Reading Challege Week 3 -- OOPS!

This year I'm taking part in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge by Mommy Mannegren's blog. She also has a really cool group for the challenge over at Goodreads. The challenge comes with book prompts to help you choose what to read every week. This is super helpful since my only parameter for reading this year was "something I haven't read before" which you would think is a given but I tend to reread old favorites.

The first prompt was, A Book on the Mensa Reading List 9-12 Grade. So, I read Emily Bronte's, Wuthering Heights which for some reason, despite my love of Gothic romance, eluded me thus far. I didn't hate it. It was a less sexy version of a Danielle Steel novel to be honest. Family drama that spans multiple generations with a lot of terrible behavior by practically everyone. The 'dark hero' Heathcliff was absolutely despicable. The heroine(s) were at turns frustratingly passive and incredibly diabolical.

I was quick read which is good because I didn't read the directions for the challenge right and thought that I only had the three days of the first week to read it. You don't. The first week was 1-11.  *screams internally*


The second book prompt was, Literary Fiction. So I read Dante's, The Inferno because I am apparently a glutton for punishment.  I had to read the Cliffs Notes before each canto (chapter) but I got through it.  It was disturbing and eeked me out. Also it was really a vehicle for political commentary and calling out people Dante didn't like so I got a lesson in Italian politics for my troubles.

This brings us to week 3 or actually week 2 for people who can follow instructions. OOPS!


I wanted to go much, much lighter in my choice this week because the first two books were slow going and dense and I really didn't want to get burned out. The whole point of the challenge is to enjoy reading.

So, for my third book the prompt was, Read a Bestseller. 

I was given the book, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, a while ago by a friend and just hadn't been able to get to it. It is the first book in a YA Historical Fantasy and looks like a fun read. I started it last night and was immediately engrossed. The first person, present tense is a bit hard to get used to, but over all it lends a frenetic energy to the narrative thats fitting.

I'm excited to sort of hit cruise and read something only for pleasure. Not that I knock the previous two books. I definitely am better for reading them. But, like I said, I wanted to do this challenge to give myself permission to disappear with a book like I did when I was a kid.

If you'd like to take part in a challenge this year, there's still time! Take a peek at GirlXOXO's blogpost The Master List of Reading Challenges where she's posted links to quite a few.

Until next time... 

Revisiting Old Haunts

When I was younger, maybe high school, I discovered detective novels. Not modern ones. The old-school, hardboiled detective thrillers like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Agatha Christie -- crime fiction fraught with drama. I was immediately addicted.

My book heroes moved from the curious teens of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew storylines to the grizzled detectives, the private eyes with snappy wit, the keenly observant yet horribly vain inspectors. My love for a good chase led me deeper down the suspense rabbit hole to Gothic mysteries where I discovered the deliciously brooding Victoria Holt and Du Maurier.

My husband and I recently started on another reading aloud kick. We previously went through a few of Connelly's books. But this time I was in the mood for something nostalgic. Something that elicited the forlorn notes of a lone jazz trumpet or visions of hot steam rising off a dark street. So, we're reading The Maltese Falcon. My husband has never read it or seen the movie and I'm excited to see how he reacts to the twists and turns.

As a suspense writer myself, I love to see genuine surprise or worry at a turn of events in any story, not just my own books. We're having a blast!  I wonder what other books are worth another read through...and another. What are your favorites that you return to again and again?

Or better yet, what books do everyone love that you just couldn't get into? I'd love to know.

Bullet Journaling for Authors

I love to bullet journal. I find it relaxing and it gets my creative juices flowing when I'm having trouble with my writing. Sometimes just doodling or water coloring can redirect my mind and I can get back on track on my chapters.

Often, I find myself creating cluster brainstorm maps of my books or character interaction. I sketch the cityscapes in my novel or work out the details of weapons with pencil and paper. There's something soothing about the soft scrape of a fountain pen that settles the mind. So the creative aspect of writing has always been tied to my journaling habits.

Recently, however,  I have discovered some really neat ideas for using organization spreads to help keep tabs on tasks common to the writing life.

So, once or twice a week I sit down and write out some things I want to accomplish in say, social media. I brainstorm ideas for graphics to post on Instagram or Facebook and jot down deadlines for newsletters, blog hops, etc. I've incorporated a Writing Expenses page that really helps me see at a glance some of the business aspects of being an author. The possibilities are fun to consider. I'm working on a Word Count Goals page right now and its very motivating.

Bullet journaling has a great community and there are so many ideas on Pinterest, Instagram, and especially Youtube where you can follow amazing tutorials for organization spreads and themes. I really recommend taking a gander at the Bullet Journaling or #BuJo community for yourself. 

