Mentors, animals, and ghosts #Newbook

Welcome to another post about “Once Upon a Time in the Swamp.” These are promotional in nature, but I want to make each of them unique. Today, we’re going to talk about mentors, animals, and ghosts.

Mari and her husband were tobacco farmers before the first chapter. It was a good life and they were making something for themselves and their young son. At one time she and her husband needed draft animals to help with the work.

Mari’s husband told her all a farm needs is sunshine and dirt. When they sold their crop, they went to the auction, but could not afford all the horses and mules. They wound up with a pair of young steers that would become oxen when they completed their second year. They named the pair Sunshine and Dirt.

Poor Sunshine is one of the tragedies in the first chapter, Leaving Mari with Dirt. Dirt was the “off” oxen of the pair and never was as level-headed as Sunshine. If anything, he’s downright dangerous. This cantankerous animal becomes Mari’s primary source of travel. He’s a ton of hooves, horns, and snot with a bad attitude to be wary of.

There is another fun animal in the tale named Worthless. She is a gangly pup of a Black & Tan Coonhound. Worthless is as sweet as she can be and provides something for Mari to hang on to. She becomes like a second child, and offers some bright spots to a dismal situation.

Mari needs to acquire a few skills to pull off her mission. This comes in the form of some veterans of the previous war. One is a female recluse who saves Mari’s life after yet another tragedy. Kelilah was a scout, and her regimental badge is a huge knife known as an Arkansas Toothpick. She trains Mari in its use and gives her one from her personal collection.

She also comes across a trader named Vance Dunham. His store has many handguns and longer weapons, but Mari is priced out of that market. He consents to sell her an older revolver and more importantly trains her in how to use it. The deck is stacked against her when all her enemies have semi-automatic weapons, but it’s the best she can do.

If you’re getting the idea I was unkind to Mari, you’re right. This character has to face some huge obstacles along the way. She doesn’t always fare well, and this has an effect upon her. She’s haunted by some creepy and crazy dreams. These are filled with dead people, a skeleton, and one creepy rattlesnake she refers to as La Serpiente, who talks to her.

Towards the end, Mari is on her last nerve. There isn’t much left but her drive to avenge her family.

If this sounds like a story you’d like to dive into, I would appreciate the opportunity. Tell your friends, share the post on social media, tell your enemies if they’ll drop a couple of bucks on a copy.

Blurb: Mari and her husband opted for a simple life as farmers. It’s been decades since the world tore itself apart, pitting neighbor against neighbor and family against each other. They were happy in this re-emerging world, until disaster struck.

Mari sets out on a solo quest to avenge the deaths of her family and loss of everything she holds dear. She’s ill equipped for the task, but seems to have time on her hands. Time alone in the wilderness to deal with her personal demons along the way.

She is helped by a few sympathetic elders and a couple of animal companions with lessons Mari can use if she pays attention. Can Mari find justice for her family?

Set in a post apocalyptic, Gulf Coast world, this is a story for fans of the old Spaghetti Westerns.

Get your copy right here https://mybook.to/OnceUponTimeSwamp

Here, there, and everywhere

I never really had a plan for today. Last night was payday so I paid the bills. I also ordered cover art for Once Upon a Time in the Swamp. There are so many new publications right now I’m hoping May will be a good time for a release.

I started a new project involving my space trilogy. It only came to about two pages, but I’m still getting reacquainted with the characters. They need to go on a quest into unclaimed territory and it’s a little different than the civilized parts of the galaxy.

I scheduled the third part of my creature creation series for Story Empire. It will go live later this month and involves those creatures who may be a little more like us. Those that need some culture and societal background to them.

Then I hacked out a bit of a post for Story Empire for sometime down the road. I like to get a few notes down early, because I occasionally struggle for ideas over there.

I also started reading a book of short stories and got three of those under my belt. Good stuff, but I have to balance this stuff out with everything else. I love short fiction for this reason.

Later today we’re taking my truck in for regular service, then I promised Old What’s Her Face we could have date night. It looks like I’m not going to kill it with word count, but it all counts as progress. As far as date night and trucks, that counts in a different way. Might manage a few more words tomorrow.

Story Challenges

Word count was minimal today. Less than 1000 words. I like challenging myself, and this is posing plenty of those.

