Eva Pasco's Blog, page 34

Eva’s Byte #215 – Left to My Own Devices…

I’m capable of wreaking havoc.

“Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into.” (Oliver Hardy)

I got myself into another nice mess through my overzealousness to publish my latest release in Kindle and Paperback formats. For all of my valiant efforts, I may as well give a shout-out, while I’m at it, to ‘Mr. Wizardo,’ a novella in the categories of: Women’s Psychological Fiction/Women’s Romance Fiction.

I’m giving myself the full Monty of 72 hours to see if both editions merge on Amazon before I call Author Central.

Instead of leaving well enough alone at Goodreads by uploading only the Kindle edition, left to my own devices, I created a tempest beyond the turbulence in ‘Mr. Wizardo’. I not only added the Paperback, but thought, “Why not combine them?”

In retrospect, I should have left the Paperback out of the mix.

Hence, the havoc:

‘Mr. Wizardo’ disappeared from my Author Dashboard all together, although the book was around, if you get my drift. If one entered a title search on Goodreads, it popped up.

Until remedied, the book even made its own appearance under one of my other novels. Aie, aie, aie!

How could a book be nowhere, yet somewhere else?

I reported my issue by posting my own new thread in the Librarians Group, “Combining and Unmerging”. I’m certainly not alone where it comes to all sorts of “book issues” imaginable and unimaginable there.

All’s well that ends well, thanks to the Librarians who got me out of my fine mess in no time flat, and also apprised me of it.

By and large, the Indie author’s precarious and unpredictable journey begins once “The End” is attained in a document. Left to one’s own devices, as in my case, unforeseen challenges crop up. Fortunately, there is plenty of support at the asking to clean up my fine messes.

Eva’s Byte #214: Leaping Off the Page—DOREEN GALE

NEW RELEASE!

In Character:

Whaddya know! Eva hit the “publish” button at Amazon. MR. WIZARDO is LIVE! The Kindle Edition is available, and the Paperback is in review.

Thanks to Renee Gauthier (RM Designs), who formatted the interior and designed the cover, I’m proud to strut my stuff between the pages.

As Eva already pointed out, this Contemporary novella conveys the central themes of Baum’s classic, but the buck stops there for any other similarities. Scott Crowe, Lyle Forrest, Tim Woodman and I evolve through a life of our own. Each of us grapples with demons, dilemmas, and despair stirred by twists of fate.

Fate brought me to Kansas in the first place. Uprooted from New York, I didn’t exactly fit in with the student population of Franklin High. Struttin’ my stuff in black-on-black and red footwear, three of the most popular girls call me “Wicked Witch of the East” behind my back. I don’t do myself any favors by antagonizing them, putting myself in grave danger. Mr. Wizardo bless his soul, turned my life around.

If not for his funeral, I would never have set foot in Baxter Springs. But, even in death, Mr. Wizardo comes through for me. You’ll see.

As for the other guys, they’ve got their own reasons for wanting to attend the funeral of our former guidance counselor.

For any single gals in the reading pool, Tim Woodman is a good catch. Just sayin’!

May you take a leap of faith by venturing on a soulful journey along the figurative yellow brick road between the pages of MR. WIZARDO. Walk that fine line between magic and realism to discover what destiny holds in store for each of us. If you plan on an extended stay in Baxter Springs, book a room at the Rainbow Hotel.

Doreen Gale


MR. WIZARDO @ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SGZ63ZF

Eva’s Byte #213: Mr. Wizardo’s Solo Flight Over the Rainbow

On December 16, 2017, a collaborative effort by authors Aliya DalRae, R.M. Gauthier, JB Richards, Lyra Shanti, Joanne Van Leerdam, and me—Eva Pasco, took flight: ‘Once Upon a Fabulous Time.’
Escape into the realm of love and magical realism in this co-authored anthology of reimagined fairy tales. Dreams really do come true--if you believe!

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077YTLZ7M

COMING SOON:

‘Mr. Wizardo,’ my novella in the original anthology, will make its debut, flying solo over the rainbow:

(Baxter Springs, Kansas) – A twist of fate! Ten years after graduating from Franklin High, four troubled individuals indebted to their guidance counselor, Oscar Wizardo, wend their way back home to attend his funeral. Grappling with their demons, dilemmas, and despair—Doreen Gale, Scott Crowe, Lyle Forrest, and Tim Woodman follow that figurative yellow brick road, walking a fine line between realism and magic. Discover what destiny holds in store for each of them.

