Category Archives: Brothers of the Zodiac – Earth

What happened in the year 2000?

I’m on medical leave (long story, not going into it) so I have some time to write. I try to write at least 1000 words a day, in between the recovery. I’m coming up with some good ideas, and I’m over half-way through the novel. I’m stuck a little on how the police handle mail, and what they had available in the year 2000 with computers. Did cops or the feds have hackers on the payroll?

MySpace and Twitter didn’t exist, neither did Facebook or other social media sites. AOL and Usenet were the big community sites. I have to cast back in my own memory what AOL was like at the time. It’s challenging, because the old memory isn’t what it used to be, and I have no idea what cops could do then. Did they look up IP addresses? Did they know how to find people from an email?

Of course, I could just gloss over it like I plan on doing with War Mage. Though it bothers me.

“Capricorn” is finished, edited and ready to go. I had planned on working on Earth this weekend but I got distracted with other recovery work. “Family Bonds,” the short story tie-in for Grimaulkin Redeemed, is also done and formatted. When I do the laundry, I’ll work on Earth (because it’s on the computer in the laundry room).

In two weeks I’ll be at the Warwick Public Library selling books, signing them, and giving away the short story tie-ins (that are very cool). April 21 from 10-2. Hope to see you there!

Life suckage

I’m up to 27K words in Grimaulkin Redeemed–almost half way there! About half-way. My goal is 60K words, but with my luck, the story will end between 50K and 60K.

Life has been getting in the way recently. Suffice it to say I’ve had to scale back some things. One is the game, not because it’s a bad thing, but because I only have a finite amount of time during the week and weekends, and I’m trying to concentrate on writing and my hoarding issues here at home. I haven’t played the game in 3 weeks (one week was due to no electricity). I’m feeling guilty, but there was only one person I played with on that game. Unfortunately I haven’t seen him when I’ve checked in, either, so maybe he’s running into the same issue that I am–Life intrudes.

“Capricorn” is finished and gone through its first editing pass. The as-yet-unnamed story tie-in for Grimaulkin Redeemed also went through its first pass and was just returned. The publisher and I are not in a hurry for that one, but the novels are what I’m being pushed to deliver. Gee, wonder why? (laugh here)

I plan on trying to get a podcast out this week or next weekend, and it will be about this statement: “A bell isn’t a bell if it hasn’t been rung; a song isn’t a song if it hasn’t been sung.” This statement pisses me off.

New Short Coming Soon

For my short story tie-in for Grimaulkin Redeemed, I decided to rewrite an old story I did in November 2014 for Thanksgiving. I put it in Scrivener, took out references to City of Heroes, and reread it. However, I was reading the original. The story with the parts taken out were still in my head and I kept putting them in. The story made perfect sense to me, but it felt wrong on the page. I had my editor read it. He gave me great feedback, and explained that Mike was very angry in that story and not at all sympathetic. “Apparently, Mike (and you) were in a different place then.”

So I went back in my journals that far. Yes, I have them from 2012 and sporadically around the house since 1980. I was pissy in 2014. I had been passed over for a promotion (yet again). I was fighting to get my son diagnosed as being on the spectrum. My supports were ripped out from under me in the summer of 2014.

Now…I’m rewriting the story again from scratch. It has a good scene that I’m trying to keep, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Mike is a little less angry in this story, a lot more accepting, and things have changed. When I finish the story (title might be “Our Normal Thanksgiving”), I’ll point you to the original and you decide which one you like better.

I’ve left off in Grimaulkin Redeemed with the line, “Ribs dropped onto plates with an almost unified clatter.” I’m itching to continue it, because I know what’s going to happen next, but I know if I continue, I’ll write until I’m “stuck”. Then who knows when I’ll get back to it. So I’m doing “Thanksgiving” so it’s ready to go.

As of next week, I will officially be committed to go to WorldCon 76 in San Jose. I’m aiming to get Grimaulkin Redeemed done next month (22K words now), ready for publication in August and sale at WorldCon. I may pass War Mage on to someone else to do, because I can’t seem to get it going. Earth is mostly done. I have to wrap up Virgo and write more with Taurus.

Episode 17 is up for the Dark Mystic Quill. It’s about guns. It might be a little political, but it goes into mental health (my “woe” section of the podcast).

When the muse speaks, listen!

I decided this weekend to tackle Earth, to try and get it finished. As I talked with my publisher, he said, “How about you work on War Mage?”

