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Just Ticking Away

1/9/2018

Now the little details of redoing 5 books at once, a website, a newsletter with a lot of new subscribers, and a lot of other little writing-related things are finished, I'm preparing to plunge into Consuela, The Prince's Ball, and a contemporary family story called A Year with the Harrisons Even tricky things like learning to embed code and create welcome emails are behind me. I'm incredibly proud of the books I've put out and I'm detached as well. I know some are weaker than others, and I applied an extensive amount of critical thinking to all my stories to narrow it down to these 5, and to make the changes to them I did.

On a fun note, I stumbled on a wonderful artist who did creative envisioning of the Disney princesses in the world of Star Wars, as Jedi. It was eye-opening because some translated so much better than others. Most of the Disney princess movies are appealing only to "Disney princess" people, but a surprising few have an additional audience beyond the original fan base. You can tell by the costumes, especially if you're familiar with Star Wars. Here's a gallery of some of them. (Be sure to remember the artist as well, she's got watermarks on the images)

Check out Cinderella! She looks so authentic it's easy to believe she was somewhere in the Prequels, in the back of the Jedi Council. And what about Minnie Mouse?! She reminds me so much of Princess Leia. But Aurora looks--weird. Just weird, like 1960s sarcastic comedy about men who are heralds. Guess this movie was really dated. And Rapunzel's long hair and bare feet are honestly impractical for fighting as a Jedi.

Looked great: Pocahontas; Snow White; Anna; Jasmine; Cinderella; Minnie Mouse

Kind of meh: Aurora; Tiana; Rapunzel; Eilonwy

Didn't make the crossover, IMO: Ariel; Belle; Elsa; Mulan; Esmeralda; Merida

And there will be more updates.

Sarah Scheele

With so many great authors already out there, what do my books offer? Simply put, they are peaceful. While a lot of writers are genuinely telling a wonderful story I can't tell, I also see too many noisy and angry books on the market. Only a few actually examine mature or gritty situations--too many are just noisy with an unpleasant tone. Even well-intentioned books that preach good values aren't always pleasant. If the author is correcting and lecturing me or other people, it doesn't make for a peaceful reading experience.

So when I set about defining my own books, I wanted them to be positive places where a gentleness emanated from the pages. A hopeful safety lies in gentleness and there's also an honesty to it. A whirlwind of pushy book blurbs and hot characters (or whatever type character the author wants you to admire) can conceal a reality underneath. A quiet--possibly even lurking--reality that's more visible if you dial down the volume. That lurking reality isn't necessarily bad, but like anything quiet, it gets drowned out by conflict and angst. Peaceful fiction can help explore the truth that noisy books ignore.

Just Ticking Away

Sarah Scheele

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