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.

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.

Now for My Next Trick...

Here it is, the official cover reveal for my upcoming novella, DAMNATION TRAIL!

How far would you go for justice?

Came the wanderer to the church that bright Sunday afternoon...

He was looking for a preacher, his hope gone hopeless. His heart was heavy, his soul was burdened, and misery had become his existence. He'd lost all he held dear, and found himself involved in something he couldn't get himself out of.

This is his story, how he came to find himself riding on the DAMNATION TRAIL

Experience a new take on a classic story in a classic setting from the author of THE JOURNAL OF JEREMY TODD and MUDCAT,

The sidebar and Bookshelf links will be up later this afternoon, but digital pre-orders are available now over at Amazon for only $1.99, with a print edition coming when it releases on April 17th! Make sure to check it out, and I hope you enjoy it!

Today Was a Good Day

Not one, but TWO cool things happened in the writing world today!

First, I officially signed with Bloodshot Books for the release of WHAT SLEEPS BENEATH, my coming-of-age / vampire novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2016! Watch for it late this year or early next year. To whet your interest, here's the pitch I gave Pete Kahle to get him hooked:

"All Ryan wanted from life was to be cool enough to hook up with the girl of his dreams. If that meant breaking into the town’s abandoned asylum and stealing a memento for the school jerks, so be it. What he didn’t expect was to find a corpse in the basement. An old, withered corpse with a wooden stake in its heart. A stake he knocked free on accident.

When a strange dream prompts him to return, he discovers that sometimes legends and myths are real, and finds himself somehow psychically linked to an actual vampire. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and it’s one he can’t even share with his best friend, Hunter.

Then Hunter goes missing, the first in a string of disappearances that rock the small town where Ryan lives. The cause is even more monstrous than his new “friend.” Whatever happens next, Ryan knows his life will never be the same—provided he survives long enough to have a life…"

And to top it off, I discovered this review of MUDCAT by Mallory Heart Reviews over at The Haunted Reading Room! Here's a snippet for you:

"The prologue blew me out of the water {intentional analogy!} with a scene of extreme horror I could never have imagined, then rocketed right on with one intensity after another! ...All this, and CHARACTER EVOLUTION! I absolutely adore MUDCAT!"

All in all, two awesome things in one day! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

MUDCAT: Release, Pre-Order, and Promotion

The time is coming fast, now: MUDCAT is about to escape into the world.

The date is set: December 5, 2017, and you can pre-order it now using the link on the right side of this page! Digital edition will be $3.99, the paperback is TBA (but yes, there will be both)! Stay tuned for updates regarding the promotional tour stops online as they are announced by JEA Press.

Make sure to also keep tabs on their page at http://www.jellingtonashton.com/ for more information as well!

The Journal of Jeremy Todd - Cover Reveal

As I mentioned in that last post, I've been waiting with tremendous anticipation to show you guys the cover for THE JOURNAL OF JEREMY TODD, and now the time has finally arrived! So here it is, without further ado (click for larger image):

You can read more about this one over at the Sinister Grin Press blog, where you will also learn the cool idea that's going to make this not just a book, but an experience.

I'll be posting some updates about the idea of making this into an actual journal later on, but for now I want to thank Matt Davis for this incredible cover, and also Kevin Robel from Robel Graphics for the awesome interior graphics and artwork!

This one will hit in both digital and paperback on July 15th, but you can pre-order it now for your Kindle over at Amazon!

Waiting is the Hardest Part... But It's Worth It

We've all heard that little homily before in regards to something or another: "waiting is the hardest part." When it comes to publishing, it's a fact of life. Still, once you accept it, you can deal with it. There's a wait between finishing a first draft and starting revisions, and another one once you send the manuscript out for editing, and once more when you submit it somewhere. For all of those, you simply work on something else and the wait doesn't seem so bad.

When you're in the final countdown to publication, though, that wait is suddenly MUCH more intense.

As I write this, the release date for THE JOURNAL OF JEREMY TODD is just over three weeks away. We're in the final stages, in other words. That means ramping up the promotional aspect of the release, putting finishing touches on the text so it's as clean as it can be, and the part that's been exceptionally thrilling for me: dealing with the artwork.

This one's a little different from what I've done before, in that there's actually interior artwork as well as the cover art. I can't explain why, exactly, at least not yet, but there is. When the idea was first tossed out there a couple months ago during the planning stage of the cover art, no one was really sure it would pan out. Then I was talking with my editor, the always wonderful Erin Al-Mehairi, and we came up with the skeleton for that artwork, and it became a little more real.

And then, last weekend, I saw it for the first time.

