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Love is in the Air |
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February 14th was Valentine's Day |
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February 2023 |
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Ramblings from a Time Traveler |
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Love is in the air.
In the new year and this episode:
- I don't always get it right... like the main feature of last month's newsletter. :::sigh::: I must have been really excited about the upcoming audiobook and my awesome friend. Double photos this month.
- The release of The Hunt is almost here!
- New season with a new trilogy (hint: arrrrgghh matey "We don't say 'argh'")
- Are my books romance? I'm not very romantic. But, I do have a lovely announcement about them below.
- Character development - newsletter series on developing characters for The Time Writer.
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I have a small request...
I would love to see an increase in reviews and ratings for The Time Writer Series.
Have you read any of my books? From The Cloak to The Notebook to The March to the upcoming The Hunt, I would love for you to take a moment and provide a review or rating.
Reviews help other readers find great books. I would immensely appreciate it if you left a review of the book. Ratings are fabulous! Reviews are better! You can leave a review or rating at the online retailer where you purchased (or in the case of Kindle Unlimited, borrowed) the book. And if you're feeling froggy, below are links to other locations where your opinion matters.
I've included links to The Notebook; however, you can easily navigate to the other books:
Amazon
BookBub
Goodreads
Barnes & Noble
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Special Announcement & Photo |
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Double bonus feature |
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I don't always get things correct. I'm willing to own up to my mistakes. In December and January, I featured the same photo. Boo! Hiss! How am I supposed to keep you up to date with my shenanigans if I keep showing you the same pictures with the same stories over and over? UGH! Get your act together, Crawford.
This month, I have a couple of photos to share with you. First one (above) is the garden into the backyard of the George Wythe House, which is the inspiration of Henry Spencer's house in The Time Writer series. At the end of the path, that is an amazing outdoor room. When you go inside the doorway and look up, it feels like someone took the bones of a ship and flipped it upside down in order to make the foundation of the room. At the end of The March, this is the location where everyone meets Kyle, or as we will learned his real name, Casper.
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The second photo I want to share is is the inside of the outdoor room. Yeah, yeah. I know my big head is in the way, but I couldn't find a picture of the inside without me in it. I would love to have an outdoor room like this to enjoy a meal with family and friends. Wait! Do you think there are bugs in all the bush and vines? I may need to rethink that request.
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Season 2 in The Time Writer Series |
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We don't say arrrgh |
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With The Time Writer and The Hunt releasing into the wild in a few weeks (No worries, I'll send you a reminder email or two before March 7th), I want to introduce you to the new trilogy, or Season 2.
We are hitting the high seas and the Golden Age of Piracy in the next trilogy. We revisit 1670s Scotland (from The Cloak) and will span over a longer period of time. We will have a lot of ground, or ocean, to cover. Quirky characters, teases about historical events and the politics of piracy, and of course Amelia.
Here are the titles and the proposed release dates: Season 2, Book 1: The Time Writer and The Escape, June 2023 S2, B2: The Chase, September 2023 S2, B3: The Surrender, December 2023
More information will be coming as the stories develop. I'm excited to take all of you across the ocean and back. We will hit some familiar names, along with events which occurred during that time. I'll also share the covers with you after I pry them away from the designer.
Start thinking about where you would like to head to next, along with the time period. I'm open to suggestions. Remember, I do research and read up on the time period, so the sooner you can recommend, the better. Email me and let me know!
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February 14th |
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Are The Time Writer books romance? Speaking of books... |
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February 14th is Valentine's Day, which led me (along with a comment from a couple of friends) to wonder if you consider these romance books? I mean... there is romance, because that is a part of life. However, I always thought of them as adventure or women's adventure, with time travel, and a snarky modern day Gen X protagonist. I wouldn't know ANYONE she could be based on... ahem. I jokingly say that my pickup line to my husband is saying "so," with a bit of an eyebrow waggle. He loves me anyway.
What do you think about the genre and romance? Do I give you enough romance in my books? Too much?
