Greetings, Crickets.

These past few months started with such fictional promise but turned into a slog at work. On a good note, I get to write at work, which means I am not lacking for time with a keyboard.

So I decided to give in to advice from others and make “An Unusual Haunting” free on Smashwords for the months of October, November and December. Supposedly, this encourages people to purchase, read, and potentially review it, letting me know, once and for all, whether or not I did a decent job of getting the story across.

And people have bought it, along with Maker (which is also free for the same amount of time). Still, I can’t help but remember some advice my high school art teacher gave me many years ago. She said that you should get in the habit of receiving something for your creativity. “Even if it’s just a dollar, that dollar gets people used to the fact that it takes effort to produce art, and you should be compensated because you worked at it. Don’t give away your talent for free.”

Thinking it over, she was right. The “Stories from the Hut” anthology has always been free. Hundreds of people have read it. And not one of them has ever let me know what they thought about it. I’m just as guilty, as I rarely reach out to authors to let them know what I think of their work either. I guess the lack of feedback is just something to live with, and I shouldn’t give the books away just because I want a pat on the head or a bit of welcomed guidance.

The books will remain free through December – my Christmas present to any crickets out there reading this (LOL, which there aren’t) – but I will not do this experiment again. I owe it to my art teacher to at least charge a dollar for things that took me years to produce.

Until next time, Crickets, be well. And happy holidays!

Finally published the book last week through Smashwords, crickets. Yay!

Going through the publishing process was a bit daunting, since I hadn’t released anything in years, but the file and art for An Unusual Haunting sailed through once I had done my homework on preparation.

If I was a serious writer, I suppose I should work harder at promoting what I do. Yet I am serious about writing. Each new project should show improvement over what I did before. And I have been reading and learning and honing the craft as much as I am able. Publishing only serves to mark the end of a project, a challenge to me to put my work out there for someone else to enjoy. If I make anything, it only goes back to purchasing more toner and paper so I can keep going without too much expense.

What will I do now? Direct my attention back on finishing the third story in the Sara series. When that’s completed and goes through the beta-reading process, I will move on to the fantasy book that has languished so long in an unfinished state. Also, the short stories are piling up again, meaning it might be time to publish another collection.

It’s funny how getting one monster six-year project off my desk is leading to more writing instead of time off. I guess that’s the joy of becoming a serious writer, and I am in it for the joy of it.

Until next time, crickets, be well.

This year has definitely been an up-ender. Pandemics, work changes, illnesses, remote operations: these past few months have been nothing if not interesting.

I have been reading, though not as much as I would like to. Some of the more notable ones:

• Bleachers by John Grisham
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
• Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
• Actually, the Comma Goes Here: A Practical Guide to Punctuation by Lucy Cripps
• On Writing by Stephen King

As for the book, An Unusual Haunting, I have everything I need but have yet to run it through the meatgrinder at Smashwords. It’s not a case of fear (I’ve published through the system before, though it’s been a while), yet I am reluctant. This might be a case of perfectionism vs. practicality. Will anyone read the story? The odds are against it, but I want it to be nice for those who do. Are there mistakes in it? Sure. All books have mistakes. I catch them all the time in published novels; I just can’t seem to catch them as easily in mine.

Maybe it’s just hard to set a story free that I’ve held onto closely for several years now. That said, perfect or not, it’s time to let the book go. Expect to see An Unusual Haunting published this month.

Until next time, crickets, take care and be well.

Greetings, crickets! I finished the book last month – the one that was initially a novella and the sequel novel. I sent it to a beta reader in August of last year and then spent four months hashing through to make it better than it was before.

It’s still not perfect, but it is head and shoulders above anything else I’ve ever written. Which means there’s still room for improvement…

I have five more illustrations to complete and then I can upload the epub file to Smashwords and be done with it. Which means I’m probably going to drag my feet…

And the sequel to this monster book? It was actually nice to take a break away from it for a few months so I can see it with fresh eyes. I’m not rehashing what I’ve written yet, because I believe that edit should come after I finish up the missing scenes, but I am making notes on what to look for. I learned a lot from the beta, and found she made eerily similar notes to what I’ve written on the works I read for friends. Maybe I’m a beta reader at heart, but I still can’t seem to notice everything in my work that I should – probably because it’s just too close to me to see it objectively. Which means, I will still need a beta for the sequel and should start saving some money for that…

Here’s hoping I can send the sequel off later this year and take a break.

Or maybe I can write the short fics needed to round out the next anthology. Or maybe dust off the fantasy book and finally finish the rewrite. Or maybe…I’m just hopeless. Thanks for listening.