Strange Weekend

I had writing goals, plus some other authorly chores I needed to attend to this weekend.

The plus side was having almost enough words to send out a critique section of the next Lanternfish. Almost… So I added 1800 words on Friday and figured I was good to go.

When it came time to clip the section out of the MS, it only came to 3500 words??? I have no idea. I must have sent out a larger section the last time than I intended. Those were the last new words I’ve produced all weekend.

Most of my time was dedicated to reading Grinders from front to back. I accomplished that, and spotted a few places that needed adjustments. I also did my word searches and fixed all the simple errors.

After that, I sent an inquiry off to my formatter. I might be able to send it off before the holiday ends tomorrow.

I also prepared a cover reveal post and sent it off to those who offered in my comments from last week. I honestly don’t know how much good a cover reveal does, but it lets me do something for Chinese New Year.

Sean is working diligently on Lisa Burton Posters for a blog tour. With that and formatting, I might be ready to go in a month. Who knows, the cover reveal might build some interest.

I visited blogs a moment ago. I commented on very few, but tried to like the posts I read. I also used the Twitter button for a bit of support.

I may return to Lanternfish tomorrow, but don’t want to hit it too hard. Sometimes I need a day for being lazy. All in all, I accomplished a lot. It just wasn’t new words. If I get enough to to send a critique sample out it will be a bonus, but I’m not targeting that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and if you’re off tomorrow that you get to do something fun.

Sometimes you just have to update

It’s Wednesday, and there isn’t anything real sexy to talk about. I’ve been working, and trying to read a chapter of Grinders here and there. This phase always convinces me what a hack I am.

I know some other authors who feel the same way, so it isn’t just me. It was all so cool when I was creating this world, and now I’m questioning everything. This isn’t my first book, and I won’t let it stop me.

I got my W-2, so yay for the Internal Revenue Service.

Otto is a mess right now. Nothing too Earth shattering with him, just a lot of little things. The fold on his face is inflamed, and we’re putting cream on it. That usually clears everything up. He’s also had an ear problem. We have drops for that, and it usually clears that issue up.

His feet are driving him crazy, and this time the little wipies aren’t doing anything for him. Today, when Old What’s Her Face came home from work, there was blood all over the place.

The blood is from his tail, and there’s a big welt there. Otto’s never had a tail problem before, but his sister has. We have some stuff we can try. It looks more like a wound than something that got infected. There is a hell of a welt there, though. Something might have bit him while we were at work. (Looks at Frankie.)

I decided it was time for an Epsom Salts soak, at least for his feet. While I kept his feet soaking, my wife used a rag and soaked his little tail.

There really doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him, and he played ball like a madman tonight. When everything dries, we have a steroid powder they gave us when Frankie had a tail infection. We’ll add some of that before bed time.

Still a good boy

In book news, I’m going to miss my first deadline of the year. I really wanted to release Grinders sometime around Chinese New Year. It probably won’t matter to the book buying public, but I’m year of the rat. This year will be year of the rat. Also there is a scene in the book that involves the parade in San Francisco, where it is also year of the rat. Aside from that, there are rats who play a pivotal role in the story.

All sounded good, except the new year doesn’t start in February this time. It’s next weekend. Those darned lunar calendars.

I still have to finish my final pass, get the MS to my formatter, and I don’t have my Lisa Burton posters yet. I did get a cover just the other day. It looks like I can salvage a cover-reveal kind of post for Chinese New Year. I can talk about the story a bit, and some friends offered to host me if I take it that far.

As the work week ends, we’ll be keeping an eye on Otto. He may have to go see the vet this time. I’ll work on my final pass for Grinders, and probably write something for the cover-reveal. There ought to be enough time to add a few words to HMS Lanternfish, too.

At least that’s how I’m approaching the weekend. Sometimes the best laid plans of rats and men oft go astray. Bring on the weekend.

Eventide, from the Hode’s Hill Series

Mae Clair is one of my favorite people. She’s a partner over at Story Empire and one hell of an author. She’s here today to tell us about Eventide, which wraps up her Hode’s Hill Series.

I would appreciate it, and I know Mae would, if you would use those sharing buttons at the end of her guest post.

