Today we have an interview with the author of Aeon Rises,

1. Tell us about your book.

Aeon Rises is my first attempt at a Young Adult science fiction novel. I have written scifi before, but not for this age group. This is the story of a teenager, Justin Madrid. He has always believed himself to be an average, nerdy outcast kid, living in Aurora, Colorado. The only problem is his extreme migraines ever time he tries to look at any sort of electronic video screen. That is until the day the aliens tried to kill him. That was the day everything changed everything. Now, the fate of all humanity rests in his hands.

2. When did you realize that you were a writer?

Being a writer came as a complete shock to me. After I retired from 35 years as a science teacher, I started helping my brother with a book he was writing. To pass the time, we started brainstorming ideas for a book I could write. After many false starts and re-writes, The Brin Archives trilogy became a thing.

3. Do you have any books coming out this year?

Just this week, September 10, my newest book, Aeon Rises is being released on Amazon. If I can get my act together I may have another short story ready for publication in a couple of months. Time will tell.

4. If readers are looking to connect with you, what’s the best way to do it?

Any of the following social media links will work just fine to connect with me. I would love to hear from some of my readers.

My Webpage: http://jimcroninscienceedutainer.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JimCroninScienceEdutainer/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjimcronin

 

5. What are you working on right now?

My current project is a series of short stories. In this collection, I hope to use science fiction and fantasy stories to teach actual science concepts. I believe this would be a much more interesting approach to introducing science to kids than to have them read a textbook, at least at first.

6. Tell us about submitting your book. What was that like for you?

Submitting my books is always a bit of mixed emotions. I am happy and proud of completing another novel and looking forward to seeing how it is received out in the world, but it is also a bit sad. I do miss talking with all the characters in my head when I have to move on to a new story. It actually was difficult to start something completely new after ending The Brin Archives trilogy. Those characters did not want to leave my head to make room for the new folks coming in.

7. What author would you say inspires you the most? 

Any of the old science fiction classic authors were my inspiration. I love Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, etc… Maybe someday I will develop some small fraction of their ability to weave a great tale. Don’t get me wrong, I think my work is good… those geniuses are simply several magnitudes above most everyone else.

8. Who is your current favorite author?

I currently don’t have anyone I would consider a real favorite. I read so many different genres and authors it is hard to say. I enjoy Jeff Shaara’s work tremendously, but I am mostly trying out a number of new authors, and finding some gems out there.

9. What was your first favorite book as a child?

As a very young child, anything Dr. Seuss were great, and there ws Mr. Pine’s Purple House. Then I found The Hardy Boys. During college, though, I fell in love with The Hobbit, and LOTR books. I have read each of tehm at least five times over the years.

10. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to when you first started writing?

Get a good editor ASAP. Don’t wait until you get several dozen rejections before deciding to have a professional look over your work. My editors have been invaluable for making my good stories great.

11. What would you consider the best thing you’ve ever done for your writing career.

I am not sure there is any one thing. I am still writing only part-time since I work three days a week at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and spend a lot of time with my grandkids. If anything, I would say I have always kept it fun. I don’t try to force the writing, I simply let it come when the muses strike.

12. What would you consider the most fulfilling moment you’ve experienced as a writer?

I guess that would be the first time I saw a review from someone I did not know. It suddenly hit me that there were others out there, complete strangers, who liked my work enough to let the world know how much they enjoyed it. That was special.

13. What book would you suggest to anyone who wants to write?

I don’t have books that work for me. Instead, I would recommend joining local author groups, or attend conferences and find authors willing to talk with you. There are many. Picking the brains of established writers helped me understand my own process better and gave me tons of new ideas.

I am a retired middle school science teacher, working part-time as an educator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I have been married for forty years to the love of my life. We raised two incredible sons, and now have four amazing grandchildren to spoil rotten.

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in Arlington, Virginia before moving to Denver where I attended High School and eventually college at Colorado State University, graduating with a degree in Zoology and a teacher certification. My wife and I currently live near Denver in the small town of Parker.

After writing The Brin Archives trilogy, I wanted to try my hand at reaching a new audience. The idea of a nerdy teenager with few friends suddenly learning the fate of all earth depends on him struck me as a fun scifi adventure.

Social Media Links:

My Webpage: http://jimcroninscienceedutainer.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JimCroninScienceEdutainer/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjimcronin

 

I’m coming to you with this a little early because I want you to have time to think about it.

