Yes! Populated is being featured at Kobo for the next two weeks. Go grab a copy while the price is low. (This is ebook form only, of course. I WISH I could sell print copies this cheaply!)

I’m headed out to see my youngest, so it’s a long day behind the wheel for me. And last I checked, it was looking like a rainy spring weekend.

Ask me if I care. I don’t. I’m gonna see my kid and spend time with her at this temporary stop on her path. Plus animals!

As always, I have a house sitter, so give up THOSE thoughts. Besides, I don’t have anything of value. I just spent it all on my renovation!

Writing: Still working on the standalone! Yinz and y’all are going to love it. I love Priscilla and Errick and what’s this? I’m giving up details?

Editing: On hold, of course, until Monday, when I’m back from my road trip adventures. Whee!

Book of the Day: Love is a War Song, by Danica Nava

That’s all I got, since I’m not here and scheduled this out. As always, if you appreciate me and the Book of the Day, feel free to buy me a Ko-fi.

And if you’re new around here, join my mailing list! Do it for the freebies.

I’m getting ready for the housesitter, which means focused, intense work on my To Do List today, including a short edit. And at some point, I’ve got to pack, since I’m leaving the house early, early, early tomorrow. Like, before breakfast early.

I should probably do more than give the route a cursory look.

Writing: More progress on the standalone. I had just hit a groove last night when a family member called. Like… aaah! NOW??? We hung up with ten minutes left in my nightly writing time. Needless to say, I didn’t get much done in those final ten minutes.
Oh! Hey! Safe House is on sale this month. Ebook only, and across all retailers.

Editing: As I mentioned, I’ve got a short editing project. Yes, I’ll edit your newsletters and their magnets. Of course! I take care of my clients, which to me means including back cover copy in the cost of your overall edit. Hell, yesterday one of my clients texted me for help with verbage for her website… her non-writing website.

I take care of my clients.

Book of the Day: Does Blake Keep the Secret, by Lindsay Anne Priest, Tacom Creative Studio, and Amanda Boyers

Still digging the Book of the Day? Just appreciate me in general? Buy me a figurative bottle of fountain pen ink!

It’s my birthday month! And like always, I only want one thing… book royalties! Be they from Hoopla or Libby or online sales or in-person sales, I don’t care. Buy my books.

Okay, I won’t say no to Umber Chocolates, either.

Editing: Still waiting on five manuscripts, still working on other stuff. But I found out yesterday in a pretty unprofessional way that a job I’d been asked to do was yanked out from under me. That was hurtful and sad, and please don’t treat others this way.
I’m writing it off as “when people show you who they are, believe them” moment and moving forward with a reminder that this is why editing samples are VITAL to a good author-editor relationship.

Writing: Still focused on the standalone! I hit a moment yesterday that I hadn’t seen coming — just one of those small one-liners that make me laugh, not a huge plot point. It was pretty glorious.

And now, the moment you’re all waiting for… The Book of the Day.
No one’s chimed in yet and said, “Hey, I know what the common theme is!” so keep thinking, and keep checking back for every day’s book of the day, with weekends continuing to be catch-up from when I was posting exclusively at Facebook.
Out on a Limb, by Hannah Bonam-Young

Having fun with this new series? Want to wish me a happy birthday and some chocolate of my own choosing? I have a ko-fi for that and I appreciate everyone for everything they contribute to it. Be sure to check out my Beta Readers Guide, too! Pay what you will… seriously.

Didn’t see this one coming, but I am NOT going to complain…
Legacy was my best-selling book over the weekend!

I moderated a panel at my local library over the weekend and while it wasn’t an event designed to sell books, and while most people in the audience thanked us and then left, a couple of us had sales. And I was lucky enough to encounter readers who needed the latest installment of the Tales from the Sheep Farm. Thanks, friends!

Writing: Over the weekend, the standalone got the most attention. I’m having to do more than tweaks but less than significant rewrites, but that’s why I delayed the release; I’d originally been hoping to have this book ready to put in readers’ hands at Books Books Books in September, but some books can’t be rushed. Either this one or the next Tale from the Sheep Farm will be out in April 2026. You read this here first.

Oh! Be sure to sign up for my newsletter! April is my birthday month, and that always means goodies for my newsletter subscribers!

Editing: Nothing to say. I’m still waiting on clients to send their manuscripts. This is the downside to telling authors to Send When Ready!

Book of the Day: Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi

End of the month reminder if you use Hoopla or Libby! If you haven’t maxed out your borrows, check out an indie author’s book! Mine or someone else’s… it doesn’t matter. The point is to use your library to help give them circulation numbers, to expose yourself to something new and wonderful, and the reason you want an indie author’s book is because many of us get paid for each check-out. Everyone wins.

