Eternal Novicehood and the Saving Grace of Good Friends - On the Road #4

Hey y’all,

This road trip was shaping up to be an exercise in humiliation until Joe showed up. For instance, in Homer, at my first open mike, I had right in front of my stage the Christian kiddie contingent. They were there to play cards, talk loud, and make smart-ass speeches after different musicians played just to show how cute they were, while the folks that were actually listening attentively were behind them.  

I was lucky though, they got even more obnoxious when the guy after me went up to play his guitar and sing.  

At the Land's End in Homer, my first night was the exact same time and date as the post-Memorial service for Drew Scalzi, a former state Representative, so everyone there was going to that. One couple tried to get me to go upstairs, have some food and drink and let people know I was there, but there's just something about going to somebody's funeral, especially someone that I'd never met, to hustle some business that is...distasteful to say the least. The same couple came down and bought a book - probably out of sympathy because nobody showed up that day, and the wife suggested that I should come in the winter when people are looking for things to do during that time.

The next day, a couple of acquaintances and a couple of total strangers showed up. I sold two books. All I could think was that it was a mighty fine thing that I did not pay a dime for that space and that my beginner's luck had run out. And I'm back in the time and space of being a novice...again.

I packed up the Brown Beast (that is burning through the oil, but other than that is running beautifully) and headed for Seward.

It seems like every year I decide to do something different that I know nothing about, just so I can be a novice all over again. Perhaps Zen Buddhists would applaud my embrace of Zen mind by constantly being a beginner; but given that I learn by making sooooo many mistakes, the novice/beginner period can be agony.    

In Seward, at the Resurrect Art Coffee House – an old church that was converted into this little gem, I had set up a tableside storytelling for the sake of promoting my book. The owners are every artist's dream come true as they support the arts and would let me do whatever I wanted. So I set up for three days, hoping positive word of mouth would help.

Day one: I told several stories and sold...nothing.

Granted, I'm sure it could have been worse, I could have been insulted on top of it. But to be in a place for four hours and have people nod politely at my efforts is...awful and humiliating.

Why would any sane person put herself through all this?

It didn't help that I had a Homer friend tempting me to go back to Homer, go charter fishing and party. It was so demoralizing, I almost went, but I made a commitment and as much as it hurt, that commitment must be kept. I gritted my teeth to bear it on Thursday, where at least the day would be mercifully short.

Day two: I told two stories to four people...sold two books.  I perked up a bit. I've survived painful learning curves before and it was always better. I even sold two more books to a waitress and one of her followers at the bar where I refreshed myself with a beer after hiking.  

And then came deliverance...

Friday brought the arrival of Joe, who has absolutely no boundaries, and therefore, no inhibitions. A born balls-to-the-wall salesman type. For those who know Joe, after fishing in Bristol Bay, his dreds got inflected with fish bits, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. He said every morning when he woke up his head smelled like fish and he couldn't take it anymore. What should surprise everyone was that he shaved them off, along with his beard. And damn! He now looks like a respectable young man. He’s not, of course. But at least, he now passes.

Joe listened to a couple of stories, and even stopped being a smart-ass half-way through the first one. A Colorado woman who calls herself "Soozie Creamcheese," bought a book, and the two over-friendly studs I'd met at the youth hostel bought none. Then Joe took it upon himself to take a few books and hit the bars. He took four books, and within 45 minutes, came back with forty bucks, and left with ten more books. By the time people were only caring about getting drunk he sold seven more books. While I stayed put at the Resurrect Art Coffe House, told more stories, and sold two books.

I couldn’t believe it.

Here I am, busting my butt telling stories and recommending myself to strangers and all Joe has to say is: "Dude, you should REALLY buy this book," and he’s usually chatting up a female.

And it works.

I just might have to pack up Joe in my luggage...

Thank God for good friends.

Peace,

Montgomery

PS These were some great memories of my road trip book tour in the summer of 2005. FYI, the Resurrect Art Coffee House is still around. If you’re ever in Seward, go check it out! 

Different Name for Children's Books Because...Morality and Sexuality

Hey y’all,

I’m about to put out a children’s book, The Golden Pedestal. This original fairy tale is written in the classical style, with black and white illustrations interspersed throughout the story. There is no technology, the characters are archetypal, and there is a moral to the story. I wrote this story years ago, and a reviewer described it and the other kids’ story in the collection, Why Roses Have Thorns, as “gentle parables about the dangers of pride.” I concur.

To be more specific, I describe The Golden Pedestal as a cautionary tale about narcissism and how destructive it is to a community. My partner says The Golden Pedestal makes an effective allegory for popularity contests that gain momentum in high school.

Originally, the title of the story was Preacher Man and the Golden Pedestal, a friend of mine did about 7 illustrations, the books were handmade on 8.5x11” paper that I printed at the local copier and then bound with mini black binder clips. The cover was an illustration of the Preacher Man on top of the Golden Pedestal against a bright yellow background, whereas Roses was red. These were part of the DIY book tour/roadtrip odyssey that I took in 2005, and that I drop one of those old emails in this blog from time to time.

Perhaps because it was a pourquoi story, Roses sold noticeably better than Pedestal on that trip. Yet a lot of people preferred Pedestal when they read it in the collection.

So after messing about with the title and deciding to keep it simple, I hired an illustrator with some experience as a working artist to provide a fresh perspective, not to mention a lot more illustrations, and a book designer fresh out of a graphic design program who is eager to work in her new career. She did a lovely job with taking pieces of the illustrations and sprinkling them all over the book. Thus The Golden Pedestal is transformed into is a beautiful gem of a book. At least, I believe it is. I’m excited to get it out there.

I also am pretty clueless on how to market this to the general public because it’s completely different than the adult novels I usually write. It also complicates things just a bit that I write children’s fairy tales using my first name (Mary), and my adult fairy tales under my middle name (Montgomery).

I was advised to use different names to prevent confusion, especially for parents who might get scared off by the nature of my adult work. The Ella Bandita Stories – I’m at work on the second novel right now – cover the darker themes of sexuality, yearning, seduction, grief, loss, alienation, and these novels are for an adult audience. Although the sex scenes are not the majority of the story by any means, the sex scenes are explicit enough to be considered erotica. There’s only 1 scene like this in Ella Bandita and the Wanderer, but in The Shepherd and the Courtesan, there will be many more.

Although it may be the better part of wisdom to separate my children’s work from my adult work, I think it’s a shame. Sexuality and morality are two completely different states of being, and this really shouldn’t be necessary. Yet I was raised with the belief that good morals had far more concern with “not having sex before marriage,” and not enough concern for being honest, kind, and humble; having integrity; playing fair; living with courage and authenticity; acknowledging the dignity of others; and respecting the rights of others. It is very possible that somebody could have a sex drive so high they are what is considered “promiscuous,” but still embody all these beautiful traits that make a truly moral being. Yet how often is such a person given credit for having sound principles?

The cold, hard truth is we live in a highly sex negative society. That has not changed after decades of sex before marriage is the norm; many couples live together before getting married, and many young people have at least a few lovers before they do settle down.

Truthfully, I am so turned off by the word “moral,” I often substitute it with “principled” because it doesn’t have the emotional charge that makes my skin crawl. I often cringe when I hear “morals.” What comes to mind is the hard edged voice of an embittered dowager who is usually slut-shaming a girl or young woman for being sexual – whether she is “promiscuous” or not.

