Mid-Month Mysteries: Tea

What can be cozier in the middle of winter than cradling a cup of your favorite warm beverage in your cold hands? For me, that beverage is tea, particularly green tea. My favorite type is jasmine pearl green tea, but I also enjoy other types like sencha and gyokuro. On the left is my teapot, also known as PorgPot. He's been my most valuable coworker at home.

There are several cozy mystery series out there featuring tea or tea shops, but many of the ones I've read feature not just the beverage, but the ritual of afternoon tea. I particularly enjoyed the Chintz 'n China series by Yasmine Galenorn. You can find the first book, Ghost of a Chance, here. It's been a while since I read that series, but I think the main character sells a lot of teapots in addition to tea. Another author who writes about tea shops is Laura Childs in her Tea Shop Mysteries (see link for the series list). I just finished the first book in the series, Death by Darjeeling. While her descriptions of tea are the best I've read in cozy mysteries, other parts of the book didn't work so well for me. However, I'm particularly looking forward to Erin Johnson's Spelling the Tea, which will be published later this month and is the first book in a vampire tea room mystery series. I enjoyed Johnson's Spells and Caramels series. Other tea cozy mystery books I've found on Goodreads but haven't read include Steeped in Murder and Pushing Up Daisies. 

Tea can feature in a mystery by being a vehicle for poison. The poison can either be added to the tea, or the tea can also be brewed with toxic plants. Hot water can also be used as a defensive weapon.

Abigail Ritter, the heroine of my upcoming Magic Lake Mysteries series, will be running a tea shop, but her focus will be on fruit teas and bubble teas. 

What's your favorite type of tea? Feel free to share in the comments.

IWSG: Writer Turnoffs

Welcome to the first Insecure Writer's Support Group post of 2021! We're here to share our concerns and encourage other writers. Learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook page, or Twitter.

Our hosts this month are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, J Lenni Dorner, Gwen Gardner, Sandra Cox, and Louise-Fundy Blue.

Here's our question for the month: As a writer, when you're reading someone else's work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people's books?

Writers are probably much more critical readers than pure readers. For example, last month, I read the first book in a cozy mystery series by a bestselling author. (Title and author name withheld.) The first chapter contained a mistake about the main character's profession (she had a degree that didn't exist). The second chapter was a breakup scene, but the structure of it didn't make sense to me. The unemployed boyfriend first worried about his girlfriend was going to pay the bills, then announced he had just landed a new acting job in a new city (rendering his first complaint moot), and then finally came out as gay after three years of being together. I found out later this author is supposed to be funny, so maybe what I thought were bugs were actually examples of her humor. However, I also found many of the side characters to be stereotypes, and the murderer turned out to be someone who hadn't been part of the story before then. These were elements that didn't work for me, but many of the reviewers on Goodreads seemed to enjoy the story. I think the readers were reacting to other, emotional aspects of the story that didn't work for me. I finished the book mainly for my annual Goodreads reading challenge. This year, I'm backing off on my reading goal slightly so I have more freedom to quit books I don't care for.

Perhaps this the best way to sum up my frustrations with other people's books: my personality type is INTJ, which is the rarest type among women. Many books that appeal to other people don't appeal to me, and I worry about making my works emotionally appealing to others. I'm hoping as I continue to write and try new genres to find more common ground with my readers.

What frustrates you about other people's works? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

2020 in Review: Reading

Welcome to the last post of 2021, a year that most of us probably can't wait to end. Here's hoping we'll all be doing better by this time next year. 

At the end of every year, I like to look back at the books I've read. Here's my list on Goodreads. I track only books I finish, not those I start. (This is why I don't always record the date I start a book, but I am better at recording when I finish.) Goodreads counts everything from short stories to multi-volume sets as a single book, so I do my best to track my reading accordingly. My initial goal for 2020 was 150 books, but I adjusted my goal a couple of times for a final goal of 140 books. Goodreads says I read 144 books this year, but I can only account for 143. (I think one of them may have been counted twice.) With a little push, I might add one more book before midnight tomorrow. Considering two of my books were actually three-book collections but still counted as a single item, I came pretty close to reaching my original goal. Reading Swann's Way didn't help.

