Author Archives: Joe Hinojosa

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About Joe Hinojosa

Official account of a writer in potentia. Blogger, student, bibliophile and novice book reviewer.

Book Review: The Dreamt Child

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dreamtIn the third and last book of Earth’s Pendulum Series, The Dreamt Child by Yvonne Hertzberger, we begin where the last book ended, in a self-imposed exile by our protagonist, a seer named Liannis. After the events of the previous two years, Mother Earth bade her seer to a hidden cabin in order to recoup her strength, isolated from the world without. Unlooked for, her servant, driven by the same compulsion that drove Liannis into exile, arrives to bring her back into the world, and a mother very much in distress.

Upon her return, Liannis discovers that the two years of famine shows signs of ending, but that poses a challenge to the ruler of the demesne of Bargia, Lord Gaelen. In addition to Bargia, he has ruled over Catania after it’s defeat several decades previously, and Leith, a demesne he took over after defeating a group of traitors that killed it’s leader, Lord Merlost. For Gaelen, the situation is fast becoming untenable due to limited resources stretched too thin.

Liannis is tasked once again to assist Gaelen to bring balance to the One Isle. Only though balance can Earth sustain life and provide for her peoples. Further complicating her task is her relationship with her servant Merrist. Seers, by tradition, take no mate as their duties require them to be free to answer Earth’s call at need. The question then becomes will Liannis accept Merrist as a partner? How will the people react? Will Earth’s balance be restored?

And what of the Dreamt Child?

With The Dreamt Child, Yvonne completed the story which began with Liannis’s parents back in book one. It’s a story of the necessity of finding harmony with nature. In many respects, The Earth’s Pendulum Series is an environmental story, that life is dependent of Earth, that the planet sustains and nurtures life. It’s a complex system, and one that we are discovering to be fragile. Our survival depends on Earth to feed us, and so it is incumbent on us to be good stewards and not take life for granted.

Broader still in the series is the price we pay for war and how costly winning a lasting peace can me. The stories are rife with heroism and sacrifices, that our life choices and be taken from us, and that in doing so we have the opportunity to find a destiny wholly unlooked-for. Yes, there is love and intrigue, jealousy and betrayal, hallmarks all of a good story. Through it all, the over reaching theme is one of personal sacrifice for the greater good. Liannis exemplifies this time and again.

As with her previous books, I rate it highly, five stars. I read the book once several month ago, and I reread it last night to prepare for this review. I found the second time very much life reminiscing with an old friend. I loved the characters and their story arcs, and it’s nice to know that it’s a book that you can read again and still enjoy.

Yvonne Hertzberger
Book One – Back from Chaos
Book Two – Through Kestrel’s Eyes

List of Book Reviews
Next review –  The Protected
Previous Review – Quarter Past Midnight

Window shopping for an editor

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Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post! It’s nice to know I have friends who I can count on to give me advice. This has been a learning process, and there is a lot to learn. Come to find out that I’m really ignorant about what’s involved to get something published. It’s ironic how the more you learn, the more you come to realize that you really don’t know anything. The best that can be said is that I do enjoy learning about new things. I love knowledge.

At least now I have a clearer picture of what I want, what I need, and what I should look for in an editor. What I’m looking for is someone to proofread for me, to catch my spelling and grammatical errors. I’m always finding more, but I know I’m missing most of them. I need a fresh set of eyes, preferably eyes that are attached to a well-trained mind!

I would also love to hire someone to do some content editing for me. It may be a luxury I can’t afford, but I have questions that need to be answered. Is my story coherent? Are there any continuity errors? Where are my weaknesses and what parts should be pruned in order to strengthen the rest of the book?

Part of the problem I’m having is strictly financial. I can’t afford an experienced editor, and it’s an all too common problem, especially for those of us who are getting started. The risk of going cheap, however, is that you find someone out to make a quick buck, who has no understanding of spelling and grammar that they do a lousy job. It would be a waste of money that I can ill-afford to spend!

