The hazy days of summer.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I realized this morning just how long it has been since i updated this blog. Sorry about that. It was nice to keep the Book Trailer front and center for the past few weeks. I have received some nice comments on it and am very happy with how it came out.

June 1st – 3rd I attended the WisRWA Write Touch Conference. It was an excellent experience. Over 90 romance writers getting together to talk writing, publishing and the romance genre. I met two other male romance writers, and felt complete acceptance from the entire group. I did my first author signing, in a room filled with other published romance authors. It was quite exciting, and I think it went well. I was also able to pitch two agents that attended the conference, and received a request for a full read of Son of Thunder. It’s a very reputable agency. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my search for a new agent is coming to a close.

Overall I came out charged up and ready to dive into the next Demons Rising novella: Knight of the night. This is the story of Salina Frye (from Werewolves) and Ryan Chamberlain (from Templar) and deals with the events following the closing of the demon gate. As the ravaged Arcanist and Templar forces seek to deal with the rising demon domination of their world, the rival groups need to put aside three thousand years of animosity and learn to work together. Expect some real fireworks.

Oh, and there’s one last thing:

FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE…

I have decided to put the Kindle version of Swiftly Beats the Heart for free starting Wednesday (6/13) and running through Sunday (6/17), so if you are new to my blog, or just missed it in February, here’s a chance to add it to your Kindle collection.

Until next time,

Steve

The hardest part of writing is…

When I started writing, over thirty years ago, I remember thinking that if I could just finish the rough draft…I would be almost there. After all, lots of people start writing a book, but most never finish. This has got to be the hardest part of writing.

Fast forward to about twenty years ago: It’s finished. (It’s also wretched. Believe me, you will never see this first novel, at least not in its current form.) I pick the publisher I want to publish it, and send it off. It will sell, right? Most people don’t finish their novels. This one is done. Any problems they will have a professional editor fix, and I’ll be published and rich. But the waiting…this has got to be the hardest part of writing.

The rejection letter arrives. What? They couldn’t see my brilliance among all the typos, bad grammar, and poor description? Rejection sucks. I’m done with writing. Pack it away along with all my dreams. This is most definitely the hardest part of writing.

But I can’t stop writing. Over the next twenty years I make numerous starts on countless stories. Life keeps getting in the way and I keep packing it up/putting it off. Finding the time to write…that is the hardest part of writing.

Then, two years ago…RETIREMENT! Time to write. Stories get finished and polished. I finish Templars Gate (The Forsaken Templar). I even find an agent. This is it. The big time! I write There’s no such thing as Werewolves and Son of Thunder. But nothing sells. Communication breaks down. I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall. I have sequels in my brain, but it’s no use writing them unless I can sell the first. What can I write that will sell? Am I really an author? The questions…the self doubt…this has got to be the hardest part of writing.

I start entering contests, submitting for anthologies, and I get my first big break. September 29, 2011. My short story, A Requiem for Poseidon sells! It’s to a small online publisher. The book will probably only be available digitally. But it’s a sale. Twenty-five whole dollars! I have made money with my writing. I am a professional. “So, when is the book coming out?” I am asked continually. “Soon…” is all I can answer. (It’s been seven months and I still do not have a release date.) Once again, waiting is the hardest part of writing.

I part ways with my agent, and start the search for another. I have stuff now, a body of work. Two completed novels, three completed novellas, and more starts than you can shake a stick at. Though why people would want to shake a stick at anything is beyond me. I go to work every day. I don’t consider myself retired anymore. I’m a writer…an author. It’s what I do…what I am. I have two books published (and a short story in an anthology ‘coming soon’). There’s a ton of stuff I need to do, a mountain of stories I need to write, and it’s all hard work.

This isn’t the blog I started out to write. It evolved as I wrote it, as my writing tends to do. What I realized this morning, sitting here at my computer, is that the hardest part of writing…is believing in yourself.

Believe!

