V.A. Jeffrey's Blog

My progress is slow and steady but it’s coming along. I’m over halfway done with the first draft at this point. One of the main reasons for my slow progress with the last few books in this series is because of the major battle of a mood disorder, depression and anxiety that I’ve been fighting for most of my life that has worsened over the past few years. It’s gotten so bad that I’ ve had to take special action. Action in the form of trying out a CBD isolate oil. I never thought I’d be taking CBD but here I am. And yes, it’s working beautifully.

Have you ever been in such a melancholy that you couldn’t sleep, felt that you would never be happy again, felt worthless or broken? I’ve felt like a fundamentally broken person for years now but I’ve resisted the conventional drugs. I’m not a fan of those, which is why I’ve struggled with this for many years. ON and off, it comes and goes. But last year the massive uncontrollable crying spells, the dark moods, the irritation and all the rest, the hopelessness has nearly ruined my life. So I’ve made some changes. Lemon Balm herb, which I take in drops, a good B-Complex vitamin and now CBD drops are helping me get back on track. In fact, today and this weekend in general I’ve devoted to writing and my excitement for writing has come back. These things have worked almost immediately, I have to say. Exercise helps as well. anyway, I’ll get on with my WIP. Future Fantastic is I would say, 60% done. I feel that I’m on an even keel again. Hasn’t fel this good for a very long time.

I’ve finally finished the outline for Future Fantastic! Now, to the real work! The story. This one will be a doozy. What do I mean by that? I mean that it’s going to be a big book. Not as big as the books in my fantasy series but it will be pretty hefty. Lots of loose strings to be tied up and lots of excitement to be had as well. Alright, now, off to work!

Years ago, I found it very difficult to work through adversity and trials that befell me. if something bad happened in my life, I often couldn’t write. I’m in the process of changing that patter but it is very hard to change old patterns. Once again, adversity and crisis is besetting my family and sometimes I feel lost when staring at the proverbial page or screen but I’m changing that. You have to. You can’t let life, even in its worst moments stop you. When you fall you have to get up again. repeatedly.

Having read through the books in the series, I’m working on the outline now. Things are slow and I think this will be the longest Mission book of them all. it will be a slog, but get through it, I will, this time.

This last book, future fantastic will start similarly to Attack on Europa where the team is en-route already to Mars. I won’t give you more though. You’ll just have to wait until I get that first chapter out.

Onward, ho!

I’m finally starting on the outline for the last book in the Mission series. I know, it’s late, but here I am, getting started. The time has to be right sometimes before I can really get started and committed. I’m excited. I’ve gone through most of the other books in the series and I’m ready to send bob off to the great milky way yonder. I feel a little sad leaving this character, which is why I’m so slow getting this wrapped up but it will get finished. This last jaunt will be a last battle fought on Mars. Look for some old concepts from Lights of Langrenus and Attack on Europa in this last book. Dark matter, fiorjahs, the Divine serum, etc.

The more I think on the next series the more energized I get for ideas to explore. Alchemical concepts are something I’m looking into for this next series. But more on that later.

Now, on to finishing the Mission series.

Even with all the swirling chaos in Washington DC, the intermittent chaos in my family and its effects on me, I’m able to find small islands of peace and rest and even, at times, happiness. It’s been difficult. Life gets more disquieting and more disturbing as I get older, even as other things bring joy. I can go through bouts of sobbing and even euphoric happiness and then the uneasy feeling of foreboding in one day, sometimes. It sounds like mental illness, I know, but it truly isn’t that. A strange synthesis that’s hard to describe. It’s a sign of the times we live in.

But it’s things like these, unsettling, even tragic experiences even, that can help motivate one to come up with interesting ideas for story craft. As the Mission story soon draws to a close I look forward to the next series, which won’t come out for another couple of years but my more recent experiences will be channeled into this new character and his arc. It will be an interesting challenge to wrestle with this story and bring it to life and I’m looking forward to it. He will be much different from Robert Astor.

There are other smaller projects that I want to finish - my podcast story You Drop Stardust (which is set in the same world as my new, yet to be written series), And The Blueshifters. These don’t get read by many people but I find working on them cathartic for emotional reasons anyway and they help fuel ideas for my larger works.

As for the Mission series, I’m reading over all of the previous books so that I can re-calibrate my memory’s accuracy regarding certain details and plot points.. I’ll be getting started on the first draft in earnest in February. I’ll do my best in channeling my pain and anguish into creativity. And finding joy in it when I can. And in between those creative fits and starts, there is peace and rest. Sometimes.

