Put on your space suits and buckle up...

RISING is coming (LORE DROP and a world building tip!)

On embracing my identity as a Catholic Author

I have a release coming this June. And I have to be honest with you, I am nervous about it. In addition to being my third book (which are notoriously difficult for writers), this one didn’t turn out like I expected. Don’t get me wrong here, I love Paige and Connor and their story.

What I didn’t expect, was the way I’d love writing flawed— but real — Catholic main characters. They go to Mass, go to confession, and order their lives around things like a Holy Day of Obligation that falls on a Tuesday. (If you’re Catholic, you know that the mid-week Holy Days are so joyful, but realistically, they always throw a wrench into schedules.)

This is not a preachy book. This is simply me writing characters who are Catholic. There are also characters who are Christian denominations that are not Catholic. In fact, a big setting of this story is at a Christian summer camp (in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior!) Despite all this, I’m nervous. This has faith themes, but is it enough to be considered Christian fiction? Is it too much for general market?

Whatever happens, I know one thing will remain true. It’s all about Him. I loved writing faith filled characters. I loved writing to encourage the person who is looking for love, who is searching for healing, who is seeking something greater than themselves. I wanted to write to show what is possible with God.

And that’s my why. Going forward, I will continue to include various faith themes into my books, because it’s all about Him. These themes might not be as obvious as they are in Superior Hearts: Summer Paige and Connor’s story, but they will be there.

I am so grateful to say that themes of the dignity of the human person, forgiveness, redemption, sacrifice, and true leadership exist in the For the Stars series as well.

RISING LORE DROP and WORLD BUILDING TIP

Book 2 in the For the Stars YA dystopian sci-fi trilogy is on its way back from proofreading…which means ARCs soon!

But while you wait for ARCs to be organized, I thought I’d give you a little lore drop.

When the original group of humans set on colonizing Mars left Earth, they brought seedling trees, seeds, and some agricultural animals with them.

These trees, seeds, and animals all play an important role in terraforming the Martian society. In particular, the trees serve as reminders of the Martian’s heritage.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

World Building Tip: Look for touchpoints that cross over from reality to fiction

Writing a futuristic dystopian society requires a lot of world building. Rising takes place on Mars, and I was thrilled to be able to explore what a colony on Mars would look like, but because there is no actual colony on Mars, I had to find touchpoints of things that are familiar to readers.

The trick is… these things that are familiar needed to be something that makes me excited.

Behold the mighty tree.

That might sound silly. But I love the sugar maple on my front lawn and have about a million pictures of it on my phone. (It has the prettiest orange leaves in the fall, and in the late winter, we tap it and make our own maple syrup.) So yes, it’s maybe a bit ridiculous to love trees, but the fact that I do love them, and that these are a touch point that everyone understands, made them PERFECT for world building purposes.

So, if you’re trying to world build in a non-contemporary setting, look around your environment for touchpoints that can cross over between the real and the fiction you’re writing.

Superior Hearts: Summer

My first ever romcom! Check out this excerpt below!

A man humiliated by a rejected Twilight themed proposal.

A woman struggling to find her worth and purpose.

A Christian leadership summer camp for preteens.

Danger, both real and imagined.

Healing and love on the shores of Lake Superior.

EXCERPT: April Fools is not for vampires. It’s a regular day that should not involve costumes. But my job as the part time phlebotomist at Dr Gartinen’s pediatric office required me to dress up. I don’t know if Dr. Gartinen wanted social media promo photos and thought ‘perfect opportunity!’ Or if he confused April Fools Day with Halloween. Either way, it was actually for the kids. So I did it. I hated it. But I did it, because it made the kids laugh when I drew their blood.

This is why at 5:17 pm on April 1st, I am walking down the street of Viewport, Michigan I’ve lived on for my entire life in a vampire outfit, complete with false teeth, and clutching an envelope of forms to my chest. My black cape swirls in the wind, and I kind of love the dramatic flair. But not enough to do this for fun anytime soon. LARPer, I am not.

The whole reason I’m still in this crazy getup after work is because Blaze, my now-eleven-year-old neighbor, who I’ve babysat for nine years, will get a kick out of it. Phlebotomist, vampire—ha. I thought I was clever too.

I’m on my way to give Blaze’s parents my application for working at their pre-teen leadership summer camp. Chet and Ember recently decided to reopen the camp as a way to give back to the Yooper community, and Blaze’s mom is the closest thing I have to a sister. So when I told her I felt stuck in my job, stuck in Viewport, and stuck in general, she told me to think about working at the camp for them as a ‘nurse’ and counselor. Ember gave me a stack of papers and told me the job was there if I wanted it’

Ember’s husband Chet can be intimidating, but what Ember says goes. His love for her means that, even if I’m not exactly what they envisioned for the position, I’m guaranteed the job.

