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When we don’t write…

Sometimes, creative life (the imaginary worlds in your head) gets muffled by the real world. And rightly so. 

Earlier this week everyone in my state was awaiting the governor’s decision: whether or not to commute a death sentence.

Why was this even a matter for debate, you may ask.

It wasn’t, actually. Far from debate, the decision was left in the hands of one man. 

Setting aside for the moment that the death penalty is still somehow legal, the combination of drugs used to perform them is not effective. The company that makes the chemical no longer sells it if the purpose is to kill someone with it. So Oklahoma has been making do with a different mix of chemicals, the result being that the last several executions have been ‘botched’ (which is an absurd euphemism for men spending nearly an hour writhing in agony before they eventually died.) 

What could Gov. Stitt possibly have been considering? What pros could he have weighed against all the cons? I cannot think of a one.

So, as a state, we were wondering if our governor would choose to torture a man to death.

It wasn’t until the 11th hour, so to speak, when the governor announced that he would follow the boards decision and not execute Julius Jones (a man who did not have a fair trial for a murder that someone else admitted to doing. So, doubtful he should even be in prison in the first place.) 

That is the absolute bare minimum he could have done, ensured that someone wasn’t tortured to death. Julius Jones still faces a life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

There was cheering in the capitol, the streets, the schools, everyone elated that an elected official chose to do the humane thing. The victory at once momentous (a man keeps his life) and yet so small. Nothing has changed. It can happen again.

Currently rereading: The Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco. 

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Books Writing

Back and Planning!

I arrived home from Spain and almost immediately had major surgery (planned and desired, nothing scary). Now I’m at a point in recovery where I can start getting back to my normal routine, such as it is. 

But I can continue NaNoWriMo in earnest, especially now that I have my planner! I created this  organiser because, frankly, I did not have the patience keep creating my own bullet journal pages every single day; it took up to much time that I could have been spending on writing. So I created this as a bullet journal for the daily artist (or for the days when you’re able to do your work.) It is a place to give your mind direction when you sit down to do your art, track your progress (in words, scenes, stanzas, frames, photos, sketches, or just time spent creatively) and keep a record of what you’ve accomplished.

My designer friend did the cover and the layout, and I must say, I’m quite pleased. She got it exactly the way I asked. I’m quite lucky to have artistic friends and family, because I have absolutely zero talent when it comes to visual arts.

Okay, this update is both untimely and too brief, but I really want to get writing!!!

Later!

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Travel Writing

El fin del Camino

Friday 8 October

Today we walked the final 11 miles to Santiago. I am a dreadful guide, because I said you only need one stamp a day, when you really need two. So they will not get their compostela certificate that proves they did the pilgrimage. They will have nothing to show for their efforts but blisters, bruises, sore muscles, photos and memories.

(Another thing to note: while I get along in Spanish quite comfortably, I have the hardest time speaking to elderly Gallegos— their wispy voices and unfamiliar accents sound more Portuguese to me.)

We couldn’t get into the accommodation we booked, because the ap through with we booked wasn’t sending messages to the host, so we had to improvise. It all worked out in the end. But after sorting out where we would be sleeping for the night, we went to the train station to book tickets for Madrid the following day. Only all the trains were full, but tomorrow and the following day, and my sister needed to be in Madrid to catch her flight. So I checked the bus station. They were no longer open. I was told to come back tomorrow. But checking online, I saw that the bus for the following day was also completely booked (to my immense relief; I do not do well on busses and it would have been a 10-hour trip.. So we ended up flying from Santiago to Madrid. 

October 11

H and I made it to Toledo yesterday, where we will spend the final days of our trip. 

And after an army of shouting/singing girls marched down the street, a kindly pigeon serenaded us to sleep. 

(The view from our room is actually a wall, but if you lean out of the tiny balcony and look down the street, you can see the cathedral.)

Writing on the camino…. Barely happened.  We would arrive at our day’s final destination at 6 or so in the evening, utterly exhausted, and barely had the energy and brain power to eat, let alone write. 