In June, I wrote a blog post titled, If you’re not where you want to be this year. I wasn’t where I wanted to be, halfway through 2018. I figured I wasn’t the only one. So I wrote a long post explaining why it’s okay to not be where we thought we’d be in January. January is a liar with a pretty face. He promises you whatever you want to hear, just so he can be as cold as he wants.

I’ve been trying to write poetry. It’s going well.

While I was happy with how the post ended up, and I think it was what I at least needed to hear back then.

But now it’s the end of September, and I hope we’re all in a different place.

The problem is, most people are in a place of giving up this time of year. It’s almost the holidays, they figure. There’s no sense in really buckling down on anything now, I’ll just give it up. It’s better to wait for January to come around again and set some new goals for 2019.

Well, forget that! I’m not waiting until January, and you shouldn’t either. Do you want to be another sucker, letting January tell you that you’re gonna write that novel this year? Isn’t that the same lie he told you last year? Or are you going to march into that month with three months of progress in your hands and tell him where he can go?

Today I’m going to give you some actual, actionable things you can do right now to make progress towards your goals in 2018. It doesn’t matter if your goal is to finish your Goodreads goal, write a short story, make progress on your novel, or repaint your house. These things will help you get closer.

Be realistic

Notice that I didn’t say anything about completing a project in the next three months. You might be able to if your goal is to complete Nanowrimo or write a short story. But if you have a larger goal in mind, three months might be just too little time.

And that’s totally okay! Look, maybe you’re not going to reach the goals you made at the start of the year. That’s not really what we’re worried about right now. Our plan now is to make progress.

Map out what you can do in the next three months

This is my favorite part.

I want you to grab a piece of paper, and write down everything you already have going on in the next three months. Things you can’t really change or move. Your work schedule, family obligations. Things you’ve already planned and can’t or don’t want to get out of. Anything that’s going to take time and energy.

It’s important to know what sort of time you’ve got to work with before you can make any plans.

Now, take a hard look at the time you have to work with. What can you accomplish in the next three months? Write out a plan, month by month.

Set actionable first steps

Now that you have a good idea what your direction should be for the next three months, it’s time to take action.

Take a look at your goal, whatever it is, and figure out what the very first thing you have to do to meet that goal is.

Let’s say you want to write a short story. Well, your first goal is to come up with a story idea, but that’s not really actionable. So, you’d want to say, “I will free write for ten minutes, every day until I come up with a story idea. I will start today.”

Put on your calendar when you will complete these steps

Alright, you have a plan, and you have a goal. Now, put it all down on your planner or calendar. Give yourself a deadline, and make every effort to stick to it. If you plan to free write for ten minutes a day, put those ten minutes on your planner or in your bullet journal. I have a rule, if it’s not in my bullet journal, it’s not going to get done.

Every week, review your progress

Now that you have a plan, you’ve got to follow through on it. Check your progress every week, and set goals to reach closer to your goal.

For example, let’s say your goal is to repaint your house. Your first action might be to select a paint color, then purchase the supplies you need. Maybe next week you move all the furniture out of that room, then tape up the windows and baseboards. Now, you’re getting ready to make your to-do list for the week ahead. So you want to put, painting the base coat on your to-do list. (Mind you, I’ve never painted a room before in my life. I’m making these steps up. If you actually want to paint a room, please consult someone who knows what the hell they’re doing.)

Remember, the purpose of starting on your goals now is to make progress and start the good habits that will lead you into a successful next year.

So how about you? What are you working on, or starting on in the last quarter of the year? Let us know in the comments below!

Deciding To Start contains some of the best blog posts from the first two years of Paper Beats World, updated with new information and new insights. It covers such topics as inspiration to start writing, advice on the tools you need to get started, how to be a writer while also being a full time human being, and inspiration to keep going.

Get your copy now, or read it for free on Kindle Unlimited

It’s time for part four of our continuing series of Science Fiction Sub-Genres. If you’ve missed the other posts in the series, here are links to Part One, Part Two, and Part Three

Why are there so many science fiction sub-genres? Because they’re pretty different from each other, and everyone’s taste is different. It’s hard to say that a story about virtual reality belongs in the same category as a story about First Contact. While many of these sub-genres can be found blended together, it’s safe to say that any one of them is strong enough alone to tell a good story.

A lot of this information came from World Without Ends. Thank you again for being so awesome.

