Success only flourishes in perseverance -- ceaseless, restless perseverance.
--Baron Manfred Von Richtofen

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Dark Dancer Release!

Congratulations to my friend and one of my favorite authors, Jaleta Clegg on the release of her magical steampunk fantasy, Dark Dancer. I can't wait to read it!

Here's an excerpt:


Katie held her arms out, twirling inside the ring of mushrooms like a small child. She laughed, lifting her face to the sun. Lavender mist crept around her feet, rising in the center. Flowers dropped to the grass under her bare feet. The mist swirled and spun with each step of her dance. A round window formed in the center, hanging in the air. Katie danced closer.
 

"Don't touch it!" Vague images of a dancing rabbits and a man with pointed ears teased Sabrina's memories. Cold sweat trickled down her spine.
 

Katie brushed the edges of the window, her dance growing more frenzied. The air reeked of ozone and lay heavy as if a thunderstorm brewed in the clear skies. Power crackled through the lavender mist.
 

Katie stretched into the window. Her scream shattered the peace of the quiet meadow. She fragmented like stained glass shattering. Wind blasted across the flowers, tossing the shards of Katie through the window. 

The mist dissipated, thin tendrils falling back to the grasses inside the mushrooms.
 

Sabrina stared in shock. Voices echoed in her head, whispers of warning from her mother, from a strange older man with slanted green eyes and gray-streaked hair. She shook herself free of the memories.
 

"Katie?" She crossed the meadow, breaking into a loping run.
 

She stopped at the edge of the mushrooms. She remembered her mother crushing the mushrooms under her foot. Strange words echoed in her mind, a language she'd never spoken. She watched a last streamer of lavender mist fade into the fairy circle.
 

She sank to her knees. She had to get help, but what would she say? My cousin vanished inside a fairy ring. What would Aunt Dianna say? She couldn't go home, not without Katie. She gathered Katie's sneakers in her arms, rocking back and forth.
 

She had to get Katie back.

Dark Dancer is now available in ebook and print!
Smashwords (all ebook formats)
Kindle 

A strange prophecy haunts the Seligh lords, rulers of the Fey and controllers of all magic in the Summerlands, a prophecy that foretells their fall.


A banished Seligh lord rules the Winterlands with an iron fist while his pets, the balmorae, patrol the borders against all intruders, guarding the secrets hidden beneath his icy lair.



A young woman rediscovers her heritage, a gift of magic and dancing that opens portals between worlds. She holds the fate of their world in her hands. All who live within the lands of the Fey must choose where they standbeside the Dancer or opposed to her.
 

Jaleta Clegg loves to tell stories ranging from deep space to magical worlds and everywhere in between. You can find a complete listing of her work at www.jaletac.com







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Monday, August 25, 2014

Good Advice

Now here's some writing advice I can get behind!




It's only 4.5 minutes and well worth your time. (And, hey, that's my book on his desk! Heehee)

Do you have any great advice for writers?

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Bad Advice

I mentioned before that I am sort of between writing processes right now. I feel that I have lost touch with my writer's intuition, and the organic process of creating that used to guide me. This problem started, I believe, about six years ago when I started attending writing conferences again after many years away.

Now, I love writing conferences and other conventions. I love seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I love visiting, commiserating, and networking. I love attending classes and workshops. But, I think that along they way, I been given some bad advice at these conferences. (Bad for ME, mind you. This advice might be great for other writers.) Outlines, structure, character arcs, etc., etc. are all great things. They are also hampering my creativity. Big time. I feel almost paralyzed when I sit down to write for fear that I'm going about it all wrong.


Something's got to change, and fast.

So, I'm very sorry, but I am ditching story structure. I am ignoring character arc. I'm not outlining. I'm going to sit down and tell stories the way they unfold in my head. The way that feels natural and right to me. Yeah, maybe I am doing it wrong. I don't care anymore. I just want to feel creative again.

We'll see how it goes.