Good riddance #HoldMyTea2023. It was a hard year of constant migraines, having Covi 3 times and still publishing. #HoldMyMocha2024 will be sweeter I hope. And Mocha is the perfect drink for the single digit Fahrenheit temps January is starting with. TDM is coming home and we will be spending a month together finishing and re-writing the Relic of Time War series books 9-13. I am hoping to stick to the every 10-14 week publishing plan.
What are your writing and reading plans for 2024? Be blessed, and have a lovely 2024.
Relic of Time War book, Allies of Dust #7 releasing on Jan 20.
Pre-sale link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRTN7W7J
“It will cost the Guardian his heart thrice. Once he will lose his heart that beats. Once he will lose his heart that breathes…” ~ High Oracle Yllumina of Yophriel
Lady Daisy, the Oracle of Adamos revives after her death at the Southern Castle a prisoner of war. Trapped inside the dark dust realm, can she hold onto her sanity, or will she succumb to despair in the remnant of the lost Kingdom of Xelusia, surrounded by the dust ghosts of the Cataclysm War? She knows she must escape the strange pocket dimension prison of the Devouring Shadow entity or die trying and take the indwelling soul of Xelusia’s last princess with her. This is the most dangerous game she has ever played with Prince Damien and his Shadow allies. The Guardian Lord Kaleth and Prince Kars struggle to endure the torture of feeling Daisy's repeated deaths and revivals while Davin Jeong, Ezra Ferrell, and their allies scramble to find a way to save not only Daisy, but all those living on Terrearth before the Shadows harvest it for their interdimensional deity. Time is running out for everyone, but allies, like enemies, are found in unexpected places.
How to Become a Crazy Cat Lady to Survive the Zombpocalypse
A librarian with allergies, a clowder of cats, ancient Egyptian plagues, and how politicians let the food industry turned almost everyone into never-decaying zombies for money.
The whole
crew from Pagosa Cliffs is back in this book parallel to Blue Water and Blue
Butterflies. Rancher Sheriff Tank Tanner and broody Deputy Lloyd McConnell are
trying to protect Milli and Lloyd's niece Tiana while tracking down the Valtini
Mafia threat, but they don't count on our Baker Milli and her feisty friend CSI
Katy Housan being one step ahead of them.
Cake Artist
Milli Haywood's story continues. Milli is running her bakery and raising
Marnianne's daughter in the beautiful Pagosa Cliffs, Colorado. But after the
Vegas Valtini Mafia pull her back in, Milli faces a terrifying choice: Spend
the rest of her life as their personal baker, or Overcome her fear and help CSI
Katy Housan bring them down. Either way, she might not survive to see baby
Emily grow up or be able to keep her sister's child safe from the monsters of
her past.
Milli has
a harrowing time trying to stay one step ahead, resist the temptation to fall
back into Lloyd's arms while a new love interest surfaces in the form of
MacMillion 'Mack' Beal, the man who once saved her from drowning. But until
Donatello and Giovanni Valtini are dealt with, no one is safe, especially Baby
Emily. Is the mobster Donnie her father or someone Milli never expected?
Join me
at 3pm EDT/ 1pm MDT for the launch of Some Anemones Are Blue. https://youtube.com/live/Jn9kfiOpleY
So for Preptober, I made a pretty ambitious descison, to take a chance and let the dice pick my NaNoWriMo project. See video below.
This year for NaNo 2022 because I planned to roll a D-8 (eight sided dice) to pick my project, numbers 1-6 were assigned to story seed flash fictions.
#1 Ink and Cacao - from July NaNo Camp PrepMo - Chocolatier
Becky chooses getting Ink over self-harm while rebuilding her life after her
abusive boyfriend kills her brother and commits suicide by cop, leaving her
scarred on more than her skin.
#2 Tears on Canvas or It Always Rains (haven't settled on a
title) from the short story - Penny and Prue. Amatuer MMA fighter Penny used
her skills to avenge her overly civilized, pregnant sister Prudence when she is
in a car accident following discovering her husband Shane cheating on their
anniversary.
#4 How I became a Crazy Cat Lady To Survive the Zombpocalypse.
(see below because it won.)
