creativity

This is a good article on creativity. 

Brutal Truth about Creativity

Recently, on Netflix, we watched a documentary on Shakespeare. It went into from where his inspiration might've come through history, his own experiences, or creative genius. I've also read Stephen King speak about how a newspaper can trigger a book for him. Is genius really about being able to see something has happened and use it in a different way?

when it goes well

It might seem after the misery of June in editing the paranormals with the mistakes that were so upsetting that I'd let editing go for awhile and concentrate instead on having a good time in July-- or even begin writing Book 4 of the Hemstreet Witches. 

What was on my mind instead were the contemporary romances that I'd first brought out in December 2011 and into 2012, books I had written when I was writing for myself and not trying to get my books published. I didn't try to get them out there until Amazon made being an indie writerpossible

My debate today regards these contemporaries, which have fallen into Amazon's black hole thanks to not many sales and Amazon's algorithms. I believe in those stories. Should I should pull them (there are ten) from wider distribution and get them into Kindle Unlimited, where they can be borrowed, not necessarily just bought? Some say Amazon's algorithms are kinder to books in KU. I have no idea as this will be m first time there with the paranormal contemporary romances. 

the 'nots'

by Rain Trueax

When I put out a book, I am convinced it is without errors and written to the best of my capabilities (at that time). I believe the story is solid and has a reason for being, that the characters are exciting with depth, and that what happens in the plot makes sense for those protagonists. 

Before the word publish is clicked, I will have written a rough draft, done two or three word-for-word edits, not to mention scanning over multiple times for context. Two or three beta readers will have sent me notes on errors they found, which I have corrected. My editor will have also done one or two word-for-word edits. When he gets the final version, he will look again before hitting publish.

From experience, I know that won't have caught everything. It's the unfortunate nature of writing, where it isn't all done the same day and where typing is often done, while thinking ahead of the keys. There will be typos. There will be commas missed because of wanting to get down the action. There will be misused words, even when I know well the correct ones-- i.e. hear and here. Argh!

What there should not be are secondary characters' names changing during the book. There should not be dialogue that makes no sense. There should not be timing confusion. There should not be saying the same thing three paragraphs after it had just been said. 

It is random

by Rain Trueax

Something has been on my mind. We, in the United States and most of the developed nations, live in a safe period of history. If you look back at history, you see wars that swept across people's homelands, along with plagues and famines. Those could decimate whole populations. 

As mankind has learned more, diseases have been taken on, and in some cases conquered.  When I was a girl, my parents feared having us swim in some rivers because polio was a very real risk. Then came the Salk vaccine, and polio has been all but forgotten for what it once meant-- unless you have a family member who had been touched by it. Iron lungs, what do people today know of that horrid but lifesaving device?

what we don't know but think we do

by Rain Trueax

Subjects for blogs come from many sources- what I'm doing; what I read; something someone said; from the muse. I don't try to explain it anymore than I do from where my books come. Once in awhile though, something comes along that excites my interest enough to stick with it and then want to share it-- in fiction and here.

The day after the Fourth

As we once again have gone past Independence Day, a time in America for celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, this can be a time to reflect on the meaning of July 4th for Americans. For many of us, it has been a time for fireworks, camping, gatherings, picnics, and vacations. It is celebrated however because of a document signed by representatives from the thirteen colonies to break with Great Britain and become a sovereign nation.

It is a more lengthy document than most of us remember. If you haven't read its entirety in a while, it's here: [The Declaration of Independence]. What is familiar and often quoted is--

mail order

 Since my posts are totally off kilter this week with nothing, with one exception, when they should be, I skipped the regular Saturday and thought I'd share this on Sunday. 

With country living, mail order is an important benefit. I grew up when the big deal was getting a Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalog each season and picking out toys or clothing. At one time, people even ordered homes through those catalogs. Yes, back then, I enjoyed their stores too, but we were country living folks and getting to town didn't come all that often. Browsing those catalogs did. Today browsing happens online and is not limited to one store.

