Real world stuff today:
First off, my publisher, Howling Wolf Books, has decided to hold off on releasing anything new until they can find a new print on demand service for paperback printing. So neither of my books originally scheduled to come out this year will be release as originally planned. Anything already released will continue to be available in paperback on Amazon and in ebook other places for now. I'm told that, once they do find a new service for paperback printing, all the old books will be getting new editions with prettier covers. So I'm looking forward to that. The thought, which I briefly discussed with sister author B. Heather Mantler, is creating a Facebook group or other (semi) private forum for the purposes of beta reading and sharing other writing. If anyone would be interested in this, either as an author or as a potential beta reader, please let me know in a comment on this post.
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Somehow, it's now 2022. Happy New Years to everyone. I hope this year brings each of you something you need.
My current plans for this year include: Two new novels published, one of which my publisher tells me is nearly ready to go and the other needs proofing yet. Edits on several of my completed first drafts from the last couple years. i know some of these are going to be harder than others. I'm pretty sure some of those drafts are as rough as first drafts could possibly be. Three to four new first draft manuscripts and some 'tales of'... maybe enough for a new collection. We'll see how things go. All of this being dependent on my having the time to sit and work and be able to concentrate. We shall see how it goes.
I have been writing since the primary grades of elementary school. I even still have a little bit of that work. To be fair, it is what one would expect of a second or third grade student. Most of those stories were for school assignments.
I started my first larger project in grade seven, out of a language arts assignment from a school reader. That story has never actually been finished, but generated a number of characters who have appeared in published novels and tales. But this was the first piece I remember taking home to write on. And I would continue to work on it and the stories of the various minor characters throughout high school and into university. Ultimately, at least two of the characters from that grade seven start would appear in my first published novel, although much altered from their early beginnings. I have been known to get lost in fleshing out worlds and characters. Some things change a lot in the process; some don't. It's an ongoing process and I'm always working on something. (The image attached to this post is of the Howling Wolf Books editions of my original Cemen Colony set, which are available, as of the posting of this, in both print and ebook) “I write to keep the characters in my head from driving me crazy.” - from my Goodreads profile, which I reiterate every time someone asks me why I write. The image above is also mine, taken for an Instagram challenge (I think) a while back. It is a legitimate question for me.
Because really, my writing is a means by which the characters in my head are able to tell their stories. Some of those stories make for neat novels and shorter 'tales' (because I can never keep my word count to a true short story.) Others make for a lot of notebooks and text documents which may or may not ever see the light of day. Living in a day and age where it seems people have lost any ability they may have had to separate the writer/performer/artist from their work, it can be scary to allow the character to tell their story as it happened to them. But that's the thing: If the character doesn't have a problem, the story has no plot. Stories without plots rarely make for enjoyable reading. All of which goes to say, my characters do things, say things, and have things happen to them which I would never condone one person doing to another in real life. The flip side of which is people do worse to each other in real life all the time. That still doesn't make it right or good. (Different issue, I know.) I can't not write. Even if I were to never publish anything ever again, I would still be writing. But since there are people who assure me that they love my work, I'm likely to keep publishing that which my publisher is willing to publish for me.
Two things for today: Starting tomorrow, I will be once again attempting Camp Nanowrimo. I can be found on their site as aacheshire, if you want to see what I'm up to over there. This Camp session, I am working on the sequel to the novel being released in August 2021. Also... trying to write anything during record setting high temperatures is hard. I'm melting here in a place where AC is deemed 'unnecessary'. If you have cooler weather (better yet, rain) please send it to the Pacific Northwest.
The above image was used in the cover of Old Tales Retold, which is a collection of fairy tales rewritten with a sci-fi twist.
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AuthorAlexandra A. 'Lexa' Cheshire is the author of numerous novels and short stories published through Howling Wolf Books. Lexa is a wife, mother, cat owner, and music lover. Archives
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