Where the Wild Pony Takes Me

Lookee a new blog layout! I was in the mood for color, so here we are. Also, my nails are green with multi colored sparkles, way too young for a woman my age. If I get a job interview I will change them to a discreet pinkish tan.



To my surprise, Her Cyborg Awakes has been selling. It went live with the $2.99 price last Wednesday. Since then it has made enough to cover my mortgage. Not that it has to--hubby and I both have day jobs, all is well. But it does surprise me. After 6k free downloads (actually more than that if I count UK) I didn't expect actual sales. It also has five reviews, which I have found hard to get for my other books.


Alien Blood, book two of this series--Diaspora Worlds--is in edits. I decided to self publish it also, so have lined up a cover and editor. I plan to release it on July 6th, before the Kindle world forgets who I am. Two other books in the series have plans and beginning chapters roughed out. And two additional books have initial scenes written.

So I'll go with it.

STILL Editing

I did think I would have Urloon ready for submission by now but no! Seems like I've been on this project foreveah. And now I am re-editing Galacatic Game so both are in the same world. It is pleasant writing, because I love both stories and characters. And after the Cybot Awakened issue it is good to have a workable goal for future submissions, since it looks like that publisher is never going to release the book. 

(* Please look up your prospective epubs on *Preditors and Editors* and *Piers Anthony!* And email current authors for their recommendations!*)

The secondary male character in GG, Dooley, is in the batter's box because his romance starts in GG--but he loses her to a cyborg army. Oops.

Every once in a while though I have to take a break from editing and revising to write on a new story. Or pick up an old story out of my files that jumps into my brain. The story right now that is clamoring for attention is a light fantasy romance set in the same world as Faunication.  I know some of my ideas are waaaay out there and suspect this is one of them. Adler, a Griffin-taur(human torso face etc, griffin feet and wings), who is a wizard's apprentice is required to attend the Bridal Faire by his father and find a wife.  He needs to marry out of his 'kind' (long world building issue dealing with fertility) and really had not planned to marry until he reached Master Wizard status, since school keeps him so busy. Calling it Bridal Faire or Faire Reckoning.

I have new music for writing when I need to drown out the family and concentrate--but I can't do that in my quiet bedroom! Firefly soundtrack.

Today is the Day!

My plans for college are up before the review board today. My counselor says there will be no problem.

I spent the afternoon on college plans and am still waiting for more information. My original plan has changed because the Education dept head told me of a better option for me--an outreach(online) course through UW specifically designed for those that have their el ed degree. All grad level, the courses sound far more interesting to me than  Into to this or that courses. Seven classes and a practicum, all going towards both an Early Childhood Endorsement and towards a Master's degree.

I find out more specifics today.

On the writing front, I have three scenes to finish editing on Galactic Game, but they are very rough so may take a bit of work. I have a three day weekend and am hoping to be done with GG and ready to submit, but it really depends on how much work those final scenes need!

I've been told!

I came home from work early since my twins need to be taken to Cheyenne at 4 am. Stuff to do.

I worked on Galactic Game last night. I'm on the last scenes.

I have been in a grumpy mood all afternoon, which really isn't my norml mood. I'm generally pretty cheerful. But not today. It could be the high winds with gusts to sixty mph we are experiencing here in the High Desert. Negative ions etc.

But in the midst of routine chores, Gema, my heroine in Galactic Game, sends me a message. I have one pivotal scene all wrong! Our hero , while hunky and beloved, should be absent in one scene they share. She wants to do it ALONE. So okay. I'm rewriting.

So maybe the bad mood was Gema's. On another plane. Or something

What I'm Reading and Other Stuff

I've been spending time in the Wastelands. I'm not reading them in publishing order and don't think you have to. Dystopian erotic romance with wonderful covers. I will get the other two on my next shopping spree!

Also reading a couple Harlequins:

The intrigue is by a new-to-me author--but I've read lots of Julie Leto and like her.

