Missing Threads

 

I've always seen writing a story as akin to weaving a tapestry - if you have a thread, you keep it around, even if it's only a little thing. If you drop threads, your tapestry starts to get a little thin, depending on how many threads you drop.

This eight-book series is great. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys dragons, and I will give it a five-star review on Amazon when I finish the last book. The main character has a great character arc while still retaining self, and her number two is suitably tortured - I do hope he finally gets his girl - we'll see. 

The threads I'm talking about aren't big and in the vast scheme of this story, they don't really mean much; they were just something that nagged at me. 

First off, early on, our dragoneer sent off a rider in search of a translator, because, for the first time, they were able to take a surviving enemy as prisoner, and now they needed to find a way to communicate. I can sympathize, but it didn't seem like she put in enough effort to that end. She left it up to another of her riders to devote the hours. I can understand not having a lot of time, but it just seemed like she could have given it more effort - just my opinion. She hasn't been in the dragonseat for more than a month, and it takes experience. So she sends this guy off on one of only two male dragons they have (That's another issue I'll address later), and he just vanishes out of the story and virtually out of mind. Time is difficult to judge in this series, so I can't tell you how much time passed before he surfaced again - suffice it to say, it felt like a while. He was badly injured, but he did manage to pass along some vital information about a heretofore unknown staging site farther along the mountain range. From this site, they, the enemy, were amassing a ground force large enough to deal with our dragoneer's dragons. The big question at this point was why. Generations of dragon wars every summer all summer long made no sense. She wanted it to stop, and ever since joining with her alpha dragon, she felt every ache, pain, and wound of any dragons around her, so I can sympathize. A short time later, they brought this rider and his dragon home. At that point, you never hear about that rider ever again.  I'm ready to start the last book, and I seriously doubt he'll show up now. The only thing wrong about this is, though the alpha dragon and her dragoneer are the only ones who join, the other riders get very attached to their dragons. If a dragon dies but the rider survives, he gets another dragon, but it's like when you get a new dog a couple days after the one you've had for years has died - there's an adjustment period - new habits and a different feel to get used to. This particular rider, even if he could never ride again, would have come to see his dragon or hung around to do chores or whatever. As it is, we don't even know if he survived or died. There was no funeral, and dead riders get a very visible funeral, The whole village turns out. I know I kept looking for him; he just never turned up in any capacity, not even a doctor's report. 

The next thread that got lost involved that camp. When word got back to the king about it, he sent an army of, I assume, comparable numbers to deal with the leak through the mountains near there. Our dragoneer flew over to investigate and found the site deserted. Since their big army force had failed spectacularly, anyone left behind had taken off only with what they could carry. When the king's army arrived, they were told to occupy that site, and then we hear nothing about that at all ever again. They even had a caravan come through that 'leak' and the staging site might as well have been overgrown and wiped away for all the mention. At the very least, a fast horse should have been sent ahead to announce the arrival of a friendly caravan from across the mountains. Nada

The next thing is kinda big if you ask me, but really has no real effect on the story. The enemy on the other side of the country wants their eggs, but since feeding their dragons had become a problem, the dragoneer had opted to not allow her dragons to breed that year - she just couldn't feed them, I'm thinking this wasn't planned when that first book was written. Okay, let me start at the beginning. I've raised chickens, ducks and geese, and I've noticed a time or two in other places the ratio of male to female in cattle and pigs. My dad used to raise both, but I was just a kid; I didn't pay attention to those numbers back then. Anyway, the ratio of male to female is almost always real close to 50/50. If these dragons lay eggs every fall, where are the young dragons? How long does it take them to grow up to be old enough to ride? I can see most eggs being sent to the king, because if you take twenty dragons laying even only a dozen eggs each, That's almost two hundred and fifty eggs. Now at 50/50, that's over a hundred males. What was here at the beginning was twenty females, which were the bigger fighting dragons, and two substantially smaller male dragons. The male dragons were used as couriers because they were much faster than the bigger females. Now, what with the every-year war, casualties were, after a fashion, constant. They should have had young dragons in training by young hopeful riders to take their place. So, logically, they should have kept at least ten female babies and at a minimum one male dragon to keep the breeding stock going, though it might be better if theirs went to the king and other males were sent back, just to keep the bloodlines mixed. That would take care of the one male dragon ridden by that one now-dropped rider, that was deemed unrideable by the time they were found. This is another detail that was never mentioned again. As it was described back then, He'd been left wearing his saddle for so long the straps had started to cut into his muscle - not so much that he couldn't fly home, but bad enough he could never be saddled again. I can only assume that even when they reach adulthood, they must keep growing some. Or maybe the leather straps had shrunk. It was never explained. So, I suppose he could still breed, but he couldn't carry a messenger. Plus, when you have baby dragons, you easily have children eager to take care of them. I don't know; I think it would have added some comic relief to the drama. It would have required a separate wing to the dragon barn, or maybe even a different barn altogether. Can't you just see some kid running through the heather holding his baby up so she could feel the wind rather than just pretending to be the next dragon rider? 

