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I’m ready to shift tracks and head in a new direction, hopping aboard the marketing train, bound and determined to improve my skills.

I’ve contacted another person to build a new website and maintain it so my newly published books will make it to the page and I’m hopefully meeting soon with a recent marketing graduate who will help me navigate all those social media platforms important to building readership. It’s time for giveaways, selfies, tapping into resources, contacting beta readers, and more impactful newsletters. I’ve been making headway in sales, but I’m ready to cast a net and capture more of them.

As I finish up my original eight goddess reads in my series, my mind is awhirl with possibilities for the next one. Women of Eden will keep me in the small town I’ve come to love, with newcomers who bring fresh skills and talents to the thriving community. They’ll frequent Magic Bean, pick up gardening tips from Ina at Gardens of Eden and one might take riding lessons from Hina, but they will form their own sacred circle of female friendships. And of course, sparks will fly with a man who they swear will never suit.

Eve’s a mid-wife, (birth) will be paired with Will, a funeral home director (death). Jord will be paired with Noah, both in construction, but one with a biased attitude about the proper career for a woman, the kind of man some love to hate.. Not sure yet about Sophia, or Selene, or will it be Tara, or Mari… Can’t wait to see who pops up and which trope they call for.

Follow me as I journey on.

With both shots behind me, I’m stepping out again and it feels good. The weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating, but today it’s sunny and spring like. I have the windows open and can hear the sounds of lawn mowers, paving trucks, and birds chirping. Oh, and we had a couple of turkeys squawking earlier just a few houses away. Mother nature seems to be turning the corner and I’m eager to turn it with her.

Spent my morning chasing down marketing venues. I’m hoping to find new ways to get the word out about my not-so-new series, Everyday Goddesses. I’ve put it aside for the last few months but I’m anxious to get back on track. I’ve chased down beta readers, and received a mile-long list of interested parties willing to read my books. Unfortunately, very got back to me. Maybe quality is better than quantity because the few that did, gave me awesome reviews.

If anyone knows how to attract readers, induce reviews or help me get more exposure, I’d love to hear from you.

Last week I described the process for developing a series and the characters who come to inhabit it. My current series, Everyday Goddesses, speaks to the aspects of goddess that exists in all of us; nurturer, warrior, justice seeker, storyteller, creator of life, scientist, and empath. Our wounds might be our excuse to fall or what motivates us to rise and which ever way it goes, they are the badges we wear that prove our humanity. As I was choosing which goddesses to use as symbolic representations of the divine feminine, I wanted to pick across the mythical spectrum. Gwen is Celt, Minerva is Roman, Rhea is Greek, Cerridwen is Irish, Inanna is from the Sumerian pantheon of archetypal figures.

Hina seemed to be the logical choice to represent the Polynesian culture which meant she had to come from Hawaii, bringing with her the ancestral wisdom, the ancients were known for. As a water sign, she was tied closely to the moon, tides, ebbing and flowing, enlightenment and inner knowing, so it was natural for her to be an empath. She has a kinship with nature, horses in particular, so it was obvious she had to own a horse farm, and as a healer, she was fated to start a equine facilitation program. Some of the questions that had to be answered once these facts were established were how did she get to Eden? Was her childhood idyllic or had she been wounded in some way? And if so, how? What was her upbringing like? Where did she come from from and where was she going? What are her strengths? What are her flaws? Who would best complement her as a mate? (It is a romance after all)

That’s when research begins, my imagination kicks in, and my muse starts whispering in my ear.

Better than I know myself at times.

They become friends over time, and as with anyone you befriend in life, it takes time and attention to grow kinship. It takes interest, intent and curiosity.

The relationship with my characters begins with the conception of an idea.

For me, the Everyday Goddesses series was birthed as a result of my belief that woman are warriors, and that they bring to the world an essence that’s been missing for…oh, about 2,000 years.

I feel it’s imperative we begin to acknowledge and honor it because it’s the only way we’ll reach balance and healing on this planet called Earth. (Gaia)

Once the EG series was clarified in my mind, I needed eight women who embodied the aspects of the Divine Feminine and decided to attach them to the elements, fire, air, water and earth. They were the first ingredients that went into the cauldron where I planned to cook up the characters I needed to fit the template of everyday woman extraordinaire. I added a pinch of astrological information, a dose of magic, eight Neolithic symbols of the ancestral mother, mythological names, and more than a dollop of love,… and…poof, Rhea, Gwenhwyfar, Minerva, Lilith, Cerridwen, Inanna, Brigid, and Hina were born. (As I write, four more are asking to be fleshed out and I’m having trouble shushing them. If they have their way, Qadesh, Eve, Jord and Selene will be telling their stories, using me as the medium.)

These women are my collective, a garden of seeds ready to sprout forth, new perspectives of the world at large, growing in an abundance. Each one embodies the sacred in women, in a variety of constructs. In the next blog, I’ll let you in on how I took a block of an idea and chipped away, until I had exposed the three-dimensional person who was hiding within.

I’ve been listening to audio books for years now and I recently picked up Brian Wilson’s autobiography. I listened to the Beach Boys back in the day, and he’d been maligned over the years and I wanted to hear his story. I didn’t realize how much I’d like it. So much so that I’ve been streaming his music as I write, going back to a time when things were less crazy, and more in harmony. The albums Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys Today, Little Deuce Coupe and Surfer Girl bringing back memories. I spent a lot of time in the family basement in high school, creating stories even then, and the Wilson family played a role. It was a time of loneliness and fragile self-worth and I was able to build a completely different world for myself. It’s only in looking back that I see I had quite a vivid imagination and a penchant for story.

I can’t say I’m a fan of the Beach Boys today. Dennis and Carl are gone, Brian’s been relegated to a non-entity and I’ve never been a fan of Mike Love. It’s Brian’s songs that were my favorites. God Only Knows, The Warmth of the Sun, California Girls, Wouldn’t it Be Nice, In My Room, are just a few. Brian mentions he has a history with Paul McCartney, and as I listen today, I hear similarities in the Beach Boy and the Beatles sound, indicative of the times and I’m beginning to understand why Brian has been hailed as an innovative genius.

Like so many musicians of the 60’s and 70’s, he experimented with drugs, and drank excessively, but it was the voices in his head that created the biggest threat to his career. They were destructive, debilitating, and constant. His family, trying to help, hired a doctor to work with him. What they did, in fact, was attach him to a controlling man who fed him medications like they were candy and treated him cruelly. It was only through the love of a woman that he was able to get out from under, put his life in perspective, learn how to handle the voices, and live his life as a writer/performer.

I love learning about people, and Brian Wilson has been no exception. He covers mental illness, success, addiction, loss, love, and family dynamics. A true understanding of human frailties, flaws, strengths and successes add to my arsenal for creating believable characters.