A New Beginning

I have decided that Friday's will become my day of working on social media.  It's a part of marketing, and I really stink when it come's to marketing.  A part of that is probably talking about where I have been, and where I am going.  So here it goes.

Some point in 2014 I completed and published Requiter.  My writing life had taken a direction that involved an upward trajectory. I had written over half of the third book, which meant sometime in 2015 or early 2016 it would be published and I would be on to the next.

Then work happened.  Okay, maybe it happened before Requiter was published.  It happened regardless.

With the first two books I worked forty to fifty hours a week at my bill-paying job. This left me with time to work on my passion.  Somewhere around 2014 (it's all a blur), I picked up more responsibilities and a crew of folks to manage, because of that corporate buzzword "downsizing". The department I worked most closely with went from five people down to two. I was no longer close to that department, I became one of those two.

For ten years or more, my short weeks were sixty hours, and I averaged closer to seventy hours a week.  The money was great, but the balance between work and home was shot.  There were times when it would have been more productive to just throw a cot into my office and nap when it was convenient.

You can imagine, no, you can see, my passion took a shot in the spine and laid paralyzed in the corner of the room.  When I was at home, I was too drained (mentally and physically) to do anything.  Lack of sleep really took a toll.

The summer of 2023 brought the beginning of the end.  An event woke me up and I let the company know I was done.  January of 2024 I made my last appearance at my place of employment and I haven't looked back since.

Like starting a gas-powered weed eater at the beginning of the season, it took several pulls and multiple false starts to get the passion on the move again.

And it feels great!

For several weeks, now, I have been in the habit of writing.  Each morning I climb out of bed, work out, walk/run five miles (this morning I did neither...), then lock myself away in my little room and work on my craft. 

I write, I edit, I read about both, I watch videos about it, and I've even looked into making some of my own videos.  At the very least, for five mornings a week, it is all about writing.

I just finished up a pencil edit of chapter 37.  I don't know what the timeline is, now that I don't have a day job, but I do know that this third book is well on its way to completion.

I am excited!

Some Things Are Forgotten

Until they are remembered...

For ten short years, I poured my life into my job.

That was a mistake.

My passion fell to the wayside, as my career ascended.

Then fell flat on its face.

Now, I ended that soul-sucking career and have turned my attention back to where it should have been all along.

Moral of my story?

Your employer doesn't care about you.  You may think they do.  You may think that years of hard work gets rewarded.  You may even believe, your employer is different.  Don't fall for it.  Bank the money you earn from the hard work and be prepared to move on.

Yes, it sounds like sour grapes, and perhaps it is.  But I have returned my full attention to a passion forgotten.

And it feels good. 

Yo Ho Yo Ho A Writers Life for Me

Since before Requiter was released, I have been hard at work on book three; until three or four weeks ago.  I needed to step away and revisit the real world for a few moments.

Since May of 2012 my time away from work has been dominated by the World of Nilrus; writing, editing, marketing, rinse and repeat.  This has been one heck of journey, and I’ve enjoyed it.  I will continue to enjoy it.  Now it’s time for me to dive back into this fantasy world.

Book Three:

At this point, most of you know I will not have a title for this book until near completion.  I am roughly halfway through the brain purge.  I’m struggling here and there with timeline issues.  The book deals with several storylines that need to mesh in the end.  Eldric and company are returning to Dalthanalle, Lith and his band of merry elves are also going to Dalthanalle, albeit for different reasons.  The Knights Kranse have a want to visit that wonderful city, and Aeldon works on his return.  Add General Grunsch and all his friends to the list.  Dalthanalle has become a genuine tourist destination; the Disneyland of Nilrus.

Of course, we can’t forget the rulers of the fair city; King Alik and Queen Elma.  Oh wait!  Does Keeper Leandros actually rule the city?

I have built myself quite a trap here with more than eight story lines to follow.  It is quite a challenge to bring them all together in the end, but it promises to be an engaging story.  I really can’t wait to see how it all ends.

Spuds Au Rotten:

This is the short story I promised long ago.  I have the cover art for it, but I hit a little snag.  An additional scene was suggested, and I agreed.  When I went to add the scene, the electronic document was gone.  Gone!  This is wild, because I am OCD when it comes to backing up my work, yet I can’t find Spuds anywhere.  I say it is a little snag because I have a hard copy of the story.  It is just a matter of typing it all up again.

