I finished a book called Generation V that concerns vampires in Providence, RI. (Full disclosure, I wrote Vampire: The Masquerade fan fiction that takes place in Providence. It’s nothing like this book I read–let’s just say, the Giovanni were heavily involved.) Most of the setting was pretty accurate, so I wanted to find out about the author, M.L. Brennan , and, I don’t know, strike up a conversation?

I went to her website.

She disappeared off the face of the Web in 2018.

I’m thinking, what the hell happened to her? Did she die? Decide to move on? Change her name? Her most recent book is 2014, so what happened?

This has made my newest OCD obsession (my soon demise) rear its ugly head and prompted me to start preparing for The End. I have a designated social media person who will update my socials (here, FB, Twitter, Instagram) so that if someone comes to my website after my demise, they’ll know what happened.

Looking at the empty two years of this person’s blog also made me decide to update y’all.

First, Grimaulkin Collected is on Amazon, Smashwords, etc. It’s the three Grimaulkin books available as an ebook only for one low price. Mind you, I can’t sign your Kindle, so you’ll have to come see me and get a real paperback (or hardcover, if you’re so inclined).

Second, my newest WIP. I had planned on getting it done by April, sent to the publisher in June and have it out maybe in September. Well, no such luck. Simply because I’ve been sitting on a scene, trying to think of how to forward the plot a week. Do I go into detail about the main character’s doings of that week? If so, what does he do?

I spun (spinned?) my wheels for three, count ’em, THREE weeks. Finally, this morning, in the shower, I said, “Screw it. Just go to the next plot point.” Now it’s like a dam’s broken and I’m full of what’s going to happen next, then next, then next. All I have to do is write it all down as fast as I can.

It’s unknown whether I’ll get to Rhode island Comicon, mostly because of the Cornoavirus scare and my own health issues. Again, OCD on steroids, so I’m anxious about possibly getting sick. Especially now that I’ve heard that there is a local case. What will happen in November? Who knows?

I decided to do an event, the Cumberland Library Author Expo. It was only from 1-4.

I was rusty. I couldn’t seem to get into telling people about my books. After the third person, though, I fell into the routine. Plus a fan showed up! (But she already had all my books.)

I realized, too, that I was tired after just four hours. How would I be after ten? RI ComiCon is on the docket, and I really want to do that because I think it would be a good sales opportunity for all the books that Paper Angel Press and Water Dragon Publishing have, not just my own.

Mind you, it was after dialysis, so I was probably tired from that. For ComiCon, I would have dialysis on Thursday and Friday, not on Saturday or Sunday. Setting up would be Thursday; Friday night I’m there from 3-9, Saturday 10-9, Sunday 10-3. It sounds grueling, but I’ll have my son with me helping me out. I might ask my friend and pay her some money to come help me, too.

I might also do Autumfest, but not if i have to set up the tent. I’ll be happy to share with someone else.

It helps if I pay my dues to the Association of Rhode Island Authors, though.

So far, for NaNoWriMo, I have 5000 words of garbage. No, really, it’s bad. But that’s okay. I’m not in it to get even a publishable manuscript out of it. I’m in it to be one with the many people who have chosen to enter the hermitage of National Novel Writing Month in November. I’m in it to talk to writers during our write ins at Paper Angel Press. I’ll be there–take a look at my appearance calendar to see what dates and times (Eastern).

I was very productive this morning, having woken up at 3:30. After doing some luxurious lounging (no work or dialysis to get ready for at six), I gathered my tea and went upstairs to visit with Hemingway, my iMac Mini that’s like ten years old. I work on that for strictly writing, so I don’t find myself distracted by my journal, cats (well, sometimes cats), kid, or game.

That’s also where I do my podcasts, and I did a quick six-minute podcast this morning. You can check it out here.

I’ll be doing a podcast every week during NaNoWriMo and trying to write as many words as possible during the write ins. You can come and visit, just follow the above Paper Angel Press link and join in the fun! It’s through Google Hangouts.