There's a moment when you're putting a book out where it all suddenly becomes real. Maybe it's when you see the listing on Amazon, maybe it's when you send in those final edits, maybe it's the first time you see the cover. For me, it was seeing that PDF proof of the interior art. My first thought as I waited for my phone to download the file was, "holy shit, this is actually happening." Then I opened it and saw the art.

It's a good thing I was alone in my car at the time. Otherwise, someone would have thought I'd lost my mind.

I giggled. I barked out a laugh. Then I giggled again. Each page I scrolled through was its own moment of surreal excitement. Vague images that had only existed in my imagination so far as hazy ideas suddenly exploded into full, living color. I skimmed it, pulled off the road, parked, and then looked at them again without worrying that I'd end up crashing if I didn't pay attention. When I got home and loaded it up on the computer, so I could see it in its full glory, the reaction was the same: uncontrollable giggling and smiles. At least my family already thinks I'm nuts, so I didn't have to worry about what they might think of it.

There's still a bit of waiting to go. We'll be revealing the cover very, very soon, and more details will follow between now and July 15th when the book is unleashed. Still, it's those little moments that make the wait worthwhile. Once you all get to see it, and I no longer have to remain somewhat vague, I hope you'll all agree that the wait was well worth it.

The Journal of Jeremy Todd - Synopsis Reveal

I've been talking about it, now it's time for you to finally get some idea what it is. Without further ado, here's the official synopsis for THE JOURNAL OF JEREMY TODD, coming July 15th from Sinister Grin Press!

"I am not crazy.

Then again, maybe I am. I’ve learned that’s not for the person in question to decide, but rather something decided by others, usually after everything’s happened that’s going to happen to tilt their decision one way or the other. I can think whatever I want, but that’s not going to change how anyone else feels, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

I’ve had some issues. That I won’t deny. But am I crazy? I suppose that’s going to be up to you to figure out.

I’ve done things that many people would consider crazy, that’s true. Some of the things I’ve had to deal with—and the way I’ve dealt with them—might also play into the crazy verdict. Still, I maintain that I am not crazy.

Well, maybe just a little bit. But I don’t think anyone with a kind heart can begrudge me that. I’ve earned my crazy, if you want to see it that way.

But here, you figure it out. This is my journal, my story, a snippet of my life for a month or so. This is what happened to me around the time of my high school reunion. This is what I did, and why I did it. The story not only of that reunion and the events surrounding it, the ones you’ve probably read about in the papers, but about the things that happened during high school that make it necessary for things to play out the way they did. This is what happened to me, and to Roger, and Nikki, and Chris, and all those kids who thought I was simply a target in school and treated me as such. This is the true story of what they did to me, and what I did to them in return.

Read it, share my pain, and then you tell me if I’m crazy or not. I’m sure you’ll understand. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.

I’m sure you’ll agree that I’m not crazy.

And who cares what that judge thought, anyway?"

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.

A Simmering Pot of Life

It's been an interesting couple of months.

First, I've been trying to get used to a new day job. The biggest change is my schedule. I've gone from being home on or about midnight at the latest most nights, to walking through the door at 2 or sometimes even 3. Since most of my writing was done when I got home from the old day job, that's been an interesting transition, to say the least. I've slowed down, and while I say it's temporary, I have to wonder at that. I wrote at a breakneck pace for all of the last year and a half, which has made me wonder if I was going to reach a point where I would run out of ideas. That hasn't happened yet, thankfully, but I'm starting to see my newfound slower pace as a blessing in disguise. I still write most every night, but now I'm finding myself relaxing into it, letting the scene flow rather than racing along until it was done.

This has ended up making me love my craft more, strangely enough. By slowing down I've discovered I get deeper into my character's heads, spend more time on their thoughts and feelings about what's happening around them. This is a good thing, I think. I reserve the right to change my opinion if this current project lingers on too long, but for now, I can say with confidence that I've rediscovered what I love about this writing thing in the first place.

On the health front, things are continuing to improve. I've had to get my meds adjusted, but that's part of the process. I successfully went from smoking to vaping, and have now gone down to the lowest nicotine content available for it. If things continue as I expect them to, I should be nicotine-free in about a week and a half, at most. I won't lie; that's something of a terrifying prospect. Nicotine and creativity have always been linked for me, and I do have the worry that if I no longer have the nicotine, I won't have the creativity, either. I know it's silly, but I can't help wonder about it. I'll laugh at myself in a couple of months when I look back and see I had nothing to worry about, but for now, I'll just have to wait and see and trust that things will work out for the best. Strangely, I'm confident they will.

Good news on the publication front: THE JOURNAL OF JEREMY TODD is moving along for release this June. I spent a pleasant couple of days discussing cover ideas and art direction with the guys at Sinister Grin, and came out of it even more excited than I was before about this one seeing the light of day. We've got an awesome idea in mind, and I can't wait for everyone else to lay their eyes on it!

