Busy Like A Bee

BEE-attitudes – Bee kind to one another.

This is me, busy like a bee… I’ve been going pretty much non-stop for the last few weeks that it’s nice enough to sit down and write a simple blogpost.

So what am I up to?

• Storytime Blog Hop resumes in October, and you’ll find a link to the latest 1000-word flash fiction installments when they’re ready. The date is slated to be 26 OCT 2023, but I’ll let you know for sure closer to go time.
• COVERS! If you joined my free newsletter then you know that voting is going on for the covers of Waking Dread (Book One of Eater of Dreams). After I’ve announced the winning cover there, it will show up here, along with a link to preorder. The date of the announcement here will be 17 OCT 2023. The book releases on 31 OCT 2023
• Books in progress: I’ve written quite a few novels, though I have published relatively few. Well, that’s changing as I put my rear in gear and revise. I’m in the middle of revision now of a “cyberpunk noir” and will provide more updates on progress in my newsletter. The story takes place in the same “universe” (worldbuilding-wise and literally, seeing that it’s science fiction) as Clones Are People Two. It’s on Kindle Unlimited, so you can read it for “free” if you take advantage of the program. The novel won’t be on KU, at least not right away.
• Speaking of which, there’s also a cover for that story too, which will be released closer to when it publishes.
• I also opened a survey to my newsletter readers on which of the stories they would like to see after I publish the cyberpunk noir, and the answer was overwhelmingly the sequel to Umbra: Shadows Over Hinge (originally published as Umbra: A Post-Apocalyptic Mystery). That revision commencing depends on the progress of the cyberpunk noir, which, barring any kind of emergency, should be done by the end of November, and a date of publication will be chosen before then.
• Totally unrelated to the books, I have to shore up my chickens’ coop before the weather gets too cold. It’s great that it’s more math/geometry/non-word hands-on, something to do when my brain gets rut-bound on parts of the revision. An hour or two with a saw and measuring tape and paintbrush can loosen up the old muse.

So that’s it for now (as if that is not enough).

Post-Mother’s Day

I know it’s a little late, but to all the mothers out there, hope you had a fabulous Mother’s Day!

I didn’t have kids–not for lack of trying, but it just wasn’t happening for my then-husband and I–but I don’t get all bent out of shape and hurt around the holiday, nor am I triggered into a puddle of spineless goo because I don’t have kids. I just take my mother shopping where she wants to shop and eat where she wants to eat and spend the day with her. Oh, and we watched sumo, since the Grand Sumo Tournament started on Mother’s Day. All is well.

However….my mother’s been calling me a ‘mother hen’. Why? Due to the additions to the family. And there are more, now. Four. Here’s one:

Peppercorn, at 10 days old.

We picked up four more, two red sex-link and two the farmer called “American Chocolate”, though I can find no reference as to what the girls will look like. They were completely black at a day old, but gradually some of the coloring is coming out. Note the white throat, red cheeks and red flecking in the feathers. They also have white rumps and black feet and beaks. If anyone has any suggestions as to what she will be, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

So, yes, I am being a mother hen. I’ve got six in the coop (sounds like a mental illness!) and four more who will join the flock when they’ve feathered out and when I can introduce them under a watchful eye. It takes a lot of care, some fencing and some patience. Chickens can be violent, especially toward one another, and pecking order is a very, very real thing. And that’s what moms are for, sometimes. Breaking up fights.

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WRITING STUFF

Eater of Dreams is now out and published in Vella just over 80K words which is 64% of the planned length. I’ve made decent headway in spite of some life-hits-you-hard setbacks.

I am at a stage where I can also start thinking of the next project I will be working on, after I finish the revision of the novel set in the same universe as Clones Are People Two. That’s been put on hold so I don’t sacrifice time on EoD.

I’ve got quite a few novels and some short story collections waiting to be revised but haven’t cracked them open just yet. That’s where you, my reader, comes into play. I am going to be opening a poll to my newsletter readers asking which project they would find most intriguing. It will be based on sentences/blurbs I developed for the books. If you want to take part in the poll, you’ll need to sign up for the free newsletter. Besides the story, “Whispering Dusk”, which takes place in the Eater of Dreams universe, you’ll also get updates, fun news, etc. every other week. You can sign up via the link in the sidebar/below or here: In Other Worlds…

You can also click on the sidebar/below Promos, and it’s in there as well, along with lots of other free/on sale books. You’re sure to find something entertaining to read.

New Day, New Year!

Happy New Year, one and all!

I wrote this a few days before but I can almost guarantee that I passed out in the chair* before making it to midnight (which has happened more often than not, even when I was a whole lot younger). I generally wake up a little after 12:05 and shuffle up to bed. After all, I need my sleep before the cat wakes me up at 0500 for his breakfast. At least the dog sleeps in.

I won’t be up to see the wonderfully bizarre drops in my home state. This here’s an article that’s more than a few years old, but does list some of the crazy ones in Pennsylvania. They drop a large Hershey’s Kiss up there in Hershey, of course. In my hometown, it’s a White Rose. York, if you’re wondering, and it only got a mention under Lancaster’s Red Rose. Hmph.

Anyway, I do get up early so I have time when all is quiet (provided I’ve fed the cat) and I can concentrate on writing. I’ve got a lot on my plate this year that I am counting on others holding my feet to the proverbial fire to keep me on track. These include:

• Eater of Dreams – finish the revision (you can check out a story from that universe in the sidebar for free, my gift for signing up for the newsletter)
• Start the revision of a Cyberpunk Noir, working title: Vorsky. It’s set in the same universe as Clones Are People Two
• Revising a set of short stories in the same universe as The Falconer & The Wolf

So it’s going to be a full plate. I have a lot of things on the burners, but I don’t want to burn out by making tons of goals and reaching so few, so my list will be updated as required. Call it a new year’s resolution if you will.

Anyway, I’m probably hard at work on Eater of Dreams, driving myself crazy with getting these things just right and arguing with myself regarding whether or not I should put it on Vella in pieces or save it for one publication or just chuck it all out of the window and start fresh. Yes, I have days like that. Compared to revising the darn thing, writing is EASY.

What about you? Resolutions? Any you’ve set and kept?

*Passed out just from being tired, not drunk. I don’t drink now, and back in my youth when I did, it was very, very lightly. If you do drink and go out, please do yourself and everyone else around you a favor: DON’T DRIVE. There are so many more alternatives than when I was young, so there are ZERO excuses to drive drunk/buzzed/impaired. I’ve seen the lives of too many friends torn apart as a victim, family of a victim, or as the drunk driver. It’s not worth it.