I could go on and on about this, and frankly, this last could be a long blog in its own right, and maybe it will be later. So I conclude with – I’m about to come out with a children’s book. I promise The Golden Pedestal will encourage good morals in your kids.

So what is The Golden Pedestal about? 

A fable for ages 8 and up!

The Purple Princess has it so good. Her best friends, Sir Highbrow Olive and Miss Blue Begonia live on either side of her. The Purple Princess loves to play piano. Sir Highbrow Olive loves to study. Miss Blue Begonia loves to garden. They live with a view of the Golden Pedestal that drew their ancestors from the mountains to this valley. Harmony rules this village until the Preacher Man falls to his knees before the Golden Pedestal. Every day, the Preacher Man preaches of the glory of gold, begging the question: Who is good enough to be beholden on the Golden Pedestal? Then the people choose the Purple Princess as the one they should worship, the one who stands above all the rest. Sir Highbrow Olive and Miss Blue Begonia rush to her aid, and the three friends must find a way to reclaim the peace and harmony of their home before it is too late.

I hope you enjoyed some of the illustrations throughout this blog post. If this sounds like the kind of story you'd want for your kids and you'd love to pre-order a copy, write to me at freeflyingpress@gmail.com, send me a Paypal of $10 with both your email and physical addresses by September 15th, 2018, you'll get that beautiful book by the end of September. Unless you live in another country. It may take longer. 

Thanks for reading!

Peace,

Montgomery

Tapestry of Life - On the Road #3

Hey y’all,

Every time I'm on the road, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly friendships are bonded and easily untied - especially as the need arises.  There's something about traveling - being suspended from the day to day life of jobs, rent, bills, social obligations, community service, and established groups - that suspends the usual rules of how people interact with each other. Boundaries are lifted, discretion is almost an insult when making friends and forming temporary community from town to town.

I met Ann at the Amped Cafe in Homer, the day after I arrived in town. She's torn between career and more school, and which way to turn. There was an immediate bond that forged itself when she mentioned living in her truck, with a dog, and a Holly Golightly-style best friend that was halibut fishing with a new fling who "wore his mullet well," and thus, was currently unavailable.

What a coincidence! I'm also living in my truck.  

Ann talked me into doing a reading at the open mike that night to get warmed up for the Concert on the Lawn that first weekend. The next morning, she met me at 8:30 to help me set up my booth and was in and out every so often, as the need arose.

Hey, she got into the concert for free. After the weekend, she felt comfortable enough to let me stay in a tent outside the mullet-fisherman's house and I had a place to reorganize my truck and make coffee in the morning.

At the Concert on the Lawn, a volunteer named Lia offered to let me park my truck and sleep in her van with a double bed if I needed a place to stay. She was widowed from the love of her life two years before, and she had done her fair share of adventuring in her youth. She was also letting a young man stay on her property that was on a spiritual path of Buddhism and daily meditation, so it was really no big deal. But she felt the need to assure me that she wasn't coming on to me and that the young man was not her lover. 

When Ann moved on to Seward to look into a possible dream job, I gave Lia a call and after it took her a moment to remember me...

"Oh yes, the Scheherazade..." she said. (I totally dug that compliment) before giving me directions to her house. 

She got a little reluctant about using her van, but I had a place to park, and a kitchen to make my coffee, and an outhouse to do my business, and my body was scrunched again into my truck's proportions.

She told me her story, and it turns we have much in common.

"We are all interconnected," she said. 

If she ever comes to Juneau, of course she'll have a place to stay.

Ann's sweet dog was hit by a car on Saturday night and killed, so she left Seward by the time I got there and the Holly Golightly-style best friend met her in Anchorage. I doubt I'll see her much from here on out, but I have a couple of pieces of mail and her PO box key. I'm sure we'll keep in touch and all, but I suspect that Ann was my Homer friend.

So here I am in Seward to do table to table storytelling at the Resurrect Art Coffee House in Seward. I'm staying at the hostel and it feels like high luxury accommodation to be able to stretch out in sleep and have a place to put food.

This morning I was looking forward to coffee in the communal kitchen and writing in my journal when a born-again Christian wrecked the peace of my morning today when she had to tell me her story of giving her life to the Lord and how happy she was that she didn't have to be good enough to get into heaven, because God sent his Son to die on a cross for her. It's incredible that Christians never stop to think how sadistic and cruel that is... 

I felt my energy being sucked dry...dammit, I knew I should have kept my distance.

When I couldn't take anymore of her being saved speeches, I got up and told her abruptly that I had gotten screwed by the same system that had done so much for her, and would she please stop. She said, yes of course and we made banal chit chat and wished each other a good day.

I'm only one thread on the tapestry of life, and these intersections are only a moment and some are a part of beautiful patterns and others...are not.  

But then my thread runs on, as does theirs.

As Lia said, we are all connected.

Peace,

Montgomery

PS: This is the 3rd email from my DIY booktour roadtrip that started in the summer of 2005. Ann was the first friend I made on the road, and her sweet dog, Wiley, snuggled against me one night when I was feeling lonely and sad, and maybe a touch of anguish. As amazing an adventure as this was, there were some things that were going on in my personal life that weighed heavy on my heart. I realized Wiley could feel my pain and was trying to comfort me. Later, it hurt so badly to hear that that sweet dog had been killed (frankly, from Ann's carelessness), that I couldn't bring myself to include that moment in this email at the time I wrote it. I regret that. So better late than never that Wiley was remembered as the awesome being that she was. I hope that dog reincarnated to a more responsible owner. Wiley also proved the point of how all of us are interconnected.

PPS: I never saw Ann again, and we didn't keep in touch.

Writing Prompts! Come and Get 'Em!

Hey y’all,

Are you a writer? Or someone who likes to write?

Do you love fantasy?

Do you love fables and myths?

Do you love the idea of taking fables and myths in a different direction?

Did you like that prompt above?

If so, have a look-see at these bits of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing! Some are also rather pleasing to look at, if I say so myself. ;-)

Most of these are take-offs on myths and fables, but there are also two suspense prompts, and Rogue and Babe promise to make a romp of a romance – or a spoof of a romance if that’s how you roll.

The possibilities are endless…

FYI, these prompts are original and unconnected to my creative work, so use them however you like and enjoy!

Happy writing,

Montgomery

If only women would think like this more often...

The best treasures are intangible...

Scheherazade deserved so much better...

True love will challenge you...

Come on...run with this. I dare you.

Bloody murder mystery? Or suspense? Race against time!

I'd be terrified too if I had to rely on the police.

Great Expectations and the Death of Common Sense - On the Road #2

This 2nd email from my road trip journal is of the first event I did on a year long booktour roadtrip of telling stories and selling a book out of my rig - the Beast. Looking back, I can't believe my mindset. I really was half cocked and had no idea what I was doing! It is a huge regret of my life that I did not get any pictures from that time. These photos here are much more luxurious than what I had to work with at that time, but they evoke the "vibe" I was going for in setting up my first booth for my first attempt at DIY writer/storyteller glory. Enjoy!

Oh Expectation!

