IWSG: March 2024

 It's warm, rainy, and March. Welcome to another blog hop of IWSG. Please check out the entire list of participants here. Thank you to our founder, Alex J. Cavanaugh and to all the admins who provide a safe place for writers of all genres and all levels of experience.

This month's optional question:

Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

Excellent topic. I can't wait to read everyone's opinion and experiences. I have not used AI for any of my writing stuff. I think it's a slippery slope. I know some writers who are touting it, and I think they are sliding down that slope. AI can already duplicate your physical voice and with training, can duplicate writing styles. Some AI companies have already been sued for using writers' work to train their AI. We all like to think that nothing can replace human creativity, but I think that belief underestimates AI's possibilities. I fear AI's impact on the writing world. 

And let's not get started on SKYNET.  LOL

My own writing is going pretty good. New stuff is getting done, though slower than I'd wish. Old stuff is getting editing and new covers. I'm almost done with that for the immediate future. I'll have my two completed fantasy series available on Amazon very soon. Book #3 in The Futhark Chronicles, Beneath the Mountain, is now available on Amazon.

I'm feeling good about exercising. With the warmer weather, I'm off the elliptical and back on the road with my old-lady jog.

I'm really disappointed in Netflix. They canceled two shows I enjoyed, Shadow and Bone and The Brothers Sun.  At least a few network shows I follow are back on, but I'm not really exited about any of them except Will Trent.

I'm busy organizing the registration for the 37th Annual Pennwriters Conference being held in Lancaster this year. I'm so excited to meet in person, L. Diane Wolfe, who will be attending, leading workshops and taking pitches from attendees. She's making a long drive and we appreciated it.

Do you think you're read anything written by AI? Do you attend in-person writing conferences or workshops? Any shows you love get cancelled lately? 

Happenings of the Heart

What do we love? I love being a guest on blogs other than my own. Well, I'm not really a guest here so I guess I just love being a guest. And I love my friends who ask me to guest.  Today I have the good fortune to be a guest at Cate Master's blog. She's running a two week blog special called  Celebrate Amore as a preliminary celebration leading up to Valentine's Day.

Cate asked great questions during an interview. I'm thrilled to have a chance to talk about Beneath the Mountain, Book #3 in The Futhark Chronicles. Perhaps because I'm sending the fourth book off to my editor for one last read through. I hope to have The Heir of Futhark ready for the market by end of the month.

So please visit Cate today. Before the Super Bowl. I'm not saying who I'm for. I don't want to lose readers because I know how loyal some people are. Who are you cheering for tonight? Are you planning ahead for Valentine's Day?

Insecure Writer: Likes and Reviews

Thanks again, as I say every month on the first Wednesday, to Alex Cavanaugh for starting this monthly get together where writers can encourage each other and ask for help. Every month I meet a few bloggers who are new to me and learn something from nearly everyone I visit. I'm always jotting notes down, buying a few new books, and finding some interesting blogs to follow.

This month I collecting opinions on 'likes' as well as reviews and those little golden rating stars. Many authors I know ask, politely, for their friends on facebook or readers of their blogs to 'like' their books on Amazon. And of course, hoping and requesting your friends to write a review, no matter how short is not too much to ask. Is it?

I have never done anything like this. I hope readers of my books would feel motivated to 'like' or review my books but I never specifically asked them to take the moment needed to click on a button. I 'like' other people's books all the time and about once a month I take the time to write some reviews. I'm pretty far behind on that but I have hopes to catch up on it over the holiday break.

So, I'm wondering, do you ask this of your readers and friends? Do you do it? Is it acceptable? Should I request it? Would you go to this link and click 'like' if I asked it of you? Does it help book sales?

Thank you all.

It's time to be thankful for the good things in life. Where to start? I have a wonderful day job. A terrific husband, four terrific children plus two great stepsons, a daughter in law I love and a super granddaughter and they'll all be at my house for Thanksgiving.

I'm grateful we have lots of food and the means to purchase it and prepare it. Our house will be warm and cozy, the football games playing on TV and probably a family basketball game in the driveway at some point.

If I could, I would gift everyone with the same joys I'm having this holiday.

