Merry Christmas to all

December 25, 2018December 24, 2018Leave a comment

Worship of the Shepherds, by Bronzio. Public Domain.

AND it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David, To be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child. And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over their flock. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: For, this day, is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying:

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.

Luke 2:1-14

Going wide… it’s not just for waistlines any more

December 18, 2018Leave a comment

Who needs breathing anyway? [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I had The English Lieutenant’s Lady in Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, but now I’m putting my story out on other channels. Kobo, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Overdrive. It’s available all over the place.

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I’m plugging away with my latest manuscript, the one that hit me over the head on November 1st. I’m in the middle of smoothing out the rough draft, and it feels like I’m not making any progress at all. But I’ve noticed that progress is sneaky. One day I’ll look up and notice that I’ve actually gotten through the worst of it.

This is not that day, alas. But one day soon, hopefully, I’ll be through this patch.

Enjoy the ride

December 16, 2018Leave a comment

Note: this is a rather long Note To Self that I wrote. It occurred to me that there might be others out there also going through this, so I figured I might as well publish it.

It seems to me this is the best way to approach this business of making things up and writing them down. You send your stories off into the world, and if you want to remain a reasonably sane human being, you get on with writing the next thing and don’t burden yourself with visions of dollar signs dancing in your head.

Someone bought the book? Terrific. Go on with the next story.

No one bought the book today? Whatever. On with the next story.

So my resolution for today is not to worry whether my books make a splash or bellyflop. On with the next story.

I was going to write a book for Nanowrimo this year. Set up my Nano page with the book’s cover and its title. Then promptly on November 1st, I got hit with a lightning bolt of a new idea. I had to write it. The goal for Nanowrimo is to write 50,000 words of a new novel in a month. I passed that in two weeks. That’s the problem with lightning bolts: they dazzle you so you cannot see any other stories.

Now I’m in the dull part of writing. I’ve got all the scenes down on the page, but I have to put them in order and make sure they flow one to another. This part of the process takes a lot of chocolate. Especially at this time of year, when all I want is to curl up and ignore the fact that it’s dark at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Albert_Bierstadt_-_Winter_landscape