What the emails look like--

If you haven't signed up for my email alerts regarding new books, this is an example of what you would receive. We keep it simple (Ranch Boss does these) with just the info about the new book and connections to earlier books. We don't send spam, share your addy, or mail you something not relating to new releases, contests, or give-aways.

Mail Chimp alongside here is where you can sign up-- and cancel anytime.

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Rain Trueax's  New Release

Our latest release in the Tucson based Hemstreet Witches. A series combining the family story lines from my Arizona Historicals and the mystery side of the barrio's inhabitants.

Available June 21, 2017. A Price To Be Paid The third of the Hemstreet Witches, Paranormal Modern Romances. This series pulls the locations and character types from the Arizona Historicals into the 21st century.  Living and "reliving"  the energy of the Arizona rim country, the intrigue of Tucson's old Presido, Barrio Viejo and the Tanque Verde. http://www.amazon.com/Price-Paid-Hemstreet-Witches-Book-ebook/dp/B0732HT4ZQ

As a woman with her feet in two worlds,  Devi Hemstreet tries to find peace with the conflicts she feels wishing she had not been born a witch. The youngest of four Hemstreet sisters, that choice was never hers. Working in the family bookstore, trying to move out of the family home, what is hers? And now, to complicate it, she has an unwelcome and persistent suitor. Asa Taggert has acquired all that a man could want with money, properties, physical beauty, and a son he is raising as a single parent. He is being pressured to run for political office, something he’s unsure he’s suited to do. Still, what challenge is left for him? When these two come together, a business contract is a vehicle for the passion that lies beneath the surface. Will a marriage by contract ever be enough for either of them? At Willy’s Lake they find the answers-- as well as a life-changing challenge. Set in Central and Southern Arizona, this contemporary paranormal confronts the question of what is real with a determined ghost , spirit guides, demons, possible monsters, and maybe karma, with a need to fulfill—A Price to be Paid. Some spice, violence, strong language, and unconventional spirituality. 72,000 words.  Trailer: . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIrIhcRVHg8. All books in the Hemstreet series have been updated for content and continuity.

The back story of Asa Taggert and his termination. http://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Past-Arizona-Historicals-Taggerts-ebook/dp/B0125LTADY/        Willy's Lake original story. http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Hills-Arizona-Historicals-Taggerts-ebook/dp/B01D7L0IL4/

Hemstreets Book 1     http://www.amazon.com/Enchantress-Secret-Hemstreet-Witches-Book-ebook/dp/B01GKH4DJA

Hemstreets Book 2, also a central Arizona connection http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Things-Unseen-Hemstreet-Witches-ebook/dp/B01KDCI9VG

the muse

When writing, I count a lot on the muse (which I've written about before) for inspiration. I might have a general outline in my head but that's not a book-- not even a short story. The muse doesn't speak directly to me but rather comes in serendipitous coincidences and dreams. 

After a night of vivid dreams, I often lie awake in the morning to try to put together what they meant and can they be used. Many mornings I dreamed all night, but nothing is left when I wake.

a test

by Rain Trueax

After the major failure of my blog on Saturday due to running that blog into the previous one, I need to find out if this is an ongoing problem before Wednesday rolls around. This is a blog I wrote for Smart Girls Read Romances where it posted fine. Let's see how it does here.

A Price to be Paid is my fifth paranormal full length novel. I'd written the first two in the Hemstreet Witches series in spring and early summer of 2016, but something about this one had me writing other books and delaying its start until mid-January 2017. I didn't write the end until early June, which for me, is a long writing time to get a rough draft.

In writing it, I kept alternately referring to it as fantasy or paranormal. Turns out not so. Fantasy genre is for books set in a world created by the author. Paranormal uses our physical world but with supernatural elements. Mine are paranormals. In this one, there are spiritual entities of many sorts, along with heroines who are natural born witches-- not supernatural beings but with superhuman powers. They don't live forever and can be killed. Karma, reincarnation, and redemption are key themes, along with life questions such as--

In a new lifetime, can a soul, who lived a bad to the bone life, change into someone good? 