My characters, Jenny and her son, went on a little road trip. This was feasibly to help with his college report, but it was to the site of the last cattle mutilation they are aware of.

Note: I’ve already changed the son’s name three times. I need to stick with it and possibly do a word search later if something clicks.

Jenny explored the idea this could be related to the Green River Killer, but this thought passed fairly quickly.

I also fell down a research rabbit hole. Geology and radioactive materials. There was a uranium mine in Eastern Washington, but I don’t have a great reason to visit there. There is also one reactor and I mentioned that in passing.

What I need to do is work up a shadowy group to follow and intimidate during whatever Jenny is getting into. I know about what I want, but it hasn’t formed fully in my mind.

I resisted finding one of the biggest clues today. It’s too soon in the story for that. I’ll probably intro the sourpuss old mentor Jenny needs to see this all the right way.

Not a real productive day, but I had a nice conversation with Mom, and Old What’s Her Face and I got to enjoy a nice Sunday Breakfast.

Just to keep things interesting, let’s have another Pinterest Board. This one is a subset of cars https://pin.it/3KgN7w1 Maybe you need one of these for something you’re writing.

2022. That’s a wrap.

It’s that time of year once more. This is the post nobody is looking for, but it always gets a lot of reaction. The 2022 wrap up leads into the 2023 business plan, which I generally hold until after all the New Year’s Resolutions quiet down.

I was surprised when I reviewed my 2022 business plan. Based upon the interferences with daily life, I determined to limit myself to two publications, both in The Hat Series. I vowed to take more time for myself and work on some things that weren’t in that series.

It appears I met my goals, but it doesn’t feel like it. I published the two stories. I worked on other materials, but not to the degree I intended to. I have that stand alone book getting close, and wrote another one in The Hat Series. It needs some sprucing up, and I’ll probably hold it back until I can release the solo title.

I haven’t produced another volume in the space trilogy, and frankly need a few more ideas than I have. Those usually come once I read through the first volume again. The second volume is where the villains make major moves and progress. They’re generally fun to write and read.

Right now, the stand-alone book is all I’m working on. I’m usually better with two at once, and one of those is usually part of my other series.

Right before my 2021 wrap up, my father passed away. Nothing like that this year, thank God. Still, life keeps throwing hard curves. I’m monitoring a health problem, and more. We had to have the roof replaced.

One of my 2022 goals was to take life as it came. To relax a bit more. Life came in the form of a failed roof and struggles in the workplace. Where was the relax part???

Story Empire remains very important to me. I covered all my posts and they seemed to have reasonable performance. I want to keep doing this, but am struggling with topics. After years of sharing over there I wonder how much more I have to offer. One of my colleagues suggested a kind of creature feature and I’m giving that some deep consideration. I have a post about witchcraft in mind, but debated sharing it on this site as part of some book promotion. Don’t have to worry about it for a couple of months.

As far as the author world goes, I met my goals. The last few years were kind of crappy all around, but I met my goals. I’ll have to set some for next year, but I’m still going to keep them realistic.

A reasonable effort

From a purely numbers point of view, I managed three-quarters of one chapter. It was already started, and I finished it.

Every story comes with its own challenges, and this Hat story is no different. This time, the problem comes to Lizzie, but she knows where and what it is from the very first chapter. There is no big mystery to unravel.

It involves a swarm of gremlins at a national security agency. This is a real place in St. Louis, and since these stories are in pseudo St Louis, it was a good fit.

The struggle comes from Lizzie not being outfitted to fight a swarm of tiny creatures. The .357 magnum revolvers just don’t seem to work here, and a pitchfork isn’t much better. I gained a bit from trying to find her some better gear to finish the job.

I’m at just under 3/4 of the way through the story. This one is still going to have all the crazy things, and a lot of banter, but it’s more about Lizzie powering up to a degree. Can’t be a large degree because of the ongoing nature of these stories.

I’m delving deeper into Lizzie’s circle of friends, and even introduced a new witch with a new skill set. There’s even a chapter where Noodles the turtle-dog-thing gets to help her out. It’s crazy just like he is, but she’s going to lose access to him. The hero has to cross the finish line herself.

One of my goals here is to show the struggle of young people today. Granted it’s a crazy POV, but Lizzie constantly fights to make ends meet. This story is largely about debt. There is real world bank type debt, but there’s also indebtedness to friends. I’ll have to remember to include some kind of gift for Noodles.

