Indie Author of the Week

Elizabeth York

Surviving Brooklyn (Brooklyn Series Book 1)
Synopsis:
Brooklyn Montgomery, daughter of a well-known criminal, just moved into a new apartment. She needed to be closer to downtown because she landed her dream job of becoming an Assistant District Attorney. Little does she know that the reason for her new job is because a killer is raining down on New York City. The killer is taking out anyone who looks like her, including the last A.D.A., and covering their bodies with thousands of forget-me-nots. Is this a clue to catching the killer or does the killer want to lead Brooklyn to her demise?


Mark Stone, Brooklyn's childhood friend, is the lead detective in the city. He has been handed the case, but has a limited window until the FBI takes over. While he hunts the killer he guards Brooklyn with his life. He knows she has feelings for him, but can the past be overlooked so they can be together after they catch the killer? What happens if they can't stop the killer in time? Will he catch the killer and capture her heart, or will the final victim be the one he wanted all along, Brooklyn?

Website

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*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

Julie Bailes

***Mature Audience Only***
Shattered and Shaken (Shaken Series Book 1)

Synopsis:
If someone asked me to describe myself using only one word, I’d tell them damaged. I’m completely broken, irreparable. On the outside, I appear beautiful and bright, but on the inside, my soul is black and empty. I haven’t always been this fragile, scared, and heartbroken woman. Nope. I had the life my peers envied; happily married parents, captain of the volleyball team, and a dangerously sexy and loving boyfriend. Then, faster than I could blink, my life went to hell in a gasoline-soaked hand basket.

Cancer struck. The sting of death pierced my heart, and my so-called ‘loving’ boyfriend left me. Wyatt shattered my heart into a million pieces when he left, but little did he know, it wasn’t just me he walked away from. Four years later, Blake changes everything. Unlike Wyatt, Blake treasures my heart. Blake claims I’m beautifully broken, and that he can fix me, but I know differently.

How can you put something together without all its pieces? You can’t. When Wyatt left, he took most of my heart away with him. You see, hearts are like broken glass; you can put it back together again, but it will never be the same. While I’m undeserving of Blake’s love, he deserves every bit of mine. My biggest fear is that I’ll crush his heart, just as Wyatt did mine.



Website: https://authorjbailes.wordpress.com/books/

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Purchase
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*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

Leigh M. Lorien

The Haunting of Killian McKay

Synopsis:
"In an effort to reinvigorate the paranormal investigation genre -- and  his career -- Killian McKay makes the decision to livestream a ghost  hunt in the house where he had his first supernatural encounter as a  kid. To make sure things get interesting, he hires a witch to stir up  the spirits in the house.

When the witch, Lady Ivana, turns out  to be a handsome, muscular, genderfluid man named Ivan, Killian quickly  realizes he underestimated just how interesting things can get.

Ivan  is the real deal, a witch with herbs and spells and magic, and he knows  more about ghosts than Killian ever hoped to learn. Killian wants to  know everything Ivan knows, and he wants to know everything about Ivan  ... but first, they have to survive the night."


Purchase:
Amazon
Publisher
(Authors get a bigger cut when you buy directly from the publisher.)

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*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

Gwyn McNamee 

Savage Collision: A Hawke Family Novel (The Hawke Family Book 1)

Synopsis:
The last thing I expect when I walk into The Hawkeye Club is to fall head over heels in lust. It’s supposed to be a rescue mission. I have to get my baby sister off the pole, into some clothes, and out of the grasp of the pussy peddler who somehow manipulated her into stripping. But the moment I see Savage Hawke and verbally spar with him, my ability to remain rational flies out the window and my libido takes center stage. I’ve never wanted a relationship—my time is better spent focusing on taking down the scum running this city—but what I want and what I need are apparently two different things.

