The Farmer's Daughter - Part 1 by Robin Janney

As my manuscript is being sent to Beta readers for a read through, I thought I'd take some time to talk about the novel. What it and the series is about, why you should reread it if you already read it the first time I published it, why I made some of the changes I did, and why I write about the subject matter that I do.

I think I'll start with the name of the overall series. It was originally called The Country Music Series because I had this cute idea to name the books after country songs thinking it would be 'ok' since the books had nothing to do with the story the song told. But, then I did some more research and realized I was flirting with trademark infringement. You know, trying to use the popularity of the song to promote my own work. Depending on the artist involved, they might not appreciate that.

For example, the song Farmer's Daughter is about a guy going to work for a farmer and falling in love with his daughter while my novel is about the farmer's daughter going to work in a general/grocery store and falling in love with the owner. By keeping the series name The Country Music series, I'm actually being dishonest and trying to trick readers into reading my books. I didn't realize it at first, but now that I've realized my mistake I'm going to do my best to fix it.

So, the series is now called: The Dragon Dream and this is why.

Number one...the male lead character, Craig Moore, suffers from a recurring nightmare he and his best friend Kevin dubbed the Dragon Dream while they were still sharing a dorm room in college. Because - it revolved around Craig's battle with a dragon. His damaged psyche cast his abuser in the role of a dragon which kills him repeatedly in his dreams. As the story progresses, the dream foreshadows events in the real world - it takes him a while to catch on, even after the demon known as the Beast enters them. Like, he's only 'kind of' figuring this out at the end of book two.

The dream/vision near the end of the book features both Craig and his love interest, Angela. The closest I've come to having a shared dream myself, are the few times my husband and I have dreamed about the same subject matter on the same night. However, this is fiction and I most decidedly ran with it. As the one deceased character answered when asked: Is it a dream? “No. It’s…some would call it purgatory, some heaven, some hell. It’s different for everyone. I call it the razor-thin edge between life and death, between dreams and reality."

Hence, the reason why I say I write fantasy as well as romance. Not to mention, one of my antagonists is a 'minor' demon...and the dog Princess is an angel in disguise. But that there is probably a whole other blog post!

Not my picture I'm afraid. Stole it. Jail me.
I can't even find a link for the original,

Sadly, different fonts don't translate into Kindle e-books, but I also give the Dragon Dream scenes an extra indent from the rest of the story. It's a separate battle in Craig's mind...and yet it is a battle between two worlds blending together. In his dream, Craig is battling for his freedom from the oppression of his abuse and the deep guilt it left him over his sexual desire and identity. As Cassie says in the second novel, in many ways he was struggling to come out as straight. Craig's actual dreams are the only time scenes in that realm are indented more. Any time Angela steps into the same realm, it is the same font and indentation because to her there is no separation of realities. Something none of the characters are aware of yet, but I'll tell you that much.

Also, since the story itself was birthed from a dream I had years ago...I figure it's only fitting! The dream was nowhere near as entertaining as the novel is, I'm afraid. The only thing which remains is the main character's life being in danger because she was dating the man she was working for. And that's about it. The dream I had was also a lot shorter - but that's because once I killed the seed the dream planted, the darn thing sprouted all over the place.

I'm too late for this to be my usual Monday blog, but I was busy tweaking stuff yesterday and every time I changed windows to try and start a post...my brain jammed up. So, as I'm waiting for feedback on the changes I've made I'm going to write up a few blogs posts, schedule them and get started on weeding out the dross in Ring of Fire.

Much love to all.

Wordless Wednesday July 4, 2018

Hitting the Redo Button and Starting Over

A few days ago, I posted this picture on my Instagram feed. Part showing off my pretty blue fingernails and part teasing people as I show where I'm at in the process of retyping Farmer's Daughter.

And then one of my followers there (thank you James!) asked me what I was reading and I was struck by the revelation that I talk and write and post with too many assumptions.

Not everyone knows I'm an independent author who has published two books. So I thought I'd take a few moments and introduce myself.

Hi. I'm Robin.

I'm an Indie Author.

In 2013 I hit publish for my first novel through Amazon KDP. A few years later, I hit publish for the 2nd novel.

I did NOT know what I was doing. I should have been blogging and tweeting and building a fan base before I ever hit that button.

I can't undo that. But in a way, I AM hitting the REDO button. I took my two books off the market for valid reasons...I missed too many continuity mistakes. So while I'm fixing those blunders, I'm also going to fix the social media marketing thing.

I'm going to do a few more posts about my books subject matter. If you've already read version one, please bear with me and share my posts so others can be brought into a universe you already love.

I've also been Twittering more. It's a decent place for me to go when I need a break from the intensity of what I'm writing. Some of my characters struggles are very real to me and I've written a few anxiety attack scene which honestly has triggered my own. More about that another day. Twitter also lets me see what some of my favorite writers and actors are up to...I've had two tweets liked by verified accounts just recently!! Nothing cheers this fangirl up more!!

Dude, Dax Shephard...like, seriously!
If you don't know who he is, you're missing out! lol

Thanks to a wonderful woman Glitter on Instagram who has started posting her vids there, I've decided to give that a try too. I absolutely love her. Probably because she's daring enough to be herself in a world which kinda looks down on overweight people enjoying life. I haven't figured out how to share a link for my YouTube channel, but maybe I'll have it figured out by Monday when I'm scheduling this to be posted. All of my other links for my social media accounts are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Wish me luck as I hit REDO and plow on ahead!

