Crystal Inman's Blog: Inman Books Blog

As a writer, do you ever feel like you have a kink and must somehow work that out before truly working on your main novel? Not like KINK...but a hitch, so to speak. It's almost like a mental cramp to me. Something I need to work out to clear a path for better thinking and cleaner writing.
A lot of times, it's this. I like to blog before I write. Cleans out the cobwebs and helps my ADHD sweep the corners. Those ADHD thoughts like to hide in the dark, sometimes. I suppose it's rather like writers needing a clean desk to write. Though others, such as myself, can make do with cluttered, but not too cluttered.
Started on "Ace" this morning. Little bit of fog so I broke that off to come over here. I'm at 17,369 words. Cool beans. Freshest ever. But now, part of me wants to work on my erotic romance. But it's divisive. I'm on this trail right now, and I usually don't fork off until I'm nearly finished. I'm not that. Give me continuation. Follow-through. I can't mess up my rhythm now. Not that I HAVE a rhythm, I guess???I mean. I do. But that's constantly in flux. And now I'm more confused than when I started.Go me.
*deep deep breath*
Ace. Yes. Let's do that. Because once I open the door to my erotic romance, I'll have dialogue and scenes to jot down. There'll be more research. Hello FBI! Yes, I write books for a living. Never mind my G search. I need to know what type of adult toys are on the market right now. Most popular. Things of that nature. *ahem* And orgasms. I love me some orgasm research. You never know what you never know. 
Anyway, now that I'm sweating, I'll probably hit "Ace" back up since I cleared out some room in my Mind Cabin, more of a chalet really. Shoved my properly improper heroine back into her room until later. But gave her a couple of catalogs to look through. 🤭
Ah, yissssssss...the writing life.


 

First, and most importantly, here is a picture of Murphy today. No, he should not be there. Yes. I let him, anyway.No further questions.
Interesting searches for the day:
Yoruba foodHow long do foxes live?ConfuciusWood cladColonial house451 square meters to feethostel/dorm/shelter floor plans
And I'm not done yet.Admire Murphy again. He doesn't leave the house, either.

But it's doing me right now. 🖕Twelve thousand words into "Ace". Okay. But I'm finding it a little on the plain side. Every part of me is against this. The first two books slammed into the reader and continued to take their breaths. This one, I feel, is a bit slower. It works for the fact I needed to divulge some information, and I needed certain characters to do this. It doesn't work for the fact I feel like it's taking forever to get there.I blame the ADHD. And my absolute dopamine-seeking ass.I can't do slow burn romances. I'm not about high fantasy (except for the master Tolkien--I've read The Hobbit word for word) because the minute I start seeing all sorts of names I can't pronounce, I tend to skip over and then some of the story, if not a lot, is lost.My attention span is not my friend. But that also means I can read a 53 chapter book in 4 hours.
Tuesdays are a no for everything from me. I have an intense appt in the morning that washes me out for the rest of the day. But today?I hope to either add in more jazzy scenes or come correct with the pacing I want. 
Update on Mr. Murphenstine. He's a bit better. He did get sick, a little bit, this morning. But apparently, ginger boy kitten asshole has decided to absolutely nocturnally terrorize the hacienda. And, the little shit has dug out tinker toys from lordt knows where. But the little buttcrunch is EATING THE PAINT off them. 😠They were supposed to be all put up. But when your vertical is 4 inches, you can squeeze into all the places.He's now behind me and chilling out. For now.🙄
Okay. That's me. I already know where I want to go, of course, with the story. But now I'm playing with add-ins. The internal conflict is so much more than the external conflict, and I don't want to lose a beat.
Making magic. ✨✨✨

