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As you know, I’ve had some projects hanging over my head for quite some time. I hope to get them finished by the end of the year.
I’ve finally gone back to work on my second novel, Time’s Echo and am nearly finished with the rough draft. I’m not sure what inspired me with new ideas and scenes to add, but it feels good to be living life with Jenna and Morgan again.
Almost since I started Story-Power, I’ve wanted to put the episodes up on YouTube, but since I publish the audio only, that meant I had to add some kind of visual to make the episodes compatible. I’m happy to say, I have just finished converting episode 50 and am uploading the latest 5 finished episodes to my channel. It has been rewarding to go back and listen to all the episodes again. My guests have inspired me anew. Creating Story-Power is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. One of the reasons it is so meaningful to me is because each guest is optimistic about what they are doing and how it will have a positive impact on the world. If we only listen to the news, we could get depressed. But there are plenty of people out there who are creating great content and that’s a wonderful thing.
Fall and Winter always feel like a time to hibernate to be quiet and reflect. This year is no different. I’ve gone back to writing in my journal every morning something I had stopped doing. I was inspired by a short YouTube video by Elizabeth Gilbert to pick up my journal again. Also one of my guests reminded me of the value of Morning Pages, that Julia Cameron encourages creatives to do in her famous book, The Artist’s Way. I have to say writing these pages has been quite helpful in keeping me motivated. One thing I realized while writing in my journal was that I put too much on my plate when I published by online course Saving the World One Story at a Time on Ûdemy. So, I have decided to remove it at the end of the year. At some point I will revise it, or use the videos on another platform. But for now, I want to concentrate on Story-Power, growing my Patreon community, and finishing my book.
I did take a leap of faith earlier this month and enter The Space Between Time in the American Legacy Book Awards in two categories. It’s a new award created by The American Book Awards for books that have been published between 2010 and earlier this year. I know it’s not a perfect book, but since I’m nearly finished with Time’s Echo, or at least the rough draft of it, I thought any kind of new exposure for the first book, might help the second.
Barry and I have also been watching some interesting series recently. My favorite is, The Wheel of Time, which is on Amazon Prime. I’ve not read the 14 book series, except the first one. This series is high fantasy, which I’m not always into, but there is something about the characters, their interactions with each other, and the things they discover about themselves that speak to me where I am right now. The premise is that 3000 years before the story begins, The Dark One wanted to take over the world. Magic exists, but only certain men and women are channelers of the One Power. One man, designated as The Dragon, is set to confront and cage The Dark One in a prison. However, something goes wrong and the world is broken. At the beginning of our story, The Wheel has turned, and a new Dragon is reborn to attempt to cage The Dark One again.
Moraine an Aes Sedai,(female channeler) and her Warder (protector), Lan have been searching for The Dragon Reborn for 20 years and in the first episode they find four possibles in a village called The Two Rivers. It’s isolated high in the mountains. The village is attacked and the six of them must escape the monsters to protect their loved ones. A fifth person, the Wisdom, (shaman/healer) of the town tracks them down, and Moraine and Lan discover she is needed by the other four, and an important part of the battles to come.
There are over 2000 named characters in the books, which means it makes the storytelling complicated. Some of the characters must be combined or eliminated. One of my favorite characters is the Ogire, Loial. He’s wise. Moraine and Lan rely on him to guide the group to face The Dark One in what they think will be the last battle. Of course it proves to be only the first one.
In the second season, Loial says one of my favorite quotes. The heroes are fighting the enemy. Some are hesitating, not knowing what to do next and Loial says something like, “We are the heroes of the future. It’s time we started acting like it.” I was inspired by that, because WE are the heroes of the future. What we do today has a huge impact on what happens in the years to come. The future will either be better or worse by what we choose to do in the here and now. If you’re into fantasy, I highly recommend this series. A third season is already in production. I can’t wait to see what happens.
A series that I was looking forward to was Ahsoka, a Star Wars continuation, or maybe one that fills in the blanks between movies. In any case, I have to say, Barry and I were disappointed. It was slow. I didn’t think the plot was constructed very well. The character of Ahsoka seemed flat to me. Who knows where things go wrong in the production of a movie or TV show. I hope, if they do another season, they can fix the characters and storylines. Also, I thought there was too much talk when there should have been action. It just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I was hoping it would be like another Star Wars fill-in-the-blanks series, Andor, which I thought was fantastic. If you love Star Wars, and haven’t seen that series, you might want to check it out. I think a new season will be airing in the new year. Both of those series are available on Disney +
The third series we just finished watching is an amazing murder mystery taking place over four timelines, with the same dead body appearing in each. The title is, Bodies and it’s available on Netflix. The four detectives discover the same naked body in their timeline in the same lane in London. The man had been shot in the eye, but there is no bullet. There is also a mysterious mark on the body’s wrist that no one can decipher. As the story goes along each detective comes into contact with people who are part of a cabal that was formed beginning in 1890 to “create a better world” which manifests in 2053. To accomplish this “better world”, the villain does what one of my future Story-Power guests calls, The Thanos effect. He destroys London in 2023 to make way for this better world. I loved the visual effects of how the different timelines were connected by blocks of scenes from one timeline juxtaposed next to another timeline. The story is just the kind I love. It’s complex but unfolds in such a way that makes the ending completely satisfying. It’s great storytelling based on the graphic novel written by Si Spencer. I highly recommend it.
Well, that’s all from me for now. I’m off to convert another Story-Power episode and do some work on my novel. Have a great weekend.
Blessings,
Lucinda
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