An Island in the Sea of Madness

It is clear that life and the world as we know it have drastically changed in the last few weeks and days. It is also clear it will quite some time before any semblance of normalcy returns, if it ever does. It would not surprise me if our definition of “normal” is forever altered because of the current pandemic.

That being said, I realize it will probably be sometime next year before I get to reune with my tribe at any conventions, as I foresee all such gatherings getting cancelled possibly into fall or beyond. For those whose livelihoods depend on such events, this year will be particularly rough.

As a way to mitigate this problem, I invite my readers and followers to visit my Smugglers Cove and Hucksters Haven page and it’s satellite pages.  There, you can find everything you would encounter at a convention dealer’s hall as well as authors and artists of many genres. I’ve recently updated and added listings to every page in this set.

For those of you new to my site, I collect business cards and contact information at every convention I attend and post it in my little virtual dealer’s hall. I do not receive any compensation for this, monetary or otherwise, save for possibly more traffic on my site. No, I do this to support the community of creators and businesses I’ve come to call my second family.

Writer’s Flow

Lack of the ability to concentrate over the past few weeks had slowed my writing down drastically. I just couldn’t focus past all the distractions. Add to that the need to rewrite/replot in the middle of the manuscript for Hunting the Dragon, the 8th book in the Waves of Darkness series (and the start of a new story arc). Yes, I’d plotted the book out; heck I’d gotten a basic guideline made for the entire 7-book arc. (That’s right kiddies, not only will I get the first 7 books back into publication, I will write 7 NEW books in the series.) However, the plot I had turned out to be easily accomplished with a novella, if not a novelette.

That was/is not acceptable.

Finally, the battling ideas of what event to place where and what plot points to add have sorted themselves out. The writing has begun to flow again. I’ve even found a way to start off one of the secondary plots for the story arc a little earlier than I’d thought.

I love how unplanned characters not only pop up but give new insight and depth into the overall story. I am a “plantser”, a cross between a plotter and a pantser, in how I write my stories. It works for me.

Actually, this is the most similar book writing experience to that of writing Blood Curse (book 1) I’ve had since I started this series of novels. I had an overall idea for the story arc and a jumble of scenes and ideas, and I almost wrapped it up in 17 short chapters. With that book, too, I had to find a way to stretch/fill it out without making the added material read like unnecessary fluff.

Can you tell I’m enjoying my revitalized creative productivity?

Our Disaster is NOT Your Platform! – a response to an influencer #nashvillestrong

I know some of my followers are not in the Tennessee area, and the Nashville/Middle Tennessee tornado outbreak this past Tuesday night may have only been a blip on the national news coverage. Thirty people, so far, lost their lives in this disaster. Three are still missing.

The following reblog contains the names of the dead. I thank God none of them are people I know or am related to, and my heartfelt grief and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims, living or dead, of this horrible tragedy. The reblog also has VERY USEFUL LINKS to organizations offering aide to the victims.

This is an important message and lesson for my fellow creators on what to do and not do in connection to events like this. There are times and places to self-promote shamelessly, and there are times and places to forget about yourself and render what aide you can.

via Our Disaster is NOT Your Platform! – a response to an influencer #nashvillestrong