Hi, Craig. Thanks for hosting me today with my new supernatural suspense/mystery release. Eventide is the last book in my Hode’s Hill mystery series. As in the first two novels, Cusp of Night and End of Day, I’ve chosen to use dual timelines with dual mysteries that converge at the end. 

It’s challenging writing a book with more than one timeline. In essence, the author has to plot two separate stories, balancing two separate sets of characters, then find a way for everything to gel at the conclusion. This is even harder when you’re a panster.

 

In the past, I never had a problem pantsing my novels, but Eventide was an exception. It’s common for me to panic whenever I reach the third quarter point and realize I have to tie up numerous plot threads—without a plan. Somehow it always works out smoothly, despite anxiety flareups. Eventide, however, challenged me on a level I hadn’t encountered before. My panic turned into PANIC! Made even worse because I was up against a publisher’s deadline. I swore up and down I’d become a plotter after surviving Eventide, and for the most part, my groundwork is much stronger than before. I’m still pantsing, but at least now I have a safety net for backup.

 

Something that did help with Eventide was working with established characters. The leads in the present day portion of the story will be familiar to anyone who read End of Day. Jillian Cley and Dante DeLuca are back, joined by Jillian’s sister Madison, who made an appearance in End of Day. This is really Madison’s story as she starts life over, after spending three years in a care facility without speaking. She’s strong and determined, her husband’s murder behind her. But the house she purchases is isolated and rumored to be haunted. And when she discovers an old cistern in the basement, it’s just the start of unraveling a mystery that spans centuries.

 

In this short excerpt, Madison’s boyfriend, Roth, has been working to remove the lid from the cistern:

 

“Hey, come here. I think I’ve got it.”

 

Drying her hands on a tea towel, she picked her way down the steps. Roth had hooked a cage light to an overhead beam for more illumination and had a variety of tools strewn around the cistern. He’d managed to remove all eight bolts. Looking at the long ends scattered by the lid, Madison was surprised by how deeply they’d been threaded into the floor.

 

“Did you hear anything while you were working?” she asked.

 

“Nothing.” Roth sat back on his haunches. He’d drudged up a sweat again, the knees of his jeans grimy with dirt, black muck freckling his hands. The least she could do was offer him a place to shower when he was through.

 

“Ready?” He indicated the lid with a grin.

 

In many ways, it felt like opening a treasure chest. A long time ago someone had taken extra effort to secure the lid in place. Maybe it was nothing more than she thought. An old cistern, decades or centuries out of use. And yet—

 

She nodded.

 

With effort, Roth shoved the heavy cover aside, back and shoulder muscles bunching with the exertion.

 

“What the—” His face contorted. Gagging, he recoiled.

 

A noxious cloud of sulfur and decay engulfed Madison.

 

“Oh, that’s awful!” She pressed the tea towel to her nose and mouth. “It smells like something died.”

 

“Not even close. It smells a hell of a lot worse.” Roth snatched a flashlight from the floor. With one hand cupped over his nose, he angled the beam into the hole. “I can’t tell if anything’s down there. It looks about ten feet deep, maybe more.”

 

“Is there water?” Despite the stench, Madison inched closer.

 

“Not that I can see. If there is, it’s a long way down.”

 

A blast of cold air hit them in the face, strong enough to make Madison backpedal. The bare bulbs dangling from the rafters flickered then died. Roth’s flashlight sputtered, failing altogether.

 

Chilled, Madison hugged her arms to her chest. “What was that?”

 

I hope you’re curious enough to find out. Eventide is now available from all online book sellers, so if the story sounds like something that interests you, please consider ordering. You’ll make this author very happy. Thank you in advance for your consideration! J

 

Universal Purchase Link

 

BLURB:

 

The darkness is coming . . .  

The old house near Hode’s Hill, Pennsylvania is a place for Madison Hewitt to start over—to put the trauma of her husband’s murder, and her subsequent breakdown, behind her. She isn’t bothered by a burial plot on the property, or the mysterious, sealed cistern in the basement. Not at first. Even the presence of cold spots and strange odors could be fabrications of her still troubled mind. But how to explain her slashed tires, or the ominous messages that grow ever more threatening?
 
