Category: Book Stuff

Just another update…

Hi Everyone! Not much to report this month. Still working on reviewing and editing my manuscript, trying to get it as polished as possible before handing it over to my editor. Sometime next month I’ll probably start working on the book cover. So, all in all–things are moving along slowly but surely.

In other news, things seem to be getting back to normal a bit here in Texas. Most of the people that want to be vaccinated are, and the ones that don’t–well, they’re free not to wear their masks in public–so they’re happy as clams. Now that I’m vaccinated–I’m pretty much whatever about it. Have at it people! If you wanna risk it–cool! You want to chance getting a variant of the virus–go ahead! I’ll still keep my distance and wear a mask indoors because that’s just how I am. Better safe than sorry.

But, like I said–life is getting back to normal. In the past few weeks I’ve been to eat at a restaurant, gone shopping at the mall, went to see a movie at a theater–just the normal every day things I used to do before Covid. And I’ve got to say–it’s was pretty, pretty, pretty good.

And yes! That was a Larry David reference for you guys! I’m a fan, and he’s hilarious. If you’ve never seen Curb Your Enthusiasm you’re missing out!

Anyway! That’s all I have for this month. Have a good one!

And I’m done…

Guess who finished writing book 2? That’s right! This girl!

It was a bit of a rough road, but I’m finally here! Now, I just need to go in and polish it before sending it to my beta. From there, it’ll move on to my editor, proofreader, then last, to formatting. As you can see, there’s still quite a bit to go, but the part that takes the most time to do is now complete.

I’m definitely celebrating this weekend. Gonna get a piña colada or something. With some nachos.

On Friday, I’ll also be fully vaccinated–so it’ll be a dual celebration of sorts!

I don’t know about you guys, but it feels like an exciting time. The world is slowly getting back to normal. People are starting to venture out now after going through a year of the pandemic. I’ll be in New York next month on vacation, too.

So really, it seems like a good time.

April Update

So, not much to report his month other than I’ve spent quite a bit of time writing and trying to finish up book 2. I’m nearing the conclusion where all the fun happens. So that’s good news, I think. Hopefully I can get it wrapped up very soon. I have my fingers crossed that the day job doesn’t get in the way. Or personal life. When real life gets in the way it’s really difficult to stay creatively engaged. My plan is to manage it with sheer determination and commitment. Time to get it done. No excuses.

Once I do, I’ll reach out to my editor about setting up a date and time to do the hard stuff.

Editing is the worse. It’s difficult. You have to kill your darlings and all that. Be merciless. And truthfully, I’m probably the opposite of merciless. But it’s a necessary skill one has to learn to be successful. So, I’ll do it. I’m positive the work will be better for it. I think I’ll be better for it, too.

I think that’s it for this month. Have a happy, safe Easter.

January Update

Hey everyone! How’s your new year going? Started off a little rocky, didn’t it? What, with all the crap that happened at the capital. Geez! Can’t we get a little bit of a break from all the crazy? Can’t we have some level-headedness, please? But, I guess that’s too much to hope for at the moment. Especially with those individuals that are deep into the conservative echo chambers that are spreading the wildest of conspiracy theories.

To say things have been on a not so even track is an understatement, but I guess it’s to be expected. The shape of things–it’s just in a bad, bad way–and I suppose it’s going to take awhile for our country as a whole to heal. Patience, I suppose, is needed. Lots and lots of patience. And perhaps some alcohol. Or maybe some chocolate? Sweets can get me through the worst of times. They’ll get me through these troubling times as well.

Onto a more positive topic–writing! I think I’m starting to adjust and am finding a work/life balance. It’s still a bit incongruous with a lot more my attention focused on the day job than I would prefer, but its a start. I’m moving steadily, maybe not at as quickly as I would like, but its still moving forward which is progress!

I’m not going to commit to a day, because I hate to see it blow past me and have to apologize for not meeting it. It sucked that I couldn’t keep to the 2020 deadline. But what can I do other than my best to keep on. I will say that I’m still excited about what I’m writing. Still feeling the joy and happiness of creativity and accomplishment when I’ve done something I’m incredibly happy with. Writing, is still one of the best feelings in the world, and so, I’m going to keep at it.

Even if it is a slow, slow ride.