Okay, for a different way of looking at things, sure. It’s been cooking for about a few months, so I should be able to get right back into the swing of it. A new story, a new character, new setting. I have an idea of where the story was going to go (after all, I’ve written eight drafts of the damn thing) so it should be easy. Right? Right?

I sat down, reread what I wrote up to the point I stopped and thought, “My God. This just sucks.”

I’m tempted to say, “To hell with the whole War Mage idea, let’s just not continue it.”

This made me reach for the comfort food to console my depression. After eating a few Belgian waffles, I went upstairs to my Windows computer (the computer that has Scrivener, Internet, and game on it) and did some mindless button-mashing in game.  Then I said to myself, “What happens if I start Grimaulkin Redeemed?”

I left the game, started a new project in Scrivener, and started writing. An hour later, I had done a thousand words (would have been more if I didn’t self-edit) and it flowed! This, this is what I like to feel when I write. The instant flow of words, the story just comes out, and it’s not work. It’s enjoyable. It’s play.

This is what every writer’s “zone” is. When the work takes over your life, and you enjoy it. It’s not a job. It’s not something you keep wanting to procrastinate. It’s a flow, a river.

I had a dream last night, and now that I think about it, I know what it means. There was a metal pipe that fed to a creek in the back of the house, and it was clogged, with water backing up against the foundation of the house. I had just grabbed a stick and planned on poking the end of the pipe to try and dislodge what was blocking it.

That’s Grimaulkin Redeemed. It’s unblocking the pipe of creativity. Maybe Grim will be my go-to for stories when I’m stuck. I still role-play him in the game (Champions Online–I’m @maulkin if you want to hit me up), so he may be around for a long time.

Further updates: Water will be an audiobook very soon. Grimaulkin is in production for an audiobook (yay!). I’ll be at the Cumberland Library Meet and Greet from 10-2 on February 17. Come down for some exclusive swag! And buy a book, even!0

Podcast is on hold for this week. I think I’ll try and get it together for next week.

Behind the eight ball

I’m getting a banner made (but I think it’s going to be too big) for my table/canopy tent. It’ll be ready for my appearance in Cumberland on February 17.

I just finished the speech I’m giving to the Mt. Pleasant high school kids on February 15. Now to distill it into an outline and to stretch it out for 15 minutes.

I have not done anything with Earth so far today. I may have to lock myself down here in the cellar for another 4 hours to get anything done.  Earth is behind schedule. There’s no way I’m going to be able work at night over the next two weeks because I have a lot of late nights coming up.  Next weekend I have to put in 10 hours on Earth at least to get it done. Capricorn is in the can and headed off to the publisher.

After Earth comes War Mage. I hope that this time in the cauldron will help War Mage spring out fully formed like Athena from my mind and be an easy story to write. Something tells me otherwise.

Earthy writing

Finally locked myself downstairs in the cellar with my Hemingway Mac Mini, with no distractions such as the game or my kid, and forced myself to write for four hours on the weekend. I know now that I can’t seem to write cohesively during the week, so 8 hours on the weekend (if not more) should be enough to at least get 10K words a week out of me.

However, the whole novel is going to be a novelette by the time I’m done. It may be all the way up to 20K words. It’s at 15K right now as of this writing.

On February 15 I’m going to speak to high school students. This is a dream come true. This is who I wrote Grimaulkin for. I started writing what I’m going to speak about, and I plan on using it for my podcast next weekend.

After Earth comes War Mage. I’ll do the same thing with it, lock myself downstairs with it. I’ll also be sending out a newsletter with updates on what I’m doing, what’s coming up, and my appearances for February.

Lighting candles for getting  a table at Worldcon!

3 books

Earth has a drop-dead completion date of February 1 for a March release. I’ve been writing Capricorn (after getting stuck in the Virgo story) and though I have it sketched out in my head, it’s not coming out right on the screen. Each of the stories is going to be shorter than the Water stories, not really novellas at all. A little longer than a short story, but much shorter than a novella. Novelette?

Reading a book on war that takes place in Afghanistan for more research with War Mage.  Getting some good ideas for that. I just have to throw in dragons.

Lastly, Grimaulkin Redeemed is still in my head. I have a feeling it will be like Athena and come out fully formed by the time I sit down and write it.

I need to write faster!

Full Crone

You know you’re old when you have to wear glasses to drive now.