#5 Heirless - Shifter Dystopia meets The Handmaiden's Tale and V
for Vendetta. Harley Morningside and her extended family of werewolves lives
with the Silver River Mining pack. When a criminal Alpha’s son slaughters
her pack, she realizes he is her mate. Determined not to be bound to such an
evil person she goes underground with her cousin Benj where they expose the
mistreatment of females and nonranked shifters after the great shifter plague.
Since a side effect of the plague is only destined ones can bear children or females
are infertile, Harley vows to herself and the whole world, “Let them be
heirless.”
#6 Cowboy Alá Cart – Sister Char and Meri, and Cousin Trina can’t
wait to get out of their overconservative, elitist town after Trina’s mother’s
murder is covered up by Char and Meri’s father to protect the town image. Years
later they are dragged back when the sisters’ parents are murdered in order to inherit.
After they discover a diary, they realize there might be four murders, and must
solve the mystery with Meri’s cowboy husband or they might not survive the five
years they are required to live in their parent’s house before they can sell
it.
#7 was my oldest unfinished WIP E.L.M., Revelation Night 3 - I
know and my apologies to those who are still waiting, I have completely lost
the thought thread on this story.
OR
#8 - an old fashioned No Prep NaNo.
Nov. 1 #5amWritersClub stream was planned to the be roll and
start but the gremlins decided, no power or internet for me this morning. I
Vlogged instead and #4 won.
Blurb from Cat Lady -The tragic and cautionary tale of a PhD
Librarian with allergies, a Clowder of Cats, Ancient Egypt tombs, and how the
food industry turned everyone into zombies with an ‘organic’ food preservative
made from an ancient fungus. Now Ouisa Babbette Bland must choose; Cats, which the
zombies fear, or Zombies, which she is less allergic to.
Excerpt: One week later, the news seemed to be on repeat. Same
warning about staying inside and having no contact with people. Beware of the
blue cards… blah blah blah, I thought grumpily. I only watched for half an hour
on the day I left the apartment for the weather. My therapist said I should
avoid the news and social media at all costs because it triggered my anxiety. I
wouldn’t go to the pharmacy again, and the park was out, but I was determined
to pick up my groceries.
Going out, it felt much colder than the weather segment said.
Again, I saw no one, but oddly, I also heard no traffic, no planes, no dogs, or
anything. I was looking up at the leaves when I bumped something with the cart
I was taking back to the Market. I saw it, or rather him. A man… a dead man
with his skin turned mottled. Black tears had leaked from his eyes and dried
like cheap makeup. His leg sticking out from the pile of trash bags on which he
fell. His teeth clenched and bared by black-purple lips pulled back in a grimace.
A hole in his forehead. I had never seen a dead body before.
Jumping back, I sprinted to the Asian Market as I dialed 9-1-1
on my cell phone. No one answered, just a recording. “Help me,” I yelped as I
stumbled in the door. “Mrs. Tran… Mr. Tran? Anyone?!” The Market looked exactly
as I had left it. It was so eerie. No one was here either. Panicked, I ran from
door to door, begging for help while listening to the 9-1-1 recording telling
me, due to heavy call volume, response would be delayed. No one answered the
doors. I was completely alone. My mind shut down and I went on auto-pilot.
Going to the back to the market, I noticed for the first time
the power was out. I could smell the rotting fresh food in the delivery bags.
The only ones missing were the ones I had taken. I vomited in the bin by the
desk. I knew something was very wrong. I hurried home with my stolen supplies.
Looking up at the sky, I remembered the solar panels in the library roof that
powered the block as I wondered how long the power had been out.
That was when I noticed a blue card on the barred security door
of Mrs. Platt’s building. I looked at it carefully. “By FQD orders, all
residents are to shelter in place due to exposure. If a member of your family
experiences sudden death, remove the body immediately and place it in a locked room
or secured basement until it can be removed by authorities.” The instructions
for decontaminating oneself followed along with bizarre instructions to
decapitate or burn corpses to ash.
Inside, I followed the decontamination instructions on the blue
FQD card, then I turned on the tv again. Every four hours, the same news
broadcast repeated. I went upstairs to the computer area. On the internet, I
read horrific stories of mass deaths. The fact that the library was off the grid
to save money had staved off the realization that the city power shut down
weeks earlier.
