My Latest Project: An eHuman Reboot!

Spring has sprung and since the equinox, I’ve made a few big decisions. Can we call it an author spring cleaning? First I've decided to seek new representation as I attempt to traditionally publish my latest trilogy, which isn’t about a future rebellion, but one that took place in 200 B.C. in Egypt. The Song of the King’s Heart is the story of the last native Egyptian Pharaoh, Ankhmakis the Rebel King, and his attempt to reclaim Egypt from the Macedonian Ptolemaic Empire. After twenty years of ruling 80% of Egypt, his rebellion came to a brutal end, but the story is one that has captivated me for years and I can’t wait to share it with readers. However, before I can do that, I must find that agent who loves Ankhmakis as much as I do. The process of agent and writer coming together is mind-boggling, but a topic for a later blog, as I’ve just begun and honestly have no idea how this adventure will turn out. Hopefully, it will end with a publishing contract, but in the meantime, there’s an eHuman Trilogy in need of completion.

Which leads me to the second major decision I made—to pull eHuman Dawn and eHuman Deception from publication. As soon as I announced this decision on my author FB page, I received more than a few emails from readers, mostly questions about when the last book will be done, and how they can read it if the eHumans are no longer online.

After a dozen or so inquiries, I decided to share via blog why I made this rather strange decision and what it means for me as a writer, as well as for those readers waiting to get that final story.

Why did I pull the eHumans offline for a reboot?

1.       I can do better

Since eHuman Dawn was published in 2013, I’ve written five other novels, as well as kept my blog and Medium accounts rather active. Writing is a wonderful craft because the more you do it, the more you improve. After I finished the Egyptian Trilogy, I started working on the final eHuman novel. In order to get back into the eHuman world, I re-read both eHuman Dawn and eHuman Deception, and as I read them, I realized, “Wow, I am not the same writer I was four years ago. I can do better.” This realization began to haunt me and I began to think, “…if only I could pull it and rewrite it…”

2.       Now that I know how the story ends, I want to change the beginning

Again, as I began to develop the final eHuman story, the ending finally became clear. Edgar Prince’s motivations are also finally understood, and I began to ask more questions of the characters. Is this really a great rebellion, or a family feud? What is it like when the elites of the world get carried away with their power? How do they co-opt the system to work for them? Is a militarized rebellion the only path towards taking over Neuro, especially in the light of cyber warfare and malware? The rebellion rising up is an overused trope, I think there’s a more elegant way for Adam, Dawn and Origin to wrest Neuro from Edgar’s hands. Is the timeline correct? Has is really been two hundred years since the Great Shift, or only 50? In light of the recent election and the state of the world, Edgar makes more sense, and I realized that there are plot points missing in the earlier novels that need to be there if the ending is to be true. Again, I was haunted with the idea, “…if only I could pull them and rewrite…”

3.       I want to hear more from Dawn

She’s got a lot to say, and I want her to say it. What if I tell the story more from her view? It changes, but in a good way, like how Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow tell the same story, but from different viewpoints. Dawn knows more than Adam, so what if she tells the story until he wakes up and understands more? There are POV issues in general I wish to clean up and as Dawn demanded more face time I really wished, “…if only I could pull them and rewrite…”

4.       I can pull them and rewrite them

I published eHuman Dawn and eHuman Deception with Story Merchant Books and per our contract, all rights belong to me. This is my work and with this unique publishing deal, I’m able to put a story out there, get feedback, and pull it to make it better. And so I did just that. The story can be improved upon, and I have the time and ability to do so.

While I write the last book, currently titled, eHuman Deliverance, I will also be rewriting the other two, taking all three stories into my hands as one story, split up over three books. When will I be done? I will be done when the story is done. When will they be available? Again, that all depends on my future. If all goes well, an agent is going to swipe up Ankhmakis this year and then be super happy to discover that I also have a science fiction trilogy to fall in love with. Imagine it, you read one novel and get six when you sign me! For my eHuman readers, that means you might have to wait a while. Traditional publishing doesn’t move at the speed of ePublishing. Of course, maybe I will self-publish all six of these novels in time, but the pros and cons of self-publishing online vs. working with a traditional publisher is also the topic of another blog.

So dear readers, I know this is a strange move, but trust me, it’s the right one. I ask for your patience as I attempt to make eHumanity worth your time. I love the story, but the one thing I’ve learned these past three years is that the best story isn’t the one I want to tell you, it’s the story that wants to be told that is the most powerful. As an author, the trick is to open myself and catch that story, so that I can share it with you.

