Transition Girl

Why transition girl?... Best answered by a quote from the Iliad....."The soul was not made to dwell in a thing; and when forced to it, there is no part of that soul but suffers violence."

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

a piece of the writer

I haven't posted on my blog for several weeks. This absence has been because my already limited time has been occupied by taking on carer duties while a very sick relative has been undergoing medical treatment. I can barely take care of myself. So it is not without some challenge that the sick is taking care of the sick.

I have been filling in what little is left of my free time continuing writing. Writing is and has always been my preferred form of stress relief and now more than ever I need it. Mostly I have been working on drafting short stories for a collection loosely based on dreams that have inspired me creatively. I am starting to notice a strong pattern - a recurring theme - in many of the stories written so far. I do not want to spoil it by revealing that theme just yet - it will be apparent to anyone who chooses to read the collection when it it released.

The milestone I want to share today is that my third novel The Recidivist is about to hit the Amazon bookshelves. Just in time for Christmas.


It is the prequel to The Penitentiary, released last year, which together make up the first two books in the Panopticon series. The third book, The Crusades, will be released mid-2013.


I am very excited by the upcoming release. If you want to read more about either of these books (including purchasing links), details can be found at my website:

http://www.cristinaarcher.com/

With the release of any book, most writers wonder just how much of themselves are in the books they have written. For my latest effort, I deliberately crafted a key protagonist that was male and, after considerable self-reflection, bore none of the personality traits I believe are my finest (and worst) features. By and large, he is not the character that people may immediately associate with me when they read the book. Still, it is difficult to avoid a little piece of yourself appearing in at least some of the characters in some way.

Writers choose to write for a variety of reasons and, for me, one of those reasons to make sense of the world around me. Sure, it is a roundabout way to do so - creating an entire other world to mull over ideas and dilemmas - but I confess I often ask myself "what would I do in this circumstance" when I am considering a character's reaction to the plot conflict I have created for them. I then go on to ask "what would he/she do given the personality traits I have given them" so reference to my own reactions is a form of benchmarking.

Am I any closer to solving life's master puzzle with all this writing? Probably not but then I've always been one more interested in the journey.