Guest Post: Abner Senires on Speedbumps

Good morning! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend. With the last summer holiday now in the past, it's time to look towards cooler weather... eventually. What this weekend meant for me was the release of my friend Abner Senires' new book and the start of his blog tour! I'm honored to be a part of it and have him here as my first ever guest post. Please welcome him and look up his series, KAT AND MOUSE, GUNS FOR HIRE if futuristic pulp action with a pair of badass ladies behind the guns sounds good to you.

Now, over to Abner!

Before I start, I'd like to thank Maggie for hosting me today for this stop on the KAT AND MOUSE SEASON TWO book blog tour.

When she asked me to write about any "speedbumps" I might have encountered on the writing road, I decided, after some thought, to write about...

The Mother of All Writing Speedbumps

There are, of course, all sorts of speedbumps on the road of writing.

Sometimes they're called "writer's block." Sometimes, "not enough time." Sometimes, "uninspired." Other times, "self-doubt of our writing ability." Still others, "Real Life."

By themselves, they're easy enough to conquer.

Writer's block? Maybe it's time to recharge the creative batteries by reading, watching a movie, doing another creative task like painting or woodworking, or just getting out of the house and being active.

Not enough time? Schedule it in and stick to it. Even if it's just ten minutes a day. It'll add up.

Uninspired? Recharge, as I mentioned above.

Self-doubt about our ability? Positive self-talk can usually help. And it often happens that what we might see as negative, those around us might see as positive. That page of dialogue we thought sounded contrived? Your beta reader might think it was packed with dramatic subtext.

Real Life? Sometimes you just have to hold on tight and get through that dark tunnel to the light at the other end.

At least, those are my approaches to each speedbump above.

Your tactics may differ.

Sometimes, speedbumps double up. Writer's block plus self-doubt. Real Life plus uninspired. Not enough time plus uninspired.

And then there's the Mother of All Writing Speedbumps. The one in the title to this post.

I hit that one earlier this year.

It wasn't all at once, mind you. No. It had been building up for at least several months to a year and a half prior. Writer's block and being uninspired that was slowly not being solved by recharging the tanks, doing other creative things, or being active. Lack of time that was growing. Real Life that saw no sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. Self-doubt that started to become a gnawing thing that somehow latched on and wouldn't let go.

They came in waves during most of 2011 and 2012. Attack. Retreat. Attack. Retreat. One at a time. Then all was well. Then two at a time. Then all was well.

Over and over.

Then in late 2012, I hit four of those speedbumps. One after the other.

Writer's block. Uninspired. Not enough time. Self-doubt.

And suddenly I found myself in mental quicksand. Struggle too much and I'd start to sink faster. All I could do was move slowly to get myself out.

And moving slowly took time.

And when I did get out, I thought the worst was over. At that point, toward the end of 2013, things looked like they were starting to turn around.

Man, did I have it wrong.

Completely.

Little did I realize that in those last few months of 2013, the speedbumps were massing for an attack.

Two weeks into 2014, an incident sent me careening into the Mother of All Writing Speedbumps.

All five speedbumps.

At one time.

Writer's block. Uninspired. Not enough time. Self-doubt. Real Life.

Crash and burn. Michael Bay-style.

When the crashing and burning finished, I found myself in a deep dark place staring at the abyss.

And the abyss was staring back at me.

And then the abyss grabbed me by the face and yanked me deeper into that darkness.

In that darkness I vowed never to write again.

I gave up on writing fiction.

In that darkness I closed down the website. Turned off the blog. Goodreads. Twitter.

And retreated into the darkness.

Never again, I thought to myself. Never again would I subject myself to the heartache, mental anguish, and depression the incident unleashed.

Nope.

No way.

But the Universe has a funny way of making sure you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. Especially for those of us who've answered a calling. A purpose. A destiny. (Yeah, a little dramatic, but hopefully you get the drift.)

In my case, I had embraced being a working writer of fiction.

The Universe, in its infinite wisdom, was looking out for me, to make sure I did, and would continue to do, just that.

Sure I had shut down the website and the blog and the Goodreads and the Twitter.

But, and here's the important bit: I never deleted anything.

The website was still there but the links on the main page were just missing. The blog was there, too, but I'd made it private instead of public. I removed my Goodreads Author page but my personal account was still active. And Twitter was still there. I just didn't use it.

It's as if the Universe said to itself: "Okay, he's being an idiot. I know it. He doesn't, 'cuz he's not paying attention. So I'm just going to put in this hidden entrance. For later use. And not say anything to him."