Since the growing scandal raging in Washington DC I’ve been pondering the role social media has played in all of this. Toxic role, that is. Since this summer I’ve been listening to Jaron Lanier, Silicon Valley pioneer who has a lot of interesting and disturbing things to say about social media. The lunacy that I see in society comes from something far more sinister than what most people realize, but that takes us into the realm of the supernatural. I’ll leave that for another post.

The non-supernatural issues are frightening enough. Social Media is a tool that those who control the data taken from use it to coerce and manipulate us and we can see the results in people’s addiction to it and to their lack of ability to think for themselves, how easily they are controlled, by ideas implanted into them by others with some other agenda. Right now you can see it playing out in politics, right and left, but it doesn’t stop there. I’ve been examining my own engagement with social media. One thing that I’ve found helpful over the years are programs like AdBlock and more recently, Hide YouTube Comments, an app that hides YT comments, which makes it a far better place to learn from and engage with. Jaron encourages people to get off it for six months and see whether you really need it or do you have an addiction that needs addressing? If so, he encourages people to get rid of their social media accounts if it is having a negative impact on their life. I have often thought of deleting my social media accounts, or most of them anyway but I haven’t quite gotten to that point, yet. I suppose my weakness is YouTube, because for me it has replaced television but even so, I am resolved to get off YT more often and engage with other things that I enjoy. Below is one of Jaron’s talks, in NYC. very though-provoking.

10 Reasons To Get Off Social Media



After nearly a decade of using YouTube I have finally resorted to using a chrome extension that effectively hides all YT comments. Too many times I have watched a video on YT only to be lured into the comments section or to simply want to post a comment about the content in the video only to find myself being dragged through a verbal sewer. The extension is called Hide YouTube Comments and it is a Godsend for those of us who wish to block out the hatred, darkness and ugliness that has run rampant on internet social media spaces like YouTube.

Things have only gotten worse with the current political climate and it was awful before this.

What has really brought this on is the Star Wars fandom - of which I used to be part of. It really has become toxic and it was toxic before the current films. It became ugly and perverse when the prequels came out. There’s no need to rehash it all, we all know the things that were said. George Lucas was driven away from his own creation, for which I will never forgive the Star Wars fans who were part of that ugliness. Back then I became so disgusted that I left the fandom community. These days I only enjoy the films, audio books, and the documentaries surrounding them. I looked up to see what the fandom thought of the knew films and after this second sequel film came out I shook my head and realized that my decision to leave the SW fandom community years ago was a good idea. It’s gotten scary now and I’m not exaggerating . Whether you think it has gotten too PC (and yes, an argument can be made for that. Did we need to scrub out all white male characters on the Light Side in SW, and did we need a general with purple hair?) But there is a way to address the tyranny of PC without becoming just as tyrannical on the other side of the issue. What I’m seeing now is a hatred and childishness that even pushes the boundaries of nasty behavior. I feel as a black woman that somehow, according to some fans, I should not be allowed to see someone like myself in this universe. But it’s not just Star Wars, I’m seeing this stuff everywhere. You can’t escape someone wanting to bring and spew this sewage into every community that exists on the internet.

There are a few good places of light and love on YT where the comments section is actually enlightening, educational and positive and for those I can selectively disable the extension but as for the rest? I won’t miss the old days and I actually look forward to being able to enjoy the content itself instead of dreading the stink of the comments section. Toxicity in any form is deadly. I want to no part of it.

Mission: Phoenix Rising is now available on Amazon for $0.99! It will available on other retail outlets later this month.

War is coming! The Blackfleet is arriving sooner than expected! Bob, Diamond, the Boss, and U-net have cobbled together a desperate battle plan and an army to intercept the alien fleet and destroy the last alien base on Io and the stargate on Jupiter. The special weapon that the Boss has built for the newly upgraded Phoenix is an unstable, unpredictable weapon that has already taken the lives of scientists working at the Boss’s secret laboratory during the testing phase but time is up. It must be used or abandoned. 

If they play their cards right, the ragtag army actually has a fighting chance to defeat the enemy once and for all, an advantage up their sleeve: the element of surprise. Except that the Boss is struggling against hidden enemies, growing hysteria and suspicion as Earth’s populace slowly awakens to what they are facing. Bob is seen by some as a possible terrorist suspect. He is apprehended and brought in for questioning right when he needs to leave on the greatest mission of his life! Will he escape the watchful eyes of the authorities to join U-net? Will U-net make it in time before the Blackfleet emerges from the wormhole? Will the secret weapon the Boss has spent so much time, effort and money building actually work? Or has humanity lost the war before it has begun?

Progress report on Mission: Phoenix Rising:

Finished.

Look for the release of Mission: Phoenix Rising on Amazon and other retailers next week! (yay!)

It’s been a long time since I’ve done this and I’ve nearly forgotten how fun this is! Here is the cover for the new book, due out this month, in fact, this week!