Like I said, five stars for this series. It really is a great read. Check it out. 

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All Caught Up

 

Here they all are. Way back when I started writing, when my son gave me that very first little laptop computer, back then, I didn't have internet, and I didn't have any new books to read or a way to go get any. I started by writing in a notebook left over from homeschooling the boys, but they were in town now getting their GEDs, drivers' licenses, and training in a trade. On their first visit home, one of them presented me with this little computer. First thing I thought was, what do you do with a computer without internet? Well - it would be fun to see if I remember anything from my high school typing class. 

That little computer was amazing. I learned more about grammar and spelling from that Word program than I ever picked up in school. Even homeschooling didn't teach me that much, though I learned from that too. It also had an encyclopedia in it, which was awesome. Unfortunately, that encyclopedia is no longer supported, and it's no longer compatible with my computer. Sigh. I do miss it still.

In 2008, we went to Fairbanks to spend our first winter away from home, my goal was to have internet access so I could publish my first book. When we got home, long about that fall sometime, we had a satellite dish installed here, and thus began my greatest distraction from my writing. Between those two points in time, almost all of those books up there were written. I was a writing monster. 

Since then, I've produced four books, two of which are short stories, and started a very long series that I'm still working on. Other than that, I've polished up what I have and learned how to navigate the publishing world. After trying a subsidy publisher (a VERY expensive learning curve) and a small publishing company as well as a mid-range publishing company, I took the plunge and published the rest myself. I even reclaimed those I stuck out there under someone else's apron. I like my books under my name - I also like their new covers. 

So now - finally - all those books I wrote way back when, are published, and in a few months, they will all be over on SmashWords too.

My next dream - a movie deal. What do you think?

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Books Not to be Finished

We all run across them sometimes. Some of us even manage to buy them once in a while, either because the blurb on the back was enticing enough, or because someone we trust recommended it. Fortunately for me, both of these books were gifts given so long ago I'm not even sure where they came from.

Desperate for something to read, I gave them both my very best shot, but really couldn't stomach more than a third of each one. What books am I ranting about?

The first - Puerto Vallarta Squeeze by Robert James Waller

This book is about an author, Danny, declining in popularity. An ex-journalist, he turned to fiction with a brief flair of success and moved to Puerto Vallarta to indulge his depression with the best looking girl in town and a lot of sex, partying and of course alcohol.

His life takes a turn toward the interesting when he witnesses a professional hit. The hit man had gone to great lengths to go unnoticed; if Danny hadn't been looking in exactly the right spot at the right moment, he'd have missed it too. In the excitement of the two suddenly dead people out in the street, Danny and his really good-looking girl decide to go somewhere else.

Coincidentally, our professional hit man decides to follow our American to ask if he could take him to the American border. With the right amount of money incentive, plus Danny gets the brilliant idea to  grill the guy with the thought of his next stab at fame in mind. And so began their journey. I didn't get much further.

There was all manner of back story concerning the hit man, really a rather sad case, but rather than have it come out for some reason during the interaction between him and Danny, this information was completely disconnected from our author and his thoughts, for that's pretty much all we got from him, that and his impressions of the so very dangerous man riding in the car with him.

As a completely background character, the girlfriend was nonetheless everyone's eye-catcher.  She rode in the back seat playing no bigger part than to be an extra thread of actions, someone to wait for upon occasion, someone to make a comment now and then, certainly not a source of local information. Her biggest attraction was the occasional head-hop where someone admired her ass in passing. Really annoying if you ask me.

Now I've never been to Mexico, but rather than taking me on something of a tour, seeing this or that point of interest along the road, we got road numbers and miles to the next intersection, and the occasional comment on a choice of roads that would lead them to this destination or that one. This story was such an opportunity lost. I couldn't take anymore.