That enemy of common sense, I had a mighty vision of massive book sales dancing in my head as I drove my poor, little, injured Brown Beast to the end of the road - also known as Homer, Alaska. There was a Concert on the Lawn weekend event happening in a town that was known for its artistic hippies. It was my first stop. How could anything go wrong? I pushed my broken Beast to the limit to get there.

The bands were my first clue that my vision and reality were not in alignment. Many of the bands playing were the baby-faced offspring of the artistic hippies. Therefore, most people in the audience were...kids.

But, I get ahead of myself...

I made a new friend at a coffee shop. Something about living in your rig really makes for fast and furious bonding glue when you meet somebody who's doing the same thing. Ann had arrived in Homer four weeks before from Montana. She's one of those who always needs something to do, so Ann was more than happy to play the role of my lovely assistant in setting up the cheap Wal-Mart special that was my canopy, and lining it with silk tapestries and sarongs, and putting blankets and pillows on the ground, as well as scented candles to make our booth smell nice. The idea was to make our space more appealing to the passerby. Our master plan was that people would be lured in by the atmosphere, would want to come in and sit for a spell while I captivate them with stories about my heart-eating anti-heroine. My mythical audience would be so enthralled they would have to buy the book. Of course, they would. To find out what happens next.

It didn’t exactly work out that way.

One thing I didn’t consider was how loud the music would be blaring into my cozy, seductive, storytelling space. Kind of hard to create a mesmerizing-sit-down-and-chill-so-you-will-buy-my-stories vibe when the background music is the off key screeching of 14-year-old punk rockers. They might have even been twelve.

As the day passed, several people asked how much the sarongs were. Even though there were books displayed with price tags. Many commented on how cozy we looked as they passed by. One guy offered me ten dollars to sit under the booth while Laura Love was playing, if it started to rain. He did end up being my last sale of the day.

But that's not the point.

Three teenage girls came up to the booth and said: "Okay, we're gonna do it. How much for all three of us?" Fortunately, by that time, word came around that everybody thought I was fortune teller reading tarot cards, so at least I wasn't caught off guard. When I told the girls I was a writer selling a book, they sneered and walked off. These kids wanted face paint, exoticism, and angsty teenage punk rock played by kids who had been doted on by their parents.

Enough said.

A red-headed Tinkerbell who came to my booth, declared she had participated in

the love-ins of the 60’s. She said that's what my booth reminded her of. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but decided to take it as a compliment.

An artist/writer named Nancy said "Eeewww" when I told her what Ella Bandita was about. Her disgust about my character was not enough to repel her away from my booth, however. Nancy proceeded to tell stories from her own life, about how much she had gotten jacked. She took up all the space – physically and psychically – and managed to repel any people who came by and showed some interest in my booth and my book. Possible customers craned their necks around her, but couldn’t seem to fit past the chip on her shoulder. So they moved on. After a few minutes of me saying: “Thanks for stopping by, Nancy. Nice to meet you! And have a great day!” Nancy finally left, after telling me she didn’t like to receive hugs from “strange women.”

I hadn’t been inspired to hug her.

A very sweet Swiss guy named Remo bought a book on CD after buying the collection of stories. He is in Homer, living in his van and staying out on the spit. Really, the fellowship of homeless travelers is pretty gorgeous. The next day, Remo brought me people to buy my book. One dude he roped in didn’t buy anything, but he sold me the “Key to Art” for $50. This Key to Art was mixed with chocolate, so it would even taste better.

Day one. 10 “Ella Bandita and other stories” sold. 2 “Why Roses Have Thorns” and 1 book on CD of “Ella Bandita.” That morning, I had had grand visions of 50 books a day. That evening, I knew that was unrealistic. It’s good to have dreams, I suppose. But it’s not so good to be attached to them.

The 2nd day came with tempered expectations and a more reasonable sense of promise. A guy who had stopped by the booth at the Concert on the Lawn, and had shown interest in the book but didn’t buy it was at the coffee shop that morning. I was there to brush my teeth and recharge my battery with a frothing mocha. His sister prompted him to buy the book before I got the Concert on the Lawn.

Ann and I rearranged the interior to make it more open. People were stopping by for a reading earlier and things were looking up. Around 3pm, I noticed a common trend that much of the interest coming my way was not exactly from my target market. It seemed a lot of interest was from 55 year old men who wanted to know me better. I’m no complaining. At least, not really.

In all, I sold 22 books. One was an exchange with the Reverend Poor Child and his CD of love songs. I didn’t have the heart to say no to a trade. Within hours, somebody told me that the Reverend Poor Child was considered the bad seed in town, and to “stay the f*** away from him.”

Oh gossip! Oh small towns! A friend in Juneau who knew the Reverend Poor Child from Anchorage didn’t go quite that far. But she did say that he was a prick.

This is an adventure. I’m meeting lots of really cool people and having a lot of fun.

Miss y’all.

Montgomery

Ode to the Brown Beast, King of Resilience - On the Road #1

In 2005, I was extremely blessed to receive a grant from the Rasmussen Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska to self-publish a collection of original fairy tales and hit the road, telling stories and selling a book out of the back of my truck. I was on the road for a year. It was one of the greatest adventures of my life. I kept an email journal that I sent out to my friends, which eventually became a blog due to one of my friends being into it on Juneaumusic.com. I don't know if that site is still up, but if it is, my blog is not there. And self-publishing has changed a lot since then. We rely far more on the internet and more people are doing what I did now. Whereas no other writers were then. Anyway, it seems fitting as adventures in self-publishing continue to resurrect those stories from that time. Enjoy!

Ode to the Brown Beast
King of Resilience
(At least, I hope so)

Cursed be the blockhead that twisted the oil cap too
lightly,

The Brown Beast lost precious blood on the first run
of his long journey.

Clanking its death rattle into Tok, Alaska,
the rider of the Brown Beast was alarmed to
receive the news from a twelve year old with braces
that the Brown Beast would be lucky to make it to
Anchorage...

The Brown Beast would need bypass surgery, if not a
transplant...

"It's got an old heart, and old hearts get tired," 
said the shaman grandfather of the boy.

The boy offered to buy the Brown Beast, if the rider
cared to sell...

No, the rider most certainly did not.
Fear not! 

The Brown Beast rattled and rolled its way out of Tok,

determined to make its way to the City of Muck.

The death rattles wound down to an occasional clank on
slowing to a walk and stop, and the rider was
reassured. Sort of.

The Brown Beast made its way to the city, coming to
life when called upon to do its duty.

But the need for a doctor is imminent, if not
immediate...

Will the Brown Beast ride again, valiantly to the end
of the road, holding out for the Carnival?

Or is it a terminal case?

Either way it sucks that my emergency fund is needed,
oh... immediately.

At least I had a place to crash...

Peace,
Montgomery

Why Do We Pin?

Hey y’all,

It is overwhelming taking the helm and learning the steps of the social media dance that Jessica set up in the last four years. On one hand, I’ve never been a huge fan of social media. Yet, on the other hand, I use it in my personal life and I’m a little addicted – my partner would say I’m addicted A LOT. Be that as it may, I might as well use it for my work and work with it until I “get it,” which I really don’t right now.

I will learn a lot in the coming months. I’m pinning on Pinterest without a clear idea as to why I should do this. I’ve heard that it has helped with driving traffic towards my website, where people can find out I exist and about my work, etc. So I’m going through these images and pinning, without really understand what I’m doing.