This is the last week I have before I return to work on Friday. I’m excited but not. I’m excited to start this new journey, but I’m afraid of overextending myself.

This is good for six months, and then after this I have to reassess. Hopefully I won’t get sick again in the meantime.

I haven’t written, to tell you the truth, and I know, that’s bad. I’m actually beta-reading a novel for someone, and it’s over a hundred thousand words. At the same time I’m reading Second Company by Michael Hesse, which is how I really wanted War Mage to be but didn’t have the knowledge to do. To tell you the truth, he did a better job.

Dialysis gives me four hours to read, so I’ll have plenty of books on my Kindle.

Real Magic for Writers is selling steadily, probably because it’s cheap right now. We don’t know if it’s this blog, the podcast, or just Amazon bumping me up that’s doing the sales. It’s magic!

Just because you’re not putting anything on the page, it doesn’t mean that you’re not writing if you’re thinking about your work in progress.

I’m looking for inspiration to write something. City of Heroes’ characters are deep in that lore, so pulling Maximillian out will make things weird. A few people I talked to mentioned a children’s book, something upbeat and fluffy. All week I’ve been trying to think of “fluffy” and it always turns into something dark.

It’s a whole different mindset to think of something positive, when all you can think of is the negative. But I’m still thinking, trying to twist the negative into the positive.

I guess i need to watch more Star Trek.

So while I was writing Real Magic for Writers, I realized that I stumbled upon what I call in the book “The Secret.” It’s not really a secret; it’s what most other writers say about how to write.

Sit down and write.

That’s the secret. Simple, huh?

I was talking to someone recently who gave me a detailed Steampunk story, and ended it by saying, “But I have to write it.”

Well, yeah!

At the risk of putting people off: You’re not a writer if you think about writing. You have to do the work.

That’s what the core of Real Magic is–doing the work. (I’ve just saved you the price of the book.) I only hope that the book is uplifting enough and helpful enough for others to follow.

I did an author Meet and Greet with about 20 other authors at Woonsocket Harris Public Library. While most of the authors there didn’t seem to sell any, I sold three. One to a “fan” (I’ve got fans!); one to someone I hadn’t seen in a long time; and the third to one of the authors’ guests that I sat next to.

It seems that’s my base, people who have read the books and enjoyed them, and people that I know who want to try them out. Luckily, I go out to enough events that I get more fans than just family and friend. The “fan” told me she passed Grimaulkin on to her cousin. Who knows where it’ll go from there.

Watch this spot.

In the hospital with pneumonia since Saturday. Will update when I’m out

Now it’s the end of the year, and nothing left to do but write.

This afternoon I just finished “Libra” for Air. The publisher would like Air for the end of the year. This means I need to write a lot more quickly than usual.

When I need to write quickly, I plot it out. I use index cards, real live paper index cards, not virtual ones. I put the title of the piece in the left hand corner, in this case, the symbol for Libra, POV is Point of view. SH means the Sheriff, the main character. SC is the scene number, in this case, 3.

Next I write the setting I need to establish. Then in three or less sentences I summarize the scene. This is based on Holly Lisle’s “How to Revise Your Novel” online class which is not worth the $300 to spend on it when you can get a few other “How to Revise Your Novel” books for $14.99. But Holly’s course is actually fun if you’re like me, and like to deconstruct your novel over and over. I used it for the first Grimaulkin book, which unlocked a few ideas. I also used it for War Mage, twice, and it didn’t work.

This gives me enough space to do the actual writing without giving away the details. Because the fun of writing for me is coming up with the details, the plot cards only guide me. This way I don’t meander, waffle, or get distracted. I can get the writing done.

So hopefully Air will be done in 3 weeks. I’ve done most of “Gemini” (I need to add more sex scenes, to tell you the truth). I’m having trouble with “Aquarius”. Need to do research on him. Was going to do the “Summer of Love” but there was a lot of darkness then, too. After all, Charles Manson came up through the ranks at Berkeley.