About Mister the Magical Cat

One more time, with feeling...

Hey, if you don’t know by now, I’m Lyndon Perry. I go by Lyn, especially when I write in this cozy mystery slash magical cat genre. (I use my full name when I write fantasy and science fiction, and I use my middle name when I write thriller and suspense. I know, it’s complicated.)

I’m a full-time writer living in Puerto Rico with my wife, Julie, and our ‘old man’ Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby. (He was a trooper, btw, traveling 17 hours with us from KS to PR.)

Charlies’s my inspiration for Mister the Magical Cat. Our gray mackerel, Izzy, died a few years ago, and he was my model for Mack the Magical Cat.

Yes, I have two tangentially related series featuring two different magical cats. And yes, I’m that crazy. (grin)

I say tangentially, because there is a bit of crossover here. However, my Mister stories focus on the feline antics of Mister and his friends, including the witches and warlocks in his world. For example, we hear the cats converse in this particular series, while also enjoying the perspective of Mister’s human companion, Helga Snittlewitch.

This is ‘magic light’, by the way – no dark arts or evil spells. Family friendly.

Mister the Magical Cat Series by Lyn Perry

Now in my Mack stories, our feline protagonist remains silent and mysterious (kind of like Lillian Jackson Braun’s very intuitive Koko, whom Mack adores). The focus of this particular series is more on how Mack and his human companion, Dorothy ‘Ma’ Tutt, interact – and how she usually gets in trouble and needs Mack’s mysterious abilities to save the day.

A cozy adventure. Less magic, more mystery. In fact, Mack was born in 1954 and is on his fourth life! His original name was Tozier, and he once traveled from California with a young Gypsy couple named Martía and Rohan Cooper to visit Helga Snittlewitch in the late 1990s. Before Mister was even a thought. If that’s too confusing, just read both series starting from the beginning. (Hint hint.)

By the way, I write with adults in mind, but these books are appropriate for middle grade readers on up. They’re clean and wholesome with an underlying spiritual and moral tone. I was a former pastor, after all.

So while some might call these books children stories or even YA books, there aren’t really any children or young people featured in them. My characters are adults and I write with adults in mind. Adults who like whimsy and magic and fun. Without comparing myself to George MacDonald or C. S. Lewis (two literary giants), I do want to emulate their philosophy: my stories aren’t written for children, but for the childlike.

So if you’re an adult with a childlike outlook, these books are for you. But also for your kids and grandkids. I hope you enjoy them all.

Daily Word Totals...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

* Day 4 - 3,600 words, story is at 15,000 words

* Day 5 - 1,000 words, story is at 16,000 words

* Day 6 - 3,100 words, story is at 19,100 words

* Day 7 - 2,000 words, story is at 21,100 words

* Day 8 - 100 words, story is done: 21,200 words

* Afterword - About Mister the Magical Cat

~*~

I just posted my daily progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

A Cauldron of Cats - Day 8

How to wrap up a novella?

Short answer: For me, it’s a bit of a struggle. I want the ending to be just right.

So, no standard 45 minute writing sessions for me today. I just kept coming back to Cauldron to have a go at the ending one more time. I finished the dang story yesterday, after all. Just wasn’t happy with the final touch. I wanted the release, the denouement, to be an “ahhh, that’s nice” moment. And what I’d written wasn’t quite working for me.

Therefore, I did my final read through to get to the emotionally right feeling of those last few sentences.

I’ve mentioned previously that I edit my own manuscripts and I don’t believe in over-editing. I write the best I am able the first time, pushing the story forward, fixing things as I go (Pass #1). Then I cycle read and edit. That is, I go back to what I’ve written, reread and push forward, making corrections or slight edits as needed. (Pass #2)

Then I read the story one final time, start to finish (Pass #3) and call it good. During this final read through I fix some typos, change a duplicate word or two here and there (I try to use my thesaurus, lol), but I don’t substantially change the story or edit content. I figure if the story doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I’ll publish it and move on and let readers decide if they like it.

So how many words did I add today?

One hundred.

For the win!

That puts the novella at 21,200 words. In eight days. Let’s make that nine, since I’d already written the prologue and part of chapter 1 last year (about 1,800 words). That’s about 2,300 words a day. Very doable. Well, of course. I just did it. (grin)

Oh, plus I added an afterword of 600 words that explains the connection between my two magical cat series. I’ll share that in the next chapter.