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To celebrate my birthday with all of you, two of my suspense novels are on sale all month on Amazon!

Purple Knot is a romantic suspense set in Seattle where private investigator, Reyna Cruz, must work with the man who broke her heart to find her best friend's killer.

Whispers on Shadow Bay is a Gothic mystery set on spooky Noble Island where young caregiver, Rosetta, must seek out the cause of strange happenings and ghostly visions plaguing Shadow Bay Hall.

And as always, you can read all of my books for free on Kindle Unlimited!

More Than a Box of Chocolates

Today I am so excited to host author, Kathleen Neely where she talks about the history and meaning behind Valentines Day...

It’s Valentine’s Day, and romance is in the air. We set aside a special day to celebrate love. It’s a day for flowers, candy, dinner, and gifts. An evening for a Hallmark flick in front of a cozy fire. A month to read a heartwarming romance.

But why? Where did this celebratory day begin? The origin actually had little to do with romance. It dates back to the 3^rd century AD. A Catholic priest, Valentine of Terni, was executed for aiding Christians who were being persecuted. Here’s the link to romance. 

Marriage among Christians was banned by Emperor Claudius II because he felt men were reluctant to leave their wives and families to fight for Rome. Valentine defied that order and married Christian couples. His execution occurred on February 14. Upon his death, the church honored him with Sainthood, and Valentine’s Day was born.

Don’t place all of your focus on romance. There are greater needs than a floral bouquet and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. St. Valentine was martyred because of his love for God and for other Christians.

This is what we should remember.

• See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are. 1 John 3:1
• Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. 1 John 4:7
• We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
• Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:26

I could fill pages with beautiful passages about God’s love. The word love appears 551 times in the NIV Bible. (This varies among versions).

‘Show, don’t tell’ is a common catchphrase for writers as they pen their stories. But we can take that beyond the written page. St. Valentine showed his love for Christians in tangible ways. How can we show love to both Christians and those who don’t yet know Christ? How can we meet their physical, emotional, and relational needs? We don’t need a romantic special someone in our lives to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We have the Author of love in our hearts urging us to go into the world, spreading His love. Let’s answer with the words from Isaiah. “Here am I. Send me.” Isaiah 6:8.

About the Author

Kathleen Neely resides in Greenville, SC with her husband, two cats, and one dog. She is a retired elementary principal, and enjoys time with family, visiting her two grandsons, traveling, and reading.

She is the author of The Street Singer, to be released in February, 2019. Beauty for Ashes and The Least of These will be released in 2019. Kathleen won second place in a short story contest through ACFW-VA for her short story “The Missing Piece” and an honorable mention for her story “The Dance”. Both were published in a Christmas anthology. Her novel, The Least of These, was awarded first place in the 2015 Fresh Voices contest through Almost an Author. She has numerous devotions published through Christian Devotions.

Kathleen continues to speak to students about writing and publication processes. She is a member of Association of Christian Fiction Writers. 

Website – www.KathleenNeely.com 

Facebook – www.facebook.com/kathy.neely.98

Twitter - https://twitter.com/NeelyKneely3628

Check out her new release:

The Street Singer will be available February 22. Learn more about it from her website at www.KathleenNeely.com .

Excerpt from The Street Singer

“I done figured you knew. You wore them questions all over your face. She opened her water bottle and took a long, slow drink. Here’s what you gotta know. There ain’t no more Adaline. I’m Adda, my given name. That’s all I am.”

Trisha nodded but remained unsatisfied. “Can I ask what happened?”

Adda laughed. “Honey, age happened. You too young to understand. The body goes. The voice goes. The energy goes.

“I know, but your records, they sold…maybe millions.”

Adda chuckled at that. “Well, you be givin’ me too much credit, but yeah, they did sell back in the day.” Adda looked at her watch and took a bite of her sandwich. “So, I guess you’re wondering where all my money went.”

Trisha backpedaled. The bluntness made it sound so callous. “That’s none of my business, but...”

“You right there. It ain’t none of your business. But I’ll tell you anyways. My daddy, he was a sharecropper in Mississippi. We young’uns had to help when we got big enough to hold a shovel. I never got me past primary schooling. Them record people knowed it and all them fancy papers I signed didn’t give me much left over.”

Trisha gasped. “That’s terrible.”

Adda looked up from her lunch. “Oh, they treated me good. Real good. Set me up in a fancy place to live, bought me clothes and food. Dressed me for pictures and took me to the studio. But they never let me go places where I’d get to talk and never let me talk in microphones where I went to sing. Didn’t want me having no friends. I knew they feared my poor schooling would show. Them fancy papers I signed didn’t leave me much left over.”