Steve

Query time

Amulet of the Fallen God is complete and extensively edited, which means it query time. I have been planning on using this novel to search for a new agent, so it is once again time to cast a wide net and see if I can get any nibbles. I’m really happy with the way the novel came out. It’s 99,040 words and has a lot of action and romance. It’s a fantasy with romance elements. It’s not a romance because I just couldn’t get Allsa and Dravious together at the end for a ‘happy ever after’ ending. It will probably happen in a sequel, but there was a a small roadblock at the end of the book that needed to be there for the right ending of this part of their story.

I’m very happy with the initial results for Swiftly beats the Heart. Lots of copies were downloaded during the FREE promotion, and I’ve also had a few sales for real money. I just received the proof for the print edition today, and I am hoping to have that available soon for those of you without the ability to read the kindle ebook version.I’m also hoping to get some reviews on Amazon and GoodReads to help create new interest. It’s still amazing to me that so many people are reading my story.

There is so much to do. I am now planning on my next release. I’m going to try and release my Demon Gate series. First will come There’s no such thing as Werewolves and I hope to have it ready to upload by the middle of next month sometime. That will be followed by Templars Gate and after that Demons of Dusk. I still need to finish writing the last book, and give the first two a really good edit run. Then there’s covers and formatting.

It’s a lot of work, but I have to admit…I’ve never been happier.

Until next time,

Steve

 

 

Unrepresented

With the slicing cut of his broadsword (Okay it was really just an email) the intrepid author severed his ties with his agent and agency. In one fell swoop he became that anathema the publishing elite call…the Unrepresented!

Yes, I felt it was time to take back control of my writing. While I believe Saritza is a great agent, we were just not meshing as a team. I wish her and her clients all the best, and there is certainly no hard feelings. I am grateful she accepted me as a client in the first place.

Having said that, I am glad to be back in control of my writing and have begun to look at my older work with an eye on revision and sending it out to publishers myself. My first project will be There’s no such thing as Werewolves, the first book in the Demon Gate saga. If I can get this puppy sold I’ll have Templars gate ready for a follow up.

Can I do this by myself? Time will tell.

Stay tuned…

Steve

Reboot

It was a busy summer for me and the end result is that my writing suffered, as did my blogging. It’s time for a reboot. Of my blog and my writing. The fall and winter months will afford me lots of time to spend in front of my computer, and if I can just kick my gaming addiction down a few gears I should be able to get some quality writing done.

I have decided to go back to my roots a bit and am revisiting my Demon Gate series. Demons of Dusk will be the third book, and the story is really growing in my mind right now. It’s twenty-five years in the future and this story centers on the children conceived in the first two books. It’s a dark future where the demons have taken over earth. Conversely the humans in the demon dimension have made great strides. I’m still banging together the first few chapters, but it is shaping up to be a really fun ride.

I may do some major editing of the first two books in the series, possibly add story and expand the world a bit. I’m going to check with my agent on what she thinks of the idea.

I also plan to reboot this blog, taking down some old content, creating some new and getting back to blogging regularly. I will be abandoning the A Passion for Painting project and taking down Purple Passion in preparation for some new content.

Welcome Autumn! Time to dig in.

Steve

 

I’m alive!!!

Wow, has it really been over a month since I last blogged? Sorry about that.

Not much is happening right now. I did finish up my Novel, Son of Thunder and sent it of to my agent. There is still no movement on my previous two stories, Templar’s Gate and There’s no such thing as werewolves, but my agent is still hopeful that they will sell.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing some catch-up on things around the house, and relaxing a bit, but now I feel I’m ready to launch into a new project. I’m in the process of coming up with a couple of characters, a really high tree, and a big pile of rocks to throw at them once I get them up there. It would be fun.

I’m considering going back into the world of Templar’s Gate/Werewolf but place the story in a dark future. The main characters will be the children of the original two books. She is a witch who can change into a Warghan (Werewolf) and he is a battlemage who’s lived all his life in the demon dimension.  The world we know will have become a dark and dangerous place, as the demons gain control of government and corporate interests and use them to gain wealth and power. It should be a great place to visit (read about) but I certainly wouldn’t want to live there.

So, I’m off to do a bit of writing. The first chapters are starting to solidify in my head. Time to get something down on paper.

Again, sorry for the long break from blogging, I will try to be more regular.

