Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 84

Update: GOALS

(The plan is to check in every Saturday and tally up what I've accomplished, and add any new goals to the list. Feel free to jeer if I don't get at least half this list done this month!)

MAY GOALS LIST as of 05/02/20:

HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS: AFV Defender Book 2 -- revision 2, revision 3, polish/upload for print
2/3 of the way through revision 2

QUITTING THE HERO BIZ: Neighborlee Book 6 -- polish, upload for print
Done -- Polished

YOUNG DEFENDERS BOOK 1: Outline, 1st draft
Done -- Outline

Mt. Zion Ridge Press online conference May 16
TODAY!

Format 3 Neighborlee books for Kindle upload
Done -- Semi-Pseudo-Superheroes, Virtually London, Living Proof (that no good deed goes unpunished)

Tweak 4 published Commonwealth Universe novels
Done -- The Lady and the Order, Fever,  University

New Release Sample: CONFESSIONS OF A LOST KID

Warning: If Divine's Emporium doesn't like someone, they don't hang around Neighborlee very long. People who resist the "go away, we don't like you" sensation long enough to become conscious of it describe it as itching powder under their skin. If they dig their heels in and stay in town, they usually go kind of crazy. Not a fun, genial, wacky old favorite aunt kind of crazy, either. The nasty, megalomaniac, "the world owes me" mindset that deliberately picks fights over stupid, worthless matters. If there was a Wikipedia listing for Neighborlee, and a definition of the Neighborlee defensive effect, here there would be a note saying, “See: Grandstones.”
Divine's welcomed me, though. I stood staring at the Wishing Ball, my hand firmly tucked in Mrs. Silvestri's, just amazed. I wanted to get up there, and I was playing with the idea of using my trick to get up to the counter for a closer look, when Angela walked into the room.
I had discovered my trick quite by accident, just a few months before. I was momentarily unsupervised in the cottage, wanted a cookie, and didn't want to wait for someone to open the cupboard and get it for me. So I climbed up onto the table in the kitchen and walked across it to the counter. A logical progression for a nearly-five-year-old, right? The problem was the four-foot gap between the kitchen table and the counter. I didn't stop to think, I just took a running leap, like I had seen someone do on TV the night before.
My jump took me up to the top of the cupboards. I hung in the air for a good ten seconds before drifting down to the shelf where the cookies sat out in plain view.
I could fly. Kinda-sorta fly. Not zipping through the air like a jet or a certain alien superhero. More like controlled gliding, or going straight up, hovering, and coming straight down. When I got older, that talent made it possible to get incredible photos. Again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Adventure: with author CINDY THOMSON: My Current Scribing Adventure, pt. 2

CONTINUED from Thursday:

And that brings me up to today. I just finished a new novel, one I worked on for nearly two years. When it’s polished and the book proposal is ready, I will seek out a new publisher. I could publish it myself, but I would like the support a big publisher can offer (having experienced that earlier with my traditionally published books). Maybe I’ll get another agent at some point. Or maybe not, who knows?
The publishing life is filled with ups and downs. Once I realized that, it was a little easier to go with the flow. In today’s environment, there are lots of possibilities for writers. While competition is tough, there are still plenty of readers out there. Traditional publishers, small presses, indie publishing, blogs, magazines … so many opportunities await.
One thing I’ve noticed while quarantining and observing social media posts from others is that this time of slowing down has sparked creativity in many people. Baking, painting, gardening, sewing, crafting, writing, making music … I hope you are doing something to get connected to your creative side because everyone has one. Do you agree? Keep on creating!

Bio: Known for the inspirational Celtic theme employed in most of her books, Cindy Thomson is the author of six novels and four non-fiction books, including her newest, Finding Your Irish Roots. A genealogy enthusiast, she writes from her home in Ohio where she lives with her husband Tom near their three grown sons and their families. 


PRIZE DRAWING:
Anyone who comments on either post Thursday and Friday AND comments on any post at http://cindyswriting.com/blog/ will be entered in the drawing to win this nifty bookmark, to be held May 22.


