October Weeks's Blog, page 10

Tea and Writing Rituals

I’ve always said, My tea drawer needs a tea drawer, because I have so much of it: both loose leaf and bagged. Though, I do prefer loose leaf. My morning cup of tea, which I drink as I write this, inspired this blog post.

Writing rituals. Most writers have them- I am no exception. What I need when I sit down to write:

~A cup of tea. I don’t know why, but it’s been this way for at least twenty years. It probably has something to do with the fact that it’s relaxing and comforting, so I tend to write longer.

~Music. Each book has its own soundtrack- the tunes help keep me in that world as I write.

~Background noise. If I’m not listening to music, or for whatever reason I can’t listen to music, I have to have background noise from the tv. I struggle to make words when it’s completely silent (this only happens when I’m in my apartment- more on that to follow). It used to be that if I had the tv on for background noise, if I was writing horror, it had to be something dark, and if I was writing romance it had to be something light. I often had cartoons or a comedy on when writing romance. But with horror, if I was writing vampires I would put a slasher film on. If I was writing ghosts, I would put something non-ghosty on. But that changed around 2017. Now, no matter what I’m writing, it’s normally a nature documentary in the background. I wrote half of A Cold Winter’s Night to two different volcano documentaries.

~If I’m away from home, and in nature (by a river/ocean/lake) or where I can open the window and just hear nature sounds (birds, crickets…etc), I don’t need music or background noise from the tv. I can write just fine for hours when I’m around nature.

~Desk accessories. I’ll have to take a picture of my desk one of these days so you can see everything. But I have a few staples that are always on my desk when I write: a small stuffed wolf (from the NY Wolf Conservation Center) named Regulus, another wolf (from the same place) named Atka, and a stuff owl named Seamus. I have a few candles, good energy crystals, and a typewriter Halloween prop that says Nightmare at the top and has a snake around it. It sounds crowded but it’s actually not. Everything is small and fits just fine around my laptop *smile*

I don’t always use them, but I also have fingerless writing gloves near my desk, that I got from Storiarts. I also have a knitted pair that a friend of mine made- the pattern is dragon scales and I absolutely love them!

Sometimes, I do write when I’m sitting on the recliner. When I do that I have my cup of tea, candles on my end table, and a crystal or two.

But the one constant I have no matter where I write, is tea. I must have the tea to write

Social Media Book Promotion

I love creating book trailers and promotional content for my books. It allows me to be creative and have fun, to interact with readers/potential readers. However, it can also be disheartening. Social media is not an easy place for an author unless you’re a big name/have thousands of followers.

I am not at the top and I don’t have thousands of followers.

My dream of being a full-time author depends on people buying my books, so I have to promote them the best I can, and I do. But I don’t have a ton of followers on any of my social pages, and my promotional material can get buried even when using all the right hashtags. It has an I’m never going to succeed affect because those social sites don’t allow your posts to be seen unless you have the follower numbers they desire. That’s rather disheartening at times, but I still try my best and try to have fun with it.

One thing I’ve found since getting back into blogging is that basic promotion, like blogging and simple ads with snippets of the books, still work as well. I don’t always have to be coming up with new TikTok or Instagram content. Just talking about the process of writing and publishing helps connect me with readers and other authors, which I love.

But I will say that part of the joy of TikTok for me as an author is that I’ve connected with other authors. Authors who have the same struggles and frustrations as me, and that community truly helps. Like an online writers group

If you are an author, do find that you struggle with social media promotion as well?

The Excitement of Mock Ups

Just a quick blog today to say that I just saw the mock up for The Arena– Tuck Houston, book three. I’m so excited!!! Can’t wait to see the final cover.

That first draft of a cover hypes me up so much, mostly because it means I’m getting close to my release date. I have covers for books that don’t have a release date yet- like Shards and The Scrying House. Those cover kicked my writing into overdrive. I made a lot of words the day I got those!!!

The rights to The Arena have reverted back to me, and I’ve already finished the revisions. Now it’s just waiting for the final cover files and then getting it formatted. I’m hoping to have it back up by the end of September. Gah! The mock-up has me jumping for joy!!!

Where Do Those Ideas Come From

If you haven’t listened to it already, I have a new podcast up. I’m discussing what irritates me the most about vampire movies and fiction *smile* You can listen at the following places:

SPOTIFY ~ PODBEAN~ APPLE PODCASTS ~ PLAYER FM

On yesterday’s blog I mentioned how I keep notebooks everywhere because ideas or fixes come at all hours of the day- anywhere and everywhere. I wanted to do a blog on the ideas part of that.