My desire is to wrap this one with a couple of musical gigs, then have her start paying back some of that personal debt. Right now, I have it planned as a work party that’s just a cover for a girls night with her new witch friends. I have to decide how graphic I want these girls to get when there are no men around.

I suppose the hat will be there, and he might help tone things down. He can also be a bit gossipy, so there should be some chances to let him shine. Lizzie does have one secret that can get out. I’m going to stand silent on it, because it will be revealed in The Midnight Rambler, which is being formatted as I type this. It will publish this fall. After all, what would October be without a new Hat story?

I’m also sensing a concern here. I like having access to Lizzie’s circle of friends, but I don’t want to develop a theme here. Problem leads to seeking help from the coven which allows her to succeed. I may be fortunate in that the next story will involve Lizzie on the road away from Good Liniment and all it has to offer.

Too many windows

I generally only have one or two windows open at a time. Recently, it’s gotten kind of crazy. I’m working on two manuscripts at once, so when I find something interesting or informative, I currently leave that window open. Beats adding a bunch of bookmarks when I only need them temporarily.

Let’s take a look at them, just for a laugh.

Entertaining Stories – you are here.

Facts about Potassium Iodide – used for radiation poisoning

Google window -for saltwater taffy

Recipe – for saltwater taffy – vehicle for Potassium Iodide

Google translate – for English to Spanish

Biography site – about a lady named Madeleine Mellinger. I was looking for a cool name, but I like the history, too. Probably just call mine Mad Mellinger. She could be a little mad.

Google Window – how to make kombucha

Site – what is a SCOBY

Google window – culturing beer yeast

Biology site – toad trilling sounds

Site – yeast ranching

Google window – mother of vinegar

Site – Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

As I use data from these sites, I will close the windows. At that point, I usually add notes to my cast of characters, that way I will have a smaller, more pertinent, line or two about the subject.

It’s too many windows, but I intend to close a few of them over the upcoming holiday weekend.

It might surprise some of you to find that speculative authors also do a ton of research. I reserve the right to change some of it up, but want to know the basics before I do.

How many windows do you currently have open?

That’s a wrap

Vacation is over. I had three projects to deal with, and only accomplished a project-and-a-half.

We got our daughter relocated to her new apartment, and that took a few days. (One for recovery. Part of one to exchange furniture and get the replacement to her.)

I don’t feel like this was a squandering of my leave time. I spent plenty of time goofing off because I wanted to. It’s taken me years to learn something that’s probably obvious to the rest of you, but I’m allowed to just relax and do fun things occasionally.

I’ll do my best to complete that project for a friend, but I’m halfway finished. I’ll dedicate next weekend to that with some real focus.

After that, I want to read through The Midnight Rambler from start to finish. I haven’t looked at it for a while, so relatively fresh eyes could really help the story.

Beyond that, everything is kind of loose ideas. I’m bound to start another story, and might even start two. I also need to come up with some artwork for Midnight Rambler, at least in my mind.

I might not get it all done next weekend either, but I’ll move the chains somehow.

For now, it’s back to the grind with some focus on what my job requires. I’m going to be way behind, and it might take the first couple of days just to catch up. I will, somehow.

That was unexpected

Let’s start with the good stuff and updates. I’m seeing some sales for Good Liniment, and I hope everyone is enjoying it. There are even some pages read for Wreck of the Lanternfish. Glad I figured out it wasn’t on Kindle Unlimited. Probably cost me some sales, but it works now.

Whatever disgusting plague I had seems to be over now. I ate the equivalent of one meal over a period of a week, just so I could get up every morning to see how I felt before calling in sick. On Friday, I made it to work, but didn’t accomplish much beyond the backlog of crap. Forge ahead on Monday.

I even skipped my corned beef in exchange for two of the golf ball sized red potatoes that are part of the meal. Once I got home Friday night, I remedied that. Rumor is corned beef hash for breakfast tomorrow.

I spent a little time updating my blog. The new cover is linked in the sidebar now. I finally got it onto Goodreads, too. Just all those fiddly things that have to get finished.

I even managed to spend some time with Percy the Space Chimp today. I didn’t keep track, but it was slow going. No more than 1000 words or so. Finished a chapter at least.