Almost there…

Can ya’ll believe it’s already September? Fall will be here before we know it, and then winter, too. Personally, I can’t wait. South Texas has been hot and a cool front is much needed. Especially since I’ve been trying to make an effort of spending some time outside. Working from home has gotten me into the bad habit of staying indoors for days. I might’ve been turning into a bit of a hermit. Nothing against hermits, but everyone needs their vitamin D.

In other news–football is back, and with it brings a feeling of normalcy that has been lacking since Covid started. I’m a bit ambivalent about it. I love the idea of rooting for my favorite teams and letting myself fall into the distraction sports offers. But watching some of the college games today, and noticing all those fans stacked in the stands–well, it looks like an outbreak waiting to happen. I suppose the laxness was because they were all outside wearing masks? Anyway, I hope no one gets sick.

On the writing front–things have gotten better, and I’m at a place in the novel where things are getting a bit more complex and exciting. Everything is coming together and gelling. I’m getting super stoked about it. I realized that the past few months I was going through a bit of writer’s block. Which happens, because you know… sometimes writing sucks. Like really, really sucks. Words are hard to come by. I’ll hit a wall and nothing seems to get the creative juices going. But the important thing is just to keep at it. And before I know it–things change. Everything just… works. And the words start to flow. So that’s how I’m feeling right now. And it’s really not a bad place to be.

Other than that there’s not really much to report this month. My life is pretty much just work, exercise, writing, and playing guitar or watching TV. Socially–it’s just hanging out with family, but other than that I don’t really get up to much. I’m still not going out or eating at restaurants. Although, I do have a bad habit of going to Target with my mother on the weekends and blowing through money like a gazillionair when all I meant to do was buy a few necessities. It’s gotten so bad I don’t want her to ask if I want to go because I don’t have the heart to say no. Oh, well. I know I’m not the only person who’s got a soft spot for Target.

Well, that’s all from me. Ya’ll take care and stay safe!

August update

Hi everyone! I hope ya’ll are doing alright. Can you believe it’s already August? The year sure is flying by–or is it crawling at a snail’s pace? I suppose it depends on your perspective.

Well, not much to report this month. Had a stay-cation where I spent some time visiting with family and getting some much needed R&R from the day job. I’ll tell ya–usually working from home has its perks, but I’ve been working non–stop the whole darn day since the middle of March. I’ve ended up working harder from my kitchen table then I did when I was in the office. Isn’t that the darnedest thing? So anyway, a week away was exactly what I needed. I even went up to the coast for a day before a hurricane hit. Missed it by a few days!

So, onto a book 2 update. It’s going a little slow, but I’m still planning to wrap it up by end of year. Then it’ll be on to the editing process. To be honest–it’s looking like book 2 is going to be a bit longer than book 1. I can feel it just from the writing and the progress of where the plot is at this point. Good news is I know exactly where I want to end the story. Bad news is there are a lot of words needed before I get there.

Other than that, not much to report this month. Still staying home and being careful. I know things are still not back to normal as much as some folks say otherwise. At this point I’m avoiding all to the stories about people who don’t want to wear masks, or follow CDC guidelines, or the plans to send the kids back to school. My only hope is that everyone stays safe.

That’s all from me. Ya’ll take care.

How the events went…

At the Twig Book Shop!

Hello everyone! So I just wrapped up a couple of events the past month. One was at a book signing at the Twig Book Shop and the other was Lost in Wonderland. The book signing went really well! My book sold a decent amount in just two hours–I was a little concerned of how well it would do due to the limited amount of time I was booked, but overall it was successful.

As for the other event, Lost in Wonderland, it went well even though Sunday was a little slow. I’m not sure if it had to do with the Coronavirus (there was a scare in my city when the CDC let out a quarantined patient who’d tested positive for the virus before the results for their test came in; then the same day the patient went shopping at a mall) or the daylight savings time change. I’m going to blindly hope it was the daylight savings time change, but we’ll see in the upcoming months to come.

I think the one thing I’ve come away with from participating in these events is how there are plenty of book lovers out there that want to support local independent authors. I am so appreciative to all the people that took a second to ask about my novel and then turned around and bought it without even knowing anything about me. It was really just an exchange of a few words and that was it.

So, now I really, really want to finish book 2. I mean–I always do–I’m completely committed. But there’s something about engaging with readers that really lights a fire. So, I’ll continue to chug away.