And, of course, if you’re jamming on the Book of the Day and these short updates and would like to say thanks but don’t need a book to read (WHAT???), my ko-fi remains open so you can buy me a (figurative) bottle of fountain pen ink. I’ll actually use it for operational expenses around here, in interests of full transparency. But also? I use my fountain pens (I’m up to 11) when I edit, so that ink is an operational expense!

I got a call to restock copies of Maybe the Bird Will Rise at Blythe Books, the Pittsburgh-based used bookstore that also champions local authors.

I shouldn’t be so surprised. I wrote a really good book. One thing I’ve noticed at in-person events is the way the right readers gravitate toward my covers. It’s cool to watch.

In a way, it’s cooler to get restock messages. And one day, I will be in the store when someone gravitates toward the book and decides to buy it without talking to me about it first!

Editing: Still waiting on five edits. Five!
But at least this gives me the time today to run out to Blythe Books for the restock. Pittsburgh book lovers! Might I be leaving other titles too?

Writing: I got a lot done yesterday on the standalone. The storyline has changed subtly, so I’ve got to deal with that.
I’ve also been working on another typo check of Safe House, along with a reader’s group guide. Look for those when I can afford a website refresh. Another reason I hate waiting on manuscripts!

Book of the Day:
I know this is what you come here for, so here it is!
Darius the Great is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram

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I don’t know why, but Thursday is the hardest day of my week. I’m always draggy and content to eat leftovers from the freezer rather than cook.

Same for you? Let me know!

Writing: Before dinner, I worked on the short piece I’ve mentioned. It’ll be for sale in my online Payhip store ONLY once it’s done and ready. After dinner, I kept working on the standalone. I’m really pleased with it and how it’s coming together. It’s a complex story, with growth for both main characters, although very very differently.

Editing: STILL between edits. I’m climbing walls. I’m an editor, and I’m waiting on at least four manuscripts. But I want my clients to send their manuscripts when they are ready, not on some artificial schedule that they’ve rushed to meet. So it’s usually overindulge or famine over here.

Book of the Day: Nainai’s Mountain by Livia Blackburne and Joey Chou

Want to say thanks for this? Show some support? Buy my books or a bottle of fountain pen ink!

I truly hate being between edits. Y’all can fix that, I’m sure.

Writing: I had a meeting last night at the temple, so I only got a bit of writing in, but I worked on a short piece that’ll be available only at my direct store.

Book of the Day: Pardon my Frenchie by Farrah Rochon

That’s it! No real plans for the day — I need a good tea ball and some ice trays, so if you have recs, I’m all ears! — and am hoping for some serious writing today/tonight.

Last December — because construction takes twice as long as they promise it will — I started a massive construction project on my house. New siding, new roof, new deck. No pictures for privacy’s sake.

Today’s the second scheduled day of punch list items. The end is in sight!

By the way, they’d promised me 11 weeks, and last time I worked with this contractor, they’d come in ahead of schedule, so I’m not stressed about the delays. They’ve all been justified and I’ve been very taken care of.

Writing: I developed a horrific migraine around noon, so no writing happened. That’s not common.

Editing: I’m still between edits, gosh darn it. Whenever the economy slows and book sales tank, authors stop using editors — and sometimes stop writing entirely because they need that income.
I promise you, authors, you’ll be glad you coughed up the cost for an edit, and not just because you’re helping support someone else’s small business.

And since I know this is actually what you’re here for…
Book of the Day:
We Could be So Good, by Cat Sebastian

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WHAT a weekend event!

It was the first ever adult book fair at Lolev Brewery, brought to us by Eeeek Creative and what an awesome time. I hit a few milestones: I sold out of a title! (I’d only had three, so maybe this doesn’t count?)
It was my highest earning show, but the second-highest number of books sold. (That’s because I’m selling the Trevolution books cheap… be sure you get yours before they are gone! No more print copies!)

Planning a book fair? I work with a group of authors and am glad to connect you not only to myself, but to the group as well.

Writing:
I’m working on a couple different manuscripts right now, just kind of skipping from one to the next as I’m inspired. I need to pull up a short story I’d written and get it ready to be my 2026 newsletter magnet. (If you’re not on my author newsletter, why not? You get a free story that’s only available via my newsletter, and only for one calendar year.)

Editing:
I’m writing this Sunday afternoon and still waiting for manuscripts to land in my inbox. So I’m working on my To Do list instead.

Book of the Day:
Their Just Desserts by Alechia Dow and Tracy Badua

Having fun with this new series of posts? Instead of a Patreon or subscription, I invite you to buy me a bottle of ink.

I’m trying to think of why we moved away from blogging and over to content sites like Substack and Medium and every other site that’s come before and will come after. And for me, I think it’s the STUFF that goes with it.

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Like everything else, we’ve enshittified blogging, this time in the name of visibility and making ourselves into influencers.

