State of the Publishing, June 2019

Good morning and month to you all!

I started off writing this in poetry, then paused and decided I didn't want to do that, today. Turns out poetry distracts me a bit—I just realized that, in my Ko-Fi announcements last month, I forgot an important detail (which also happens to be part of what makes Ko-Fi better than Patreon, for me):

Stories released on Ko-Fi will only be available for 30 days.

This means there are only 2 more days to get “Dreams of Choice”, because that'll fall off availability on June 7th.

And I never did give y'all a blurb for that one, did I? I seriously messed up the marketing, there.

Rather than scrabble to repair all that, I'm just facepalming and seeking to do better in the future. In this case, that means I've gotta come up for a blurb for June's story as I'm formatting it, so watch for that on Saturday the 8th.

As things stand right now, First Draft Fridays are going strong on Wattpad again, with A Fistful of Air drafted and the sequel with 2 installments up. I'm trying to do 2k+ words per week there, and there's so far been scenes from the POV of Aidan and Wight. The third installment will come Friday (the 7th).

How're y'all doing?

—Misti

A Birthday Surprise, Most Unexpected

As I sat to write this post
I took a breath, wished I had some toast—
no, seriously, I want toast but am out of bread—
then pulled up my draft for Ko-fi and reread.

"Why is this poetry?" I muttered. "I've no—
"Wait." I nudge this post with a toe.
"Poetry again?" I scratch my head.
"I dunno why I'm doing this," I said.

I mean, it's fun. I do enjoy
conveying meaning while molding words like a toy.
But it's not exactly my normal technique.
Doesn't this make me kind of a freak?

It's just coming out, with not that many pauses.
No more than I'd have with conventional clauses.
I've not written poetry in a while.
I don't really think of it as my style.

But yanno? I guess this really shows
that I should pay more heed to how things close.
That something in me likes the flow.
I don't know how you readers will like it, though.

I wonder if my brain is just stuck between
the thoughts I've been having of Shel Silverstein
See, I've been remembering his poems, of late.
Some I can still quote, despite the wait.

It's been years since I read him last,
but I remember having a blast,
and I remember my brother having a book.
I think all I ever got to do was look,

not own—but anyway, enough distraction.
I meant to do this to gain traction
and help myself talk to you.
I've been silent for so long, it's true.

So, what exactly do I have to say
aside from the "Hi, today's my birthday!"?
I have committed to bringing back
First Draft Fridays on Wattpad, and another track.

You can see more about this in my post from last week,
but, though my Patreon is on hiatus, I'm still going to seek
regular production, with subscribers
getting early, annotated releases as insiders.

But, instead of Patreon, I'm using Ko-fi,
and, apparently, writing about it in poetry?
(What the hell, brain?)
(I really sometimes wonder if I'm even sane.)

(I should probably point out, that previous line—
it's an intentional, poetic design.
Serious just in emotion, in sentiment.
I'm not calling myself insane, just different.)

(Some of you readers may remember
a few years ago, someone with a temper
who pounced in the comments here
and showed serious lack of reading comprehension, I fear.)

(Anyway, that person is one reason why
I sometimes over-specify,
because I am still watched, I know.
although I left them years ago.)

Moving on, here start last week's announced plans,
specifically phase one, which lands
us straight on: "regular updates!"
which I intend to keep up with, whatever it takes.

On Wattpad, updates will be free and weekly,
though these won't necessarily be posted neatly.
On Ko-fi, updates will be paid and monthly,
and more polished, to put it bluntly.

So, do whatever suits your taste.
You can watch me here, my announcements base,
or Facebook or Twitter, but in that case,
you'll probably be getting duplicates, since I try
to limit how I diversify.

How I diversify right now, anyway.
And that's all I have to say, today.
So how is this year treating you?
I'd like to hear how you're doing, too.

—Misti

Out with the Old & In with the New

After so long of silence or near silence, I‘ve been quietly prepping to relaunch my self-publishing. I even have a few things even sitting on my hard drive, poised to help me hit the ground running. Start date I’ve had in mind for phase one of my plans is my birthday, a week from today (May 8th).

(Well, technically speaking, my start date‘s actually today, due to today being when I’m announcing it everywhere. But that’s prelaunch stuff.)

I‘ve had two parts in mind for phase one, resurrecting both my Patreon releases and my First Draft Fridays on Wattpad (…and my language study blog, but that’s another thing). That way, my fans, no matter their financial situation, can enjoy. Then phase two is wrapping up the Chronicles of Marsdenfel and the current plot arc on Destiny Walker series, and the phases continue from there. I’ll get more into that in a minute.

As I was putting things together to springboard into phase one, specifically the Patreon part, I received a newsletter from an author I have long admired and respected: Holly Lisle. She and Kristine Kathryn Rush get an insane amount accomplished despite chronic health issues, and they"re excellent teachers. (On the topic of excellent teachers, Janice Hardy and Jami Gold are, too, though they"re more information magpies than coaches.)

Anyway, back to the e-mail I received. It was really two: “Why I closed my Patreon fundraiser today" from April 4th and "So... bye-bye, Patreon. Hello Ko-Fi.” from April 9th. I saw the headlines but didn’t open them.

Then, after I posted a pre-announcement of my plans on Patreon (on the 19th, to give patrons plenty of time to adjust their donations if they needed to), I remembered those headlines. Kicking myself a bit because, over the past umpteen years, I’ve found I usually agree with her assessment of things like that, read what she was saying. She posted the same information on her blog at "Why I shut down my Patreon fundraiser" and "Why I chose Ko-Fi to replace Patreon".

In summary, the Patreon terms of service (TOS) claim some particular irrevocable rights to whatever is published on the platform for “the purpose of" what they need to run the site. That phrasing does not actually limit their rights claim to that purpose, which was recently pointed out by the very experienced IP lawyer commonly known among authors (especially self-publishing authors) as "PG" or "Passive Guy”.

PG reblogs posts potentially of interest to authors, and sometimes he adds comments. In this case, he reblogged a post that demonstrates that Patreon seems to be having cash flow issues, judging from the CEO’s own words in an interview with CNBC.