Road Trip and Mama Brag:

My oldest daughter, who is president of the high school debate team, was chosen to go to Girl's State! I'm proud of her for her hard work.

Yesterday we drove her to Powell, WY. We took the scenic route, because we all love Wyoming scenery. Spring, when everything is still green, is extra special I think. There were lots of antelope-- we had to stop on the highway for a herd to cross. Here are some pictures(from the net, I'm not a photographer!)

Wind River Canyon, Wind River Mountains, and Pronghorn Antelopes.

Powell WY is a small, pretty town not far from Cody. It is about 160 miles from us. The twins and I will drive up early next Saturday to pick her up.

Writing Update

I wrote quite a bit this week, around 4,000 words. That is alot for me, I'm pretty slow! Not all the words were on the same project but mostly I worked on two SFR stories. 

One is Galactic Game, the second in my Sons of the Protectorate series that has gone from a 10k short to a 30k novella. It is almost ready to submit. 

The other is Urloon, which is not part of my Sons series. It is about 3/4 done in a rewrite. It was an 8k short, but I expect it will end in the 30k territory. 

The third is my new idea, a steampunk western space opera. With a shifter widow heroine, her vulnerable child, the lesbian neighbors and their illegal, mostly human pet. And bad guys. Confused yet? I swear, it all makes sense to me!

My Latest Work In Progress

(From my picture file, this story is set on a fantastic water world.) 

I'm not a linear writer. I don't start one story, then write that story through to the end, edit it and submit.

Instead I hop. I'll work on one story, until a snatch of dialog or an issue in another story invades my mind. Then I have to write that, since the invader won't go away until I get it down. I might work on five stories in any given month. And I might write the ending before the middle!

Now, that all changes when I decide it is time to submit. Once I have the full synopsis written, the story begs to be finished.

I'm happy today that I finished a synopsis for a scifi romance. I originally wrote this story as a short short,  a sexy slice of life for two weary war refuges on an exotic planet. A  hopeful life-will-go-on-and-be-great story. 

Later I decided to lengthen it and tell what happens after that sexy slice of life and the challenges they face as new immigrants to a sea world. Not to mention she's pregnant, which complicates everything. The story also has marauders, rebellious youth trying to go back to the sea, an evil cult leader, alien water creatures and second chances.

We've had bad news lately with my lay off and other inconvenient things, so real life has been more of a struggle than usual. I haven't been feeling like my normal cheerful self. I think I need this story. Right now it is titled Refugees on Urloon.

LAID OFF

My last day of work is July 30th. The center I work at is closing, leaving 250 people without jobs in a small town of 50,000. Pretty scary. Alot of people are going to have to relocate, I think, unless another call center moves to town.

My job was to assist associates with processes on our many computer screens and platforms, all specific to that business, so my head is crammed with all kinds of knowledge that will be useless after July 30! I was always excited to learn a new thing,  a better way to do something. I didn't plan to stay there forever, but was getting my teaching certification together in hopes of finding a teaching job in the future, another step up in salary etc. I'm not yet ready to hunt for teacher jobs, need to take some classes to get up to speed.

I do have friends and colleagues in the preschool community and may go back to teaching preschool, which I loved. However, we are losing out health insurance too, so I will have to try and find a job with health insurance. Few preschools or daycares offer health insurance. I'm afraid we won't be able to pay the COBRA price tag and Hubby and I have pre existing health issues, so this is a Big Deal for us. As well as for many many of my work colleagues.

Would I love to stay home and write? Not in abject poverty, I wouldn't. Two incomes  keep us in the struggling middle class, one would be  horrid!

New Author? Need a website? CHEAP?

Many new ebook authors can't or do not want to spend big bucks on a
website.

But still, they want a site. They need a web presence.

There are free websites WITHOUT page adds out there. I have mine at Weebly. I've heard wordpress will redirect a domain name, too.I bought my domain name, melisseaires.com, (website )and then did a redirect so my free website has my domain name.

