Evolution of Legends Reborn

When I started writing my first fantasy novel, I did so mostly for fun. I never expected to get a publishing deal and I never expected to be right where I started nearly a dozen years later. When I first wrote The Light of Epertase, I didn’t have a publisher, an editor, a cover artist, or really anyway to put the book out into the world. So, I decided to have a little fun with it. I took my book and used a print on demand company, I believe it was called Lulu, to make a hard cover of my story. I used my super limited photoshop knowledge to create this cover. Take a look.

 

 

Shortly after creating my hard cover, I was offered a 3-book publishing deal with Rhemalda Publishing. I was so excited when I received the first copy of my first ever published book. Here is that cover.

 

 

However, even with the hard work of my aunt (who is an editor), Rhemalda, and their editor, I was still quite new at writing and Epertase wasn’t everything I knew it could be. That’s not to say it wasn’t the best work I could do, I was just pretty green.

 

Rhemalda closed their doors in 2014, I stopped writing, and yadda, yadda, yadda, here we are.

 

As COVID took us all by storm earlier this year and locked us in solitude, I refocused on my writing career. My forthcoming novel, Death of the Grinderfish, will be released in May of 2021 and I’m super excited about it. But before I release my Grinderfish story, I wanted to accomplish one other goal. And it has been quite an undertaking, to say the least. You see, I wanted to revisit my Epertase trilogy with my current eyes and current writing chops. Over the last 6 months, I have methodically and completely revised my trilogy. Included with this revision is a brand new edit from a very talented editor. She’s quite good and quite brutal. For example, here was her first comment from her first pass through. “I hate this opening sentence. In fact, most of the first chapter needs rewritten. And here’s why …” You can see how I had to leave my ego at the door. It’s important when you have a good editor to start with the philosophy of “the editor is always right” and work backward from that. A good editor’s job is to make your work better. That’s it. They’re not trying to inject their own voice or make you feel all warm and fuzzy. If something sucks, they should say, “This sucks and here’s why.” Now that Legends Reborn is finished, I can say confidently that she was always right. She currently has my Grinderfish book and I’m almost terrified to get it back after her first hatchet job. It’s very hard to hear someone tell you your son is ugly. It’s even harder when you later realize they were right.

 

And the final evolution of my Epertase trilogy begins today. My announcement is that as of September 4, 2020 the new, final, and best ever edition of Legends Reborn is available for purchase. If you’ve already read my trilogy, you won’t see many changes in the actual story and probably wouldn’t need to revisit it. But if you’ve never read it, or you want to see how it’s improved, now’s the time. Books 2 and 3 are getting the same treatment and will be released as soon as they’re shredded by my editor later this year. I’ve already revised them. If you’ve ever wanted to try my work, now would be a good time to pick up Legends Reborn either in paperback or ebook.  Because I’m such a swell guy, I’ve even provided a link.

Here’s the current cover.

And wait until you read Death of the Grinderfish.

Lemons into Lemonade

As I begin the re-launch of my books (see my announcement about Rhemalda closing here), one of my first orders of business is changing the covers in my Epertase trilogy a bit. Thanks to Steve Murphy, I couldn't be happier with the results. Here is a look at Epertase covers 2.0.

Next, I will be getting the ebooks up and running so that I can keep the reviews and rankings at Amazon and others. I'm also using this re-launch opportunity to revisit Legends Reborn and tweak it a bit, because I feel my writing has gotten smoother in the years since I wrote it. I'm like George Lucas except that I'm making my trilogy better. (Yes, that was a shot across the "Greedo shoots first" bow.) Legends Reborn won't change much, just some of the flow. I'm also fixing a couple minor inconsistencies that had been missed during the first run.

Short of the covers, I'm not changing A Kingdom's Fall or The Rise of Cridon at all. I'm happy with them. The paperback versions of all my books should be available in a month or so.

As far as Tamed goes, the cover will be identical minus the Rhemalda logo, but I may tweak the interior a bit on it as well. That'll be next week's project. I'm overwhelmed with work, but once it's finished it'll be worth it. Keep an eye on this space for more.

