the ole days

When I was a kid and up until I was in my twenties, my story ideas were hand-written.

I would get out a pencil or pen and flip open a notebook and scribble the idea down. We had an old Remington typewriter but I rarely used it unless I could scrounge up some paper for it. Everything was scribbled down in fifty cent notebooks or scraps of paper I found when the idea hit me.

In my twenties, I bought a typewriter. But I still had the tendency to scribble.

I had a 40 gallon tote full of paper with my story ideas up until five years ago.

I got a computer in my thirties but didn't really transfer my stories on to computer until I got my latest computer.  I added some stories here and there but didn't get serious until five years ago.  I had transferred about half the tote by then and threw away my kid/teenager story scribbles--Most of which were stupid kid stuff.

That computer went belly up. The mother board fried, but luckily I had taken it in an had decided to get a new computer so everything was transferred to the 'new' computer before the mother board blew.

So here we are.

I'm down to just a milk crate of story ideas still to go.  The tote is used for other things now..

I put the new ideas in a journal(still hand-written).  I can't seem to break that habit.

And to tell the truth, I really don't want to. 

Table set-up

This is how I set my table for signings.

The brown table cloth is for the earth and the skulls represent the bodies she finds. The books are set on easels and I got both business cards out on this table with candy centered between them. I also got a special agent badge.

I'm thinking about changing the table arrangement.

 But to What? 

I need something that reflects the earth element and something to do with murder--maybe I'll keep the skulls.. A new table covering maybe. .





I like my table arrangement but it does look busy, cluttered a bit. What do you think?

Should I just put my books and business cards out and nothing else? Minimalist.

Or should I decorate a bit?

And with what?

I guess I'm going shopping when I get my check.

Snow Day

This is what I woke up to three days in a row.

We're having our obligatory snow. Every year either in January or February we have either a snow or ice at least once.

It's still coming down. If it keeps going we might make a foot of snow. 

...and things

My Zombie short story/dribble is out.

The way I ended it gives your imagination a bit of room to picture what happened between the last two entries.  If it gets a good response I might make it into a book sometime in the future.

And maybe change the ending to make it into that book.  Otherwise it would just be a bit longer story. Death is a permanent ending.

I'm thinking about renewing my subscription to Writer's Digest. I had it for a year a couple of years ago then let it lapse. But I'd like to renew now.

During the write-in, I did a little over a thousand words so not too bad for me. If I can keep up that pace I can get these books done quickly.



Working on those next three books. Mortal Voice II, Deadly Flames, and Under the Dragon's Tail. Flames is in Chapt. 7, and Tail is in the next to last chapt unless something else rears its head while MVII is in Chapt. 2.  Hopefully they'll keep moving right along.

Meanwhile those story ideas/plot bunnies keep kicking me.

I probably have enough ideas to last into the next century. So far I've resisted them, just writing down the idea and keeping to my three stories. But those rear feet kick pretty hard.

Write-In

These are the raffles we have at the Write-In.

There is even a Barnes and Noble gift card!

This is part of starting the year off right. I wrote three pages so far in one story and a paragraph in another. I hope to get a chapt. done today.

I'm writing this during lunch.

Writing is always fun.

I like that we have a write-in during Jano. Jano is Sleuth's Inks version of NaNo. Which means it's a contest to get 50,000 words in a month or a novel done in a month.

Those who follow my other blog know about this as I usually do the Write-In and Jano every year. This year I think I'll skip Jano since I am no longer a member of Sleuth's Ink.

 I think I'll be able to have three books out this year if I can swing the cost. One is already done, a second is two thirds done, and the other is a third done. I also have Toby's book so it may be four books this year if you count his picture book.

I also got the first chapt. of Mortal Voice II done. So maybe five?  :)

I got several books on my computer that I want to finish as well as a milk crate full of written story ideas. It's hard to stay on track when all these story ideas/bunnies attack me. There are so many of them! And they kick pretty hard! :)

New Year

A new year, A new palette.

I'm going to start off the new year right.  I had money in my pocket when the old year turned into the new. Hopefully that means this year will be prosperous.

I plan to get out at least two new books this year, one of which is already done. I'm working on three right now, two of which I'll be working on at the Write-In this Saturday.  One I think will be done by the end of the week if I keep at it. So two new books done before my birthday in February. 

Toby has a book soon to be coming out as well. Posts from his blog.


I don't know if I want to do Jano, but I will be going to the Write-In on Saturday. I've gone to it since I started going to the Writing groups. Even though I've slacked off the groups, I still plan to go. That's part of starting the year right.

Online College is also part of my new year starting right. I want to get a master's in forensic psychology or even a doctorate. Only thing I'm afraid of--well beside going back to school--is that my age will preclude me from getting a job in this field.

But I plan to start out with high hopes because the sky's the limit as they say.

Dreams

We all have dreams.

Something we strive for.

I dreamed of writing a book and becoming as popular as Stephen King.

Then J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.

I figured if she could do it, why not me?

More people need to follow their dreams, not let Reality interfere. Life is already hard enough without losing our dreams to harsh reality.

I finally realized at least part of my dream--publishing a book--in 2015. It didn't take off, but did gained a few followers. The following three books were all in the same series. There are four more books in this serial.

