Things are just getting started…

I’m finishing out the year with a new project. I’m pretty confident I can finish it before the ball drops at the end of the year as I’m currently in the middle of the second draft and the story is shaping up nicely.

This makes the third new project I have started up this year. Three very different projects that allowed me to experiment and let my imagination run wild. In one project I got to venture into scfi and dabble with time travel, in another I tried my hand at a cozy adventuring quest romp. And what I’m working on now is a gaslamp romance.

These were all ideas that had been stewing in the back of my mind as I worked on Improvisers and Starseekers. With one publishing and the other in production, I was able to plunge headfirst into creating new stories after spending so much time in cycles of drafting and revising. It was even nice that, besides the time travel story, I could take a lighter hand at research.

There’s never enough time as a writer to work on projects. You have to give the most focus on the project that is bringing in the money, and any new ideas you have will have to wait. Because you don’t know if the idea you have is worth the time and effort to turn into a full novel, and that tinkering you undertake with something new could have negative on the project you contracted to finish. That’s why some authors have short stories that over time become novels. These short stories were seeds of new ideas that they were trying out to see if the idea could sustain a full novel. Sometimes it can, and sometimes it can’t.

I had a feeling that these ideas of mine were more than enough to explore in a novel format. (Especially after I transformed the time travel story from a novella into a novel!) I don’t know how these new projects will pan out in the coming months, but I hope that I will have good news about one, if not all!

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Upcoming events

With The Improvisers releasing I have a few events on the calendar, with more to come!

If you or a friend are in the Hampton Roads area stop by Prince Books in Norfolk on 11/7. I’ll be there chatting about The Improvisers and ready to answer your burning questions. The fun starts at 6 pm.

If you’re on Instagram, I’ll be coming at you Live on two different nights on the platform!

11/5 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT with Bri’s Bookish

11/13 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT for Sistah Scifi’s Wine Down Wednesday

(Sistah Scifi is also offering signed copies of The Improvisers is you get the book from them!)

If you’re following me on Instagram, you’ll get an alert when the event begins.

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I spent October indulging in numerous spooky media, whether it’s revisiting old favorites or trying something new.

I finally got a chance to see the film, Nope. It came out fairly recently and I was proud that I somehow managed to avoid all spoilers about it. I went in only knowing it was vaguely scifi-horror edge and I had a great time! It was a delightful blend of different genres that all worked into wonderful spectacle.

My library has been getting a lot of translations in, and one of my recent reads was A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon. It’s a tribute to the magical girl genre and it’s short novel that weaves quite a tale in its few pages. (A word of warning, it does open with heavy suicide ideation and tackles heavy topics, but the book’s tone isn’t overwhelming dark.)

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Election day is tomorrow! I voted early some weeks ago in Virginia. I love early voting so very much. The place where I can vote, isn’t far from my local library, so I was able to vote, grab my library holds afterwards.

I always been enthusiastic about exercising my right to vote. The first year I could, I got there when the polls first open, dragging with me my mother who was bemused at my excitement. I think I found it exciting because it was a mark of adulthood and I saw it as the beginning of how I could help shape the world.

Admittedly voting is less of an exciting event for me these days, but I vote every year because every year is an important election year. No matter what office is on the ballot, each year your vote matters. Because you’re not just voting for yourself, but for your family, for your community, and for the future.

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Part Two of behind the scenes tidbits for The Improvisers

The Improvisers is a travel book. Velma is on the road, or in this case the sky, tracking down enchanted objects. To plot her travels between Chicago, Philadelphia, California and other places, I used the air mail routes as a point of reference. They were a very handy visual for someone who has not flown a plane across the US.

I was also very interested in the Air Mail Service, which I first learned about in a meaningful way during a visit to the Air and Space Museum in DC. I’d always seen air mail stamped on vintage envelopes, but never really gave a thought beyond he obvious about what air mail was and how mail traveled by air in the first place.

The Air Mail service officially started in 1918 with the first routes flying between New York, DC, and Philadelphia – though there were flights done as early as 1911. Remember, Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers’ flight was not that long ago in 1903. They had only just figured out planes in WW1, so I thought this was an astonishing early adoption to trust the nation’s mail with.