The next book I tried was Wild Animus by Rich Shapero

This book opened up at a college protest it sounded like some time in the 60s but I'm not at all sure; it was a minor issue to me. My brother went to college during that time, so for me it started out as something of a curiosity into the time. That didn't last long. Right off guy main, Sam, and girl main, Lindy, spent most of their time as high as they could get, likening their trips to touching god, and when that wasn't enough, they focused on an Alaskan magazine with a ram on the cover. This ram, the description of which waffled from that of a Dall Sheep to that of a Mountain Goat, soon became Sam's 'totem'. Now I'm all for totems; I happen to believe mine is a cat, a tiger or a mountain lion, but that's beside the point. Sam went so far as to become completely obsessed with the creature, and of course the illegal drugs made sure the two of them did little else, even forsaking friends and family.

Eventually, authorities started cracking down on the drug trade, so Sam and Lindy left town and college and headed west. Now bereft of whatever funding they used to have, they had to get jobs. There was little mention of this other than the fact that Sam couldn't keep one, leaving the burden of supporting them and their habit up to Lindy. To her credit, she seemed to be growing up, but she couldn't manage to say no to Sam, even when he spent all their money on mountain climbing and camping gear.

On one such 'trip', Sam changed his name to Ransom for no reason I could determine, but he also decided he and the ram were so united, he was now the ram's prophet or something of that nature - in other words, Sam decided he was about as close to godly as it was possible for a two-legged human could be.

Eventually, Sam traveled to Alaska so he could get to know his god, and at some point Lindy was able to go too. Up in Denali park they got their wish. They also had another revelation. Upon hearing the call of the wolf, Lindy came to the conclusion that the wolf was her totem. The reasoning behind this was that the wolf always followed the sheep and she was always following Sam/Ransom. Weird but okay - whatever floats your boat. But then they decided to consummate this revelation with sex right there on the mountain, doggy fashion. If you mix their totems in there, and how could I not, that's just freaky to me.

I did a little skipping ahead and not much changed. Sam/Ransom ended up following his ram up to the edge of some active volcano where he died, while Lindy tried to rescue him having drummed up a helicopter somewhere somehow, I didn't read that part. There is a disclaimer of sorts on the back, the very last sentence, where it says "Shapero's focus has been on the exploration within. The real goal, he maintains, is a fresh discovery of ourselves."

While some drugs may spark this 'exploration within', I have my doubts. I will not go into my thoughts on illegal drugs. I never tried any; I never saw the logic in skewing reality, but reading a 300+ page book of drug-induced delusional haze was way too weird to be interesting.

As I walk back to my bedroom after posting this, I do believe these two books will end up in the trash. And I never throw books away - until now.

Get Your Book Out There

You've spent months writing your story, then more weeks, if not months, editing it - sometimes you have the help of a publisher and sometimes not. Now what do you do?

So far, I haven't had any help from my publisher. And though I have two other publishers now, I haven't reached a point where they will or won't help with the promoting of the books I have with them. Promoting my one published book is all on my shoulders.

As I have advised other writers along the way, tenacity is the name of this game. If you're searching for a publisher or an agent, or if you're just trying to get better exposure for your book, you have to keep at it every day. No weekends, no holidays - and find out when you can cross the most eyeballs with your promotion (that one isn't easy). Figure when you have time to shop around. That's the time to get your book seen.

There are several things you can do. One very good thing is to get your book reviewed by as many bloggers as you can. In my opinion, you should be willing to give books to these bloggers for this purpose. Occasionally they'll ask for a link where they can buy it. I have a list of book bloggers - just send me an email asking for it and I'll send it to you. Take their contact information and send them an email telling them a little about your book and ask if they'd be willing to review it. I've met some really great people this way.

Other things you can do is get yourself a fan page on Facebook and a Twitter account. I also recommend Goodreads.

On Facebook, I try to keep my profile clear of clutter from games (I've taken to playing too many these days); your profile should be about you as a writer and as a person.

Rather than promoting a single book, my fan page is where I post all the links to where my book can be bought, and to my blogs. I also share links to the editor who worked on my next book and that publisher as well. As soon as I get to a point where there's something to promote with my newest publisher, I'll be adding another link to my list.

Facebook is pretty much the core of my socialization and advertising. Along with my fan page, I am a member of several groups where I also share my blog links.