Laugh if you want. Call it "woo-woo-out-there-crazy-talk" if you must. I firmly believe if you've embraced a calling or purpose or destiny with every fiber of your being, if you've internalized it down to your very core, it will never go away. To paraphrase a character from Robert Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, you might be cured of writing, but not of the need to write; you may end up sitting in a corner, trembling.

So while I thought I had given up writing fiction, I really hadn't.

Maybe what I needed at that point was distance from everything. Maybe I needed to not write for a little while. Maybe I needed to hibernate.

Maybe do a cold reboot.

Whatever it was, the Mother of All Speedbumps triggered it and it took place over the course of four weeks.

On the morning after those four weeks and four days, the Universe woke me up, grabbed me by the short and curlies, stuck its ugly mug in my face, turned into Gunny Ermey, and screamed: "YOU STUPID FRAKING IDIOT!!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!? NUKE IT FROM ORBIT, GET YOU HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, AND GET BACK TO WORK!!!"

I think it was a cold reboot.

Because shortly after that, I was ready.

Ready to kick writing ass.

Damn the speedbumps. Damn the torpedoes.

Full speed ahead.

Go time.


AUTHOR BIO
Abner Senires writes sci-fi pulp adventure and probably drinks far too much coffee. He lives just outside Seattle, WA with his wife and a pair of rambunctious cats.

WEBSITE: www.AbnerSenires.com
BLOG: blog.AbnerSenires.com
TWITTER: @abnersenires


KAT AND MOUSE, GUNS FOR HIRE: PAYBACK
Things are heating up for near-future female mercenaries Kat and Mouse as they tackle even more hair-raising jobs for shadowy clients and run afoul of terrorists, freedom fighters, hired assassins, a Japanese crime syndicate, and warring punkergangs. And smack in the middle of this, an enemy from the past is back and wants revenge on the duo.

Now these two sassy sisters-in-arms must fight back and survive...and still get their jobs done.

Available from:
Kindle
Smashwords/epub

Vacationing on the Great A'tuin

Lost in Ankh-Morpork.

Don't send help.

I can find my own way out.

Usually.

I aten't dead.

(You ever want to reread a book SO BAD but you also want to read the series in order and the one in particular you want to reread is near the end? My inspiration tank was running low, so my writing is on hold while I while away the days on the Discworld, working my way through the City Watch/Ankh-Morpork storylines in the proper order. So far, I haven't regretted the decision.)

Potential

I just realized I promised to write about my latest WIP next post two posts ago. Whoops! First off, thank you so much for the responses to my last post. I am always open to suggestions for what you the reader wants to see, so please, don't ever think that was a "one time only" thing.

Sunday was the second write-in with my crit group. Fewer of us showed up due to weather, work, or plans, but the food was good and company delightful. And the writing, oh the writing. Potential has started, and it's coming alive.

So, what is Potential?

Imagine a world where children and teenagers are bought and sponsored by companies like they were Nascar vehicles, based entirely on the potential the youth show for future fame. What if Jennifer Lawrence had been introduced to the world sporting a McDonalds logo? Or Lorde? If you waited for people to get famous, the cost of sponsoring them would be much higher. Buy low, sell high. Sponsor a Potential, encourage their training, reap the rewards if they make it big. This is where the idea began.

Sixteen year old Synclaire "Syn" Ritchie has no talents, nothing anyone would want to sponsor at least. She's decent with a camera, but why sponsor a photographer when you could have an actor? A singer? An inventor? A politician? She's short, she's small-chested, her hair could be mistaken for a tumbleweed on a bad day, and she just has no talent. All she's ever wanted was to get a sponsor, enough for her to go to college and maybe make something of her life would be great, but to go to Promise Academy, oh how glorious that would be. To be one of the lucky few whose sponsor buys them the glamorous life on the west coast while they train for their inevitable fame. But that's even less than a pipe dream for Syn.

The prospectors come every five years from kindergarten to 10th grade to find students with potential for the sponsoring corporations. This year is the last time Syn has to suffer through being told she's not good enough to make her dreams a reality. Until she's sat down and told a sponsor has a proposition for her. The biggest designer clothing company in the country, Coolture, wants to see if it's possible to mold someone without potential into the star of the year. She's their girl. The impossible becomes reality, and in a few weeks, Syn's on the plane to Promise.