Much love!

Wordless Wednesday 6-27-18

The view from C.P. Stringham's backyard <3

T'is the Season by Robin Janney

What season you may ask?

Graduation season!

And when students graduate, there are parties.

I have two to attend this summer. A nephew of mine who lives just over the border in New York, and C.P. Stringham's youngest daughter as well.

Kenzi's party was Saturday. We were late because Mr. Janney forgot about it and didn't come to bed until eleven Saturday morning. The food was good, the hostess was the mostess and Kenzi seemed to be having a fun time.

Mr. Janney and I have been having a lot of late nights...a.k.a. we're staying up all night and don't go to bed until anywhere from 5-7 am. He's doing what you expect...xboxing. Although the way he yells at his Xbox friends makes me glad they're not his enemies! They have a truly unique relationship which probably wouldn't work in the real world.

I, of course, have been hard at work retyping Farmer's Daughter. I have it saved on OneDrive so I never lose it again. I may have to do the entire retyping thing for Ring of Fire as well because I can't seem to find the CD it was saved on. I was sharing with Mr. Janney just today that I'm happy with some of the changes I've made to Farmer's...some of it has been minor personality changes which better fit the storyline...some scenes had been combined/restructured or both...some of the side characters have been showing up more, a few of them have extra scenes. Of course, one minor change here, another minor change here...can have a domino effect I hadn't planned on, but I'm confident it'll all work out in the long run. I know it's just me, but I think it's flowing a little smoother than the original...flowing a little more like Ring does.

My nephew's graduation party isn't until the 7th of July...and I'm kind of looking forward to it. Kind of...because I'm having my top two wisdom teeth removed 2 days before! I'll have to ask my brother if there's any mushy food on the menu!

Going to keep this Monday blog short because it's late in the day and I want to get it posted.

Until next time, much love!

Wordless Wednesday June 20 2018

What Do You Write? by Robin Janney

I was asked this question today, and the simple answer is Romance. But I'm not certain my novels are strictly Romance.

Because there is some mystery thrown in, some supernatural activity which gives a lead into the fantasy element...One of my characters is a demon named Beast who operates to foil the characters romance in an effort to change the power structure of his little kingdom.

There is also the quasi-character of the Dragon Queen...in The Farmer's Daughter, she is the dream representation of one of the main character's abusers. How this character changes in the dream is indicative of how Craig perception of her crime changes, giving her less and less power over him and his life. Does he forgive her? Not necessarily. But he no longer lets her actions rule him.

We see more of the Dragon Queen's real-life persona in the sequel, Ring of Fire, and we realize there's more to the Dragon Queen than just Craig's imagination. Because it's hinted at, that the Dragon Queen has started entering Angela's dream as well...and that the physical realm and the dream realm are connected, as seen in the thunderstorms at the novel's end.

And some of that is the influence of my own love of fantasy novels. Although I once got rid of some of my books because I thought they were somehow sinful, I have since changed my mind...not only do I own the complete Harry Potter series (thanks to my mother-in-law) but I also rebought and completed my collection of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Including the prequel novel. As well as Tad William's Memory Sorrow and Thorn series. And the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. You get the idea :)

The one element missing from my novels would be science fiction. Maybe if you stretched it,  considered the demons as aliens and the dream realm a different dimension. Maybe possibly. Maybe someday I'll try a science fiction story...I'd love to have a Star Trek novel someday...I'd say Star Wars, but I hung that dream up years ago. I do have a novel series to write someday set in a fantasy world, complete with demons, based around triplet royals (2 princesses and a prince)....two sets really, but that's for later.

I have enough fuel for at least four books dealing with Craig and Angela and their families. I have a spark of an idea for a fifth novel, but that doesn't have a green light yet. I am about 2/3's of the way through retyping The Farmer's Daughter, and once that is done I am going to read through RIng to see what will need to be fixed there. There has been at least one name change for a character and it's possible another character will get a name change.

Some of the religious content is being edited/deleted/restructured as well. Not the spiritual aspects, don't be confused by that like I obviously was when I originally wrote the story. And it is far from being theologically correct. I am taking vast creative liberties with the spiritual realm - we will meet both Lucifer and Jesus and Legion before the series end as well. One of the liberties I've taken with some of these characters is giving them different names. Many of them no longer go by their 'given names' choosing to be known by the names humans have given them instead. This is why it's called fiction.

I have cut some chapters which I felt was slowing the pace, which in turn has led to new scenes...because some of the cut chapters still happen, but I'm changing how I let the reader learn about them. So once this is done...I'm going to have to treat those sections as a rough draft again. Some scenes have been restructured so we're only seeing through one character's point of view instead of everyone in the scene...I may have to go through that again, see if the few blended scenes still work. I'm also changing some of the formattings...there will no longer be a ~ separating scenes. Rather, just using space and a font change.

The more complicated answer to the question directed at me today would have to be Extreme Romance. If that's not a genre, it should be. My definition of Extreme Romance would be to reference the 2002 Spider-Man movie...specifically, the Bridge Battle scene where Hob Goblin forces Spidey to chose between his beloved MJ and a tram full of kids, forces him to chose the kind of hero - the kind of person - he wants to be. I'll include the clip so you can experience it.

If that's not Extreme Romance, I don't know what is!

Happy reading peeps!