Time Flares

My novella 'Time Flares' is out. It is one of the stories in the digest 'Beyond the Stars'. Available now from Midnight Showcase Fiction. This is my second time travel story. The last one was 'Cliffs of Time'.

Welcome Visitors

I hope you like what you see. Stick around for a while and check out my postings. Since it is almost summer and just for visiting I'll send you a free download of my story 'Gin and Tonic', originally published in the digest 'Summer Heat'. It is no longer available because some of the other authors didn't renew their contract. Hopefully, it will soon be available again in a different digest. Be the first one to read it. Send me an e-mail and ask for it. My address is hegro@shaw.ca

An Intruder?

What is this? An intruder looking through the window? Well, it's a Luna Moth. I took this picture in Ontario. I tried to photograph it from the front, but the picture didn't turn out. It is hard to get a clear picture through glass, especially at night. The Luna Moth looks like an angel from the back and like a devil from the front. Kinda scary. For more information on the Luna Moth click on the link.

Hello Spring

It looks as if Spring is finally here to stay. Just look at the chokecherry tree. There’ll be a lot of chokecherries this year but we won’t get any. The birds are pretty quick gobbling them up. My garden is growing nicely, even though we had a bit of frost May 26 and some of my plants did get a touch of freezer burn. I lost my only basil plant. Maybe I’ll buy a new one. I usually buy the tomatoes and the peppers, the rest I seed. The beans and radishes are popping out of the ground and I hope the rabbits don’t show up to nibble on the beans. As cute as those little critters are, they can ruin a garden in no time.
I can’t believe it is already June 3. Where is the time going? Not much time left for our summer. We can get frost sometimes in September. My plants better hurry up. I need those peppers and tomatoes so I can make Salsa. I planted 2 hot Hungarian Peppers this year to give the Salsa a bit of a bite.
My book ‘Tapestry of Dreams’ still isn’t available but I hope it won’t be long now. The new Midnight Showcase site isn’t quite finished yet. However my books can be found there and are ready to be bought.
Click on the links or on the book covers.

Something is wrong

What is wrong with this picture?

Nothing really, not with the picture, except this was taken out of my window today. It is May, not December. There should be no snow.
This is something the weather people didn’t forecast. Sure, we live in Manitoba, but even here it should be warmer at this time of year. I want to plant my garden in a couple of weeks. The summer is short enough as it is. Sometimes we get snow in October and it stays.
I’ve worked hard in my yard last week, getting it ready for the summer. A managed to rake all the dead grass and take it to the dump. I had a whole van full of it. It’s always a grueling job but it is done. My joints ache. Actually, this snow is not bad because as it melts it will soak into the ground. We do need the moisture. My yard is ready for the next step, which is putting on fertilizer and weed killer. Those dandelions will make an appearance soon enough.
In my spare time, I worked a bit more on my novel ‘Epsilon’. I don’t know yet where I’m going with it but some ideas are beginning to take shape. I’m busy writing some of the background, which has been hinted at in my short story ‘Outpost Epsilon’, soon to be published.
MSFiction is up and running again. There may be some glitches still, but minor. Check it out.

Tapestry of Dreams

I sent away my Anthology ‘Tapestry of Dreams’ to MSFiction. It contains 8 of my short stories. Most of them were written years ago, but I re-wrote them, changed them, and added some stuff to make them more interesting. I’m happy with the way they finally turned out.
Actually, this is the second time I sent it to Midnight Showcase. The first time was last year. It is scheduled to be published this month. After reading the stories again, I discovered many errors. It is funny how our minds play tricks with us. Sometimes you just don’t see the mistakes. Spelling mistakes, the wrong words. Awkward sentences. Everything looks fine until you put it away and read again after some time. Suddenly, there they are…all the mistakes. For the world to see if they don’t get fixed.
When I wrote the Author bio, I realized how much stuff I have already published. And it all started with ‘The Anniversary Gift’ in 2005.

