Book Recommendations, May 2021

 Every once and awhile, I get a Kindle Unlimited subscription. It's ten dollars a month, so I'll get it for one or two months at a time and support as many indie authors as I can.

I read quite a few this month. Here's some that I particularly enjoyed:

Vesta Colony: A realistic scifi adventure with relatable characters. I enjoyed the "talent" abilities.

Lies of the Haven: A portal fantasy (sort of) with fae, magical creatures, and a twisted conspiracy.

Namesake: I especially loved this one! A modern girl goes back in time and has to ensure that her nation will be created.

Dragon School and The Brindle Dragon: By different authors, these two have short books in a long series. Both are about a disabled girl becoming a dragon rider and saving their world.

A Beautiful Curse: I've read several of the Entwined Tales, fairytale retellings with the main characters all siblings, but this was my favorite. It's the Frog Prince, and I loved the banter between Ellie and Prince Cambrun.

Sister To Beauty: In this historical retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the beautiful younger sister is the vain one, while her practical, plain older sister becomes the hero.

The Cowboy and the Girl Next Door: I love Janette Rallison's books, so I had to give this one a try. I loved the ranching details mixed in with the contemporary romance.

Springtime with the DreamRovers

 

Spring is in full force at our house, with baby animals everywhere: puppies, kids, goslings, ducklings, and chicks.  I always wanted a lot of animals as a kid, and I did a lot of research before we purchased our hobby farm in Arizona. Right now, I have a hurt knee and can't go out to see most of the babies or do much farm work, but I have incorporated the information in my writing. One of the points of view in DreamRovers is Norma Filaura, a fifteen-year-old girl who writes in journals. I wrote in journals at that age, and she is very much molded after me at that age, animals and all.

Norma gets the front cover of DreamRovers 2, which is on preorder and comes out June 15th! In this book, she's trying to balance her hopes for the future, represented by her farm animals, and her family's needs in the present. At the same time, Walker is using his wilderness survival skills to keep the family from starvation, while Indra must get help from the foster family she abandoned a decade ago.  The full DreamRovers trilogy is coming out this year. Book 1: Price of Deliverance, was published April 2nd, with books 2 and 3 coming around June and December, respectively. Sneak Peak: April 28, Year of Freedom 490     The coolest thing ever happened today! So, I was walking with Carina, talking about my killed goat, because she’s good at listening, and we were going up this big hill we hadn’t climbed before, and at the bottom of it we saw…   A farm! A whole abandoned farm that somebody left behind. Just the big barn was cool enough, but then we got closer, and there were all these animals in pens around it. That was the cool part, but the sad part was that all the animals had been left alone for a long time—we’ve been here a couple months already, and we don’t know how long before that the farm was abandoned.  So lots of them were dead and the other ones were sick and skinny. My biggest brother Altair thought we ought to shoot them all, or something horrible like that, because they were so sick and nobody had time to take care of them, but I begged Papa and he finally said I could try to rescue some of them. After Walker checked it out, of course. He kept insisting there was something suspicious about it. As if a bunch of animals that need me would attack or something. But anyway, he finally decided it was safe and I got to go in.   Carina and Papa talked about it when they thought I wasn’t listening. Carina said it’ll only make me sad again because most of the animals are going to die. Papa said I’ll probably end up with just one or two new pets. I know that it might happen, but I’m going to do everything I can to stop it!  My brother Leo helped bury the dead ones. That was really nice of him because Papa says I’m supposed to do the work myself. I’m going to, too. But if they want to help, that’s okay with me.  This is one of Norma's first journal entries in DreamRovers: Price of Deliverance.

My Writing Process (2021)

 

My Writing Process

 I've probably written about my writing process before, but it's an ever evolving, ever refining thing. Right now, I'd like to describe the stages that a story goes through before I publish it.

This is the system I use. It works for me, and it's fast--I can publish at least a book a year, start to finish, with my method. But this is a very individual exercise, and everyone works a bit differently. You'll want to adapt what you learn and come up with your own.

Step 1: Daydream. This is where I do my "pantsing". I watch it in my head like a movie, and throw in whatever seems appealing. It's a mess, and that's fine. Most likely, I'll eventually tire of it, and the whole story moves to "the compost of my imagination". Ideas get recycled and reused in different forms. Eventually an actual story emerges, ready for the next step.

