Time for an update

I really haven’t done much since publishing The Midnight Rambler. Most of my efforts went into supporting the tour and hoping to drive traffic to those who hosted me.

Since all the posts were unique, I shared them all here. That way you’re hearing from me, but the content was hosted elsewhere. All of my hosts are wonderful people and I hope you found some new favorite blogs, and possibly a new author to check out.

Before I abandon the topic, The Midnight Rambler could use some more readers and reviews. It will live on my sidebar for about a year and all you have to do is click.

I spent this morning reading. This isn’t a review blog, but it turned out to be the best story I’ve read this year. I just posted a review on all the sites, and you might want to check out The Necromancer’s Daughter.

My next amazing stunt will be to reread my two works in progress. It’s time to get familiar with what I’ve already produced, probably make an edit along the way, then start moving these stories ahead once more.

I only have to work two days next week due to a medical appointment, a vacation day, and one holiday. I might even be writing again before it all wraps up.

There is one other issue I’m going to bring up and it involves things like Copyright. I discovered one of my Lisa Burton posters on a friend’s blog this morning.

Lisa Burton exists to promote my writing career. I share her artwork frequently, but it’s for my own purposes. You will find it here, on my blog tour posts, and occasionally at Story Empire.

When I share the posters, I always invite people to use them as screen background, share on social media, and what have you. Lisa is perfect for Pinterest.

I do it, too. You can see all the icons on my iPad.

You have to understand that I don’t care if you share them. Print one and frame it. Get it tattooed on your back. This isn’t the same as using her to promote something outside my control.

However, using her to promote your site or books or anything else isn’t something I’m fond of. Lisa is not a free-use character, in prose or her images.

I get it, that Lisa is picturesque and draws attention. I designed her that way. I also shell out a lot of money for these posters and hold the rights to them.

I might have approved the usage, but I wasn’t even asked. I also wasn’t credited in any way. I want to remain friends with everyone and am not going to call anyone out. It could be that someone just didn’t understand the rules.

Let me hear from you. The tour is behind me. I read a great story, and am looking forward to producing new words very soon.

A Quick Update

I haven’t posted here a ton this month, because of the ongoing blog tour. There’s a bunch of original content, it’s just hosted elsewhere. There have been a ton of good remarks along the route and I’ve had a great time.

There’s only one tour stop left, on Halloween. I also have the Story Empire post that day. Somehow, between two posts and working, I might have to catch up all those comments after I get home.

Not a lot happening beyond that. I ate Asian pears until they started getting mushy. Those on the tree now might not get harvested at all.

Frankie has a new bulldog game that’s kind of annoying. She sleeps with us, so we have a set of stairs for her to go up and down. She navigates these with ease.

She’s surprisingly agile, so she can also jump up with ease. For some reason, at bedtime, she whines and plays this game where she just can’t make it up there. Most nights I get up, then she jumps in with no problem.

Last night the game changed. I put my arms around her, then tossed her on the mattress. This led to wiggles and general silliness. However, it didn’t end so well for me.

Something popped between my spine and shoulder blade. I spent the night in pain, and most of the morning I could barely lift my left arm. Meds and heat are helping, but it makes for a sucky day off.

I still haven’t looked at my current writing projects, opting to read instead. That’s easy enough for my weird shoulder thing to handle.

It all sounds kind of boring, but that’s how it’s been. If you’re following the tour, thank you. If you picked up a copy of Midnight Rambler, thank you even more.

Hope to see you all again on Monday at one site or the other.

Struggling with myself

I have a three day weekend going on. It’s a relief to get a break from the workaday world, but I’m struggling not to be an author right now. It’s an odd stance for me.

This is because touring the new book is going to happen all month. There will be tons of new content from me, but it will be on guest spots that I’ll reblog over here.

I came so close to opening my WIPs and getting reacquainted, but managed to resist. The master plan was not to look at them again until November.

I surfed through the first two posts a couple of times to respond to comments and tweet them out again. I toyed with the idea of television, but resisted that, too.

Finally, I cracked open a new book. I don’t do nearly enough reading and it drew me in enough to really let me get away for a few hours.

I intend to spend time with it over the next two days. Reading is good for me and this is the perfect time for it. When get a few spare hours, rather than rereading my own work in anticipation of writing time I won’t have, I’m doing something positive.

I managed to move my mail-in ballot over to my workspace, but still haven’t opened it. I’ll probably do that tomorrow after I call my mother. Politics has become such a toxic environment I’m down to voting for those I hate least, or against those I hate most. I don’t really need that energy right now, but will get to it before work starts once more.

As for me, you can find me on the tour route. I think there are some fun posts ahead and Lisa Burton will be stumping for me, too. She has some cool new posters to share with you.

I also managed to write and assemble my next Story Empire post today. It’s rare for me to be so far ahead over there, but it feels good to have it scheduled.

