Thursday, November 29, 2018

Gravity check--a Christmas story

Oh, Jack, you Christmas humbug.

I sat at the counter in the kitchen watching from behind as he sent Santa diving from his perch. I guess the jolly old style Saint Nickolas offended our kitty, or Jack was just in a particularly mischievous mood. I saw the paw shove the decoration, then heard Santa's bell jingling on his way down and as he bounced off the sofa and landed on the floor.

As I sit and shake my head, I can't help but want to laugh at the antics of cats. I love them, but sometimes they can be downright a--holes! Luckily, Santa survived. He's just cheap plastic and nothing broke.

Jack is either proud of making sure gravity still works
or... Nope. He's proud, like a typical cat.

The beard's a little messed up, but otherwise he's ready to go back on the wall with the snowmen.

Like most of our decorations, he was a Christmas gift many years ago. He will live on for another Christmas season, despite the cats.

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

update on writing projects

I'm now working on the second book of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. It's not quite what I was initially planning, but inspiration took me around a different turn.

I'm absolutely loving writing this series. They're short novels and can be written and edited in less time than the long novels I've done. Also, they're just plain FUN! These stories are meant to be like episodes you'd watch for a tv series. Keeping them short, focused, and fast-paced doesn't mean I don't struggle. It just means that it keeps my attention better.

And I keep getting more and more ideas! I have ideas now for at least eight books but am sure that I could come up with many more, if all goes well. I know what needs to happen and will have "filler" episodes that don't necessarily add anything to the main story arc but which do explore the different characters and add to the fun, which is where this second book falls. They build the world in which the story takes place. Once I get going, I hope the full series beats start to fall into place. However, I know that while I can plan a story one way, I have to be flexible. The outline always changes as I write a single story, much less an entire series. It's more like a guideline than an outline, I guess you could say.

I did struggle with getting the second book going. In fact, for the second book, I actually deleted the first two chapters and started over, or at least started over after the first thousand words. There's a certain rhythm to a story that has to be found and it took a little bit of exploring to figure that out, although less than it did with the first book. I'm hoping it continues much more easily now that I have the story. This has turned out to be slightly different than what I had originally intended.

And I have a cover for the second book already with a tentative title. I can't wait to show you, but I have to wait until I am ready to set the pre-order for the first book. Only when they're ready for pre-orders will I be able to reveal the covers. The covers are perfect for the feel of these stories.

And I've been reading about some KDP issues that make me wonder if that's really the right path to take. I'll have to see what I learn when the time comes. I do just as well on Apple as I do on Amazon, so maybe I need to reconsider the plan of trying KDP Select.

I have time to get things in place. My plan is to finish book 2, then give the first draft a run-through edit for major fixes. I'll give book 1 another editing pass for major story fixes, especially since in writing the second book, I may have some things that I want to change in the first. I hope not, but inevitably, there is something that I need to tweak because a rule or fact established for one situation gets in the way of others so I have to find a middle ground and make appropriate adjustments. Usually by the second book, I have a solid feel of a new writing world.

Once book two is done and both of the first two books have been edited again, I'll start writing book 3. When that first draft is done, I'll hit edits on book one with full steam and go into editing rounds on books two and three. After book one is as good as it can get, I'll make that available, then focus on book two edits and make that available about 4-6 weeks after book one. Then, I'll start writing book 4. After the first draft of four, I'll edit book 3 and get that published. Then it'll be a matter of final edits on one book after writing the following book. It's a pattern that works well for me. Then I always have something coming up for publishing when I'm just finishing writing the next.

I would estimate releasing "A New Beginning" in late March to early April. The next will be about four weeks after that and then about every three months.

That's my plan, but I have to be flexible. I do live with a chronic illness that can make life difficult (such as not being able to focus on writing), and I have other obligations in my life. I appreciate your patience. It's hard enough for me--I can't wait to share these!

Monday, November 19, 2018

Starting Buddy on cows

Yesterday, I started Buddy on cows, and I see a lot of promise as a cowhorse.

On my family's farm, he's seen them up close in the last couple of months but has still been hesitant about being close. So, yesterday he got immersed in over a hundred cow/calf pairs. He helped us sort (in-hand with me doing the actual work), splitting them and effectively weaning the calves.

So, I took it easy with Buddy. I was going out to just see him--it was cold but I had bundled up--and saw that my sister, brother-in-law, and stepdad were still sorting when I arrived. I asked my sister if she minded me helping with Buddy in hand. She didn't and took some pics for us to share. (I think she was just glad for an extra hand with the work.)

