I needed a new video for my book The Veil of Time, an urban fantasy novel with Christian themes. Thanks to AI for creating this quick video. It’s spit on.
Tag: novel
The Cross’s Key
Kyle Stevens and His Cat Bubba from my Novel The Cross’s Key
Book Deal
Starting today, March 9th and running through March 16th, the Kindle version of my new novel entitled The Cross’s Key is on sale for only $2.99. It’s marked down from $8.99. That’s a savings of 67%. Get your copy of it now before the price goes back up. The link to the book is in the book title above, below, and is also featured on the home screen on my blog.
Book 3
Recently I began writing my third book in my Time Series. The title is tentative, so I am not going to share it just yet. But what I wanted to write about was how exciting it can be to embark on a new project yet challenging at the same time. One might think an author would feel as though beginning to write a new novel is nothing new, that it’s commonplace. One might get used to it, and the newness of it wears off. That is all wrong. Each time I started to write a new book, I felt the exciting twist of wonderment as a new opportunity to create another story began to weave its web across the pages.
Granted, I have only published two books and one book of poems. But it doesn’t matter. Each one is different, so your brain isn’t getting tired of the same old thing every time. What I enjoy best is the new conflict and plot twists I will have fun creating and inserting into the story.
I have to admit though. Going into book 3 was slow going at first. I wrote the prologue and put it away. Then a couple days later I went back to write chapter 1. I wrote approximately 500 words of chapter 1, then put it away. A couple days later I wrote more. I have chapter 1 finished now, but I was still lacking something. I ended up making a list of things I needed for the story so I can move on with it, then I sat back for about a week or so and let those ideas work in my subconscious as I moved along with the rest of my life. I didn’t sit immobile and try to think of something. Doing that would have been way too boring, and it would have gotten me no where. But now I have it. As I went about my days, I would think about my story and what it needed, relaxed, let my imagination run rampant, thought about different ideas, etcetera.
Book 3 is now making its way across the pages of my manuscript with much more ease. If you find yourself stuck like this, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to come up with ideas. They will come to you. You just have to give yourself a break.
Excerpt from the Prologue
Here is an excerpt from the prologue of my new novel, The Cross’s Key
The Triplet Septfinitude bragged of mountainous peaks and plush grassy meadows. Trees with leaves of several hues of reds, yellows, and greens cascaded own each slope. Between each mountain rested deep blue and turquoise-colored lakes and streams. Living dwellings made of marble peeked out in various areas of the sides of each mountain. Small wooden bridges decorated with leafy vines connected each living dwelling from one to the next and all the way down to the grass below.
Paul and Susan Stevens looked on as their eight-month-old triplet boys lay on their blanket under the Fophawna tree. The Tantis Lake lay several yards away. A gentle breeze touched the furry bark of the tree just right, and the follicles billowed and shimmered. Susan got down on the blanket to play with her boys and moved into a sideways leaning position when the triplets touched each others hands haphazardly clapping them together. She chuckled as she watched. As they continued to do this, their hands became attached to each other. Then the three little bodies moved and melded together and giggled. The end result was one baby, not three. Susan’s mouth gaped open, and her vocal cords refused to work, rendering her silent. She was so horrified and so focused on the one baby that she didn’t see her husband on the blanket across from her trying to do what he could to make the one baby three again. All the while glancing over his shoulder several times to see if anyone else witnessed what just happened. They were alone.
“How do we get them apart?” said Susan now able to speak.
Paul didn’t respond as he poked and prodded the baby in front of him.
“Paul?””
“What!” he thrust out. “How in hell should I know? This is the first I’m seeing this myself.”
“You don’t have to be so…..” Susan said with a start. “I didn’t…..damn!”
“You knew there was a possibility this would happen. We both did.”
She opened her mouth to talk but thought better of it. He was right, but she put this possibility behind her never thinking it would happen to her babies. She didn’t want this, not for her children. This kind of ability was dangerous. She knew what it meant for their future and the future of the triplets if anyone found out.
“Paul, what are we going to do?”
“We’ll have to keep them apart as best we can. Then, when they get a little older, we can leave and go to Shir in the Natural Septfinitude.”
He was right.
*****
Fourteen years and Four Months Later
Shir’s early morning dew glistened across the lush grass as Ethan bent over the creek and whisked his fingers through his blond close-cropped curls. He gave himself one last look at his reflection in the still creek water then splashed the cool, wet liquid on his face a couple times and stood. He crossed his long sleeve shirted arm across his face to dry it then turned to face his triplet brothers.
“Why can’t we touch each other? You know, like pat each other on the back for a job well done or something. What’s all the fuss about?” asked Jace.
“Why? Do you need a pat on the back? Are you in need of a compliment? Well, job well done, Jace,” said Ethan with a voice dripping of sarcasm. “How are we supposed to know? We’re in the same situation as you.”
“You’re the oldest, Ethan. You should now,” said Mason with a chuckle. He knelt next to the creek, dunked his close-cropped, straight black hair in the cold water, shook his head several times, then whipped his head back, bringing with it a stream of water heading straight for Jace, who saw it in time and ducked. The splash landed on Ethan’s face.
