Wednesday Mishmash

Writing Advice

I received a lot of nice feedback on my post about 5 things I would be looking for in the third draft of my novel that I decided to share some more editing wisdom but from a source other than me. She Writes is a great resource for me and I come across a lot of informative posts like this. Top 10 Editing Tips For Your Final Draft by Kat Stiles. One can never know too much about polishing up a manuscript.

On My Desk

Is anything more exciting than starting a new book. I'm in the midst of plotting it out. I used to be an 80% pantser when it came to writing a novel, but I've learned that I write much faster when I have a good outline. Not that lots of things don't change as I go. I'm well into the plotting guts of the third and final book in my Galactic Outlaws series.

I'm giving myself some slack on getting this one done. I'll need to do a few rounds of edits on the two books I have under contract in the next few months. The A to Z Challenge takes up some time during April. And May is crazy with an entire weekend dedicated to my daughter's graduation from BU and another weekend dedicated to the writing conference I always attend in May. Plus, the weather will be nice! Pool opening, planting flowers and veggies, spreading tanbark, mowing grass!!! I can't wait.

Book News

Natalie Damschroder has a new release this week. Check out Aftershocks.

Her past and her present collide with earthshaking results. Who will be her future…assuming she has one?







Entertainment Thoughts

My daughter talked me into watching The 100. Bad move. I've been binge watching it on Netflix to catch up to the first two seasons. It's another of those dark shows like Arrow that the CW network comes up with. Another CW show that I've watched from its beginnings is Supernatural. I think this is the show's 12 season. And amazingly, it's still fun and interesting. It has its share of darkness but the writers always inject some humor and good music. I don't think most TV shows can keep it fresh for that long.

"Preserve the old, but know the new." Chinese Proverb

How many seasons do you think a show can hold onto its entertainment value? Any hints of spring in your neck of the woods? No fair Californians or people in the southern hemisphere. What's keeping you busy through March and April besides the A to Z Challenge?

It's Back!

It is time. Today the sign ups for the annual A to Z Blogging Challenge are open. I'm writing this well ahead of time as I fear the winter storm hitting us this weekend might knock out the power. By the time you read this, I hopefully will have my name on the list. And hopefully the snowplows will have opened our roads for the second or third time as they drift shut again and again.

Last year I worked as an administrator for the Challenge and believe me, it is work. This year I've backed off and resumed my role as minion the Alex J. Cavanaugh. I'm happy to be helping in some small way but without so much stress. I'm still thinking out my theme but I'll figure it out sooner rather than later. And Alex does have a really cool minion badge for his helpers to display.

Speaking of the storm, nearly three feet before it started drifting, it was a lot of shoveling but our very kind neighbors helped us. The three feet of snow remained on the township roads for more than a day and a half after the snowfall started. Not good.

Being stuck inside gave me plenty of time to write. I managed to finally type THE END on the second book on The Galactic Outlaw series. It's a very rough first draft. I hope to finish the second before A to Z starts in April. And now I have a lot of other little things that I've ignored while in my writing cave. Time to get back out into the social world.

A little industry news. Here's a link to Publisher's Weekly article about The Hot and Cold Book Categories of 2015. Apparently, The Martian really helped the sales in the science fiction category. It seems to happy when certain mega-sellers help a category like 50 Shades of Grey did for romance and The Hunger Games did for the YA category. Who knows what the next blockbuster will be? And if you happen to write in that category it may help your own book sales.

There were some funny posts on Facebook leading into the storm. One measured the storm not in expected inches but expected bottles of wine to be consumed. We fell into the 12 cases categories.

"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, and in water there is bacteria." Benjamin Franklin

I didn't drink 12 cases of wine.

Did you sign up for A to Z? Did the big storm hit your corner of the world? Are you writing in one of the hot or cold categories of books in 2015? Do you read in one of those genres?

The Future

I mentioned in my last post how science fiction romance is a very popular sub genre at the moment. Lucky for me that is where my space opera romances fall and they have been my most popular books so far. And I really enjoy writing them.

I was pretty young when the first Star Wars movies came out but I found a ride to theater numerous times to watch it. It may have been the first movie I saw multiple times in a movie theater. At least it cost much less then. But that was the movie that made me fall in love with the genre. Then came Stargate the movie and then the TV show. Firefly and the movie Serenity. The remake of Star Trek has also created more fans of the genre. Great stories set in a futuristic society with space travel a routine part of life. I hope humans do someday get to travel through the galaxy and discover other societies and lifeforms though I know it won't be in my time. If I make it to heaven, (I'm really trying), I expect to get all the answers there to what lies out there among the stars.

Romance novels are mostly about the characters but successful space operas have to have more than some kisses and sexual tension. As I create the universes my series are set in, I have to decide what will human society be like. Will there still be bars and pubs? I believe so. Will there be military units? What will health care look like and education? Will there be class divisions by economic factors or perhaps birthright? What will government look like and law enforcement? Usually one of those questions will be the basis for the external conflict that brings my characters together.

In my Recon Marines series, the futuristic issue I addressed the creation of genetically-enhanced soldiers and the questions of their humanity. In my Warriors of Gaviron, encounters with alien species drove the conflict and adventure. My newest series, The Galactic Outlaws, focuses on a corrupt central government that keeps the working class under their thumbs and the rebels who rise against it are the heroes. The first book in that series is not yet released.

For each of these series, I create societies different from the others but also with some things in common. I believe colonies in space will rely on renewable energy sources such as solar power. Health care will make major advances but just like on good old planet Earth, resources won't be distributed evenly. Like on Firefly, some settlements will be poor and not have the best doctors or educational opportunities. There will be corrupt politicians, greedy industry owners, common criminals and all the human failings we witness today. In the end, the same societal flaws of today will always be with us because humans are not perfect.

In other news, the second book in my much traveled Futhark Chronicles, Beyond the Gate,  is now available on my publisher's website. My publisher keeps exclusive to there for a few weeks to cut out the middle man like Amazon taking their share. The first book, Keepers of Sulbreth is now on Amazon and other online retailers. Unlike science fiction romance, epic fantasy isn't having a big popularity bump. Despite the success of Game of Thrones, the fantasy market lags far behind many other genres. But I'll keep trying.

What things do you think will remain the same in society centuries into the future? Do you believe humanity will find its way into space beyond our solar system? Do you read or write in a genre that doesn't have a big market share?