PG says he went looking at Patreon‘s TOS to see if there was any mention of patent or something like that which would mean they had a corner on the market. Instead, he found that clause that states the rights taken are for “the purpose of" X, Y, and Z. (If you don’t see how that’s not a limitation, check his post.) PG even bothers to provide a clause that would actually limit the TOS in the fashion that Patreon claims to intend, elsewhere on the site.

So I opened a support ticket with Patreon to ask what, if anything, they were planning to do about that clause. I included explicit explanation, links, and request for the issue to be kicked up to whoever could answer my question. I mentioned outright that PG—an much-experienced IP attorney—included both how the current clause is problematic and an example correction in his post.

I was thanked for pointing it out and told that my e-mail had been forwarded to the tech department. Not legal, but tech. Okay.

Then, around a week later (on April 29th), Patreon announced a new resource hub on the site for the terms and such—oh, that explains the forwarding to the tech team—and an update to their terms of service. Oh, cool. They listened! Promptly, even!

…Or, as I discovered when I looked up the current clause, they at least tried.

I won‘t bore you with the specifics of the differences, but in summary, they changed the terms to expressly limit the purpose of the license but not the license itself. It’s a simple, easy-to-make syntax error that nonetheless significantly affects your meaning. A bread knife might have the sole purpose of cutting bread, but that doesn’t prevent you from being able to use it to cut something else.

In itself, it‘s not necessarily a big deal. Trusting that they’re working at it would be a calculated risk, and it’s a reasonable one to either avoid or take.

The real problem comes when you consider that interview I mentioned. Patreon’s CEO says that Patreon needs to “build a sustainable business”.

Patreon turns 6 years old this month. Why are they having to build a sustainable business? And what are they going to have to do or change in order to do that?

Personally, I think the problem comes from choices Patreon made when they first launched, that they started off taking too low a % of creator income in order to support their model. If they had launched at a higher percentage, like Fiverr with its 20% fee, that would‘ve given them room to adjust the fee either in general or with Lite / Pro / Premium versions of the service without triggering all the negative sentiment and publicity that’s resulted when they’ve tried to move in the other direction, increasing their cut after they started too low.

I‘m not sure that they’ll be able to recover from that. They’re obviously trying, and I do hope they can pull it off. Patreon’s financial model, taking a % of supporter donations, that helps people with $0 or minimal disposable income. It also means that Patreon benefits most from drawing in patrons, rather than content creators, so they should prioritize accordingly. With a good search engine and SEO on the content creator’s part, that’s potentially free marketing. This is doubtless why Patreon tells the content creators that the patrons, the supporters, are customers. They actively encourage creators to give patrons early releases, special editions, unique content—actual product that the patron is funding.

Now, contrast this with Ko-fi, which expressly limits the licensure and views supporters as donors. Ko-fi gets is funded from a mix of 1. charging content creators a small fee (monthly or yearly) to be able to receive monthly subscriptions, and 2. running their own donor page. So Ko-fi actually uses its own service. (Maybe doing that would help Patreon? I don’t think they have their own page.)

This ultimately means that Ko-fi benefits most from keeping the content creators happy, rather than the supporters. Keeping supporters happy is a secondary concern—and, because supporters are there to support the person, keeping supporters happy will be a consequence of keeping the content creators happy. It's quite efficient.

Ko-fi further promotes this distinction of supporting a person vs. buying early-bird access to a product by making it possible for content creators to sell commissions. In their tutorial documentation, they outright recommend that content creators release things more like previews, snippets, deleted scenes.

What I was offering on Patreon, things didn't really fit their model very well. Ko-fi’s actually a better fit for what I’m kicking off on the 8th.

(If you‘re a content creator yourself and want to sign up for Ko-fi Gold, you can get a 10% discount by getting it with an affiliate link, and that discount applies even on top of the sale that’s going as of this writing.)

So, with all this talk of phases, what am I talking about? What are these phases that I’m planning?

• phase 0: pre-launch
• We are here!
• This is announcements and prep work. I have the bulk of this done.
• I need to track down both my file and contact the publisher for the Wynne d‘Arzon series, because I’m suspecting my submission of the last story in that series got eaten by e-mail gremlins. This is something I’m hoping to do before phase I launches, and hopefully things will go smoothly enough for be on-time in phase two.
• phase one: update regularly again
• launching May 8, 2019
• The return of First Draft Fridays on Wattpad!
• The start of monthly releases every 8th on Ko-fi! It'll be a complete story, with author's notes regarding headspace, process, inspiration, how and why I came up with a particular kenning, etc.
• I will be looking at growing to include more regular updates to this blog, my Twitter, and my Facebook page.
• I may also include getting back on-track with my language study blog in this (which needs some technical things fixed and where I have a draft of a post pretty much done and just need to post it; scope creep is a jerk).
• phase two: publish installments wrapping up open plot threads
• scheduled to launch November 8, 2019
• I’m looking to start with finishing the Chronicles of Marsdenfel and getting at least one book further in the Destiny Walker series. (I have more Destiny books planned, but I think book #4 will be launching a new arc, kind of Act II.)
• I’m also including my Torn-Up Faery Tales (as Carralee Byrd) and some Cara Lee things.
• phase three: grow into a regular publishing schedule for each penname
• tentatively scheduled to launch May 8, 2020
• Inherent in this would be releasing regularly in various series, ideally on a rotation.
• I‘m currently thinking that this will be when I return to updating Tapas, too.
• phase x: secret until I start phase three
• The reality of how I finish phase two will affect these, as well, so they’re on the shelf for now.

All this is starting in a week. Join me on Ko-fi and-or Wattpad, whatever fits your interest and budget.

How are you doing?

—Misti

What I'm Thankful For: 2018 Edition

Another rough year, but allergies and all still headed in the right direction. More muscle function, less pain. Still not great on either, but better.

The language study is continuing and expanding. I just hung out a bit on Quora in Spanish, and I'm working on reading through the Bible in Spanish and Greek. Also studying Mandarin, which I'm loving. I dropped Hebrew because the alphabet needed extra work (I am so dyslexic), but I'm thinking I might try that again soon.

