Yeah, I Know...

One of the things I always wondered about when I first made this site was how often I'd actually keep up with it. I did well for a while, and then it kind of fell by the wayside thanks to the loads of other stuff I've been doing. Well, I doubt that's going to get better any time soon, but I did at least do a few updates to reflect my release schedule for the rest of 2019 and 2020, and the current projects I'm working on. Here's a few more details.

First, it's NaNoWriMo, which means I'm buckling down on a project for that. I'm doing a sequel to DAMNATION TRAIL, tentatively called SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN. If things work out, I'll end up self-pubbing this at some point, just like I did with DT.

Second, I've been picking up some freelance formatting jobs, which has taken up some time, but brings some extra money in, always a good thing.

Third, I'm also working on my arachnophobia novel, INFESTED. I paused for NaNoWriMo, and plan to get back and finish it next month.

I'm also doing a collaboration with Armand Rosamilia called THE PRICE. I've got it at the moment, and will send it back to him as soon as I do my chapter. Still a ways off from being done, but it is a lot of fun.

On the release front, there's a lot going on.

First up, on December 10, 2019, HIDDEN HEARTS comes out through Silver Shamrock Publications. It's been retitled THE CORRUPTION OF ALSTON HOUSE, and details are on the Bookshelf page.

Then, on January 24, 2020, CONSEQUENCES gets a facelift, a foreword from Bryan Smith himself, and a full-scale re-release through Poltergeist Press. The old version goes out of print on December 1, 2019, so watch for information on the new one in paperback, eBook, and--for the first time--HARDBACK(!!!) very, very soon.

Later in 2020, I have two more novels coming out. SAVAGE MOUNTAIN will likely be first, from Grindhouse Press, followed just before Scares That Care Charity Weekend, VA by the second Cochran Investigations novel, ONE LAST DANCE. There are a couple of other things in the fire, but nothing ready for discussion yet, so let's leave it there.

As you can see, I've been busy. Hopefully I get better at updating this site, but don't hold your breath.

A Quick (Hah!) Update...

Just a brief post to keep everyone apprised of what I've got going on.

First off, break out the champagne! I just signed a contract with Silver Shamrock Publications for my haunted house novel, HIDDEN HEARTS. If you look back through the entries here, you'll see a few while it was in development, and come this November, you'll get the chance to see the finished product. Stay tuned for more information as it comes closer to release.

Next up, I do have two convention appearances coming up in the next few weeks. Next Thursday, I'll be headed to Providence for NECON 39. It's going to be my first time there, so if you attend, come say "hi" and help me get over the nerves. Also, if you're interested, there will be a limited number of copies for WHAT SLEEPS BENEATH at the Bloodshot Books table, that I will be more than willing to sign if you ask.

I'll be home for a week, and then it's off to Williamsburg for Scares That Care Charity Weekend 6, where I'll be set up in the first floor vendor's room. Again, stop in and chat, and if you're of a mind, I will have copies of all my work available for purchase and signing! I'll also be doing a public reading on Friday night, August 2, at 9:00 PM, so come and listen to me and Lucas Milliron do our best to entertain you.

That's it for now, but keep watching for me to start regular posts on here again very soon!

Over the Horizon - Upcoming Event Announcements

December, and the year 2018 with it, are almost over. Now the time begins to look forward to 2019 and beyond! In that spirit, here's a few things you can expect from me in the coming year.

On the Horizon

It's been a busy week for me, and one where I haven't managed to get a lot of actual writing done. That always leaves me feeling out-of-sorts, but sometimes it's just unavoidable. I have made some progress on both SATYR and WARLOCK, as well as knocking out the prologue of my modern-day fairy-tale that will be up after one of those is done. Also, since my brain never seems to shut off, I've been tinkering with other ideas. So, in the interest of helping myself keep things straight, here's what's coming down the pipeline for me in the next few months.

First, I have made arrangements to do some behind the scenes work on books for other folks as well. I won't be going into detail on that because I'm honestly not sure how much I'm allowed to say about it, but once I can announce more, I will.

Second, if you're expecting signed books from me, they ARE coming, I promise. It's been rough finance-wise the last few weeks, and I just had a vehicular emergency to deal with, but I'll be getting those in the mail VERY soon. I am sorry for the delay, but some things just can't be avoided.