But, Book Three is priority.  When I hit the next dry spot, I will get Spuds finished and published.

Condr:

I started this story a few years ago, and it will likely be the first book after Drums of Rallinwar is completed.  Occasionally, I hammer out a scene for the book.  I like the story, and the main character.  This book will be a standalone.  If it works out, Condr will be the first of many stand alone books based on his adventures.

Anyway, that’s about where I’m at right now.  I hope to have Book Three published this year, but I’ve learned my lesson and I’m not promising anything when it comes to release dates.

In other, more important, news; Requiter is available.

Amazon
Smashwords
iTunes
Diesel ebooks

I’m still waiting for Barnes and Noble to put it out, but I strongly encourage you to purchase a copy for your Nook from Smashwords.  Mark Coker continues to be an awesome advocate for the Indie world, and has earned every penny he makes from book sales.

Time is Like My Daughter; Short

 

This busy lifestyle never seems to end.  I had to find a new mode of transportation, since the Memory Machine choked on me Christmas Eve.  The time for looking had to come from somewhere, so the writing suffered a bit.  In the process of all that, I needed to file taxes to get money for the truck.  Of course, that resulted in more time away from the writing desk.

The good news:  I have a new-to-me truck.  That should get me another ten years.

With a fresher mode of transportation, I have been busy planning the next Gunter Family vacation.  It looks like we may have another trip with the full brood.  My brain is in serious need of this trip.

Spring Cleanup is here.  Yeh, it was thirty something when I woke up this morning.  We spent the weekend piling junk on the curb for pickup.  In the process of cleaning, I stumbled on a Nintendo 64 box with all the instructions and paperwork, as well as a Mario Kart game package.  It’s hard to believe I had time for something like that.

Now, I can almost park the motorcycle in the garage and not have to walk sideways when I jump off.

At some point, over the last couple of years, I gained a new friend just above my waisteline.  I guess between my day job and writing, I spend the bulk of my waking hours in a desk chair.  In light of this new guest, I’ve set aside an hour or so every day to see if I can “run” him off.  I hate to steal more time from the fantasy world, but I’m sure the truck’s gas mileage will increase if it doesn’t have to haul so much…

With all that is going on in my life, I am still plugging away at the final book in the Drums of Rallinwar series. I look forward to finishing this project off and moving on to the next. I’ll slip in a complete update on the next visit to The Stray Scribe.

 

In other, more important, news; Requiter is available.

Amazon
Smashwords
iTunes
Diesel ebooks

I’m still waiting for Barnes and Noble to put it out, but I strongly encourage you to purchase a copy for your Nook from Smashwords.  Mark Coker continues to be an awesome advocate for the Indie world, and has earned every penny he makes from book sales.

I'm Back

Yes, I have been away for a while.  I needed to step back and give this whole blog thing some thought.  I also stepped away from social media for a bit.

Why?

Negativity.

It was one of those moments where I stepped backed and asked:  “Wow, dude, is this really who I am?”  No, not really.  I’m really not a social type person, but I am also not as negative as I sometimes come across.  Unfortunately, for me, when I spew out a blog post, the contents have a negative feel in a lot of cases.  I don’t much care for the perception it conveys.

But then, there are still things I just need to get off my chest.

This issue really seemed to take root when I noticed some of the feeds on my personal Facebook page actually turned me away from the authors of the posts.  I mean, who wants to purchase an item or service from someone whose posts are primarily complaints?  Those negative feeling posts led me to question who would buy my books, when I was doing close to the same thing.  Maybe not to the same extent, but darn near.

That’s when I stepped back and evaluated the purpose of this blog.  The Stray Scribe was brought into existence as a piece of my “Writer’s Platform”.  One of those annoying terms that basically means, I’m trying to get my name out there into the big wide world.  Through this blog, I wanted to show the journey of a budding writer.  

After looking back, I think I’ve done a fairly decent job of it.  On top of that, I hadn’t whined as much as I thought I had.  I was simply being hyper-sensitive due to outside influences.  I hope.

Anywho, I’m back.  I will continue to ramble nonsense, and maybe even throw in a gem you might agree with from time to time.

In other, more important, news; Requiter is available.

Amazon
Smashwords
iTunes
Diesel ebooks

I’m still waiting for Barnes and Noble to put it out, but I strongly encourage you to purchase a copy for your Nook from Smashwords.  Mark Coker continues to be an awesome advocate for the Indie world, and has earned every penny he makes from book sales.

