Happy autumn – another year is racing by.  The holidays will soon be screaming down upon us – and a new year in the offing.

As seems to be usual lately, as the time spins by, the children’s comic book series, Planet Of The Eggs, part of The Egg Chronicles family, is taking up a good deal of my time along with that of my writing/creative partner Charlene Brash Sorensen.

We’ve completed five books in the Planet Of The Eggs comic series for Children and are working on the sixth Children’s comic in the series, Worlds Collide. The script is written and we’re about six pages into creating the illustrations to tell the tale! We hope for a release date somewhere in late Nov. or early Dec. Add it to your Christmas list!

Our most recent interview on the Planet Of The Eggs series is with Lisa Haselton and you can see it here   Do stop by today and leave a comment with your thoughts. Share it with your friends. Explore Eggland.

In other news, my latest short story, Skykicker, has just been published by CowboyJamboree magazine. The PDF of the magazine is free to download and contains the short story.  Enjoy!  And I’d love it if you could leave a comment there or here on this blog on what you think.

Upcoming are more books for the Egg Chronicles family- including more children’s comics in the Planet of The Eggs line and more early reader books for the Read To Me series.

Meanwhile I’m settling back and watching the change of the seasons while I contemplate how in the world I’m going to get my romance novel finished – Serpent’s Tail. Not even a tentative date set for that one, but it’s definitely in the hopper at about 2/3 done. 

Enjoy the lovely crisp weather and awesome colors of fall!

Grandpa Was A Character - A Writer's Inspiration

It’s a new year and while I don’t go in for the ‘resolution’ thing, I have spent a bit of time recently reflecting on my early beginnings as a writer and the transformation that has happened over the years. Life is change after all and nothing ever stays the same.

Currently I write a lot of things. Novels, screen scripts, commercial copy, and pretty much anything that comes my way that sparks my interest. I’ve published with major houses, optioned scripts and done some self-publishing.

But, what I’m centering on here is my beginnings; that which brought me to this point. 

When I look back it’s rather amusing, that very first jump and accomplishment. I’d started writing when I was about fourteen and just enjoyed creating other worlds but knew right away it was something I wanted to do for real, for publication, for a career.

What was that very first jump? It was a western novel titled Night Of The Flaming Guns, published when I was twenty-two .

That was waaay back and is still available used through Amazon.

But here’s the thing, how exactly did that book, published originally by Doubleday come to be? There was a whole lot of weirdness connected with its actual publication. The Cliff’s Notes version is an agent had it, went defunct. While I panicked another agent had picked it up and had an offer from Doubleday. I got the offer, I accepted, then the publisher decided we had to go with my initials as author (P.A. Bechko) since I was writing a gritty western in the first person as a middle-aged man and I was a twenty-something young woman. Sure rattled my editor at that time. 

Anyway, I was off, that was the first of sixteen books so far. But what inspired the writing of that particular original book?

If you’re another writer or reader and curious about such things, let me tell you. It was two things that tripped my writer's imagination.

1. A dear friend (male) dared me to write a gritty western, because I suspect, I WAS a young, fairly shy woman. Hey, what he didn’t know was that was a great way for me to utilize my love for the west and let go of a lot of frustrations. Heck I could shoot people at will on the printed page and let the hero win. Whohoo!

2. The second, and most important inspiration for writing that first western novel was my grandfather. Yep, my grandfather IS the hero of the book. He is long departed and much missed, but he was the original inspiration and hero. Not because I made the hero look like him, but because Grandpa possessed the strength, determination, compassion and down-to-earth, get-it-done attitude coupled with some pretty deep philosophical outlooks on life that completed that character. You go Grandpa! An incredibly intelligent, profound man who made it through the depression doing any job he had to for his family, held a hand out to those less fortunate, participated in a few brawls in his youth, and always had a wonderful and sometimes twisted sense of humor. All of that made up the core of the hero, Matt Logan in that book.

Not every bit of my grandfather is visible in the tale that is told, but those characteristics are at the hero’s core and they are what drive him to do what he does.

That was the first with many others following. And today, while not ALL my characters are based directly on life, there are many of them that are bits and pieces of friends and relatives I’ve known throughout my life (I’m not going to name any more of them here). I suspect that’s true of pretty much all writers. You can’t create characters without stealing bits and pieces you love of family and friends. Even bits and pieces you hate (another place I won’t name names).

And while most characters I create are made up of various parts of people I’ve crossed paths with, the original book, the original inspiration. was quite simply Grandpa.

So, tell me, what characters have you, as a writer, created based on someone in particular? Do you still see them in that character now that the story is written? Comment below, I’d be fascinated to know.

Book Giveaway - Warrior Flight Free at Amazon on Kindle Dec. 3 through 5

It's true -

Today it begins. 

Warrior Flight is Free for three days on Amazon, Dec.3 through 5. 

Grab your copy with my compliments - an early gift for the holiday season. 

 

A Writer's Break & A Book Giveaway

It’s been a long week, you know? I realize as I’m writing this it’s only Monday, but last week is sort of lapping over.  

 My newest digital release, Hawke’s Indians  is free on Kindle this week Monday through Wednesday Aug. 4 through 7.  Grab a copy, you know your Kindle needs feeding and if you have a minute, throw up a short review on Amazon. (No pressure though ). So I’ve been spending some time getting the word out about that including my book trailer that accompanies it.  

