Wandering Thoughts of a Writer: #amwriting

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Hey Peeps!

I have book news, but before we get to that . . .

. . . Where in the bloody hell have I been?

I mean, it’s been a while since I posted here.

I know.

In this post, I will tell you the same thing as I told my subscribers since it’s an announcement and not top-secret news or content.

Btw, if you’re not a subscriber to my newsletter, why not?

If you want some exclusive news, giveaways, a chance to get my book before it goes live, and so much more, go ahead and subscribe.

Here’s the link to subscribe, and no worries, I don’t spam or give away email addresses.

http://rebekkahford.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=06bbb5773fe9e17e6ba0e860e&id=51f0af6e94

Anyway, I’ve been around. If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, you know I’m still alive.

I’m aware it’s been a while since I sent a newsletter out, but a lot has happened these last few years, and this year we’ve been focused on self-care, shadow work, self-discovery, letting go of what doesn’t serve us, detaching, hacking into the Matrix, and figuring shit out. We had lost family members and friends, not from Covid, but one lost was suicide, so . . .

. . . Yeah, not good. 😢

Keeping our mental health stable and healthy was a huge priority and will always be as it should be for everyone. But all in all this year has been a great year of recovery, truth, growth, manifestations, and prosperity.

Now for the book news . . .

I got a book deal for The Last O’Clery Witch! 🥳

The book contract is exactly what I want right now, and I’m excited to start this new writing journey with my publisher and team.

I believe this book will be published in 2024, but I’ll letcha know when I get a date for its release.

Are you excited?

I hope you’re still with me on this crazy journey.

If you are, you’ll be hearing more from me now.

Btw, I don’t know if I’ll get an author website or not. I’ve done those before, and although I do love having one, I’m a minimalist and honestly, I really like Blogger. I’ve had it since 2011. That’s a long ass time – even before my first book Beyond the Eyes was published. So, I’ll see what happens, but regardless, I’ll still have Blogger. 😊

So, to refresh your memory on what The Last O’Clery Witch is about, I’m going to put an unedited, rough blurb here to give you a taste of what the story is about.

A witch moves to a hotspot for paranormal creatures and gets thrust into a hidden supernatural world that forces her to face her fears and embrace who she truly is.

1591, Scotland (Prologue)

Ainsley McGregor did the unthinkable that sealed her family’s fate—she boasted about her magick to her friends and shortly after, her entire family was executed for witchcraft. Ainsley nearly suffered the same fate but was spared and became immortal by unseen forces. She’s now the last O’Clery witch (her maw was an O’Clery. O’Clery witches are all female and powerful) and for centuries with a heavy heart, she followed her maw’s rules: only use your magick to make herbal remedies so you won’t risk turning dark, don’t read the grimoire, and never talk about your powers.

Present Day

When Ainsley moves to a hotspot for paranormal creatures, she’s startled when she sees through a supernatural’s glamour and can communicate with the dead. Now a spirit is pestering her to help him, and a reaper needs her assistance. Thankfully, Ainsley has Keaton, a cute vampire, to help her navigate this supernatural world she’s now entangled in. But when a narcissistic half-demon who stuffed the town’s founder’s soul into a crystal she wears around her neck and an alpha werewolf discovers Ainsley is an O’Clery witch, they threaten her to remove the moon curse off his pack. If she refuses, the half-demon will open the gates of Hell in their small touristy town. Ainsley must embrace being an O’Clery witch and accept her magickal abilities without fear and guilt. She’s determined to free the founder and at the same time fool her adversaries. Added to her troubles, someone from her past pays her a visit, surprising her in more ways than one.

That is it for now.

If you don’t hear from me until January, have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! 🎉

2024 is the year of the dragon, and I think it’s going to be an ah-mazing year! 🥰

Cheers! 🥂

Rebekkah

#amwriting, #book, #bookdeal, #booknews, #paranormalbookseries, #paranormalfantasy, #paranormalromance #suspense #mystery, #shifters, #werewolves, #witches, 0 Comments

Yes, I know it’s been a couple of months since I posted in here, but a lot has been going on.

Like the rest of you guys, we’ve been “sheltering in” during those months, however, we did go on little adventures away from people.

We ran into Moss Man while we were out exploring the forest. 😬

In February we decided to stay in Oregon after trying out van life, and as you can see from the pictures, we love it here. 🥰

I plan to be where we’re at for the rest of my life.

We’re still in limbo, though . . .

. . . But that’s okay. It’s not forever.

I did lose my creative spark during that time, which concerned me. A lot.

I tried all of my tricks to overcome my lack of creativity.

