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Okay, so I didn't make February publication deadline. The book published March 17 to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It is the second book in the Deovolante Space Opera Series. Hope you like the new book. If you do, tell a friend and share a review on Amazon.com. Thanks for reading my books!
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1/10/2015 0 Comments The Next Universe OverThe second book in the Deovolante Space Opera will be available in February, 2015. We continue our tale of the friendly aliens from the Deovolante Galaxy. Rodan and company run into problems when they return to Deovolante to find the Oversee, who have disappeared. Their ship doesn't work right, there's an on board mutiny brewing, and there's a mysterious being in the deep freeze, who is defrosting. Plus Rodan has family problems and lizard navigator who can't navigate. It makes for a rocky voyage, which sends them on an unexpected detour -- to the next universe over.
9/5/2014 0 Comments punctuation in writingIn discussions I've had recently with fellow writers the topic of punctuation in writing has come up. I'm of the school the punctuation should be transparent in writing. Use it to sculpt the writing, but don't overwrite. My favorite little book on writing is Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style". I read it at least once a year. It is short, humorous and packed with the obvious grammar and punctuation that writers need to write. I'm a big fan of "said" for an attribute. If a sentence reads, "Your money or your life," he demanded, it is overkill to use "demanded". "He said" is just fine and if it is obvious who is speaking, we don't even need he said. I have seen this to a disturbing degree in modern writers. Let attributes remain in the background, identifying speakers only when need be. Forget the ellipsis, emdashes, and exclamation points. Make the words say it instead of the punctuation or attributes. Pick up any Robert B. Parker mystery and read ten pages and you'll see of what I speak. And keep writing!
8/15/2014 0 Comments Hoodoo canyonI haven't been posting for a while. I've been writing, finishing up my next book, Hoodoo Canyon, revising the next book in my Devolante Space Opera entitled The Next Universe Over, and traveling. My husband and I took a two week trip to Europe in June (is there a mystery on a Viking cruise ship?), went to a wedding in Salt Lake City, and I again attended the awesome Willamette Writers Conference the first weekend in August in Portland. I always come away from the conference with new ideas. My writer friends from Burns, Oregon, Lorna and Peg, went this year and we had a great time.  So here is just one photo that I took from Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah which is the setting for Hoodoo Canyon. The park is an amazing place. We might go back there again this year on our way to Grand Canyon National Park.
Hoodoo Canyon, if all goes well will be available on Amazon in September. So let me get back to whipping that book into shape. In the meantime, keep writing. 12/2/2013 2 Comments A new seriesWell, we kicked off the new space opera series today. I have the books on the home page and very helpful back story on the Deovolante Space Opera series page under "Books". It will be interesting for me to see the reception on this book because it is so far out. A Far Out Galaxy was the first book that I had an idea for back in the late eighties. It has gone through many versions. In the early nineties when I thought I was a romance writer, it morphed into a sci fi /paranormal romance. There are still heavy tinges of romance in the book. I can't help it. I like a book with a strong relationship between a male and female so that is what I write. I mean, isn't life about relationship? So I had read in some esoteric writings that the Earth is an insignificant planet in a not-very-important universe. To me it seems like we here on planet Earth have an overblown estimation of ourselves and our capabilities, and, yes, for heaven sake, of course there is life on other planets. Lots of life but maybe not in a form we can recognize. So that is how the story started and I imagined that the Earth was seeded by an advanced civilization and we kept screwing up and they had to keep coming to straighten us out. And so A Far Out Galaxy was born and is now available to read digitally. I'm even working on a print edition. Coming soon.
11/26/2013 0 Comments EtceraWell, I haven't made it to Wordpress yet because I can't figure out an appropriate title. I've been busy publishing two more books, High Desert Detective, and A Far Out Galaxy, and working on my next book, The Hoodoo Canyon. Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Keep writing!
I'm in the process of migrating my blog to a Word Press site. I want to expand what I write about and invite guest bloggers to write about their works, process and creativity. It will be more than just writers. I'm searching for the right title for the blog and then I can get started. I'm also recovering from hip replacement surgery so it has been hard to find the energy to write. Everything is in slow motion. The good news is that I started writing The Hoodoo Canyon again yesterday. It is always hard to get back in the groove after a hiatus. It is also hard to keep from falling asleep right now in the writing chair. Onward and upward.
8/8/2013 1 Comment another publishing firstAnother publishing first for me: I uploaded High Desert Detective my very own self into Kindle Direct Publishing and today I put it in the Select program which allows me to offer the book free for five days during a ninety day period. By entering the program my digital book will be offered only on Amazon.com for the 90 days. It will also be available in Amazon Prime's Lending Library. Indie Publishing is a constant learning curve because the field is so new and because I am so new to it. I love the artistic control. For High Desert Detective I had John Burns of John Burns Illustration, Bluemont, Virginia (a friend and neighbor from our life in Virginia) do the cover from a painting I did with my artist friends, Tegin and Sam. The next cover I will do myself using a free download, Gimp, and free fonts. On to working on the next book!
7/30/2013 1 Comment Publishing Perspectives Publish the Book workshop is over but I learned a lot of new indie publishing tricks myself. Then about a month ago I started corresponding with Patricia Watters, a romance writer who writes prolifically and publishes her own books. She is a wealth of information and very supportive of other writers. Her secret? She writes, sometimes twelve to fourteen hours a day, does all the publishing herself, mainly through Amazon Kindle and Createspace, and does no marketing. No Facebook, no twitter, no blogging. Nada. She has used limited giveaways to great success. She believes that for a fiction writer the best avenue to publishing success is to write a series. She says in romance cowboys sell real well, so she has a twelve book series with a cowboy theme, the Dancing Moon Series. Check out her books and her views on writing at www.patriciawatters.com.
5/2/2013 1 Comment Publish the Book series The First Page/ the First Three Chapters
The first page of your story has to grab the reader, agent and editor. There has to be something in that first sentence, that first paragraph, that first page that grabs and holds them like a pit bull. Many times in traditional publishing they ask for the first three chapters or the first fifty pages. Polish them well before you send out. Remember you get the story out in the first draft and write the whole book. Then you revise, revise, revise. In that process you will polish the first three chapters to a high gleam so that the agent or editor asks you for the rest of the manuscript. Send off and Wait or What? You will not wait for a reply from those agent and editors, but you will begin your next project. The process of hearing back from an agent or editor can take a few days to a few months to a year or more. You need to develop a body of work, so start your next book. |
AuthorI'm a serious writer, meaning I have a regular daily writing habit, and I'm interested in sharing my work through publication. My favorite literary form is the novel. I write to entertain myself and my readers. Archives
December 2018
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