Songster and Wordsmith

I recently completed the first draft of 2 books, part of a series that were going to be in the post-apocalyptic genre.  It was going to be set in Australia and it was going to be great. Everyone I spoke to loved the idea of a book set in Outback Australia. Including me. And yet, in March 2020, after  I had the storyline, the characters, the events, the twists, and all the action for 2 books completed, and just as I was about to start book 3, I realized something: I  hated this story.  That's not a good position to find oneself. After over a year of writing these two books, I hated the books and didn't want them released. I was ready to call this a year of lost writing. Instead, I set this series aside and returned to writing book 2 in the Earth Quarantined series, which I had set aside to write those post-apocalyptic series. And I remembered how much I loved writing in my futuristic world that as soon as I finished the first draft of Earth Arrested , I came up with an idea on

I've recently written a thriller. Not my usual supernatural or sci-fi thrillers, but a straight-up murder mystery. For causes of death in this murder mystery novel,  I turned to my trusty ‘Encyclopedia of Forensic Science’ written by Brian Lane. I bought this book many years ago, 2004 from the date on the front cover, and I have been dying (excuse the pun) to use it.  They call it Forensic Science for a reason. Because the rules of death are grounded in absolutes. If too much blood is lost, a person dies. If too many internal organs are damaged, a person dies. If there is no oxygen, a person dies. In thrillers and mysteries, unless there is a supernatural element, writers rarely have scope for miraculous recoveries. People may survive gunshot wounds, but they cannot dodge bullets. People may survive being held underwater for a period of time, but they cannot breathe underwater.  In the natural world of thrillers and mysteries, the cause of death is typical of the real world, such a