The solitary life of an author....no, wait, just kidding,
the modern collaborative experience
We all know the stereotype of the solitary writers locking
themselves away for days and months at a time, because "ve need time alone
to create!"
And it's true, I have had to disconnect from the internet to
block out a few hours at a time. Even still, it's a pretty rare day I don't get
to spend at least an hour in the morning checking in with social media. Today's
technology has made it possible to be "alone with friends", or
"out in the faraway nearby", and for me, at least, it's opened me up
to collaborative opportunities all over the world with valued players helping
me all stages of the creative progress.
And so I wanted to take this space to thank and perhaps
enlighten people on how authors have learned the Garfield the Cat principle--to use their
friends wisely while producing creative collaborations not possible even a few
years ago.
Most Important in my mind is a peer author I met back in
2001, years before either of us were published. She lives in
Los Angeles, CA
on the other side of the country and to this day we've still never met. Through
the magic of email and initially from mutual interest in Star Wars and SF
author Kathy Tyers,
Debra
Holland and I started exchanging manuscripts and mutually line editing each
other's work. She taught me a lot about what I was doing wrong and I'd like to
think I gave her a pointer or two along the way. She continues to be an
invaluable editor on almost all of my works. Today she's a published author
through Montlake Romance and Penguin, and has some pretty incredible success
with self-publishing, too.
Years later, when I started building up readers, I learned
many fans can provide fabulous insight into your work, and I wanted to give a
huge shout-out to one: reader, fan and good friend Nikki Howard. She started
beta reading for me on Haunting Obsession, but proved herself the Most Valuable
Responder to my drafts of Virtual Blue. Her eclectic knowledge and enthusiasm
for the project helped bring the vision all together. She has also taken her
fandom that second mile on my behalf, such as drawing crowds to my author table
last year during the launch of Haunting Obsession with her
Maxine
Marie cosplay, then following it up with an enthusiastic
Haunting
Blue cosplay photo session!
Speaking of Cosplay...
What do you get when you combine a Cyndi Lauper fan from
Canada, a musician/composer from
England (and one-time co-writer and member of
Ms. Lauper's band), a 3D rendering artist from
Florida
and a video editor from
Kentucky?
You get my most ambitious collaborative project, the
Haunting Obsession book trailer,
with
Lily Monstermeat
as Maxine, images by Nell Williams, original and arranged music remixed by
Jan Pulsford, and Seventh Star guru
Stephen Zimmer assembling all the
parts!
There's so many more to mention, readers and fans that come
into your life, and friends who know things and are willing to help you with
various tasks.
Like my Florida
gaming buddy Nocole Rinaldi who writes poetry and was a former EMT. She
contributed both of these resources to the final version of Virtual Blue.
And how my first-fan, Monica Felver-Kellogg, the first
person to discover RJ Sullivan's online website when I was still an unpublished
author trying to find a deal. She's my most enthusiastic beta reader, and she
has STRONG OPINIONS!!!! about how Blue and Rebecca should act in my stories.
And she's usually right. (And yes, she expresses her opinions in all caps and
exclamation points) That's why Virtual Blue is dedicated to her.
The rest of these are somewhat official, but still need
mentioning.
Peer author and cover artist for the original edition of
Haunting Blue,
Ash Roland,
who also gave the novel an awesome critique just before I turned in the
manuscript.
Seventh Star artist
Bonnie Wasson, who
has captured my vision so perfectly. Seventh Star editor Amanda DeBord.
I could go on to list a plethora of peer authors and great
friends in the industry I would not have met if not for social media, but I
won't. Suffice it to say, a writer's life is not the angst-filled solitary
existence it used to be, even when you spend hours days at a time in an office
"by yourself."
Thanks to Azure Dwarf for hosting this entry of the Virtual
Blue tour!
This is one of those books that makes you squirm when you read it. It is entirely too believable and too
plausible. Sam Dryden finds himself
protecting a child he just met against odds that defy imagination. 
