I'm very pleased to announce that the audiobook edition of Between the Salt Water and the Sea Strand is now available on Audible! David Ault worked so hard on this audiobook and I think it turned out spectacularly. If audiobooks are your thing, please give it a listen!

 Remember that announcement I teased a while back? Well, it's ready to be announced: Between the Salt Water and the Sea Strand is getting an audiobook adaptation!

Not only that, but the narrator is none other than David Ault, co-creator of the Jodcast, professional voice actor, and all-around awesome guy! We got to chatting on a comment thread on a Jodcast X post, I asked him if he'd be interested in the project since the character of the faerie king was actually partly inspired by him, and now an audiobook has happened, and it turns out social media can be useful after all!

David has been an absolute joy to work with, and he did an amazing job drawing the listener into the story and bringing the characters to life, and even singing which he gets a jillion gold stars for. (And, being English, he can do a much better British accent than I can.) 

He also did me the huge service of going through the text and making sure everything was in proper British English. Because as much as I love the UK, I have never been there (yet), and although I grew up reading a lot of British children's literature, enjoy following British astronomy, have written way too much Neopets fanfic that was required to use British English to be accepted for publication in the Neopian Times, and I think nowadays I actually listen to Brits more than Americans*, there are some definite gaps in my knowledge (usually about items that are not related to astronomy or food or medieval combat). (Did you know they call crosswalks "pedestrian crossings" there? Wild!) 

So I am indebted to David for giving me a crash course on British English (and a fascinating side trip into British geographical nomenclature!), as well as correcting things that I promise I actually already knew, but that I missed when I was converting the manuscript from American to British English. To make a short story long (which I can do because this is my blog and there are no word count limits that I have yet found), I originally wrote the manuscript in American English despite the story taking place in England, simply because I am American, I live in America, and aside from aforementioned fanfic with specific publication requirements, I feel it's dishonest of me to pretend to be British when I write. But when David signed on for the audiobook, I figured that sort of gave me the green light to just go ahead and make it British. It's an international production, much like the James Webb Space Telescope and Fraggle Rock! (But I still missed some odd things in the transition, like calling trousers "pants" which is British English 101, and not spelling "armour" the Commonwealth way, despite my Neopets fics involving quite a bit of armour and I am perfectly aware how it's supposed to be spelled and I am still kicking myself about it. I think I need more sleep. David was so patient with me and he deserves a medal.)

Anyway, that's neither here nor there; the point of these ramblings is that the audiobook is coming to Audible very soon, so keep an eye out for it (or keep an eye on this blog, or my social media, I guess)!

*Speaking of listening to a lot of British people, I think I've begun to pick up a little bit of an English accent, which is going to be very awkward if I ever have a real spoken conversation with a British person. I guess I could try hard to sound more American? Would they even notice? Am I just overthinking everything again?????

 

My novel Between the Salt Water and the Sea Strand is now available in ebook format (and paperback is coming soon)!

Check it out for a fun collision of modern England and British/Celtic mythology and folklore, a heroine on the autism spectrum, and more than you ever really needed to know about making rock (the confectionery, not the geologic object). 

I worked hard on this one and I really hope readers enjoy it. (Old Tom is totally based on my cat.)

Stay tuned for that cool announcement I promised!

 

I'm super excited to announce that the revised edition of Pixeldust is now live on the Kindle store (and in paperback)!

I went into detail about why I decided to do a revision, and what exactly I revised, in this blog post. I really feel that all the issues with the original are fixed now, and it's something that both my current editor and I are satisfied with.

If you haven't read Pixeldust yet, please give it a spin! My editor loved it and she's not even a geeky gamer like yours truly!

Lo'gaan Shelumiel, princess of the moon elves of Kesh'tame Woodland and master ranger, and her sworn enemy General Noggerath, a mysterious orc warlord whose forces have invaded the peaceful land of Avonell to steal its pixiedust, which powers all the world's magic and technology. This is the plot of Heroes of Avonell, the super-advanced virtual reality MMORPG featured in my cyber fantasy novel Pixeldust.

