Beth Alvarez's Blog, page 12

Burnout blues

I’d hoped this one would be a post where I told you Paragon of Water was done, and that I was starting the next project, excited to get it underway.

Needless to say, that didn’t happen. April was a great month for writing, but a lot of surprises came in May. Unfortunately, when you’re already juggling things, adding one more means dropping the ball. I thought I’d be able to put everything down and regroup fairly quickly, but then the little one got sick and ended up being home from school a lot, and that sort of brought the month to an end. The best laid plans, right?

So things are moving a little slower than anticipated. I’m outlining the project that’ll come after Paragon of Water, making plans for a fun smaller project I might try to slip in after Paragon of Light, and that’s enough to keep me feeling creative, though not quite enough to get words on the page.

The good news is, shifting my schedule this year gives me enough space that taking time off won’t affect the number of books I get done this year; I still expect two more, and Paragon of Water is tentatively scheduled for the last weekend of October, now. It might be a week sooner, but we’ll have to see how the calendar dates line up. I write slower over the summer, but will be back in full swing in August, so the book will be wrapped up by then no matter what.

Inspiration can be capricious, so I’m not sure which project is going to hit completion first, but we’ll find out.  No matter what, I’ll have some more about one of these upcoming books for you soon, so I’ll keep you updated on how this break goes.

The clarion call of side projects

Shortly after I started the long process of writing of writing Paragon of Water, a few snags arose. Cover art needed to come slower. Plot ambiguity stalled the writing. And all the while, some new concepts for something short, easy, and stand-alone kept brewing in the back of my mind, making it that much harder to keep going.

Of course, burnout hit shortly after that, so then there was no writing happening at all (still working on getting back into the swing of it…) but through it all, I found myself craving work on that side project instead.

Why do we do that, anyway? I guess it has something to do with what I typically write. That’s how Westkings Heist came along, too. In between the Snakesblood books, which were twisty and complicated with lots of characters to keep straight, I felt so fried that I needed something short and sweet to finish between them. So I wrote those heist novellas. Although the last one is considered a full novel at 50k words, it was still substantially easier than the 100k+ word books I’d been juggling, and having just a single point-of-view character and a single plot thread for each story was refreshingly simple. Since I was doing the work on Westkings Heist between and around bigger books, they were still slow to get done, but they felt so easy, and they helped refresh my brain when I got stuck on the bigger projects.

So maybe I should have learned from that. I had several big releases in a row: Serpent’s Crown followed by Serpent’s Blood, finishing the Snakesblood Saga. Then immediately after, Spectrum Blade–which is the longest book I’ve ever published–and Paragon of Fire. Four epic fantasies in a row was possibly my max… or maybe even too much. Maybe that was why I found myself wanting something else, coming up with a dozen ideas for new stories, things I could jot down and add to my ever-growing list of books to write. I think we’re at 14 right now. If I keep up the current apparent pace of two to three books a year, it’ll be seven years before I finish the stuff I already have planned, and that’s rough.

Don’t get me wrong, being busy for that long is great. Having a long-term plan and a goal set in the future is great. But when I look at the length of time it takes me to complete things, it isn’t motivating to dangle the carrot of what I really want to be working on at the end of that pipeline. Instead, it becomes crushing. Seven years is too long to wait, and that, in turn, creates a negativity spiral. If only I could write faster.  Maybe if I gave up doing x, y, or z, I’d be able to have more time to write.  If I learned how to write using this method, or that method, or outlined better, or…

It goes on and on, and as I sit and reflect on it while having my morning tea, I wonder if maybe it’s a sign I should be leaning more into the fluidity of scheduling that comes with being my own boss. I try to focus on one project at a time, because I feel like that gets things done faster. But maybe having something on the side, something short and easy, like Westkings Heist was, would be beneficial. Something to bounce to when I’m stuck. Because it’s not just a distraction if it becomes a reward and is something that gets pushed out sooner, rather than later, right? Or am I deluding myself?

I don’t know. I guess no matter what, writing is a continually evolving process. Even as I work on my 21st book, I’m still learning new things about my process, and that process never seems to stay the same for long.

