Amy DeMeritt's Blog, page 2

Yes, I'm Writing

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a book update, so I think it’s time I let you in on what I’m working on. First, I think it’s necessary to explain a little bit about how my mind works. I’m a very eclectic person with a lot of interests and I like to do as much as possible. I’m also a big multitasker – I’m much more productive if I’m working on multiple projects at once. That being said, I’m also a perfectionist. I scrutinize my work very thoroughly and I don’t allow myself to take any shortcuts. So, even if I’m working on, say, ten projects, not a single one will be done half-assed.

So, now that you have a little bit of insight into the brain of Amy, let’s get to the more interesting news. I’m mainly working on my lesbian romance series – The Dancing Wolf. I’ve released the first three books in this series, and I’m currently working on writing book seven, while proofing and editing books four through six. When I started writing the first book in this series, I only had a standalone novel planned. The plan was to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and write about a type of relationship foreign to me. Polyamory is a very interesting way of loving, and is very complex, with many variations, rules, and expectations. In, The Dancing Wolf, I focus on a monogamous form of polyamory. About halfway through writing book one, the story grew like a jungle watered with a tankard of Miracle Grow. In ten months, one book has become seven, with new growth sprouting up every day to inspire even more installments in the series.

You’d think with my mind as occupied as it is with this series that I wouldn’t have room or time to work on anything else. Well, I kindly ask you not to underestimate my brain so much. In addition to working on The Dancing Wolf series, I’m working on another lesbian romance series. I’ll be releasing books one and two in The Brooke and Hannah series before the end of the year, and I’m working on writing book three to release early next year.

Ok, seriously, I’m not done. No, two series are not enough for my brain to focus on. I’m also working on a romantic comedy series for my website with short scenes. The Cat’s Meow will be a free series with weekly installments released to keep you entertained and engaged in between my book releases. Yeah, that tankard of Miracle Grow spilled everywhere and has stuff popping up uncontrollably, so I’m going to share the fruits of the creative garden with you.

Is that it? No, not quite. I don’t get to work on this as often, but my next big project is a collection of short-horror stories. Horror stories from a lesbian romance author? Yeah, I’m eclectic, remember?

Ok, I’m still not done. I currently have over thirty planned projects with very detailed notes for new novels in a folder called “Back Burner Projects”, and that folder grows on a weekly basis. Needless to say, I have enough content to keep you well entertained for a very long time. I’ll pump it out as quickly as I can at optimum quality.

Ok, so that concludes the update – for now.

Living with Wild Abandon

As children, we tended to live with wild abandon. At least, I did. I remember spending more time outside exploring and trying new things, than I spent time in front of the TV. In the summers, my sisters and I would spend nearly every waking moment outside. As soon as we finished eating breakfast, we were out the door, and typically, running straight into the woods. The edge of the woods was thick with thorn bushes and weeds, so we’d have to use a long stick to part a sliver through the twisting, prickling thicket, just large enough to squeeze through. Hardly ever did we make our entry or exit without sustaining at least a few red beaded surface scratches on our arms, legs, and faces. But it never stopped us. Into the woods, with wild abandon, and a thirst for adventure, we plunged through the thorns and spider webs.

Once through the woods thick protective boarder, the woods opened up into a wonderland of fallen trees to climb on, fields of skunk cabbage to laugh about, and red clay filled creeks to play in. We could spend hours in the woods every single day trying to explore every inch of the place.

It was our place. There weren’t any adults telling us we couldn’t touch something, or couldn’t do something. If we wanted to climb across a half-rotted tree to cross the clay filled creek – we did it. If we wanted to climb a tree till its top was bending and swaying from our weight – we did it. If we wanted to dig clay out of the creek bed and make our own pots and sculptures – we did it. Then we painted them with purple choke berries. If we wanted to build a fort in the middle of the woods – we did it.