Also, this lovely young woman I interviewed - who is likely to be the book designer for The Golden Pedestal - said she used to use Pinterest as a knitter, but she has found it to be full of ads and not as useful as a marketing tool. I'm scared she may be right, but I don't know enough to know that yet. So I continue to pin on a daily basis, and hopefully that will do something wonderful. And if it doesn't, I'm sure another social media site will come up and maybe I'll get in on that as the wave is coming up, not after it has peaked and crested and fallen down.

But I'm here now and I can see why people get really into Pinterest. It’s pretty amazing all the stuff I am finding there. In fact, it's fascinating enough that it’s distracting me from what I should really be doing.

Which is writing…

Any extra insights on how and why to use Pinterest would be gratefully appreciated. Thoughts?

Peace,

Montgomery  

Tiny Victory and Giant Satisfaction!

Hey y’all,

Something wonderful happened for me on June 30th and I’m so excited!

For the first time, somebody bought an ebook off of my website!!!

As silly as I feel getting euphoric over 1 penny less than a dollar, it is so thrilling to have made a sale off my website and not Amazon.

How did this happen? I look forward to the day when I won’t be certain of the answer to this question. But in this instance, I do know.

I was browsing a royalty free website for pictures that might work for a video I’m putting together. Yet instead of taking advantage of the free pictures, I donated a dollar per picture to all the photographers. As a writer who has done my fair share of giving away excerpts and doing storytelling for donations, I prefer to support other artists who are in the same boat as me. Any sale, no matter how small, gives me a boost. It gives me hope that maybe…someday…this will actually work and I will actually make a livable salary off work I love to do. Out of all the photographers who I supported, one came back to my website and supported me with a purchase.

It made my day! I was high off the sale, but it warmed my heart that another artist came back and supported me.

So to anybody who reads this and is tempted…well, go ahead and check out my ebooks and get the one that looks good to you.

Which ebook did the photographer pick? The sexy one. Of course. He picked “Challenge,” the ebook that is censored by Amazon because they don’t like sensuality and skin.

That also made me happy.

Peace,

Montgomery

Many Thanks and Happy Trails!

Hey y’all,

This is Montgomery Mahaffey writing, the author behind Free Flying Press. Allow me to introduce myself, because the manager for Free Flying Press, Jessica Cox, has been doing the blogging for the past few years.

I’d like to thank Jessica from the bottom of my heart for her excellent work over the last four years. As the manager and promotions consultant, Jessica has single-handedly created the infrastructure for Free Flying Press, and I could not have done this without her. This pipe dream of mine would have tanked had she not been here.

But now, Jessica is moving on to new opportunities with her own business - Work Lunch PDX. For anybody who wants to have healthy, vegan, plant-based, and delicious lunches made with love and delivered to you, check out her new gig at worklunchpdx.com – you will not regret it. The picture is a lovely one of her next to the array of gorgeous food she did for my book release party 4 years ago! It was not all vegan, but it was delicious!

From here on out, it will be me doing the blogging, as well as trying to follow in the footsteps of the social media dance Jessica developed as I try to figure out my own.

So yeah, my input and feedback is likely to be very different from Jessica’s, but I hope all y’all enjoy it!

Change is beautiful. Good times!

Peace,

Montgomery

Fantasy Chose Me: A guest blog by Author Fiona Tarr

Every so often we get a great up and coming author to share with you their personal story. Today we have Fioina Tarr, an Australian Fantasy writer.

Dig in as she discusses why she writes fantasy, and gives you an update about her latest work!

I have often wondered why I chose fantasy as a genre, but I have come to realise that I think it chose me.

Like most kids, I used my imagination; singing like a superstar in front of the mirror or making spaceships with sheets and cushions in the living room on sleep over nights, but fantasy is another step away from reality; or so I used to believe.

I became addicted to the fantasy genre when I read British author David Gemmell (since deceased). His novels are full of magic with good and evil characters, but what I most enjoyed about his writing style was how his evil characters often turned out to be heroes and his heroic leaders were sometime quite nasty people in private. This got me thinking how fantasy was not really so far removed from our reality as I had once thought.  

Now I write fantasy adaptations of Old Testament bibles stories (among other projects).

Depending on who you speak with, the original stores are considered anything from pure speculative fiction to religious law. Over the years, as I have researched and worked with these Old Testament stories I have come to understand that although they are old, they still reflect so much of the cultural diversity we find today.  Even though I reproduce my version in a fictional way, the reality and relevance of the context never seems to fade away.

The Jericho Prophecy is more than a retelling of a biblical tale, it is a fantastical reimagining of a time when genocide was normal practise, refugees were often murdered and women were traded as commodities. I never set out to be confrontational with my writing which is why I believe fantasy chose me as a genre, but it is my hope you enjoy the fantasy elements of my books and find the deeper humanity of why I chose to write the way I do. 

How to Grow as a Writer (and Get Outside Your Comfort Zone)

No matter how hard you try, you can't stay in the same place. The thing is, you can either choose to let life's whims direct you, or you can grab the bull by the horns and see how you are at steering.

If you want to choose your own adventures as a writer that will help you learn more, grow more, and write more (and more better), you should be thinking about ways to push out of your comfort zone and give your creativity more room to wiggle.

I once heard someone talking about growth. He used an interesting metaphor: the lobster. When a lobster grows, he begins to push against his shell. It becomes uncomfortable.

Once the discomfort becomes too great, the lobster retreats to a safe place and sheds his shell, so he can regrow a newer, more roomy shell.

The process repeats.

Growth comes from doing things outside your comfort zone.

This post is all about how to break out of rut of familiarity and routine and into new realms of creativity, growth, and progress.

Routine is good. Routine is bad.

Routine, that thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, has you eat three regular meals a day (or six, like me), and has you brush your teeth before bed.

But routine, when it breeds familiarity and comfort, can be bad.

Creativity benefits from outside perspectives. If you go to the same cafés to write, or hole up in your writing space, you'll suffer from a lack of "fresh air" that can really blow your abilities up.

The fix?

Do | Learn | Discover new things.

You can change up the location of your writing space and see what new influences you can find to stimulate your story.

You can invest in a community college course that will inform you of new ideas, perspectives, and challenge old assumptions.

Make a list of all the things you'd love to do but don't have time for, and DO one of them.

Experiment with a hobby one of your characters has.

Dress like the opposite gender for a day.

Take a day trip to a town you've never been before.

Practice silence. Dedicate a day to complete silence. Even texting.

Read outside your genre. Love mystery and hate romance? Give a top rated romance novel a whirl!

You can come up with your own ideas for how to break out of your comfort zone. And when you do, interesting things will happen.

Leave a comment below with your own suggestion for pushing past your comfort zone!

How to Keep Motivation High While Working Alone

The writer's life is a lonely one.

Especially as a self-published author, you are your own boss, responsible for your own deadlines and schedule.

When you've got a new idea for a book, it's easy to get fired up and spend hours on end writing your heart out. But I've often found that many authors experience a slump in the middle of writing a novel. When all that brand new excitement has drained out into thousands of black marks on a page.

When difficulty sets in.

When you really have to start figuring out plot devices and how to reconcile issues, or even realizing that the tense is wrong for what you're about to undertake.