Sequestered in my anti-media bubble, the one my therapist
suggested I created to keep my pandemic anxiety at bay after Pandemic 4, I had
not known the world ended with Pandemic 5.
WOW! August is almost over and there has been so much writing going on. Instead
of editing 80K this August, I insanely decided to write it and post it onto my
Inkitt page for accountability.
First of all I finished Camp
PrepMo early but then due to personal thing happening with a close friend I
decided it would be best to not work on Ink & Cacao as I have been
promising all year. Let's just say the story too closely mirrored reality and
just nope...
So with only a few days left in
July I rushed through preparing a new project and I admit - I CHEATED! I
decided to write in the Pagosa Cliffs world, my second largest series. It is a well-established
world parallel to reality and contemporary. I picked the character who was the
villain in Stars Over Pagosa and built out his interesting backstory. I chose
Lloyd's cousin Tim as my Male MC and the previously mentioned in Stars Over
Pagosa Character Cassandra King as the FMC. Then I made the jump back in time
because I love time travelling.
The other things that made this
project easier and harder, was I was already planning on using Tarot for
Writers method of using Tarot Cards for prompts. Three cards per chapter to
give me direction.
Why? because the main character
Cassie is a tarot enthusiast, and I wanted that authenticity of the card which
'guide' her life to guide the writer. Sometimes it was a struggle, sometime is
was very easy. Like I always knew to add a scene or two of my serial killer
when one of his cards showed up, and they did. I always knew when to focus on
Cassie's struggles and Anthropophobia or on Tim's guilt and longing for a life
he felt he no longer deserved.
I haven't really delved into
Tim's poker and gambling addiction because sadly the only gambling addict I
knew passed away from cancer and I haven't found another. I am a firm believer
in sensitivity readers and reality although Tim isn't a usual gambling addict
because he doesn't care about the money he loses, and the thrill of winning
doesn't even touch him anymore. So much work will come on the rewrite,
and I may just toss the whole gambling addict angle because it just isn't
ringing true to me. Tim is a sad and lonely man who believes he was cursed, and
all his luck goes into his card and never into love which is the thing he longs
for most.
Here is a link to Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner
Camille and Kyle have a lot of work to get past their past, but can they protect themselves and Camille's divers from the return of the threat that ruined them fifteen years earlier.
Join me on Sunday, July 17th at 11am EDT to learn a nonlinear writing method called Writing the Tree as part of the AWC presentations this weekend and it's FREE!
The process of creating a nonlinear zero draft is grueling, but it actually works out to a system to create a short story draft in fourteen days IF you can get about 2K per day.
How to start: The Seed
Imagine a single scene, large or small, but not the first scene in the story, where some or all or only one of your characters is there. Look at every aspect you imagine this character in their environment has as you meet them. It’s like a blind date.
Day 1
Branches - Meet your Characters, Protag, Antag, friends and shills, L.I.s, Random Side Characters – to aid in this I have a 30 Question Every Writer Should Ask Their Characters Video and Google Doc. Links below.
Day 2- Roots- Find your world (build) a rough sketch of your world, set some rules.
-WorldBuilding is like planting a garden knowing you will be harvesting it later. The freedom of this step is that you can always add things later then go back and put them in previous chapters leading up to their use.
Day 3 - Day 10
Leaves- Write interaction scenes, action scenes, fight scenes, romance scenes, etc. Don’t worry about them being in order. You’re just a hummingbird or butterfly or bee in the idea meadow.
- EVERYTHING you can think of that they might do together.
-Between Protag MC and SCs and Antag MC and SCs
Day 11- Day 14 Building your tree.
Put the scenes into a story order by laying out pages on floor and create a plot (trunk).
-write the fill in scenes needed on blank sheets or type in notes in a different color
Time to Revise:
Day 15- Day 16 Hunt down and fix continuity errors, fill in plot holes, write the merges between scenes.
Links for the Authortube Writing Conference
AWC Website: https://www.authortubewritingconference.com
AWC 2022 // THE FINAL UPDATE: AWC Giveaways and More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Fh3OYpRek
Note that for those who fill out the Feedback Form and include their name and email address (which is not required) will be entered into a drawing with 21 prizes worth over $350, most of which was donated by AWC speakers. For each form filled out, attendees will receive an entry, so multiple entries are allowed, but not on the same presentation.