There are days that are simply POS motherfuckers you want to cleanse from your memory and soul. And these have nothing to do with the sacred writing. But how can you write when you want to absolutely show your unhinged side?I'm having one of those days.
Let me complain for a bit.Toddled to the Sanctuary after a bit of toast. Look at me adulting. Sit down. Boot up. I'm not quite ready to work on "Ace", as I need to do a tiny bit more research on one aspect. Wiki me this. That was great. Cool. Awesome.
Then I decide, on a fucking whim, to pop over to QueryTracker and look up some possible agents for this series.alrightI want to save a search, but it will not allow me until I subscribe to Premium. FINEI've wanted premium for a bit now. Only $25 a year. Bells and whistles. Yee haw. I go forth and fill in my info. Then the site asks for payment info.NOWI have a business account. Then we have the general fund. Fine and dandy. I look over to the list on the right as it brings the ones I use all down. I expect my business account card to look like that in the list. No.I accidentally use the Honey's general fund card. And didn't realize THAT until I went to renew my LLC, and it auto filled her name. WHAT? So I grab my card, from the kitchen, and pop back to my desk. sighI then pay for the LLC out of my account since my card is right in front of me. THEN...I go online to transfer $25 from my account to the general fund. Except...let me call and give you an access code.You. Mother. Fuckers.I have my phone on Do Not Disturb for so many reasons. If you're related, you'll ring through. The rest of the world? Big NO. I take my phone OFF DND and wait for the call. I receive the call, jot down the got damn number, and enter it into the site.I'm in. Transfer the money from my business account to general funds. Put back DND.Email the Honey explaining I'm about to lose my shit and why.Check to see if I have QueryTracker Premium now.I do not.FOR THE LOVE OF THE LORDTRun a payment using my business account.Goes through.Honey comes to the Sanctuary.Explains I used an old general funds card.Because of course I fucking did.Fine. Great. Said I'd simply transfer the money back to business account.NEEDED ANOTHER GODFORSAKEN FUCKING SET OF NUMBERSSaid fuck this. Lots of times.Decided to get into my Sonic app and order some caffeine. Um.App was having issues.*needs a moment of silence*Finally opened, and I placed my order. Drinks--which are half price through the app. EXCEPT...it wasn't showing that as an option.And my short ass is NOT paying full price for a drink. nah, homieTurned off my phone.Turned it back on.Opened up the POS app again. Looks to be in order.Put in my info.
And during all this, my poor Mr. Murphster throws up in here and a tiny bit in the hallway. I've changed his dry food, and we're working on making sure he only eats things that are good for his sensitive stomach. And heavens, does he have one.
And that, my friends, is when I did the shutdown.The shutdown includes completely being still and silent whilst also wanting to take everything in my sight and destroy it. Doors off hinges. Glass at walls. Temper tantrum with the premium edition of that.I, however, did not give into the temptation because what purpose does it serve? Then I'd only have to clean up more shit.mehFinally calmed down.It was quite a long finally.
Grabbed Sonic drinks.Completely burned out by eleven.
Damn it, Pepe!
And that's where I'm at right now. Three hours into my workday and not in a good way. I would say the rest of the day could blow me, but I've my weekly appt tomorrow which consumes the entire day, and I can't afford to lose one.





I hope to hell your day is better.

Finished "The Morrigan" two days ago. Already 6000 words into the next, "Ace." Did I have to research a plethora of things that will be more important in book 4 but I need in book 3? Of course I did. 😑
I use MS OneNote Notebook, and it's my jam. Online notebook with each having its own set of sections or tabs. The further I write into this series, the more tabs I'm collecting on the side. Then I can copy tabs to paste into new works on the same series. Luckily, of course, this notebook is online. My handwriting is...eh...illegible for the most part. I blame my thoughts being way quicker than my hands. But with OneNote, I can type nearly to thought. Nearly. 😂This is uber handy when I'm writing. Scenes unfold. I jot.
Ah, but as I was saying...research. I need my construction sisters to build seven studio apartments connected. I G'd how long it would take. What size the apartments would be. Permits and planning. ADUs. Did I need them to build a parking lot? Contracts out for electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems. Access rights. Easements. And other wonderful information I'll need a bit later on. 
Back to "Ace." LA calls him "acehole" which pretty much sums it up. Excessive ego on this one. Takes no one at face value. And he can't be taken as such, either. Gives nothing to LA about himself. She has to unearth who this deity is and why he darkened her driveway. In the meantime, LA discovers more about her mother.
Good times.
Back at it today. Won't write much as the OKC Thunder play the Cavaliers at noon. Then we're off to celebrate my birthday with an early dinner. That will wear my little ass smooth out. 
Murphentology is killing his litter box, and the rest of us with it. Changing his food to see if that helps. Poops are solid, but sweet baby Jesus...they are life-threatening. He was tagged, vaccinated, and fixed when I adopted him. Was going to wait until around his birthday to take him to our vet, but maybe I won't wait.

