Tag: novel

Writing

An Emotional Weekend

M.E. Garber

This past weekend, we took our Dasher’s cremated ashes up to Gainesville (where we used to live and where we adopted Dasher) to be buried on the property of his beloved (and exceedingly kind) pet-sitters. It was a tear-filled time for all of us, as we recalled what a great dog he was. Even when he was sometimes a bit of a butthead, it was usually because he simply didn’t understand human ways, and not that he was being a jerk on purpose. And now he has his forever rest, under a lovely oak tree in a huge yard that he loved. That makes my heart glad.

Husband’s favorite road and tree.

It wasn’t all tears, though. We also took in some of our favorite Gainesville sights, and visited a former neighbor and friend who we haven’t seen in ages! And the weather cooperated by cooling off enough for us to enjoy our meals outdoors. Such bliss. Also, we got to see my husband’s favorite tree–an old live oak on a narrow country road that the county didn’t cut down, but curved the almost-single lane road around instead. And yes, they attached reflectors on it for nighttime. It’s a grand thing to see.

What does not make my heart glad is the potential hurricane that appears to be coming our way later this week!! Tropical Storm 9 is expected to become Hurricane Helene, which right now they’re showing heading to the Florida Panhandle. But of course, there’s no guarantee that the hurricane, which they’re expecting to undergo rapid intensification as it traverses the Gulf of Mexico, will adhere to that path. It could well veer further east and south, and run right overtop of us, the way Ian did a couple years back. Sigh. It should be an eventful week of waiting, watching, and finger-crossing for everyone all along the Gulf coast, and everywhere in Florida. Time to go stock up on water!

That’s all for now. I hope you’ve managed to check out my publication page over on Ream. I’ve gotten some wonderful comments on the book so far, and I’m thrilled that folks seem to be enjoying reading along so far. I also just asked my Followers and Subscribers to help name an upcoming character (and Followers is a free level!), so go ahead and click Follow if you’re interested in that.

Cryptic Kennels, Fantasy, Ream, Ream Stories, Writing

A Great Announcement!

M.E. Garber

The day is here at last, when I can share my good news. I’ve been working at this for some while now, preparing, getting things ready for this day, when I can announce my new venture, and officially launch…

…my author page on ReamStories.com!

Wait. What the heck is Ream Stories, you ask? Fair enough. Let’s back up a step. Ream Stories is a place where readers support authors whose work they enjoy. It’s sort of like Patreon in that regard, but Ream is only for writers and readers, so it’s optimized for fiction. You can read online, or you can save the app to your phone’s or tablet’s desktop and read released chapters easily in the app. It’s…like magic, but with technology.

Ream Stories isn’t just me, either. There are hundreds of other writers there, in many different genres, all writing tons of amazing things. And while Ream is fairly new, it’s already gotten quite a bit of traction. It has some great features already, and more are in the works. So I hope you’ll give it a look-see, kick the tires, and maybe try it out.

Oh, speaking of “trying it out,” let me tell you what I’m offering over there. I’ve decided to release my very first serial on Ream. It’s a cozy fantasy I’m calling Cryptic Kennels, and it has this cool tagline:


“Legends & Lattes” meets “The Dresden Files,” set in a kennel for cryptid pets.

The first few chapters are free for anyone to read, without even registering with Ream Stories. Then there is a chapter that’s only available for those who register, but is still free. The remaining chapters will be available only for paid subscribers, and those will release once per week, probably on Wednesdays because Wednesdays seem to need something to look forward to, don’t you think?

At the end of a novel’s worth of episodes, I’ll edit the whole thing into a novel, and subscribers will receive an ebook with their paid subscription. Afterwards, I’ll release it elsewhere for sale. So if you’re looking for some fun animal hijinks and Mortal/Fae interactions, all with a touch of magic and not too much darkness or gritty reality, this might be what you’re looking for. And if you subscribe, you’ll be able to read it before anyone else–and through the community there, you might even be able to influence the story itself!

Even if you can’t subscribe, I encourage you to “follow,” since you’ll still get notifications and messages, and who knows–maybe once in awhile I’ll give away a month of a free tier membership! I’m looking forward to seeing you over at my page at ReamStories.com, and hope you’ll take part in the community I’m building at the site.

book review, Good Books, Magic of the Everyday, Reading, Writing

Are We Leaping Yet?

M.E. Garber

Tomorrow is February 29th, Leap Day. I’m happy to have the “extra” day to get stuff done, but honestly? I’m not “leaping for joy.” There is simply too much to get done to accomplish it all during one 24-hour day. And I’m guessing most of you have a similar situation.

And yet, I’m feeling the need to mark the “occasion” of the arrival of the once-every-four-years day of February 29th. Nothing huge, just something slightly out of the ordinary. I’d considered a nice meal, a walk in a more distant park, a purchase of something small,… but none of these seemed right. And then it hit me. I can write postcards tomorrow and mail them to family members!

Postcards are falling out of favor (despite the popularity of Postcrossing), and while I used to send them a lot to family, now…not so much. So tomorrow, I’ll write and send a few postcards to folks who I’ve not written actual postal mail to in…oh, a long, long while!

