More books are on the way, well slowly.

Hello, Everyone.

It has been a while since I have posted a blog. Things have been crazy for me these past few months. Shamefully I haven't been writing as much as I'd like to, mostly due to the craziness of life, work, etc. Writing three books at once is probably one of the most painful things I have ever put myself through. Truthfully I don't know how writers like Stephen King do it. I would love to release three to four books a year, but mentally and financially that's just not possible. Also, I don't want to release garbage. I have learned from my past mistakes in publishing, especially with Abolition Book One. I wish I would have waited to release that book, but I was excited to release my first ever self published book. Every author had a book they're disappointed with but nonetheless it's published.

Now with learning from past mistakes and I've made a few, I'm happy with the results of Abolition Book Two and my first attempt at a psychological thriller, Lilly. The positive response from Lilly has been overwhelming and I look forward in releasing that sequel to you, but it'll be a while. Most likely books three and four of my Abolition Series will be out before Lilly. I've been working feverishly on these two books this past year and have reworked each book and swapped chapters in and out in order to make a better flow. I believe these two books are thus far my best work yet, and I cannot wait for you to read them. The series is going places that I would have never dreamed of when I was writing book one of the series, but here I am now.

On the other hand, I recently attended the Wheeling, Wv arts and cultural festival with my writers group and it was a success. Positive feedback on our group and on some of my books, plus I sold a few too. I will keep doing festivals in the near future, not only with my writers group but by myself as well. Festivals allow a face to face conversation and you're able to sell your work in person and have more meaningful, personal talks with those individuals. Social media platforms cannot achieve that. I have received much more positive feedback by actually putting forth the hard work.

So look for more updates and sneak peeks of my future books in the next blog post or two. Also, I have mentioned before that my writers group will be releasing an anthology book as well. Each member will be contributing a piece to that book. So look for updates on that as well. That book should be released by the end of the year or early next year.

In closing I hope everyone keeps reading. Have a wonderful evening. Cheers! 

Is winter here to stay?

A few days ago it was 70 degrees and there was even a day that neared 80 degrees, but today it's snowing once again. Luckily for me I am off so I don't have to be working outside in this winter like weather. I often think about what it would be like if the seasons never existed or if we were stuck in a winter like purgatory for good. How long would most individuals last? A year or maybe more?

Just think of that unimaginable horror for a moment...

Terrible right? Just like in George R.R. Martin's, A song of Ice and Fire, an epic novel series that inspired the show, Game of Thrones. In his land, where summer's can last for decades and the winter, well, it can last for a lifetime. To me there is nothing more terrifying than experiencing the icy grip of winter and knowing that it has it's course to run until spring can arrive, but come on, it's spring already. I'm waiting for the White Walkers to arrive and the Night King to be leading the way.

With that aside, now I'm adding an element to my apocalyptic series, Abolition, that will be a similar theme. I think every epic series needs a dark element that makes the reader shiver with fear. Now I'm not going to give away my story just yet, only because I am  currently writing books three and four in the series as we speak, but just wanted to share this with you guys. Any thoughts? If so, please share.

Now with that being said, I've been working on a small piece that will be in an anthology with other great writer's The book is due to come out late this year, but nonetheless it's exciting for me to be a part of it. So I wanted to share a little sneak peek of it with you guys. My piece is titled, Locks and Damned, so please read and tell me what you think. Obviously I'm in the editing process still, so any advice would be nice. Thanks again. Enjoy.

He was late and he knew it. It was the first night on his new job, which he desperately needed, but instead he chose to get drunk. Brent knew he had a drinking problem, but he didn’t care, nor did he have the time to deal with it. Way to go, the first night on your new job and you’re blowing it, you dumbass. His father’s words echoed in his mind as he raced towards the river dock.

Brent had just turned twenty five years old and he was still living with his parents. This new job paid well and could even be a possible career job, if he didn’t screw it up. You’re blowing it, you dumbass. Once again the memory of his father’s words stung, just as the cold, foggy air stung his face. Brent struggled to keep his feet on the old, slippery cobblestones that led down to docks. His drunkenness had gotten the better of him a few times, but each time he slipped or fell, he picked himself back up and continued on through the fog.