Convinced the answer lies in the past, Madison delves into the history of the home’s original owners, only to discover the origin of a powerful evil. An entity that may be connected to a series of gruesome attacks that have left police baffled. No matter where she turns—past or present—terror lingers just a step away, spurred on by a twisted obsession that can only be satisfied through death…

 

 

Order Eventide HERE

Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:

Amazon| BookBub| Newsletter Sign-Up 
Website | Blog| Twitter| Goodreads| All Social Media

 

 

 

Still on vacation, kind of

I milked the system to gain a small vacation for writing purposes. New Years Day was a holiday, I took Thursday and Friday off, then the weekend came, and my flex day is Monday. It took some manipulation, but I gained some reasonable personal time by doing it.

Old What’s Her Face was off all the same days, except for tomorrow. There is good and bad to this process. Understand that we’ve been married for a long time, and sometimes you just need your personal time. Still, we watched some movies together, even managed a date night last night. Our son gave us a gift card for Christmas, so we had a nice seafood dinner on a weekend where we didn’t get paid.

I wound up going into a different room to do a bit of writing each day. I spent a few weeks making a playlist, and wrote with music in the background this time. This is theatrical stuff, and normally fades into the background, except for those few pieces that grab you and force you to listen. I know people love playlists, so here’s a brief list of some places I sampled from:

• Last of the Mohicans
• Kill Bill
• Once Upon a Time in the West
• Wonder Woman
• Pirates of the Caribbean (of course)
• The Forbidden Kingdom
• The Exorcist
• 47 Ronin

There are a few others, but it covers a broad spectrum. I intend to keep adding to this, because some days it helps the words flow. I’m going to scope out a few other old films, but will wait until payday before doing so.

It’s a whole different kind of music from my Lizzie and The Hat playlist. That one is full of old Rock and Roll, Blues, and a few other cuts from odd places, even Glam Rock.

Writing happened. Every day was over a thousand words, but I never had one of those blockbuster days. Those just don’t come along very often.

My pirates explored Bungo Bungo, the floating island. I had a lot of fun coming up with new creatures for a rather magical place. The Omcrom were a lot of fun, but I struggled to keep them mundane. I wanted tribal creatures that were rather benign, since everything else that shows up is murderous or carnivorous. They’re about knee high, wear simple leather togas, walk upright, but occasionally use their knuckles in a four legged trot. They have long tails, and the beaks of sea eagles. They’re trimmed out with moss where hair should be, but I didn’t go into detail about whether this is a modified form of hair or feathers.

In typical Lanternfish style, you get a glimpse of their culture, but no more than my pirates might observe while they’re on Bungo Bungo. I kind of want a bit more from them, but there is one more encounter as they’re leaving the island. That one involves the root monsters, and could turn out well.

There is also the gigantic oil toad that seems to be in charge. He even gets dialog. Then I came up with the idea of the boatmen, which aren’t men at all. They’re scary and nasty.

I have a couple of images on Pinterest that I melded together to create the Omcrom. These are line diagrams of what an artist calls trolls, and I think they are wonderful. I also have a few images of Stellar’s Sea Eagles, that became part of their makeup. Here is my piracy board if any of you are interested. I can’t share someone’s graphics here.

The pirates reached the cave and obtained the tidbit of information they need to return to the war. I still need to get them off the island and back to the ship. After obtaining the info, I should probably move on fairly fast. It’s going to take a couple of days to get back to the ship, and I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with that section. I even managed to weave in a callback to Voyage of the Lanternfish, and a couple of small ones to Serang.

I started at nearly 40K words, and stopped today at 47,700. Not a real productive vacation, but I did some things with my wife along the way, too. We watched Captain Marvel, and I don’t think it deserved some of the fanboy bad press it received. I enjoyed it. I also polished off the last two inches of my prized bottle of Laphroaig. I’ll have to budget for a new one come payday. Don’t panic, there are still a few treasured bits of bourbon in my cabinet. I’ll survive. There are also a few pints of stout around here.

With a stellar day tomorrow, I’d like to work up to 50K. I also have to make that root monster scene come across well. I’m going to hit it hard tomorrow. I’m tempted to come up with another monster or creature, but Bungo Bungo might be interesting enough now. I’ll figure that out as I go.

2020 Business Plan

I just recapped 2019 (Link) and consider it a success. It wasn’t exactly profitable, but I learned some things and was able to publish three titles last year.