Web site: http://www.cindyswriting.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cindyswriting
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cindy-thomson
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cindyswriting
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/cindyswriting
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/cindythomson

The Adventure: with author CINDY THOMSON: My Current Scribing Adventure

Hello!

I’m happy you stopped by to hear my wee tale. I call it my current adventure because after almost twenty years of writing for publication (not counting the years I just made up stories just for my own amusement) I have learned that the writing journey is ever changing.
For me, it started with my interest in researching my family roots. I started as a teenager collecting names and dates from the oldest family members at family reunions and by writing letters. I wish now I had asked for more stories along with those names and dates. Stories are the most interesting part. I was fortunate to find someone who had traced one branch of my family back to 1771 when the family came to America from Ireland. I was hooked. Why did they come then? Why did they leave one daughter behind in Ireland? What was America like when they came and why did they keep pulling up roots and relocating across the new country? I couldn’t find all those answers other than what the reasons likely were for anyone living at that time. So … I made it up! That was my first adventure into writing fiction, a story that has never been published but led to other things.

I eventually found an agent and then a publisher for my first book. At the same time I co-authored a baseball novel that was published by a university press, a completely different experience than publishing novels. Then my fiction publisher wanted no more fiction. They did, however, publish a non-fiction book I wrote. After that I busied myself by writing a ton of genealogy articles for magazines. Then obtained a new agent, then a new publisher and two published novels. Yay, right? But then one book by that publisher was canceled. Eventually my new agent left me and I went on to self-publish several new books (including the one that the publisher had canceled, which some readers have said was my best novel thus far!)
If this sounds like I was doing a lot, remember it’s over twenty years!

CONTINUED Friday

PRIZE DRAWING:
Anyone who comments on either post Thursday and Friday AND comments on any post at http://cindyswriting.com/blog/ will be entered in the drawing to win this nifty bookmark, to be held May 22.
Bio: Known for the inspirational Celtic theme employed in most of her books, Cindy Thomson is the author of six novels and four non-fiction books, including her newest, Finding Your Irish Roots. A genealogy enthusiast, she writes from her home in Ohio where she lives with her husband Tom near their three grown sons and their families.   


Web site: http://www.cindyswriting.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cindyswriting
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cindy-thomson
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cindyswriting
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/cindyswriting

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/cindythomson

New Release Sample: CONFESSIONS OF A LOST KID

Outings with Mrs. S were special occasions. We all loved her, even if she did rule with an iron fist and no one could ever get away with anything. The important thing was that we knew she loved us, fiercely, like a lioness. No one ever made fun of her children or pushed us to the back of the line. No one pried into our lives and put us under a microscope, and then when they decided we weren’t useful, relegated us to the trash, the way the Grandstones did.
The Grandstones were Neighborlee's resident robber barons and spoiled rich kids, with the attitude that they were entitled to everything and anyone they wanted. If they had to rewrite history to prove it, they would.
Mrs. S took me to lunch at Miller's Diner, where I had my first ever peanut butter chocolate malt. I knew Stephanie Groves, the waitress who took care of us. She was an NCH graduate who came in once a month to do crafts or bake with the children, or just play games with us. Many of the Lost Kids came back to NCH and repaid the debt of love and care they had been given.
After lunch, we went to Divine's Emporium and I met Miss Angela. Divine's is an old Victorian house, one of the oldest in town, painted olive and gold, with all the fancy gingerbread trimming and gables and skinny windows and a deep porch and a flagstone walk and a wrought iron fence across the front. It sits on the edge of a somewhat steep hill, at the end of a dead-end street, looking down over the Metroparks. The hill isn't too steep that deer can't come up the slope to Angela's garden in back. They don't pillage her garden like they do other gardens in town, and she puts out salt licks and bins of grain and fruit for them. All the animals that come to visit behave themselves in Angela's garden.