I’m over it. Because the kind of influencer that I want to be is the kind who influences through her books.

So I’m playing with this new idea. Just simple blog posts, usually daily. (I’m, as Brian Goulet says, unreliably committing to this idea, but I also think it’s worthwhile.) The book of the day, cross-posted from the West of Mars Fans page at FB, because I want to own my own content. A word about editing, a word about writing.

Kind of a daily journal, but… maybe not.

I don’t know. We’ll see how this goes.

So…

Today’s Book of the Day:
The Princess Protection Program by Alex London

Editing: I’m between edits and of course immediately bored. I’m waiting on four different manuscripts right now, so if you need me, better get in touch FAST, since I work first in-first out.
Writing: Cut 4k out of the standalone last night. (What? You haven’t heard I’m working on a standalone? Well, I am.) Still not sure if I can center it fully enough on the couple to make it a romance and not a love story.

And that’s it. Sunny but cold today, here at West of Mars.

Have a good one, and if you’ve got a Book of the Day for me, let me hear it.

I’m in the middle of a huge house renovation. And I mean huge… new exterior, new roof, new deck, new skylights. It’s amazingly and heartbreakingly expensive, but it’s gotta get done.

So that got me thinking about houses and homes and what makes a great big box with a bunch of divider walls into first a house, and then a home. How weird is it to have our own bedrooms, our own home offices–and this, of course, gets me thinking about my (many) fantasy clients and how ubiquitous houses and bedrooms are. How privacy matters, no matter what the society… or does it? What sort of shared values across the current-day earth are we transporting into our fiction? How about expectations of the way we live? Fancy fireplaces and columns holding up the roof over our front entry, what kind of flooring we have in our kitchens, our bathrooms, our bedrooms…

These are the things I think about when I’m not editing. (It’s a darn good argument for keeping me busy, no?)

…and then LA caught on fire. And LA burned. And people lost homes they’ve lived in for generations. Generations!

That took on a new resonance. There’s a mention in Legacy, Tales from the Sheep Farm Book Five, that people who live in the historically working class neighborhood of Woolslayer pass their homes down through the generations and the stuff that accumulates through the decades and lifetimes, stuff that needs to be cleared out, but… yeah. Knowing that people (maybe even you) actually do live this way gives me a new perspective in the face of such loss.

What is it that defines how we live? Is it our sports memorabilia? Our couches, our various tables and desks, our good china? Is it the neighborhood, the size of the house, the approval of our neighbors, the landscaping, the length of your lawn?

Or is it something that transcends a physical structure? Is our home the people we let into our lives, the people we can trust and turn to for good and bad? Is it a feeling of belonging and nothing more? Is “home” our values and the way we live our lives and approach each day? Is it the memories we build in a place?

There’s even a cliche that goes “Home is where the heart is” — but try telling that to the people in LA who have lost their homes — and a piece of their hearts along with it. That argues pretty convincingly for memories and human connection and the feeling of safety and belonging, but is that all it is? I mean… it gets back to the fact that a house is nothing more than a box with a bunch of interior dividers.

What about the community? The people in LA and the people in West North Carolina (Hey, I still see you, friends! I haven’t forgotten you) would argue that’s absolutely part of what defines home. It explains why they are going to rebuild, why they may do it even without the financial assistance of an insurance industry that’s unable to keep up with the destruction of the planet, either through funding or through policy. “This is our home,” they say, and they don’t mean only the house.

What is the essence that defines home?

There are no right answers or wrong answers. I’m sure a sociologist or anthropologist or even an archeologist has tackled some of this, and of course I’d love to chat with someone who has and get their perspectives.

Just something to think about in your own fiction.

And if you’re so inclined to donate, reminder that the story I wrote for the Western North Carolina anthology is still available to you for a donation. $10 for each volume and $50 for the omnibus. My story, “In Search of Culinary Excellence” is in the Contemporary Fiction and LGBTQ volumes, because it features everyone’s favorite executive assistant, Taylor Alexander. And Sima Shaikovsky. Don’t forget her.

Don’t forget the people of LA and WNC, either. Or the others… people who’ve lost their homes and are struggling to live without permanent and safe housing.

I’m always glad to contribute to a charity anthology, to an auction, to whatever… just reach out. I’m always glad to help.

In the meantime, if you’ve got thoughts about home and what that word means, I’d love to hear them.

Cover for Populated, written by Susan Helene Gottfried

What? More about Populated??? AGAIN????

Well, first of all, this might be my favorite book of the three published so far. MIGHT BE. I’m not going to swear one way or the other. Maybe the Bird Will Rise and Safe House hold huge chunks of my heart, as well. Don’t miss either one.

Secondly, read on and you’ll see why it’s our feature picture of the day.