But perhaps not so surprising I found as I dug into history. Since Ben Franklin became postmaster, people were always trying to find ways to get mail delivered quicker. The Post office was quick to try anything that could help. Which was how we got mail by train in 1832 and in 1860 the extremely short-lived Pony Express (it only lasted 18 months, but lives on forever in our collective memories!).

The air mail service was the first commercial aviation industry, and featured pilots that were fresh from the war eager for new challenges and thrills. It attracted many others as well including, Charles Lindbergh. The air mail service wasn’t without controversy, it faced strikes when the postmaster tried to force pilots to fly in zero visibility, not to mention cases of lost mail and mishaps.

The US government funded and supported air mail until 1926 before letting private contractors, like Boeing, take over. This ushered in commercial air mail service. Air Mail as a unique service ended in 1975 as mail of all sorts began to be flown, but it left a mark on the landscape, literally.

Courtesy of Atlas Obscura, I learned about giant concrete arrows that marked the way for air mail pilots. These arrows were painted bright yellow and had beacons next to them to illuminate the arrows at the night. Pointing the way forward, they were a fail-proof way for pilots to stay the course once they left densely populate areas. Not just for air mail pilots used them, people who flew in private planes utilized the arrows as well.

Most of these arrows have sadly been torn up, as the arrival of WW2 ushered in fears that the arrows would give enemy advantage. Luckily a few still remain and continue to be used by pilots today. And if you don’t believe these arrows exist, take a road trip to see them up close!

Part One: Inspiring Pilots

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Part One of behind the scenes tidbits for The Improvisers

I always knew that Velma Frye was going to a be a pilot. The stunning feats and wonders of planes was one of the most intriguing elements in the era I set The Improvisers. I knew the protagonist for the book would be daring, headstrong, and unafraid to plunge into danger. And what better empathized that than a pilot in an age when planes were only a few decades old?

I have long heard about Bessie Coleman, who famously went to Paris to obtain a pilot’s license in 1921 because she couldn’t get one in the US due to racial discrimination. Returning she was an instant celebrity, performing and exhibiting in air shows to great acclaim. She made living barnstorming, performing daring stunts to amaze the crowds as well as doing a lecture tour about aviation. Her death in 1926 in a training accident cut short a promising career but her legacy was already well-established.

While Coleman looms large when talking about early pilots, she’s far from the only one. Like how she continues to inspire today, she inspired many of her contemporaries to take to the sky, by proving it was possible in the first place.

Janet Harmon Bragg took an interest in aviation by seeing a poster “Birds learn to fly, why can’t you?” Seeking an aviation school, she took classes taught by Cornelius Coffey and John Robinson, Black pilots who were auto mechanics turned licensed pilots. Joining the Challenger Air Pilot Association (or Challenger Areo Club) that was led by the two men, Harmon Bragg would eventually buy the club a plane and assist in efforts to build a small private airport for the club to practice at. Harmon Bragg obtained a private pilot license in 1934 and a commercial license in 1943. She also wrote a weekly column for the Chicago Defender, called “Negro Aviation” detailing information about flight and avaiation which in turn led to increase enrollment at the Coffey School of Aeronautics.

When WWII broke out she applied to be a WASP (Women’s Air Service Pilot) but was rejected on the account of her race. And when she applied to Tuskegee Airmen, was rejected for her gender. Despite these setbacks she would continue flying and remain fierce advocate for aviation.

In 1936 Willa Brown famously strode into the offices of the Chicago Defender in her flight gear to get advertisement for the Challengers’ upcoming flight show to drum up publicity and interest in the community. Obtaining a pilot license in 1938 and commercial license in 1939, she soon became a founding member of several aviator groups, such as the National Airmen’s Association of America often taking leadership roles.

With her husband, Cornelius Coffey, Brown played a key role in successfully lobbying the government to consider including Coffey School of Aeronautics into Civilian Pilot Training Program. The Coffey shcool trained over 200 students and instructors who would became Tuskegee Airmen. Brown’s also arranged for the school to be part of the Civil Air Patrol and rose to the rank of lieutenant in the patrol, making her the first Black officer.