Story Empire is doing really well these days. Our views and comments are up, and as a blog it surpassed Entertaining Stories a few months ago for number of followers. If you haven’t checked it out, you really should. It’s a group blog dedicated to helping authors and covers a broad swath of topics. We post in turn and I always learn something from my partners. I hope a few of my tidbits are helping some of you.

Anyway, this is a weekend more dedicated to relaxing, and I could use some of that. I intend to read. Might check out “Andor” on Disney. As an author I promise not to do anything except the occasional bit of research and a few notes for future projects.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, too. With or without the Monday holiday.

How things are going to shake out

As we dive into October, I’m going to be starting my blog tour for The Midnight Rambler. This means chaos around here for a while.

I’m eternally grateful for my hosts, and want to create some benefit for their hosting me. This means I’m going to be reblogging the posts here on the day they go live.

The hope is that you’ll visit these folks, read the posts, and meet some incredibly generous members of the writing community. Check out their books, consider following their blogs, and help me repay the favor in some small way.

My hosts are all the kind of people authors should get to know. They’re helpful, intelligent, charming, and worth spending some time with.

I’ve gone out of my way to make each tour stop unique. This won’t be like the, now out-of-style, cover and blurb days. There’s a bit of content at each stop so my long-term fans won’t get bored. Let’s face it, you can only look at a cover and blurb so many times.

Lisa Burton is going on the promotion trail, too. She has some fun new posters to share with everyone, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

My work weeks have gotten hectic, and there’s no end in sight. I can manage a few comments before my morning commute, then I’m going to have to pick it back up after I get home.

I have a few outliers that I might still have to squeeze into the schedule, but I’m hoping to have it all wrapped up this weekend. It’s the only time I have to do this stuff.

It’s going to be a great October, but I might be tired after it all ends. Tonight, I need to come up with my next Story Empire post. It would be great if I could nail that down before the work week arrives once more.

Have a great weekend everyone, and I’ll be seeing you along the tour route.

My flex day

I started off kind of slow today. Got a chance to sleep in and I took it. This means I was probably less productive than I could have been, but I’m ahead of the game right now.

Let’s face it, I could publish another Hat story tomorrow. It’s a cool position to be in, and I’d like to sustain it for a while. Less pressure is nice for a change.

I still managed to break the 80K word mark on my WIP. That makes it a novel in my mind. I’m going to ignore the old rules about making science fiction a bit longer. These are going to be geared more to a modern audience, and since it’s a trilogy, there will be more of the galaxy to cover.

Percy the Space Chimp has one more big event in this book, then it’s finished. I left them hanging out at their favorite backwater planet and can pick the story back up this weekend.

Jackson the cat decided to help me today. He seems to want to sleep either in my lap or on my keyboard. I think he’s uber-cute, but I could use a break once in a while.

Jackson will be going away soon. Our daughter finally found an apartment she can afford. It’s in a different city than her job, so she’s got a long commute ahead of her from now on. I weep for the plight of our young people. America doesn’t pay enough for them to make ends meet today, and rentals are so expensive now. Still, she gets to keep the job that she loves, and that makes me happy. I’ll miss having her around.

The blog tour for Good Liniment has finally ended. (I hear a small cheer across the universe.) It’s not enough to write a good story today. You have to do something to spread the word, and the word has been spread. We had some fun topics and every post was unique. Sold a few books, too, so that’s a bonus.

I’ve seen some reviews for both Good Liniment and Wreck of the Lanternfish lately. Remember, those are both still linked in my sidebar. Any author appreciates reviews, so if you read one of them I would be grateful for a few minutes of your time to share your thoughts.

Lanternfish needs to be read in order since it’s a trilogy. Good Liniment is a stand alone title in The Hat Series, and all of them can be read out of order.

In other news, I spent a couple hours reading a book I’m really enjoying, but it requires a lot of focus. It’s a good tale, so I’m sticking with it. It’s just hard to read in some sections.

I also managed to take a short nap this afternoon. This is something I’ve grown more insistent on whenever I’m off. They rarely surpass 30 minutes, but make me feel so good. Judge me if you want, but I kind of like them.

Back to work tomorrow.

Odd Word Metrics

I spent my morning trying to write promotional materials for the eventual release of Good Liniment.

It’s not the same as new fiction, but I got five posts roughed out. It probably doesn’t reach 2500 new words, but it’s fairly close. To finish them, I would need a blurb and some links. Those details will come later.

I ordered three new Lisa Burton posters for this release, and they came out wonderful. Sean Harrington really outdid himself on them, and they reflect items from the story. That made posts where she visits someone fairly easy to write.

I should have about that many more before I’m ready, then I need to figure out where I want to take this tour. I’ve done so many of these over the years they can be kind of tiring. I’m excited about the story, but not about promo. Probably a flaw in my personality.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the comments and responding, it just doesn’t work as well during the work week. I’m even considering some vacation time so I can be present in the moment, but work is too crazy right now.