My breakdown by genre is listed below:

Fantasy: 40

Science Fiction: 10

Mystery (cozy or otherwise): 52

Other Fiction: 9

Non-Fiction: 32

This might be the first time that mystery, not fantasy, has been my top category. (Many of the cozy mysteries I like have paranormal elements, but I still count them under mystery instead of fantasy.) Since I'm working on a cozy mystery series, naturally I need to learn more about this genre, though I was reading it before I decided to write it. Some of my other reading goals this year were to read ten books on writing, five physical books from my To Be Read pile, and 40 non-fiction books. I came close with the non-fiction, but I only read four books on writing and nothing from the TBR pile. I have a feeling many of those books will never be read, alas. EBooks outnumber paper books 91 to 52. Although my library was closed for a couple of months due to COVID-19, I still managed to check out quite a few paper books along with eBooks.

 

Here are a few recommendations from the year:

The Bird Way

Spellbreaker

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

The Heroine's Journey

Midnight Bargain

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

The Precipice

Dread Nation

Oona Out of Order

Bannerless

Factfulness

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

 

I'm not sure yet what reading goals I want to set for 2021, but I'll try to make them more realistic.

What was your favorite book this year? Feel free to share it in the comments.

2020 in Review: Writing

Welcome to my penultimate post of 2020, where I discuss how my writing plans, like everything else this year, didn't go the way I thought they would. Nevertheless, I did manage to accomplish some useful things.

At the beginning of 2020, my main goal was to finish my urban fantasy series about a dryad living on the UW-Madison campus. I not only need to finish the final book of the trilogy, but I need to revise the first two books. I still continue to struggle with this series. One of my main issues is that the focus of the series has shifted from my heroine to her love interest. I need to do a better job of balancing their stories so I can complete both of them. The other issue is that I keep abandoning this series to focus on shiny new projects. Even when I set goals for myself to write a certain number of words on this series, it doesn't happen. I guess I need to ask myself some hard questions about this series to see if I still want to finish it when I have so many other stories competing for my attention.

Even though I didn't accomplish much on the dryads trilogy, I still finished or started several other projects. They include the first draft of the first book of a cozy mystery series, about half of the second cozy mystery book in that series, a fantasy short story (a pandemic version of the Seven Swans fairy tale) that I'm currently trying to sell, the first draft of a novelette in the Seasons Avatars universe, and another fantasy short story targeted for an anthology that closes next week. The final story isn't quite done as I write this blog post on Sunday, so hopefully I'll have the first draft done before this post goes live.

I didn't indie-publish anything this year, but my short story "A Shawl for Janice" was published in a solarpunk anthology in January. One of my publishing goals for this year was to sell (not just give away) 100 books. It's a modest goal, certainly not more than coffee-level money, but at least I managed to meet it. I sold about 112 books across almost all platforms (I haven't checked Google Play lately.) One publishing thing I did this year was stop relying on distributors like Draft2Digital and publish directly to Kobo, Google, Barnes and Noble, and Apple. This is supposed to give me better control of marketing and promotions, but I still have a lot to learn about working with these platforms.

Given how easily my plans go awry, is it worth setting goals for 2021? I still think so, though I probably need to focus more on my goals and try not to let new projects distract me. Before I can set goals for specific projects, I need to decide how much time I want to give to cozy mysteries and how much time I want to give to my science fiction/fantasy. I think the cozy mysteries offer more market potential, but I still want to write in the Season Avatars universe and revisit other worlds I've created. How to juggle all that along with my job, family, and other personal projects continues to be a challenge.

Happy Holidays to everyone! Next week, I'll discuss reading in 2020. For now, feel free to share how your writing went this year.

Mid-Month Mysteries: Knitting and Crochet

Since I'm spending so much time reading and writing cozy mysteries, I figured it's time I added a monthly feature about them to my blog. After umpteen years of blogging, I need to find more topics to blog about.

