Beth Alvarez - Author of Epic Fantasy

  • Completion letdown

    Late last month I finally completed the manuscript of a project I’d been working on writing for a very long time. We won’t talk about the time it took, but the copy of the manuscript I sent to proofreaders was the sixth revision.

    It’s hard to believe that I wrote and rewrote that story six times over before it reached a point where I considered it done. It was something I’d always wanted to do. The start of my epics, the first book in the series I’d wanted to write since childhood. I always thought I’d be happy when it was done, but as I wrote the final words and hit save for the last time, I fell into something strange: Completion letdown.

    Honestly, I should have seen it coming. It’s not the first time I’ve been down this road and it’s not the first time I’ve felt this, this very strange feeling of not knowing what comes next.
    There is no celebration, no sense of satisfaction or fulfillment. I imagine that’s largely because as a writer, I must write.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that it’s finally done. But there’s also a sense of bewilderment, a feeling of just not knowing what comes next. Finishing a story is rewarding, but working on it feels comforting. It’s familiar, and so it’s safe. Now that it’s done, there’s no going back. No returning to the cozy place I built up around myself with so many words. It’s time to move ahead, but there’s nothing scarier than a blank page before you.

    I found this on Google and only used it because it looks like my “new” Mac.

    So what happens now? Well, that’s easy enough to answer. I write.
    As frightening as it is, I’m excited, too, and I’ve been planning my next few projects out carefully.

    August and September should see the completion of one short story and one novella, with completion of the next big project coming along shortly after that. When the new year rolls around it’ll bring another new project, one I’ve been looking forward to for some time.

    I’m sure I’ll feel the same after each of those stories is complete. It’s hard to leave behind the characters you learn to love, but despite the letdown that comes with the end, I still feel like the joy of the writing along the way is its own reward.

  • Friday Photo Break, vol. 28

    Roses – More of my favorite. Climbing roses growing on the fence at a city park.

  • The story of the hand-me-down Mac

    The story of the hand-me-down Mac

    My older brother is a natural born skeptic, far from being naive. So naturally, when he told me he’d won a free laptop by clicking on one of those flashing ad banners on the internet, I thought he’d lost his mind.

    It was 2005 and Apple was riding the wave of success started with the iPod. Their newest laptop was the iBook G4, coveted by everyone who wanted to be hip and tech-savvy. And who could blame them? With a sleek and simplistic design that made it attractive and a $1,000 price tag that made it luxurious, the iBook was the laptop to have. It didn’t take long for scams to start cropping up on the internet claiming to offer them for free, so when my brother told me his “free” laptop was on the way, it would have been foolish to believe he hadn’t been suckered.

    But then something weird happened. UPS arrived to leave a curiously laptop-shaped box at the doorstep, and the next time I set foot in his living room, my brother sat there grinning, playing with his brand new, crisp and shiny-white Mac.
    No way.
    It wasn’t possible!
    And yet it was – The computer came with a letter from the company, congratulating him for winning and bidding him to enjoy his gift.
    Out of every ad banner on the entire internet that claimed the viewer had won a laptop, my brother clicked on the one and only banner that was legit.

    Needless to say, “jealous” was a mild word to use for how I felt. I spent hours online after that, combing the internet for feedback on various promotions and warnings about scams, looking for somewhere, anywhere, that I could get a free iBook of my own. Naturally, I didn’t find it.
    Meanwhile, my brother didn’t really use the iBook. He had several computers already, including a laptop, and didn’t have much need for another. Still, despite my pleas, he wouldn’t let me buy it from him. He threw me a bone from time to time, letting me take it for a weekend or a night during the week. I had a desktop at my apartment, but being stuck in one place while I tried to write had me going stir crazy.

    From the first night I spent using that laptop, it was love. The keyboard was the most comfortable I’d ever used, the weight of the computer just right. I sat in my living room floor and worked on touching up the beginning of a novel. It was great. It was right. But I had to give it back.

    Over the years, I worked on teaching myself to write while stuck in the same chair all the time. No moving around, no shutting myself off from the outside world. Eventually, I married and moved away, buying my first laptop for myself. That was a game changer for my writing, but it still wasn’t the iBook. My brother, in the meantime, moved on to bigger and better computers and sold the iBook to my mother. One of my younger brothers used it for school. A few years passed, and the heavy use my laptop got put through began to take its toll. When the screen started failing, I thought I was up the creek. Mom offered to let me take the old Mac laptop, since they had no need for it.

