What to Do While Waiting for Edits to Avoid Going Stark Raving Bonkers

After all, you can only do so much Facebook, or other social media platforms, before the memes all start to look the same, and run together like a badly painted watercolor. I know about water colors.  When my family went on fishing trips, I didn’t have the patience to just sit there with a rod and reel, so I would sit there with my watercolors and a sketchpad and paint what I saw on the shores of the lake.  Once we went to southern Canada, Mille du Lacs, thousand lakes, and there was so much beauty to paint. I am the artist of the family, but my forte is painting pictures with words, not so much literally with a brush and palette.  Still, it was fun. I ended up writing a short story based on the trip.

If you are the artistic type, with paints and brushes as well as with words, that is one thing you can do to keep yourself relatively sane while waiting for your edits.  I’m more likely to paint with an embroidery needle and floss these days. I made a hanging, some years ago, when I first arrived in Sacramento. The intake therapist I saw to place me with a permanent therapist had a wooden crescent hanging in her office with the legend that read ”What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?”  It filled my head with ideas, so many that I knew I had to capture it on fabric with embroidery floss. So I put it together, and eventually finished it. All it needed is a stretcher frame and a way to hang it on the wall.

And of course, you can work on your WIPs, to give your poor beleaguered publisher.editor even more to do, eventually.  Currently, I am working on a Wip I started during Camp NaNoWriMo last year. I had to drop out of both early because I had shingles, a most unpleasant disease, which I would wish only on my worst enemy, and three months later in July, because I was so anxious about my diagnosis from a breast biopsy I had.  I don’t like being anxious. I take great strides trying to avoid anxiety attacks. If you are subject to them on a regular or semi-regular basis, I salute you. I don’t know how you get through them. I couldn’t concentrate to write. I kept running through the worst case scenario in my head. By the time the negative (it pays to think negative in this case  I adopted a new mantra; benign. I spread BENIGN BENIGN BENIGN BENIGN all through Facebook. I wonder now what Mr. Zuckerberg and his AI cronies and algorithms must’ve thought of my posting it up on my status like a madwoman. Words cannot express my extreme joy when I got the result. Benign, of course. It was just some calcified cells) the benign result arrived, I had had to drop out a second time.  But now, I am determined to finish at least the first draft. So that is what I am working on now. Tomorrow I start Chapter 21.

Then there’s YouTube and TV.  My favorite things to watch on YouTube are funny cat videos and the late great Victor Borge.  I LOVE to laugh at cats. I realize that in ancient Egypt they were worshiped as deities, and I call our cat “our little deity,” but when I see a cat acting oh, so dignified, then taking a pratfall, as long as I know the precious creature came to no harm, I’m all belly laughs and guffaws.  And the maestro Borge, the Great Dane, as a language nerd, I love how he approaches language. Of course, you realize that he’s approaching English as an outsider. English was probably his third or fourth, or even fifth language, but it’s still funny. And then there’s Netflix. I have discovered so many treasures by streaming gems of TV shows from all over the world.  Just now, I’m streaming the 4th season of Lucifer.  Fox cancelled it, probably under pressure from the jesoids, who probably hated the new look their true lord was getting.  So there you have it; what to do while waiting for your edits. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta look at my dedicated writing gmail account to see if PB has sent then like she said she had.

A Writer's Work "Is Never Done

Many people believe that once you have your story written, and you’ve been so fortunate as to get a publisher to publish it, your job is done.  Whoa! Not so fast, Pilgrim! For, in reality, the hard work is just beginning. “Writing the story is the easy part,” says Elise Whyles, the alter ego of my publisher, with whom I chatted last night. “You’ve got to polish, polish, polish, through the editing, and promote, promote, promote.”  Thus speaks the voice of knowledge and experience. I don’t know how long she has been doing this; writing professionally and publishing, but at a guess I’d say at least 20 years.

Many authors in her stable groan about the 4 edits process, and procrastinate on doing them as long as they can, but my own approach differs.  She gives us 2 weeks in which to complete the current edit, but I pretty much always have it back to her within 5 days. After writing for 50 years without a publisher for over 50 years, I am still so excited at the prospect of getting published that I view the edits as an opportunity to improve my brainbaby and turn it into a product of  worth that people will want to buy and read.So I lose no time in going through the edit, improving it as I go. The most time that’ll pass between receiving and getting to work on it will be about 10 hours, 2 for television viewing, and 8 for getting my beauty sleep. But if I talk to her in the morning, and she says “Check your inbox,” I go there and it’s there, why, then no time will pass between my receiving it and starting to work on it.  