I did this sketch because I've never drawn Noggerath and wanted to try out some stuff for his character design. Lo'gaan is also fun to draw; I based her outfit off of traditional Korean armor and clothing (the fictional development company who created Heroes of Avonell is based in South Korea).

Also, I wanted to announce that there is a new, revised version of Pixeldust coming out very soon! I recently re-read it and discovered that I wasn't really satisfied with the first edition; the prose is very clunky in spots, and there were some prime character development opportunities I missed out on. I also realized there were a number of parts that I'd altered from the original draft to go along with my editor's recommendations, but actually, ever since I published the first edition I hadn't been able to shake that it wasn't really how I wanted the story to go. And it feels very overwritten at times, like I was trying to solve problems in the original draft that didn't actually exist.

I'm not saying the editor didn't do a good job - she did a great job and really helped me polish the story development - but now I realize there were places where I should have stayed true to my original creative vision, instead of assuming that the editor was always right and that I had no idea what I was doing (I've gained a bit more confidence in my writing since then). So I've given the novel a bit of an overhaul, and I'm much more pleased with it now. I drastically changed some parts, including a big element of the ending, which I mostly did to lead in better to ideas for a sequel I've been tossing around.

As for Lo'gaan and Noggerath, I realized that their character arcs needed more substance and closure. In the revised edition (spoilers) Lo'gaan goes along with General Orsamus's descent into control-freak megalomania because she's distraught over being just an AI in a video game instead of a real special snowflake princess. But the protagonists - including Noggerath, who's not a bad guy and was only invading Avonell in a misguided attempt to save his own kingdom - help her understand that her true merit comes from her strength of character and honorable deeds, not a fake title of royalty and a fictional backstory. Noggerath saves her life after she helps them escape from Orsamus's forces, and offers her sanctuary at his home kingdom of Caed Dhraos. The two work together to protect Caed Dhraos from Orsamus, who has gone on a self-righteous power trip, and eventually end up a couple in a twist of irony. 

All of this was something I vaguely hinted at in the first edition, but in reading it again I felt like their character arcs just weren't coming through clearly enough and weren't emotionally satisfying, just hints of character development that seemed to be lurking under the surface but never properly manifested. I think my revisions soundly fixed that issue, however, as well as a lot of others.

The revised edition is not up for sale yet, but it should be soon. I'm very grateful for all the nice reviews the book has gotten, and I hope that this new edition will live up to those compliments even more than the previous one.

Big news! I'm visiting the Idaho Falls Public Library on January 13 and I'd love to see you there! I will be discussing some of the themes in my science fiction disabilities novel On Borrowed Wings, as well as introducing my other books. Come ask me questions, get books signed, and exchange Pokémon GO friend codes with me!

I'm hoping to have paperbacks on sale at the event, but no guarantees, so if you want a book signed, I advise buying it from Amazon ahead of time.

I'm very excited to share my work with the Idaho Falls community and I'm very grateful to the library for letting me put on this event. I hope everyone has a great time!

Miscellany

First off, as you've probably noticed, the blog has a new look! I just felt like changing things up a bit and experimenting with a new color scheme. I also wanted the graphic design to better represent what my work is all about.

Also, the About page now has a FAQ section, because those are generally useful, and I realized there are some questions I actually get asked quite frequently.

I wanted to take a quick moment to address the infrequent updates lately. I've had a lot going on IRL and just haven't had much time or energy for drawing or writing. Things have settled down a bit now, so I'm hoping to be able to get back to being a little more creative going forward. 

