Wrapping up 2015 with a Few of My Favorite Things

One the many things my best friend (henceforth to be known as M) and I share is an unhealthy attachment to cats. M's cat, Michonne, had kittens in November, so she had the opportunity for these adorable Christmas kitty pics! (We might have to use them for Christmas cards next year!)

Holiday Wishes....

'Tis the season, Dear Reader!

Wonder

Hidden messages, plain, in sight,

Whisper, Here, true magic thrives.

Nature beckons, See Earth with open eyes,

And Wander, unraveling its Mystery

While marveling, with Wonder,

At what Miracles appear in the ordinary.

Thank you for reading! I hope you're having a beautiful day, night, or sometime in the between....

Roari

Yes, sometimes it does.

"When it rains it pours."

This Morton Salt Girl mug once belonged to my father's mother. I didn't really know her, but I do remember the visit to Chicago when she gave me this mug and its sister, an old locket with my brother's baby pictures in it and a tiny little metal box, which I keep the locket in.

On days, like today, when it seems nothing is going right, I'll drink my green tea from one of the mugs, and remember I'm only here because she persevered through much more difficult times. I'm eternally thankful she did. She raised her four children and two foster children during/post WWII, and could only buy as much salt or sugar as her ration books would allow. Dad also mentioned something about a Victory Garden once.... Anyway, it helps me keep things in perspective.

When it rains, it may pour, but I will always try to find a rainbow after the storm.

I hope you're having a beautiful day, night, or sometime in the between....
~Roari

Heavy Hearts in San Bernardino

Posted by ABC7 on Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Dozens of families are going through what no one ever should have to, again. Hundreds of others are dealing with the emotional scars of what they witnessed yesterday, possibly for the rest of their lives. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the horrific events in San Bernardino

#SundayLinkParty - Writers Helping Writers

Look at Twitter, Facebook, any social media platform, or anywhere else on the internet, and you'll find hundreds of thousands of writers. One might think we're all extremely social, and perfectly comfortable talking about ourselves and our work. Some of us are, I'm sure, but, not me. I know I'm not the only one.

Writing, in all forms, is a personal process. All writers have their own quirks. Some need music, others need silence. Some need chocolate, others need the rumble in their stomach. Some need coffee, I need Pepsi. It's when the writing is done, when we have to come out of our caves and share our work with the world, many of us struggle with facing our fears.

Happy Escape Day!

August 5th, 2169 is when is all began ... The night two strangers appeared on the moon, and told Dr. Samuel Marks what he already knew, he and accomplices must flee the Colony before the govenment discovers his project - the Flamella tree. But, there's only one way to keep it from the U.C.E.; they must Escape 2169....

Fore Shadows is a Society in the Shadow of Civilization short story - both prequel and sequel to The Shadow Watcher. It's available free from:
Amazon (US & UK) http://bit.ly/10yV0XL     
Smashwords http://bit.ly/Smash2169
iTunes http://bit.ly/iTunes2169 

B &N http://bit.ly/Nook2169 

Sam's timeline is getting seriously twisted.

Society in the Shadow of Civilization
Book Two

Sam Marquet's journey continues with unexpected twists, as she struggles to find the balance between her new role in the world her grandfather created and her place in the real one.... 

A Midnight Rambling: Getting Nostalgic in Novica

LOML and I had an impromtu date night Friday, and wound up in Downtown Novica, of all places. My hometown, the place I love more than any other on Earth - I drive by at least once every couple of months, but almost never pass through downtown anymore. If you're from Novica, you know you don't drive the "main drag" through Downtown - you go around, unless you have all day. But, we had time to kill,

More Midnight Rambling: Burning the Candle...

It's half past midnight, I'm sitting here, at my desk, taking a break from corrections on A Shadow in Doubt. I haven't been sleeping much the last couple of weeks. Some of that has to do with the heat. The rest, well, I'm doing that thing I do when there is a deadline approaching

Mother's Day Greetings!

I'd rather get some action in the first chapter...

That's not what I meant! But, now that I have your attention....

More Midnight Ramblings

It's actually almost one a.m. here in California, as I start this post, and my mind is wandering away from me again....

Fifteen years ago, somewhere around this time, I would be coming home - either from work or LOML's apartment - and sit up until four or five writing my first (as of yet unpublished) novel/series. It's technically high fantasy, I suppose, and I'm torn between the YA version it currently is, or the Adult version I envision it to be. Now, I really can't focus on much at this hour - but I'm still awake, so I'll blog.

One of my goals for 2015 is to get back to Isiterra. I shared The Tale of the Orbs here several months ago. It was written as part of the back story for what became what I call my Middle Earth. It's actually another planet, in another galaxy far, far away ... (Just kidding ... sort of.) The picture below reminds me of a bad place there....

The orbs, or moons, are the gods of this world - believed to have created life on the shell of another of their kind. No space travel involved, and the inhabitants closely resemble those of Earth, with some slight variations. The different races of "man" are Keepers (human), Siyens (have various powers) and Underdwellers (adapted to live underground but not dwarves, rarely surface, some may have powers resembling a Siyen.) Animals (or crennas) are for the most part the same, but there are some additions, such as the dreaded Kraorack. The "common tongue" spoken by all is English, but there are separate languages I've been creating along the way for each, and dialogue throughout is sprinkled with them. Several words, such as "crenna" are used even in common tongue, because that's what they're called in that world.

