News Day

Hey everyone! I know that I usually do News Day on Tuesdays, but I had some Internet issues over the weekend that put me days behind yet again.

But here we are.

For those of you wondering about what I'm talking about, I share news I pick up around the bloggosphere (or that gets sent to me) once a week, usually on Tuesdays. The news I cover can be anything, from celebrations to cover reveals to requests for help. If you have something you think I should share, please feel free to mail me at mishagericke(AT)blogspot(DOT)com. 

News from This Blog:

 

A to Z Challenge

I'll be taking part in the A to Z Challenge, sharing snippets from Endless as I count down to release day on 30 April. 

As such, there won't be a News Day until May, but please send in news snippets ahead of them if you want me to post it then. 

Thursday Feature

For those of you who missed it, I have a regular space open on the blog for other writing bloggers who want to get exposure to my blog's audience, regardless of whether the writer is published or not. If you'd like to book a Thurday, please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com. 

The first available Thursday is 26 May.

Coming Soon: 

The Thing That Turned Me

I'm fortunate enough to be part of this fantastic anthology with some amazing writers. Check out this trailer to see who's participating...

Parallels: Felix was Here

Enter the realm of parallel universes!

What if the government tried to create the perfect utopia? Could a society linked to a supercomputer survive on its own? Do our reflections control secret lives on the other side of the mirror? Can one moment split a person’s world forever?

Exploring the fantastic, ten authors offer incredible visions and captivating tales of diverse reality. Featuring the talents of L. G. Keltner, Crystal Collier, Hart Johnson, Cherie Reich, Sandra Cox, Yolanda Renee, Melanie Schulz, Sylvia Ney, Michael Abayomi, and Tamara Narayan.

Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these ten tales will expand your imagination and twist the tropes of science fiction. Step through the portal and enter another dimension!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Out Now: 

Murder & Obsession by Yolanda Renée

Published by Curiosity Quills Press, Murder & Obsession is the third book in the Detective Quaid Series but also a stand alone mystery.

Flames burn between a hardboiled cop and a gifted artist, but soon extinguish as another man’s obsession ignites into an inferno of desire, driving him to destroy the object of his madness…

As wedding bells echo like the ring of toasting champagne glasses in the ice carved mountains of Anchorage Alaska, detective Steven Quaid rehabs his grandfather’s cabin into a honeymoon cottage for his new bride.

When he returns from a hunting trip, Steven’s faced with five police officers, who “Want to talk.” Plagued by two unsolved murders, the Department is searching for answers.

The conversation comes to a deafening halt as the team finds a bloody crime scene in the bridal suite. "Where's her body?" is a question Steven cannot fathom.

Steven’s jaw clenches and his heart races. Images of Sarah streak through his mind.

The silence breaks as an explosion of accusations vibrate through every fiber of his being.

Steven bolts…

Although running is never the smart thing to do, Steven’s not thinking clearly and his escape into the wilderness of the Brooks Range proves almost fatal.

This Steven Quaid mystery is both personal and heartbreaking.

Read the 1^st Chapter | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Pinterest | Amazon | BUY 

That's my news for today! Who's amped up for the A to Z Challenge? Want to take part in my Thursday Feature? Looking forward to reading any of the books I shared? Got news? 

Be back tomorrow.

Hey everyone!

Yes yes, I know that today is supposed to be News Day, but I was stuck without an internet connection over the weekend, which means I'm behind a ton of stuff I need to do.

So I'll be back tomorrow with the news.

Misha

Update Day: Easter Hunting Edition

It’s the last Friday of the month again, but more than that, today is Good Friday, so I wish everyone who celebrates it a blessed Easter.

But because it’s the last Friday of March, it’s time for my Big Dreams/Huge Goals bloghop’s update day.

For those of you who are new to the blog, Beth Fred and I host a bloghop where a bunch of us set huge/hugely important goals. Then we post updates on the last Friday of every month to let each other know how we’re doing. It’s a great way to be accountable, which is the best motivation imaginable to be proactive about achieving our goals and making our dreams our reality.

