This month’s games were #AuthorConfession, #TheMerryWriter and #WriterlyWIPChat.

#AuthorConfession

1. Mainly getting better and getting back to scribbling.
2. If I do, it would either be through my Twitter account, my reviews on Booknest, or maybe just from here.
3. The last review where I gave 5 stars was for the Audible adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics. It’s here if you want to have a look.
4. I can’t think of an occasion where reading a review has influenced whether or not I read a book.
5. Either The Rhenwars Saga by M.L. Spencer or The Paternus Trilogy by Dyrk Ashton.
6. Since I don’t have anything available to read except some short pieces on my blog page, it hasn’t been an issue. I’d like to think I could take it constructively…
7. Speaking purely for myself (and my attempted series), I had an idea of a plot first & then built the characters to it. Then the characters started to influence how the plot developed. Which then created new characters…
8. If we’re talking book 3, probably the time wasted feeling sorry for himself.
9. See below.
10. 1) Finish setting up my new library. 2) Work on my mental health. 3) Get back to writing.
11. Right now, cities. Easier for him to get lost in.
12. At least as often as I argue with myself.
13. Daydreaming. Listening to music. Word prompts. Any or all of the above.
14. Having people eagerly awaiting your next release.
15. Well, definitely an improvement over last month, if nothing else.
16. Sometimes it feels like I put almost as much in as I’m taking out, which makes me wonder if I’m actually accomplish anything?
17. To learn from other writers. To get reading suggestions/recommendations. To get word prompts and other exercises.
18. If it’s the one beneath Shadowcroft, then he’d be visiting family markers. Anywhere else, I can’t think of a good reason to be there unless it was chosen as an unlikely meeting place.
19. Sour gummies of some kind, I think.
20. At the very minimum, three. But I’m sure there’s more.
21. For this month, I’m also doing #TheMerryWriter and #WriterlyWIPChat.
22. I’m going to say Near Dark since it was a partial inspiration and is the closest match I can think of just now.
23. The people he’s lost and the mistakes that led to those events.
24. I don’t think De Vries goes in for that sort of thing.
25. Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with it but I don’t get the whole pumpkin spice thing.
26. I’d like to but I can’t see it working.
27. Courier New.
28. “Do you think I’m right?”
29. Well, he is named after Piter De Vries from Dune…
30. I suspect it depends on whether he’s giving or receiving…
31. De Vries always dresses to blend in, so it’s doubtful he’d be wearing anything distinctive.

#TheMerryWriter

1. I suppose my online persona is as close to an alter ego as I currently have. So hi, I’m Drew.
2. Mainly getting better and getting back to scribbling.
3. BREAK.
4. BREAK.
5. 29, according to my Goodreads challenge.
6. Here it is…
7. One main WIP and a smaller piece (or 2) to have a go at if I run into any roadblocks with the main one. That’s the idea anyways…
8. Probably too much, actually.
9. Some days I think I can do good dialogue. Some days I think I can do decent action scenes. Some days I have difficulty thinking anyone should want to read it at all.
10. BREAK.
11. BREAK.
12. This has changed a couple of times since I first started book 1 but for now, my first pick is Iwan Rheon to play Ash.
13. A few. The main one is about making sure knowledge of the Ceteri is tightly contained. The others involve rulership of the Houses, roles within each House, promotion to & leadership of the Curia…
14. Reasonably, I would hope. And with some feedback that I could use constructively.
15. When you can tell that the decisions characters are making have no internal logic and are just to make the plot go where intended.
16. Well, since my series is written 1st person, it would be tricky for me to pull off. But in general, if it works for the story, then why not?
17. BREAK.
18. BREAK.
19. For the people close to him or something he believes is right.
20. There have definitely been characters I’ve wanted to know more about & for them to have stories of their own but I can’t think of a supporting character that I’ve wanted to be the MC of the story they originally appear in.
21. Probably Quinn. With MacReady as a close second.
22. Right now, I think I’d prefer to have a younger metabolism & flexibility.
23. Never trust a dog with orange eyebrows.
24. BREAK.
25. BREAK.
26. Since it’s pretty straight forward stuff, jeans & t-shirts most of the time, then I already do.
27. I don’t think there’s anything particularly scary so far.
28. While he was still living at Shadowcroft, Ash quite enjoyed spending time alone in the library. But at the start of book 3, he’s been separated from his home & his friends and he’s struggling with it.
29. Does he get to bring weapons? Either way, he’d probably be fine.
30. Yes, although more in the psychological sense than anything else.
31. So long as I can bring a notebook, I’ll give it a shot.