Writing When You're Running Out of Steam

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

One of the hardest things to do as an author is to write when I don't feel like it. It happens more often than you think. Putting my behind in the chair and my hands on the keys despite not really having any idea how to move forward is so important. I believe it is a major skill in writing professionally.  Not quitting just because its hard is something we all struggle with so I thought I'd share a few ways I encourage myself to tough it out. Hopefully these tips can get you through the holidays without pulling your hair out.

Write or Die is an online program designed to get you through writer's block by providing and timer and stimulus as an incentive during word sprints. There are a few modes...alarms if you fall behind your wordcount, flashing lights, or the softer more pleasant reward mode that gives you pictures of puppies for achieving your goal.  That one is my favorite. You can even get an app for your phone or computer.

Do something creative that has a side connection to writing. For instance, I like to bullet journal. So I find doodling while listening to my book's soundtrack or a writing podcast helps me to think about my story in another way. I almost always works.

Last, but not least, I saw this on Twitter during NaNoWriMo. A woman wrapped some fun gifts for herself in nice paper and labeled them with word counts. So at 5K she got a box of chocolates, at 10K she got a new coffee mug, etc.  I am not above this at all. I can totally be bribed and cheaply, too.

Finally, know yourself and when you write best. Optimize your success by choosing times that work best for you.  Are you a night owl like me? Then set time aside and guard it like a dragon with their horde of coins.  Don't slip something else in you 'should' be doing instead. Your writing time is important and for others to treat it that way you need to as well.

Hopefully you will find one or more of these suggestions helpful. If you have any tried and true tricks to get back on track then feel free to share them in the comments.  Until next time...happy writing!

Remembering with Celebration

I lost my mother a few years ago. It wasn't sudden. She'd been sick for a while, but it was devastating nonetheless  and I think of her every day.  So much so that I often avoid even talking about her because of the immediate ache in my throat.

This year, her birthday fell on Dia de los Muertos and I thought that maybe going to the festival with my family would help me to think of her in a different light. Not one of loss or sadness, but with happiness and hope. I hadn't celebrated this way since I was a very young child and visiting my Nana (grandma) in Texas.

The idea came to me because I've been working on a new series and the main character is Mexican like me. She works with her entire family, cousins and all, on a daily basis. So all of the craziness, fighting, eating and celebrating  is very personal to me. It is what I grew up with and what I reach back to for comfort. 

My community is in southern California and so there is a huge Dia de los Muertos festival near me. There are processions with people dressed as Aztec warriors or as the calacas and calaveras (skeletons and skulls) dressed in formal wear, as well as various depictions of death.  All of it done in festive bright colors with flowers and smiles. 

Ofrenda note I left for my mother.

Lost loved ones are depicted as happy, dancing, and having fun. Often we make and eat their favorite meals, listen to their favorite songs, and talk about happy memories with each other as we remember those we lost.

My mother loved dancing cumbias or Columbian dances. So I was determined to get out on the dance floor and dance with my family. We had a blast.
The real emotional part was in the park. Away from the dancing, food, music, and laughter there is a path that leads into a dark park lit by hundreds of candles on tables.

Traditionally people will set out 'ofrendas' or offerings which are photographs, favorite objects, foods, and drink that remind them of those they lost. Some of the tables were amazing with strung lights, handmade tissue flowers, cutout banners, painted sugar skulls or candies, etc.

I do not do an altar or offerings. Its not part of my own family's tradition. But I did leave a note to my mother on the community offering table. I told her that I miss her and that we are all doing well.

This year I think that celebrating my mother's life and thinking about her surrounded by family and laughter was really what I needed. I came away from it all with a smile on my face and great times to remember with my own children.

I want to incorporate more of my family's traditions and customs into my writing.  I hope that it gives others a nudge to explore their own heritage with their family.

I think this will be a new family tradition for us.

WIPjoy Wrap Up - What I Learned

Day 15: Genre of Art That Best Describes Your WIP

As you all know, I took part in #WIPjoy this month. It is a Twitter event that celebrates your Work In Progress and helps authors to connect and encourage one another.

Aside from the social aspect, the part of the fun of the event is that I find most helpful is that it forces me to look at my story from angles I wouldn't necessarily see otherwise.  The amazing Bethany Jennings @simmeringmind  and S.D. Grimm at

@SDGrimmAuthor 

did a flat out awesome job at coming up with the daily prompts.

Some of my favorite ones included other types of art that best describes your story. So for Veridian's main character, tech hunter, Elara Savoya, I used the future noir graphic arts.