One of the main things is that I can write more than one story at a time. I call the secondary one my side project and chip away at it when my main project bogs down. I’ve been known to park my brain for weeks dwelling on a plot issue, then hit the keyboard after I’ve worked it all out. It’s worse while working on my trilogy.

By having a side project, those lost weeks are pointed elsewhere, and somehow the main problem works itself out anyway. My side project jumps ahead, and when it’s time for it to emerge from its cocoon as the main project, I may be 50K words into it.

It’s kind of like how I keep multiple storyboards going. I always have something ready to start.

I intend to keep doing this in 2020. I don’t have a side project right now, but once HMS Lanternfish hits somewhere around 50K words, I’m going to start another one.

I finally wrote that cyberpunk story I’ve been bringing up for years. It needs a cover, a final read through, and formatting, but it’s very close. I enjoyed taking modern problems and poking them with a stick to see how our world might look in a hundred years. It’s called Grinders, and will be coming your way in early 2020.

With an incredible stroke of luck, I could release it for Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Rat, a big part of the story goes down at the parade in San Francisco, where it is also the Year of the Rat, and a couple of rats play an important role in the story. Yours Truly is also Year of the Rat. That’s some serious juju right there, and I’d like to publish it then.

I don’t think it’s a deal killer if I don’t hit that target, the best laid plans of rats and men, etc.

Grinders is my stand-alone title for 2020. Sequels will eat up the rest of the time. I can’t seem to give up stand-alone work, and it’s something I really enjoy.

As far as sequels are concerned, I need to produce the next Lanternfish tale in 2020. I’m working diligently on it, and would love to have it available before the schools get out. My track record at that deadline is horrible. I don’t seem to have any luck with summer releases, so I dream of having it ready before then.

Another loose target is the Halloween season. I have this earmarked for the next story about Lizzie and The Hat. They are finally going to face actual vampires. This won’t be anything like you’ve seen before, and will take place mostly in the country music environment. They’re going to have to stalk their enemy across rodeo dances, county fairs, and such. There are some fun scenes already planned out, and Lizzie is going to tire quickly of this kind of music.

There is also a new character that I can’t wait to bring into the tale. I see him as a possible recurring character. If you’re old enough, you remember how James Garner always seemed to have that one smarmy guy show up in his work. My new character will fill that role, and could fit into future stories. Besides, he has a speech impediment that The Hat will make fun of. That brings out Lizzie’s “social justice warrior” and adds a few fun interactions.

This story will be the side project once I nudge Lanternfish along a bit. After it moves into the main slot, I might start another side project. This one would be a post-apocalyptic story with many earmarks of a western. I will also return to first person POV in this one.

This is an ambitious year, but I think I can make it happen. I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve after last year. First is that Grinders is already written, much like the first Lanternfish book was. Second is that stories about Lizzie and The Hat are generally short novels. If it works, the post-apocalyptic thing could be ready prior to 2021.

I have one problem that I’m trying to sort out. Maybe you can help me with that. I’m convinced that my best promotional effort is to publish the next book. Being a self publisher is a numbers game. I’ve been around long enough to see people fade after a book or two. I’m not one of those people.

Readers could take authors more seriously with a number of titles under their belt. That’s pure theory, and they would have to be good stories. I feel like I’ve reached that level, and could attract new readers by having a decent catalog of titles.

The problem arises in timing of those releases. I ran into a problem of releasing two books sixty days apart. Viral Blues did well enough, but I think Serang suffered because of this. This is a complex problem, but here are some of the factors to consider.

• I have a personal phobia of the summer months for a new release. I’ve never done well during summer, but that limits me to the nine other months. That becomes a book every three months during the sweet spot.

• Promotional fatigue is a real thing. It hits my blog followers, online circle, and it hits me, too. I will need to identify many more sites to promote my work. I don’t want to wear out my regular group of hosts. I like my hosts and regulars. I want to balance being a friend, offering my space to them, and being able to promote my own projects on occasion.

• Lanternfish is a trilogy. I don’t expect much fanfare for the second book other than from those who loved the first one. In my imagination, book two may sell better after the trilogy concludes. With this thought, could a summer release for book two serve just as well? That would help spread things out around the year. Am I selling the second book of a trilogy short?