The Networking rooms are Jitsi links. People don’t need to download anything to enter, and it’s free. There’s a 100-person limit on the rooms though. This is our first time trying this, so we’re not sure how well it will work, but you are welcome to use it at any time throughout the conference!
Publishing Track Jitsi Room: https://meet.jit.si/PublishingTrack
For June's #WIPChat, we are following the Character Creation method in Chapter 4 of Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner.
PART 1
In this first video I am using the Crystal Visions Tarot by Jennifer Galasso. Both are lovely and very well done, and I am giving them five stars. Hope you enjoy this premade video while I am enjoying my vacation! Be Blessed.
Links
Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner
https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Writers-Corrine-Kenner/dp/0738714577
Crystal Visions Tarot by Jennifer Galasso
https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Visions-Tarot-Jennifer-Galasso/dp/157281702X
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PART 2
Following the Character Creation method in Chapter 4 of Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner, and using the official Dungeons& Dragons Tarot Deck and Sirius Resin dice. Both are lovely and very well done, and I am giving the book five stars but the deck is only getting three stars, you'll see why. Hope you enjoy this video. Please excuse my voice, I came back from vacation with bronchitis. Be Blessed.
Links
Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner
https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Writers-Corrine-Kenner/dp/0738714577
The Dungeons & Dragons Tarot Deck
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Tarot-Deck-Guidebook/dp/198482466X
Sirius Dice Rainbow Translucent Resin Dice Set
https://www.amazon.com/Sirius-Dice-Rainbow-Translucent-Resin/dp/B07MZGNBPB
My Amazon Page https://www.amazon.com/M.M.-Ward/e/B07NTYTVP2
My Ko-fi page. If you like, please support my scribbles by donating through my kofi. Thank you for any gift.
https://ko-fi.com/penumbramine/
Copyright Free Music: Elektronomia - Collide
Camp NaNo Wrap-up, Re-Organizing my Kanban board and BuJo so I can start my May Writerly Mayhem. #MWM will be me trying to balance writing, editing, formatting, and prepping for publishing without losing my mind! Also #WIPChat will return.
Writer Sam Wicker - https://www.youtube.com/c/WriterSamWicker
Stone Skin (Camp NaNo Project) is free on Inkitt.
PenumbraMine on Inkitt https://www.inkitt.com/penumbramine/
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hold My Latte, 2022 and #MayWriterlyMayhem vlog #2
#MWM vlog is just me trying to balance #Farmlife, #MomLife, #beekeeping, #amwriting, #editing, formatting, and prepping for publishing without losing my mind!
Still pushing forward on #HoldMyLatte2022
Margaret Pinard Streamyard Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HAPoNSFgrc
My daily writerly routine Vlog. It's pretty monotonous despite the variety of tasks.
#Momlife#Farmlife#GardenLife#Beelife and #Writerlife for #MayWriterlyMayhem#MWM and #HoldMyLatte2022
Join us next for Wednesday Wake-up Sprints https://youtu.be/Kp8X-MxDeI
Oon Ciq - Passive-aggressive, angry alcoholic,
kleptomaniac, stalkery Unicorn- hybrid. Her father was unicorn and her mother
was a miniature donkey. Black mane and tail show she’s cursed, corgie-horse legs. Iridescent white hide. She is menopausal with leg envy issues. She works with
travelling circus called Master D’maplaq’s [Deh-may-plack] Mystical Creature
Menagerie to supplement her income as a pickpocket. Everyone wants to pet the
poor cursed unicorn and her feedbag is filled with elderberries. Her tail is
sentient-ish and pickpockets things, she can’t always control it.
Yes, this is going to be interesting to write because I hate Unicorns as it is, but her Traits! OMG! Oon has so many issues because her mother was a miniature donkey and her father was a unicorn. The stream was an absolute blast! The video starts 17 minutes in, after the first timer, then we just go off the rails. character creating and worldbuilding and me doing a lot of comical whining... Yep, I'm pretty pathetic.
See you at the end of the month for another update.
My Ko-fi page. If you like, please support my scribbles by donating through my kofi. Thank you for any gift.
https://ko-fi.com/penumbramine/
