New Year, Better Plans

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you can take the best of 2017 and carry that over to this year. Let’s leave all that negativity and hate in the past and move forward with a purpose and a bright future ahead.

2017 saw the release of my first novel, The Selection. It has since been rebranded as The Selection: The Forgotten Chronicles Book 1. It’s now the first in what I’m planning as a trilogy, set on the planet Anastasia and following Eron as he moves beyond the Selection. As the series title suggests, the Forgotten play an immense role in all of this.

I’ve had mostly positive responses to the book and it’s brought me more readers which I hope to continue into 2018.

To further that, the audiobook release of The Selection: The Forgotten Chronicles Book 1 is due within a week or so of this post. It’s narrated by Paul Jenkins and sounds AMAZING! I cannot wait for its release. I think you’ll love it!

The second book in the trilogy, Rise of the Forgotten comes out on January 19th. You can pre-order the ebook now for only .99. ( A little under the radar pro-tip: if you really don’t wanna wait, the paperback is actually live and available to purchase now.)

I’m working on the third book of the trilogy, The War for Truth. I’m about 8,000 words into it and I’m planning a late Summer release, maybe July. If all goes well, you may also get the release of a series of novellas in the Fall that relates to 4-5 characters from the series.

Other than the scifi series, I’m planning on releasing two horror novels in 2018. One is titled Brown’s Sacrifice and the other is Soul Windows. Both are set in Brownsville, my pseudonym for Murphysboro, where I live. I’ve thought about branding those as Brownsville Oddities Novels and see how that goes. I have a possible third novel to include in that series, however I’m not certain about that yet.

In May, my book The Selection: The Forgotten Chronicles Book 1, will be re-released as part of the On the Horizon book bundle which includes 22 full-length scifi and fantasy novels with the theme “little to no tech.” My book fits perfectly with the theme and to make it enticing to those that have already read my book, I’m going to include an exclusive short story that’s only part of this bundle. The best part is you can pre-order it for only .99! I highly encourage you to check it out and pre-order your copy today. Even if you’ve read my book, that’s still 21 other full-length novels for less than a $1!

Finally, I’ll be working on a fantasy novel for a 2019 release as part of a larger shared world project. I think at last count we had something like 20-25 authors committed to the project. Our plan is to release a book a month, all tied into the same world. It’s a fascinating concept and will finally get me to write the fantasy novel I’ve been wanting to write since I started creating stories.

This is what you can look forward to from me in 2018. I’m grateful to those of you who’ve supported me by buying a book, sharing my posts, or offering words of encouragement. It’s lonely sometimes as a writer and you make it all worthwhile. Thanks again for everything! Let’s crush 2018 and make it the best yet!

 

 

NaNoWriMo 2017 and More

NaNoWriMo has been over for about a week now. How’d you do? Did you cross the 50K threshold? If not, did you at least make progress on a new project or work on an existing one?

I nailed my target on the last Sunday of November. This makes my fifth NaNo win since I started many years ago!

The book I wrote, titled Soul Windows, is probably my darkest one yet. I wanted to write something closer to a pure horror novel than anything I’ve done before. I think I did it, but time will tell. I haven’t gone back to revising it yet. Immediately after I finished it I went back to an older manuscript set in the same small town of Soul Windows. I have a third book also set in the town and my plan is to release all three of them in rapid succession for a horror “series” in the sense that they’re all in the same world. There might be a few minor tie-ins between them, but other than the setting they are stand-alone books. Once I’m done with the older manuscript, I’ll get back to Soul Windows.

While writing during NaNo, I was also busy revising and working with my editor for the new sequel to my scifi novel The Selection. I’ve rebranded it as The Selection: The Forgotten Chronicles Book 1. My plan is a trilogy with the possibility of a series of 4-5 novellas set in the same world but not part of the main storyline. Think of it like the Star Wars movies where there are the main movies with other movies set in the same galaxy. The new book, Rise of the Forgotten: The Forgotten Chronicles Book 2 is due out January 19th. It’s actually up for pre-order now though the cover is a placeholder until I get the actual one. Feel free to grab it for .99 today! (Oh, btw…if you’ve read The Selection and would like to be part of my ARC team to help me launch with at least 10 honest reviews, let me know. I’m assembling my team now!)

And as if that wasn’t enough, you may have missed my release of The God’s Eye: A Collection of Horror Short Stories. This might be the last short story collection I release. I have so many longer projects in the works that I haven’t written short stories in a long time. I only have a couple reviews on it, but wow–I struck a chord with my readers! I’m humbled by the kind words. You can get it here: The God’s Eye.