  

I've a thing for badass deities. I'm kind of off the Greek and Roman regulars, but I'm always open to find ones I've not discovered before.

Did my ancestry DNA thing. I'm 25% Scottish. That makes sense to me. I'm drawn to visit Scotland. The highlands. The remains of castles from long ago. *swoon*And Celtic deities?Oh, but they are fascinating and as badass as they come.
Book 2 of "Plot Twist" is about the Morrigan and LA. And the Morrigan? Let me enlighten you. The Morrigan:
The Morrígan is a powerful Celtic goddess of war, fate, and death, often appearing as a shapeshifting crow or raven to influence battles and foretell doom, but also connected to fertility, sovereignty, and the land. She embodies the wilder, darker aspects of nature and destiny, inspiring fear in enemies and courage in heroes, and her presence signals imminent death, famously seen washing bloody armor. 
Often called the Triple Goddess or Phantom Queen. The Morrigan is comprised of a trio of individuals, all sisters. They can, however, each assume the mantle of the Morrigan. 
I didn't necessarily know where I wanted to go in Book 2, after Plot Twist. I already knew the main characters in Book 4, because of course I did. But 2? I'd actually put a small epilogue in Book 1 which alluded to another deity completely.But then, as I typed the ending, and left a trail of bread crumbs for Book 2, I literally bypassed my first option and boldly typed in "The Morrigan". This book, like book 1, basically wrote itself. I've finished the two books in two months. And I've researched who will be in book 3. 
It's easy to stick to Greek and Roman with mythological retellings, but it's not fair to the reader or other cultures. We are a world. We are not only a couple of pieces.
Having said that, I nearly put Anansi as the main character of Book 3. Now. I watched "American Gods" for the first two seasons maybe? I watched until they killed Mad Sweeney, and then I flipped off the television (in two different ways) and never watched another episode. (Do NOT kill animals or a main character I love.)But I digress.Orlando Jones played Anansi. He was completely magnetic. And his charm? Oh, but he oozed it. But Anansi is too big a character for my book. I like the minor deities, for the most part. While there is sometimes a bit of source material, I can give the character a backstory of my choosing.OH! The POWAH!So...I searched for a minor deity with the characteristics I needed. There will ALWAYS be one. Just means you may have to dive a bit deeper.Because all of these characters bring something out in LA that she's pushed aside or purposely hidden. And she brings something out in them they need.Literary symbiosis.
Whew. I went off, didn't I? 😁  
I have no "calm your shit down" button. I simply escalate and go forth until it wears me out. But I'll wind this down by saying there are perfect pieces to fit into your works. If one fits in three out of four needs, there will be another that hits the four out of four. Keep going. 
This is the Morrigan on top my desk because I love this bitch.

