Why Does it Have to Be Yellow Jackets?

 It's been a fairly quiet August here in the Smith household. The kids are in virtual school, the pandemic is pandemicing, the new kitten has taken over the household and I have been editing Maestra.

I'm around 70% of the way through edits and I have a self imposed deadline of the end of August to complete the project. This was thoroughly derailed this morning by a pest problem.

For the past couple of days, my wife and kids have been hearing a 'mouse' in the walls and ceiling upstairs. You may notice the word 'mouse' in quotation marks. That's because when I heard the sound this morning I decided to investigate. 

On the ceiling of my 4 year old's bedroom I noticed a paint bubble. I poked at it and there is no drywall behind it. There was a tapping sound in the ceiling all around the area. I think, 'wow, the mouse sure likes to chew up drywall.' Then I slap the ceiling to spook the mouse. The result was a chorus of buzzing and the tapping became a clamor. 

Well, that's not good.

I walked outside to get a better view of what was going on around the roof. Sure enough, yellow jackets swarming the roof where they have made a nice little hole through the fascia and gotten into the attic. I hate yellow jackets. Every single summer that we have lived in this house (seven years now) we have had issues with yellow jackets. We had to cut down our pear tree. They nest in our shed, attic (two years ago), lawn, trees, and now in the attic again. 

So, we have the upstairs bedrooms closed, towels under the doors, and everyone is on the first floor. Pest control should arrive in a few hours to hopefully handle the problem with ease. Until then, it's a fun filled day of paranoia. It's also a rare ninety degree late August day here in Michigan, which makes it difficult to keep the kids outside all day long.

In other words, not much editing is getting done today. Fly swatters and flip flops are on standby in case the striped, stinging menaces decided to invade.

Also, pick up the new and improved ebook of The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett for just $2.99!

https://www.amazon.com/Morbid-Fascinations-David-Bennett-ebook/dp/B07ZG4N2XB

I cleaned up the text and formatting and made a few minor adjustments, overall. FYI, anyone who already owns a Kindle copy of this now has the updated version on their device. Help support the war against yellow jackets with your purchase! Thanks!

Buzzing along for now...

I Did a Thing

Before I began writing Maestra I came up with a concept of an anthology series of very short stories, roughly 3,000 to 5,000 words. It would be Science Fiction themed and all involve stories with lessons built into them from Humanity's first attempt to colonize an alien world. 

While drafting Maestra I didn't do a whole lot with it other than create a bit of an outline. Last weekend, when I finally put the final draft of Maestra to rest I set out to write the first short story in the series before going on a hiatus.

It didn't take me very long to write up a couple of drafts and edit, so here is the first entry!

It is available on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. It is 99 cents to purchase or free through the Kindle Unlimited option if you subscribe to that service. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FBRWQVF

I will eventually put more stories up in the series. 

This story serves as a nice bridge to my next project, which will be a full length science fiction novel, tentatively looking to release in Summer 2021 (if there is still a world by then.)

Now a break for a few days before I begin my edits on Maestra.

Life Hack: Low Carb Pizza

This is not a paid advertisement. I'm a 43 year old who loves pizza with a passion. I also happen to be a type 2 diabetic who struggles to find things to eat that don't taste like cardboard.

This doesn't even really qualify as a recipe but more of a 'huh, I never thought of that.'

In the Mexican section of your grocery store you are likely to find a selection of either High Fiber or Low Carb soft tortillas. My personal favorite are OLE brand Xtreme Wellness Tomato Basil tortillas. They're about 8 inches in size, 50 calories, 15 carbs but 11 are from dietary fiber.

I toast one of these up in my little toaster oven for about 3 minutes at 450 degrees.

I then take three table spoons of any given pizza sauce (this will add about 5 more carbs, typically) and spread it out over the crisped tortilla. 

Next I sprinkle a quarter cup of lowfat mozz cheese on the pizza.

You can add whatever toppings you like. Personally I go for a bit of pepperoni, basil, and garlic.

Put it back in the toaster over on 450 for another 4 to 5 minutes.