Here is a list of my books:
The Xandra series (3 books)
Seeds of Chaos, Book One, Eden’s Gate
Seeds of Chaos, Book Two, Hell’s Gate
Stardogs, Book One, Return to Redsky
Stardogs, Book Two, Redemption
Orion--the Hunt
Cliffs of Time

Short stories: (Digests in brackets)
The Anniversary Gift (Sweet Revenge)
Remember me next Christmas (Holiday Voices)
Gin and Tonic (Summer Heat)
For Love of Arilee (Sweet Challenge)
Orola, the Kiir (Launch the Raunch)
A Taste of Paradise (Men of Eros)

Soon to be released:
Outpost Epsilon
Mark of the Cobra
Time Flares

2009:
Orola, Warrior Priestess
Orion, Symbiont of Passion

Wow! I can hardly believe it.
Time to write some more.
All the books and stories are available from MSFiction.

Progress Report

I’m doing my very last edit on ‘Tarnished Valor’ and it is tedious. This is the first novel where I take my time. I don’t want any mistakes. The novel is 350 single spaced pages. Usually I print out the novel and then I read it, fix errors on paper and then I do it on the computer. Because this novel is so long I don’t want to waste paper and ink, so I’m doing the last edit on the computer. I find it is easier because I don’t have to do the work twice, but it means I have to sit in front of the computer instead of reading it wherever I am with a printed copy. The going is slow, I’m only at page 135.
My novel Stardogs 2, Redemption, is finally available from Lulu but not yet from MSfiction, the new site for Midnight Showcase. It should happen any day now. Here is the link to Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/content/2322629
The short novellas ‘Cliffs of Time’ and ‘Orion, the Hunt’ are also available now from Lulu. Here are the links: http://www.lulu.com/content/2324360 (Cliffs) and
http://www.lulu.com/content/2325264 (Orion)

Check it out, if only just for the covers. They’re looking good.

180,000 Words

180,135 words, to be exact. Hurray, I am finally finished with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. I never dreamed I would get to 180,000 words. That’s 350 pages single-spaced). When I started writing the novel in January 2007 (One year ago in the Dominican Republic), my goal was 150,000 words. I took a break from it last fall, because I sort of ran into a bit of writers block. So I worked on two shorter novels (Orion, Symbiont of Passion and Orola, Warrior Priestess). Both books will be published in 2009. Once I started up again with Tarnished Valor, I found my interest again and from then on it was write, write and write.
Well, here I am today. Finally finished with the first draft. My mind is clear again, but now the work begins. Editing and editing. Make sure there are no spelling errors, of which there are many at this time. I’ll have to iron out some inconsistencies in the story because as the story started to progress, new ideas popped into my head and I eliminated some stuff that I had planned, ideas that didn’t pan out. The ending turned out differently from what I had in mind, but I’m happy with it. I believe it’s a great story.
Once I’m finished with editing and fixing errors, then I’ll be looking for an agent. I don’t really want this book published as an e-book. It actually is too long for that. Rather, my dream is to find a print publisher. But we’ll see what happens. It will be a slow and possibly a long road, but that’s okay.
My next novel is probably going to be another Science Fiction novel. It’s been kicking around in my head and I had to suppress it. I already have the title. Epsilon. It is based on a short story I wrote ‘Outpost Epsilon’, to be published by Midnight Showcase in August. I liked the world I created there and it calls for a longer novel. We’ll see. For now I am as happy as a clam.

Will they ever learn?