You can now use Facebook as your fan page, which is a slightly different perspective. You can add other fan pages to your's as favorites and there are a few groups there too. I post my blogs in that way on a handful of such pages.

Twitter isn't really a social network so much as an advertising network. I follow most anyone who follows me. My philosophy is that you never know who is behind the tweets, no matter how automated they are; they are still people and they just might notice one of my tweets and maybe they'll buy my book or at least spread the word.

Goodreads is also a good place to get your book noticed. Join groups that interest you and make friends wherever you can. You should also look for groups that offer for writers to meet readers. There are hundreds and hundreds of different groups - heck, start one of your own.

Google+ is the newest platform for promotion and exposure, and recently they have the equivalent of a fan page there too. Google+ doesn't agree with my connection much so I only post there a couple times a week, and though I have a page, and I have posted all my links there, I haven't done much else with it.

There are things you can do in person too, things I can't do because I live clear out in the wilderness. You can visit the different bookstores and malls in your area and talk to the appropriate people. See if there is some way you can get a few of your books on their shelves. There are different offers you can make. They may be willing to buy a few books, or you could offer that they pay you only for books that sell and you'll pick up what doesn't sell.

Set up a schedule for book signings anywhere you can - be sure you have enough books to sell there. I'm trying something new in this department. My book has been around for three and a half years now so I decided to offer it for sale through an event on Facebook. I have to use snail mail but it's what I can do. My offer is to send a signed book back. If it works out well enough, I'll be doing it again with other books.

This is my weekly advertising schedule:

Twitter offers my links in a nice neat line-up so I open my twitter profile on the first tab. On the second tab is the twitter home page. On the third tab is my facebook profile page, and on the fourth tab is my fan page.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, I copy from the list on tab one and paste to tab two and then tab four.

My website I post on tab three on Mondays and Thursdays, on tab four on Tuesdays and Fridays.

On Mondays I post my writing blogs to the different groups on Facebook. I used to do this on Thursdays too, but I started posting as my fan page so this is the day I post my writing blog on the different page groups.

On Tuesday I post my blog novel to my groups. I used to do this on Fridays too, but I now use my fan page to post it around on page groups.

On Wednesday and Sunday I add Google+ to my tabs.

Since I blog late on Friday night, Saturday is my day to sleep in and taking a day off. I take the time to update my list on Twitter; it is the only place I advertise on Saturday. Mostly is my day for socializing. It's always a good way to get yourself noticed. Read blogs and leave comments. We all love comments.

What do you do to promote your work? Leave a comment and share so we can all learn.

To Publish Again

It was about this time two years ago when I first ventured into publishing. Oh my God, I was going to be able to mix and mingle with professionals in the writing field. I should have paid closer attention when I got my edit back - that was my first interaction with a professional. I so wanted to learn from him. I was so excited. My edit, however, was far less than I hoped. Surely I wasn't that good a writer. Sure he did the editor thing, he caught when I switched the spelling of one of my minor characters. He found capitalization mistakes and verb goofs. All the things needed to make a error-free manuscript. But he never explained any of it. He never made any suggestions that might improve my skill or the story. There were also things he suggested I could see no sense in. Why should all my number-words be switched to number-figures? I even called him on that one. I asked what book he used to dictate his recommendations. Since he wasn't going to explain anything, I'd try to get the book and learn for myself. I just looked at that edited document for the first time since way back when. He commented only twenty-two times in the whole document and none of them was an explanation of anything. Bleh. Never, in all the books I've read, have I seen numbers rather than their words, other than in a math book that is. That really bothered me.

My next disappointment was when I started getting proofs. I spent a delightful hour or so on the phone talking to the two people who were supposed to be responsible for it all. They were the experts, and though I had a few preferences on fonts and such, I figured they knew what was best. What I had done was pick up the last book I'd read. I diligently counted five-character words across an average line and then the lines on that page, then I set my computer document margins and font size to get as close to those numbers as I could. That way, I would have a rough idea how many pages my book would have. It was all a visual thing for me. However, that all meant it would have to be resized to fit their requirements. Where I visualized a pocketbook sized book, they recommended the larger 6x9 size. Once again, they were the professionals. They knew what was best, surely. What did I know about book sizes? The first proof I got back was so incomplete. How could anyone release work with such glaring resizing misses???? Have they no pride in their work???