Does it matter what someone actually did or more what they thought they did?

Can guilt be such a weighty burden that it makes real change impossible? 

The themes might seem weighty, but they're woven into the plot, personal interactions, a spicy romance, and strong adventure.

In 1901, in the Arizona historical, Echoes from the Past, Asa Taggert lived by the gun and died by it. A true villain, he had no compassion for others and committed a heinous act. After that lifetime, it took a while, but his soul was reborn to be killed in WWII and again in the Vietnam War. In 1984, he was born into the Taggert family and given his name from that earlier lifetime. His challenge was to get past earlier mistakes and live a meaningful life. Expecting his time to be short, he is raising a son and has amassed a fortune. Love for a woman is not in the cards—nor is any belief in the supernatural realm, making it difficult for his spirit guide to reach him.

Devi doesn’t want to be a witch, despite being born into a family of witches and shamans. The youngest of four sisters, she reluctantly lives at home, conflicts with her mother, writes a garden blog under a pseudonym, and avoids using her powers as much as possible. When her attempt to purchase a fixer-upper Barrio Viejo adobe is blocked, her solace is with her grandmother and her witch’s garden. She is aware of her spirit guide but doesn’t listen to him. She is determined to live as a normal woman and having seen the pain her mother went through with her father’s death, she plans to never fall in love or marry.

When these two come together, a business/marriage contract is only an excuse for what is to follow as each comes to understand there is indeed a price to be paid to live life fully. The book has spice, violence, and a shamanistic view of life.

 A Price to Be Paid available at Amazon 

Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIrIhcRVHg8.

All of my contemporary paranormals are now in Kindle Unlimited for borrowing. The Hemstreet Witches Series involve descendants of my Arizona historicals. A Price to be Paid shares a spirit guide with Diablo Canyon (Montana). Sky Daughter (Idaho) has no connecting characters-- yet. I like writing series and connecting characters when possible-- so there might will be future connections.

Reviews

Yes, there are those days!

Once a book is out, then it's time to worry about whether readers will like it. Will it get reviews? That is a big deal if a writer hopes to have more than two people see their book. If you don't routinely leave reviews for books, think about it. Even the negative ones are helpful. Some writers say they never read their reviews. I see them as the connection between the reader and me-- something I won't likely experience any other way. They help books sell (or not). Also they are a creative opportunity for the reader to interact with the next reader.

After I hit publish on a book, I begin to wonder-- did the story end up with all it should have had or did something get missed? Did it have too much in some places leaving readers bored? So many questions go through my head once the book is being shared with others. Routinely, I wish I'd had time for one more edit. A Price to be Paid has had one early review, which I very much appreciated as the reader got what I had hoped.

template failure-- maybe

When I got here this morning to see if the blog posted right, it looked fine if you don't count that it ran right over the last blog. Shortening it didn't help. I will be back with regular blogs if i can figure out what went wrong with the blogger template. If not, I may need to find a new blog site...

book trailers

Creating trailers for my books has become one of those things I generally do when I finish the rough draft. They help me write the blurbs, and I enjoy playing with images. If you have an interest in such, the ones I have created are at [Rainy Day Trailers] as well as on my Rain Trueax channels at YouTube. For reasons relating more to my lack of techie skills than a desire, I have two channels there with no idea how to merge them. This is the one with the most recent videos-- My YouTube Channel.

Because of discovering filters to use on photos, for the first time I put together the video with one of the apps. I like how besides looking like a painting, it gives the images a fantasy feel-- appropriate for a paranormal book where the 'other' side intrudes on what we consider the real world...



This following link takes you to it on YouTube if the embed is too slow. Much of how well videos work is dependent on the speed of someone's server. Mine varies in how effective it is. It can help to put it on pause and let it get ahead, in short, buffer. (My granddaughter taught me that one-- as often happens with techie stuff that they get far faster than I do).