A few other pilots of interest

Eugene Bullard fought in WWI with the Foreign Legion and started flying due to a bet. When the US entered the war, he was not accepted into the American air service as only white pilots were chosen. Embraced as hero and celebrity in France, he would run nightclubs during the interwar period. When WW2 started up he would fly again, but an injury ended his service and he would eventually return to the US.

James Banning was the first black pilot to make a transcontinental flight across the US in 1932. While flight time was just over 41 hours, it took 21 days to make the trip given the need to raise money for each leg of the trip for maintenance and fuel. He would die four months later after this feat when the plane he was in stalled and crashed in during an air show.

Herbert Julian first emerged on the scene in 1922 when he did a parachute jump in the same show as headliner Bessie Coleman. Famed for his flamboyant style he was part of the flying circus called the Five Blackbirds, and performed many barnstorming feats around the country. While a talented pilot, his skills are often overshadowed by controversy most notably in Ethiopia in the 1930s where he came to blows with John Robinson when both were in the country to assist Ethiopians against Fascist Italy. The disagreement with Robinson lead to Julian being forced to leave. Julian’s career as a pilot would peter out following WW2 and he later would become an arms dealer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Part Two: Air Mail

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Lots of things to do and more to come

Where did last month go? It just sped past for me, between a bunch of events and wrapping up work on my latest manuscript.

In September I was on a small writer’s retreat with a few other authors at the Highlights Foundation – yes that Highlights, the children’s magazine you probably read in dentist office somewhere. The retreat was in a very woodsy area in rural PA, and it was the most I’ve been surrounded by nature in ages. While it wasn’t remote by any means, my phone went into SOS mode a couple of times. But since I was there to finish work on my manuscript, that didn’t quite matter.

It’s funny even though I was furiously working nonstop for those handful of days I wasn’t as stressed as I had been in the weeks leading up to it. I live in a busy area, across from a hospital and a fire station, with loads of street traffic right under my window. It was nice to have wind, bird chirps, and the rustle of leaves as a soundscape. It didn’t hurt took that the retreat came with meals, so no cooking, cleaning, or planning any meals!

This was my first writer’s retreat, and while I was always intrigued by the whole “go to a cabin in the woods to write”, I never thought it was worth it. After all I can do the same thing at home. Just disable the internet, plan out meals, etc. I found afterwards, that going away was worth it. It was nice to switch up my routine and place myself somewhere entirely different. Actually wish it could be longer, as this was only half a week. So maybe that’s the plan for next time!

Also, if you’re thinking of doing a retreat, for writing or otherwise, this is me suggesting you book that trip if you have the opportunity to do so. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Upcoming and updates

My fall’s looking to be quite busy. I got several exciting things lined up and I’m looking forward to another season of writing, editing, and preparing for publication.

I even finished the expansion of the novella I had started recently. I’m happy to report I have successfully completed its transformation into a novel. I doing another pass to smooth out some rough edges before letting it simmer, but I’m quite pleased with it.

I also surprisingly didn’t outline this book. I made a few notes of course, particularly for new or expanded scenes, but no outline ever materialized. But I guess the novella itself acted as robot outline, and I all needed to do was fill in the gaps!

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I have resigned from Nanowrimo’s Writers Board in regards to their latest policy on AI:

A great write-up can be found here about the situation with some of the original language that was posted on 8.30.24 before being changed on 9.2.24 after the news hit.

Overall, I find their stance in calling those that oppose the use AI in writing as classist and ableist quite offensive and short-sighted in how this will impact the writing community.

AI is a tool, but as a writer, creative, and a person who thinks automating creative pursuits is a terrible use of technology, I find this take irresponsible and I will not supporti it.

AI in writing has existed for quite a long time with things such as spellcheck and Grammarly. There is space for tools that allow us to reconfigure text or provide suggestions and better word choices. But Generative AI ( such as what Prowriting Aid utilizes) is a very different beast. It trains by steals writing without permission, cheating not just the original writers, but the new writer of the joy of writing. And it’s highly likely that writing shared within Nano community going forth will be trained on AI and I would not advise anyone taking part in the future.

