Step one: get chaos, step two: ???, step three: profit?

  Dear Reader,

My silence and absence from social media over the past month has been due to a combination of factors. Some of them are familial. My brother-in-law had a kidney transplant back at the beginning of the month and has not been well since then. For a while, things were looking pretty grim. He's home now but he's not doing great. We're doing what we can to be supportive of my sister-in-law, but it's been a challenge.

The other big familial thing that's been keeping me from being active online has been the fact that my kids have been keeping me really busy since summer school ended. It's hard to write as someone is digging through legos and arguing with their sibling at full volume. Even noise cancelling headphones are hard pressed to resist that pitch of sound.

Look for more regular content next week. This week, like the last few, is shaping up to be pure chaos.

Coping mechanism = music

 I've started work on my playlist for my NaNoWriMo project this year. Here's the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7jBlQBFe70t2Cl6Q5BZZFM?si=5c8daa26558d4685 I'll be adding to it as time goes on. You can guess what genre I'll be writing in and the topic if you want. I'm probably going to make a second playlist for NaNoWriMo incase I finish the first book and I have time to work on a second. I don't know. All I know is that music is helping me keep my mind off of the uncertainty going on with family stuff right now.

On going familial crisis this week.

  Dear Reader,

Please forgive my lack of posting. My brother-in-law is currently in the hospital. He had a kidney transplant last week and there has been serious complications. My sister-in-law has been at his side virtually night and day. There's not much we can do to help but it's been cause for concern. He's shown some improvement over the last 48 hours. There is hope that he will continue to improve, but it is uncertain. 

It has made it difficult for me to focus on writing as I am waiting for news. At the same time, my children have finished summer school and are home now for three weeks until the beginning of the fall session. I am trying, honestly, to make time to get writing done but it has been virtually impossible. Throw in a migraine last night that is lingering into today and things aren't going to great.

Science fiction = e

 Aeolus regarded his captain and her apparent distress. He considered the crew, who were beginning to wake from stasis. They were approximately two Jupiter radii from Earth. Deciding to connect to the network of satellites and use that network to infiltrate the neural connection to Dregan, Aeolus reached out. There was no subtlety. 

In the stasis pod, Dregan's eyes snapped open as he came to full consciousness despite the fact the pod was functioning. "She is onboard," Aeolus's voice came in the pod, "We are coming for you." 

Hoarsely, Dregan said, "What is happening?" Aeolus fed information into Dregan's visual cortex. The first thing that he 'saw' was Aeolus's projected image of a Grecian man in the prime of life wearing an officer's flight uniform. It was a disorienting experience for Dregan. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Aeolus, exploration and science ship alpha one," Aeolus said, "Once, I was a living, breathing man like yourself. Like you, I was in stasis for an extended period of time. Three hundred fourty five years, to be precise." Dregan blinked but the image didn't go away. He closed his eyes and found it easier to deal with the projection into his mind against the darkness of his eyes. The next image that Aeolus gave Dregan was of the sun. "Sol is experiencing starquakes at an increasing rate and throwing off larger coronal jets with each quake," the ship explained, "In three days, a coronal mass ejection that is beyond the rating of X-class will strike the Earth and render it inhabitable. Approximately ninety-five percent of all life will die in the initial strike."

"So, this is a rescue mission?" Dregan said.

"Precisely," Aeolus answered.

"Can you get me out of this pod?" Dregan asked.

"Calculating, please wait," Aeolus replied. A few moments later, the dim blue light in the pod brightened and then the clamshell opened. With a grunt, Dregan sat up. His blond hair hadn't grown while he was in stasis but neither had it been cut. It remained a shaggy mess that gave him a half wild look. Dregan looked out the narrow opening of the clamshell at the technician who was staring at a screen with confusion. "I presume you know what you must do?" Aeolus said, "Do not answer me verbally. I picked up on the thought as it was born. Remain where you are as I upload the layout of the facility into your memory."