Cozy mysteries often feature protagonists who either knit or crochet as a hobby (such as Pamela Paterson in the Knit and Nibble series by Peggy Ehrhart) or run a yarn shop, such as Lucy Swift in the Vampire Knitting Club series by Nancy Warren. However, the majority of stories seem to feature knitters, not crocheters or "hookers." The only series I know of featuring crochet is Betty Hechtman's A Crochet Mystery series. (I started reading this series so long ago I was buying it in paperback, but it's been a while since I've bought any books in this series.) I'm not quite sure why knitting is more popular than crochet in this genre. I thought perhaps more people knit than crochet, but according to this website, that doesn't seem to be the case. (I'm not sure how this breaks down on Ravelry.) Knitting is older than crochet; according to Wikipedia, crochet as we know it developed in the nineteenth century. 

One reason knitting is featured in cozy mysteries could be the tools used. Knitting needles, which are pointed, are deadlier than blunt crochet hooks. In my opinion, yarn makes a better murder weapon. Yarn can be used to strangle someone, but it could also be used to create a tripping hazard at the top of a staircase. Yarn could also be dyed with toxic chemicals, like the Victorian-era green dye that contained arsenic. (As a side note, my fantasy Season Avatars series features characters who wear colors associated with the deity they're linked to. This includes colors like yellow and green. Fortunately, my characters have magic which helps them realize the health risk of certain dyes and create safer ones.) Both knitters and hookers might carry scissors with them, along with stitch counters, small balls of unused yarn, and other potential items that could choke a victim.

No matter whether the heroine knits or crochets, she may meet with other people who share her interest. These people can be victims, assistant investigators, or even murderers. The projects they work on can be sweaters (very appropriate for a cozy!), but they can be other types of clothing or even stuffed animals. Items can be gifted or donated to charity. I think it would be interesting to see these crafts used in other ways. For example, yarn bombing might be used to leave messages or clues. Although I know at least one person who spins and dyes yarn, I don't think I've seen a heroine do that in a series. It would be interesting to learn more about those textile arts.

Although Abigail Ritter, the heroine of my Magic Lake Mysteries series, isn't a knitter or hooker at first, she will discover as the series progresses that knitting needles, crochet hooks, and other tools for women's work have played an important role in her town's history. In particular, amigurumi will be featured in this series. I'm still editing the first book in the series, which will be called Murder in Magic Lake. Hopefully I can publish it next year.

Finally, I should discuss my own experience with crochet. My mother used to crochet when I was a teenager, but since I'm left-handed, she didn't know how to teach me. When I was in my twenties, I taught myself how to do it from books. (This was long before YouTube, and I crochet right-handed because everything was shown that way.) Among other projects, I made a ringbearer pillow for my wedding and a layette set for my son. (Here's a photo.) Of course, once my son was born, I didn't have much time for hobbies. However, I rediscovered crochet when I made a couple of pussy hats for the Women's March of 2017. When my husband gave me a kit for making Star Wars characters, I made a lot of them, sold them to friends, and donated part of the proceeds to charity. I tried some bigger projects in 2020, but they didn't work out very well. (No surprise there, I guess.) Although cozy mysteries have inspired me to try knitting, I haven't gotten the hang of it. Heck, I'm still not sure if I should do it right-handed or left-handed!

What are your favorite mystery books featuring knitting or crochet? Feel free to share in the comments.

Winning Whamageddon

 Last Christmas, I thought I might win, but on the way home, a tune did me in.... I'm talking about Whamageddon, the online game where people try to go from December 1st to midnight on December 24th without hearing George Michael's version of "Last Christmas." I like the song, but I also enjoy playing along with Whamageddon. Most years, I'm able to win, but last year I heard the song on the radio as I was driving home. Here are a few strategies I use to avoid hearing the song:

1. At home, I listen to my normal Pandora stations instead of holiday ones until a couple of days before Christmas. When I do listen to Christmas music, I select traditional carols instead of popular songs.

