The Middle

I was going to recap the promotion for The King's Physician today, and then I remembered it started on January 10, even though the book came out on MLR's website on January 3, so technically, we're only halfway through the promotion. If you want to join the rafflecopter, please check it out on Other Worlds Ink's Facebook page!

I'm also in the middle of outlining a couple of novels and I just started rewriting a paranormal short. The short has about 4,000 words right now, and it's stuck in - you guessed it - the middle. I'm not sure what length I was aiming for when I first wrote it, but the first scene was only 309 words, and now it's almost 1,000 and I haven't even covered everything I wrote yet. I have a feeling the story could use some fleshing out of the characters, especially since the premise borders on cheating, (dead boyfriend communicating through a medium). All three characters need to be sympathetic to make it work. I'll probably review that outline this weekend, too.

I know I talk about this every year, but it seems really important this year: Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the most important holiday in my work year. It re-engages me in my dream to be a full-time author and gives me time to figure out how to make it all happen after the reality of "holy shit, work is crazy after the holidays" sets in. So glad Dr. King had a birthday in the middle of January.

It's even more important this year because of the implosion of RWA. I'm not going into details, but there's some really ugly racist and homophobic shit and, if I hadn't already paid my dues for the year when it went down, I wouldn't have renewed. As it is, I don't even know where to start to fix what's broken and I don't want to be another NWL (nice white lady, the ones who are so white they don't know they're racist) sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. I will support authors of color in any way I can, but I can't begin to speak for them. I know I come from a place of white privilege. Right now, the best thing I can do is shut the fuck up and let RWA leadership figure their shit out.

Pika Perfect's main character is black. I got the idea to write a black character last MLK Jr. Day. Before I could second guess myself, Paul's voice in my head was too loud and persistent to tell him, "No, I'm too white to write this." Even so, I may be too white to write this. This is my apology in advance if I got it wrong. I want there to be more people of color in the books I read. I'm trying to be the change I want to see in the world. If I'm just another NWL, I hope I inspire authors of color to write it better, and I will support them in any way I can.