Club High Castle

Just look at that little word count! NaNo who? I’m going back to the original writing strategy I had for Sisters. There’s no way I can reach NaNo’s goal of 50K at this point. The initial plan was to write three chapters, pause and revise, visit the outline and note any changes in plot, and write three more chapters. Rinse and repeat! Anyone who has ever had to edit can tell you what a tedious, short-attention-span producing task it is. Imagine saving ALL of it for later and going back to several hundred pages of it. No thanks! This is something I’ve never done before. I’ll still have to go back after I finish writing and reread it all, but the goal is to make the dreaded revision task a little easier. Because nobody asked, here’s my two cents on current events… Has it made working on Sisters harder? Yes. Did I vote for him? No. Am I going to move on and keep living my life? Yes. I just want to say one thing, and then I’ll shut up because the last thing I want to turn this ...

Watch my NaNoWriMo count stall out! Last week was a wild one, wasn’t it? I’ll be frank: I didn’t even consider the possibility that our current president-elect would be the president-elect. It didn’t even cross my mind for a second that he even had a remote chance of winning. I was in the “I hate them both” crowd, but fully expected Clinton to win and to be irritated yet secretly relieved over it because putting a bland, run of the mill politician in the White House would have made everything go back to normal, and that’s all anyone wants, right? So what does this have anything to do with writing and NaNoWriMo? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Sisters started out as a what if scenario. This year’s crazy election fueled my Sisters frenzy. What if someone similar to Trump really did win? Needless to say, I was shocked to the core when I woke up, checked my phone, and saw the words “Donald Trump won the presidential election.” I didn’t know what to think. I certainly didn’t kn...

I feel like the timing of this is all too convenient! Sisters is officially a GO!  I’ve written the first three chapters to get the setting down and a feel for the characters. Once I did that, I paused to create an outline for the rest of the novel. It just so happens that we’re a few days shy of November (well, at the time I’m writing this, anyway). I couldn’t ask for better timing! Hello, NaNoWriMo! It’s been a long time. I’ve got a novel brewing for you that I’m all too excited to start. It’s going to be made of feels. Such feels. For those who aren’t familiar with NaNoWriMo, they challenge writers to write 50K words in one month (the month of November). If you love to write, take the NaNo challenge! See if you can hit 50K. You can sign up at nanowrimo.org/ I’ll be posting about my progress. Just look out for #Sisters422 . I know NaNoWriMo suggests that you just write, write, write, and ignore grammar, but I’m not going to do that this year. Going back t...

It’s finally here, and to celebrate the release of The Emperor’s Archives (TEA), I’m doing a giveaway! Two lucky winners will receive a $5.00 Amazon gift card and a PDF copy of The Emperor’s Archives! How to Enter: Leave a comment on The Command Deck’s Facebook page by Friday, 14 October. Winners will be drawn from a pool of names and announced on Sunday, 16 October! Rules: You must be 18 years of age You must have a valid email address International entrees are accepted! If you’re an international contestant and win, you’ll have to provide me with your country’s Amazon page in order to receive a gift card (ex: Amazon.ca, Amazon.uk, and etc).  News I am so happy that TEA is finally complete! You can read more about TEA on my website here ! I’ve been wanting to tap into the chaos that spiraled from the events of The Year is Now for a long time. If anyone wants to skip to the stories that deal with it, they are Find me, Follow me, and Beneath the Red Lamp 😉 Technically Find me,...

This writing short is for my fellow females. Enjoy! 🙂 2116  The aerial tram zipped past columns of sky gardens, their iridescent domes glimmering in the sunlight as we sped away. I winced when a sudden wave of pain stung my abdomen. I bit my lower lip, fighting off the urge to curl into the fetal position. A perpetual anger tingled my senses, burning every last ounce of blood within me. I closed my eyes and thought of 2016. Here I was exactly one hundred years in the future—that is another story in itself. It won’t be long, I told myself. And I’ll never have to suffer through the monthly b.s. that comes with being female ever again . There was no way they didn’t have remedies that actually worked. Hell, maybe they even had some sort of cure for the entire business—maybe one simple operation, and my body would release its damned eggs some other way. At that thought, I tried to smile, but pain exploded in my abdomen as the tram slowed to a stop. I looked up. This ...

Special character guest, RIA Agent John Smith, talks about his latest assignment. Being a secret agent is not all glam, guns, and action. Exhibit G.305: Clyde Butterworth I don’t know why I always get tossed the weird, odd-ball missions. Maybe Director Rollins hates me, I don’t know. Last week I had to track down a lunatic wearing a baseball cap wrapped in foil. Yes. I had to follow this weirdo all over town (and no, he couldn’t make it easy for me and live in the city). This nutjob lived in a dumpster by the A.D. railroad tracks of a small town up in the mountains. What did I learn? Clyde Butterworth spent his afternoons singing incoherent songs with a voice that made you want to smack your own face with a frying pan. When he wasn’t singing, he was glued to a dented flask of empire-knows-what or collecting pine cones. And so, this “threat” to national security made last week a living hell. Honestly, what unknown atrocity did I commit to get stuck with such an em...

Today’s post is taken from a prompt from the wonderful folks here: The One-Minute Writer . We all love a good conspiracy theory, so here’s the purrfect one! “You are the president of your local Conspiracy Theorist group. Unfortunately with the internet and all, most of your regular conspiracies have been debunked. You need something new, something that the group can really get behind. Create a new conspiracy theory.” Concave of Concerned Catizens There is something out there. I know it. The sheepish minions of conformity are always after people like me. They can’t wrap their minds around the fact that there is more than meets the eye, and it may not always be a crappiota latte or a pair of fuzzy moon boots in 60 degree weather. I’m getting sidetracked. I need to think of something for our next meeting. The Concave of Concerned Catizens is counting on me. That last debunk was a slap in the face. The sheepish minions of conformity won’t stop until...