At first, Buddy was dancing and carrying on, in his listen-to-your-handler way. He's good that way--his ground manners are great after all the natural horsemanship we've done. (You can't tell in the pictures below.) But he didn't like being away from his herdmates and being surrounded by bellowing bovines. After two hours, he was running alongside me to separate the stragglers who refused to cooperate and even started running ahead on the leadrope towards a cow I was heading towards at one point, rather than trying to get back to his herd. If we were standing back, he'd get impatient and paw and whinny, but towards the end, his eyes were more on the cows than his herd. It got to be that he got very focused on chasing cows as he realized they moved away from him and that we were doing a job.

This was a very good introduction to cows for him and very positive. It was also a safe way for me--on the ground with him rather than on his back. He was able to follow my lead and see that I wasn't afraid. I believe he gained a lot of confidence.

I've learned the hard way that horses that aren't introduced to cows in a good way can freak out about them. It's made me appreciate just how good my horses were when I was growing up on the farm. Boarding my horses at facilities closer to where I live as an adult has been a convenience in many ways, but it also limited the experiences of my last few horses.

Saturday, November 17, 2018

western saddles aren't much different than english saddles

When you get down to it, they both need to fit the horse and rider comfortably. This is something I started learning in the english riding world and now am carrying over into getting back to my western riding roots with Buddy.

I'd like to share some valuable information for other riders out there (and so I can reference it all in one place--here). These Schleese videos on Youtube are great and I highly recommend following Schleese Saddlery, whether you ride english or western. I've learned a LOT from these and from attending saddle fittings with Schleese and other saddle fitters, albeit for dressage saddles. And I've learned a lot from my horses, like how much good saddle fit makes a difference to them. Happy horses mean more pleasant rides and fewer problems, especially in their backs and legs.

I'd wish I'd known all this when I was growing up--but the internet wasn't around back then. I'm glad I know it now so I can buy the best western saddle for Buddy next spring. Then we can do both dressage and western dressage, plus not get laughed at while chasing cows, although my dressage saddle is far better than any western saddle, and I grew up riding western (or maybe because I grew up riding in a western saddle).

After seeing the intro in the first video, I suggest that you skip to the 2:42 mark on each.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

picturing your characters

I know of authors who like to find real-life people who match their characters, mostly as an exercise for fun and to interest readers. I have always had trouble matching how I see my characters to real-life people and don't even try.

However, sometimes I'll see someone who causes a shiver down my spine. I feel like I just saw my imagination pop into real life. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's uncanny.

That happened recently with a Netflix Christmas romance called "The Holiday Calendar". I saw the actress starring in this whimsical little movie and had that feeling. So, I looked her up on, of course, and found that Kat Graham has many acting credits, but none that I had noticed before, because they aren't the types of shows I watch. Of course, I had to watch The Holiday Calendar, because it does appeal to me.

As soon as I saw Kat in the trailer on Netflix, I felt like I saw Lilly from The Luriel Cycle trilogy, although she would need longer hair. Otherwise, she fits the image perfectly at this time, because she's about the right age right now. And her mannerisms are perfect, not just her looks. That's what makes this so haunting for me.

photo hosted by

I don't go around looking for real people who match my characters, but when I see them, it's like those characters could be real rather than just in my imagination. The story takes on a different life when you see with your eyes the people who only lived in your mind.

The cover model on the ebooks is good and was hard to find, because I also needed multiple pictures, but Kat Graham fits my image of Lilly better. What do you think?

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

I don't do email lists

I know few people who enjoy receiving email spam, and that's what I consider most lists to be. They're invasive and often oozing with a great deal of "buy my books!"


Not for me, at least not shoving it in your face. If you come here freely, this is my space, my home, if you will, and you expect to see something about me. The door is open here for you to look around into my life and books.

I hope you don't mind that I don't do email lists for readers. I even quit most social media. None of it really suited me, or at least it doesn't suit the present me.

I'm so much more comfortable being able to sit down and "chat" alone, talking to myself and an imagined audience, as I do while writing. Well, okay, while writing that's just having fun seeing where my imagination takes me. There really isn't any consideration of an audience of more than one... me.

But newsletters I've never been good at, at least not about myself. I put out a quarterly newsletter at work, but that's about other topics. I've never been good at self-promotion. I'd rather just write my stories and pay advertisers to send out the emails, tweets, and posts. Life is easier that way.

I enjoy interaction, but I've learned that I really prefer quiet time and letting people come to me. I don't like to be intrusive. It just feels rude, and that goes against everything I was taught about being polite.

I appreciate that you've visited and hope you find something interesting here. Thanks for stopping by, neighbor ;)