Ethan gasped then took another swipe at his face to dry it. “I am the oldest by nine minutes,” replied Ethan. “And keep your water to yourself damn it. My being the oldest does not mean squat. Ask dad. Although, I doubt he would say anything. I tried asking once, and he blew me off.”
“Mom and dad never said anything to me either. I asked them once, too. Mom looked away and dad changed the subject. You know how he is. If he doesn’t want to tell you something, no amount of probing or coercion is going to get him to talk,” said Mason.
“So, let’s try it,” said Jace.
Ethan and Mason threw him a blank stare.
“What? It’s not like we’re going to blow up or something.”
“Dude,” said Ethan. “I don’t think we should go against mom’s and dad’s wishes.”
Mason smacked his tongue, then said, “Come on, he’s right. He is the youngest, so we can blame him if something goes wrong. Besides, they’ll never know.”
“Ok, fine,” said Ethan. “But not here in the open. Let’s go in the barn. We have chores to finish up anyways.”
The late July heat rendered the barn an oven of sorts. The three stood inside the main entrance looking around. One of thee horses in one of the distant stalls stamped his hoof and gave a low whinny.
Ethan spied his father’s small office on the far end and walked in that direction. “Come on.”
The three stood in the center of the room and looked at each other. Neither one wanted to go first. Finally, Mason gave Jace a quick poke. Nothing happened. Seeing this, Ethan and Jace did the same to Mason. Again, nothing happened. They started laughing and felt ridiculous. Then they slapped each other the way guys do.
“Damn,” said Ethan. “All this time we’ve been afraid to come in contact with one another. Again, I wonder what the big deal was?”
“He five bros,” said Mason as he put up both of his hands.
Ethan and Jace put up both of their hands. Now standing in a tiny circle, they all smacked each other’s hands at the same time. Then their bodies melded into one. Now they knew.
“What? Who? How? Oh God. What have we done?” asked the brothers who were now one person. What is this person’s name? My name? Our name? Damn! Who is this?” His voice didn’t sound like any one of the three brothers.
He turned to face the corner desk. A small 8″ x 10″ mirror hung on the wall above the section of desk on the right. He peered into it. A different person stared back. In a way he was a compilation of the three, yet different. He touched his mouth, then pulled the skin under his right eye down and let go. He ran his hands through his dark brown hair and exhaled.
“We need to tell dad. Wait, I’m talking to myself. Hey, you guys there?” Nobody answered back. “What’s my name, our name?” Again, no one answered. He didn’t know if he was one person or three.
A translucent green materialized around the frame of the mirror and intensified until it filled the room. He plucked the mirror off the wall and a certain oddness peered back at him….
(If you enjoyed this snippet and would like to continue reading more, follow the link to the book in the book’s title above. It is free on Kindle Unlimited. The Kindle version is $8.99 on Amazon).
The Cross’s Key
The Kindle/eBook version and all formats of my new novel are now live on Amazon.
Coming Events
Over the past weeks I have been preparing my second novel for publication this coming November 17th. As a result, other writing ventures have been waiting for me to work on them. This blog being one of them. But soon I will be back at it, I will post more. I have had to push back the date for the publication of my poetry book, as my novel takes precedence. So, below is the new publication timeline for my other coming books.
January 17, 2023– Publication of my book of poems
February 16, 2023– Publication of my book of short stories
Have a great day everyone, and God Bless.
Write It Down
You want to write a novel, but you don’t know how to start. You have all these ideas milling around in your head, but you can’t seem to organize them. What do you do? Write them down. Get a journal and write it in there, or create an electronic file in your word processing program and write it in there.
What do you do once you get your ideas written down and organized? This is where I say, it all depends on how you as an individual go about it? Everyone is different and will do what is comfortable for them. But what if you don’t know how you work? You are going to have to try different things and discover what way you like best.
Here’s what I do. When I finished my first novel, I immediately wanted to write the second one. I had an idea of what I wanted the second book to be about but most of it was bunched in my head in pieces. I knew what I wanted the story to consist of but I didn’t know what I needed to do to connect those ideas. I started out by putting together a three ring binder with sections. These sections are as follows: characters, realms, settings, photos, names for characters, questions, story, style sheet, and fantasy characters.
I went through each section of my binder and added my notes in each section. Once the information was separate this way, my mind was free to meditate on each. The one section I started with was questions. I looked at those and sought to answer them. No, the answers didn’t come right away. I brainstormed the answers and some questions I had to really think about. This is where my walks came in handy. During that time my brain was free to think. Much of what I came up with and worked for my story came from that thinking time during my walks.
Example: below is a question I needed an answer to for my up and coming novel The Cross’s Key. I wanted seven realms in my novel hence the double question below…..
What will these realms be and how will I connect them to the story?
The answer to the above questions did not come right away. It took a while. That’s ok. Don’t rush your story. Take your time. But…..write down your ideas.
The Cross’s Key
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 