A New Era Begins

I’m extremely proud of my ability to create stories. An author has the amazing ability to create something that makes the world better, more beautiful. In my case, from just a snippet of a memory from a dream, or a quick glance at an image, or even a simple lyric from a song, I get inspiration to make stories. I see the story unfold in my mind, and I simply write what I see. As Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot once said, "I dream my picture and then I paint my dream."

As Carl Sagan put it in the following video: books are proof that humans are capable of working magic. 

I self-publish my stories. This means that I do everything from concept to reality. I imagine the story and write it. That’s actually the easy part for me. The rest of the process is where the real work comes in. I edit the book with my amateur ability. I read and re-read the story dozens of times. I read the book out loud to either myself or my husband, if he has the time to listen. When I’m happy with how it sounds, I lay out the book in Adobe InDesign. I then create the book cover. I do solicit help from my husband for the blurb on the back cover, as he's good at summarizing, while writing a brief synopsis of my story is nearly impossible for me.

After that’s done, I create the files in Amazon’s KDP. Amazon is an evil corporation that takes most of my earnings as an author, but it’s the biggest retailer for books. I might explore other avenues later once all my backlog is published, but for now, KDP it is. After I get everything set, I order an author proof and read the story yet again after months of being away from it. That break helps clear my mind and allows me to see the story from a different perspective. Once I’m happy with it, I publish. I create both physical and digital media. I’ve yet to delve into the world of audiobooks because I refuse to use AI to narrate my books, and hiring a human narrator is too expensive for me right now. Again, maybe it’ll be something I explore down the road.
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​I’ve published 16 novels so far following the aforementioned process. In addition to those already published, I have seven novels completely written waiting to go through the process of being published. I also have five novels started but not yet completed. In addition to all of those, I have at least a dozen books with notes about them. These are mainly ones that will complete a series that I’ve already started, but a few are completely new ones that I haven’t even begun to write yet.

The ideas for my stories come to me usually at the worst possible time. I’m someone who likes to handwrite out my outline. It allows me to focus my thoughts better than if I’m typing them out on a computer. It takes me back to the time before personal computers. That was the time when the writing bug first came to me. I was young, still in grade school. I wrote my first complete story when I was fourteen, but I’d been jotting down ideas and thoughts for as long as I could write. I’ve kept a journal for as far back as I can remember.

Oftentimes, I’m writing out the ideas for one story when another story pops into my head. A story whose characters decide to check into The Noodle Motel. And, as I wrote in my last blog post, the receptionist at my motel refuses to turn anyone away.

I’m currently writing two novels simultaneously. Normally, I focus on one book at a time, but these two books are warring each other inside my head, and I decided to let them both win and work on both at the same time. It’s confusing, but as I delve into them, I let them decide who will get the next chapter written as each morning comes.

As soon as I wake and make the trek downstairs, I sit in my chair and let my mind wander. I don’t scroll through social media. I don’t write anything down. I simply sit and let my mind go where it wants to go. It’s been a pleasant way to start the morning this past month. I might just make it a habit. I clear my mind of any worries or fears (and after what I’ve been through these past two years, I have plenty to fear). I imagine my mind a blank canvas, and simply wait to see what image pops onto the canvas first.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I visualize the story and then I simply write what I see. I focus on the first image that comes to my mind, and that’s the book that I work on that morning. Thankfully, my mind has cooperated and has mainly produced thoughts of the two books that I’m writing, but on occasion, another story will pop in to say hello. I’ve managed to keep those thoughts in line by writing them down in a journal until I’m ready to write them into reality.
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I enjoy writing and telling my stories. I like to take my time and introduce the characters properly and let the story unravel at the pace that feels right. Some of my books are longer (180K+ words) and some get to their conclusion a little quicker (80K+ words). I’ve read that in many cases, longer books aren’t great sellers. When I was contemplating sending a book out to a publisher, one of the requirements was that the book be between 50K and 75K words only. Anything longer would automatically be rejected. I like reading longer books. I don’t like to feel rushed. I like the story to gently unfold, not jump right into the action (unless that's the intention of the story). So I suppose it’s a good thing that I self-publish. I can write a story as long as I want without being told that it needs to be cut to fit into some template.
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​One of the two books that I’m working on is a little out of my comfort zone. I remember thinking the same thing when I first began conceptualizing The Arkainian Chronicles. I had, up until that point, kept my paranormal romance stories focused on characters who looked mostly human. But this was the first series that deviated from that. The Arkainians are from another planet, and the story takes place on that planet. I had to create a race of beings that the story was about, a planet for them to live on, a language (or at least some Arkainian words for them to communicate with, a creation story for them to refer to, and a culture in which they lived. Some details coincided with what we as humans can relate to, and some were completely … well, alien.
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Aside from being outside my comfort zone from a character perspective, the book I’m writing is also going to send me on an unknown journey into a new genre. I had a dream, and that dream is sending me into a genre that I didn’t ever think I would write in. I love romance, and, as I mentioned earlier, I love stories with strong character development. This helps me relate to the characters, so they don’t feel fictional. They feel like real people who could exist in the world.

I like stories with a strong plot. If there isn’t a point to the story—the reason the story is being told—what point is there? I know many people think that romance books are simply pornography with a slight plotline. And, I admit, some books that I’ve read feel that way to me as well. But my stories aren’t like that. Sex is a part of life. Putting it very simply, without it, life wouldn’t continue. Babies wouldn’t be conceived and humans would eventually cease to be. Sex is also a pleasurable part of life. It helps us feel the love our partner feels, and it helps us feel connected in a relationship. None of my stories contain meaningless sex, and it isn’t the main plotline of any of my stories. My stories contain sex, but they’re more a mystery book or suspenseful thriller that also contains sex. It isn’t a sex book that has a bit of mystery in it. There is a difference. 
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That being said, one of the books I’m writing has me heading into a previously unexplored genre. Isla’s Demons is a book in the genre of literary erotica. I cannot write a book without characters that I like or a story that holds my attention. I like sex just as much as anyone else, but I don’t want to read a book that contains only that. I’ve read some books in this genre that are crude and mildly unappealing in their attempt to progress a story along amongst the various sexual scenes. To me, the term "erotica" simply means that the story is a little more risqué than the average reader might enjoy. I’m going to list the book in the erotica category because I don’t want anyone surprised or uncomfortable reading it. I want readers to know exactly what they’ll be reading. If this isn’t your cup of tea, I have plenty of other books to choose from. 

The book Isla's Demons introduces EV Winter.  a third pen name which I’ll be writing under. I’m uncertain if there will be more books by this author than just the one, but I’m excited to see where this goes.

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Annie Rife is the name that I use for my contemporary romance books. These books all involve human characters, and all take place in or around the current time. 

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Lyra Zonder is the name that I use for my paranormal romance books. Here, there are human characters, but there are also werewolves, demons,, elementals, shapeshifters, fairies, and, of course, the aliens that I mentioned earlier.

I love variety when I read, and so that translates into my writing. I’ve even begun a young reader’s book involving my daughter and my three dogs. I’ve several chapters written and strive to finish it one of these days. Maybe this year will be the year. It would be nice to finish it before my daughter is old enough to drive! I also wrote a short book for my daughter’s seventh birthday. It was a story that I converted to a coloring book and was about how she met her favorite stuffed animal best friend, Maynard. I still have a stack of them and get them out every so often to read and enjoy.

​I just never know what journey my noodle is going to take me on next, but I look forward to the ride.