    The next time we made the six hour trip to visit my family, the Mac was mine. Long obsolete and with no working charger, eight years old with a battery that couldn’t hold a charge.
    I was in love.
    I nabbed a ten dollar charger and twenty dollar battery off Amazon. Eight years old, but it fired right up, ready to work, ready to do everything I needed. It became my new writing machine, hiding away in the bedroom with me or perching at the kitchen table. That luxurious keyboard still felt like new, the screen as bright as ever. I was delighted, awash with inspiration and a desire to finish what we’d started together.

    After almost a decade, that novel I started on that little iBook was completed on it, as well. Everything had come full circle… And it was definitely worth the wait.

     

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  • Friday Photo Break, vol. 27

    I love four-leaf clovers, but when I found this one in the back yard, it was the first time I was ever compelled to leave one alone instead of picking it.
    It grew just beside the patio out back and was a good inch and a half across. It was bright green, rather than the dark shade the rest of the clover were, and its proximity to the knobby roots of the gnarled old maple meant it was safe from the threat of the lawn mower.
    This clover brought me great joy for several weeks, growing bigger and bigger and then simply fading away.
    I didn’t press and dry it, but I have this picture from the first time I saw it, and I think that’s even better.

  • How to change the world

    A few years ago, in anticipation of the release of Pokémon Black and White, Nintendo held a series of promotional events at malls across the country. At the time, I worked in the shopping plaza across the street from the mall, so it was a frequent stop for me. The weekend rolled around and my husband and I went shopping.

    Okay, so we weren’t really shopping. I’d heard from a friend that I could get a Celebi at GameStop that weekend, which is kind of a big deal for collectors. You see, Celebi is a particularly rare Pokémon that cannot be caught without hacking the game, and I’d been looking to add one to my collection since the year 2000. Eleven years was a long time to wait for a Pokémon, so we made the trek to the mall with Nintendo DS in tow, planning to make a quick stop at the digital download terminal and then head home.

    Celebi

    But the mall was packed. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on at first, but stopping to ask about it at one of the many Pokémon-themed booths set up around the mall set me on the right track. The lady explained between placing stamps in the booklets being carried by hundreds of children. They travel from post to post, collecting stamps, learning about the new Pokémon, then when their booklet is full, they had a chance at a prize.

    Sounds simple, I thought. I thought about it while we went to GameStop, while I downloaded a Celebi to my game. I thought about it, and after looking over the balcony rail at the prize stand below, I knew I wanted in on it. So I got in line with dozens of kids under the age of ten, shuffling forward to ask for a booklet and collect my first stamp. My husband, ever the good sport, joined in with a stamp booklet of his own.

    So there we were, two 20-something married adults, standing in line at a Pokémon event with about a zillion small children around our ankles, eagerly awaiting the stamps that would put us one step closer to Pokémon-themed prizes.
    Society responded as you’d expect it to. People looked at us. People around our ages, people older, people younger. Some pointed and whispered. Others laughed mockingly. But more importantly, some watched.

    Some people watched as these two adults moved up to the booth and grinned as they held their booklets out for stamping. Some people watched as these two adults linked hands and hurried off toward the next line. Some people watched with interest. And some watched with longing visible in their eyes.

    The workers didn’t laugh at us. They smiled and stamped our booklets and sent us on our way without another thought. And then something amazing happened, as we waited in line for our third stamps.

    Another adult joined the line.

    He looked around, a little sheepish, a little embarrassed, hands tucked into his pockets. But he waited, moving up the line until he could take a booklet and get his first stamp. He grinned when he got it. His girlfriend rolled her eyes.

    We ended up in the same line for the next stamp, the last one me and my husband needed. And more adults joined in.
    With our booklets complete, we went to turn them in and spin the prize wheel. Both of us won a stylus to use with our DSes, and I was delighted. Mission complete, we went to leave. But by then, the lines had changed pretty dramatically. As we left the mall, we passed event lines filled with people of all ages, people who had played the games long ago and now relived their fondness for it. People who bent to talk about their favorite Pokémon with the five-year-old in front of them, sharing common ground despite the years that separated them. And people started producing games from bags and pockets, unashamed to play in public for the first time in who knows how long.

    It’s easy to forget how simple changing the world around you can be. The world is a pond of people. It only takes one person to be a stone, to cast themselves into the middle and create ripples of change around them.