I've also still been trying to sort out some of the career thoughts I discussed in this post. Marketing and overall trying to get my books noticed was just way, way too stressful, like the kind of stress that causes health problems and makes it very obvious that you need to immediately stop what you're doing. I'm still trying to figure out where to go from here without compromising my health again, but I think my passion for storytelling is an important part of who I am, and it's something that I worked very hard to acquire the skillset for, so I want to embrace it and make it my contribution to the world. I appreciate the support of my readers and followers who have the ability to spread their enthusiasm for my work and help me feel like what I'm doing is worthwhile.

Finally, for anyone who's interested, I made some rather extensive revisions to Worth Searching For, specifically most of the scenes involving Terra's and Isengrim's friendship. This is the second time I've revised the story, and while I felt the last revision was a drastic improvement over the original that (rather unfortunately) was the version that got into the Neopian Times, a short while ago I looked at it again and felt that I could do a better job of portraying their evolving interpersonal dynamic, playing up Terra's strengths, and exploring and explaining Isengrim's complicated psychology.

In this version, I wanted to make it clear that Terra gets caught up in a tough situation, but with her wisdom, far-sightedness, and compassion, she's quick to understand that Isengrim is the one who really needs saving. The two are able to connect over the fact that Terra is also a social reject, so she empathizes with Isengrim's Werelupe pack, knowing how it feels to be shunned for being different.

On Isengrim's part, I hopefully made it clear that from the beginning he feels conflicted about his actions and his attitude toward his new owner. His past experiences with other people have made him feel like he cannot trust Terra, but her brave and selfless actions, as well as her unconditional kindness toward him and the other Werelupes, quickly endear her to him despite his best attempts to deny it. When he hurts her feelings during the feast, he decides that he's had enough of his own poor behavior.

I think this version also better shows that after their pivotal conversation, the two become fast friends and truly care for each other not out of force of circumstance, but because they genuinely enjoy each other's personalities and enjoy taking care of each other. As I said, this part of the plot is extremely complicated, but I think these latest revisions handle it much more realistically and satisfactorily. I probably bit off far more than I could chew with wanting to write a story redeeming Isengrim, but I just felt like it needed to happen, even if my first attempts at the details were a little clumsy. He's become a fantastic part of the main cast, though, so I regret nothing. 

(Also, if you like my Neopets work, I've got another story coming to the blog soon, so keep an eye out for that!)

Great news! The revised edition of The Voyage of the Kaus Media is now available on Amazon! 

As I mentioned before, most of my edits were technical in nature, and I think the book reads a lot smoother now. I did include two substantial changes to the storyline, though: I altered Angela's actions right before the Battle of Viper's Pass to give her better character development, and I added something at the end of the Menket act of the plot to give that section more satisfying closure. Even though it's only been a few years since I wrote this book, I feel like I've learned so much more about writing since then!

If you haven't yet read VotKM, now's the perfect time to embark on a steampunk fantasy epic about a downtrodden girl who learns her destiny is to be a destroyer of nations... or is it? Can she finally find the courage and self-worth to say "no" and stick up for her own values before it's too late?

I wrote this book not only for people who love a good adventure, but for people like Angela who struggle to feel like they have a voice in a noisy world that doesn't seem to care much about who they are or what they need. You do have a voice, you are precious and important, and you can do incredible - even world-changing - things with your innate strengths and talents. The world needs you!

Comments disabled

Hello all,

In light of a recent rash of spambots, and the fact that this blog does not get many (legit) comments to begin with, I've gone ahead and disabled comments across the blog.

If you'd like to get a hold of me, please feel free to do so on Facebook, Instagram, or Goodreads.

And if you're enjoying my Neopets fanfiction, I have a surprise coming soon! :)

New feature! I realized that if you're reading my Neopets fanfiction on this blog, even though they're all collected under the "stories on the blog" tag, it can still get a bit messy as there are also unrelated stories in there, and they're all in reverse chronological order.

So, I created a dedicated page listing all of the Neopets fics currently on the blog! (This definitely isn't all of them--more are coming as I have the time and energy to revise them, create the necessary illustrations, and post them.)