I just celebrated my birthday this Friday. I am officially supposed to be a crone (yep, showing my age), but I don’t feel that way. I write YA stories, speculative fiction, not tedious memoirs and cozy mysteries. I listen to hard rock from the 1990’s and 2000’s (Turbo and Lithium on Sirius XM). I play video games. I don’t feel my age. Go figure.

Episode 11 of the Dark Mystic Quill podcast should be up by the time you see this. It’s about altars and what goes on them. There’s also a cameo appearance from Tom, my cat.

I’m still writing Earth. I’m feeling the time crunch. I have some scenes in mind to put in, but they’re not sex-related, they’re story related. I don’t know if what I’m writing is erotica or a story with explicit sex. The sex is not what drives the story, the paranormal elements are. Oh, Water is going to be an audio book, and the narrator is wonderful. That, hopefully, will be available soon.

I got the cover for Grimaulkin Redeemed, and OMG…it’s beautiful. Just what I pictured. Now I have to write it. But I’m not going to write it until I get to War Mage. The publisher said he doesn’t think I’ll end at three books. I might not. But that’s all I have in mind, and I can’t see myself going something like ten or fifteen books like the Dresden Files. Eventually, you get to a point when both you and your readers are bored. Though I’ve had Grimaulkin around for ten years, so I  don’t think I’ll get bored with him anytime soon.

So, in the meantime, I get to yell, “Get off my lawn!” and be official about it.

The Joint

I just released a new short story taking place in the Grimaulkin world called “The Joint“. It’s a free download, and it’ll be a free story that I’ll give away at my appearances.

So far, no appearances are coming up. Except for WorldCon 76 in San Jose, CA in August. More about that in March.

Working on Earth, Virgo in particular. I’ve read two M/M novels within the last week, and both of them have sex within the first 10% of the book. I suppose I have to get sex within the first 5% since it’s a novella. I consider the story in erotica to be more important than the erotica. There has to be a little lead up, not just sex, sex, sex, right? Maybe it’s from being a girl writing gay stories.

Grimaulkin Redeemed may be ready for August. Sure. I can do that.

So go pick up “The Joint” and review it on Goodreads. Oh, by the way, I am on Goodreads, too. (They just fixed me so that my author name comes up on a search.)

 

Almost there!

Grimaulkin Tempted is to be released on December 1. On December 2 is the launch party at the Author Expo at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. (The Kindle edition is available right now on Amazon, I noticed.)

I sold two copies to my local fans so far already. I’m waiting on feedback from one of them–he reads fast, and said he would definitely read it this weekend.

Started work on War Mage, getting through a block right at the beginning of the book. I know the things I want to set up, but the problem is how long it will take me to set them up, and I also don’t want to insult the reader. See, Brent is supposed to be a detective, but he’s not. Clues have to be pretty obvious to him. I’m afraid of pissing off the reader by bopping them over the head with obvious clues. I don’t want them to scream at the book, “But can’t you see that blahdy-blah-blah????” How do I get him to grow into being a detective? That’s one of the transformations of the character.

A character needs to be transformed by the end of the book. It’s not the same person as it was at the beginning. Brent, at the beginning, feels that the Army is giving him a second chance, and if he blows it, he’s screwed. In addition, he’s scared. Scared of failure, scared of trust, scared of getting tortured again.  At the end, he might fail in one sense, but he’s a stronger man for it. In the first draft, my beta reader said that he was a pussy at the end. Well, I have to change that. I know the beginning. It’s getting to the end that’s giving me problems.

Earth is supposed to be next on the docket. I really should, timewise, work on that. It’s due for…March? But writing erotica is easy once I get started. I practice it in Champions and I have an excellent partner. I pick up lessons from him that I may use in my erotica.  It’s the story that I get hung up on. Erotica is more than sex, sex, sex, scenery, sex, sex, dialogue, sex… There’s a story, with characters and a plot and a reason for their pairing. For Taurus I’m stealing a plot that someone posted on Queer Romance Ink; well, not really stealing. Modifying. The original plot includes werewolves. My world in Zodiac does not include werewolves. For Capricorn, I’m modifying Hell on Wheels. And for Virgo, it might be a sweet romance in the middle of a tumultuous time.

Well, it’s back to chiseling out of marble that is War Mage. Time to burn some incense and invoke the muses. Let’s see what they come up with for today.