A dying bumblebee.
The word on the street was that it was stung by a wasp, but I didn’t see it happen.
Bumblebee
Tag: journal
Sometimes…
Saw this at the park.
Just about sums up some days, right?
Thank you for sharing my work!
The Broken View – Something Better Acoustic
Thank you for sharing my work!
10 Years Ago
WordPress has informed me that today is my ten year anniversary.
I distinctly remember something different, but who knows. The whole 2011-12 era was an alternate world.
In June 2011 my husband and I were living in southern California, and hating every minute of it, lol.
I guess some people like cities, but I thought that the cost of living was ridiculously high, I couldn’t open any windows in the apartment because the smell of pot would instantly stink up everything, and there was absolutely nothing to do.
Not kidding on that last one, too. I asked one of the locals in my age group what they did for fun, and they answered, “Drinking at bars.” Wow. So stimulating. I think I’ll pass.
Other than that, everyone was a massive workaholic because the cost of living was so high. The only people we met who did anything remotely interesting were homeless hippies.
I just ain’t a city girl.
Heck, yesterday I took the kids on another mile-long bike ride, and the only person we saw during the whole time was a UPS driver. I waved, and he waved back. That’s how I like it.
Thank you for sharing my work!
Whining
The air conditioner broke. ‘Tis the season of dead appliances, apparently…
And the weather forecast is promising a heat wave for the next few days. This matters because we have to order the part in for repair. Ha ha.
It might be better for me to spend the afternoons out on the patio, where I can turn on the misters to cool down. I have terrible heat tolerance.
Anyway, that’s enough whining for now.
…
Actually, no, it isn’t!
I don’t have any sort of aptitude for marketing. In fact, it’s such a foreign way of thinking for me, that it leaves me so drained and cranky that I end up completely nonfunctional for the rest of the day, then lose all ability to “follow through” afterwards.
I made some queries about how to effectively advertise over the past couple of days, and currently I have e-mails sitting in my inbox that I just don’t have the energy to open. I badly want to retreat to the kitchen to bake something sugary, and forget about the whole subject.
So I’m going to pull back for now. I learned one important lesson about Kindle keywords (use phrases instead of words) that will henceforth be applied to everything I publish, but I’m not going to sacrifice my soul for this. Heck, part of my long term “marketing” strategy was to publish a novel every year, and that ain’t gonna happen if I kill my creative energy.
Not to mention, no one enjoys a cranky mama.
I’ll probably make no-bake cookies to avoid turning on the oven while the air conditioner is broken. Seems prudent.
Anyway, I haven’t finished polishing up Alice and the Warden for official publication yet, and I particularly wanted to fix up the final few chapters where I was *obviously* fatigued when I wrote them.
And I’m working on The Scion Suit MULTIVERSE edition, lol.
I need to stick with what works for me emotionally, since I’m kind of a finicky hyper-sensitive sort that burns out easily. Patience is a virtue, and all that.
Thank you for sharing my work!
Life
Went to a neighbor’s birthday party yesterday, and I’m still feeling drained. So. Many. People. The children loved it though, so it was worth it.
Also, according to the neighborhood news, some creep was driving around trying to talk kids into getting in his car, so fun stuff going on. I know some people called the police about it, but I didn’t catch what happened after that.
Millennial parents get a ton of crap about being “over protective” ‘n stuff, but I’d much rather sit outside supervising my children playing in the yard, then end up being that parent, you know? An ounce of prevention…
Today my husband and I took the kids out on a mile long bike ride, and afterwards we ate mint chocolate chip ice cream with sugar cones. Then I roasted coffee beans on the porch and yelled at the kids to stop putting mud in their splash pad. Good times.
I started crocheting a stuffed dragon. In terms of technique, I find it boring to only work one stitch over and over and over, but those toys are so stinking cute.
I’m nearly finished sewing some pants that I designed for myself. They have wide legs with an asymmetrical hemline that drape beautifully, and I’ll probably have them finished tomorrow. *So excited*
And that’s why I’ll never be normal, lol.
Thank you for sharing my work!
Navigating Fantasy and Sci-Fi: Finding Your Unique Niche
I actually have a hard time knowing how to classify my writing. Oh sure, there’s the big picture ‘fantasy/sci fi’ tag, but I get a little lost in the subgenres.
For example, my concept story “THEM” is my idea for a time traveling romance. Only, it features a nebulous alien invasion versus sorcerers, and the main love interest travels back in time to coach the main character (who was brought forward in time after her original was killed by the aliens) on how to seduce his contemporary counterpart, except she’s a reluctant introvert with social anxiety. All while she’s nannying a 4-year-old prince. Cue gothic overtones.
Maybe I’m just not well read enough, but I haven’t seen any hints of other books that are remotely like that.
Am I my own niche?
Which is one of the reasons why it’s so easy for me to put off that whole “marketing” thing (not to mention, I don’t want to mentally drain myself so I can’t spend time writing every day, ’cause it’s the writing part that I love the most).