Step 2: Outline. I'll make a form with the basic story structure, which I've adapted from KM Weiland's blog. I'll fill in just a couple lines for each major beat. (Key moment, inciting incident, first plot point, first pinch point, etc.)

This is for a book I have yet to write, and it will change a lot before it's finished. That's perfectly fine.

Step 3: Rough draft. I usually do this for NaNoWriMo or in that style. I'll use the outline as a rough guide, so I know where I'm heading next, and then just get all those words out, unedited, unpolished. If I realize that an earlier part needs to change, I'll go up and make a note, right in the document. I may even stop and do some brainstorming (stream-of-conscious typing about the story) or write notes and suggestions to myself.

Step 4: First draft. I take the mess that is the rough draft, look at all the notes I've made, and turn it into something presentable. This is the stage that takes the longest. 

Being me, I'll also make all kinds of spreadsheets to help me keep track of where the story is and what needs to happen next. Here's the one from my DreamRovers series:

Step 5: Get feedback. Some of these steps will be going concurrently. I'll be submitting chapters for beta-readers before I've finished the whole first draft, for instance.  I have three main beta-readers right now, plus at least one stranger to my style/world, if I can find one. Reading out loud might happen anywhere in the process. It's great for catching plot holes as well as mistakes. My kids enjoy being my test audience. Both the beta-readers and my kids act as motivation to get that next chapter done on time.

Step 6: Polishing. This will include making changes that I've found, as well as incorporating advice from the feedback I've received. This will take several drafts.  

Step 7: Proofing. I'll make the cover and do the formatting, then order a copy of a physical proof from amazon. This will allow me to pick out mistakes and make changes that I wouldn't have noticed in another format, like a screen.

Step 8s and beyond: Publish! And market like crazy. But that's another topic... 

If you'd like to check out the finished results, you can find my books at www.thespectrabooks.com

I hope you find something useful here. Enjoy!

Book Recommendations, April 2021

 Here's a few books that I've read, enjoyed, and reviewed this month:

The Rose and the Thorn by Katherine Macdonald
I enjoy fairytale retellings. My favorite aspects from this one was the realistic relationship between the beauty character and her family (even siblings!), and that the main characters have a realistic relationship. Sometimes they're angry with each other, but it's in a healthy way and they still love one another.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Dystopia isn't really my thing, but my daughter brought it home claiming that it's what her classmates are reading, so I gave it a shot. The world and "magic" is interesting. It is a bit darker than my usual taste (thus, dystopia isn't really my thing).

The Land by Mildred D. Taylor
I've read "Roll of Thunder, Here My Cry" in childhood, so I thought I'd try this prequel. It takes place just after slavery ends and is an eye-opening look into the experiences of what real people once went through.

The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
Another dystopia book my daughter brought home. It's published in 2004, so some of the predictions are a bit dated, but it's certainly action packed and asks questions about privacy. It's basically the YA version of the movie GATTACA.

Entity by A. Nation
I've been working with this author for awhile, and her books keep improving. This is a SciFi about a teenaged girl on Mars and an alien creature no one knows how to relate to. 

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Valentine's Day Collection
My mother recommended this cute collection of short stories by well-known proper romance authors. It's a fun read, and the little novellas are the perfect size.
 
Blood Brothers by Craig Halloran
This is an epic fantasy a la Lord of the Rings. This one has the adventure and fantasy, but doesn't have the steep learning curve with tons of new vocabulary that is sometimes an issue in high/epic fantasy.

DreamRover origins

 

DreamRovers started, like most of my books do, as a daydream. It featured two half-sisters who struggled to relate to each other, and people being singled out and persecuted for their abilities to travel through dreams. Obviously the story changed a lot as I wrote it down. Indra and Marenna are now foster sisters, and they gained a lot of family and friends. I combined the daydream with an influence of 'The Work and the Glory', a historical fiction series I absolutely loved as a girl, and then fit the whole thing into the Spectra world setting and magic system.

