CATCHING UP W/ IT
If you’re new around here, it might be because you recently picked up a copy of MYTHIC: SHADOW OF THE SPARK for free through the Smashwords July Sale! And if you did, thank you very much! Welcome! Let me know who your favorite character is!
Or, perhaps you recently watched my presentation for the AuthorTube Writing Conference 2024. If that’s the case, I apologize for my stream this year. I was a bit nervous and rambled and ran over my time. tsk tsk. I’ll do better next year. Still, you’re here, so thank you!
OR maybe you found my book in a fellow author’s newsletter and were intrigued enough to hop on over! However you got here, I’m glad you came.
My sci-fi fantasy series is called MYTHIC, and its community of readers is small and growing slowly, so I’m still searching for a proper name for it. I was thinking MYTHOLOGISTS because it’s the MYTHIC series, but I don’t know. Doesn’t really roll off the tongue, does it? I tried it for a few weeks, but I’d love your ideas on what to name a community of MYTHIC fans. The story takes place on a planet called NEW GAIA (which everyone in the story just shortens to GAIA) and the man-made moon orbiting it, which they named THE SPARK. So I was looking for a Gaia & The Spark tie-in… But nothing’s really jumping out at me… Then there’s the detective/crime thriller angle, but that’s more of a book one thing, not the series as a whole…
Where was I?
Right, so it’s a small community, but I’m really excited about its potential as I build a members-only area of my website for you guys to enjoy. So stick around for that! I’ve made some real progress with it, but it needs to come with perks for you lovely people, and those perks are taking a bit longer to pull together than I’d hoped. So we’re waiting. But we’ll have those soon enough, and you guys will be the first ones to hear about it.
Writing my outlines and first drafts in the Brandon Sanderson way (breaking the big novel down into three smaller books) has, so far, proven to be the best decision I’ve made for book two of the Mythic series. My goodness, I’ve made some solid progress on these stories.
I’ve completed a detailed outline for each of these three stories and have started writing the first of them. It’s going to be very interesting to write it in this manner. Complete an entire book’s worth of story, involving several POV characters. Then, do that again two more times. Essentially, writing first drafts for three small novels. Then, you edit the chapters all together into one big book for the second draft. A different approach to my process with book one. But I love the challenge, freedom, and stress relief of doing it this way.
I’ve also been setting time aside for reading almost every night, both as an author to keep my creative well full and for my own mental health. Reading is good for the soul.
I only wish I had more time to build the things I want to launch for the community here, but they’ll come in their own time. Right now, I want to focus on writing stories for you guys. Having finished the outlines for my novel, I’ve set it aside to write short stories which I’d long ago promised you. They’re finally coming. I have the outlines open on my second screen right now and when I finish this post I’ll be diving into them.
For those of you who’ve been here a while, you may be aware I’ve been dealing with some stress in my everyday life. Now, I’m not saying all my problems have been solved, but it’s important to celebrate the wins with enthusiasm, not just complain about my woes when they’re front and center.
I hoped to have photos of my new home to share with you all today, but it’s still full of boxes, furniture is strewn about haphazardly, and my office is not yet decorated.
But the joy I feel is indescribable. We’ve been a family of four, squished into a one-bedroom apartment for too long, upgraded to a two-bedroom apartment that was still not big enough, and now, FINALLY, moved into a three-bedroom townhouse that the entire family can feel comfortable in. We can stretch our legs and breathe deeply. It speaks volumes that we have filled a two-story three-bedroom townhouse with stuff we had crammed into a two-bedroom apartment. How we had all this stuff in that tiny box is beyond me.
Now, I have an actual office I can write in. Close the door. Work undisturbed and without disturbing others. This is a game-changer y’all. Big things-a-comin’.