Do You Have Goals? November 2017

Hosted by Misha and Beth

Some odd, but celebratory news:

Just last night during a random search at Amazon, I discovered that a small press publisher published a novella of mine in August. I didn't know it was out.

Here's the story behind the novella:

It all started with an acting gig for my daughters who were in one of the episodes of a youtube series, and then I was asked to write a novella for one of the episodes, creating my own B plot. (This makes it sound like I live in Hollywood, but I just live on the rainy Washington peninsula. For those non-USA folks, this is the peninsula that sticks out slightly on the left hand side of the US, separated from Canada by the Juan De Fuca.)

I signed a contract just to write the book. 

I conducted research on the series and the B plot, wrote it, received editorial feedback, and made changes to the novella - all in two months. It was a wild run down an unexpected path. I had never written paranormal, or MG, or mystery. I had never taken a script to a novella format, or created a B plot to intermix with someone else's A plot.

 I had my doubts, sure, but I felt pretty good about my writing for it, and I hoped my B plot character, Muriel (a selkie), would add to the overall novella's tension with her quest to find her father interesecting with the MC's quest to discover the secret of a mysterious lady. 

I enjoyed the writing of it, edited it as the publisher asked, and then didn't hear anything. I finished the whole project almost two years ago. In fact, I thought the whole project was just lost, gone down the tubes, and forgotten for all eternity. But, here it is:

Ghost Sniffers: Eight if By Sea

Plot A is based on the script of the youtube series, and Plot B was my own creation. They are woven together in the book.

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Ghost Sniffers, Inc. is a paranormal investigation firm run by nine-year-old Faith Forge, a little girl whose Type 1 Diabetes gave her the ability to sniff out ghosts. But she’s not the only one with a “trade-off power.” In the fictional world of Ghost
Sniffers, Inc., all young people with life-altering medical conditions or disabilities have super powers. United with Forge, these brave investigators solve mysteries that are serious and silly, wacky and witty.

A lighthouse keeper's love might be a selkie, so Forge calls on Maxo, Spark, Skully, Gogo, and Captain Snakes to help. But a shocking turn of events leads to the biggest cliffhanger of the season.

Based on Season 1, Episode 5 of Ghost Sniffers, Inc., the television and web series where the actors’ real-life disabilities become super abilities, Eight If By Sea is a novelization with a twist written by Tyrean Martinson and approved by the show’s creator, Jennifer DiMarco. 

So, I contacted my publisher last night and they sent an immediate response sometime late in the night. Somehow, I missed an announcement two months ago . . . not sure where that is. I searched for it and didn't find it; but in any case, the book is out now. So, I'm celebrating a little late.

Onto Goals

My main November goal - Thanksgiving!

Secondary goal: Exercise and Health

Third goal: NaNoWriMo (with the main and secondary goals always before it) My NaNo name is: Tyreantigger - however, I'm not usually social via NaNo, sorry. :( 

October Finish Line Results:

Words Written: 12,081 (not even half of my goal)

Stories accepted for publication: 1

Stories rejected: 6

Stories on submission (new count today): 18 - Including a new one to IWSG! Many thanks to our beautiful host, Misha, for editing "Of Words and Swords"!

Miles Walked: 36

Miles Biked: 0 Agh. I may get out this weekend.

A NEW Exercise Practice: Brazilian Jujitsu and MMA!!! So far, I love it. 

Our whole family is going two to five days a week.

Book News:

Cling to God in the chaos of life...

Cling to God is a book of devotionals for every day of the year. The aim is to encourage Christians in their faith, to help them think about their beliefs and learn more about God. The devotions are short and inspirational so that people with busy lifestyles will still able to spend time with the Lord each day. 

By Lynda R. Young at WIP

Amazon

(So far, I'm only a bit into the devotional and I love it!!!)

If you need a little music inspiration, listen to "MOVE"

And, I found another video just recently that I really liked. It's about knowing our purpose and how that can make a difference.