You’re welcome to sign up. Just fill in the form with what you would like to achieve.

Okay! First things first, let’s see how I did on last month’s goals.

All in all, March wasn’t a particularly good month for me, which resulted in me having a major freak-out recently. Things are getting better now and I did get some things done, so let’s take a look.

My goals for March:

Writing:

1) 60000 words written or 60 hours edited or some combination of the two.

I managed to write 7000 words and edit for 15hours, although I suspect I’ll be nudging this up a bit more over the next few days until the actual end of the month.

2) Revisions to Wo6C3

Haven’t started it yet, but I plan to over the weekend.

3) Rough edits to ES1

One round down. About a million left to go.

4) Rough draft BvB2

I have added words to this and will probably continue to do so until month end.

5) Finish rewrite to DM1

Done.

6) Prep rewrite for SS1

Haven’t started yet, but I hope I can get it done sometime this weekend.

7) Work on concept for CdW

Haven’t gotten to this.

8) Rough draft for StW

This neither.

9) Edits for The Thing That Turned Me and Ghosts of Fire.

Didn’t get any editing suggestions.

Reading:

Read 6 books

Done.

Read at least a few chapters of Les Trois Mousquetaires.

Didn’t get to it.

Networking and Marketing:

1) Send out e-arcs if not done by end February.

Done.

2) Send out posts and information to everyone involved with the Endless blog tour.

I’ve sent out cover reveal info, but still need to do everything else. I’ll probably graft to get this done before month end.

3) Get back into a regular blogging schedule.

Didn’t do too bad, although the freak out and lack of internet from moving house didn’t help.

4) More involvement in one more social network.

This I feel like I managed.

5) Update Amazon’s Author Profiles.

Not done yet.

6) Plan and create A to Z Challenge posts.

I managed to plan the posts and the first twenty are scheduled. I’ll have the rest scheduled by tomorrow.

Life:

1) Create balance for work/writing/life

Ah. The reason for my freak-out. Work has been trespassing everywhere else and I’m not too thrilled about that. But I am actively working at beating it back into its rightful place.

2) Get back into healthy eating habit.

Sigh. This one fell by the way-side. But I WILL succeed here.

3) Continue with vocal training.

Done.

4) Unpack house.

Done.

5) Find new sporting/exercise activity. (Yes, this one will keep appearing every month until I actually get this done.)

Done. I just haven’t started yet. (My brother and I will be going jogging together, which will be a good bonding thing for us too.)

So overall, I actually didn’t do that bad. Just felt like I was rolling a house-sized stone uphill this month.

Goals for April:

Writing:

1) I signed up for CampNaNoWriMo in April, with the goal set at 60k words. (Those of you who’ve been reading these update posts will realize I have a running theme here.) 60 hours of edits or some combination of the two count as well.

2) Revisions to Wo6C3 (In case I don’t get them done this week, which I might not.)

3) Rough edits to ES1 using critique partner feed-back.

4) Add 10k words to BvB2.

5) Revisions to O1.

6) Start rewriting SS1

7) Prep rewrite for VD

8) Work on CdW concept.

9) Add 5k words to StW.

10) See if I can do more than 60k this month.

Reading:

Since I’ve got some huge goals up on the writing side, I won’t be putting too much of a priority on this, but if I can:

Read 6 books.

Read a few chapters of Les Trois Mousquetaires.

Networking and Marketing

1) Send out any out-standing posts for the Endless blog tour.

2) Visit at least 25 blogs every day for the A to Z Challenge.

3) Regular updates on Social Networks.

4) Update Amazon’s Author Profiles

Life

1) Find and maintain a balance between work/writing/life.

2) Cut out refined carbs.

3) Continue vocal training

4) Go jogging at least once a week.

That’s it for me. Anyone else doing CampNaNoWriMo in April? My username is iceangel if you want to buddy up.

