Our Hunger Games Car and Writing with Minecraft

Happy Fall!

Can you believe it's already that time? Apple cider, fall leaves, pumpkins. Man, where did the year fly off to? 

LIFE STUFF

My fall flowers display that sits outside the front door

In a recent update, I mentioned our car woes. Well, we finally got Car 1 replaced with a new (used) one. Spoiler fin, leather seats, digital compass readout on the rear view mirror, etc. We were quite happy with Claire (she came with her name embroidered on the custom dash cover, heh). Five days later, Claire was already at the mechanic. Turns out there was a recall on that model for a power steering issue that resulted in these cars CATCHING FIRE. Since we aren't interested in being a title from the Hunger Games, we're back to Car 2 for a bit while that gets sorted out.

WRITING STUFF

If you saw last week's Monday post, An Open Letter to My Manuscript, you know that I have been doing some writing lately. Lone Wolves 7,  Disarming Cowboys, is approaching 85k. I'm still finishing the Big Finale sequence, and then all that's left is the last wrap-up chapter. There are touching moments in store for the end. This draft will be a whopper, not sure what to do about it. It'll need some heavy paring down before it can be submitted to the publisher. I can already tell that deciding what to cut will be tougher with this book than any I've ever written. Maybe because it's the grand finale to a series that's been near and dear to my heart. 


OTHER STUFF

My Minecraft lake house

My oldest and youngest daughters (32 and 10, respectively) recently got me into playing Minecraft. Although my oldest lives ten hours away, we've been "hanging out" together in her realm. She builds the greatest stuff! It's inspiring to see how creativity flourishes within others. And since world building is something writers do a lot of, it's been fun to go about that in a different, hands-on way. That sort of creativity has given the rest of my right brain a boost. Plus it's been a great supplement to my youngest's STEM education (STEM=Science/Technology/Engineering/Math). 

I used to build worlds in The Sims, and I used that to plot out settings and storylines for my book characters. One of my books, Bewitching Love, was first plotted out in great detail in The Sims 2 before I turned it into a novel. I thought about recreating Shay Falls in Minecraft and making it available as a downloadable world map. Either way, I'm wondering how my forays into building, mining, and zombie management will influence upcoming stories. :)

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On select Mondays, I like to gab about whatever's going on with me. For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.