Yesterday was a lovely time to set up on my back deck to try to complete part one of “Goddess’ Crusade.” However, about 1000 words in, I was starting to lose track of where Faustina’s legions were. Not good. I printed a map of the area and fetched some highlighters and markers. Much better!
Below the fold, does anyone recognize the template I used for this battle? Hint: 48 BC.
Looking forward to completion today. Already seeing a little of part two. It’s… weird.
Again, I’m no longer posting everything, but I do want to show that I am returning to the human-Machine interchange. Their interests and goals are very, very different and – I think – it will all segue into part two of “Goddess’ Crusade” with what might be happening to Faustina. Don’t know; not even after three Manhattans.
There was military planning before this excerpt and after it. I think chapter 8 will be the big battle. I’ve been known to suddenly be distracted by something before and I refuse to rule it out this time. All in all, I’d like to see it over and what comes next.
Continue reading ““That’s how deals are made””For medical reasons, I’m going to be hopped on prednisone for two weeks. If I’m going to gain 200#, God please let me write 50k words! The leading edge of this is below.
Under the new way I’m posting, and I realize now it will not be until January until I get around to completely revamping this webpage (a sales/marketing splash will be the front; this blog will be moved under “Categories”) but this excerpt is something I’ve pointed out to online and RealLife readers: I can only write what they show me. Five days ago I jotted down Fussy and the last three cohorts of Legio V making their way south. Then nothing. Everything here for you I did this afternoon. And now I’m blank again.
What a lovely hobby I have! And next post is a contest to win free hardcopies of my books! Follow and see!
Continue reading “Learning much; knowing nothing”Something I am choosing to do in “Goddess Crusade” is play up the soft-SF tech associated with the Machines. There was very little of that in the second of the trilogy and, given where this might be headed, I need to get readers reacquainted with those ideas. The ‘final boss,’ as it were, of this trilogy is Alexandra Hood, some years Faustina’s senior and also demi-human… but in a manner I do not yet grasp.
Below the fold is their first face-to-face meeting. Sorta. Faustina is disappointed.
Continue reading “Crystalline”Work on “Goddess Crusade” is coming along very well. Over the three-day holiday in the US I was able to average 2500 per day. One issue was the little engagement below the fold. I still don’t do combat scenes very well and wanted to try something small before getting into a huge battle in another hundred pages.
I’m actually about 40 pages past where this happens but realized I had not tossed anything out in a while. Bad me. As I’ve hit another temporary stopping point, I thought taking a break on WordPress was in order. I’ll drink a little more and see what trouble I can get Faustina in later this afternoon. Cheers!
PS WP is using a new editor and I have not taken the time to fully understand it. Apologies if this post is chewed.
Continue reading “Fighting it out”As most regular readers know, I tend to post content and updates on projects here. Occasionally if something in the RealWorld mirrors one of my stories that’s worth a laugh, I’ll post that, too.
Today is different. I had an old friend and long-time business associate say, in effect, “you spend all your time writing and precious little promoting. You should get an agent!”
I have heard and thought this before, but because I had and have no idea what to do, did nothing and just went back to writing. For some reason, this particular admonition has tasked me. So, for once, I’m going to ask of all of you:
How in the world do I find and – is hire even the correct word? – hire, contract, a literary agent. By the end of this year I’ll have a dozen books and one audiobook, so you’d think that would be worth something to somebody, right? Where do I even look? What is even the first step?
Thanks in advance… back to writing, now.
Here’s the last of the prototype chapters. I am much older about peaks (Nichole’s sharp voice, here and there), valleys (Mackenzie’s, everywhere), and RMS (the relationship between those levels). In learning such, I’ve also gotten the volume waaay up from where it was before. Tanjed near burst my eardrums in the headphones…
With this complete, and taking in any constructive criticism y’all might have, I’m going to try making notes and writing some very raw ideas I have about Faustina and her third novel, “Goddess’ Crusade.” It is setting the bar a little high, but I want all three of her books and the complete audiobook of “Friend & Ally” out no later than Christmas. We shall see.
