So, it seems I skipped doing this last year. Not surprised since I was job hunting and thought I had a shot at saving my marriage. Ah, what a naive youth I was in 2018. So, I really couldn’t muster the time or energy for this fun event. Let me explain for my new followers and those who may have forgotten.
This is an October event that involves me getting strange, unreal words and turn them into monsters or magical items/relics. You can see some examples HERE. Typically, I have these posts go up on Friday and combine volunteers to cover the entire month. I always give credit and direct people to blogs, so you might get a little promotion in here. No guarantees though. I might spread it to more than once a week if I get a lot of volunteers, but I think I can handle it. The guidelines are simple:
Give no more than 3 words.
Use nonexistent words instead of things that actually exist.
Have fun with it.
Thankfully, I’ve done this enough to get the kinks out of the system. So, I won’t get 12 lists with 10 words each or a bunch of animals that already exist. I mean, a gorilla is a gorilla even in Windemere.
I really enjoy doing a ‘monster’ theme in October, so I think I will do something with my vampires on Mondays and something else monster-based on Wednesdays. The Monday thing might be interactive interviews. Typically, I try to get the questions beforehand, but I might test my luck and see if people get into the fun with comments. I’m going to see what I come up with and post some polls next week. People enjoyed the write ups of Windemere monsters 2 years ago, so I might do that again.
Thanks to everyone who joins in. Feel free to spread the word and hopefully enough people appear to cover the month.
Please tell us a little about yourself. What makes you a unique author (or artist)? I live on Long Island, New York, US, with my husband, Kevin and dog Henry.
Please tell us about your publications/work. I write the Tracy Gayle mystery series, Stiff Competition (a Miss America mystery) and Ratings Game (Talk Show Queen). Tracy is a Long Island private detective. Her sidekick is a rock and roll musician. She was hired by Danny Tide to find out who set his band’s summer tour bus on fire. They became close friends that eventually developed into more.
What first prompted you to publish your work? I love these characters and this series. I created Danny Tide in 1998. Tracy came years later. They came together by accident. The chemistry between them was wonderful. One mystery/eventual romance led to the next. I had to share it with…
Let’s be honest. I didn’t have much of a summer break since I was working at camp even before my school job ended. That means I’ve really only had 13 days to rest. Minus 1 for orientation day though. Not much, but a lot has happened. I think I’m going to categorize this post to make things easier. That way people can skip to what they’re curious about here.
Baltimore
As I mentioned last weekend, I went to Baltimore with my son and parents. It was a fun trip, but I’ll admit that my body was at the end of its energy. Sleeping in isn’t an option when you share a room with a 10-year-old who figures out the remote, channel guide, and window curtain right away. When he woke up, I had to wake up. He tried to help by putting a pillow on my head, but that didn’t work. Thankfully, the continental breakfast was great, so I got a boost from that. The hotel also had a heated saltwater pool, which helped me relax.
Aside from being in the hotel, we went on a few outings. The first full day was really rainy, so we couldn’t wander around the harbor like we wanted. We did go to the National Aquarium, which was the main event and was all indoors. They have dolphins here and my son was super excited to see them. We made it in time for one of the training demonstrations, which explained how they are taught skills they would use in the wild like releasing bubbles underwater to herd fish and hydroplaning in the shallows. There was also a jellyfish touch tank that my son was a little scared about, but became thrilled after the first touch. They have a 500 pound sea turtle rescue named Calypso who is missing a front flipper too. We got a close look and she is huge.
Other parts of the trip were a train museum that was a lot of fun. Very old trains that are in great shape and you can go on a few of them. We didn’t ride on any of them and my son took a little time to get really into it. No interest in the more historical parts indoors, but he was happy when we walked into the Roundhouse. After that we went to the Maryland Zoo, which isn’t as big as the Bronx Zoo, but was a great way to spend a few hours. The highlight here was that my son got to see cheetahs, chimpanzees, and arctic foxes for the first time. Of course, the cheetahs are what he really wanted and they were right by the glass. Unfortunately, another kid was banging on the glass to get them to ‘do things’ and their parent wasn’t stopping it. So, the cheetah did keep some distance until that issue moved on. Overall, a fun summer trip.
I Live In a Storage Room Now
This is temporary, but we’re taking advantage of my son being with his mom for the last 7 days of his break. Both his and my room need to be painted, so we’re working on his first. I say ‘we’, but my dad is doing it while I only help with the heavy lifting. I’m just trying to rest up and get things ready for school on Tuesday like doing a few training/refresher things. There isn’t much space in there too. The big furniture is still there under a tarp, but most of his toys and smaller things are in my room. I can’t access my closets, a blanket box blocks me from my puzzle table, and there’s just this feeling of claustrophobia at times. I hope we can put things back tomorrow since I’d like at least one night of sleep in a room that doesn’t feel like a ‘Search and Find’ puzzle.