Despite all of this, I am quite sad to part ways with Nano like this. My role on the Writers board gave me a chance to fun engagement activities such as the writing salon I did last fall with the wonderful folks as Girls Write Now. And the Nano challenge, 50k words in a month, continues to serve as an inspiration for getting me into the rhythm of writing the first tricky draft of any story. In fact my forthcoming books started out as Nano books.

However with this change in policy AI, I can’t in good conscience remain on the Writers Board or avoid speaking out, as my silence on the matter would be quiet approval.

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In happier news, I recently received two fantastic STARRED reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.

If authors read any reviews, it’s the one from trades publications like these. The reviews from trades are great in helping to make a splash in the weeks leading up to publication, not to mention the source of many quotes you find on book covers.

That my first were both starred is amazing, and I’m genuinely touched and delighted for such a response.

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Barnes and Nobles is having a sale again! Between 9/4 – 9/6, B&N members get an 25% with making a pre-order when they use code: PREORDER25.

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The Improvisers arrives November 5th. Until then I’m giving away an ARC (Advance Review Copy) each month. If you’re interested in snagging a sneak peek, enter the survey below before 9/12.

If you entered previously, no need to enter again, you’re already in the running!

Sometimes the best stories need a second look

I finished a draft for a new project recently. After being knee-deep in edits I wanted to do something fun and completely separate from my current books – and it was the right call. To work on something new was like a holiday to a place I’ve never been before. I got to explore and figure out the world as I went along, and I found myself simply delighted by what I found. I won’t say the book came together easily, but it didn’t take too many drafts to feel like I knew what this story was about.

While I let that draft rest for a time, I’m poking around with a story I wrote three years ago. A novella, it was an experiment in writing shorter narratives. Will I liked the story well enough, looking over it now with fresher eyes I started to see places in need of improvement. That part didn’t surprise me. I find the longer I’m away from a story, I return with new ideas to punch up or rewrite certain scenes. But this time however, I looked at the story and thought about punching up the word count.

Another author once told me a story is as long as it needs to be. Sometimes it’s obvious from the start, but other times you’ll only figure it out by writing the tale.

Looking back at this old story, I started seeing where I cut back on plot developments because of word count concerns. There were quite a few scenes that could be longer but I had cut them short because I was adamant about staying within the bounds of the word count. I wanted this to be a novella, to prove to myself that I can write shorter narratives. And I did finish it, but I always had the in the back of mind it could be improved somehow. As I look over the story now, thinking of how I first wrote it, I started to wonder that maybe this was never a novella at all. That this “novella” was a robust outline that I didn’t know how to make into a novel – but I do now.

While I’m certain there is a version of this story that could be a novella, I think a full novel will be the best way to tell all the things I wish to say. And if I wasn’t certain about this being a good choice, I refer to the notebook where I easily wrote six pages of possible changes and additions without pause. Six back-to-back pages written in pen, brimming with ideas as I got excited to retread an old story and transform it into the book it might have meant to be.

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There are fun things I get to do with my books as it comes time for promotion, but nothing is as joyful as putting together a doll to capture the spirit and whimsy of my book and main characters.

Free book alert!

Since it’s my birthday, I’m giving away an ARC copy of The Improvisers!

If you like to get your hands on a copy, simply select the button below and leave your name and the email you would like to be contacted with between now and 6/30. (This giveaway is US only)

Afterwards I’ll pick someone at random and reach out for further details.

I’ll be doing a giveaway each month leading up to Improvisers’s publication. As subscribers to my newsletter, you’ll only have to enter once to be automatically entered for the following months.

If you want to up your chances, you can also enter on my instagram.

I treat myself for my birthday and I have a treat for you

The arrival of June is special for me as it’s my birthday month and I treat myself in a number of ways all month, because why confine myself to a single day?

I just turned in copyedits for Improvisers. It was my last big hurrah with the book, and it’s here the book moves from a work in progress to complete. I get a PDF of how the book will look when it’s printed and I can’t make any drastic rewrites just smaller line edits.

This is also the stage where things get rather hard in another fashion. I have to start practicing how to condense the book into a few quippy statements AND have it make sense! Such is the paradox of writing. You write all these words and have to figure out how to convey all of it in much, much, less. It’s always a bit hard for me at first, since I’m so close to the story. I find myself wanting to tell everything, and it’s hard to figure out what’s key and compelling to those who know very little. But with anything, practice and necessity always helps me figure it out in the end!