Or maybe life rears its complicated hydra-heads and you cut back on your writer hours in favor of focusing on your family, your work, or anything else.

For whatever reason, if you've found motivation and passion for writing isn't at the level you'd like it to be, here are a few ways to keep your motivation revving, even when you're feeling overwhelmed.

How to Keep Motivation High While Working Alone

Work Out Your Passion Muscles

Stephen King famously said that waiting around for your muse to show up isn't the job a writer. The job a writer is to write. If you show up every day, on time, and get down to work, you're doing the writer's job. But let's be honest, not every day is going to be filled with the same level of motivation and excitement. The key here is to not fall into a slump where you've been so unmotivated for so long that writing begins to feel like a drag.

Fact: your mood is made up largely by your physiology.

Imagine this: you're sitting at your desk, slumped down in your chair, neck forming double, triple chins where there weren't any before. Your fingers smack the keyboard sloppily. How are you feeling about your writing? How can you possibly feel anything but unmotivated, tired, and bored?

Now imagine this: you're sitting at your desk, feet planted solidly on the floor, your back erect and your chin jutting out as if you're a Royal espousing a new decree. Your fingers hit each key with confidence and vigor. How are you feeling about your writing? Even if your head is saying, "this sucks, I suck" you won't be stuck there for long. You can't be.

Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy has revealed that the way you carry your posture actually affects the amount of hormones in your body. You're not simply tricking your body to be more motivated, alert, and powerful when you adopt a particular body posture, you're changing your physical and mental landscape.

So the next time you're feeling lackluster about writing, try changing your posture to one that's brimming with power, energy, and excitement.

Practice this daily. As often as you can. Someone once said if you think you can go around your day feeling 80% unmotivated and disinterested, it's ridiculous to expect you can turn on passion and drive for the 20% when you really need it.

Bring passion and excitement into everything you do and it will spill naturally over to those more difficult tasks, like writing.

Enlist a Buddy

If you're finding writing alone is a lonely pursuit, and you'd rather not be stuck at home alone or in a noisy café anonymously plugging away at the keyboard, enlist a writing buddy or join a writers group. You may thinking of this as a non-option because working with a friend or in a group would mean you're too distracted, but if you establish a few ground rules at the beginning, like using the first 5-10 minutes to chat and catch up, and then 20-30 of uninterrupted writing time, you've successfully navigated that problem.

Writing buddies or groups can help you hold yourself accountable. You don't even need a physical buddy to do this. You can have a writer friend that you've met online hold you accountable by requiring you to send them x pages or chapters by a specific deadline.

Having someone else holding you accountable helps you not slack off, and can be a productive way to reinvigorate your motivation if you find it slipping.

Use Novelty

If your motivation is really flagging, change something! Your passion for writing has always been there, you know that. So when you're feeling unmotivated to write, just think: it's not me. Your environment can go a long way in affecting your motivation. Maybe you've been writing in your home office for the past few months and the routine environment is hacking away at your excitement.

To fix this, try switching things up, like working from a coffee shop, college library, or hotel lobby. I used to have a few specific places I could rotate through so that novelty stayed fresh and I wouldn't fall into boredom simply because I was too used to the locations I was writing from.

Novelty can work in other ways too. If you always write in the morning, try switching to writing at night. If you write on the computer, try switching to a notebook for a little while. These hacks can boost creativity and inspire you when you find yourself flagging.

Track Accomplishments

There's no better way to keep your motivation high than to acknowledge you're doing good work and making progress. After all, one you've written the book your ultimate goal is over. That moment of true completion is so brief, so your motivation better not be coming from the idea of having a book finished or you're doomed. 99% of your time is spent on writing, so your achievements are coming not by finishing the book, but by making progress.

Log your accomplishments at the end of each day and you'll be inspired to continue every day. After a while, those achievements are going to add up: 30 pages, 50 pages, 100 pages...so give yourself a boost of happiness by celebrating certain milestones you set for yourself.

Stay inspired. Stay writing.

Please share any other motivation tips you've used in the comments below!

How to Simplify the Writing Life

Remember when all you needed was a feather quill and a roll of parchment and you could be a world-renowned writer?

Now the writing life is a negotiation between your job, your six hungry kids, all of your day to day distractions (I’m talking about you, facebook) and worst of all, writing is no longer the “just sit at your desk and write” practice it used to be.

Our computers are equipped with a millions of distractions; our desks cluttered with the business of our lives; our minds focused on so many other things, like whether or not we fed the cat.

If you’re lucky enough to persevere and find a way beyond all this to an actual written work, you know you’ve got to slug through the world of marketing and promotion.

It’s overwhelming.

It’s time consuming.

It sucks.

So I’ve put together 3 tips (yeah, just 3, because if you had 100 this would all just go into the pile of “oh my gosh it’s too much I can’t handle it” and you won’t get anything out of simplifying the writerly life.

Tip #1: Distraction-free writing

Do you know how often you’re distracted? I mean really, truly. How many minutes a day (or hours) do you spend on instagram, facebook, snapchat, and the like? How many articles do you read about writing once the anxiety of facing the blank page kicks in? How many times do you get up to go to the bathroom/wash the dishes/make food/pet the cat when you should be in the middle of a writing session?

Writing is HARD. Thus, it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes you’ll get into a flow and the time will fly by. But sometimes you’ll hit a tough spot and unconsciously reach for your phone, to check a fact/the weather/your likes.

Distraction free writing means that NOTHING is taking your energy and focus away from your writing time.

Even if that’s just 15 minutes. Even if that’s 4 hours.

No open tabs. No phone. Fill your water bottle and have a snack handy and sit down and don’t get back up.

Here’s a rundown of how to make truly distraction-free writing happen:

To make distraction free writing UBER easy, utilize a distraction free app.

Not 6 of them. Just 1.

Enter: Focus Writer

Features:

• TXT, basic RTF, and basic ODT file support

• Timers and alarms

• Daily goals

• Fully customizable themes

• Typewriter sound effects (optional)

• Auto-save (optional)

• Live statistics (optional)

• Spell-checking (optional)

• Multi-document support

• Sessions

• Portable mode (optional)

• Translated into over 20 languages

TURN OFF YOUR PHONE

...and put it somewhere away from you, like in a kitchen drawer or another room. Don’t just put it on silent. The fact that it’s still alive and lurking somewhere darkly without you can still pull irresistibly on your consciousness.

Make sure everyone in the house knows not to disturb you.

You may still pet the cat.

Tip #2: Set goals

Setting goals will help you achieve them. Kind of a no-brainer; you can’t hit what you don’t aim at. So whether that’s a word count you’d like to make, or a set period of time in front of your word processor, define a clear, achievable goal before you start, and don’t stop until you make it.

Tip #3: Distill marketing and promos to one category

The most daunting task of all as a writer comes after writing the book.

If you’re self-publishing, marketing and promotion falls on your shoulders.

With the self-publishing industry gaining a lot of popularity over traditional printing, bloggers and websites dedicated to helping you market your book have been vying for attention for Google’s top results page.

It’s hard to market yourself. Especially if you don’t already have a background in marketing. So aren’t you supposed to slog through hundreds of articles reading the results of a hundred real people who did a ton of things to break through to the best seller lists?

Realistically? No. It’s a clear path to overwhelm, yet again.

So what do you do?