Steve

More good news

I just received word from my agent that along with Templars Gate she will also be representing my short story Dark Awakening. So I will now have two stories ‘in play’ as I finish up There’s no such thing as werewolves, which is turning out to be a very fun prequel to Templars Gate.

My new agent, by the way, is Saritza Hernández. She is the ePub Agent at the L. Perkins Agency ( http://www.lperkinsagency.com/home ). I am so thrilled to have her on board. I plan to do a ‘Meet my agent’ blog soon, so we can all get to know her better.

Right now I have a Letter of Agreement to fill out and send, and some writing to do, so until next time…

Steve

I have an agent!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me. I received an email from a literary agent who would like to represent me and my work. Once all the paperwork is done she will start to shop Templars Gate to publishers and is ready help me place any of my other work. Needless to say, I am thrilled. This is probably the biggest step in my writing career yet.

So, I have made the decision to change gears (once again) and shelve my Fantasy Novel for now. I plan on working on a story called There’s no such thing as Werewolves, which is a companion piece to Templars Gate, set in the same universe. The story is a lot of fun. It expands a bit on the lore of the demons and brings in a few of the characters from Templars Gate. Love interests Jack (who thinks he’s a ware wolf, simply because he changes into a beast every full moon) and Anna (an herbalist/sorceress who knows better). The story actually happens before the events of Templars Gate. I’m going to try to hurry it along, as I’d like to give my agent (My Agent – I love the sound of that) both stories to shop around with the idea that one may help to sell the other.

Right now I have at least two more stories in my head set in the Templars Gate Universe. It should be a fun journey.

As the rain continues to fall here in the northwoods, there’s plenty of sunshine at my house today. Time to write…

Steve

The days start to blur…

It was easier to blog about writing my shorter stuff. A couple of weeks as I finished up Templar’s Gate or the time it took to write and edit Dark Awakenings went by pretty fast, and I always had some progress to announce. Now working on my novel it’s a much different pace.

To some extent I am working harder, and producing more than I was back a month ago, but because there is so much more to produce in a 110,000 word novel, time seems to be crawling, and progress seems so much slower.

I’m not discouraged, and I’m not giving up. I’m convinced that Amulet of the Fallen God is a great story, that I really need to write. I get an average of 1000 to 2000 words a day, most days, and the story is unfolding in ways I never imagined. Characters are taking on lives of their own and the story gets richer and richer.

Only this morning I discovered that the elf king is mad (crazy mad, not angry mad), the elf mage, Emrilok, took the rap for his brother Fuesar, and that halflings did indeed survive the Gods War. Yesterday I did not know that. Tomorrow I find out just what made the king go mad. I think I know, but I’m never sure until I get there.

But, while little stuff like that is fun, when I look at the overall progress of the book (only about 1/3 done with the first draft) I see how far I have to go yet. In about a week it looks like my adventurers will have a huge mountain to climb. I know exactly what they feel like.

Still no word on the two pieces I have out, but I keep my fingers crossed.

Stay tuned,

Steve

Too long away.

A friend of mine reminded me yesterday that I hadn’t updated my blog in a while, and that a short posting telling him to look at someone else’s blog does not count. He’s right and I apologize, once again, for my lack.

I’m still waiting for word back on my short story and novella submissions. So there is no news on that front.

It’s actually been a very productive couple of weeks. Retirement is starting to settle into a routine. I get to work on my writing around 8:30-9:00 each morning and generally get in 1,000-2,000 words before noon. The plot is expanding as I go and the characters are coming much more clearly into focus. I’m at about 30,000 words so far, and aiming for around 110,000.

The most fun days for me are when the characters take the story in a direction I did not even see coming. I’ll be writing along, thinking I know where I’m headed and one of them will kind of kick me.

Character: “I would never do that, you know.”

Me: “But I planned on you doing that,”

Character: “I really want to do this instead.”

Me: “Oh, yeah, that’s a great idea.”

Character: “…and I want credit for the idea in the acknowledgment’s section when the book is published.”

Me: “Good luck with that…”

Dragon: “Can I eat him?”

Me: “Hmmmm…”

Till next time,

Steve