The characters live and breathe in my head just as they did then - maybe more so now because I know so much more about them. The map of the world is clearly drawn out in my head - but I've never been able to get it on paper. I'm out of practice with the languages, which I blame in part on the kids for looking at Mommy funny when they walk in on her speaking in Siyen or Northern Underdwellish.  But really, I have to blame Sam and The Shadow Watcher for talking in my ear. Their story didn't require my invention of religions and languages, etc., they're here on Earth.

I did start practicing some Siyen a few weeks ago;"Onae mara ceren senen" - I can save them. I haven't touched the original draft in years - I don't even know what the title is anymore. But, when I last visited it, I decided the beginning needed more character/world building chapters. (Oh, but they're fun, they involve an annual hunting competition, and the heroine nearly gets killed before the real story even begins!) I started them, but still need two more. I think my first NaNoWriMo attempt was the second book, but that is still completely unedited. (I'm actually scared to look at it.) Somewhere, there are outlines for the third and fouth books on paper, but they're in my head too. The most vivid scenes to come to me I've written and tagged for which book and where they belong. They just feel far away right now...

But, A Shadow in Doubt is first. I will have updated release information in the coming weeks. And with that, I'm going to turn in....

I hope you're having a beautiful day, or night, wherever you may be!

Until next time,
Roari

March Updates: Sorting Laundry

I'm pausing from my marathon of fluff and fold this evening to post, since I haven't in awhile. I start posts, and then get distracted, and wind up deleting them because they no longer feel relevant. I guess I just haven't had much to say.

Silence is golden, except when you're trying to get your book out to readers. I know this is important, especially for indies ... so I'm now on Twitter too (@roaribenjamin). It's still very new, so bear with me....



But really, what I need to sort out is the status of A Shadow in Doubt - the sequel to The Shadow Watcher. I was originally planning to release it last Fall. Then, this Winter. Now, I'm hoping for Spring?

A Shadow in Doubt by Roari Benjamin

The original draft was my NaNo 2013 novel, which I wrote before The Shadow Watcher was published. In the process, I realized changes were necessary to book one, which I made. Once The Shadow Watcher was out there, I had to figure out how to get the word out. Side note - nothing will sell nothing, even if it's the greatest nothing in the world. Listen to what everyone else has been saying, and learn from my mistakes: start marketing before you publish, even more so if you're self-publishing. Don't wait to get on social media. I spent so long living in my own little world, I forgot to let the real one know it was there. I'm still playing catch-up.

But, back to ASID.... After getting The Shadow Watcher out there, and fixing some problems, and tweaking the cover, I got back to ASID, and then went back and fixed more problems, and tweaked the cover(s) more. I planned on writing a novella of Jay's time waiting for Sam and Michael to return to release before ASID, and then got side-tracked on the Fore Shadows stories. (Yes, that's plural, too. Escape 2169 is the first. There are drafts of two more, and tidbits of others. Another one pops into my head at least once a week.)

Along the way, there was trying to market The Shadow Watcher, another Nano, and the holidays. When I finally got to reading through it again, I found ASID needed to go another direction. As much as I was set on the original plan, the new one has to happen, and the reason why won't be obvious until much later - another book or in the Fore Shadows, don't know yet. I need to get a dedicated block of time, preferably at the start of the day - even one hour a - etched out here, soon. Who needs clean laundry anyway? (kidding....)

I hope you're having a beautiful night, or day! (I hear the dryer calling me....)

Roari

New Year's Wishes, ASID Updates and Roari's Resolution(s)

With 2015 just over two hours away here in California, I'm not so much reflecting on this year past as I am looking forward to the one ahead.... For you, dear Reader, I hope for a year full of joy, and many pages of adventures.

My contribution to the amount of aforementioned pages available for your imagination to dwell within was not as plentiful as I'd hoped in 2014, but with A Shadow in Doubt nearly ready, and my untitled-as-of-yet NaNo novel waiting, 2015 looks more promising.

Originally, A Shadow in Doubt, Book Two of Society in the Shadow of Civilization, was to be released this fall - I almost did it, but something wasn't sitting right with me. Then, I had the ah-ha moment, and, well, made a lot of work for myself revising things. Basically, everything is the same, but rearranged, if that makes sense. It doesn't, I know. Sometimes I wish I could time-travel, it would make things easier.

So, when, pray tell, will it be released? That's complicated too....

Why? Because I've decided to try something different this time. If you know what Wattpad is, you're lightyears ahead of me - but I'm there now too. Since I pulled back on ASID, I decided I'm going to release it on Wattpad and Writing.com, chapter by chapter, as I revise, and then release the ebook in February. But, it's New Year's Eve, so I'll post more about that later this week....

Twelve Days - Jayden's account of her time alone with the Society - is also coming to Wattpad and Writing.com in January. (No, I didn't forget about it!)

Lastly, I have two writer resolutions this year. The first one is easy - no more release dates until the release date is absolutely final, promise. The second one kind of scares me - I signed up for Twitter months ago, but have yet to tweet, LOL! So I resolve to figure it out this year, and use it!

Thank you, dearest Reader, for chasing after my dreams with me ... I hope each day of your 2015 is beautiful!

Roari