Unrealistic Future?

I recently read a review on one of my books in the Beyond Earth series. I take all reviews serious. Any tips I get I try to address in the next book or use the critique to become a better author. The compliments always make me smile. Some with stories of how it helped their lives.
This particular reviewer said it was unrealistic to have a planet have so few people on it. I challenge that with: why? 

Let's go over some points in the series:

1. In book two, I wrote how the government on Earth worried about overcrowding and released a sterility spray in some public areas. 
2. In book one, I wrote that Earth was almost completely destroyed by the year 2507.  Earth wasn’t safe to live on anymore. Billions of people on Earth died. 
3. By the year 2800 only about 100,000 people lived on Earth. Half those people stayed on Earth to try and fix things. Half went to space.
4. Let's say there were 50 ships that launched into space. Those fifty ships might have carried 1,000 people each on them. Again, that’s 50,000 people. 
5. Now, fast forward a few hundred years. Let’s say for fun sake that the number of people doubled, so now there are 100,000 humans. There are thousands, maybe millions of planets and moons in the universe that could be hospitable. 
6. The ship, Valinor, landed on a planet which took on its name. The 1,000 people on that ship became the people of Valinor. 
7. Valinor is a small Earth-like planet that Valinor has 3 continents, 2 of which are uninhabited (so far). Years later, there’s about 3,000 people on Valinor. It’s a peaceful planet, not as big as Earth, but big enough. They have a small army because originally they are not in a war and the way they protect their planet is by technology…mostly done from computers and a command center.
8. In book two Akacia sends 20 people in her military to Terronda to help. That wasn't all of her military/army. 
9. They have more people who come and help them. The Splicer families, a few of Terronda's army, people in the universe who hate Caspar. Plus they have Tegar and his ship/crew helping to protect Valinor.
10. In Googling, I seem to find that 0.4% of the American population are active in the military and 7.3% of all living Americans have served in the military at some point.
11. Let's compare that to Valinor's military. Let's go with the first statistic and let's even round it up to 1%. What is 1% of 3,000? 30. If there are approximately 100 people of Valinor in their military, that's more than 3% active military. More than the United States of America.
12. Earth's population (as of January 2018) was 7.6 billion people. In the past 75 years, it has grown 1-2% per year. Applied to the people who left Earth (50,000) this would be 500-1,000 per year. It's been just over 200 years since Akacia was born, that means the population of the universe (not including aliens) would be approximately 150,000-350,000. Seems like a lot of people, but spread over the planets, moons, and space stations, the population of Valinor seems pretty average. 
13. Let's take #12 and apply it to Valinor. The ship, Valinor, had about 1,000 people to begin with. With a 1% increase in population every year for 200 years, that brings the total to 3,000. That's just births. There would have been deaths and some people who weren't on the ship were granted permission to live on the planet, so it would roughly still be about 3,000. 

As you can see, it is very plausible and believable to have these numbers. If all 3,000 people were to spread around Valinor, well, there wouldn't be a community would there? Eventually I could see expanding. Maybe allowing some other alien races to settle down? You never know. For now, it's a possible and believable future.

Character Traits

People, especially reviewers, like to tear authors apart for overused traits. For example when we write about our characters biting on their lips or twirling their hair, readers say it’s overdone or boring or whatever. BUT… when I look at myself and other people in real life, what do I see? I bite on my lip when I’m nervous all the time. I see others twirling their hair or biting their nails. So maybe characters are written with those traits because authors themselves have them or know people who have them. If I wrote a character who always hopped up and down on one foot when nervous—just so she would have a more unique trait—would anyone believe that? Or would the character be more believable if they bit on their lip or twirled their hair? 

It's might be overused or overdone, but I'm going to keep writing characters who twirl their hair, bit on their lip, shuffle their weight, or tap their fingers because that's what people do. You don't have to like it, but please think about how odd it would be to read about a character who did absurd things just so readers wouldn't gripe about the same old character traits.

My writing tip? Don't worry about character traits or faults being overdone. Readers should focus on the character overall and the storyline. If it's a good storyline, then who cares if a character twirls her hair or pulls it? Bites on her lip or jumps on her feet? Let the author be and just enjoy the story.

My Promise (Spoiler)

When I started writing the Beyond Earth series, it was after the death of Lexa on The 100. The "bury your gays" trope was at an all time high. I promised my fans then and I want to renew my promise to my fans as I continue the series that I will NOT permanently kill off either main character, Everleigh and Akacia.

Now, because I'm a drama writer, I need to have drama, so things will happen to them. They may come close to death. They may get sick. They may die and be revived. They may switch bodies. But, in the end, all will be as it should be. That is my promise to you.