That was when it was time to address the new problems. Roommate issues in Sun Valley caused our daughter to take a leave of absence, then move back to Boise. We rented her a U-Haul, then spent the afternoon unloading it here and lugging things upstairs. I also have some of her crap in my office, which is going to get more use with more people here. I left myself a path to my chair and put my headphones on charge. I’m having water now, and a preemptive Aleve.

I’ve been calendaring and sending out blog tour posts sporadically. I can only keep up with about two per week. My days of hitting multiple sites per day, or five days per week are over. I’ll keep pecking away at that, but I have all my volunteers lined up.

Our daughter’s plan is to look for a place back in her area and keep her job. Real estate in Sun Valley is ridiculous, so that dream might die hard. Fingers crossed for her, but there are a lot of jobs around here that pay as much or more than she currently makes. Some of them are even at our airport.

Jackson the cat is back, and I kind of like him.

Tomorrow is likely to be busy and noisy around here, so I don’t think much more will get done on the author front. Hope all of you have having fun somewhere, or being productive as you choose.

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.

Just Rambling

Since it was payday, Old What’s Her Face and I had date night Friday. We decided to try a new place. It’s fancy and they did a good job on the building. It was the mirror opposite of the burger joint we visited two weeks ago.

If you remember, I finished a burger the size of my head and thought I was going to die. Friday I ordered grilled ahi. It was supposed to come with black rice, spinach, corn salsa, and avocado.

The tuna was sliced and spread across the bed containing everything else. If you reassembled it, it would be about 3” x 3” and 3/4 inch thick. The black rice looked really cool, but tasted like dirt. No seasonings of any kind. There were two spinach leaves, a spoonful of corn, and I swear to God, one piece of avocado about the size of a sugar cube.

I mentioned this last time, but restaurants seem to find those extremes these days. Way too much, or not enough. The tuna was great, I’ll give them that much. For the price of my ahi, I could have bought three burgers the size of my head.

We’ve been watching some shows on the premium services. I watched a Netflix vampire movie this evening. Why does a skinny female vampire lift a huge man off his feet with one hand, but later in the film struggle to drag a wounded ally away before the sun rises?

Also, why does every damned vampire story seem to have a character named Victor or Viktor? Pay attention and you’ll notice it, too.

I introduced an alien woman in my WIP and named her Taisiya. I found it in a naming list and thought it was cool. Try actually spelling it the same way twice when it comes up every third page or so.

My WIP also has a character named Auburn. Do you know how many damned times I’ve typed out Amber? I finally did a word search to fix them all to this point.

I caught a couple of times where I wanted the Snakeworks, but wrote out the Skunkworks instead. Have to dodge that one, because it’s a real place. Word search to the rescue again.

I really try to take this stuff seriously and bring new things to the table. I worry about low-hanging fruit and try to shake things up. If I ever write a vampire named Victor, just shoot me.

We checked out the first couple episodes of Endgame. Truthfully, I watched it for Morena Baccarin. Old What’s Her Face probably had a different reason. Honestly, it’s really fun. It’s so complicated I can’t see it having a long run, but I’m going to stick with it.

Managed a tiny bit of writing today, and my damned crew still hasn’t left the Snakeworks. I never intended to get a lot done today, but there are a couple-three interesting things that happened there. Percy and Buffer are disabled veterans. She has a prosthetic arm, and his is only a finger. They are very close, so I had them wake up together after a drunken debacle.

Percy is a genetically engineered Space Chimp, and she’s a human. I wrote it such that nothing happened, but it changes their dynamic. I’m going to try getting some mileage out of the term, “Mostly Human.” Genetically, he’s close. Physically, she’s referring to her missing arm. Buffer’s really hung up about the stump of her arm.

Hope I can do something creative with it. Maybe they can have a discussion where it comes up, then he can buy her a necklace that say’s “Mostly Human,” or something. I’m still dwelling on it. Hope I can make it good.

I have a Sunday regular thing where I call my parents. It’s just Mom now, but I call her every Sunday. Maybe after that I can finally send my fictional crew back to space.

Hope all of you are having a great weekend. Leave me some comments. What do you think about character names, off-beat lovers, Morena Baccarin (Loved her since V).? Anything, really.