Introducing the Upcoming Behind the Scenes Series for my Releases

Ever so often, someone who's read my work asks me what inspired it or what's the story behind the story. I'm always happy to say and have given tidbits in various posts on this blog and other social media.

So, on this leap day, February 29, 2020, I'm announcing the launch of a Behind the Scenes series for all of my published and soon to be published works. Please post questions as they will help me craft future blogs in this series.

The first in the series is planned for March 7, 2020.

So far so good

It's been quite a productive writing month. Besides continuing to merge loose files into a few different stories, I tackled first edits for Danny R.O.S.S. After dealing with the easier changes, I've been trudging through the more challenging items. Almost there, though. I'll be reading through the entire manuscript to make sure I haven't messed up the timing of different activities in the plot.

And, great news. There's a good chance Love's Intensity will be available in print this spring. 🔥

Here's hoping for an equally productive February.

2019 in Review

It's crazy how the year starts out with optimistic goals that ebb and flow when met with life's realities. Health, family, changing workloads, and challenging situations all play a part in what actually gets done...or doesn't.

First a look at what didn't:

• Love's Intensity has yet to be issued in print - I'd hoped to get this done in 2019 (reality check: I'd hoped to get this done in 2018 but stuff happened) in time or the October book festival in Collingswood, but proofreading has taken much longer than expected. Here's hoping for a 2020 printing.
• Posting on this blog every month - Too many obstacles. Maybe 2020 will be kinder than 2019.
•  If It Kills Me and Danny R.O.S.S. were never edited. Instead, they were both released back to me by a publishing company due to unforeseen circumstances.

Celebrating the tasks that did:

• Merged scenes from loose files for the two new stories and the prequel and sequel of Love's Intensity.
• Tweeted and posted to my FaceBook Author Page more often.
• Attended the 2019 USVI Literary Festival and Book Fair in April.
• Landed an impromptu in-person interview at WSTX radio in Gallows Bay, St. Crox at that time.
• Participated in Career Day at the Samuel M. Ridgeway School in June.
• SciFi 2030 battle scene in Battle of Kitee (posted on the Small Wars Journal site) made it to the semi-finals of the Mad Scientist Fiction Writing Contest 2019.
• Entered five other contests for stories and poetry. I'm glad I made the leap even though those didn't place.
• Finished the first draft for one of the new stories, #ZnT, with 62,500+ words in 287 pages a week before Christmas. It's now out with the Beta reader.
• Completed first edits for If It Kills Me.

So, as 2019 comes to a close, I raise my glass of sparkling apple cider to all the things I accomplished and all the hardships I pushed through to do that. Looking forward to an even better New Year.

Updating the PHP

Updating the what now?

PHP is scripting language called Hypertext Preprocessor, but, to me, it's the thing, if not updated properly on one's website, can render it unreachable and useless.

In the spring, during my first attempt at updating cassandraulrich.com, I made a mess of things. Monumental sized. Not only was an error message popping up every time I tried to access any page on my site, but I could also no longer update/change/fix my error. Talk about a Rock and a Hard Place.

Thank goodness for my site's host, Inmotion Hosting. They had my site up and running within a half hour. Website life was good once again.

Then, the dreaded reminder came months later to update the site's PHP again in order to protect against all the known nasty web invasions. Eeek!

Do I call for help this time or try updating by myself again? They are only an instant message away if I mess up, right?

For those of you who know me, I'm not a quitter and I don't like not knowing/understanding how to do something or how I messed up the last time. I can read and follow directions, can't I?

So, I click on links, take notes, and talk my brain through the steps. Took me an hour to do that and download the needed apps to backup my site, something I hadn't done the last time--yes, i was panicking back in the spring. And, wouldn't you know, I did it! My site stayed up, ready for visitors to check out my latest posts.

I understand that not many have the stamina for this type of stress, but I'm a writer with a technical background. I refuse to let the web trip me up. I'm not a glutton for punishment, though. If indeed I encounter an issue best left to professional IT folks, I have no problem letting them at it. It's just really fulfilling to do something I was never trained for on the job.

Don't underestimate what you can do.

Why I Downloaded a Voice Recording App But Never Used it

Upon hearing how many scenes my brain creates while I'm driving, many of friends have suggested using a recording app on my phone. Besides not legally allowed to touch my phone while driving in my state, the characters go quiet the instant my voice goes live. So, the scene stops and my brain goes blank. I am basically the note taker. I have no other part as the scene unfolds in their voices. I write what I see and hear and how they react to scents and touch.

So now you know. I must write with a pen, pencil, or typewriter when creating fiction stories.

Hats off to those of you who are able to talk away into an app that can type for you.

Battle in the Mind of an Author - The Aftermath

It's been three years since the big fight, and I'm just finishing up the scene that caused all the raucous. Unfortunately, things didn't bode well for the male character. Oh, don't worry. He's not leaving the story. He's merely a bit disgruntled at the moment, but he'll live.

So what happens now?

I keep writing. With 171 double spaced pages already completed, the ending is closer than ever (Goal? December 2019). However, this is the part that makes me a bit nervous. I want the ending to be as interesting as the beginning, so the reader doesn't want to put the book down until the last punctuation.

In the meantime, I'm having fun negotiating scenes with my characters. Nothing like having them change my mind with respect to how the scene should go.

I better go before he notices I'm not working on his manuscript. 😉

"Billiard Buddies" Relaunch

Change in inevitable. I remember the joy when "Billiard Buddies" first landed a contract after experiencing three rejections. It's been quite a journey achieving a cover that fit and receiving positive feedback from many readers. Those positive ones helped me get through the not so great ones.

I persevered.

Recently, the publisher released the book back to me. At first, my gut clenched and I sighed...a lot. Once I got over the initial shock, I set to working on placing my logo on the cover, re-reading the book for any errors, and reformatting the print version so it matched "A Beautiful Girl."

I just received a copy of the print version today and I am thoroughly pleased. I hope many more people read this story and leave reviews. It was a lot of fun to write.

Enjoy!