Yes. I am usually prolific writer, often pounding out 10,000 words on a Saturday or Sunday, and on some weeknights after working all day as a military education counselor, I’ve hit 4,000. Then, it hit, writer’s block big time!
Just when we were due to leave for our week-long vacation at our family’s cabin, that is when the big WB hit me hard.
I believed the cure was pine walls in the middle of a pine forest. I was wrong. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t productive, I was. I just didn’t pound out as many episodes for my two in-progress stores, “Mrs. Maguire” and “Miss Blue Skies.”
Most of time, productive time, was spent editing the first of my series, “An Operator’s Daughter – part I” for eBook with the goal of uploading it to Amazon and making it available for Kindle Unlimited. But a week in the woods was not long enough; it is still longer than “War and Peace” or “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
Upon returning from vacation, it was back to work, and we are short-handed at the Stone Education Center. I love my day job or as my husband calls it, “the jobs that helps pay our bills.” I feel like I make a difference in the lives of soldiers, recent veterans and their dependents each day in finding the right fit to begin or continue their educations. But yes, it means I need to be productive once I’m home, pounding out episodes for the serial fiction I publish on Kindle Vella.
So, what is cure to writer’s block?
For me, it was to let a story out of my head two of my characters have been feeding me in my dreams; the story of Ashton’s cousin, Simone Angelique McAllister–yes I gave a middle name, and what has become her love interest, the swim buddy of Ashton’s husband Dustin Maguire, Raphael Bryson Cafferty.
Check it out on Kindle Vella where the first three episodes of every “Vella” are free.
There are moments in life when you come around to the where you’ve been before; full circle moments. These are the moments forcing you to take stock of your life and realize just what kind of progress you’ve made.
Today, I briefed a group of high school educators on the benefits the Army offers to those serving, and this applies to all branches of military service. Four years ago, I would have been in the audience as one of those high school teachers. Now, I’m the Military Education Counselor, providing information on options they can present to their students for opportunities in careers and higher education.
As a former high school teacher and advisor to the same group of students during their sophomore through senior years, gently guiding them to make sound choices leading to graduating high school on time, then setting them up for success for those next years of their lives, was something I was proud of. But I also knew many of them would finish the next four or five years post high school graduation struggling with student loan debt. Others would start college, and find they could not afford to continue leading them to take jobs to pay their living expenses, not to meet their goals. Some would find they were ill prepared for college once they got there, but because that is the direction society pushes them into, instead of a place where they would thrive while gaining perspective and maturity, they are now discouraged, perhaps having boomeranged right back to their old bedrooms in their parents’ homes.
Not all young adults are ready to be an academic or career success at 18. In fact, most are not.
In my serial fiction series, “An Operator’s Daughter,” I’ve tried to do a soft-sell on what I presented to educators today: serving in our nation’s armed forces provides options and opportunities for young adults in ways other areas of society doesn’t.
My main character, Ashton Grace McAllister (Maguire), uses her father’s Post 911 GI Bill benefits as one way to pay her college expenses. Those who serve in the military at least 10 years may allocate months of their benefits at year six, then serve another four to pass along the precious gift of debt-free education to their spouse or their children.
Ashton’s young Special Warfare Operator, Dustin, is using tuition assistance benefits to pay for college courses while he serves to earn a bachelor of science degree in engineering. And, as he is active-duty Navy, he is considered an independence adult, no longer a dependent of his parents, and thus is eligible for Pell Grants based upon his income only. College students who are not active duty military must factor their parents’ income into their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) keeping many ineligible for Pell Grants.
While Ashton began her college courses with a goal to major in psychology and become a mental health counselor, Dustin started with the goal of completing his general education requirements, figuring if he just got started, he would find what he was good at leading to him to choose a college major. Those serving can also have colleges evaluate their Joint Services Transcript—the record of their military training, and that training is worth college credit. Choosing a college degree plan maximizes that training allows them to complete their associate’s and bachelor’s degree faster.
One might say, once a teacher, always a teacher. While I may have been driven away from a high school classroom, I’ve landed on my feet at a place where I can continue to make differences in the lives of others. My happy place is Joint Base Lewis McChord’s Stone Education Center, and my passion is helping soldiers, veterans, and their dependents meet their education and career goals along with creating stories during my evenings and weekends found on the serial fiction platform Amazon’s Kindle Vella.
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It is no secret I write for my own therapy. Dealing with those experiences that caused me to grow personally, professionally, spiritually, are easier when I do so through the eyes of characters I’ve created.
“Miss Blue Skies” is a mystery, and my new serial fiction story on Kindle Vella. It draws from my years of coaching community princess candidates. (Yes, you read that right; as a social studies teacher, the cliché is true, social studies teachers coach, and I coached princess candidates.)
