Writing From the Hart

So I've been writing now "professionally" for about 9 years, well 8 years and 6 months. I count my writing year starting in September. Not sure why, maybe because it's the same time I actually moved to Charlotte, although that was 14 years ago now. I've been writing since I was a kid because I always loved to create stories.

During the years that I have written anything, there have been times where I have come stopped for a second and thought, "Do I really want to quit writing?"

I'm not talking stopping writing altogether because I don't think I could do that, but stopping it as a business and sending stuff out into the world and see who reacts to the crazy that has sprung from my head. Sometimes seeing the sales are disheartening because yeah I would love to quit the day job and write full time. There are also the days where I get into a funk and just say screw it. My writing sucks. Everything I do sucks. Why do I even bother with it anymore? I don't get much of a response from people so, who is going to miss me if I stop writing? I am a small fish in the huge and ever widening sea of authors and what does it matter if I cease sharing part of my own slice of crazy.

It would certainly make my life easier and give me time back so I can pull away from the computer.

But then I give it a day or so, and even if the question still lingers in the back of my mind to dispose of everything, the stronger sense in me is to keep on sharing. Not because I know I'm going to make millions. But because I love sharing the words I create with everyone. No matter how disheartened I get.

As a teenager, I would write stories and shove them in my friends' faces to force them to read what I had done. Although sometimes the marketing aspect of it makes me feel that way too, I try not to get down and dirty splashing every other post on social media with the diatribe of "Buy My Shit" cause we all know that gets old. Fast.

I guess what I've been trying to say over the whole thing is that no matter what my mind says, I am following my heart. Even if you are thinking about giving up the writing, just stop and think a minute.

It isn't about making the money or seeing how many books you can sell. It's about giving into the instinct within your heart and appeasing the screaming muses so you can get your story out there. Even if you decide to step away from the publishing industry, don't give up writing.

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Oven

You're thinking what in the world do ovens and eggs have to do with writing?

I know you are.

Well I'll tell you my tale of ovens, eggs, and writing.

When we bought our house almost eight years ago now, the owners of the house were real sticklers and we had to fight tooth and nail to get certain things done before we would move in. One of them was fixing the digital control panel on the gas stove which runs of the whole thing. So instead of getting a new stove, which would have been cheaper than repairing and installing the new panel, nope they repaired the panel. Great so we have a working stove.

Only now, the stove has a mind of it's own. I've known for a while the monster is getting ready to start defying me. Last summer the oven began behaving badly. Then two of the burners aren't burning up to snuff. But let's face it, getting a stove is not in the budget at the moment. So last night, I went to cook pork chops and after an hour the oven had only warmed up 80 degrees and the scent of gas permeated the kitchen.

Yeah...not a good sign.

So I said screw it and went out with the husband and bought a counter top convection oven. It's all bright, shiny and new, beckoning me to cook the chicken pie I have planned for dinner. So the husband asked what are we going to do about boiling water. Well the burners still work on the stove, but if not...hot plate here I come.

So what does this have to do with publishing?

Well here's the thing. About the same time we moved into the house, I landed my first publishing contract with a now defunct house called Stardust Publishing. They were great and hey when I got the acceptance letter I was over the moon since my dream had been realized.  Who wouldn't be? At that point I had seven books that I could put out. At first I wanted to stay there and not worry about what to do, but things started to decline, like my stove, so I branched out.

I learned over time and from other authors, not to put all my eggs into one basket or oven cause really who wants overcooked eggs. I certainly don't, I mean I can't eat them anyway since I'm allergic, but I digress.

After writing professionally now for 8 years, I have been with 16 publishers. Some I clicked with and many others I didn't. Some looked great on the outside but when I got in, yeah we split ways pretty quickly. Others well...they linger and I don't send them anything else. I have waited out for new publishers to open up their doors and gotten rejected multiple times, but heck I'm still going to try. It's like the oven I'm going to keep trying to spark with certain ones until I finally burn out.

I'm happy with the few that I have now and write for because I've found a fit. With the publishing industry changing all the time these days from small presses popping up and self-publishing so easy these days, authors have to decide what they want to do. There is no easy way around it. Writing is a hard business. I'm a veteran as many others are. I've fought battles and lost wars.

But no matter what, I'm always trying. Sure I am ready to get a new stove, but I can still use part of it. Meaning I can still go to the places I am comfortable with, but I know to always try something new and see how it works out. Cause sometimes the ship is sinking and you gotta bail.

So I'll let you know how the chicken pie comes out in the new convection oven.

And I'll let everyone know how the new publishers are because I'm really looking forward to the changes that are coming.

In My World...

Bigfoot has shot off the planet into space and is getting into multi-partner relationship with an alien Yeti named Hermon and two hip alien female shifters. There are grim reapers who get along with crazy gods who show up naked in witch's beds.. The Angel of Death is multi-dimensional who has a tendency to appear in different realities because, let's face it, he's death and an angel so he can pretty much do what he wants. I have dragons who fall in love with phoenix. I have lions falling for wolves and getting into fur fights with ravens. Vampires are part demon and demonic jesters who want to take over the world.