Mundane SF

Mundane Science Fiction is a pretty cool concept. It’s hard science fiction that takes place on Earth and doesn’t have anything to do with space. It also has believable science fiction for the time that it’s written.

Lots of science fiction is Mundane, including several things that we’ve discussed already. Some that we haven’t discussed are Air, by Geoff Ryman and The Beast with Nine Billion Feet by Anil Menon.

Nanotechnology

Any story that involves nanotechnology would fall into this subgenre. (Note, though I did use nanotech to a small degree in You Can’t trust the AI, I wouldn’t consider that in this subgenre. It was used to a much larger degree in Virus, which is a blend of zombie and nanotech.)

Some examples of the science fiction sub-genre are How it Was when the Past Went Away, by Robert Silverberg, and Peace on Earth by Stanislaw Lem.

Near Future

I love Near Future stories, they seem so within reach. This subgenre is full of stories that are in our future, but the future that we might actually live long enough to see.

The best example of this subgenre would be the second Back To The Future movie, that took place in the far distant year of 2015.

Pulp (Science) Fiction

I’m sure you’ve heard of pulp science fiction before. It’s basically trash, and I love it! Bad monsters, crappy dialog, women running around in bathing suits screaming. Not a shred of actual science to be seen. It’s terrible, insulting to our intelligence, and fan-freaking-tastic.

The best example of Pulp Science Fiction has to be Mars Attacks. It’s funny as hell, the special effects are terrible, and I never get tired of it.

Basically, Pulp Science Fiction is the deep fried Twinky of sci-fi.

Robots/Androids

I almost didn’t include this one, because it’s basically the AI subgenre, but specifically in robot or android form.

My favorite Android story is a little embarrassing to admit. But what the hell, I’ll go for it. As a teenager, I loved reading the Japanese manga Chobits.

There are a ton of great android stories, though. Once again, we’ve got to tip our hat to Asimov.

Science Fantasy

Ohthisismyfavoriteone!

Sorry, fangirl Nicole is done. I actually admin a Facebook group for Science Fantasy writer. I love this genre.

Science Fantasy is a blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy, combining magic and science in fascinating new ways. There are no limits to the cool things you can do with this genre.

The Golden Compass is probably the most popular Science Fantasy book, but I love the Dragon Riders of Pern, personally.

I hope you’ve been enjoying this tour of the many science fiction subgenres. Please join us next week for Part Five.

It’s another launch day! I honestly am thrilled by how often these are happening.

Today, Deciding To Start launches. It’s a little scary, because It’s the closest thing to an auto biography I’ve written yet. (That book is coming, but not for a while.)

Deciding To Start contains some of the best blog posts from the first two years of writing Paper Beats World, updated with new information and new insights. It covers such topics as inspiration to start writing, advice on the tools you need to get started, how to be a writer while also being a full time human being, and inspiration to keep going.

Here’s a link to grab your e-copy if you haven’t ordered it already.

I know I say this all the time, but I never feel like I can say it enough. Thank you all for your continuing support and love. Every time you share my work, buy a book, leave a review or like a post it means the world to me. I’ve had times where I never thought I’d be where I am now, but I am because of two things. The first is your support. The second is that I decided to start. (See what I did there?)

I know we’re pretty far away from Halloween still, but I thought I’d talk about something scary anyway. It’s a fear of all writers at all stages of their career.

This, my friends, is the fear of starting.

Starting, no lie is scary as hell. I’m scared every time I start a new series, even a new book. I’m scared every time I send something to an editor or publisher. Even when it’s Solstice, who’s accepted three of my short stories and three of my novels. (Click here to see my full list of published works.) I’m scared of every new beginning because beginning something new is a scary thing.

Of course, it’s not the starting that’s really scary. It’s the thought that we might fail in what we’ve started. And that fear has had the power to cripple better writers than me.

You would think, the number of books I’ve published, that this fear of starting would never come calling for me again. But it does, oh boy it does. Probably because I still get rejected. (That’s right. A published book helps, but it doesn’t open all doors.)

The thing I keep telling myself, over and over, is that rejection is nothing to be afraid of. I haven’t quite convinced myself of this, but I have at least decided to act like I believe it. And really, it comes out to the same. Rejection doesn’t hurt you one little, tiny bit. You lose absolutely nothing by having a piece of work rejected.

But what about the people who will criticize you for being rejected? Fuck them. #Sorrynotsorry. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never been criticized for failing by anyone who’s ever done a damn thing in their lives. It’s always some lazy git who’s too scared of starting. They don’t like that you’re braver than them, so forget them.