Next, as I mentioned, I'm working on two books at once again. This time around, it's easier than the last time I attempted it. I think because it's helping to keep things fresher for me, more fun. I get stuck on one, I switch to the other, and vice-versa. No more trying to hammer my way through when the story's not showing me what's next fast enough. I'm even planning a third project, so all of those should be getting progress updates in the very near future.

Finally, I'm tinkering with an idea. It was originally going to be a feature on this site, but that may be changing to something else. I'll announce it once I have more of an idea what format it's going to take, and exactly how it's going to work.

Also, I have something planned for late spring that I'll be announcing sometime next month, and have a new novel coming from Bloodshot Books near the end of this year or start of next year, so keep an eye out for announcements regarding that as summer crosses into fall. I'm also working on some other things that I hope to have announcements for in the very near future. I may not be very vocal about what I'm doing, but rest assured there is A LOT going on. I just have to wait until there's something to talk about before doing so.

That said, you can make sure to check out my latest appearance on Armand Rosamilia's Arm Cast Podcast by clicking here. He even does a brief review of MUDCAT on the air, which I had no idea was coming when I recorded the interview. It's looking like everyone so far has enjoyed reading that one as much as I enjoyed writing it, so that is an immeasurable relief!

Anyway, back to the grind stone, and keep your eyes peeled for more announcements soon!

And Breathe...

I'm finally doing it. I promised it before, and ended up going back on it time and time again, but this time I'm actually going to follow through: I'm taking a break.

I've discovered as I've worked my way through OBSESSED (formerly CLUTTER) that the words have been coming harder and harder. Where I was finishing a chapter a night, now I'm doing good to finish a chapter in three or four days. The story's there, it's just not coming as easily as it once did. At first I thought it was because of some of the things I was trying to do with this one, but then it occurred to me that it was more because I was creatively exhausting myself. So, to try and reverse that course, I'm going to take a break.

As it stands right now, I've got about three or four chapters left to go with OBSESSED. I'm going to finish those up so the story is out of me like some terrible childbirth, and then I'm going to shift my focus to other things until sometime after Scares That Care in July. I've got ideas and things on the bench, but I"m going to hold off starting them for now. One, the third book in the Time of Ashes Cycle, has a long planning period before I can even think about digging into it, as well as a third and second draft respectively on the first two books in that series. I've also got what may turn out to be a modern-day fairy tale rattling around in my head, and while I'm excited to start on it, I know I'm not where I need to be to write it just yet.

Instead of new stuff, then, I'll be working on revisions for the literal mountain of manuscripts I've accumulated over the last couple of years. I really want to get my post-apocalyptic tale cleaned up and submitted (got a couple of targets in mind), I need to finish getting the Cochran books squared away, and then I've got the stand-alone stuff to fine-tune as well. Somewhere in that I'd like to play with some of the less broad tales floating around in my imagination, and maybe send some of those into the wild (anthologies? Patreon? newsletter? all or none of the above?). I also need to get back to focusing on the business end of this somewhat, too, since I've got THE JOURNAL OF JEREMY TODD launching right before Scares, and MUDCAT in the pipeline for edits and publication soon, too. I want both of these to do well, so that means I need to pay attention.

So, a breath. A break. And then back to the insanity once my gray matter recharges. Of course, knowing myself as I do, I'll probably get too restless to actually relax and will be right back into the thick of it before I know it.

From the Strangest Place Comes... Strangeness

Most people who know or meet a writer ask the same question at some time or another. Most writers have heard the question, and either welcome it or shake their head at it. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground to it, so we do our best to come up with an answer that sounds suitably literary or humorous, or sometimes actually have an answer because it was asked so specifically that it's a slam dunk.

"Where did you get the idea for [insert story here]?"

Generally speaking, the answer is usually the same, even if the specifics vary: something just clicked in our mind and we suddenly felt the urge to write about it. And sometimes, on the surface, the thing that clicked is so simplistic or so asinine that the person who asked the question leaves with serious concerns about our mental stability.

I'll admit, sometimes it seems like a valid concern. Here's one example.