You see, when I decided to return to publishing, my thought wasn’t far off from what it had been when I started with the Trevolution books: I’d put them out and not think too much about it.

Except in the decade since I put the Trevolution books out, publishing got expensive, yo. And at the same time, it also got a hell of a lot more fun, although maybe that’s just because I’m in a better mental place.

It’s also allowed me to meet a lot of neat people, and to develop friendships. It’s been a gift (again, my life is a lot like Delia Ford’s, so grab Populated and you can see what I mean. Reach out directly if you want an autographed print copy.)

When I got an email from my friend Mary Walsh that she was going to be in town, turning the Other Shadyside Arts Festival into a book show with fine art, I told her I’d go hang with her for a few hours. Somehow, that turned into “Hey, meet me at seven and we’ll set up” and then that turned into “Hey, clear off a corner of the table and throw your books on it.”

Let me tell you, it was a ton of fun to learn about Mary’s books and handsell them to people we (usually me; I can extrovert pretty well, but it does take a toll) enticed to come under Mary’s tent. It was fun to people watch in a neighborhood I used to hang out in and drop a ton of money in, almost always on clothing. (Sigh. I miss those days, I say as I look down at my sweatshirt and joggers. Or maybe not; I’m comfy.)

Now, one thing among the authors on the book show circuit that I’ve noticed is that we tend to talk about the success of the day based on whether or not we earn out our table fees. And for this show, the fees were STEEP.

It took work. Not gonna lie.

But we did it! We earned back Mary’s table fee! And let me tell you, I’m a fan of her books, not just her, now. She’s got a unique vision and puts in the hard work to bring her fictional visions to life. I know a bunch of my friends would love her books.

So… what’s this got to do with Populated?

Well, see up above, where I say that on Sunday, Mary encouraged me to set up the three Sheep Farm books? Populated was the day’s hit and top seller. I shouldn’t have been surprised. People really respond to, “When someone breaks into the Woolslayer Gallery and steals ALL and ONLY the art by street photographer Delia Ford…” A lot of times, that’s all it takes.

I’m thrilled. I’m over the moon, really. As you know, I’m so proud of this project and these books. I believe in the message I’m putting out into the world with them — People are treasures too.

So grab some books.

And if you’re in the Pittsburgh area, keep an eye out for me. I’m hoping to pop up in odd places with an impromptu book show, with authors and books and books and books. You’re going to want to keep an eye out for me.

We’re leading with Maybe the Bird Will Rise today because Mack and Tess ended a week bookended with books. (Oh, my. If I wrote that into my fiction, I’d edit it on out. This, however, is not fiction, and so I will not.)

Last Sunday, authors Joyce Tremel/Joyce St. Anthony and Amanda Flower did a joint conversation and book signing, hosted by Pittsburgh-based Riverstone books. Best of all, they came to the McCandless store, which is closer for me than their city-based store. Although give me a reason to go to the city and I’ll usually grab it.

It was great fun, and I encourage you all to pick up Joyce and Amanda’s books. I had every opportunity to and… honestly? After ten years of having a rigid book budget of $0.00, I don’t want an overflowing bookshelf. (I actually have recently culled my shelves and have more than a few boxes to haul off to resell.)

And then I got word of a new bookstore opening in town. Reading Ready Pittsburgh, it’s called, and I am 100% behind this. Not only should we support an effort to get families and kids reading from the get-go, but those kids deserve to see themselves on the page, too. As do we adults!

On the editing front, since I was just doing a re-read this week, I knocked that out and surprised myself by getting it back to its author on Friday. But it was good, and interesting, the change from first person to third changed the book’s genre! How was that for a fascinating discovery?

This week, I’m tackling a debut romance from a new client. So yes! If you want to work with me, I may take you on! (I do not take on everyone, because you deserve the best client for you.)

And then I ended the week with another book event… my own! With seven others, but still. We did a panel discussion that was comfortable, relaxed, fun, and had total strangers riffing on each other in a good-natured way, and then we retreated to our tables and sold books. Not quite all the books, but enough to make me happy! One reader told me the plot of Populated was more interesting to her than the plot of the Bird, and that’s super! (also, not unexpected… it’s the art thief that gets everyone.)

So this is your reminder that you CAN read Populated first. Or you can even read only the odd-numbered books and only the even-numbered books in the Tales from the Sheep Farm series. And, of course, the ebook version of Populated is still on sale for $2.99 at your favorite retailers, including my own shop, if you too need a copy because what’s this about an art thief?

And, of course, Maybe the Bird Will Rise is 99c, and so is the preorder of Safe House and gosh darn it, but I forgot to plug Safe House’s presale yesterday… This is why I have a lot of signs on my table.

Grab a book — Hell, grab all the books — while the sale is on. And remember to leave reviews (I encourage you to leave HONEST reviews. A one-star review never killed an author and I won’t see it anyway.)!