Speaking of books... I'm working with the designer for the covers of the next season, and it got me thinking. **A huge warning siren and lights should be going off right about now. It's dangerous when I use the words "It's got me thinking."** I think we are going to change the covers to the first season and prequel (Cloak, Notebook, March, and Hunt) after the Hunt comes out. I wanted to change it before, but he was about to reach through the computer and try to shake some sense into me. I don't have mock-ups yet, but keep an eye out for the new covers in April.
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Part 1 |
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The Anatomy of Character Development |
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Recently, I received a review and comment about Amelia’s brusque attitude, and it got me thinking about how we receive information put before us, the development of character, and how Amelia is presented to us. To keep The Chrononaut digestible and from becoming dissertations, I will present snippets on my thought process of Amelia over the course of the next few newsletters.
There are a couple of points I want to make before I start this series of my rambling thoughts:
- I know I’m not for everybody. There are millions of authors in the world writing and putting out books/blogs/articles, hoping to have a reader enjoy their stories. If my writing style is not for you and you don’t want to read any more of my books, no harm-no foul, we can both move on. If it’s not me, there is probably another author out there for you to appreciate and buy all their books. However, I know I love my characters, writing style, conviction, growth, and all my readers that want to go on this adventure with me. If you’re lukewarm about my stories, they may grow on you and you may become a fan. If you love my stories and stick around... oh, boy! We’re going to have some fun.
- Normally, I would/should not read reviews.
They are for readers to tell other readers their opinion of the book and what they got out of it, and not for me as the author. However, the same person had also made a comment elsewhere directly to me in the same line of thinking. That person’s thoughts on Amelia are valid for them, and I appreciate that they felt impassioned enough to leave a comment.
- Why am I sharing this here instead of directly with that reader? I'm not calling out the reader that shared their opinion (again, I completely appreciate it!) I think it’s informative to know why an author develops characters the way they do, and to dig into their brain a bit.
- Although I’m a lifetime reader, The Notebook
was my debut novel, and I continue to learn.
- Yes, I wrote The Cloak after I wrote The Notebook. I realized a couple of weeks before the release of The Notebook that I wanted a prequel to give to newsletter subscribers. I used ideas from The Time Writer and The Escape (the next “Season” or trilogy, releasing in June 2023), which I haven’t written, but have an overall idea with plot points brewing in my nugget.
- No, I haven’t written any novels under a different pen name.
- I’m complicated.
Now, on with the show…
Amelia is a late Gen Xer (born 1979). I made her a few years younger than me. I feel confident in her development, although not directly my experience, there are parallels to my life and my own personal development. In The Cloak, in modern time, she is not confident and struggles (and overpays) to get treated what she sees as fairly. As readers, we can see that she is internally screaming at the way she is brushed off. When she slips back in time, although she doesn’t realize she did, in order to survive, she can’t afford to be timid. She starts finding her confidence. When she returns to modern time, Todd (her husband and a person she trusts) tells her she “doesn’t work a room” after she tells the story of meeting the pirates… err… merchant sailors, and that it must be her imagination. She begins to doubt her experience and accepts that it must have been a dream. She has a peek at who she can become but is pulled back to her old ways and the way she is perceived by others. Regardless of her experience or memory, there is no such thing as time travel, right?
Since I started with a hefty intro, I’m snipping this a little short. Next month, we’ll dive into The Notebook. However, if you have thoughts on her in The Cloak, please send me an email and let me know your thoughts.
This is a good opportunity for me to invite you to leave a review or rating on The Cloak, The Notebook, or The March, if you haven’t done so already. I have links near the top of the newsletter. If you have left a star ranking or review, thank you so much!
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Inquiring minds want to know... |
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Share your thoughts |
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I'm always interested in knowing what my readers like to read. If you have a favorite time period or an event that you are interested in, I would love to know.
What time period or topic are you interested in reading? What sort of mayhem should we throw in Amelia and Henry's direction?
Email me and let me know!
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Adventures in reading, |
Alex
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