Danika Eriksson storms into my office in her high heels and on her high horse. Her holier-than-thou attitude and accusations should offend me, but instead, I can’t get her out of my head or my heart. Her incomparable drive, take-no-prisoners attitude, and blatant honesty captivate me and hold me prisoner. I should steer clear, but my self-preservation instinct is apparently dead—which is exactly what our relationship will be once she knows everything. It’s only a matter of time.

Website
Twitter: @GwynMcnamee 

Purchase
Amazon


*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

Andrew Mowere

Tales of Grimea (Fantasy/Short Story Collection)


Synopsis:
Set in the realm of Grimea:
Tales of Grimea (Fantasy/Short Story Collection): This is a chronological collection of stories, legends, myths, and half-whispers salvaged from forgotten journals across the four continents. These seven records have been collected and archived in Indellekt’s Greenstar Library, left there in case an outsider ever wishes to learn of our realm, Grimea. You are that outsider.



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*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

Mike Aaron

Cuteness Overloard


Synopsis:
Carl Shan is an underappreciated scientist who is absolutely sick and tired of it all.
His research ideas are illegal. He's been fired. The twenty-nine year old is dumped and has been reduced to living with his parents in stupid Barnley. Furious with the way the world treats him and knowing that he should always believe in himself, Carl decides to leave it all behind. He builds a time machine to the year 2117. When he arrives, he is surprised to find his workshop a mess.
Why are the buildings in ruins and the streets empty? Also... since when did baby animals have such sharp claws?

Website: associationofmerrymakers.Wordpress.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35104776-cuteness-overlord

Follow Mike on social media
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*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

Diane Morrison

Once Upon a Time in the Wyrd West


Synopsis:In a post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan, the Gunslingers are a holy order of Law, empowered to keep the peace and protect the common people. They have supernatural powers to back it up. The Walsh siblings are about to find themselves entangled in the nefarious schemes of a necromancer. But they're not Gunslingers -- not yet. Graeme and Piper will need all their training and courage, and all the support of their newfound companions, to put a stop to the villain's plans. But Graeme has an ace up his sleeve. Nobody but his family, and the shaman who trained him, knows that he's a sorcerer.


Website
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Diane also writes under Sable Arcadia.

*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

Indie Author of the Week

David Ranshaw

Gryphon’s Heir

Synopsis:
 Six years after the end of the Great War, schoolmaster Rhissan Griffith believes himself just another young man struggling to find success at a private school in rural England. An idle wish for a little magic in the midst of his frustrating, unfulfilling life catapults Rhiss into a situation that winds up being far more than he ever imagined possible... or desirable.
After school one dismal and rainy afternoon, an extraordinary door to perilous adventure unexpectedly opens in his life. It promises to thrust Rhiss into unimaginable realms of wonder and terror, encounters with beings fantastical and mythological, and answers to questions regarding a past — and a future — he has never before even contemplated. Leaving his old life behind, Rhiss accepts the challenge and walks unsuspectingly into a desperate and deadly conflict that shakes his faith and everything he ever knew or believed about himself. But how could an ordinary man help to shape the course of a world locked in battle against an ancient evil?

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*This is a promotion I gain no compensation for.

News Years Day 2019!

2018 has ended and 2019 has begun. Many of us are looking back at what we accomplished in 2018 and what we want to accomplish in 2019. I'm no different, I have been looking back and to the future.

In 2018 I accomplished more than I thought I would with my writing. I finished CoT-1 and CoT-1.5. Two rounds of edits on CoT-1 and have several people reading it now. Letting others read my work was scary and I'm still very anxious to get their feedback. My shrink has read both I completed and she loves them, but she may just be telling me that to make me feel good. I have found a permanent title to my series, it will be Chronicles of Thamesonville. I have won both CampNaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo 2018. My 13 year old neighbor girl won her NaNoWriMo through the Young Writers Program with encouragement from me. I think her winning made me feel more proud of her than myself.
I also completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2018. 85 books in 365 days was more than I thought I'd get read with my mental acting up again.