Nothing worked!

I read through my entire Beyond the Eyes trilogy and its companion books (Tangled Roots and Ameerah).

I took notes with the idea of turning the trilogy into a series.

After I was done, there was no spark or excitement.

Nothing.

I thought I was doomed.

I decided to write about how I felt and asked myself questions.

It did help, but the creative drive wasn’t all there.

So, I did something that some of you might think is nuts (witchy woo-woo).

I smudged our house with white sage and it worked! 🤗

No kidding!

It totally did.

I’m seriously thinking about writing a blog post about sage-smudging your house. 🤔

Anyway, my book announcement is this . . .

. . . I’m starting a new book series! 😁

It’ll be in the paranormal genre.

The story will have witches, werewolves, and other paranormal creatures in it.

I’m excited!

The first book in the series might take me a while to write because I have other projects I’m working on as well. One of them will align with this story, so if everything flows with it, I’ll tell you more about the project after it kicks off. 😉

The first chapter is written btw, but there is a bit of research to do, and I’m working on planning out the series, which takes time, but it’s fun.

The main character (Ainsley) who is an immortal witch is already surprising me.

I remember when I was writing Ameerah’s character, I had no idea she was a lesbian until she told me she was.

I know that sounds nutty, but the characters talk to the author.

I do need a name for the first book and series.

I suck at coming up with titles.

But it’ll come to me.

I will be doing some giveaways in the future, but if you want to get in on some exclusive, top-secret information and prizes, you can sign up for my newsletter here:

http://rebekkahford.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=06bbb5773fe9e17e6ba0e860e&id=51f0af6e94

Have a great week!

Cheers! 🥂

#amwriting, #annoucement, #book, #magic, #paranormal, #supernatural #wizard #demons #faeries #vampires #werewolves #battle turmoil destiny, 0 Comments

Hey, guys. I wrote a powerful article about verbal abuse.

I really put myself out there because it’s a true story about my own experiences with being verbally bullied, and the three things I did to gain the self-confidence I didn’t have.

I feel so strongly about this growing problem in our society that I had to get personal and real.

Kids and adults have committed suicide because of this.

I attempted suicide several times throughout my childhood because of what the verbal abuse had done to me.

Anyway, my article was published in Thought Catalog which is a popular online magazine.

Help me bring more awareness to verbal bullying by sharing the article.

Who knows. You might save a life if you do.

Clink on this link to read the article and share ità https://thoughtcatalog.com/rebekkah-ford/2018/06/verbal-bullying-the-damage-it-causes-and-three-things-i-did-to-gain-self-confidence/?utm_campaign=share&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=desktop

#amwriting, #article, #bullying, #life, #personal, #problem, #society, #suicide, #verbalabuse, 0 Comments

I can’t speak for all writers, but this is what my internal world is like as an author.

I have a loud mind.

Stephen King once said quiet people have loud minds. I don’t know. I mean, I’m quiet when I have nothing to say, and I don’t ever have the need to hijack someone’s conversation . . . so yeah, now that I think about it, I do have a loud mind.

My thoughts constantly scatter.

I can have a conversation with my husband and think of other things at the same time. Where I get into trouble is when he’s telling me something I’m not in the least bit interested in. I’ll focus on my thoughts instead and not hear a word he’s saying.

My mind always turns an unexplained noise or situation into a story.

This is so true, and nine times out of ten I’ll tell the person with me about it. And yes, that person looks at me like I grew another head—unless it’s another author I’m telling it to.

I'll compare real life situations to fictional ones.

I’ll compare a situation someone is in or was in or something that happened that’s relevant to one of my characters, and I’ll talk about it.

Self-induced stress.

Sometimes I become anxious and irritable when I have so many things to do like edits, rewrites, posting, marketing, etc. and not enough time to do them. Basically, I get overwhelmed, and my thoughts won’t stop whirling.

I have stories racing through my mind.

I have so many stories I want to write but not enough time to do so.

I’m never bored.

It's very rare that I'm bored. I have too many things to do to get bored.

Crankiness.

If I’m not working on a story, I get grumpy and depressed.

Anxious.

I get nervous and scared when other people reads my story.

I'm a serf to my imaginary friends.

My character’s talk to me, and they can get demanding to where I have to appease them. I am their slave.

Happiness.

I get excited and giddy when I’m creating a story.

My characters crack me up and make me weep.

I laugh when one of my characters does something funny. I also cry when something bad happens to them.

So do I like being an author?

No.

I frickin’ love it.

Why?