Still haven't resurrected Patreon, but it's on the to-do list. Some life stuff that keeps interfering might be getting better soon. Lord willing.

Still nondenominational. Am mulling on that old "Fifty Shades of BS" theological idea. Also am finding some pretty cool data on stuff like sexual orientation (including asexuality) getting traced to specific chromosomes.

How are y'all?

—Misti

What I'm Thankful For: 2017 Edition

Well, I've had a rough year, but muscles have actually worked more often than not, for most of this year, so that's an improvement. Allergies aren't quite as bad, compared to years past. Sometimes the muscle malfunction stuff is hitting my arms or hands instead of my legs, but overall, it's been less this year. More pain instead, but at least I can feel them. It's been a year of work-arounds, pretty much.

Oh, and I've started being able to do some things again that I've not been able to. That's lovely. I'm actively using Spanish again, a little ASL, and learning modern Greek and Hebrew. (I can read and sound out Greek and have some basic vocabulary. I've just gotten to the point with the Hebrew alphabet that I can start vocabulary there, too.) Starting to sing some, too.

Writing-wise, I'm in the middle of some things to get Patreon going again, and I've been working through some life stuff that kept interfering with my writing. And I have a Star Wars fanfic series going nicely.

I'm definitely calling myself nondenominational on the religion front, these days, too. :)

How are y'all?

—Misti

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What I'm Thankful For: 2016 Edition

• God.
  I'm kinda humming “Great is thy faithfulness.” Also reminding myself of that, as certain prayer requests keep get answered with "Not yet. Soon." I'm well past tired of some of this.
  
  I have realized I have some weird gifts, which have had enough independent verification at this point that Occam's Razor says they're real. Physical and tactile empathy are weird, y'all. But being able to tell a friend has an ear infection before her ear starts hurting is useful, when she bothers to do something about it before the doctor catches it… (Note that I am not talking about being psychic or trucking with demons.) Although I'm not quite sure yet what God wants me to do with these gifts, I am thankful for them, and I use them for others' benefit, when possible.
• Life.
  …also humming that "I'm alive!" bit from "All Around Me" by Flyleaf. I don't even particularly like that song, but I am alive.
• Winter.
  Winter means allergies finally have relief, yay! That means I can think without fugue, walk, move, and breathe a lot better than I've been able to.) There seems to be some atrophy, but that'll happen when you've been unable to walk for most of a year, and honestly my adrenal glands are still the worst of it, I think. They're better than they were,though.
• Family that lost me.
  So, although my immediate family is apparently still of the attitude displayed in the comments on this post, and although my step parent's family seems inclined to ignore me, my parent-who-raised me's family is quite lovely. Funny how similar I am in personality to her sibling that she was most vehement about keeping me away from. We're both logical/analytical folks who love discussion. And wouldn'tchya know, allergies to raspberries and strawberries actually run in the family? [gasp] >_>
• Family that found me.
  Speaking of which things a certain someone actively kept me from, I have another biological parent…who has apparently been looking for me all my life, didn’t even know if I was alive. Parent-who-found-me's version of events makes more sense and fits what evidence and paper trail I've found a lot better than the parent-who-raised-me's version.
  
  Also worth noting that, if parent-who-found-me could figure out how to send me a message via the Internet and he didn't even know my surname, parent-who-raised-me and anyone else claiming they can't contact me are blowing a load of hot air. (Unless they're a particular person whom I've told point-blank in writing not to contact me. Funny how he's not yet managed to conveniently forget that.) Pointing this out for the sake of folks familiar with that situation who are reading this.
• My half-siblings.
  I have some half-siblings on that parent-who-found-me's side, all at least a decade younger than me. It's kinda weird, but they're cute! (Speaking of whom, I need to send some young un's a FB sticker…)
• My FOC and other friends.
  I have a large Family Of Choice that is far kinder and more encouraging than immediate family ever was. Others have always been kinder to me than immediate family, insisting that everyone treats their family worse than their friends because they know them too well. Newsflash: That's bullshit.
  
  (No, seriously. Family does not "Know you so well that they necessarily treat you worse than others." That's a bullshit justification used to excuse reviling and other abuse, all of which is condemned in the Bible. If you think I'm full of bullshit, there is a dearth of love in your family, on your side, theirs, or both.)
• The Internet.
  With the Internet, I can be trapped inside and still do things. I can also post things like this thankfulness post in public. :)
• My fans.
  Whether you follow me here or on Wattpad or on AO3 or on Twitter or on Patreon, I am thankful for you and I thank you. You encourage me when I'm down and my friends aren't available.

Thank you so much for your support, encouragement, and prayers, folks. I pray you all are having a great holiday, and preferably not a lonely one.

Now, if I could just find my glasses… Kitty, where did you put them? I'm blind without them, dear. [Update: Found 'em! Yay!]

What are YOU thankful for?

New Release Coming 08.08.16!

They can find you if you Jump

In one of our possible futures, an illegal immigrant (from a spacefaring universe that engaged in human experimentation and suffered a zombie apocalypse) needs to outmaneuver her bounty hunter sister without endangering either of her flatmates—one a cyborg from a universe specializing in technological modifications, the other a version of herself from a universe without the zombies—without catching the notice of the legal body that regulates and polices travel across universes and time, because none of ’em have a green card.

In other words, this is what happens when an author like me grows up both intrigued by the mirror!verses in Star Trek and wondering where all the expats from other universes are.

displaced shadows series

Coming 08.08.16!

Preorder the first three novellas—self-contained stories that’ll each take the average reader about 1–1.5 hours to read—at a special low price of only $0.99 each! See Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Apple.

As is usual for my work, these stories aren’t written for the Christian market, but as the titles’ oblique derivation from Scripture refers to, I’m certainly aware that these stories can appeal to Christians and non-Christians both.

And yet sometimes audiences can prefer different nuances in how themes and topics are handled or conveyed. Is that not why songs have “explicit” and “censored” editions?

I’ve long wondered why songs could do that, but not books.