This mystery is set in the Snake River Valley, in the shadow of the Tetons. It is a breath-takingly beautiful place, and if the winters weren’t so harsh, it might be the place my husband and I retire to, when that day arrives for us. The people who reside there are amazing friendly, so please remember, this story is a work of fiction, and the characters are not based upon those we’ve met during our travels.
This serial also marks my first attempt at putting together the cover art. Using Adobe Express, when I’m used to the functionality of photoshop, was a challenge. Please read–buy tokens and read, so I can afford to purchase the real tool for future projects.
Please enjoy this departure from Maguire/McAllister family; and Ashton’s story will continue while I balance it with my day job as a military education counselor.
Miss Blue Skies exclusively on Kindle Vella!
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When I first began writing for therapy after making the decision to leave a job I loved; a job I where I sacrificed to earn a Master’s degree and teaching certification, then gave all my effort into learning the subjects I taught and trying to provide my students with the skills they needed to be successful in living their own goals and dreams, my project began as a memoir.
A memoir focuses on the experiences in one’s life where we learn something. It is about personal growth. As I wrote about the experiences leading me to abandon my goals and dreams as a high school social studies and English teacher, I found they were too painful to process through, and since I was being met with roadblocks while desperately seeking new employment, those dreams I had for myself faded. I was existing; going through the motions of revising my resume to fit job postings, writing cover letters in an attempt to be the one pulled from the stack of others, hoping that I would have a chance to once again do something productive to contribute to taking care of my family.
It was while I was at my lowest the character of Ashton Grace McAllister materialized from a dream.
Through her eyes, I was able to share the trauma I’d experienced during those last months in the classroom. Slowly, as her backstory took shape, and she began taking control over her own circumstances, I found strength and a sense of purpose as the word count grew.
When it was clear her story was longer than any novel ever written and growing, I discovered Amazon was about to launch a new endeavor: Kindle Vella, serialized stories published one episode at a time. All I needed was a cover image and an account, and I could become a published author.
“The only easy day was yesterday,” is the motto of the Navy SEALs, and my main character Ashton is the daughter of a Navy SEAL veteran. But it could be the motto of a self-published author as well. Putting the story out there for others to share in your character’s experiences is the easy part. Gaining a readership is difficult. I am grateful to those who have welcomed Ashton into their lives.
So what is “An Operator’s Daughter” about?
It is a story about resilience.
Ashton lost her mother when was barely 13 years old, when Gracelynn McAllister decided she couldn’t trust others to follow through on the intelligence she’d put together for a CIA mission. (That mission will be revealed in Parts II through IV of the series.) Because her father must travel frequently in his new career as a security consultant, she lives with her grandparents. The story opens after her grandfather has died from a stroke and her uncle is moving her grandmother into an assisted living facility.
Instead of finding a home for his daughter and him to share when she can no longer live in her grandparent’s home, Ashton’s father moves her across the country to stay with old friends of his and her mother; friends she has never met. Their household is filled with family dysfunction, as is the public high school she now must attend in the middle of her junior year.
This public high school is the same one where I toiled as a teacher for 16 years. Ashton’s first day on campus taking the SAT, was my last day in this building. She is the one who must find a way of triumphing over the situations I fled from for my own mental well-being. And she does!
After writing and publishing “An Operator’s Daughter”, I am much better off. I have a new career I love as a military education counselor. It warms my heart to provide guidance for those looking to improve their outlook on life via higher education as a way to change what they do while serving or preparing for life outside of the service. I even get the opportunity to teach writing skills to Army personnel. Without my Ashton, I would not had the courage to reinvent myself, or to look forward to the years ahead.
While I’m also exploring other characters and storylines for publication on Kindle Vella, Ashton’s life is not something I will abandon. Her “journal entries” documenting her experiences will continue.
This post is inspired by an author’s post in one of the many Kindle Vella groups I frequent on Facebook. This author was lamenting the fact she had few reads of her newly posted serial on Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform. She said she had been told by family and friends she is a “good writer,” and was disappointed that readers had not found her serial.
“Good” is relative. As both an avid reader and writer publishing my serial fiction series on Kindle Vella, I am always amazed at what catches on and what is left relatively alone. Certainly, those authors who were already established on other platforms or had been publishing for several years have the advantage of name recognition. Many brought their readers over to Kindle Vella with them from their other endeavors. But there are some authors, new to publishing on any platform, who are drawing in readers in droves and paying their bills with their craft. (Something I aspire to.)
