Category Archives: Brothers of the Zodiac – Water

Self Defense and book sales!

Had a successful book sale on July 1. Three sold books, mostly because people wanted card readings. Might have had more if I didn’t take so long reading cards. Had to buy a bigger table.

My next appearance is going to be on July 29 in Richmond, RI (Exit 3A off I-95 in RI).

“Self Defense” is available on instafreebie for the next 30 days. After that, it’ll be on Amazon and other places.

I sent Water back to Zarra Knightly Publishing, so hopefully that should be out next month.

I finally started writing War Mage. It’s like pulling teeth, though, even with the outline. Or maybe it’s because of the outline. I’m not an outliner. It did work for me once, but it’s not working for me right now. It’s still not the story I want to tell. The theme is something like, “Friends can be found in the most unlikely places” or “What might seem to be an enemy may be a friend”. Tyrath and Olron are keys to the theme. Makrah is like an aging hippie that loves democracy and the USA (I’ll have him come from the Rockies). The story is about control and freedom, how friendship and loyalty can overcome anything. Yes, I know that’s not my usual type of story, but I want to present something happy here.

Maybe that’s the other thing that is bothering me–a happy ending.

The War Mage cover is going to be a lie…I got rid of the riders.

Oh, and episode 3 of Dark Mystic Quill is out. This is all about Grimaulkin and why he stayed in my head these last 10 years.

Self-Defense short available soon

Ok, first, my foot. I didn’t have glass in it. I had an attack of gout. I can see you wincing, It really wasn’t that agonizing, at least from what I’ve read, but it did hurt like hell. I’m not going into the litany of medical issues I have; this isn’t the place for that. According to one of those Facebook quizzes, I’m 83 years old.  Yeah, go figure.

With that out of the way, “Self Defense” booklets arrived in the mail yesterday. OMG. They are SO COOL. The outside is a composition book, and the inside has lines and handwriting. And you get it free at my appearances! (And also at Paper Angel Press.com as a .pdf. starting July 1) But the .pdf is not as cool as the booklets.

I now have a calendar on my website (grimaulkin.com and darkmysticquill.com), so you can see where and when I’ll be appearing. Thank you, so much, web Guru Steven for doing this all for me.

I’m working on Water’s edits. My plan is to get them done by July 4 (I have a long weekend). Then comes the albatross, War Mage. Also on or around June 30, I will be dropping episode 3 of Dark Mystic Quill. It’s going to be about writing this time.

Check out my goodreads profile if you get a chance, and if you want, leave a message. I’m presently reading a book by the Dalai Lama–not my usual fare, but it’s actually really good. I’m also researching for my next witchcraft podcast on spell work.

Podcast, and more books!

Episode 2 of DMQ is up. So proud of myself–it only took me a few hours as opposed to a few days to get it ready. Even with breaks due to my refrigerator running.

I have injured myself. Somewhere, in my foot, is a sliver of glass. I went to the urgent care and they couldn’t find it. In the meantime, my foot is swollen like a balloon, and I can’t put any weight on it. They suggested I go to get it x-rayed to see if they can see the sliver and take it out. I have to go see my PCP tomorrow to get the x-ray because I’m sure not going to the ER for something as stupid as this. It hurts like hell.

Okay, so that was probably TMI, but that’s what’s bothering me the most today.

I’m supposed to set up the tent that we bought for my first appearance this season in Scituate on July 1. I’m also supposed to make tent weights out of old water jugs, bungee cords, and kitty litter. Yes, it’s a Yankee jury-rig, but it should work. In theory. But it’s raining. So no tent set-up today.

I don’t know how Grimaulkin is selling. I don’t want to know just yet. I want to be (hopefully) pleasantly surprised. One person I know read it and really liked it. The short, “Self Defense”, is going to be ready (hopefully) for July 1. If you’re interested in that, it’s a freebie on paperangelpress.com.

Water was edited, and I’ve been working on it for the past couple of days. After reading a few gay-themed short stories, I’ve noticed that I’ve put WAY too much sex in mine. The other short stories have usually one sex scene. In almost all of mine, I have at least three. So you get your money’s worth!

War Mage is still…I don’t know. I keep thinking about it, trying to turn it over and over in my head to try and get things going with it. Whenever I sit down to start writing it, I end up staring at a blank page and doing nothing. Or I write crap. Or I rewrite what I wrote before. Something’s just not in me to get this story out, and I don’t know why.

Well, I have one idea why–I don’t want to insult the people who were there in Afghanistan. I know, I just know, I’ll get the details wrong. Some Afghan vet is going to write “FOB Blessing wasn’t set up that way” and I’ll just hang up my pen and not write any more because I would have been seen as a hack, a fraud.

I have to get past that, saying to myself, “Your FOB Blessing didn’t look like that, but mine does.” Hell, if you’re suspending disbelief about there being magic in the military, can you get past the fact that Quonset huts were in rows and not a star-shape? (Though I’ve only seen a few pictures of FOB Blessing, I have no idea how the huts/containers were set up.)

