Falling Leaves

Posted on by Nathan 6 Comments

We’ve had our first snow, I’ve been skipping a lot of morning walks lately, and the trees are shedding their fall finery in piles. In spite of all that, I’m feeling better than I have in weeks.

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
I’ve made a lot of progress in re-imagining the story. I’ve known what the cat is for months. The struggle is trying to fit him into the book. It’ll get there. Eventually. I’ve notified Podium that I’m not going to make the December date for them. Rather a good book than a fast one.

Marva Collins
The audio for School Days is up for pre-order, due Nov 21. Working Class should be next but I’m not seeing any news from Podium on that yet.

What Am I Reading?

A lot of comfort reads last month, continuations of previous series including Tom Larcombe’s Crow Hill and Small Town Crafter, Jerry Boyd’s Bob and Nikki, and a new series – Rachel Rener’s Gilded Blood. Liked them all.

The recommendation for the month is a book I did a beta read for in September – Chris Lewis’s book Trouble Wore Red. Chris is a pen name for an author I’ve read and enjoyed a lot so when the opportunity came for the beta read, I jumped on it.

The characters grabbed me by the ears and dragged me through a twisted tale of luck, skill, and derring-do. It’s a sci-fi spy story set on Mars with a lot of fun scrapes, interesting problems, and a locked door that shouldn’t exist – but does.

Loved it. I’ve just been waiting for the release so I could tell you all about it.

But – as usual – don’t take my word for it. Maybe grab a sample and see what you think.

Big purple chevrons form the background. The silhouettes of a pole dancer with long hair and assorted club goers make up the foreground.

Looking Ahead

The month ahead looks like “more of the same” with me wrestling with the cat, tuning up my new computer, and generally settling in for a long winter ahead. With the end of year holidays coming up, I’m not looking for a lot of new words. After the first seven months of the year, it feels good to let my well fill up a bit. Giving myself some breathing room has loosened a lot of knots.

Whether those knots are holding me up or holding me back?

That’s a harder question.

Until next month, safe voyage.

Cool Down

Posted on by Nathan 8 Comments

The shift in temperatures has brought me back to life, I think. After a less than stellar September, I’m kicking into October with new vigor.

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
The story wasn’t working. I got stalled out on it but I think it’s purring along again. We’ll see how long it takes to wrap it up.

Ishmael
The manuscripts are all at Podium. School Days is up for pre-order on Audible. Look for Working Class soon, but I haven’t heard from them about it.

More than a few of you have written, hoping that this isn’t the end of Ishmael Wang. I don’t believe so. I think there are a lot of stories for him to tell us yet. I don’t know what they’re going to be. We’ll have to see what percolates up.

What Am I Reading?

I’ve been reading a ton. Lots of Tom Larcombe litRPG, a book 2 by John Wilker, but the absolute banger is Gwen DeMarco’s Sophie Feegle series.

Sophie Feegle – down on her luck, one step from homelessnes – gets a reprieve when she gets a job assisting the local coroner on the graveyard shift (heh) in the local morgue. She finds a family among the Odd Ones who work with her, augmented by the randy old lady who lives next door and a detective who has a problem with too many people dropping dead.

I siphoned all five of these books up with a hose, one after another. My Kindle usage stats went up for a few days. I loved them.

But you might want to grab a sample of Book 1, Sophie Feegle and the Odd Ones, and see what you think for yourself.

Looking Ahead

After a few weeks of barely crawling around on my metaphorical hands and knees in this Wizard’s Cat story, I think I’ve turned the corner. Or at least another corner. I should know better than to push a story that doesn’t want to go in the direction I’m heading. It’s about as effective as pushing on a rope. The last week or so has seen more positive movement than the preceding month and I’m hoping that it’ll continue.

I’m terrible at predicting, so we’ll see if it comes true.

I don’t know what I’ll write after that. Probably nothing else this year but who knows. Once I get cruising again, the words might just keep on flowing.

Fingers crossed.

Until next month, safe voyage.

One More Time With Feeling

Posted on by Nathan 13 Comments

August did not go as planned. I don’t know why I thought it might. Naive optimism, no doubt. Medical issues (family members, not me for a change) pulled almost all the oxygen out of the room for large swatches of the month.

So where are we … ?

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
It’s still there. It stalled out and I’m afraid I know why. Stay tuned.

Ishmael
The manuscripts are all at Podium. School Days is up for pre-order on Audible. Look for Working Class soon.

A lot of people have been asking if this is the last of Ishmael. I don’t think so. It’s just another inflection point. Unlike the others, this one happens at a good place for all concerned.

But who knows when another shoe might drop.

What Am I Reading?

I’ve been catching up on past series for the last few weeks. The one I want to recommend this month is one I’ve mentioned before – Erik Schubach’s Elfed in New York series.

The story centers around Kia Renner, aspiring investigative journalist who discovers that the world is not exactly the way she believes. Adding insult to injury, her transmogrification happens on live TV and the changes leave her scrambling. She has to take her place in a world she’s only ever seen from a great distance and navigate a sometimes dangerous path – one she never expected and certainly never wanted.

I’m reading book 6 now, but you might grab a sample of book 1, Intern and see what you think about Kia and her sudden transition from humble Sapien to something altogether different.

A young, red-haired woman with pointed ears stares directly out of the cover.

Looking Ahead

I need this month to be SeNoWriMo – September Novel Writing Month. I spent last month pondering the Wizard’s Cat and why it feels so flat to me. Stepping away from it for a time has been good for the story – not so much for getting it written.

With any luck, I can get the family here stable again soon and begin to apply butt to chair and fingers to keys to get the fractious feline purring along.

Until next month, safe voyage.