Sunday, August 16, 2020

Coming soon




As we move through the Corona virus here in Ohio and the rest of the world, I’ve found myself returning to one of my loves. I have a few passions in life. My family, friends, and work come first. But I also love choking my friends unconscious in jiujitsu. Wow, that sounded weird, huh? I might have issues. But anyway, what this blog is about is rediscovering my love of writing. I’ve decided to rededicate my efforts to reviving my dead career, not for money but for the love of creating.

Writing for success is a losing battle for most of us if success is measured by book sells. While I started writing a long time ago because I loved it, selling books became more of my focus than writing them. Losing my publisher and most of the momentum I had built discouraged me greatly. I realized I was measuring my success by how many books I was selling and my sells fell into the crapper. But being locked in my house 75% or the time (I still go to work as a firefighter) encouraged me to delve back into writing as a hobby with one subtle difference. I am no longer concerned about selling thousands of copies of whatever I write. Or even one. Of course, I hope I sell some, but that’s not my goal. It wasn’t at the start of my career and it’s not once again. I want to write to write.

Part of the creative process that I’ve enjoyed includes the presentation of my work in a professional manner. Years ago that meant one needed a publisher. But now, with the internet and freelancing, I can achieve that goal on my own. Reaching people will still be the challenge, but I’m not going to worry about that anymore. So, my big announcement is that I am self-publishing from here on out. Ahhh. That feels good. No more agent searching or publisher querying. Just putting out what I want and seeing what happens. Self-publishing used to mean to some people that an author’s work just wasn’t worthy to be read. Well, that may still be the case. But I don't give a shit. I think my stuff is good and I have plenty of reviews to know others like it as well. Maybe my future stories will suck and someone who buys them will feel ripped off. I truly hope not. All I can do is promise that I will always put my entire heart into presenting you the absolute best story I can.

Here’s my loose schedule. I have begun completely revising my Epertase trilogy. As I said, I want what I present to be the best I can make it. Part of that is fixing flaws that I have since determined I had early on with my writing. When I wrote Epertase Book One, Legends Reborn, I was an amateur in every sense of the word. My writing has improved greatly since. I might still suck, but not as bad as I did.

My current manuscript is titled Death of the Grinderfish. It is a stand-alone, dystopian fantasy loosely using the Robin Hood theme of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. I will spend a chunk of money on this venture, which is different than when I was with Rhemalda, but it’s worth it to me. I likely won’t sell enough copies to recoup those expenditures since I'm selling them on my own, but that’s fine. The one thing I can guarantee is that I’ll only release something I am 100% excited about. Maybe you’ll buy it. And maybe you won’t. We’ll still be friends either way. In the coming months I will reveal the cover here as well as updates to the May, 2021 release. I hope you’ll join me for this next adventure.