Chattering

I took part in my second NaNoWriMo this November, hoping to get a big chunk of Sand and Bones drafted and I made it to 50,464 words! That makes me a winner. See above.  <grin>

I did NaNoWriMo in 2014 to draft The Archimedean Heart and it went really smoothly. This time, it was an absolute slog. The NaNoWriMo web site tracks your daily progress on a chart and  mine was pretty telling. A week of hitting the daily word count goal then plateauing out for a couple of weeks. This meant that I had a lot of catching up to do. The last week was intense. I wrote 4,000+ words on a couple of days and boy did I feel it. My neck and shoulders are still sore!

I still have to write another 20-30K words which means I’m aiming for a busy December.

The most recent anthology I edited, Thirty Days Later, is on sale for 99 cents right now! The publisher, Thinking Ink Press, is running the sale through September 6th.

If you’ve been holding off on getting Thirty Days Later, now’s your chance. The anthology has thirty stories featuring among other things a Sasquatch governors, cursed netsuke, and a mechanical heart.

The authors are all based in California and Washington, including alt-history great Harry Turtledove.

Diversity in fiction is crucial in creating a society where everyone is seen, heard, and respected. How does an author know how to write about people different from oneself?

Empathy. It really boils down to empathy.

Brandon Taylor wrote a beautiful essay about this.

http://lithub.com/there-is-no-secret-to-writing-about-people-who-do-not-look-like-you/

My favorite quote:

There can be no story without empathy. Our stories begin because we are able to enter the lives of other people.

Thank you, Mr. Taylor.

I made my word count goal!

I didn’t aim really high for July but I did it: 9,000 words.

That included my mostly finished drafts of my stories for Some Time Later, the new Treehouse Writers/Thinking Ink Press anthology and a whole bunch of character sketches for my next novel Sand and Bones.

Speaking of which, I am well underway with plotting and planning Sand and Bones. I’ll get it written between now and the end of November (NaNoWriMo once again!). Hopefully it will be edited, revised, and published by next May.

Just back from a weekend of selling books (YES! I sold all my physical copies of The Archimedean Heart!), chatting with artists, authors, and musicians, listening to amazing live music (and dancing my feet off) and generally having the Best Time Ever at Clockwork Alchemy (the best Steampunk convention out there) so I’m exhausted!

Book launched. Time to start the next one. 🙂

The physical copies aka “real books” 😉  of The Archimedean Heart arrived yesterday and they look BEAUTIFUL.

I am beyond thrilled.

I will be taking these copies to Clockwork Alchemy this weekend. Who knows? I might even sell a copy!

I’m having a great time researching my next book. Part of why I love writing alt-history is that I get to find out all sorts of amazing things that really happened and turn them into a story.
This new work is set in the Bahamas in 1908 and it is a fascinating time period. I even bought a history book about it. 😉
There was a huge divide between the white Colonials and the people of color who while emancipated, really suffered from poverty and racism. They had a rich culture which I hope to bring out in an engaging fashion, while being respectful to the people.
I’m totally being a history nerd, plus, since it’s fantasy, I get to read folklore. I love folklore and fairy tales.
I just discovered that in Bahamian legend, a monster called the Lusca lurks in the blueholes (beautiful water features caused by collapsed limestone caves), ready to snag people with her octopus-like tentacles and eat them with her shark mouth. This fits in perfectly with my cultists who worship a sea monster.

Here it is, the cover image for The Archimedean Heart.

I am so excited! It’s beautiful!

This book, my debut novel, is available for pre-orders on Amazon Kindle Direct now. Print copies were available at Clockwork Alchemy Memorial Day weekend and now through Amazon.