Monthly Archives: February 2022

On Realms of Thought

I get asked questions as an author that suddenly make me very self-aware. When people ask me if I’ve started writing the sequel to Otherside: The Serenity, I’m always tempted to say yes — except when they ask this question, they want to know if I have a tangible copy written, with paper and letters formed by ink, and everything. What they don’t mean is, “Have you written the sequel in your mind?”

Contemplating existential complexities while staring at the ocean is the best kind of contemplating

I’ve been writing the second book in my head for a couple years now actually. It’s all there, abstract and kind of floating in space. I did put about 30,000-words on paper while I was in grad school, and much of that I intend to still use…but some of it will be scrapped entirely.

The thing about writing for me is that it’s very difficult for me to just sit down and start. I know people probably have this image in their mind of their favorite writer sitting diligently at a desk, pounding out the great novel, with a cigarette in their mouth and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s or something (and sometimes it probably looks like that). But more often it looks like me wandering around my house eating a cheese danish contemplating how to get from Point A to Point B in a way that makes sense and is emotionally satisfying, all while my kids run around me screaming and playing, and someone has flung a diaper into the air.

What writing looks like

I’m just kidding about the diaper….sort of.

But last night, I suddenly had the urge to sit down and write an official abstract of the second book. I started planning out the plot and structure of Otherside: The Betrayal. One of the major issues I’ve been having is how to write the book. With Otherside: The Serenity I had an original draft to work off of, one I’d written when I was 16, then later when I was in college, and then another draft after that. But the sequel is new territory. In addition, the tone is changing. With Otherside: The Serenity the emphasis was on loss and how to move on from that loss. With Otherside: The Betrayal, much time has passed, and that separation between Alanis’ previous life and her current circumstances is much more pronounced. It has to be. And so I’ve been contemplating how to make the reader feel that separation through structure and form in the writing. In the same way that I wanted the reader to feel slightly unsure and Dali-esque in the first book, I want them to feel the distance Alanis feels in the second.

Alanis has a lot ahead of her

I have a good feeling that the way I’m planning to write Otherside: The Betrayal will achieve this objective.

I am so looking forward to getting back to this world, and taking you with me for the ride.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on Amazon. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. Reviews of the book are MUCH appreciated, you can do so on Amazon, and Goodreads.

“Better To”, A Reflective Podcast Interview

Who else wore Converses as a teen?

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, what with having to create holiday magic in my home, being burned out from that, and then getting Covid for a little over a week (made it almost two years without getting it, yay me).

I’m in the process of planning a trip for myself where I pull a J.D Salinger and take off to the mountains for a week. I thought about writing the second book in the Otherside series, Otherside: The Betrayal at a coffee shop here in my hometown…but I am WAY too distractible lately, so I think my best bet is to just avoid all human contact for a week and crank out a crappy first draft.

Awhile back, I was interviewed on the ‘Better To…” podcast with D.M Needom, about my time at Naropa University and how that experience informed and influenced the style and content of Otherside: The Serenity.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to talk to D.M about Otherside: The Serenity. She asked me really great questions about the book, and the experience of being a Christian at a Buddhist-inspired university.

Click the image below and listen to the podcast episode

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on Amazon. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, and Goodreads.