Promotion: these blogs are part of the promotion process. I also belong to e very romance email group I could possibly find online.  Usually I just pass them by, but soon I shall have to actually post to them. All this goes on while I am writing the next story I shall submit for publication.  So it’s not unusual for a writer to be simultaneously working on up to four WIPs (Works In Progress) or even more. A writer I chatted with in the /MeWe group “The Black Hole”  told me that at the moment he was juggling 6 books. How do we do this juggling feat? Well, I don’t know how anyone else does it, but as for me, I’m a great believer in schedules and lists, all of which I make for myself, to keep everything from happening all at once.

When I was about 34 years younger, I took a look at the Communists’ “Five Year Plan.”  What with my financial condition being in survival mode at the time, I couldn’t plan very far into the future; 5 years was right out, but I took the 5 year plan and broke it into smaller increments of time.  If you start out on Monday morning or Sunday evening, you can make up a 5 day plan for the work week,which will take you through Friday.If you want to do 2 weeks, that’s a 15 day plan, or 1/2 a month. It you want to do a plan for the day, that’s 15 hours.There’s 5 weeks, 5 months or 15 months, a year and a quarter. If planning ahead further than 1 day is a trigger for you, you can break the 5 or 15 hours down into units of 5 or 15 minutes.  It’s very versatile. If you can plan ahead further than 15 month, why, go ahead and put your energy into the original 5 year plan. The Commies didn’t copyright their 5 year plan, so I didn’t copyright mine either. Go ahead and break it down however you feel you have to, for your own sanity and convenience.

When I receive the current edits, that starts my 5 day plan.  A couple hours spent on the edits, then a couple hours spent on my current WIP, which is And Love Will Steer the Stars.   Lunch is in there somewhere, and I might go shopping or to the library.Then I do emails and have supper. My evening is a combination of chatting online and TV viewing.  Your mileage may vary, but it works for me. When this year ends and the new year begins,that will start my new 15 month plan and my new 5 month plan. In April, there’s Camp NaNoWriMo, in which I shall attempt the sequel to the book that is coming out shortly, probably sometime next month or the month after.  Takuhi’s Dream  was published by FireDrake’s Weyr as a Young Adult ebook with certain sections taken out and replaced with 4D chess games,  This will be the full adult version with the adult sections restored. It is the story of a young professional woman being pursued across the Human section of the galaxy by two men; one with very evil intentions towards her, and the other--ell, you’ll just have to read it to find out.  Will she return to the planet on which 23 members of her 25 person team perished and what will she find there?

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The agony and ecstasy, which was the title of a novel  by Irving Stone and then a movie about the novel, so aptly describes the process that any creative person goes through when creating his or her project. This includes writers, especially those of us who not only create stories, but also the worlds that go into such stories, often acting as another character, if you will. You may well suppose that the ecstasy comes from the act of creation. When our mind births a character, wholy fleshed, with his or her own back story, with his or her own motives for doing things, and emotions we go through . But then, if that is the ecstasy, you may well ask, where does the agony come in?

The agony comes in during those periods of self-doubt, when we stare at the  blank screen or blank page and ask ourselves why we thought we had the talent  it takes to write, when our minds are just as blank as the page on the screen where did we get the  hubris, the unmitigated gall, the nerve to think to think that we had any writing talent at all? I go through this every time I sit down and start to write. Of course, I have Dragon, so I talk my stories.. But there are times when my mind is blank, and not a word comes through. It is at this time that I begin to realize why many writers have such a problem with alcohol. They drink to get through the psychic pain that comes whenever they sit down to write something. They drink to avoid the agony that comes after the ecstasy, or the agony that comes instead of the ecstasy. Now, with me, the real drinkers would consider me no fun at all, because I quit drinking just as soon as I start to feel the buzz. I don't like the loss of control that comes with consuming too much, and I tend to get sick if I go over my self-imposed limit.  That’s why I imposed it myself.  I don't like to get sick.  If I've gone to the trouble of cooking a meal, and then consuming part of it, I don't like having to sacrifice it to the white porcelain god . If someone is kind enough and generous enough to treat me to dinner, I don't like having to sacrifice it to the white porcelain god.