Because despite the anguish as an author I go through to churn out a novel and market it, I created something out of nothing. I have the ability to transfer what’s inside of me, onto paper, and into other people’s minds. I can share with them worlds and characters they never knew about. I can teach them lessons or at least get them to think on topics they never thought about before. I can make them laugh, cry, smile, and get frustrated. I can entertain them. I’m giving something to this world that more than likely will last well after I’m gone, which rocks.

Yes, I’m overwhelmed.

But . . .

Being an author makes me happy and want to do a silly dance.

Enough said.

#amwriting, #author, #authorlife, #characters, #creating, #creativity, #life, #stephenking, #stories, #writer, 0 Comments

As some of you know, I've finished the first rough draft of Legends of Deceit book 2. I still don’t have a title for it, but I will soon.

I was going to write a post on my writing process from start to finish but decided to save that for another time. Instead, I’ll tell you straight up what that one secret to my editing process is.

Are you ready?

It’s finding your repetitive words, descriptions, or sayings.

We all have them.

Say for example you wrote: my heart thudded hard against my chest. You noticed while you were doing your first read through that you had used those words more than once to describe what your character was feeling. So now what you want to do is discover how many times you wrote it in your story.

How do you do that?

Simple.

In Word, you want to go to the top right-hand corner and click on find. On the left-hand side of the screen, there will be a window that pops up. Beneath the word Navigation will be a search bar. Enter the word(s) you want to search for to see how many are in your story. I just typed in draft, and it came up twice.

How cool is that?

This secret trick of mine will help you tremendously in your editing process.

Cheers.

#amwriting, #author, #draft, #editing, #manuscript, #secret, #story, #writer, 0 Comments

Guess who finished her manuscript yesterday?

I did!

Finally!

The second book to my Legends of Deceit 2-book series is done . . . well, the first draft.

So why am I walking away from it?

I’ll tell you why.

This is well-known advice in the literary world that a lot of us follow:

After you’re done writing the first draft, you need to set it aside for a couple of weeks or more to distance yourself from it. The reason why is because you need a break from your story, clear your mind, and go back to it with fresh eyes. By doing so you’ll catch more mistakes that way. Also, it’s fun, at least for me, because I’m reading stuff I wrote that I forgot about that’s entertaining. I’m looking forward to reading it at the end of this month.

So there you go. Now some of you learned something new today.

Oh, btw, I don’t have a title to this second book yet, but I will after I read it. Also, I have a cover in mind and will be talking to my designer about it soon, after I have the title. I’ll do a cover reveal here once it’s completed.

If you want to read Legends of Deceit before book two comes out, you can get it on

Amazon for only .99 cents. Here are the links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2u0qAwt

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07374MKJ3/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Legends-Deceit-Fantasy-Paranormal-Book-ebook/dp/B07374MKJ3/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Legends-Deceit-Fantasy-Paranormal-Book-ebook/dp/B07374MKJ3/

Cheers!

#advice, #amwriting, #literary, #manuscript, #story, #tip, #writing, 0 Comments

Can you guess what the answer to this title is?

Predictability.

Don’t you hate it when you’re reading a book or watching a movie and you know what’s going to happen before it does?

I do.

Like the movie World War Z.

Toward the end of the movie, I knew what was going to happen. In fact, I told Kevin before it did, and I was right. Actually, the entire script was predictable.

As a writer, you want to avoid having your story be too transparent where the reader will be able to predict the outcome before it even happens. However, you want to capture their interest and keep them guessing. Therefore, you need to leave clues and red herrings to mislead or distract them. Then in the end when everything in your tale comes to light, your reader will be thrilled to discover she was wrong all along or was close to figuring it out.

Another movie I want to mention:

Wild Things with Neve Campbell and Denise Richards.

Have you seen it?

This is a great example of what I'm talking about.

The writer did a fine job on this one.

I remember when Kevin and I first watched it we were like, "No way! That’s fucked up." As we kept watching the movie we gaped at each other a couple of times because we weren’t expecting the things that had happened.

It was great, especially the ending.

The story and the plot totally surprised us.

This is what you want to accomplish.

I do, however, think in some genres you have to be somewhat predictable, like in romance. Most readers of that genre want a happy ending. So, yeah, in the end, the couple overcomes their adversity and falls into each other’s arms, proclaiming their undying love for one another or something along those lines. You
can, though, still make the rest of the story less predictable.

Example: You can have two different paths the main character is forced to choose from. Write both of them to be equally compelling and plausible with a dusting of suspense on the life-changing events. You can create it to where it's a nail-biting decision where either way the character has a lot to lose.

