by Tara Tyler
"Reset" in TICK TOCK
"Sentient" in DARK MATTER
Anthologies are a great respite and exercise for your writing muscles, especially when you're stuck on your WIP. I've been very discouraged about writing for quite a while. I was used to cranking out a book a year for several years, then BLAMMO, BANG, BOOM! I was blown away by several bombs aimed at my writing life. While I was crawling to safety, I almost gave up.
But my heart and brain were still hanging on. If I didn't have the IWSG monthly blog posts, I'd have surely been done for. Instead, I slowly recovered, patching myself up with short stories and anthologies. One of my stories miraculously made it into a Christmas anthology ("A Cold Case for Christmas" in MAGICK AND MISTLETOE) I've always wanted to do a Christmas special, and having it published gave me a real boost.
That led to me telling others about it, and several teachers at school showed interest in my writing. They read POP TRAVEL and raved about it, reading more of my books, which encouraged me even further. At the end of the school year, I gave a couple of copies to interested students -- I was just happy they wanted to read at all! And the final push was my son's girlfriend who took Pop Travel on vacation. When she returned, she told me how much she loved it and is now reading the other books in the series.
All that reminded me how much I love writing and connecting with readers. Not to mention that there are still readers out there! So, hallelujah! I'm finally working on CONDUCTION, Pop Travel #4 again. Though it's been mostly done for about two years, I was frustrated with editing and procrastinated fixing it. But now that I'm getting back into it, I'm excited! And all because I didn't give up. I even created some mock covers (part of my process)...
And here's a blurb:
In 2085, cutting edge technology is the most valuable currency. Jared Nertz is an ex-juicer gone legit working for Pop Travel Technologies. As soon as he finishes his long-awaited Conduction project - the process of using live specimens to store data - someone immediately steals it and kills his mentor, framing him for the murder. Now it's up to his lawyer wife Miki and their loyal, resourceful friends, Geri and Cooper to prove Jared's innocence by recovering the stolen tech before the thief and killer sells it. But that's only the beginning, as they discovery a deeper deception when they dig into the case.
Don't give up on your dreams -- even if you have to put them on hold for a while. Listen to your heart!
Tara Tyler has had a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over the US, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her husband, though they still love to travel and visit their three boys. She has two novel series, Pop Travel (sci-fi detective thrillers) and Beast World (fantasy adventures), plus her UnPrincess novella series where the maidens save themselves. She's a commended blogger, contributed to several anthologies, and to fit in all these projects, she economizes her time, aka the Lazy Housewife—someday she might write a book on that... Make every day an adventure!