Then came the cover work. Completely out the window went my suggestion without even a mention. But once again they were the professionals, surely. They knew about cover art. I knew less than nothing. I do have a bit of an artistic eye and I tried my best to make sure the picture wasn't too busy behind the title. I tried to work with what they gave me but apparently there was only so much they could do. Then came the spine. Yes, this is book 1, and for this collection, an oval opal was the one connecting link for all three books. But do you think they could get that right??? I found them three images of an oval opal on line and sent them to use as an example. What did I get in return??? Something that looked like an oval piece of marble. I mean really, the opal with its sparkling center was important, but apparently they didn't have one they could use.

Yes, it was a disappointing, expensive learning experience, but it was a learning experience. I learned that I should have stood my ground and insisted on what I wanted, or at least a lot closer. They would have bowed to my desires, after all I was footing the bill. That book will have a second coming one day - maybe when I finish book 3, and I can publish them all together.

I was, however, able to pass on what I've learned to a close friend of my brother's who is also just publishing a book. His publisher recommended a different title. When I asked him about it, he told me the one he had wanted and why. It was important to the story. I told him to stick by his title and his publisher bowed to his desire. I'm all for suggestions. I really want what's best, but what's best isn't always what's easiest to do, to see, or to say.

Now - here I am again. After two years of making like a search light over dark and stormy seas, looking for someone to help me get another book out there. I scrutinize the websites of potential agents. I hover over various writing groups and blogs, watching for a mention. Occasionally, I send out a query, always trying to include everything they say they want. I don't send out mass queries; I want each one to be from me to the person I'm sending it to. There are thousands of places out there full of advice on how to write a query to hook the agent in the first sentence, but in my opinion, if my letter isn't good enough, neither is my query, and if my query isn't good enough, maybe I don't want to be working with that person in the first place - let it be their loss for not taking me on. Yes, I'm proud of my work, and I'm proud of who I am and who I have always been. I am me. This is my work. Take me or leave me and I will move on.

Just the other day I found the website for a new publishing company. So new they only have a few authors under their belt. According to the website, they wanted any submissions to have been read by someone else - a luxury I can understand and advise others to get if at all possible, however, it is something I have been unable to indulge in much myself. Living in the wilderness has its drawbacks in that I know few people and not many of them read, fewer still could give me the help I needed from such a reading. "Yes, I like it." or "That's not my kind of story." Really isn't all that much help.

At any rate, since it was an important stipulation, I sent them an email asking about it and explaining some of my situation. I think he must have taken a look at some of my links, at any rate, his reply was very understanding and he asked that I submit a sample. Going back to the website, I sent in what was asked, and also according to the site, I could expect a reply in two to three weeks.

I prepared to sit back and wait my two weeks or so. I posted a note on Facebook announcing my submission and got lots of good luck wishes. That is so nice, you know. To know so many people are watching my progress through this writing sea I'm trying to navigate, and to know that they took a moment of their time to wish me luck.

Lo and behold!!! Only four days after my submission, he asked me for the full manuscript. Oh my God!!!! Am I really on this journey???? And I KNOW I'll be among the real professionals this time. Will he take me on for real??? We'll have to see. I'll be sure to keep you informed.

My Passion and My Obsession

To many people, I have mentioned the many different books I've written. I sometimes wonder if they believe me. Mostly because all the people I talk to, at most, have two or three. Even if those with more published books than I have, don't seem to have as many finished manuscripts. Am I bragging? I'm not trying to. I'm just trying to understand. What is it that I did different than these other writers? I know one big thing, I'm certain they all spent more time socializing - 'developing their platform', as I've been told needs to be done years in advance of publishing their work.

In contrast, all I did was write. I had stories to tell - tales to spin, and when I wasn't spinning a tale, I was reading through it, just to make sure it said what I wanted it to say. It was very important to me that actions and scenes were as clear as I could make them. As I've covered in an earlier post, I made many mistakes in the mechanics of writing, mistakes I'm now trying to iron out. I don't know that I'll ever iron all the kinks out - I'm thinking part of it is simply my way of telling my story - my voice, if you will.

Anyway, for those of you who might be curious, I thought I'd tell you a little about the books I've written. Many years ago, long before I even thought I'd be a writer, I decided to write a story in an open notebook. The job I had at the time required a fifteen minute break in the morning and afternoon and a half hour break for lunch. Not one to twiddle my thumbs during these breaks, I wrote in my notebook. During the course of various moves out here, that notebook got lost, but I tried to recreate it from memory, with slightly less magic. I'm not all that happy with the result, but TO RECLAIM THE THRONE is 212 pages long as of today (that's 58,728 words).