• Could a blog tour with two or more books on the same tour have any benefit? This would cut down the number of promo posts, but each title would have to share stops along the tour. Is there a way to use pre-release sales in this scheme? You can have one book right now, and the other will be delivered in 60 days?

• Does the crack dealer method still work? Meaning does a giveaway for book one help move sales for book two or three? It used to work, but has that also changed?

Personally, I don’t like the idea of giving my work away. If $2.99 is going to break someone’s budget, they’d be better of paying the power bill. I have to admit, there might be a strategic advantage to some freebies. There used to be one, but things change so fast I don’t know anymore.

As far as titles that could serve as the gateway drug to my writing, The Playground kind of leads to Viral Blues. The Hat leads to Viral Blues and any other book in the series. Serang and Voyage of the Lanternfish could serve the same purpose for the Lanternfish trilogy. Honestly, 2020 might be too soon for this concept, but I’m open to suggestions if you have them.

I want to keep blogging two to three times per week. Yeah, it’s a place to talk about my work, but it serves its own purpose, too. I like chatting with you guys. I’m not afraid to talk about my writing efforts, but sometimes you get bulldogs, sourdough bread, camping trips and other things that add a bit of quality to life.

Otto is helping Dad today.

Story Empire has been a good thing for me, too. It challenges me to come up with appropriate topics, and while I don’t always pull it off, I come fairly close to the mark. I don’t know how much more I have to share there, but there are always new writers coming along, so revamping some things might be possible. That usually takes me a couple of times per month, so I’ll be seeing many of you over there during 2020.

These are ambitious goals, but they are within reach. I might not hit all of them, but I intend to give it my best effort. I hope you guys will come along for the ride. Do you ever make a business plan for the year?

All over the place today

Old What’s Her Face is off this weekend, so I did what I could. Things were pretty calm this morning so I added words to HMS Lanternfish. I didn’t track it, but it feels like about 2000 words.

Part of this was coming down from the action scene I wrote Wednesday. My crew, particularly the captain, needs time to process, and in this case heal. Those bits always take me longer to write.

Then I added a few root monster antics, because they’ve been fairly quiet for a chapter or two. It worked out kind of cool, because it led into a scene involving St. Elmo’s fire at the top of the main mast.

Since this is fantasy, a rare natural phenomenon isn’t good enough. It brought James a vision, and it’s going to let me reveal some cool things. I just haven’t written all of that yet.

Basically, it involved the king of Saphelon discussing the arrival of the Fulminites on their continent. James’s father started the first war on behalf of this king, but that’s not in the history books. The books make the current enemy, Hollish, appear to be the aggressors. The fun part is that it was James’s father who brought the Fulminites to this part of the world. When I write that out, maybe that’s why he fled with his young son to a safer area.

I also got to add a minor sea creature, and that helps with world building. Then another root monster earned a name.

Beyond that, I had my final critiques for Grinders to deal with. I spent a few hours tweaking this story, and am basically finished. I’ll take it out in January and give it a complete read over before publishing. I think you guys are going to like it.

Tonight, I sent an email to Sean Harrington about cover art and Lisa Burton posters. Grinders is a stand alone book, and was one of my side projects over the summer. I hope to release it about the time the snow melts.

In other news, we have our Star Wars tickets for the 21st. We’ve also been digging The Mandalorian on Disney+. Just listen to this theme. You have to give it a few, because the intro is long.

When I close my eyes and listen, I get a visual of Serang walking down the dock toward some unseen enemy whilst twirling her guandao slowly. It has a throwback sound to it that reminds me of Ennio Morricone.

Aside from this, Apple has yet another update. This one screwed up WordPress for me. Now everything I do, it tries to force me into the app. Don’t get me wrong, the app does some great things, but reading and commenting on blogs isn’t one of them. I have a way to force it all to work in Safari, but don’t think I should have to. Why does it seem like any upgrade only seems to break things that worked fine before? It seems to be that way for all apps, and platforms.

I doubt much, if any, progress is happening tomorrow, but my flex day is Monday. I kind of expect to move Lanternfish ahead on Monday.

Hope all of you are having a great weekend. It’s time for a nice vanilla porter and an older Star Wars movie.

Oh Baubles

Let’s all welcome Harmony Kent today. She has a fun new Christmas romance story to share with everyone. Take it away, Harmony.