I've wanted to do a "creature feature" for a while now. The classics have been done to death, and honestly, I just can't come up with a new idea for them, so things like vampires and werewolves and zombies are out, as are legendary things like mummies and Bigfoot, and even the Loch Ness Monster. So the idea went on the mental shelf with all the other things I'd like to write about at some point until such time as I could find my monster.

Well, I found it last night. And it grew out of a joke.

Wednesday nights are "friend nights" where we all gather and play whatever tabletop roleplaying game is up in the rotation. We just finished D&D, and now I'm running a horror-themed game (go figure). Last night, however, was just a chance to hang out and catch up. One of my friends is also trying his hand at writing, so naturally the conversation ended up going in that direction. He mentioned that once he accepted that he himself was from the south, and that his story and main character were southern, the story flowed better. Accept the southern roots, as it were. One aspect clicked in my head, too, but I didn't recognize it at the time.

I mentioned my desire for the creature feature, and we discussed that a bit. He mentioned how hilarious it would be if the killer was a giant hybrid catfish-man or something, barb moustache and all. We all laughed and moved on. Then I see the kids are watching some show on television about catfish and hear they can survive up to 30 minutes out of water. Then I discover that those fish you hear about swimming up into a man's... manhood... are part of the catfish family.

I can take a hint. Besides, what's more southern than catfish?

An idea clicked, so next up on my worktable, as soon as I finish Justicar, I'll be doing my creature feature. My own "B-Novel".

If you ever find yourself down south, beware. Mudcat lives!

Things to Come: An Update

The reason I haven't posted much on here as of late has less to do with not having things to discuss and more to do with finding time. There's a lot in the works, so let me try to catch you up on them.

I'm almost done with The Harlequin Legacy. In fact, I expect to finish it within the next few days. While my pace has slowed from when I started, this still will mark the tenth novel I've finished since getting serious about this last July. I do have a post I'll be making reflecting on that once it's done, but for now, I've still got the last couple of scenes left to write.

From the looks of things, The Journal of Jeremy Todd will be coming out around June of 2017. Things can change, of course, but that's the date Sinister Grin has set, at least tentatively. The only thing I know for certain is that I have to have the final manuscript in their hands by December 1 of this year, so I'll let you know how things work out.

Consequences is about to start a summer publicity tour online, so stay tuned for developments with that. I'll be posting things here, of course, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, and you can also check out Erin Al-Mehairi's page over at Hook of a Book for details, since that's who's running it. If you'd like to be involved somehow, just let her know (contact info's on her site and the Hook of a Book FB page) and she'll coordinate all that with you!

I've begun to think about the next project up after THL, and I think I'm going to pull Justicar back out and finish it up. I've done ten horror novels in the last year, so I think maybe I should go for something different. Not that dark fantasy is so far removed from horror, but since that world doesn't exist, it will still be a nice change of pace for me.

Demon at the Window has just started the submissions phase of its existence, so stay tuned for how that plays out. I wouldn't look for it to see the light of day until after Jeremy Todd, though, so don't get your hopes up too far.

And that's pretty much everything! I will try and keep this page updated as I can, but as you can see I'm busier than ever with a lot of irons in the fire.

See you on the tour!

Another One Down / Number Nine is Done!

And amidst the hoopla for releasing Consequences, I managed to finish the book that wouldn't freakin' end.

The Study, @87,500 words; first draft is finally done.

Two weeks in a tropical paradise, all as part of a sociological study, with a payout of $5,000 at the end. For ten participants, it seemed like the perfect way to earn some money and have a nice vacation at the same time. But anything that seems too good to be true probably is, and this study's organizers have something considerably more sinister in mind. The rules keep changing, the exercises the participants are forced to endure more and more bizarre, until everything falls apart and they find themselves in an impossible situation with no escape and nothing less than their very lives on the line. Five grand seems like pennies when your only desire is to survive....

As an aside, this is the first time I've done a book with a meta-plot. I have a loose idea in mind of how it can connect to other things, and possibly be part of a larger world. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it goes, but at least this story's finished.

I'll update the Bookshelf page sometime in the next few days, and get this one printed out and presented to the wife so I can call it officially done. And after that, on to the next!