The first two books in the series are out (Without Hesitation and Painted Skies). I'm working on the third book and am already at 65k words...so I'm thinking there may be four books in this series. So, yes, be prepared for dramatic things to happen throughout this series, and I know this is a spoiler, but I promise to keep Akacia and Everleigh alive.

Painted Skies (Beyond Earth: Book Two)

RELEASE WEEKEND! 

PAINTED SKIES (BEYOND EARTH: BOOK TWO)

This is book two of the Beyond Earth series. Without Hesitation is book one and is free everywhere (except Amazon) right now. So if you haven't gotten hooked on this series, start now!!!!

Akacia and Everleigh have been apart for almost an earthmonth. Both still reeling from recent events, they try to get their lives back on track. They soon find out an evil from their past has resurfaced and their lives and home planet Valinor are in danger. Side-by-side once again, they find themselves fighting for love, peace, and their homes.

**This book is an LGBTQ sci-fi story with a female/female relationship.**

Blogging Fail

I'm not good at keeping up with blogging. I don't usually know what to write about and how much of my own books would people really want to know about. I don't like being pushy and scream: BUY, BUY, BUY!

Time is a precious thing. Between taking care of my family, house, and myself, it doesn't leave much time to write. I feel like my books are the priority when I do have that time, so my blog suffers. As does my social media.

It's so weird how I can write a book, but blank out when it comes to blogging or social media posts.

For those of you desperately waiting for updates on the 2nd book of the Beyond Earth series, I finished professional editing part 1 and sent it back to the editor. When she sends it back to me, I'll do my final edits while the cover gets made. In the meantime, I'm working on book 3 of the series and already up to 40k.

And yes, I will still be writing more in the Between Worlds series, the Gifted Teens series, Falling for Fire, and Touch of Death.

It amazes me how my favorite writers growing up could pump up books as quickly as they did. The Sweet Valley books, Christopher Pike's books, VC Andrews... how did they all write so quickly?

Here come's the begging: PLEASE share my Facebook page with your friends, your social media, and so on. I also have Twitter @TaliaJager and Instagram @Talia Jager

Spread the word. Follow me. Believe it or not just one or two authentic follows makes a lot of difference in the crazy world of algorithms. If you've read one (or more) of my books, PLEASE leave a review. THIS makes a HUGE difference in Amazon algorithms. It also allows me to promote my books on more places because they require a certain number of reviews.

I hope I don't disappoint any of you. Hang in there, the books are coming.

New Giveaway

Enter this YA/NA Sci-Fi & Dystopian Giveaway for a chance to win books or an Amazon gift card.

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Update

I know many of you watch for updates. Lots of times I don't have one. I'm just writing. I never really know when a book will be ready. I don't know how those that have release dates know. At least indie writers. I write, rewrite, wait a month, read it, edit, read it again, edit some more, then send it to a couple of people. If they're happy with it, it goes to my editor. Then I have to make those edits and if I'm not sure about how I did, I send it back to her. Whenever she's done, I send it to my formatter. So the end of publishing a book isn't even something I control.

But I know you. I know you want to know what's happening in my little world. So, here are my updates:

Beyond Earth Series: Book Two - Working on 2nd draft. Up to 77k words. I really hope to have it ready to go to an editor this spring.

Between Worlds: Book SIX - Started a scene or two, haven't gotten far. I really want to, but I need to wrap up the Beyond Earth series first. This goes for the Spinoff of Lena's story as well. Not sure which will come out first. The spinoff or #5. We'll see.

Falling for Fire - I plan on this being a series. I love Aurora and Sorin. So this will be a series someday.

Same for Touch of Death. Definitely a series. Just not enough time to do them all.

Which leaves me with The Gifted Teens. There is a book four. I have written some on it. It takes place a couple years after the third book. I'm definitely not done with Daxton and Kassia, Mira and Zane, or Auralee and Noe.

As far as my other books, they're all basically standalones. I could make Secret Bloodline into a series, but not sure I will. The others have had their story told. Although when I do pay someone to edit Lost and Found, it will be getting a little bit of a makeover.

I do have many other ideas. Some medical ones like a teen diabetic, another about a teen who cuts, and an aliens on Earth (series??).

That's about it. I wish my fingers would type faster. I wish I had more time in the day to write. I wish I had more money to get things done faster. And sometimes life just gets in the way. I thought I would have the 2nd Beyond Earth series book out last year, but I took 2 college classes and was NOT prepared for the amount of work they took. Then I had health issues which are not over yet. Plus teaching the kids, being a wife and mother, and all that comes with it.

I can only promise that I will write until I can't anymore (and the way I love writing means I'll be dead for that to happen). It might take time for the sequels and new books to come out, but they will.

Thank you, fans, for your love and loyalty. I love hearing from you!!!!