But not all it perfection. I have to offer my apologies to those of you I haven't visited as often as usual in the blogging world. One of the pillars in my world has started to crumble. I only usually share general personal news on this blog but I have to explain my recent absences. My mother is very ill. It takes up a lot of my time as I try to squeeze in as many visits with her as I can. She's not in pain or unhappy, so I'm grateful for that. I'm also thankful for the 87 years she's enjoyed, maintaining her independence until a few weeks ago. She's one tough lady, fighting the good fight.

But all this means I will not be as active on my blog as I have been the last few months. I'll catch up as I can.

And I'll leave you with a few questions. Is it a good thing when Amazon recommends my own book, Beneath the Mountain, to me like they did last week?
What are you thankful for this time of year? Staying at home, traveling to relatives? Any special family tradition like our basketball game?

Friday News

Finally we're expecting some nice weather for a weekend. I'm going to take the opportunity to run outside for the next two days after being a wimp and running on the treadmill all weak. I don't mind the cold so much, but running when it's cold and windy is not my style.

There are a few things I'd like to share with you going into the weekend and in anticipation of next week. Michael Offutt is celebrating the release of the second book in his A Crisis of Two Worlds series. Oculus has a super cover just the like the first book, Slipstream does. Go check it out on his blog. I know he'll appreciate the visit.

On this blog on Monday, I'll be featuring an interview with Nutschell Windsor. You're going to really enjoy. Nutschell is so generous on her blog with interviews of writers that many of you already know her. Well, stop by Monday and get to know her a little bit better.

And some news about myself, after being available on Kindle, Smashwords and other retailers for two months, Barnes and Noble finally as the third book in my fantasy series, Beneath the Mountain available for Nook. I just know thousands of faithful Nook users have been waiting. I'm not sure why it took B&N so long to have it available, but it's finally here.

Are you familiar with Michael or Nutschell? Are you Nook, Kindle, iPad or other? Plans for the weekend?

Weekend!!!! Yeah!

A very hectic week on the day job but now it's finally Saturday. Some good things are happening. Check on TBR Blog. This weekend is the any genre blurb fest. You can post a blurb of your book in the comment area or just read all the blurbs and fill up your TBR pile. Admit it, it was getting a little small with only a few hundred books on it. 

Also for the rest of September, I'm still the featured author on TBR. Thanks much to Cate Masters for asking me.

Thanks to PAGAN who gave me a nice review on Amazon for Beneath the Mountain. Hope I can get a few more.

I'm going to spend part of the weekend catching up on visiting blogs including so many from the Favorite Genre Blogfest that I didn't get around to visiting.

I've mentioned my upcoming retirement a few times and this past week I've added so many things to my 'next year' list. There are lots of book events and festivals only a few hours from me. I could go to those weekend ones while I'm still teaching, but then I'm exhausted the next week at work. I need my weekends to regroup from school. But 'next year' I'm going to attend a bunch of these. Maybe I'll be able to sit on a few panels and get more involved that way.

In the meantime, I'm working on Book#4 of The Futhark Chronicles, Heir of Futhark, and hoping I can get it ready for publication before the start of the New Year. If the world doesn't end in December.

Have you attended any writing events lately? Any in the Mid-Atlantic region you recommend for me for 'next year?'

Procrastinate to Productivity

Productive procrastination sounds like an oxymoron. But I think I did some of it this past weekend. I have my excuses for not moving onto the rough draft of Book #4 of The Futhark Chronicles.

Number one is my relentless efforts to get Beneath the Mountain up on Smashwords. The site is incredibly busy. I get to a certain point in the process and I get that little spinning symbol and the old lie, 'one moment please.'  I think it is called Smashwords because so many people smash their computers or something else when they're trying to use it. I had a little trouble with this when I published my first book there but my second one was smooth as silk without a single wait.

Number two is my need to promote book #3, Beneath the Mountain to mega-heights to make up for the income I'll lose when I retire next summer. I tell myself that is a very important full time need. Here's today's effort toward my retirement. BUY!

Number three is the need to check my email every hour or so to see if my romance publisher has responded to my latest submission of the first book in a new futuristic romance series.  I checked at least once while I wrote this post.

Number four is my efforts to get to know my fellow authors at Crescent Moon Press, the publisher who has contracted the first book in my newest epic fantasy series. Lots of new websites and blogs to check out.

So those aren't terrible things to spend time on. But I also did even more useful procrastination stuff this weekend. I cleaned up my desk, shuffling the mess into neat piles. I made little stacks of things that went together. I filled up my trash can with some 'stuff' that had piled up with my intention to use it or file it at some point.  Later this week, I'll dive into each stack of things I think I have a use for and do some more productive procrastination.