PICK ONE thing and stick to it until it either works, or you’re absolutely sure it’s a sh*t strategy.

Fragmenting your focus while you try and boost Amazon sales through keywords, instagramming hashtags, signing up for promos, and paying for facebook ads is a lot.

It means your focus doesn’t go to any one thing so you can do that one thing really well and then move onto another thing.

So to start, find the one person who gives you a strategy you agree with and do ONE thing from that strategy until you’ve locked it in tight. Then move onto another strategy.

When I first started marketing Ella Bandita and the Wanderer, I used Nick Stephenson’s strategy for building an email list. Once I got it dialed in, I found about 700 people had subscribed to my email list.

Then I knew it was time to move onto another area of focus: paid promotions.

A lot of the promotions I made bombed. So I scaled back to free promotions, hoping to understand the best ways to use these before either a) considering promos a failure for me, or b) conquering them and moving onto another strategy.

Work strategy by strategy until you start to see results!

I hope this was helpful and you’re ready to take a step towards simplifying your writer life!

Character Spot Light: Ella Bandita

Ella Bandita isn't your typical fantasy protagonist. She's ugly. She seeks out bad men to destroy them. She's contemptuous and confident. And she's got hidden vulnerability that flashes only every so often.

Ella Bandita is a badass anti-hero who struggles with her own feelings of grief, loss, and identity as she hunts down her prey.

Here's a chance to find out why Ella Bandita lures men into traps to steal their hearts, and what makes her vulnerable despite having lost her own heart a long time ago.

Introducing: Ella Bandita, Thief of Hearts

“Your face is so ugly, it’s beautiful.”
 

At first, Ella Bandita didn't have a name. Until she reached her 20th year no one called her by any name. She was tolerated by the Patron's servants, but shunned by her father, the Patron, and the rest of the village community.

Brief glimpses into her past suggest a sad upbringing, but not without bouts of freedom riding through the fields, and the hint of a child hood love.

Unable to go on with a life lacking in love and decency, the girl decides to end it all and prepares to throw herself into an icy river, dangerous with rocks and a wild current.

But a hand stays her demise...

From the novel:

“There’s a better way.”

His voice rang clear, even over the thrashing water. The girl froze, and her fear exploded
into terror. She could feel him right behind her, standing at her right shoulder. Turning her head, she saw that the Sorcerer of the Caverns looked just like the Cook had always described him. His hair and beard were the color of dust, hanging in matted ropes to his waist. Lines were etched into the papery skin of his face and his frame was shrunken from the unnatural passage of time. The blood drained from her face and her head grew light. The girl opened her mouth, but no words came out. She should have known better than to come here. Pieces of legend about the Sorcerer came to mind. He’d been born an ordinary man until he sold his soul for the powers of magic. Then he preyed on virgin girls so he would never die.

The girl is given a choice...continue her life of sorrow, or earn knowledge of the dark arts of seduction. 

Thus, the woman who will become Ella Bandita's education begins.

From the author:

I once heard an editor say: "Don't tell me your story is about love and redemption because all stories are about love and redemption." She was right and mine is no different. But isn't it marvelous how many different stories can come from one theme? My particular take on this theme involves a predatory seductress who is mad, bad, and dangerous to know - and the people who helped shape her, and an adventurer frozen in grief who won't go away because he can't bring himself to go home.

Ella Bandita's world opens up when she meets the Wanderer, a man, like herself, who is full of grief.

Something in her awakens. Having steadily worked through her goal of annihilating vile and contemptuous men in villages around the world, she's paused for a moment upon meeting the wanderer.

From the novel:

From the abyss between sleep and consciousness, he heard the humming growl. He was confused by the sound until the heavy cloth collapsed, and he woke up with the burden of his tent upon him. Flailing through the canvas, the Wanderer pushed his head and shoulders through the flap into a whirlwind of dazzling colors.
“Hey!” he shouted. “What are you doing?”
His heart pounded and the Wanderer was suddenly dizzy. He squeezed his eyes shut until the feeling passed.
“How strange. I was about to ask you the same thing.”
The Wanderer recognized her voice. The girl he followed into No Man’s Land had finally come awake, and she was now standing over him with one hand wrapped around her necklace. He swallowed hard. She had the coldest blue eyes he’d ever seen. She opened her palm and dropped a crystal in the folds of her shirt. Her glare seared into him.
“So what are you doing here?” she asked.
The Wanderer felt foolish on his knees with his tent collapsed around him. The girl’s presence was unnerving. Even though she was angry, she made his flesh come alive as soon as he saw her.
“Making myself at home,” he said, stepping out of the heap. “Same as you.”
He noticed that she was dressed like him, in a loose shirt and pants, but she also wore a holster, a small pouch slung around the belt at her left hip, and a pistol and dagger held in sheaths on her right. The Wanderer glanced at her face and saw the corners of her mouth twitching. She might be an adventurer, but not of his kind.

Ella Banita's quest takes a different kind of turn after meeting the Wanderer, as if he woke in her something that had long been dormant. A care for the state of her heart.

To read the rest of the novel and get to know Ella Bandita in depth, get the full novel here.

Top 5 Websites for Indie Authors

I thought it important to put together a list of websites for indie authors, meaning, websites that will help independent authors rise to success with their hard-wrought novels and stories by educating the independent author about how to write, publish, market, make sales, and build a fan base for their work.

There are a few explosive success stories you can read about all over the internet...where one independently published author hit the best seller lists and grew an empire seemingly overnight.

What you don't get to read about are those authors who spent years trying different tactics, waiting for a "big break" that more likely came as a slow upward trend until it steadied out into something less resembling an empire and more of a steady, committed relationship.

As an independent author you aren't beholden to any agent or publisher. You are a direct line to your readers, and must put your readers at the forefront

Get on our list for more tips on how to be a succesful indie writer

email sign up

Your First 10K Readers

First on our list is the author marketing course brought to you by best-selling author Nick Stephenson. Stephenson has his marketing formula down pat. His course guides authors to build their own, personal fan base, so that your readers are never in the hands of an unstable platform, like Amazon or Facebook.

By focusing on gathering an email list, you have people to pitch to whenever you have a novel to sell or another book to promote.

First and foremost, indie authors are fan-reliant, meaning you need to grow an audience. Stephenson shows you how to do that organically, and then capitalizes on this organic growth to drive sales.

Imagine a reader picks up your first book for free in exchange for their email address. When your second book releases (or if you'd like to offer it for a promo discount) you've got someone familiar with your work to try and sell to. It's a lot easier to keep a customer than convert a new one, so this strategy is overwhelmingly successful.

Stephenson shows you exactly how to set up these freebie incentives either on your own website or through a sales platform like Amazon, and then guides you through the email correspondence that will keep your readers hooked.

Further, he shows you how to isolate niche keywords in Amazon so your book climbs up the sales ranks and premiers on more likely to be seen recommended book pages.

And if you're ready to start advertising, he's got the facebook marketing strategy for you.

His insights are invaluable to an independent author. If you're confused about marketing your books and how to start grooming your empire, this is a must-have course.

The Creative Penn

No wonder Joanna Penn and Nick Stephenson are buds. They're both hugely successful fiction authors with a massive following for their non-fiction writing and advice for authors.