Of course I have ways of getting around this agony. One thing I have is music. I have several playlists on Rhapsody, which I use to set the mood, and get my mind working on my chosen scenario. Another way I have is by talking the story out with my Significant Other. Sometimes just talking it at him gives me ideas. Other times his questions raise questions in my own mind which I answer by writing.  Another way I have is legal in two states, and legal here if you have a card that says you need it for some condition or another.  But I don’t use it often.  We don’t have much, it’s expensive, and only my house mate has a card for using it because of his glaucoma.  Here also, moderation is necessary.  Use too much and you become pre-literate.  This may work for the visual arts, such as painting or sculpture, but if you’re writing, nope.

But in the end, there really is only one way did and this agony. That is to push through it to get to the act ecstasy part of creation. If you were a woman who has ever gone to trial birth, you know what I mean you pushed through the pain to emerge on the other side with the ecstasy of having this perfect small human in your arms. In the case of riding, you are merged with something that can be proved in improved with a bit of creative editing which carries its own agony.

"It's been a LOOOOOOOOng Time!

Yes, it's been over 7 years since last I wrote here.  I lost my publisher in 2009 due to the Managing editor having gotten stressed out taking care of her surly curmudgeon of a father, and her husband being afraid that she'd have an MS episode had her close the site down.  Compulsive writer that I am, I kept on writing, then Kira Cattan, dear generous soul that she is, turned me on to her publisher, Crimson Frost Books, out of British Columbia, Canada.  I friended the Managing Editor Patricia Bates, and sent her some of my manuscripts, all of which she accepted, I've signed 4 contracts, and the rest was history.  The first book to come out will be Palulukon, sometime early in '16.  The title is subject to change.  I'm not very good at coming up with engaging titles, so I'm trusting Patricia to come up with a title that will grab the attention of the reading public.  Stay tuned to this bat-channel for more developments.

Palulukon was my 2013 project for NaNoWriMo.  It's about a young widow to moves back with her 2 kids to her hometown of Flagstaff, AZ, and there is a dangerous monster killing people who abuse water.  It's from a Hopi legend about the underground guardians of water, a precious resource in desert-like Arizona. Janet WhiteDeer has a reunion with her high school sweetheart, who decides that he wants to rekindle the magic they had in high school.  But soon she meets the dashing geologist, and cannot decide which beau she prefers.  Will they stop the killings in the area by the monster and will Janet choose between her two suitors?

The other three books that I signed contracts for are: Takuhi's Dream,  Blood of her Fathers, and Nibiru I.  Takuhi's Dream was published as a Young Adult back in '08, but when FireDrake's Weyr folded in '09, the rights reverted to me, and I put all the steamy bits back into the manuscript.  Takuhi Maimun has just returned from a harrowing mission where only she and one other on her XT team survived.  She has been having nightmares of a monster that has been following her halfway around the Human part of the Galaxy.  Two men are also following her from planet to planet.  What are their intentions, and will she ever come to terms with her subconscious, roiling as it is with half-seen half heard visions of a being she cannot face?

Blood of her Fathersis about a young Wiccan who is forced into the family business of vampire hunting when her best friends are slain by aa bloodthirsty vampire hunting in the City by the Bay.  Will she conquer the vampire and discover the secret the police detective is hiding about himself, when she starts to realize that she is serious about him, as he is about her?

Nibiru I (there is also a II)  is about three young women who are taken across the dimensions, and to a planet on the other side of the Sun from Earth, where Christianity never develops.  Feelings develop between the 3 young women and their "abductors."  But trouble is brewing on their home planet.  radical evangelical Christians discover a whole new population for them to convert, namely their adoptive planet, and plan to invade.  Will the Nibiruans  be able to fend off these hostile invaders in time and will the 6 get together in the end?

To sum it all up, a lot of exciting things are happening.  My publisher suggested 2 posts per week, so will keep you posted on my progress.It seems kind of funny to me that while most people compile bucket lists of places they want to  go and things they want to do, my bucket list is full of books I want to write in the 20 or 30 years left in this incarnation.

I've caught the fame bug.

Cue David Bowie's song "Fame", or if you prefer, the theme song from "Fame" the movie and TV show. After Saturday's interview on blog spot radio, I have the fame bug bad. I want more interviews and more chats. Apparently my enthusiasm came through, because Chai said that my interview had the highest listenership they'd ever had.