Don't Read Too Much Into It

If you actually noticed, I've pulled The Journal of Jeremy Todd from the "Upcoming Releases" section on the site. That DOES NOT mean it was rejected; I still haven't heard anything one way or the other, and know that Sinister Grin is still wading through the submissions they received during their open submission period. There's still hope for it, but since there's no telling when an answer will come, I went ahead and pulled the notification.

Believe me, I can put it back just as easily if something develops, but right now my focus is on getting the word out about Consequences, so I'll deal with other stuff as it comes.

And if I end up self-pubbing whatever's next, once I make that decision (it's going to be a little while, so don't expect anything soon), I'll update the site with that, too.

Coming Closer

It's getting close, so close I can almost taste it.

I'm talking, of course, about the imminent release of Consequences upon the screaming masses.

I know, I know. Screaming masses? Give me my fantasies, all right?

Anyway, I am currently about two-thirds of the way done with the final edits. Once I finish those, I get to complete the interior formatting for the print edition so I can lock the page count and get the correct template to my cover artist. Once she's done, I send it off to the person doing my eBook formatting, then it's ready to go.

I've already started the process with CreateSpace, which means the book now has an ISBN and ISBN-13. For those of you who just looked at those acronyms with utter confusion, it stands for International Standard Book Number, and is basically the number found in the UPC code on the back of every book released nowadays. Acquiring the number is an intent to publish, and gets the book listed (after the release date hits, of course) in the Books In Print database. Basically, having that number means I have a real, honest to goodness book on my hands. As Victor Frankenstein would say, "it's alive... alive!"

With all that being said, here's the kicker: a release date has been set, along with a backup.

If things go well (fingers crossed they do), it will be released on April 19, 2016 for Kindle and Paperback, with epub versions for Nook, iBooks, and the like on April 22, 2016. The backup dates are exactly one week later.

I do have an extreme backup date, in the event things get seriously fouled up along the way, but I'm not announcing it since I'm hoping I won't have to. If things look like I'll have to push it until then, I'll let you know.

But for now, let's focus on the good. Look for more announcements in the coming weeks as it gets closer to escaping my eager hands. There's lots still to do, but I'm closer now than I was when I sat down in front of that blank page back in July of last year.

I can wait a little longer.

I hope.

Back to the Grind

My week vacation from working on anything new seems to have done the trick, only now I'm having to get back in the habit of writing every night again.

I still managed to accomplish a couple of things, though, which was the point of the whole thing.

Hidden Hearts is about 3/4 of the way finished on the second draft. It's a little less than I'd hoped for - I'd wanted to get something completely edited - but it's still a good chunk that helped get me back on track with the editing. It's one of the harder second drafts I've done, since I didn't realize what a lot of the secrets that would be revealed at the end were until I was nearly ready to write them, so I've had to go back and make sure characters acted consistently all the way through and those secrets were properly foreshadowed. Still, I should be done with it in another week or so, even with working on new stuff again, so I'm happy with how it's turning out.

Consequences is creeping closer and closer to independent publication with each passing day. If things work out correctly, I should have the notes from my editor this weekend, and should get to see the first pass of the cover by sometime next week. Provided things continue on this smoothly, I should be announcing a concrete release date within the next month. It hasn't been easy, but I know it'll be worth it in the end.

I'm purposefully not saying anything about the new project yet (other than the working title, which is obvious since it's on the progress meter now), mainly because it's already taken a bit of a turn from what I originally envisioned and I'm not sure how many more of those lay ahead. Well, maybe not a turn so much as a clarification of concept, but either way, I'll tell more once the story's a little more formed on the page.

I still haven't heard the final word on Journal of Jeremy Todd yet, but everything I've gleaned indicates that I should know something in the next few weeks. Keep your fingers crossed, and let's hope it's a really exciting month ahead.

That's about it for now. I'll post again once I make myself have time to or when I have information about Consequences getting an official escape date or Sinister Grin gets back to me about Jeremy Todd. Keep on holding onto that faith in me, folks; hopefully it will be rewarded soon!

Take a Deep Breath

Since I started getting serious about writing back in July, I've been pretty dedicated. I've written nearly every day, and it's allowed me to do more than I ever would've expected to do. Once I get finished with the one I'm on now, I'll have completed first drafts on eight books, with one nearly to the point of being published independently and others in various stages of the editorial or submission process. That's a lot. Had you told me I'd have accomplished that back in July, I wouldn't have believed it.