Worlds apart from L. Frank Baum’s original, 'Mr. Wizardo' takes flight over the rainbow through turbulent darkness and plot twists spewing fate’s debris.

Stirring up Debris:

At the age of nine, smitten with L. Frank Baum’s 'The Wonderful World of Oz,' I signed out the school library’s only copy several weeks in a row to read it over and over.

Once more, many years later, I fell under its magic spell. A proverbial funnel-shaped cloud stirred up characters that evolved with a life of their own to convey the central themes of Baum’s classic in a Contemporary novella. But, the buck stops there for comparison.


*May every artist follow their own yellow brick road to fly over the rainbow on wings of imagination.

Eva’s Byte #212: The Powers that Be

Whether conquering evil or overcoming adversity, superheroes in literature and on the big screen have one or more powers at their disposal.

Scratching the surface: invisibility; invincibility; super: strength, intelligence, speed, etc.; healing; teleportation; telekinesis; mind manipulation; mind reading; shape shifting.

A self-published author whose preferred writing genre is Contemporary Women’s fiction, my heroes are honed from ordinary women over forty. Through the trials and tribulations I put them through, they grapple with, confront, and overcome their personal dilemmas/demons to become empowered in making profound life changes for the better.

Not one super power, per se, among them.

Tempered by tragic circumstances, their powers that be, in the guise of resolve and resilience, push them toward the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
Oftentimes, they’re worse for wear. Because—that’s life!

From 'An Enlightening Quiche,' chapter 28:

Lindsay: The turn of events forced Shantae to look at herself in a harsh light and attempt to redress her regrets through self-repudiation and repentance. By the same token, Colette’s terms of departure compelled Estelle to examine her irrational motives for disallowing a friendship. It also justified a truce between Estelle and Augusta, two embittered friends torn apart by the ravages of adultery for the purpose of plotting a funeral, acclimating them to reconcile rather than remain estranged.

*By the powers that be, unassuming heroes rise above the ashes from inner strength tempered by the harshness of life.

The Mother Lode

“One of the most important relationships we have, is the relationship we have with our mothers.” (Iyanla Vanzant)

For better, or worse!

An Indie author whose preferred writing genre is Contemporary Women’s Fiction, I hit the mother lode exploring these complexities, as such, in 'An Enlightening Quiche'. If the shoe fits, my character wears it: abandonment, contention, dysfunction, entitlement, expectations.

A smattering of enlightening tidbits pertaining to Augusta, the town siren, who has a bone of contention with her mother.

Like mother, like daughter?

From Chapter 1:

Her circumstances shrouded in mystery, I misconstrued the constellation of my mother and misjudged her harshly, much to my own detriment. Motherless and mistrustful of her motives to call it quits, I underwent rites of passage typecast as resignation, resentment, and rebellion.

From Chapter 15:

Disclosure forced me to reconsider and redefine my pH level of self-preservation without forfeiting an assumed identity postured on aloofness, cynicism, and seductiveness— identical vanguards my mother adopted as her veneer to ward off alien invasions of the soul. What bittersweet irony in attaining a level of awareness signifying a mother and daughter personified concentric asocial circles, one gestating inside the other so as to be characteristically and charismatically indistinguishable!


The mother lode is a vein of raw material for writers to infuse conviction in their works of fiction.

My Twilight Zone

“You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

(Rod Serling’s opening monologue prefacing each episode of ‘The Twilight Zone.’)

A writer who is committed to creating a believable fictitious world inhabited by fully-fleshed figments of my imagination, I enjoy venturing into a wondrous wilderness of my own making grounded in the reality of local setting. The setting for my novels in the genre of Contemporary is my native state of Rhode Island.

My WIP takes place in the rural “twilight zone” of Foster.

From the Prologue:

Sparsely settled with 90 persons per square mile at the time of the 2010 census, the town of Foster is a state of mind as much as it is a geographic entity for those who live here. Areas of dense woodland by the acre afford each homesteader plenty of elbow room between their nearest neighbors. Properties accessed by narrow driveways snaking homeward, and flanked by a tangle of trees on three sides, grant privacy. So much for swatting at an onslaught of flies and mosquitoes every summer. As for winters, “No school, Foster-Glocester!” This public announcement was heralded often enough by Rhode Island’s beloved radio broadcaster, Salty Brine, on WPRO AM.