You can access this page from the bottom of any Neopets fanfic blog post. I'm also working on getting it onto the sidebar for quick direct access. Now you can enjoy all of the fics from one central location, in the correct order! (Many of the fics skip around somewhat in canonical time as they cover characters' backstories and such, but I think they're best enjoyed and make the most sense in the order they were written.)

I'm very pleased to announce that my revision of The Voyage of the Kaus Media is done! I actually ended up whacking off about 10,000 words, so I wanted to talk a little bit about what's changed this time around.

Most of my edits are strictly prose-related. The book came out in 2019, and it turns out I've actually improved as an author since then (go figure). I'm not trying to be OCD about revising my work, but when I re-read something and just start cringing, I know I need to take action. I want my books to be the absolute best they can be, and I would feel ashamed of offering something for sale that wasn't the highest quality I can manage.

One of the big things I did with this revision is to take out a lot of Angela's inner monologue. When I was revising the manuscript the first time around, I tried to be extra conscientious of making sure the reader constantly knew what Angela was thinking and feeling about everything. Turns out, not only is that not actually strictly necessary, but in reading the novel again, I felt that all of this discussing her thoughts and feelings was really bogging down the pacing for me. Plus, there were numerous times when it just became repetitive to the point of redundancy--do we really need to be reminded in every chapter that Angela misses her family, is grateful for her friends, etc.?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I got rid of all the inner monologue. But there is definitely such a thing as too much of it. Angela is a complex character who undergoes a great deal of personal growth over the course of the plot, so there are definitely times when I needed to discuss what was going on in her head. But the rest of the time, I can let her dialogue and her actions do the talking for her, and trust that the reader can fill in the blanks. Plus, I think it helps that I made sure to really establish at the beginning of the book what kind of person she is and what her background is, so that her actions and reactions are not as enigmatic to the reader.

Another thing I did was carefully reexamine my use of dialogue tags, and remove them when necessary. It's my rule of thumb that if a paragraph starts talking about one character, and doesn't mention any other characters, I generally don't need a dialogue tag in that paragraph; it's understood that everything in the paragraph is pertaining to that character. So that probably got rid of about 7,000 words right there.

For the most part, the story is exactly the same; I did slightly alter some tidbits here and there, but it was mostly for increased plot clarity. The plot did get one major alteration (mild spoilers ahead): during the battle at Viper's Pass, in the previous version, Captain Saixaphas asked Angela to stay on the command bridge because her powers might be useful in the battle. In this new version, Saixaphas wants her to go back to her cabin, but Angela insists on staying in case she's needed. I really wanted to hammer home just how much she changed after her experiences in Elrath, how it became the turning point for her being more proactive and really believing she could make a difference.

I've handed the manuscript over to my editor, and hopefully very soon it'll be up on Amazon. I'm looking forward to bringing VotKM up to speed with my more recent work!

Also, now's about a good a time as any to mention that updates may be a little scarce for a while. I have a lot going on, and I'm just plain tuckered out from Blue Diver, so I think I need a vacation. I'm still hoping to get started on my next novel sometime this year, but for now I need some R&R. Catch you later!

NEXT-DAY EDIT: Okay, I added one more substantial change to the plot that I think a) really makes a lot of sense and b) gives the Ulo part of the plot some nice closure. I won't give away any spoilers, but if you're a fan of Ohmi, now she gets her due. :)

2022 road map

When I say "road map", please picture a very vague child's doodle.

May 2022 bring you many moments of joy and reasons to be grateful.

I thought this might be an appropriate time to discuss my tentative plans for this coming year.

As you know, I'm fresh off of publishing Blue Diver, and I'm still taking a bit of a mental health break after that big project. 

However, at some point in the near future, I'm going to make minor, mostly technical, revisions to The Voyage of the Kaus Media. I recently revisited it and while I think the story is still good, my prose has gotten much better in the past three years, and I'd really like to bring VotKM up to speed with my current writing.