2. On December 8th, in memory of John Lennon, I listen to Beatles songs and his solo work. I also start my annual Beatles marathon, where I listen to all of their albums in chronological order.  This usually takes several days if I only listen to a couple of albums in the evenings.

3. I avoid going to stores as much as possible (a little easier this year since my husband does most of our shopping).

4. Instead of listening to the radio when I drive, I'll probably listen to one of my lecture series on Audible. 

5. To celebrate the winter solstice, I'll listen to Sting's If On a Winter's Night album on the 21st.

6. Assuming I do make it to Christmas without hearing "Last Christmas," I'll listen to it on YouTube.

 

How do you feel about holiday music? Do you have any favorite carols or popular songs? Here's hoping you're not sent to Whamhalla early!

IWSG: Writing Seasons

 Welcome to December, a.k.a. the Boss Level of 2020. I hope you're staying safe this season. Here's to the last Insecure Writer's Support Group post of 2020! You can learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook group, or Twitter feed.

Our hosts this month are Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney, Liesbet at Roaming About, Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre.

Here's our question for December: Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?

 I'm not consistent with keeping a writing journal, but there are definitely times of the year when there are a lot of other activities that cut into my writing time. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a good example. There's buying and wrapping presents, baking (my husband and I will have six types of cookies, a fudge, and truffles done by the end of Sunday, when I'm writing this post, and I may have more done before this post goes live), decorating, card designing, social obligations, and cooking for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Once I'm past Christmas, though, I usually have some time off before New Year's Day. I tend to use that time to update my website and eBook back matter in addition to writing. In general, fall and winter feel more like prime writing time to me. When the weather is nice, it's tempting to be outside. 

What's your best writing season? Feel free to share in the comments.

 

Virtual Members' Nights (and Day)

One of the many family traditions we weren't able to perform this year was visiting the Field Museum for Member's Night. This event is normally held in May over two nights (usually Thursday and Friday) and allows members to see some of the research being done at the museum and learn how new exhibits are designed. Fortunately, the Field Museum came up with a new way to participate this year: virtually over Zoom. They set up three sessions last week, each with several short presentations on different topics. I attended all of them, though I didn't watch every presentation. (My husband had to work during the presentations. I did share the Zoom link with my son, though I don't know if he watched any of the sessions on his own.) Here are a few of the presentation topics:

Totem poles (cleaning and imaging)

Hats and headgear (ancient hats mostly from Asia)

Green River fossils (see below)

Gems (Victorian household items made from gems; we got to guess what they were used for)

Artifacts from Kish, one of the oldest urban areas

Meteorites

Fossil prep (we got to see two of staff members actually doing this at their homes)

Fish specimens (we saw some of those at Dozing with the Dinos in March)

Dinosaurs (of course!)--the oversize collection

Some of the presentations I didn't get to see involved birds, moccasins, and mummies. There were a couple of presentations from Thursday night that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

The presentation I enjoyed the most was the Green River fossil presentation, which focused on ancient bird fossils. They showed a very nice fossil of a 155-million-year-old bird with impressions of feathers visible. Dr. O'Connor, Associate Curator of Reptile Fossils, explained that contrary to what you might expect, they found evidence of soft tissue preservation in these fossils. By demineralizing and staining a sample from another ancient bird fossil, they were able to find evidence of ovarian tissue in the fossil. Most birds have only one ovary (probably an adaption for flight), so this work showed that the ovary reduction happened very early in bird evolution. I thought that was fascinating work that could change how other fossils are studied, which would allow us to learn more about prehistoric life.

We did visit the Field Museum when they reopened in July, but unfortunately, the Chicago museums had to close down again last week. It was good to reconnect with The Field again, even if it was just virtually. Hopefully next year the whole family can attend a Members' Night in person. In the meantime, please support your local museum(s)!

Pushcart Prize Nomination

 

I'm thrilled to announce that World Weaver Press has nominated my short story, "A Shawl for Janice," for the Pushcart Prize. "A Shawl for Janice" was published in Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Winters in January. (Anyone still remember January 2020? It seems so long ago....) The Pushcart Prize honors writers of poetry, short stories, and essays. Each small press can nominate up to six entries per year. I'm honored that World Weaver Press not only chose to publish my short story in their anthology but decided it was among the best stories they published this year. You can see the announcement on their blog here.