Sometimes I wonder about the mentality of people. The east coast of the US and Canada has been battered by a huge snowstorm these last couple of days. Now anyone with a partially working brain should know that when snow is blowing across the highway, visibility is low and the road surface is slippery. Why then don’t drivers slow down? I can understand it at the beginning of winter when the first snow is falling and drivers have to get used to the new conditions. Even then, the logical part of a person’s mind should kick in and say: “Hey, this is just like last year. We better slow down.”
I was watching TV last night and they showed a highway somewhere in Ontario. A car was spinning out of control and sliding down the highway at a speed much too fast for the situation. As it came finally to a halt, another car slammed into it. There were over 600 accidents in a very short time on another stretch of highway.
Are people actually that stupid or ignorant they don’t realize that they have to slow down? I don’t understand it.
We’ve had our own bad weather here in Manitoba. Bitter cold and another snowfall with the resulting usual vehicle accidents that follow. Living outside of Winnipeg, I’m on the highway a lot. How many times have I driven in bad weather, barely able to see the road, when a car or truck would pass me, I don’t know. Many times. I’ve wondered often if they are driving in a different dimension where there is no snow with slippery road conditions.
Of course, I’ve seen quite a few of these ‘I-am-safe-in-my-car’ drivers in the ditch or worse, smashed up down the road. I’ve just witnessed an accident where one car tried to beat the yellow light and had a near head-on collision with another car. An accident that should never have happened, because there is a warning light ahead of the intersection signaling the change of the traffic light from green to yellow to red. Once that warning light flashes, there is no way you can make it across by green, or even yellow, unless you speed up. And that is the greatest danger and the most stupid move.
Will they ever learn and smarten up?
On a lighter note. Today the clocks were set one hour ahead into Daylight Savings Time. It’s earlier this year. Why they did that escapes me and it makes no sense. We’re supposed to save electricity. How? The time we turn on our lights just shifted from evening to morning. Anyway, now we have to get up an hour earlier. Yak. Even our canary didn’t like it. Usually he is chipper and hops around. Sings. When I say to him ‘good morning, how are you today?’ he comes, spread his wings and bites my finger. (It’s a ritual we have. I know it’s silly, but what the heck! Other people take their dog for a walk) Not this morning. He just sat there on his perch, all puffed up and just opened his beak a couple of times to acknowledge me. No chirping, no singing. I guess we’re all creatures of habit. Even the birds. I wonder if the birds outside have Daylight Savings Time? I didn’t see them in the birdfeeders.
Have a nice day.

March update

I’m waiting for Stardogs 2 to be released. I haven’t even seen the cover yet. I’m a little disappointed about that. The book was supposed to be available in February already. My publisher Midnight Showcase has some problems with editors. Not enough editors. That of course drags all the new releases. All my other books are moving up and down at Fiction Wise.
I’m busy with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. My goal was 150,000 words, but I’ve passed that number. So far, I’ve written 162,000 words and still not finished. I might even reach 175,000 words. That would be nice. It’s funny, sometimes when I look at my outline of the story, I’m wondering how I’m going to reach my goal, but then when I write, the ideas seem to just come and I have no problem filling the pages.
The last 20,000 words or so I wrote into a scribbler, because I was away from my computer. Then when I came back, I transferred it into the computer, doing the first edit as I wrote. It takes longer that way. I find writing it on the keyboard is in a way easier, because when I want to insert something I can do it right there. It is harder when I use a scribbler. Then I have circles, and arrows and triangles everywhere.
Getting spoiled. Maybe some day I’ll have a laptop, which I can take with me.
I just came back from a little walk to pick up my mail. It is snowing outside and minus 11 Celsius. The wind isn’t bad, which made it bearable. Now I’m back in front of my computer, warm and toasty. It is difficult sometimes to take a break when the writing flows. But it is important to get the exercise and some fresh air.

Split Pea Soup

I love soups. I love to make them and to eat them. All my soups taste the same because all the vegetable ingredients are the same. The only thing that changes is the meat. I make Chicken soup, Turkey soup, and Beef soup.
I decided to branch out and make split pea soup. I soaked the peas overnight (My wife’s suggestion. She is usually the cook in our household. She is a great cook. I just make soups. She tolerates my little ‘hobby’).
Anyway, after soaking the peas overnight I put all of the ingredients into a slow cooker and cooked them for 8 hours. By this time, it was 6 pm, time to eat. Unfortunately, the soup wasn’t ready. The peas were hard. We had to eat something else. I cooked the soup for another 3 hours. And another 2 hours the next day. That still didn’t help. So we boiled them for an hour in a different pot. That did the trick and the soup tasted delicious. The peas were soft.
What went wrong? I checked some sources on the internet and found that other people had the same problem with peas, beans, and lentils. Some suggested the peas might have been old, they’ll never get soft, no matter how long you cook them. Well, I found that is not exactly true. The boiling in the pot made them soft. I figure, doing them in a slow cooker is probably not the right thing because it doesn’t get hot enough.
Maybe I’ll try something different next time.
Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try it. The soup tastes yummy.
2 cups dried split peas
2 cups chopped onions
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 tsp. each dried oregano, basil, rosemary (crumbled)
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1 can (355 ml) chicken broth
5 cups boiling water
1 tbsp. finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 or 2 cups chopped ham (a smoked ham bone adds great flavor)