As children, our eagerness for new things, and our spontaneity was a force to be reckoned with. As adults, we tend to fall into habits, due to our busy schedules, and we end up losing that incredibly refreshing and addictive thirst for adventure. It beckons to us daily, but we are often too hard headed to hear or heed it. We scan feeds on our computers of distant paradises, stare in awe at pictures of natural wonders, watch videos of people doing wild and death defying stunts, and we constantly tell ourselves, “one day”.

Oh, to be a child again – to have that sense of, ‘Who the hell cares? I’m doing this, right now!’ Where would I go? What would I do? Probably, everywhere and everything. As a child, that strip of untouched woods seemed so huge to me, and it was packed full of adventure every time I pushed through the thorns to get there.

Now, the entire world is my strip of adventure filled woods, and my thicket of thorns I push through is my adult reservations, responsibilities, and obligations. Every day, I tell myself, “you’ll have an adventure this weekend.”

Being a writer means my adventures often involve me delving into the worlds within my own mind so I can create them on paper for others. I guess I must give credit to that wonderful aspect of being an adult – we can be content for a time to adventure in a book, rather than the wild woods.

But as I look back at my childhood, I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic and longingly for the innocence of being spontaneous and wild. Building a fort in the living room with blankets, chairs, and couch cushions. Playing flashlight tag on a warm summer night. Running and dancing in the rain with my mom and sisters (which is my absolute favorite memory of my mother). And snacking on wild blackberries, crab apples, and honeysuckle flowers after a long hike in the woods. So simple and innocent, but some of the strongest memories I have.

Here’s to tearing an old T-shirt apart, tying it to a stick, and drawing a crest of innocent defiance upon it. Here’s to marching with wild abandon, through the thicket of thorn, and emerging on the other side, in the land of endless adventure. Here’s to planting our flag of spontaneity in our hearts and trekking forward. Here’s to teaching our adult minds how to think like a child’s wild soul.

Here’s to the endless adventures awaiting us…

Start Now - Make Life Happen

There is never an ideal time to start anything new. No matter how hard we try to plan for something, life will always give us an excuse to push it off for another day. Time, money, talent, knowledge, support, health, family, and confidence – all of these and more become the roadblocks we haphazardly toss in our own paths, preventing us from achieving our dreams.

All of us have our limits to how much we can do in a day, but too often, we actually limit ourselves, instead of allowing ourselves to reach our true limit. We underestimate ourselves so much that we begin to believe that we can’t achieve better than the status quo.

The status quo is like a desert wasteland. It’s unchanging and deadly. The status quo stifles us till life has no meaning. It turns a day of unimaginable opportunity, into a day of regrets. Living a status quo life is boring and tragic.

Everyone has responsibilities and obligations, but that doesn’t mean we have to live a mundane life. We can always find the time for greatness.

What is defined as greatness?

It’s anything and everything that’s different from our habitual lifestyle. Instead of rotating through the same four boring dinners nightly – get adventurous and try a new recipe. Don’t cook? Even better! Learn how! Instead of running on the treadmill, find a safe place outdoors to pound out steps in the real world. Instead of watching the same reruns on TV every night, crack open a new book and discover a whole new world.

Small changes will make a huge difference in keeping us out of a status quo lifestyle and they give us the courage to make the leap for the big changes. Such as, learning a new skill, changing careers, or using the talents we already have, but don’t exercise.

If there’s something you’ve been wanting to do, start now. Determine the steps you need to take to make it happen, and get to work. Roll up those sleeves, puff out your chest, hold your head up high, and climb that mountain.

When we remain in a status quo rut, life happens to us. When we push ourselves beyond our limits and reach for some greatness, we make life happen. No matter the obstacles, no matter how many times we stumble, the experience of climbing that mountain for some greatness is worth the bumps and scraps.

Start now…

People are Individuals, Not Groups

I don’t blog often, so for me to make the next statement may seem a bit ironic, but here it goes. This is not my typical blog post, but it felt important enough that I needed to write it.

I saw a post on Twitter today that disturbed me enough to cause an internal debate on the reaction of logical reasoning we have in the face of judgement, criticism, and injustice.

The post read: Insecure people always put others down, that’s just how it goes.