Do you procrastinate? If not, are you really human or are you one of those robots word verification warns up about? Is your procrastination productive or just for fun? Care to give me a little sympathy for my Smashwords debacle?

Beneath the Mountain Available Now!

Beneath the Mountain, Book #3 of The Futhark Chronicles, is available for sale on Kindle. At only $2.99, it's a real steal for nearly 400 pages of epic fantasy.

Available Now at Kindle

Beneath the Mountains continues the battle in the kingdom of Futhark. Marshal Cage Stone and his brother, King Jonared have pushed the demons out of the city of Futhark and regained the throne from the usurper. But they both know the peace is fragile and the demon solution is only temporary. Cage picks up the first hints of the evil power behind the plagues of illnesses and violence spreading throughout the city and into the countryside. He races to capture the demon lord before Keeper Sabelline Shelton embarks on a desperate mission to forever close off the opening to the underworld beneath the mountains towering over the city. Sabelline and Cage both believe going beneath the mountain will be a trip of no return.

The first book of this series, The Keepers of Sulbreth, Book #1, is now available everywhere for only .99 and the second book, Beyond the Gate, Book #2, is now only $1.99. 

There is one more book in this epic fantasy series, tentatively titled, The Heir of Futhark, is already completed in a rough draft. I'll be polishing it and getting it ready for my friend and editor, Gina. Since we're both teachers, the school year will slow us down a little. And I can't release a book without giving credit to my artist, Gayle Bower.

In a shameless bid for some free promotion, I hope some of my blogger friends will mention my new release.  Thanks for reading my blurb.

Is your TBR shelf full? I'm slowly working my shelf of paper books down, but I have a bunch on my eReader. I'll catch up on those during my lunch time at school and while riding bike as I rehab after my knee surgery.

Creating a Deadline

Successful people set goals. In my day job as a teacher, I encourage perseverance in everything, as well as having a target for your efforts. In writing, giving yourself a deadline can motivate you to sit your behind in front of the computer and get the work done.

The writers' group I used to belong had a clever contest a couple of times per year. I don't recall the exact name but it fifty words for fifty days in a row. Now most of us type out more words when we take the time to write. The theory behind the fifty words is once you make yourself type at least that many, you're more than likely to keep going until the number is hundreds or even thousands of words. Going fifty days in a row helps form the habit of writing every day. Doing it all together offers lots of encouragement and signing on makes public your acceptance of the challenge. The prize was always something simple like a magnet.

Art work by
Gayle Bower

I've noticed many blog hops and blog fests that encourage similar things. Setting a goal or creating a deadline for yourself works. If you're working with a publisher, someone else will be setting a deadline for you. I have both types of deadlines. I still have a week to meet my last self-imposed deadline. During the next week, I'll be self publishing Beneath the Mountain, Book #3 in The Futhark Chronicles. 

Do you have deadlines or goals you've set for yourself? Do you meet your deadlines or do you need an outside entity like an editor to set it for you?

Not So Fun, But Getting Lots Done

Wow, has the past week been productive. My niece designed a great cover for Book #3 in The Futhark Chronicles. I have the edits done on Beneath the Mountain. I intend to have it Amazon and Smashwords before the end of the month.

Original Art work
by
Gayle Bower

I participated in two blog fests and met some great bloggers as well as visited lots of old friends.

I sent a query to my romance publisher, New Concepts today for the 81K futuristic romance I finished a few days ago. Yesterday I polished up my synopsis for it.

Today I'll be working on my blurbs for Stephen Tremp's blurb critiquing exercise on Wednesday. I need three of those pesky things by the end of them month. I had to send one in for First Dragon already but I know I can improve it with a little help from my blog friends.

On the home front, I'm almost done crocheting my daughter's college blanket. I made one for all my boys and they still use them on their beds. This one has taken me a long time because I had so much writing to do.

Then just to make sure I sit around to write and crochet, I had some knee surgery last Friday. I may have mentioned how hard I've been working out for the last year. About a month ago, those downhills started to really hurt my knee. Doc cleaned it out for me so I'm limping around, trying to stay off of it so it heals. Perfect excuse to sit, write, read and crochet.