I used a frying pan to sauté the garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil, then I added the chopped onions and sautéed them also until they glazed over. (Don’t let the garlic turn dark. It will get bitter). Then I put everything into the slow cooker. If you want to forget about the slow cooker and cook the soup in a large pot, then you have to boil everything for about 3 hours, until the peas are soft. (Maybe even longer!) You want them mushy. The soup will look green. If the peas are really fresh then it may not take this long.
If you use a whole bay leaf, take it out before serving, because if accidentally swallowed it could cut a person’s throat. Bay leaves don't get soft. They can also be crushed or even ground before put into food. Apparently, a crushed bay leave imparts more of its flavor than a whole leaf. Bay leaves are not poisonous when eaten, as some people believe.
One thing that I always wondered about. Why doesn’t anyone ever mention soaking beans and peas in their recipes? Apparently, lentils don’t need to be soaked.

Now to some other stuff. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked Fictionwise to find ‘Seeds of Chaos, book One’ at number 3 position. Book Two at number 9 and ‘Stardogs, Book One’ at number 6. The three Xandra books are at number 14, 16, and 18. Wow! Six of my books in the top twenty position. That is wonderful. I can’t wait until ‘Stardogs, Book Two’ is coming out to see what it does to my sales.

I crossed the 130,000-word mark with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. I’ve got the next chapters sort of mapped out, but as I’m writing, new ideas pop into my head. Now it’s just a matter of bringing everything together and wrap up the story. After that comes the real job. Editing.

Happy Valentine’s Day to anyone reading this blog. Buy a book for the person you love.
Check out http://www.midnightshowcase.com/ or go to http://www.fictionwise.com/

February update

I had to take a few days off writing to do some other things. Tarnished Valor is proceeding nicely. I’ve managed to write 125,000 words so far. Right now, I’m taking a little breather and doing some organizing with the story. I’ve created some new characters (important ones) and they have to be incorporated into the story to make them believable as important pieces of the puzzle. That is one of the hard parts in writing a story. All of the characters have to have a place. You can’t just introduce someone and then forget about him or her. Each character has to play a role. It is fun to create a new character and then flesh out his/her background. Sometimes that is important. I might just mention some incidents in their past in the story. That doesn’t mean I’m writing a whole history for each character, but I give them some thought where they are from and what they are doing. I don’t do that with minor players, only with the more essential ones.
All the stuff I still have to write to bring Tarnished Valor to its conclusion, I should have no trouble to reach 150,000 words. Maybe even more.
I just checked Fictionwise and found that Stardogs 1 has had the position 6 in sales for the last 20 days and Sees of Chaos, Hell’s Gate number 7. Not bad.
Right now Stardogs is at number 4 from 80 just 2 days ago. Eden’s Gate is at number 7 and Hell’s Gate at number 8. Book 3 of The Xandra was at 18, but when I checked a few minutes later, it had moved to a different position. It seems they’re changing the positions so fast sometimes that you don’t really know where their at. At other times, the list just sits there for days without changing.
If you’re new to my blog check out http://www.midnightshowcase.com and see what my books are about. Or maybe even buy one. Or you can log on to http://www.fictionwise.com/
Midnightshowcase dot com is in the process of changing to M/Sfiction.com. I don’t know when exactly, but anyone logging on to the old address will be routed to the new site. There will be our own bookstore, which means we (Authors) will make more money than just selling our books on fiction wise. The money we get from those sales is laughable. Hardly worth the effort. But then again, our books get good exposure to a large readership. We can only hope that our fans switch to our site and buy the books there.