 And this is all just in one day mind you. Think of the parties that go on in my head when I'm not paying attention. Sometimes I wonder where it all comes from, but if I start to question too much my muses kidnap me, lock me away in some dark room, and threaten to vacate the premises. So I have learned to go with the flow of writing.

Flowing sometimes comes easily and other times I run into roadblocks, writer's block, that has a strange way of coming on. Normally, I want to start cleaning everything in my house and have the urge. So I start doing something else. I used to pull out the crafts, but with the carpal tunnel being such a pain I stopped doing a lot of that. Instead, I go out and play with the dogs. And yet while I'm playing with them, my muses are tapping on the block with tiny hammers trying to break through the wall. Once they get a hole, then damn overflows and that's all I want to do.

So I start writing again and the cycle goes on where the Yeti is stomping around and new character has emerged in the form of a mummified hand named Omar that just wants some action. And ideas start percolating.

If you haven't guessed, I have a warped sense of humor when it comes to my characters. Some people don't get that, but ehh that's okay. Everyone has their own opinion on things. I've been doing this for a long while now. Some people call me an over achiever for the goals I set. I tell them I just can't write fast enough to get all the ideas dumped out of my mind. I'm sure that's the way with all authors. There is just too much for the muses to lay around with. They want more and more attention and sometimes the strangest things give me ideas.

The world outside of my imagination is rather boring. I work for an insurance company full time, have three dogs who take up a lot of time, a husband of ten years, and friends of course and other hobbies. That's rather the boring stuff. Who wants to talk abuot sitting in front of a computer for hours on end and typing. People want to hear about the exciting stuff. Well, all that takes place within the world inside my head.

It's a great place to live. I only with I could take people there on tours. I'd make a killing. The rides are fun, a little dark, but you might come out alive.

Guest Post: Artwork of The Kingdom of Vosh: The Chained Princess by Jason C. Conley

 Hello Everyone, 

I am pleased to have Jason C. Conley on my blog today author of The Kingdom of Vosh: The Chained Princess:

Interior artwork in a novel is something that can only enhance the reader’s experience.  I’m not sure if it’s a dying medium yet, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to see a resurgence in its use in mainstream novels.  When I began writing this book, the artwork played a key role in developing not only the characters and settings, but the atmosphere, mood, and heart of the story.  I created all the interior artwork for the book over the course of a year or so as I wrote.  Ideas would be fleshed out, some dropped, some expounded upon.  But being able to see a creature, to get a glimpse of their eyes and see their furiosity or a machine’s texture, it’s inner workings, even if just a little bit, helped to bring me into this world I had created, and hopefully you as well. 

It is important for an artist, no matter the subject matter, to draw from life as often as possible.  No one’s imagination, or memory for that matter, is good enough to just remember how to draw a city, person, animal or vehicle and include all of the subtleties of life.  Things like shadows, light sources, texture, wrinkles,  they bring a picture to life and establish it in a reality of sorts that is believable.

Animals have a different musculature than people, a different way of holding their weight and moving.  So when designing a creature for the book, I tried to imagine what the closest real life animal would be and then began to study how it held itself.  Like the Great Teras below, I wanted a hulking, weighty brute of an animal, something low to the ground and heavy.  So I went off of pictures of both an American Grizzly and a Komodo Dragon.  This formed the base, something to expand upon and develop.  A starting point.

Vehicles have difficulties all their own.  They have moving parts, their form follows their function.  You have to believe that at one point somewhere, someone designed and fabricated and assembled this working, moving wonder of engineering.  What are they made out of?  What is their fuel source?  How do they get from point A to B without crashing into a burning spectacle?  Now, you can go too far with this thought process.  This is fantasy after all.  But it should have some basis and semblance of reality in order to transport the reader into your world.  Using recognizable parts in an unusual way is a trick that you can use to not only make it believable, but interesting and fresh as well.  I designed the Sky-Cleaver Airships below using fins from a lion fish for their side sails, and part of an old Soviet submarine for the galley below the balloon.

The use of light and shadow can take a make believe creature and cement it in reality.  The picture below of Vork looks like a photograph. It was made completely in Photoshop, drawn with a tablet pen with textures for brushes and shading to add depth and volume.  Light plays tricks on the eye, giving the illusion of solid shapes on a two dimensional plane.  If you believe that a picture has mass and weight by the way light bends around the subject, then you might believe that is a real creature. 

Reality is subjective.  It has a lot to do with a person’s perspective, what they bring with them to the experience and how they view the world around them.  If I can pique your curiosity even briefly with creatures, vehicles, new landscapes or fantastical images, then I have you where I want you… and that is believing in a new world.

The Kingdom of Vosh: The Chained Princess by Jason C. Conley is now available!  Hardcover, Paperback, or digital.

Find us online at:  www.thekingdomofvosh.com

Our Facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/TheKingdomOfVosh

Or our Pitnerest page at: https://www.pinterest.com/jconley78/kingdom-of-vosh/

 

Catching up on everything...