Things have changed in my day job lately that has caused it to suck up more of my time and sanity than I like. It's only temporary, but it's still a mental drain. That's made keeping my schedule of working on the new stuff every night and doing edits throughout the week before making the changes on Monday tough to keep up with. As a result, my editing backlog is growing and growing at a rate that's starting to become intimidating.

To that end, I'm going to do something I didn't think I would. Once I finish the one I'm working on, I'm going to take a week to two week long break before starting anything new. Instead, when I would normally be working on that, I'm going to try and get something cleared out on my backlog of edits. My hope is that this will help me get caught back up again. If I devote the time I spend on new things to that, I should be able to knock it back down to a manageable size again fairly quickly.

Not that I'm done with new stuff; quite the opposite. I already have ideas in mind for what's next on the list, and for the one that's up after that. I have basic concepts for things beyond that. So the new stuff is still coming, I just need to make sure I'm not repeating myself or getting into a place where I'm only looking at first drafts to be able to submit to traditional publishers and not relatively finished works that will stand a better chance of being noticed among all the other submissions they get.

I just need to learn to pace myself, and take a deep breath now and again.

And in case you think I'm getting lazy, think again. I have three (about to be four) books waiting to get a second draft, am working toward getting Consequences out for purchase by the end of April, waiting to hear back still on Jeremy Todd, and still have a lot of work to do on getting Homecoming to the quality I think it can be. I'll be working, and you'll definitely still be hearing from me. Like I said, one to two weeks. That's all.

Call it a working vacation. Eight first drafts: I think I've earned it.

An Ending and a Beginning

I'm kind of dealing with some mixed feelings tonight. I just finished the first draft of Cochran #4, called The Perception of Reality. On one hand, that's a good thing. On the other hand, this is the last Cochran book I have in mind. The ending leaves room for more, but I just don't have any real workable ideas for another one. Not right now, at any rate.

See, what's been happening is I'd finish a standalone book, then work on the next Cochran book, and back and forth and so on and so forth. Now I can't do that. And that feels a little strange to me.

Not that I don't have any more ideas for stories. Quite the contrary. The question is which of the ideas I'm going to tinker with next. For this one, it's an idea I had while on vacation in the Smoky Mountains this past weekend. Which is weird, because before that idea came to me, I had three other options to choose from. Well, technically four but one is still gestating in the brain and not quite ready for exploration. So it's not like I'm going to stop writing or something stupid like that.

Still, I've come to love these characters like family in the six months or so I've spent with them. I always dreamed of doing a series of books, and these guys allowed me to do that. I'm going to miss playing around with them and seeing what kind of new trouble they're going to get up to this time. My only hope is that I've done them justice for their present send-off.

Of course, the publishing industry being what it is and how it works, once they start coming out no one may notice the gap if I end up with a good idea and do another one. It may be a continual stream that will make me look back at this post and shake my head at my lack of foresight. After all, if there were a fifth book, I already know who the client is and I know what one of the subplots would be. So who knows?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

First Status Update of 2016

Pretty concise title, right? What can I say, I'm saving the creativity for the work.

The Perception of Reality has now passed the fifty percent mark. It's on track to have the first draft complete by the end of the month. This one is up and down for me. Sometimes I think it's running short, other times I think it's running long. I guess the only way I'll know for sure is to look back once it's finished, right?

On the editing front, I finally finished the second draft of One Last Dance. Next I'll be tackling a third draft on Demon at the Window, then it goes into the trunk to await submission or release time. After that, I'll tackle Blood Games so I can get it and PoR out to the beta readers.

So far, Hidden Hearts is receiving decidedly positive feedback from the beta readers who are done with it. My wife actually blew through it in less than a week, which for her is lightning fast to read a book. It's officially her favorite of everything I've written, so it will be the next submission once I do another draft of it. Not sure where yet, but I'll keep you posted.

On the submissions front, I did hear back from the publisher about Consequences - well, sort of. The sixteen week waiting period came and went, and nothing. I emailed for a status report and was informed that due to some staffing changes, they were backlogged. I already knew about the staff changes, and expected this, so I agreed to the additional four weeks they asked me to give them. Hopefully the old adage about good things coming to those who wait proves true there.