Anyone want to start with a Gregorian chant this morning? Just me? Cool. Or...because I saw the iconic living room in a picture on FB...the "Three's Company" theme song?
There's always a soundtrack in my head. I have no "skip" option, which is complete bullshit. On loop?Suuuuuuurrrrreeeee...these few lines in the Gracie Abrams song:What'd she do to get you off? (Uh-huh)Taking down her hair like, oh, my GodTaking off your shirt, I did that onceOr twice, uhNo, I know, I know I'll fuck off (uh-huh)But I think I like her, she's so funWait, I think I hate her, I'm not that evolvedI'm sorry she's missing it, sad, sad boyNot my business, but I had to warn ya*****************************Maybe not as catchy as "Call Me, Maybe", but thank the Lordt for that.
Switching gears...it can be incredibly painful to be an author. I've queries out and about to agents for "Plot Twist." Though I'm thinking of changing the working title to "Broken Discus" for reasons.I'm sticking to my guns about PT being a wider-published title. I'm nearly done with book 2, "The Morrigan."And I'm completely in love with the characters.I'd always wondered how Nora (J.D.) kept track of multi-characters and their respective quirks. The machinery in the squad office. Roarke's secret office. Peabody and her idiosyncrasies. Now?I've a town full of characters I truly enjoy. Nax, the petite baker with a gift for baking and lending an ear. Rhapso, the town's clothier that is both bubbly and pushy. Jason, owns the hardware store and is my protagonist's archenemy. Spice seller sisters, Marta and Nona. Complete opposites. Marta is calm and collected. Nona could make a person want to separate their ears from their bodies. The Gordon sisters, owners of Ashlar Gallery, specializing in stone and masonry. Chloris runs the farmer's market. And Mayor Saint aka Mayor McFuckFace to most of his constituents, also for reasons.But my heart stays with LA Bennett, my lead. Damaged. Determined. Driven. Finding her path amongst a traumatic childhood and an even worse adulthood after her mother passes when LA is nearly eighteen.Did I mention deities galore?😁Radegast. Zephyr. The Morrigan. Brigid. Macaria. Tsukuomi. Seshat. Hedjhotep. Idunn. Annapurna. Budi. *sigh*Man, I love this shit.
Now, an amusing story courtesy of my idiotic ginger child, Murphy.I'm typing this at my desk, of course, in the Sanctuary. The Murphinator brings some of his toys in here to play. My walls are full from the floor up, but I've carved a large square in the middle.I put down some Amazon stuffing paper (the brown thin business) because Sim loved the way it sounded. Murphy does, too. Then there's the skin of a furry hedgehog that our Chihuahua baby, Harley, disemboweled before he passed. Also, crinkles. Also, lamb chops. Also...I think there's a fucking wand in here somewhere.Murphy? Not only does he like attention, he wants to be in the same apparel I've donned. I let him camp out with me in my rocker recliner when I've finished for the day. So, this little shit is batting around one of his crinkles (highly recommend) and bats it between my feet where I'm sitting. I kick it back beneath my chair to the carpet. Then Might Murphin Power Ranger bats it around again.I hear him on the left side of my chair, under my desk. (I'm evil. You know that, right?)So I raise my left foot up, bring it back down, and I hear a small feline cranium hit the bottom of my desk.
I lost capacity to see, hear, and breathe. I was wheezing like Po taking the stairs in Kung Fu Panda. Where did the little heathen land it?By the front left wheel of my desk chair. *looks down and sees supine feline*I love him so much.










Now that I've ironed my mood out a bit, think I'll bop back to "The Morrigan" and finish her up today.Have a great Friday!

No big deal, except yesterday I was 53. 🥳😁
Murphy is my Valentine's Day/Birthday present. The little ginger shit.
This morning, I drove over to 7/11 and grabbed a couple Pepsi. Bit of a line for gas and whatnot. Finally got to me, and I motion to the young man behind me and tell the cashier I'm paying for his, too.He asks if I'm sure. I'm like...yeah. It's my birthday; I'm feeling generous.So the cashier rings me up, and this lovely young man grabs his drink, gives me a hug, and wishes me a happy birthday.Best morning evah.
Other than that? Not doing much over here. Had some sort of mental plans that simply overstep my energy level. So. Back in the Sanctuary and working on some written loveliness and watching Murphenstine tear up his crinkles and lamp chop. 
Hope your day is fantastic!

