Scatter-brained

Is it allergies, insomnia or something else all together?

This year as allergy season hit me, I am in the best shape I have been for years, and still I can't seem to get ahead of the occasional bout of brain-fog. Last year I forced myself to push through it and keep writing. That was a big mistake.

Most of what I wrote had to be thrown out or heavily rewritten. When I don't feel well, I default to feeding my characters and sending them to bed. And that doesn't make for a very interesting story.

So this year I am trying to be more careful. When I find myself dreading my allotted writing time, I'm trying to change it up. I do some yard work, plotting, marketing, or if it's really bad - read a book.

Reading is a type of research. When I finish a book, I reflect on how I liked the story and what I might do differently. If there are glaring errors, it helps me find them in my own work. And of course, it's fun and relaxing.

I built lots of oops-time into my schedule this year. That was a lesson I learned the hard way. Missing my personal deadlines stresses me out. So I added a little padding here and there and it's paying off. I'm less stressed and more on target.

And now it's time to get back to it.

High Barrens in Print

The print version has been approved and should be in the stores in a week or so. I had to mess around with the color maps because the book is in black and white. The first version was a dark blur. I sell so few paperbacks that I was going to leave it with a note to visit my website. But that's just the lazy me speaking.

There's so many different parts to getting a book published that sometime I really want to skip a thing or two. Then after a good night's sleep, I realize I need to put out my best product. So I tick all the boxes and cross all my 't's. Give a great, gusty sigh and send it on its way.

It's selling slowly but surely. There aren't any reviews on Amazon as yet, but I did see a 5 star over on Goodreads! Yay.

I'm in a New Anthology

Blank Tapes is a collection of 17 odd, dark or quirky short stories that don't quite fit in anywhere. It is available for preorder now - click here - only $2.99.  It will be released on April 9th.

In other news...

High Barrens, the print version, has been held up while I mess around with the maps. They came out as small smudgy squares in the front of the book, so I've obviously done something wrong. 

The 3rd book in the Asher Blaine series is coming along. I was a bit baffled as to why the murder occurred, but luckily I've figured that out.

And speaking of that, time to get back to writing.