Are you on the move? And why?
How can knowing our purpose make our writing more powerful?

BTW, I'll be taking part in the Trick-or-Treats Read Hop on Monday and I'll be co-hosting IWSG next Wednesday.

Kendra Ardnek's 5 Reasons to Write with Pinterest

5 Reasons to Write with Pinterest by Kendra E. Ardnek

Hello!

Several years ago, my mom told me to get an account on a website called “Pinterest” because she said it looked cool. I agreed that it looked cool, but I really didn’t know what to do with it, beyond creating a board for stuff I want in my future house. That is, until I discovered the writing side of Pinterest. Now I’m here to talk about the value of writing with Pinterest.

1.      Character Casting and Setting Simulation. (I like alliteration). We’ll start with the straight up obvious use. Finding that perfect face for your character, or getting the aesthetic of your setting just right. Thanks to Pinterest, I know that I want Eddy Redmayne to play Andrew when Water Princess, Fire Prince is made into a movie and that red leaves instead of green in Colluna will be TOTALLY gorgeous. Basically, Pinterest is the place to go to get visuals for your story.

2.      Writing Prompts and Inspiring Images. So once you’ve dug past the surface use of Pinterest and you’ve given a face to all of your characters and your setting is so real that you could almost go live there, there’s another reason to hang around Pinterest – the prompts. Some people have whole boards devoted to them. Some of them are short, some are long. All are awesome. And while you were looking for the pictures that fit what you already knew of the story, you probably found a whole TON of pictures that just screamed “include me!” and made you want to add twelve new characters and create a world where trees have bubbles for leaves. In fact, I can point to a number of scenes in my newest release that were inspired by specific images that I found on Pinterest.

3.      Connecting With Other Creative People. Pinterest is a form of social media – it’s made for sharing and organizing ideas. You can use Pinterest as a tool to find other writers and explore their story ideas, or you can link Pinterest to your existing social media and your blog and show off your ideas. However, if you don’t want to be public, there is the option of a secret board.

4.      Writing Advice. Pinterest isn’t just a place to collect images, but you can also collect the articles behind the images – articles about opening sentences, how to write a good prophecy, the creation of characters, anything about writing that someone has thought to give advice about. You can find a lot of helpful quotes from famous authors and quotes that will encourage you to keep writing when you feel you can’t.

5.      And finally, Co-writing. I’m co-writing a few books, and I’ve found Pinterest to be an invaluable tool for sharing ideas between me and my fellow writer. We have a place to share our images of the characters, the prompts and quotes we think will fit the mood of the story, and recently Pinterest added a chat feature to group boards that, though I’ve not tried it, I think will be great for co-writing.

Just … one point of caution on Pinterest. Don’t get absorbed and forget to write. 

Book Description: 

Two girls with one face
Two girls with twisted fate
One in purple, one in red
One shall speak the other’s death
Who shall win their final war?
Lady Dragon or Tela Du?

Amber, the Lady Dragon, has been promised a fifty-year reign over Rizkaland and nothing can stop her from claiming it. But when you've lived six thousand years, fifty is such a pitiful number. Only one person can keep her from making this reign permanent - the Tela Du, a girl who shall share Amber's face.

The last thing Petra wants is a magical world interrupting her plans for a normal life, let alone an ultimate battle against the Lady Dragon with only one prophesied survivor. She has her childhood best friend, Reuben, at her side, but she's not sure if he's more of a help or a hindrance right now. Though she'd much prefer to just return home and forget about this whole crazy affair, things change when she discovers that the world has surprising connections to her own family - including her sister who disappeared without a trace two years before. Still, Rizkaland can't possibly expect her to risk her very life, can it?

Author Bio:
Kendra E. Ardnek is a homeschool graduate who picked up a pen at an early age and never put it down. The eldest of four, she makes her home in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her parents, younger siblings, giant herd of giraffes, and honor guard of nutcrackers. 