I did submit the full manuscript of The Journal of Jeremy Todd back around Christmas, so I'm pretty sure I've still got some time to wait before getting a decision on that one yet. Keeping my fingers crossed, though.

And that's where I'm at! I'll keep you all in the loop as more things develop.

Until next time!

Dawning of a New Day

First, Happy 2016 to all!

Today we welcome a new year and all the challenges and rewards that will bring. It is my sincerest wish that all of you see this upcoming year bring you success in all that you do. I'll certainly be shooting for it myself.

I finished 2015 by completing the first draft on Hidden Hearts, and will begin 2016 starting on the fourth Cochran book. I finished six first drafts in as many months; I have no plans to change that now.

I do have a resolution, though. In 2016 I will be releasing at least two books. They may be published by one of the publishers I submitted to, or they may be self-published. But one way or another, they will be coming out.

Wish me luck, and again, Happy New Year to you!

A New Name

Just a quick note, since as I wrote tonight's chapter I realized what the name for the haunted house story actually needed to be. It happens; I have an idea at the start and then as things progress a better title presents itself (see Graduation Summer becoming Consequences). It just happened earlier than I expected it to, and pleasantly I was not far off the mark.

So without further ado, Hidden Heart now gets its official, non-working title of:

Hidden Hearts

Yes, I realize all I did was make it plural. But believe me, it fits perfectly well, and better captures the nuances of the story being told.

I never said it took much to please me.

That is all! Back to our regularly scheduled sleep time.

Blockages: A Progress Update

Have you ever had a time where you thought you would be able to get something done on a specific schedule but then when you actually started on it, things turned out completely different from how you envisioned it? Yeah, that's me now. It's not all bad, just unexpected.

I'm still plugging merrily along on Hidden Heart, the haunted house tale I started right before Thanksgiving. I just no longer think it's going to be done by Christmas like I first thought. Part of that is just the sheer scope of the story I'm telling that I never would have even guessed at when the idea came to me. This thing is constantly growing. Incredibly so. To the point that I've already reconsidered the original length estimate once, and am probably going to have to revise it again. Based on the progress meter, I'm at just over 77% complete; based on the story that's left in my head, that's higher than is truly accurate. This may well be the first horror novel I've done that tops the 100,000 word mark, at least on the first draft. That number was always something attributed to epic fantasy in my mind. I'll know in a couple of days whether I have to rethink that distinction or not.

Something else I didn't take into consideration was how the holidays were going to affect my writing schedule. As much as it pains me to admit it, I've taken more days off while doing this one than in all the others combined. That's not from lack of desire to tell the tale, though. It's just how things have panned out. The day job, work Christmas parties, shopping for the kids and the wife, visits to family for holiday dinners, all of it is enough to wear anybody out. Figure doing two full-time jobs on top of all that, and exhaustion doesn't begin to cover it.

I'm a little disappointed in myself for this, even though maybe I shouldn't be. I mean, since July I've finished first drafts on five novels (and am at least 2/3 done with a sixth, I think), second drafts on three of those, about halfway through the second draft on a fourth, and done a third and fourth draft on one of them. Two have been submitted to potential publishers, and I have laid the groundwork for self-publishing whichever ones don't get picked up by a traditional publisher. I also started revising another novel I finished years ago, and am about a quarter of the way done with that. That's a heck of a lot of work to get done in just under six months. And I'm proud of that. Maybe it's only right that I take a few extra days off; it just makes me feel guilty to do it. Not like I'm letting any of you all down--hard to do that when I haven't released anything for you to pick up and read yet, right? More like I'm letting myself down. Foolish maybe, but there it is.

On top of all that, in case you've been living in a cave for the last year or so, the new Star Wars movie came out. If you never picked up on it before, I'm a geek. That means I've been waiting on this for a while. Saw it today; that's why I didn't get any editing done on the second draft of One Last Dance. Totally worth it, though. Thank you, J.J. Abrams, THAT was the Star Wars I remembered from being a kid.

I'm hoping that once the new year rolls around and all the major holidays are over I can get back on my normal schedule where I do my first draft work every night and edit throughout the week so I can put the changes in the computer every Monday. Maybe it won't, but that's my hopes at least.