How are you doing on your goals? 

Arranging Furniture in My Head

I've recently been under a lot of stress. In fact, it's gotten to the point where it felt like my whole brain wanted to short-circuit. (Not going to give a whole blow-by-blow again, but if you're wondering what it's like, you can take a good look here.) 

The thing is that I've been having to function under increasing levels of stress for the past two years, and I kind of reached a breaking point over the weekend before last. The funny thing is that I'm actually not as stressed this year as I have been for the past two, but at any rate, I haven't been in a place where I can honestly say that I can truly breathe easier in the past two years. 

And. 

Sigh. 

This is going to be hard to say. 

Anxiety is a real thing, and last Wednesday was that thing raising its head in a way I hadn't experienced in years. 

I think it was a build up of little things that kept growing and growing until one extra little thing made me feel like my whole life was getting wasted and that I'd be trapped watching said wastage taking place forever. 

The good thing about all this was that this particular freak-out meant that I woke up to the need to evaluate my life and see where I can smooth things over in order to maximize the odds of me breathing easier in the near future. 

So. What this means for me is cleaning up house, so to speak. Which mostly centers around me using the three public holidays I have (one on this past Monday and two on Easter) to do a ton of things I've wanted to do that I kept putting aside for other stuff. 

It's not necessarily a nice feeling, because right now, I'm feeling like I'm in dire need of a vacation. So in between, I'm taking plenty of breaks and doing things I enjoy. But overall, the idea is to give myself fewer things to worry about, so I can deal with the big stuff more efficiently later.

I'm also instituting changes to my current life-style. Such as... I'm not going to get fired for not looking at mails after hours. So I'm not. Nor am I going to look at mails before 8 a.m in the morning. Nor at lunch. And if I've done my duties for the day, I'm going to use my available time to write. (Don't worry. I am actually allowed to do that by contract.) 

Which means I'm going to start setting myself some goals for my job in the same way that I set writing goals. I need a way to measure my progress. (Which will also help me not feel like I have nothing to show for my time at the end of my work day.) 

But yeah. That's where I am at the moment. 

How are you doing? Do you also take time to evaluate and adjust? How do you deal with pressure?

News Day

Yes! It's finally back since I've had a few moments in which to go round and find some tidbits to share.

For those of you who are new to my blog, I have a weekly feature where I share news from around the writing bloggosphere. News can be anything from a book deal to a blogfest and everything in between.

If you have a tidbit you'd like for me to share, please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with "News Day" in the subject line.

From This Blog: 

Last Week's Thursday Feature

Lidy Wilks visited on Thursday to tell us a bit about compiling her new poetry anthology Can You Catch My Drift? There's also a competition as part of that post, so check it out. 

Thursday Features

No one booked the next two Thursdays and after that, it's A to Z Challenge, but I'm still taking bookings for May and after that. At the moment, I still have May 5th and May 26th open, so if you'd like to do a guest post on my blog, please let me know. 

PLEASE NOTE that you can post here regardless of your publishing status. I'm literally keeping Thursdays open for members of this blogging community to get a bit of exposure to my audience, so you can book the place just to give people a taste of what your blog is like, if you wanted. But I do not accept submissions from professional copywriters looking to expand their portfolios. 

If you're interested in being part of the Thursday Feature, please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with "Thursday Feature" in the subject line. 

Book Releases

Cloaked in Secrecy
T.F. Walsh
(The Wulfkin Legacy #2)
Published by: Crimson Romance
Publication date: March 14th 2016
Genres: Adult, Paranormal

What better way for a pack of wulfkin shifters to remain in seclusion than to hide in plain sight?

Death has followed Alena Novac’s circus family for years, but when the police arrest her brother for murder, she must rescue him before he transforms behind prison walls. With less than a week to execute her plan, a member from the Varlac family who murdered her mother reappears. Now, Alena has to decide whether to make good on her promise to avenge her mother’s death or risk rescuing her brother.