But what about all the time you’ll waste writing if you don’t succeed? Well, there’s a great quote by Earl Nightingale. “Don’t give up on a dream because of the time it will take. The time will pass anyway.” And let’s be honest, I enjoy the time I spend writing. I don’t write to get paid, I write to write. So it can never be a waste of time.

And let’s be fair, the worst anyone can say is no. If they say no, then it just means you submit somewhere else.

By the way, if you need more inspiration to begin, Deciding To Start is coming out on Friday. It’s full of inspirational essays for the beginning writer. I’ve pulled the best blog posts from the first two years of Paper Beats World to build an e-book that I hope will inspire you to let go of your fear and decide to start.

You can preorder it here now.

Welcome to part three of our overview of Science Fiction Subgenres. If you missed Part One, or Part Two, you can catch up now.

Why are there so many science fiction sub-genres? Because they’re pretty different from each other, and everyone’s taste is different. It’s hard to say that a story about virtual reality belongs in the same category as a story about First Contact. While many of these sub-genres can be found blended together, it’s safe to say that any one of them is strong enough alone to tell a good story.

Most of my research came from a site called World Without Ends. A huge thanks to them, for being so crazy thorough when listing sub-genres.

Hard SF

Okay, I don’t hate any subgenre. A genre is like a dog, most of its defaults can be blamed on its owner. Books are the same. The defaults are because of the writer, not the genre.

At the same time, sometimes people pick the wrong breed of dog for their lifestyle. I am not a good owner for a husky or collie, because these are high energy dogs that require honest to goodness jobs to be happy. Likewise, some writers are writing genres that they are not equipped to write. For me, one of those genres is Hard SF. For a lot of people, one of those genres is Hard SF.

This Science Fiction Subgenre is based on actual, hard science. Good science that can be explained and holds up under peer review. Issac Asimov is someone who writes Hard SF and writes it well.

The problem is that most people who write Hard SF and get the science right are actual scientists or engineers. There’s a woman in my Science Fantasy group online who does hold several degrees. She is totally qualified to write Hard SF, and she does so well.

But sometimes being a smart scientist doesn’t mean you’re a creative or entertaining writer. So, we end up with a lot of stories that have great science, but not great stories.

Some examples of Hard SF done well are Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson and A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke

Human Development

The Human Development Science Fiction Subgenre is another that is pretty self-explanatory, and another that is fairly common to see combined with other genres. It’s all about how we, as humans, are developing and what we might develop into.

Some examples of the Human Development Subgenre are Warhorse by Blake Henriques and Heirs of Earth, by the same author.

Immortality

Who hasn’t dreamed of being immortal? Never aging, never getting sick. Seeing unimagined futures. Well, I actually don’t think that sounds great. I think living forever sounds like a nightmare march of loneliness, watching person after person I love die.

That’s mostly because I’ve read too much Immortality Science Fiction Sub Genre.

My favorite example and one that a lot of people might not think of as science fiction is Tuck Everlasting. Yes, the family was given immortality by water they drank from a spring. But a lot of science is based on nature.

Light/Humorous

Another Science Fiction Sub Genre that is almost always blended with others is light, or humorous. I don’t think I need to go into that much detail. It’s funny. It’s science fiction that’s written to be comedic.

My favorite example of this is Space Balls, by Mel Brooks. I can’t think of a good example of a book for this sub-genre, but if you know one please leave it in the comments below.

Military SF

Fun fact, Military Science Fiction is the most popular and best-selling genre right now. So, if you enjoy Military Science Fiction, now is your time to shine.

This sub-genre is fairly straightforward. Stories about war and the military, in a science fiction setting. One of my favorite examples is Starship Troopers, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Heinlein.

Mind Uploading

I bet you don’t think you know a story about mind uploading unless you read a ton of Science Fiction. I bet you’re also wrong because there was a stupidly popular movie based on Mind Uploading.

Avatar.

The Mind Uploading subgenre is an exciting one, that’s on my list to explore. I was fascinated by the theory in Dollhouse, too.

Put simply, this sub-genre is all about uploading a mind into a different body. Maybe it’s human, maybe it’s alien, maybe it’s animal. The important thing is that the brain in question is no longer in its original packaging.

I hope you’re enjoying our review of the many, many different Science Fiction Sub-Genres. Join us next week for Part Four.

