Inspiration

One of the most frequently asked questions I hear is "Where do you get your inspiration?"

It comes from many things, anything that moves me emotionally. People, music, a poem, another story, a storm, an argument, a walk in the woods, a movie, a game night with my kids. So much of it becomes a character and then the things around my character and sprinkles my stories with reality, yes even my fantasy.

My first book, Whispers of Insanity was begun when I was still in high school. I hated watching people judge others on their grades or their clothes or social status. Myself, I stood outside it all, not being the "in" crowd or the "out" crowd. The character in Whispers of Insanity grew from all of that to become one judged and misunderstood.

My second book came from a nightmare. The first scene in the first chapter of Gone Before Dawn (currently out of print, but I'm working on its reissue) is an embellished version of a nightmare I had. Nightmares have plagued me from as far back as I can remember. As a kid, they petrified me, as a teen and adult, I love them for story ideas and they've leant much to each of my books.

My Manipulated Evil trilogy and third story came from many different things. September 11th, the confusion and turmoil after, started it. A little of the tolerance issue I had with my first book went into the main character. The loss of one of my best friends happened while I was still writing Scorching Eden. He inspired my character, Jove, and I never got to share that with him. The soul searching after, that is what drove Scorching Eden to its finish. You know, what are we all doing here anyway?

My third story, sixth book, Rise of the Arcadians , now available, was inspired by Global Warming and human nature - what I've gotten out of studying ancient cultures - and family. I may be an only child, but my extended family is rather large. So Desire became the outcast of her huge family, but still affected by it.

My fourth story, Among the Ancients - or third, since it started before Rise, but is still yet unfinished was also inspired by global warming and mysteries such as the Bermuda Triangle and ancient cultures.

My fifth story was inspired by a small tale I came across in Sumerian myths and also by their Kings list. The brothers Enki and Enlil their hand in creating mankind, the Kings list and the impossibly long life spans of the first Sumerian rulers. What if? What if it wasn't myth, what if the life spans weren't impossibly long? And the story Daughter of Gods was born with Starlight following, now 40,000 words long and exploring the emotions of the characters touched by the gods and how they change. And that's where I'm at right now. That's why I'm a walking zombie from lack of sleep, catching myself talking to myself as my characters act out their scenes in my mind. I go to bed at night, exhausted, and all night my characters act out their story for me. The challenge for me is to feel refreshed and find the time to type those scenes out. Over ten thousand words in the past three days.

Meanwhile life goes on, taxes done, cars break down, bills come in, homework, laundry, dishes, friends over, birthday slumber party to plan, basement to finish before I can get a fully functional office. Somehow, it's all happening at once on this conveyer belt of life.

Petition to stop Amazon

It's been a wild and crazy week and it doesn't look to stop any time soon.

The question yet to be answered is if the little guy has a voice against the giant. Only time will tell. But if we all sign the petition at this link below, maybe it will help.

Petition to the Washington State Attorney General

http://www.amazontroopsurge.com/

Speak up Consumers!

When will big companies quit rolling over and picking the pockets and livelihoods of the "little guy?" Answer - When the little guy stands up and refuses to be anything less than a major unrelenting and ungiving thorn in the big guy's hind end.

And that is what I along with Star Publish and many other small publishers to not so little publishers like Booklocker and Publish America and all authors and readers must do against the mega giant Amazon.

Amazon believes they can tell us what printer to use, waving their little "purchase now" buttons in front of our faces and using them as leverage to try to make us use their printer, a printer known to create less than good quality products. It's my hunch that this is why Amazon has turned to such crazy tactics - they can't make the amount of money they want from BookSurge honestly, they have to resort to dirty tricks. Oh, if I'm wrong I apologize, but since all my questions left by phone and email have gone unanswered by anyone at Amazon what else am I supposed to think?

What else am I suppose to think now that I learn they've been skulking around cornering publishers who use print on demand singling them out and not allowing them to speak out for months before something did leak. Why would they be so secretive if they didn't think or KNOW what they are doing is wrong on so many levels?

And let me ask you - do you want to do business with someone that would do such things?

Do you want to do business with a company that puts at risk the quality of what you choose to spend your good money on just so they can keep more of it and the author who slaved over the story you want to enjoy or the information you want to study (if non-fiction) gets less also?

I realize this has happened in other industries but I'm asking - why do we put up with it? Why do we continue to give the companies who do this our hard earned money, our attention, and our support? Maybe sometimes it's because these dirty little secrets don't come out until far after the fact. That's not the case this time.

We've grabbed the flood lights. We're writers after all, this is what we're good at, and we're shouting it everywhere and asking everyone - please, let's work together and tell Amazon we won't put up with this action. Pass this information on, pass on the links I've posted here. Let everyone you know hear about what's going on.

And if you doubt what I'm saying, or have had the chance to see Amazon's nice open letter to interested parties that's not so easily found on their website and think I'm over reacting here's a link to a blog that explains all those niceties in a way that will hopefully clarify why all of us are still in an uproar. Oh, and if you have a few minutes, enjoy the April fools letter on this blog too - it's a good laugh :)
http://poddymouth.wordpress.com/

Pass it on readers, authors, and publishers alike! We all have a voice here. Let's let Amazon hear us and tell them we're not taking their abusive behavior.

I'll be waving at them in my rearview mirror and never looking back... As Star Publish LLC marketing Director Janet Elaine Smith said for all of us at Star Publish:
Thank you, Amazon, for pushing us to find a better way! -- Far from you.
The Executive staff of Star Publish LLC
--

Another interesting tidbit...

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-amazon-does-damage-control-on-its-print-on-demand-demands/

I especially like the comments that state pretty much what I said in my first post about Amazon. They claim they are doing this for their customers, to increase speed in delivery, yet I'm hearing all over how very few people get one package even if they ordered just a few things. They don't come from one place to begin with - how are we to believe them taking all print on demand books into their system will accomplish that?

There's also a petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protectPOD/?e if anyone would like to sign it and maybe help change Amazon's crazy ideas.