Enre Ulf has one mission – prevent Alena’s father from claiming his territory and slaughtering his wulfkin pack in Transylvania. Enre may have turned his back on his Varlac heritage, but that doesn’t mean he won’t impersonate one to infiltrate the circus clan and take out their alpha. Knowing that his secrets will lead to his demise, Enre takes the risk in order to save his home. What he never planned on was his wolf claiming Alena as his mate.

Now with the police closing in, and the real Varlac threatening them, Alena and Enre must overcome their pasts to save their packs’ futures.

Cloaked in Secrecy is the book 2 in the Wulfkin Legacy series, but can be read a stand-alone-book.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo / Googleplay

Witch of the Cards
Catherine Stine

Fiera was born a sea witch with no inkling of her power. And now it might be too late.

Witch of the Cards is historical, supernatural romantic suspense set in 1932 on the Jersey shore. Twenty-two year-old Fiera has recently left the Brooklyn orphanage where she was raised, and works in Manhattan as a nanny. She gets a lucky break when her boss pays for her short vacation in Asbury Park. One evening, Fiera and her new friend Dulcie wander down the boardwalk and into Peter Dune’s Tarot & Séance, where they attend a card reading.

Fiera has always had an unsettling ability to know things before they happen and sense people’s hidden agendas. She longs to either find out the origin of her powers or else banish them because as is, they make her feel crazy. When, during the reading, her energies somehow bond with Peter Dune’s and form an undeniable ethereal force, a chain of revelations and dangerous events begin to unspool. For one, Fiera finds out she is a witch from a powerful sea clan, but that someone is out to stop her blossoming power forever. And though she is falling in love with Peter, he also has a secret side. He’s no card reader, but a private detective working to expose mediums. Despite this terrible betrayal, Fiera must make the choice to save Peter from a tragic Morro Cruise boat fire, or let him perish with his fellow investigators. Told in alternating viewpoints, we hear Fiera and Peter each struggle against their deep attraction. Secrets, lies, even murder, lace this dark fantasy.

Available at: Amazon US, Amazon UK, iBooks, Kobo, B&N/Nook, Inktera, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Amazon IN, Amazon DE

Blogfests

A to Z Challenge

I can't imagine that anyone missed this phenomenon after all these months, but I just thought I'd remind you guys that April 1 is almost here. If you still need/want to sign up, click here. 

That's it for today. 

Got any news for me? Want to sign up for my Thursday Feature? Don't forget to mail me. Who's signing up for the A to Z Challenge? 

A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

Hey everyone!

Today, I'm just doing a quick stop to take part in the A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal.

The rules are simple. If you're taking part in the A to Z Challenge, sign up here. 

Then on your blog, do a post to announce the theme you'll be following this year. 

As for my theme... Well. I know usually I post about writing or editing, but this year I'll be up to my neck in pre-release activities. For those of you who are new to my blog, I'm releasing a book on 30 April. 

So. To remain sane and to give people a few glimpses into the book, I thought I'd do this: 

In other words, I'll be sharing A to Z related snippets every day along with a short intro. 

Quick and simple, yes. Which means I'll be able to visit more of you. Which is good, since I'm also part of this: 

Welcome to anyone new who's stopping by! Let me know what you think of the theme! 

Feeling better.

Hey all. Just wanted to make a quick stop to say thanks to everyone who've been commenting on my post from Wednesday.

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate your support and advice.

Right now, I'm busy clawing my way out of the doldrums, which is a good thing, since I have three days this weekend (Monday is a public holiday) where I can get myself well and truly in a good place.

Thanks to you guys' advice, I'm taking a few minutes to try and find a different perspective over everything. Hopefully, doing so will give me a chance to find a solution to my current predicament. But it feels good to feel like I might figure things out.

Anyhow, that's where I am at present. I'll be back on Monday with more of a post.

Have a lovely weekend!

Misha

Lidy Wilks on Writing Can You Catch My Flow?