I have found a way to connect with my daughter and she has opened up about everything. Being 17 now, it is not something I expected.

In 2019 I hope to complete the following:
1. Publish CoT-1
2. Write CoT-2 (started at 12:15am 1-1-2019) & CoT-4
3. Draw a map for CoT
4. Start a new series
5. Continue fighting for disability
6. Eat healthier-though salads every day already
7. Keep up with blog posts. Will talk about that later in this post.
8. Try and get outside more
9. Win NaNoWriMo 2019 & CampNaNo 2019 (both)
It doesn't seem like much to most people but you have to remember writing can take forever. CoT-1 took 6 years to get it to where it is. Add in the pressure of both CampNaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo itself, writing is stressful.

New blog posts coming every week: 
"Indie Author of the Week"
I will be choosing independent (indie) authors who self publish or publish through a small company to promote. I will not receive compensation or free swag from any of them.
After Cockygate I found many new indie authors and I now wish to spread the word of others. I shall not be reading ALL of the books but using their websites, Goodreads and sale sites to gather information to pass along to you. Many of these authors have been recommended to me by friends and fellow authors. If you have any indie authors you wish to be featured post links to author website in the comments.

Just What I Need to Track a Timeline

Many writers have to double and triple check to make sure the timeline is correct for all events in a single book or especially a series. I have tried many timeline software programs and have found that Aeon Timeline suits my needs the best. I know I have mentioned it and even shared information on it before, but this time I'm going to talk only about Aeon and how many things work.
When you go to open up a new project you get a screen that has many options including; Fiction, Basic, Project Management, Legal, Daily, Historical, Numberline.

I have only used the fiction. In the fiction setup you can change fix the beginning to end times, Number & name of months, number & name of days and how many hours in a day. This is great for world building. Below are examples of these.

 As you can see, it has great customization features. For those that World Build, you have the ability to create your own times and adjust the names to go along with your stories.

 Here is where you change the skin and set up what you want to show in the inspector. It's really easy to set up and use. You can always go in and change everything if you want it different after awhile.
Managing the Entities is simply.         
 On the left you see the timeline settings. Here you can add and delete Arcs and persons (entities). You can change the colors if you wish. 

Below you can see under "Manage Entities" is where you see, add and change your "Arcs" and "Person". When creating a character, make sure you set up an "Event" for birth and link it in the this section so you can keep track of age and use the participation & observer function. 

To add an event you just fill in this simple form and click add event. As you can see here is where you can add participants and observers. You can always add them later is you're not sure yet. Here is the place to set the duration of the event. I have several that last days and some that last just a few hours. Setting what time it starts it will automatically set the end time at the start time. This is what I usually do as long as I add a time.  The title can be whatever you want, the color is whatever you have chosen for the project, I have several for my series. Leave "Parent" alone until you learn more about it. I haven't figured out a way to use it

with my situation, so I don't. Clicking on "Arc" you can place the event in any "Arc" you have set up. 

Once you have it all set up and "Events" in place your "Timeline View" will look something like this in the light skin:

Here is what it looks like in the dark skin I usually use.

 You can see all the different Arcs on the left. The color lines & dots show the Arcs in my "Global"arc. At the bottom you see the different colors I have chosen for my arcs names. I did that under "Settings" and "Colors". It helps me keep track of the arcs. Now I don't use arcs the way many others do, I use them for each book in the series.  So, you can see here I have four books in the works and the "Global" one that shows everything, last I have births & deaths.

There is a great feature I love and that's the "Relationship" view. If you look below you can see that the arcs or for me books are listed to the left, then you have the events. Looking to the top right you see names, character names that is. Now, look down from those names and you can see the participants and observers. Look even closer and you can see their ages at the time of the event.

A closer look at the left side also shows you the time between events. Like this...

There you have it, my experience with Aeon Timeline. There are youtube videos on how to use Aeon but I found them to be too simple. Feel free to contact me on Twitter ( @jesdeh2o) if you have questions. I will always try and help. 