Blog:

knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com

Official Website:

kendraeardnek.weebly.com

Add to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25873539-lady-dragon-tela-du

Buy the Book:

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JFUF3XE

Paperback: https://www.createspace.com/6354914

Water Princess, Fire Prince will be free for the first five days of the tour (October 19-23).

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Princess-Prince-Rizkaland-Legends-ebook/dp/B00YTQBTDI/

Cherie Reich's 5 Reasons to Write to a Timer

Please welcome Cherie Reich, a guest whose monthly word counts always awe and inspire me. Find out more about her methods here! 

Five Reasons to Write with a Timer

by Cherie Reich

1. Get your BICHOK on.

Making the time to write is sometimes the hardest step in this whole writing business. Using a timer gets you to actually sit down, pull up your document, and focus on writing (i.e. butt in chair, hands on keyboard = BICHOK).

2. The 100m dash.

It takes some time getting used to writing with a timer. Start small, anywhere from 5-15 minutes. These micro-sprints will train your fingers to fly. You’ll be so busy trying to write anything down that you won’t notice that glaring typo in line seven or how you used the same verb three times in paragraph four. These micro-sprints train your mind, though, and in time you will write better faster. And we all can find 5-15 minutes to write, right?

3. Why do you write like you’re running out of time?

Because you are! 525,600 minutes. That’s all we have in a year. We are running out of time every single second. The timer emphasizes this. As the clock is winding down, the word counts grow.

And to be honest, I couldn’t resist adding a Hamilton lyric and a Rent reference.

4. Do you salivate when the bell rings?

Writing by a timer can create a Pavlovian response. Repetition trains your brain and forms a habit. After I read through what I wrote the day before, I press the timer. It may take me a few seconds to start typing, but by training my brain to know its writing time, I actually find myself getting the words down more often than not.

5. Write more now.

Some days you will still be lucky to get any words down, but if you know you have to sit in front of your document for thirty minutes, then you’re bound to write something. It’s amazing how those words add up.

Since July 1, 2015, I’ve been using a timer to time my writing. Writing for a set time every single day has allowed me to clock in 418,778 words in fifteen months, so I must admit using a timer has been an eye-opening experience. It takes dedication and practice, but so does writing in general.

Have you used a timer before when it comes to writing?

Cherie Reich owns more books than she can ever read and thinks up more ideas than she can ever write, but that doesn’t stop this bookworm from trying to complete her goals, even if it means curbing her TV addiction. A library assistant living in Virginia, she writes speculative fiction. For more information about her books, visit smarturl.it/CReichWebsite.

From USA Today, Amazon bestselling, and popular science fiction and fantasy authors comes Ghosts of Fire, a supernatural anthology of ten thrilling tales. Meet paranormal detectives, imprisoned dragons, dark demons, cursed jewels, and handsome prophets. Explore shifting realms trapped in mirrors and a disturbing future where a president aims to rid the world of Otherkind.

Cherie Reich’s story “On Day 168” in Ghosts of Fire was written in twenty-four 12-minute increments last October. You can purchase the anthology at Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Kobo, Nook, and Smashwords.

Annalisa Crawford's 5 Reasons to Write with Music

Please welcome Annalisa Crawford to:

5 Reasons to Write to Music

By Annalisa Crawford

I love music. If I could sing in tune, I’d definitely have been a singer. I did the next best thing and married one.

That’s pretty much all you need to know about my relationship with music.

1. Music sparks ideas. A line, a phrase, a feeling you get when you listen to a chorus—it might not be an immediate effect, you might not even notice at first. But one day, listening to the radio, it’ll hit you, and you’ll be inspired.
2. When Riverdance was popular (it was popular, wasn’t it?) I listened to the CD a lot, and found the beat made me type faster—I could easily keep up with Michael Flatley. Not only that, the ideas flowed faster. Any fast music will do: dance, heavy metal… Riverdance.
3. It can put you in the right zone. I tend to get obsessive when I’m writing, so instead of selecting a different CD (copious mentions of CDs = old school) I just repeat it. Each large project seems to have its own soundtrack, which immediately puts me right back into the story.
4. It’s a fantastic distraction for those days when it’s just not working. Put on your favourite tracks and dance around/do housework/curl up with a blanket and a good book.
5. Having music playing makes me feel like I’m living in a musical—quite a strange boring musical where the hero sits alone, in front of a keyboard, and ignoring everyone around them for an extended period of time.