Month End

I can’t believe it is already the 28th of January 2008. I’ve been quite busy with writing my novel 'Tarnished Valor' and I am up to 118, 500 words right now. Today I’m taking a break from writing to do some other stuff. We’re supposed to get a Winter Storm tonight and tomorrow. So I might get a bit of writing done tomorrow.
My two novels ‘Orion, Symbiont of Passion’ and ‘Orola, Warrior Priestess’ have been accepted by Midnight Showcase for publication.
The following is my calendar of releases (with Midnight Showcase) for 2008:
February: Stardogs 2
April: Time Flares
June: Tapestry of Dreams
August: Outpost Epsilon
September” Mark of the Cobra

All of my other stories will be re-released as single titles.
I am checking Fiction Wise frequently to see how my books are doing there and I noticed that Stardogs 1 was at number 4 position January 21. It has slipped to number 5, but I am quite happy and a little surprised, because I haven’t done any advertising. Book 1 of ‘Seeds of Chaos’ was at number 13 position January 18, but has dropped to 69. All the other books are moving up and down. Usually, when I have a new release, they start moving up. Hopefully, this is going to happen again when Stardogs 2 comes out.

New beginnings

This is post number 100 on my blog. A new year and a new beginning.
I finished doing the last edit on ‘Stardogs Two’ and sent it back to Midnight Showcase. Now I’m waiting for the cover.
I’ve also crossed the 100,000 word barrier with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. Today. I’ve written 100,209 words so far. Feels good. I seem to be back in the flow.
Yesterday we watched the movie 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russel Crowe. We really enjoyed it. Finally a good cowboy movie again. ‘Comanche Moon’ is starting tonight, a prequel to ‘Lonesome Dove’. Looks great. And ‘The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ is also playing on the Fox network. We’ll be watching that one also. I’m getting a little tired of all the cop movies and reality shows.
And the comedy shows? We loved ‘Back to you’, ‘Two and a half men’, ‘Rules of Engagement”, and, surprisingly, ‘The Big Bang’. Those nerds are quite funny. But since the Writer's strike they've been put on hold. One show we don’t care for at all is ‘My wife and Kids’. The acting is so overdone, it hurts to watch it. That type of acting was funny when Jerry Lewis was young, but not anymore. Most of the other comedies are a little stupid, but that is just our opinion. You can’t argue over taste, be it food, books and other entertainment, like movies and shows.
I miss Startrek and its spin-offs. Will there ever be a series as good as that one again?
Too bad with the writer's strike. Many of the other shows we’ve been watching have also been halted: The Unit, Cane, Heroes, Bionic Woman.
Maybe they’ll be back soon. Jericho is supposed to come back. I loved that one.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. I know I’m a few days late, but somehow I didn’t find the time to update my blog. Well, here we are. 2008. Two thousand eight. Already we’ve had two murders in Winnipeg. One shooting and one stabbing. I hope that is not an indication how this year will turn out. Two Canadian soldiers were killed yesterday in Afghanistan when their vehicle turned over. How many will be killed this year in a war that won’t change a thing in the region?
As I said in my last posting, nothing has changed.
In the USA, our neighbor to the south, a few people are trying to gain support for the candidacy of becoming the next President. Good Luck to all of them. I don’t envy the winner. He or she will inherit a big problem and may be blamed for the outcome in the future.
Speaking of the future, my second book of ‘Stardogs’, ‘Redemption’, is scheduled for release this month, but I haven’t heard anything from my publisher Midnight Showcase. I still have to choose a cover and do the final errata. Stardogs 1 is right now at number 21 position in sales at Fiction Wise, but my two books ‘Seeds of Chaos’ are doing well at number 14 and 11. ‘Dual Visions’ has slipped back to position 84 after moving up to number 20 in December.
Both stories ‘Cliffs of Time’ and ‘Orion - the Hunt’ are supposed to be released as singles this month. Maybe they’ll do better alone.
I’m also looking forward this year to the publishing of ‘Tapestry of Dreams’, ‘Mark of the Cobra’, ‘Time Flares’, ‘Orola, Warrior Priestess’, ‘Orion - Symbiont of Passion’, ‘Outpost Epsilon’, and the re-release of all my short stories as singles in the new Midnight Showcase store.
The progress with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’ is slow. I don’t know what it is, but somehow I always seem to find something else that needs to be done and I’m not writing the number of words I would like to. Like right now; I should be writing the novel instead of doing this.
I find a spend a lot of time doing research, but I’m determined to finish this book, so I can write another Science Fiction novel. Somehow I’m more comfortable writing Science Fiction where I can let my imagination roam free and I’m not bound by facts, by real events and real locations. I can create societies and worlds and creatures that don’t exist in reality. They are already inside my head and want to come out, but I must finish ‘Tarnished Valor’ first. I must!
The world I created in my novella ‘Outpost Epsilon’ wants to be explored more and I have some ideas brewing for a longer novel. Maybe I’ll call it ‘Epsilon’. Usually, I write the story first and then I rack my brain for a title. This time it might just be the other way around. We’ll see.

