Stranger things have happened in the unlikeliest of places

The Honey and I go and drop her car off at the butt crack of dawn for oil change, etc. I offer to have breakfast with her. This is a rare occasion. I loathe mornings. Catch me at 10.

We go to Black Bear Diner. I have this amazing egg scramble something or other with avocado, spinach, peppers, and onion. Pass the tic-tacs. She always gets the pancakes.

We're checking out, and she has one box of leftovers but wants something from the dessert case. The lovely cashier asks if we'd like a bag. 

WE would. 

Honey says "no" at the same time.

I ask who will be carrying, and she says we'll take a bag. 🤨

That's what I thought.

And I make some remark about carrying the bag whilst the Honey does something.

The cashier looks at me and says she's never heard anyone use the actual word "whilst" in a sentence. 

I don't have time to describe the multiplicity of my oddities, but the Honey chimes in that I'm a writer.

😊

This woman is a reader. A fantasy reader. 🥳

She asks for my name; I give her my card. 

She said, "Are you my girl?" 

And I respond, "I might be."

We grin at each other. 💖

A rolling stone gathers no moss

I did it. Took me two days and found another setting on Canva that I love. But I mocked up a book cover for book one in my mythological retelling series.

Because, of course I did. 

I can either wait, or I can plunge my ass directly into the fire. 

Flames, here I come. 🔥

I should be able to have two books of the series in print before I hit Romancelahoma and the Red Dirt Book Sale.

THIS...makes me happy.

Because I can turn around and take them to Book Me Romance 2026 a couple weeks later.

All the woots!

This series will be a new take on old mythologies with an irascible protagonist finding her own way through the absolute chaos.

I love mayhem.

Sorry, LA.

🤣

It's the time of the season for...

 ...awards programs, graduations, and birthday sleepovers. Ya girl hasn't sat her ass in this chair for a long minute. I've missed it.

But too busy being a Mimi, which is one of my favorite labors of love.

Back to the writing. Woot! 🥳

Left off at a place in book 5 that could go two different ways. Well, similar but different. And this has given me time to think about where I would like to go.

Trajectory is key. And with a series, you like your sequences to line up with the other books. Are there breakout and breakthrough moments? Of course there are. There HAS TO BE. But you need to keep some items in sync.

My protagonist, LA, is irascible. Is she cranky all the time? Again, of course not. I'd yeet her ass to the sky. But I need her to be a bit cranky. It's how she's developed the self-preservation she was denied when she was younger. It's her knee-jerk from fear and change.

But you need balance if you're going to have a blunt bitch with childhood PTSD be the main character. I've surrounded her with a blend of people who accept, understand, and challenge her. Because no one is going to let LA crumble into depression/anxiety/PTSD dust. Not happening. These characters provide growth assistance. Sometimes they offer. Sometimes they push the fuck out of her. Both work, in her situation. 

Lean into the characters. If you've empathy, use it. If you're symmetrical, use it. If you love the fucking chaos...Hey! HEEEEEEEY! *waving*...then use that. Each of these provides potential for great storylines. 

Don't doubt yourself.

You're the first to introduce this literary idea?

YES! 

You're the hundredth to introduce this literary idea? But you have a majorly different spin? 

YES!

A couple of the biggest killers of writing motivation are: comparison, lack of confidence, and questioning if you're writing for yourself or readers.

Don't compare yourself. As has been said: those are their highlight reels compared to your struggles. Unfair.

Lack of confidence. Should I? What if I can't sell it? What if my writing is trash???

Let me be blunt. It's my wheelhouse.

If you want to write, then write. Not writing is akin to trying to stop a bullet wound with a band-aid. Thanks, Taylor! 😘

Who am I writing for?

First and foremost, you're writing for yourself. 

Writing gives me the dopamine I literally cannot scrape from the meds I take. One is supposed to hit my dopamine receptors, I believe.

Oh. Is it?

Because, nice try. I don't even think the med is in the same body, at this point. 🙄

Writing, like all the best shit, is a passion. It comes from the soul. And if you're blessed to share your words with the world? Great! And if you only write the stories because you'd be in a padded room with a nifty jacket that buckles in the back...also great!

You don't need the questions. You need the doing.

Get to doing.

Simba 4/29/11-5/10/25

 

Ah, Canva. It's been a minute.

My mind scattered yesterday morning as I thought about possibly indie publishing my PT series. First thought? 

Book covers.

Because they need to tie-in to one another. Some theme I can use for each. I immediately opened Canva, where I make all my book covers, and started.

😑

Mythological art is extremely monochromatic. Lots of vanilla and black in there. While, in fact, these beings are the liveliest bunch to grace a page in a hot minute. These fuckers make Caligula look like an altar boy. They are EXTREME.

I need bold colors and striking themes. Seems I'll have to do more editing than normal on these.

Because of course I will.

In the throes of...

I struggle with forgetfulness and being easily distracted. On the other side of the coin, I struggle with hyperactivity and impulsivity. 

I can taste the second one.

I told myself I would query the first six months of the year, or so. Then I would take my PT series and indie publish. I finished book 4 yesterday. But now realize, after 75,000 words, I need to split it into books 4 and 5. 

Here's the disconnect I have.

Mythological stories are on the verge of being the next big thing on the market. 

I am writing a series about mythological cultures and their problematic beings.

Why am I having such a problem finding an agent???

I plan on pitching at Romancelahoma 2026. That's in early August. If I do not receive any bites for my work, that's my limit. 

Finishing a book every month in a half already has me at a backlog. I have a four-part paranormal romance series I received the rights back to that I need to polish up and publish the 2nd edition. I have a time travel romance from the same origins. 

I now have FOUR of these mythological retellings under my belt, and I'm starting on book 5 today.

I can't wait any longer than that. By the time August rolls around, I'll have at least five books finished, if not more. 

I can release every three months or so and hopefully fill in some of the rest with previous works or finished works-in-progress.

Need to set aside another day, probably on the weekend to query. 

Exhausting, but potentially lucrative. 

We shall see.

On the look back...

...I am weird. And that's perfectly fine. It's my wheelhouse. But I start to question my quirks when I put Fibonacci in my last book of my Urban Paranormal. Because, guys, it made sense at the time. Still does, to be honest. And, well, *avoids eye contact*, his butterfly pattern. 😶

And I feel froggy about it because I've read plenty of books with extraneous material that made my retina ache. I was looking for psychological thrillers, eBooks, at the two libraries I belong. I started a series by a well-known author. And book 2 is about plantations. In depth. With historical names being bandied about. And reenactments. I struggled, people. I only kept with it since it had a paranormal bent. Honestly? I skipped over a lot of the places I didn't find relevant. I liked the first in the series. Not a fan of the second. 

Do writers feel as though they must add all that depth? Or are they like me and stumble down a rabbit hole, make friends, and find oxygen again with a multitude of wacky ideas???

My most recent research finds me G'ing flash methods of cameras. Flash. Methods. Of. Cameras. 🙄

I've looked up expensive cars and their specs. Insects that glow. Foliage. How long to build a certain structure. Ethnic foods. And so many other things to add a little more reality to the scene(s).

The flash method doesn't even NEED to be a part of the story, but I need to understand how it works. 

To sum up...what I'm telling myself is that I'm panning for gold and only giving you the good parts. None of that silt bullshit.

Don't ask me how many tabs I have on my OneNote Notebook for my fourth book. 🫢