Happy Labor Day! Actually, forget that. Labor Day is fine and all, but what I’m really looking forward to is tomorrow.

Because even if Summer technically lasts until the 22^nd, I’m going to honor the unofficial start of Fall tomorrow.

I love Fall, every single thing about it. I’ve had this big heavy pink scarf I’ve been waiting to wear. Actually, I have a huge collection of scarves, because they’re easy to make and I love them. And they’ve been sadly ignored all Spring and Summer. But their time to shine is coming soon. I love the flavors of Fall, the cinnamon, cloves and ginger that everyone is actually appreciating in a pumpkin spiced latte. I love the smells of Fall, the leaves, the apples, even the smell of the heater coming on after a long Summer. In the Fall, I feel most alive, most vibrant. I feel like my true and authentic self.

The huge amount of stationary on sale this time of year doesn’t hurt.

I know that there are many of you cussing me out right now. I’m basically dancing on the grave of the most popular season in America. Well, I have news for you, I don’t care. I am celebrating Fall, and you should be celebrating too.

I’m assuming that if you’re on Paper Beats World, you’re kind of into books. In fact, I hope you’re insane about books. I hope you have book launch days marked on your calendar, don’t go anywhere without something to read, actually participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I hope you’re that kind of reader because that’s who I’m writing for. And if you are that kind of reader, I have news for you.

Fall is made for books.

It is the season for stories, and I can prove it. For one thing, the Summer Blockbuster season is over, so we’re not going to movies as much. I do love movies, and that’s one of my favorite things about Summer. But now I’ve seen all that I really want to see. (Actually, I still want to see Christopher Robin and Slenderman.) Instead, I’m spending more nights chilling on the couch with kettle corn and my Kindle.

Actually, most of my outdoor activities get replaced with staying in and reading in the Fall. I probably get through more books this time of year than any other time. I also get more writing done, of course.

Honestly, everything about Fall is intended to make reading and writing the most pleasurable pursuits you can imagine. Consider a coffee shop in an Autumn storm, with the warmth and glowing lights inside. Everyone’s snug in sweaters and cozy jackets. Leather boots and soft knit scarves abound. The smell of coffee lingers in the air, and everyone is more inclined to linger over another cup. It’s all made so much better by the chill of outdoors, and the gratitude that comes from not being out there.

I mentioned that everyone is willing to linger this time of year. That’s good because in the coming months there might be little time to linger. The holidays are coming, and for most people, that means a lot of extra work added to already crammed full schedules. NaNoWriMo is also coming, and I know that’s going to take up a lot of my time. Then there’s weatherizing the house, and trying to finish up some projects before the year is done.

What I’m saying is, the quiet is not going to last, much like the pumpkin spice lattes we all love so much. So, we’ve got to savor both the season and the flavor while we can.

With all of this, I can definitely see why we chose this month for Banned Book Week. (Week? Didn’t this use to be a month-long event?)

I love this event, and every year I accept the challenge to read banned books. This year I’ll be reading Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury and Harriet The Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh.

I hope that you take advantage of Fall while it’s here. Please let us know in the comments below what books you’ll be reading for Banned Books Week.

 

Today marks the fourth-year anniversary of Paper Beats World. Four years ago, way back in 2014, I posted my first blog post, I am a writer. I’ve kept right on posting ever since.

In four years, I haven’t made any money from Paper Beats World. Hell, I haven’t made any money from writing in general. I’ve actually lost money.

I’ve posted 727 posts, averaging two posts a week. For a while, I was writing three posts a week, but that was too much. We’ve gone through a few different themes and designs, and I might yet change the theme a few more times.

I’ve published 3 physical books in the last four years, and 9 books total if we count all the novellas and short story collections. And I am.

• Broken Patterns (The story that started it all.)
• Starting Chains
• Seeming
• You Can’t Trust The AI
• Virus
• Days and Other Stories
• Spook
• Man In The Woods
• AA

There have definitely been some growing pains. I’ve gone from 1 to 2 views a day to hundreds, and that’s been so humbling. I am so thankful to all of you who visit the site, and I hope that you get as much out of this as I do.

In four years, my personal life has also changed dramatically. I’ve moved twice, from a crappy apartment to a crappy house to now living with my mother in law for a while. I’ve gone from a shitty job managing a shoe store to working for a company that I respect. I love everyone I work with at my day job, and I wish I could name you all here. But I try to keep a shield between this blog and the job, so I can’t. You know who you are, and I appreciate you all so much.

