Heather Lee Dyer's Blog, page 8
August 26, 2015
WorldCon 2015 #sasquan – how it changed my life
If you haven’t ever gone to a WorldCon before, you need to find a way to attend next year in Kansas City. Ignore any politics or negativity. Go as a lover of science fiction and fantasy, enjoy it as a fan, experience it as a lifetime learner and a catalyst for future world change. Science fiction is future, and has always influenced society to move forward.
As an avid reader and a newly published author, I had an absolute blast. It was so much fun meeting all the authors that I’ve read and looked up to over the years. There is nothing more stimulating than hearing the stories of how those authors were once inspiring writers hoping to someday be like the authors they too looked up to.
The authors at #sasquan were very approachable and willing to answer questions and indulge my fangirl excitement. I spent more than what I budgeted on books, but it was worth it to meet so many wonderful people. Besides, books are always welcome in my house!
The panel discussions were fascinating and yet another way to get to know the authors. There were so many choices, often at the same times, it was hard to choose what to do each day. I literally had something scheduled every hour from nine to five every single day.
Lunch was snacks on the run, or nachos from the concession stand. We did have a sit down dinner once when we went with a friend to the Steam Plant, which has fabulous food and excellent service. The building itself inside was a gorgeous structure of wood and glass and multiple levels. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Spokane.
As an introvert I was quite nervous to attend a convention with so many strangers. Going with my friend and fellow writer Cathy helped ease my anxieties and to just enjoy every moment. I tried to not worry or stress and take each moment as it came. This allowed me to meet so many wonderful people that touched my life in ways that will stay with me forever. I tend to stay in my safety zone in my home community. I go to the same places, talk to the same people. Its my comfort zone to ease my anxieties. But at WorldCon I was surrounded by so many different people, and it was fun! My anxieties melted away as I enjoyed learning about other cultures and societies.
L.E. Modesitt was one of those people that touched my heart. I first met Mr. Modesitt at the shuttle stop at the Davenport hotel. We ended up meeting there almost every morning to catch the shuttle to the convention center. We talked all the way through the long registration line, and ran into each other often during the conference. His smiling face and quiet and caring nature spoke happiness into each of my days. I love it when talented authors like Mr. Modesitt are genuinely wonderful people as well.
Zaza Koshkadze was another author that captured my heart. Traveling to the United States for the first time from the country of Georgia, Zaza came not only as a poet and author, but as a shining example to his country of what kind of change and success one person can accomplish. He was inspiring and enjoyable as a panel speaker, which having English as is his second language made it even more incredible! In between panels and parties I got to learn a little bit more about his country and his writing. I look forward to remaining lifelong friends and writing peers with Zaza, as he is a very talented writer and genuine person. I hope the WorldCon committee will decide to bring him back to the states in 2016 for the Kansas City WorldCon.
The Hugos were also an incredible experience for me. I sat right behind Larry Niven, whose Ringworld novels have been my favorite series since childhood. I was excited, but not surprised when Wesley Chu won the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer, and Cixin Liu with translator Ken Liu won the Hugo for Best Novel for The Three Body Problem. It was amazing talking to both Wesley Chu and Ken Liu during the conference, and then watch them win these prestigious awards.
I was very blessed to be a part of this amazing conference, and I hope to one day attend as an author Participant. Thank you to everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this huge opportunity available. I will cherish all the memories that were made and look forward to making many more.
July 9, 2015
The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey
The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey is a very unusual sci fi book. The title of the book doesn’t quite give us a true sense of what we find between its pages. It’s hard to do the book justice in a review without giving away the reasons the main character, Melanie, is so special.
Even without giving away this crucial piece of the story, there are other aspects of it that can be noted. As a post apocalyptic thriller, it does a fantastic job of transporting us to a terrifying possible future. It allows us to explore this scary world through a group of people thrown together by a desperate search for answers. As they find more answers to what is going on around them, they also learn more about what it is to be human.
This book truly is an original, from the beginning where we meet the little girl Melanie in her cell, to the end where we witness her make an important decision that will affect all of humanity.
