How does Jim Butcher do it? I was listening to my first book and through it, I found some bad continuity mistakes between that and the third book. Butcher’s got to keep a lot more in his head than I do and he does it remarkably well. He’s got seventeen books to keep straight. I only have three and I’m making big mistakes. What’s really getting under my skin is that I am going to have to go back and re-do some scenes. I’m tempted to throw out everything and just start over again, but that’s very impractical. Meh. I’ll try to soldier on and just re-write the scenes. Just slightly bummed is all.

The audiobooks are coming along. I still have to finish proof-listening to the first one. I might save that for a Saturday, but this guy is hitting home runs for The Dreaded Day Job. I can’t wait for him to narrate The Catastrophic Christmas Party. Hopefully, everything will be done by April. The Quietest Heart is getting the audiobook treatment. I need to wade through the auditions and pick my voice. I’m trying to come up with a good idea for a sequel, but nothing is really grabbing my mind. Unlike the Gothic ideas I have – none of them take place in a trailer park, so I am still trying to get that going. I have a title, a setting but nothing else. It’ll come when it comes.

I am trying to get Tribes finished in time for the elections, so I am going to get working on it in April, fished in June and edited and ready by Election Day. Yes, this is going to be a little bit of a satire of political parties and an examination of how people join groups that go against what they were taught growing up…or hopefully they were taught growing up. It’s been on my mind as of late, so this could be blocking me in getting The Agonizing Alibi Day finished. All I am trying to do right now is really stay busy and get more books out there.

That’s all I have to say for now, I’m going to try to get back into the Evan groove, but I am not going to stress out if I don’t get into it for a couple of days. I just need to let my mind work out some things and get going on its own. Wish me luck!

I’ve gotten back the first chapter for the audiobook version of The Dreaded Day Job. I’ve got to say this: Dave Cruse is knocking it out of the park! Everyone has their own voice and they make sense. I’ve had no complaints about how he’s voicing the characters – and he’s even getting the female one right, although I haven’t heard his Anita, yet. Everything is coming together and it’s great!

This is, of course, fueling me to finish The Agonizing Alibi Day and that’s coming along swimmingly. I’m on chapter five and now a little ahead of schedule – especially since I changed the due date to March 31^st. I wanted to get it done in twenty-nine days, but that was not possible with writer’s block (my old foe). Besides, I would much rather rake my time and put out a good work, since it’s going to be going into an audiobook format almost as soon as it’s published on Kindle and dead tree formats.

I have also gone on ahead and put The Quietest Heart to audiobook format because…why not? The process is easier than I figured, and I could make a few bucks from it. Might even give me an idea for a sequel. I have a couple of ideas rattling around in my head, but none of them are really fleshed out right now. I’m still concerned over The Dreaded Day Job and getting the next one finished.

I’m also thinking about the Gothic slasher book I might write later on this year called In My Nature. I need to get back to that book about Gothic poetics. I think I’m going to have to section off a time of day to sit down and read. I’ve got so much to read: Erasure – which I recommend; Deadly Doses, a writer’s book about poisons; A Time Traveler’s Guide to Regency England and Everyday Life in Victorian England, for the background of my Gothic book. So much research, which I don’t mind – I just need the time. Then again, don’t we all?

Speaking of time and energy, I am going to recommend a coffee brand. Many of you know I was a faithful drinker of Death Wish Coffee, but I have found a stronger brand called Biohazard. Honestly, two cups and I was wide awake enough to write this morning, so I’d imagine a single cup will get you through your day. Biohazard Coffee – hit me up for an endorsement deal. Of course, at the end of the day, I’m going to turn off like a switch…but it was worth it to be wide awake at four AM to write.

That’s all for now. Still jazzed about the projects and adding more work to my load. I really think this might be the year I get more headway with writing. I hope you’ll continue to join me for the trip.

I have found the voice of the “Lucky Evan’s Life” franchise! He’s got a Facebook page and apparently, this isn’t his first rodeo. Which works for me just fine as this is my first time doing anything like this. I’m going to get a fifteen minute sample of his reading The Dreaded Day Job sometime this week and I’ll let you know how things go. If things go extraordinarily well, I might get some more books done as audiobooks for giggles. This has also spurred me on to write The Agonizing Alibi Day and get it out there by the beginning of April, with paperback, hardback and audio versions coming out at the same time if I can work it.

It’s rare that it feels like everything is coming together for me, but it’s true. I didn’t think I would find the voice of Evan literally in the first round of auditions. I didn’t think that getting everything together would be this easy. All I had to do was approve him, tender him an offer (royalties, which means he’s going to advertise if he wants to get anywhere) and upload the manuscript. Bip bam boom. All of this has really lit a fire under me to get the next novel done. I was just going to poke along on the outline for The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show and not really do any Evan stories under later this year. Now that I am (somewhat) responsible for someone else’s work, I can’t slack off. Medicine Show, the long-suffering book that it is, might be put off for a while as I work on more immediate things.

And Evan is a good series. There are positive aspects to it that I think the world could use, and certainly Evan’s notions that what we put out into the Universe we get back onto us has wormed its way into my personal philosophy. Am I going to turn into a Guru Joe like character and go about telling people to contemplate their navel? No, because I can barely see mine to be honest. I am, however, being more mindful of what I do and what I put out.

That’s all for now. Please feel free to look at my other books, as well as books put out be good friends on the right-hand side of this page. Be good to each other and I’ll see you next time.

Hopefully, by the time this comes out, I will be working with someone on getting The Catastrophic Christmas Party and The Dreaded Day Job on getting it into audiobook format through acx.com, which means it will be through Amazon, iTunes and Audible.com – the big three audiobook publishers.

I’m hoping that this will be the push to get my stuff out there more. I know a couple of people (Hi!) that listen to audiobooks, and I am sure there are solely audiobook listeners. I even listen to audiobooks when I get the chance. I’m trying to get more serious about getting everything out there and getting the word out.

When it comes to marketing – I am horrible. I am spotty and limited to either Facebook or Amazon’s advertising service…which I have to admit has gotten me a couple of sales.  Should probably renew that sometime soon. Maybe when I get the audiobook published and released, I’ll do a full-court press. Whatever I can do to get it pushed out there.

Honestly, the more I do this, the more I am considering trying traditional publishing with a horror novel. I’m just not sure as to what to do in terms of advertising beyond talk about what I am doing on this blog, advertise with Facebook and Amazon and look into other ways of publishing. Add in the need to grind out another book – which I am doing right now with the next Evan book called The Agonizing Alibi Day – and I really feel like I have bitten off far more than I can chew at times.

But I still love it. I am here at home with a cold, and I have written 3,000 words. I have never felt happier, or more like I am doing what I am supposed to be doing in my life. It gets a little frustrating at times to be this close to what I feel is my purpose, but I have a dreaded day job to do to support it. I know that it doesn’t make me any different than any other creative person out there.

Oh, well. Maybe I just need more coffee. Could be both.

I just put in an ad on Amazon for The Dreaded Day Job. I think that it got me the most sales for one book, and they’re the most able to get my work out there.

At least it beats putting up a billboard.

Hmm…

Well – I hope you’re having a good day wherever you are and with whatever you’re doing. Hope to see you again at the next installment.

I know this was going to be the year of epic fantasy. This was going to be the year I finished The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show and Unbound and maybe even write a Lamia-centric tale called Lambs and Ivy for Nanowrimo. This was going to be the year I really let myself go, as it were.

So – February I am going to write the next Evan novel The Agonizing Alibi Day and finish it in 28 days. It’s not epic fantasy, but I have some momentum going with sales of The Catastrophic Christmas Party and I feel that I have to strike while the iron is hot. Besides, the out lining for Medicine Show is coming along in fits and starts, so I should do something with the time I’m staring at the blank page, right?

The book is going to be about Evan undergoing what’s called Alibi Day – a time in which he has to attend a phone and tell people lies about where his work mates have been employed so that they will have a better chance of infiltrating into a company and sabotage it. While this is going on, he’s not going to have access to things to inflict his whammy upon. He’s stuck in an office while his whammy builds and builds to disastrous consequences.

I think it’s a good reaction to the feel-good(ish) sentiment of Christmas Party. I wrote Christmas Party partly because I wanted to have something out for the holidays, and I wanted something good for Evan given his position in life. Agonizing Alibi Day is back to work for everyone. I’m slightly stoked to write it now. Maybe I can get it done in the month of February and have it out for March and see how it sells.

Well, that’s all for now. I needed to get writing, but I didn’t want to rush the outline or anything. So – updates as they happen and hopefully this time in March, I’ll have news that it’s ready to be sold. Have fun and stay safe.