How do YOU write? Part 1

When you write, how do you do it?

Do you have your own office in the house, brimming with notebooks and papers and sundries, steaming mug of coffee on the desk next to you as you type away? Or is the coffee replaced with a chilled glass of wine?

Do you curl up in a chair by the fireplace, laptop open before you?

Do you set word count goals for each week? Each day? Do you outline your story first?

Since learning about the world of self-publishing, I have made a point of reading dozens of novels by indie authors, in addition to a few big name books that had been on my to-read list for some time. So far one my very favorite experiences in this endeavor has been with The Touchstone Trilogy by Andrea K Host. The story of how these books came to be written is a fun and intriguing one.

Host explains it like this:

"Touchstone started off as a fiction blog. My initial concept was simply to write every day of a person's life, no matter how boring that day was - to not skip the things that writers usually elide or compact for the sake of easy reading.

There was no planning whatsoever to start off with, just a girl, and stepping her through a gate and every day I discovered what happened next. This is pretty much how I usually write, for the first chapter or so of my books - I rarely have an ending in mind when I start.

But naturally I think about what could be coming as I write, and usually by chapter three or so I have some idea of some of the major events we're heading for. Often the explanation for all the things going on don't come along until later, though.

With Touchstone particularly, a great deal of what happened revolved around me thinking of something interesting, writing about it, and then when I bored of that, thinking up a new spanner to throw in the works. I didn't know what a Touchstone was actually _for_, for instance, until Lira showed up."

I remember reading that her fiction blog had only one subscriber who stuck with it for the entire year, but she kept writing, because each and every day, that one person showed up to read. I owe that person my gratitude, because that story (with some tweaking to accommodate novel format) has since been published as the poignant, fun and alluring Touchstone trilogy. 

Andrea K Host's website can be found here

Kindle Unlimited

The Sentient is once again available through Kindle Unlimited. If you have enrolled through Amazon to pay $9.99 a month for unlimited access to over 700,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks (and keep up to ten on your devices at a time), my book is available to you without any further payment. Happy reading, everyone!

More make believe casting

So I did a little searching and picked actors for the other main roles in The Sentient. You know, when I pretend it has become a major motion picture and I get to choose the cast? I'll repeat a few I have already featured in this blog, in order to have all of the characters together in one post.

So, without further ado...

In the role of Anna Cassidy:

Anne Hathaway

As Jameson Dorn:

Joseph Morgan

Acting as Victor Dorn:

Michael Fassbender

Playing Cassandra Dorn:

Deborah Ann Woll

Starring as Nathaniel Dorn:

Anthony Hopkins

As Reza Hakim:

Kit Harington

In the role of Zahira Dorn:

Aishwarya Rai

Acting as Evelyn Dorn:

Chloe Grace Moretz (I'm not familiar with too many tween/teen actors these days, but give this young lady black hair and she at least looks like she could pull off the part)

Playing Julian Dorn:

Emjay Anthony

And, lastly, the character of Genvieve Valois. Her part in Book I of The Sentient Prophecy is fairly minor, but you will be seeing more of her in The Prophecy

Scarlett Johansson looks very similar to how I picture Genevieve, and she is the right age for the part, but...

Marion Cotillard might be a better choice, as she is French

So much to learn, so little time!

Little by little I am learning more about the self-publishing industry, and how to navigate it as an indie author. Today, I started experimenting a bit with some visual content apps. I know I've only just scraped the tip of the iceberg, but I'm excited to learn more. Today's accomplishments may be fairly minor, but they have brought a smile to my face nonetheless.

And now, back to writing!

Casting for The Prophecy

A while back I posted pictures of actors, having fun with the idea of who I would cast as characters from The Sentient in a film adaptation (Hey, it could happen!) I also shared the link to my Pinterest account with these and other photos to show some of what I had in mind when writing.

Well I finally cast Anna Cassidy with the wonderful Anne Hathaway. I'm now thinking of actors for other characters with bigger roles in the sequel in progress, The Prophecy. Take a look, and let me know who YOU would cast!

Anne Hathaway as Anna Cassidy

Scarlett Johansson looks similar to how I picture the character of Genevieve Valois. However, it might be nice to go with a French actress for this role, and I am sadly lacking in familiarity with French actresses. One of the few I do know is Marion Cotillard, and I kind of love her. But ScarJo is the right age. Hmm, decisions, decisions...

Scarlett Johansson as Genevieve?

Or Marion Cotillard as Genevieve?

THE SENTIENT now available through other vendors

The Sentient is no longer Amazon exclusive. As of this moment, the ebook is available through Kobo  and the paperback can be purchased through Barnes & Noble!

The Sentient from Barnes & Noble

The Sentient on Kobo

The Sentient for the Nook (Currently unavailable - I am having problems getting the ebook version up with this platform)

I will be working on getting it to ibooks next!

You Make My Heart Super Happy!

I could hardly contain myself when I read the latest review for The Sentient on Amazon:

"Although fiction, something I rarely if ever read, I found the story compelling me to read on and on. Excellent. Inspiring. Awakening"

That right there is an amazing compliment, and further encouragement to go work some more on the sequel.

If you need me, I'll be writing. (And probably still smiling ear to ear about the review.)