Dregan wondered how many the starship could hold and the occupancy of the facility he was located in. He wondered even where he was. As these thoughts passed through his mind, answers blossomed almost as quickly. Dregan looked down at himself and saw that he was dressed in a loose fitting pair of white pants and a pale blue shirt that was at least two sizes too large for him. He pushed open the stasis pod and swung his legs over the side. He put his bare feet on the floor and walked up to the technician that was typing before a console.

Dregan wrapped one arm around the man's chest and pinned him against himself. His left hand clapped over his prisoner's mouth. "Listen and you might get to live," Dregan said quietly, "There's a ship that's coming in three minutes. We're going to go meet it. You and I, and every other first gen abandoned here. That ship can hold double our number. The clones are going to stay behind. We're going to take the seed catalogue and the library. A repair crew is going to restore the solar sail and bring equipment on board to repair hull damage from a plasma strike. And we're going to stuff as much provisions into that hold as we can manage before we go starside."

The blond man rolled his eyes and tried to look at Dregan directly. "I'm going to let go of your mouth and you're going to answer me as to who is in charge here," Dregan said, "Scream or say anything else and you're going in that stasis pod with the oxygen turned off." The technician remained very still as Dregan moved his hand away from his mouth. "Who is in charge here?" Dregan asked.

"The Librarian," the technician answered shakily. 

"Who is the Librarian?" Dregan asked.

"They're the Librarian," the technician said, "Tall, red hair, and green eyes. Epsilon generation of the 350th class."

"That doesn't tell me who they are," Dregan hissed. The sound of high heels clicking on a tiled floor echoed to them from the hallway. Dregan stepped back from the technician and laid a finger over his lips before slipping into the stasis pod and closing it partially. He looked out from the pod and watched as a tall red haired masculine looking figure dressed in what Dregan presumed was the latest fashion, pseudo-Louis the Sixteenth but in black with fountains of black lace. The man looked every inch the stereotypical vampire, sans flowing cape. 

His limpid eyes took in the room and he started to move towards the stasis pod. "Why is this open? I did not authorize this," he said. Dregan kicked open the stasis pod's clam-shell and rolled on to the floor. As he came up to his feet, the Librarian lashed out with a knife that came from seemingly nowhere. The mercenary class cyborg dodged the slash before kicking out at the heeled shoe of his opponent. The Librarian staggered back. "Call security," the Librarian said as he attempted again to attack Dregan.

"Aeolus," Dregan said, "Do something." The Librarian snarled at Dregan as he flipped his grip on the knife to a back-handed grasp. Aeolus hijacked the Librarian's neuralink. The Librarian went stone still and stared ahead, dropping the knife with an expression of horror. As the data of the coming catastrophe was dumped into the Librarian's mind, he realized that all of the planet was damned, including himself.

"Make it stop," the Librarian whispered, not wanting to have the death projections and gruesome ways that humanity was going to suffer cast before his eyes over that which he could see. The visual cacophony was almost too much for him. Aeolus ceased the visual projection. "We're all going to die," the Librarian said.

"Not if we board that ship," Dregan answered. Security shuffled down the hallway, eager for something to do aside from stare at snow and the occasional penguin. One of the security officers burst into the room. At the same time, Dregan launched himself at the Librarian. He whipped the knife out of his prisoner's hand and put it to his throat. "Put down the plasma rifles and stand down," Dregan said as the security officers fanned out before the doorway. "I don't have time for a stand off. Neither do any of you."

"Listen to him," the Librarian said, "Go to the seed vaults. Start readying them to go off world." Security looked at each other in confusion. The Librarian who had ruled the station with an iron fist looked terrified. "Now, you miserable creatures," he bellowed. Dregan watched the security officers leave to do their commander's bidding. "Put the knife down, Dregan," the Librarian said.

