I think it was Dr. Seuss who wrote, "Progress is progress, no matter how small." There is so much truth in that statement. I uploaded another chapter to Wattpad today. More than half of my book is now available for anyone to read. If you'd like to check it out, you'll find a link below the poem.

I'm not usually into writing poetry. I always think I'd like to practice that skill a little more. But then, I already have so many hobbies, so many things I enjoy participating in, that I'm often overwhelmed. So sticking to short bursts of poetic creativity make me happy enough. Here's the one that came to me today. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!

Do you ever get caught up in the anticipation of an event? Do you expect the event to happen tomorrow when it's really happening next week? When it's finally time for the event, were you so caught up in anticipating it you forgot to do some important things and almost forget the event in your fit of back-pedaling? I do...

My newsletter is coming up again and I haven't even started putting it together. Thank goodness for MailChimp templates! It shouldn't be too difficult to put it together before November 1st.

Nanowrimo...I thought it was happening this week and I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized my anticipation was getting the better of me. Whew! Not ready! Not ready! Not ready!

Uploads for Ripples on Wattpad are slow but steady. I'm managing to upload 2-3 chapters each week lately. I have to be OK with that. Changes in our school schedule mean I have a little less time for writing. It worries me a bit. I've read on some websites that readers want daily updates and consistently, i.e. quickly, published works. But honestly, I have so many responsibilities I'd have no kind of life if I tried to maintain production at that speed. The quality would definitely suffer. Quality means more to me than quantity and I hope it means more to my readers. If you'd like to read chapter 18, I've uploaded it on Wattpad and the link is below. Enjoy!

Life never does run as smoothly as we might wish it to. I guess that's a good thing. My health would definitely suffer without some adversity to keep me on my toes. The current one is a computer that refuses to shut down completely. So into the shop she'll go and I'm not certain when she'll return. So today will be spent in revisions and saving work to back-up files so I can continue working without my desktop.

I've already finished the revision of chapter 17. If you'd like to read it, just click the link below this post. I'd love to hear some critiques on my work. There's a wonderful site called Scribophile which allows authors that luxury but only paying members can upload work for critiques. Since all our pay goes to household care and bills, there's no extra for frills right now. It's frustrating, but that's just another one of those hurdles that keeps up my determination.

NaNoWriMo 2017 is right around the corner. I've been working on world building and character creation for the new novel. I'm excited to get my ideas on paper and start a new book in the Children of Y'Dahnndrya series. This novel will take place on the other side of their globe. But never fear, Yetsye and Tsadok will likely make an appearance at some point, even if only in a dream/vision.

Thanks to those of you who are reading my work, who've commented on it and encouraged me. Thanks to the readers of my blog. All the support is so very much appreciated!

My writing is important. Not as important as my family or my spiritual path, but definitely important. I've decided it's what I want to do with my life - as a career. So I know there are things I'll need to do in order to make a it a viable job. And sometimes the things I need to do won't be things I enjoy as much as the writing.

Social Media Madness
In order to appease the masses on social media, you have to be active. Really. Active. You have to post something every day and the more often you post, the more followers you'll attract. Quality posts are better but honestly, I've seen people post totally frivolous stuff and have tons of followers. I think people just like to have connections, some kind of common ground to meet others. I have no trouble posting on Instagram daily...usually. I have missed a day every now and again. I almost missed posting there yesterday. Facebook is another matter entirely. I hate that site. It's too time consuming and I'm a busy person with a lot on my plate. The other socmed sites fall somewhere between those two. And if I've learned one thing in this past year, I will definitely be on board for paying someone to handle my online presence if for some reason my writing takes off like a rocket.

Marketing
...merg...ugh...I don't sell things. I used to sell jewelry...for about a year. I used to sell candles and did that for about three years. I never made any money. I spent all my earnings on the products I loved. To me, you have to try a product in order to believe in it. A good product will sell itself. But there are some things that really need that marketing ploy to kick off the sales. Books are more and more falling into that category. Book trailers, beautiful book ads, book signings, etc. are more important to authors now than they ever were. I guess, in a way, your socmed posts are another method of promoting your work but in a less focused way. I'm just really bad at selling things so marketing is another tough area I will eventually appreciate hiring help in.

Cover Art, Design, Creation
This is one area I absolutely love to play around with. But it's time consuming. And my resources are very limited. I write books. I'm not a graphic designer. And I don't have top-notch tools for either yet. But you can do a lot with free fonts and open source programs like Gimp, Open Clip Art, and Free Images. I use them to spark some creativity and try my hand at creating artwork that goes along with my stories. The covers you see on my Wattpad works were created using Gimp and Open Clip Art.