I have been sent a few resources to peruse. A few friends have also volunteered to lend a hand, which is probably the way I’ll go. I’ll have to be creative, lean on the expertise of those who have been in my position, and accept all the help I can get. Of course, I don’t expect something for nothing. I believe people’s time and skills should be adequately compensated. It’s finding the fair price I can afford which will be the challenge.

Then there’s the issue of finding someone to design a cover, but I’ll worry about that when the time comes.

Looking for an editor

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There’s a book needing work. I’m waiting to hear back from my beta readers but that hasn’t stopped me from going though the manuscript, looking for typos to correct, odd phrases to rewrite, and searching for lines that need to be cut. I have a lot that needs to be trimmed away.

I’m also looking for an editor, which scares me because I have no clue what to look for. Anyone can call themselves an editor, but not anyone can do it. I know I couldn’t! I don’t have the skill set to read and edit a book for someone. I miss typos and grammatical mistakes all the time. No it’s best that I begin to look for someone else to do it, but who?

I’m doing some research, looking for freelance editors. I’m also researching what I could expect to pay. Yikes! I don’t have that kind of money. Low end is around three-hundred dollars all the way up to several thousand dollars. That’s crazy, but it also makes me wish I had that particular set of skills. Damn my luck!

So I’m going to ask around, to see what I need to look for, and what is a reasonable fee I should pay for a self-published book? I’m going to ask for recommendations, who I should avoid, and frankly any bit of advice I can get from writers and publishing professionals. I’m determined to do this so I want to do it right. I don’t want to skimp and end up with an inferior product, but I also can’t spend indiscriminately.

 

Change of plans

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This was my plan for yesterday. I worked from six in the morning until three. I had planned to get home, take a short reinvigorating nap, and then start working on Jasmine. It was supposed to be a nice, quite evening at home.

Instead, on the way home I got a text from my brother. What time you getting home me and Julian are going to see Nadi play. do you want to go with us. My response? Yea.

Instead of a nice night at home, I spent the evening outside in subfreezing temperatures watching my niece play junior varsity soccer. It was cold. Really cold. I wore four layers, which helped, but my legs were icicles. I wish I had thermal underwear or tights or pantyhose or anything to keep my legs from feeling cold. Luckily the game consisted only of two 25 minute halves, with a 5 minute halftime. An hour later, we sat in a McCalister’s Deli to thaw out, ate supper, and probably talked and joked for at least an hour, probably more.

I got no writing done, not even to update my blog, which I’ve been trying to do daily this month, but that’s okay. It was nice to break the monotony of everyday life and go out, even if it was cold. Sometimes writing can wait. Life, however, waits for no one.

Febrile thoughts…

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It’s after four in the afternoon of my snow day, and I’m getting cabin fever. The walls are closing in around me. I spent the past ten minutes talking to sock puppets. Okay, that’s all a lie. I went to town to buy ingredients to make meatloaf. I feels it’s the perfect meal for a cold winter’s night, and frankly I’m sick of chili.

But while I sat here playing on my computer, scrolling through a few introvert-oriented Facebook pages, I had a thought. I’m an introvert. The thought of spending time with people exhausts me. I take my lunches alone when I’m at work, just so I can recuperate and face another half day dealing with customers and co-workers. That’s one reason writing appeals to me. It’s largely a solitary activity.

Here’s what I was thinking. I live in a small town of less than a thousand, where everyone pretty much knows everyone else, if not by name at least by appearance. I want to move to a large metropolitan city of well over a million. On the face of it, that sounds silly. One thousand is a lot less than one million+ people, why would I want to make that move?

Simple. It’s easy to be alone in a crowd where no one knows me. I can get lost in the crowd and mind my business. I’m a lot less likely to run into people I know and would rather avoid than I would in a much smaller town. What’s worse, I run into people here that recognize me, greet me by name, and I have no idea who they are. It’s embarrassing.

Just a cabin-fever induced thought from the mind of a man who’s about to make meatloaf. And mashed potatoes. I’m not a savage.