That's the outside. The inside…is a wonderland. Lots of rooms that, from the outside, should be small, yet feel huge on the inside, filled with a wonderful hodge-podge of treasures. Lots of secondhand items, with Divine's doing a booming resale business. A glorious mixture of pottery and crystal, rag dolls, candles, used books, wind chimes, old furniture, nostalgia toys, a tiny soda fountain/coffee shop tucked into a corner, jewelry, vintage clothes, apothecary jars full of penny candy, and the Wishing Ball.
The Wishing Ball, that day I first saw it, sat on the marble countertop in the main room of the shop, next to an old-fashioned brass cash register. It was about the size of a bowling ball, something along the lines of those gazing balls that some people put in their gardens, but dark, with metallic rainbow streaks all through it. The colors seemed to move. Not when I was looking straight at them, but as I turned my head, or from the corner of my eyes. The stand was a coiled, dark brass dragon, the long tail wrapped around twice.

Off the Bookshelf: MY ALIEN BOYFRIEND, by Janeen Ippolito

All right, so this is a short story, not a book, but it's still good.
Silly.
Snarky.

Basically calling out a lot of tropes from romance and SF where the hero has a HUGE secret and the heroine gets yanked into a world she didn't anticipate. Even though she was warned.

And a big lesson on communication. The need for it. And not letting romance sweep you completely off your commonsense feet!

Kelly has fallen hard for Anthony, an independently wealthy guy who is entirely adorable. And completely clueless. And hot. Literally. She thinks he's joking, or maybe a little crazy, when he makes the oddest -- and longest -- marriage proposal on record. So she isn't serious when she says basically, "Sure, why not?"

And ends up having her life entirely turned around and upside down. Talk about culture shock!

Of course you know I need to get the next book, of what happens after she says yes for real, seriously, knowing what she's getting into.

Update: GOALS

(The plan is to check in every Saturday and tally up what I've accomplished, and add any new goals to the list. Feel free to jeer if I don't get at least half this list done this month!)

MAY GOALS LIST as of 05/02/20:

HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS: AFV Defender Book 2 -- revision 2, revision 3, polish/upload for print

QUITTING THE HERO BIZ: Neighborlee Book 6 -- polish, upload for print
Done -- Polished

YOUNG DEFENDERS BOOK 1: Outline, 1st draft
Done -- Outline

Mt. Zion Ridge Press online conference May 16

Format 3 Neighborlee books for Kindle upload
Done -- Semi-Pseudo-Superheroes, Virtually London

Tweak 4 published Commonwealth Universe novels
Done -- The Lady and the Order, Fever, 

New Release Sample: CONFESSIONS OF A LOST KID

CONFESSIONS OF A LOST KID
Neighborlee, Ohio
Book 1

Fantasy

www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com
www.Mlevigne.com


Welcome to Neighborlee, Ohio.
Where? Somewhere on the North Coast of Ohio, south of Cleveland, right off I-71, north of Medina, in the heart of Cuyahoga County.
What is it? That’s a little harder to explain.
Neighborlee is a place you need to experience.
The most important thing you need to understand: Neighborlee is magic . Some people say the town is alive. It exists to protect the weird and wonderful (and sometimes a little bit scary) from the cold, practical, material world.
More important, Neighborlee protects the outside world from the weird and wonderful that come to visit … and sometimes come to stay.
First stop: Divine’s Emporium, a four-story Victorian house sitting on a hill overlooking the Metroparks. Whatever you really need, you can find at Divine’s. Even if you don’t know what you’re looking for when you walk in the door. The shop is often bigger inside than it is outside. Angela is the proprietor. Please stay on the first floor. You don’t want to find out what is hidden and locked safely away upstairs. Like Aslan, Angela is good, but that doesn’t mean she’s safe. And neither are the secrets and wonders and doorways to other worlds that she protects … and keeps securely locked.
Come in and explore. Meet the people who help Angela guard Neighborlee. Share their adventures of magic and wonder, danger and sacrifice. You never know who or what you’ll run into as you walk the streets and listen to the stories of their lives.

THE ADVENTURE: Entry 1, Day 2

So, what have I done so far to fix all the glitches and contradictions and just plain, "Why did I write THAT?" instances in my Commonwealth Universe books?