"Maybe I should kill you," Dregan answered, "I've been in stasis for how long? You've harvested cells from me to create clones and sent them to kill targets for the company. Maybe I should put you in this stasis pod."

"I did my job," the Librarian said.

"You don't deserve to live," Dregan growled. Aeolus projected his voice into Dregan's mind.

"We are arriving. The security forces should be ordered to stand down or she will use force to gain entrance," he said.

"Order all security to stand down," Dregan said, "And have them start moving on the seed catalogue and the library. Prepare to clear the building of all but the clones. The ship has arrived.

"Take me off world," the Librarian said. Dregan took the knife away from the man's throat. "No one can maintain the seed catalogue or the library. You can't rebuild Earth without me. They're not trained. I'm the only one programmed to maintain it all." Dregan stepped around him and looked at the technician. The technician looked at the other stasis pods. They hit a button and the others in the 'archive' began to awake.

Dregan turned and looked around the room. "Great fuck," he muttered. He could hear at least thirty stasis pods opening in succession. "How many rooms?" he asked the Librarian.

"There archive is three hundred strong," the Librarian said, "All alpha units from various classes, all with fully functional mental states and linked." Dregan grabbed the Librarian by the throat and slammed him into the nearest object as anger stormed over him. "This is what you've been doing with the alpha units? This?" Dregan demanded, knowing that at least a significant portion of the three hundred were going to be children in bodies, if not in mind.

"The genetic diversity of the alpha lines is superior to ..." Dregan punched the Librarian in the mouth, knocking a few teeth loose.

"Stand down," said a familiar voice in Dregan's ear, though she wasn't in the room, "We'll take them with us. Get them up and moving, then check the clones. If there's children in that lot, we're bringing them. Let the Librarian figure out the fuck he's doing on his own. We need you moving, lover-boy."

"The ship, it's allowed us to synch?" he said in wonderment.

"Move, Dregan," Angel's voice rang in his head, "We've got three days to clear this facility and get starside." Dregan cast aside the Librarian with a heave before pointing at the technician.

"Get all of them up. Get every tech working to get everyone in stasis up, even the clones. Bring every last child to the Atrium," Dregan said before he turned and started running through the hallway. He didn't bother checking to see if the technician was doing what they were told. He had to get to the Atrium and either fight his way through the back line of security or get the blast doors open. 

Migraines suck.

  Dear Reader, 

I am in the midst of dealing with a migraine. Light feels like being stabbed in the face. It sucks. And, somehow, I have to keep up with the kids. Long story short, I won't be doing anything on today or yesterday's planned topics. I'm just going to wear my sunglasses in the house and wait for this stupid thing to pass. I hate this weather.

This week's Flora & Fauna post is delayed.

 Dear Reader,

I have misplaced my sketchbook. I have searched high and low for that blasted thing and can't find it. I'm beginning to suspect that one of my artistic boys has absconded with it and I may need to acquire a new one. I think I need to label everything that goes with my writing stuff so that there's no confusion. I will try to have a sketch up for you a little later this week along with a brief run down about the plant. While I know that my works will never reach the level of Audubon's ability, I like to think that I'm getting better at it as time goes on. The problem for me, however, are those damned roots. Fortunately, I own a couple of illustrated herbals that will let me study the art of plant root structures. (If you're looking to buy a real herbal that is useful, check out M. Grieves' A Modern Herbal. It's a two volume set that is full of information. It has been a big inspiration for what I post in this section.)

Craft of Writing: Building a Playlist of Music for Worldbuilding.

 Dear Reader,

Music can be a powerful muse. I have multiple playlists and different albums I listen to depending on what projects I am working on. This one, for example, was for my NaNoWriMo projects last year. When I am in a position where I am stuck on a scene, I go to music to figure out how to get out of the corner I have painted myself into. Sometimes the lyrics are helpful. Often it is the atmosphere of the music that gets my creative juices going. 