Sorry for the silence; been busy. After my Hey, hey! incident, I tried to work within the new confines of that to find a way to wrap up EC. I found a way out via Faustina’s fast ride from Vicksburg to Birmingham and onto Huntsville. We’ve seen from way back that she is attracted to the 32-year-old mayor of that town, so I decided to have her push her feelings to see what happens. While not completely happy with the end, it is at least an end. I’ll be able to think about it better as a make my editing pass before farming it out to a copyeditor. I’m leaning toward re-using Stephen Zimmer, as he copyedited “Princess’ Crusade” and has knowledge of the characters and plot.
With that being checked, I have spent some money, read, and watched many videos on how to narrate audiobooks. Once my wife gets the basement un-wrecked from her current project, I’ll carve out a space, hang some blankets, and see what I can do. However, if that gets delayed, I will have to at least start notes and plans for the final book of this trilogy, “Goddess’ Crusade.”
Below the fold, rather than the entirety of Part IV of EC, is just a snippet from toward the end, showcasing Faustina and Mayor Robert Wade.
In manga and anime high school rom-coms, there is a trope where the female childhood friend of the male protagonist, after years of keeping her love of him a secret, finally screws up her courage to confess. It is at that moment when the hot-looking, overbearing transfer student bursts into the classroom shouting, “hey, hey!” and all of the quiet friend’s plans are shattered.
On Friday, my family departed for a 10-day vacation at my sister-in-law’s place on a lake in N. Louisiana. Perfect, I thought, I can finally wrap up the MS for “Empress’ Crusade,” pass it onto a copyeditor, then relocate myself into the basement to begin practicing audio recording to make audiobooks! Heck, EC is already 72k words, making it one of my longest, so it is time to stick a fork in it and say it’s done…
“Hey, hey!”
Doing some calculations about moving Faustina’s legions about the Deep South and the goings on around Fort Benning, I saw someone. Another female (of course) but older; hard to tell her exact age as the room was very dark. She had no need for light: her eyes had been torn out some years before. I beheld Alexandra; part Muscogee Indian and also another demi-human (though she’s yet to tell me who modified her) who is halfway between what Faustina is and what Tracy came to be at her ascension. A new character and a huge wild-card at that, in the setting sun of the second book of my Crusade Trilogy… exactly what I need (if I used emojis there would be an eyeroll here).
I’ve spent most of today, Sunday, getting Faustina from Birmingham up to Huntsville. I stopped there for two reasons: she really likes the 32-year-old Mayor of that town and it is her 19th birthday. I don’t think she sleeps with him – she is in the middle of campaign, after all – but I did not want to rush things. Once I have that written down, I’ll have to turn to understand just who and what Alexandra is; there is a definite religious aspect to her, which would turn any assault of Faustina’s army against Fort Benning into a religious war… never a good idea.
The one and only time that Faustina looked into the Void and at what few electronic systems and records there were at Benning, she did not encounter any conscious mind, human or machine. Perhaps Alexandra was asleep then? I’ve no idea. I just hope to resolve this time a timely –
“Hey, hey!”
Taking a few days off turned into too many days off. I made the mistake of knowing – knowing – how I wanted “Empress’ Crusade” to finish. It was well into day four that I realized that so long as I wasn’t listening to my characters, they had no reason to talk to me.
So, I set aside a few days to make notes, look at maps, and keep my mental mouth shut. At DayJob over this past weekend, the film in my mental theater started rolling again. More notes. Off today and tomorrow, I was up early, caffeinated, and typing by 0930. Put down over 3000 words today. Admittedly, it is a little like I think I saw it (the Fort Benning/Atlanta story arc), but Faustina is already off on a huge tangent and we just met her new nephew, Roland. Henge is nursing him but turned him around for a moment to show his silver eyes. Yep: another demi-human.
Things are winding down this afternoon. I’m to-bed early to make another early start tomorrow. Lessons in humility are necessary from time to time.
machciv 