HAPPY WRITING!

The Cocky Story

I was not going to post about this but I feel I need to. If you haven't heard of #cockygate here is a rundown.

An indie author, Faleena Hopkins, has published many books (19 if I read Amazon correctly) in a series. Which was originally named "The Cocker Brothers of Georgia" and "The Cocker Brothers of Atlanta". As you can see below. You can find the original here.  Every book TITLE has the word "cocky" in it, not the series name. These are the 1st eight books in the series.

Ms. Hopkins has had the "Cocker Brothers" series out to read since June 16th 2016 when she released "Cocky Roomie". The last one in the "Cocker Brothers" is book 19, "Cocky Mother's Day: A Holiday Novella". That was released on May 12th, 2018. If you compare the covers from the above photo to the following, you will see that the title hasn't changed on the cover just the listing.

On April 17th 2018 the Trademark office granted Ms.Hopkins a trademark for the single word

"cocky", in a romance title, romance series and the stylized or font of the word as well. As it has been mentioned on Twitter the font is owned by Set Sail Studios. In the purchase contract (as far as I understand) states you can not trademark it.

Why is this all important?

Trademarking a single word that is a descriptive word will set a precedence for all future trademarks. Lets say I trademark the word "and" in the any genre of books, that would mean no one could use it. Soon, there would be no words left to title a book. It would not have been a big deal if Ms.Hopkins only trademarked "The Cocker Brothers" as a whole. A three word series title probably would not have stirred up so much trouble.
If the trademark does hold soon movies and songs and even names would be up for trade marks. Someone posted on Twitter (I'm paraphrasing) "If the word Star had been trademarked then we wouldn't have "Star Wars" Add to the, "Stargate", "Stargate SG1", excreta.
The precedence would begin to eliminate every word that is in the dictionary. The word "cocky" has been around since 1800 circa.  No one can forbid someone else from using a word that has been used for centuries. Now if it's a completely made-up word then MAYBE. I repeat MAYBE.

Next...

A few authors received cease and desist letter though e-mail. Jamila Jasper (Twitter @JamilaJasper ) shared hers on Twitter. Here's what it looked like.

If you read it you can see there is no way any lawyer would suggest or allow their client to send something like this out. My favorite part is "win all the monies" Do you know how much it would cost to re-brand, re-cover and order all new swag? It's a lot. Just think, one book cover could cost $200-$2000 depending on the quality. Indie authors don't make tons of money. Many have full time jobs and families to care for and writing is a hobby.
On May 7th Tara Crescent received a notice from Amazon telling her that her "Cocky" books were being pulled due to the trademark that Ms.Hopkins was given.

RWA (Romance Writers of America) got involved and Amazon decided to wait until the trademark issue was resolved to pull books. Tara's books were back up in a few days.
Meanwhile, Kevin Kneupper (Twitter @kneupperwriter) a retired lawyer now author came out of retirement. He filed a Petition of Cancellation for the "cocky" trademarks on May 7th 2018. You can read the entire petition thanks to Kevin. READ PETITION NOW

Shortly after that Ms.Hokpins decided it would be a good idea to Facebook live a 1:42:00 video. In it she plays the victim. You can watch it here, The Rant. Shortly after she pulled it from Facebook, then proceeded to have youtube to remove all copies of it. Did she not understand that once you post something on the internet it is there forever? If you watch it be prepared for long dramatic pauses throughout.
After the rant many authors posted their own thoughts on youtube. Here are a few I personal watched. YES, there are many links here.

Bianca Sommerland:
Cocky Copyright by Faleena Hopkins
Cocky Continued
Trademark Trolls and the Cocky Rebellion (And yes, I'll comment on the rant)
#COCKYGATE NEW LOW-Faleena Hopkins

Jessica Fry

Response and Open Letter to Faleena Hopkins #CockyGate

Elizabeth York

Let's Talk

Hanleigh Bradley

Thoughts On COCKYGATE

Sasha White

Trademark Cocky, and more

#CockyGate Update

More Cockyness from Faleena Hopkins, and news on the #CockyGate battle

Cocky bits, and Kindle Worlds :(Rumour has It)

#CockyGate author pisses off everyone with a new low

Some of those links are on topics I'll get to next. 