We’re five months out from The Improvisers launching out into the world, and as a reminder of how close things are, I’ve gotten physical ARCs! It’s the first time I had early review copies of my books and it was a delightful surprise to have land on my doorstop.

Given I have limited shelf space, over the next few months there may be some giveaways, so be on the look out!

(Don’t worry, for those living the e-reader life, it’s also up on netgalley!)

Upcoming events

• I’ll be around (virtually!) for this year’s SFWA Nebula Conference, as well as being on a panel for one of my favorite topics, video games

• I’ll be at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA in conversation with Esme Addison on June 19th

Other things

I’ve gotten back into taking walks as spring warmed up. I often say I get some of my best writing done while on a walk. I’ve noticed I have stopped listening to music while I’m out walking. It started by accident. I had misplaced my headphones, so I went without music, and found to my surprise I actually enjoyed the walk better.

It was nice to hear bird chatter, the twinkling of wind chimes, and all the ambient noise that was all around me. For so many years I pressed play on my music while on walks even thought my neighborhood is fairly quiet I always thought I needed music as some sort barrier between me and the world. While it’s fun to have my own soundtrack at times, there is a great delight to be without it.

Which is probably for the best, since I still haven’t found those headphones yet!

I turn in a draft! And then another! And start work on something else!

This past week I had the great pleasure of turning in the draft of The Starseekers to my editor. It closes out a writing marathon I’ve been undertaking since October in which I worked on the final draft The Improvisers, the draft Secret Project #1, the first draft of The Starseekers, and got them all turned in and sent on their merry ways.

I’m a little tired, but overall very pleased with myself. Out of the trio only one had a hard deadline (Improvisers of course!) but the other two I wanted to wrap up in a timely manner. I’ve been itching to start write something new, and after a short break I will dive into the wonder of new a story. Starting a new story is one of the reasons I made effort to stick the deadline I set for myself. I’ve been editing and revising for a while and starting a new draft is exciting. I also recognized the signs of when I needed to stop working on a story.

Knowing when to stop with a story is a key skill writers need to develop to avoid getting stuck in the quagmire of editing. I’ve been there often with previous stories, where I just kept poking and prodding and never quite finishing. It’s by finishing and letting a story sit, that you can better see what needs to be done – usually with fresher eyes.

How to develop such a skill is best done by having the habit of giving yourself deadlines. When tackling a project I give myself a date that I’d like to have the work done by. They’re always reasonable deadlines, and I give myself the grace to adjust the deadline as needed. I also play around with what a deadline means. Sometimes a deadline is a full stop of work and to move onto other work. Other times it is a checkpoint to see my progress so far. Having a date to reach allows me to see how much work I’ve gotten done, reflect on how it’s been going so far, and gauge how going forward will look. Every story I work on slightly different, and I change how I stick to deadline as needed. But no matter what I choose to do, I pause, I take a break, and I start planning the next big thing.

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The Improvisers officially has a date! Look for it on November 5th. It’s already starting to pop up in all the usual suspects like Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, and Amazon. Look for more information in the coming months. No cover yet but I do have some snazzy art of the main characters: Velma, an intrepid pilot and magical investigator and Dillon a nosy reporter who’s along for the ride for the mystery. It’s my magical take on 1930s with high flying adventure of magic, murder and more.

Girls Write Now Salon

I celebrate Halloween for the entire month of October. It’s easily my favorite holiday because there’s unabashed fun around it. The holiday invites you to play and pull off the mask you wear the rest of the year to reveal a bit more of your true self. Whether it’s to put on a costume, make delightfully scary treats, or to stick a giant skeleton in your front yard and have it tap dance.

It’s through my love of the holiday my next event is going on the spooky side. I’m hosting a writing salon and workshop that will dive into murder and mystery.

In partnership with Girls Write Now and the good folks at NaNaMoWri, I’ll be a hosting a free and virtual writing salon.

Joins us on October 6 @ 6pm ET for an evening of murder, magic, and mayhem!