So what's the best excuse you ever had to sit still and work on a project? Are you participating in some of the cool blog fests going around? Is everyone at your house ready for the start of school?

Shaping Up

I might have shared a few months ago that I had finally worked my way back into shape. A few orthopedic issues had sidelined me for over a year but all was good. It is hard work at my advanced age. I remember the days of not working out for months and then deciding to pick it up again and go out on the road for five miles. That was 'back in the day.'

But I'm not writing today about physical fitness. I'm writing about writing. I recently received my third book back from my wonderful personal editor and decades old friends(she's much younger than me) and worked to fix all the things she marked for me. Did I tell you she's wonderful. No, I won't share her with you. I'm now waiting to get my artwork from my cover specialist, Gayle. Gotta love those young people who are magicians on their computers. It's all shaping up.

My WIP is coming along like a race horse. It's already at 23K and I hope to have it finished by the time I return to teaching at the end of August and send to New Concepts Publisher, my romance publisher.

 For both Beneath the Mountain, Book #3 of The Futhark Chronicles and for Heart of Stone, I'm going to have to come up with some one-liners and attention grabbing blurbs. I don't hate writing blurbs as much as I dread writing a synopsis, but I don't enjoy. Tada ......

Stephen Tremp to the rescue. Stephen, a success author and promoter, is running a blogfest in August for blurbs. I'll be able to get feedback for my blurbs, read lots of other examples of blurbs. I learn by studying examples. I'll get those blurbs of mine in shape. You can sign up to be part of it.

So how is your writing shaping up recently? Are you going to check out Stephen's blurb fest? Are you good at writing those blurbs?

Feeling Good

After getting a few summer obligations finished, I put my shoulder to the plow lines(Yes, I'm a farmer at heart) and did lots of work on my writing. I finished edits on Book #3 of The Futhark Chronicles, Beneath the Mountain, and am sending it out for a final read through. I always need someone to check my commas.

I also sent the first book in my second fantasy series, First Dragon, off to a number of small publishers.  I like the small publishers for so many reasons.  They get back to you quickly.  They're more likely to take a real interest in you personally. They understand the hurdles you face in promotion and in being a writer with a day job. I hope I can snare one of them to take on my newest venture in the world of prose.

I'm feeling good about getting something accomplished after weeks of devoting only minutes per day to my books.  My goal of the next few months is to make writing a priority for a few hours every day.

My last major commitment this summer is a visit to Boston for my daughter's college orientation at Boston University. I'm looking forward to exploring the city together including the college bookstore/Barnes and Noble where I can spend a little time with an ice coffee.

When I return home, I have to get busy on my newest project.  Once I decide what that is.

Is summer finding you with more hours to write? What are you feeling good about recently?

Nearly There

I've been absent from the blogosphere, including my own, for most of the past week. Still using computer choice C so my time is limited. The good news is how much work I've completed on my final editing before I have a professional do a final check for book #3 of The Futhark Chronicles, Beneath the Mountain.  Did I ever mention how much I hate commas and all the rules that go with them? That's a story for another day.

I found so many wonderful blogs over the past few months, as soon as I can take a breather from editing this book, I'm going to redo my favorite blog lists to include a bunch of my new friends.  I still have a long list of things I want to do for promotion and networking that I made during the A to Z Challenge.

One more week of school and then it's summer.  By the end of June, I'll have all my obligations for my daughter's graduation and college orientation done.  If I can keep up with the cleaning, yard work and my running, I should have lots of hours to work on my writing. Wish me luck.

Seven days and counting down.  What are you looking forward to in the coming summer months? Vacation? Staycation? Just to enjoy the warmer weather?

Always Something

I know many of you are aware of my continuing laptop problems. Still not fixed.  It's more of a challenge to keep up with blogging right now but I have no excuse for not getting more writing done. I'm in the middle of edits of Book #3 of The Futhark Chronicles.  Beneath the Mountain continues the tale that started with The Keepers of Sulbreth, continued in Beyond the Gate and will conclude later this year with The Son of Futhark. 

Rather than go into the long list of things I've been doing other than writing, I'll share the thought I had this morning while mowing the lush grass in my back acre.  When you have children, a day job, and a generous property to care for, there's always something that needs done.  There's always something I can spend my time doing.  There's always something I can work on besides writing.  And if I keep giving into the demands surrounding me, I'm never going to get done editing Beneath the Mountain.