Ms.Hopkins reasons for filing the trademarks were"to protect her brand & so her readers don't continue to buy books with similar titles" (paraphrased that). 

Now in the last 14 days Ms. Hopkins filed a SLAPP temporary restraining order(TRO) on Kevin Kneupper to get him to stop the trademark challenge, Tara Crescent to take down her books to re-title them and Jennifer Watson on infringement of trademark "cocky" having to do with the "Cocktale Anthology"

Kevin Kneupper's part was dismissed and allowed to continue with the trademark challenge. Watson and Crescent still have a long road ahead. Though the TRO has been denied. You can read the court record of the hearing on June 1st 2018 thanks to Courtney Milan who paid for it. Court Doc.
After reading through the court record I looked around to see what else Ms.Hopkins has not put "cocky" in her series title. This is something that she said was easy to change yet she hasn't done it herself.

LOOK! "The Cocker Brothers"







My take on all this as an unpublished author that plans to help-publish is this is a cry for attention. The majority of readers had no clue who she was when this all started. I read all kinds of romance and I never even came across her name. So, it's a publicity stunt or not. I'd say probably. Once #cockygate quieted down she took people to court. Yep, once again I think she needed more attention, or at least she thought she did.


This has been a rough post for me. Too much information to fact check, which I did. I would like to state that in no way shape or form is the title of my post about a prowess male or even female. All pictures were published publicly and I claim no rights to them. All "The Cocker Brothers" photos are from Faleena Hokins' own sites. In no way do I wish to harass or harm anyone with this post.

Thanks for bearing with me in all that I stated. In the next few days I'll be posting all the wonderful authors I have found and met because of #cockygate.

Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2017

What is NaNoWriMo you ask...

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month.

"National Novel Writing Month is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (formerly known as the Office of Letters and Light) that believes your story matters.

Our Mission Statement

National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page." {©www.nanowrimo.com }

Basically, it's 30 days of writing with the goal of 50,000 words. Yes, it sounds extreme but it has been fun and exciting every year I have done it. The first year was the hardest, I had several setbacks because I ended up deleting words, a no-no for NaNoWriMo. Sounds harsh? Not at all. The objective is to write 50,000 words no matter how beautiful or horrid they are. Making it great is what edits are for. Once I figured that out I have had no issues.

This year is the 1st year that I have started before the end of October. I have no idea why I'm prepping now other than I the research will take forever. I had to chose a city that I have never been to; which means I have to get maps. Of course, online ones suck. I'd have to have a monitor that's at least 50 inch screen to see it all at once. Right now I'm waiting on North Carolina's Travel & Tourism to mail maps, historical places and fun things to do there. Once I have them I can get my homes & places in order. I have already found out the crime rates in every areas of the city and the population influx during the school year.

The basics are almost done....

☑ Main character names (Elyan & Abigail)
☑ Character personalities 
☑ Plots figured out 
☐ Plot twists
☐ History of species
☑ How they contract the virus
☐ Plot twist
☑ Tattoos and birthmarks figured out and drawn

I know I'm forgetting a few but those are the main ones for the writing.

These are much easier since they are household prep.

☐ Menus for November
☐ Grocery list for November
☑ Cleaning list for October
☑ List of snacks for the weekends

There that's how I usually prep in October. Starting it now is difficult but I think necessary since I have decided the city. That and since my bipolar & anxiety is acting up and I can't leave my apartment without issues. It gives me something to do. That all means that I have tons of time on my hands to get everything done. 