(source unknown)

With a little camera and makeover magic and clever marketing, Syn is transformed into a celebrity, but it's not everything she dreamed of. She lives every day in fear of being found out that she's undeserving of it all, of losing the friends she's made over a lie that an old rival who also came to Promise knows. And when a rash of deadly accidents start to point to her as the culprit, she wonders what exactly Coolture meant when they said they'd make her a household name. Syn and her friends have precious little time to find who's trying to frame her before her most famous picture becomes her mugshot.

So that's Potential. It's a YA dystopian that takes place about 75 years in the future. A flesh-eating contagion started in 2035, killed millions, crippled more, and is still active through transmission to each newborn generation in 2089. Prosthetic limbs are as common as smartphones and the world has changed to accommodate them. There's a lot more going on in the world than Syn knows about, but as dystopians are wont to do, she's about to get dragged into the middle of it all.

I know YA dystopian is a flooded market and by the time I'm done, selling it may not be an option, but this is my story. It is what it is and I don't dare change it for anyone but myself. Maybe I'll write it well enough that publishers will want it anyway, risks be damned. All that matters right now is to write it and have fun doing so.

In the words of Syn's best friend, "Personally, my lady, I am a walrus."

Fun indeed.

What Do You Want To See?

After a year and a half, this is my fiftieth post. Doesn't feel like it's been that many, but I suppose the counter doesn't lie.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this blog lately. Should I keep it on Blogspot or move to wordpress or some other site? Make a more author-page-y site? Update what I have, or leave it the same? And above all, what to post? It's been fifty posts, and while I haven't gone back over them, I'm fairly certain most of them are about, well, me. Talking about my writing, my journey down this path, and just myself. I want to make this blog something people want to read, something more than "me, me, me." So I'm turning to you, my current readers: What do you want to see?

More book reviews?
Samples of stuff I've written?
Tips and advice?
Links to other writing/authors blogs and sites?
Talk about or guest posts from other authors I know?
Something else entirely?
Or are my concerns unfounded and the stuff I post now is fine?

This isn't to say I intend to stop posting about my own progress to becoming an author. I just want to stop from being a constant flood of "me" posts. Please, be honest and tell me what you'd like to see from me in future posts in the comments.

When Do You Just Start?

Still here, still plotting away on my next WIP. I have a good portion of it plotted, maybe a third? Hopefully at least 15,000 words worth. I'm not really sure. I'll have to see how much it comes out to when I start writing it, which is the question of the day for the last week. "When do I stop plotting and start writing?" Do I keep plotting until I get to the general "the end" of the story? Do I put on the brakes in a day or two and dive in, confident in what I have planned, and find out what I don't know about the story through the pantsing process to continue plotting later? I see the pros and cons of both. I'm afraid of running myself dry plotting and getting tired of the story before I even get to write it. But then, how good a story could it have been if I lost interest before I started? Ugh, this learning curve is a pain.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a write-in with my critique group. One of the lovely ladies and her husband hosts lunch and writing at their beautiful wood-surrounded home. There's even a little creek with a path beside it for when you need to walk a block out. It's truly beautiful, and I'm going back for another next weekend. I guess I should try to figure out what I'm doing by then. Last time, I edited two short stories and part of my completed novel (oh lord, there was a not-as-welcome trip down memory lane. On the plus side, I've made enough progress in the last year to see what all I did wrong. On the other hand, I have so much work to do...)

Next post, I'll talk a bit about this WIP. It's not any from the list I posted of my projects last month and came out of nowhere to demand action. When a bunny wants to be written...

Camp NaNo 2014? Not This Time

It's July, which means it's time for another Camp Nano. Another camp that I'm not doing. I want to, believe me, but also believe me when I say that, for my own sanity, I know better. Right now, my life is busier than I have ever seen it. Over a month without a weekend break from traveling and guests starting two weeks ago on the 21st and ending, finally ending, on the 26th. A month and five days before we have no expectations, no one either wanting our presence at their place or their presence at our place. I love friends and family as much as the next person, but when all friends and family are an overnight stay away, it wears on the psyche. And so, I'm letting Camp pass me by, for my own mental health.

But that doesn't mean I'm not writing. Oh no. I have a new story riding herd on me, demanding to be done, which is why I even considered Camp at all! It's not exactly new, per se, the idea's been sitting around in my head for a year or so, but the growth it's had the past few weeks has been exponential. Characters, plot, subplots, and romances, all the pieces are coming together and I know the time to stop plotting and just write it is approaching. So, if you're doing Camp, you may not see me around the boards or get me in your cabin, but I'll be at your side on the outside. Sometimes. When I'm not a ball of sobbing neuroses, knowing I brought this all on myself and am simply reaping what I sowed.