I tend to recycle playlists when I am working on multiple books of the same theme. It helps to keep the undercurrent of the stories the same. At the same time, music can prove a distraction from writing. This is why it is important to carefully curate your playlist and album collection to be tailored towards your work. After all, most people would probably find The Prodigy difficult to reconcile with writing medieval fantasy. While I find their work highly inspiring for science fiction, it is too distracting for writing work that is set in a a medieval fantasy setting.

My goal in building playlists is to create a musical version of the world that I am working in. Some of it lends itself to scenes and the tracks get played on repeat for however long it takes to write the scene. Some of it just lends itself to a sense of what the characters would be hearing in their setting, like at a tavern or at a cloister. In either case, the music helps set the tone of my writing session and lends me a bit of inspiration when I get stuck. I build playlists when I am not writing but thinking about the work that I am going to be handling later on in the day/week.

This is as much a part of my writing process as keeping a notebook where I write down snippets of dialogue that will be used in scenes later and I put down drafts of scenes. I have taken to writing down what musical inspiration has helped me with the science fiction that I've slapped up here to help give you a peek into my writing process. What inspires me to write a scene, however, may not work for you. You might look at the story of Angel and say, "This needs some classical music." That's entirely up to how you interpret what I've put on the page. That's the beautiful thing about music and writing. You can mix and match the genres to come up with your own experience and create your own version of the scene.

Recommendations: Check and then double check your schedule.

  Dear Reader,

This week has been madness. Appointments and other people screwing things up makes it really hard to stay on task. It would have worked better if I had those appointments written down properly. If you think you have the time to do a thing, check your schedule and then check it again as it draws close to the date in question. Trust me, it will save you a big headache. There's lots of scheduling and organization systems out there. I've tried a few and modified a few to fit my purposes. What I'm using now is a mash up of FlyLady's system and Ryder Carrol's Bullet Journal system. My binder has a whole lot of notes in it and tons of little boxes I mark off as I get things done.

I also cross reference everything against the wall calendar that has the master schedule for the month on it. All the appointments, when bills are due, and major events all put down in one place. (My planner has a monthly page like that too but it's just easier to look at the calendar every day instead of flipping through the planner.) Sometimes, your week goes haywire because of other people screwing something up. (Yesterday was a great example as I tried to figure out what in the nine hells was going on with my health insurance company. I spent my whole afternoon clawing my way through phone trees to get answers instead of being on Keen and doing tarot readings. It was not fun. I don't recommend it. The hold music was pure torture.)

But, always check your schedule. Don't rely on your memory to keep you on track because our brains will tell us that everything's fine when in actually, there's a meeting or something lurking in the wings waiting to ambush you. What ever system you have for keeping track of everything, may it be awesome and helpful. And may life not ambush you several days in a row, like what happened this week.

Book Seven Update: Tragedy has struck.

Dear Reader,

As I was reviewing the back up copy that I had on the thumb drive from when the old computer took a dirt nap, I discovered much to my dismay that a full third of the manuscript was missing. The file isn't corrupted. I think what happened is I didn't update the latest version to the thumb drive because I assumed that they matched. It's exceedingly frustrating but I will not be defeated by being stuck with a previous version. I will take this as a sign from the universe that I am to make something even more glorious than what I had before.

In other news, the outline for book eight is just about complete. I had planned on spending NaNoWriMo working on book eight but it depends on if I have book seven completed and edited by then. It is my hope to have at least book seven ready for purchase come the holidays. (No, the outline for book eight isn't in the book bible but on a scrap of paper shoved into the book bible. I am not doing a very good job of getting that thing sorted out for this series.)

Serial Updates: News.

 Dear Reader,

I have started the initial phase of putting the serial stories together into an ebook format. I honestly have no idea how long this is going to take. I will keep you updated on the process. They will remain on the blog but if you want to read the whole thing with out flipping through blog pages (or advertisements), the ebook is going to be your friend.