Back to School
I had my orientation/welcome back day on Thursday. I’m still working on an odd internal schedule, so I showed up really early. Said hi and chatted with people I haven’t seen since July. It’s going to be an interesting year because I’ve been moved in a manner of speaking. I’m not with the student I was with last year. Instead, I’m working in what is called Life Skills. This is a great program with amazing kids and teachers. I had one period with them last year, so I’m excited to be with them for most of the day. I’ll have to learn the protocols for when we go out in the community and the quirks of all the students. Big difference between one period and most of the day. Still, I’ve begun looking for online programs for a Special Education Masters, so this is the type of class that I would be working in. An added bonus is that I can wear sneakers since I’ll be on my feet more than before. I’m hoping to get some outlining done during my free period and lunch too, so here’s to a positive school year.
War of Nytefall: Eradication
My goal is to release this book right before Christmas even though it has nothing to do with the holiday. I began editing on Wednesday, but I lost Thursday. I’ve managed to finish 6 of 16 chapters. If I’m lucky, I can finish 15 before I go back to school on Tuesday and I can do the last one when I get home from work. My problem here is that I’m still unsure about this story because I wrote it during a difficult period of life. So, I had a lot of big breaks between writing sessions. This has resulted in characters using terms that they shouldn’t know until they are told later in the story. I changed villain plans throughout the story too. I didn’t have a clear idea of the bad guy’s secret, so he came off as inconsistent in terms of personality. At the end, I found a reason for this, but I’m afraid that it comes off sloppy. This is why I hate having weeks between writing sessions. The smaller bits of foreshadowing are lost and I lose an entire day if I have to reread everything. I’ve been fixing up a lot of stuff though, which is good. Okay, it isn’t as bad as I feared and there’s only one scene that’s really irking me so far.
I’ve noticed that I have this ‘Nytefall’ story move fairly quickly. It’s a large cast to balance and I try to have everyone make an appearance. I mean, does it work if two characters who are mildly involved in events only show up 3-4 times? One of the heroes got a lot of his scenes cut because they were recon that could be done ‘off page’ and would typically be fairly boring. Doubt is the flavor of the year with me on this. Keep fearing that my mojo is gone, but it looks like I slide back into form once I get going. My hope is to work on War of Nytefall: Ravenous in a month or two, but I need to rewrite the outline to suit a new idea. Not having an alpha reader anymore does make me twitchy. I can get people to edit and look at the content, but I lost that person who knew what was coming or at least understood the stories evolution.
GOALS OF THE WEEK!
Finish editing War of Nytefall: Eradication
Continue watching ‘Wynona Earp’.
Back into school schedule.
Work on fantasy tip book notes.
Finish new book idea list to help jog thoughts.
Look over ‘Ravenous’ outline.
Move son’s stuff back into room.
Desperately try to get back into the habit of biking.
First, I’m not talking about the manipulation of nostalgia, which seems to be getting used all over the places. This is more about you walking along or sitting at your desk. Just going through the day or relaxing. All of a sudden, you get hit by a nostalgic memory that leaves you a little off. The emotional pathway for me usually goes like this:
Memory strikes and I feel oddly relaxed.
There’s a bout of happiness and mild euphoria as my senses go back.
Wonderment as I try to lock down more of the memory.
Sense of loss and yearning as it passes away.
Honestly, this feels like a cruel trick of the mind. As if it’s trying to convince you to revisit or reenact your past during a time when you can’t. Maybe my mind is trying to escape or create a pulse of happiness in a desperate attempt to ward off sadness. This has been happening a lot to me this year, which is why I’m leaning toward that option. The divorce has left me feeling alone and broken in a way that I can’t really explain it well to others, so my mind might be grasping at childhood memories. Some of them are traceable while others are incredibly random. Here are the common ones:
There are random times when I suddenly want to play an RPG video game like ‘Illusion of Gaia’ or ‘Final Fantasy IX’. I was never the biggest player of these games, but I had a few that I loved. Those two, ‘Super Mario RPG’ ‘Kingdom Hearts’ and ‘Lunar: The Silver Star Story’ would probably be the big ones. There was something about wandering a vast world with great music and a winding tale that made me lose my worries. I simply can’t fit this old love into my life right now, so the memories leave me a little sadder than when I started. Again, no trigger here from what I can tell.
Kind of related to the previous one, but I keep hearing music from ‘Super Castlevania’ in my head. It’s another childhood favorite that I got really good at. I’ll put one of the songs down at the button. No idea why this one turns up.