The goal is to go through 1 book each week.
So far it's been kind of fun, because I haven't read some of these books in years. Like, 15 or more.

I started with my first Commonwealth books published: The SUNSINGER series.
Young Adult, maybe even qualifying as Middle Grade.
When I told my publisher what I was doing, she very logically said, "Don't you think you should start at the BEGINNING, the chronological order of events in the series?"

Hmmm, she's partially right. But the thing is, the moist recently published Commonwealth books are the furthest back in Commonwealth history. I KNOW what they say, but I can't really remember what I said in the SUNSINGER books. And that's where the contradictions have grown. I didn't make notes when I wrote them because at the time I didn't PLAN to have a Commonwealth Universe, just 10 books about an orphan boy who gets to grow up on a small starship and become a hero.

Here's a big, important lesson, folks: TAKE NOTES
Be organized. Make lists of people and terminology and places and historical events you made up. You might just need to remember and use them someday.

I didn't. So that's why I'm reading through all my books and making big changes.

So far I've read, and fixed, and made notes on:
SUNSINGER
SPACER'S CREED
DEAD WORLD
THE LADY AND THE ORDER

I'm establishing standards for terms. For instance, in one sub-set of books, months were lunes and weeks were quarters, in another sub-set they were lunars and quars, in another I left them months and weeks. See the problem? Consistency is vital for survival!

The little fixes need to start with SUNSINGER, the references to historical events that are different from what actually happens in the books about those events. It's kind of fun. Kind of a headache. But I think we'll all be happier when I'm done. (Not gonna confess to some really big, stupid mistakes I need to fix. If nobody has asked me about them yet, I'm not going to tell you what they were!)

If YOU have read a Commonwealth Universe book, and you had some questions about a person or event or terminology or detail of history, please write to me and ask. Who knows? You could help me fix a glitch, or might even give me an idea for a new story.

Just post in the comment section, and I'll get it!
Thanks!

Introducing: THE ADVENTURE

Welcome to THE ADVENTURE

Hopefully ... this will be a weekly feature, talking about what's going on with writers, writer friends, communities, events, whatever. The focus is on BOOKS!

Thursday and Friday each week, I'll invite a writer to talk about a new book, a work-in-progress, something that has challenged them, maybe offer you a chance to get a book or another goody related to their newest title. Sky's the limit -- and we're just getting started, so we'll figure it out as we go along and learn what works, what is a smashing success, and what falls faster than a lead balloon ....

And if I can't get someone to contribute in any particular week ... sorry, gang, you're stuck with ME!

(cue: evil laughter ..........)

So today ... just to get things going ....

I'm on a HUGE adventure.
Readers (and someone my publisher assures me is my biggest fan) have commented on a few ... umm ... glitches. Inconsistencies. Contradictions. Face it: MISTAKES.

Yeah, readers have found mistakes in some of my Commonwealth Universe books. A statement about places or people or "historical events" in one book is contradicted or just doesn't quite mesh up with a statement about the event or people or whatever in another book. Or, as has happened when I finally sit down to write an entire BOOK about an event mentioned in two or three sentences, in a book I wrote maybe 10 years before ... well, they don't quite fit. Maybe you can blame Human memory (mine, and the characters relating the event) and we all know how people rewrite personal history to make themselves look better, or make someone else look bad.

SO HERE'S WHAT I'M DOING:

I'm going through every single published Commonwealth Universe book and novella -- over 25 -- and I'm taking notes, I'm creating a "guidebook" and establishing standards and making sure that the history of a planet or the rise of technology or a family tree or other bits and pieces are written down and organized, and I'm making changes in the books as I go through each one.

Reading the existing books will help me "get up to speed" to start writing Commonwealth Universe books again. Because face it, those of you who have actually read any of them ... there are some big holes in the timeline. Over 25 books published now, with over 50 planned by the time I'm done. Yeah, lots of holes to fill in.

More on the big project tomorrow!