In writing news, I’m hard at work on my next novel, tentatively titled “Crow Girl.” (Yes, I know, my working titles aren’t the most glorious things. But they suffice until I get a draft done and I can title them something more appealing and evocative.) I’m also working on a few short stories here and there, and have some ideas percolating for longer stories–maybe a novella? Novelette? But I can’t start planning on any of that until I complete a first draft of Crow Girl, since I can’t seem to work on 2 long works in the same stages of writing at the same time.

Publication wise, I’ve recently sold a book review to NewMyths (yay!), and will link to it once it goes live. I haven’t been given a publication date for it yet, so it might be a while, or it might be next week. It’s my first published book review, so I’m pretty happy about it.

In reading, I recently finished Travis Baldree’s 2nd novel, Bookshops and Bonedust. It was, of course, a pure delight. A follow-up prequel to his 1st book (Legends and Lattes), B&B follows as a young Viv begins the adventuring days she departs from in L&L to start her coffee shop. And we discover that even early on, Viv wasn’t all “fight and doom,” but a bit of a reader, and a burgeoning foodie–which plays perfectly into her later occupation. I won’t spoil the book, but simply suggest that if you haven’t already done so, you should go read this pair of books if you’re looking for a simple, pleasurable read.

So, how about you? Anything special planned for Leap Day? Any good books you’ve read lately?

book review, Good Books, publication, review, Writing

Reflections on “Refractions” (and why you should read it!)

M.E. Garber

My recovery has been 2-steps-forward,-1-step-back for quite a while, which derailed my ambitions to make more regular updates this month. Despite that, the overall trend is for the better, and today I’m able, so here I am! And with such great news, too. Something I’m thrilled to share!

You see, my good friend, writer M.V. Melcer, has had her first novel published! “Refractions” became available last week in ebook, paperback, and audio (audio via Libro.fm)!

And what did I think of her book? Well, I’m shouting about it here, so…it’s AMAZING! Seriously, it’s great SF, a mystery within a mystery set aboard a spaceship 30 lightyears from Earth. You can read my review on Goodreads to see for yourself. And my review for the audiobook (via NetGalley) is this:

WOW! The narrator did an amazing job, so much so that I think this needs 6 stars! The narration here allowed me to fully inhabit the book, much as a movie immerses one. The emotions, the conflicts, and the tension—it all came fully alive with this nuanced and amazing narration. If you like character-driven, realistic SF, listen to this book!

This book is Storm Publishing’s first foray into SF, and I think it’s an amazing book. If you want to know a bit more, M. V. Melcer has been recently featured on John Scalzi’s The Big Idea, and over at Mary Robinette Kowal’s My Favorite Bit.

And not to give away too much, but…if you like this book as much as I think you may, you’ll be glad to know the author is hard a work on a sequel, which should be available in the spring. Oh, and please remember that books make great gifts–for Thanksgiving as well as the winter holiday of your choice! 🙂

That’s it for now. May your Thanksgiving be full of love and joy.

Magic of the Everyday, Nature, Writing

Swans, A Pictorial Post, and More…

M.E. Garber

We took advantage of some fine weather and went to nearby Lake Eola Park, where a variety of swans (and other waterfowl) live and delight passersby. Here are some pictures:

And now, somehow, it’s June? Halfway through the year? I don’t know about you, but I’m still struggling to believe it’s April! Except, well, it’s Hurricane Season now, and we’ve already had Tropical Storm Arlene blow through the Gulf, bringing nice showers and cooler, gray-cloud days. So I guess it really is June. Somehow.

In writing, I’m working my way through my next novel’s plot, outlining as I go. It’s a lot of back-and-forth in some spots as I try out options and write through the complications each could create for my protagonist, then delete the discards and move forward again. Over and over. Whew.

My outline is in narrative form. Meaning I write the story out in a shortened, very brief and abbreviated form. It’s a long document, when finished. But the writing goes quickly once this is done, because I know exactly what I’m going to be writing when I sit down to write it. And I still get the joy of writing the unknown, since so much of it was left out in the outline. I write scenery, emotions, confusions, dialog–all of it for the first time. So. Much. Fun. And most importantly for me, I stay “on track” with my plot. Whew again!

Now it’s time for me to get back to outlining. I’m nearing the point where everything goes haywire, and my protagonist doesn’t see that anything can ever be good again…until she does. I’m taking my time here, making sure I get it right, so lots of my “writing time” is spent staring at walls, or the computer monitor, fingers trembling a hair’s breadth up as I consider another option, what to write next. Until I reach…

The End.

Today's Desk, Writing

Writer’s Desk, 04/22/23

M.E. Garber

Out the Window: a pure blue arc of sky that presages a really HOT and HUMID day. A very good day to stay indoors and write–how convenient!

On the Desktop: a total mess of notes, notebooks, 3″ x 5″ cards, a copy of the book “Story Genius” by Lisa Cron, a water bottle, pens…. You get the idea. I could lose a hamster on this thing.