Two more books are in the pipeline to be released in digital edition over the summer.

Keep an eye out.  Oh, and poke around here to see the books already in digital format and available. 

Meanwhile I’ve been blogging away, for others and for myself. It’s a lot of words, especially when you’re supposed to be finishing writing another book at the same time. 

It was a week when I also finished a paying project not my own for a client and got the time to put together the info needed to submit a script for consideration. 

Now, not that I’m complaining, but I have a checklist on a spiral pad close to hand. I keep checking things off and, well, gladly adding things on the bottom. I like it like that, but well, I needed a break.

So I stumbled on the Giving Bunny project. I couldn’t resist. You don’t have to be handy with needle and thread, you can use glue, though I stitched mine.

The idea is you make these little bunnies and place then in tucked away locations to be discovered by somebody who’s day needs a bit of brightening.  So far I’ve turned two bunnies lose, one at a small local mall and another at a restaurant.

It made me smile to make them and think of their discovery so I hope some other folk will feel the same, grab the simple pattern from the website with the printable tags and get those bunnies out there! The person who finds it may feel all warm, fuzzy and sparkly inside, but they have no idea how sparkly it makes the anonymous giver feel. A wonderful break from 'real' work.

Have a great week – it’s back to work for me. Let me know if you decide to join the bunny brigade and where you leave one…

Writer & Readers!

         

Well, I should have written a post yesterday, intended to in fact, but just ran out of time. I don't have a lot of that in supply today either. So for those who follow this blog, Sorry! Hopefully I'll be back on track next week. 

But, in the meantime, you'll note the trailer above for Hawke's Indians.  The book will be free next week Aug. 5, 6, and 7 on Amazon Kindle.  Get your copy!  Please download and enjoy. Comment and review. It's a light-hearted western with lots of action and fun. Complications when a forward-thinking train robber decides to modernize with Indian Motorcycles and the train detectives aren't too far behind.

I ran across a nice website for those who enjoy author interviews, books contests and links to authors' websites. It's over at Books & Authors. Poke around, I think you'll enjoy it. 

The Read and The Write Of It

Sometimes as writers we forget and take for granted the marvel of reading.

And it is pretty much a marvel you know.

We all read, well most of us read, well, a large number of us read and it's kind of funny how we don't think about it, but just do it. A part of every day. and thank heavens writers aren't the only ones who read!

Here's a definition of what reading really is:

..."a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning...a means of language acquisition of communication and of sharing information and ideas. Reading boils down to a complex interaction between the text and the reader, said text shaped by the reader's prior experience, knowledge, attitude and community.  The reading process requires continuous practice, development and refinement."

photo by Chance Agrella

 Or the more dry dictionary definition:

"the act or practice of one who reads...the study of books; academic material."

The second doesn't tell you nearly what the first does, but you get it. The first definition makes it much more clear just how complicated and fascinating the act of reading is.

There are types of reading other than the written word such as symbols, pictograms and music, but let’s stick with what we scribblers know best - reading a book.

Plainly the first requirement of reading is that there's sharp contrast between the letters and the background they're printed on (don't you just love red on black?) and aside from that, readers, don’t you just love it when the text doesn’t fit your computer screen and you’re forced to scroll from side to side, back and for, repeatedly? (er, I think I can see that you don’t). So fiction writers, copy writers, all writers keep in mind the readability factor in the visual.

The other thing about reading is it is usually an individual activity. One person; book or magazine or whatever in hand, reading. Oh, occasionally someone will do a ‘reading’ and read aloud to a group. And, readers, did you know many writers use reading out loud as a tool when crafting what they write? Reading out loud fosters better comprehension, meaning it allows the writer to catch many of his or her errors and to correct them. Handy, huh?

Did you know also that reading really is a pretty intensive process because the eye moves back and forth assimilating text? Very little of a sentence is actually ‘seen’ accurately, thus the puzzles where you can figure out a whole sentence with lots of words or letters missing. That involves eye movement and visual perception which you can Google if you lile, but it’s a whole ‘nother subject.

So, back to reading. Yep, it’s a very active exercise for your mind as pooped to say watching TV or just listening to music. When you read your brain cells engage in activity as the words you read are automatically translated into vivid images painted on your consciousness from the story the reader is absorbing. Fascinating, don’t you think? But there’s more. Your brain is actually a muscle which really does need to be exercised regularly like any other muscle in your body. If you don’t, you risk dulling yourself down. You must keep your mental faculties constantly engaged to keep your brain from getting bored and that will keep you smarter. Yes, smarter I say. But don’t believe me, research that yourself.

Those of you who are regular readers, think about it. When you read you’re bound to explore the works of a variety of authors and thereby be exposed to different literary styles, learn new words, phrases, idioms, and because of that learn to use those things in new ways yourself.

So, be of good cheer, readers and obsessive readers because readers are generally more knowledgeable folks and more knowledgeable are generally more creative and more creativity leads to innovation and the ability to think more ‘out of the box. So keep reading and you’ll find you’re definitely more creative in whatever are of life you aim to excel.

Want to read a bit more and give me your thoughts? Hop over to The Importance Of Reading For All Of Us. Good article for more info.