    I didn’t do anything great. Nothing groundbreaking or amazing. But something did change, and because of it, all the people who joined those lines to take part in the event made memories that will last a lifetime.

  • Friday Photo Break, vol. 26

    By evening, the rose’s color has saturated it completely. The base of each petal remains a soft ivory color, but the petals are filled with a rich pink that’s so deep it’s almost red. It doesn’t look like the same flower, but it is.

    And with that, I’ve officially been sharing photos on Fridays for half  a year.

  • August Giveaway #1

    Good morning and welcome August! It’s hard to believe we’re already reaching the end of summer, but here we are. July was productive and full of interesting changes and challenges for me, I hope it treated everyone else kindly.

    To kick off the month, we’ll be starting with a small giveaway – Nothing fancy just yet, just testing the waters since we’re only beginning this new venture and monthly feature.

    In honor of the new month, our first little freebie is this:

    A pair of earrings, made with moss green glass pearls, peridot colored glass, and nickel-free silver plated findings. Like them? Want them? Leave a comment here to enter, and if you’ve liked my Facebook page, mention it for a second entry into the drawing! But please remember, this month’s contest is only open to residents of the United States.

    A name will be drawn on the 14th to find out who gets them. Good luck!

  • Creative Ventures

    Like a lot of writers, I spend a lot of time creating. Not just through writing, but through a large number of other means. Yeah, I write, but I also draw, paint, sew,  make jewelry and do other crafts on the side. Really, I just love creating.
     

    You see, the inspiration doesn’t really stop. I’m always thinking of new things to make, new designs, new creations. New dresses to make for dolls or new stuffed animals to draw patterns for, new flower arrangements and, of course, new jewelry.

    I’ve sold a lot of things I’ve made before, but I don’t always have time to spend photographing, editing, listing and marketing things, though I’ve been selling things I make on Etsy for some time.

    Fortunately, I also happen to love giving people the things I make. There’s nothing that can compare with the joy of seeing something you’ve created making somebody smile. Jewelry, especially, makes great gifts! So I’ve decided, why not? I love creating and I have a huge assortment of supplies to make things with, so let’s give some of it away!

    The basic gist is pretty simple, and I plan to keep it going for a couple months. Twice a month, I’ll post up pictures of what I’ve got to give away this time. To enter, just leave a comment on the giveaway post, and you’re entered to win. And if you’ve ‘liked’ my Facebook page (And mention that you’ve ‘liked’ it in your comment, so I can tell) you’ll be entered a second time.

    Contests will start on the 1st and 15th, with drawings happening on the 14th and last day of the month.

    For now, until others have a chance to prove themselves necessary, there’s only two rules:
    One – You must be a resident of the United States, and
    Two – If you win one drawing, you may not enter the drawing that directly follows. (But the one after that is fine.)

    Sound good?
    Good!
    Check back in two days (August 1st) for the first go!

  • Friday Photo Break, vol. 25

    By mid-afternoon, my creamy-white roses have taken on the prettiest pink blush, a lovely shade that grows darker toward the tips of the petals. The outermost petals, those that were pink-touched on the rosebud, grow darker still.

  • Exploring Influences: Grandia II

    What if the bad guy wasn’t really a villain?
    What if the good guy isn’t all that good?
    What if your enemies end up being heroes?
    The whole story is a little more complicated than that, of course, but those are just a few notions played with in this week’s feature, Grandia II.

    I never had the opportunity to play the first Grandia, but since the storyline in Grandia II stands alone, I didn’t have to. That’s an excellent practice, by the way – Enabling someone to pick up anywhere in the series and get a fulfilling story!
    I grabbed the game because I was looking for a good, storyline-driven role playing game. It certainly lived up to my expectations.

    The best part about Grandia II is that nothing is black and white. The story begins when the main character, a mercenary named Ryudo, accepts the job of simply escorting a priestess on her way to purify a tower. When something goes awry (as it always does) and he meets Millenia, the incarnation of a piece of the shattered god of evil, the story that unfolds begins to show that not everything in the world is what it seems.

    As necessary for a story that seeks to change the world it’s set in, the characters are all multidimensional and experience a lot of growth. This growth is especially visible in as the priestess, Elena, struggles to remain pure and devout, even when learning the truth about the god of light shakes everything she believes in.

    These are developments that help shape a story into something great, something that shows the world isn’t always what we expect.
    And that, at last, completes the deeper look at the influence maps I posted so long ago.

    Last week: Dungeons & Dragons