Drafts and Layers

 I thought it would be an interesting to discuss how authors might work on different parts of their story in different drafts. When I start a first draft, I generally have a sense of where I want to start and end and maybe a few bits in the middle. I still tend to discover most of my scenes and plot points as I write. (I guess no matter how much I try, I'll never be a full-on plotter.) In my first drafts, I tend to focus on story and dialogue. Description may be scant in the first draft. Since I'm a pantser, my second drafts often require a lot of work. I may change the scenes I initially wrote if I come up with something better. Often, details about the characters may change as well. I'm trying to be more mindful about the emotional aspect of my stories, both in developing character emotions and reader responses. Sometimes my work needs additional drafts before I feel it's solid. Then at that point I can focus on improving my sentences and word choices. The final pass is dedicated to removing typos and fiddling with the story until I get tired of it.

I think I write the way I do because it's easier for me to work on certain aspects of the story than others. I tend to be sparse in my descriptions because I feel more uncertain about them (in that I may make a mistake). I feel more confident about my dialogue, however, and it flows more easily for me. Hopefully as I keep writing and improving I can juggle more story elements in the first draft. I'm certainly more aware of them than I was as a beginning writer.

Do you feel that your first drafts focus more on certain story elements and others require more development? What are your story element strengths and weaknesses? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

 

IWSG: Why I Write

We made it to November 2020, everyone. By the time this post goes live, the election will be over, though we may not know yet who the next president will be or what Congress and the Senate will look like. I expect the coming winter to be tough, but hopefully next year we'll have a vaccine for Covid-19 and will be able to start rebuilding. In the meantime, best of luck to everyone participating in National Novel Writing Month! I have one novel to edit and three other projects to write, so I'm not starting anything new this month (I hope). Speaking of writing, let's talk about the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Here are links to their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. Our hosts this month are Jemi Fraser, Kim Lajevardi, L.G. Keltner, Tyrean Martinson, and Rachna Chhabria. 

Here's our question for this month: Albert Camus once said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Flannery O’Conner said, “I write to discover what I know.” Authors across time and distance have had many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write? 

I write for lots of reasons. I write to create the types of stories I want to read. I write to explore ideas and work out their implications. I write to make a mark on the world and hopefully nudge it in a better direction. I write to connect to other people. Yes, I would also like to supplement my income with my writing and gain recognition, but I think I would write even if no one else ever read another word I wrote. I write to give myself a sense of purpose and to escape the problems and monotony of everyday life. Writing has helped me cope with the crises of 2020, and I hope my stories have helped other people take their minds off their problems and find some enjoyment.

If you write solely for fame and fortune, you'll most likely be disappointed. You have to commit to writing for personal reasons. No matter how frustrating writing can be at times, I find it sustaining. 

Anyway, enough blogging about writing and back to actual writing/revising. If you'd like to share your reasons for writing, feel free to do so in the comments.

 

Writing By Hand

 I'm not sure if October is giving me tricks or treats when it comes to electronics. Last week, my laptop's sound suddenly stopped working. When I tried troubleshooting the computer, it died. It was nine years old (I got it the week I published Lyon's Legacy), and I'd already replaced the hard drive on it a few years ago, so it wasn't worth trying to repair it. Fortunately, I'd started saving up for a new computer last year and had enough for a mid-range computer (still a step or two up from my old one). I ended up purchasing my new computer from Costco and even got it on sale. Of course, I had to wait a couple of days for shipping, plus a couple of extra days before I received the notice I could pick up my laptop. 

What does a writer do when her main writing tool breaks? I have a netbook as a backup, but it runs on archaic software and is very unresponsive. Even if I wiped its memory and tried to restore it to factory settings, I don't think it would work with Windows 10, and I might not be able to use whatever version of Windows it originally came with. So I went old-school and satisfied my writing urges with pen and paper. Although I have a printout of the first draft of Murder at Magic Lake, I decided I didn't want to revise it manually, especially when I need to add new scenes. I ended up starting a new story in the Season Avatars world, one set after Summon the Seasons.