So, it’s a wrap.

Spent the rest of the day formatting the ebook, adding hotlinks to the chapters, and sending my final version out to my beta reading team. If they find any glaring mistakes or have huge questions, I’ll fix those. Otherwise, I’m done and happy with the end product.

I hope you are too, if you get the chance to read A Cauldron of Cats. I think it works as a stand-alone, but if you really want to get into the series, start with Cat Potion No. 9. These two novellas really do form a two-novella story arc.

In a month or so, I’ll be starting Book 3, Cats in a Cradle. This episode will continue to follow the antics of our feline crew, of course, but will be a true stand alone. I think. We’ll see! Maybe I’ll blog about my daily routine for that novella as well and turn it into another short e-book. Tempting!

Until then, thanks for reading, for your interest, and for your support.

Today's Writing Tip...

Work on getting your opening lines and your story’s ending just right.

Progress...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

* Day 4 - 3,600 words, story is at 15,000 words

* Day 5 - 1,000 words, story is at 16,000 words

* Day 6 - 3,100 words, story is at 19,100 words

* Day 7 - 2,000 words, story is at 21,100 words

* Day 8 - 100 words, story is done: 21,200 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

A Cauldron of Cats - Day 7

Basically done!

Two thousand words today – Chapter 14 and Epilogue – and we’re calling it good. Well, all except the final final fifty words or so. Not happy with the exact ending quite yet, so will sleep on it and finish tomorrow.

But today, I celebrate.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my first real multi-day effort at being a full-time writer. In a relatively short amount of time, I saw Cauldron go from an opening scene to a full-blown novella. One week’s worth of writing. This encourages me and gives me hope.

I can really do this thing!

It’s part of why we moved to Puerto Rico. My wife and I are starting a new chapter of our lives, and this next chapter for me (if you’ll forgive the literary metaphor) is to give this writing gig the time and effort I think it needs for me to earn a living.

I know that sounds a bit mercenary, but as a writer I’m providing a product (my book) and a service (entertainment) which has value to many people. The better I get at my craft, the more value I can provide, the more readers I can entertain, and the more income I can earn.

So here’s my year and a half plan to earn a decent income as a full-time professional writer. I don’t want to presume upon the future. One cannot control what happens tomorrow.

But as God allows (James 4.13-15), I’ll meet the following goals…

·         Write a book or novella every month for a total of 18 completed projects by the end of 2023. That’s about one million words (60,000 words/month x 18 months).

·         Publish each of those books within a month or two of completion and start the work of promotion, whether it’s through advertising or via my social media platform.

·         Since many people like to read books in a series, I’ll focus in on my particular niche (magical cat cozy mystery) and expand my offerings there. Meaning, I plan to write at least 6 novellas in my Mister the Cat series and 6 novels in my Ma Tutt & Mack series.

·         If these prove popular, I’ll continue to add to these series while completing other projects I’m interested in writing. My hope is to have a number of books in a few different genres using my three pen names: Lyn, Lyndon, and Garth Perry.

Ambitious, I know. But I just finished a 20,000 word novella in seven days. If I can do that, I can finish a short novel in two or three weeks. As I always say…we’ll see! But like I said above, I’m encouraged and hopeful. Excited to see what stories emerge from my inner storyteller this next year and a half! Hope you are, too.

Today's Writing Tip...

If you provide a product or service – and writers provide both! – don’t feel bad about earning an income from your efforts.

Progress...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

* Day 4 - 3,600 words, story is at 15,000 words

* Day 5 - 1,000 words, story is at 16,000 words

* Day 6 - 3,100 words, story is at 19,100 words

* Day 7 - 2,000 words, story is at 21,100 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

A Cauldron of Cats - Day 6

The end is in sight!

3,100 words today. Chapters 11 to 13. Heading into the final conflict and climax. Resolution around the corner. Probably wrap the story up tomorrow with a thousand word denouement.

I get a kick out of how my stories come together. Almost all stories, actually. Western storytelling is typically structured like that mountain of a plot diagram we all learned in Middle School Language Arts. It’s kind of in our DNA. We resonate with the predictable pacing of the opening conflict or struggle, the rising action, added tension, final conflict, climax, resolution, and final release.

Now when the resolution is victorious and there’s a happily-ever-after denouement, that’s generally called (in classic lit terms) a comedy. Think Shakespeare’s happy plays! But if the final conflict brings about defeat and the final scene is one of loss, that’s a tragedy. Romeo and Juliet, anyone?