I got a dog, which I swore I’d never do. I also changed my last name about two and a half years ago, when I married my best friend and my partner for the rest of my life.

I’ve made some wonderful friends in this writing business, through my Science Fantasy group to my fellow Solstice writers. These wonderful people, who I’ve never met in real life, have enriched my life so much. They are exceptional authors and people, and I’m honored to know them.

Writing this blog has given me the courage to do so many things that I don’t know if I would have done otherwise. It’s kept me accountable and given me the opportunity to share my journey with all of you. It’s brightened my day in the darkest of times and given me joy in boring moments. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for everything you’ve all given me with your likes, shares, and support.

But no, I haven’t made anything as common as money.

If I could ask a favor of all of you, I’m trying to make Paper Beats World better. To that end, I’ve made a little survey that I would really appriciate you taking. It’s not long, and shouldn’t take more than a minute or two of your time. Here’s a link.

And, of course, I have a present for all of you. It’s a free Station 86 Wallpaper, which you can download below. Thank you for a wonderful four years, and here’s to many, many more.

I wrote Cloudy Rainbow, my paranormal romance, in 2007 after my 15-year-old cat passed away. I named the cat character in the book after Floppy and even included some of his real-life adventures in it. Although I’d published articles in pet magazines and a short mystery in an anthology prior to this, I’d never published a full-length book before. Since self-publishing was becoming popular at the time, my husband suggested that I go that route. I invested some money and sent the manuscript to Booklocker.com, a reliable self-publishing company that was referred to me by another author. I worked with this company to produce the book, and it was published in 2008. The library where I work purchased a copy and a few others, but it didn’t sell very well because I had no idea how to market my work and didn’t have much time to do it because I had a young daughter and was working full-time. That would’ve been the end of this book and my writing career had not a library patron who read the book encouraged me to continue writing.

Fast forward to 2015 when I finally took her advice. It was that year that I published the first book of my Cobble Cove mystery series, A Stone’s Throw, with a small publisher. I’ve changed publishers since then and am currently working on the 4^th book of this series. My current publisher, Solstice Publishing, reprinted A Stone’s Throw in 2016 and just reprinted Cloudy Rainbow. The reprints, of course, include fresh edits, a new cover, and some updates to the story. I had no idea that, after ten years, my writing had improved so much. While I enjoyed re-reading the plot of my first published novel, I found that it needed a lot of polishing. During the final stages of editing, my mother passed away. I notified Solstice that I wanted to add her to the dedication. She was very proud of my writing and especially of my first book. Also, the book deals with loss. As it helped me get over losing Floppy when I first wrote it, it helped again to ease some of the pain of my mom’s death.

Cloudy Rainbow will always be a special book to me. Not only does it feature my beloved cat, but it goes back to the time I worked as secretary and Features Editor in college on the C.W. Post Pioneer newspaper. In addition, it includes a virtual world similar to Second Life. I had become involved in Second Life in 2006 to meet fellow librarians around the world who participated in it. After Floppy died, I created and still maintain a virtual pet memorial center in SL called Rainbow Gardens where I display photos of real-life pets that people have lost. Both Floppy and my cat Oliver who died last November are featured there.

Cloudy Rainbow wasn’t the only story I’ve written about loss. The Path to Rainbow Bridge, a short story available only as an eBook, won a Certificate of Excellence from the Cat Writers Association this past summer.

Although I’ve made a few changes to Cloudy Rainbow, the blurb remains the same except that I consider it a 10^th anniversary edition. I think that some of the themes I approach in the book, although the characters and happenings are fictional, touch on universal questions most of us have about life and death. Without bringing up religious beliefs, I believe a line from the blurb is significant: “When you lose a loved one, whether it’s a relative, friend, or precious pet, you wonder where that special soul has gone and if you will ever see him or her again.”

Thanks to my fellow Solstice author Nicole Luttrell for giving me the opportunity to share the story behind Cloudy Rainbow.

Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a reference librarian at a public library on Long Island. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters-in-Crime, the Long Island Authors Group, and the Cat Writer’s Association. She has a BA in English and an MLS in Library Science from Long Island University. Her novels include the three books of the Cobble Cove cozy mystery series published by Solstice Publishing: A Stone’s Throw, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and Written in Stone. Debbie has also published a romantic comedy novella featuring a jewel heist caper, When Jack Trumps Ace, a standalone mystery, Reason to Die, and has written articles and short stories for several anthologies of various genres. She lives on Long Island with her husband Anthony; daughter Holly; and Cat Stripey.

