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Coming June 15…

Once again I’ve been away from this blog for a while. Once again, it’s because I’ve been busy.

First, the good news. Altered Seasons: Monsoonrise is coming out June 15 and is available for preorder. It also has some early reviews. Positive ones. One of which will be appearing in the Midwest Book Review before too long. Another you can read here. And here’s a snippet:

Most novels or movies on the impacts of climate change usually show all hell breaking loose in a single day (or skip that part altogether). Altered Seasons is different, and much more realistic, in that it describes the process over years. Still it manages to remain captivating, as we follow these events through the lives of four main characters.

Looking forward to more reviews. At some point, when I can manage it, I’ll start writing “The Backstory Files,” little stories that help flesh out the characters in <i>Altered Seasons</i>. Now that I have a newsletter, this will give me something to put in it.

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Speaking of reviews, here’s a review of Elliott Downing’s Some Distant Sunrise. I know I promised some other people reviews, and I swear I’m getting to those, but there’s good and then there’s great and then there’s “I MUST TELL THE WORLD RIGHT NOW!” Don’t let the cover design put you off—buy it and read it.*

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I’ve started experimenting with the Pomodoro Technique for taking care of some of my less fun writing duties. This involves spending 25 minutes writing at top speed, and five minutes resting in between. It’s recommended that after four in a row, you take a longer break.

What I’ve discovered is that the Pomodoro Technique, like the “JUST WRITE” method I keep hearing about, works if and only if you already know exactly what you want to write when you begin. It also helps if you’re listening to classical music. And if you keep a record of your word count and how close you’re getting to it during the writing sessions, it’s the next best thing to being able to afford Adderall.

*One of Downing’s greater accomplishments in writing this story was getting permission to quote song lyrics. This is a recurring problem for writers, which we normally get around by mentioning the title of the song and letting everybody look it up on YouTube. If we really need lyrics, we usually have to make up our own. (If you’re a lawyer in the music industry, I want you to know something: I’m your wolf and I’m your tiger, and I’m rising like a shark/I’m the fear and the desire that you dream of in the dark/I’m your devil, I’m your demon of determination firm/And I’m here to fill you up with foreign sperm. I wrote those lyrics and it’s all your fault. Now you just sit there and think about what you’ve done.

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