I’m mostly into light and happy, fun and whimsy so my stories almost always end in good feels. And Cauldron is no exception. The sinister Dr. Vance and her colleague on the Witch and Warlock Guild Council will be confronted. The tense stand-off will end (no spoilers!), um, somehow! And the magical cats in captivity will (no spoilers!), um, end up…happy.

Ah, but if the story were that predictable, then why read the story? This is where those surprise twists come in. And that’s what I get a kick out of when I’m writing. A few twists and turns just naturally show themselves. So I run with them.

When I started out, I knew the set-up: cats were being held captive, and Mister would somehow rescue them. Didn’t know how. Didn’t care, actually, because I knew that the creative part of my brain would come up with some interesting scenarios as to how that might happen.

From a craft point of view, I think it was science fiction writer Kate Wilhelm who talked about taking the third option. What she meant was, as I ponder where the story is going – say I’m at a crossroads – I can envision at least one or two options to move the story forward.

The first option, Wilhelm said, is almost always too easy. I’m paraphrasing here, probably totally messing it up. But anyway, the first idea is usually very predictable. “Oh, Mister should unlock the cages with his magical ability and the cats escape.” Boorrrinnng. If the first option is too easily guessed, then the reading audience quickly loses interest.

Second option is probably a bit more creative, but still predictable. It’s probably not that exciting and leaves the reader thinking, meh. “Okay Mister. Maybe you can tie up the bad guys in some sort of magic rope!” (That would be super weird, but heh, it’s an example.)

Wilhelm advocates for the third option, something creative that is unexpected for even the writer. Because if the writer is surprised by a development in the story, the reader should be too. Go figure.

So for Mister, he did something unexpected to save the kitties. Which led to a final bit of tension which I’ll resolve tomorrow in the final scene. But what’s cool is that my subconscious planted the seeds for this solution early in the story. So while the development was surprising to me (and I hope it will be for the reader too), it wasn’t out of the blue. If you see what I mean.

Because out of the blue resolutions (Deus ex machina) are generally not very satisfying. It’s like the author kind of cheated and had some external force or non-playing character jump into the story and make everything better. Not saying that wouldn’t work if done right, but most experts say to avoid that strategy.

I hope if you read Cauldron, you’ll feel like I do, that the climax and resolution arise naturally but with a nice bit of twisty surprise attached. I guess we’ll see!

Today's Writing Tip...

When at a crossroads in your writing, try looking for the third option to move the story forward in a more surprising and fresh way.

Progress...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

* Day 4 - 3,600 words, story is at 15,000 words

* Day 5 - 1,000 words, story is at 16,000 words

* Day 6 - 3,100 words, story is at 19,100 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

A Cauldron of Cats – Day 5

Just a thousand words today.

Our Sunday routine, at least until we move to the coast, is to wake up, drink a glass of water and take our vitamins, maybe have a cup of coffee, then go for a walk up the steep hill near our rental house. The mornings are so pleasant, not too humid, and we enjoy getting outside before it gets too hot.

Plus, we get to meet our neighbors and practice our Spanish. One man we always talk to heads by our house to check on his cows each morning and evening. We’re in the country near Orocovis, which is in the middle of the island. Surrounding us are small farms and pasture lands with cows grazing on the mountainsides.

(My dad told me when I was little that some cows are left-footed, some are right-footed; they can only walk around the mountain one way because the legs on one side of their body are shorter than the others. That’s why they can walk on the side of a hill without falling over. I think I believed this through high school.)

After our walk, we fix ourselves another cup of coffee and have some breakfast. We head to the church service at 9:30 or so. I still use the maps app on my phone, but I think next week I’ll know my way around these very curvy mountain roads. Worship runs from 10’ish to 11:30’ish or so (heh, we’re learning to be flexible here in the Caribbean).

With our pastors at Primera Iglesia Bautista.

Didn’t plan in a shopping trip today, so we came home, had lunch, and relaxed.

Also didn’t want to go two days without working on Cauldron, so I finished chapter 11 where I discovered how our human heroes learn of the vet’s (Dr. Vance) ignoble past. This causes them all alarm as they’ve suspected all along that she’s been hiding her (slight spoiler) ‘mad scientist’ past.

The story is at about 16,000 words now and I can tell the climax is fast approaching. The neighborhood cats have caught up with Helga and Lox and they are about to storm the secret lab where the other specially-gifted (read magical) cats are being held. So a good 1000 words.

