Starlex, my very first fantasy novel, is officially LIVE on Amazon and across major retailers in both ebook and print!
If you’re craving an action-packed adventure in the classic sword-and-sorcery tradition—complete with dragons, warring factions, and a steamy, high-stakes romance—then you won’t want to miss STARLEX.
Grab your copy and dive in!
I just returned from my first summer getaway—and it was lovely. I’ve been renting this cabin on Lake Nockamixon for the past few years, sometimes as a solitary retreat in the dead of winter (which is actually one of my favorite times to go). But this year, it was more of a family affair.
I grew up in the country, so it’s in my soul. Coming from a large family that could, at times, feel chaotic, I used the woods—and climbing tall trees—as my emotional escape. Nothing soothes my nerves quite like a deep, quiet forest.
Honestly, I could easily become a hermit. I dream about it constantly. Maybe my dream doesn’t include the insects or the occasional field mouse, but I’d still take that kind of pest over the human kind any day.
Am I confessing to misanthropy? Not at all. I love people—but I love solitude more. It’s just the way I’m built. We all need to honor our natures, and mine craves quiet, natural spaces for comfort and restoration.
Perhaps this is one reason I became an avid reader as a kid—often perched up in a tree. Escaping into fantasy might not be the healthiest coping mechanism, but it’s far less destructive than many others. Writing, self-expression, creating plays and stage personae—none of that’s really changed. They’re all ways of coping, I suppose, if you dig in a bit deeper, but I’ll save that for my therapist.
Naturally, I brought books with me to the cabin, along with my sketchbook to indulge my latent (yet still sadly undeveloped) drawing talent, and my guitar—which I barely strummed the entire time. I have a notebook full of unfinished songs, but since I’m too shy to play around anyone, so finishing them will have to wait for the next solitary retreat.
But I did read. I’m currently indulging in a Richard Laymon read-a-thon I’m hosting on my YouTube channel with some BookTube pals. Extreme horror/splatterpunk is a genre I only dip into occasionally—for obvious reasons. It’s often gross, absurd, and, yes, frequently misogynistic. So, why was I the one to suggest this read-a-thon in the first place? LOL! Who knows. Go with it. I love a good gory drive-in movie in the summer, so Laymon it is. I’m on my fourth novel this month. I’d love a dollar for every “rump” and “turgid nipple” I’ve come across, but hey—I’m having fun. I may need to cleanse my palate with a cozy mystery when it’s all over.
Long summer days tend to bring out more focused writing in me. As a lifelong early riser, I try to knock out at least a thousand words each morning on my current work-in-progress. I recently released two YA romance novellas, and I’m now finishing up Book Two of an epic fantasy series that I still can’t believe I challenged myself to write. But here we are.
That’s my summer so far—and my summer plans. But as we know, life can change in an instant. All we can do is enjoy the day we’re blessed with.
Hope yours is a good one.
A little under four years ago, I made the decision to start tracking my word count using an Excel document. As of today, I have surpassed the half a million mark. In the world of writing, there’s a popular belief, often attributed to Ray Bradbury, that one must write a million words to achieve mastery. In all honesty, I may already be close to or have exceeded that milestone. My first novel was published seven years ago, following numerous years of writing short stories and screenplays. I won’t include blog posts or school assignments, nor those handwritten attempts at first novels stashed away in the attic. But for the sake of organization and accuracy, let’s consider that I’m halfway to that million-word goal.
If I write another eight to ten novels (mine are typically on the shorter side), I should have a better grasp of what I’m doing by then. The key, I believe, is to persist in the same activity with increasing dedication; eventually, clarity will emerge. As long as I’m not just endlessly typing like Jack Torrance, but also actively editing, shaping, and daring to publish these words in some form, improvement is inevitable.
Make sure to listen to James DeFeo and my weekly podcast, The Right Brain Café, for invaluable insights into writing and creativity. This week, we delve deep into the concept of failure in creativity. It’s time to realize that perhaps those million words are just a warm-up to one’s greatest achievement.
After a bit of a hiatus, I’m back on Wattpad. I jumped ship for about a year while I tried out Kindle Vella (I decided it wasn’t for me), and now I’m back. I may try Vella again if I have a story that will do well on that platform. I sum up my thoughts on the subject below.
One of my writing goals for the year is to honor Heinlein’s Rules and to finish what I’ve started. Hear James DeFeo, and I discuss this topic on the Writing Fiction Podcast. Like many writers, I have a desktop folder filled with incomplete outlines, false starts, and more pre-made book covers than I care to admit. But at one time, all of these ideas held enough interest for me to at least start. Instead of moving on to the next shiny object, do I have the discipline and fortitude to discover what attracted me to this idea and find fresh inspiration in a forgotten project?
If I treat each of these projects like an epic novel (I do have one of those that I plan to finish this year), I might feel overwhelmed and discouraged, but if I treat some, not all, of these half-baked ideas as orphans worthy of love, I might get somewhere. First, some of these ideas and book covers may flourish as short stories or novellas. Yesterday, while scrolling through Wattpad, I discovered a creepypasta story contest with an approaching deadline. Did any of my unfinished projects fit the bill? It turns out one did. Galvanized by the approaching deadline, I gave myself an hour to write the flash fiction story. By hour’s end, I had a 1900-word draft I was happy with. I gave it another hour for editing, and voilá, I not only completed the two-hour writing challenge I set for myself daily, but I wrote and completed a new story. Not only that, I found a home for one of my orphans.
It feels good to finish something, mainly because it helps clear the deck for a treasure trove of more shiny objects. If you give yourself an hour (or two), you have a story. You may read mine here on Wattpad.
R. Saint Claire 