Valerean

I finished and turned in the third big project for my day job this year ahead of schedule, so I'll have two weeks of vacation to enjoy the last month of summer. I need the time off, too, as I've been dealing with a few minor domestic disasters while trying to work and keep up with the cooking, laundry, cleaning etc. While I'm vacationing we plan to clean all of our carpets and start making over the guest bedroom. It's good to complete a job properly and deliver in advance of when it's due, so I'll do something nice for myself as a special reward. I've earned it. :)

My current day job is one that I've loved and deeply appreciated over the last seven years. I have so much creative control, I earn half of the profits my work generates and all I do is what I do best: write. Did I mention that I work with a brilliant editor who gets me, and a gifted cover artist and copy writer who always makes my books look fantastic? But like all good things, my job can't last forever. We're all seniors, you see, and someday me and my crew will wrap up the business and go off to retire, which will probably be about the time I won't have any reason to work for money any more. I should stop writing professionally then, of course. The question is, after 27 years of doing something pretty much daily, including weekends and holidays, can I do that? I think about the time to come when I don't have to get up and start my writing day with a four-hour work session, and end my day with another after dinner. I do have enough to do around the ho...

I have been thinking about when I will stop writing for income, which I had planned to do at 67, the age I'm eligible for full social security benefits (or was. They've changed it again so I might have to wait until 68.) Up until this year it seemed like a fuzzy, not very important deadline, but with my limitations increasing I may need to adjust my finish line to 65, the age I qualify for Medicare. That's about a year and nine months from now. Before I say anything else I know that (if I can) I will keep on writing professionally for as long as I can, and after that until the very end of my life. This is the thing I do; I can't imagine a life where I don't write. I'll either post it online or leave it for my heirs along with all my other unpublished writing. That said, it is possible that I will not be able to do what I want to if I end up with diabetes stage three: dementia, which also made my mom incapable of writing in her final years. Alzheimer...

For the first time in forever I went and looked at the stats for my old writing blog back in October. While I get about 300+ views on this blog (which is semi-private, and my secret identity is known only to close friends), my old writing blog is still getting over 3K hits every month. Remember, I shut the old blog down in 2018. Six years later evidently it's still being read -- or at least visited -- by thousands. This dismays me for a couple reasons. I have zero desire to return to the glare of the public eye. Being able to write in isolation without anyone knowing what I'm doing is still absolute bliss. I also feel that after fourteen years of almost daily posts about writing I did enough teaching and helping the next generation of writers. I also don't like how social media has evolved into this search and destroy machine, which would probably set its sights on me if I ever went public again. In short, I do not miss that blog or the double-edged sword of th...

By the time this post publishes we'll have about a month left of fall. Halloween will be over, and Thanksgiving will arrive in two weeks. Mom and Dad's birthdays have passed for another year. Katherine might be still visiting us and attending some friends' wedding, but she'll have to return to Hawaii soon. This is when my life slows down every year. If I was able to stick to my work schedule, then I turned in the last project of the year yesterday. The rest of 2024 will be spent on planning the projects for 2025 and possibly getting a jump on the first in December. Sadly I won't be participating in that November novel writing month event (I'm not mentioning the organization again, either), which I actually had planned to do. Not that it matters to anyone but me, but a full boycott is the only way I can protest how sketchy and unethical they've become. I have about six and a half weeks before this post publishes; that's how far ahead I am ...

Over the summer I discovered Flow , a book/magazine/collection meant for paper lovers like me (thank you, Barnes and Noble.) It's packed with so much stuff I can't possibly cover it all, but I'll try. Basically it's 300+ pages of writing papers, tags, cards, stickers, wrapping paper, envelopes, planner pages, paper to make dimensional projects, several note pads, mini posters, a reading poster, a journal with a cover you can customize and even some paper dolls. There are themes to each section (Time to Slow Down, Time to Plan and Time to Play) and images and designs everywhere to inspire you. Postcards, too. A pop-up card (I love these.) Tissue paper for wrapping. The little journal. A record player-shaped notepad. Flow is not cheap ($33.99 US) but it's a great value when you think about what you pay for all of the above separately. The popup cards I buy at Disney Springs run about $13.00 each, for example. It's also a book ...

I've been playing with the AI art generator over at Hotpot.ai and put in the title for my infamous SF series and selected SF1 as the type of art I desired. It generated this image, so I tried it again two more times with the same perameters. I imagine if you use the right key words and select a complimentary style of art, you could generate some pretty good character visuals. I never imagined Cherijo like the AI did, btw -- she looks more storm trooperish than an outer space MD -- but I still think it's interesting. Image credit: all the images in this post were generated with the free version of Hotpot.ai's art generator.

While my favorite person was here I had a chance to shop for her and myself at a Japanese store. This is what I ended up buying for me, which confirms I am totally addicted to cute now. I am also a sucker for all things Japanese made of paper, but this stationery set was especially adorable. She got cold one night while we were out (she's been living in the tropics for 18 months) so I bought this Spirited Away inspired sweater jacket for her to wear. Since she doesn't need it in the islands I'll wear it for the rest of winter, and relive some happy memories while I'm at it.

It's eassy for me to become obsessed with things; I have that nature. My obsessions run from grand (storytelling) to practical (cooking) to sporadic (jewelry-making). When I find something that enchants me, and captures my interest, I research and ponder and keep at it until I understand and master it. At the moment it's crocheting arigurumi creatures. I've always assumed that storytelling was my first obsession. I began writing stories when I was eight years old and never stopped. Art came next. For the most part I gave it up after I lost the use of my dominant hand, but I still dabble. Then quilting, of course, which like writing became a grand obsession. The other night I was thinking about how quickly I can crochet -- because I've been doing it since I was very small I don't have to look at the piece to make the stitches accurately -- and that's when I realized that crochet is actually my first and oldest obsession. My grandmother taught...