Joanna Penn has a huge resource built up for independent authors interested in writing, publishing, marketing, and selling their book. She holds a place on the most prestigious Top Websites for Authors lists. Probably because of her willingness to walk authors through the step-by-step process of writing, publishing, selling, and promoting a book.

She has books, blogs, podcasts, and courses all designed to help independent authors maximize their potential.

The Creative Penn is where I first started when I was learning about the independent author marketing process, and even 3 years into it I find a wealth of information at my fingertips when I visit her website.

With interviews from notable indie publishing specialists, such as Steven Spatz from BookBaby, to inspiring posts like this tip-filled gem, she's a goldmine of information and strategy planning for the independent author.

Goodreads

If the first stage of building your independent author empire is gathering up relevant knowledge and tools from people like Nick Stephenson and Joanna Penn, the second stage is building your fan base and foundation for attracting more and more readers.

That's where book websites where readers can leave reviews, engage with the author, and participate in giveaways come in.

There are plenty of new platforms popping up all the time, but one of the oldest and biggest is Goodreads.

Goodreads allow you to join very active groups, and I recommend singing up for reader groups as well as writer groups to really diversify your reach. Many groups are geared toward helping independent authors introduce their works to other authors, get feedback and reviews, and offer tips and suggestions for promotions.

Another really useful way to use a platform like Goodreads is to host giveaways. Giveaways help you draw attention to your book and get it on a lot of "to read" lists, which helps with visibility. Especially if you're in pre-sale mode, giveaways can add a lot of juice to your promotions, and they're free to use! You just need to ship a book to the winner.

Sales Platforms

If you're an indie author you've GOT to be on a sales platform. The most mainstream (and often, lucrative) option is Amazon, but you have to deal with a lot of red tape and corporateness that can feel icky for an indie author.

However, Amazon is a powerful tool in getting your book into readers' hands, especially if you offer ebook versions of a print novel.

Other sales platforms are available, such as Barnes and Noble, Nook, Kobo, etc. If you want to go really indie fringe you can try publishing on sites like Etsy and BigCartel, but these can be a little harder to market with.

*Bonus: if you sign up for Nick Stephenson's 10K readers course, he'll walk you through how to optimize your Amazon pages for more sales. I found his strategies very helpful!

BookBub

If you're all set with building your author foundation and finding fans for your work, the next step is to promote the heck out of your books.

There are SO many sites offering book promotions. Bookbub is just one. They tend to be very powerful for those whom they accept; but the selection process can be a little tough. My advice is to keep submitting after you've been rejected. It may take months to get accepted, but is well worth it.

Also note that you do have to put some money into these types of promotions, but the return is usually very great. Do your work and research before you commit to any kind of promotion and make sure that the results seem real and replicable for you.

Bonus: Your Website

Of course you should also be putting in a lot of attention to your own website. Make sure it's optimized, introduces the reader to your work in a clear, uncluttered manner, and offers a free incentive to sign up for your email list (a free first book is a great place to start).

Dark Fantasy Romance Writing Prompts from Ella Bandita and the Wanderer

Alright ladies & gents! It's time for another round of dark fantasy romance writing prompts to inspire your own stories and get your writer juices flowing!

The dark fantasy romance writing prompts are proving to be the most popular blog posts we do here over at Free Flying Press, so today I want to come at you with something a little different.

Taking snips and clips from the book, Ella Bandita and the Wanderer, we've crafted writing prompts that are sure to spark your imagination in any direction. You can write backstory based on the prompt or imagine the scene unfolding from the prompt.

Because these are from the novel Ella Bandita and the Wanderer, they each already have a backstory and future scene, but it would be so cool to hear what you come up with! Please share your writing in the comments below!

Dark Fantasy Romance Writing Prompts from Ella Bandita and the Wanderer

Enjoy your writing! As always, let us know what work you've done in the comments below!

Best Fantasy Book Art (Roundup)

Every year as I go through and evaluate our yearly stats, one Pinterest board reigns supreme.

Fantasy Art is a hot topic. Why? Because some of the most talented artists gravitate toward the genre, where they can play with magic, mythical creatures, and tell a story with a single painting.

I've been quite obsessed with the fantasy art genre since I was young, and so I thought what better way to end the year with a round up of some of the best fantasy art out there.

*Note to authors: the art on your book cover is extremely important. Many of the top fantasy artists create work that would look so lovely illustrating your novel or gracing its cover. Spend time hunting around and send out some queries to your favorite artists -- you might be surprised with how they respond!

Top Fantasy Art of 2017

Eiich Matsuba is an artist living in Tokyo, Japan. His works are gritty, fantastical, and gorgeous. Almost like a rougher version of Hayao Miyazaki. Though he works in dark colors, there remains something light about each work.

FireFly Galaxy

Nameless Driftage

Tomislav Jagnjic from Belgrade, Serbia, has an incredible style reminiscent of watercolor though he favors digital art. What's most notable about his work is his composition choices, for example, angled lines shot through with light and shadow create landscapes that are both majestic and mythical.

Brainstorm Challenge

Wolf Rider Speed Paint

Quentin Mabille of Paris, France jumps effortless from realism to illustration in works that could easily grace the tv screen for a new magical series. Even his simplest works include meticulous detail that adds to the overall pleasure of looking at his work.

Old Valley

Skull Cave

BANE from St Paul Minnesota is one of my all time favorite artists, and, incidentally, the artist who rendered Ella Bandita and created all of the covers for my novelettes. His work is powerful -- he managed to capture Ella Bandita's ugliness when other artists would make her too beautiful, and still imbued her with a sexiness and allure that helps her ensnare her victims.

The art behind Ella Bandita and the Wanderer

Aditya Ikranegara is an Indonesian artist with an extraordinary style. He's one of those rare artists who are able to convey more through a lack of detail -- a sort of blurring of the works that creates raw emotion out of the sidelines.

Dark Phoenix

Pause

Ruiheng Liu from Wuhan, China is the last stop on the art list. He doesn't have a big spread of work on the internet, yet the one piece I discovered is one of my favorites. He's created a magician with a backstory that you can feel from the art itself.

Magician

Replyerotica

Are you ready to play?

The rules:

1) use one of the following prompts to begin your erotic tale. You can write as much or as little as you like.

2) send what you've written to info@freeflyingpress.com

3) We'll post your [attributed or anonymous] below the appropriate prompt.

4) Anyone can continue writing where you left off! Just browse the stories, write some more, and we'll keep adding!

It's collaborative erotica and it's a blast to play!

We can't wait to read & share what you've come up with!

The Prompts:

The continuation....

Author: Nonbinary Me

...he knew what I really wanted and I could see it in his eyes! I took flogger out and I could see he was excited. Lay down I tell him, NOW! Roll over! I start softly running the flogger up and down his bare back, then one flog on his firm ass, two flogs.... I know he was loving every minute of it .....

Send your contribution, short or long (size doesn't matter here) to info@freeflyingpress.com or using the form below!

Black Friday Sale, Buds!

Hey you!

Jumping on the Black Friday bandwagon here to offer you an incredible deal.

This week, get your copy of Ella Bandita and the Wanderer from Big Cartel (and say screw you to Amazon)!

Support indie authors and small business when you get your copy of the unconventional sexy dark fantasy novel Ella Bandita for $4 off!  (That makes this luscious paperback only $10!)