The questions they asked me were deep and insightful. When I'd read the questions before, I questioned that the show could be kid-friendly. But I tried my best to answer in such as way as to enable the young listeners to relate to what we were talking about. For example, when I talked about Fried Brain Syndrome, I talked about that feeling you get when you've been studying for an exam, or working on a research paper, and you've taken the exam or turned in the paper. Your brain is fried, you have tunnel vision, and you need a way to open and relax your mind.
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The last question I found extremely flattering. It was the stock one about what advice I'd give to young aspiring writers. My advice was threefold. 1. Write. 2. Do your homework. The study habits you pick up will stand you in good stead researching a story. 3. Read voraciously.

The glow has dissipated a bit, but I still have good feelings about it. I'm hoping I keep this good feeling about being interviewed about my writing. Doc was thrilled for me, and so proud that the buttons on his shirt popped off.

Mop-up and Promo

Somewhere someone got the idea that I was complaining about the interviews Peggy and Chai have set up for me. If so, they just don't get me at all. Complain? Never! I think it's great. Chai has been working very hard to set up suitable venues for me to showcase my art. It can't be an
easy job coddling us writers. We're temperamental and have all the worst traits of an artist. We have big egos that like to be massaged on a regular basis. I love both Chai and Peggy to bits, although I'd like them to stay intact.

I'm pretty excited about Saturday's interview. It is on blogtalkradio.com/puddlepeople. The time is 10 am for us westerners here on the left coast, 11 am for those in the Mountain Time Zone, 12 noon for those in the Central time zone, and 1:00 pm for those in the East. It will be a kid-friendly interview. But the questions will be deep, and I think adults will get a lot out of it too. I had a look at the questions, and they got into the mythic background of my characters, so I think I should post to the Joseph Campbell group too.

I think publishing is fun work and very interesting. If tomorrow when I woke up I found myself being 18 again, and trying to decide what to do with my life, I think I would try to find a school that would teach me about publishing. And I would also write and try to get my work published. As it stands, I like to get my work published. I think that's the agenda for any writer. We all want to get our stuff out there. And the Internet is a great medium to work in. I don't know how anyone can be bored with all that the Internet has to offer. I've been on it almost 11 years, and I haven't gotten anywhere close to having even scratched the surface yet.

My new books

After I went through that blogging frenzy on Friday, I reflected that I was missing a good bet where these blogs are concerned. I should be using them to promote my books, so here I am. Since September, when last I posted here, I moved to a new publisher. It opened on January 31st with three new releases, a child's book, a young adult Scifi novel (ages 13-17), and an adult erotic romance. The young adult book is mine, Takuhi's Dream, and it is particularly close to my heart because it is the first novel I actually finished. The three stories I published with Silk's Vault came years after Takuhi's Dream, a couple decades, really. I started it in 1974, and finished it in 1982, a few weeks after my daughter, now 26, was born. When I heard that my favorite editor, Peggy, aka the Dragonlady, was starting a new publishing house, FireDrakes Weyr, I submitted Takuhi's Dream to her. She liked it, and had several suggestions for me. She turned me over to another editor, and we worked together to get it up to speed. We turned it into a Young Adult book. Diane Taylor, Stacy Dawn and I were on a web radio show the Sunday before.

Takuhi's Dream is about a young woman, who is a kulturologist, a kind of ethnographer, who is being pursued around the galaxy by a monster she cannot face, and two men, one of whom means her harm, and the other one--well, you'll just have to download the story and find out.
Go to http://www.firedrakesweyr.com/ and do a search on me, Rita Trevalyan. Takuhi's Dream will come up. There is an excerpt from the book and everything. Sure, it's a young adult book, and you're 35 with teenagers of your own, but hey, look at all the adults who are buying the Harry Potter books and reading them, and they were written for children.

It might still be with the new releases. If you wait more than a week, on March 1st there will be
a new release by me, Roman Rhapsody. It is the story of a wealthy, happily married forty-two year old woman who nevertheless is mired in a sea of ennui, and is having dreams of disturbingly erotic content about a relationship between a Roman matron and a gladiator. Can she integrate those dreams with her real life? You'll have to read the story to find out.

I guess Peggy is called the Dragonlady because she is such a fierce advocate for the reader's right to read a story that is the best an author can turn out. It all depends how you look at dragons. Sure, they're fierce, but they are also loyal and passionate. Peggy is a sweetheart, really. She knows how to coddle an author and in the same breath crack the whip so as to inspire the author to turn out her best work. I just know that when I meet her I'm going to want to give her a big hug.