Many of my stories started with one of my rather vivid dreams. One such dream was a young man gazing across a wide valley. In the center of that valley was a dome, and littered all across the horizon was hundreds if not thousands of Star Wars-type ships of all sizes - he was taking pictures of it all - he was so happy - he wanted a beer, and then suddenly it all exploded into action and the young man that was me had to run for his own ship - a ship he spoke to as if it was another person, like you see in the movies sometimes. That was the dream - for the book, I had to come up with names and reasons for what he was seeing and why he was so happy. Then I had to figure out what might happen next. It was really an interesting journey, both for my character and for me. THE SPEED OF DREAMS ended up being 254 pages long (67,699 words).

THE MYSTERY OF PLANET WER also started with a dream, but this dream was an ending. The scene was a loving couple hugging each other tenderly while standing in front of a house-less fireplace and chimney. That was the picture, but along with it came some information. He was a werwolf and she was blind. She was also the only person on the planet who could end the quarantine. Now, I must confess, another influence for this book was a cartoon I used to enjoy. One of the crewmen was also a werwolf. As long as he was off planet he couldn't be anything but a werwolf, but as soon as he was home, he could be human and change at will. This werwolf, and mine, wasn't the monster from the movies, though that didn't mean that he couldn't be very dangerous in his wolf form. Well, now I had a main character. All I had to do was introduce him to the love of his life and figure out what the quarantine was and how to end it. I had so much fun with the wer-people as they worked their way through the mystery of their roots, which of course tied them to the native creatures of the planet. As you might guess, this story did not take place on Earth. It is 254 pages long (69,324 words)

WHAT FUTURE, SLAVE did not start with a dream. Instead I wanted to experiment with the concept of slavery as it should have been handled, not the way it was handled in our history. No, in my book slaves were every bit as important as livestock and treated much the same. As we all know, not all animals are treated well, and the same is true with slaves in my book, but that's not what the story is about. The story is about a girl, a slave, who's father was a free man, and though he acknowledged her as his daughter, he refused to free her. The story is wrapped around the reason for that action. Why couldn't her father free her? Why could none of the women in her bloodline be freed? Why did all the women in her bloodline die the moment they gave birth to a girl-child? All questions that get answered in the book, but I warn you, though it has a good ending, it doesn't have a happy ending. This book is 268 pages long (75,531 words)

THE TRIALS OF THE YOUNGEST PRINCESS was my first attempt at writing about a girl. I sculpted the girl after myself somewhat. I was shy when I was little and yet very independent, and interested in things most girls really weren't, like riding horses. When I was little, I dreamed of inheriting the family ranch and running a riding camp for city kids, where I could teach them to love horses and the country as much as I did. That concept, coupled with my liking of the medieval society of kings etc., I decided that my little girl would be the youngest of several children of a beloved royal family. Like me, she would be the black sheep of the family, though not overtly so. So, now I had a character, what to do with her? All powerful people, no matter how loved, have enemies, and of course, little girls doing things no self-respecting royal daughter would be caught dead doing, meant that she wasn't where she was expected to be when the royal family was brought low. Now, she was forced to become the best in the land at something she should never have been interested in in the first place in order to make the murderer of her family pay for his crimes. This one is 285 pages (81,581 words)

LORD OF THE LAND was another story that started with a dream. The scene was three young men dressed as soldiers coming into an inn. The innkeeper sees the king's men and as a retired soldier himself and loyal to the king, he'll feed and house them for a night. It was raining and miserable outside and the young soldiers looked much worse for the wear. One of them was wounded. Of course, it was the wounded one who became my main character. Who was he? Why was he here? Why were the three of them dressed in the uniform of soldiers they were too young to wear? All questions answered as he journeys through his life, trying to find peace and happiness only to have a past he can't escape rip his happiness away. Only then does he face the fact that he can't escape his past, he must face it head on and make things right. This story too has a less than happy ending, though a good one, I think. This book ended up being 316 pages long (88,790 words)

That's half of them. I'll continue telling you about my books next week. I hope you like the workings of my mind. Every story is a problem to be solved, a puzzle to be put together, or taken apart as the case may be. I'm always having these dreams and I have a folder full of scenes. Each one the seed of a new book or a scene in one started from another such dream.