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I took my first warm shower in three months today. I’m totally serious. It has been a long, hot summer at my house and every shower has been a cold one. Not cool, but icy. And that’s with the air conditioner and the ceiling fans going. Maybe it’s hormones making me sweat, but when I woke up to a below sixty degrees temp this morning, I felt reborn!

Lots of people consider spring to be a time of renewal and rebirth. New plants sprouting after the cold, dark winter. For me, autumn has that feel. Yes the plants may be dying off some, but in SoCal we grow all year round, and I have a garden full of sprouts right now, enjoying cooler nights and warm, sunny days.

I can walk outside again with risking heat stroke. I can wear something other than shorts and tanks and sandals. Soup is palatable once more and baking? Yes I can turn on the oven for banana bread or cookies or pizzas. It’s nothing short of miraculous.

So the temperature is to my liking once again. Yay for me. But what does this say about the climate in general? I’ve lived in SoCal long enough to recall when we didn’t need air conditioning at home or in school, and we still used the heater in the winter. In about fifty years, that has flip-flopped. No one needs the heater anymore, but you’d better have A/C or you’ll be searching for public Cool Zones all summer. Unfortunately, you can’t eat, sleep or bring your pets into the library so pray your house or apartment has functioning A/C and that you can afford the electricity bill that comes with it.

All these thoughts are my way of being worried about the climate and how it is changing. Whatever you feel about the cause, you can’t deny that the weather is changing. And what will happen to those little plants I like to grow in my garden and to the crops in the farmers’ fields as a result? This summer I had plants whose leaves actually burned when we had a week of one hundred degree plus temps. The soil was well-watered so the plants didn’t die outright, the heat from the sun just killed the leaves. Hot days and less food? That’s a scary story.

I have always been impressed when authors find ways to incorporate “important topics” into their narratives. One of my favorites is Elif Shafak’s “There are Rivers in the Sky” which incorporates climate change (and several other societal issues) into a riveting narrative that spans continents and generations. Mark Doerr’s “Cloud Cuckoo Land” does the same thing with environmental concerns. Maybe one day I can figure out how to do that too….

Until the day I create my first work of literary fiction, please continue to enjoy the romance stories I write. The happy endings I imagine don’t just apply to love stories though. We can imagine, and create, a happy ending to our planet’s story as well.

I recently had the opportunity to talk directly with an author who has experienced some success. I asked them about their editing/publishing process (a topic near and dear to my heart as an indie author). What they said surprised me.

They went with a hybrid vanity publisher so they could maintain total creative control and copyrights. Understandable. Then they went on to say that, because this project was very personal, they wanted a publisher who would give them no notes. (When. you give notes to someone on their creative work, this is feedback and suggestions for improvement).

That floored me. Especially because I had read the book and I felt that some thoughtful editing could have improved it very much. It was a compelling story, but the writing could have been better, the characters could have been more developed and the plot less trope-y.

I crave this type of feedback. I want to improve as an author. (And as a I person.) That is nearly impossible without feedback from others, those that know you and those that don’t. For my books, this is everything from grammar and punctuation to character development to plot. (For me as a person, the list is LONG.)

As hard as it is to receive constructive criticism about something you have labored over (a creative work or your own self), it is much harder to find people willing to take the time to give it! Friends and acquaintances adhere to social norms to not hurt your feelings, so they gush over how great your work is, while professionals (editors and therapists) are costly.

So, if you know me or not, please share your honest thoughts on my books. It’s the only way I can improve. You can leave comments on my website or reviews on Amazon, Kindle or Goodreads.

I want the notes!

Thanks in advance!

At least once a week I try to thank someone formally for having a positive impact on my life. What’s weird about this task today is that I am going to thank someone who has no idea that I exist. And who will likely never receive my thank you. 
But it needs to be done.

Earlier this year I was visiting an uncle who lives in Central California and we were discussing our mutual love of reading. He mentioned starting a new book that he was really enjoying. A book called Rivers of London.

A few weeks later I picked up this book through my library and it was quite literally love at first sight. And by this I mean the cover was captivating. Whimsical drawings of a city I had visited once and become instantly enamored with (yes it’s a personality fault this love at first sight stuff).

I love London for its deep history, for its immense range of restaurants and for its people. Walking down the streets to hear dozens of languages spoken is a dream fulfilled for me. 

Rivers of London turned out to be the perfect blend of fantasy and reality, of past and present, and of fun and gravity. The main characters have deep knowledge of interesting subjects- architecture, history, language, cars, fashion and, of course, rivers.

Imagine my extreme joy in discovering that this was no solo book, but part of a lengthy series, each one more wonderful than the previous one! I have now spent the summer ferreting out the books at the library, one by one, then delaying the start of each read as long as possible to prolong the anticipation.

If these books were chocolate truffles, I would spend an hour just smelling the aroma before taking that first tentative microbite, wanting to prolong the joy of consuming them.

Ridiculous I know but when you find a series like this, intricate and beautiful and intelligent beyond description, there is only one thing to do. Well maybe two. 

First read the damn things and love every minute. and then thank the author profusely for sharing such wondrous creations with readers.

So Ben Aaronovitch, thank you a million times for the imagination and creative drive that led to the Rivers of London book series. My life will forever be the better for these stories. 
Ben Aaronovitch
Rivers of London

Lately I have been in a funk, doubting whether it is worth it to put my stories out in the world when no one seems interested in reading them. I had no sales or pages read on Amazon/Kindle in the month of August and this sent me spiraling.
It used to be enough just to write the stories down, then the goal shifted to self-publishing and now I am pushing for more readers and feeling like I’m failing.
Then I had a realization- if I continue to strive for more and better, then I will continue to fail, at least at first. We’ve all heard the stories about “overnight” successes that took ten years or more.
The positive self-talk and coaching goes only so far though. What really helped was three people reaching out to tell me they liked my work and wanted more. This is enough to keep going!
Happy Monday!