Category: Mendaihu universe

Getting through

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This past week has been a bit tough.

On the home front, we’ve been dealing with weird weather that’s been stuck in the mid-sixties with 85-95% humidity for a full month without a break, which means high pollen count, and which also means that my sleep patterns have been interrupted by serious sinus and ear congestion waking me up unless I take a few Benadryl before lights out. And on the day job front, I’ve just finished off five 4am starts in a row (filling in for main bookkeeper who took evening shifts to train a few night people to ease our morning workload). Suffice it to say I’ve been feeling exhausted and loopy the entire time.

The good thing is that Sunday’s weather was quite enjoyable, a much more tolerable 65% humidity and yay, the sun finally blessed the Richmond District with its presence! Heh. Windows were opened and rooms were dusted so that perhaps I can breathe a little easier in the next few days. If all else fails, I think we still have the air purifier from our old apartment somewhere in garage storage that I could bring up and run for a bit.

Meanwhile, yes, I have somehow managed to keep plodding on with the Remaster project for The Persistence of Memories! After chilling out after work and getting my second wind, I have managed to get a good few pages done every night, right alongside getting myself reacclimated with my daily 750 Words. Despite my exhaustion this past week, I’m still powering through because this is a project I’m enjoying, and it’s something I really want to do. And that’s a good a reason as any!

Meanwhile

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Another Independence Day has come and gone, this one not much more than a footnote here in our otherwise quiet neighborhood. We had some stray firecrackers going off a few days early (once at 3am, annoyingly) but due to Karl the Fog’s consistent presence in the evening these past several days. There wasn’t much to see from our new abode other than a few flashes of underlit fog. Suffice it to say, the cats were not happy about the noise. Thankfully, we were well away from the nightmare traffic of North Beach and the Marina District that apparently lasted multiple hours.

I am happy to say that the Remaster work for The Persistence of Memories is running smoothly so far. I did need to pull out my physical copy of A Division of Souls (yes, the remastered one) to check on a reference or two, but otherwise there haven’t been too many major changes as of yet. Just a few word choice fixes and minor edits is all. I am expecting a few major fixes to arise eventually — last I recall, when I last did a reread I remember one or two things sticking out that bothered me — but for the most part we’re still on schedule. I haven’t made a concrete drop date yet, but I’m figuring it’ll be at least some point in Q4.

More to come soon when I have news!

Finding a writing process

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[NOTE: The below is mostly from my 750Words entry from yesterday, but I felt it worth sharing here.]

We were talking the other day about Your Name — one of my all time favorite movies — and how, when we went to see it in the theater in Japantown awhile back, I was reminded of just how perfect a movie it was. Every part of the story has meaning, is there for a reason, and is woven into a rich tapestry. It’s a perfect example of what I like to call ‘they’ve done their homework’. There are very few movies, books, and music that resonate with me that deeply (The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is a current one, of course) but as I’d said to A yesterday, I always saw that movie as a benchmark for me to achieve with my own writing. I doubt I’ll ever reach the levels of Makoto Shinkai, but it gives me a firm goal to work towards.

I think that’s close to where I reached with the Bridgetown Trilogy, and especially with The Persistence of Memories. It wasn’t just a perfect storm of positive personal life, great music and a wave of unbridled creativity. Those things of course fueled it, but it wasn’t entirely borne out of it, now that I think about it.

I’d gone into the trilogy with a few things on my mind:
–This would be the end result of a long-simmering project dating back to 1993, so I did not want to do a half-assed job of it.
–I had such a deep well of ideas for this created universe dating back to the same time, and I did not want to waste any of it.
–I was at a day job at a warehouse where I didn’t have to waste much-needed brain power problem solving (the most pressing things I had to think about were building pallets neatly and correctly, where to stage them, and how to get them to fit onto the truck), which meant that I could spend most all of my waking hours focused on my writing.
–I knew that if I stopped and ‘took a few days off’ I’d get lazy and miss even more writing days, which was part of my undiagnosed ADHD issues, so I purposely drove myself to hyperfocus on the writing instead…while also ensuring that I kept it fun for myself. It was a balance between wanting to reach word count and becoming super excited about wanting to keep this story alive.

And to tie in with what I was saying above: this was a story where ‘I did my homework’. The further along I went with it, the deeper and richer it became. And the wild thing is that most of this happened in my head, because I was really not that much of an outliner! Like I’ve said numerous times, the most I ever planned out with the trilogy was maybe three or four scenes ahead, or maybe one or two chapters ahead, and even then it was less an outline than a vague list of beats to hit as I came up with them.

All the while, I was keeping multiple character threads going in my head. Caren and Poe were focusing on two things: balancing their own spiritual awakening while protecting Denni; Anton knew he wasn’t in charge but had to make it look like he was; Natianos believed he was pulling the strings but didn’t expect Denni and Saisshalé to take over; Nehalé was going through a crisis of faith; and so on and so on. This is why the scenes are set up as they are: they focus mostly on the important character in that particular scene, fully and with deep immersion. The other characters might have been in the scene as well, yet I would only focus on their reaction (or non-reaction) in a later scene. Everything and everyone was interwoven into this story, but I had to see the separate threads going.