May 20, 2015
Amish Sci-Fi Brother, Frankenstein by Michael Bunker
I read the ARC of Brother, Frankenstein by Michael Bunker, and can highly recommend it. I really enjoyed Michael’s previous Amish Sci-Fi stories in Pennsylvania, and this one is another hit.
Brother, Frankenstein is perfect for anyone who loves sci-fi and techno-thrillers. The story brings in advanced tech, cyber geeks, explosions and sociopaths alongside a very endearing story of the Amish people, and an autistic 11 year old boy, and what it means to be human. I love the seemingly contrasting worlds of technology and the simple lifestyle of the Amish.
I can’t wait to read the Apocalypse Weird stories and Wick by Michael Bunker as well!
May 13, 2015
The Martian by Andy Weir
I know I say this a lot, but I think this book is one of my favorites this year! I love The Martian by Andy Weir. He makes science fun, interesting and funny. Hilarious, actually. Do NOT try to read this book on your break if you work in cubicle city. I think my cube mates are secretly planning on calling the funny farm on me after hearing me laugh and snort my way through this book.
The main character, Mark Watney is a modern day MacGyver on Mars. His upbeat and irreverent attitude partnered with his often detailed journaling of his adventures makes for an extremely entertaining story. I love all the details and explanations of how and why Mark did things. There are so many scenes that are my favorite, but I think Mark’s interaction with JPL command is hands down the best dialogue ever. Like on page 129 in the paperback edition where JPL command tries to remind Mark that the whole world is watching their interactions. His reaction is priceless. I think being stranded on Mars by oneself justifies his irreverent wisecracks. This is a must-read book!
May 4, 2015
RECYCLING HUMANITY by Heather Lee Dyer
May the 4th be with you! What better day to release a YA Sci Fy book than on Star Wars Day?
Recycling Humanity is my first novel, and it is exciting to see it in print. It has taken me several years to get to this point, but it has been worth every lunch hour and weekend night spent on it. The second in the series, Starlight Max will be out August 1st. I am excited to get going on the revisions for this next one and get it out.
March 10, 2015
March 1, 2015
Step Two in the Editing Journey
Novel #1 is finally in the home stretch! Now that I have the conceptual edits back, I am reworking the novel, chapter by chapter. I have given myself a deadline, and I am pushing forward. Editing is not my favorite part of writing, but I’m trying to embrace it.
It wasn’t easy, getting the feedback. Although I knew it wouldn’t be all rainbows and glitter, it still was hard reading the comments. After all, this is my baby, my first novel, the one that I’ve been working on for 2 years.
So, after a few days of drinking and feeling sorry for myself, I came up with a plan. Well, before the plan, but after the drinking, I sat down and talked with an editor friend of mine. She helped me come up with this plan. A plan to keep my sanity, and to face the editors comments. A plan to make my novel better.
The plan was easy. First of all, I had to read through all of the comments. All of them. Then I took a chocolate break.
Next, I read through the comments again. This time I filtered the comments. I decided which ones I thought applied, which ones would be good for my novel. Those I took notes on. Any comments I didn’t agree with, or that didn’t add to my novel, I ignored.
Now I’m in the last phase of this great plan. I’m integrating the editor’s comments that I agreed with, into my novel. Although a painful process, I have learned a lot from it, and I believe my novel will be better for it. I’m glad I persevered, and didn’t give up.
The next step will be a line by line editor. I look forward to this next hurdle, and I have armed myself with lots of chocolate.
January 15, 2015
From draft to published: Editing – the fun begins!
If you ask anyone who has written a book, they will tell you it isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s hard work, long hours alone hunched over a keyboard, pouring yourself into every word and phrase. So when you do finish that novel, and type The End, it’s celebration time, right?
Of course! But if you actually want other people to buy it and read it, you are only at the beginning of the adventure. Finishing your novel is a fantastic, life changing, and personally fulfilling experience, but it takes more than passion to get your novel out there. Especially if you are choosing to self publish.