It was well after midnight and the barge he worked on was scheduled to leave at 12 o’clock sharp, or at least that’s what the captain had told him during his last interview. Brent picked up his pace. He knew he was getting closer for he was surrounded by storefronts on each side of him now. Over the years the riverside had gentrified to become a shopper’s paradise. Decades ago people would have never dreamed of coming down to the river’s docks, unless you were a fisherman or a worked a river barge, but now those jobs were a thing of the past. A long forgotten past that most people had almost forgotten completely. Now people flocked to the area to purchase clothing, special coffee drinks, and perfumes.

The Sasquatch was the last river barge working in Newburg. You had to travel about fifty miles downriver or upriver until you would come across another river barge. The Sasquatch was a behemoth. Altogether there were fifteen barges tied together, three wide and five long. The length caused the end to disappear into the horizon at dusk, and be out of sight during misty days.

Brent was nervous as hell though. The boat was massive and intimidating, but at least he wasn’t piloting it, no, he was serving as a new deckhand. During his interview the captain informed him that the last deckhand had fallen overbroad. The crew attempted to rescue him, but the strong river’s current pulled him down and so he drowned. It took emergency rescuers about a week until they finally recovered his body. So I’m replacing a dead guy, Brent thought as he finally saw the beast of a boat appear before him out of nowhere through the thick nighttime fog. The boat hadn’t left yet, which was a good thing, but Brent wished they had left him behind. His nerves and his stress level would have subsided and he could’ve continued drinking and relaxing.

While undoing rope tie downs one of his fellow deckhands took notice of Brent approaching. “It’s about damn time. We were about to leave without you.      If it had been up to me, we would’ve left twenty minutes ago,” he snarled to Brent.

Some of my favorite shows that inspire me and my writing

So I'm going to do something a little bit different this time around. I'm going to share with you some of my favorite shows. When I first started writing my Abolition Series in 2010, that's when The Walking Dead premiered and I was like, wow this show is so amazing, but yet disappointing to me at the same time, being that Abolition was apocalyptic fiction genre, just like The Walking Dead. So of course I changed some of my writing to make Abolition different, only because I didn't want to be compared to The Walking Dead since at the time I was trying to find an agent and publisher for my book.

So as I'm writing Abolition, I'm following The Walking Dead as well and of course it became a influence for me and my writing. The first three seasons were fantastic, but now, wow the show is awful. The writer's have grown lazy and character's story lines have become dull. I refuse to let my writing become that way, so I've been trying to incorporate more colorful characters and strong character subplots into my writing. Sorry Walking Dead, but you're dead to me.

Now Game of Thrones. I have read all the books and I am a fan of both the show and the books. Each are different in their own way, but nonetheless the writing for the books and the show is incredible. A Song of Ice and Fire are easily one of my favorite fantasy book series that I have read and Game of Thrones is high up on the list of my favorite shows. Just yesterday they announced that the show's final season wouldn't return until 2019. WAIT! WHAT? 2019 are they crazy? Of course that's what everyone is saying on social media, but I get it from a writer's viewpoint. They want the final season of the show to be epic, especially because there is only going to be six episodes, but longer movie like episodes. I have faith that the writer's will do their job and do it well, and give the show an ending it's fan and the show deserves.

Stranger Things. Netflix has become an amazing source of great original shows. Stranger Things is an amazing nostalgic show that takes me back to my childhood, but with great music and better writing to go along with it. I'm happy that Netflix has renewed Stranger Things with a season three and four. I look forward to see the Upside Down once more.

So now with all these shows on their breaks I've been searching for another show and I have found it. Once again it's another Netflix show, Godless, and I'm hooked. Great writing, acting, the music, the beautiful landscape, cinema photography, etc. Godless makes me feel like I'm out west in the 1880's. So Godless will have to do until I find another show to hold me over until my other favorite shows return. These shows help inspire me to create a world just like in Abolition that my readers can get lost into and strive to make my writing better.

What's your favorite shows or inspiration? I hope you enjoyed this blog post. With all this cold weather consuming us, it makes for good reading time or binge watching a show. So grab a blanket and your comfy clothes and do just that. Cheers!