So these books are going to be examples of how that concept of adjusting for audience can be applied to stories. The e-books coming out 08.08 will have both the “non-explicit” and “explicit” in the same file, giving you the option to read whichever you like.

The explicit one qualifies as that mostly on account of language that would get a movie an R rating. Rather than just “bleep” them out (which would cause some issues with one of the narrators), I’m outright revising the lines.

This modification is actually going to affect some of the themes and implications, and the non-explicit version has a very real risk of implying something that’s actually opposite of what I want to convey, so the explicit ones will be the “author’s preferred edition”. However, I know some of you readers would rather have the option, and this series looks like a good fit for it. :-)

---

What do you think of my splitting the story into the two editions in one e-book? Does the series premise sound interesting to you?

Guest Post on Pronouns

Really! I wrote a post about pronouns for Jami Gold.

Ever wondered about the way “a” and “the” how to change your meaning, or ever wanted a quick way to check which one you need in a situation? Check out the post! ^_^

How’re y’all doing?

—Misti

And This Is Why Allergies Suck

A friend got me a bag of "exotic" root veggie chips, featuring taro, parsnip, sweet potato, and batata. No carrots or tomato or rice, and the listed oils are all ones I'm fine with—great! ^_^

So yesterday morning, while working, I grabbed the bag and started munching as a snack.

After one of each chip, I had a funny taste in my mouth…and I started having a faint urge to gag—which, in itself, is highly unusual. I'll have food poisoning or the stomach flu and not even feel an urge to.

I figured the batata didn't agree with me, but which chip was the batata? That purple-striped one was the taro…

After another round of chips, the roof of my mouth felt weird and tingly. No big deal. I get weird sensation issues pretty often, so…

The tingling moved down my throat, affecting my ability to swallow, and also hopped in my arms and started creeping up towards my chest. It felt as if the nerves or muscles were misfiring or something.

Well, crap, I thought. This isn't good.

I sought my Benedryl, a task made more difficult by the effort it was taking to move my arms and fingers. I couldn't find it in my purse, so I had to stumble over to the medicine basket and find it there.

Took a chew tab, which relieved what I was feeling in my throat and stopped the progression of whatever was up with my arms. Ate something, which seemed to keep me from crashing as hard. Ultimately took another chew tab. Crashed and slept…and slept…and woke up hungry, my cat curled up against my stomach.

I've eaten and slept again, since, and I'm still weak and crabby. The reaction was closest to my reaction to carrot, and it's been quite a while since I had taro, so I can't be sure if I reacted to the batata, parsnip, or taro. I hope it's the batata. I like the other two.

Allergies suck.

But there's no fugue, and I don't feel as ill as I usually do after a bad allergy incident. Progress! ^_^

How're y'all?

—Misti

New theology post over on other blog

Primarily some thoughts on how I Peter 3:7 is used to call women "the weaker vessel"—does the verse actually say that?

(Short answer: No.)

Check out the full post for more.

I'm hard at work on my various projects, including a forthcoming class: "Why Don't They Get It? what your writing teacher forgot to tell you".

How is everyone?

—Misti

Finding the Point of This Blog

This blog explicitly features my 2 pence about stuff, but the blog is about me as an author. Plus it’s hosted by Blogspot, so that has the potential to cause some issues if I use it to post certain pertinent-to-me-as-author-but-not-quite-about-authorship stuff I’m working on.

Sometimes, I just want to write an essay examining something, critiquing something, or just pointing something out. Like…what is the Biblical love that Christians are commanded to display towards others? I Corinthians 13 defines it, but what that chapter literally says and what folks say it means don’t always match up, plus there’s how words don’t mean quite the same thing across languages (or even generations), so it’s easy to assign or remove nuance that actually belongs in the word.

I finished the essay and want to post it and others I have in the works—some of which will be controversial in some circles for the sole reason that an unmarried female is writing them.

(There’s admittedly another essay or three in that thought.)

I have a knack for noticing elephants in the room that are best addressed but that folks don’t think to (or don’t want to) point out. This has proved true in…pretty much every job, field of expertise, and topic of study that I’ve explored. So I have to conclude that it’s a God-given skill.

Which means I really should be using it.

Due to various factors—including repeated scoffing and derision for being young, unmarried, and female, and someone who “nobody” would want to (or even should) listen to—I’ve often held my tongue.

I can hear some of you scoffing now. Nonetheless, I have restrained myself to when I’ve been explicitly encouraged to speak out or issues are so blatant I can’t ignore them.

And I’ve long had the uncomfortable feeling that God’s already answered my prayers that someone appropriate would point out the items I’ve noticed and I’m being recalcitrant. (It’s interesting that some of the accepted-by-the-righteous prophets and bearers of wisdom in Scripture are female—but that’s a topic for another essay, I think.)

It’s been a long time coming, but various things have coalesced into me finally accepting that I see what I see for a reason—and that reason isn’t to keep my mouth shut.

Posting my opinions and observations still feels weird. Even the recent post on the Paris attacks makes me uncomfortable, for reasons that boil down to: I know certain persons are reading this, and I know precisely how they’re responding. Because they’ve always wanted me to keep my mouth shut and stick to the shadows.

Even though I have always experienced more blessing when I stepped out and opened my “big fat” mouth.

What does all this mean?

It means I’m going to endeavor to keep piping up—and to say more—but this blog isn’t a good place for the sorts of things I’ll be addressing. This blog should be kept for stuff related to writing, and publishing, and being an author. That’s the purpose, and that makes sense.

And the essays are gonna appear over on http://blog.mistiwolanski.com, starting with “What Is the Biblical Love We Are to Display towards Others?”.

If you look up the word “love” in the dictionary, you’ll find definitions ranging from “A friendly form of address” to “A strong feeling of affection and sexual attraction for someone”—and that’s not including what it means in tennis (ref. Oxford Dictionaries).

