An Author on an Expedition

I’m going on another adventure! (THANKS, MOM!)

If you’ve read Dissonance, you know there exists a fallen faery tale off the California cost and it’s called Serenade. What? You haven’t read it? Okay, well I just told you–I know these things.

What? Yes, I wrote it. That doesn’t mean it’s not true–in some dimension.

And today I am a happy author because we are about to embark on a trip to California in which I can dream of finding the place I wrote about so much.

Need a description? Well, here ya go, straight from the pages of the book:

The town of Serenade was a fallen faery tale. Julian spent the rest of their journey describing festivals of song that took place every month, but the magical place was not where it belonged.

“Every time the veil tears,” he explained, “what’s on it falls through. We’re not sure why things land where they do, but our unspoken pact is to care for what we find. I discovered a large fragment during my travels, automatically claiming it. They wouldn’t give it to me otherwise.”

Chapter Twenty-one of Dissonance will tell you all about it. I swear it exists! The place is vivid in my mind, a place of colorful buildings and winding sidewalks, a wild ocean and people playing music on every corner.

Maybe I’ll find it. I’m on an expedition to collect as many plot bunnies on this adventure as will come to me. Come to me, bunnies, come. I am also having a difficult time deciding what to read on the plane…

By the time you read this, I’ll probably be flying–or in the airport trying to find internet signal. Perhaps I’ll be reading or staring out the window: My favorite part of any vacation is often the airport, the excitement while waiting to board a flight.

Perhaps I’ll have arrived.

I can’t wait to take pictures, hopefully including a new author pic; I’ll see the beach again after three years! I’ve missed it so much. 60% of my creativity to write Dissonance came from staring at the ocean outside my aunt’s window in Peru.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll come back with short stories. I’ll see interesting people and look up at skyscrapers. Perhaps I’ll run into someone famous.

It’s only for about four days, but a lot can happen in four days. A lot. And trust me, I’ll be back with lots of pictures.

I’m taking the travel journal I started writing during our trip to Las Vegas. Ironically enough I wrote a vivid description of Serenade, California in this journal, not knowing that one day I would be in California looking for it.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll find it.

These are the things an author lives for. This is what makes the writing process worthwhile. You can make things that exist in your own world and suddenly expect to find them, just waiting for you at the edge of a cliff in California.

And when I get back, I’ll be ready to write the second draft of Elegy. Oh, yes–experience will prepare me for the sequel.

I’ll be using the Instagram hashtag #SerenadeCalifornia if you want to keep up with me live!