I might even get a couple more written tonight, but I’m not committed to the idea.

This is the spot where I would usually insert a musical teaser for one of The Hat books. I try to hold back the posters for my hosts, but can’t resist sharing one today. They came out so good this time.

Lisa is taking Noodles for a walk in this picture. If you’d like to learn more about Noodles, you’ll have to come along when the tour starts, or even read the book. It’s coming soon, I promise.

Still here, and pecking away

I’ve really let this place down over the last few months. I’m sorry for that, but there are reasons why. I’ll glance off some of those when my 2021 Assessment posts later this month.

I’ve created a lot of new material, but as part of various blog tours, it’s been hosted elsewhere. I figured I owed you guys something, so here it is.

I’ve been dabbling with a side project for months, but not taking it too seriously. It’s a space opera that could lead to a trilogy. I have about a third of a novel so far, but today I decided to start another one.

This plays into my two at a time history, and since I’m at a wall on one project, this gives me a way to stay somewhat productive. I never really do this, but here is the first effort from today’s work.

***

The single-room farmhouse stood deep in the forest. Leaves covered the sagging roof, and clumps of moss anchored to the sides. The door dangled from a single hinge and allowed leaves to blow inside. Rays of sunlight shone through the roof and dust motes swirled in the beams. The windows had long disappeared leaving the room open to weather from multiple directions.

The old bed was nothing more than a frame and rusty springs after all these years. A rack of simple farming tools hung on the south wall, and a cracked old trunk stood at the foot of the bed, it’s brass fittings long ago turning green.

Light swirled unnaturally between the chest and tool rack. It moved in and out of form, but eventually resembled a human, casting its own light into the dark corners of the cabin. Moving about the room it grew in size, then staggered like someone wounded. With great effort, it managed to open the chest.

After pulling on cracked leather boots, denim jeans, and a plaid shirt it rested, looking for all the world, like someone had placed the clothing on the floor in a pattern.

The following day, the spirit pulled on leather gauntlets and a long canvas duster, then chose a sickle from the tool rack. As it grew in strength, it went outside to cut dried grass which it stuffed down its pants or into its shirt. Insects took up residence in the stuffing, but it kept working. As the sun set, it walked back inside, only its head missing from the apparition. The area of its head glowed red in the cabin’s darkness like some kind of angry god.

The spirit removed an old burlap sack from the trunk, then pulled it over his head. He twisted the bag until a face fit over the front. Triangular eyes glowed like the fires of hell from behind the mask. The loosely stitched up mouth also glowed, and served to strengthen the terrifying visage. He pulled a thick, hemp drawstring closed around his neck. Next he selected an old canvas hat from the chest. It had been carefully waxed to retain its shape in all kinds of weather. It had a broad, bent brim and tall, pointy crown, like those traditionally worn by witches.

A canvas trug was the last item inside. He spread that across the bed springs, then piled all the tools on the square of material. There were handles on opposing corners, which he grabbed to create a carrying case for the sickle, a scythe, sheep shears, grafting knives, saws, axes, and hatchets.

He kicked the remaining door off on his way outside. Pushed the crown of his hat back toward his shoulders, then stared at the nightime sky. “Now where is that Goddamned hat living these days?”

***

Would you read something that started this way? I’m calling it “The Midnight Rambler,” after a favorite song of mine. With that last bit of dialog, and the book title, you can tell where it’s going to fit in my catalog.

Interaction along the tour has been great, but there’s something to be said for meeting all of you here. Leave me a comment. Do you have an ear-worm now?

Mountain Laurel Christmas

Let’s all welcome Jan Sikes to Entertaining Stories. She’s one of my longest term author friends, and a partner at Story Empire. She’s here to tell us about her new Christmas novella. Let’s make sure to use those sharing buttons for her today.

Failure and disappointment are two horrible feelings for anyone to handle. My character in Mountain Laurel Music struggles to deal with those feelings, most of the time attempting to drown them in alcohol. But when the effects of the alcohol wear off, he is left with the same hollow disappointment in himself.

My character had made a promise.

Excerpt:

I’ll never forget Papa placing his hand on my shoulder a few days before he died, making me promise on everything holy and sacred, to take care of Mama, April and Timmy if anything ever happened to him. Perhaps he knew.

It sticks in the back of my throat now like a bitter quinine pill.

I failed him.

I failed Mama.

And now I’ve failed myself.

I think sometimes the greatest disappointments we can experience in life are in ourselves. I have certainly been there, and even now, after many years, if I allow myself to think about it, I can conjure up the same horrible, disgusting feeling.

What about you? Have you found ways to deal with disappointment or failure? Please share.

