Feeling disconnected from my story: Is this normal?

Being a writer can sometimes be an odd experience. Case in point: my third novel, Michael's Mystery.

It wasn't planned to be the third novel, in fact I had already written the third novel (untitled thus far) when I came up with the idea for Michael's Mystery.

Aside from publishing STORM, and a few other short stories, I have not done with Michael's Mystery that I had done on the first two, or even the now new number four, five and six. Yes, they are already drafted, and only await the heavy hand of editing before publication.

I didn't sit down and write the story of Michael and Andesine beginning to end, I stopped and did other projects in between. And now it is coming back to bite me.

As a pantser, I don't plan my stories in detail, my "planning" attention goes into my characters and their environment.

Keeping that in mind, I had to go back and reread what I have already written to pick up the trail of my story. Now that is normal practice for me, except that this time I ran into a wall. The internal editor wall.

The more I read, the more I wanted to sit down and fix the plot gaps, the grammatical errors and streamlining it with book 2 and book 4. Being consistent is after all very important in a series.

I have no idea if this ever happened to anyone else, but this is a first for me.

Is the story done and ready for editing? No.

I estimate that it needs about 15k words more. The word count is not that important, but it definitely needs the battle scene that has been threatening for a chapter or two and of course the ending needs to be done too. And knowing my characters, they won't be able to keep their hands off each other either, so a scene with an intimate encounter might also happen somewhere.

What do I do now? Write? Procrastinate? Edit?

For the short term, ie. Camp NaNoWriMo, I am working on another project to keep going on my target.

I have not decided yet on the course of action come August, but the deadline for publication of Michael's Mystery (a novel of the Grandmasters) is coming closer at a rapid rate.

And so I keep plotting ...

Infographic Thursday: Make your day better

Source: www.visual.ly

Release Day: Deadly Betrayal by Kristine Cayne

An Afghan woman’s rights activist with a dark secret.

Azita Seraj, doctor and women’s rights activist in Afghanistan, is horrified to learn that her late husband’s brother, Khalid Mullazai, is giving his eleven-year-old niece to a militant warlord. Desperate to save the girl, she reaches out to the only hope she has: an American soldier she treated several years earlier for a near-fatal gunshot wound. A wound he received in an ambush she’d unwittingly initiated. Can she enlist his aid and still keep secret her betrayal?

An American soldier searching for answers.

Kaden Christiansen never forgot the beautiful Afghan doctor who saved his life, and when he receives her cry for help, he doesn’t hesitate. He relishes the opportunity to see Azita again, and being in-country will give him a chance to hunt down the person responsible for the ambush that left one of his men dead.

A deadly conspiracy that threatens them both...

Pursued by Mullazai and the warlord’s fighters as they travel across the country disguised and posing as a married couple, Kaden and Azita begin to fall for their own act and for each other. But Kaden senses that Azita is holding back. Is the reason their cultural differences, or something darker?

Add it to your Goodreads TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17801275-deadly-betrayal

Catch up on the award-winning DEADLY VICES series before the launch of book three, DEADLY BETRAYAL on July 21st!

DEADLY OBSESSION - 4.4 stars on 107 reviews

Nic Lamoureux's perfect movie star life is shattered by a stalker who threatens any woman close to him. When he meets photographer Lauren James, the attraction is instant--and mutual. She's exactly the sort of woman he craves, but the stalker makes deadly clear Lauren is the competition. And the competition must be eliminated.

DEADLY ADDICTION - 4.8 stars on 39 reviews

When Rémi Whitedeer and Alyssa Morgan uncover a drug-fueled scheme on the Blackriver Reserve—a scheme involving a biker gang from Alyssa’s past and a militant sovereigntist group led by Rémi’s cousin—Rémi must choose between loyalty to family and tribe or his growing love for Alyssa. Will Rémi and Alyssa have to leave everything behind—even their identities—for the chance at a future together?

Infographic Thursday: A Blogging Strategy

Source: www.visual.ly

International Authors' Day Blog Hop

Thank you to Debdatta of  http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in who is hosting this blog tour to celebrate International Authors' Day.

A short while ago I asked for articles about being a writer, but it seems that my fellow South African authors are very shy when it comes to sharing their stories.
From experience, and having some great friends outside my home country, I decided that we all could benefit from a compilation of our stories.

You may submit a maximum of 2 articles, between 1500 to 2000 words each, on YOUR experiences, or YOUR advice on writing or being a writer. This is not a project on general advice, it has to be from a personal perspective. First person POV is recommended. Only English language submissions will be considered.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
1.    Time Management
2.   What made you decide to write/publish
3.   What to write - fiction or non-fiction
4.   Which genre is best
5.   Sex or no sex
6.   Collaboration projects - multi author and/or anthologies
7.   The positives/negatives of alpha and beta readers
8.   What you expect from a reviewer
9.   Book blog tours
10.  Choosing an editor
11.  Book cover design
12.  Author Branding
13.  Marketing
14.  Social media
15.  Ebook or print?
16.  Children’s books
17.  YA and NA books
etc.

Please submit your articles/stories to blog.tour.info@gmail.com as a .doc, .rtf or .txt file.

Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2014, 12pm, South African time (GMT+2)

We are looking for around 45-50 essays to publish in ebook format to distribute for free via Smashwords and Amazon. It will be uploaded to Goodreads, and you will be tagged, if you have a profile.

If your article(s) are selected, your author bio, book links, social media links, and blog / website details will be requested for inclusion in the publication.

Please ensure your work is edited before submission.

We reserve the right not to select every submission for publication.

The project is open to any and all published authors.

So here is your chance to share your story, and inspire many others to gather their courage to face their fears, and take that final step into the world of being a published writer.

Infographic Thursday: Hooow tooo beee Moore CREATIVE!

This is one long, long, long infographic :) Creativity is something that many people take for granted, simply because it is the way we are, but it does not have to be only that way.
Anyone can be creative, and it is not even that difficult.
Okay, shutting big mouth here, because the creative writing process is different for everyone. I am sure artists will agree that the argument holds true for them too.
I often get the weirdest ideas at the oddest moments, and 'what if' is the one phrase my brain seems to love above all others. Don't get me wrong, some of my brainwaves do not deserve to be mentioned, while others are explored in some or other story that I am concocting at the time.
Once in a while, the idea sticks and grows to become a short story or a novel.  Sometimes it even ends up worth reading.
May your creative endeavours give you hours of pleasure, and satisfy that deep dark need to ... write!


The infographic can be found on www.visual.ly

Invitation: Share your experiences and advice with others

The South African market is small and a challenge at the best of times. If you are a published author (indie or not) what advice, anecdotes and tales would you like to share with other writers? Drop us a line if you are interested - details in the graphic 

Help build your audience by taking part in this project, aptly named FEARLESS, because our journey may not easy, but neither could we give in to the fear that prevents us from fulfilling our dreams.

Come on, you have always wanted to!