Today’s Work-in-Progess: Figuring out the next book. I have the basic idea, but need to work out a plot (yeah, I know, that tiny detail–LOL) and the why behind the plot. So yes, I have lots of work ahead of me.

Once I get the basics down, though, I get to the fun part: outlining!

No, really! I love outlining. It’s where my creativity is allowed to shine, where I move characters and actions around, decide on smaller plot points, and really dig into the “meat” of the story. My method has changed with each novel, but with the last one I seemed to have hit on something that really worked for me, so I’ll be using that again. It’s a combination of notes in Scrivener, 3 x 5 cards of random plot points, following prompts in “Story Genius” for the initial ideation, and eventually moving over to an Xcel spreadsheet (honest!) for the story plot, chapter by chapter. It sounds messy as anything, but hey–it works for me.

And Another Thing: Warmer weather means the pool is open, and Dasher is thrilled beyond measure! He loves swimming, and leaping into the water after his frisbee. And swimming is easy on his arthritic joints, so he can be active far longer than he can run in the yard chasing that frisbee (so I’m happy, too). Of course, we usually join Dash in enjoying the water. It feels good on our joints, too. 🙂

And A Second Another Thing: You might want to flip on over to the “Library” link, where reader Ellie has kindly shared a link to a lovely trove of writing information–from getting started to getting published to publishing yourself. Thanks, Ellie!

Nature, the dog, Writing

Spring Renewal

M.E. Garber

It’s been quiet here recently. Too quiet. I hope that’s about to change.

Winter was a difficult time, with lots of “baggage” piling up on me and dragging my ability to post here into non-existence. I won’t bore you with the details, because we all know life is full of woes, so let’s move on to good news.

What good news, you ask? I finished the last editing draft of my novel, and yesterday it went out into the world, on its first round of agent querying. Hurray! It’s a book I love, with characters I adore, and a calligraphy-based magic system that I only wish were real (um, maybe; there is a dark side to the magic, of course…).

In more good news, Dasher remains seizure-free for (checks calendar) going on a year-and-a-half! I’m ready to call the vet neurology department and see about reducing his seizure meds–cross your fingers! At 9.5 years old, Dash certainly deserves to live his silver years as happily as possible.

Dasher shows his silver, but still loves a tennis ball

Spring is here, going on the third time around, I think? We keep blasting by pleasant into summery HEAT, then diving back down again. But it’s Florida, so I guess I should expect the unexpected, right? Anyway, I’ve enjoyed the weather letting me enjoy the outdoors, and I’m really glad for the return of rain! We’ve been too dry for months, and it was getting hard keeping up with watering needs. My orchids have been pouting, let me tell you!

Let me leave you with a pair of pics from the garden. I took the chrysalis picture yesterday, after having found it while cutting the grass. The other I took this morning, when I found the newly-emerged monarch butterfly drying its wings. How lucky I was to get each of these shots! Hope you enjoy them, and whatever springtime Mother Nature is sending your way.

Magic of the Everyday, Nature, Personal Life, Writing

We Survived Hurricane Ian Just Fine, and other updates…

M.E. Garber

So yeah, you might have heard of Hurricane Ian? It passed nearly overtop of us. Fortunately, not as a hurricane, but “only” as tropical storm.

We got incredibly lucky. We lost an old grapefruit tree laden with nearly-ripe fruit, and a banana tree with a bloom-spike covered with our first banana harvest, and had sticks, branches and such everywhere. But that was all. We didn’t flood, though for some few hours we were confined to our subdivision by deep water at the entrance–not an issue as the rain and winds were still more than I wanted to go driving through. Somehow, amazingly, we didn’t even lose power.

After prepping for the storm, then clean-up, then putting things back where they normally are (and removing hurricane shutters), we’ve gotten back to what our definition of “normal” is. Even Dasher is happy, now that we’re done being stressed. Especially since his sunshine is back for daily sunbathing, which is his second most favorite thing, right after peanut butter.

On Monday, I completed the edit of my novel draft. I honestly can’t believe it. The Mastery Books is coming in at about 92,000 words, and I think it’s one of the best works of long fiction I’ve ever written. I had a momentary “YAY” moment, and now…I get the sheer drudgery of writing the query letter, then the synopsis. It’s a necessary evil, I know that. And I’ll work at it until I craft one that works–however long that may take. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s still an evil.

The days are warming up again, but the nights and evenings are staying deliciously cool and non-humid. It’s “windows open” time, and I’m enjoying this so very much. This afternoon, the sound of leaves crunching outside my office alerted me to what became an amazing sight: two anoles repeatedly attacking one another, rolling into balls of frenzied action before one would throw the other 3 or so inches away. Then a standoff, and they’d do it again. This went on for some time, eventually moving out of my view (no, I’m not sure who won).

I’d never seen anoles do more than posture at one another, doing their “menacing push-ups” and flashing their throat sacs. I didn’t know they’d actually fight so viciously, or for so long! Thank you, open window!

Now I’m beginning to work up my ideas for my next novel, and get that rolling, though I can hardly believe it. I’ve got a few thoughts, but they need more work and expanding. This is the truly fun part, where everything and anything is possible! Wheeeeee!