Year End

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. I had. Spent time with family and friends. Ate too much food, too many cookies. There are only a few days left in the old year and then it is 2008. Hard to believe. Where has time gone? I can still remember waiting for the year 2000, a new century, and here we are, way into this new century. Will it be better than the last? So far not much has changed. We still argue which religion is the right one, people still get killed over it. You'd think religious people would love each other, because that's what religion is supposed to be. To worship a supreme being who loves everyone. That means Everyone, not matter what they believe. Any supreme being or God who condemns human beings who worship a god by a different name is in my mind not a true god but an impostor. A nobody. Not a supreme being. Period. A god who rewards his (her) worshipers for murdering innocent beings in his name is not a god. If you call yourself a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or belong to any other of the many religions on this planet and you are so narrow-minded that you can't love or at least tolerate others no matter what they believe or look like, you are not a true believer. I'm sure everyone heard this one: No Atheist has ever murdered anyone over what they believe. What does that say for religion? Not much. I'm not a atheist, but I'm not a religious fanatic either. I try to be open-minded about everything and I feel comfortable with what I believe. Live and let live. Find the positive side of a person, not the negative. Nobody is perfect. Of course, there are a lot of jerks and evil people out there. One only has to watch the news every night. Murders, break-ins, robberies. Like I said: Nothing has changed. I don't think much will change in the future. We might discover new things, new toys, new inventions, maybe even manage to go into space, but unless humanity evolves, we will go our merry old way. Maybe even destroy this planet in the process. We're killing off who knows how many plants and animal species every day by polluting the air, the water and the land, by cutting down the trees that give us clean air, by destroying the marshes that filter the water we need to survive. Our governments talk about the clean environment, but don't do more than talk about it. What we need are changes now, not in ten or twenty years. We need cars that don't pollute the air now. It will take at least ten years until the majority of people drive cars that don't spew poisonous gases into the air. But I'm afraid the big oil companies won't allow that. Money is more important than the survival of the human race (or the other living beings we share this world with). The attitude of big business is: Who cares what happens after we're gone. Who cares about the next generations! Let them clean up the mess we leave behind. Pretty sad.
Ah, I got carried away. I should stick to writing my stories, at least there I have some control of what happens.
Stardogs has slipped to number 7, but my other books are still hovering at their positions in sales at Fiction Wise. Book 3 of 'The Xandra', 'Goddess of Light', had slipped to number 85, but is back up now to 65. Not good, but promising. Book 1 and 2 are at 24 and 22. So I hope the people who bought the first two will buy the third one and move it up in sales.
Should this be my last entry this year I wish everyone who comes to visit my blog a Great New Year and may you find peace and happiness in everything you do. Don't forget to come back next year and check out how I'm doing. I have a number of books coming out from Midnight Showcase and hope to sell a lot of books, but without readers no book sales. So keep on reading.