Now I have 4 days here to finish the next in the Relearning Magic series. Toledo seems like a place where locals come on vacation. Really a charming little spot just a 30-minute train from Madrid. Like Cordoba, it is a city of three cultures, where Jewish, Christian, and Muslim culture all played important roles in its history, which is reflected in the architecture. Suits of armour seem to be a very popular decorative element. And I’ve never seen so many shops that sell weapons. If I bothered to learn a bit more about the city/fortress’s embattled  history, no doubt I would discover all sorts of interesting details. And as I pass through the town’s narrow streets, I keep seeing various signs for brujería, or witchy-ness. I saw a storefront with witchy night tours, and that was an element of the town I hadn’t heard of. Apparently as well as the three major abrahamic religions, there is also a history of the occult, magic, and necromancy. Who knew! 

But I’m not here to be a tourist. I’ve come to rest my knee (which decided to give out on the final 10 kilometres, and has been troubling me ever since) and write. So I intend to get a thorough tour of the city’s cafes, but not much else.

Lazy of body and active of mind is the intended programme. Perhaps if I’ve made my word count for the day, I’ll take a night tour of Magic Toledo. 

So, better get to it!

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Travel Uncategorized Writing

Hello, from Madrid

It is Friday! Which means writing for the blog and should be working on EOM… but it is also my last day before beginning the Camino de Santiago. (Which I have actually blogged about before if you care to scroll back far enough.

I wanted to fill this blog with beautiful descriptions of my travels. I used to do that wish so much pleasure. But this time I’ve been working so consistently on fiction that I’ve barely had time to reflect on the amazing things I’ve seen, like Alhambra, Sacromonte, cathedrals of Cordoba and its towers, the old quarter patios… When I travelled alone, I had no one to make my remarks to, so I wrote everything down. But now that I’m travelling with someone, there seems to be much less time for reflection.

Writing is, at its heart, a solitary business.

Whenever and wherever my next trip will be, I think I should like to take it alone. Else, not expect myself to get much writing done.

During our days in Madrid, the highlight would have to be a string quartet of old men who were playing  on Calle de Alcalá. They played so beautifully that I sat there and listened the entire time they played, applauding obnoxiously every time the finished a piece and singing along to both version of Ave Maria they played. It truly made my day (which was looking pretty grim, as our hostel didn’t give us access to a kettle and we were having a dreadful time trying to find one. But! We ended up finding a little water warmer right after they packed up and we started to head back.)

Things I probably shouldn’t love, but still do and won’t apologise for

Pigeons. I love them and I revel when they triumph. They make lovely sounds and people are only disgusted by them because they eat all the rubbish on the ground. Well, that’s OUR FAULT for leaving rubbish everywhere and not leaving them room to find good stuff. Seeing someone who is being mean to birds getting pooed on by one feels like righteous justice. I’m team pigeon all the way. Also team crow. And even, though they are a bit scarier, team seagull.

Seeing people pick their noses in their cars. It feels like a private space, but we can all see you. This tickles me every time. 

When dogs inconvenience their owners by stopping to smell a pole or bench. 

Fountain pens. This merits its own blog post. It’s not bad to like fountain pens, but my love borders on addiction. 

*

What is something you love that is weird but don’t care?

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Travel Uncategorized Writing

Another small moment

Tragic day.

I had been so productive the last 36 hours. Writing every spare minute. The story was flying.

Then, when I went to save it to the cloud, the draft–half of my current work in progress–simply blipped out of existence, disappeared from the flash memory storage right before my eyes. 

Gutted. I’m absolutely gutted. I have to rewrite over 12,000 words. 

After staring at the wall for a quarter of an hour, I remembered that it is Friday. The day I write the blog and EOM. I’m not sure if I will write for EOM today or if I will attempt to redraft everything while it is fresh-ish in my memory.

But for now, I want to get away from the sadness and relate a lovely little thing that happened to me yesterday while visiting the gardens of Alhambra.