So what month is it now?

Right...it's November. We've already had the giving out candy month.

Now we're in the month to stuff the turkey.

Then comes the one with the big dude in red and candy canes. At least I think I'm on the right track. See this is what happens when the day job takes over, combined with our new puppy, Briar, and oh yeah, writing. Sometimes the world just seems to pass us by and we forget about all other things.


So this is just a little bit of what's been going on.

The puppy has been keeping us busy as we've had her now for two and a half months. She was very skittish when we first rescued her from the pound. She's six and a half months old right now and has bonded with our Border Collie/Lab Mix, Cadence. Morrigaine, our lab who is nine tolerates her. Now with the pack in the house, it makes for an interesting day and little time to write, but I do make the time.

On to the writing.

Let's see...I've had one publisher close after eight years so I got a few books back from them. Another publisher has contacted two books in an angel series I'm writing about fallen angels.

With a co-author, I've finished a book about dragons that could turn into a series. It just all depends on how much time we have between projects and our lives cause you know, it's not like we're at all busy.

Up until now, I have just finished my first contemporary novel with no paranormal creatures of events in it. I just wanted to see if I could do something different. The title right now is called Lube It Up. I know what you're thinking...but it's not what you think.

Besides that, I am currently working on the third book in the Fur World series to go along with Three Fur All, Passion Fur Three, and bringing in characters from A Cat For All into the mix as well. So that should be fun. No idea on when that will be done because I'm also writing two other books and editing two more as the time permits.

I'm branching out and heading back into my roots which is writing horror. So I'm writing a grim reaper series and am on the third in the series. I started researching and began the work of writing a novel that will spawn a series based on an undertaker and the bodies that show up at her work. And have another series planned about hunters of the supernatural. This one has been outlined, but I haven't started writing it yet.

Hopefully these will all go well and the two books will be done by the end of the year.

Plans for 2014?

Haven't gotten that far yet.

I'll let you know in June...maybe.

:)

A Day In The Life...

Have you ever wondered what a day in a writer's life might be like?

Think it's all glitz and glammer with epic battles being fought out all the time within the writer's mind or them leaning back and just staring at the computer screen, nose to the keyboard and typing away...

Yea...

It's not really like that, at least not for me.

My husband gets up and takes care of our two dogs, Morrigaine and Cadence, and then Morrigaine comes back into the bedroom and snuggles with me until I have to get up and work for the day job doing whatever my sales guys need. Trust me Insurance is not exactly the most thrilling thing in the world, but it pays the bills. Back when I was in the corporate world I never wanted to work from home, but now that I do, I would take working back in an office a couple days a week just for a change of scenery.

My day job starts about 9 and between doing what I need to get done, my dogs come in to bug me for attention and play. So we play tug of war or I watch the two of them do it. I take out stuff to cook for dinner and sometimes start cooking early. The husband gets home around 6.

All the while I'm working the day job, my characters are vying for attention. Normally they start pulling at my brain and eating away at it pretty much when I sit down at the computer. They're a pain to push to the side. But they have to get used to it considering the day job pays the mortgage.

I normally stop working around 2 or 3 depending on how much work I have. I leave the office and crash on the couch with one of the two dogs or both climbing on top of me or just collapsing and using me for a pillow. Then I break out the other laptop and start working on whatever book or edits that are due.

The husband comes home, we eat, and I go back to writing. It's nothing fancy about my life. No glitz or glammer. I have my books and pets to keep me company during the day. Of course browsing the internet and talking with friends too, but I hope to get things done.

So you got a small window into my life. Not too exciting, I know. It would be nice to have more, but I'm not really one for drama unless it's my characters warring with one another and then those goes into epic battles.

What Does A Writer Look Like?

We have six arms, four heads- the more to think with-, beady dark eyes covered by the sagging thought lines etched into our foreheads and we slouch from all the time we spend hunched over our computers. Of course this sounds like something more if a character in a book and not the writer. In reality, a writer is anyone. We aren't monsters, we just nurse them inside our head until our skulls crack open from the pain of birthing such a creature.

And as we birth the creature, spewing them forth onto paper, nurturing them until they are grown, there are more underneath the skin waiting for their time. And when one idea is done it becomes like a hydra and no matter how many times we try and kill one head another one grows, spawning a sequel or a whole series. So really as writers we are gods, gods of our own world where we control life and death. It is a power trip and one that can become addicting until the inhabitants of your world decide to rise up and take you prisoner and then the writer becomes their worse nightmare.

That is when the writer becomes stuck in a bathrobe, trolling the house in slippers and staring at the keyboard and blank computer screen because writer's block has taken over or there is no coffee on the house to be found.

But when the prison riots are done and the writer is once freed up again, they are crazed to get back to what they know. All I can say from that point on, is watch out. You never know if you will end up the victim of an author's trade and become cannon fodder.

All I can advise is don't get on the author's bad side no matter what the author looks like of what you think an author looks like because, really, we are all authors writing our own story.

Don't you agree?