Hi everyone! Today, I'm welcoming Lidy Wilks to my blog, to talk about her experiences in creating her poetry anthology Can You Catch My Flow? 

Keep reading, though, because toward the bottom of the post, there's a competition with some awesome prizes.

Without further ado, here's Lidy.

Can You Catch My Flow? was born from curiosity.  I wanted to know and reflect on how my poetry writing had changed over the years. I still have my notebooks and a binder filled with all my writing from my college days. English Lit majors doing creative writing didn't have
 to do a thesis or take a test their senior year. Instead we had to collect everything we'd written during the four years. Present it to a board of English professors for review and meet the board as our senior portfolio.  I had a section for poetry and together
 with my notebooks,  I had enough for a collection.

But while assembling the manuscript I learned something. It was no different from writing and reading poetry. At first, I wanted to order the manuscript in the time I wrote them. To better exemplify the change of my writing from past to present. For future reference, that should not be done because a single poem is its own narrative. A poem in a poetry collection is one of many narratives. That both stand alone and link with the other poems in the collection.

It was during this process of ordering my poems for Can You Catch My Flow? that I had a moment of clarity. This manuscript isn’t just about change in style or technique. I discovered that this short collection truly captured moments of time while growing up. It was a bildungsroman poetry collection. And once I realized that, a new world of possibilities opened up. And it was back to the drawing board, reviewing old poems and writing new ones.  Remembering and reconnecting with the angst and fun of being a teenager. Recollecting and reflecting on what it meant to be independent. And thoughts of the future.

About the Author:

Ever since she was young, Lidy Wilks was often found completely submerged in the worlds of Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew. She later went on to earn a Bachelor degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, from Franklin Pierce University. Where she spent the next four years knee deep in fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction workshops.

Lidy is the author of Can You Catch My Flow? a poetry chapbook and is a member of Write by the Rails. She currently resides in Virginia with her husband and two children. And an anime, book and manga library, she’s looking to expand, one day adding an Asian drama DVD collection. Lidy continues her pursuit in writing more poetry collections and fantasy novels. All the while eating milk chocolate and sipping a glass of Cabernet. Or Riesling wine.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Blog

About The Book:

Debut poetry chapbook Can You Catch My Flow? captures the everyday ordinary events of the human condition in poetic snapshots. No matter the walks of life, the reader is sure to find themselves within the lines.

Blurb:

Lidy's poetry reveals an understanding that deep meaning can be felt in the details. Her poetry portrays a range of topics from the pressures to conform to societal expectations, friendship, monarch butterflies, partying, insomnia, and the quest for peace...just to name a few. Enjoy!- Shelah L. Maul

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | eCreate Store

 Competition:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by, Lidy! 

Anyone else write poetry? How do you decide which poems to include in your anthologies?

So when I said that life is getting in my way...

I'm really, really deeply irritated and frustrated at the moment.

I already pointed out in my IWSG post this month that my life is seriously preventing me from getting any writing done. (Also worth noting is that I haven't had a chance to actually write my own blog posts since then.)

And some of you have given me the advice that I should be enjoying my life instead of wasting it worrying about writing.

Which would be a valid point. Except that I was being nice in my IWSG post because I don't like moping.

I still don't, but let's just say that half of March is gone and... well... The life that has been intruding on my writing wasn't good.

As in, I've been under insane work hours basically since January. I've been under pressure for things I largely aren't responsible for, for the better part of two and a quarter years now.

This month alone, I've put up with a whole lot of SHIT from people. I've been spending weekdays working sixteen hour days on things that for the life of me I can't find anything to show for. I've spent the past week mostly either crying or suffering from a migraine as a result of crying. Which sucks because the thing about migraines is that they make me want to cry.

In the meantime, I haven't written a half of what I want to write. I haven't even started any of my marketing activities for my book release (which, you know, is a problem given that that's a bit more than a month away). I haven't really done anything except cope on survival mode for weeks now.