I saw a beautiful fountain framed by tall bushes, the sun was at just the right angle. I lined up the shot and just as I took the photo, a couple walked into the frame. T first I was annoyed, and waited from them to move on so I could get my photo. Then, looking at the pictures I had just taken, I realised that the one with the couple in it was so much better. I chased them down and awkwardly told them how I had accidentally taken their photo. I showed it to them and asked if they would like me to send it to them. 

They did. And what started out as just an awkward exchange became a pleasantly awkward exchange. 

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A small moment…

I am in an airport, on my way to Spain for a month—a long delayed graduation celebration for my sister. It was meant to be Morocco and Spain, but alas, Morocco was cut at almost the last minute. I am delighted to see that everyone is wearing a mask. 

But that’s not what I am going to write about today. Instead, I’m going to recount a scene I witnessed, that unaccountably touched me.

I was at a cafe working on the next in the Relearning Magic trilogy. There are not a lot of us here when it opens at 6, but there is me and an older man, also wearing a mask and work clothes. He’s perhaps in his  60s (though I don’t really know, I’m terrible at these things.)

Mary—everyone’s favourite employee because she’s just so genuinely kind (and at also somewhere in her 60s maybe? Older? Who knows) had been out sick for some time—she has blood cancer and reacted very poorly to her booster shot. Mary wasn’t there, but this man asked another employee if she would be in. He had heard from another regular that she had come back to work the day before. The employee said she didn’t know (which is appropriate even if you do know. Don’t tell random men when your coworkers shifts are).  

Anyway, he sat there with his cup of water and his coffee that he looked like he had already finished. Just sitting, not even reading, not on his phone. Then, at 7am, Mary comes in with her smile and all that hair piled on top of her head. 

“Mary how are you doing?”

“I’m good—“ she said, in that automatic way that everyone does, but then she switched into a genuine tone and said, “Oh, yeah, I’m feeling better! Getting better every day.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Mary disappeared into the back. Only then did he throw away his coffee cup and leave. He had been waiting for her. Just to say that little thing. Just to see if she was okay. 

This broke my heart a little and I don’t know why. So small a thing. That he delayed his departure just a bit to see for himself that she was okay. 

Normally I’d hate this kind of behaviour of male customers to female employees, waiting around until she turns up for her shift and the procede to talk her ear off, and then she has to stay an listen because she’s at work and cannot leave. (Anyone who has ever worked at a cafe or bar knows these guys, has been through this.) But he didn’t press. Didn’t say anything inappropriate or too familiar. Just the sort of thing that anyone could say to anyone with whom they had a nodding aquaintence. —How are you? —Doing better. —Glad to hear it.

Inoccuous, and, to Mary, probably normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. A regular asking how they are doing before he leaves.

But since I’d been there since 6, had heard him enquire after her health, obviously worried, and then when the object of his concern appears, he demands nothing of her. Just seeing her, having that short conversation was enough, and he left. Didn’t impose himself on her or her time.

Maybe he does fancy her, or maybe he just cares about her as a fellow human being who in some way, has touched his life. 

It was so small, this little scene that I witnessed. I don’t know why I’m making such a big deal about it. 

I suppose seeing something so wholesome and untainted by ulterior motive pleasantly surprised me. 

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Follow me! On…

Patreon! Instagram! Goodreads! Facebook! Twitter!

Here is a link to my my Creativity Planner. I created it for myself, and am sharing it with the world in the hopes it helps other fellow neurodivergent creatives be more productive.

And here is a link to my series, Relearning Magic! The third, Nature of Magic, is now available!

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Books Writing

New Novella and EOM chapter… coming soon.

I did a thing.

And it is not great. I don’t feel good about it. But that was the whole point. And I’m proud of myself for doing a not great thing.

I published an ebook. The first thing I’ve ever put out into the world that people will have to pay for. 

I’d say it is pretty typical as far as first attempts go, in that it’s mostly rubbish.

As my brother always says, the first step to getting good at something, is being crap at something.

So yay! I’ve taken the first step in self-publishing!