Yet love is central to the Christian life, an integral part of the two commandments Christ gave to sum up the Ten Commandments:

²⁸And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? ²⁹And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: ³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. ³¹And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:28–31, KJV

According to this excerpt from Mark 12, Christians are to do everything out of these two precepts: 1. loving God above everything and 2. loving others in the way that we love ourselves. This is entirely consistent with what Jesus told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, as well as with the other Scriptural commands about Christian love, such as is found in Leviticus 19:18, John 13:34, Romans 12:10, and James 2:8.

Studies into these verses so often focus on what is meant by “neighbor”—on whom we are to love—rather than what we are to do: love. Love is also the first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22, suggesting it’s the first one that manifests in a believer, even before the rest of the list.

Keep reading over at blog.mistiwolanski.com.

I have plans for more essays along those lines, where yeah, it’s pertinent to life and therefore could go here, but…better not. Theological essays of 8k words might be enjoyed by some (or most) of you, but that doesn’t mean it belongs in the same web space as, say, thoughts on the viability and feasibility self-publishing. Which I should probably comment on.

But that’s all for another day.

How are you?

—Misti

Through the Lens of Hindsight: Some Thoughts on the November Attacks in France

Two months ago today, some horrible attacks were made in Paris. That week, I drafted this post, but I didn’t post it. Now at the two-month mark, with the new year and people looking forward and no longer thinking about the attacks, I’d like to share some thoughts and open a discussion.

First, the basics as I understand it:

November 13, 2015: ISIS lost their most visible member to an assassination. A few hours later, bombs and shootings killed dozens of people in France.

That night, the media and others were saying that the attacks weren’t ISIS, because it was too organized to be consistent with ISIS.

Um…

Even if you set aside the fact that ISIS later claimed credit for the attacks in Paris, that “inconsistent” claim doesn't hold water. ISIS erupted on the scene too stable and entrenched in order to be easily destroyed or sabotaged. That in itself indicates one or more leaders who are cognizant of both planning and politics.

Previous attacks citing ISIS have come from youth, who might have been overeager to get what they’ve been promised will be theirs if they sacrifice themselves for the cause…or they might have been encouraged or outright ordered to make spontaneous attacks to encourage the world to associate ISIS with that poor planning, to distract people and make ISIS seem less competent.

Letting or encouraging an enemy to underestimate you is a classic maneuver. And it’s far more consistent with how ISIS appeared “out of nowhere” than the belief that they’re disorganized is.

I find it notable that ISIS had one particular torturer be its most visible face, especially with how there’s precedent of assassination of such people. So ISIS had to be aware that the man would be targeted. The man himself probably knew he was targeted—and, considering his faith, would’ve seen death as a blessing and quite likely martyrdom.

Now that torturer has been assassinated. I hope someone else in the hierarchy was identified first, for further research/watching/investigation, but considering the man killed was a torturer, he was enough of a threat that the loss of potential information might’ve been deemed an acceptable loss.

But that man was someone that ISIS had to knew was a target.

Why is that significant?

The France attack seems to me to have been organized and pre-planned…to be carried out whenever that target was killed.

Okay, the plan might’ve been set specifically for two particular days, but the timing suggests otherwise. Right when the world was celebrating a victory over ISIS, that victory was soured by the news about France.

Whoever runs ISIS is organized and cunning. Whoever is handling the military intelligence and determining how various governments respond to ISIS needs wisdom and intelligence to evaluate it properly rather than jumping to assumptions. Lord willing, the media reports minimizing the intelligence behind ISIS are reflecting the public story and not assumptions being made by the pertinent intelligence agencies and investigators.

I expect ISIS will get worse, but something is always getting worse.

My prayers still go out to France, for the lives lost and injured. My prayers still go out to those trapped and victimized in ISIS territory or households.

But I also know that things like this are always happening, have always been happening, and it took it happening in the right country by the right enemy before it made the news like this particular event did.

So I don’t only pray for what I know. I also pray for what I don’t.

What about you? Now that you’ve had some time to think about it awhile, what are your thoughts on the Paris attack?

—Misti

Happy New Year! (2016)

And Here Comes 2016…

It’s been a tough but good year for me on many fronts, including writing.

One of the “tough but good” things has been figuring out gaps in certain things I know that were sabotaging me. For example, I’ve long called myself an editor, with my topmost editing service being a “tutoring edit”—despite more than one client telling me they learned more from one of my edits than they had from school. I’ve also long been aware of a core element of writing that many teachers skip, either assuming folks already know it or not realizing that it needs to be taught.

After years of teaching this one-on-one—and having to reassure each one “You are not alone!”—I’ve finally realized that a few things.

1. What I’ve been calling a “tutoring edit” is actually “coaching”.
2. I have more than enough material to create my own e-class.
3. Teaching a group at once would increase the value and encouragement for each student.

I actually like tutoring. I even did it as a kid, for my classmates and others—and not only one-on-one! So creating an e-class (or more, but I’ll be starting with one) is such a natural, obvious consequence of what I know that I can’t help but feel silly for not thinking of it sooner…but considering I had to first realize my “tutoring edit” was in fact “coaching”, I can’t blame myself for taking so long to figure it out.

So, one of the first things I’m doing this year is creating an e-class. Working title: Why Don’t They Get It? the secrets your writing teacher forgot to tell you.

And seriously, the core problem does tend to be that folks who know how to write outright forget to teach this—or don’t think to, because it’s so obvious once you know it that it’s easy to think it’s common sense; or don’t want to, because it’s not as easy to teach as mere grammar and spelling. If writing’s a fence, my class will address the posts.

Hint: Grammar and spelling are essentially whitewash and polish—they’re needed for something to look nice, but they don’t do much good if your fence is missing needed pieces.

This is not a “how to sell!” class.

This is a “What all that ‘How to sell your writing’ advice assumes you already know” class.

You probably need this class if…

• you think “perfect grammar and spelling” are all that’s needed to have “perfect writing”
• your readers often miss your point, and you can’t figure out why
• you think the reason readers miss your point is that you’re being poetic

All those things signal that some posts are missing in the fence of your writing. You can whitewash and polish up what’s there—and, depending on what’s missing, the result might work fine for what you want to do with the fence. If so, that’s great!

But if those parts are missing because you don’t know they’re missing, how can you put them back in when you need them?