Anything can spark an idea for a story: when I’m out walking, when I’m having a conversation, when I watch a nature documentary or am out and about in nature, music…etc. Music is a huge part of my writing process- each book has its own soundtrack. But sometimes my characters come with their own soundtrack. For instance, I was minding my own business washing my dishes a few years ago and in the middle of washing a plate, a red-headed character holding twin daggers came barreling into my mind with Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls blaring around her. I had to stop what I was doing and write down the idea before I lost it.

I ended up writing a full chapter before I could get back to the dishes.

The Tuck Houston series is no different. Tuck came to me with Bring Me to Life blaring in the background and, not shocking to me, The Damned wrote to Evanesence and only them. The other two books were a mix of Evanesence, Godsmack and Nickelback.

My other books have their own soundtracks but that music didn’t come with the character, it came with the world around that character.

I was at work one day, when I was working in manufactoring, and in the middle of measuring a bearing, the first line of Over the River came to me.

And the above will forever be the favorite first line I’ve ever written.

My short story, The Red Barn, came to me when I was driving the backroads of Vermont one beautiful winter day. A red barn was surrounded by fresh fallen snow and suddenly I had the opening paragraph of a horror short story.

It doesn’t take much to spark an idea: a simple walk in the woods, listening to nature, standing by the sea, spark dozens of story ideas. Random bits of conversations in the grocery store as I’m walking the aisles, having conversations with friends. A lot of my stories also stem from dreams, or nightmares, I’ve had. But sometimes there isn’t a spark. When that happens, it’s because my story has to be specific to something. My short story, Dark Scorpio (and, yes, I do want to continue that series), is an example of that. Originally, that story was going to be in a short story collection. The theme was the darker side of the zodiac. I sat down to write a few ideas, and then after the first paragraph I knew my main character and the world she was in. But I’m not sure Autumn would have come to me if it wasn’t for that anthology.

The same goes for my romance novel, Son of Thunder. I was talking with my editor about another book that wasn’t working. She felt the story was being forced to places it wasn’t meant to go, and that was 100% the truth. So we decided that I would try to write another story in its place, and that the story would be focused on Norse Myth or vikings. That’s how Son of Thunder came to be.

Story ideas come from many places, and I can’t explain why. I think that’s just a writer thing. But I can tell you this: I will never be able to get all of my ideas on paper before my time here on earth is done. They’re too numerous and I can’t type fast enough. But I will get as many down as I can!

The Importance of Notebooks

I ended up with five pages yesterday on Shards, the next Saint McGuinness book. I’m quite happy with that considering I had to work and then storms took out power for almost three hours after work.

If you follow me on TikTok, you saw me post about a Metallica song coming on the radio on the way to work a couple of days ago and how it sparked a story idea for me. This idea would be a stand-alone horror. I quickly jotted down the idea in my notebook in the car so I wouldn’t forget it. So for those who always ask why I seem to collect notebooks left and right- that’s why.

Too many times in my youth I had an idea: in the middle of the night, in a dream, from listening to the radio, from random conversations, from walks in the woods. I lost several stories simply because I didn’t make a quick note, and as the day went on I simply forgot. This especially happened if I woke in the middle of night and decided to just go back to sleep.

Never. Again.

So I have notebooks scattered everywhere: my car, on my nightstand, throughout my living area, I have a notes program on my phone in case I don’t have a notebook on my person (because I’m not a big fan of carrying around a big bag when I’m out and about walking), and when I’m hiking I have a small notebook in my hiking backpack.

But it’s not just story ideas I need the notebooks for. As I mentioned yesterday, writing long hand helps when my story has slowed or stopped completely. Well, sometimes, the fix for the story comes randomly: in the shower, in the middle of the night…etc. That’s important information that I don’t want to lose *smile*

So, I will continue to collect notebooks because there is no such thing as too many when you’re a writer.

Writing Before Work

I try pretty hard not to write before going to my day job for one reason- I don’t want to stop writing and I get frustrated because the story is on fire and I have to stop. I also come home from work with a bunch of notes written on scrap paper so I don’t completely lose the momentum, but the frustration and irritation at not being at my computer lingers. It lingers because I know I could get 6k+ words in a morning writing session easily, plus more in the afternoon session.

But when the when the story wants to be written, it wants to be written, so I break down and write before work sometimes.

