The amazing author Jalpa Williby tagged me to talk about the writing process. http://jalpawilliby.com/2014/06/09/the-writing-process-blog-hop/ Please check out Jalpa's books.

I'm honored to provide the information below about The Alterran Legacy Series( www.alterranlegacy.com) , COLONY EARTH, KHAMLOK, and RESURRECTION. REDEMPTION is in progress. Colony Earth http:// http://amzn.com/B009XI5B54 Khamlok http://amzn.com/B00BX53NC8 Resurrection http://amzn.com/B00K1TVW3Y

What am I working on?

Book 4, Redemption, the concluding book of The Alterran Legacy Series.

We may discover a habitable planet soon. What will we do if there are early hominids?

This Series brings to life the mythological gods of Sumeria (in ancient terminology, “those who came from the stars”) to tell why they came, why they stayed, why they decided to nurture humankind, and what affects all of this had on their home planet.

I wrote this Series in a “Game of Thrones” format―I began writing before George R.R. Martin got the HBO contract. So, there are multiple story lines, various actors competing for power, and powerful story twists. Add to that, weaving in mythology. The end of Book 3, Resurrection, is based on one of the most highly repeated Sumerian stories.

It’s actually challenging to end this in Book 4, there is so much material. However, I don’t want potential readers to be put off, thinking that they have to read three books before picking up later installments.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Because of my considerable research, I weave in ancient mythology and philosophy, as well as history and geological findings.

Why do I write what I do?

I'm fascinated by how civilization began. Archaeologists trace human roots back hundreds of thousands of years, yet we only know much about the last ten thousand years or so. What did those people do and how did they live? Were there flourishing civilizations that perished? And what made civilization blossom with agriculture across the ancient world at about 12,000 b.c.e.? Little is known about our ancestors outside of tales labeled as mere mythology. Those tales from around the globe have amazing similarities. And then of course there are those pesky pyramids that defy explanation. One of the oldest documented civilizations is that of Sumeria, located near present day Iraq. Recently translated Sumerian tablets report that each city was nurtured by the "ones who came from the stars." Yes, ancient aliens. With them, civilization flourished in the sophisticated cities. Although the starmen's technology was highly advanced, politically they seem backward--they were ruled by a father and his two sons. En.Lil, the primary son governing Earth, was in appearance an adolescent. If this story has any truth, how could that be? My answer is through rejuvenation. Many of our current social, political, and technological trends might conceivably lead to a global rule by a single family. And humans are always yearning to explore the universe. If we find a planet with primitive hominid life, what will we do? Like a forensic investigator, I interpreted their world from the morality they taught to shape the Mesopotamian civilizations. And so, I constructed the world of The Alterran Legacy Series.

How does my writing process work?

I wrote the story line for Books 1 and 2 between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July in 2009. Then I spent until October 2012 reworking it. I also wrote most of Book 3 while awaiting editing comments. I held off publishing Book 3 until May 2014 to assess comments. In the past year, I've written about half of Book 4, which I intend as the final volume. Because I want to wrap up the story lines, I’m finding it the most difficult one to write.

I like to read science magazines and wonder about where technology is taking us as a people. As far as writing is concerned, I like to write beside my fountain in my home’s courtyard. The tinkling water helps promote my imagination.

I tag Ginger Gelsheimer

Ginger Gelsheimer (1973-) became part of the surf & ski writing team in 2009, when the Aurora Conspiracy franchise came to life over a great bottle of vino. What if he lived? We wondered about the alien that crashed into a windmill in 1897... and that's how Aurelius was born.

Here is a fun "journal" of things that are interesting to me that will shed some light on what I'm like. http://gingergelsheimer.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-write-place-author-showcase-ginger.html www.auroraconspiracy.com.

I tag: K T Bowles

Biography

I can’t remember ever not writing. My mother taught me to read long before I started primary school and I rocked up there, aged four, already writing full sentences and decorating my stories. I was a nightmare for my very first teacher, who had to put up with my refusal to use ‘baby talk’ which was actually phonetics and copy out single letters endlessly when I would much rather write my stories.

I only began publishing early in 2013, when my first three novels in The Hana Mystery Series were sitting on my hard drive and I realised that if anything actually happened to me, my family wouldn’t have a clue what to do with them. Ten books later and I am onto my eleventh, which is a teen book. All but two of my novels are set in the area of New Zealand where I live, but Demons On Her Shoulder is set in my old home town of Lincoln. Demons began as a simple mystery, set in an ordinary parish church. I absolutely love this ornate and ancient city, with its period houses and vast, chequered history and it was a perfect place in which to stage a novel such as this. I truly hope that I have done its beauty justice. But my story evolved into something far deeper than a mystery, revolving around the character of the guidance counsellor, Jayden, who is as complicated as she is beautiful. She has wrapped the city around herself like a shroud, hiding within its folds and believing that she is safe from an appalling secret in her past. The demons in the story are the destructive emotions which are also present and which I myself have been painfully acquainted with in my own past. It was a cathartic novel to write, even though I hadn’t ever intended it to be.

My own story is as a mother of four children, now almost grown and I have been married to the same lovely man for more than twenty three years. We were engaged and married within five months and of all the impulsive decisions I have made in my life, it was infinitely the best. I have done some stupid things in my forty four years, jumping out of an aeroplane attached to a silly piece of silk and falling off two horses within eighteen months of each other and breaking bones. One of the daftest things I agreed to, was emigrating to New Zealand with four small children, a one way ticket and a suitcase each, but after a few hiccoughs and eight years, it has worked out ok. I am a Christian but my novels deal with the real world and the impact that life can have on believers and non-believers alike. I don’t believe that being preachy in my novels will have any effect other than to turn people off and so I work hard to make sure that I don’t ram my beliefs down other people’s throats. My characters are as real as I can possibly make them, meaning that readers either love, or detest them.

I love writing. It makes me feel satisfied and whole. When I am writing, all is completely well with my world.