Creativity Brewing

I can’t breathe.
I buried my face into my mother’s shoulder. Her warmth gave me comfort, but the sounds outside the doors of my church chilled my blood. I could hear the chanting of the angry mob. I could smell the gasoline being thrown onto the building. A place of refuge against the horrors of hatred now became the crematory of the innocent.Smoke blackened the night sky, and the fires devoured all that was holy. My eyes watered. My flesh burned. I watched the figures of white cloaks lurk beyond the window, drinking in the sight of my brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers each succumbing to a death of hungry flames and unbridled hatred.
Is this a dream?I can’t breathe.
I grasped at the chains digging into my skin. My stomach lurched in rhythm to the mighty waves outside the ship. Death wafted all around me as my brothers lay in their own waste, one upon the other like a heap of rubbage. The strong hands of our captors hauled out the dead at my feet, mumbling under their breath about…

The sounds of the fracas were muffled against the panic swelling in her mind. The swarming mob surrounding her blurred into one motion as the captain punched in the code to the garbage chute. The space crew cornered her, pressing her into the small room, emptied clean since the last vacuum-drop. Despite the fact every noise on the space ship sounded like she was floating out there in the void, she could hear the jabs of their insults and the searing pain of their ridicule. She was the pariah of the ship. Somehow, her efforts for the sake of humanity were misconstrued as being crimes against humanity. And as such, her punishment was anything but lenient. The outrage snaked throughout the entire spacecraft, especially the Medical Bay. The chute doors closed in front of her, officially silencing the fray of the outcry that continued to rise opposite the glass panes. She placed a hand against the window, bracing herself as the sounds of a piercing alert reverberated against the bare chamber…

I walked through the halls of the hundred-year-old house, a living photograph of an era long since passed. I breathed in the dusty air, smelling the aroma of a century of life. Gran had lived in this house for all of her life, being born in a bedroom upstairs. I stepped into that very same room, coated in a film of neglect and dust. For the past several years, only the bottom level was inhabited.  Now, all life had been erased from its frames. I closed the door to a forgotten time and continued inspecting the house. The moving truck revved its engine and pulled out of the drive. I stared through the reading nook’s window tinted by the scum of time. Boxes filled the lawn, awaiting a clean house before finding their new home. I’d thought it would be an easy task, taking over the house. Gran instructed in her will that I take care of the estate: a gift for my future. But it now seemed like a burden, even with the half a million dollars appended to the stipulation of caring for the home. Lo…

Many people are curious how I became an indie author. Some ask because they want to join in on the fun; others are simply curious why I chose to self-publish rather than go the traditional route.
Before I really begin, let me define what it means to be an indie author. There are two categories that people generally fall into. An indie author is someone 1. who publishes through an independent publisher (small publishing house as opposed to mainstream houses like Penguin or MacMillan), and 2. who self-publishes through services like Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) or Ingram Spark.
I fall into the second category where I have self-published through KDP. It is a very easy process and anyone can do it! (Caveat: due to the easy access, there are thousands upon thousands of books. If you think your book is quality level, then in order to stand out from the rest I recommend spending hours and hours on your cover if you can’t afford to pay someone. Obviously proofread and edit your manuscr…

We were hunted for our spells. They accused us of using black magic; they torched our sisters for their involvement in witchcraft. Our flesh burnt while children and other villagers watched through the haze. We were monsters, deviants, devil-worshipers. We were the bane of the sanctity of our village. We were humanity’s last hope. Salem was a hallowed land, endowed by the auras of the ancient ones to protect the world from the dark void that threatened to devour all life. The void vacuumed the life from our sister planet, Mars, several centuries ago. Only we witches knew of the fate of the ancient world. We saw through the cosmos and mourned for Mars. We began practicing a holy art that would wrestle against the void. We sang enchantments beneath the full moon; we infused nature in our alchemy cauldrons. We sought to create, to nourish, to rejuvenate. We were the ambassadors to the sacred life that breathed in every part of Mother Earth. But the mortals of Salem were the first victims of …

I began my journey into the world of Indie Publishing only a couple months ago. I’ve been writing for a long while before then, but only just recently started challenging myself to really write and not just jot something down once every few months. These two instances go hand in hand and has inspired each other to keep me going. My procrastination level is nearing maximum and my self-doubt is just below that. But the motivation that I derive from self-publishing and people enjoying my work has encouraged me to write more often.
Thus, I do not have all the answer. I don’t even have most of them. But what I do have is some answers, and they are the ones that keep me on my toes and give me the grounds to learn new things. Whether you are a beginner just like me or have been at this for some time, I hope you can take something from my insight to help you better your marketing and writing game.

Make a To-Do List -- And Do Something!

Now, when I say to-do list, I am not necessarily referring t…