Everyone has missing or weak points in their writing.

That’s part of being an imperfect human. Even the best writers and editors in the world are not exceptions to that—myself included.

That “those who can’t do, teach” thing is bullshit, by the way. You have to understand how something is done in order to be able to teach it well—but doing and teaching are two different skills, so not everyone who does something can teach that something. I know a lot about marketing and ways to help a series do well out the gate, but since I don’t actually use what I know, I’m not about to teach it!

And not everyone who can teach something outright wants to. Teaching how to do something gives others an opening to ridicule/dismiss you as having to teach because you can’t actually do that something, which is annoying and draining to deal with.

That said…

I don’t believe my regular commenters need this class.

You might benefit from some specific things, but I suspect you’ll find that the class essentially covers things you already know.

But if you want news about the class and first dibs when the class opens for enrollment, you can sign up for notifications now.

This class is my current “big” project.

To keep from overwhelming myself, I’m limiting myself to one “big” project and one “little” project for my current plans.

My little project? Getting back on the wagon with First Draft Fridays over on Wattpad.

If these two items prove straightforward enough for me to keep up with—and they should, especially since the class should become a “little” thing once it’s all put together—I have a few projects that I’ll be adding onto my plate, one at a time. (One of them will involve regular blog posts that I know my regular commenters would probably enjoy, in the vein of the “Idolization of Free Will” post I promised quite some time ago but have yet to deliver.)

But one thing I’m going to do?

And I may not wait until 2017 to review what’s in it! :-)

What big or little plans do you have for the new year?

—Misti

Merry Christmas (2015)!

What I'm Thankful For, 2015 Edition

Welp, it’s that time of year, again: the time when it’s standard to review what we’re thankful for.

• I’m thankful for God’s providence and provision. There have been so many events in my life where even a slightly different outcome could’ve resulted in me not being here, today.


• I’m thankful for the Internet and computers, because they let me work from home (and buy things) without having to go anywhere. When I leave the home, it’s to be social, not for some kind of work. I can curl up in my blankets and type away on the code for someone’s website, or edit for someone’s book, or text for someone’s ghostwritten story. I can also come up with my own projects. (I think y’all will like an essay I’m working on that’ll be showing up one of these weeks!)


• I’m thankful for all the folks who put the time and energy into keeping encouraging and educational resources available online, like BibleHub for Bibles and references. (For entrepreneurs, there’s Jeff Walker and Ramit Sethi and MarieTV; for writers, Carol Tice and Bamidele Onibalusi. I’m also finding Tai Lopez’s free calls fun.)


• I’m thankful that I’m making a lot of progress in recognizing and valuing my own expertise, to the point that I’ll be applying more of my skills to my own work, soon. (There’s a lot I’ve known but that I’ve been unable to apply to my own business, for various reasons. Some of which y’all can probably guess.)


• I’m thankful for the ability to cook without anyone sabotaging it, or anyone complaining about the expense of ingredients even when they didn’t purchase them. When I’m feeling down, I know I can make a quick bread or sauce or cookie, and I have half a dozen people who will light up at the opportunity to taste-test it. (Speaking of my cooking, I still have to get the back-end stuff set up for About That Herb to move servers, but in the meantime, check out my recipe for pie spice. I’ll soon be posting an easy way to cook—and use!—winter squash.)


• I’m thankful that eating more is clearing up several of my health quirks, like my cold intolerance and lightheadedness. (My mother eats less than I used to. I can’t help but wonder how much eating more would help her.)


• I’m thankful for the cooling weather (for what may be the first time in my life—I’ve always preferred heat). Interestingly, as it’s gotten cool and some pollens are no longer out, I’m needing less devil’s claw. Might be a correlation rather than causation, but it’s still something that I’m keeping in mind for when I pick where to travel to next.


• I’m thankful for my very affectionate, very sweet cat.


• I’m thankful for my friends, some of whom hang out in IM and remind me when mealtimes hit, since my hunger sensation is still missing more often than it’s present.


• I’m thankful for you, my readers and fans. I feel bad for leaving you hanging so much, but regardless of how long I go quiet, I know that I need to come back…and that, before I can come back on a long-term, regular basis, I have to first take care of myself. Thank you for understanding and for encouraging me to do that.

I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting right now, but it’s still lovely to be able to experience the season. I’m now off to make some sautéed escarole and beans!

What’re you thankful for? Have any thoughts to share on what I’m thankful for? :-)

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

—Misti

Wait—What's Up with My Legs?

There’s nothing like realizing something shouldn’t be normal to make you notice that your definition of “I’m doing great!” has problems.

Case in point: I am regularly ill in spring, as plants come back to life after the winter. (I’m allergic to grass, trees, flowers, shrubs, and cacti.) The allergies tax my body and my immune system, which means I get things like ear infections and the flu and similarly unpleasant issues.

And then, right when I’m recovering from that, strawberries* abound in the grocery stores.

For those who haven’t heard yet: I’m highly allergic to strawberries. And when I say “highly”, I mean “insanely”—and when I say “insanely”, I mean “walking past them in the grocery store can result in breathing difficulty”. Note to self: try living in a different climate.

This year has been no exception in that pattern of springtime allergies and illness. That pattern also brings with it more adrenal fatigue and such, from my messed-up endocrine system and other some things (the latter of which I’m sure most of y’all can guess correctly—and the rest of you can jump on that to reinforce whatever assumptions and misconceptions you like).

But my definition of “I’m feeling great!”?

“I can complete a housework task without needing any breaks, and I don’t feel exhausted afterwards or ill the next day!”

Don’t get me wrong—I’m still very happy when that happens, but it’s not as normal as it should be. I usually pause every so often, count my spoons, and try to figure out the balance between keeping enough spoons to last the day and using all spoons before they expire.

I also spent much of June homebound next to a HEPA filter, due to malfunctioning adrenal glands (and the resultant worsening of allergies) and intermittent tactile sensation in my legs (and the related difficulty keeping them warm).