Day 29: Fall, food, festivities, and family.

We were also asked to share our writing playlist which was a lot of fun. If you'd like to check it out, its on Spotify here: Veridian Playlist

But it was the more personal questions that really served to help me solidify my main character in my head. 

There was  a question about what my main character's loved about fall.

Or what childhood dreams she had that will never come true...that was a really hard one!

It made me think about her outside of the story...outside of the high stakes drama. What was she like at home?

Day 23: Elara dreamt of the stars.

She loves her family. They drive each other crazy because they work together in the tech recovery game.

I realized they may fight a lot...but they fight best together.

Graphics and playlists aside, I feel like I learned a lot more about my characters and story through this event. 

Overall I feel pretty excited to head into next month's craziness of NaNoWriMo. 

If you are taking part in the race to 50K add me as a buddy. I'm under Raquel Byrnes on the site.

As a reader, do you like to see more than the books? Do songs, art, and other fun stuff get you excited for the story? 

I'm off to plot for #NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck and see you soon!

To 50K and BEYOND!

If you follow me on social media, you know that I have committed to undertaking the National Novel Writing Month challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That was not a typo... fifty THOUSAND words in thirty DAYS.

I've done this before and it was painful and frustrating and exactly what I needed to kickstart myself into writing the trilogy I had been researching for literally months.

#WIPjoy Day 1 - Visual of your Work in Progress

So here we are again and I have spent a lot of time talking about, researching, plotting, and agonizing over my current book.  Its a work in progress (WIP)  in that I have been working on it...just not writing it. That is something I hope to remedy with #NaNoWriMo this year.

I did an entire month of #WIPjoy which I love because it makes you think about and explain aspects of your characters and novel you may not have delved into otherwise. I find the quarterly Twitter event quite helpful and encourage you to take part in the winter. Its great fun and you meet a lot of other authors which is always a good thing.

I'm working on a scifi mystery. It takes place in the near future where Elara Savoya, a tech hunter is dragged into a high stakes international plot that will put the space race and ultimately man's place among the stars in jeopardy. So yes...I'm raring to go on this one.

One of the intimidating things about #NaNoWriMo is that it takes place during the holiday season. For those who take part in NaNoWriMo and who also live in the United States, that means Thanksgiving. A huge family dinner with tons of prep and cleanup and time spent socializing. Great for the soul...not so great for the word count.

As a fix, Christen E Krumm has proposed a BACKWARDS NaNoWriMo. This involves frontloading your wordcount per day so that as you start to inch towards the holidays, your required words per day to stay on target goes down.  

This method has you go gangbusters while you're still all excited and hyped up on Halloween candy and gives you a break as you head towards Christmas decorating, shopping, partying, etc.  Here's a helpful writing plan from Christen's site.

Backwards NaNoWriMo Plan

I think I'm going to give this a try. Anything to get my first draft done before the new year. I'm hoping to hit a few conferences and I'd love to have a working draft to pitch or talk to editors about. 

What about you? 

Are you thinking of doing #NaNoWriMo this year?  If so...add me on your buddy list (Raquel Byrnes) and I'll do the same. Just leave your user name in the comments.  Happy writing!

Ripping Apart Your Own Work

Two weeks ago I finally finished the first draft of my outline for Veridian. This week I am trying to stitch it back together. This always happens. I finally get the outline done and then I talk it through with my husband who is my sounding board.  He inevitably asks questions that lead to more questions that lead to a meltdown because my plot has holes I didn't see before and now everything is ruined! Or something to that effect.

This time I was going over the technology predictions and political map of my scifi thriller and he pointed out some things I could do better...and some things that I could do without. Needless to say I was both excited to make the changes and frustrated to be back at square-one after finally finishing an outline that was truly a struggle to wrangle into completion in the first place. Blerg!

But a fellow author friend of mine who gives me the best encouragement sent me the graphic above. Its great advice that I promised to keep in mind. What I am doing now is just the beginning. I don't know why I forget this EVERY time I start another book.

Maybe its the dreamer in me that wishes to show you with perfect detail the amazing sights I have in mind. Whatever the reason...I will remind myself that first drafts suck as a rule. I can't very well edit something that isn't there.

So as I head into the weekend I plan on getting a ton done on this outline. We'll see!  Hope you all have a wonderful time recuperating from this busy week!

Wax Seals and Penny Dreadfuls: A Writer's Tools

One of the things I love most about the writing life is that I allows me to connect with other people. Some from far, far away whom I might never have met otherwise.  So when I send out signed copies for prizes or what not, I always try to include a special letter to my fellow book lovers.