Being a bit of a control freak, I like being able to do all aspects of the site. I put up html for books and blurbs in a simple way--I create it here in blogger, switch to html and copy it, then paste the html into my website's html template. It is no more difficult than posting html into a yahoo loop post.

I am just using a template weebly offers. I know I could scrap that and find a template to purchase. but I like my site so have no interest in starting afresh.

Alas Babylon, A Montana Childhood and a Quirk

I grew up in Billings, Montana in the sixties, I was in first grade when President Kennedy was assasinated. Back then we had Abomb drills of the duck under the desk variety.

I also had a much older brother who loved scifi. Doug had an extensive collection of paperbacks, which I started reading at a young age since I was  a good reader and a complete bookworm.

In central Montana, near Great Falls, there are tons of nuclear missile silos all pointed at the USSR, which made Montana a first strike target in a nuclear war.

I can still remember several vivid nightmares about ABombs

One of the books I read in fifth or sixth grade was Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, about a family surviving nuclear war in rural Florida. While not a hopeless depressing book, it left a lasting impression. Later, in high school, our theater department put on the play  of this book.

As I got older I was told that nuclear war wouldn't be like that book, instead, few would survive, it was hopeless.

The Cold War is over now, and I'm glad since the threat of a huge nuclear war is over. But countries still have the bombs and someday someone will shoot one off.

So call me crazy. I keep a supply of iodine stocked up. I know how much to apply as a protection from fall out. I still live east of Great Falls/central Montana, in the wind patterns that would bring fall out my way.

We all have our quirks, right? I just sleep better with iodine in the house.

Where Do We Go From Here? My Muse And Cybots

 

This looks like my asteroid but is actually called Hell's Half Acre. It is about 50 miles from my home here in Wyoming.

I have a novella to edit and a contemporary WIP rough draft to work on. It is a frigid day here in Wyoming with a little snow and slick roads, I'm wearing comfy sweats, my pepto pink snuggie is nearby and I have a diet Dr Pepper for for a tasty refreshment.  All set for a productive writing day.




But my muse can only think about Lirielle. She wakes up wedged in a crevice on an asteroid--and she remembers who she is. Was.


She missed the battle, the one where the cybots were supposed to take over a small base. She's been blacked out for nearly two days. And now she is all alone with a power pack ebbing away.


Lucky for her there are cybot carcases, some with working power packs. She can stay alive for awhile.


And finally help comes, she hopes. It's a ship, at least. A little banged up and painted in garish colors. Odd. She shouts for help with an amplifier, in several languages.


The ship responds by shooting a heavy mesh net. Captured. The net's power field shorts out her power, all goes black again. She wakes up on the floor, the net now magnetized and holding her down as the small ship flips and tosses, evading fire...


Where do we go from here?(That was a song in the Buffy Musical, btw) I'm humming it now.


We know THE HERO captured her. We know he was scavenging tech from the battle field. We know he's hot. Hmmm. This does seem to be going somewhere fun.

Changing Gears--the life of a beginning writer.

I had two contracted works, but one publishing house lost the editor I was working with. Around the same time a proposal I sent MONTHS ago and almost forgotten about got back to me--she wants the full. So the project I thought I'd be editing is back in my files. I will send it out again but first I'm going to get the requested full ready.

My other contracted project is making progress, did all the authors pages recently. The cover will be the next big thing!

Hmmm, what else? I changed the look of this blog so it would match up with my website. I learned how to do an Iframe and embedded it! My Website!

I've been reading alot! Sometimes at work we have five or ten minutes between calls (I work the helpline for customer service employees several hours a day). With my Palm Pilot keeping place for me, I'm able to pick up wherever I stopped reading.

Here are some of the books I've read in the past few months. Most I read on my Palm Pilot, but some were hardback from my local library.

Jayne Castle, Scifi/alien romance:



The Del Fantasma Series:

Really hot vampires--I can hardly wait for the next book!

An autobuy author, Karen Templeton. I loved her humorous voice and finely drawn characters.