I have a lot of work left to do to prep for the next series I'm writing for the day job, so I've decided not to write a novel for fun this winter. If I do find some time, I am going to instead write a short story, a novelette or a novella. Stay tuned for more details once I figure out my work schedule for December.

I have to brag a little today. This is my latest project for work, finished last Friday. It's also the last in that series, so that's complete, too. I've written five books this year, and I would very much like to do one more before the year ends. Since I'm one series ahead of schedule now, that means starting on the first book we'll be publishing in 2025. There was a year during my time writing for NY when I wrote nine novels in eleven months. I don't think I could repeat that now, nor ever reach my lofty goal of writing ten in a year. I must be content with what I can comfortably write these days, and since I don't know any other writer who can consistently produce five or six books a year without stopping, I will be satisfied with that.

In the vault of novels that still exist only in my head, there are a few I'd like to write before I drop dead. I'm a poet again, ha. Seriously, I'm finished with participating in NaNoWriMo, as it's become just another profit generator that bears absolutely no resemblance to the wonderful thing it used to be. But I'd still like to write a book for fun this year, if circumstances permit that. If I do it, it will not be a book I finish in a month; I'd likely work on it through November and December. It really depends on what I'll be doing for the day job during the winter months (got to pay the bills), my holiday-related obligations (at present very minimal, but that can change), and if I can choose an idea that works in novel-length (not as easy as you might think.) As things develop I'll keep you posted.

Just behind the computer in my home office I have a wall that used to be blank. Early on in my career I needed zero distractions from my work, but now that I'm much more comfortable with the daily demands I tried a few things to inspire me, like this idea board for my quilting and textile art to the left of my computer. Having practice and experimental pieces pinned to the board help me think through pending projects when I take breaks. It's also nice to have some sewing up to remind me that not everything I create is for $$$. Directly behind my computer is a framed photo by an artist I love, and to it I tape pictures of body models for the main characters of whatever story I'm working on at the moment. This not only reminds me of their physical attributes, but gives me a sense of my characters as real people. These two have been quite a lot to contend with while writing over the past month. To the right of my computer I have a wall calendar that my guy gif...

Flexed mine this week when I planned three different series in a new universe, and outlined five novels of the first one. I think after long experience outlining series and books becomes automatic, but I didn't realize I'd finally got to that point. Also, got approval for all three series, which means I will be happily writing books until at least the middle of 2024 (knocking on everything made of wood around me.)

As of October 13th I finished the fifth and final novel in my latest series for work. Here's the whole series (a bit dishevelled after I jostled the pile around during Hurrican Ian.) I began this project on January 23rd of this year, so it took 264 days for me to write 5 books that average about 67K each. I've been writing about 1800 words per day (with a few week-long breaks) so this new split morning/evening writing schedule is really working well for me, I think.

As of 8/23 I finished the fourth novel of the year, which leaves only one more to go before we wrap up the whole series. The research for this book was a bit intense, but I really enjoyed it. I'm also still using split writing sessions and maintaining my productivity level, which is a big improvement over the floundering I did in 2021. The last phase will be the most challenging, I think, as the two main characters are both very enigmatic, but I'm ready for it.

I took this rather fuzzy shot of the manuscript for the second book I've written in 2022; it brings the total words I've written and edited for work this year to 133,924. Using my new split session method it took me exactly 100 days to write two novels, so the new process is still keeping me productive. Having that confidence helps alot, especially as I've now written a total of five books since October. It's also helping me avoid burnout, which was the bigger concern for me. I've started my third book this past week, and I plan to finish it in five weeks, with a lot of ifs: If Hurricane season doesn't start with a direct hit by a category-5 storm. If I can keep myself motivated and happy. If the people in my life who depend on me don't interfere with my work time. If, if, if. Speaking of Hurricane season, I've finished my annual prep, restocked all my supplies, and my guy is testing our generator this week. All I need are some new five-gallon...

My week off writing after finishing the last novel for work is over, so I'm back to writing. Take downtime between projects has worked nicely to keep me productive, and I've been looking forward to writing this new book a lot. Wish me luck. :)

I've always loved this painting -- Flaming June by Frederic Leighton -- which also has an interesting origin story behind it. Allegedly it was found hidden in a chimney by a construction worker in 1962, who sold it to a junk shop for about fifty bucks. Sixty years later it's widely considered a masterpiece of Victorian art. The museum that currently owns it turned down an offer of six million pounds to purchase it from one of its famous admirers, Andrew Lloyd Webber. I think I'm drawn to this painting because the gown worn by the lady is orange, a color that not a lot of people really love but I happen to adore, and it reminds me of hibiscus like this one that grew around my house when I was a kid. I also think it's simply beautiful. Those type of connections are what I think about when I'm world-building or creating a character or even choreographing a scene. Am I offering something new and different, will I connect with the reader on some emotio...

While on my break I finished this, the first novel in my new series for work, continuing my productive streak from last year. As this was a bigger and slightly more complicated project than the last five I gave myself more time. Dropping my daily wordcount goal from 2400 to 1800 allowed me to write without as much pressure every day, and that definitely helped. I started writing it on January 24th, and delivered it on March 4th, during which time I took three days off to deal with my post-booster shot sickness, so it took roughly five weeks.