Well, that’s it from me. I’m keeping it shorter and sweeter than usual. Until next month.

Some book stuff, some movie stuff…

So good new everyone! I have two events coming up! You can check them out here. I’ll be sure to add more events as I book them since I’m planning to do as many as I can in 2020. Hopefully some of ya’ll will come around and see me!

In other news–writing is going slow but steady but it’s getting there. I’m making a great effort to do a little bit of writing everyday–and with my work schedule–it can be tough, but I’m committed. I also have a working title that I’m really pleased with. I think it fits the narrative pretty well. I’ll share that with you guys when I’m a little closer to getting the thing done.

Okay–enough of the book stuff. Let’s talk about movie stuff. I recently saw the new Harley Quinn movie, which had a comically long name that has since been changed to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (Why you ask? Because marketing, that’s why!) and it was so, so good. Margot Robbie was excellent. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big Harley Quinn fan. I’ve never watched the animated show, but Robbie’s take of the character has got me on the cusp of being a fangirl and checking out all things Harley Quinn. She’s that good!

The rest of the cast is pretty good, too. Although, my brother had a bit of a problem with Rosie Perez being cast as Renee Montoya (She’s too old!), and thought Rosario Dawson would’ve made a better choice. But I think Perez was fine along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Huntress) and Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Black Canary) who make up the rest of the Birds of Prey crime fighting group. I do want to mention that this is not your typical women-fighting-crime kind of move. It’s not Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel. The characters in this movie are gritty anti-heroes. And aside from Black Canery, there’s hardly any skimpy outfits, so if you’re showing up for that, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

But if you’re looking for a movie that has a great plot with decent comedy and action, it’ll be right up your alley.

My first event…

Slinging books!!

This weekend was my first event. Nerdtacular, although exhausting, was a great experience. I sold some copies of my paperback and met other vendors and artists and received first hand experience on what works when it comes to selling my book to people who’ve never heard of me before–which lets be honest, is pretty much everyone. But the best thing about people not knowing who you are or what you’re about is there are no expectations. So you can just put yourself out there with no second guessing. Overall, it was defiantly an interesting experience that I will do again next year.

One of the most enjoyable aspects was talking to all the people who had a genuine interest in my book. It made me realize how supportive people can be, especially when it comes to local, self-published authors. I definitely picked a great event as the participants were definitely my demographic for the book. People that stumbled onto my table had a genuine love for fantasy, and loved talking about fantasy stories. I’m hopeful that I gained some readers that will want to follow the series.

There was even one heartwarming moment when a woman who had bought my book asked me to write something on the dedication page. For those of you that don’t know–I dedicated Dark Sun Rising to my grandmothers, who both passed away before the book was published. Apparently, the woman had recently lost her grandmother last month, and when she opened her new book and read the dedication page, it really touched her. I was really touched as well.

So, what I really want to relate is that my weekend was successful, and definitely memorable. I had a lot of fun. So much so, that I look forward to my next event, which is scheduled for 2/15 at Twig Book Shop at the Pearl. Ya’ll should definitely come see me then if you haven’t made it to see me yet. We can talk books. My books–your books–whatever ya’ll want.

It’s a marathon…

It’s the second week since Dark Sun Rising has been released and as I originally thought–it’s going to be a marathon and not a sprint.

And personally–I’m okay with that. I know I have a long way to go. So first thing on my agenda (and what has always been number one on my list) is growing my readership. That will take some time and patience, which I have plenty of since I didn’t get into this business to make loads of cash. I mean it would be nice… but it’s not likely.

Nope, not at all.

The reason why I got into this whole thing was because I love writing. It brings me joy–it was so much fun writing Dark Sun Rising. And, it looks like there might be a few folks out who really enjoyed reading the book, too, and are looking forward to more from Mel, Victor, and Gabe.

Which brings me to number two on my list… finishing the next book of the Continuous War series. I’m forty-five thousand words in, and not even halfway through. So, I’ve got quite a bit more writing to do. Then after, I’ll need a little time to let the story rest before starting the editing process. And I think by now you know how much I like that part.

So those are my immediate plans. I mean, other than slinging the paperback copy of Dark Sun Rising everywhere I go. It can be found here and here for those of you interested. Don’t be shy, check it out.

It just might be your thing.

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