Writer Wednesday: Announcing FREE and 99 Cent Morgan Wylie Books!

This Writer Wednesday I welcome back to the blog author Morgan Wylie. Morgan's new release, Fractured Darkness, is now available! And if you haven't already read the first two books in the series, you can snag the first one FREE and the second for only 99 cents! A true bargain. Click the Amazon links below to pick up your copies. 

Manic Monday: Lindsey Stirling fights Dragons

Isn't it amazing when you find music that you love? I love violin music and especially enjoy violin with a beat. I can't believe I just found Lindsey Stirling and now find myself hunting down her music in every format.

Those of you who follow the blog may know that I am also a gamer. My all-time favorite game is Dragon Age Inquisition. Dragons, mages and templars. What's not to love?

I just about had a nerdgasm when I found this video on YouTube that combines two of my current favorite things: Lindsey Stirling music and Dragon Age. Fighting a dragon with a violin bow made of flame - why not?!

Sci Fi Friday: A New Look at the Farside

Of all the strange things in the known universe, I find it truly odd that we see only one side of the moon. When I first heard that, I thought for sure it was some made-up BS.

But in fact it is true. While the moon orbits our beautiful blue, she never shows us her "dark side", keeping a part of herself forever secret (as all women of mystery do).

But thanks to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the lady's secrets are being revealed. We can now see the "far side" of the moon thanks to the lunar mapping.

While it is lovely of course, I must say I prefer the familiar face the moon we're used to. The far side, once revealed, lacks the pizazz of the "man in the moon" features.

Perhaps, as with a woman, the mystery was better before it was revealed …

What do you think?

Writer Wednesday: How Losing Your Virginity is Like Writing Your First Novel

"The Birthday"
by Marc Chagall, 1915

If you follow this blog, you know my fourth book, H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath was released in January (see more about that here). As I prepare to write my fifth novel, I am plagued with what has now become the familiar feeling of fear about the blank page. The worry of "can I do this" doesn't seem to go away no matter how many times I conquer the mountain of crafting a novel.

And lately there's an added feeling. At first it was a vague worry, but soon grew to outright fear.

Is the spark gone?

Is there such a thing as a well of creative energy that we draw from but which can run dry?

And that got me thinking about sex. I'll get back to the sex part in a minute, but first a bit more about writing.

While writing my first novel (Emily's House), I felt immersed in magic. Granted, Emily's House is about a girl with magical abilities and she goes to a mysterious other dimension and time travels and what not. It wasn't just the subject matter that was magical though.

The process itself was like falling into a rabbit hole. Frightful at first, yes. But oh how amazing as the mysteries were revealed. It felt like magic. I vividly recall sitting at my desk, writing feverishly, my fingers unable to keep up with my mind. It was as though I had been transported to a divine place called "Creativity", fueled by a meandering stream of the imagination.

While writing H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath (my fourth book), the dark hand of fear took hold of me. The writing was less feverish and more measured. Where was the feeling of divine "Creativity"? What happened to the meandering stream?

The process of writing was still pleasurable. In ways perhaps more so. I didn't stress so much about where to put things or if I was doing it right. I had experience to guide me.

Yet I had this nagging concern that because I did not feel the strange, mysterious upwelling of creative energy, the story was not going to be as good. Would the writing be flat?

But as I rewrote, revised, got feedback, rewrote again, revised, etc., I saw that I had, in fact, written my best novel yet. And my loyal readers agree with me. Their praise of my craft shows that my writing has gotten better, not worse.

And now what I promised. Talk of sex.

Writing a novel is like having sex.

You never forget your first time. The first time was likely awkward and fumbling. But memorable.

To a virgin, sex - like writing - is a mystery. You wonder about it, consider it. Think about it (a lot) and long for it. You imagine what it will be like (over and over again), picturing in your mind an amazing upwelling of passion that culminates in the most beautiful moment in your life.

Oh, the build up. The excruciating anticipation.

And then it happened and it was …

Nice. Or maybe just okay. For some, downright terrible.

But memorable. You always remember your first time. It was the time that the mysteries were revealed. 

The thing about first times? They only happen once.

But if sex was never as good - as pleasurable - as the first time, some may never do it again. Instead, sex gets better with experience, not worse. And better and better. So we keep doing it because it doesn't stop feeling good. The pleasure does not end after the initial mysteries are revealed. 

We discover more mysteries. It's no longer a meandering stream but a never-ending well of discovery.

The first time may be the most memorable, but practice makes perfect. For both writing and sex.

Did this article make you think about sex or writing? :-) Please feel free to share your thoughts but remember, this is a PG blog so please keep the comments clean.

Premier of the Video Trailer for H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath

Recently I posted a poll about whether or not readers paid attention to book trailers when interested in a book. The poll question was simple: "Do you view video trailers for books?" 