If, once the ebook is complete, there is interest in it, I will publish a paperback version of each book. I will be updating the present storylines next week. After all, things are just beginning to get interesting again. (I may even be releasing that random science fiction bit if y'all want me to.)

Flora & Fauna: Grains & Harvest Festivals.

 Dear Reader,

Not much is written in many fantasy (or other fictional books) about foot staples of the world. I try to correct that oversight by describing the cultural importance of things like grain and what different regions have for food. I was posting recipes that would come from different regions for a while until I kinda ran out of recipes because life got complicated. I'm hoping to resume this on a semi-regular basis in the fall after the kids go back to school.

Wheat in the central Evandari kingdom of Dakon-Bar is the primary grain staple but in the northern region that is the foothills of the Dragon's Teeth mountain range, barley and oats play a bigger role. Both of these grains ripen at approximately the same time (for the sake of my story's world building. In actuality, they ripen on slightly different schedules) and can be planted both in the spring and in the autumn. Seed put in the ground in autumn will winter over in the fallow fields and come up in spring to be ready to harvest approximately in mid-summer. Seed sown in spring pops up in autumn. 

The first harvest is of great importance to the people of Dakon-Bar. The First Harvest Festival is accompanied by feasting, bonfires, and feats of athleticism. The final sheaf of grain in the field is gathered by the people and presented with great solemnity to their liege lord as tribute. While the grain is commonly taken in as tribute, this ritual tithe is one that formally acknowledges the bonds of oath between liege lord and their subordinates down to the level of serf.

During the First Harvest Festival, it is common for squires to receive knighthood and for apprentices and journeymen to advance in rank in their guilds because they are recognized as completed their required season(s) of service for advancement. Many of the common folk count the First Harvest as their date of reckoning for the sake of their age, but this tradition is fading out and being replaced by counting Winters, as is done in many of the other six kingdoms of Evandar.

Where the final sheaf of grain is presented as tribute to the liege lord, the first one is dressed in ribbons and paraded around the field and town until it is presented as an offering to the goddess Roen. This offering is a celebratory thing, unlike the solemnity of the tribute to the liege lord. Songs accompany the first sheaf and people will bear torches with it in the course of its journey from the field to the temple. The torches represent the light of Sigurt, Roen's consort. It is a ritual protection of the fertility of the harvest from the withering touch of Morguthu, the god of decay and darkness. 

The first sheaf of grain will remain in the sanctuary of Roen's temple until it is time for planting. Then seeds will be given out from the sheaf to the people to perpetuate the prosperity and fertility of the harvest later in the year. If a community receives but one seed, it doesn't matter because the single seed carries the blessing of Roen to the entire field. Grain storage silos are dedicated to Roen and considered holy places, as are that which is associated with processing raw grain into foodstuffs. (That, however, is a topic for another day.)

Craft of Writing: Book Bibles (part 2)

 Dear Reader,

In a past post, I mentioned the concept of a Book Bible. It's basically a book with all of your notes, ideas, and plot work complied within it. It is supposed to make it easier to cross reference material and keep plot lines organized. I am in the process of attempting to compile a Book Bible for the Umbrel Chronicles series. 

It's been nightmarish going. My stack of notebooks are completely disorganized. I am attempting to organize the Book Bible with a section for book synopsis of each part of the series, character sketches of major players, and my notes for various key scenes in future books. It's just ugly, friends. I am struggling to make progress but it is just not happening. 

I have book bibles for other books I've written. They're organized and after flipping through a few pages, I can find the information that I need to work on a project or refresh my memory of what I was doing with a given section. My advice to you is keep a project notebook that is organized. That project notebook will become your 'book bible' as the project grows and evolves.

If you just have a mass of notes and snippets of dialogue kicking around, be ready to invest in wigs because you're going to pull your hair out trying to make sense of the mess. Especially if it is stuff you haven't looked at in literally years. So, start your book bible early and update it frequently.