How do you write an animal's mind? 
One way is to write them just like humans. This is a good device to use when writing a story with a moral. Good examples are the Grimm fairy tales. Some scholars think that the talking animals were simply a device used to portray the worst of human criminals. They aren't really animals at this point, but analogies. 
Another way is to represent them speaking with a verbal language but give them distinctly different points of focus. This is a good way to deal with the idea that these are animals without having to dig into a level of realism that can be off-putting to readers seeking an enjoying read. An example of this is the seagulls in "Finding Nemo".  
The third main way is to write the perspective of the animal with the best understanding of the species' psychology avaliable at the time. This is quite difficult as a writer for two reasons. The first is that it requires a lot of research. The second is that without dialogue it is very difficult to "show not tell" for a character. A great example of this is "White Fang" or "The Call of the Wild."

Are the cultural elements that the alien culture you are writing values considered timeless or timely? Does the cultural see morals as progressing from one thing to another or do they see morals as  a timeless monolith? 
Do the moral referees of your culture say, "You can't do that! It's [insert date]!" 
Do the moral referees of your culture say, "This is the way it has always been." 
Is your culture in a state of onward change or of cyclic repetition? 
Take all or some of these questions and apply them to any moral aspect; murder, theft, lying. See what happens. 

Discovery Excerpt 
​
Drake arched his eyebrows. “Okay it sounds like you had a fun time one the beast coast.”
“Oh it was a beast,” Ama agreed. “Maybe even a bear.”
“Want to try some acetone?” Drake asked.
“I already did,” Ama said. “The shop had some fingernail polish remover.”
“May I be of any assistance?” Bard’s deep voice distracted them and they turned as the bear stepped out of the back of the semi.
He seemed larger than usual in the enclosed space and dim lighting and slightly rounder all over.
“You couldn’t form a proper internal support so quickly could you?” Drake hazarded.
“The system is sufficient,” Bard assured him. “But the vibrations of the engine combined with the peculiar position I was required to spend the drive in did preclude my forming a more detailed form at the present moment.”
“Fascinating,” Ama said in a dry tone. “Now if you want to be of assistance I have some pallets of paperwork that need to be moved over to that trailer.”
“Immediately,” Bard said with a happy tone.
He strolled over the the back of the trailer and lifted the tarp off of the cargo space, standing as he did so. He reached in and picked the pallet up in his forelegs.
“Do those count as arms or legs when he does that?” Drake asked with a grin.
“Well he is only using his rear legs for locomotion.” Ama said thoughtfully. “He is in his bear form but only nominally. They are forelegs on a bear no matter what the bear is doing with them and believe me I have seen them do some tricky stuff with their paws. They are the next thing to having opposable thumbs. Of course they look so unformed at the moment that they might be pseudo-pods.”
Drake kept a smile on his face as Ama went on. She was distracted from whatever she was so mad at him about, but who knew how long that would last. Bard had emptied out the trailer meanwhile and was looking around for something to do. Drake got up in the cab and Ama handed him up her laptop case.
“If you can get the last few loose boxes in the king cab of the jeep that would be great,” Ama informed him.
“Certainly,” Bard said turning to reach into the vehicle.
“Is it really a crew cab if it is a six passenger jeep?” Drake asked.
“I don’t know and I honestly don’t care” Ama said  reaching to scratch her head again. “I think I left my coffee cup in the cup holder though. Give me a sec.” She turned ad walked back around the hood of the jeep.
Drake glanced over at Bard and frowned. The bear was still head and shoulder in the jeep and his outer membrane was gradually turning from blues and greens to reds and oranges. It also looked like Bard’s head had sprouted a set of long rabbit ears.
“Bard?” Drake asked nervously. “What’s going on?”
Ama glanced up from where she was rooting around between the seats and pulled her hair out of her face.
“Is something wrong Bard?” She asked.
Bard’s gaze focused on the blue scrap attached to the base of her head and he flared a brilliant red over every inch of his membrane. Bard gave a sound that might have come from a tuba snarling in rage. His arm  stretched out and the paws at the end expanded and enveloped the back of Ama’s head.
“Bard?” Ama demanded. “What are you –“ Ama sudden stiffened and then screamed.
Drake’s heart leapt in his chest and he was darting around the jeep to his sister’s side. He wasn’t quite sure how he had gotten out of the truck. He reached Ama just as Bard released her. Ama’s scream cut off as she staggered into Drake but she was breathing hard.
“Oh sweet – it hurts. It hurts.” Ama gasped.
“Where?” Drake demanded.
“The thing,” Ama hissed out. “The thing in my hair.”
Drake pushed aside her thick hair and his stomach dropped  when his fingers touched something warm and sticky. When he saw the bright red welling of blood he snarled and let out a string of choice words. He yanked his hat off and shoved it against the blood of blood.