A big one that does have a source is when I’m driving along and hit a section of the parkway that is surrounded by trees. Only happens when there isn’t traffic too, so there’s a sense of isolation in a way. I begin to remember the sense of being in the car for family trips that took us through more rural areas. Mountains, forests, farmlands, rivers, and lakes would be around us instead of buildings. I’d always zone out as a child and imagine either other worlds or beings from those worlds wandering around the landscape. Even when I was in college, I’d get this sensation as I drove from Long Island to Oswego, which is upstate New York. I kind of miss those areas and I feel like it’s hard for me to go back there. Guess the memories are connected to doing things as a family and doing it solo would twist the emotional knife.
I don’t know if there’s anything that I can use these bouts of nostalgia for. They don’t seem entirely useful in terms of inspiration. As I said, they come off as an odd defensive mechanism against some mental anguish. I don’t benefit physically from it and the fleeting happiness does more harm than good at times. Kind of fits with the way human bodies don’t make a lot of sense at times. I’d go into that, but I’m sure I’d get into a fight with people in the comments. Anyway, I can’t figure this out, but it’s enough to make me write about it.
Am I the only one who gets this? Has anybody been hit by nostalgia and figured out what triggered it? For that matter, is nostalgia a good or bad thing?
Now for the video I promised. Was torn between ‘Bloody Tears’ and the ending, so I went with the more upbeat one:
Bonus since I’d forgotten how great the opening song of ‘Lunar: The Silver Star Story’ was.
Hi, gang, Craig here to start this off. One of the fun things about a group blog is the camaraderie established by working with friends. We have a place to chat that’s free from others, and Sunday nights can get pretty crazy in there. This is a talented bunch, and I’m honored to be working with them.
One of the other advantages is mutual promotion. We haven’t done this for a couple of years, but we all have titles that match up with the Halloween season, and we’re taking our show on the road once more. Watch for us to show up on each other’s sites during our tour.
For myself, I’m going to be pushing a book I haven’t published yet. I’m still doing a few advance teasers, but this is part of my “year of sequels.” This one is a second book for Lizzie and The Hat. At…
As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Many thanks to customwritingservice who produced the infographic and post below specifically for my blog, to help you hone your writing skills!
5 Ways to Enrich your Writing
Writing a story of fiction is the dream of many aspiring writers and even authors who have gone in different ways, such as poetry or nonfiction. Let’s face it, fiction is seductive! Inspiration comes when you least expect it, and suddenly your mind is dominated by universes and characters that don’t belong to our reality. It is the author’s job to navigate this wild territory of their imagination and to convey in engaging words their knowledge of this new world.
But with so many cluttered ideas in mind, knowing how to write a fictional story is not as simple as the first light of inspiration makes it seem. You must now write hard and with discipline, until you finish a work that…
Gone in half a blink
From needing nurturing
To always out
Rarely giving time
Sequestered in their lair
Like a cocooned larva
*
We rarely think ahead
The humorous mourning
Of our little ones advancement
Weeping at milestones
That grow fewer
And farther apart
*
Their youth is fleeting
To a point we never sense
Always thinking
We can sacrifice a night here
A day there
A week from time to time
*
Teenagers catch us by surprise
Some defiant
Others not that different
From the child we piggybacked
Either is a shocking sign
That time is dwindling
*
Adulthood will strike
Off to college
Starting a job
Heavier milestones
Come rapid fire
So we must cherish the now
Today I’m a guest at Maryann Miller’s blog, Maryann Writes. When I was a new writer, I learned many things by trial and error. Some of what I learned I forgot and had to keep relearning and others I managed to save. I developed a list of five things that new writers ought to remember and published on Maryann’s blog today. You can find it at this link.
So that you can know Maryann a little better here is her bio.
A diverse writer of columns, feature stores, short fiction, novels, screenplays, and stage plays, Maryann Miller has won numerous awards including being a semi-finalist at the Sundance Institute for her screenplay, “A Question of Honor.” More recently, she placed in the top 15 percent of entries in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellowship with the adaptation of her mystery, “Open Season.”
Early publishing credits include work for regional and…
This is a fun excerpt from War of Nytefall: Lostthat I posted nearly a year ago. It still really good and shows a key point of the story. Demonstrates how Lost’s personality is very child-like even though she has adult-level knowledge. Here we go.
Hi, gang, Craig here to start this off. One of the fun things about a group blog is the camaraderie established by working with friends. We have a place to chat that’s free from others, and Sunday nights can get pretty crazy in there. This is a talented bunch, and I’m honored to be working with them.
Legends of Windemere 