I hated every moment of being in this stupid costume and now I feel stucker than ever. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I spent my lunch break in my car filling out these forms. I don’t want to take advantage of Ember’s kindness, but maybe this is an opportunity to do something different. I have to give them to her before I chicken out.

The snow has melted into puddles, and it’s misty. The wind has a bite to it that hints at winter weather. I wish I was wearing a hat, but a hat on top of a wig seemed overkill. I’ll have to ask Ember if we’re in the clear or if we’re projected to have any late winter snow storms. We usually get a few in April, with at least one in early May, but with where we’re situated right off the water of Lake Superior, the weather isn’t small talk. It’s life. And as a local meteorologist, Ember is somewhat of a celebrity, and everyone asks her about the weather. She never minds.

I dodge a puddle on the walkway of the O’Malley’s house, climb the porch steps, and knock. After watching Blaze for so many years, I have a special knock to let him know it’s me. We made it up together. Three sharp knocks followed by six taps of my palm against the door—we even have a rhythm because percussion is fun. I’ve just gotten to the second tap of my palm when the door is wrenched open and I pitch forward, false teeth and all, into the arms of…not Blaze.

These arms do not belong to anyone I know. They are muscular and covered in black long sleeves. I drag my eyes up the arms to a broad chest and discover this man is wearing a Henley. The top button is undone. My eyes skate up his neck, across a lightly stubbled jawline, and finally his head. He’s taller than me by at least six inches. He has dark brown hair curls in perfect coils sitting just above his shoulders, blue eyes, and lips curved into a deep frown. He’s wearing a backward baseball cap. I can’t. I don’t do interacting with attractive men. But this one looks like a dark-haired Heath Ledger in Ten Things I Hate About You, and goodness knows I have a LOT of notebooks filled with ridiculous fiction regarding that particular no-chance scenario. Since Heath left us, I haven’t found a new celebrity crush. But this guy—he could be it.

I straighten and step back, embarrassed at having fallen and begin apologizing profusely. The fatal flaw in that plan is that my stumble jarred my false teeth, and now my speech is unintelligible. I think I’m spitting. Great. Now I look like I have rabies.

“Thowy!” I say as I back away, unsure where to put my hands or what to do with my teeth.

Blaze runs around the corner. “PAIGE!” He gives me what can only be described as a bro high-five. He outgrew hugging me last year, and as his long-time babysitter, I definitely cried. Blaze looks from the man to me. The man glares at my head. “We’re learning about shipwrecks in school!” Then with a crinkled brow, he says, “You didn’t do our knock. I would have gotten it if I heard it.”

I sigh, then attempt to tell him that I was about to knock, but there’s a flaw here too. I can’t take my teeth out because where would I put them? Capes don’t come with pockets.

I choke on my own saliva. The man in black snakes his hand out and taps me on the back, attempting to clear my airway. My teeth go flying with the impact and land on the floor. My face reddens as both Blaze and the attractive man’s eyes follow the projectile teeth.

“Paige?” Blaze asks. “Why are you dressed like that?”

The mystery man scowls deeper.

“April fools!” I squeak, keeping my eyes on Blaze and trying to ignore the man’s disgust. “We… uh… dressed up at work, and I thought you’d like to see it. But that was a mistake, and these are for Ember, and if you could give them to your mom, I’d be really grateful. Ok. Byeee.” I thrust the envelope into Blaze’s hands and turn to leave. I hustle out of there and am already off the front porch when a deep voice calls out.

“Wait, Alice...” I turn around slowly even though Alice is not my name. The man in the black henley stands at the edge of the porch, his hand outstretched. He opens his palm and smirks at me. “You forgot your teeth.”

Humiliation burns in my throat as I trudge back to the porch. I grab the slimy teeth and stare at where his black joggers meet white socks. “Thanks,” I say before walking away as fast as I can without running.

^Will you be reading when this releases 6/20?

To rapid release or not to rapid release?

Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of rapid releasing a very big, very lengthy, very exciting series. (Like this series will have so many books… yay! and also, this series will have so many books…can I even write that much?)

Self-doubt, oh hello again. Actually, this isn’t so much self-doubt as it is questioning my sanity and ability to write so many books in a rapid fashion—all while still being a mother of five (and wife of one, can’t forget my husband.)

My hope for this VERY LENGTHY contemporary romantic comedy series is to rapid release, but I don’t know what rapid release will look like for me. It could be once a month, it could be every two months, or even once a quarter.

The downside of rapid releasing is that I would want to have books written in advance but would hold onto them until the cache of stories is ready. I’m not sure if I can handle keeping stories to myself when they’re ready for readers.

What do you think? Rapid release and hang onto stories that are ready for readers like a dragon hoarding treasure? Or send the books out as they’re ready?

As always, thanks for being here!

I can’t wait to hear what your thoughts are.

Olivia