Letters Home

Last month, I wrote a scene in Paragon of Water (the upcoming third book in Spectrum Legacy) where Zaide penned a letter to his foster parents. This started a small writing exercise for me. What might be in that letter? How many letters would a homesick character write? I decided to jot down some ideas of what his letters might entail, and that soon expanded into writing some letters from other characters, too. It’s something small, but fun, to help me stay deep in a character’s point of view while I’m working on chapters from their perspective… or experiencing a lull between their chapters, where I feel a little disconnected from their mindset.

Photo by Debbie Hudson on Unsplash

I sent the first of these letters home as part of last month’s newsletter, but it was fun to write, so I figured I’d make it a practice. Not all the characters are the letter writing sort, so there will probably be some journal entries and things along the way, but it’s a chance to get a glimpse into the thought processes of the characters in the stories… and maybe pick up a few extra tidbits you might not learn about their families otherwise.

The second set of letters–from two different characters, this time!–will be going out with my monthly newsletter update this weekend. I don’t plan to post these on my website, since they’re bound to be rife with spoilers for the people who haven’t started the series. So if you want to read, the newsletter will be the only way to get them. And if you haven’t read it yet, you’ll get a digital copy of The Choosing when you sign up. It’s a short story about Zaide’s Choosing and one of the background events that set things up for Spectrum Blade.

You can hop over to my newsletter page to sign up now. And if you want the one you missed, let me know. If there’s enough interest, I might set up an archive exclusive for newsletter subscribers, so that past letters can be perused at your convenience.

Now, wish me luck. I’ve got to finish Paragon of Water this week, before summer break begins.

Five minutes at a time

Last month, I decided to do Camp NaNoWriMo. Spoiler alert: I set a goal of 50,000 words, and ultimately, I hit it. I wrote only Monday through Friday and took a few days off, too. That means I averaged 3,000 words a day on each writing day. I aim to do the same thing this month, while I wrap up writing Paragon of Water. At a minimum of 3,000 words a day, it’ll take me about 16 days to finish the rest of this fantasy book.

There was a time in my life where I thought it was impossible to write that much. Now, it still feels like too little, but as we creep closer to summer break, I try to remind myself that it’s a perfectly reasonable amount of writing for someone in my current life situation… and that I’ll probably get less done across the summer months.

When you’re raising kids, finding the time to write can be one of life’s biggest challenges. One of the biggest things I’ve done to make it more achievable has been learning to work in bits and pieces. This has been a long process for me, and training myself to be able to work this way has been rough. But my books are getting done, five minutes at a time.

One of the ways I keep myself going with writing is using a day planner. At the bottom of each daily page for the days I intend to write, I put a section to track my writing, split into 3 columns. Right now, each represents a session, and most of those sessions happen in the morning, during school hours. But across the summer, they’ll represent morning, afternoon, and evening.

Each number on the grid represents five minutes where I sat down with my laptop, opened my book document, and set a timer. That’s it. Five minutes at a time, in between chores and the rest of everything life has to throw at me. When my time’s up, I write down how many words I wrote in that 5 minute period, then move on with my day.

If I can claim just 5 minutes for myself out of every hour through the day, I can consistently hit my 3k daily word goal. And if I can only get 5 minutes every other hour, that’s still 1,500 a day and nothing to sneeze at.

There are a few things I did to make this easier. One, I became a solid outliner. Not only do I have an overarching outline for each book, but lately, I do mini outlines for each chapter using index cards. I break each important part of a chapter down into bullet points on my cards, but I only make up two or three in advance, so I can change things as needed if I find something on my outline isn’t working well. Each bullet point on a card is followed by how many words I estimate will be necessary to achieve that piece of the story, so I know how many 5-minute sessions it’ll take. And then I carry my index card in my pocket or stuff it behind the case on my phone, so even if I can’t get to my laptop, I have my immediate outline handy so I can tap out some words in my phone’s notes app. I’m an iPhone/Mac user, so it’ll sync automatically and I can easily copy/paste my work to my book document later.

Having a whole hour to think over what happens next means when I sit down, the words tend to come more easily, and sometimes it gives me extra witty one-liners because I’ve had all day to think them up, so it seems to be working well. I wrote Paragon of Fire this way, too, and that’s the first book I’ve ever written that succeeded in making my husband laugh out loud.