And exciting! So excited about the story that I shipped it off to some beta readers already. Most writers say this is a no-no. Wait until the story is complete before getting any feedback. That’s probably good advice. But I enjoy hearing from friends and family along the way about what they like and what makes them scratch their heads.

I tell my beta team that I’m always interested in their feedback, but may not do anything with it, but feel free to share! As the storyteller, I reserve the right to accept or reject any suggestions. Not trying to be mean or controlling, I just know the story I’m trying to tell.

Now where feedback comes in handy is when I get a suggestion that clarifies where I’m heading or how I’m telling the story or what I’m trying to accomplish in a certain scene or clears up a plot hole. Or something along those lines.

For example, one first reader questioned a word I used to describe the relationship between Mister and his lover, Nix. In fact, that was the word. Did lover fit? Would sweetie or sweetheart work better? I thought about it and made a change. For the better, I think.

Another reader, when I was writing Cat Potion, questioned how I was describing the relationship between cats and their humans. Since cats ‘own’ the world, I basically gave the impression that Mister owned ‘his woman’, Helga. That didn’t sit well with this friend. He said he knew what I was trying to accomplish but it sort of sent the wrong signal, in his opinion.

I agreed. So I changed every reference to the cat’s ‘man’ or ‘woman’ to ‘human’ in that first novella. Still, an odd way to think about it, I suppose. Well, reading another one of Dean Wesley Smith’s light novels (this one about a human superhero in the area of cats), the cats in that world have human companions.

An aha moment. So in Cauldron, I changed all the stand alone references to his or her human to his or her human companion or simply companion. I’ll eventually go back and edit Cat Potion so that my quirky phraseology (“but that’s my creative voice!”) won’t trip up the reader.

Because my ultimate goal in having beta readers is not to bow to the whims of every different reader’s preferences. But to help me clarify my voice and tell the best story I can tell.

My typical beta reader! (grin)
Image by DavidRockDesign from Pixabay.

Today's Writing Tip...

Find some good beta readers that provide the feedback you need.

Progress...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

* Day 4 - 3,600 words, story is at 15,000 words

* Day 5 - 1,000 words, story is at 16,000 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

Writing About Writing

Another day off already?

            Well, not exactly. But I am taking a short break from working on Cauldron to do some clean up around the rental house here in Puerto Rico. And to prep for a lunch visit later today with some friends here in Orocovis. Yes, my wife and I have a life beyond looking at computer screens all day. (grin)

            Last Sunday after church we headed to Santa Isabel on the south coast of the island to shop at the Walmart there. About a 45 minute drive via twisty mountain roads to get there but beautiful. Generally cheaper at Wally World than the local grocery store, Selectos. To make it worth our while, we stocked up last week, or so we thought.

            Discovered we needed a few more items (of course!), so before heading to our friend’s house for lunch, we stopped to shop. We then had a lovely time with our friend, M and her sister, niece, and grandniece.

We visited M’s house four years ago, the year after Hurricane Maria. Her home had been severely damaged in the storm. A small work team from our church in Wichita came to Orocovis and assisted some friends here, putting a new roof on the home she’d grown up in. The experience was life-changing in a number of ways.

M's home getting a new roof, 2018.

This is one reason we knew moving to Puerto Rico was for us. The people are wonderful, the island is beautiful, and the weather is fantastic. I’m not too good with my Spanish yet, but I think it will improve over time. Everyone’s willing to help me learn! And we’ve been made to feel so very welcome.

M's home now, 2022. A beautiful remodel!

All that to say, I decided to take a day off from the novella. I know a lot of writers are on it seven days a week, but I’d decided ahead of time that I would write at least five days a week and not feel guilty about my days off. We’re here in PR to vacation as well, so we might take our weekends on different days than Saturday and Sunday.

Still, I had this itch to write today and so I decided to write about writing. I’d just finished this short novel by Dean Wesley Smith called Card Sharp Silver, a western time-travel tale, one of Dean’s favorite tropes. I couldn’t find it on Goodreads, so I did a web search for the title and came across his blog entries from 2020 when he wrote about his daily routine as professional writer writing a novel.

I liked that idea!

It’s what I’m doing now.