Interestingly, the poll came out in favor of book trailers. The final vote was 67% in favor of trailers to 33% who do not view trailers for books.

My ulterior motive for the poll was to help me decide whether or not to create a book trailer for my newest release, H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath. The majority rules! A book trailer has thus been created.

So without further ado, here is the trailer for H.A.L.F., created, produced and edited by yours truly. 

Make sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

How will I procrastinate writing the next book now that the trailer is done?! ;-)

Manic Monday: Sitting with Martin and Ray

Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury

It's Monday morning. It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and I'm thinking about freedom, as I usually do, but more on this day of the year than most others.

It's winter but not cold outside. I'm enjoying a cup of hot coffee anyway and reading while I eat my breakfast.

It's an older novel but one I recently felt compelled to pick up. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Have you read it?

I think I read it before, maybe when I was a teen.

If I had read it, I long forgot what it was about. My guess is it may have been a book that was assigned but that I didn't get around to. Possibly made up stuff for the test and, given my fairly immense ability to make up believable shit (hence my two professions - lawyer and writer), I got away with it.

I also guess that if I did read it, I did not appreciate it. Could not yet, at such a young age, have comprehended the ways in which a book written in the 1950's was prophetic of its future in a way that is eerie. Prescient. Scary.

I also suppose that if I read it, I did not appreciate Bradbury's poetic language. His ability to capture the mood of things with just a few words.

I keep going back to the first line: "It was a pleasure to burn."

That line is amazing. Simple. Perfect. 

Haunting.

That one line is followed by what may be, for me, one of the most perfect first paragraphs I've read recently in any book of any genre.

"It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning." ~Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

I love it. I'm jealous of it. I wish I had written it.

I put the book down and ponder how fucking incredible it is that I'm reading the book. That he wrote it. And that over 60 years later, he is speaking to me across time, across space, across generations. How he is fueling my mind and inspiring me.

We never met, yet …

Yet I feel in him a kindred spirit. One who, like myself, revels in the freedom to think. To question. To wonder. To dare to ask "What if?"

And to take that next step and write it down, then to share it with others, all the while not knowing if they will stand behind you and support your right to speak it or hunt you down like a mob with torches scorching your behind just because you dared to say it out loud.

After all these years, the scariest thing for people like us, Ray and I, is the possibility that the freedom to speak will be snuffed out, fueled by the kerosene of hate and fear, burned in the embers of the last cry of freedom.

H.A.L.F. Is HERE! New Sci Fi Book by Natalie Wright

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath
by Natalie Wright

What does it take to write a novel?

For my most recent novel, the stats are something like this:

Four years, three complete rewrites, four Moleskine notebooks, hundreds of cups of coffee, three content editors, six beta readers, several bottles of wine, two different covers, a gazillion Reese's cups, a trip to the Roswell museum of UFOs in New Mexico, and hundreds of hours with my butt glued to a chair, fingers virtually numb from typing.

There may be a few exaggerations in there, but it's mostly true. ;-)

But all the hours lead to this moment of Yay! Hooray! Booyah!

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath e-book is available for pre-order on Amazon. *raises a glass and drinks* If you'd like to order your Kindle copy, click the Amazon link, hit pre-order and boosh! It'll be delivered to your account on 1/29 when it releases.

And, for those of you that enjoy the feel of paper in your paws, the paperback is available now on CreateSpace and Amazon. I've even got a spiffy coupon code for CreateSpace. Just enter this coupon code for 25% Off. You're welcome ;-)

And what's this? A hardcover is coming you say?

Yep. Hardcover baby. The firm feel and weight of a hardcover will roll your way in early March.

It's time to party. To raise the roof. To bask in the glow of pulling that manuscript kicking and screaming into the world!

I really did have a blast writing H.A.L.F. It's the most fun book I've written so far and I hope that readers have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

I'd love to hear what you think. Reviews on Amazon are a plus. Dropping me a line or comments for bonus points.

Now time to get back to work. I have four more books to write in the H.A.L.F. series. :0

From the Back Cover:

H.A.L.F. 9 has taken his first breath of desert air and his first steps in the human world. Created to be a weapon, he proved too powerful for his makers, hidden from humans and sedated. But H.A.L.F. 9 has escaped the underground lab he called home, and the sedation has worn off. He has never been more alive. More powerful. Or more deadly.

Erika Holt longs to ride her motorcycle east until pavement gives way to shore. She bides her time until graduation when she’ll escape the trailer she shares with her alcoholic mother and memories of her dead father. But a typical night in the desert with friends thrusts Erika into a situation more dangerous than she ever imagined.

Circumstances push the two together, and each must make a fateful choice. Will Erika help H.A.L.F. 9 despite her “don’t get involved” rule? And will H.A.L.F. 9 let Erika live even though he was trained to kill?

The two may need to forget their rules and training if either is to survive the dangers of the deep beneath them.