Thanks for understanding and please comment, pm or tweet me with any questions. I’ll be blogging most weeks and posting more on Medium as the eHumans reboot, and I will keep you informed every step of the way.

Faithfulness--The Key to Living in the Zone

Fifteen years ago, I was the modern woman who had it all—a great husband, sweet little toddler, fantastic nanny, and an interesting technical career at Motorola, Inc. Thanks to the dotcom bubble, I’d just received an enormous raise. I also had a second child on the way. Unfortunately, my beloved nanny also found herself pregnant, and one day I came home from work to her resignation. She had decided to stay home and raise her child.

I was devastated. I interviewed nannies like crazy. None were like Sally. She was one in a million. The perfect woman to be the wife of my household while I pursued my technical career. After a few weeks of searching for childcare, I started to hear a nagging voice in my head—that I could be the one to stay home and take care of the kids. This wasn’t the voice of God, though perhaps my younger self thought that. No, this was the voice of me. The same inner voice that had driven me to study computer science in the first place. The same voice that suggested marrying my husband would be a good idea. This voice is the one that has been the most trustworthy in my life, and avoiding it has often led to frustration, irritation and lost opportunities.

Call it the observer, higher self, intuition, consciousness, whatever—all I know is that back then, my mind constantly cried out for me to stay home and take care of my kids, which was the craziest idea I’d had yet in my twenty-six years on Earth. When I told my parents, they cried. When I told my colleagues, they thought I was nuts. Why would I throw away all my hard work to raise kids? What business did an intelligent woman like me have staying home? What a waste! And worse, the many, many men and women who told me that to leave a technical career, even for a few years, was suicide. I would never, ever, ever get back into technology (yes, people actually said these things to me.) How could I let it go?

But somehow I knew that I could leave technology and when the time was right, re-enter. It wasn’t logical at all, rather it was a knowing that if I followed my heart (gasp!) all would work out.

Indeed, I would be a liar to say that the transition was easy. The two years of identity crises and post-partum depression that followed the decision to quit my job and raise my kids were seriously the worst in my life. Daily I woke up wondering what the hell I’d done and daily I heard myself say, “Trust me. You can do this.”

This blog is not a manifesto for staying home with your children. Rather, it’s a manifesto to listening to your inner voice and being faithful to it. Bear with me, because fifteen years later, everything has come full circle.

During those hard first years as a housewife when I felt like a complete failure—trust me, I was much better at software design than raising little boys—I discovered that while I’d been faithful to the particular needs of my sons and family, I’d abandoned my intellectual needs. I wasn’t being faithful to that part of me that needed to think about life, systems and solutions. With time, I found that writing while the kids napped, or in the early hours of the morning before everyone woke, would satisfy that. It seemed like a silly endeavor, but it saved me from self-destruction. Several years and a few poorly written novels and children’s stories later, I’d found a new love. Writing, researching and freelancing a few stories every now and then was the balance I needed.

As the kids got older, I was often asked, why aren’t you back at work? You’ll never get another job in technology. What are you thinking? Yet when I looked at my life in that moment, and listened to my inner voice, it wasn’t time. But the need to do the right thing in the eyes of others was strong and eventually I did go back to work, this time as a teacher. I wanted the hours to line up with my kids’ needs. But years into that job, I found myself exhausted with an income that after taxes barely provided any resources. In addition, just because I worked out of the house didn’t mean I could stop cleaning, cooking, hauling the children from one activity to another, etc. There was no time for writing, or any hobby to nourish my soul. It was work and family. A wise one once said to me, “Family, work, exercise, friends, hobbies. Pick two.” And unlike my technology career, I didn’t make enough money to hire a great nanny to help me. Again, my inner voice said, get out. Go back home. But my ego cried out in anguish, “But I’m so much more than a homemaker!!!”

In the end, I decided to be faithful to my inner voice and quit the teaching job. Three months later, I woke up from a dream and suddenly, my first novel came to life. I was faithful to this novel, setting aside time to write every day. I researched it and found myself deep within the eHuman world. Thus, eHuman Dawn was born. And less than two years later, eHuman Deception. I began this blog and two and a half years later I haven’t become a national bestseller, but I’ve met people from various walks of life who care about and love technology, humanity and the future. I even get emails asking when the final book in the trilogy will be published. My current answer—2017??? If I’m faithful ;-)

In writing these novels, I relied on what I’d learned as a homemaker and allowed myself to be faithful to the story and the characters, rather than force myself upon them. I followed their lead and in the end my life has been richer than I ever could have imagined. My faithfulness to these writing projects has been the adventure of a lifetime.