Once the maps get here I'll get them laminated so I can use dry erase markers to mark things. Maybe I'll laminate all the info I get so it'll stand the test of time. I've even researched places that laminate so I can get it done cheap since I have no money. 

Turning 40!

As today approached I planned it to be just another day. I was wrong, today is my 40th birthday. A few years ago I thought I'd never make it this far. I look back over the last years and see I haven't accomplished anything worth while other than raising my beautiful kids.
When I was little I wanted to be an accountant, yes I have a masters in accounting. Due to medical reasons I can't work. So, I sit and write or clean. I feel like a failure.

My bipolar hasn't helped, I've been crying for a few reasons:
My son moved into his dad's when his dad hasn't been around for 15 of the 17 years
I'm 40 today
I fear others reading my novels I've written, not published
I fear I'll loose everything since I have very little money coming in
My van hasn't ran for a year.

On a positive note:
I spent hours with my dad (not a usual thing) last night. A great time.
I'm another day closer to getting my Disability
I'm still alive after cancer a few years back.

My self implied goals for this year is to self-publish at least one of my novels, to spend more time with my daughter, to eat healthier, not that we have junk food in the house, be more active in my religion(pagan) and to think positive.

There I wrote about how it feels to be 40.

What a February

The last month has been terrible. Not only did the sewer back up I've been sick for 5 weeks. Now that the carpet and kitchen flooring has been replace and the 5th round of antibiotics are working, I'm finally feeling better.

I have tons of stuff to put back in place after all the flooring being put down. URGH! I hate that. At least the flooring guys moved everything and put it back in the places I was going to rearranged the furniture. That saved me time.

Now I have to deal with my son's father wanting to have my boy move in with him so he doesn't have to pay child support any more. That would mean my boy will be driving 60 miles to and from school every day (costs more for gas than child support). I have sole custody so my ex will have to take me to court and spend even more money. Then there will the car insurance I won't pay for any more, his phone his grandmother won't continue to pay and  no Netflix. HA! I get to talk to him tomorrow about it all. They can wait 6 weeks for the move (after graduation).


Yes, part of my refusal has to do with money the other part is after 13 years of not being in my son's life he want him now. Oh! Add in the fact he's my boy and not really ready to be away from mommy. He can use the oven and microwave, cook mac-n-cheese and make eggs but that's it.

I have been told I'll be approved for SSI (disability type) in the next month or so. That'll fix the money issues but not the emptiness of my son moving out.

My son has distanced himself from me the last month or so. We used to talk an hour every night and now it's like pulling teeth to get a word out of him. I think that hurts more than anything else.

April is CampNaNoWriMo and I'm preparing for it. My goal is 9000 words. Researching is the part I hate the most. I have done the timeline on Aeon Timeline and have all characters & places set up in Scrivener. now all I have to do is figure out snacks and easy meals for April.

~~~~Happy Writing~~~~

~~~Happy Parenting~~~ 

Writing is Hard

As I write today I realise that it's not easy. I have 1 that needs editing like crazy and 3 that needs to be finished. Why can't I just stay focused on 1 of them. Yep, you guessed it, plot bunnies driving me in so many directions.
Excerpt from #WIP3

Tasmina didn’t know where she was going but she knew she had to get away from him. How could this be happening? Her life was just getting on track, school, being able to walk around without fear’ well much fear anyway.  It was a life she thought she’d never have after everything she’d went through as a pup. She had thought it was in the past, now he brought it to the front of her thoughts. Thoughts she didn’t want back. Once she slowed down she scented to see if anyone was following her, no she was alone. The only scent she found was that of the stream running through the land. Knowing the visiting wolves weren’t allowed there she sat down. Thoughts of Amos and the dungeon rushed back. Feeling as though she was in it she began to shake, sweat and fear was rolling off her. This was how it would be with Elijah. He was of old days, kept his pack in order with whippings. Another thing she was all too familiar with. Though the scars on her back had healed without the faintest line, her inner scars were there to stay. She can’t go through that again and she wouldn’t. If that went going anomic then so be it. She had left her tracking sense open to keep herself safe, now she scented a male within a few yards. One she wasn’t familiar with. Must be one of those looking for their true-mate, something she never thought of doing. Tracking his movement she sensed he moved in another direction, to a path that was further away from her. Wondering why others wanted to mate, she thought of how her parents had been. They were true-mates and died within six months of each other, she being only four. Memories of them were faint but she knew they loved each other with all they had. Pictures of them holding hands and smiling at each other when they thought no one was looking made her wolf stir.