Immediately, I thought, this is such a dangerously inaccurate statement. The person has the statement mixed up a bit, which is what makes it a dangerous statement.

I believe the post should read: The act of putting another person down is an unhealthy manifestation of being insecure.

First of all, before I delve too deeply into this particular statement, I must say, broad statements like the original comment, encompassing an entire group of unique individuals who may share one or few commonalities, is a sign of ignorance and vastly reduces one’s ability to understand a person and yourself. Never associate behavior with an entire group – everyone is unique and should be treated as individuals, not groups.

As far as the above statement goes, everyone has insecurities. No one in this world is free from the burden of insecurities. Whether it’s about their appearance, intelligence, skills, likability, finances, morality, gender and sexual orientation, race, religion, etc., everyone feels insecure about something.

The above statement made on Twitter states, “insecure people ALWAYS put others down”. If you agree with my argument that everyone has insecurities, then you’ll probably agree that everyone at some point in their life has put someone else down, for whatever reason. So, “insecure” people can’t have a pass completely – everyone does it, often without realizing they’re doing it. However, to say someone with insecurities, ALWAYS puts others down is just ridiculous. Everyone’s insecurities manifest in different ways, while most are able to stay hidden.

Instead of looking at the “insecure person”, I want to analyze why people, in general, “put others down”. There is no one reason that a person may try to tear another person down. There are countless reasons, and many times, a person is not even aware of why they are doing it.

I’ve narrowed down what I believe to be the top five reasons a person would “put others down”. These are based on my own life experiences of interacting with countless unique individuals. No poll or scientific study went into this – just pure observation of, and attentiveness to people. These are also not in any particular order.

1.       To fit in with peers

2.       To appear strong in the face of someone who makes you feel unimportant

3.       In retaliation for an injustice you endured

4.       To hide the fact that you share commonalities with that person

5.       Because you are hurting and want someone to feel like you do so you’re not alone in your pain

Indeed, insecurity of some kind is the cause of lashing out against another person, but not everyone deals with their insecurities this way. Silence and inaction are more often the way people choose to deal with their insecurities. To protect themselves, people withdrawal and hide from these issues. Lashing out at someone reveals your weaknesses. Most people are dealing with a daily struggle to appear strong and aren’t willing to risk gaining a crack in their façade.

Too often, when we receive injustice or someone “puts us down”, we immediately pass judgement, not just on that person, but entire groups of people. I’m going to repeat myself here – everyone is unique and should be treated as individuals, not groups! Everyone behaves differently, thinks and feels differently, and reacts differently. No two people are identical.

Let’s give people the respect they deserve and see them as individuals. Don’t reduces a person’s worth and uniqueness by compartmentalizing them as a group.

Ditching Comfort for Progressive Love

It’s been said that being comfortable in your place in life can be the most dangerous condition of the mind. When you’re comfortable, you can become scared to try new things, fear change – Instead of learning how to go with the flow, reject innovation and creativity, and eventually, you can become irrelevant, even to yourself.

I love getting out of my comfort zone. I love trying new things – whether it be, a new cuisine, a new outdoor activity, or listening to a new genre of music. Experiences are only exciting if they change. Doing the same thing every day becomes boring and drags you down mentally and physically.

I put that same adventurous thinking into my writing. Each story I write is unique and their characters and obstacles and victories they experience are unique. In my latest release, Building the Family – Book 1 of The Dancing Wolf Series, I pushed myself far beyond my comfort zone. At times, it was actually hard to write – not because I don’t like what I wrote, but because it is so progressive that I wondered if the world is ready for it.

But thinking like that is just as dangerous as staying in your comfort zone. If we think that something is too progressive, or too innovative, we may never advance as a society.

Love is a complicated phenomenon, one that is vastly underestimated, and not very well understood. In this series, I push the boundaries of what society holds as the acceptable principles of love. I push forward out of the comfort zone, and by doing so, I challenge the concept of understanding to expand.

It's finally here!