All this means I have to spend a little time on the weekends figuring out what’ll go on my next few index cards, as well as checking my main outline document to make sure I’m heading where I need to go, but it’s made a big difference in how fast I can finish books.

Just five minutes at a time.

Paragon of Fire is out now!

Saturday morning, my 20th book slipped out into the world… so Paragon of Fire is now available to read! It’s available in Kindle Unlimited and paperback copies will be coming out shortly.

Until the paperbacks make their arrival, you can get your ebook copy from Amazon.

Happy reading!

…wow, I think this is the shortest blog post I’ve ever written.

Colorful teas

As we stopped by aisle of coffee and tea for my husband to replenish his coffee supply, a little box of tea that was on sale caught my eye. Green tea with blueberry, pomegranate, and açaí. Sounded good.

Being that it was all of two dollars, I tossed it in the cart. A few days later, when the writing wasn’t going well, I decided to give it a try.

Normally when I drink new teas, I review them, and this one was plenty tasty… but not too different from most berry blends. Where it did differ, though, was how bright the tea was. It was a bold purple, and when I sweetened it a bit and added some milk because I wanted to go the berries and cream route, it turned a lovely shade of lavender, and it kind of got me thinking.

Tea parties could be a lot of fun if color-themed.

Pick decorations and teas that go together. Pastel teas. Brightly-colored tropical teas. Certain ingredients make for different colors, and I was a little sad when I realized I could color-coordinate my teas with my teacups, if only I had the right blends.

Hibiscus makes a strong red tea. Rosehips are more of a red-orange. Mint makes a pale yellow, and matcha, of course, is green… and not necessarily tea, by the rules of it.

I have an orange herbal blend that makes a richly orange brew,  but purple? Well… this was a first. I figured blue would be out of the question, since so few plants result in blue pigmentation in the natural world. I don’t think I’m about to go mixing indigo into my tea, so it may be the one place that the desired color can’t be found through natural means.

Where was I going with this? I actually don’t remember–I got distracted drinking the last of my purple tea. All I know is I want some more. More colors, more variety, more blends that mellow the colors interestingly when milk is stirred in… but most of all, I want interesting tea colors that also taste good.

So if you have recommendations, put them here. This one is nice for a lavender or lilac shade, or a rich plum purple if you don’t add milk.

Please recommend me some colorful blends, and I’ll share photos of my teacups to go with them.

Serpent’s Mark is now an award-winning novel

Although I shared this on social media, I realized the other day that I had yet to mention it here: At the beginning of February, I found out Serpent’s Mark, the first book in the Snakesblood Saga, had been nominated for a literary award and had made it to the finalist round.

I never would have anticipated what happened next.

And so Serpent’s Mark took the 2022 Darrell Award for Best Novel.

It was a stunning surprise and a huge blessing, one of many I’ve seen so far this year. I guess from now on, I get to introduce myself to people as an award-winning author.

In the midst of all the surreality of the award, there’s some small news for the Snakesblood Saga, too. The first 3 e-books are now available in a digital box set, so you can enjoy the alternate cover:

I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but that was the original planned cover art for Serpent’s Mark, but it took absolutely forever for me to draw everything, so I didn’t think it was a viable cover style for the rest of the six-book series. And yes, that’s a drawing; I drew the bark, the moss, the sword, the leaves… I took a ton of reference photos in the forest and at more than one botanical garden so I could be sure I was doing it right, and everything was digitally painted in Photoshop. I hope you enjoy this interpretation of the Kingsword!

This box set edition is now available on Amazon, if you’re interested in having a look. If you haven’t read the Snakesblood Saga yet, this is a great opportunity to start… and find out why Serpent’s Mark won that award.

You can check it out by clicking here.

Onward!

Spring snows [Doll photos]

After the first blush of spring touched our home, we had a late snow. I always like trying to go outside to take some doll photos in snow, just because it doesn’t happen here very often. The juxtaposition of the early leaves and the fresh snow were an extra delight, but it was warm the next day, so the snow wouldn’t last long. I decided to try for some photos of my favorite, got him dressed in an outfit with colors best suited for spring to bridge the gap between the two seasons, and went out.

