Monday, August 20, 2018

Backstory about Realms of the Cat

The book is no longer coming. It has arrived!!!  It has been an exciting month of promoting and enjoying seeing my 'baby' in my hands.



You already know the story, (if you read my sporadic blogs, LOL), but there is a back story that took twenty years to develop. Some of the pieces you already know if you get notifications about my author page on Facebook. (And you are certainly welcome to go to my author page and like it!)

However, with that said. Realms of the Cat came about in a strange way. Back in the late 90's, I wrote a story about young TB, Butch, Melvin, Buck and several other pets that I tentatively called I am Not a Disease! It was more real life; what the writing magazines called anthropomorphic animal story. They also said those were dead. (I wonder if they have read any of Avi's Poppy stories, or Erin Hunter's Warrior books?) Anyway, I wrote a novelette about TB's adventures as he was growing up and then I left it sitting in a file since I wasn't publishing at that time, I was writing fanfiction.

 

 
Butch

Diego
Bumper







  As the years passed, TB grew up, enjoyed life and then got sick  and passed on. It was the same with Butch. Callie (the queen of the  cats in my book) found a new home and only recently died. Melvin and Buck lived a good long time, too. Even little Diego, who appeared briefly in the beginning of Realms, has since passed away.

Then one day, about five years ago, while meeting with my Etowah Writers group, the leader, Grant Fetters, suggested a prompt for a chapter. That prompt became the beginning of what was then called Portals. That meeting between TB and Rex was the result of that prompt and demanded to be continued. I did, ending up with a 200 page story of the bonds of friendship overcoming death and fear. It became a story of diverse characters working together to save a person- a little girl kidnapped from her rightful place. I have enjoyed writing it and if you choose to read it, I hope you enjoy reading it as well.

Links for the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1629899569/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Realms of the Cat- coming soon!

I have great news!  My latest novel, a fantasy named Realms of the Cat, (I alluded to that in the last blog entry.) will be available July 23rd!  I am so excited. This is a story that has taken time to get from brain to book-in-hand. The cover is magnificent (thanks, Karen), editing is wonderful, (thanks, Etowah Writers Guild, RPLA judges, and Maxine), and I actually put in a few illustrations.


Butch, one of the characters. 



Realms is a middle grade (and up) fantasy about several cats and dogs working together. Here is the blurb:


TB is perfectly happy as a free city cat until he learns he has lived another life in an alternate universe.  The human girl in his former family is in danger and TB is assigned to go through an interdimensional portal and protect her. Instead of protecting her, he has made it possible for someone to kidnap her. Now TB must gather a team of cats and dogs to go back through the portal and rescue her. At the same time, he must figure out why all of the city’s dogs are disappearing.


If you like fantasy, stories about cats and/or dogs, you will like this one!  It is currently available for pre-order from Smashwords (half price in July) and Barnes & Noble (all formats).


Monday, April 16, 2018

Getting the Groove Back

I did not wait a year and a half this time to write another blog post. This time it's only been six months! I think I might be getting my writing groove back. How did I do that? Not really sure. Simply saying that I have more time isn't the total reason. I have had more time since last May when I retired. Several people told me that retiring and walking out that door isn't the golden bullet that enables you to do all those projects you have dreamed about doing 'when you had time.' They also said it takes a while to settle into your new reality and new schedule.
In my case, the new reality included selling a house and moving halfway across the country, as well as several health issues. Now that we have been in our new home for almost three months, I have a place to do my writing (the sitting room) and a place to work on my illustrations (a local wellness/senior center where they have classes),
and a place to walk when I need to get the kinks out (nice walkway in the community). Not a rigid routine, to put it mildly; many things tend to scream for equal attention, but it's getting there.

Getting in the groove is an individual thing. I suppose there are some who do it quickly and there are those whose life issues don't allow them that opportunity, or become the excuses to never getting that groove. I only hope that I always have at least a small writing groove I can continue to work in, regardless of what my situation is. 

I do have to add a plug for NanoWriMo. Their various writing incentives have really helped this time. They do their big project in November, but do a couple of Camp Nano's during the year. I decided to join their April Camp and work on a story idea that had bounced around in my head for several months. With a Nano camp, you can set your own goal and I did--20,000 words. I have 15,000 so far and doing about 1,000 words a day average (don't do Sundays) for the month. I would highly recommend it. I might try the big November one this year now that I have my 'groove' back! 


Quick note: Portals has become Realms of the Cat with a contract from my publisher. They will use my illustrations if I can send them in with white background. That is another issue. 
 

Thanks for listening. And speaking of listening, I may get a voice recognition program so that I can't use any health issues as an excuse. Any recommendations?