May God have mercy on my sanity.

"My Writing Process" Blog Tour, Maxwell Edition

Through a complicated set of circumstances (that mostly was me going "Hey,") I've been invited to participate in the "My Writing Process" Blog Tour & Baton Passing. Thanks to Carol Strickland for passing the baton off to me!


The rules are complex, delving into the depths of the human psyche wherein one may find monsters worthy of emerging from the mind of Lovecraft and where hellscapes do battle with rainbow unicorn lands for dominance within one's soul. It is a trip from which one may never return, with danger, drama, and-

Oh, wait, wrong blog tour. I'm just supposed to answer some questions about writing.

1) What am I currently working on?
Right now, I have three primary projects. The first one is the YA Atlantis story I talked about in this post so long ago. The world still needs some building, but it's fairly well-developed. What's not entirely developed is the story and the main character. I tried to start without them and got stuck on chapter 2.

The second project is a pirate-themed trilogy. The first book is the only novel I've managed to finish, but that was a few years ago. I looked at it again recently and realize I have a lot to fix: Long, dull "telling" paragraphs, adverbs and "very"s aplenty, far too much pirate slang (so many red squiggly lines...), and a dreaded "unconscious for far longer than is healthy due to head injury" scene. Whoops. I also realize that I may be missing an entire scene at the end. It ends of a bit of a cliffhanger, and after talking with some friends about it at a write-in, I think I have an idea of where it really should end.

And the third project is honestly the one with the largest scale and smallest potential market: a superhero series. Spanning three generations of various heroes, called Aces, from the 1980s to 2030, it's less a series and more a universe. Plots for each story follow anyone from the greatest heroes of the day to the small-time criminal and can be flash fiction to full novel. It varies from one story to another, and they all build upon each other between stories and generations. The world the Aces live in changes between each generation as forces for good and evil rise and fall. I've started with some of the short stories while I plot out the larger ones, and so far, I'm loving working inside this universe, especially with the little guys.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Mostly, because it's mine and no one else can write the stories in my head. I'm not trying to push any envelopes or break any molds. I just want to tell good stories of adventure and discovery, easy reads for the people who want to escape the real world for a little while.

While the overall concepts may not be mold-breakers, I try to make the individual stories have unique elements, though. Some of the stories for the Aces series focus on non-super characters in a super world (like the costume designer, the bank robber, or the henchman) or supers who choose not to use their powers (like the unstoppable Ace who's much happier doing tax audits than saving the world). The hero from the Atlantis story has asthma and a heart condition, making him be a hero while keeping an eye on his health and a very dangerous weakness. The pirate trilogy takes place in a world where metal is rare, requiring some major changes to the weaponry you'd normally find in the setting. Little things like that that come down to the individual story.

3) Why do I write what I do?
I write adventure fiction because I've always dreamed of having my own adventure. I've spent a lifetime daydreaming about climbing mountains, of finding lost treasure or forgotten bones, of myth and magic being real. My muse gives me story ideas that fit these molds to keep me sane and safe at home. I write speculative fiction adventures so I can live vicariously through my characters.

4) How does your writing process work?
My regular readers will know that I'm still figuring this out, really. I've tried pantsing, just slamming words down on the paper and going where they take me. It rarely worked out, although I did manage to put "The end" on one full-length novel. Kinda. It's more "to be continued." Now I'm trying outlining, and it's not exactly doing it for me either, although it's gotten me through two short stories. As it is, I'm just trying to make a schedule that won't burn me out and a balance of writing and plotting that will lead to more completed stories.

And that's it. That's what I'm up to and how the magic happens at the Maxwell house (Not to be confused with the coffee brand. There is no coffee at my house. If you come expecting any, you will be sorely disappointed.) Now I'm passing the baton on to a few good friends who'll continue the tour in a week! Enjoy!

Melanie Williams is an aspiring speculative fiction author. She delights in writing stories where the character are often both People of Color and LBGT+. A geek to her core, she can be found at her blog, Eclectic Little Dork.

My #1 writing buddy, victim of my plotholes, and the one to blame for many of my ideas, I'm making Agent Double Oh Zero resurrect her blog for this. She is a writer of science fiction and fantasy, metalhead, Whovian, and general geekian who can be found blogging at God of Ephemera.