Now I shouldn’t have tried this so early in my career. I really have nothing of substance to teach other writers, I don’t think. Dean’s written over 200 books and been in the industry since the 1980s. He’s written dozens of media tie-in novels over the years, was traditionally published under a number of pen names, and now is a huge advocate for indie-publishing. I find a lot of inspiration from his posts. Disagree with a lot too, but heh.

Long and short of it is, good idea or not, I’m blogging about my daily progress with the goal of putting these posts together in an e-book titled, Writing: A Cauldron of Cats. Or something like that. (BTW, I’m writing this a week after the fact and back-dating the posts to reflect that day’s progress…like a journal written one week late.) Maybe I’ll publish this when it’s all done and sell it online. Or maybe I’ll give it away free to my newsletter subscribers.

          Another option is firing up my Patreon account again and start posting new content and stories for subscribers, including these posts. Hmm…that kinda sounds like a good idea. Maybe fellow writers and interested readers can benefit – at least a little bit! – from my meanderings.

Even if I’ve only been at this thing full time for a month.

A Cauldron of Cats - Day 4

Another good day for words added.

Six sessions for a total of 3,600 words. Not bad. I really got into a rhythm there for a couple of sessions. In fact, here’s the breakdown of my 45 minutes cycles starting around 9 AM: 600, 600, 500, 700, 700, 500.

So, whoa! I can write 700 words in a 45 minute sprint. Never knew I could do that.

Means I’m getting a little better and letting the creative brain (which has assimilated some of the craft lessons of the ‘learning brain’ – grammar, various techniques, story structure, characterization, etc.) take over and just write. I’ll always be learning, of course. There’s not a point in anyone’s life, really, where one can say I’ve mastered everything there is to know about this art form.

Mentioned yesterday that the consensus from professional writers is that it takes a new writer anywhere from about 500,000 to 1,000,000 words of practice before the basics of the craft become solid. Gulp! I just added up my published words and I’m at 300,000 to 400,000 words written. That’s fiction.

But I estimate I’ve written over 2 million words of sermons and bible studies, so that has to count for something!

One of the tools I use to help me keep track of my word count and stay focused is the online spreadsheet that Keystroke Medium provides its members. It’s private, so I can’t show you directly, but some google docs genius set it up to add and multiply and keep totals and a running leaderboard. It’s like magic. 

Anyway, I set my monthly goal (June was 30,000 words, July will be 60,000 words) and the spreadsheet does the rest as I add my daily numbers.

Fun competition. Out of about 10 or 12 active participants each month (blanked out their names to protect the guilty! lol), I’m sitting at #8. But watch out next month, Keystroke Mediumites! (grin)

So what’s happening in Cauldron right now? Well, the cats (I think I have 15 different felines in this story! what was I thinking? lol) have come up with an idea on how to find the secret lab where the special kitties are being held captive. 

Won’t spoil it, but it was fun writing the section on how they tried to communicate (via a game of charades!) their plan to the two humans who could help them. You see, cats speak cat and very few humans can understand them completely.

Isn’t that like real life?? I’ve had cats pretty much all my adult life and while they definitely communicate with their human companions, I’m sometimes at a loss as to what they want! In this story, Helga can pretty much understand Mister. They have a special bond.

Just like my wife and I have a special bond with our 19 year old cat, Charlie. And oh, when he wants his dinner, we can definitely understand his demanding chatter!

Today's Writing Tip...

Keep learning the craft of writing even as you practice writing every day.

Progress...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

* Day 4 - 3,600 words, story is at 15,000 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

A Cauldron of Cats - Day 3

Back to writing!

Broke my record for the most words I’ve written in a day. 3,800 over six sessions. I know that many, many other writers hit 4 to 5k or more, but until today, the most words-on-page for me in a day was 3,500. That was back in 2014 when I was writing Ma Tutt’s Donut Hut.

I think I wrote a 4,000 word short story in one day a few years ago, but writing a complete story and adding words to a novel are a bit different for me, I think. A short story is, obviously, shorter and so I don’t have to hold as much of the plot in my head as I do a longer work. This makes it easier? Not sure.

Or maybe I’m just making excuses! It’ll be interesting to see if I develop my writing muscle over time and can increase my daily word count to four or five thousand. We’ll see.

As to where I am in this story, I feel I’m in the solid middle section, chapters 6 to 8 (out of about 15 chapters total – that’s 15 chapters at about 1,300 words per chapter = 19,500 total words, a nice sized novella, imho). So I think I’m about halfway done.

