aurorawatcherak "I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
The latest book in Transformation Project – Gathering In – launches October 22. It’s the 5th book in the series about a small mid-western town that must cope when terrorists bomb distant cities and disrupt communications, transportation and supply lines. Already a self-sufficient people, the folks in Emmaus form their own disaster plan, dealing with challenges like protecting their livestock and themselves from radioactive rain, dealing with the breakdown of modern technology, and starting a war with the USDA to keep their crops from being confiscated. In the 4th book, Day’s End, they dealt with a smashed electrical grid, the fall of the big cities, and migrants on the move away from the encroaching winter.
So what more could I put these people through?
From the Prologue
It’s funny how your perspective on who is your neighbor can change when resources become scarce. Emmaus lucked out compared to most places after the Pulse. We were surrounded by corn. When we harvested all that belonged to us or the corporations abandoned, we had enough food to last until December or January. Or to feed half the five thousand residents who lived in the area until spring, when hopefully things might change for the better. Some families had more. The farmers had more. Most of them wanted something in return for sharing, which meant that shopkeepers, mayors and school teachers had to find something they could trade. Without electricity and with a lot of engines permanently stalled by the Pulse that most often meant labor.
Passersby, running from the cold northern winter that loomed – well, they weren’t welcome at all. Day after day, they pushed past our borders, now secured by electrified barbed wire and men and women carrying AR15s. It felt so wrong and yet there was no arguing with the fact those migrants represented starvation for us. It wasn’t our fault they hadn’t prepared for terrorist attacks. We hadn’t expected to either, but we’d grown the food so it was ours. We either secured our borders so we who were inside could live – maybe – or we didn’t, and we all starved.
In a world that had spun out of control, there were no good answers for how to live our increasingly fragile lives. Some reached out, others turned in, and some would make decisions with devastating results. And none of them were evil – not the migrants, not the townspeople — maybe the USDA.
JT Delaney
Gathering In is available for Pre-Order at $1.99 until October 21, but be aware the price increases by $2 after launch. If you’re interested in doing a review, however, contact me and we can work out a deal for an ARC — including the rest of the series if you haven’t read it yet.
My short “Redemption, Reformatted” has been accepted in this year’s Agorist Writers Workshop anthology “Fire and Faith”.
“Redemption, Reformatted” is a retelling of the Prodigal Son story, focusing on the voluntary nature of fulfilling obligations as a product of personal redemption.
Writing is something I can’t not do, so a lot of my process feels like breathing and breathing is usually pretty easy for most of us. Characters appear in my head , often while I’m doing something that has nothing to do with writing. There’s something about doing a big filing project, folding laundry, quilting and picking blueberries that makes my muse active. I don’t really think about it. Characters start talking in my head and I feel compelled to write down the stories they tell me. That doesn’t necessarily lead to a novel, but it often does.
I enjoy the first draft, that gravelly diamond-in-the-rough that just appears from beneath my fingers. And, I actually really enjoy the act of rewriting, of taking a rough story and improving it, pruning what isn’t necessary and adding what would enhance the tale.
And then we get to the critique and editing portion of the process. Submitting for critique is scary because you don’t know what people are going to think of your story and it’s just possibly that you’ll discover you’re crazy. I haven’t had that experience in submitting to sane people. I did have a Authonomy review by a notoriously cruel reviewer, but his (or her, that was always uncertain) review was so vitriolic that I didn’t mourn for long. I read what he had to say and considered the points, but I used my own judgment. He made The Willow Branch a better novel, but it surely wouldn’t have been published if I’d accepted his analysis whole-cloth.
That part is scary, but scary isn’t hard. Alaska’s a dangerous place and you enjoy it a whole lot more if you’re brave. Being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. I’ve lots of practice overcoming scary. Nowadays I ask for beta readers before I’ve even finished the rewrite.
I’d say the hardest part of my writing process is marketing. I’m not a naturally outgoing person and I’d prefer not to have to interact with people to sell books, but alas, I’m not independently wealthy so I have to market my books myself. It’s all the hours it takes and trying to balance that with time for family and writing. The good news is, based on the KENP reads, if people find my books and read the first one, they tend to read the whole series. I keep trying to find a sweet spot where the books more or less sell themselves with just some promotion, but I’m not there yet.
I’m all about doing hard things and not complaining about it. I believe it’s the key to success. So check out my author page and find your next series to love. I’ve got fantasy and apocalyptic, a political satire and anthologies. See how easy that was? Hard part taken care of.
Book 5 in Transformation Project “Gathering In” will be out sometime before the end of the year.
Too many young people are becoming addicted to drugs/alcohol. OYA is a community of parents and professionals sharing experiences, resources and hopes on the spectrum of addiction, treatment and recovery.
