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Tag Archives: Author C. M. Martens
My Process
I was all set to start releasing my new Dark Fantasy series, CLAIMING KRINKAE, when I changed my mind to wait to finish writing book 2 for a rapid release. Then, I started writing books 3 and 4 and waited some more. And then, I went back and rewrote the front 30% of book 1. You’ve seen it. Claimed by Shadows had a cover reveal over a year ago…
Apparently, my process is to start something, get about 3/4 through a first draft, go away to another project, and repeat. I do, eventually, come back around to finishing, but sometimes a year or more goes by. I keep trying to rectify this by adding clear deadlines to my calendar, with realistic word count goals that will get me there. It has helped, but I’m still all around the multiverse with my focus.
Once a draft is finally completed, it gets put aside to marinate while I complete the other drafts I started. When those are finished (sometimes closER to finished, but not quite), I go back to edits on project 1, and around and around and around. This might not be so bad if I didn’t have nine projects working. Yes, nine. Five Krinkae novels, two Magic Fade books, the final book in Rishi’s Wish, and an unnamed novel I swear will be a standalone (no, I will not promise this as fact). And that’s not all of them. There are more stories traipsing for attention in my head, many with significant word counts started. These nine are just the ones I’m ‘focusing’ on. Yeah, focus is a word I need redefined. I know.
So, while 2022 had zero published books come from my little slice of reality, it looks like five will release this year.
Part of this focus problem was my indecision to publish my YA Fantasy traditionally. Deciding not to do that has brought that project back to the top of the pile. I’m super close to a published draft I’ve finally decided to title MAGIC FADE. Keep a lookout for that four-book series to start releasing this spring… (you can sign up to be an advanced reader and get it next month here).
I know we all want that final book of Rishi’s Wish to come out. Don’t worry, Dee will get her ending. I bit off more than I could chew with my Dark Fantasy Saga. It all started because I just wanted to see if I could write a romance novel. It is the largest money generator in the publishing world, and indie authors do super well publishing in that market. Of course, I’d want a piece of that. But I can’t do something simple. My idea of merging Warcraft with Prythian turned into a multiple-character saga whose surface story spans a hundred years. I won’t even mention all the side stories spawning organically from this adventure… Let’s just say the undertaking is a lot more than I planned for. Five books to start off the main attraction, with at least three to take it to the end. And because the characters’ stories are so closely tied, I had to ensure their overlapping paths were cohesive and correct. Hence, writing four books at once.
Through all this chaotic excitement of jumping universes, plotting has become a friend of mine. Do I still struggle with vomiting thousands of words I have to edit extensively because I just let my unconscious brain take over? Yes. Would plotting have sped up the writing process on all of these projects? Also, yes. Like so many things, the practice is in the doing. In my life, that’s how it works. And I think it is working. It’s been a few years, more than I wanted, to get all these ideas to pages and in your hands, but things happen in their time. I hope you’re half as excited about all these new books as I am!
Happy Reading!
CMM
Want to hear more about my process and/or my works-in-progress? Tell me in the comments, or sign up for my newsletter here.
Donating = Loving
Do you know??
I get that there are a lot of books out there. I’m currently looking at three lifetimes to finish my current book reading list, and there are still many years in my life left to add more. That doesn’t mean I should stop adding books. And like I’m not stopping, I feel you should keep looking to add to your library, as well. Especially if said books are very budget-friendly.
For example, Killing Game has just become permanently free on Amazon and is available for $0 across most platforms (including Nook). We Are Forever, the next book in the series, is only 99c, and about to be available on all platforms as well. Books 3 and 4 are locked into Amazon until April, but they are free to read on KU, or just $1.99 and $2.99 to buy. If you are one of the 30% not jacked into Amazon’s market, they’ll become available for you this summer.
Want a creepier, more suspenseful read? Ten-Zero-Nine tells of Dee’s origins for just $1.99 on all platforms.
So, why wait? Adding books to our libraries only shows how prolific and better than everyone we are.
TEN-ZERO-NINE
TEN-ZERO-NINE is the psychological thriller sequel to my Rishi’s Wish series. A short, fast-paced read that will leave you biting your nails and afraid to turn the lights off. Get it here:
Some things you can’t take back.
All Steve wanted was to find the balls to tell the girl of his dreams how he felt.
And he finally had.
Today was that day. A day engineered with no distractions. A day for just the two of them. No roommates. No cowardice. No second-guessing that the friendship they’d built over the last year wasn’t more.
Today was the day his hellish existence would move into the light.Snatched away by four simple words, Steve’s day turns dark. From one second to the next, taking his future in his hands turns to a speeding train bearing down on him.
Each day more torturous than the last, he’s forced to watch his love slumber through a dangerous experimental procedure. A procedure that has never worked. A procedure that turns her from his friend into subject 10-0-9.
When she wakes, when she finally comes to, the first to survive, Steve wants to take it all back. The nightmare he’d been living was nothing compared to this.
One Word
What is One Word?
Essentially, instead of making New Year’s resolutions, One Word is a word you divine from the universe to guide you through the year. In past years, I’ve had simplicity and patience, for example. Check out Jon Gordon to get all the details.
Finding my word
This year, I really struggled to find my WORD. I felt completely blank about it over the weeks I was trying to be open to hear it. When I realized the word wasn’t blasting through my head like it had in previous years, I paid more attention to the constant feeling I had about it. Following this vague sense, I looked up and researched through my limited vocabulary down a deep rabbit hole.
First, it was INTENTION
Intention was where I started. But that wasn’t focused enough.
Intention to attention… but that’s more than one word, and not exactly what I felt.
I needed intention to relate more with sourcing my purpose, with ensuring I take action towards a goal that is wise and fitting and not ruled by pride and ego.
I’ve read that yoga can mean “work.” Intentional action. So, I started looking up definitions of yoga. At this point, I was pretty sure YOGA was my WORD, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just creating something of my own making from the hints the universe handed out.
Yoga: a union between the self and the divine, or more accurately to realize my identity with the Divine; to know and tune into my intrinsic nature.
No, that doesn’t sound terrifying at all.
Yoga is (according to Patanjali):
Equanimity of mind in success and failure.
Discretion in work.
The remover of misery and destroyer of pain.
The most supreme self.
Serenity.
The giver of infinite happiness.
Complete control over patterns or modifications of the mind.
Yoga is a lot. Much more than ONE WORD. So, I kept digging, trying to slim this all-encompassing way into a piece I could focus on. The YAMAS is where I found my WORD.
SATYA
…”absolute truth”, but Satya also refers to the virtue of being honest in thoughts, in actions and in words during everyday life…
https://styleoga.it/en/meaning-satya-yoga/
Impeccable truth. Clear, truthful intention. Satya is my One Word.
The actual doing…
Of course, how to go about achieving even the slimmest level of this is my current task. Journaling has become my job this last week as I try to dissect my brain patterns, try to cess out the things that make me not be SATYA (is it a verb? can it be a verb?) and find a way towards it.
Have any suggestions? I’d love to hear them. I’d especially love to hear if you have a word to focus on for the year.
Author C.M. Martens 