Category: Uncategorized

Here I am again… another year gone without a post. Which really defeats the purpose of a blog. But hey, I keep dreaming I’ll get good at this. And really, hope is what’s keeping all of us alive these days, amiright?

I’ve been working on a new novel. NOT the third Children of Guerra book. I kind of need some distance from that right now. I don’t need to remind anyone of today’s political landscape, mostly because it’s bashing us over the head at every turn. But the thing about COG is that I started writing it at a different time (2010, to be exact) when the types of things that go on in dystopian novels seemed pretty ludicrous to the average observer. And now… not so much. A government locking down borders, trying to convince citizens of alternate truths – it’s just not that far off.

So I started something else. And then it kind of turned into another dystopian novel and now I’m just annoyed with myself. But I do feel a pull toward this new story, so I’m going to keep working on it. And then one day when I’m ready I’ll finish Milena’s story. I think about her and Damien a lot, actually. Though since I have a two-year-old, I tend to imagine them as 30-somethings dealing with the daily catastrophes of parenting. Which is SO not how that story’s going to end, I promise 🙂 What a bummer that would be…

In the meantime, here’s a picture I’ve been looking at for inspiration for this new landscape I’m writing about.

I’ve come to grips with the fact that you only need so many mugs. Though becoming a mother meant I was suddenly going through them at an alarming pace with my morning/afternoon/early evening caffeine injections, so I could probably justify buying a couple more…

This writing-themed mug from Etsy shop LennyMud is one I’ve been lusting after for awhile, and it may be time to pull the trigger.

I’ve taken quite the blog break. Not all of it was intentional. My daughter was born last April, and while I assumed I would cease all writing activities for a few months after her arrival, I never expected to be returning to it almost a full year later. But that has often been the theme of this blog, and the spirit behind its title.

Writing the good write means two things to me:
1. Writing about issues that matter.
2. Persevering as a writer every time life gets in the way.

And it does. A lot. I remember when I was in grad school working on the first draft of Children of Guerra. I was 21, and felt giddy with self-assurance that I’d have this thing written in a year, and published the year after that. Of course, both of those processes took considerably longer. And self-publishing was never my plan. Naivety can be a wonderful thing. Would anything creative ever get done if we all knew how arduous it was going to be when we started out?

I fell in love with writing many years ago, and it’s that love that reminds me to return, even when it’s hard, even when I don’t want to, even when I’ve been chasing the little rat monster all over the apartment and now that she’s napping all I want to do is sit on my butt and scroll through Facebook. Please. Just let me mindlessly scroll.

Most days, if I’m going to spend nap time doing something productive, it’s going to involve picking scrambled egg out of my hair. Not writing. But most days add up to weeks and months, and now a year, and I miss my old love. So it’s time to claw my way back to it.

And today, having accomplished that, I want to address #1. The COG series was always supposed to be as diverse as possible. I tried my best to include characters from a variety of backgrounds, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. I’m sure there are people I’ve overlooked, and others I’ve misrepresented. I knew it was never going to be perfect. But I was sure as hell going to try.

The political climate in our country over the past year has at different times made me sad, scared, angry, and hopeless. I know I’m not alone in these feelings, which is perhaps a source of hope in itself. It is a large group of people who still want to spread goodness and compassion and inclusion and love and respect. It is surely too large a group to fit into one cavern deep below the streets of Chicago 🙂

Never before have my characters’ struggles seemed so real to me. And maybe that’s why I can’t ignore them anymore. It’s time to stop dimming the volume on them while I deal with the daily challenges presented by my darling gap-toothed girl. It’s time to articulate what they’ve been murmuring these past months, to shout, to fight for them. They’re important because who they represent is important. Who I am, who my daughter is, who you are. We’re important.

So I write.

Descended went live a week ago, and I’m just now getting around to posting links to it… Seems about right 🙂

It’s here! It’s ready! It’s tomorrow!

I’m so excited for Descended to be available for purchase starting tomorrow on Amazon. In the coming months I’ll be putting it on other platforms too, as well as working on getting the hard copy set up.

Until then, Chapter 1 is up on Wattpad!

There are few things that get me more excited for a book (my own or anyone else’s) than a cover reveal. And I didn’t think I could love cover #2 more than I loved cover #1. But that’s what Meredith Ferrill does – she creates beautiful, fun, interesting things that blow me away.

So without further ado, here is her awesome cover art for Descended:

I’m back! It’s been a couple months, but I promise I haven’t been idle. I’ve been editing book #2 and getting it ready for publishing! This weekend I’ll be meeting with my awesome writing friend and artist Meredith Ferrill, who will be helping me design the new cover. And then… in mere weeks, Descended will drop. (People still say that, right?)

I’ve also been spending the last several months baking a baby 🙂 I haven’t announced it here yet, but we’re expecting a little one in early April, so my brain has mostly been occupied by painting, nesting, shopping, and general freaking out. But the due date has given me a much needed kick in the (growing) butt to get this book out before baby. IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. I’m sure of it.

I’ll post the cover and the expected release date very soon. Meanwhile, I’ll be posting a sneak peak over on Wattpad! Stay tuned!

The above title is my excuse these days, and will continue to be for the next few weeks. I’m starting to understand why the brilliant Anne Lamott says not to start a new project in December because December is a month of Mondays.

Luckily, nothing I’m working on was started this December (or in any previous December). The problem is I’m simply not continuing to work on things. There are decorations to hang and presents to wrap and post office lines to test my faith in humanity. And of course all of these things create a bigger and bigger mess in our apartment that I can’t seem to keep at bay. There’s also old Friends reruns, which I swear you can find any time of day on some channel or another. It’s a sick and wonderful thing.

So it’s a special day when I make it out of the holiday tornado to write. Of course, sitting in a Starbucks sipping a peppermint mocha and listening to Michael Bublé Christmas covers doesn’t quite qualify as escaping the holidays. But the point is I’m WRITING. Even if part of my brain is wondering whether my nephew’s gift has been delivered while I’m out and if a package grinch is going to snatch it off the porch before I get home.

The article linked below has some tips for finding time to write during the holidays. Getting up early doesn’t work for me, but neither does staying up late because the later it gets the deeper I fall down the Candy Crush hole. But the advice I do like is “doable goals.” Fifty words a day? That’s nothing! That’s a quick email! I shouldn’t feel like I have to keep up my 3-pages-a-day goal during December. That’s a goal I set for myself when life is normal, and life is far from normal right now. But fifty words… I can live with that.

Happy Writing!

http://thewritepractice.com/keep-writing-over-the-holidays/