In the meantime, I'm now hoping to be done with Hidden Heart just after the first of the year, at which point I'll be starting on the fourth (and possibly last; we'll see) Cochran book. After that I have another idea for a standalone in mind, and after that, well, I guess we'll know when we get there, won't we?

And since I probably won't post before then, all of you have a very Merry Christmas, and a glorious New Year!

Ramblin'

This one is something different for me, not simply an update on where I'm at with the writing, but a full-scale catch up on me and the things I've posted about on this blog before. In other words, a whole bunch'a ramblin' just because I felt like doing a post.

First, the writing. As you can see from the progress meter, Blood Games is officially done with the first draft. The Cochran books are now an official trilogy. That won't last long, because book four is on the horizon once I finish the current project, but it's still an accomplishment, right? I am now working my way through the first draft of Hidden Heart, the haunted house story I had in mind. This one is pretty tough, but in a good way. I think. See, it was always meant to be subtle. Sometimes I have a hard time with that. I'm eight chapters in now, and honestly not a lot has happened. Some things have, enough that the reader will realize there's more to the house in question than the current owner does anyway, but the poo hasn't hit the rotating blades yet, to modify a phrase. Soon, I think, since we're closing in on the end of the first act and the start of the second, but not yet. Hopefully everyone will like it once it's finished, as it's a complete change of pace for me. I guess we'll see.

I've been sick the last couple of days, so I didn't get much done on the editing front, hence no change to the progress meter for it. I tinkered with both One Last Dance and Homecoming, but not enough to amount to anything. Hopefully I'm over whatever bug this is in the next couple of days so I can get caught up there.

Still no response on either of the two submissions I have out there. I did reach out to a friend on Facebook who's going to school for graphic design about a cover for Consequences should it come to that, but I'm still holding out hope for a good response from one or the other.

Let's see, what else is going on...

I guess the biggest news is that I'm trying to quit smoking again. I went to vaping, since my primary motivation was a desire to keep my chest from hurting so bad whenever I woke up every morning. So far, so good. I've been doing it for about three weeks now, and I've reached the point where regular cigarettes taste like crap. Three days now, and I've only gotten my nicotine fix through vaping. I also managed to drop from the 18mg of nicotine that I started on to 12mg currently. Hopefully I'll be able to drop that again soon to 6mg. I don't know that I'll drop all the way to 0, but it's been a huge improvement so far. I can actually breathe now, and that's really what I was hoping for all along.

On the geeekdom front, I finally got to watch Jessica Jones on Netflix, and I have to say I'm impressed. I'm not as stoked for a Luke Cage series now since I kinda got my fix for him with this one, but at the same time Marvel is doing well with their mature-themed series. The little nods to the MCU make it even better. If only DC could catch a clue with Arrow, Flash, and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow. But I've already made that point, so I'll move on.

On the DC front, Arrow and Flash are both turning out strong seasons, with Flash easily getting over the sophomore slump and Arrow taking things in a new direction with Green Arrow and the addition of mysticism to the universe. Have to say, so far the highlight was seeing John Constantine show up in Arrow using the same actor from the cancelled Constantine. Love the actor in that role, now someone needs to pick the series back up and do it justice.

I caught the first episode of Supergirl, and while it wasn't what I expected, it was far from being bad. Still, a superhero show nowadays needs to do more than just "cute" to work, at least for me.

I wasn't too sure about this season of Doctor Who, but they finally won me over. The two-part episodes felt like a throwback to the classic series where it might take six episodes to tell one story. On the whole, it's been a strong season, with only one or two episodes that made me feel "meh" about the whole thing. We got Osgood back, and in a way that made sense, and Capaldi has proven beyond any doubt that he IS the Doctor. His speech at the end of Face the Raven actually sent chills down my back. And last week's strange, mindbender of an episode was the perfect intermission between the events of Face the Raven and the potentially massive season finale coming up this Saturday.

Ash vs. Evil Dead. What can I say? It's Bruce Campbell as Ash, it's got the Necronomicon, deadites, blood, gore, and cheese. It's thirty minutes of heaven every episode.

The last trailer for The Force Awakens actually got me interested. I still wish they hadn't canned the entire EU (although there's truthfully not a lot I'll miss from it), but I'm willing to give it a chance, and I'm going to be standing in line in a couple weeks waiting to see if it lives up to the considerable hype.