I also have an outline. I hate outlines. I used to trace pictures before coloring them because I would allow myself to color outside the lines. I found outlines to be good for me when I’m stuck on a deadline, especially when I did it that one year for NaNoWriMo when I had two weeks to write the novel. I stuck to it, but I also dictated the novel, which made it, um, novel and interesting. Now, typing it, no fun. And dictating–no fun revising. Trust me. I have until August to get off my duff and get War Mage finished. It’s already the last week of June, and my appearances are ramping up.

I’m going to see if I can get a web page for my appearances only, so you don’t have to look back for the post with it.

Major and minor surgery

I’ve just finished Grimaulkin’s short, “Self Defense” and sent it to the editor. It’s a first draft, rife with errors probably, but hopefully will be an interesting part of Mike’s backstory.

I’m looking into getting into Necronomicon, the H.P. Lovecraft convention in Providence, RI in August. I’m probably a little too soft-core for that crowd, since my demons don’t look like the horrible things that Lovecraft fans get into.

Right now, pickings are pretty slim in the direct sales department. Hardly any venues this year. Or I’m being choosy because I’m poor.

I am two weeks behind on the surgery with War Mage. I am presently going through my manuscript (for the fourth time) and picking out each and every character, trying to decide if I over-described them or under-described them, and whether they need to stick around. The good thing is I’m getting great ideas for a rewrite. The bad thing is I have to plow through these exercises to clarify how I want to rewrite. I’m giving myself until August 1 to get this revision finished. With Grimaulkin half way in the can, I can concentrate on revising War Mage.

I also did some work on (mostly staring into space and thinking) Grimaulkin Tempted, the second book in Grimaulkin’s series. I stopped that cold when Grimaulkin came back, and it’s been about a month since I touched it. I’m too afraid to open it, because after working on it in my head, I’ve realized a lot of plot holes and tension-breakers. It’s not even a first draft; it’s more like a half-draft. I have to go in and fix those things before continuing on with what I’ve written so far.

Water is at the editor’s. As soon as that one comes back, I’ll put everything else on hold again and work on that. The next series, I believe, will be the Earth signs of Virgo, Capricorn, and Taurus. Capricorn I have to do some research on; Virgo is going to be my friend Casey Donovan; and Taurus, well…I don’t know yet. But I have plenty of time. Maybe I’ll do a NaNo on him.

Decisions, decisions

So, at present, Water and Grimaulkin are at the editor’s. Grimaulkin Tempted is up to 10K words already and I’m in need of another subplot. So far I have:

Main plot: Scott’s ex comes back.
Subplot A: Becky, his cousin, is being followed by a mysterious person.
Subplot B: Mike is being used as the downstairs mover.

I need a magical subplot C, something to get the Rosicrucians involved again. Or a subplot D, another Satanic murder (though that’s going to be be in the third book, I think). Another minor demon involved? Not sure. Also maybe something involving Rufus, the dog.

Earth is going to be the next erotica series, I think. I need to do more research on the Earth signs to find out good places to put them, and what powers they control.

Also, I was reminded of War Mage. In my excitement over Grim, I’ve let that go to the wayside. I didn’t care much for some of the editing, and so I put it aside. I tried to rewrite it from the beginning based on my beta reader’s suggestions, but it just didn’t want to work. Jake Logan is a gay writer. L.A. Jacob can write both gay and straight, but the military has to come from Jake. L.A. Jacob reins in the sex part, which is why the sex is alluded to in War Mage, not explicit. The Dark Prison, the third book, has no sex (yet). War Mage has to be complete by July for a September release.

Man, I have so many irons in the fire. And I’m going to buy a microphone to start doing podcasts! Maybe. But I am buying a mike. The podcast will be about writing and magic. I will probably have it “sponsored” by Paper Angel Press and Zarra Knightley Publishing. In other words, I’ll shill their books. Not sure about author interviews yet. I’m not one of the best interviewers –it’s been a very long time since I’ve done interviews. There’s one podcast I listen to where the guy asks the same questions of every guest, and I don’t want to do that. You can tell he doesn’t do much research on the guests he has.

So that seems like enough for this week.

Water–Finished!

I just finished Water and sent it off to the publisher: Zarra Knightley Publishing. 48K words in total.

Grimaulkin is in editing. Hopefully that’ll be done by the end of March so I can have it by June and run with it this summer and fall.

I’m now released and working on Grimaulkin Tempted, book two of Grimaulkin’s series. I’ll write it out the way it’ll come out, and then I’ll edit for a YA audience.

Not sure what’s happening with War Mage. I think it’ll be at an editor’s at some point. Depending on how those edits come out, I might just scrap the whole series. Grimaulkin is my real baby. So’s Casey Donovan, who I think will put in an appearance during Brothers as Virgo.

What a relief!