Annalisa Crawford lives in Cornwall UK, with a good supply of moorland and beaches to keep her inspired. She lives with her husband, two sons, a dog and a cat. Annalisa writes dark contemporary, character-driven stories. She has been winning competitions and publishing short stories in small press journals for many years, and is the author of Cat & The Dreamer, Our Beautiful Child and You. I. Us.

www.annalisacrawford.com

Goodreads // Blog // Amazon Author Page

Note from Tyrean: I highly recommend Annalisa's books. She may not sing, but she has a musical ear for words that shows up on the page. Her writing is beautiful!

#IWSG October 2016

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Hosted by: Alex J. Cavanaugh

and co-hosts.

October Question: When do you know your story is ready?

Okay, IWSG folks, I have to admit this was one scary question for me. It seemed to hit me in all of my insecure spots.

When do I know my story is ready?

Do I know my story is ready?

Do I ever know my story is ready?

Imagine biting fingernails between these questions.

To calm myself, I decided to make a list.

5 Ways I Know My Story is Ready

1. When I get to the end, and I think this is it - this is the end, I have done all I can. I've revised it the best that I can. When it's a short story, it gets three read-throughs after writing. Sometimes, this process takes a few weeks, and sometimes it takes a total of one hour. My best short story written in under 45 minutes and revised in 15 is "Seedling" - published at Brilliant Flash Fiction before I set it for free in e-story format. My second favorite short-short story written and revised in under 15 minutes is "Kissing Boys"  - still up at The Drabble.

2. When my revisions seem to make the story more wooden and boring to read, it is finished. (I can tell which of my chapters in Champion in the Darkness had 7-9 full revisions.) My best writing happens somewhere between the first and third draft.

3. When everyone in my household is sick of hearing about it and my daughters start giving me creative ways to kill off my characters or bring them back to life, it's done. It was supposed that a particular character in the Champion trilogy could be dropped off a cliff or drowned by a sea serpent. Another character was given the options of re-animation via sorcery or being regurgitated by a whale. (I didn't use any of these options.)

4. When I feel satisfied at a gut-level, I'm done. This does not mean that I feel proud, excited or 100% certain of perfection. I never reach that point. I just feel satisfied - as if I've done all I can, even if the story isn't exactly where I wanted it to be when I started.

5. When I realize that I've gone "over the edge" and I'm pushing for an unachievable perfectionist finish, it's time to call it done.

I'm not the writer I want to be yet. 
I don't think that means I'm a bad writer - I'm just not exactly where I want to be yet and I don't think that sending my stories to the fire if they aren't perfect is going to help me.

I look back at the "greats" in literature - Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and others, and I know I've read early works by them that weren't as good as their later works.

My family loves a particular modern author whose first book we all read has a mass of errors in it. We still enjoy that book, and we've read all the rest of that series and the next, enjoying both the stories and the way that the writer has grown in his craft.

Sometimes, I have to say . . . "okay, even if I'm in my 40s, this is still early days yet for me as a writer." Someday, I will write that magnum opus. Today, I will write my small story that satisfies me at a basic gut level. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, I will hone my craft and someday write a story that fills the pages with something glorious. 

How do you know when your story is ready? 
And does "ready" mean "perfect," or just ready?


By the way, Annalisa Crawford, Cherie Reich and Kendra Arnek will be guest posting this month in the 5 Reasons to Write series! Please come by and welcome them later this month!
I'm looking for a few guest posts in that series for November and December - please let me know via e-mail if you are interested: tyreantigger (at) gmail (dot) com