After what I thought was an exciting opening, full of potential danger and threat, chapters 4 and 5 backed off on the pace a bit to set the overall tone and introduce the various players and their personalities.

I hope that section isn’t too slow, but I wanted to give future readers of the series connections to their favorite characters, tying in through subtle references the people and situations of both sets of stories. (That is, Ma Tutt’s world and Mister’s world, which are tangentially related.)

Now Ruben (a gray mackerel like Mack in Ma Tutt) showed up at the end of chapter 5 – one of my favorite cat characters! He’s silly and exuberant and impulsive. Kinda like me at times! But now Mister has to explain his plan to Ruben, otherwise the young wise guy will get all excited and spread crazy rumors. He will probably still do that, but in the end, he’ll also probably be the one who comes up with how to assist Mister in his mission.

(Ruben is one of my favorite feline characters.)

If I haven’t explained the plot yet, there are some cats with special abilities being held captive – and will likely be experimented on! – by the Witch & Warlock Guild’s veterinarian, Dr. Vance, and her compatriot, Florielle Florentine. Spoiler alert: In Book 1, Cat Potion No. 9, Flo kinda befriended Helga when the Guild wanted to take Mister away and ‘test’ him. So it was a nice surprise for me when I wrote the prologue to Cauldron that Flo turned out to be more sinister than I’d first imagined.

Stories have a way of telling themselves. I may have an idea of where I want to go, but one reason I “write into the dark” (without an extensive outline) is so that I can be surprised at the developments that come along. I mean, after all, a reader is surprised when he or she is reading a story. Doesn’t know what is coming next, generally. So me as a writer, I should be surprised as well. At least, that’s my philosophy.

Anyway, making progress. My goal in all this is to write as clean a first copy as I can. That’s another bit of writing philosophy I buy into. And yes, if you’re familiar with Dean Wesley Smith and his blog and super opinionated writings, this is directly out of his handbook.

I think he’s right. Craft your story as best you can during the writing process (one pass). Cycle edit as you go – meaning go back a chapter and read/adjust before writing your next section (second pass, sort of internally). And then, when done, read it one more time all the way through to fix any mistakes you made (third pass). Don’t over edit. Just write and move on.

Does that mean my initial draft will be perfect? Heavens no. No draft will be, even those books that have been edited to pieces. So I’ll do the best I can. Finish it and move on to the next project. That’s all I can do. Work on my writing techniques until it becomes second nature.

Maybe after about 500,000 to 1 million words (according to Jerry Pournelle and others) I’ll have the craft down to where that will happen.

Until then, it’s three thousand or so words at a time.

Today's Writing Tip...

Try to write as clean a first copy as you can. Don’t edit your manuscript to death. (That is, don’t second guess your creative brain at work.)

Progress...

Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

* Day 3 - 3,800 words, story is at 11, 400 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

House Hunting Interlude

Day 4 in Puerto Rico and we’re ready to buy a home!

That’s why we moved from Kansas, to actually reside in PR for a chunk of years. Where I could write full time by the sea. Although we love our rental here in the mountains, we want to be near the beach.

Ocean view from the condo community we like.

Near the beach? Not just that, we want an ocean view! We didn’t travel 2,300 miles to settle for ‘just a short drive’ to the water. We want to walk out our condo and dig our toes in the sand within minutes.

So today we went house hunting. (Vacation day!) I should have recorded it and submitted it to HGTV Beachfront Bargain Hunters. We’d connected with a reputable realtor here in PR before we left Wichita. Julie is also a research fiend and loves to scope out properties online. She’s toured the island a hundred times, I’m sure. Virtually, that is.

Where we're staying now and where we hope to live.

Last year, we stayed in an AirBnB in a condo community near Vega Baja on the northern coast, about an hour west of San Juan. We loved it. I think we were there only one night but in the back of our minds, we knew it would definitely be a place we could land if we ever moved to PR. We also stayed at different regions around the island just to be sure, but Vega Baja kept calling to us.

Well, as I mentioned in a previous entry, we pulled the trigger last fall and started making plans to move here. We arrived to our new life on Saturday, June 18. Today is Wednesday, June 22, and we think we found our dream condo. Out of the three condos the realtor showed us (they call them apartamentos here), we chose Door #2. Was that too fast? Well, we haven’t bought it yet, but we’ve started the process! So we’ll see.