Soundtrack
Did you ever wonder about creating a unique soundtrack for your written work? I've toyed with the idea but creating musical scores is, to me, more complex than putting a bit of graphic art together. There's a lot more involved. Thankfully, there are places like Ektoplazm where you can find some open source music to jump-start your creativity. There are others, but that's the only one I've visited so far. (My husband uses some of the free music available on YouTube to create his photography films.) To convey an appropriate mood for moments in a story seems a daunting task. I'd still like to try to accomplish it one day. Bucket List Item #003...

I won't jinx myself by saying how much I've done or anything like that but chapter 16 of Ripples is now posted for your reading enjoyment. I will say, however, that I'm not stopping the work. You can read the story here at Wattpad. Just click the link below.

No fancy pictures today! The signal is bad, as it usually is on a Friday. I'm just glad I got to post the chapter fifteen revision on Wattpad. So I finally managed to do another two revisions in a week after barely managing one. I hope you'll check it out. You can use the link below this blog post.

Nanowrimo 2017 is coming up fast and I'm really looking forward to get started on the next novel in the Children of Y'Dahnndrya series. The stories are connected but it may not be apparent until book three. I wonder how readers will respond to that...

I know I'm taking a big risk. I guess it's more of a challenge to myself. "What can I do as a writer? How far do my abilities go? What are my limitations? Do I even have limitations on where my imagination can take me in this series?"

I want so much to do a good job telling the stories that live inside my mind. It makes me super happy to share them with whoever chooses to read them. It'd be like icing on the cake if some of those readers really enjoyed them.

Oh, the pain of writer's block! Sometimes it's not about the words, but more about the circumstances surrounding me. The words are still there, but my spirit is so scattered. There are tons of things I need to do and those aren't getting done, either. I see the nasty patterns and habits which roll around as sure as the tides and still can't avoid them entirely. Lately, I've been feeling like the burned out car stuck in the grass. But I want to be the guy with the backpack, standing on his two legs, looking ahead to his goal, perched on the edge of success. Then I want to be that guy walking - running - toward my goal with dogged determination.

Today I'm determined to accomplish something positive with my writing. I worked on chapter fourteen's revision and it's posted at Wattpad. I'll also be working on some more Nano Prep. I've been doing a bit of world building and I need to start working on the character bios. I have a basic outline started, too, that I'd like to finish soon. The work continues, though it sometimes comes in fits and starts.

How do you defeat the enemies which try to distract you from your purpose? I'd love to hear from you.

Drag.........Drag........Drag.........The days keep going by and I feel like I'm trudging through a thick swamp trying to keep up with the things I want to do. Our internet has been super sluggish lately. I'm not sure if there are just more people working at that time or if it's something else. Whatever the cause, I'm frustrated by my lack of productivity online. And that affects my work output offline. It's taken me almost a week and a half to revise chapter thirteen of Ripples. It's really unacceptable and I've got to figure out a way to get around this sort of blockage. I'll do it because I've finally found my purpose.

Where Am I Again?

So for those of you reading through Ripples on Wattpad, chapter thirteen is now posted. (See the link at the bottom of this post.) The song heading this post is my favorite classical piece -- Erik Satie's "Trois Gymnopedies." I really needed to hear it today and it just happened to work well enough with chapter thirteen. So I did the proper thing. I shared it with the writing on Wattpad. I'm now working on chapter fourteen. 

Do You Nano?

And then there's Nanowrimo 2017. Are any of you participating this year? I had so much fun with it last year. I hope to be even more productive this time. I announced my new novel today and I'm really looking forward to putting words together for the scenes I've been jotting down over the last few months.

On To the More Serious Stuff...

Does anyone find that book quality is perhaps falling a bit short of the mark? Even in books published through traditional modes, I find it a little more difficult to get hold of a well-written book filled with words of quality. I don't know if my books will make that cut without help but that's my goal. I want to create something that conveys my thoughts and feelings in a manner that appeals to readers. But I also want to create a work that has deeper meaning, something where treasures frequently hide between the lines for those brave enough to look.

Sherrilyn Kenyon is one of my favorite modern authors. I know I'm not alone. One reason because of the depth of feeling she's able to convey in her writing. She writes about loyalty in loving relationships and takes love seriously. She writes about characters who are believable, who have gifts and talents as well as faults and weaknesses. I think it's amazing how she weaves daily life into the books so well that I can imagine what it must be like to live in that particular setting.  I'm not there yet. Not anywhere near! But this is a goal I can shoot for.

Another favorite modern author is Francine Rivers. The way she weaves her faith into a story without being "preachy" or overly idealistic is pretty awesome. The first time I read "The Last Sin Eater", I cried my way through it. Such a depth of feeling is far beyond my talent to convey...as yet. But I'm shooting for that kind of writing, too.

I still have so much to learn as I sail on this ship called "Author." I'm looking forward to the lessons -- be they fun, terrifying, hard, or painful. One thing I do know is that forward is the only way to go.