Now the boys are old. The eldest is on the cusp of college, the younger on the cusp of his driver’s license. I continue to write, having just finished my first venture into historical fiction/fantasy. I’ve adapted eHuman Dawn into film and am working with an agent to make it perfect and hopefully sell it to a producer. And in the middle of this action oriented faithfulness, what should appear?

A job offer. And not just any job, but one in technology.

After fifteen years out, I’ve been approached to be a founding member of a start-up—the CTO no less. The founder read my eHuman novels and saw that while they are stories, they’re also about technology and my knowledge of systems and design are evident in the writing. In many ways, these novels, like all science fiction, are high level customer requirements—only in a much more entertaining form than your typical documentation. In addition, the fact that I single-handedly managed to produce this product is evidence in his opinion that my program management skills are still intact, even if I did spend fifteen years raising sons.

It seems that against all odds, and contrary to the naysayers, a person can re-enter the world of technology. Key to this journey has been my faithfulness to that inner voice, the one who told me when it was time to stay home, when it was time to write and publish, and now, is saying loud and clear that the time has come to venture forth once more and bring my intelligence back to product development.

In a nutshell, faithfulness to one’s inner voice is like taking a dose of Felix Felicis (Harry Potter fans, you know what I’m talking about) and living life open and in awe, while remaining acutely aware of those moments when life cries out with opportunity. For me, this is what it means to live in "The Zone." It takes a lot of trust, and a support network, but in the end, it’s worth it.

In each moment of our lives, possibilities spread out before us. Decisions are what create the story of our lives, and being open to our inner voice is our navigation system. After spending fifteen years living this way, I can’t imagine following any other voice, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Gratitude—The Secret of Success

November 26^th is the anniversary of my official life as a published writer. It’s been two years since eHuman Dawn found a place on  the Amazon virtual bookshelf and I honestly must say that I have a wonderful life. No, I’m not famous and I’m certainly not able to feed myself on my writing, however it feels like everything else in life is coming together to make it possible for me to do what I love with the time I have.

It isn’t just the writing, I also spend my days raising my sons, playing music, teaching children to dance, knitting, spinning, speaking at Brighter Brains events, blogging, reading up on technology and science and of course—writing novels!

We live in some amazing times. Yes, there are risks and threats, but I’ve found that in spite of all the darkness that surrounds me, or the impossibilities of my dreams, there’s one sure way to lift myself from hopelessness and into possibility—a thankful heart. There are entire sections of the library devoted to self-help and techniques for success, but I think gratitude is really the easiest way to feel satisfied with life, which to me is the definition of success.

As such, in my annual Thanksgiving Blog, I shall do just that—GIVE THANKS!!!!

There are many people to thank for my wonderful life, but first and foremost, I thank my husband. He’s the one who supported me first in this endeavor. It all began when I decided to leave my software job to stay home and raise the kids. He never once said we couldn’t afford it or that I was wrong to throw away my career. Instead he believed that I knew best what was in my heart and supported me. Fast forward to the past two years and he’s still encouraging me to follow my heart by supporting my even crazier decision to become a novelist. If raising kids was tricky, writing stories and trying to get people to read them is insane! The rest of my family is supportive as well, but my husband is the best cheerleader I have.

I’m also grateful for my Airbnb business, which has allowed me to make money to support my writing while having the time to actually write. Even two years ago, when I posted my first blog, I had no idea that within a year I’d have a steady income source from my own home. Technology is truly the great equalizer and while many mistrust the “sharing economy,” as an artist, I love the stability it provides as I invest in my creative career.

And of course, I want to thank the readers. Perhaps you only read my blog, or my work posted on IEET. Maybe you’re a follower on Twitter or a friend who loyally reads my work. No matter what level your interest is, I’m glad you found me and I want to hear from you. Honestly, dialogue is the key to innovation, so let’s get connected on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or Goodreads. I think there’s a lot a community of readers can do for the world.

And it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without FREE books. Both eHuman Dawn and eHuman Deception will be FREE ON KINDLE from 11/26/15 – 11/30/2015. If you’ve been thinking about downloading the sequel, now’s the time. Take that Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

And don’t forget that paperback copies of the eHuman novels make great holiday gifts!!!!!

Thanks again for your interest and I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season, starting with a day of thanks. My wish is that every one of you finds joy in the life you’ve been living. 

A grateful heart is one that is truly free in life.