(no title)

New Year, New Book

A couple of days before the new year hit, I finished editing the final chapters of “The Coming Storm”! I am currently working on all of the back-end minutiae in order to get it prepped and ready for publication.

I am both very excited as well as incredibly nervous because, now that work on the first two books is done, it will be time to get back to the business of actual writing–something I have not done a lot of since I wrapped up “The Coming Storm”. But I’ve got really good, thrilling things in store for the Realm of Cygil and I hope that you guys will follow me on this journey!

New year, new book is my focus. But I’m not just talking about “The Coming Storm”. No, I’ve got other plans and I’m more than ready (and, yes, nervous) to get them underway!

Doins a-Transpirin’!

There are a couple of exciting things happening for those of you who actually read this page! 😉

First of all, The Call of Chaos has just become available in paperback! Because this has essentially been my goal for years, it means a lot to me to have a copy of my own book that I can hold in my hands! E-books are insanely handy when traveling, but I always prefer to have an actual book in my hands–to smell the pages, hear them turn, and feel the words in my grasp!

I am, understandably, very excited! I may have had a difficult time sleeping the past couple of days.

I am working on putting together a mailing list for those readers interested in keeping up with The Forgotten Years without having to seek out information on their own. It may take a little while but I will get it up and running!

Thank you for reading!

❤

The Home Stretch

Publishing The Call of Chaos as an e-book was fabulous. I’m still reeling from the euphoria produced when I see my book on Amazon.com for sale. And, no, that feeling is not created because “I could sell tons of books and it would be awesome.”

That feeling is caused because I get to entertain readers.

And, now, I’m very close to realizing the dream I started out pursuing–the original goal I had when I started this journey years ago and e-books were far from a thing. I’m very close to holding a printed copy of my own book in my hands, and I absolutely can NOT wait.

I’ve got a couple of steps left to take with regards to the cover art but it’s merely a matter of time before it’s all finished and, believe me, I am feeling extremely impatient.

I hope, when The Call of Chaos is printed and available, that I am able to entertain a whole bunch of people with it. And I hope that readers love it as much as I do…which is probably impossible, but you can always just humor me. 😉

What a Release!

Today, The Call of Chaos officially was released! This really marks not only the end of a long journey, but the beginning of a new one.

With the publishing of my first book, I finally have achieved a goal that I have pursued (off and on) since high school. The official publishing is an end to that goal, but the beginning of a new goal. The Call of Chaos is the first book in a series that, now, I must complete, and I am ever so looking forward to doing just that!

Hopefully, I will find people interested enough to join in this journey with me. Hopefully, I will be able to entertain you enough to keep you coming back for more. Hopefully, I can grow as an author and continue improving.

Because I have thoroughly enjoyed this, and I wish to continue doing it!

If you’d like to check out the book, it is here (with a print version in the works):

Frusticipation

Last night, I made a couple of very minor additions to The Call of Chaos and, for grins, I decided to spell/grammar check the whole thing one last time.

How did I miss these mistakes the first time!!??The system found several, really stupid mistakes that I should have caught (and the system should have caught) the first time!

Now, granted, these may have all cropped up when I was reading the book aloud and making additions/corrections, but they were no less annoying.

Needless to say, I have this urge to go over it three or four more times just to make sure. I’m not going to, though, because, at some point, you just gotta call it good.

This baby’s being published soon, map or no map. If I have to, I will put out a supplementary map after the fact.

Elation

Today, I played around with online tools for publishing–both for e-books and physical books.

I have enough of The Call of Chaos done to be able to manipulate it online and set up its formatting.

And then I previewed the book.

Needless to say, I am excited. I am stoked. It’s all coming together and today was a realization that, yes, this is going to be a thing. This will be a thing that I will be proud of. I can’t wait.

Fear

I’ll admit it. I live in fear. Always.

Constantly, I fear that my writing ideas will run dry or that I will have so many ideas that I’ll never get them all out–that there will be fantastic stories I want to tell and, even if they’re terrible, that I’ll never release them all.

I fear that my writing won’t be exactly as I want it. No matter how many times I edit, no matter how much I scrutinize, I fear that I will always have been able to “do better”.

