I got Book Mail! Here's my author's copy of Edge of Night and I simply had to share it with you. It came out beautifully (and is a nice visual contrast to the infamous editing bench). It's now available as a paperback on Amazon and through other online retailers. Happy Reading! The story gets darker as evil rises.
Dear Reader,
If only there was a sarcasm font. I would have used it and made it as big as possible for that title. I'm doing a bit better than I was yesterday. I really wanted to get on here and post a craft of writing thing but I was hardly able to see straight most of the day and light felt like I was getting stabbed in the face by the evil Day-star. Migraines suck, y'all.
Where do I begin? Last week was relatively awful on the brain front. Barely avoided a big fight with a relative because I focused my attention on mentally stabbing them in the eye as I was knitting on Mother's Day. I'm still kinda angry but I'm doing my best to just put it aside. I had a rotten week last week that kept me from writing just about anywhere because of my brain doing the I am depressed thing. Therapy writing was grueling and felt utterly useless. When I finally got through what is typically my morning writing routine, it was time for the kids to get home from school and then I was playing referee between two teenagers. (Yes, my youngest is twelve but he's got the attitude of a thirteen year old already.)
To say it's been rough over here is a big understatement. I didn't want this blog to linger in silence longer just because I didn't feel awesome. I wanted to let you know that I'm still here, just struggling to get time to write pretty much anything. We're coming up on a week of appointments next week and the boys have a track and field competition that Beloved and I are trying to figure out if we can make it to.
The remainder of this week is up in the air. I can see straight by the power of Excedrin but I've been typing slower than usual because I keep making typos that I have to go back and correct so you can actually read this. I hate migraines. And looking at the weather report for the weekend, I think I've got another one lurking Sunday into Monday next week. Ugh.
In other news, the paperback version of Edge of Night is out.
Dear Reader,
Today has been a busy day and I'm not even half way through my list of things to do. I am working on getting the apartment cleaned up. I did a little gardening. (I think the Oregano is going to win the turf war with the Vinca Vine in the left hand bed, but who knows. It's still early in the game.) I have to take my son to a doctor's appointment because he got bitten by a tick when he was out hiking yesterday. It's just been super busy.
I will have the Craft of Writing post up as soon as possible. Fortunately, the weather has sorted itself out and I'm pretty sure that it will not be a week of migraines like last week. That two day migraine was awful and then one came along two days later because of that shift in the weather. Beloved calls me the human barometer because of this. He's not wrong. LOL
Dear Reader,
I've been unwell and busy over the last few days. I had a migraine that lasted two days and I was finishing up the publication prep and process for Edge of Night: Book V of the Umbrel Chronicles of Evandar. I will have links for you soon.
Here's the blurb:
The desperate deception of Askemb was doomed to failure. As the forces loyal to the true Queen of Evandar try to plan their next move, the elf-woman Sideria makes an astonishing discovery deep in the heart of Dragonwood Forest. A discovery that could change the course of everything. In the White City, the High Council votes on Askemb's claim to rulership over Dakon-Bar and all of the Seven Kingdoms of Evandar. Treason awaits. Away to the east, the turncoat Douglas struggles towards redemption. Meanwhile, the deamon Axeron tightens his grip and bides his time until true Darkness falls on the world of men.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Just as I was about to hit post, the ebook has hit the market! Grab a copy and a cup of coffee. ♥
Dear Reader,
Last week, I said that I was going to share my most helpful resource from my library on writing but there's been a bit of a change of plans. I realized that really was going to be a rather trite and rote type of post. There are a lot of books about writing out there that give a great deal of good (and not so good) advice. So, please forgive this hard left in topic. It's still focused on writing more effectively, but looking at the emotional element of writing.
Way back when I was working on book one of the Umbrel Chronicles series, I had a rape scene I was writing. It was not excessively graphic, but it was enough to trigger my c-ptsd from being raped myself. It took me a solid two weeks to write a scene that was less than one page. At one point in the process, I was ready to abandon the whole story because I just couldn't get the words out because of how upset I was. I pressed forward despite my discomfort and wound up writing a realistic and gut wrenching scene.
How? I took my despair, grief, and horror over what had happened to me and channeled it into the scene I was writing. It was painful to write. It was probably one of the most painful scenes that I had to write in that book. (There were others that were difficult, but this scene ranks number one.) Sometimes, you have to push through the pain to write something that will evoke a true response in your reader.
The trick is to remember that all forms of writing is a conversation with your wonderful friend, the Reader. Some of what you are going to share is going to probably fall flat, not every scene is going to be perfect. But, if you take what you are working with in the struggle of writing that scene and turn it into fuel for the scene, your scene will go to a whole new level of empathetic realism. You will successfully communicate the concept and evoke the feelings that you want from your reader by pouring your feelings into your writing.
Right now, I'm struggling with pretty low confidence about my writing. I feel like I'm a hack. It's kind of bitter irony that I am writing a blog post that is encouraging others in their writing when I feel like I'm not good enough. But, this is where I'm practicing that 'just keep pushing forward' exercise. It's making this post rather grueling to write, especially this last bit. When the brain weasels are telling you to just delete everything and focus on your houseplants and knitting, it's a tough writing day regardless of topic, genre, or length. Hell, even a grocery list is challenging on days like today.
But, the fact that I didn't give up and I kept pushing forward is a victory. The fact that I have bared my heart to you in all honesty is in keeping with what I was taught is one of the core principles of writing: Write the truest sentence you can. I know I've done that. And if I can do that in the midst of being depressed, anxious, and very distracted by the neighbor's dogs going bananas over the wind blowing, I know that you can do it too. It may be one word at a time over a length of time. That's ok. We're not in a race, you and I. We're just doing our best with what we have. Sometimes, our best doesn't look magnificent and polished on the first try. But that's what editing is for, right?
