Procrastination

Last night I went to bed with the intention of writing so many words in Eva 2 today. Over the weekend, the characters in that world filled my brain with countless ideas. Little snippets of scenes just begging to be written down.

Several hours into the day, I've addressed all of the outstanding fan emails and Facebook messages. Perused iStock for images. Made myself several mugs of tea. Spent an hour working out and taking a walk because exercise often helps unlock my creativity. 

There are no other tasks that can be used to delay writing. No further ways to procrastinate. It is time for that thing I dread most with every new project--actually starting. Sigh.

Beta Readers Wanted!

It's finally that time again! Dragon 5 is finishing up so I will once again need beta readers. 

There is some confusion about what a beta reader is. So before we continue, I want to make sure you are clear about what I am asking of you.

A Beta Reader is someone who reads an early draft of a novel and provides the author with written feedback that could affect the final draft of the novel. Basically, you're taking the temperature of the book and letting me know what does or doesn't work for you.

The idea here is to look for big-picture issues and give honest opinions on the book. I do ask that you've read all the previous books in the series, enjoyed them, will be trustworthy and constructively honest.

Lastly if you are picked to beta read please remember this is not an ARC copy, so this this is not for you to rate & review, only for you to comment about and only to me. If you decide to not comment to me, then please wait until you’ve read the ARC which you will be eligible to read.

There is a week turnaround on this so if you don't think you can provide feedback in that time frame, please do not volunteer and take the slot from someone else.

If you're still interested, click on the link before to sign up.

Sign Up Form

Monday Treat

 Rereading this snippet made me giggle. Hope it brightens your Monday in the same way.

Snippet

“Alright, let’s not waste any more time here.” Dewdrop started for the tunnel.

Ryu settled a hand on his shoulder before he could get more than a few steps and steered him toward Tate. “XXXX will go first and then me. She’ll kill me if you get a scratch on your baby face.”

Dewdrop’s mouth popped open in outrage. “Hey! My face is much more mature now. I’ve even started growing a beard.”

Tate and Ryu paused to give him identical expressions of disbelief.

“It’s true.” Dewdrop said defensively.

Tate grabbed his chin, turning his face this way and that as she studied his jaw. “I’d like to see this so called beard. Can you point it out to me? All I see is a bunch of baby smooth skin.”

“Here. It’s right here.” Dewdrop pointed to a spot along his jawline. Tate squinted but still didn’t see anything. Making an irritated sound in the back of his throat, Dewdrop planted a hand on her face and shoved her away before hurrying several steps into the tunnel. “You don’t need to verify it. It’s there.”

Tate nodded as she started after him. “Uh huh. Sure it is.”

Tiny snippet

I thought you guys deserved a snippet on this Monday. I hope you enjoy.

P.S. This hasn't gone through the final rounds of edits

Snippet

 Ilith peered through the bars, nudging the cage. Terrified humans huddled on the ground.

They’re alive, Tate said in relief.

Ilith nodded once. Of course they were. She was the one to save them.

Her head tilted. How were they supposed to get out? She didn’t see a way for them to fit through the narrow opening.

Don’t—

Tate was too late as Ilith unsheathed a claw, bending the metal to create an opening large enough for a puny human to pass through.

That is rather terrifying on so many levels, Tate said around a sigh.

Nonsense. The humans were grateful for her help. Look at the way they quivered.

That’s called fear.

Ilith ignored her negative savior, humming to herself as she looked from the opening to the humans, waiting. 

Hmm. Why weren't they moving? Perhaps they were stupider than the ones she was used to since they couldn’t even figure out such a simple thing as this.

Ilith decided to help by showing them, reaching into the opening with a sharp claw. They wiggled in delight. Ilith appreciated their awe but it was making her job difficult. Finally she managed to snag her claw on one of their shirts, dragging her prey out of the opening. 

She set him down on his feet and then looked expectantly at the rest. They fought each other for the honor of scrambling through the exit she’d made first. 

Good. They were learning. 

Looks like you’re not the only one who can be a savior, Ilith told Tate.

Dragon 5 update

I'm halfway through page two of three pages of notes I made for editing. At this point, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact the vast majority of this book will be entirely rewritten by the time I'm done.

Already, the minor addition that was supposed to be the beginning has ballooned into eight mostly new chapters. Even those scenes I kept were pretty much rewritten from scratch. I've thrown out multiple entire chapters, salvaging only bits and pieces.

Also--fun fact-- I never really wrote the ending because I knew I'd gone very far off course in the first draft. Good thing too, because I'd probably have to toss that too.

I keep telling myself--today we'll reach the old stuff. Then another day drags on where I write entirely new stuff.

Writing isn't always a linear process. I know that. Just because you put words on paper, doesn't mean those words will stay. Most of the time I embrace that method. The pressure of being perfect tends to immobilize me until I get nothing done. I prefer operating under the "let's just try it and see if it works" method. It can lead to a lot of dead end rabbit holes, but you also find some diamonds in the process. Usually, it's not this extreme.

I don't know if the pressure of this being the last book of Tate's story got to me or if it's the fact I haven't really had a vacation in a year and a half. Or maybe the disruption from Covid. Whatever the case, I'm back on track now.

As dour as this post seems, there is a silver lining. The rewrite has made me fall in love with these characters all over again. There've been moments where I've giggled to myself over their antics . Moments like these remind me of why I love writing. It makes all the rest of it worthwhile.

Twilight's Herald Audiobook

Quick update: The audiobook for Twilight's Herald is up for preorder at the link below. It will go live on March 23.

Preorder on Audible

Checking in

I wrote a blog post, but ended up deleting it because I thought it sounded a little too whiney. Unfortunately, that still left me with a blog post to write. Welcome to the world of a writer--write a scene, dislike it, delete it, rinse and repeat until you stumble on something that halfway makes sense. 

Lately, all I've had the energy for is to make word count--sometimes not even that. It turns out writing the end of  a series is taxing business. There's all these open loops you have to be aware of and close. Finding a character arc that brings the reader satisfaction without driving them crazy is a balancing act. There's also the fact I want Tate to go out on a strong note. She and Ilith have been with me for so long. They deserve a good ending.

The good news is that I expect to be done with this draft by the end of next week. Honestly, even if I haven't reached the end end, I'm going to call it the end so I can go back and rewrite and fix everything that is bothering me. 

This story went off the rails relatively early in the process--pretty much from chapter one. For once, I stuck with my promise and did no rewriting, no editing or anything like that. It's a good thing too. My original plan was to toss chapters one and two and start the book at chapter three. 

It would have been such a waste of time and energy had I really done that. 

Two a.m. brainstorms are the best--well, maybe not for sleep. But for figuring out the problems areas and reassembling the storyline into something that actually makes sense, nothing can beat them. I finally know how and why things happen. The pacing of the new outline is so much better than the current version. I have room and space to develop the characters who had fallen by the wayside. The best part is my original beginning can stay! Actually, a lot of what I thought I'd have to toss will be able to stay. Just in a new way.

Yes, I'll have to rewrite a significant portion of this book. Yes, I'll have to add soooo many scenes to round out what I have. 

But! The vision in my mind is going to be so much better than what I currently have. All those fun parts that make working in Tate's universe so interesting will get their chance to shine. 

This is a roundabout way of saying--Dragon 5 is progressing along--maybe not nicely or easily but it's heading in the general direction I want.