Looking back on it, it’s kind of amazing that I did that with my first professional novels. I did it to a much lesser extent with the standalones, but that’s because they didn’t need that much intensity. It was a process I came up with on my own, one that worked for me, and one I still use to some degree. In fact, I’ve been contemplating following my own example with another attempt at rewriting Theadia. The only reason I’d stepped away from that process was because the Trilogy had been such an incredibly long project that I needed to try something small and compact — both to give myself a mental break and to see if I could pull it off.

Like I said, I don’t expect to hit Shinkai levels of perfection, but I remain inspired to at least ‘do my homework’ and write the best work I can.

Back to Bridgetown

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It’s been a while since I actively sat down and reread the trilogy, so it feels a bit strange to be back in Bridgetown after focusing on Beam City (the city in Theadia) for so long! I’m not going to complain, however, because I’ve always loved it here. It’s one of my favorite created worlds of mine and I’m always glad to come back and visit every now and again.

I was thinking the other day, though, if this current remaster might inspire my long-dormant desire to write further stories in the Mendaihu Universe. I’m not going to push it or demand it happens, because that never works for me. But I do wonder if it’ll offer some clarity on some of the ideas I’d had for it. For now, I’m just going to focus on cleaning up this second book in the series and see where it takes me.

It does help that I’ve been revisiting some of my favorite albums that had come out then: Oasis’ Heathen Chemistry, Dishwalla’s Opaline, Beck’s Sea Change, Sigur Rós’ ( ), Interpol’s Turn On the Bright Lights… all the music during the Belfry Years that influenced and inspired the trilogy. I’ve even been thinking lately about why those few years were such a high creative point for me. That’ll probably be another future post, I think it was really a case of great timing and positivity on several fronts, both creatively and personally. There’s a reason I often think about that time and everything I did then.

I think I’ve learned over the last couple of years that the trick is not to try to relive them or recapture them, or make them happen again… but to approach the current time in a similar fashion, and let the positive aspects of the present work for me. [Easier said than done in some respects, sure, but if I still have the ability to do so I’m not going to let it pass me by anymore.]

Won’t you be my dictionary, won’t you translate fun

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I am absurdly gleeful that I finally bought the twelfth edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary! I picked this one up at the Barnes & Noble in Corte Madera, just over the Golden Gate Bridge, on our way back from a visit to Petaluma. The last edition I owned was the tenth, which I bought back in 2003 at that bookstore in Harvard Square that I used to frequent. [This was the one at 30 Brattle Street across from the small plaza, just around the corner from Million Year Picnic. It’s a stationery store now.]

I often think about that store, even though it’s been gone for years now. I found a lot of really great stuff to read there. It was part of my weekend jaunt into Boston and Cambridge in the summer, hanging out near the Pit, people-watching and listening to the street musicians, hitting Newbury Comics and Million Year Picnic and HMV and that store before taking the Red Line back up to Alewife Station where my car was parked. This was back when you could park there all day for a super small fee. It was the perfect place to keep your car during Boston day trips like these.

I’d take these trips every now and again in the mid-90s after moving back home, often on Saturdays when I wasn’t working at the record store, but they became more frequent during the early 00s, at least once or twice a month. This was during the peak Belfry Years when I was writing the trilogy, which meant that those bookstore visits were a mix of revisiting my recent past with a lighter heart, looking for inspiration in the science fiction section, and wanting to learn more from writing reference books. Two reasons I remember buying that book there: a) the price sticker had the store name on it, and b) I bought it in early 2003, and on that day the store was playing Beck’s Sea Change album, which I’d been obsessed with even then. I distinctly remember having it hand while browsing, a customer a few aisles away quietly singing along to ‘Lost Cause’. I’ll think about that store every time I listen to that record.

That dictionary got one hell of a workout over the next several years. Cracked spine, worn edges, dented cover, slight water damage and all. When I heard the latest edition was in fact out late last year, I finally retired the old one. It’s somewhere in the garage with the rest of my writing stuff, having kept it down there when we moved house last year. [This is why I don’t remember the store name off the top of my head. Perhaps if I dig it out at some point I’ll edit this entry.]

And now I have a new one, not yet used, shrink wrap just taken off, already placed on my black bookshelf next to my copy of Kipfer’s Flip Dictionary, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Sure, I could use MW’s website — which I do every now and again if I need a quick confirmation that I’m using a word correctly — but sometimes it’s fun just to pull out this big book and do some old-school referencing without any pesky pop-ups or online distractions.

Book Sale: FREE E-BOOKS!

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OH HEY IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!

Come one, come all for some free e-books! Smashwords and Draft2Digital are having their End of Year Sale! 

ALL SEVEN of my books are here for free until 1 January! You know you want ’em!