I fear that I will pass on something amazing because I did not have the patience or the lucidity of vision to take it, shape it, and create the diamond that lies within that ugly piece of coal.

I’m afraid that the idea I go with that shapes an entire story is the wrong idea, and only after I publish the finished product will I realize that, no, I NOW have the perfect idea but it is too late to change it all. What if The Beatles really had gone with “Scrambled Eggs” because they couldn’t come up with the actual lyrics for “Yesterday”? Yeah, that.

All of this is part of the reason it takes me so damn long to produce a final product (yes, part of it is also time constraints–gotta pay the bills). I am not a perfectionist, but I question everything. If something in my writing can be done better, then I want to do it better. I want to look at each piece my writing from every angle, inside and out. I want to tell the best damn story that I can.

And that story may suck but at least I will know that it was the best effort I could put forth.

Control

Whether it is the “correct” decision or not, self-publishing is the avenue I am using for my books. I decided, at the outset, that I would maybe toy with submitting the books to agents/publishers and, if someone bit, great. If not, I was under no illusions in the first place.

I fully realize that there are pros and cons to both processes. Ultimately, I want to have as much control over my writing as I possibly can. The potential for profit may be less, it may be more, or it may not even matter. Don’t get me wrong, I like to be paid for my work, but these books are more important to me than just dollar signs. I thoroughly enjoy writing them and I hope that people enjoy reading them.

The creation, the writing, the imagination–these are what I value more than anything. Would I love to be a world-famous writer who wordsmiths for a living? You bet I would. I am, however, a realist. What I derive from this whole experience is going to be affected by a lot of factors and, yes, money will be one of them. But it will not, by any means, be the most important factor.

When I first started writing, there were zero avenues for self-publishing, so I consider it a boon that I can work on something in a hobby-like fashion (albeit, rabidly) and, on my own time, put it out there for people to consume and, hopefully, enjoy. Unless something better comes along, this is the route I am taking.

Hearing My Own Voice

I don’t enjoy hearing my own voice–even if it’s just audio, but especially on video. I would wager that most people feel much the same way. As a result, I try to avoid hearing my own voice because all I can think is “How can anyone stand to listen to me talk?” Actually, I think that a lot anyway.

So it’s no surprise that I am not a fan of reading my own writing out loud. It’s bad enough that I have to pore over it anyway, but doing so audibly is the proverbial hot wing sauce in the newly-shaven face. Or the salt in the wound…you like salt, I like hot wings.

I have, however, begun reading “The Call of Chaos” to myself, out loud. No matter how proud I am of this book and its successor, it is still relatively unpleasant. Oh, and I’m not sure anyone else in Starbucks appreciated me reading to myself. (Don’t worry, I actually read it really quietly…with headphones on…so maybe not as quietly as I thought?)

In summary: reading my stuff out loud: bad. Getting to this stage of the writing process: good.

That Light at the End of the Tunnel

I feel myself getting anxious. It’s a feeling that starts as a very low, soft hum deep down but, over time, it gains momentum and mass, slowly becoming more than just a niggling in the back of my head.

It’s gone from “sweet, you’re getting done with TWO books” to “These should be done already. What’s the holdup, man?” I really want these books to be finished.

In the video game industry there is a term called “vaporware” to describe a game that is taking so much time to be released that nobody truly believes it will ever hit the market. While I know that both of my books are not vaporware, I sometimes feel that this is the case. If every single aspect of this process was within my control, I would be able to push myself to simply buckle down and get it done. After all, that’s what I want–to get these bad boys out there.

Editing is going much more quickly than I thought it would and I am nearing the end. That light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger way more rapidly than I thought it would. After that, it’s all business, which I am not looking forward to. And, y es, there is a little doubt–pushing that final button and putting these books out there is a little scary…and exciting! Oh, I’ll do it, but I may have to throw up afterward.

Until then, I have editing to take care of. I also have artwork to get squared away. That second part is out of my control. I cannot draw and my eye for art is pretty much totally blind. I cannot create visual art. This process is out of my hands and, as I near completion of these two books, I’m beginning to get nervous.

I can, however, only focus on those things over which I have control. I will get done what I can and harangue the people that I need to. Hopefully I can keep the nerves to a minimum.