Have you ever seen a player piano? When I was a kid, the farmer who loaned us one of his milk cows had one. I loved watching it play, and always imagined it was a ghost playing it. Anyway, in episode 3, coming out this evening, a player piano meets its match. Poor thing. lol
If you want to watch the video, and learn a little about the old house on the curve, check out this link: Player Piano
A look at one of my favourite world and character builders.
Hey everyone!
I’ve been MIA while attempting to rewrite book one of the Pickles and Piper series. Absolutely nothing was working, so I decided to do the next best thing – a complete reboot! Everything is changing! I’m rewriting backgrounds, characters, and simplifying the whole thing.
Where I went wrong with book one was too many characters for a short book. That killed me. I also had too many subplots. The reboot only has 4 characters, and the traveling shovel of death. At this point, Piper and her mom are merely mentioned and are no longer key players.
It’s making life so much easier, as is changing the location. Springhollow is out the window. I’m focusing on Titchfield, where Pickles lives. Book 1 now takes place in her own neighbourhood. There’s lots of other changes, as well. If you read clips from the original story on this blog, the differences will make your eyes cross. 🙂
I’m also using Trello to plot and loving it. I have everything I need on one screen: All three acts, characters images, location images, ideas, writing tips, and a To-Do list.
Anyway! Tomorrow is Camp Nano 2020! And I have a lot more planning to do before it begins.
Hope everyone is making the most of lockdown! 🙂
Yo
Hey folks!
Yes! I pulled “The Ghosts of Springhollow” off the shelf. I’m getting ready to do a little rewriting on it, fix an overlooked typo, add my new email addy, and I’m designing a new cover.
The re-release party will be the end of March. 🙂
“Revenge of the Turd” is still in the editing phase. I’m really glad I laid it aside for as long as I did because I saw a lot more stuff that needed cleaned up and made more exciting.
The game plan for 2020 is to publish both “Revenge of the Turd” and “Murder at McWhinnie Manor.” I know a lot of people would say it’s crazy to only publish two books in a year, but I think they’ll be a lot better if I take my time and really focus on them. When you shoot to publish a lot of books in a year you don’t have that pleasure.
Anyway, I wanted to give y’all a heads up on what’s going on. I know I don’t post a lot, but hopefully, with the new game plan I’ll be checking in more often. 🙂
Make it a great day!
Yo
“Revenge of the Turd” is still in editing mode. Sometimes life smacks you in the face and takes over. That’s how it’s been for me since summer.
I wrote “Revenge” during Campnano over the summer, and almost immediately after it was written my mom started having health issues. For some reason, she stopped being able to swallow properly. The clinic wasn’t much help. They basically saw her as 85 and that’s life.
It took taking her to ER before anyone took her seriously. Meanwhile, I was going over to her house every half hour to check on her.
Writing and editing demands focus. This new, and unexpected schedule didn’t allow for it. So, book 2 took a back seat for the better part of a couple months.
Then came the need, and opportunity, to find a new home. The campervan wasn’t working out anymore and I really needed to stand up. Because of sitting constantly, my own health was being affected. I put on weight and feeling stressed.
The van breaking down on a regular basis cleared my savings. So, Mom gave me an advance on my inheritance, to find something else to live in. That became my sole obsession, and once more writing and editing went to the side.
So, now I’ve got my new home, a 1995 Jayco Eagle, and it’s awesome! I have a big table to lay my notebooks out on and write! I never knew having a full-size table again could be so exciting.
Anyway! Writing and editing are now back to being my number 1 priority! I’d love to publish the book by the end of December, but I’m guessing it will most likely be in January.
I’ll keep you posted! 🙂
Pickles and Piper Mysteries 