I use the big G. I've only now noticed the first hit uses AI. Didn't pay much attention before. I don't have a problem, per se, with AI being used as such. Should be its only use, imo.
Yesterday, I only wrote a few thousand words. I needed to do research. Cool beans. The coolest beans.I had two interesting searches. Allow me to share.
I am digging deep and finding names that are unusual. I need to know how to pronounce them. Because I don't want to get it wrong. That would be awful. It's important to me. Names...are important.okay
I have a name with the "h" in an odd place. So I type in the word, and my page is filled with information about this fetish.I beg your finest pardon. Fetish?Turns out, the name I'm using means "muscle", and that led me to a literal "muscle fetish."I'm jaded in some ways and so naive in others.It was hilarious.
Then, I need to pronounce another name, an archaic one. I type in the name and "pron" because I've done this so many times, it usually auto fills "pronunciation". More frosty beans.I thought it had until my searches came back with adult materials because stupid AI thought I spelled p*rn wrong. 🙄 Now I'm enlightened about another aspect of other people's lives. mercy
I also am redecorating a kitchen in my book and was all over G with searches for everything from color of paint, matching tiles, wet saw, crown molding and its numerous types, and doors, amongst other things. Took far longer than I wished. But it gives me a great starting point for tomorrow.
Today is recovering from yesterday's searches 😂 , cleaning around the house, and having Valentine's Day dinner with the Honey this evening.
Tomorrow?Back to inappropriate searches and at least 7000 words on my novel.

I have thoughts. When don't I?
For a long time, the old creed for authors was "write what you know." But that's limiting in its context. It could mean to write about your passions and interests. Leverage your identity and use universal human experiences. Which is cool.
Write what you love. This also includes passions and interests. But it may be a bit limiting if you're only true loves are of ballet and basketball. (Great crossover romance, huh?) I feel as though this gives you rules you never asked for.But is also viable.
Now.Some of us use a starting point and then go wickedly wherever. There's so much I don't know. And so much I WANT to know. Example: In "Over Her Head", one of my protagonist's neighbors keeps retired horses. And here goes me...looking up horse breeds and common early retirement issues. Treatments used on horses that shouldn't have been. What type of temperament for each breed. I do a deep dive, and I fucking love it.Bring your emotional depth, of course, but authors can use so much information to enrich their stories. 
I've looked up types of flowers, knives, scorpions, medieval weapons, horses, furniture, houses, barns, ancient deities, book shelves, Christian Siriano Spring 2026 fashion for men, types of fabrics, expensive cars, and so much damn more I don't have the word space to continue.And I take at least one piece with me as I go. It's euphoric. Quick kick of dopamine that feeds this sporadic ADHD brain with all the factoids I can fact.
I don't always know where I'm going (contrary to the "Whitesnake" song), but I sure know where I've been. And it's a gift to be able to utilize so many parts of the world in one book. And I believe it deepens the narrative. How exciting to be a connoisseur of some niche subject and find it in a book you're reading! You can always do the grass is green, the sun is yellow, and there will be a happily-ever-after. But if you say the grass is a dark evergreen that smelled of earth and hope, then you've pushed a bit farther past the general greetings. You feel me?It's the little things that make a good book. All the dynamic elements of genres have been laid out in fine print. Authors know the expectations. It's up to us to go farther and push harder. 
Now.Let me clarify. Let's not dive into the minutiae. I don't need to know there is a ladybug on grass blade number three with 62 dots and a bad attitude. Unless, of course, that ladybug is germane to the story.  You need to use a Kukri, not a machete. But you also don't need a scalpel to scrape all the meat off the bone. Fiction requires our readers to use their imaginations. We don't want to force feed them everything. And as a reader, I hate it.
There's your recipe, authors.Write what you know.Write what you love.Start and surprise yourself.KukriNo macheteNo scalpel
Seems so simple, doesn't it?