Something fun: if you'd like to tell me in person what you think about it, or any of my other stuff, you'll get your chance this summer! I won't be working it, but I will be attending Scares That Care at the end of July, so feel free to say "hi" if you see me there!

There are other things going on, but unfortunately, I can't talk about them just yet. Suffice it to say, my career is on the track I wanted it to be, and I couldn't be more thrilled about that. Believe me, I'll be letting everyone else in on them as soon as I can.

That's it for now, just a quick little update to let everyone know what's going on with me lately. I hope to talk to you all again soon!

The Ink is Drying...

...and so I'm thrilled to announce that The Journal of Jeremy Todd has officially been picked up by Sinister Grin Press for release in 2017!

I don't have specifics on a release date or anything like that; it's still exceptionally early in the game. But you can rest assured I'll be providing that information as soon as I have it.

I think it's safe to say I'm overjoyed to have my name alongside influences of mine like Kristopher Rufty, Jonathan Janz, and Ron Kelly, not to mention some of the awesome writers I've discovered through them like Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason, David Bernstein, and Brett McBean.

Thanks to Tristan, Matt, Travis, and the rest of the SGP crew for taking a chance on me, and I look forward to working with you!

Looking at the Numbers

Consequences has been out for a while, and while my sales figures aren't all that high (not unexpected since the only real marketing push I've given it has been through social media and on this site), I'm starting to see a trend here that's got me thinking about how to release and distribute anything in the future.

When I released it, I did the paperback through CreateSpace (owned by Amazon), and digital versions through both Kindle Direct Publishing and Draft 2 Digital, which put me in Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble nook, and Kobo. Over the last couple of weeks, something interesting has emerged from the sales reports about that, though.

I've pushed the links for everything; why leave anything out, right? What I'm seeing is this:

• Paperback is still the most popular format, outselling the (cheaper) digital editions by a wide margin;
• Next is the Kindle edition;
• Dead last is combined .epub versions.

Now when I say dead last, let me clarify that: I've sold two copies in .epub format. One in iBooks, one on Kobo.

That's not very impressive.

And yes, I know most of what I've sold so far have been "friends and family" sales, but still, even among that small group the results are becoming pretty clear.

Amazon is dominating the market. Makes sense, actually: I own a nook, and I run the Kindle for Android app on it. Kindle has their Unlimited program where you can read for free if you're a part of it (the author gets royalties based on page views), but it requires exclusivity to Amazon for distribution to be part of it. Which means I'm not.

So I'm thinking. Yeah, I picked up two sales I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, but how many potential page views from KU am I missing out on? I'm a new author in this field, after all, and I'm sure there's folks out there who would rather take a free chance for them (and I still get paid, albeit less than a purchase) than to fork over money on something they're not sure they'll like. 

So is it even worth it to release to the other outlets?

I'm working on getting some more reviews and publicity to push Consequences, really try to reach a wider potential reader base, so I'm not carving anything in stone yet. But the odds aren't looking good for .epubs.

The digital book world may truly belong to Amazon now.

Reviews Coming In...

And so far, so good. Here's the proof:

Needless to say, I'm in a good mood! Here's to many more!

Haven't picked up your own copy yet? What are you waiting for? Use the links on this site and grab one today!

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.

A Learning Experience

It's official: Consequences is now available as a paperback and eBook. You can use the links in the New Releases section or on the Bookshelf page to get it if you're so inclined.

Getting there was... interesting... to say the least. But at least I learned a few things, so the next time I self-publish a book, I'll have a better idea what to do. Here's a few things I figured out.

• CreateSpace doesn't have any easy way to set up pre-orders or pre-releases. As soon as I approved the proof copy, it was live on their e-store and on Amazon less than an hour later, ready for sale. A full week earlier than I'd intended.
• It's hard to plan a release date when your Expanded Distribution isn't consistent. When I set up the title in CreateSpace, I selected not only Amazon, but other distributors as well (Barnes and Noble, for example). Almost a week later now, and it still doesn't show up for purchase in any of the expanded channels. It will, eventually, but I have no way to know when that will be. It also doesn't help that CS doesn't update you when it is ready on those other channels, so I just have to keep checking. Not a big deal, just something I wan't expecting.
• As they say in the Boy Scouts, "be prepared". As soon as I announced a release date, I had requests for signed copies. Since I use a POD distributor, that makes a lead time for any copies I order. Hence, it takes nearly two weeks to get copies in, signed, and out to the people who paid for them. Something else I didn't factor in.
• In connection to that, some reviewers want print copies instead of digital ones. Since I have to order them, that adds time I could be using to send them out.
• Listing on Amazon isn't flawless. Supposedly, if you have a paperback and Kindle edition, they'll automatically link up within 24-48 hours. That didn't happen. It wasn't a big deal to get it done, mind you, just something I hadn't considered.
• Apple takes forever. I used Draft2Digital for submission to B&N nook, Kobo, and iBooks. I set it up for pre-order (which I can do with all digital editions, just not the paperback), and within a couple of days had confirmation that it was up on nook and Kobo. Apple iBooks? Still waiting. And the wait time isn't consistent with them, either, so I have no idea when it'll be up. The hope is that once it goes live at midnight tonight, it'll propagate, but I have no way to know for sure. That's annoying.
• Have a marketing plan ready BEFORE releasing. Even if it's just where to send review copies, life gets so much easier when you know how to promote it. This time, I waited until it was out to start working on that; I won't be making the same mistake again.