#WriterlyWIPChat

1. Black, no sugar, please.
2. I’d like to think that the bantering between the core group might make some people smile.
3. I usually say urban fantasy is the closest match.
4. Would that I could write an epic fantasy.
5. Well, Quinn takes a couple of bullets to the chest towards the end of book 2, to help Ash and Casey escape House Takeda custody.
6. Audiobooks at work during the day, ebook or physical book at home in the evenings & weekends.
7. No. Since the series is set 2003-2004, the majority of what we consider social media now would have been in its infancy. Plus, it goes against the secretive nature of the Ceteri.
8. Probably too much, actually.
9. Ash is a lot more likely to use force to resolve a situation.
10. Not usually, but if I’m sitting waiting around an airport, then it’s fair game.
11. I suppose text is the one that Ash is most likely to use.
12. I’ll let you all judge – I awoke with a start, fingers already scrabbling for the gun I’d left by the bedside. I felt the cold metal beneath my fingers and gripped the pistol, thumb curling around to flick the safety off. I sat up in the bed, bringing the gun around in an arc, taking aim. I put the sights where the center mass of anyone coming through the door would be. My finger hovered over the trigger. Nothing happened. No-one kicked in the door, no Curia capture team came at me. Nothing.
13. Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson (ebook) and Last Heir of the North by J.C. Kang (audiobook). Then I have a beta-read for work on.
14. I honestly don’t know that I excel at anything.
15. I can’t say I’ve noticed good ideas being more prevalent at one time more than another.
16. Probably something cheap and easy. One thing about his situation at the beginning of book 3, Ash hasn’t been paying much attention to his nutrition.
17. It was already dark when the alarm went off. I pulled the knit cap over my freshly shaved head, swung my rucksack onto my shoulders, and left the hotel as unobtrusively as possible. It was time for me to be moving on.
18. A bit of both, if I can.
19. I think the most unusual name is the one I gave to the first known Ceteri & Ash’s ultimate grandmother, Sennaara.
20. I’ve lived in 3 places so far; the countryside of SW Scotland, Glasgow, and Albuquerque. Living in Glasgow influenced anything set in a city and part of book 3 will be set in New Mexico so…
21. I think I’d have to say in bed.
22. 2 or 3 per month. Should be more.
23. Hasn’t really happened.
24. Ash has recently had his head shaved, as a means of changing his appearance while on the run.
25. See below.
26. Ash, without a doubt.
27. My first instinct is to say Quinn, which might be why I find him so much fun to write.
28. “I want to be in & out of this place quick as possible. It’ll be a shock to you but don’t stop and, whatever you do, don’t talk to anyone. You don’t want to deal with anyone who’ll be in there.” I looked at the sign. “What’s a Wal-Mart?”
29. It can be either, depending on the day. Some I’ll be receptive being cheered up, others will be ‘fuck you, I can’t deal with anything.’ In truth, it’s been more the latter than the former recently.
30. Well, I don’t know if it can be considered progress but I did actually write something this month. So there’s that.
31. Not at all.

As Always, Thanks to the hosts:

#AuthorConfession – J.M. Sullivan & Jessica Julien

#TheMerryWriter – Ari Meghlen & Rachel Poli

#WriterlyWIPChat – Kerri Davidson & Mark Gelinas, Sr.