I also have a malfunction.
But sometimes I feel lost in the noise. There are a lot of danged writers these days, and sometimes I think it’s harder to convince people to read something for free than it is to get them to buy it. Like, da hek ppl?
Am I going to find more readers by demanding money? Is that what you want out of me?
Anyway
My husband thinks I’m better at writing sci fi than fantasy. It is true that I was exposed to fantasy first, and there is a possibility that I might have stuck with it out of habit, despite the fact that I don’t actually like “sword and sorcery” type stuff all that much; hence why my Order of the Magi all use the internet and conduct their business with electronic tablets. I also prefer to explore human nature, instead of ‘world building’ or any of the typical fantasy tropes, but I also don’t like Star Trek type stories, or “technology is the magic” sorts of things either. I guess that I’ve got a nerdy enough bent to me that I like a solid foundation in reality. I’ve probably just illustrated that I’m actually a very picky reader.
So … the sequel to The Black Magus will very likely have a more sci fi atmosphere instead of fantasy. Heck, I established that magic is mostly just learning how to muck around with reality’s programming code anyway.
The hilarious part is, I have zero intuitive understanding of today’s trendy technology. Smart devices and I don’t get along. At all.
Thank you for sharing my work!
Time Management
I often think to myself that I ought to treat writing more like a part-time job than a hobby, and make some adjustments to our routine so I can write in the mornings when my mind is sharper. The benefit is that I’ll be able to work much faster than I currently do.
I’ve given myself the goal of publishing a new novel every year, which is a perfectly respectable pace all told, and in that regard I think that I’m doing just fine. But I’m also interested in exploring creative writing in different formats, and that’s going to take up more time. A lot more.
Which means that I need to manage my time more efficiently.
Which is a bit of a trick with a 10-month-old crawling all over me. >.<
So, in addition to writing novels, I’ve decided that I want to turn The Scion Suit into a text-based game.
i dunno why im such a nerd.
That means writing a multi-pronged script, and learning basic programming (which has my husband tickled). You’d think that I have enough going on, but writing the script for a video game is one of my bucket-list items, and there’s no time like the present.
We’re probably not going to be spending every weekend at the pool this summer anyway.
Besides, as long as I stick to the adage that “Progress is progress,” even just an hour a week will eventually add up. I’m pretty certain I do everything in 10-20 minute increments.
So I plan on starting off with a “choose your own adventure” format, but I want to get stats worked in as well.
I’m also looking forward to when the New Pokemon Snap comes out at the end of the month, so I’m probably going to have to quit watching movies and youtube. Frank James will just have to continue on without me. XD
Thank you for sharing my work!
Piano
I’ve been practicing the piano every day since we got one last October.
I’m totally hooked.
Heck, I was even tempted to write about Alice learning how to play in AatW, but I couldn’t get it to properly fit — that’s how much I’m loving it.
When I was a kid, I got through level three before quitting lessons, so I’ve been getting myself back up to speed over the past few months. Several days ago, I started practicing level 4 songs (oh ho ho!). They’ve also been getting stuck in my head pretty badly, so playing piano is becoming almost as compulsory as writing.
I’m doing this “mom style,” of course, with either a baby in the carrier, or a toddler on my lap — though occasionally I get to be free to focus on what I’m doing.
I’ve given myself the goal of being able to play every song in the lesson books that I’m following, but since I’m teaching myself, I’m definitely spending a lot more time on the songs I like while giving a cursory nod to those I don’t. I’m also skipping around a fair bit; that’s how I do things.
Thank you for sharing my work!
Scones
I grew up in Utah, so to me, scones were something that you fried in oil and ate with honey butter. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned that scones were something completely different to the rest of the world.
For those who are curious about this “Utah scone” idea, you take some sort of white bread dough (I personally like to use a dinner roll recipe), shape it flat after letting it rise, then fry it in oil until golden (flipping them over to cook both sides). The bigger the better. Like, if you can make them as big as a dinner plate, you’ve mastered the art of Utah scones. Eat with lots of honey butter — and I mean lots. We’re talking sinful levels of indulgence here.
Anyway
The other day it hit me that I can’t remember ever eating a *real* scone. So I pulled out my big book of baking recipes, and found one for chocolate chip orange scones. Basically, any recipe that calls for citrus zest is a winner in my mind, so I went for it.
Not my recipe, so I’m not going to post it. 😛
Just imagine a basic scone with orange zest, orange juice, and chocolate chips added. Then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking. In fact, you can take this recipe, and substitute the last three ingredients for everything I just mentioned, plus 1/3 cup milk.
I just dropped the dough down on the cookie sheet without doing any sort of shaping, ’cause I’m lazy like that. Consequently, my kids are pretty convinced that these are cookies, and nothing is going to change their minds.
And wow, these are so good.
By Autumn Rain 