 Writing by hand is much slower than typing. My cursive is hard to read, and my printing isn't much better. (I'm left-handed, so that's my excuse.) I used a legal pad, and my goal was to write at least one page every night. The words came fairly easy, considering sometimes I struggle to find words when I'm typing. Each hand-written page was about 200-250 words. When I finally received my computer on Saturday and transcribed my story with a few minor edits, it was about 1,100 words. It doesn't seem like much for several day's work, especially when some writers can manage a thousand words an hour, but it's still better than not writing at all. The experience makes me wonder if I would have been a writer if I lived in a time when computer's weren't available. Of course, many other aspects of my life would be different as well.

How do you feel about writing stories by hand? Does it make a difference in your story flow? Do you find handwriting or typing easier physically on your hands? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Fall/Winter Projects

 As COVID-19 cases start climbing again in my region, I'm anticipating a fall and winter where we stay close to home. Our family hasn't trooped live since March (though I've done a couple of video and Zoom troops), we've cut way back on our normal seasonal activities (some of which were cancelled), and it's unlikely we'll spend the holidays with family. At least I have plenty to keep me busy.

Writing--Currently, I'm focusing on editing my first cozy mystery book, which I'm calling Murder at Magic Lake. The first draft was only 50,000 words, so I'm adding a new subplot to flesh it out. When I'm done, I'll see if I can get feedback from a few beta readers before getting ready to publish--probably either in January or February. I'm about halfway through Book 2 in that series (working title is Restaurants and Revenge), but I need to go back and change something before I continue. I also have one short story making the rounds of pro markets and am considering writing another for an anthology. Meanwhile, my urban fantasy trilogy and my Season Avatars series continue to simmer on the back burner. I usually end up taking a lot of vacation at the end of the year, so I will use some of that time to update my website, update my back matter in my books as necessary, and formatting my manuscripts.

Crochet--I'm planning to crochet blankets for my son, my husband, and myself. Currently, I'm working on my son's blanket, which will have red and black stripes. It's narrower than I expected it would be, but it can be as long as he wants. I'll probably make it between five and six feet. I still have to figure out patterns and colors for the other two blankets. Plus, I still have to finish making a fuzzy coat for a big Baby Yoda. I haven't made any crocheted characters for a while, so I should work on those again. I'd also like to make myself some slippers and maybe a sweater. 

Reading--I finally finished my hundredth book for the year. I changed my original goal of 150 books to 120, but I'll probably end up somewhere in the middle. I'm not sure how many books I currently have on my "For Later" shelf at the library, but it's more than enough to get me through 2021!

Other--These aren't really creative projects, but I'll probably continue to help my husband play through his extensive board game collection. It would be nice if my son was interested in joining us, but he has his own ways of staying busy. I plan to have him help cook our family dinners so he gets more experience in the kitchen. I'll also continue to experiment with nail art, bake scones and other treats, and hopefully learn more about birds over the winter. And if I really get bored, there's plenty of things in the basement to be sorted and gotten rid of.

I'm pretty good at finding things to do at home, even without the TV. In fact, about the only time I watch something is when I'm crocheting. What about you? Feel free to share your hobbies in the comments.

Book Apps

 This weekend, after over three and a half years, I finally upgraded my phone. It had very little storage, and even adding a SD card didn't help much. The screen was so badly cracked I could feel it through the screen protector. I'd also been having issues with the GPS for a while, and the phone was finally starting to have some connectivity issues as well. The main reason I held on to it for so long was the cost of upgrading, but some mid-grade phones just came out that made it more manageable. The customer service representative at the store tole me I could get six or seven years out of the new phone, but if I can manage at least four, I'll be content.