However, it does check off a lot of our boxes (is that the right metaphor?). It’s in our price range; has at least 2 bedrooms (with AC units!); includes kitchen appliances (actually, this one is fully furnished – a bonus!); is just over 1,380 square feet (on two levels); and most importantly: has a rooftop, balcony, and bedroom view of the ocean. Yes!

We spent most of the day thinking, praying, looking, and talking about this potential condo. Needless to say, I didn’t do any writing on A Cauldron of Cats today. So sue me. We were just too jazzed up. Plus, we had some paperwork to look through which consumed a lot of mental energy. I don’t want to speak prematurely, but it looks good so far. We may soon be condo owners!

Now one change since last year – the HOA no longer allows AirBnB rentals. We’re ambivalent about that. In the back of our minds we were thinking we’d make some part time income that way. But on the other hand, this means that 90% of the condos are owned by people who live there. Which is great. Makes for a stable, safe, family-friendly environment.

Besides, as a professional full-time writer, I plan to make a living at this thing before too long. (grin). And I already have my writing nook picked out. One with an ocean view.

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

 

A Cauldron of Cats - Day 2

Getting into a routine is a good thing.

Today is Day 3 in Puerto Rico and Day 2 of writing. I know it’s early in the transition from the States, but I can already tell that Julie and I are going to love it here. We’ll eventually make it to the beach (our dream condo has an ocean view), but our two-month rental is in the mountains.

And it’s beautiful! We have some gorgeous views.

View from our rental home in the mountains near Orocovis.

Taking in the scenery during our early morning walk is part of our new routine. The sun rises early here, so we’re up naturally at 6:30 or so. That’s still getting at least eight hours sleep since we pack it in by 10 each night. After an espresso, we take a walk at 7, come back and have a devotional time (reading through the Daily Morning Prayer: Rite Two in the Book of Common Prayer each day), have breakfast, shower, bow to the demands of Charlie the cat, and then we…get to it.

Julie does 5 sessions of teaching English online and I do 6 sessions of writing. We both get started at 9 AM. I write for 45 minutes and get 500 words in. Then I take a 15 minute break to stretch and exercise a bit. Can’t afford to get carpal tunnel in my wrists or a stiff neck, shoulders, or back. I’d heard writing all day at the computer can be bad for one’s health, and I believe it. So doing things each hour to mitigate against potential problems.

Today I realized I can do more than 500 words per session. In the back of my mind, I knew I probably could, but didn’t want to be too ambitious starting out. So this morning, I had two sessions at 500 words, but the remaining four sessions I clocked 600 words each. My total for the day was 3,400 words.

Very pleased. I added three chapters, so the story is now at 7,600 words, from prolog through Chapter 5. I write short chapters. (grin)

One of the strategies for getting 3,000 or more words in each day is to just keep writing the next sentence. If I feel I’m stuck, I just write one more sentence. Then the next one and then the next. This usually gets me off dead center fairly quickly.

Then, during those short breaks while I exercise and stretch, my mind runs through the story in the background (my subconscious brain at work). When I sit back down to start the next section, I normally know where the story is heading – at least for the next immediate section.

I don’t make a detailed outline before I begin a story, but I do sort of outline as I go. I start off ‘writing into the dark’ (some call it ‘pantsing it’, that is, flying by the seat of one’s pants), and then as the story slowly takes shape, I try to sketch out the upcoming scenes so I kind of know the direction I’m heading.

That can change, however, and I usually let my ‘creative brain’ take over. I usually have no idea where the story is heading early on, or how it will get resolved. For example, in today’s chapters, Mister is explaining his plan on rescuing the captured cats. I still don’t know what that plan is exactly, but I trust the process.

In fact, I think my subconscious left a clue in Chapter 3. Spoiler Alert: Mister ‘frees’ Cienna from the burden of her special ability. And I’m pretty sure this becomes the key to the scene leading up to the final climax.

So tomorrow, as the story progresses, I’ll probably sketch out a tentative ending. I think I’m a third of the way through the story (thinking this will be a 20,000 word novella), so that’s about right for me. No clue as to the full plot when I start out. Gain a bit of insight as I close in on half-way. And then the last third write with an end-goal in mind.

That’s generally how it happens for me. But not always. We’ll see tomorrow!

The view from the condo community we hope to live in!

Today's Writing Tip...

Stuck? Just type the next sentence.

Progress...
Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 - 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

* Day 2 - 3,400 words, story is at 7,600 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!