DreamRovers has been a long time in coming. I wrote the first rough draft for the NaNoWriMo of 2017, at the same time as Mira's Griffin. Like Mira's Griffin, it was supposed to be a standalone novel. I struggled to figure out how to work it into my publishing timeline with all my Keita's Wings series books, and finally decided to break it into thirds and have my beta-readers look at it between Keita's Wings volumes. It didn't take me long to realize that the story worked much better broken up into three volumes and expanded into full length novels. So, it's taken awhile, but here's the result: DreamRovers 1: Price of Deliverance just came out April 2nd! DreamRovers 2: Trail of Decision is on preorder, coming out June 15th! DreamRovers 3: Hearts of Defenders will come out this December.

Book Recommendations, March 2021

 Here's a few books that I've read, enjoyed, and reviewed over the past few weeks:

Cry Wolf: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast by Jacque Stevens
I loved the wolves, and the love interest was absolutely adorable. The villain is truly chilling, and the twist from his point of view was expertly done.

Stormy Weather by Ranaildo Timms
This is a memoir about marine boot camp. It's way outside my usual genre, but I enjoyed this brief foray into someone else's point of view.

The Marked Princess by EP Stavs
An excellent fantasy that starts off an exciting adventure series.

The Jaguar Drum by Fenton Kay
A historical fiction about the Mayan people that gave a fascinating new voice to an ancient people.

The Valentine's Date Mistake by Cassandra Shiels
A cute romance between high school teachers. Since I'm married to a teacher, I enjoyed reading him this one out loud

Facing the Sun by Carol Beth Anderson
An excellent fantasy book. I loved the world-building, especially how it was based on a matriarchal system.

Keita's Rescue

This is the opening of The Spectra United from Brian's point of view.
It's later used as a flashback in The Spectra Undaunted

Brian's aching back rested against a hard wooden floor. Griffin’s body was draped awkwardly across his chest, unnaturally still. Brian wasn’t sure if his brother was awake or not until he heard his mind-voice. Morning. He’ll be here soon.

‘He’ meant Captain Berk, their Lectran captor. Maybe he won’t talk today, Brian answered.

He always talks.

Brian couldn’t argue. The captain came every morning as their paralysis wore off. He’d let them eat and move around for a few minutes, controlling then with electric shocks, before shoving drugs down their throats. Then he’d sit and gloat. The boys were only alive because they were bait. Sooner or later, the princesses would come for them. The captain detailed the treatment the girls would get when they were caught: drugged, helpless, and immobile in the soldiers' power. No wonder Glen had escaped instead of trying to free the brothers. He had to warn the girls away.

Footsteps interrupted the stillness. They were too soft for Berk, who wore boots. Keita, no! Brian sent her. Who else would enter a splintery attic barefoot? The footsteps didn’t falter. Keita, I mean it! It’s a trap. Get out of here!

She can’t hear you, Griffin sent him, and you’re giving me a headache.

A small hand touched his forehead. His body tingled, and Brian tried to force his voice to work. He couldn’t move yet, but her touch was negating the drugs. Any minute now. Any minute...

A crash broke the stillness. The hand withdrew. “Nice try, Princess,” Captain Berk’s voice said.

Brian forced his eyes open but saw nothing but the dusty rafters—his neck wouldn’t move. The vibrations in the floor beneath him told him she was fighting back. What was she doing?

“Not much of a fighter, are you?” Captain Berk taunted.

Something popped. Keita cried out. Brian thrashed and finally, finally, his body responded. He climbed to his feet. Keita was lying against a broken wall, unmoving. Captain Berk moved toward her, unhurried, confident with every footfall. Brian lunged. Captain Berk was caught off guard. Instinctively he ducked Brian’s charge, but the motion drew him near the hole in the wall. Brian’s shoulder caught the man’s chest. He staggered backward, lost his footing, and fell. They were higher up than Brian realized, for the man’s scream took a long time to cut off.

Keita’s hands twitched. She wasn’t drugged—probably paralyzed by Berk’s lightning. Brian ran to her. Her bright green eyes fixed on his face. He read her emotions: awkward and embarrassed at the situation, but beneath that, quiet confidence. Whatever she was doing, coming alone into their prison, she had a plan and she knew what she was doing. Brian let himself relax. He could trust her plan too.