I'm putting out another book in the Voice realm. I have three in my head so far for this series.

I still dream of writing that one book that will fling me into stardom, but I realize that may never happen. But I may still earn a living from my books by sheer volume of books.  I've been told that sometime an author doesn't make it until they have out a lot of books, put their name out there.

One way or another I'm determined to get my name out there and recognized. I will be famous even if it takes me until I'm hundred. Dreams should never be given up on.

Holiday season

The Santa Clause and the first Die Hard are old standbys. It's not Christmas until I see these two movies.

I can recite certain parts of Die Hard from memory and just hearing certain parts of Santa Clause, I can tell what's happening on screen  with my eyes closed.

I had them for years then I got rid of a lot of my DVDs. I kept only my Gamera movies because they were hard to find.

I plan to buy back these two movies. As I said, it's not Christmas without them. The snappy one-liners and inside jokes keep you entertained and smiling.

I don't have a tree nor do I really decorate. I take pictures of my cat with Christmas items and put them on FB, but I only hang a wreath on my door.I give cards and set the cards I receive on a cabinet door, but no tree or garland   Christmas is more a feeling than a physical thing to me. Don't need a tree or physical things to promote the feeling of giving.


Side note:

Who or what is Gamera, you ask?

Why he's a giant flying turtle!   :)


My friend Travis likes Godzilla, I like Gamera. Of course, like is a relative word. We are more obsessed. Him more than me.

Lave

Well, I cleaned my desk up a bit.

As long as I'm working on a book though it won't stay clean. I always have scraps of paper lying around with notes on them that I jot down for remembering later. Though I do gather them up and put them in the story bible for better referencing, but I never quite get rid of the scraps.

I also straightened up the hand-written notes in the crate. But I know better than to start reading them. I'd go off on a tangent and never get Mortal Voice or any other book done!

My apartment is still a mess from my move. I'm slow to unpack and put away unless it has something to do with my books or food. You can see where my priorities are! :)

I'm taking a break from writing right now.


I'm in the sixth week of my online college course. I should be studying today but I took Christmas pictures of my cat and worked on Mortal Voice instead this morning. A compulsion to finish Mortal Voice is running me. I don't know why. The cover is beautiful as is the cover for the second book.

Yes, I already have a cover for the second book.

Deadly Flames and Under the Dragon's Tail will get done next year. I'm going to finish my Elemental books and start the Fallborn series. I made myself a promise to finish them and I will. Though it won't be by my Fiftieth birthday like I wanted.

To organize or not to organize

That is the question!

When I write I am very disorganized. I have things spread out all over the place. Notes and research everywhere. I hop  from one piece to another.

But I like my stuff where I can find it.

I live more in my head than in the outside world and my apartment shows it most times. I have "junk" everywhere. But since I've moved that "junk" has shrunk!

I threw away all my early attempts at writing. They were very silly and naïve. Mom only read romances but they weren't explicit and some of them were silly themselves. I threw away everything I wrote when I was a teenager except a few poems that I still had. Every time I move I lose something anyway so I decided I'll choose this time! :)

So I got one crate full of hand-written stories left besides the ones I entered into the computer. These along with the ideas that come to me should keep me busy for a long time.

I organized my reference material as well as the writing magazines I kept in a bookshelf cabinet next to my desk. When I get more material I can reorganize it, but it's adequate for now.

The crate is just stuffed with my writing ideas and chapters. No rhyme or reason. I straightened them up a bit but it's still a bit messy.

And my desk. Well, it's got stuff shoved everywhere. I need to straighten it up.

Does the state of one's surroundings impinge on one's writing?  Or can one be so absorbed in the writing that surroundings don't matter? 

To me the physical state around me doesn't matter, though sound does. I have two cds that I play when I write. If other noises come upon me I lose my concentration and train of thought.  I can have the TV on if it's a show I've already seen and I can still write, but if it's a new show I got to stop writing.

A piece of thought

I changed my main blog around a bit.

I  also changed my book link here as well and added a different graphic under the main one. The link pic is supposed to be the back of the main female character for Mortal Voice while the graphic is death's time clock.  I couldn't concentrate on anything else that day so I messed around with the blogs and did a cover for Mortal Voice.

When I get restless but am broke I get online and mess around a bit. Either by writing in the blogs or making covers for some of the books I started. I have over thirty books started on my computer so I can work on one or two and still have a lot to work with the next time I get restless.  Unfortunately I sometimes make more than one cover and have trouble deciding which one I like best. :)

 I found my computer fan so my computer is now sitting on it and shouldn't overheat. I had packed it away when I moved and forgot about it. It should keep my computer running longer.

I got the four Fallborn books' covers done. Fallborn are dragon books that are probably gonna be rated PG13 as there is no sex and the most they do is hug or hold each other. I'm thinking YA maybe? I don't know  They're set in different worlds.

I also have two dragon stories set in our world or at least a parallel world. The bond is sexual in both so... Anyway I don't have covers for them yet. I don't even have titles for them, just a few scenes.

There are two related series about time-lost people and an alien race whose descendants are coming back into their own.  I don't have covers for them yet either. It's hard to find free sci-fi pics that I like that fit the stories.

I'll look some more today for free pics. Maybe they'll have new stuff up.