Sometimes, or maybe most times, things don’t go as planned. My original vision for the book cover for Keeper of My Heart was one of those moments. Aside from becoming creatively distracted from completing the final editing and formatting for the interior of KOMH, I ran into some delays with the build on my “perfect cover design” for the book.

Sometimes, but probably not most time, it works out when things don’t go as planned. When my mind had enough room to begin working on getting KOMH ready for release, a new idea for the cover design was born. So, a handcrafted horseshoe heart was bought and a photo-shoot date with my best friend, Kristin, was scheduled.

While drinking hot chai lattes from a tiny café tucked down a cobblestone alley in Historic Old New Castle, we roamed old brick sidewalks, turning the small city into our photography studio. A hundred pictures later, we had the one – the image to match the vision I had in my head.

Creating a book cover can be a very stressful experience. You want just the right image to convey some meaning from the story, but also have it grab the attention of your audience. It needs to be interesting. It’s more intimidating than writing the story.

In this instance, having things not go as planned eliminated that stressful intimidation that building a cover always causes. How can clear blue skies with a warm spring sun, tiny blue butterflies landing in your path, gentle tides of the Delaware River lapping at the shore, and delicious chai lattes – all while in the company of your best friend, be intimidating?

So, a special thanks to Kristin for taking the stress out of the cover build for Keeper of My Heart and lending her photography skills to make my unplanned vision come to life.

Creatively Distracted...

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve dropped a blog post!

My only explanation I can offer for failing at maintaining the blog is that I fell into a deep creative chasm in my mind and have been writing like a demon – cranking out several novels for two different lesbian romance series. In five months, I’ve written six novels, and made extensive notes and plans for three more, between the two-different series, and am now working on editing them. To say that I’ve been busy is an understatement.

Sometimes, creativity sneaks up on us and we just have to let it grab us and take it wherever it wants. It’s a wild ride – one that I love and often over indulge in. The next novel I’ll be releasing is a standalone, titled, “Keeper of My Heart”. This is actually the second book I’ve ever completed, but because I often allow my creativity to pull me in different directions, it will be the fourth in order of publication. While I was working on editing “Keeper of My Heart”, the worlds for “She Became my Water” and “The Perfect Right Hook” begged loudly to be born into ink and paper. Who am I to deny the birth of new creation? So, of course, I had to set the current project aside and allow them to flow through my cerebral channels, guiding typing fingers to paint words into windows, giving light to their existence.

“Keeper of My Heart” has undertones of a host of diverse and unique characters dealing with a lot of social stigmas and judgements with homosexuality, loveless sexual relationships, sexual experimentation, religious oppression (Islam), and how to heal from a broken heart and accepting ones-self – flaws and all. The dynamic between these characters brings you full spectrum through your emotions and you’ll quickly fall in love with the entire cast.

Stay tuned for news on the two-different series I have in the works – I’m very excited for you to fall into both worlds as I have.

Writers Obligation to Educate

I am going to pose a thought that I think a hundred years ago would have been welcomed as common sense and supported by the literary world as a standard of fact. Today, however, I think this statement would be a bit more controversial given the “statistics” people use to back their opinion against it. Here it is.

A writer is an artist with an obligation to educate through the presentation of their piece of art.

Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you will read on so I can explain why.

The reason I am writing this is I have been reading a lot of blogs lately written by “successful” writers/authors supporting a statistic that your writing should be “dumbed down” for an eleven-year-old to be able to comprehend it because most readers don’t have a better reading comprehension above that level. Some blogs explain further that this really should only apply to what you post online in your blog or a magazine or newspaper article. Some, however, support the idea that all writing, including novels, should be dumbed down and simplified. (No adjectives in a fictional novel? Really? How boring!)

When I read these articles, I was floored. Whatever happened to “knowledge is power”? In a world where the job markets are saturated with far too many candidates and far too few jobs to fill, competition to be the best you can, is at its highest level. Good paying jobs today require you to have good speaking and writing skills. You are the face and voice for your company. If you cannot appear smarter than an eleven-year-old, why should they hire you?

