Things Almost Every Writer Wishes They Knew Better

Or Why Marketing Sucks For Everyone

There are some very real differences between traditionally published authors, indie authors, and our hybrid kin who walk in both worlds. It starts with perception–indies are always going to get dinged for editing no matter how good it is while trad authors get a pass no matter how bad it is–and works out from there.

However, there are also things that far too many of us are on our own for that we have some very profound similarities. Especially when it comes to marketing.

Sabercat And Hostile Territory On Sale!

It took me way too long to get With Triumph and Disaster out to reader. That’s all on me.

Yet, you get to benefit from my slacking off. How?

By offering a sale on the first two books.

New Tommy Reilly Book Out Now

With Triumph And Disaster is the third book in the Tommy Reilly Chronicles. It’s another one of those that’s been finished for a while and took too long to get published.

However, it’s published now.

Boom.

When Mumbo Jumbo Attacks

As a science fiction and fantasy author, I’m supposed to have a pretty good imagination. I like to think that I do. I can envision all sorts of things that never have and many that never can exist in our world. I can picture worlds with magic and mystery. I can envision worlds with amazing technology that we haven’t yet managed to recreate.

All of that is pretty easy.

However, there are people who don’t seem to be able to discern fact from fiction to such a degree that they can’t fathom the possibility that the nonsense they’ve heard in the past is anything but nonsense.

It’s Been Way Too Long

I haven’t been here in way, way too long. Sorry about that.

Let me explain what’s been going on a bit in this post, then I’ll do another post to delve into other stuff.

For those who may not know, I’m a full-time writer. I know, that might be surprising for a guy with a semi-defunct blog and a handful of indie novels available, but it’s true.

You see, I spend most of my day writing blog posts. I’m an opinion journalist, so I write literally thousands of words each and every day. So much so that when I’m done, I’m a bit mentally drained.

So, for the last year, I haven’t really put much here.

I have done some fiction, of course. I have The Last Champion ready for sale and it has been since New Year’s Eve (yeah, I know, I’m dropping the ball horribly here). I also have the next Tommy Reilly book slated for publishing later this week, assuming all things go well.

But that day job takes a lot out of me. It’s politics, which is exhausting. Plus, it’s at a level where there are occasional interviews to give (done national TV twice and a radio show a week or so back, for example) and a few other things.

However, fiction is what I love. As a result, I’m trying to spend more time writing fiction and I’ll be spending a bit more time here as well. It likely won’t be an everyday thing, but at least a bit more common than it currently is.

So, thanks for waiting patiently and let’s proceed without further ado.

In Memoriam For The Bot That Could

Earlier this week, I got a little choked up. Opportunity went dark.

It was a 90-day mission and it just kept going and going and going. Even the Energizer Bunny didn’t last as long as that little robot. Reading about the final transmission, the reference to it singing happy birthday to itself, everything about that little probe touched me in a way things normally don’t.

Now, Opportunity is marooned on Mars, hopefully to be returned to Earth as the hero it is, and I’m not a big fan of using the word hero lightly.

Until then, it’ll be part of our imagination, the same kind of imagination that sparked this yesterday.

Originally shared in a private group, several folks thought it needed a wider audience, so what the hell.

Review: The Umbrella Academy

A week or two back, I saw advertisements for Netflix’s new series, The Umbrella Academy.

For anyone unfamiliar, the premise is that on a single day, all over the world, 43 women gave birth. In and of itself, this isn’t odd. What was odd was that none of them had been pregnant when they got up that morning.

An eccentric billionaire decides to adopt as many of them as he can and, oh yeah, they all have superpowers.

Think “dysfunctional Incredibles meets dysfunctional Fantastic Four.”

The show went live yesterday, I watched it yesterday, and now I’m ready to share a few thoughts on the show.

Do What You Can’t?

I live under no delusions about my life. In a lot of ways, I’m living the dream. While my fiction doesn’t support my family, I do make a living by writing. I’m lucky that way and I know it. I make a living by being creative.

It’s beautiful.

I also know that a lot of people want to be where I am. They want to make a good living, at a minimum, from being a creative type. Meanwhile, there are a lot of other people who may mean well who will try to dissuade you from those dreams.

Earlier today, I saw a video from Casey Neistat on YouTube from a couple of years ago where he talks a bit about that:

Another Day, Another Title Finished

Last night, I typed the words that every author should aspire to type.

That’s right, I wrote, “The End.”

That’s the second title finished in the span of a month. Of course, this one was already half-finished, so it’s not quite the accomplishment that it sounds like, but this is still a great thing for me.

For the record, this is book three in the Tommy Reilly series titled, With Triumph and Disaster.

Now the plan is to take a step back and revisit The Last Champion. At this point, I’ve gotten some beta reader feedback on it, and the general comments have been positive, so I think you’ll enjoy it.

Right now, With Triumph and Disaster is in a holding pattern as I finish up The Last Champion and get it out the door. Then it’ll go out to beta readers and I’ll start something else.

Because you see, that’s what writers do. They write.

 

Thoughts On The New John Wick Trailer

John Wick.

What more can you really say? It is probably the single best action franchise around these days, and I say that as someone who generally loves most good action movie franchises.

Now, we have a new trailer for John Wick 3: