Honestly, I can’t wait for next year. I’m working on the outline for Changeling’s Crusade and I have so many things I want to add ot it, I can’t wait to write it. I can’t wait to get back to fansty in general. I like writing horror, and I’m finding that some of my fantasy ideas are getting tinged with horror. I should thank this book for making that happen. By the way, I am almost done with it and so far, it is not disappointing. I can’t recommend it enough.

The only thing that I can’t wait to do more than the three fantasy novels I have lined up, is writing the next Lucky Evan’s Life book: The Agonizing Alibi Day. I plan on this one being done in November and out by maybe the end of December, if not the beginning of January. I want to knock this one out in a month. I really need to kinda get back to the goal of getting things published. I’ve got a book that’s been gone through by Nancy, and I need to implement those changes and work on a line edit for it soon. I think it’s had enough time to mellow out for me to edit it. Not a fan of editing, but it is something that needs to be done.

I really need to focus more on output next year. Of course, I am planning on writing three extremely long fantasy novels. Since this year is almost at a close, I might hold back on releasing two books at least for next year. The hesitation is a little understandable – shoving your children out on the street corner and telling them to shake what Mama gave ‘em is a little daunting. I’ve got to get over it if I want to make the next leap and start looking for publishers for the works.

Other than gleeful plans and nerve seizing panic – there is not much else going on. Still going to the gym and still painting minis. I might get the nerve to use more things – like washes and glazes – to improve my painting a little bit. We’ll see how the feathered serpent comes out with instructions.

Ta-ta for now!

Tribal is going in a drawer after I am finished. It’s not that I think that it’s a bad book, I just think it’s one that should deeply, deeply mellow. Maybe even be published under a pseudonym. At least I have a good ending for it. I’m also in a bit of a rush to get it finished. I have to complete the outlines for The Changeling’s Crusade and The Agonizing Alibi Day by the end of October. November, regardless of where I am at with anything, I’m stopping it and writing Alibi Day for Nanowrimo. I want to end this year on a positive note. I can’t even remember if I’ve published anything this year or not. Maybe year after next, I’ll plant my butt somewhere and write twelve Lucky Evan’s Life novels in a row and space out their publications.

I did submit my books to be reviewed by an Instagram influencer and actress – so we’ll see how that goes. I don’t expect to have then reviewed anytime soon, but at least I am getting it into someone else’s hands. I wish I knew other people to send my books to for reviews. I’m nervous about Kirkus, and I think I have to pay for that.

I really want to get back to fantasy. I’ve been writing horror for the past year, and I’ve been reading Between Two Fires, which I highly recommend if you want cosmic horror in your medieval history novel. I’m about halfway through it, and I can’t really put it down. Give it a shot – I think you’ll like it.

For other books you might like, check out the books to the right of your browser. I know I haven’t updated the list in a while, but I can’t figure out how to do it since WordPress changed their format engine. Well – off to write about werewolves. Ta-Ta for now!

I am almost done with the book Tribal, but I am not sure I really want it published. There’s a lot of language in it that is what the kids would call ‘problematic’, but it’s in the context of the story. I can see someone reading this book and trying to cancel me – not that it would be hard to do something like that. I’m worried that people are going to miss the message (cults are dangerous things) for the medium…if that’s being said right.

Honestly – should I toss the book aside or not. I am going to finish it, but past that….

I’d really like some input from other people. Maybe someone can read it and let me know how far I’ve gone? I mean, when it’s finished, of course. Which should be (and don’t hold me to it if you know my track record concerning this) by the end of the month. I’ve got to whip up an outline for the next Lucky Evan’s Life story called The Agonizing Alibi Day to be done in November for Nanowrimo. Which means I need to have Tribal done at the ned of this month to give me a month to plan the outline. In December, I think I will get back to outlining Medicine Show and starting that the first of the year in hopes of getting three epic style fantasies finished…and maybe squeeze in another Evan book somewhere.

But this thing with Tribal’s language has me tied up in mental knots. It’s an important message, but I don’t want it taken out of context by someone because they feel offended. Actually – come to think of it, you should feel offended. If you’re siding with the main antagonist of the story…them this book isn’t for you, really. I just don’t want some ne’er-do-well Karen mucking things up because I made her clutch her pearls at the language and completely bypassing the grotesque violence.

Yes, I can see someone beging so offended by the language and missing the point of it, and completely ignoring the gruesome imagery I’m using on purpose. What’s worse – the violence, I feel, while far more horrific, can be easily more justified than the language.

I’m on a limb here. Should I publish it or should I keep it to myself? I don’t know.

I don’t think that I am going to hit my end of August deadline, nor am I going to keep it to under 70,000 words. Am I worried? Not any more. Since Nancy reads a couple of chapters at a time, I am getting some editing done, I might still hit my Election Day deadline. I just thought of a couple of other things to torment poor Edgar with, that’s all. Still don’t have the punchy ending I want, yet. I guess Stephen King and I have something in common, after all.

I don’t have any good ideas for next year beyond Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show, The Changeling’s Crusade and Unbound. All of these are epic fantasy ideas, so they should carry me through next year easily, but I don’t like it when I open my idea notebook and I have nothing to put into it. The last decent I idea I had was for a Gothic Horror/Romance and I know I’m not going to get to that for a year at least (the fantasy novels I am going to work on have been bouncing around in my head for too long a time).

On a bit of a personal note, I am beginning to get over my hang-up of typing with glasses on…not by choice mind you. Take my advice – getting old sucks. Don’t do it.

I think for November I am going to re-do Agonizing Alibi Day. There are some mistakes I made in writing that I can’t really undo without scrapping the whole thing. I also need a novel to work on for Nanowrimo, so why not throw something up that I can have self-published by later December? I should come up with something, right? It’s been way too long since I published anything, much less something that’s supposed to be a continuing series. To quote Jim Butcher: “I don’t have a muse, I have a mortgage.” I need to get back on that stick if I want to get some sort of progress done.

There’s little else going on writing wise – just me tap dancing as fast as I can. Check out the books to the right – written by me and some good friends. I should get back to work. Ta-ta for now.

Well, having braved both con crud and con drop – I am here to say that GenCon was a partial success? Wyrmwood Gaming was not selling dice at the location on the merchant’s floor. That was one of the big reasons I went to GenCon in the first place! I did get to play some great games. I finally got to try my hand at both the new iterations of Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse. I love them both! I am going to see if there are any games for them in my area. The day did not go without some shopping, either. I did get some very nice-looking glass dice from Norse Foundry and got the latest edition of Call of Cthulu which I might run at my local game shop once I get the rules down. Overall – it was a good experience for everyone involved.

Now that vacation is out of the way, I have to get back to work and work quickly. The end of the month is fast approaching, and I need to have this rough draft done. Nancy has been good enough to read each chapter as it’s finished, so I am getting some light editing done. I’m at another set piece – the invasion of the gang strong hold, but I’m fuzzy on what should happen there and what the aftermath should be. I might have to consult my writer’s block cards for that.

Well, sadly – my laptop is dying in a dramatic fashion, so I will have to cut this very short.

*cough* *cough*

Go to GenCon if you have the chance while I deliberate on how to get through the climax of my werewolf political allegory horror novel.

Have Fun!

I am not here. I am at Gencon getting my gaming geek on for this week. Promise I’ll relate anything interesting and even upload a few pics.

Until then — have fun and stay safe!

Well, I made it through another Imaginarium convention. I learned quite a bit about writing and it can be summed up in one brief sentence: I ain’t done crap.

I think the person with the lowest book count on any of the panels I listened to was thirty. Thirty! I’ve written… six? Five? Either way, I am nowhere near the double digits I apparently have to be to be considered successful. So many of them were USA Today Bestsellers. I’m giddy if my one of porn piece gets a sale.

I am way behind on this sort of thing. I’ve got to get cracking on finishing up a couple more things. Seriously.

But all was not me wringing my hands and screaming ‘I AM WOEFULLY UNDERPREPARED!’ – I talk to a pulisher who is hold open submissions next month, I have two stories that can be ready in that amount of time: The Show Must Go On and Alien Voices. They just need a little bit of polish, maybe another run through and I can submit them (if they’re looking for horror).

Going to Imaginarium has whetted my appetite for getting stuff done. I might even take my laptop to GenCon and write after I get back from the daily events. I know that GenCon is supposed to be a vacation, but I also got to get this done by the end of August and that’s not very far away. When I was at Imaginarium, I did manage to get some writing done, but it was an hour at the most because I was stacked from open to close with panels. I’m surprised I ate anything at all to be hinest. People who have attended conventions can testify to this.

Well – that’s it really. I spent a lot of time sitting in metal chairs, taking notes. I get to see a couple of writing friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, so that was nice. I even made myself a QR business card, but never got a chance to use it. Next year – I’ll put it on a t-shirt and wear it all three days. Hopefully, by next year, I’ll be in the lower double digits enough to justify putting up a table and trying to sell some books.

Stay safe, everyone.

Sorry I haven’t been on here in any substantial way for a while. To be honest – there hasn’t been any news worth reporting. I upgraded the word count on Tribal from 60K to 80K because I was two thirds of the way through, and I realized I had more story to tell. I also changed the deadline to August 31^st just to keep the daily work count in the realm of the obtainable. Fortunately, my wife has been reading the first eight chapters and has given me notes to act on. I’m going to give her two or three chapters when they get finished so I can try to hit the ground running when it comes to editing.

The only other thing going on for me is the laborious countdown to GenCon. We’re in the final month and I am getting everything in place. We bought a wagon to carry all the loot I am going to buy, and I am still saving up money to buy all the loot. This is going to be my last GenCon for a while, as I am saving up for something big. I’m not going to say anything major right now, but I am going to say this: it’s big.

I am currently reading Ann McMann’s The Blackbird of Chernobyl. A nice little romance for a change from all the true crime and writer’s guides I’ve been reading as of late. This is seriously a book I can’t put down. I recommend it highly.

Tribal is still coming along. Ot quite done with Edgar and the pack, but the story continues to pluck along. After this, I’m going to get seriously into Serve Me Now, even though my wife is slightly turned off by oversexualization of the main character – especially in the beginning pages. When it’s finished, I might get a second opinion. I think this is the one I should try to get some mainstream action on.

Other than all of this – things continue to go along swimmingly. Still feeling good about writing, still attracting projects and ideas like honey to flies. Also got to remember that I have a chance to listen to my baseball team tomorrow as they play the Mets. Hopefully, my listening to them won’t jinx them too much.

Until later – ta-ta for now.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth! Next week, I’ll try to scrape something together for y’all.

I really want to write an epic fantasy novel. I want something that is as sweeping as Lord of the Rings, and I got a really good idea a couple of weeks ago and I am lightly outlining it. I think next year I am only going to work on epic fantasy – Tyro’s Unbroken, The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show and this newest one called The Changeling’s Crusade.

Mostly I am on this bend because I am stalling out with the two horror stories I am working on right now. I can get back to Tribal now that I have an idea for the motivation in a scene with the pack leader James. Serve Me Now is dragging in its first two chapters, and I don’t know what to do with it. I know that (through my beat reader and loving wife) I could cut a lot of dressing scenes, and scenes of the main character buying something at a lingerie store and it would pick up the pace, but I also want the reader to know what kind of person we’re dealing with. She’s not a very deep person, and she shows off her body for cash. My wife is a rather conservative sort when it comes to things like this. Maybe I can find another female opinion from my writing group.

I hope to get back on track with everything. I know the deadline for Tribalis coming up very soon, and I want to have it done before GenCon, because I am doing nothing but gaming there. To be honest, I’ve been doing nothing but gaming here for the past couple of days, so I should get back to work today, after I am done with this entry.

Beyond gaming and waiting for August, there has been nothing else happening. There’s a new car for me to chase, so I’m taking off after that.

Yes, I still have points on my license. Thank you for asking.

I am going to finish at least Tribal soon because I am a little over half way through it, so Edgar gets to learn some more unsavory facts about his werewolf tribe. Serve Me Now is problematic, but I am going to try to finish it by the end of the year. Next year – nothing but fantasy from me!