Christmas

Well, it is Christmas today. I have a few minutes before our children come. We celebrate Christmas Eve the way it is celebrated in Germany. We'll be eating Ham and other goodies. And, of course, we open presents.
I managed to finish 'Orola, Warrior Priestess' and sent it in to Midnight Showcase. I probably won't get a response until after the New Year. I wanted to finish all the old stuff, so I can begin the year 2008 with something new. I went back to my novel 'Tarnished Valor' and I started the outlines for the next chapters. I'm up to Chapter 30 now and about 90,000 words. Still a long way to go until it is finished, but I've been getting some good ideas. I needed this break and do some other stuff before I continued with this novel. To get all of the stories featuring Orola re-written and edited has been on my mind for a long time. Now it is finally done and won't bug me anymore. There are actually 7 stories in that volume. 82,000 words in total. All of them are connected, but can be read alone.
Anyone reading this blog have a Merry Christmas or Season's Greetings to you, in case you don't celebrate Christmas.

Musings

There is always something that dampens your happiness. Stardogs received ratings from 4 readers. One finds it good, one okay but two readers think it is POOR. That hurts, but it is one of the facts we as writers have to deal with. Sadly, negative comments always seem to be dominant and made public. It is evident when you see people demonstrating. Those are all the people who are not happy with a certain situation (I’ve always wondered if those people do have a job. How do they find the time to walk around for days on end sometimes? Do they take holidays for those events? I’d rather spend my time lying on a beach or just sitting home and enjoying life by reading or, in my case, writing). People, who are happy and satisfied with things, don’t walk around shouting it to the world. I guess, that is the same with books, not many people will take the time and let others know that they liked the book. It is too bad in a way. It would be nice to hear from satisfied readers.
Here is something I didn’t know, but apparently, there are some people out there who make it a point to buy a book so they can give it a ‘poor’ rating. They are called ‘trolls’. Who knows, they may not even read the book to find out. Who knows why they do it? Some people find only happiness if they can inflict pain on others. And believe me, getting a bad rating is painful. (Am I venting? Is this possibly sour grapes?)
I’m not saying a reader shouldn’t make his feelings known. Unfortunately, we’ll never know why they didn’t like the book. They never say. Maybe they didn’t like the story. Perhaps there wasn’t enough sex in it. These days, a lot of readers love those explicit words and they find it boring if the story doesn’t contain them. I don’t like using explicit words and if I do, very sparingly. The words have to fit the character. I don’t write a story for the sake of the sexual content, as I said before, the erotica is part of the story, but it is the story that is important to me. I won’t use explicit words just because it is the thing to do. I write erotica, not pornography. There is a difference, even if some people don’t acknowledge that.
My novel ‘Tainted Valor’ has only a few erotic scenes in it and they are kept short and not as detailed as the ones in my other stories. I might just have come to the end of wanting to write erotica. Maybe I’m getting too old for that. That sense of excitement and wickedness isn’t there anymore. Maybe I just wrote too many sexual scenes and it is becoming harder to write them without repeating myself over and over. Who knows.
I just sent my finished novel ‘Orion -- Symbiont of Passion’ to Midnight Showcase for possible publication. It is 56,000+ words long and just a perfect length for an ebook. It has, of course, a lot of erotica in it. That is because I wrote the original story years ago. I rewrote parts of it and edited it for publication. When you write just for the fun of it, you don’t really worry about consistencies in the story or grammar, spelling and punctuation, or even using the correct words sometimes. That changes when you’d like to have the story published. There are many readers who, instead of just enjoying the story, will tear it apart. If they find errors in it they will happily give it, dare I say it? A POOR rating! Ah, just writing it hurts.
I admit I do sometimes have problems with punctuation. I think every writer struggles with that. Spelling is not a problem anymore because of the spell check every writing program has built into the computer, but grammar is. You can’t rely on your spell checker for grammar. In addition, I get red-flagged every time I use for instance the word ‘stewardess’. I’ll get a message telling me I am ‘gender-specific’, suggesting I use ‘flight attendant’. Sorry, I don’t want to use flight attendant; I want to use ‘stewardess’. Damn it. I don’t believe in all this ‘politically correct’ thing. I don’t want to be forced to write in a style or way that is false in the first place. That is why we have all of these words in our language. Use them or loose them, for heaven’s sake! I’m not going to write: He flirted with the ‘server’, instead of ’barmaid’. My character is not gay, not in my stories. I need to make it clear that he is flirting with a girl.
Not every word is in the spell check program. In my story ‘Remember me next Christmas’ I wrote ‘He nocked an arrow’. ‘Nock’ is word that is perfectly correct to use. It means he set an arrow on a string (on his bow). Well, it isn’t in my program.
Writing is a craft that needs to be learned and constantly improved, like anything else. It becomes easier with practice, but the more I write, the more I discover rules I’m not aware of. For me writing in the English language had to be learned, because it is not my first language. German is. I’ve read a lot of books over the years. I’ve studied many books on writing, style and grammar, but in the end, it always comes down to one thing: Do you have the gift? Like music, some people learn how to play the piano, the saxophone or any other instrument, but some are musically gifted and some aren’t, no matter how much they practice and study. The sounds are there but the soul is missing.
I like to think I have the gift of putting words and sentences on paper and creating a story that makes my readers forget about their everyday life for a while and accompany me on a journey into the world of the imagination, where anything is possible. A place where they can put their fears to rest and enjoy a few hours of contentment and happiness. If I can achieve that, I have reached my dreams and goals.
By the way, Stardogs is still in the number 2 spot at Fiction Wise, so it can’t be that bad of a story. Let’s hear from the people who liked it!

