We started our day with pouring rain and dark gray skies. The sun's shining a bit, though. I'm thankful for it but now we have to wait to see what will happen with rivers and streams over the next few days. Please, please! Keep the folks in Texas and Louisiana in your thoughts and prayers as we deal with lots of continued rain and flooding and threats of flooding.

I wasn't sure I'd manage it but chapter 7 of "Ripples" is now posted on Wattpad for your reading enjoyment. My immediate goal is to get one more chapter out before we take a short vacation for Labor Day. You can read the new chapter by clicking on the box below.

We started school this week and I'm adjusting to the new schedule. It seems we planned it well, though, because it's working so far. If you want to hear more about our school adventures, I do have a blog for sharing those. It's been sadly neglected over the summer but I'm going to start posting again after the aforementioned vacation. You can read it here.

I'm doing my best to get all online and computer work done before the bad weather hits. Oh, for a generator! Ah, well...life continues. I'm working on a few writing worksheets. They'll be free for readers who sign up to receive my newsletter. If you haven't signed up yet, be sure to do so.

I'm not so good at writing snippets about my work, nor do I feel comfortable yet when discussing what my book is about. So I'll practice today.

Chapter 6 begins after Yetsye and her traveling companions have crossed the Alain'n River. They are nearing their destination -- Levanna Stone Temples. They are worn from the trials along the way, but rest and refreshing awaits them at the temples. You can read all about what happens when they arrive on Wattpad.

I posted chapter 4 of Ripples on Wattpad today. My goal is to post two more chapters this week. I hope you are enjoying it. It would be great to get some feedback on my work. So far, I've only heard from family and friends.

I get really nervous when I tell people my book is a fantasy novel. It doesn't have unicorns (though I /love/ them!). Dragons do not show up. There are no elves, orcs, trolls, or sorcerers. I suppose the closest I get to  'magical' creatures are the ones who guard the borderlands between Shinnoah and M'Neshunnaya. If I had to compare them to a mythical beast, the closest I could get would probably be the kirin of Japan. I'm taking a huge risk, I think, by labeling my book fantasy instead of sci-fi, but there are really no sci-fi elements to my book at all. And none of the other genres fit. Then I realize I'm getting too bogged down in what-if's and remind myself to keep writing no matter what.

I suppose the only thing slowing me down now is discouragement. I will only be able to publish my work online for now. And I don't know when I'll gather all the funds I need to publish a physical copy of my book. But at least it's getting out there. At least people can read my work. And that's an awesome thing -- no small feat. I'm proud of the effort I've put in and the resulting words on paper. And I'm really looking forward to book two of the collection. More about that, next time! Thanks for stopping by and please check into Wattpad, read chapter four, leave a comment or two, and vote if you enjoy it!

Ripples has been updated at Wattpad! You can now read chapter 3 of my book. I'll be posting the rest of the chapters at least every other day from now until all the chapters have been added (except for Sunday). You can read byclicking here or by using the link at the bottom of this post.

I discovered recently that it's going to take a miracle for me to be able to publish my book by October. While it's about 90% complete, our income just cannot handle the publishing part. For now, I'll simply post my work at Wattpad and keep refining it. Please do check out the work at Wattpad while I continue looking for a way to accomplish my goal.

There's nothing more frustrating than having the path to your goal blocked by some kind of wall. It makes me want to throw up my hands and cry. But since that accomplishes nothing, I'll keep going forward with the resources available to me. I am going to keep writing and keep imagining and keep on moving. Today I shared a modified quote from chapter three on my social media pages. The actual quote says --

I had to shorten it to use the app I like most. It came out pretty well. And it's a great way to publicize my story, I think.

I really enjoy sharing my ideas and thoughts in many different ways. Writing has opened up new doors for me and I can't wait to see where each one will lead.

The second chapter of "Ripples" (the 5th revision) is now available to read on Wattpad. Please stop by the site and check it out! You can also find this same link anytime on my "Her Writing" tab in the top menu.

I've also heard from a couple of my readers who had problems signing up to receive my newsletter. If you have any problems, please let me know. I'll do what I can to solve it. One possible hindrance could be pop-up blockers.

If you have already signed up for my newsletter and received the first one in August, I'd love to get some feedback from you. What did you like or hate? What would you like to see more of?

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my work. Your support means more to me than I can express in a short blog post.

It took me a while to decide whether I'd share pieces of my novel before I publish it. And there are arguments for and against by different people. I've opted to share it. If you would like to read it, you'll need to go to my Wattpad profile and click on the story there (links below). I won't share it here because blogs allow the copy/paste option.
Click here for my Wattpad profile.
Click here to go straight to the story.
Once you get to Wattpad, you'll need to create an account, unless you have one already. On the bright side, you'll get updates every time I post a new story or portion of a story. Bonus two is the chance to read tons more stories and books and poetry for free! Please leave comments while you're reading. And if you like what you read, click the star to give me a vote!
The art above (and linked below) is the cover for the book. It's basically done, but I need to tweak the text. I've edited the wording since creating it. It took several weeks to complete, but I'm satisfied. Let me know what you think!