And.
It's.
Pissing.
Me.
Off.

Which, you know, is just an amazing mood to be in when trying to write in the five minutes you have to write. (In cased you missed it, that was oozing with sarcasm.)

I'm tired of seeing the way clearly marked out in front of me, but not being given the chance to even take a single step.

I'm tired of the fact that when people say I should enjoy my life, I can legitimately say that I currently can't because time is being taken up by so much bullshit that I physically can't do the things I enjoy.

I'm tired.

I'm so tired.

And while I understand that my day-job (which is the single largest cause for disruption of my writing time) is supposed to help me keep going long enough to function as a writer (being a starving artist is sooooooo last year, daaaaaahling), it's definitely not conductive to me writing when my 24 hours are split between 12-16 hours of work and 8 hours of sleep almost every week day. And any other time is spent discussing work with my family (because we all work very closely together).

Which again, wouldn't be an issue in the short term (as this situation is supposed to be), if I could only but find something I did in those hours that made me feel like... Oh wow. I did something awesome today. 

No, the last time I felt that way was more than a month ago.

So no. When I say life is getting in my way, I'm not talking about friends staging interventions and taking me out to see a movie. This isn't the normal, average "oh no, I have too much to do" kind of moping (you know, when people are good-naturedly "complaining" because they have an awesome family to spend time with, who insist on them spending time together, or complaining about "I have no time", but spending hour after hour wasting the time they actually had). I mean my life is currently literally dragging me down and knocking me out in a way that I know isn't healthy.

*Takes a niiiiiice deep breath.*

But the good news is that Monday, Friday and Monday are all public holidays, so I'll have a bit more time.

I hope.

Interview with Katya Mills

Hi everyone! Great news. Internet is turned back on at last, which means I'll hopefully be starting blog rounds early next week. Playing a lot of catch-up at the moment, which means I have to prioritize until this weekend. Which in turn means that I won't be posting again until Monday.

In the meantime, I want to welcome Katya Mills to my blog for an interview.

Hi Katya! Welcome to The Five Year Project! Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi and thanks for having me, greetings from Northern California! My name is Katya and I am an American with German, English and French heritage. I am a social worker and self-published author of one novel, two novellas and a short story. I was born in Connecticut in February, 1973 and raised in New England. I first left home for school in Chicago, where I majored in English Literature at Northwestern University. I fell in love with books at an early age. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens was the first epic story I read all the way through. I was about ten years old. That’s about when I decided I wanted to write books. I am an Aquarius and my favorite color is royal blue. I support LGBT and human rights. I work at a non-profit with a team of compassionate caregivers providing support to homeless people suffering from mental illness. I work the nightshift now, which seems to coincide nicely with my writing life. 

Very cool. Tell us a bit more about your books. What are they about?

Girl Without Borders is a novel I wrote while living in Chicago. I consider it my tribute to this great city. The protagonist, a rather aimless young man, becomes the center of an unrequited love triangle. The story follows the guy as he basically gets blindsided by love, and caught in a deadly situation. These are young adults in their twenties, freewheeling with counter-culture attitudes, coming of age on the west side of town.

Grand Theft Life is the first book in my Daughter of Darkness series. This is written in the voice of a strong lead (first person) heroine named Ame. The story takes place in Oakland, where I lived for many years. I like to set my books in cities I know inside and out. Ame is one of a divergent strain of humans, known as Delux. She doesn’t realize she is extraordinary until she is fully grown and her people abduct her and take her to Oakland, where she learns how to channel human fear, for survival. She discovers she can read minds and such. She falls in with an interesting group of characters, including Freddy, the man who abducted her. There is an anti-hero vibe about these ones, and Ame is trying to sort it all out.