The saddest thing? My legs’ issues started about two weeks before I realized what was wrong. I just had a sense of “I need to keep them warm.” I didn’t even process, “Wait, my legs aren’t feeling heat, cold, or air flow properly—and sometimes that’s affecting both of them, sometimes just one, sometimes the foot and leg and not the ankle, sometimes the front of the leg and not the back…” etc. I didn’t even process that it was happening sometimes to my arms, too.

I’ve seen a neurologist about tactile issues before, and from what she said, the weirdness to the sensation stuff means it’s probably hormonal; the irregularity fits how my “I’m cold” sensation likes to altogether vanish or return from time to time, but that’s my whole body. The “I’m cold” thing seems to have resolved with getting some pancreas treatment, so I guess insulin issues could be causing this, too. I know I have the insulin resistance that can lead to type II diabetes.

With how bad my allergies are and what I’m allergic to, going to the doctor can be dangerous for me. Even if I can get to the doctor’s office—which isn’t always possible; depends on what I’m exposed to on the way—the doctor’s non-latex gloves? Allergic to those. Tylenol? Allergic. Any scented air freshener or cleaner? Probably allergic. Since some of my other allergies have spontaneously worsened to strawberry levels (hopefully temporarily), I haven’t dared test to see if those other ones have stayed comparably benign, but I am adapting to allergens where I’m living and have been reacting less, in general (except for the kiwi I tried a few months ago, but I kind of expected that, since it’s on the “avoid me” list for more than one of my allergies).

And then there’s the fact that I’ve gone to doctors for odd sensation issues, before. I lost my “I’m cold” sensation for years before it came back, and I’ve even experienced loss of all tactile sensation before—from the dye used for a CT scan, which freaked the nurses out. (They kinda panicked. I just looked at them and pointed out that it was just the topmost level of sensation—my somatic sensation was unaffected—and was more odd than anything else. It came back in about 30 minutes.)

My leg thing has been more annoying than anything else, except…

I was also getting pain spiking through my legs, sometimes.

It was distracting at best—okay, so “at best” actually is that it’s character fodder for the future, but you get what I mean.

And to be honest, even with that leg thing, I was healthier and able to get more done, overall, than I was able to two years ago. Which says something about how ill I’ve been for years.

Acknowledging and accepting such things is the first step needed to work at improving them, though, and I started feeling much better emotionally, upon doing that.

That improved mood helped me also focus and evaluate on potential home remedies to help things. One thing I did was try devil’s claw, an herb that I bought a few years ago for my mother, who refused to take it, then made a tincture with more recently to see if it helped a friend who suspects she has arthritis. Well, ginger actually works better for that friend, but I figured that I could try the devil’s claw, myself, just to see if it did anything.

And both the pain and the tactile sensation issues with my legs (and arms) went away.

I do have to take the devil’s claw regularly, to keep the benefits, but the longer I take it, the better I feel even when it wears off—and the more I notice that other pains I hadn’t realized I’ve been living with are being assuaged when I’m taking that herb. I can only assume I’m experiencing the benefit of its anti-inflammatory effects, since that’s what it’s most known for. (It’s been found effective for some cases of osteoarthritis, for instance.)

Devil’s claw is also sometimes recommended by herbalists for a condition really hope I don’t have but that would fit many symptoms I’ve always thought of as myriad little things. (I pray I don’t have it. If I do, I should’ve been diagnosed as a child—but having it would explain a lot, including how I tend to feel worse if I take echinacea.)

Also, more and more sensations that I always thought of as “sickliness” are actually hunger, and I’m making progress in that mental redefinition.

In any event, it is what it is. I’m also better able to concentrate and get things done while on the devil’s claw, which could simply be a side effect of the pain reduction. (Hey, pain’s distracting. Especially when you’re experiencing twelve different types of pain from nine different spots on your body.)

Am I 100% pain-free? No. Am I experiencing far less pain than I have for the past however many years? Yes.

How are y’all doing?

—Misti

It Was the Weeks before Halloween…

And folks were lamenting the pending “demonween” and how the holiday was a testament to how far the culture had fallen from its Christian roots…

I’ve seriously been seeing and hearing these kinds of complaints, and they’re not uncommon in the circles I’ve grown up in (which has included more than just reformed presbyterianism).

I’m reminded of the looks and discouraging comments I would get when I first started admitting that I like gothic things, before I wised up to the facts that 1. folks often conflate gothic, Goth, and emo, and a brief history about the historical origins of gothic can clear that up (short version: rationalism said everything could be explained and discovered via human reason; the gothic arose as response to that, insisting "Um, no"); and 2. many Christians don’t seem to notice how someone who thinks about what happens after death is a bit easy to communicate with about such things than someone who doesn’t want to so much as think about how they’ll die someday.

But then, most people—Christians included—aren’t all that great with communication…but that’s something to discuss in another post.

For this post, my concern is that many Christians get caught up in the surface of Halloween and ignore the substance and the opportunities in it.

I can’t speak for much of the world, but in the US, Halloween is pretty much a celebration of creepy and candy, just as Easter is pretty much a celebration of cute and candy. The celebrations are about 6 months apart, too, so from a business marketing standpoint, the "candy!" push on both of them makes sense.

As for the “creepy”, the culture at large (and even inside the church) tends to avoid discussing or thinking about death and the supernatural, so of course it all gets turned into a joke for Halloween. That’s a basic defense mechanism. If something scares you, mock it and laugh at it (and, ideally, get others to laugh at it, too).

If something's silly and/or stupid, it isn’t dangerous—or so the illogic goes. And not infrequently ends up being “famous last words”.

Look, I get that people don’t want to be frightened or to think about demons and the witch of Endor and how Jesus had no issue with His disciples believing in (and being afraid of) ghosts [Matthew 14:25–27, Mark 6:47–50, Luke 24:36–43—and in that last case, He even gave explicit reasons He couldn’t be a ghost]. I get that people want to protect their children from fear.

But the Bible is freaking scary, y’all. You got everyone killed in a giant flood, people spontaneously being unable to understand their loved ones, and all sorts of murder and mayhem and spontaneously talking animals that the audiences respond to without apparently finding it weird that the animal is actually talking. (Don't ask me why, but I remember the story of Balaam’s ass being my favorite when I was about nine.)