Often, I’m not really sure what to do with my doll photos. I share them on Instagram so others in the hobby can see them, but that makes it difficult to have them together in a meaningful way, and it also makes it hard to find them again in the future when they’re so far down the feed.

For a while, I wasn’t sure if I should post them here. My site’s mostly writing/book-related stuff and part of me feels it should stay that way. But then my dolls are all projects to create visual representations of characters from various books I’ve published, so it kind of belongs here… and really, for sake of simplicity,  I should officially start blending the things I do into one place so it’s easy to find my work. Honestly, with the fickle whims of social media algorithms, posting all the doll projects here might be a good idea, because then it’ll be a way I can ensure people will always easily find what I’m creating, even when I’m not showing up in feeds. Not positive on that, but hey, if you like the idea, please let me know?

Anyway, I’ll just finish with the photos of Rune I got in the snow. I think he’ll always be my favorite, because his face is the first doll head I’ve sculpted… and the first thing I’ve sculpted at all, really, and I’ve learned so much about the complex mechanics that go into engineering dolls just from working on him alone. Someday, maybe I’ll put together a permanent page about his customization so it’ll be easy to see everything I’ve done. For now, I’ll just enjoy the notion of him enjoying spring.

The first time Rune sees snow happens in Serpent’s Bane, book 3 of the Snakesblood Saga. It’s a new experience then, and I’d like to think that as life goes on, snowfall never loses its magic…

Camp NaNo: Let’s go!

Honestly, I’d be writing this amount this month whether or not Camp NaNo was running.

It works out interestingly for me that Camp started on the day I began my next project, though! I cleared my calendar for April so I could focus on writing. Everything I have planned for YouTube is done, and aside from a final proofreading pass and the official ebook formatting, Paragon of Fire is ready for release at the end of the month.

This time, I arranged my schedule in a way that I could take weekends and evenings off, too, which hopefully will help keep my creative bird feeder full.

I have time for fun projects on the side. I have time for reading and playing games, too. I have time for weeding the garden, which is good because spring is upon us and the spiderwort that was in the front garden when we moved in has still not been vanquished.

It also means I have time for a little tiny side project I have planned for my newsletter–which you should really be signed up for, if you’re not already, because it’ll have lots of bonus content and worldbuilding tidbits for this series!

Ideally, I’ll actually end up well above the 50k word mark at the end of April, since I’ll be focusing on writing each weekday, without anything else needing my attention. I’ll be posting updates on Instagram and my author Facebook page, so be sure to check those out for updates on how book 3 of Spectrum Legacy is going.

Otherwise, I’ll check in at the end of this month to let you know how close Paragon of Water is to being complete.

Have you ever joined a NaNoWriMo event?

Cover reveal: Paragon of Fire, Spectrum Legacy book 2!

It’s only been a couple months since Spectrum Blade launched, but sometimes it feels longer. That said, I’m delighted to let you know that the second Spectrum Legacy book  is on its way! Here it is: Paragon of Fire.

The Kindle preorder is live now and you can check it out here, but paperbacks will be coming later, due to the printing delays that have now become normal. I’ll be sure to share a post when they become available, though.

Scroll down to see the gorgeous cover, but if you haven’t read the first book, you might want to stop there, because the description for book 2 may contain a few teeny-tiny spoilers.

But if you’re ready, go ahead and read to the end….

Finding the legendary sword was only the beginning.

The moment Zaide pulled the blade from the skull of an ancient enemy, a monstrous army marched on Amrochan, and until the blade’s magic is restored, nothing will stop the army’s advance.

Three Paragons bear the power to restore the Spectrum Blade to the unstoppable force it once was, and the librarian Tula knows just where to start. As the Paragon of Fire, the Magister in her home city of Jadora can aid them. But first, he must be reached—and for the first time, the desert city of Jadora is under attack.

With a blade not yet fully awakened, Zaide, Tula, and Lark must breach the city walls, find the Magister, and turn the tide of war before Amrochan falls.

Paragon of Fire is the second book of the new epic fantasy series Spectrum Legacy, and will be released on April 30.

Ready to preorder? Click  here to get your ebook copy from Amazon.