Read Space/Time Travel - CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Here I am, minding my own business, doing my first discussion board post for an online course I'm taking, reading through some of my favorite blogs, and out of nowhere I discover there are reading challenges for specific types of books!

Even better, I find that writers I know and love are participating. And an author I know and love is the creator! AND it involves space *and* time travel books!

And I was thinking the only luck that I would see in 2022 would be that 41st bagel bite that came in the box of 40 I just bought for my kids. (Thanks, mom, for teaching my kids what bagel bites are.)

This is fantastic news!!!

I'm IN! Challenge accepted. Let's do this. I'm only ten days late. I have been reading a book already this year, but I do not think it counts. It is an anthology, but technically the stories I've read so far are not space or time-related. (But very science fiction.) I shall have to find another.

If reading about space and time travel is also your cup of tea, go sign up! You don't need to have a blog, but you will need a place to post your reviews. Perhaps on Goodreads? (If you don't have Goodreads, make that another challenge for you this year. It is a great place for readers!)

Use the image below to find out about the challenge and sign up!

Updates on my progress:

Complete:

Planned:

Oops, IWSG a little too late...

Now I'm in trouble, not just a day late and a dollar short, but two!

Happiest New Year to everyone. I hope you have a moment to take a deep breath and feel the biting chill of winter (or the golden heat of summer depending on your hemisphere). I hope you feel the world spinning and admire the changes of our beautiful planet as it turns through its cycle of life.

I hope you enjoy your favorite tea and hear birds or water or wind. And I hope you find that tiny fire inside you that keeps you in motion, that burns with the desire to create.

Apologies for my delayed participation and my continued absence from writing.

January 5 question - What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?

My only regret to date is that I often confuse my critical mind with my insecure, imposter-fearing mind. The two are so entangled that an attempt to make improvements quickly turns into self-doubt and even fear. I hope I am overcoming it by persevering.

I got to go home for the new year and see my family for the first time in over a year (or more). It felt good to be on familiar ground and to talk to familiar faces. My heart swelled to hear that someone was following my blog, reading my work, or even looking forward to some of my other stories being published. It was a renewal of passion for me. One cousin joked that he expected me to be a rocket scientist by now. What on Earth was I doing working at a childcare center? I laughed. I'd like to see a rocket scientist try to do my job! Perhaps I just developed another story... CHILDCARE IN SPACE! But honestly, I have too much interest in people and Earth. The closest I will ever get to a rocket is writing about one.

Thank you for stopping by, and thank you for your continued support. Your reading gives me a reason to continue writing. 

All the best!

The awesome co-hosts for the January 5 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, Olga Godim, Sandra Cox, Sarah Foster, and Chemist Ken!

As always, follow the link by clicking the badge below to view more writers' blogs.

Congratulations to all the Anthology Winners this year. I can't wait to read it!

Time to Come Back - I hope!

For some odd reason, I walk by my desk like I am a teenager trying to sneak into my parents' house at 3AM. Ever since I moved into this new house, and for some time before, I have been incapable of sitting down to work on my novel. I can count on one finger the number of times I sat down to write anything.

I don't think it is just the stress of the move or the ordinary family issues that come with middle age, marriage, and kids. It definitely is not depression, trust me, I have been there before, more than once. But what is it?

The past year, working on edits and rewriting has been such a challenge. Life, in general, is a challenge, but something else is wafting from this work in progress. Trying to work on it is like that time my mom tried to get me to eat fried okra. I cried and gagged and screamed and fought. It was so, so, so nasty. It tasted like it had spent a week molding in the kitchen sink and was growing the slime to prove it. Perhaps the worst part about this metaphor is that I now eat fried okra with very little trouble. One day, I will look back at this moment of writer's block and think how childish I was to be so resistant to the work that needed to be done. 

All the positive reinforcement and the kind words of others seem to do very little to budge this stubborn toddler inside me that refuses to get any work done. Unpacking boxes and mopping the kitchen floor is so much more fun. (Seriously, this is where I am.) 