You now have a relatively healthy pizza containing roughly 200-250 calories and 9-10 net carbs. Best of all, this is legitimately tasty thin crust pizza!

Here in the Midwest, Meijer also has their own store brand low carb tortillas. They are kind of plain and have a couple more carbs but are an overall decent choice for this.

The Toll

I've been pushing myself pretty hard to get this draft done. Originally, back in November when I began writing Maestra, I wanted to be done with all the drafting by July. Despite several hiccups along the way (including a motivation sucking global pandemic) I'm not really that far behind. Most of the credit can come from a second wind that hit my sails the moment I began writing the third act of the book. Not only is it my favorite part of the book (I really love writing gut wrenching stuff...yes, I'm sick,) but I could see the end in sight -- that always helps me kick it into another gear.

In the past week I have written 12,000+ words in this draft. That's a lot. I'm also paying for it. I've had many dreams and nightmares about Maestra over the past week -- not only the story but a lot of other stuff that goes along with wrapping up a book. I've had several anxiety attacks about the upcoming marketing push, getting reviews organized, getting the cover artwork finalized, etc. I've slept like crap and it is showing. I haven't felt a decline in my writing quality, other than my spelling ability, so far. I'm trying to throttle back just a bit but, with about 20,000 words left to write in this draft, it's hard for me to want to do anything other than get this book done.

Is this book better than my last one? I can't compare like that. I will say this is my favorite, between the two, just because it was so challenging to write. I changed perspective, genre, tone between books. Maestra is either going to be viewed by fans of The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett as a natural evolution into a larger universe, or a completely epic scale failure.

I didn't become a writer to be safe and generate cookie cutter stories to sell thousands of copies. I became an author to create art and tell interesting stories filled with troubled characters struggling to do the right thing. Will it pay off? Time will tell.

Check out Book 1 of The Concentric Worlds series, The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett, before Book 2 comes out in September. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1701845431

Admitting What We Really Are

Last night I caught myself babbling to myself in the kitchen as I was fixing my dinner at 10pm. It all made sense to me. I was working out dialogue from the chapter I'm writing. My kitten was by my feet, waiting for some shreds of cheese and intently fixated on her daddy. She may have been wondering if I was having a stroke or breakdown, but was likely just waiting for me to open the bag of cheddar jack and spill some on the floor for her.

I realized what I had been doing and chuckled to myself. It would look pretty weird but I catch myself doing this kind of thing fairly often. I've also been known to zone out for minutes at a time, lost somewhere in the pages of my work in progress. I'll rouse from my reverie as my wife is shooting daggers at me for vacantly looking at a wall while she is talking to me or asking me a question.

Maybe I'm alone in this, as a writer, but I kind of doubt it. I think it's time that we all stand up and admit that we are a different breed of human being. I have come to terms with the fact that I am eccentric and am learning to embrace it. I've always been a bit aloof (which is probably why my wife's stuffy ragdoll cat and I get along so well,) but over the past year I have noticed more and more often that I will start thinking about something involving my stories and mentally leave the world around me for a few minutes.

Saturday we had some company up at the lake and we were all playing with the kids out in the lake. I caught myself wandering away from the group as I was contemplating how to add a romantic side story to part 3 of Maestra that didn't exist in the first draft. It kind of hit me out of nowhere and I didn't even realize that I silently left my group of friends, wandering out past a buoy in contemplation of how to add depth to my writing.

I'm curious if other writers find themselves doing similar things like this. I doubt I am alone in this. Regardless, I'm ready and willing to finally admit what I am:

Eccentric, aloof, solitary, quiet, reflective, obtuse, quizzical, introspective...in other words; a Writer!

Let's admit it: We're a touch odd. I am fine with it and wouldn't have it any other way (my wife might.)

Productivity Through Isolation

It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged and thought it was time for another update on the progress of Maestra. Things were going a bit slowly but kicked into at least medium gear in the past couple of weeks. That got bumped into high gear over the weekend.