A Price to be Paid

If you haven't seen the videos for the first two in the Hemstreet Witches series, they are at: 

 Enchantress' Secret

&

To Speak of Things Unseen

Managing Time

by Rain Trueax

obviously that's not me. It is one of my created images for inspiration on the books, 

such images often provide an idea for a scene. Can't you just see that that young woman, 

at that waterfall as she contemplates what she wants in her life! 
Contemplation is an important part of writing and life at all ages.

Besides writing, editing, and working with images, I have a few other things in my life, although less than I had at one time. When I was at the busiest in raising the kids and being involved in the community out here, I had a philosophy regarding what I would accept in the way of projects.

Enjoy or not enjoy, my firm standard was only two, outside, time consumers, at a time. There are things, you cannot manage in terms of time-- raising kids, with all the variables that go with that, is a big one. Sometimes, at the height of their years of being involved and before they drove, that could mean three trips a day, into where they went to school. At 20 miles each way, that meant I was driving 120 miles some days. Since I have not ever been fond of driving (it is a necessity), that was a lot of hours in the vehicle-- and that didn't count what I might've done for myself in another town. Those were years of not as much money; so it sometimes meant breaking down on the road and having to walk-- before the years of cellphones. Sometimes when I think back on that, like accepting a ride into town with a stranger, I really do see that life as from another lifetime.

marketing or not

by Rain Trueax

In the 5 1/2 years since I became an indie writer, what I have learned about marketing books....

 ....

la te dah de dah

ho hum

sigh

*twiddling thumbs*

 What was the subject again?

In short, I still don't know much. I know what marketing needs to do-- get your books seen by those who might enjoy reading them. And that is where what I know ends. How do you do that?

sometimes there are no reasons

There is no explanation for why it took me over five months to write my last book. It's not that long. I knew where it was going. Liked its characters. Of course, that wasn't solid writing, but from the time I began writing 1/15/17, it took until 6/3/17 to see the end of the first rough draft. 

The only similarly long time between start and finish was Love Waits, but I wasn't writing on it the whole time. I had begun its first chapter one autumn and just didn't have a good feel for it. I stopped to write other things and came back to it the next fall where the writing flowed. 

There are many drawbacks to having actual writing be sporadic and stretch over such a long span-- not the least of which is forgetting details that lead to a horse having its name changed on just one ride. Sometimes though it's just how it is and not the fault of the book but something in the writer. I would write for a while and then stop. Some days I'd make myself write. Others, I'd accept it was how it was.

One thing that complicated it was how many elements were in the book-- things I needed to think about. My paranormals are stories of humans finding their lives intermingled with the 'other' side. It's always a situation of trying to decide what that will mean for each of the books. This one was complicated by politics playing a factor since the hero is considering running for a political office. Politics are a dicey subject to put into any book.

My goal was this would be a shorter book like the first two of the Hemstreet Witches series at around 60,000 words. It ended up 70,000+. Its editing has also been difficult because of those writing breaks where I lost continuity-- something an edit is supposed to find. I tried to catch as much of that as possible before sending it to its other editor and beta readers. I doubt I found all the mistakes.

Anyway, this is its cover and after more editing, it should be out by the end of June. Time will tell on that too. 

In terms of my life, today is the graduation of our oldest grandchild. She is off to college next year and an adventure of her own. Dramatic time, a little teary and scary, but important as a part of the cycle of life. This is from 1998. I know they can't stay babies forever. We don't want them to, but I do miss those days and the cuddles.

Roses in the Rain

More roses just because in the editing I'm doing, this is my respite, my place to feel good. When my editing of the rough draft is finished, I will put together a little video of the roses and some music. As much as they are beautiful anyway, in the rain, they become almost mystical. These old fashioned, vintage roses are so special with their fragrance and the fact that they only bloom this once.