I’ve also got a short story in the new collection from Hellbound Books called Shopping list 2. It’s one of my darker pieces and something that made me squirm as I wrote it! Check it out here: Shopping List 2.

Finally, my book The Selection is part of a 22 author, 22 novel international collection called On the Horizon. We’re offering it now for a preorder price of only .99! That’s 22 novels for less than .05 each! The theme of the collection is scifi and fantasy with little to no technology. My book was a perfect fit and I might be adding something to it that’s exclusive to the collection. Please consider preordering it on the Nook or Amazon. You’re support would be most appreciated by me and the entire collective of international authors.

So, yeah. That’s what I’ve got going on. What about you? Share with us your new releases, projects, or other awesome news in the comments below!

NaNoWriMo Novel 2017: “Soul Windows”

As NaNoWriMo quickly approaches, I want to share a bit more about the novel I plan to write.

The title is “Soul Windows.” It’s a reference to the term “Eyes are the windows to the soul.” This should be a true horror novel, if it all goes to plan. Of course, the beauty of NaNo is that it often doesn’t go according to plan!

The story follows a twenty something man as he and his girlfriend encounter a horrific series of murders in the small town of Brownsville. If you’ve read any of my writing, you may recognize the town. It’s one I set many stories in, kinda like Stephen King. The town is based loosely on where I live. Back in the 1840’s, the county seat of Jackson County, IL (where I live) was in Brownsville. It was about 3 1/2 miles west of Murphysboro. It burned to the ground and the town was relocated to Murphysboro which is now the current county seat. I like that the ghost town doesn’t exist, yet can be a pseudonym for Murphysboro. It’s the perfect place to create all kinds of creepy and scary stuff.

The couple, and the town, must deal with a series of murders that occur on the full moon of every month. The victims are discovered with one eye removed and the eye is never found. The story takes place from August through November of the year of the story. I’m not sure if I want to actually use a year, like 2017, or leave that up to the reader to decide. I’m leaning toward not using an actual year.

Other than that, my loose outline is just that: loose. I’m going with more discovery writing versus planning the entire story out. I’ve already created character sketches for three main characters. I have the town and setting ready to go. I’ve mulled over motives and reasons why the crazed murderer does what they do.

I intend to shoot for 60,000 – 70,000 words. I’ve done it before. Several years back I wrote a horror/thriller novel that clocked in at 75,000 words, so I know it’s possible for me. That means if I break it down by the numbers, I need to average at least 2,000 words per day. Doable, but I’ll need to focus and make sure to dedicate my writing time solely to this while at the same time revising my latest novel set to release in January!

I’ve created a private Facebook group for fellow writers doing NaNo this year. It’s a small group and fairly quiet now, however I hope it’s a place to encourage one another and share experiences as we go through November. If you’d like to join, click here and I’ll add you to the group.

Good luck to all you other Wrimos! If you’re doing it this year, feel free to add a comment below. What kind of story are you writing? Are you a pantser or plotter? Just remember, you got this!

 

NaNoWriMo 2017

Hey friends, I wanted to formally announce that I’m participating in NaNoWriMo 2017. If you’ve followed me long, you know I’m a huge proponent of this event. If you haven’t and don’t know what I’m talking about, let me give a brief intro.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s every November and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel between Nov. 1st – Nov. 30th. As far as novel length goes, 50k isn’t really all that much. But for writers who’ve been struggling or needed a boost to get out there and write, NaNo is the perfect way to get at it.

Back when I wanted to pick up writing again, I used NaNo to kick start my work. I failed the first year or two and finally “won” with my book Master of the Drunken Fist. I went on for three more consecutive wins. For me, being able to finish a novel made being a writer a reality.

This year I’m doing a horror novel. For now, I’m titling it “Soul Windows” and have even created a pretty sweet looking cover to give myself an added incentive to finish. I plan on discussing this new novel throughout October as I lead up to Nov. 1st when I actually get to start writing it!

Anyone else interested in jumping on board? Go to the NaNoWriMo site and register. It’s free and they’ve got a ton of useful posts in the forums. If you do, add me as a writing buddy. My name there is Lailoken74. I’ve created a private Facebook group for my writer friends who want to participate in NaNo as a place to share info and encouragement. If you want in, click here.

I can’t wait to get started! I encourage you to try it if you’ve ever had the urge to write. For seasoned writers, it’s the perfect way to jumpstart a current or future project.