All of this can be attributed to it being my first time doing this, so I'm not freaking out about it. It just means that next time, I'll have a better idea of how to do things, and in what order. And even with the issues, it's finally out there. I have fulfilled my dream of getting a book published. I've held it in my hands, and I won't lie, I giggled as I opened the box it shipped in.

So I'm living proof it can be done. I won't say done successfully, because time will be the one to tell on that one, but I pulled it off. If anyone's curious how it was done, here's what I used:

• The cover was designed using Creative Commons License images from freeimages.com and pixabay.com, a commercial friendly font, a template from CreateSpace, and GIMP. Oh, and a LOT of time learning how to put it together.
• Paperback formatting was done in MS Word. There's tutorials all over the net, but the bottom line is: learn to use the Styles bar. It will save your life here.
• I lucked out and had someone volunteer to do the eBook formatting for me, but it was done using Sigil to build it, and Calibre to convert it to Amazon's preferred format.
• As you probably figured out, I went through CreateSpace for the paperback printing and distribution, as well as the ISBN registration. It takes some learning, but it's not that bad, and the books have looked awesome so far. Just wish the offered a pre-order option...
• For Kindle, I went direct through Kindle Direct Publishing. It was a one-page form for the book information, and a second page for pricing and distribution, and that was it. Extremely easy, just make sure you format according to their guidelines.
• To get everywhere else digitally, I used Draft2Digital. They were also pretty easy to use, though I can't speak to royalty distribution yet. I'll update once I know.

Notice something about that list? It's all freely available. Sure, you can pay at almost every step of the way to get packages and the like, but if you're not afraid to do the work yourself, you can do it at no charge. That said, allocate some money for print proofs, ARCs (Advance Reading Copies), final copies for signing, and some money for postage. Set up a PayPal account to collect payments for signed editions, and it might not be a bad idea to look into pricing for marketing, if you don't know what to do on your own.

Oh, and cross your fingers. Hard work will take you a long way, but it doesn't hurt to have some good breaks along the journey!

A Release Date and a Cover Reveal...

Without further ado:

Available as a paperback or an eBook April 19, 2016

Links coming as soon as the sites populate them...

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!

One Door Closes, Another Opens

I heard back from Samhain Publications regarding my submission of Consequences this morning, and unfortunately it was a "no". Honestly, I somewhat expected that, so while it's still disappointing and - no sense lying about it - hurts a good deal, it wasn't really a shock when I read the email.

I could go into a rant over why I think it was ultimately rejected and how "if things were different..." and all that, but what would be the point? Things happen like they're supposed to, and to rant and rave otherwise would be unprofessional. So I won't.

What I will do is what I've already done. I've contacted someone who is willing to work with me on cover art for a really low (read as: nearly nonexistent) budget. I'll also be seeking out someone to do editorial services for me on the same budget. Then, we'll go the self-publishing route. Easy as pie.

Obviously this is still early in the process, so I don't have anything resembling a release date yet. I am shooting for sometime around the end of March or April, but that could change. Also, I am waiting to hear back from Sinister Grin about The Journal of Jeremy Todd, so depending on how that goes my timelines might change anyway.

It's not the news I wanted, but it's not the end of the world. Just have to head down a different road. It's all a part of the process.

So today, I'll mope a bit. Tomorrow is another day, and there's a lot of work to do.

More as it develops!

EDIT:

So a lot can happen in a day....

Since making that post this afternoon, I have managed to get both a cover artist, editor, and eBook formatting lined up for Consequences, all in trade for experience, exposure, and just to be helpful. I also had a Facebook chat with someone tonight that made my day more than they may ever really know, and helped me realize I'm on the right path, it's just going to take some time.

Now if only I'd known when I made this post originally how apt the title would turn out to be....

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!