(For those who missed the post from a few weeks ago: I decided to write a novella (a trilogy of novellas, actually) just for my EOM readers. Original fiction that will hopefully be enough like EOM to get and keep their interest, but different—quite different— in that they will be shorter and sweeter. A modern fantasy novella (series) with a guaranteed happy ending. With any luck, this can be a stepping stone from my fan fiction to my original fiction? An experiment to see if this is something I can actually do.)

And as far as experiments go, it wasn’t a total failure. I wanted to see if I could write a novella in 10 days. And I found that I could! It just took another 18 days to get my act together and get it up on Amazon. There is definitely room for improvement–of course in writing–but also in formatting and navigating rigmarole involved in e-publishing. I kept dragging my feet on learning how to put it up. In the end, I put in the minimal effort required because the more frustrated I became, the more I wanted to just forget the whole thing and not bother with it at all. Terrible, I know. So, we’re going with the logic that a bad book is better than no book? That’s probably not true. But, it’s what I need to tell myself in order for me to actually start making a career of writing.

I write this Thursday evening. When you read this, the ebook will be available, and I will be off in the woods, putting a roof on my tiny cabin, far away from the internet or any kind of cell service, so I cannot check the stats and be immediately disappointed that no one has seen it or bought it yet.  

Rather than look at amazon obsessively when I get home from building, I will make some tea, read some poetry, and refuse to open my computer until the weekend when I publish another EOM chapter. Wish me luck in not looking at my KDP account for at least three weeks. (Well that failed. It is not even three pm on the same day and I am on my computer, posting EOM and checking stats and doing other things. Sigh… so weak.)

That being said, if you do read and like it, please review. That would help me out bunches. You can get it here.

(But look at his lovely cover my brother did. Quite possibly the part of the book with which I am most pleased.)

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Novella update. Thoughts on Audiobooks?

First draft of the novella is done and sent to my alpha reader! (Although now that I’ve finished it, I’m convinced it is terrible and needs a lot of work. But I suppose that’s the next step. Try to make it suck less. And repeat until it’s shareable.)

It took I think a total of 10 days to draft, and will probably take another 10 days for the ‘make it suck less’ process. 

I want to attempt, as an experiment, to do it as an audiobook, as well.

Do you like audiobooks? I consume a lot, so I thought it might be worth it. But it could be too much trouble or beyond my abilities. But I do want to know if this is a possibility going forward.

What do you think. Audiobooks, yay or nay? Worth it?

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Writing

What I’m working on (new project!)

What am I working on?

Obviously, I’m working on EOM again. But after I published the latest chapter, I decided to write a novella (a trilogy of novellas, actually) just for my EOM readers. Original fiction that will hopefully be enough like EOM to get and keep their interest, but different—quite different— in that they will be shorter and sweeter. A modern fantasy novella (series) with a guaranteed happy ending. With any luck, this can be a stepping stone from my fan fiction to my original fiction?


I started it Monday, and I’m about halfway through (the first one) and it’s been fun to write so far. It will obviously need editing and redrafting. If all goes well, it could be out (on Amazon) at the end of August/the start of September, depending on how my graphic designer friend gets on with the cover. (And she can’t start until I’ve finished at least the first draft, so, that’s still on me.)

Something about publishing chapter by chapter, or novella at a time, makes it easier. It’s not instant gratification by any means. Still, it allows you to put something out there and feel a sense of accomplishment. Whereas with a novel, you might be working on it for a year with nothing to show (the world) for it, and the longer it takes, the longer you have to fall out of love with it or even grow to hate it.

I have my own ideas for a few novella series, but I wonder, is it a terrible idea to take suggestions? I would like to know what people enjoy reading now, and I want to practice writing in different genres. (However, I lack the self-motivation to just do it without any incentive/accountability.) Something to ponder.

After I post this little ramble to the blog, I’m going to write as much on the new novella as I can. It’s at that stage where the writing of it is a bit addicting (the way EOM used to be). So, I’m eager to get to it. In fact, I shall end the post here.

~K