest news and a sneak peek at one of the stories in the collection.

And I'm still working on TIME AND TITHE, the sequel to THE BETWEEN. My target date for publication is late Fall 2014.

Lots happening here at "Chez LJ". What's going on in your part of the universe?

Blog Tour Monday

Is it still Monday?

:checks clock and calendar:

Yup, still Monday. Phew! I didn't blow my deadline.

The lovely and insanely hard-working writer and editor, RJ Blain tagged me in the Blog Tour Monday meme last week, so I'm here to fulfill my part of the bargain.

Many, many authors are participating in the relay blog hop, one writer passing the baton to another all across the internet. It's been an interesting opportunity to read about so many different writing processes and there are as many different ones as there are writers.

What am I working on?

Now is a busy time for me. I just published my second YA novel, FUTURE TENSE, and I've been networking with book bloggers, reviewers, libraries, and high schools to get the word out.

I'm also working on completing the sequel to my first YA novel, THE BETWEEN, working title TIME AND TITHE. Let me tell you, writing sequels is *hard*. When you start from scratch, you don't have to worry about continuity, style-matching, or loose plot threads from a book you'd written more than 4 years ago.  I'm at the point in the narrative - at about the 3/4 mark - where all the storylines from all the points of view need to pull together into a cohesive and satisfying whole. I'll get there, but the writing is a lot slower than my typical workflow.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

So many of the YA books on the shelves, regardless of the genre, center around a primary love triangle, where an impossibly beautiful girl must chose between two impossible sexy suitors. I don't know about your High School experience, but nothing like that happened to me or any of my friends. Typically, if we had someone we had fallen for, that someone didn't know we were alive and was madly in love with someone else. No triangles; if anything, a meandering line.

What I don't see in genre YA books (I read and write mostly fantasy and SF) is the power of friendship and of family, and the pull between them. The stories I write are stories of characters who need to learn to make difficult decisions and trust in their own strength in a world that is not quite our own.

Why do I write what I do?

What can I say? I read, and 'imprinted' on Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" at a young and impressionable age.

How does my writing process work?

My ideas start with a single image. Usually of a character, in a situation , with a problem. This is what I think of as the writer's version of the game 'clue.' (Remember Colonial Mustard in the library with a candlestick?)

Once I have the core of the idea, I brainstorm, setting the idea in a larger context, a larger world, and with a larger cast of characters. I usually have the broad strokes of a plot before I start, including the basic ending, but I don't do a formal or detailed outline before I start writing.  I almost always outline when I'm midway through the story as a way of mapping out where I've been and where I'm going.

I am a tortoise, rather than a hare writer. That is, I work at a slow and steady pace when I'm drafting a novel. 1,000 words a day/5,000 words a week is my goal.

I don't need any special set of circumstances to write. Sometimes I use music - movie and videogame soundtracks are a favorite of mine, sometimes silence. I write in a simple word processor, but have also used a wiki for research information, and a more structured program called yWriter to split the story into scenes/chapters. Sometimes I go old school with cheap staples brand single subject spiral notebooks.

While I can edit one project while writing another, I find it difficult to draft more than one story at a time.

Nominations for the next Blog Tour Monday

Next Monday, please enjoy my friend, and fellow writer, Julianne Douglas's blogpost as she talks about her work and her writing process. Julianne is a member of my writing support and critique group and she writes historical fiction, set in sixteenth century France!

Sequel Blues

Timeline for THE BETWEEN's sequel

I'm working through the final 25% of the novel and struggling. This is the place where all the various plot threads need to weave together into a coherent and satisfying conclusion With a story that has four point of view characters and multiple sub-plots running through it, this isn't a simple matter. I finally resorted to technology to help me and created a running timeline with characters on the y-axis and chapters on the x-axis. Each little box represents a scene and has the barest of bare bones outlines of that particular scene. That way I can look at the entire story, or any individual timeline.

I'll get there. The multiple characters isn't even the most difficult part. That would be making sure I stay internally consistent with the first book while I write the sequel.

But even a difficult writing day is a joy. Here's a snippet from the latest scene. 

Aeon paced the dais Lydia had created around the peach tree at the center of his garden. Why had she chosen to seat her power here? Why not the grove of the Unbound, in the shadow of the conquered monarchs? That would have sent an unmistakable message to the Fae. Or she could have at least taken over the former holdings of Bright. It was Oberon who tore her roots from her old life, after all. He stopped and trailed his finger along the arm of the wicker throne. Tiny wild roses bloomed at his touch, their buds turning to him and opening as if he were their personal sun. All around him, the trees hung heavily with perfectly ripe fruit. The mingled scents of peach and apple flavored the air.