And that’s just in the first few books! We haven’t even touched the torture or the suddenly-destroyed cities or the spontaneous deaths or the afterlife or the fact that there’s this fallen angel & co. out to get back at God, seeking to use us as tools.

Seriously, I can’t be the only one who gets creeped out by Job 1. As reassuring that it is that Satan had to ask God for permission for what he did to Job, there’s still the fact that there’s this manipulator out there actively trying to outmaneuver God. Doesn’t matter if God sees through it and can outmaneuver Satan each time. Satan’s still out there doing it!

So I really don’t get this Christian aversion to stuff that makes us uncomfortable. The aversion itself makes me uncomfortable, because if somebody can’t handle the world's sanitized, trussed-up, silly-fied version of reality, what does that say about how they treat the version of reality found in Scripture?

Some folks protest on the grounds of being bothered by the sanitization, trussing up, and silly-fication. But in my experience, that isn’t the argument that the vast majority of Christians make. Most protest because of the demons and witches and spirits and zombies.

Now, let’s back up a little. I don’t know much about how the rest of the world celebrates Halloween, but I do know that at least some cultures treat it as a day (or three) remembrance of those who have passed on. Loved ones, friends, people we respect, whatever. A time of remembrance.

Okay, and mockery to counter the fear of death, but Christians as a whole seem to miss the not-so-little point, there, of why people fear death.

You know, the entire life-to-come thing?

Halloween is the one time of year when the culture as a whole is consistently willing to think about and discuss death and what comes after it. They turn it into a joke, but that doesn’t mean we have to do the same. We can use that willingness to broach the topic and witness from there.

I’m familiar with four Christian responses to Halloween: embracing the current cultural rendition of it, ignoring it altogether, Reformation Day (which I’ve seen churches celebrate with costumes and candy) and Hell Houses like the Judgement House program.

Those who celebrate Reformation Day would generally claim more knowledge of Scripture and church history, yet it’s those who do the Hell Houses (and potentially break the second commandment in doing so) who are reaching out and actually witnessing effectively.

Those with “less” knowledge are responding to what’s actually going on better than those with “more” knowledge.

Those with “less” knowledge are communicating better (more effectively) than those with “more” knowledge.

That in itself suggests that something is fishy with one of those responses, if not both.

We’re human. Something will pretty much always be “off” about all exclusionary sides in a position. There are people for Christ, against Christ, and lukewarm about Him (who count against him [Revelation 3:16])…but start defining what makes folks qualify as which type of person, and things fast get messy, because folks like defining their practice of Christianity as the right way. [Watch the “wrong” movies? Read the “wrong” books? Have the “wrong” stance on a theological nonessential? (And which specific items are nonessential, anyway?) No matter what you watch, read, or believe, there are people out there who will use something in there to consider you for Christ, people who will consider you against Him, and people who will consider you lukewarm.]

It’s the weeks before Halloween, and maybe we Christians should be using that to remind ourselves that there’s more to life than the material…and that we should be speaking to others accordingly.

What are other Christian responses to Halloween that you’re familiar with? What are your thoughts on the holiday, how it’s celebrated, how it’s responded to?

—Misti

I'm Alive (and have a guest post)

Hi, all!

Sorry for the long silence (I'll probably have a blog post about that, one of these weeks or months, but I've at least partially adapted to allergens here), but I'm alive! (Those of you on my newsletter should have an e-mail in your inbox.)

Today I pipe up to announce that Jami Gold has hosted me on her blog: When Is a Good Editor Not Good for Your Story?

Also have some more announcements, such as two nonfiction books available for preorder on Amazon (and if you want them on another vendor, let me know, else they'll be Amazon-only for the first 90 days after release).

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Coming 10/13/15:
The 5 Pillars of Point of View
Special preorder price: $0.99!

Not sure how to develop your own "style"? Can't figure out why a lot of readers can't understand what your character's doing or why? Wondering how to make your story "deeper" or more poignant?

Point of view the way to go.

If you understand point of view, you can also intentionally write stories that use points of view that focus on your strengths as a writer and use less of your weak points.

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Coming 11/10/15:
Efficient Essay Writing
Special preorder price: $0.99!

Tired of spending so much time on your essays, muddling through the steps? This book gives you guidelines to help you organize the process and to figure out what works for you and your situation, rather than giving you some kind of road map that only works with a specific type of essay and teacher. It includes some worksheets designed to help you keep all you need for your essay in one place.

I can't promise this'll be out until November, but I am trying to get it to you sooner, so it'll help with this semester rather than next one.

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/announcements

Does nonfiction like this interest you? What's new with y'all?

—Misti

Happy Birthday to Me

A decade ago today, I was wrapping up my senior year of high school. The school had its good points, things I enjoyed about it, but by the end… Suffice to say that university was sooo much easier than high school, even when I consider the college semester when I had 7 classes or the two terms when I was having constant pain and/or nausea (gall bladder attacks).

A decade ago, plus or minus 8 months, was also when I finished the first edition of A Fistful of Fire, got my first short story published (in a now-defunct Christian sci-fi magazine…and I don't seem to have any copies of the story anymore), when I got started as a freelance writer and editor, and when I started teaching myself how to code websites. The day itself was when I started playing RuneScape, and it was somewhen around then when I saw the first Underworld movie, read Twilight and discovered the band Within Temptation (all thanks to a particular friend).

So now on this anniversary of my birth, I look at that past decade and consider what I want to do for the coming year, where I want to be in another 10 years.

First and foremost, I need to finish some things—like the last Wynne D'Arzon story and the Chronicles of Marsdenfel and the next few Destiny Walker novels…and all those newsletter short stories I'm behind on. I've started two of them, one more solidly than the other. (The story of Owen Brylee and how he ended up with a son—which may or may not be the way the child's mother leads Owen's sister to think…)

Ten years from now… Well, I have some goals, but let's see what God has in mind. :-)

Do you ever look back and see where you've been, or look forward and consider where you'd like to end up?

—Misti