 

eek!

 While writing the last chapters of my WIP, I had posted about the covers I had in mind for the paranormal romances. I thought I had that problem solved... Turns out not so much. The problem with books that bridge genres is they aren't easy to nail down for what should be on a cover. Well, not necessarily easy even when they don't, but especially difficult when they do. 

Paranormal can be a genre. Likewise, so can romance. When it's both, what do you emphasize on the cover? It's even more complicated for writers not on the A list, writers whose names alone won't sell their books. Covers are big reasons why potential readers will check out a book. 

roses

I rarely cut the roses from the garden because they last longest when they stay on the stem. The fragrance and beauty of them in every stage is such a gift in June. The tea roses are in full glory as are the old fashioned, where this is there only season to bloom. Damask and musk roses are so fragrant and will be more of the show as June goes on.

 

for our own good

 first tea rose this spring

Recently, the media has been feeling very put upon by one political party and politician in particular. I read many memes and pieces, by mostly liberals, who feel threatened by this 'assault' on the news. Without journalism, how will we know what is happening? goes the cry. 

I have a cry too-- how will we know anyway given that most of the press today has an agenda. You can tell what it is by headlines and how often stories look like they will be saying one thing when they end up something very different, ending with-- it cannot be proven.

Is this anything new? Well, Mark Twain writings indicate it's not from what he wrote in the 1800s. 

Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling critique the press

I had come across a rather famous quote by Twain on the press. 

“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”

Unfortunately, as happens so often, he probably didn't say it or at least it isn't listed among his writings. This happens a lot when something seems more powerful if it is from someone famous. What's a little lie among friends-- right?

There is though something on the press by another famous person that can definitely be attributed to him, and it's even earlier.

"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The only extend of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.

"I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false."  Thomas Jefferson in 1807

Someone I like seemed trying to make the case that Yellow Journalism is justified as the people need to be told what to think since they often won't figure it out on their own. I am still trying to wrap my head around that thought since it's alien to anything I myself would believe. This piece is about the beginning of the term and what it can accomplish-- [Yellow Journalism]

What I want from a newspaper is not a dramatic headline but the facts of what happened. The editorial page is where I want someone to tell me what they think it means. The cool thing about editorial pages is I pretty well know what to expect from the opinions because of reading many previous writings. A front page story is supposed to be about what happened-- period, and I rarely look up who wrote it.

"Yellow journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts. During its heyday in the late 19th century it was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines, leading to the acquisition of overseas territory by the United States." [Yellow Journalism]

It was early in 2016 when I got disillusioned with the major newspapers in my country. I would see headlines, read the articles, wait for the headline to be proven and find it often was disproven on the third page. How many people read to the third page? 

 The New York Times admitted after the 2016 election that their coverage had been biased. They quickly though renounced any attempt to change their ways; and since then, most of the major newspapers and most cable news stations have been heavily biased to report all the negative. A Harvard study had CNN at the top of the list with 93% negative stories on the current administration.

Some say well the stories are negative because everything happening is negative but that begs the question. Are they covering any of the things that make this administration look good? How about when another country's leader visits here and says nice things? Does that get the same coverage that the secret source said about the same thing only sounding bad? 

For those who want impeachment - yesterday, this is perfectly okay as are the fake news sources who constantly have someone from the FBI, CIA or State Department relaying, off the record, what is about to happen-- guaranteed. Sometimes the mainstream runs with that too as just reporting what they heard-- as in gossip.

This is not an article to say our current President is a good guy or bad. I don't have an opinion on him as I don't know enough facts. I didn't vote for him based on the issues of what he said he'd do (which he mostly is trying to do). Mostly, this is my opinion about the sources we rely on to tell us the truth of events, and my belief they are not what I once thought they were. That it's nothing new is no comfort.

It has gotten so bad that many are turning off the news period. When the news is changing everyday and using hidden sources, maybe that's not a bad thing. How does your garden look today? *s*