I Don't Get It

Sometimes I feel like I need to start a post with a disclaimer, and I guess this is one of those posts.  If you are one of these people, don’t take this post as an attack, because I honestly (as the title says) don’t get it.

I have a great friend in Lucky Dunbar, who has done the artwork for my stories and I hope he can continue to do so for as long as I need artwork for my stories.  BTW, visit his Facebook Page at LuckyArt.  But, as he continues to work his craft, he will be busy with other projects and I can’t expect to always be number one on his list.  So, I’ve been perusing DeviantART and finding other artists that I could use in the event Lucky just doesn’t have the time to get something done.

In my journey’s I have found a handful of artists that do some great work and their style fits what I am looking for.  For the most part, they aren’t too expensive.  If I want a character art, it costs X.  If I want a character and a background it is X.  If I want multiple characters, etc.  One artist has even gone so far as to show examples of what you would get for so much money, with the explanation that more complexity equals more money.  Very customer friendly, and since they only have certain times when they are available for commission work, I can assume business is good for these artists.

Then there is the, what I consider, not-so-customer-friendly artists.  You almost get the feeling that if you have to ask how much, then it’s too expensive for you.   

Now, let me make something clear, for those of you who are not familiar with DeviantART.  This is not a site for well known artists.  You won’t find Vellejo, Parkinson, Bell, or Kinkade hawking their wares (okay, that would be odd for a couple of them since their dead…bad examples, but you get it).  The artists found on that site are talented people who haven’t had the exposure.  Some want to be the next big thing, while others are happy with their niche in life.

So here we get to the part I don’t understand.  What is it about pricing your artwork that needs to be a secret?  Is it too complex for you to give the potential customer an idea of what they would spend if they worked with you?  Why do you shun the apparent model that other artists follow with their pricing structure?  Or, is it a case of “if you have to ask…”?

Look, I know there is some reasoning behind it.  You have a reason for not disclosing your pricing structure, assuming you have one.  But I have no clue as to what that reason could be.

Here is how it looks.  And don’t take this as an attack.  I am simply saying this is how it looks to your average customer with no training in business101.

You overvalue your work.

I am the average customer and that is how I see it.  I don’t see your art as better than the others.  In most cases, your artwork is on par with other people who are more than happy to provide pricing information.  Any guesses on which artist I will go to?

As I said, I don’t understand.  Perhaps you don’t overvalue your work, but because I don’t understand why you want to hide your pricing structure, that is how I see it.  Not only is that how I see it; that is how the average customer sees it.  The sentence “If you have to ask, it’s too much.” can be read from two different perspectives.

Time Isn't Always On My Side

Seriously.  Like never.

I have so many stories I want to tell.  I also have a 60+ hour a week job.  I am married to a wonderful lady who deserves every ounce of my attention.  I have a house to maintain.

As Book Two (Requiter?) plods to its publish date, I have begun Book Three. 

The artwork is near completion for Book Two.  The edits continue to filter in.  Soon, I will publish the book and move into marketing it (bleh).

I have been writing Book Three.  I have to write it while the story is still fresh in my head.  There is so much I want to get down before I forget it.  I really like how it is shaping up.

There is a short story sitting on my desk that needs the first few hundred words rewritten.  I wanted to publish this story months ago, but I received comments on it that I can't ignore.  The beginning of the story is just not on the same pace as the rest of it.  In my experience, it only takes a few sentences added, changed, or removed, to fix these problems, but since my brain has been tied up with the Drums of Rallinwar series, it has been difficult to address.

On top of that, there are two short stories that need to be written.  I have the notes for them, and there are just a couple of minor tweaks to make before they get written.

I have another short story that is almost complete.  I need to complete it and publish it.

And already, I have been considering the next book.  I have a story that I began a couple of years ago that will get written, but I have also been brewing a "fantastic" type story.  One of those with over the top fantasy elements.

I could lock myself away in my office for a week and not finish all the stories on my list.  I honestly get excited just thinking about what is next.  And the excitement only increases when I am told the manuscript for Book Two is in much better shape than Blood of Two was when i passed it off to the editors.  I mean, I feel as though I have improved, and it has been validated by those I work with.

I only hope you see it the same way when it gets published.

Time isn't on my side, but this is an exciting time for me.