(c) Jessica Markley 2014

See not my best work but it's the first draft so I'll go with it for now. Back to fingers flying over the keyboard. #WriteClub today. Hoping to hit 5k new words. More updates soon.

How I use Timelines

I thought since I showed y'all how I use Scrivener it was time to show you Aeon Timeline.

Aeon is by second best writing tool. Of course Scrivener is my bestest. Scribble Code has come up with an easy way to track events in your novel with Aeon Timeline. As we explore Aeon keep in mind this is the way I use it. Everyone will use it differently.

Many like the idea there are several options to time periods. As you can see here; you have the basics along with the ability to create your own. This helps in world building. I use the normal BC-AD for my novels. 

As you can see here is part of my time line for my serials. I have 2 arcs open with the characters below. Their ages are added when you add an event that includes them. At the top you have you dates and at the bottom you have a slider bar to move quickly over long periods of time. I use this the most since my WIP is over 1000s of years. 

The arcs are easy to flip back and forth to. You can have several open or just one. I usually have the MC I'm working on and the Birth/Death arc open. The Characters are always open in mine. All my arcs are color coded as are my characters by generation or who's book they are going to be in. (That's if the characters cooperate.)

Here is an event on my global arc. As you can see to the right is the open inspector. It contains everything about the event. Time, date, label (which is the MC for me), Arc it's in, and of course the title. As you can tell this is in Dalara's book and it's in the Global arc under Dalara's label. 

This is one of my favorite options; the ability to lock events so you don't accidentally move it. Once I have the date set I lock the event. And believe me I have deleted events or moved them years from where they should be.







Here is my character listing. You can see that there are a few different colors and their ages are visible. This is one feature I love since some of my characters are over 2000 years old.

Here is my Birth/Death arc. I record births in pink and deaths in black. This is scrolled in as to see as much of the time line births as we can. 

So, that's how I use Scrivener Timeline. It's simple and easy. Plus it's one of the few easy ones that won't break your bank. They sponsor NaNoWriMo and I bought mine at discount when I won last year. Check out their free trial. I guarantee you won't be sorry.

It's Been Awhile

I really need to keep up. It has just been so stressful the last few months. Now I'm just getting over a sinus infection, ear infection and an upper respiratory infection. Not 100% better but about 98%. Now to update you.

•  I've been reading a New to Me series. Mark of the Vampire by Laura Wright. Review maybe in a few days.
• Working on my Twitter writing account and blog for Get Wordies.
• Planning November's NaNoWriMo stuff.
• Getting kids ready for another year of school. My son'd last year in high school :( Yes, I'm old as dirt as my kids say.
• Washer exploded water all over the kitchen and living room. Damn floor is sloped the wrong way. None of the water went near the floor drain. 
• I started Chantix to help me quit smoking. I'm down 90% maybe more. 
• Dalara is coming along great. I have about 3 chapters to go before I send it to someone to edit. 
• I have an idea for cover that I never thought I would like. Having a friends help out with it. Love knowing photographers. Maybe I'll even do an Author shoot. I know I'm getting ahead of myself.
• I'm thinking about writing a novella between now and November as well as finishing Dalara. 
• Inevitable Destinyz has been set aside.

Wow that is tons of info in short space.  

The novella I'd do is a paranormal romance that has nothing to do with any of my novels in progress. Now off I go to research a bit more on men's feelings...I know that will be a chore and a half.