Some things must come first like my daughter's softball playoffs, the day job, food, shelter, but I really have to give my writing more priority if I want to get my career moving forward. There will always be laundry to do, weeds to make war upon, meals to cook and some shopping that needs done.  With school over for the summer, I'm hoping to find more hours in the day to devote to my literary aspirations. Sunshine outside usually distracts me, but I'm determined to resist.

What's the 'something' that distracts you at this time of year? Do you have a lot of household chores, inside or outside, that cut into your writing time during the summer?

So Many Stories, So Little Time



From FB

Busy, busy, busy. I've been trying to build my blog presence and am having fun getting to know online friends. My other big project is editing on the third book in my fantasy series, Beneath the Mountain. I enjoy it but it's going slower than I'd hoped.  In the meantime, I haven't worked on new material for a few months. 

I spent the end of 2011 getting the first two books in The Futhark Chronicles up for sale in the ebook market. After taking back my rights to The Keepers of Sulbreth and Beyond the Gate, I self-published them.  It was time consuming as I navigated those paths for the first time.  Now I have the third and fourth books to get ready. 

On the back burner is my second fantasy series of which I have the first book written and the second book started. I'm researching some small publishers to find a home for it. I long to get back to writing something new but feel I have to do the self-publishing on my other series first.

On top of that, I have a fantasy romance I want to polish up and send to my romance publisher, New Concepts Publishing. And circling around in my head is the plan for another fantasy series.  I love starting new projects but I'm swamped with the other stuff.

Do you enjoy diving into a new book or do you like getting that first draft out of the way and then getting into the editing process?  How long does it take you for a first draft?

Next Week

Sorry to talk about my daughter so much. Wait until next fall when she leaves for college.  I'll be crying on here every day.  But she inspires me a lot for subjects on my blog. Two nights ago she was studying for a history exam and took the time to post her status on facebook.  She listed all the ways she was procrastinating on her homework.

How often do we procrastinate when we should be writing? I'm always telling myself my life will be less busy next week.  My son will be back at college so less laundry, more writing time.  I'll have my doctor's appointment out of the way, so more writing time.  I'll be caught up on some overtime stuff I need to do for the day job, so more time for writing.  I'm always telling myself next week will be less busy than this week.  And it seldom it.

Procrastination is human, but for writers it can be a real career staller especially if you don't have a definite deadline. Doing work on a computer can provide lots of distractions and some of those even let us feel like we're actually working instead of playing.

So I'm not waiting until next week to get back to work on my edits for Book #3 in The Futhark Chronicles, Beneath the Mountain. Because I'm sure next week will bring its own 'extras' to take up my time.

Do you have a favorite procrastination sinkhole? What have you been putting off?

Slashing the Weak Words

I’m working on editing the short story I’ve written as a prequel to The Futhark Chronicles. The main characters are secondary but important story movers in the second, Beyond the Gate, and the third book, Beneath the Mountain, in this epic fantasy series.

Since this story will be used only as promotion the only person doing the editing will be me. No professional book fixer will give me advice. All the editors I’ve worked with have helped me identify weak words. Now I’ll have to try and catch them all myself.
I’ve tried to break my habit of using certain pet works. We all have them but successful writers learn to overcome the temptation to use them. How many times can I write, ‘just, even, surely.’ Those are some of my favorite offenders.
How about triple words. Have you written or read one like this. ‘He hoped to try to begin to heal.” There has to a better way to say that one.
How about made up words? ‘Terrifyment, Terrifical.” What exactly do those mean? Get rid of them.

Sometimes it’s so easy to insert wishy-washy verbs instead of rewording and finding a more active verb. I try to get rid of all the ‘made, began, became, put, take’ and a few more that deserve no place in my story.

Along those same lines of weak verbs are the one representing abstract mental processes such as ‘knew, thought, realized, recognized, seemed, appeared.’

Some editors advise you to reword any sentence starting with ‘there.’ And of course cut all words ending with ‘-ly.’ I recently read an article cursing all use of pronouns. I don’t possess the talent to attempt that. Yet.

Every day I write is also a day of learning. Every time I work with a different editor I learn something new. Sometimes one editor contradicts another and perhaps proves a little of the ‘weak word’ identification is affected by personal preference or experience.

What weak words plague you? Have you learned to strike them from your writing? Is there a particular book or workshop that has helped you with word choice?