Companies want people that can learn and be trained on whatever they need you to do. If your comprehension is only that of an eleven-year-old, can you really be trained to use complex computer programs, deal with difficult customers on the phone or in person in a professional manner, and possibly lead and manager other people?

I won’t bore you with siting journals or scientific studies – a simple internet search can lead you to the research if you so desire it, but it has been proven in a number of studies, as well as by teachers I have known that a good foundation in reading and writing allows the brain to better understand other subjects, such as math and science. Reading is the gateway form of education to learning everything else more efficiently.

So, what is the responsible writer educating his/her readers on? Aside from the obvious – grammar, spelling, and complex sentence structure, a good responsible writer teaches, through their art, how to convey thought in an understandable way, how to describe something in more than one way, how to paint a picture in someone’s mind, how to hope and love, how to triumph, and so many other wonderful things. Reading shouldn’t just be for simple quick entertainment like watching a television sitcom. Reading should be an experience that leaves you wanting more from life. It should leave you feeling empowered and stronger. It should leave you richer than before you read that first word. Reading is an exercise of growth.

A responsible writer, not a writer only looking to cash in on readers, wants to leave their reader with a wonderful experience and help them climb higher and mature. 

Writers are growing and maturing with each piece they write. As they polish their craft and get better at writing, that writing becomes more complex and vivid. If readers don't grow with them, writers aren’t going to have an audience anymore.

A society with a majority having only the comprehension level of a preteen should be scary enough of a concept to convert writers to not pander to this “dumbing down” theory. If it’s not, what a sad world we have to look forward to.  

Most Important Skills a Writer Needs - In My Opinion

If you’ve read my bio, you’ve probably deduced that I am not working in a writing field/career. I am new on the writing scene, however, I have been writing since a young age. What I do for a living, or rather, what I do that pays the bills, currently, requires a great deal of flexibility, self-management, analytic skills, ability to multitask, manage staff and projects, and a whole laundry list of super amazing skills and abilities. Yes, that’s me tooting my horn for a moment. The skills and high level of responsibility I have at work have really come in handy in my writing. Not everyone is great at multitasking; some downright freeze and become completely useless if given more than one task. I on the other hand, excel and flourish in the chaos of multiple projects, rapidly changing expectations, and unforeseen hiccups in well thought out plans. Give me an easy mundane day and I feel off kilter and slower in my work. Throw ten projects at me, all with unrealistic expectation, and some serious magic happens. 

Being a great writer requires flexibility, self-management, ability to analyze, and the ability to multitask. These are probably the least discussed skills a writer should have, but are the most important – in my opinion. Without these, you are going to struggle a great deal in telling the stories itching at your skull to be released. Sure, having a good vocabulary (or a good dictionary and thesaurus if you don’t) and having a good understanding of grammar rules (or a great editor if you can afford one) are both very important in being a successful story teller/writer, but these alone will not get those words on paper. 

Turning headcanon into sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and eventually novels takes much more than just having a creative mind. 

Flexibility: This applies to everything about the writing process - your time, how you write, story development/changes, etcetera. Schedules and goals are great, but if you get so fixated on the rigidity of them, writers block will eventually hit or you will burn out. Set the goals, but if the words don’t come as easily one day, don’t fret over it. Be more concerned with development than the results. If you are sitting staring at a screen or notebook and the words aren’t flowing, reread what you have already written. Re-familiarize yourself with the progress you’ve made and be content if that is all you accomplish in that sitting. Sometimes, a story needs more time to “marinade” in your mind before its ready to come out. Also, if you write storyboards or notes and feel stuck in trying to materialize them into your story, sometimes your story is trying to go in an unplanned direction. Listen to your imagination and trust it. Be willing to make changes as you go along or in the editing phase. I have written countless plans, notes, and chapters in advance for various stories just to have the story take completely different turns as I am writing and I have completely scrapped entire scenes and chapters in the editing phase as a result of my own review or through the recommendation of a beta reader. You and your story will benefit a great deal in your ability to be flexible. 