When your Editor Crushes your Soul

This blog is aimed at those of you who enjoy writing.

OK, so you've written your masterpiece. You've spent months, maybe years, tweaking it so there is no way anyone could find fault in even a single word. You've let your friends and proofreaders have the manuscript and go to town on it. It is now perfect.

Or so you think.

Then you send it to an editor. Maybe it's your publisher's editor, or maybe it's an editor you've hired to get your manuscript into tip top shape before starting that long, hard journey to publication. Whatever it is, you're ready for the praise to come flowing into your inbox. All that's left is to sit back and wait for the editor to write you back and say, "This is the best manuscript ever. I didn't even have to get out my figurative red pen." After all, you've looked at the story 100 times and from every possible angle and it's flawless.

As you have experienced if you've been through the process, or will soon experience, it doesn't take long for the inevitable punch in the face to come back from that editor. The red on each page is like blood from your own artery.

A Long Journey

Today is a very cool day.



A little over four years ago Rhemalda Publishing gave me and my writing a chance by contracting me for my fantasy trilogy, The Light of Epertase. At the time, I had book 1 written with big plans for the rest of the series. Though I knew the major plot points for books 2 and 3, that was about it. Everything from what the covers would eventually look like to how the story would ultimately play out was little more than a vague idea in my head. I never dreamed we would be at this day. Today is Epertase 3's birthday. Though the e-versions will be available any day now (it has to go through Amazon's and BN's system) today is officially release day.



Over those last four years, I have worked with some talented people on this trilogy including editors Kara Klotz and Diane Dalton, my aunt Bobbe Ecleberry, my proofreaders and friends, Emmaline and Rhett Hoffmeister, and the talented artist Steve Murphy. This story couldn't have been told without them and I am overwhelmingly grateful for their help.



It seems almost surreal that the story I started many years ago (Rasi was actually created when I was a teenager) is finally finished and has turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I love the story as a whole and I hope you all give it a chance.

 

Aren't they Purdy together?

Blog Tour- Attention Bloggers

With Epertase 3 about to be released on Aug. 1st, Rhemalda is setting up a blog tour. If you are interested in taking part and helping spread the word about Epertase 3 as well as your own blog, sign up today. If you are interested and haven't yet read books 1 and/or 2, great news. Rhemalda will provide 1 or both in order to get you up to speed. Book 3 should not be read without reading 1 and 2 as this is a true trilogy. Epertase is epic fantasy at its most .. uh ... epic-est. Sign up here.

Updates and an Opportunity for Writers

I have a few things to share today as it relates to writing. Let me start with a pretty cool opportunity that my publisher is giving writers who are seeking a home for their work. If you're like me, you despise the querying process. You spend weeks and weeks tweaking your query letter while never knowing exactly what an agent or publisher is looking for. Then you research who to send your query letter to. And then you wait weeks, months or longer for a response, sometimes never getting one at all. Well, Rhemalda Publishing is giving you a unique opportunity to skip the querying nightmare for the next two weeks. You see, Rhemalda is asking for a two-sentence hook about your book and from that hook, they will request manuscripts from the ones they find intriguing. Pretty freakin' cool, huh? I wonder if they have any idea of the amount of work they're about to fall into. So, are you looking to be published? Sick of the querying process? Here's your chance to wow a publisher with a simple hook and bypass the querying nightmare altogether. Just make sure your manuscript is finished and in the best possible condition before it gets requested, so you have the best chance at a contract. Go through Rhemalda's FB page or Twitter @Rhemalda. Here is the announcement.

 

Beginning April 2, 2013 Rhemalda Publishing's Emmaline Hoffmeister (Owner) and Diane Dalton (Acquisitions Editor) will be hosting a two-week, two-sentence, query blast. Authors will be invited to post up to two sentences about their completed, polished manuscript. Hook Emmaline and Diane with your awesome, fresh idea and they will then request a full manuscript from you! This is your chance to skip the initial full query letter and seemingly endless wait for a full request. The specific genres Emmaline and Diane will be searching for are as follows:

Contemporary Fiction
Contemporary Young Adult/New Adult Fiction
Romance
Contemporary Romance
Historical Romance
Historical Fiction
Jane Austen Adaptations
Sports Memoirs
Crime/Detective/Procedural
Young Adult Paranormal and Dystopian

Get ready for April 2nd!