The Avengers 2.5... I mean the Captain America: Civil War trailer was incredible as well. I can't wait to see how this plays out, but they've got me involved either way. "I have to do this," Cap says. "He's my friend." "Yeah, so was I." Tony replied, his voice sad. Chills.

That pretty well sums me up for the moment. Once Doctor Who is done (including the Christmas special - can't leave out River) I'll do an overall season review on here. We'll see if I'm excited enough about Star Wars to do the same for it. Otherwise, I'll keep everyone updated on the writing progress and attempts at publication as the news comes in.

See you next time!

A Quick Progress Update

Hopefully I can do this one without rambling too much. Just a quick little note about how everything's going.

The third Cochran Investigations book, Blood Games, is on track to have the first draft finished by Thanksgiving at the latest. It's looking like it'll be the shortest of them so far, but it still might surprise me. I've wrapped up most of the subplots aside from the final acts on them, and am well into act three on the main plot, so hopefully this one is racing toward the finish line.

Once that one's done, I'll be starting on another standalone. This time it's a haunted house tale I'm really looking forward to digging into. The initial working title is Hidden Heart, and if it plays out like I expect it to, it will be less blood and more subtle creep factor. At least that's the intent. I suppose I'll know for sure once that first draft is done.

The second draft on The Journal of Jeremy Todd is finished, and if I get a full manuscript request I'll just have to format it and send it out. I personally can't believe I finished this draft this fast, and I swear I hope to never have to try that again. My brain was hurting by the time it was done.

Since that's finished, I'll go back to the edits on One Last Dance to try and get the second draft of that one done as well.

OLD and Journal are both in the hands of beta readers now, along with Demon at the Window, so I'll be waiting on feedback there before I start on any further drafts of those.

Since I need to take a break before starting the edits on Blood Games, I'll use my normal editing time to try and get Homecoming finished up.

On the submission and potential publication fronts, since the open submission period for Sinister Grin runs until the end of the month, I'm not expecting to hear back from them about Journal until sometime after that. They didn't give a lead time on their guidelines page, but I'm figuring up to six weeks there. Consequences is now past the halfway point in the waiting period on it (December 9 will be 12 weeks, and I could have to wait up to 16), so I'm not out of the running yet. I know the publisher was going through some editorial staff changes in regard to their horror line, so I don't know if that will affect anything or not. I've seen nothing on their site to indicate it, so I have to assume the original wait time remains in effect until I hear differently.

And that's it, you're all caught up! I'll update again once I finish Blood Games, or if I get a publisher response I can talk about, whichever comes first!

Another Wait Begins

I mentioned in my last entry that one of my top 2 publisher choices opened up submissions until the end of the month. Well, now I'm in the waiting game with them.

I just submitted the first fifteen pages of The Journal of Jeremy Todd to Sinister Grin Press for consideration.

I didn't want to announce I'd done it until I was confident that I was going to have the cleaned up version completed before that deadline. Well, since I just crossed the 60% mark in three days, I'm confident I'm going to pull it off. Following the pace I've been working on it, I should have the new draft completed by this weekend. Since I doubt I'll be hearing back from them by then (though I suppose it could happen, since they're only asking for the first fifteen pages from each submission), I should have time to spare.

Why didn't I wait until the new draft was completely done? Simple. My nerves were getting to me. If I didn't do it now, I might have ended up talking myself out of it. Better to do it while the irons were hot, so to speak. Since every person who read over those fifteen pages after I had them ready DEMANDED more, it felt like maybe I had something there.

Or maybe I didn't. I'm always the harshest critic of my own work, and have a healthy dose of paranoia to boot, so I guess we'll wait and see.

If it's a full manuscript request, I'll do a happy dance and send it off to wait again. If it's a so sorry, thanks but no thanks, well, it's not like I'm in any worse position than I am right now, is it? I'll dust myself off and move on.

But for tonight, I'm going to watch the new episode of Arrow and then dream about that hopeful final "yes". I'll face reality when I have to. Isn't that the easiest way to do it?

Heh, and now I hear Aerosmith in my head. Thanks, Stephen Tyler. I think I will dream until my dream comes true....