This used to be a place of peace and refuge. Even when he had been a prisoner of the maze, this haven had soothed him. But Lydia had sunk her name deep into the soil beside his and now the living place quietly rebuked him. Even banished, she still had power here. Anger rose in him like sap in a tree. The roses withered, the red draining from their petals, before dropping to the ground. He gripped the top of the throne until the twigs ground into powder in his hand.

"I am ruler here!"

"Is there any who would gainsay you, Lord?"

Aeon spun around to face the Seneschal. The man took a jerky step back, his body expressing the fear his features hid all too well. Gripping his sigil, Aeon sent his will and his fury through it. The gilded peach pit burned in his palm. "Fair warning, in return for your long years of service. From no on, my garden will be closed to you, Seneschal, unless I bid you here."

He bowed his head a fraction. "Yes, Lord."

The light breeze that had set the leaves whispering died, leaving the two of them in strained silence. Aeon glared at the blurred space where the Seneschal's eyes should have been. "If you have something to say, tell me and leave." Turning his back on the man, Aeon rewove the top of the throne, working green vines in with the wicker. He smoothed his tunic and sat, draping his legs over one of the chair's arms. The other throne's emptiness mocked him. If he chose, he could bring Taylor here to join him. She was but a step away from him, no matter where in Fairie she chose, but he hesitated. He had misjudged Lydia. He couldn't risk doing the same with the sister. Not now, when her power was slowly binding her to Faerie, and to him.

"Your news, Seneschal," he said, lacing his words with the power of command.

The inscrutible Fae stiffened, a puppet answering to his master's strings. Aeon didn't bother to hide his satisfied smirk. The Seneschal had mocked him for too many years not to know there would be a price to be paid for his insolence.

"Lydia has returned. The darklings hold her powerless."

His fingers ceased drumming on the throne's arm, but otherwise, Aeon showed no sign of his surprise. She shouldn't have had the strength to breach the walls between worlds. Unless she had help. He narrowed his eyes, trying and failing to pull the Seneschal's features into focus. Would he risk robbing Deirdre of her death price and earning her enmity to bring Lydia back to challenge him? It made little sense. The Seneschal had too much to lose and too little to gain in placing Lydia back on the gameboard. Besides, she was no longer powerful enough to matter. Especially now that the darklings had stripped her of whatever glamour she had been able to glean in the short time of her banishment.

"What of the sister?" Aeon ached to reach out to her, to find comfort in her childhood memories, when he had been the friend she had craved and created. The uncertainty that made him use the Seneschal as his proxy was a splinter working its way deeper and deeper inside him.

"Taylor is struggling against Nightshade's counsel. She wishes to rescue Lydia. Milord, together, the sisters are a threat. You must act."

Aeon catapulted from the throne to stand over the Seneschal, his hands balled into tight fists. "What will you advise your liege?"

The Seneschal started, but stood his ground. "Use the darklings as you created them. Take any glamour not be offered in tithe and bind the land to its true ruler."

A shiver moved through the garden as clouds thickened overhead to blot out the sun.

"And what of the Hawthornes. Shall I destroy the very trees I had a hand in planting?"

The ground trembled at his feet.

"Strip both sisters of their memories and return them to the Mortal world. It would be a mercy."

"To whom?" Aeon felt a rumble of thunder deep inside his chest. Darkness continued to gather in the heart of the maze.

"Faerie cannot survive like this." The Senescal cast furtive glances to the sky. "Be the King you once were and finish the war Oberon and Titania began and lost."

Aeon stood in silence for a long minute staring at the nameless, faceless Fae whose life reached back nearly as far to the roots of Faerie as his did. Then he opened his mouth and laughed. The sound rolled over the thunder and blasted the clouds from the sky. All around them, apples, pears, peaches, and plums cascaded from trees to thud on the ground, only to vanish as they rolled onto the grass. New buds swelled on bare branches and flowered as Aeon's laugh echoed through the maze. "Oh, you have offered me fine counsel, my old friend." He wiped his tearing eyes and shook his head as the Seneschal stood, his body rigid. "And the King I had been might have thanked you for it."

"Milord?"

"Yes, yes, use your silvered tongue to beg my forgiveness." Aeon smiled, enjoying the Seneschal's discomfort before turning his back on the manipulative Fae. "I may not understand your game yet, old friend, but I do know that anytime your desires run with mine, I had best take care."

The last time the Seneschal tempted him to action, he found himself prisoner of this place, the very vines and thorns that did his bidding now, tools of his jailors.

"I am only what you have created, Milord. And you created me to serve Faerie."

He couldn't remember what impulse led him to craft the glamour that had give the Seneschal such power. Perhaps he had grown complacent in his long rule. "Have you forgotten what your actions have forged?" Aeon whirled to face him again, this time as the twisted, tortured gardener. The pain of assuming that hated shape goaded him. "Did you think all was forgiven?"