If you’re an author who needs me, reach on out. I’m here, and the queue is starting to get a little thin.

That’s a USA Archery certified coach, an archer who was nationally ranked in the top 100 as a collegiate archer, and a high school JOAD state champ (those last two in his category, of course). He’s my first resource when I have a question about archery. He’s also the person who got me so involved in the sport, and immersed me in a sport I respect, adore, and want to see presented properly on the pages of fiction.

So when I saw another editor with a hot take that said something along the lines of, “It’s not proper to use the word fire in association with archery,” I wasn’t real happy. How many tournaments and practice sessions and lessons have I sat through where the coaches (also USAA-certified) had said things like “Hold your fire,” “Do not fire your bow,” and even “Step up to the firing line.” Heck, there’s even a term in archery — DRY FIRE — that is one of the first things you learn when you pick up a bow, because dry firing a bow (that means pulling the string back to full draw, ready to fire, but without an arrow, and yet you let the string go as if an arrow is present) is BAD. Do not dry fire!

Seriously. It’s one of the first lessons with a bow. (Instead, for those of you who are curious, let the string down in a controlled fashion.)

But to be safe, I double-checked with Mr. USAA-Certified pictured above. Yep, my memory’s still good. But, he said to me, “I wonder what the etymology for using the term fire with an arrow is.”

It’s a good question. I wondered that too. This kid often asks me good questions, like “What does Apocalyptica sound like live?” and “Where is the Roxian Theater, and what does it look like inside?” We found out together. It was fun.

So… I did as deep a dive as I could. I even reached out to Lancaster Archery, which is kind of the gold standard of retail, at least here outside of Pittsburgh. The kid satisfied his question about what it’s like there when he went for a National Indoor Championship shoot a couple years back. Like I said, we do our best to learn the things we have questions about.

What I found, since that’s what you’re all dying to know, is that at least from what I found, we won’t know if the term “fire” is something that came before or after the introduction of firearms. The rest of this lengthy post will explain what I found and my thinking.

All this said, if you have legitimate sources of information on this topic, bring it. I’d love to learn.

Okay. Let’s start where the kid suggested I start: with the etymology of the word FIRE:

English fire was applied to “ardent, burning” passions or feelings from mid-14c. Meaning “discharge of firearms, action of guns, etc.” is from 1580s.

That clearly mentions firearms. And a lot of people make the assumption that this is where it begins as an archery term. But I am not convinced of that! Here’s why. That same definition goes to to say:

Symbolic fire and the sword is by c. 1600 (translating Latin flamma ferroque absumi); earlier yron and fyre (1560s), with suerd & flawme (mid-15c.), mid fure & mid here (“with fire and armed force”), c. 1200.

Okay, but that’s a noun, and we’re looking at the verb. What does this page say about that? Well. Hmm. Here we go. The word as a verb traces back to 1200 CE. Here’s more:

1660s. Meaning “to discharge artillery or a firearm” (originally by application of fire) is from 1520s; extended sense of “to throw (as a missile)” is from 1580s. Fire away in the figurative sense of “go ahead” is from 1775.

But note! That’s artillery or a firearm. There’s no note about archery, arrows, bows. Nothing. Why is that? Is that because it was so common that no one wrote it down, or was it so UNcommon that there was nothing to write down? And when DID the first documentation of the use of the word begin to be attached to archery? THAT, I do not know. I’d love to. If you’ve got that information, send it along.

However, the timeframe to associate the word “fire” with firearms works… sort of. After all, firearms date back to the 10th Century (CE), and by 1380 were found across Europe. They’d first been brought to Europe in the 13th Century (CE) by travelers of the Silk Road.

It’s an easy association to make, no? FIREarms. To discharge. Fire your firearm. But it makes ya wonder what people were saying for those two hundred years between the firearm’s arrival in Europe and the documentation of the term.

And still, I’m not convinced that the term wasn’t used for archery prior to the proliferation of firearms. There’s no proof one way or the other, just anecodotes that English longbowmen would say “Loosen” during warfare. Again, I’d love a source for this. I’m really fascinated!

So, while I didn’t write down all my sources for what comes next (and I’m kicking myself for that, too; you’d think I’d know better), here’s some of what I’ve found that makes me wonder if the term “fire” as associated with an arrow predates the use of “fire” with firearms.

Ever heard of Greek Fire? It predates the Chinese development of the firearm by three centuries (7th Century CE). It was used in warfare, and the linked article includes this gem:

many writers of antiquity refer to flaming arrows,

Flaming arrows! YES! Arrows on fire!

