12 September 2017

We are already 12 days into September. I have been keeping busy sorting Poser file in my computer, making a few pictures with Poser, making short trips to Springfield for Dr. appointments (For my boyfriend's father), and even a weekend trip up to Hannibal Missouri for a Steampunk Festival. Been feeling tired from all the things going on and napping a lot and watching things on Netflix. I have not been much inspired to write because of all the other things I have been doing.

I watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix yesterday and today, first was Ken Burn's The Big Burn, about the wildfire along the Montana/Idaho border in 1910. Was a very sad yet informative documentary. Apparently President Taft was quite an ass and until the press made things hard on him, he was content to do nothing about the fires or to help the fledgling Department of Forestry.

The other documentary I watched was on Otzi, the Iceman (Nova). The scientists in charge of tending him hired an artist from Missouri to recreate Otzi in detail so others could see him and study him without causing damage to the original. They also discovered that his DNA placed him in Sardinia and that he came from farming people. They still do not know why he was killed or why he was in the alps. It was very interesting to watch and informative. I always did like history. I got ideas from both documentaries to add into some of my novels.

I have decided I am going to finish my novels and rather than try to publish via a large company, I want to self-publish them as ebooks. I love my ereader (Nook) and many of our friends and family have either Nooks or Kindles. I am still trying to decide if I will charge for them or just give them away. If I do charge for them, it won't be for very much. I think I will most likely give away the first novel in my trilogy about my bard caught up in war and politics, and maybe give away my novel about the Lancashire Witch Trials of 1612. The remainder of my books, I might try to sell for $1.99. I can always lower the price if they don't sell well.

I might even start adding parts of the first novel here, just to see if anyone likes what I have so far. I am still trying to decide on titles for most of my novels. I am not sure why that is such a difficult part of the writing process for me. Titles and dialogue, and love interests. I am not a fan of romance novels and I don't like that novels are now expected to have love interest for the main characters. I know far too many single people who are happy begin single for it to be believable in my mind.

Sure it's nice ot be in love and have someone love you back, but to have them be an integral part of each and every novel? I think I will stick to the older way of writing. I prefer to write what I enjoy reading and not cater to the sometimes silly demands of millennials who don't even bother reading real novels these days.

(This was supposed to have been posted on 12 September 2017, but Blogger was having issues for several days and I was unable to post for a while.)

16 January 2018

Much has been happening since my last blog post. We have had some personal ups and downs in the past several months, but things are well. The weather has been weird; much warmer than usual, only to drop to record lows this month. They are predicting we will get back up into the 60s by this weekend, even tho we are hovering around 1 degree at the moment.

I participated in NaNoWriMo 2017 and am an official winner, even tho it took me three short stories to accumulate my 50,000+ words. Usually I can whip out long, epic tales with a bit of planning, but last November, I just couldn't come up with enough details in any of the stories to keep them going for 50,000 words on their own. Perhaps my writing styles are changing along with my tastes in books.

I am learning to expand my reading genres and it has opened my mind to new writing ideas, besides epic dark fantasy. I am now finding myself drawn to historic writing, horror, and even urban fantasy. A few days ago I was watching Murder Maps on Nextflix and I had an intriguing idea (to me) to write about a serial killer. So now i am doing a bit of research to learn what makes this killer tick, why and how the victims are selected, as well as who is involved in the story (main and supporting characters, as well as victims).

Unfortunately, my allergies have declared war on my sinuses and it makes researching difficult when fighting off a sinus headache and constant sneezing. At least it isn't influenza or my asthma flaring. I have taken to keeping a notebook and pencil within reach of the bed as well as my Nook to look things up on. I can stay in bed and brainstorm then doze off when my mind finally wears out and sleep overtakes me.

The cats tend to keep me company as I try to write, often to the point of distraction. But they are sweet and cuddly, and rather hard to resist when they want pettings or to play. At times, however, I think they just want to steal warms from my electric blanket.

Anyhow, I should get back to writing before I crash for the night. Until next time, peace and be safe.