Yes, this includes:
—A Division of Souls (The Bridgetown Trilogy, Book 1) [2015/2025] [Now available in its remastered edition!]
—The Persistence of Memories (The Bridgetown Trilogy, Book 2) [2016]
—The Balance of Light (The Bridgetown Trilogy, Book 3) [2017]
—Meet the Lidwells! A Rock ‘n’ Roll Family Memoir [2018]
—In My Blue World [2019]
—Diwa & Kaffi [2023]
—Queen Ophelia’s War [2024]

[The above links open to each book’s main download page for your convenience.]

—Do you love an epic metaphysical sci-fi adventure? Try the Bridgetown Trilogy!
—A big fan of music memoirs? Meet the Lidwells is a fictional nod to one of my favorite genres!
—Enjoy magical girls and time travel fantasy? Try out In My Blue World!
—In the mood for a nice Ghibli-esque hopepunk story about best friends? You’ll love Diwa & Kaffi!
—Looking for a fantasy story about self-discovery? Queen Ophelia’s War is for you!

Thank you for reading!!

Year End: Moving Office

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I suppose I could start this entry with an exasperated how the hells is it December already??, but really, I’m not that surprised at all. It’s been a busy year all around.

One of the biggest changes of 2025 was our moving to our new home, and one we own rather than rent at that. To be honest, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. There’s a sense of permanence going on that I am very much not used to. Aside from my family’s house, every other place I’ve lived in has always been a rented apartment, so it’s taking time for me to accept that we’re allowed to make changes (or not!) if we so choose. I am also greatly amused at how many quarters I can amass over time now that we own our own washer/dryer unit, and how much room our shared office has now that most of my old writings and whatnot are down in our garage storage.

Speaking of a shared office, I’m glad I chose to take the ‘clean slate’ option when we moved everything in, because Spare Oom was getting a mite bit crowded with our mutual book collection and all my writing-related stuff. I was also feeling a bit boxed in by the strict schedule I’d placed upon myself. While the whiteboard calendar had long been a source of inspiration to keep me going, it had also turned into a bit of a chain around my ankle. It all had started feeling like an assignment rather than a a craft that I enjoyed.

So when I got everything plugged in and turned on at the New Digs, I gave myself a fresh start. I didn’t do any blogging, journaling or daily words for a couple of months, instead focusing on the most important projects, Theadia and the Trilogy Remaster. I took my time deciding what decorations to put up, as I didn’t want another collage of stickers and silly things poking holes in the pristine white walls. I didn’t even update my notebook calendar with any notes like I normally would. I merely wanted to reset my priorities and find a bit of clarity.

And now here we are months later. The remastered A Division of Souls is out in the wild, Theadia is back up and running, and I’m even back to blogging and daily words. I only journal occasionally these days, as I don’t feel the need to make it a daily thing at the moment. I feel less disconnected from the world as well, considering the office’s windows overlook the street we live on, and I’m not as far away from A as I used to be. And of course we have both cat trees in here, so Juli and Cali are frequent visitors and distractors!

More to come…

A Division of Souls is returning to POD!

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I’ve finally gotten the ARC (or what I’m calling such) of the remastered edition of A Division of Souls and it looks PHENOMENAL. I’m quite happy to say that Draft2Digital does an amazing job of helping authors with the layout, complete with little flourishes like capitalized first lines (and dropped first letters if you so wish), scene break art and other things like that, but unlike Createspace (at least when I used it back in the day), it made acquiring separate ISBNs for each format a lot easier and less confusing.

At this point I’m going to be giving it one final once-over to see if anything needs fixing, then release it out into the world! I’ll let you know as soon as it’s available!

Prepping for (re)release…

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Okay, so what I really need to do, now that the trilogy remaster is underway, is to start selling it. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a bit lazy in that respect over the last couple of titles, but it’s clearly obvious that run it up the flagpole and see who salutes follows with but no one ever does.

When I first released A Division of Souls in 2015, I went the extra mile and found myself a few avenues to self-promote, and it did reasonably well for a little while. In this case, I have a few ideas that might work, or at least might push the novel where it needs to go to be seen. Perhaps utilizing Publisher’s Weekly‘s ‘Booklife’ section which focuses on self-published titles, for instance.

I suppose the worry is how much it’ll cost, but if I play my cards right and understand what avenues I’m working with, I can definitely pull of a least a small percentage of wider attention and keep it within a modest budget. Considering I’m doing this all DIY, I’ve always kept in mind that if I can take care of certain parts on my own (such as the cover layout and whatnot), then I’ll do it to save money.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing who enjoys the new and updated version!

Update: Now available for pre-order!

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And it has a cleaner and nicer cover as well! The more I sat with the cover I posted last week, the more I thought I could still do better. While the font I’d used wasn’t all that bad, it didn’t quite sit right with me, so I played around with it for a few days until I came up with something simpler yet classier. I feel this one stands out a lot better, as does the title which stands out a lot more.

So anyway: the new remaster is available for preorder at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and of course Smashwords, and will be available elsewhere hopefully very soon, for only $2.99!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! I will also be making this book available in physical form via POD on Draft2Digital, most likely within the next few weeks! All I’m waiting on is a copy of the proof so I can see how it looks before I sign off on it. [The physical book price will be somewhere in the area of $22.99, I believe.] I’ll keep y’all posted!