Mountain Laurel Christmas Blurb:

Orphaned, his family torn apart by tragedy, Cole Knight has come a long way from a ramshackle miner’s cabin on the side of the Cumberland Mountain.

Daring to follow an impossible dream, he’s made it big in the music business. Now, he’s a country music sensation with a huge house, fancy cars, plenty of willing women, money, and adoring fans. He should be on top of the world. Instead, he’s drowning in a swirling pool of self-contempt and relentless guilt.

It’s easier to lose himself in a bottle than face the hard truth…he hasn’t delivered on a promise he made to his father.

It’s almost Christmas, and the sting of failure drives him back to that tiny cabin in the mountains. But has he waited too late to put the shattered pieces back together—to find himself and restore a lost family?

PURCHASE LINK:

https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Laurel-Christmas-Jan-Sikes-ebook/dp/B09KJYMVT9/

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

WEBSITE

BLOG

BOOKBUB

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

PINTEREST

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Some statistics for you

Hi, everyone. I’ve neglected this site again, but there were tour posts all over the place. Thanks to the group of you that followed along. This post is for my fellow writers out there, and you might find it interesting.

The tour ended prematurely, but one of my potential hosts is quite ill. I have her in my thoughts, and you didn’t miss a lot. If you feel like you missed something, check out Lunar Boogie in the sidebar. It was the book of the day.

To recap, I toured each book in The Hat Series for one week during October. Books one & three had free days, and to support those, I hired Fussy Librarian for some extra push. Let’s look at a visual.

I doubt you can read that, but it’s the image that helps anyway. The blue graph above shows my free promotion days. You can see the pattern is almost identical. Day one hit nearly a thousand free copies, after that it trailed off.

If I turn off the freebies, the graph shows book sales, but at best there were ten one day. That’s why they don’t show up with the freebies turned on.

The lower graphic is pages read via Kindle Unlimited. To me it’s more important. Most of my book earnings have been via this platform for a couple of years now. The patterns are similar, and not different enough to determine why. The better days were around 500 pages per day, with one that broke 1000. I’m not getting rich here, but I’m calling the promo a success. Nearly all of those pages were in the The Hat Series. In fact you can see a small bit of action on the far left before the promotion started. That’s what my graph normally looks like.

So far, I’ve gained two star-reviews where they rated the book worthy of five stars, and one actual review. I love both of those formats, so thank you whoever you are.

This also happened.

Yup, that’s Mrs. Molony in the #1 spot. It held onto the top ten throughout the free period.

There’s one post left that relates to the promotion. It’s my annual visit at Colleen Chesebro’s place on Halloween. It’s about the series, but it’s also about what comes next for Lizzie and the hat. I’ll be checking in on Sunday, so make sure to visit me.

The best month of the year

It’s October, and I love it. Things are cooling off after the outrageous summer we had. Leaves are starting to turn, and everything feels right again.

I was an October baby, so maybe that’s part of it. Old What’s Her Face made me some pumpkin cinnamon rolls for breakfasts. They’re nothing fancy, just the Pop & Fresh kind, but it was sweet of her.

I’ve been working my way through a variety pack of pumpkin beers from Elysian brewing. The Dark ‘O the Moon Pumpkin Stout is really good.

Pumpkin isn’t the only Fall flavor in my world. Mom sent up some of her homemade chokecherry jelly. I would have preferred syrup, but I had it on a pancake this morning anyway. It’s a taste of Fall from my childhood.

We’ve been fiddling with Halloween themed shows to watch. RL Stein has a more adult themed series of films on Netflix. Old What’s Her Face loved the first one, but I had a tough time getting into it. It’s a long month, so there could be something good coming up.

She used her birthday money and bought a Traeger Grill. She loves her gadgets and had to have the one that connects to her phone via wifi. She likes the idea of adjusting the temps while out doing other things. This meant she had to name it. She called it “The Chamber of Barbecue Secrets.” I figured you guys would get a chuckle out of that, I did.

Things are going to get busy at Entertaining Stories, too. I’m taking the entire Hat Series out on tour. This involves having written a bunch of unique posts, so they’re all worth reading. I’ll reblog everything here in an attempt to drive traffic to my hosts. There are going to be some free days, so if you’ve wanted to get into this series, this is a good month to dive in. One volume per week, and it all kicks off at Teri’s Bad Moon Rising event. Promoting a paranormal series in October feels like the right thing to do.

It’s important to support your hosts. If any of you feel so inclined, share the posts from their sites. This could boost their traffic and net them some new followers.

I’ll be watching the comments all month, so let me hear from you along the route.

I sent the second to last chapter of Good Liniment out to my critique group, and Lanternfish is in the hands of my formatter. This means starting all over again when I publish Lanternfish, and getting ready for Good Liniment in the late winter sometime.

Are any of you excited for Fall, October in general, or Halloween? Let me hear from you.