I just finished a new story, one unlike any other I\u2019ve written thus far. I can\u2019t explain the feeling, the excitement, the sense of teetering between promise and trepidation at hopes of getting it in print. If you write, you know it. If you don\u2019t, no words will suffice.<\/p>\n
The characters in my tales are always real to me. I could describe to you their physical appearance, their emotional makeup, their mindset. I could predict what they might do in almost any situation. Usually. Sometimes they surprise me.<\/p>\n
The same with the settings. I see<\/em> the surroundings. Smell<\/em> the fragrances or aromas or stench. Hear<\/em> the sounds and noises and voices and laughter. Feel<\/em> the heat or the cold or the wind or the rain. On occasion, it\u2019s at least in part because I\u2019ve been to a similar place. Not always, though. Can\u2019t say I\u2019ve ever been to another planet. Not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n Whether I love them or despise them, the characters and their settings take over a large portion of my thoughts when I\u2019m writing them. Earlier today, Bobby asked if I wanted cheese on my burger. It took me a full minute to answer. I had to come back from the cloud forest to do so. It\u2019s often hard to leave the characters and settings behind! I read once that Rowling said she was sad when Harry Potter\u2019s story was finished. It felt like she was leaving behind a family. I know a tiny taste of that. I often think, \u201cDamn. What next?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s sometimes a few days before I can really pull my head totally out of what I just finished, so there\u2019s usually no question about moving immediately to something else. In a way, it\u2019s like my weekend. I have a couple of days to do all the stuff I should have done but didn\u2019t while I was embedded in another world. I\u2019ve learned to take advantage of that time.<\/p>\n For this story, I\u2019ll set it aside like I did the last one. A few weeks from now, I\u2019ll pull it out, read it again, tweak it and start looking for a publisher.<\/p>\n But now, in this moment, I am basking. Thoughts of my characters and their story still swirl in my head. It\u2019s hard not to keep picking away at the draft. I just have to distract myself with other tasks.<\/p>\n Anyway, when you read this, celebrate with me. Have a beer, or a glass of wine, or a really good brownie. Whatever your favorite treat. Whether or not it ever gets published, it\u2019s a completed draft. That is never a bad thing.<\/p>\n {LATER: <\/u> Okay, it\u2019s a little over two weeks since I actually penned this post. As I said, I\u2019d only just finished the story referenced above (which is still awaiting the perfect title, but which am tentatively calling \u201cFlight of Fancy\u201d). As you\u2019ll note, I said it\u2019s usually a few days before I can move on to another project. Which just goes to prove there\u2019s an exception to every rule. Not an hour after I finished the draft of this blog post, another story exploded fully developed in my head. I sat back down at the computer and penned it all in a few hours. (That one is still awaiting its re-read, too, and is tentatively called \u201cA Murder of Crows.\u201d)<\/p>\n I\u2019ll keep you posted on how they do in queries.}<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just finished a new story, one unlike any other I\u2019ve written thus far. I can\u2019t explain the feeling, the excitement, the sense of teetering between promise and trepidation at hopes of getting it in print. If you write, you know it. If you don\u2019t, no words will suffice. The characters in my tales are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-41","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1185,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/03\/no-gain-no-shame-when-life-gets-in-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":0},"title":"No Gain, No Shame: When Life Gets in the Way","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"December 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"NaNoWriMo always surprises me. Every Fall, it hovers around the corner like one of our kittens, furry butt wiggling in preparation for The Pounce and, the minute November 1 arrives, it attacks my conscience. I always want to be a NaNoWriMo writer. I\u2019ve occasionally planned to participate. It just never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3270,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/21\/author-interview\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":1},"title":"Author Interview!","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"April 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I know, I know ... I've not uploaded a blog post this month. My sincere apologies! Lots going on ... mostly I'm working on The Founder's Seed book one (\"Fallen\"), and trying to keep up with a new writer's group I've joined. That's where some of the recent reviews have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6331,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/im-baaaaaack\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":2},"title":"I’m Baaaaaack!","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi! Remember me? I know it\u2019s been a while. But I haven\u2019t been slacking in the interim, honest. I\u2019ve been busybusybusy. Since my last post, nearly a year ago, I\u2019ve released two-point-two-five books (weird, right? see below), worked with the award-winning Stacey Lind to also release three audiobooks, managed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black background, shadowy hallway with many doors, highlighted in a red central focus. A broken crystal in black-and-white shows multiple faces, one on each of the different facets.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/BrokenEbookCover573KB-188x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":573,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/29\/going-it-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":3},"title":"Going It Alone","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"January 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I have to admit I\u2019m old-fashioned, to some degree. For the past however many years I\u2019ve been writing, I\u2019ve declared I would only seek traditional publishing routes for my work. I believed that self-publishing was only useful for those who couldn\u2019t get published any other way. But I have to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1026,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/03\/boost-the-power-shifting-perspective-in-a-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":4},"title":"Boost the Power: Shifting Perspective in a Story","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"September 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that the Pitch Wars submission window has closed and the pressure is eased a bit, I\u2019ve turned my attention to other projects. One of those, a short story entitled \u201c29 Langwood Street,\u201d has been lying around waiting to find a home. I admit I don\u2019t like to write something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":583,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/05\/up-the-tension\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":5},"title":"Up the Tension","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve read it over and over, heard it in workshops and plenary sessions. A good story isn\u2019t about any one character or group of characters. Instead, it\u2019s about those characters doing things. Striving, reaching, hurting or being hurt, trying and failing and trying again, coming, going, living, learning. It\u2019s about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}