If you want to check out Debbie’s books, click here!

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So, I was reading another blog the other day. Note that I’m not giving you a link. I only give links to blogs I think you should actually read.

This blog was by a woman with a husband, small son, and a work from home job. Good for her, that’s a handful. I wanted to see how she managed her day.

That’s when she told me that she got up at 4:00 AM to practice what she referred to as self-care. I have a problem with her definition of self-care, but we’ll get to it.

She was getting up at that hour so that she could do a crazy number of things including working out, writing in her journal, and a million other things! Someone who loves this woman needs to sit her down and explain to her that self-care isn’t supposed to be another impossibly high bar we set for ourselves. But she’s not the only one I’ve seen doing this crap. The internet is full of people (mostly women), who are bragging about fitting a stupid amount of activities that could be considered self-care in stupid times of their days.

I wish I could cradle your face in my hands while I tell you this; these people are missing the point of self-care. They are not taking care of themselves, they are showing off.

In case you saw one of these people posting pics of their 5:00 AM work out and now feel pressured to do the same, or if you are one of these people pushing yourself to do more and more, please let me give you some pieces of advice.

Be realistic about how much self-care you really need.

My life has dramatically changed recently, so self-care has been essential to me. I actually wrote a list in my bullet journal, to keep myself accountable. I’ll share my list with you. Yours might look similar to mine, or it might look very different. That’s okay, we all need different kinds of care.

• Make and keep doctor, dentist and therapist appointments.
• Keep my home in order to my level of comfort.
• My face care regiment.
• Ten minutes of yoga in the morning.
• Drink water every day.
• Wear clothes that I enjoy and feel comfortable in.
• Take one day off a week.
• Journal at night before bed.
• Honor my craft by writing every day.
• Read every day.
• Get enough sleep.

I’m not spending hours with an inner journey journal. I’m not working out for an hour or more a day. I’m not doing a bunch of crap that I don’t really enjoy or find value in because someone told me I need to ‘take care of myself’. I consider what I really need to do to take care of myself and do that.

The next time you think you should do something for self-care, ask yourself this; Will this really take care of me? Or is it just something that seems like I should be doing it?

Set honest boundaries with your work.

One big thing that upset me with the blog that inspired this post was the realization that this woman was working from 9:00 to 7:00. That’s way too much work, Girl! For real, work smarter, not harder.

One thing I didn’t add on my list because it’s not really an actionable item, is setting boundaries with my work. I try not to work a lot of overtime if I can help it. Sometimes I have to, but I really try not to. Overtime is hard for me and takes away time I could be spending with my family or with my writing.

Now, I get that the economy blows and it’s not realistic for anyone to turn away extra money if they can get it. Yes, I work some overtime almost every week and I kind of need to do that right now. But I don’t need to work as much as I have in the past, so I don’t.

Set honest boundaries with your family.

This is, I think, the big issue I have with these crazy self-care hours. Our lost blogger was getting up at 4:00 because she didn’t think she could take the time during normal people hours to take care of herself. Why? Because she’d filled up all of her time from 7:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night with taking care of other people.

This is called being a martyr, and we need to stop it. For one thing, it’s abusive to the people who love us.

Do you think this woman’s husband is going to divorce her if she spends some time working out before dinner? Will her son write nasty things in his autobiography about her if she asks him to have some quiet time in the afternoon so she can write in her journal for twenty minutes?

Do you think she’s ever tried?

That’s the thing of it. So many of us, mostly women, think that we have to commit ourselves to our families without even asking if we can take time for ourselves. No, we shouldn’t ask, we should inform.

Say it with me.

“I’m going to stop by the gym before I come home and sneak a workout in.”

“I’m heading to the coffee shop to write for an hour. Do you want me to bring you anything?”

“Mom’s going to sit on the couch with her book for a while. Here is the basket of toys we take out during that time. Please play with them quietly until this timer goes off.”

And that’s it! Don’t you feel better now? I know I do.

I love how self-care has become so popular. I don’t love how wrong people are getting it. Self-care isn’t some new way to brag about how much we can accomplish in a day. It’s not another burden to put on our shoulders. It’s permission to care for ourselves as well as we care for those that we love. So, take the time to take care of yourself honestly this week. I give you permission to sleep in past 4:00.

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