 

A Cauldron of Cats – Day 1

I’m now a full time writer. A professional full-time writer.

That doesn’t mean I’m making a living off my writing yet (that’s the goal!), but since I’ve sold some stories and earned some income from what I’ve written, that makes me a professional.

I remember when I first joined a band a few years ago. I play guitar and sing. My friend plays lead, we found a drummer and bass player and voila, we were a rock band! We practiced some rock and pop classics from the 70s and 80s, found a bar who took a chance on us, and did our first gig. They paid us $200 bucks and when my friend handed me my fifty, he said, “Congrats, you are now a professional musician.”

And I thought: Dang straight.

So if you get paid for something, you’re a professional. That was a paradigm shift for me. And may be of help to other writers. A lot of us suffer from “imposter syndrome” because of a lot of myths and falsehoods we buy into. So knowing I’m a full-time professional writer makes a difference in how I approach my daily task of writing.

What’s my daily task? Well, today was Day 1 of writing daily in my ‘semi-retirement.’ (See my previous blog post.) That being said, my plan – as best as I’m able – is to write six sessions of 500 words each for a total of 3,000 words a day. I’ll write five days a week, which means I’ll pound out 15,000 words a week. That’s 40,000 words a month, a short novel, which is the typical story length I like to read and write.

A book in a month.

That sounded doable when I sketched out my writing schedule for the rest of the summer and fall. But what to write? I have a lot of interests. I dabble in a variety of genres. Probably too many!

·        I’ve written a few short thrillers, collaborating with J. A. Konrath on a couple of his Jack Daniels stories: Abductions and Beat Down; and my own crime thriller, Drinking Games.

·        Science fiction within Hugh Howey’s Wool universe: The Last Prayer; along with some speculative fiction found in my Tule Fog Tales and At Last series.

·        Epic fantasy adventure, The Sword of Otrim; as well as a Mesoamerican fantasy, Ulemet and the Jaguar God (my one story on Audible, which I’ll have to rectify).

·        Middle grade alt-history/steampunk adventure series with T. M. Hunter: Escape! and Runaway! (with episode 3, Eureka!, coming later this year).

·        Supernatural thriller (Christian horror, if you can handle that!) with Stoney M. Setzer: Accidents (with more Tremble Town episodes coming next year).

·        I even wrote an Amish romance under the pen name Joyce Daley: Thee Will I Cherish. (Hey, I like romance and plan to write more!)

But maybe my favorite genre right now is the cozy mystery/adventure featuring cats with a bit of magic and speculative elements. Yes, that’s a niche! In fact, my “best seller” (other than my Wool fan fiction and Konrath collabs) is a magical cat mystery called Ma Tutt’s Donut Hut.

It came out in 2014 and I’ve been meaning to finish Book 2, Ma Tutt’s Secret Spice, for ages! So what did I do last year? I wrote a different magical cat novella titled, Cat PotionNo. 9. It was a Kickstarter project with the promise of sending out a sequel to my high-tier backers.

I know, I’m crazy.

So that’s what I’m writing right now. The sequel to Cat Potion, called A Cauldron of Cats. It’s related to Ma Tutt, in the same universe, but whereas Ma takes the POV of the adults, Mister is often from the perspective of, well, Mister. Lots of cat talk and magic and fun.

My plan is to add to both series this summer and fall, and by Christmas have three books in each series. To hold myself accountable, I’m blogging each day about my progress. I hope you enjoy following along. Should be a lot of fun, watching a new full-time professional writer stumble along as I write a  brand new book in front of your very eyes.

Or something like that.

Here’s what I accomplished today. I completed four sessions of 500 words each for a total of 2,000 new words. The story is now through Chapter 2. Last fall, after I published Cat Potion, I’d written a prolog and part of Chapter 1 of the sequel (about 1,800 words), but then let the story languish.

Today, I read through what I’d written, added in about 400 words here and there, then pushed forward with those four sessions. Let’s call it 2,400 words, then, for today. Didn’t hit my 3,000 word goal, but overall, I think a pretty good start to a new book.

Tomorrow, I’ll let you know if I picked up steam and hit my daily writing goal.

Today's Writing Tip...

If you’ve made money as a writer, you’re a professional writer.

Progress...
Writing: A Cauldron of Cats by Lyn Perry
* Introduction - Becoming a Full-Time Writer

* Day 1 – 2,400 words, story is at 4,200 words

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!