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Next on my agenda are the results from my bookbub.com promotion. As of yesterday I have numbers. As you may have read in my last blog, Bookbub is a site that sends emails to readers about sales on books that they may be interested in buying. On Thursday of last week, my werewolf novel, Tamed, went on sale and was sent out in their email. (The sale is still on for another day at Amazon, BN, and iTunes, BTW, in case you've missed out.) Anyway, during the first four days of the sale, 504 ebook copies of Tamed were sold with steady sales continuing as of this writing. If you are an author or publisher, you may want to try bookbub because it has been wildly successful for me. (I have no affiliations with the site, I am only recommending them from my own marketing experience.)

Third, a quick update about my writing progress. Rhemalda has the final book of my Epertase trilogy, The Rise of Cridon, and I am waiting for their editor to hack away at it. I think as a story it has turned out great. In the meantime, I am closing in on finishing a first draft of my newest dystopian fantasy which is turning out to be pretty cool. I'm excited to finish the first draft because that is always my least favorite part of writing. I like the tweaking stage the most. We'll see how things turn out over the next 15,000 or so words. At this point, I'm very hopeful.

Well, that's it for my update today. If you're a writer, get your two sentence hook ready because the two weeks start at midnight (April 2, 2013). And if you even slightly like werewolves, check out Tamed. I doubt you've ever read a werewolf book quite like it.

Cover Reveal for Epertase 3

Well, we're moving right along with the final and, might I say, best chapter of my Epertase trilogy. The Rise of Cridon will be released on Aug. 1, 2013 and I am excited today to show off the gorgeous cover by artist Steve Murphy.

Epertase 3 is a bittersweet book for me for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, it is the final book of my current four-book contract with Rhemalda. What that means is that anything I write from here on out will need to be submitted and accepted by some publisher or agent in hopes of receiving another publishing contract. Though I have full intentions of submitting my next work to Rhemalda first (as we have had a great working relationship), there is no guarantee that what I submit will be worthy of acceptance or fit within their plans. To be honest, I don't know if I have the energy to start all over again in search of a publisher, so let's hope what I write next doesn't suck.

Secondly, this book marks the end of my world of Epertase as far as my writing goes. With this release, I will be saying good-bye to Rasi, Alina, Simcane, and the entire cast to move onto something new. These are characters that I have spent countless hours creating and melding and in some cases killing and they hold a special place in my heart. I am a bit saddened to know that I won't be revisiting my Epertasian world anytime soon, if ever, and it's strange to finally say, "good-bye."

But the opposite side of that coin is how exhausted I am with that world. Writing a trilogy is long, hard work. Years and years of work for some people (and yes I am one of those people) and to come to its end is a bit of a relief as well. I am a different writer today than I was when I wrote Epertase 1. I feel I have evolved and improved and I am looking forward to showing you those improvement in new adventures far away from my Epertasian world. I am sooo ready to focus on other worlds and ideas, like I did with Tamed.

But mostly, I am excited for readers of my Epertase trilogy to experience what I believe is a worthy and exciting conclusion to my story. So, here is the cover for The Rise of Cridon, the final book of my Epertase trilogy. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

And here is the full cover art for the wrap-around cover.

 

 

 

How to Break Out of a Writing Slump

Since this is the end of the year, I want to tie my year-in-review to some actual writing advice. I titled this blog "How to break out of a writing slump" and I have a clear answer. Before you get too excited, I will warn you that it is the same advice you've heard again and again from other authors in the past and it is hard work, but I think it needs repeated. I'll get to that advice in a moment, but first you have to read through the rest of my drivel. (Or skip to the end, I suppose.)

This year has been a great year for me in my writing career while a tough year for my actual writing production. I saw 2012 bring me not one but two book releases from my publisher, Rhemalda Publishing.

In January, Rhemalda released my werewolf tale with a twist, Tamed. I celebrated the release of Tamed with a television interview on NBC4 in Columbus, Ohio. You can watch the interview on the left side of this blog. That was by far my most visual exposure yet.

Next, I had a successful book launch at Barnes and Noble in Pickerington, Ohio, with Tamed. Its release also led to a request from a California production company to shop Tamed around for movie rights interest, and I granted that request, of course. That process is still active, though I am not sure how it will pan out.

In May, Rhemalda and I decided to offer Tamed as a free giveaway as part of Amazon's KDP program and proceeded to give away 22,000 copies of the eBook in only five days. Coming off that giveaway, Tamed continued to sell fairly well for the next couple of months. My biggest surprise with Tamed was that I initially thought the book was a good fit for young adults and older, but I have been pleased to learn that Tamed has gained a pretty steady following from the youngest teens who are looking for something a little different from the Twilight saga.

In August, Rhemalda released the second installment of my Epertase trilogy, which I feel is my best writing yet.

With three published books under my wing, I attended the Mid Ohio Comic Con. The president and vice president of Rhemalda traveled to Ohio to support me at the show. With their help and the help of the fantastic artist of my Epertase covers, Steve Murphy, we sold and signed over 100 books. Unfortunately, I sold out of Tamed at the show and had to turn potential readers away. Here's my booth.

Despite all of my successes this year, I have struggled with the actual art of writing. I don't know if you could call it writer's block, but it definitely resulted in a lack of production. I've heard of writer's block before and have even experienced it briefly on occasion, but usually I have been able to push through it without too much pain.

However, this year has been a different story.

My first major slump came during my initial draft of Epertase 3; I struck a wall at the halfway point. I spent several months (yes, I said months) struggling with how to make a crucial transition that was imperative to the story. Every idea I came up with didn't seem to work. If this wasn't the last book in my trilogy, with everything in the first two stories tied to this finale, I could have scratched the idea altogether and changed how the story went, but I was in a bit of a box. It was killing me and putting me way behind schedule. I have deadlines, after all.

BTW, I am in love with how Epertase 3 finally turns out and I think fans of the series will be as well, but I think the fight with Epertase 3 took something out of me.

My second slump is in full gear now. Over the last two years I have been working sporadically on a new dystopian fantasy that I am really excited about finishing. But even with my breakthrough and subsequent finishing of Epertase 3, I realized I still wasn't writing with as much inspiration as usual. Heck, just look at the number of blogs I've churned out lately (none)-- my lack of production should be evident.

Here's the problem: I know what I need to do in order to break this slump, just like I had to do to break the Epertase 3 slump, but I'm having trouble doing it with any consistency.

How do you break your writing slump? It sounds easy. You have to write.

You have to write today. You have to write tomorrow. Don't feel like writing on Friday? Too bad, you have to write on Friday, too. It's just like going to the gym. If you miss a few days, it becomes easier to simply miss a few more. But, when writing becomes habit, it's harder not to do. Just like working out. I am by far not the first author to say this. In fact, I have read this very advice several times by major authors. It's easier said than done.

"Wait a minute," you might say. "That doesn't help me through my block." Well, yeah, it actually does. By making yourself sit down and write, you will write through that block. It might not turn out just how you want that section to be, but that's what revisions are for. After you plow through that part of the story, you will fall into the flow again.

When you force yourself to write every day, even if it is only for a couple hours, you are lifting the weights . . . I mean, you are writing . . . and that's the important part. Does that make sense? Every slump I have ever gotten into (big or small) has been broken by simply sitting down and writing. And as I look back, I see that the slumps that lasted the longest were because they frustrated me to the point of not writing at all.

Now, I know sometimes it seems impossible to push through that block (like it was for me in Epertase 3), so here's another way to get through it. My initial advice still stands that you have to write, but you can cheat a little. Skip that part and work on another section of your story. It will trigger your creativity again and get you moving. You will be surprised at how well this will help you to actually fix the section you were stuck on without even working on it. Yeah, it's like magic.

These two suggestions are my best advice on breaking your slump. Sure, many other more famous authors than me have recommended the same actions, but I believe the advice is worth repeating. Now, why are you sitting here reading my blog? Go write!

Happy Holidays, everyone.