Category: Sisters

It’s that Time of Year Again!

Posted on by in NaNoWriMo, Sisters

It’s that time of year again, folks! NaNoWriMo is back!

Last year I jumped in with vague impressions of a story and sank, but this year, I’ve got myself an outline, a plot, and an ending.

Sisters: Behind the Iron Eagle, take two!

I don’t know if the political climate is right for the original Sisters. I started it before a certain election. And despite the fact that I have disclaimers plastered everywhere, I am still wary about publishing it. I don’t want to give up entirely because I put a lot of research into it, and let me tell you, researching Evil in WWII will make your gut churn.

I understand why Philip K. Dick couldn’t bring himself to dive deep into the horrors and atrocities of the Third Reich for his unfinished sequel to The Man in the High Castle. From Wikipedia, The Man in the High Castle [book]:

Dick said that he had “started several times to write a sequel”, but progressed little, because he was too disturbed by his original research for The Man in the High Castle and could not mentally bear “to go back and read about Nazis again.”

Moving on from the dark and depressing…

Since there is a world of characters and places that already exist in my head that I’m not ready to toss into the Great Void yet, I started looking at other alternate endings to WWII, and Behind the Iron Eagle (BTIE) was born.

In BTIE, the allies dispersed after a grave disagreement over the handling of a defeated Germany. Only the Red Army remained as an occupying force in the end. Japan and the United States was at a stalemate, signing a non-aggression pact where Japan got Hawaii, and the US was awarded a lucrative manufacturing contract. Everything seemed to be going well after 1945 for the US and Japan. Their newly minted friendship created an economic boom.

But the great bear grew hungry. In 1955, the Soviet Union invaded the United States and defeated her.

The characters from Sisters return in BTIE. The People’s Republic of the United States is their way of life. They know nothing else, but is it a better life than the one we enjoy today?

Only time will tell as I trek through NaNoWriMo to write their journey!

If you are doing NaNoWriMo this year and would like to add me as a writing buddy, feel free!

Add Me! RlyehDreams

Snow Day: 5 Things I Did Last Wednesday

Posted on by in Sisters

Wednesday brought an unexpected snow day in my neck of the woods, so here are five things I did with the sudden surprise of free time!

1. I worked on Sisters

I finished rewriting the ending—this alternate universe story now has an alternate ending!

I’m still looking for a Beta Reader if anyone’s interested! Look at the goodies that are in store for you in this post: Call for Beta Readers

2.  I took in the waistline of a skirt I ordered online

Heaven forbid women’s’ sizing be consistent even within the same brand! The skirt is beautiful, and I’ll still buy from them, but I’m just a little disappointed that the comfort I had in buying the same size all the time is gone.

What is women’s’ sizing? We just don’t know.

3. I kept checking Twitter in hopes that there was a little announcement from the official HighCastleTV account regarding Season 3…

Hey, I had to include this because it’s true! I kept checking!

4. I started a painting

The mood fit, and I had nothing else to do, so I worked on a snow scene as it fell from the sky and blanketed the yard. It’s not finished yet. Who knows, there is a strong possibility of another snow day on Monday 😉

5. I caught up on Social Media: browsing, liking, following, commenting, and messages. 

A snow day was the perfect time to do some catch up!

What did you do on your last unexpected day off?

Call for Beta Readers!

Posted on by in Other Fiction, Sisters

I’m looking for 1 or 2 beta readers for Sisters. I can pay you in art!

Here’s the scoop!

What is a Beta Reader?
A beta reader is someone who reads a novel before it is published and provides feedback to the author (Did they enjoy it? Was it a good book? Were there any plot holes or inconsistencies?).

They do not do any editing or any technical work!

They read it as though they were someone who bought the book.

What I am Looking for
One or two mature, trustworthy people to beta read the novel who will provide feedback within a decent turnaround time (1 – 2 months).

If you’d like to get a feel for Sisters, I have the first few chapters on Wattpad.

I’ll be honest: the chapters get darker and darker, and I don’t know if I should continue posting them publicly without someone reading through the entire novel first (for now I’m putting the rest of the chapters on private).

Sisters Stats

  • 131 Word pages 
    • Not every page is a full page of text
  • 64,400 words
  • I’ll email it to you as a PDF (unless you prefer another format)

What’s in it for you!
Your choice of a customized digital drawing, a 9in by 7in colored pencil illustration, or peg doll!

I’ll cover the shipping costs if you pick the illustration or peg doll.

How to Contact Me
Message me on Facebook, Instagram, Wattpad, Twitter, or post a comment below.

July Update

Posted on by in Sisters

Sisters
I finished the first wave of revisions! I will get through this, gosh darn it. Now it’s time to go back and look at the story as a whole. There were some things I missed in the beginning—The early chapters had everyone sporting their universe’s version of the iPhone 6.

The year is 2002, and that is a big nope! They should be struggling with flip phones. I mean, back in the day, if you wanted to text an s, you had to hit that button four times!

I’m hoping that my zeal for editing the early chapters over and over again when I started the project will make this a lot easier. And no, I couldn’t hold onto that editing obsession as the story progressed. It was a great idea, but I grew too impatient and just wanted to write.

As I’ve stated before, when it comes to editing, I have the attention span of a gnat…even that is being too generous because there is my eternal battle with insomnia. If I didn’t get any sleep the night before, you can forget it. I have way too many instances of insomnia to revise as quickly as I’d like to (especially between work and my other duties). Insomnia sucks, and I wouldn’t wish this constant battle on anyone!

Here’s to the second round of editing and revisions!

Hashtag Update

Posted on by in High Castle, Sisters

I am happy to say that I’ve completed Sisters! *Sheds a tear* This story has been near and dear to my heart ever since I started writing it. And now comes the hard part…

Revision.

Let’s just say that I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to editing pages and pages of writing.  I’m pacing myself and doing it in increments, but the draw back to doing it in increments is time. If I let more than a week go by without cracking it open for an edit, I forget what’s going on (life has a funny way of shoving itself past your hobbies).

Here’s to chugging through the first round of revisions!

And because I can’t do a blog post without mentioning the Man in the High Castle…clever transition of topic because yeah!

I’ve migrated everything downstairs to my Project Grasshopper shelf. ♥ I’ve hung the alternate reality NYC painting I did (finally!) above it and started a sister painting for the Pacific States!

There are a few things I want to tweak and add to the shelf (especially for the Pacific States. Their poor section is completely bare even though they have a million dolls ♥ ). The Reich section is the exact opposite; they have the Smiths and Joe dolls, but they’ve got a lot of stuff.

I plan to paint a few more Reich dolls and get/make some Pacific-Japanese themed items in the near future.

As always follow me on Twitter and Instagram for my latest Sisters and High Castle stuff!