Self-management: I’m not going to discuss time management or disciplining yourself to actually sit down and write on a regular basis. When I speak of self-management, I am speaking of the time you should be doing anything other than writing. We all have our daily responsibilities and they cannot be ignored. Actually, ignoring your other responsibilities can lead to a feeling a guilt, which will lead to distraction. I have experienced this first hand too many times. So, even though you feel eager to get your story out and feel like you should just sit down and write till your fingers fall off and your eyes are popping out of your head, don’t. If you think you will lose an idea unless you get it down, take some quick notes that will jog your memory later, but do not neglect your other responsibilities. Work, family/friends, household chores, errands, etcetera – anything you are responsible for, you need to balance with your writing. Occasional neglect of these tasks won’t completely kill your inspiration, but if you completely shut yourself off from these for an extended period of time, it’s going to work on your psyche enough that it will affect your productivity and your creativity in very negative way. So, if you are feeling uninspired, look around yourself and see if there is something you should be doing, but are ignoring under the excuse that you need to write. 

Multitasking: This is not about your ability to sit in front of your computer typing a few sentences on your novel between checking your Twitter timeline, watching the next episode of your favorite TV show, texting, watching your pet doing something silly under your feet, or trying to remember the lyrics of some new tune you heard on the radio so that you can YouTube the music video. These are all distractions and rarely contribute to the successful formation of a novel. Remember that paragraph on self-management? Multitasking piggy-backs on that. While you are being the responsible person you are and taking care of those necessary chores for the health of your psyche and creativity, you can use a good portion of your brain to work on story development. Build scenes, dialog, backstory, characters, and so forth, all in your mind while you are doing the dishes, or giving the floors a good mopping. Tasks like household chores require little brain power as they are simple tasks you have done many times. So, use your brain for more productive story planning while you get the chores done.

Ability to Analyze: This is my favorite skill that I feel every single writer needs to develop, as this is what helps make your story strong with complex believable characters, narrative, and dialog. Study people in the past and present, nature, building structure, interior design, and animals. Whatever you are writing about, make sure you understand it. If you don’t understand what you are writing about, your readers will know and it will hurt their opinion of the story. For instance, if your character is a doctor/scientist developing a simpler method of cloning animals, you should probably research and have narrative discussing genetic sciences victories and past failures so your reader understands why your character’s work is so important. Using the correct terminology for your subject matter makes your story a real novel instead of just a campfire story. Also, pay attention to how people think, act, and react – it is rare for people to do any of these exactly the same way as each other. Make sure your characters have unique voices in both their dialog and how they behave. Sometimes, this is hard for a writer because often the things a writer wishes he/she could say/do in their real life transforms into their character’s voices and actions. This is where you really need to exercise your ability to be flexible. Just because you feel strongly about that beautiful rant your character just had in front of a large group of people doesn’t mean it should be in your story. This also goes for descriptions. Just because your description of the flower garden outside of the above doctor’s facility is beautiful and poetic doesn’t mean it is necessary. Scene setting and descriptions are important, but only if they add to the story in some way. If they distract you from the meaning of the story, lose them. Don’t allow personal ego stroking or venting to destroy your novel. 

Well, that concludes my first “Writing Tips” blog post. I hope it was both helpful and inspiring to you. If it was, please share it with others. 

Thank you

 

To be released by November 2016 - She Became My Water

As an author, I feel it fitting for my first blog post to be about the next book I’ll be releasing soon. She Became My Water, is a special project to me because it’s conflicts aren’t just on a character level; some are also on a societal level and are struggles that the LGBTQ community deals with every day. Such as, understanding that humans act of falling in love is far more complex than the anti-gay advocate’s understands and that gender identity is not developed in physical form, its developed in the mind and heart. This story has everything – love, compassion, struggle, humor, loss, suspense, revival, growth, adventure, and complex diverse characters. I am currently working on the book cover and my final proof read. I hope to release this book before November 2016. I will keep the blog updated with my progress and the final release date. To read a brief synopsis, click here to go to the Books page.