When I finished my first novel, and realized it was going to take much more than just typing The End to make it to the bookshelves, I was quite depressed. I was emotionally exhausted, and overwhelmed about what to do next. So, like with every other obstacle I encounter in my life, I researched what to do. I read books and listened to podcasts on editing, marketing, self-publishing, traditional publishing, basically any subject that had to do with writing novels. I especially loved reading novels on writing by authors I admire.
So, after all my research, I decided on three different types of editors for my first novel: a content editor, a line editor, and a copy editor to get it print-perfect.
I’m so excited (and nervous!) because I have sent my novel to Larry Brooks for this first content editing. I have read his books, Story Engineering and Story Physics, and attended one of his full-day workshops. I admire his crystal clear understanding of what a story needs. In almost all of the books on editing I’ve read, I’ve noticed they all basically give the same advice on how to outline and craft your stories, the same advice Mr. Brooks summarizes expertly in his 6 core competencies. I don’t completely comprehend everything he teaches in his books yet, but I’m learning.
As I continue to grow as an author, I hope I will learn to feel more comfortable with this editing process. But this week, with this first big step, I am anxiously waiting for my inbox to tell me I have mail.
Happy Editing!
Heather Dyer
January 1, 2015
2015 a New Year full of possibilities!
I don’t think resolutions should only happen at the start of a new year. I think they should be happening in our lives all year around. Depending on who you ask, you can make a habit successful within six to eight weeks. So if you only make resolutions at the beginning of the year, what will you do after the first two months? If you successfully attain your resolution, what’s next? And if you are unsuccessful, what are you going to do, keep trying all year long? At the end of the year, you only will have felt that you accomplished (or not) one thing (unless you are trying to do several resolutions at one time, which is crazy).
That being said, I do think setting goals are great. We all need long term and short term goals. I just think we should do them more often than January 1st of every year. How about monthly goals? Set aside a few minutes every month to assess where you are and where you want to go, and adjust accordingly. This will be more manageable, and won’t be so overwhelming. Sometimes we set so many goals and resolutions for ourselves that we get frustrated and give up on all of them. Well, I do anyway. I find smaller, more detailed goals are less frustrating and cause less anxiety.
So here are my goals for this year:
1. Get website up and running. Use Blue Host/WordPress. January.
2. Get mailing list going with Mail Chimp. By February.
3. Self-publish 2 books (a series of two that I’ve been working on for a few years). March/May.
4. Finish the second series. Prepare for publishing. June/July/August/September.
5. NaNoWriMo 2015 – this will be the fourth year for me. I love the short term intense goal of writing 50,000 words in a month. This should start a third series or standalone book. November.
6. Research Audiobooks and foreign rights. All year.
7. Attend at least 1 writing conference/retreat/comic con this year.
8. Read, Read, Read! I have many stacks of books around the house that are screaming to be read this year! When I’m writing I can only read a book every week or two, but when I’m just editing or researching I can usually get through 2 novels a week. The use of Audiobooks has really helped me enjoy more of my favorite books – I listen to them to and from work.
The other point to remember when making goals or resolutions are to make them reasonable. A year or two ago there is no way I would even dream about setting goals like these. I just wasn’t ready yet. This year, I have learned the discipline to write just about every day, my health is good and cooperating with me, and I have a great network of family and friends to support me.
So, here’s to an awesome 2015!
Read. Write. Create!
December 18, 2014
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda
The Hunt is my favorite book of the year. Actually, the whole series is: The Hunt, The Prey, The Trap.
I love vampire books anyway, but this series definately is the most inventive and brilliant I’ve read in a long time. The world of The Hunt starts out completely different, the first two sentences draw us into the frightening life Gene leads: “There used to be more of us. I’m certain of this.”
Also, the humans are called “hepers” and the vampires are the “people”. I love the out-of-the-box creativity. Gene thinks he is the last human in the world, and although lonely, keeps going about his daily routine of pretending he’s one of the “people”.
I recommend this series highly to anyone interested in vampires, dystopian societies, or in need of a thrilling and original read.
-Heather