There’s a problem with setting most arrows on fire (Greek Fire being an exception) and shooting them, though. Fire needs oxygen to survive, and when something is flying through the air at speed, the flame tends to go out. So while incendiary arrows are sexy as hell, especially as a gesture with a funeral pyre, unless we’re talking Greek Fire, which seems to have solved the problem of being extinguished, incendiary arrows really weren’t a thing. Still, Greek Fire was clearly able to defy that, and Greek Fire incendiary arrows were definitely a thing.

If an arrow on fire was able to fly through the air… Well, I think it’s possible that the term “fire” became associated with archery at that time. Three centuries before the development of the firearm during the Song Dynasty.

Now, here’s another fact to consider. The term “fire arrow” was used in 9th Century China. This Wikipedia page has some really cool facts, including mention of earlier incendiary arrows. Check this line from the site:

Although the fire arrow is most commonly associated with its rocket mechanism, it originally consisted of a pouch of gunpowder attached to an arrow.

So again, we’re back to arrows being linked to an ability to ignite… or to catch on fire. And given the way we twist language today, it’s not a stretch to think that someone along the line started saying “fire” in assocation with arrows coated in Greek Fire, or that it was a shorthand for using a Fire Arrow in place of a regular boring old arrow without pockets of gunpowder. I’m not saying it’s a sure thing, but it’s also not a stretch of believability.

What if it began accidentally? If someone misfired and an incendiary arrow landed nearby, people screamed “fire” and others loosed their bows so that they could get the shot off before the fire became a problme? And what if it stuck?

What if…

What if…

This is one I don’t think we’re going to find out so fast, although I’m still intrigued. Not all questions are so easy to answer, especially when we have to stop and take a look at what’s been lost to history (or altered to fit certain narratives).

But I’m 100% confident when I say that it’s perfectly acceptable to use the term “fire” when discussing shooting an arrow, be it in a work of fiction with a contemporary setting or a historical one.

Books: They tell our stories. Support the NEA or NEH

I wasn’t going to do this yet. I mean, I’ve been sitting on this for well over a year, and the plan was to wait until the website is live and launched.

Life happens when you make plans, huh?

My daughter is doing a study abroad this semester in Africa. Ghana, to be specific. It’s through the university and the group of 12 of them have a faculty member from home present with them; the whole thing has been seamless. They are there to take a deep dive into tropical ecology, as this specific program is designed for Biology majors. But they are also there to learn about their host country, of course. How can you not?

On Friday the 13th, she toured Elmina Castle.

I mean, you can’t talk about the west coast of Africa, the former Gold Coast, without talking about the atrocities committed there. Forced migration. Enslavement. Killing. Murder. Death. Rape. Starvation. Disease.

The Door of No Return.

But even before this, long before we knew for certain that my daughter was going on this adventure, I’d been thinking. Watching, really, as diverse author after diverse author (and even some editors!) got the shaft from the big publishing houses (and some small ones, too). I have spent years listening to some well-published LGBTQ+ authors bemoaning the lack of support they receive, the difficulties they’ve had getting respect from their own publishers. Authors who are searching for a literary agent, only to be told, “I really like your book but I already rep an author whose book features a Jewish main character.” And my favorite: “If you’re disabled, you should be writing about disabled people. That’s what’s hot right now. Not this very good book you’ve put in front of me.”

Yep. All true.

“Tell the whole story,” my rabbi said in a sermon in 2022. “Teach the suffering, teach the pain, and remember it, share it. Because the only way to move beyond it, the only way to return to a more healthful way of getting along with each other and interacting with each other is to tell the story, to remind ourselves of the low that we suffered together.”

Powerful words.

When I heard them, I knew what I had to do. I had this book, this story that has since become MAYBE THE BIRD WILL RISE, the first book in the Tales from the Sheep Farm series, and it begged me to do just this. To tell the whole story, pieces of which I cannot even begin to fathom because I am not the right person to tell it.

There’s only one option: To make this a Shared Worlds project, where I’ll invite others into my fictional world and let them tell stories — fictional of course, but fictionalized is super as well — so that we can, together, move beyond the pain we inflict on each other in the world.

“If we can figure out a way to make ourselves see the other more favorably, to view the other not with a sense of dread or fear, but to see in the other the same holiness that we want for ourselves, then we can tell this story [he was referring to the story of Passover] in a way that builds us all up and builds up our society and builds up our nation.

“So follow the path of the Torah. Tell the story. Look for ways to find goodness in the other. See our own holiness as we look into the eyes of another person.

“If we do that, if we can figure out a way to tell this story, we can figure out a way to use it to remind us to seek the good…”

Join me. If you’re an author with a story to tell and would like to be part of the world of Tales from the Sheep Farm, let’s talk. If you’re a reader who’d like to read more stories of and by diverse authors, stay tuned.

The website’s being built as we speak. I’ve been waiting a long time for it, but when you hire the best, you have to wait for the perfect site. It’s going to be worth it.