Maze is the second book of the series. The title refers to Ame’s boyfriend, a punk skateboarder with an ice cream sandwich habit. He has mixed blood (hybrid human) but it doesn’t deter him from a merciless way he hunts humans for their fear. Ame hunts with him, but she is conflicted by the violence. She was raised by humans, actually, so she has a soft heart for them. There is a way to extract human fear without killing, however, and the results are unpredictable. Ame’s best friend Bless is crushing on her, and tries to pull her away from Maze. This book introduces Kell, the little sister, who is struggling with an addiction to Oxycontin. And an orphan boy with a gap in his teeth who likes to follow Ame around.

Everlee and Lee is a horror story I wrote about a couple of kids who are living in a spooky old Victorian house with their nefarious Aunt Rose. They are visited by the ghost of their mother, who provides clues toward unraveling a dark and disturbing history. The kids learn to communicate telepathically so to hide their thoughts from Aunt Rose, as they figure a way out. This story is published alongside my books on Amazon.com.


Ame and the Tangy Energetic is the third book in my series, and my WIP. I hope to publish it in late Spring or Summer 2016.

Your stories sound interesting. What comes to you first? The plot or the characters?

Thank you. Characters come first! I typically work without an outline, a very open-ended plot and a situation / circumstance / tension that needs to be worked out.

Sounds a lot like my process. How do you approach editing? 

I try and get the first draft all out without looking back, but sometimes I can't resist a little peek. Then I move the doc to Scrivener and read it through, make some notes and begin editing. I imagine a puzzle and usually find myself relocating paragraphs and passages several times to form any chapter. It can get pretty chaotic! But somehow my mind knows where to put stuff. Cutting is hard so I typically take my cuts and place them at the end of each chapter so I can reconsider later. This makes cutting easier. I try and keep a flexible attitude and playful. And say to myself 'simple story simple story' over and over again. Betas will be involved after the second draft. But there may be several drafts within the draft... I usually know when a chapter feels like it expresses the story the way I like. I also like to read my work aloud to hear how it sounds word for word.

What is the best piece of advice you can give new writers?

Writing a book can be thrilling and a whole lotta fun. Sometimes it's hard to get to that place. The page is always blank for you. It's the only way. If the mind comes in preoccupied, you may not get the immersion. I believe in mindfulness to bring a quiet mind to the process. Slow it down to one word at a time, one sentence, one paragraph, one passage... give it room to breathe and make sense of itself.

Good advice. Where can people find you and your books?

Here are the links. I have author profiles on Goodreads and Amazon.

My website is Katya Mills and I frequent the GPLUS community.

Thanks for stopping by, Katya! 

Anyone else use Scrivener to edit? What is your favorite program to use when editing? See you all on Monday! (Although I might try and sneak in a few visits before then.) 

Insecure Writer's Support Group: AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrghh!

Internet is still down, but I have a quiet moment at work, so the race against time to finish this post is on.

For those of you who are very VERY new to the writing bloggosphere, the Insecure Writer's Support Group gets together on the first Wednesday of every month to share our doubts, fears, insecurities and encouragement with each other. For more detail and to sign up, click here.

Time is still the biggest cause for insecurity for me. I have so much to do, and yes, I know that I gave myself a ton of this stuff in the first place. But the fact that it's a lot of stuff doesn't mean that I didn't have a reason to put so much on my plate in the first place. 

In fact, the opposite is true. My five year project (see the goal statement at the top of this blog) will be half-way through in June. Which means that the most important phase, where I should be most productive when it comes to setting up my career, is right now. 

Simply put, I can't afford to let up or pull back. But my life is consistently eating into my productive time, which means that I have less time than before in which I need to get more done. 

I have no idea about how I'm going to do that. 

So I'm going to do the only thing I can, and that's to keep checking off everything I can do in my available time and see how far that gets me for the next few months. 

How are you doing? 

Still Not Back

Hi everyone!

So sorry! I was supposed to be back online by now, but there were some timing issues between us, our landlord and our internet service provider that meant that I am still stuck without internet.

Hopefully this will be sorted out soon, but in the meantime, M Pepper Langlinais is interviewing me today.

Have a great day!

Misha