After that, at some point, I will begin work on my next novel, a modern fantasy set in England. And partly in the fairy realm. I'm excited about this one because one of the main characters is on the autism spectrum, and people with ASD need more literary heroes like them. Oh, and snails are important. 🙂

Finally, although I have no solid timeline for all of this, depending on my schedule, later this year I would really like to get started on the sequel to Thunder Girl. If you enjoyed the original, I think you're going to love this brand new steampunk fantasy adventure that features a mummy's curse, a questionably human airship captain, and Australia's native fossils. Should be lots of fun. 

I'd like to thank you readers for your support and appreciation of my work. It brings me the greatest joy to see people enjoy something I've created, and it always makes my day when I hear how one of my books helped you de-stress or provided memorable quality time reading with your family. I feel so blessed and grateful that God has given me the ability to contribute to making this world a happier and more beautiful place through my art, and I look forward to more of the same in the coming year.

 

Blue Diver is now available to purchase in both ebook and paperback formats!

I'm not sure what else to say about this book that I haven't already said in previous posts--I had a lot of fun working on it, it's been a bit of a longer road to publication than I would have wanted, but the results are well worth it, I think. Go check it out!

And don't forget, you can find keychains for the book in my sister's Etsy store!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a big long Christmas break before starting work on my next novel. I may also become mysteriously very preoccupied around the time Pokemon Legends: Arceus comes out in January........

What's this? A wild cover reveal appeared!

I've finished the cover for Blue Diver, and it was a lot of fun! Plenty of interesting stuff on this cover to tease the book! What's that thing on the right? A giant orange? Who are these motley creatures (including a Canadian)? Also, GIANT ROBOTS.

I'm also very pleased with this cover because I did some fiddling around with Corel Painter, and while it doesn't have the most sophisticated text generation options, I did discover some tools that allowed me to get some much better text effects than I've been able to with previous covers. And yeah, if you think the font looks familiar, you're not wrong. :) I liked that graphic so much that I decided to use it for the actual cover (in English, of course)!

Look forward to Blue Diver coming to the Kindle Store very soon!

I've finished all my revisions to the manuscript and I've started working on the cover art! I've been posting updates to the cover art on my Facebook page if you want to follow along there, but I'll also post them all in a work-in-progress gallery here once it's done. (Right now I am trying to figure out how to get robot line art to look smooth and clean, argh, I'm bad at mechanical illustration so I make myself do it a lot.)

Anyway, once I finish the cover art, all that's left is the ebook and paperback formatting which doesn't take long at all, and then it'll be ready to submit to Kindle! So, you can expect the book to be out in the next 2-3 weeks!

I'm very excited to finally get this novel out and share it with everybody. I appreciate your patience while I worked through the editing situation, but I think it ultimately worked out for the best as I had a lot going on these past few months.

Get ready for giant robot fights, astrophysics geekery, and plenty of Canada jokes!

The On Borrowed Wings audiobook is out! Get it now on Audible, or look for it on iTunes soon (like probably by the time you read this)!

It's been a long, twisty path to get this audiobook finished, but Ben Fife was great to work with through the whole process, and he did a fantastic job. (For Audrey, I pretty much told him to channel his inner Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender.)

I've got a big surprise for everybody... I've gone ahead with production of the On Borrowed Wings audiobook! Once again, Benjamin Fife is gracing the audiobook with his awesome narration and voice talents. I've listened up to chapter 4 so far, and it's fantastic. I'm so excited to share it with everyone!

To celebrate, I thought I'd share an old character introduction thing that I did back in 2017, when I was writing the book! There's these things called "art memes" which aren't like the memes you see on social media; they're fill-in-the-blank questionnaires that you answer with drawings. I did quite a few back in the day, and this one happens to be about Jacob!