Now that my phone has more storage, I can download more apps. Of course there are a lot of entertainment apps for movies and games. However, I can also download more books for my Kindle app and can now use multiple library apps, such as Hoopla and Cloud Library. I also have an Audible account, but I personally use it for lectures more than audiobooks. Books are available in other apps too. Google Play offers them (I finally managed to list most of my books on their store this summer), as well as Apple Books and Kobo. I'm not sure if Barnes and Noble has an app, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. There are also apps that offer free books, but I'm not sure if all of those are available legally, so I'll avoid those.

Do you read books on a device other than a dedicated ereader? If so, what apps do you use, and would you recommend them? Feel free to share in the comments.

IWSG: I Wanna Be a Working Writer

Welcome to October, everyone! The world's become a much scarier place than usual this month, but if we support each other, we'll get through it. One way to support each other is to be part of The Insecure Writer's Support Group. Learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. 

Our hosts this month are Jemima Pett, Beth Camp, Beverly Stowe McClure, and Gwen Gardner.

Here's our question for October: When you think of the term "working writer," what does that look like for you? What do you think it is supposed to look like? Do you see yourself as a working writer or aspiring or hobbyist, and if latter two, what does that look like?

I'm going to address the second part of the question first. Until recently, working writers were traditionally published writers. They would write one or two books a year, attend book signings and conventions, and spend a lot of time talking with editors and agents. These days, I picture a working writer as an indie writer. She (the ones I'm most familiar with are all female) publishes multiple books a year in popular genres and knows the tropes that readers like. She doesn't do bookstore signings or conventions but may be active on social media and promotes her work herself. She may hire editors or cover designers, but she's the boss, not them, and she doesn't need an agent. 

At this point in my writing career, I'd have to consider myself an aspiring working writer, though the IRS would probably consider me a hobbyist. I'm a parent with a full-time job, which doesn't leave me with much writing time. (Between making masks for my family and participating in Vote Forward, I've given up a lot of time this year that I could have used for writing.) I only have six full novels out, but advice I hear from other writers indicates you need at least ten books before you start seeing significant income. I'm also a slow writer, both with writing a first draft and editing, and I'm contrarian enough to push back against popular tropes in my work. I may never get to the point where writing is my main source of income, but if I can gain a few fans who appreciate my work, I'll be satisifed.

I can't resist ending this post with the Beatles' song about a Paperback Writer:

https://youtu.be/yYvkICbTZIQ

What's your definition of a working writer? Are you one? Do you want to be one? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

 

 

The Allure of Shiny New Projects

 Last week, I discussed how I was engaged in several different projects as a way of coping with the pandemic. To be honest, I was juggling a lot of projects even before then. Part of the problem is I get interested in new projects before I finish the old ones. For example, this winter, I want to crochet my son, my husband, and me each a blanket in our favorite colors. However, I also want to make myself new slippers, a sweater, and make a variation on a Star Wars character that I have a pattern for. This is on top of my writing projects. Indeed, part of the reason I haven't finished the Dryads and Dragons trilogy I started a couple of years ago is because I keep starting other short stories and novels instead. (Not to mention how the plot keeps sprawling and how the romantic lead has taken over from the heroine.)

Are new projects really more exciting than old ones? I don't think so. I think we just become accustomed to current projects or get frustrated when they don't go smoothly. Our brains are wired to notice novel things. Old projects were exciting too when we first started them.

In order to keep from being overwhelmed by my desire to Do All The Things, I try to prioritize them. For example, time-sensitive projects like Vote Forward (which ends on October 17) or anthologies with limited submission windows get first priority. I also try to work on a couple of different projects every day. For example, after work, I may crochet for a half hour or so before writing a batch of letters for Vote Forward, write for an hour or so, and finish the evening with a little reading. As old projects get finished, then I can adopt new projects. Some projects do get abandoned if they're not working out, and perhaps that's necessary for one's sanity. Sometimes I stick with a project out of sheer stubbornness.

