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Routines and Frustrations

It can take a long time to get back into a routine, especially when that routine is self-directed.

Since my holiday earlier in September I’m having difficulty getting back into many of my routines. I’m not writing regularly, exercising regularly, or even eating as well as I was. Now I’m away from home again, staying at my sister’s house for a while, keeping her cats company for a few days of the three weeks she and her husband are in India playing in the World Bridge Championships. (I can’t even play euchre, but the cats don’t care about that. They’re just happy to have a warm body to sleep with again, rather than just the teenager from across the street who feeds them every day.)

I’m also feeling some of the frustration all writers feel unless their book is a best-seller. While some of of my friends and family have read my work (and thank you all) others haven’t. Which is fine, too – the ones that are annoying me are those who haven’t even mentioned it to me, ever, even though they know it’s been published and a second book is in the works. I can’t work out if they are too self-centred to say ‘hey, that’s great, well done’, jealous, or, oblivious. I shouldn’t let it bother me, but sometimes it does.

I’m going to take this time – four days on my own – to re-focus, remembering why I do what I do, whether it is the writing, walking or what I choose to eat or not to eat. It’s interesting for me to observe that I am still quite easily swayed by external influences (and my own inertia) – I’m not quite as self-actualized as I thought (or at least hoped) I was. An opportunity for growth.

So I’m off for a walk…always the best thing I can do when things just aren’t right.

Encouraging a fellow writer

I think we all need to do this for each other as much as possible in the indie writing community!  This is a link to Dave Whaley’s site for Z:UK, his newly published book.

https://authorwhaley.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/2015-dave-whaley-the-published-author/comment-page-1/#comment-26

Britain and zombies…what more could I ask?  I’ll be reading it soon!

An update on Book II: Empire’s Hostage

Empire’s Daughter has done well in the months since it was published.  I’m pleased with it.  But in the interim, I’ve been thinking hard about why I write, and what it means to me.

I write neither for profit nor fame.  I write because I need to tell stories, and have since I was a child.  It’s as simple as that. I also heartily dislike trying to publicize, sell, or otherwise promote my work, and I run a hundred miles from public speaking or book launches.

I have chosen to serialize the second book in the Empire’s Legacy series, Empire’s Hostage, here.  Eventually I probably will publish it as an e-book, but perhaps not. We’ll see. This is a ‘real-time’ project:  I will be adding posts, generally of between two to three thousand words, a reasonable reading chunk, as I write and edit them.

Do you need to have read Empire’s Daughter?  It will help, but I’ll try to recap where I can in the sequel without it being too awkward or contrived.

This is speculative fiction, and an alternate reality.  If you’re only comfortable with conventional marriage, or with heterosexual relationships, or, you’re looking for magic and high fantasy, these aren’t the books for you.

I hope you’ll visit the site and begin reading.

Marian