***

Hi everyone, Harmony here. I’m so thrilled to be visiting with Craig today to tell you about my latest book, a Christmas Romance Novella. It’s a fun, quick read at around 80 pages, and I had fun crafting this one. Below is a ‘sneek peek’ from Chapter 2 of ‘Oh Baubles.’

 

THE steamed up windows caught his attention first. Then the distraught woman occupying the driver’s seat. He recognised her. Months before, she’d been one of his rehab patients. Mrs Dickens, that was it, Charlene Dickens. The poor woman had lost her husband in the crash that had wrecked her life and her body. John would always remember the session in which she’d vomited all over him. With all the pain meds she’d been on, he could understand. The same thing happened to a lot of his clients. Still, he had a distinct aversion to puke, and to have it spewed all over him had left him fighting not to throw up himself. 

When he’d trained up as a physiotherapist, he’d envisioned a glamorous job working with sports injuries, but his life hadn’t turned out that way. Truth be told, he hated his job. And he still held that early ambition to rehab the stars of football and rugby and the like.

His reflection in the glass—dark hair, plastered to his skull in the downpour, framed a chiseled face that he thought was quite attractive—distracted him from his vague view of Charlene. From the fearful look on her face, though, he must have made her jump. John smiled at her through the steamed up window and mouthed, ‘Are you all right?’

The woman blinked and then nodded. A moment later, she opened her door and peered though the crack. Deep pink suffused both cheeks, and she appeared flustered. ‘Yes. Yes, thank you.’ And then she stared at him and blinked some more. ‘It’s John, John Andrews, isn’t it?’

So, she did remember him, then. ‘Yeah, the one and only.’ He grinned, somewhat inanely, he reckoned. Why did he always seem to end up acting like an idiot around this woman? None of his other patients had anywhere near the same effect on him, and he’d worked with some stunners. And yet here he stood, getting all giddy again.

‘Um, sorry if I startled you. It’s just …’

She cringed. ‘You saw some deranged woman pouring snot and tears down her face and thought you’d better make sure she wasn’t going to top herself in the hospital car park.’

‘Something like that, yeah.’ Now it was his turn to cringe. Why the hell had he just agreed with her scathing assessment of herself? He should have contradicted her. The trouble was, his wayward tongue had nearly blurted, You’re still beautiful, and he’d only just stopped himself in time. She’d either think he was an idiot or a dangerous stalker. And he didn’t want to risk her reporting her ex-therapist for inappropriate behaviour. That sort of thing on his record, he could do without.

 

I hope you enjoyed this little excerpt. Below is the book description and then a bit about ‘the author’ for those of you who don’t yet know me.

 

Book Description

 After a tragic accident one Christmas, Charlene loses her husband and her leg.

 Scarred and damaged, the losses leave her lost and reeling, and a long recovery lies ahead of her.

 When John, a hot young physiotherapist, comes into her life with his ripped abs and good-god good-looks, she can’t imagine he’d give somebody like her a second glance.

 Then she falls for him.

 Can Charlene overcome all obstacles to gain back her life and find true love once more?

 Find out in this fun-filled, clean Christmas romance novella from award-winning author Harmony Kent.

 Oh Baubles is available for pre-order at just 99c/99p. The Amazon link is: http://mybook.to/OhBaubles

 

About the Author:

 After spending around thirteen years as an ordained Buddhist monk, living in a Zen Buddhist temple, and six years after a life-changing injury following a surgical error, Harmony Kent returned to the world at the tender age of forty.

Now, she is famous for her laughter, and has made quite the name for herself … she’s also, um, a writer … and fairly well known for that too. She’s even won a few awards. Harmony lives in rural Cornwall with her ever-present sense of humour, adorable husband, and quirky neighbours. Harmony is passionate about supporting her fellow authors.

Follow Harmony on social media:

Website: https://harmonykent.co.uk/https://harmonykent.co.uk/
Story Empire (co-authored): https://storyempirecom.wordpress.com/https://storyempirecom.wordpress.com/
Amazon Author Page: author.to/HarmonysBooksauthor.to/HarmonysBooks
Twitter: @Harmony_kent
LinkedIn: Harmony
Goodreads: Author Page

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/harmony-kent