At the end of last week I developed some concerning symptoms and, being in a high risk group, I decided to get a COVID19 test. That meant being presumed positive and heading into isolation until the results came in. Isolation involved being stuck in a a spare bedroom in my house that serves as a theater, office, and craft room. It's also not air conditioned and only has a couch to sleep on.

So I did a lot of writing -- like, 7,000 words of writing in 2 days worth of writing. I've now managed to get back on track to be done with this draft and go into edits by the end of July. I'm not going to celebrate, yet, because I still have roughly 1/3 of the book left to write. I'm just over 90,000 words and estimating the final word count of this draft to be somewhere around 135,000. This book is going to be a bit thick but well worth the read. 

Being forced to sit down and write was actually a great way to get some motivation back into me. 

Thematically, I have noticed some of the bleak state of the world creeping into my work, which is probably something that would be expected to happen -- but I have also noticed that the moments of hope are shining a bit brighter in this draft. 

There will be a light in the darkness.

Until next time.

Read book 1 of the Concentric Worlds: The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett. Only 99 cents or free on Kindle Unlmited. Catch up on this dynamic universe before the Dark Fantasy sequel, Maestra releases this Autumn!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1701845431

Advice for the Beginning Writer

In early 2019 when I began writing I discovered various writing communities on social media platforms. It was a great way to break into the scene and get some great pointers on which way to go. I learned a lot about subjects like querying, editing, grammar, word processing software, formatting my work, and the local vernacular. It really helped spur me on to the eventual publication of my debut novel. 

However, there is a caution to anyone else who may be new on the scene or simply getting overwhelmed by everything that they read in these communities. There is a dark side to it. It is perfectly alright to mute and block people who are unhealthy to your creativity or punch down at you because they feel like since they are published they have a right to tell you that your approach is wrong.

I think the biggest one that I see is the battle between Independent and Traditional publishing. People go back and forth over what is better. There is no clear answer, it depends on what works for you. Some people want total control (I am one) while others just want to write and not worry about all of the publication process.

Then there are the gatekeepers. These folks have already published and will be the first ones to curate lists of advice that YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST FOLLOW OR YOUR BOOK WILL SUCK. These are the ones who get on my nerves the most. They have created often silly rules that really have no bearing on the quality of your work or the odds of you getting published. My personal favorite is that you need at least 10,000 followers on social media or agents won't even consider your work. Runner up is that you need to pay an editor to edit your book before submitting to an agent. Both of these tidbits are complete bullcrap. Many agents will say they want to see YOUR work, not an editors. Also, if your manuscript gets accepted by a publisher their own editors will polish your script the way that the publishing house wants. Agents could care less about your follower count. Publishers could care less about your follower count. That is something that will billow naturally as your work starts to find an audience.

There are the people in the communities who tell you that they will only support you or consider your work if you follow them. A lot of people don't have issues with that but understand you aren't alone if you don't want to hop on the Quid Pro Quo highway. I prefer not to. It leads to very one sided relationships that you will likely gain absolutely nothing from. Why? Because those people have built a following by doing things like that. They are likely now on muted lists for spamming advertisements or writers lifts, etc. So, of their 5k-10k follower count their 'support' of you in whatever posting or retweeting form may be seen by a grand total of 20 people...and they won't follow you back because the ratio is more important to them. That's the point of offering support for follows in the first place.

So, new writer, what is the best writing advice for your new journey?

Take absolutely everything with a grain of salt. Realize that there are no magic steps, no secret to success, just hard work and believing in your craft. Do try to make it the best possible but don't let a bunch of nonsense spewed by 'professionals' pollute your work. Get feedback from people who like to read the genre that you write. That's your audience. If they love it then it doesn't matter what some high and mighty writer thinks. 

Like with any other subject on social media, you have to learn to ignore the disinformation. Not everyone is an expert -- no matter how professionally they may present themselves.

If I had encountered some of the horrible advice and gatekeeping before I had already began my book it may have made me stop writing. It breaks my heart to think there may be other people out there in the same boat or thinking of quitting because of what they read in these communities.

Chin up. You are going to succeed. Even if there are times you feel like an impostor or don't believe in yourself, I do. Now hold your head up high and let the words flow. You're a writer.