Note that because this meme was drawn before the book was published, there are a few discrepancies. One of the most obvious is that Ad Infinitum was the working title for the book; my editor convinced me that "Ad Infinitum", while cool and mysterious, is only vaguely relevant to the subject matter.

Ben is doing a super job making Jacob totally adorable. I hope listeners like him too! He is definitely the most dynamic of the main characters. And you can't go wrong with a Brooklyn accent! Especially coming from a squeaky thirteen-year-old.

Also, yes, Greg is a tremendous geek. He will go on like that for hours if you let him.

Hi all, I wanted to give you a very important update on the Kickstarter project for On Borrowed Wings.

The Kickstarter campaign has 14 days to reach the funding goal of $1,000. So far, only 18% of that amount has been pledged.

With two weeks left in the campaign, it's imperative that people help out, now more than ever. Kickstarter allows you to pledge however much you want ($1 minimum), and I'm preparing some fun prizes for donors across multiple pledge tiers.

I'm a small-time indie author with a limited budget. Part of the reason why I'm indie is so I can focus on telling the stories I want to tell, without having to worry about what publishers and agents are looking for or what's trending on the market. 

That freedom of creativity allowed me to write and self-publish a teen science fiction novel where two of the main characters have cerebral palsy and two are neurodiverse. Why? Because I strongly believe fiction needs to be more inclusive. Kids with special needs are warriors fighting some tough battles. They deserve quality stories that show people like them making a difference and being heroes.

Now, to reach out to even more of these special needs warriors, I'd love to get this book into an audio format. And I would love your help so it doesn't break my bank.

I know you're probably very busy and have plenty of your own challenges you're juggling. But if you're feeling inspired, please consider donating even a single dollar to this project. Do it for the people with special needs in your life. Do it for all the times you wanted more fictional heroes who reminded you of yourself. Do it for the love of good books.

I write books with the intention to make a difference in the lives of readers. Audiobooks allow me to expand my novels' sphere of influence and spread the good. I know that working together, we can make this happen. 🙌

 

Okay, here's the lowdown: I ran into some budgetary difficulties in my initial attempt to finance this audiobook. But I really want to see the audiobook happen because I know it means a lot to some people. So I figured, if fans want it so badly, maybe they could pitch in and help out!

So I'm very excited to announce a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the audiobook production! I only need a minimum of $1000 to fully finance everything (the actual production, Kickstarter's fees, and prize fulfillment), and I've put together some fun prizes to reward backers.

If you're interested in audiobooks, inclusive science fiction, giant robots, and/or uplifting stories of hope, redemption, and empowerment, I hope you'll consider donating and spreading the word!

Figured an update was due... I've started working on the first draft of Blue Diver! So far it's so incredibly super fun, and I'm enjoying it every bit as much as I hoped I would. Which is really my permanent writing goal after the health-crisis debacle that was NaNoWriMo 2020. Never again.

From now on, no pressure. No deadlines. No needing to write a certain amount in a day in order to feel productive. I'm just going to write when I want, and let myself have the time to rest that I need.

And lest you think this is turning me into a procrastinator--I've written 16,000 words in the manuscript and I've only been working on it for a week. In a welcome twist of irony, trying not to be so productive has made me more productive beyond my wildest dreams. 

I told myself I would get back to enjoying my job. I think I've achieved that.

As far as the actual story, it's fun times all around! The characters are extremely fun to write: nice-but-slightly-snarky test pilot reject Auva Cameron; disgruntled and conflicted alien police officer Renny Gallahan; sly but kindhearted space pirate captain Jahaira Vorrh and her quirky crew; hyperactive rabbit-thing Kee Kitwit; and kindly bookworm gorilla-crocodile Mireya Golm.

Also, it's been fun writing a girl-powered giant robot space opera--like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in space! With giant robots.

Really excited to share this one with everybody! I'll keep hacking away at it... on my own time, of course. Which means, evidently, an inhumanly feverish pace.

I'll allow it.