Besides leaving clues and red herrings, you can also do foreshadowing, which is when you as the author hint at certain plot developments that may come to fruition later in the story. It’s another way to capture the reader’s interest and prepare them for what might unfold.

I do those things in my Beyond the Eyes trilogy, and I’ve actually had fans come up to me and ask about a character or situation they want to know the outcome of. I’m keeping them guessing and they’re so involved in the trilogy that they’re fishing for answers from me. I just tell them they have to read the next book to find out.

Evil?

Nah. It makes me happy I’m doing my job and have people actually emotionally invested in my characters and story.

That’s what you want.

And yeah truth be told, you can’t please everyone.

People are going to hate your story.

I have a few who hate mine and have said nasty things about it. But that's part of the business.

In short, there are some genres you can’t avoid the expected predictability.

But regardless, if you write a tale where the audience is looking for a happy ending that you must deliver, you can still keep them guessing throughout the story by spinning it with suspense and uncertainty.

It’ll keep them turning the page long after bedtime.

So throw in some hints, scatter a few red herrings and do a little foreshadowing.

Hints + red herring + foreshadowing= suspense and unpredictability.

Those three things carefully executed into your story will delight your readers in the end.

#amwriting, #author, #foreshadowing, #red herring, #story, #suspense, #tale, #writing, 0 Comments

I’m in the process of finishing book two in my Legends of Deceit series.

Today I wrote over 2,000 words.

Wowzers!

That is a lot of words for me to write in one day. However, I was determined to finish the first draft.

But . . .

I had to stop.

Why?

Because I’ve reached an emotional part of the story that I need to write, and I know I’m going to cry when I write it.

So I saved my work and set it aside.

That’s what I do when I know I need to write a tear-jerking scene.

After that, I take the time to mentally prepare myself to write it. My process usually takes me a day, so I’ll be writing it tomorrow.

How do I mentally prepare myself?

I ponder the scene over while trying not to get emotional as it plays out inside my head. Sometimes it’s challenging not to tear up while thinking about it in public.

It's kinda funny.

I know, I’m a dork, but I don’t think I’m the only author out there who experiences that.

We’re invested in our characters.

We love them.

Of course, we’re going to get emotional when something happens to them.

Also, it’s a good thing because if what we write emotionally affects us, then more than likely it’ll do the same to our readers.

Anyway, my process is simplistic: Save my work, set it aside, ponder over it for a day to mentally prepare myself to write the scene, all the while playing it out inside my head.

I’m all about minimalizing my life, and if I can incorporate it into my work and enriching it by doing so, I will.

If you’re an author reading this, feel free to enter what your process is when you reach an emotional part of your story that you have to write.

Until next time.

Cheers!

#amwriting, #book, #characters, #crying, #emotional, #firstdraft, #funny, #scene, #writing, 0 Comments

I want to wish everyone a . . .

May this one be the best yet.

My 2017 was productive, tough, and full of inward growth. Here’s a quick breakdown of it.

The hubster and I quit smoking. He put the suckers down April 1^st and a month later, I did.

My relationship went through some tough times. I honestly think it had to do with us not smoking. We’re all good now, but there were months last year that was a struggle to get through.

We got some improvements done on our house—a new window and the enclosed front porch.

We bought and planted two fruit trees—an apple and plum.

We planted a garden.

We planted daisies.

I released my first fantasy/paranormal book (Legends of Deceit).

You can get it here-->

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2u0qAwt

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07374MKJ3/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Legends-Deceit-Fantasy-Paranormal-Book-ebook/dp/B07374MKJ3/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Legends-Deceit-Fantasy-Paranormal-Book-ebook/dp/B07374MKJ3/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/732091

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/legends-of-deceit-rebekkah-ford/1126635394?ean=2940158583926

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/legends-of-deceit-fantasy-new-adult-legends-of-deceit-series-book-1

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/lu/book/legends-of-deceit-legends-of-deceit-series-book-1/id1253146175?l=fr&mt=11

I started writing the second book in Legends of Deceit’s two book series.

I had a landing page created for my books. You can check it out here--> http://rebekkahford.com/

We bought a class A RV that’s in great shape. We plan on renovating it in the spring to make it our own. I’ll talk more about that later.

I had to get fillings in my teeth—which I don’t think I had to—that my EX-dentist . . . yes, EX-dentist did.

I had to get a root canal.

I learned a lot more about myself and what direction I want to take my life.

Last year, I learned a lot of deep shit, you guys. I’m talking psychological, philosophical, going down the rabbit hole type of shit that changed Kevin and I. And we’re not done. Far from it. LOL.