The one I wrote for the Blackburn series is especially dear to me because it talks about how the heroine, Charlotte, helped me to process memories of some difficult times.  I hope her story inspires you like it did me.

Plus...I get to play with fancy quills and wax seals. Also a major writerly perk.

To keep from going mad with all the deadlines and writing goals, I have resolved to work more reading time into my schedule. I'm currently reading a lovely Penny Dreadful compilation I picked up a while ago. It begins with the estimable Mary Shelly. I haven't read Frankenstein in over a decade.  

It even has The Mummy's Curse by Louisa May Alcott. I've not had the pleasure of reading anything of hers other than Little Women so this should be a treat. I hear it is a creepy little tale involving hapless Egyptologists and ancient curses.

I'm currently working on a near future scifi thriller. So I get to do a lot of research on mega structures and neurotechnology. Not to mention wade through the space elevator arguments. There are apparently wildly differing opinions on the feasibility of such a thing.

It is great fun to imagine what might be. And creating the moody atmosphere of Veridian with all its neon and smooth, cold glass is something of a challenge. Its amazing how much I want to juxtaposition lush fabrics and vivid colors to that sterile world. Working on the wardrobe aesthetic of my main gal, Elara. Beauty, brains, and a bad temper.  I think some blood red lips might do. 

Photos by: m-ban, eden acrchives, and art of soulburn.  

Feature Friday Futures

Today I am over at Erik Klein's blog for a Feature Friday Futures interview! A technology geek and an author, Erik's questions were so much fun to answer. We explored the interesting treasures research for my steampunk thriller, The Tremblers, unearthed. No pun intended!

Take a peek at the interview where we get into military history and Victorian ingenuity. What was surprising to learn about and what everyday item has a cool twist in my steampunk series, The Blackburn Chronicles.

The Dim Zone - How Far Is Too Far?

Today I am featuring a science fiction novel by Chris Turner with a bonus free Booktrack!

The Dim Zone

How far is too far?

Mercenary Yul Vrean is hired by billionaire CEO Mathias of Cybercore to bring back alien samples from a remote planet in the Dim Zone. It’s a region rife with murderous space pirates and slavers, the warlike Zikri and Mentera.

This alien technothriller is full of deadly space battles, extreme action, bio-mechanical fusion, killer aliens, a touch of the bizarre and fantastic… it will certainly intrigue fans of Alien, Predator and The Matrix.

In a race for mechnobot technology, genius Sigmund Hresh has engineered a prototype for what may be the holy grail of AI. The uses of such technology vary from the sinister to the saintly. Yul and his space thugs may be the only link preventing the next galactic war and saving the human colonies from hostile aliens.

The Making of The Dim Zone...

The booktrack audio component was based on many space classics with similar textures to Alien Covenant and Life. I created composite alien effects from mixes of digital samples and animals, using pitch effects and warping. All in all, an eerie backdrop to the alien planet Xeses, and later, the corridors inside the starship Orb of the Zikri hunters.

Enjoy The Dim Zone, the next book in The Timelost series:

Booktrack (free)

Find The Dim Zone on Amazon

Follow the author on Twitter

Fire and Terrible Beauty - Trembler Weather Pt.1

Elena Pleskevich

We don't have weather where I live. The southern California desert where I make my home and write my books has two modes. Hot and much hotter. That's it. I tell you this to explain my fascination with weather and natural phenomenon that is unusual. I try to incorporate the things of this world that I find strange and lovely in my writing.

When I was creating my Gothic mysteries, I used the soggy, gray weather of Noble Island to create isolation, even danger. The storms became antagonists unto themselves and it was great fun.

Now for my new steampunk series, the Blackburn Chronicles, I was able to truly play with all that mother nature had to offer. First with the calamitous quakes that fractured an entire nation to the terrible beauty of ignited gas seams that burn in brilliant colors. They light up the night and sand skimming craft use them to navigate the dark wasteland much like sailors avoided shores with the real thing.

Mount Chimaera, located in Olympos National Park in Turkey, is a flame that has burned for almost 2,000 years. Methane seeps through the vents in the rocks. It is quite stunning and a popular attraction. There are actually quite a few natural  'eternal flames' around the world. Here is a list of just a few of them.

I based the constantly burning seams of the Tremblers wasteland on these eternal fires. Beautiful, unpredictable, and deadly these flames from the center of a fractured world evokes a sense of ominous fascination for me. It was the perfect backdrop for an epic race against time and overwhelming forces.

To find out more about The Tremblers and Charlotte's battle to survive this chaotic world, check out my author page.

Next up...Blackened Skies and Ash