What sets those authors who are killing it apart from those who are not are a combination of things; chosen genre—and it appears the paranormal sells along with spicy romance, length of episodes—smaller word and token counts appear to be key to keeping the unlocks coming, promotion—some authors put out several ads a day, skill at their craft, and a good dose of luck.
I, too, have been told I am a good writer, and I’ve generated consistent reads for my “An Operator’s Daughter” series since it debuted a year ago in July. I am grateful to those who have unlocked episodes and come to know my characters—from an amazing fan who has posted reviews that touched my heart, to my immediate family, and especially to my fellow Kindle Vella authors for their support.
During the week of October 5th through 11th, 2022, Kindle Vella will allow readers with an Amazon Prime account or those who have made purchases of $50 or more to read from the Kindle Vella platform for free—up to 100 episodes each day! I would be honored if you would spend your time unlocking episodes of my series. The links are below.
The Kindle Vella serial fiction site offers authors an opportunity to publish their stories an episode at a time. It is also an incredibly supportive community of writers and in this post, I want to share three of the Vellas that fit the season best.
Young Adult Category
Kim Riehle’s The Sliders Series
Sabrina, Josh, Emma, and Zack… The accident changed everything. Their world was being torn between two realities with no way to control sliding away from life at home. How could they decide who should live and who would be abandoned to death? The bonds of friendship may not be enough to keep everyone alive.
Imagine entry into a parallel world you didn’t know existed and you cannot control when you’ll be in one realm over another? After an accident, high school friends find themselves caught between their usual present school situation and survival in a feudalistic society. Riehle’s characters draw in to their upended lives and you find yourself sliding into their universe willingly; but will you, and then, immerge unscathed.
If you loved “The Office” or “Office Space” this one is for you!
Hunter Chadwick’s DDD Inc.
Welcome to the Agency! What do they do? That’s the wrong question. What don’t they do? They make sure everything is the way it is supposed to be. Kerry Chase had no idea what he was getting into when he signs a binding NDA and contract with The Agency. Now, is there any way out?
Have you ever wondered just who is monitoring your clicks on a keyboard, tracking your web browsing, or monitoring your online shopping habits? It is all happening, whether you want to consider it or not. DDD Inc. will have you wondering about the lives of those tasked with keeping track of you in this conspiracy thriller.
The town you don’t want to run out of gas in!
Kell Frillman’s Beechwood
A prison disguised as an isolated town hides away the victims of neurological enhancements. The residents have the ability to control and influence the environment around them, but someone far more nefarious than them is in control and he has dark plans for the future. As a sacrificial murder causes the layers of perplexity to unfold, secrets beyond what goes on in The Tower begin to reveal themselves. In Beechwood, everyone has something to hide, and everyone is a suspect.
As a little girl, I remember driving through Southern Utah with my parents and their dark humor related to the downwinders of the nuclear test sites (really nothing to joke about; do they really glow in the dark?) When I began keeping up with Beechwood, these towns immediately came to mind, but Frillman’s take on a place inhabited by those who are the experimenters and experimented upon takes it to a whole new level of psychological thriller. I find myself rooting for those are out to solve the mysterious death that begins the series, and the mysterious sixes, but fear those running the show just may triumph in the end.
The other day, an acquaintance stopped me while I was making a dash to my car to tell me they had been reading my series on Kindle Vella. I thanked her for her support, then allowed her, and myself, to get on our ways home.
I really wanted to say, “Thank you, but I haven’t seen any reads of my episodes for today, or this week.” I can check the tallies of my reads from my cellphone, and actually, do so often.
I wanted to ask, “Who is your favorite character?” or “What has been your favorite plot twist?”
Fear kept me from saying anything of the sort.
Yes, I’m grateful for the support, but please, don’t tell me you are reading when you are not.
As my character, Ashton Grace McAllister Maguire has grown up, she’s become better at advocating for herself. She won’t be victim again, although I do put her into some circumstances where she has to use her smarts and skills to find her way through them. I wish I could follow her lead.
Fear, that feeling that paralyzes us, keeping us from moving forward, keeping us from advocating for ourselves; yes, on this front, I am still a work in progress.
One of my favorites from this collection of Kindle Vella reads is “Parallel Worlds” by Rachel Roy. It is a great back-to-school read blending classroom reality with the fantasy world.
My first three Vellas of “An Operator’s Daughter” series are also part of this promo.
The first three episodes on Kindle Vella are always free, and if you are reader new to the platform with an Amazon account, you can claim 200 free tokens to keep reading.
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Have you tried Kindle Vella? The first three episodes are free, and Amazon will give readers new to the platform 200 free (or sometimes 500 or even 1,000) tokens to keep reading.
Enough to be Dangerous 
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