Distractions

Always these distractions from my writing! I just came in from blowing the snow from my driveway. I have a 12 horsepower John Deere Snowblower, but it still is hard work. The wind is blowing quite strongly from the north, that means I can throw the snow only one way: South, unless I want it blowing back into my face. It is damn cold out there. Minus 17, but the windshield is like minus 31. I got that from the weather channel. Tonight it will go down to Minus 34 and tomorrow will be another cold day. But, hey, it is winter in Winnipeg. We are used to the cold. When I was working as an Electrician I used to work a lot outside in this cold weather. Secret to keeping warm is to dress warm. I wore a snowmobile suit and boots with liners that are good for minus 80, if you keep moving. There is one drawback to dressing warm and bulky like that. It makes you tired.
It is nice though to get some fresh air, even if it is cold. Sometimes it is good to get away from the computer and the writing for a while.
We are still lucky in Manitoba. Other provinces, especially the ones by the oceans, have ice storms with power outages, and after that comes the flooding. It is not much better with some of our neighbors to the south. I’ll take Manitoba anytime.
I’m in the process of finishing up the last story in my collection featuring Orola, the Warrior Priestess, but then I’ll still have to edit all of them one last time and put them in order.
‘Orion, Symbiont of Desire’, is finished except for the last edit. Then I’ll send it in. With Christmas close, it probably won’t happen until next year. There is no hurry. I have plenty of books coming out.
I am very surprised. I posted the release of Stardogs on the groups I belong to and offered a free copy. I didn’t get one email in response. Strange, but Stardogs is still number one in sales at Fiction Wise, making me a very happy man.
Anyone reading this, the offer still stands. Just send me an email. You’ll find my address below in one of the other posts.

Stardogs

Well, I made it. Stardogs has reached the number ONE position at Fiction Wise. Apparently, yesterday it reached number fifty in overall sales of Science Fiction books at Fiction Wise. That is very good, considering the number of books they are selling.
I am elated. And this just in one day.
The Seeds of Chaos books are at number 9 and 10. Dual Visions has moved into the number 20 spot, from 61 last night.
The last time I reached number one, was with my very first book ‘The Xandra, Daughter of the Dark’. None of the others went past number 2. I hope my readers like the book and when Book 2 comes out in January 2008, it will match the sales of Book 1. That would be nice.