The only boundaries reining in my imagination are those pertaining to basic grammar rules as they facilitate cadence and flow:

Comma common sense
Subject – verb agreement

Otherwise, I make my own decisions in constructing sentences and paragraphs along the journey inside my twilight zone where imagination runs wild.

The Twofer

Idiomatically speaking:

"a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”

“killing two birds with one stone”


And, commercially speaking:

“Certs is two, two, two mints in one!”

In my capacity as an Indie author in the throes of advancing my Work in Progress—the twofer pertains to splitting a chapter in two after the fact. I must say, biting off more than I should chew in one chapter, bites me on the butt, in hindsight, every now and then.

At this point in time, the twofer occurred at the juncture of chapter 25, which segued to chapter 26. When something like this happens, smugness overtakes.

Ironically, the increment doesn’t signify I’m any closer to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for completing my novel in the genre of Contemporary. However, the twofer elicited a momentary sense of accomplishment in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.

Renewing Self-Belief

Although Easter is a religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus, the buck doesn’t stop there. Easter behooves one to reflect upon the themes of rebirth, reinvention, or renewal as deemed necessary by each individual.

For me, it’s renewing self-belief.

In what?

My capacity as a writer.

Why?

Because it’s so easy to get sidelined if you’re not grounded in the courage of your convictions. Hence, I’m renewing self-belief in my capacity as a writer who navigates the arduous course that comes with the territory of self-publication.
~
I will continue to take unsolicited advice from the so-called “experts” with a grain of salt.

I will continue to progress along my Work in Progress at my own pace, reaching “the end,” when my characters are ready, and not before.

I will continue to keep the faith that book sales are forthcoming as a result of the merit of my writing—without my offering them for “free”.

That said, I will continue to respect the opinions and practices of other Indies navigating their own rugged terrain the way they see fit.

I will continue to support fellow Indies by purchasing, reading, and reviewing their books. MyTBR list is deep!

*Whatever your walk of life, may you continue to foster self-belief by any means necessary.

Alternatives

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary by the shores of Gitchee Gummee…

(From: “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Sitting behind the computer at my desk by the double-hung window in my office which faces the East Bay, I ponder from time to time the whys and wherefores of forging ahead as an Indie author. Keeping up the momentum on a daily basis to fabricate, write, edit, and promote are taxing and time-consuming. All the while, expenses and expenditures exceed royalties.

The thought of lounging on the sofa, eating bonbons, crosses my mind. Surely, I jest!

More enticing alternatives which fit my lifestyle spring to mind, such as hiking for days on end, or taking a spin class on a regular basis.

But…

As far ahead of me as that light at the end of the tunnel may be, I’m too far in to turn around. In the throes of writing chapter 25 of my WIP, I want to see this novel to “the end,” whenever and however.
In my current state of mind, there is no other alternative but to forge ahead with my writing career.

Proof of that, in real time:

My guest author spot on “Anything Goes” hosted by Bennet Pomerantz:

http://tinyurl.com/y6pobhjb

*When the parameters of your artistic endeavors bog you down, what other alternatives strike your fancy?

A Change of Scenery

In my capacity as an Indie author, I take comfort in the daily routines that come with the territory. However, the agenda makes demands on one’s cognition and time: writing, editing, marketing, maintaining a presence on social media, reading and reviewing books (for me—those written by other Indies).

There comes a time when I need to escape the confines of my office. A native of Rhode Island, “The Ocean State,” bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and large bays and inlets to the east, offers a vast horizon for a change of scenery.

Without planning an itinerary to spend the day in Newport, or hop a ferry to Block Island, all I have to do is accelerate along the coastal route and choose my place in the sun by the sea in a matter of minutes.

While I fancy sitting on an Adirondack chair facing the ocean, my canvas camp chair will do in a pinch. After all, it’s not the chair that transports you to your state of bliss—it’s the scenery. The beach has always been my preferred escape hatch for the hypnotic rhythm of the waves and the serenade of seagull cries.

On my turf, a sanctuary unto itself for a brief interlude, intrusive thoughts from my characters are not allowed.

*Where are you off to?