Giving myself a one-hour timer doesn't work either. I just know I won't be able to accomplish anything in that short time, so why bother? (Sounds just like my 7-year-old son.) 

I also know I do not want to put this aside and try again later. So I rewatch old movies, bake diabetes in the kitchen, organize the chaos in our terrible new house, and slowly peek around the corner at my desk to see if it has noticed my absence. Will it give me a sign when it is ready for me to return? Will I know when I am ready? 

Gallons of tea, hundreds of sighs, and still nothing created. Time for something a little stronger. Maybe some margaritas and some yelling? Or, given the time of year, some homemade egg nog with Scotch Whiskey. (Miss you, Grandma!) Although I like it with bourbon, too. (Wish I could visit earlier, Gran!)

Let's do this! Big SIGH! Get that task list back out and take the next step forward. And if there are any steps back, I'll pretend I'm dancing. (I am one of those moms. I totally woke up my kids this morning by dancing outside their rooms with Elton John Christmas music playing on my phone. They love me.)

Today is the Winter Solstice. I hope we all see a little bit more light coming into our lives with each day. I will greet dark times as tunnels that must be traveled through. There is no reason to stay there for a vacation. Continue the journey. Find renewal.

Cover Reveal!! Zanzibar's Rings by Jemima Pett (December IWSG)

Well...I did it. 

No, not that. I did not finish my edits.

I hit rock bottom, completely dropped the metaphorical ball, lost all momentum...[hushed poof].

I may or may not get a mini panic attack every time I look at my laptop. If it weren't for this hop, I would not be on the thing right now. Actually, I have another really important reason for being here! I want to help reveal the success of another author! 

During my mental breakdown and chronic case of "editor's block," I had the pleasure of beta reading a fantastic Science Fiction novel by fellow IWSG Author, Jemima Pett.

I came to the work blind, having read none of the previous books in the series, but I was easily hooked and eagerly finished the tale. I can't wait to share a more formal review after the release date. But for now, you will just have to admire the cover and visit Jemima's website to pick up some copies of her earlier works.

Without further ado.....[drumroll]

Zanzibar’s Rings (Viridian System #3) A galactic crisis: the entire comms system destroyed. How will spaceships in flight get home? Dolores is stuck in warp with a very dangerous passenger, Pete gets his shuttle home on manual. How come anything in close contact with orichalcum fixes itself? Just flying through Zanzibar's Rings solves the problem, as the Federation's Fighters find, as they invade the Viridian System's settled planets. This is the final book in the Viridian System series.

Publication date: February 22nd, 2022, ebook and paperback

Pre-order from most of these places now!
Amazon ~~~ Apple iTunes ~~~ B&N (Nook) ~~~ Kobo ~~~ Scribd ~~~ Smashwords
Check out the other books in the series: The Perihelix, and Curved Space to Corsair.

About Jemima Pett
Jemima has been writing stories since she was eight and published The Princelings of the East in 2011. That led on to a ten-book series of the same name, written for older children (9 and up).

Jemima reckons she read all of the science fiction in her local library, and most likes alternative universes, time travel, consequences of social change, and unusual ideas surrounding alien species. Her favourite authors included Anne McCaffrey, Fritz Lieber, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke. These days she likes Becky Chambers, Lindsay Buroker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Clare O’Beara, M T McGuire, Jennifer Ellis… She also loves series – once involved with characters she loves to read their continuing adventures.

She has degrees or diplomas in maths, earth sciences and environmental technology and would most like everyone to use their natural resources sustainably, since we only have the one planet to support us.

Jemima’s ebooks are published by Princelings Publications through Amazon, Smashwords, iTunes, B&N, Kobo and more. Her paperbacks are distributed from Blurb by Ingrams.

Follow Jemima Pett on her blog – jemimapett.com – or on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

Monthly question:
In your writing, what stresses you the most? What delights you?

Feeling unaccomplished stresses me the most. Getting anything accomplished delights me.

The awesome co-hosts for the December 1 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Diane Burton, Louise – Fundy Blue, Natalie Aguirre, and Jacqui Murray!