But today, as I’m thinking of history of Elmina Castle and my daughter, my heart, standing in those dungeons into which human beings were forced, as I think of her there, looking at the Door of No Return, I just can’t be quiet about what I’m up to.

Tell their stories…

And so I will strive to. Because as the tag line for this project states, People are treasures too.

As authors, we walk an interesting, fascinating line: that between emotionally engaged and not. We need to emotionally engage in order to write the heart-wrenching stuff that our readers demand. We also need to be emotionally engaged enough to be able to create an emotionally appropriate, fully-rounded character. Because believe me, if the author doesn’t care about his or her characters, neither will the reader.

But we also need to be detached from the emotional games that go along with emotional involvement. And that’s because we are both the puppet and the puppet master. (No. Wrong Master of Puppets!)

When we’re wearing our author or editor (or beta or crit partner) hats, it’s easier to disengage. It really is. We have the space we need, physically and emotionally. We can put the book or manuscript down and walk away and think.

Our characters usually can’t. And often, they shouldn’t have this distance. Sometimes, your character needs to be playing the bad guy’s emotion game. Your character probably needs to be more emotionally vested than you are, especially if your character is going up against a narcissist, a sociopath, or a psychopath. This is because until the character — the victim, the target — knows what s/he is dealing with, the emotion game is impossible to avoid.

What’s it look like?

Shock. Disbelief. An inability to wrap your head around a consistent set of actions. A refusal to accept the reality you’re faced with — and not necessarily the reality you’re living (that gets into the whole area of gaslighting) but the reality that this is how the bad guy behaves over and over again and isn’t going to change that. The character self-righteously claims they are refusing to normalize abnormal behavior.

Yet their shock and disbelief and anger continue to play the exact role the bad guy is feeding to them. And the bad guy wins.

Let’s take a step back.

Shock, disbelief, anger — these are emotions. Emotions have good points and bad points and advantages and disadvantages. (kind of like everything else in life!)

If you retain nothing else from this post, remember this: When your character is caught up in the cycle of expressing emotion, your character is not able to gain the upper hand on his or her enemy, something that requires emotional distance and clarity to achieve. And so long as your character is emotional, they are off-balance. Off-balance means easier to manipulate.

Bad guy wins.

Yes, it IS that simple.

So, as authors, it’s your job to, to an extent, get caught up in this emotional cycle — insofar as the character needs you to, in order to create an authentic experience for the reader.

BUT as authors, you also need to know how to rise above that emotion, how to break the cycle. There are many ways to do this, of course; what works for one person or character may not work for the next. Method isn’t nearly as important and being able to sever that emotional reaction. Once your character can get past the emotion game, your character comes out the winner.

Sounds simple, right? But look around you in your own life. Take a good, cold, hard look. Notice how many people are caught up in the drama of the emotion game. Because, hey, it’s drama! Friends respond to drama (at least until you tip the scales into the land of the drama queen). They hear you better when you are passionate!

Except… guess what? You are also too emotionally invested, and you can’t think clearly and critically. You are unconsciously holding yourself down in a position of weakness under the narcissist/sociopath/psychopath/asshole who is using your emotions to manipulate you and keep you under his/her thumb.

Yes, you are allowing yourself to be abused.

You.

Are.

Allowing.

Yourself.

To.

Be.

Abused.

In fiction, we expect the abused to be able to rise above, end the emotion game, and triumph in the end. We cheer the main character as they embrace their agency, find their strength, and defeat the agents of evil.

So why aren’t we doing it in real life?

Take a deep breath. And a step back. What do you respond emotionally to? Are you playing someone else’s emotion game in the name of resisting the abuse?

Is your character?

Is that where you want to be? Is that what you want your character to be doing?

Think about it. Think hard.

And here we go! I’m auctioning off up to 100 pages of line edits as part of The Romance For Reproductive Justice movement.

I’m not going to get all political about the hows and whys. You know the stories, you know where you stand. This is where I stand, and I’m making myself available to one author who wants to work on their craft and up their game.

Please spread the word, bid, send your friends. If you’ve been wanting to work with me and can’t afford to, now’s possibly your chance to do so! And if you do work with me and want to support the cause, feel free to browse the other offerings. Or hang out and run the bids up. I won’t say no. It goes to a good cause, and it’s a chance to work with ME.

Really. How can you resist?

Like my ad?

I do!

And that’s what we need to talk about today. My regulars (and you know who you are and I love you!) have me SO BOOKED right now that I’m backed up until, by my estimate, October. It could be earlier that I dig out from under this stack of manuscripts, of course; I hate to keep you all waiting.

So. First off, this is the sort of news I announce via my newsletter. Or I will, once I figure it all out. I’m too busy to do that right now!