OryCon 38 is rolling around again and despite everything that life has thrown at me I am able to go! Swag bags and handing out business cards await! Looking forward to meeting a lot of cool folks and cruising the vendors. 

When asked at a talk what was the best way to get over writers' block, actor and author Peter Mark Richman said - to paraphrase -.
"Take two very different characters and put them in a situation, any situation, but make it odd for at least one of them and then just let them talk."
It is good advice for getting over writers block but it is also an odd idea. The concept that your characters can almost act on their own will. This might seem a bit strange and of course the ideas are still coming out of the writers' own heads, but there does seem to be a moment of time when your created characters do take on a life of their own. 
For instance, I put three characters in a semi-abandoned maintenance bay expecting only conversation and perhaps a tense conflict between a pair of siblings that would result in a firm scolding.
Then out of nowhere one of them rips out a chunk of the others hair, MacGivers  a thermite bomb, and burns the maintenance bay to the ground. 
At no time in the three year course of creating or writing the story did this author intend for this to happen but when these characters were put in this situation this was the single most logical outcome. 
​Richman was onto something. 

For a good weekend read "Annals of a Quite Neighborhood" is a delightful treat from the literary father of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. 
It is a book that has aged well and is full of love and redemption without flinching from the darkness and injustice in the world. 

Writing sensory deprivation can be difficult but there are a few easy ways to prepare. Turning off the lights in the bathroom is a good one. That is after you have hunted down and deactivated all the device with LEDs. Pay attention to what you are sensing. What do you smell, what do you hear, what do you feel? Which of your senses is dominant? Does that change over time? How comfortable are you? Think about how this would be different in an unfamiliar place. How would it be different if there were loud noises? 

What exactly do your aliens eat? How much do they eat? How do they obtain their food? Do they have agriculture? 

When you write, write with confidence and don't look back.
When you edit, edit without mercy. 

One of the Few
by Jason B. Ladd
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for an honest review. 

They say don’t judge a book by its cover. But it is fairly safe to say that you can do that with “One of the Few”.  This book is, as the metaphorical ‘they’ say again, exactly what it says on the tin. Jason B. Ladd explores religion in both the theoretical and practical from the perspective of a U.S. Marine. He is no armchair philosopher but a military scout, keeping his eyes, ears, and mind open for anything that might affect the outcome. The research in the book is sourced from a complex array of places from the cockpit of personal experience, to the musing of the founding father of America, to philosophers who lived and died before Rome had an empire. The pacing is comfortable and the philosophical musings run deep but clear. The format that the over arching personal story is told in is predictable and a bit formulaic, as befits an author used to filling out reconnaissance reports. Through it all Ladd does not seem to be trying to make a name for himself in academia, rather the book feels like the explorations of a soldier who believes that lives could very well be on the line if the intelligence he gives them is wrong.
The personal stories are intriguing and detailed without getting bogged down in reminiscing and the characters feel real and engaging without being dry and boring. The explanations of military hardware and culture can seem a bit redundant for someone who already has a basic understanding of military aviation but are no doubt necessary for (most) people who didn’t grow up learning to differentiate between the various helicopter classes by sound. For example, a detailed explanation of how a fast attack helicopter pilot differs in mindset from a fighter jet ‘flyboy’ sets up a revealing philosophical point, and those differences and well explained. In short, the book is more written with those who did not shed a sentimental tear when the good old huey was finally formally retired a few years back.
This was an enjoyable book and what it lacks in originality is excused by  the nature of the questions it asks. Who am I? Who am I in relationship to the world? Who am I in relationship to the Creator of all things? Who has my back? Ladd is asking questions that have haunted the best minds in the world since humanity began to record his musings in writing. Like all of these minds Ladd takes his own path. The path of a United States Marine. 



Further information can be found at these links


http://www.OneoftheFewBook.com
http://www.jasonbladd.com
http://www.jasonbladd.com/online-media-kit/#shareablecontent