The only time I’m not bothered is when I’m writing long hand, and I’m guessing that’s because I’m not keeping track of word count. When I write long hand, it’s normally because the story is stuck and that’s the best way to get it unstuck. The flow of long hand is magical for me. Once I start writing, the story just unfolds and the pathway is cleared. I have a stopping point and I’m not left frustrated because the problem has been solved and I’m happy. But when I’m typing away on my laptop, when the story is on fire and I can’t seem to type fast enough…yeah, that’s hard to break away from.

*sigh* I’m manifesting being a full-time author Every. Damn. Day.

Not So Lazy Sunday

I honestly wasn’t certain if I would get any writing or revisions in today as I wasn’t feeling up to doing either. But, I’m happy to report that I just finished writing a chapter on Shards, the next Saint McGuinness story. If that’s all the words I get in today, I’m happy with that. I’m leaving poor Saint in a rough place, and she still has a good fight ahead of her, but I really love the chapter.

If I do go back to write, I think it will be on a different project. Most likely The Scrying House, which is a story in the Billie Shane world but with different characters.

But right now, it’s time to stretch and then get something to eat.

Coming Along Nicely

Despite coming down with a cold/virus yesterday, I mangaed to finish the run-through of The Arena- Tuck Houston, book 3- today. Mostly small changes, things I missed when it was first published and such. But I did make some bigger changes to the end of the book. Big enough that if you’ve read the current version, I suggest picking up the new version once I self-publish. I made those end changes for a couple of reasons, but the most important one is the next book.

For a while, I thought that maybe The Arena would be the last Tuck book, but book four is coming along nicely. Book four, as mentioned before, has stopped and started multiple times, and I hadn’t intended for it to take so long. But things are what they are- the important thing is that the book is moving along now. I’m hoping for a release next year but I’m not promising that yet.

Let’s get it written first

A Productive Day

Today has been a productive day and it’s only 3:30pm!

This morning I woke and did my Pilates workout, which was followed by recording a podcast and then finishing the edits on a novella I’ve been working on. Then, because the edits were long-hand on a printed copy of the novella, I made the changes to the manuscript on the computer.

Just finished those! I have a few things to check, which I marked with Track Changes, but those won’t take me long. I had to get up and stretch and make another cup of tea

I’ll finish up the novella today, and then probably work on the run-through of The Arena- Tuck Houston, book three. The rights will be reverting back to me in a couple of months and I just want to do a quick pass to make sure it’s all set before I self-publish it. The cover will be coming soon.

The new podcast will be up in a couple of hours and you’ll get to hear me talk about the two ghosts that I’ve been dealing with the last week and a half.

My tea is ready now, so it’s back to work for me!

Urban Fantasy

If you listen to my podcast, you’ll know that I’ve recently gotten back into reading Urban Fantasy again. I’d stopped for a while but am enjoying diving back into it. This started because I was going through my books again (yes, I cull my books now and then ) and ended up rereading a few. Below are some of the first I read.

I enjoyed the mix of horror, mystery and just a hint of romance. As the years went on, I found some wonderful authors. A few of them are still on my auto-buy list. This is just a fraction of a sample of who I read:

I know part of the reason I stopped reading was because the market was just so damn saturated with UF and they all seemed to blend together. As if I could just swap character names and everything would be damn near the same. That’s when I knew I had to take a break. I even had moments where I stopped writing UF because I was having a hard time. Salt and Iron was my first time really jumping back into the genre and I’ve slowly gotten my love for writing and reading back.

Thankfully.

Some of the above series have ended and some are ongoing. I’ve stopped reading a few of the series, but have found new authors to read, which is always a delight. I’m even going to attempt to read the Dresden Files again now that I’ve taken a good break from the genre. I’ve just bought Dead Man’s Hand, by Butcher’s son, and am looking forward to reading that.

Some of my favorite UF authors have been diving back into series that had ended, releasing new stories: Rachel Vincent, Carrie Vaughn, and Kim Harrison just to name a few.

Another reason I stopped reading was because the romance was overtaking the story. Now, I love Paranormal Romance- both reading and writing it- but the reason I loved UF was because the romance was light and not the main focus. I loved the romantic bits because they added to an already wonderful story. But I’ve notice that the two sub-genres have separated again and that’s helping me fall back in love with urban fantasy.

If you have any recommendations, please leave them in the comments. I’m always looking for new and new-to-me authors