Scorpio

So I was struggling with Scorpio. No offense, but I’ve never had good luck with Scorpios, either as friends or in a relationship. The story I first wrote was the “origin” story. It wasn’t that great, and it was way too short.

I talked with a friend who suggested I take the story and put it as a prologue, and rewrite Scorpio. Scorpios are very much into taboo subjects: incest, kinks, etc. I could have fun with him. They’re also stalkers, possessive, and easily jealous. So I’m rewriting it as a contemporary story (well, Summer 1972), just after protests for LBGT rights started.

I think it’s coming out a lot better, but it’s still kind of short. I have 8K words in it (after three days of near constant writing) and have to come up with 12K more, or at least 7K to reach the same as the other novellas. We’ve also been discussing covers. It’s going to have four covers–one for each of the signs, and one for Water, which will combine all of the signs into one omnibus. The three covers I’ve seen are pretty awesome, and I’m really happy with our cover designer.

Grimaulkin is at the editor as we speak. It’s on track to get rewritten for March as necessary. Scorpio, however, I don’t think I’ll get done by March 1. I already told the publisher and he said we’ll work with it.

Also, I’ve been having trouble with Scrivener. I have the story on my iCloud drive, which I can access on two computers: my Mac that’s located in the cellar, and my Windows computer that is located upstairs in my office. However, when I change anything on the Windows computer, it doesn’t register when I open it on the Mac. Cancer, I had rewritten a bit, but none of the changes showed up on the Mac version. It looks like I have to do all my work on the Mac, save it on the iCloud and do the compile on the iCloud drive, then hopefully open the .doc on my Windows computer. I’m wondering if Scrivener is more complicated than it’s worth, especially when I have to convert it to a .doc in order to send it to the editor. And then when the editor sends it back, I have to try and find the parts she’s talking about in Scrivener to correct. I love Scrivener as a writing tool. But as an editing tool, not so much.

Work vs. Play

35K words. That’s all Water has. I need more sex, more story in Scorpio. That’s what I’ll work on this week.

I just finished Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is the second book I read that believes that creativity is magic. (The first one, The Inspired Writer by Bryan Hutchinson I thought was better.) Big Magic sounds a lot like The Artist’s Way. Between the “woe is me because of the success of Eat Pray Love” are some nuggets of interesting thought. However, I don’t care much for her Trickster vs Martyr stereotypes of the typical artist. I believe that we are combinations of the two. I don’t want to be Bugs Bunny, but she makes it seem that it’s better for the artist to be that way. Mind you, I don’t like suffering for my art, either.

Water I have been suffering for. Grimaulkin is more fun. Grimaulkin’s voice has been with me for 10 years,  Water, for three months. I have to come up with three distinct voices at that.Water has a deadline. Grimaulkin, not so much. Water stresses me out. Grimaulkin 2 is the one I really want to write. I feel like I keep getting tugged away from the “work” of Water and pushed toward the “play” of Grimaulkin. I honestly thought Water would be fun. But maybe it’s the idea that I have a genre I have to fit myself into. I have rules I have to follow.

Maybe my muse is more of a trickster than I like to believe. I never believed in flogging the muse, because that scares her and makes her retreat into a corner, never to speak again.  But maybe I should work a little bit on Grimaulkin 2, because that’s where she wants to be, and leave Water for a couple of days to let her stew over it. I have a scene in mind, but that’s all it is, a scene, no story.

I have until the end of the month for Water, but my hope was to get it done while on my vacation/recovery from surgery. Tomorrow is another snow day, so I’ll be home working on…something.

 

1/2 done

Water’s stories are done, now all I need to do is drop the sex into them. So far it’s 30K, so I have to come up with another 30K to make it worthwhile. My research thus far has been pretty sad–most of the stories are the same, and the stories are more into the story than the sex. There’s only so many ways to describe the sexual act, though I don’t normally get beyond the vanilla. Other BDSM is just weird to me.

I got the cover for Water, and it’s very nicely done. I’m not putting it up here because a couple of things still need to be changed.

Haven’t been writing much otherwise, unfortunately. Been feeling depressed and angry about my eyesight, though it has gotten better over the past couple of weeks. I go on vacation next week, so my plan is to finish Water by the end of the two weeks. 30K in two weeks? Yeah, sure.

Struggling vs worthlessness

Amazing how depressed you can feel if you can’t see.

I’m still stuck at home. You would think that I would write more. Nope. It seems the more time I have to write, the less I do write.

Water is up to 30K words, “Pisces” is 10K words. My goal is to have each sign be 20K words, but trying to get the erotica out is like pulling teeth. I’m not in the most pleasant of moods (even doing ERP online), I can’t seem to get into it. But I have a deadline of March 1.

I had a cover reveal on FB and twitter for Grimaulkin:

This is the first book in the series. Possibly three books in total.

I am going to write a short story with Grim for a giveaway or additional story. It’s mostly written, I just have to edit it a little.