Secondly, pace your writing selves accordingly. I’m doing my best and back to working even a few hours on weekends, but there’s a lot of you and every single one of you deserves my best. That said, I hate to make anyone wait and I deeply appreciate everyone who’s willing to wait and even the authors who’ve told me to take a manuscript before theirs.

Third, if you NEED me in August or September, know I’m hitting you with a rush fee surcharge that’s gonna hurt.

Write on. Write well. But… maybe don’t write too fast the next month or so?

My daughter is a high school senior.

Maybe you’ve seen the comments on social media about how these kids are getting hosed. They are. I, as a parent, am. After all, this is my youngest, my baby. I don’t get the milestone closure of her graduation ceremony that will begin my transition summer into being an empty nester. I may not even get the transition summer.

But this isn’t is post to mourn these losses, although they are real and they are significant and I encourage anyone who’s feeling it to, yes, grieve and mourn. Us, our kids, our families… it’s a true loss.

Nope.

This post is about something bigger, deeper. It’s about what my daughter’s high school class has done: they’re submitting pictures of themselves along with their post-graduation plans. It’s a substitute for the traditional May 1 college shirt reveal day. I love it.

But as I’m looking at it, I’m realizing it’s so much more.

It’s their way of signing each other’s yearbooks. It’s their graduation program, where these plans are printed (aren’t they? The more I think, the more I think maybe they’re not. But I know they are in the band concert program!).

But let’s focus on the signing each other’s yearbooks aspect. There are a lot of “I love you!” and “Good luck in the next four!” comments, but there are also a number that gave me pause. The young man who announced his plan is to be a career firefighter, and someone left a comment that said along the lines of, “I remember you talking about this when we were young. Glad to see you doing it.”

That touched me.

That one comment told a story. Of a friendship that drifted apart, but that there’s still a tie, a connection. That the young firefighter never wavered in his commitment to reach this goal — and in a district like ours, one of the top in the country, that could not have been an easy goal to keep.

I felt privileged to see these comments.

They may not feel like much now, but one day, these kids will get their yearbooks. Almost half of their senior year won’t be in there: it all shut down after the high school musical. And they won’t be given a chance to write platitudes and even things of meaning in them. And one day, they’ll look back at this Instagram they collaborated on and that’s where it’ll be. Archived. Waiting.

Comments matter. Maybe not today, but down the road, they will matter.

As an editor, I work with words — duh, right? Except part of “work with words” means I need to know how to bury something, how to pump it up, how a word’s placement in a sentence affects the reader. Unless I’ve done a line edit for you already, you’d probably be surprised at what a skill this can be.

That’s why I want to bring this very important one to you. Because for years now, we’ve been set up by a certain narcissist to accept something that I pray we won’t have to.

First was talk of walking out onto Fifth Avenue in New York and shooting someone and getting away with it.

There was no condemnation of the Saudi prince and his murder of a journalist.

There have been talks of sending our military into Venezuela. Rumors of military action against North Korea and others. Lots of talk of military action.

Just in March, a scant month ago, a Navy SEAL charged with murder was moved to a different spot in prison, a less restrictive place. Let’s reward the murderer!

And haven’t we seen some of that associated with certain mass killings? A kind of sideways absolution of someone who committed murder, at a rally, with an AR-15 or two or three? A lack of condemnation can be and probably is a sideways absolution when you’re speaking a narcissist’s native tongue.

There is talk of the military at the border being allowed to use more force against hopeful immigrants.

And then, recently, the most chilling one yet.

He started off by painting a lovely picture of a delivery room. Babies wrapped in blankets. And then, buried at the end of the sentence, after the feel-good moment, there it was. One word that both was preposterous in reality as we know it, but also a narcissistic teaser, a(nother) feeler to see how this new policy would go over, if there would be an outcry from the public.

EXECUTION.

This is a common narcissistic tactic: float an idea bunded into something else. See if there’s a reaction. If not, float it again and again. Inch toward the goal. Wear down the listener until they are too tired, too numb to react anymore.

Note, too, that this came mere days after Saudi Arabia executed 37 people. When we SHOULD be sensitive to it. When there SHOULD be an outcry, and not just because one of the executed was set to attend an American university when he was arrested and then executed. Thirty-seven people faced an execution. Thirty-seven people died. And a few days later, buried in a sentence, there it is.

EXECUTION.

It keeps coming back, in various forms. Don’t be numb to it. Listen to it. We are being shown what lies ahead.

So where is the outcry?

This is why that was tacked on to the end of that lovely picture. Oh, yes, it was meant to shock and horrify, and it did that. But that seems to be restricted to the idea of infanticide. Not to the wider idea of a change in our culture, a change in which the idea of execution becomes something that… well, if we’re not comfortable with, at least we’re not screaming bloody murder to keep it from happening.

Screaming now will hopefully save us from screaming in terror and the pain of loss later on.