The books in the series Harmony refused to follow the rules that I set down for them.  It’s the first time that this has ever happened to me, and I’ve written over 50 books.  My work varies from a children’s book and accompanying CD,  The Monster on Top of the Bed, to technical manuals, to software and computer systems documentation for companies like Hewlett-Packard, VISA International, and Synthes to audio books for children to six books on telecommunications cost control and integrity-based business-to-business telephone marketing. I’ve also published poems, written six produced one-act plays, wrote a screenplay and wrote a magazine column for six years.

Without fail, every book went the way that I planned it.  Not so with the books in the Harmony series.  The inspiration for this series started when I attended a Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators’ conference in Los Angeles.  There, Bruce Coville, the author of many middle-grade children’s fiction books spoke, and inspired me to write a sci-fi fantasy book for boys, approximately age 11.  I knew it would take work, but I never imagined that the book that I wanted to write would absolutely, positively refuse to be written.

Oh, it started easily enough.  In fact, I wrote the first ten chapters while I was on vacation in Italy, just after my daughter’s wedding in September, 2008.  Then it stopped.  I wanted to write a series of 150-page books.  I wanted them to be quick reads, like Bruce Coville’s Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher.  I couldn’t write it.  The manuscript kept demanding to be more.  My book wanted to be longer.  It didn’t want to be a light read.  It didn’t want to be 150 pages.  It didn’t want to be written just for middle-grade readers.

“Bad book,” I told it, and put the manuscript away for six months.  “Later,” I told myself, “Later it will listen to reason, and you’re not on a deadline, so it doesn’t matter.”  Six months later it still would not let me form it according to my plans.  “Okay,” I told myself. “Okay, I’ll make it a series.  That will let me do what I want.  I can just put parts of the book in other books.  Hey, that’s good business.  Why make one sale to a publisher when I can make six?”  The manuscript just would not allow itself to be written.

I told myself that I would take a lesson from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, or Eragon.  It turns out that middle-grade science-fiction fantasy books are one of the few genres for middle-grade fiction where you can write long books.   I planned a series of books in a series called Jeweled Planets.  I even created a Facebook Fan page for the Jeweled Planets series.  The problem was that I didn’t want to write a series of 7 books, each with my character being a year older.  I take that back. I did want to write those books, but not yet. I realized that before I could write this novel, I had to create what I can best describe as a cross-over novel, a novel that appeals to young adults, adults, and pre-teens and teenagers.

Now, if that is not enough of a challenge, I realized that I wanted  this book (or series of books)  to accomplish these objectives:

• Entertain.
• Explore the concepts of good and evil, ala Dean Koontz, but in my own style, and with my own conclusions.
• Empower readers to discover ways to honor the secrets of living in harmony with the Earth and the Universe.
• Motivate potential authors to become published authors.

All of this is rather scary.  It means I have to make myself vulnerable.  But, I know this:  The best play that I wrote was the one where I made myself most vulnerable, and I made myself exceptionally vulnerable when I submitted my most intimate poetry to Mobius, The Poetry Magazine. The poems were published, and in a way two of those poems, “A Gaia Connection” (2005) and Transformation (2006)  were the beginning of this series.

To help me achieve my goal of motivating potential authors to become published authors, I am trying an experiment while writing this book.  I reserve the option to stop doing this.  I’m sharing different versions of the book as it is developed, and in different media–including paperback books and audio downloads.  Why?  To show that writing is not just a first draft and done.  Writing is a process that involves revisions, often substantial revisions.  I’m letting people see some of my early drafts, which in some cases, are pretty bad.  I want to show how I

• Develop a concept
• Write
• Reviewing the writing – asking myself if it is honest – asking myself if it is well written – asking myself if I am happy with writing the book,
• Make changes, as appropriate.
• Review and refine until a polished book is complete.

I also have another objective, collaborate with artists and other writers to create a series of collateral books and resources.

I trust that you will enjoy my work.

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