Are you able to focus on your projects outside work, or do you pick up new ones frequently?  How do you make sure your projects get done? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Mental Well-Being and the Middle

 The middle of a story can be the most difficult part to write. Beginnings and endings have their own energy, but middles can get muddled, especially if you're a panster. After six months, we're past the beginning of the pandemic. Many people are dealing with health issues, unemployment, or loss of a loved one. There are plenty of local crises as well. Even if you're not directly dealing with these problems, the changes in routine and the constant stream of bad news add up to overwhelming stress. I'm no well-being expert, but here are a few things I do to help me cope with our new normal:

Enjoy nature--During the summer, I like to go for a walk first thing in the morning. It's good exercise and clears my mind. I don't tolerate cold very well, so I won't be doing that once the weather turns. However, we do have a bird feeder in the back yard, and feeding and watching the birds helps me stay connected with nature.

Try new things--Over the past few months, I've tried new recipes, picked up new sewing projects, tried writing in a new genre, and even experimented with different types of nail art. I'm going to crochet blankets for my son, my husband, and myself this winter--if I can find time

Look for ways to help--I've been writing letters for Vote Forward to encourage people to vote. You can also donate to charities or volunteer your time.

Find a new routine--My husband's board game collection is so extensive it may rival my book collection in the amount of space it takes up. Although there are many that require more than two players, we've found some that work well with two players. It wouldn't be Saturday night without a couple of hours devoted to Mice and Mystics!

 We're all protagonists trying to make it to the end of this story. What's your strategy? Feel free to share in the comments. 

Life in Venus's Atmosphere?

 2020 has been full of strange news so far, but perhaps some of the strangest could be the possibility of life in Venus's atmosphere. On the surface of the planet, it's hot enough to melt lead. However, scientists have detected phosphine in the atmosphere at concentrations high enough to suggest the gas is being made by anaerobic bacteria in the atmosphere. (Venus's atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide.) It's not definite proof, and the phosphine could be produced by some unknown method, but it is a tantalizing notion. Here's one of the articles about this discovery. 

If there is life on Venus, does it use DNA and the same genetic code as life on Earth does? Does it use the same basic biochemistry? Is there the possibility of multicellular life? How would it influence science fiction to know there is life on other planets? These are just a few of the questions that I'd want answered. What are yours? Feel free to share them in the comments.

September: Self-Published Fantasy Month

 

Did you know there's such a thing as Self-Published Fantasy Month? Neither did I before reading about it in Virginia McClain's newsletter. Apparently September is devoted to self-published fantasy, at least, according to this website. I wish I'd learned about this sooner so I could come up with more ways to celebrate. Of course, the best way to do so is to buy, read, and review self-published fantasy. I've decided to drop the prices of my Season Avatars books and Ordinary Wonders collection to $0.99 for September to make those works more accessible. The website I linked to also suggests posting about your favorite self-published fantasy authors.

Here's a list of authors I've read and enjoyed, along with general descriptions of their works:

Christine Pope (fairy tale retellings and a series about witches; I've read more of the former than the latter)

Lindsay Buroker (action-packed stories with humorous characters in a secondary world)

H.L. Burke (she has a couple of different series, including a steampunk one and one involving magicians)

Charlotte E. English (Modern Magick series, about an English society trying to save magic)

Aviva Rothschild (The Beatles as characters in a D&D type world)

I'm sure there are more that I can't remember at the moment, and this doesn't even include cozy mystery authors who include fantastic elements in their stories.

Do you have any favorite self-published fantasy authors? Feel free to tell me about them in the comments.

IWSG: A Beta Partner of Your Dreams

We made it to September and another post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Learn more about them on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.

Our hosts this month are PJ Colando, J Lenni Dorner, Deniz Bevan, Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, and Lousie-Fundy Blue.

 Here's our question for today: If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?

I would have to pick my favorite author, Patricia A. McKillip. McKillip is a master of evoking a sense of wonder and magic. She excels at description (something I always feel I need to improve in my work), and she's so creative she has multiple stand-alone works. I would learn a lot more from her than she would from me.

I had the honor of meeting Patricia McKillip at WisCon several years ago (It must have been 2004, when she was a Guest of Honor), so I'll share my autograph from that event, even though it's not personalized.

Which author would you pick as a beta partner? Feel free to share your answer in the comments.