Montgomery Mahaffey's epic fable is a fascinating read. - Jill Blake

Refreshing dark heroine with a unique story. -- Paige M.

The Blurb:

Ella Bandita's life nearly came to an end in the depths of an icy river. Before she threw herself in the roiling waters, a strange voice called out.

"There's a better way."

Now, Ella Bandita is far from dead. Having studied the art of seduction under the Sorcerer of the Caverns who saved her that day, she must now make a life for herself as Ella Bandita, thriving on fresh hearts for survival. The immortal seductress moves from village to village, seducing and stealing the hearts of only the most licentious and undeserving men. It's a lonely life, filled with grief and rage.

Until the day she meets a Wanderer in the woods, who engages her in deadly game of cat and mouse, fueled by his unruly desire for this strange young woman. His refusal to quit her makes Ella Bandita act, and the Wanderer finds himself transformed into a Wolf, forced to live life searching for the one thing that can make him a man again. Hunting down the immortal seductress becomes necessary for survival. At the old Sorcerer's Caverns, they will meet again, Ella Bandita and the Wanderer.

In a dark tale of romance, lust, and desire, Ella Bandita and the Wanderer is driven by intrigue and explores the darkness of the human heart and the allure of erotic obsession over love.

How to Use NaNoWriMo to Write a Novel You Can Actually Publish

NaNoWriMo was established in 1999 to help writers get the damn words out. One of our biggest hurdles as writers is to simply write. So a bunch of people got together and said, you know what? This November is going to be the month where we get all those words out. One month, 50,000 words.

The thing is, if you participate in NaNoWriMo and you manage to eke out 20-50k words, what then? What do you do in December? January? How do you turn those words into a draft you can actually tolerate to read?

Because when you’re writing for NaNoWriMo, quality doesn’t matter. Just the word count. And on one hand that’s a valuable practice for a writer….I mean, you should be paying attention to quality, but at a certain point it becomes more important to get words out so you can test your ideas, your characters, plot...make sure all of that’s working reasonably well before you start fine-tuning the language.

Plus, NaNoWriMo helps you get in the habit of writing every day. Which is a practice that is essential to being a writer. Writing isn’t something you do when you’re inspired. It’s the job you show up to day after day, getting your work done.

So that’s the great part about NaNoWriMo. But here’s the clincher. A lot of writers find that once they’ve finished their 50k words, they have a novel. Without revising. Without letting those words sit in a cold dark drawer for months and months collecting dust, to be brushed off at some future date when your brain is clear from the wash of excitement and sweat and can actually be a little more objective when going through for an edit.

NaNoWriMo is valuable for helping you to develop your work ethic. NaNoWriMo is helpful for testing out your ideas and pushing through the hard moments of plot failure, character tweaks, and communication issues. It’s a caffeine fueled binge for your craft.

But you need to remember that you’re practicing a craft. A cabinet maker doesn’t just slap some wood together in the shape of a cabinet and call it good. There are all of the other elements involved: the glue and clamps and perfectly fitted joints, hours of sanding and finishing and sanding and finishing again. There are the finishing touches, the carefully picked out brackets and handles. No aspect of the work gets ignored.

Which means that NaNoWriMo is your time to get the words out, and the following months are used to hone the other parts of the craft: learning how to let it sit, revision, accepting critique, and editing.

These other aspects are instrumental in growing your abilities as a writer, and if you’re planning on shipping your manuscript off to an agent once you’re done, you’d better be sure you’ve followed through on these other steps.

NaNoWriMo Calendar to Get You a Bonafide Novel by June

December: READ other books

Reading is paramount for your success as a writer. It’s Stephen King, one of the highest grossing authors and a man who produces an insane amount of national best-selling books, who famously said, “If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all else. Write a lot and read a lot.”

If you’ve been grinding down to write your entire novel in the month of November, take December to catch up on your reading. Go as crazy as you did for NaNoWriMo. Set a goal, say, 10 books, and tear through them this month.

Reading other books will help inform your own writing. You’ll get ideas for how to revise your own novel. When you’re reading a well-regarded novel, you’re actually learning about writing from a master. So use this as a means to make your own writing better.

This month is also a time to let your manuscript sit in a dark drawer, away from prying eyes. You don’t get to read it. You don’t get to show it to other people...not yet. Distance yourself from your work (and from the rigor of the work) and let it simmer until you come back to it next month, in January, when you can read it over with perspective and a fresh set of eyes.

January: Revision

Your first phase of revision is your own. You still haven’t introduced your manuscript to other readers. Keep this round for yourself. Your head should be full of other people’s novels, so when you turn to your own you may better be able to hear rough patches or finicky plot twists.

February: Readers

NOW you get to show your work to some people whose opinion you respect. Ask them to read your novel and give you notes -- not edits; you’re not into the nitty gritty fine-tuning yet; you don’t care if you’ve misplaced a comma or if you have a tense out of place here or there. Just get broad notes on characterization, plot, language, dialogue, scenes, sense, etc.

Collect all your feedback and consider it. Many writers I’ve come across have a hard time taking in their reader’s feedback, feeling like their work is too precious, or the reader just doesn’t “get” the work, or any number of reasons.

But the truth is, as a writer, you’re not writing for yourself, you’re writing for them, for your readers. So if your readers are struggling with something, take a step back and pull your ego out of it and change the damn thing.

You’re supposed to pick writers whose opinions you trust, so there’s no reason why you should back out of that trust once you get their feedback.

March: Revision

Round 2 of revisions! Now that you have reader feedback it’s time to make those changes. Run through and fix what your readers have asked of you (as long as you agree, and you’ve taken your ego out of it!) and then run through it one more time reading your entire manuscript out loud.

Reading aloud lets you actually hear how things are sounding outside of your head, instead of locking you inside your own brain where things generally sound better and make more sense.

April: READ!

You’re almost done! So put your manuscript down and let it sit again in that dark drawer that’s becoming more comfortable and friendly by now. Read more books and learn more so that when the time next month for critique and final edits, you have more knowledge and more writers in your head to help you error correct.

May: Edits and Critique

This is your final round of edits, so instead of finding readers among your friend group, send this round off to people who are actual writers or editors. If you don’t know someone who is a professional writer or editor, hire somebody. You’ve just spent MONTHS working on a novel that you want to actually be able to publish? Spend some cash to get it professionally edited! If you believe in your work you’re making a worthy investment. If you don’t believe in your work, that dark drawer will be happy to hold onto your manuscript until you’re ready to grow a pair and make it good.

Make your final edits per your editor’s notes, give it a final read through, and accept that it’s not going to be or do everything you wanted. I remember Zadie Smith saying something like, “the best time to revise a novel is several months after it’s published.” You’re never going to catch everything; you’re not going to be 100% satisfied.

And hey, you’re still probably not done. Next month you’re going to send it off to agents and publishing houses and you’re going to get rejection letter after rejection letter. It’s likely going to take several months for an agent to want to pick up your work. Stick to it; learn from rejection. If you’re lucky enough to get feedback, incorporate that into your revisions and keep on sending.

If you're going the route of independent publishing, you can be sure that your work is ready for the public at this stage.

Following these steps may not seem as romantic as churning out 50k words for NaNoWriMo but they’re going to give you a manuscript you can be proud of, knowing you actually put in the work.