Tag Archives: Grim Repo

A Wizard's Work, Grim Repo Files, Sorcerer's Bane, Writing

There will be new books

First, short story time.

I’ve been working through some mental bullshit. Some of you know that. I may or may not have been clear about it on the blog in the past. It is what it is.

Artistic work, being what it is, relies on being able to clear away that mental bullshit (or harness it) for that time period in which you’re creating. You have to be able to lose yourself in what you’re doing, especially if you’re writing. If you can’t lose yourself in the story your creating, and you allow your real life to intrude, it becomes harder and harder to make progress.

These are my word counts for the past six years. Read ’em and weep.

2012: 256k
2013: 199k
2014: 51k
2015: 49k
2016: 39k
2017: 32k
2018: 16k

Can you guess what happened? The voice of a person close to me took up residence in my head, and once it was there, I couldn’t get it out. Fear made the voice stronger and stronger until it choked me.

This person never intended this to happen to me. They never actually said the things that echoed within the confines of my skull. But I let them in, magnified them, and they became my own personal writing hell to the point where I was wondering if I was a writer anymore, or even if I wanted to be.

I’ve been on the cusp of solving this problem for a couple months, now. I could feel it. It was palpable. I just didn’t know exactly when.

Until this past Monday.

An event occurred, something that was a bit stressful, but generally not earth shattering. I’m keeping the details private, because the person involved may not want them public, but it set things in motion inside me. It was the push I needed.

The unwanted voice in my head that I couldn’t get rid of? It’s gone. The fear and stress associated with it? Gone. I wrote 1100 words on Tuesday, 2600 words on Wednesday, 3200 words on Thursday, 3100 words on Friday, and 1400 words on a fairly hectic Saturday. More than eleven thousand words this week. Compare that to all of 2018. The 3200 words on Thursday? They were the most words I’d written in a single day in three and a half years, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s writing.

All because I was able to exorcise a voice from my head that I’d magnified into a mammoth, frightening demon that was sucking the life out of me.

Don’t let negative voices into your head. Ignore people who have opinions about your work or about what you should be doing, especially if they choose to share them with you without your asking. Even if they are close to you. Especially if they are close to you. Your art and well-being are more important than their uninformed opinions.

Now, story time is over. On to the part of this post that sort of resembles the title.

I’m working on a new fantasy series, tentatively titled Sorcerer’s Bane. The first book is done (it was done over a year ago). The second book will hit the half-way mark on Monday or Tuesday, and there will be at least three more after that. The release date of the first book is tentatively scheduled for the end of April. Pre-orders for the other titles in the series may become available at that time, but the plans for that are subject to change.

Following Sorcerer’s Bane, I’ll be writing a few more Grim Repo novels. These will likely be about 20% longer than Parted Out, and like Sorcerer’s Bane, will come out one after the other until the story arc is finished.

And then, following the Grim Repo books, I’m finally going to finish A Wizard’s Work. The reason I’m putting off until later is that both the Sorcerer’s Bane books and the Grim Repo books are much shorter than the AWW books will be, and I want to be sure I’m in a good writing rhythm before tackling them.

I may sprinkle in some other short projects here and there, but for the most part I will be focusing on these three series for the next year to year and a half.

If it sounds like a lot, it is a lot. It sounds daunting, to be honest, when I write it all out, but like they say, you eat an elephant one bite at a time.

And you write series one book at a time. I’m going to have one hell of a good time.

Grim Repo Files, TrackerBox, Writing

TrackerBox Mac Kickstarter: 15 Days To Go, Writing Challenge, & Patreon

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TrackerBox Mac - Track Your Book Sales on OSX -- Kicktraq Mini

The title says it all, really. This is pretty amazing. Just having a real opportunity to make TrackerBox Mac a reality is something I’ve been working toward for a long time. As a Windows user, myself, I don’t have a good reason to make TrackerBox for Mac, other than the regular inquiries I get, and a desire to be able to tell them, “Yes!” TrackerBox basically makes enough money to cover its costs, and I don’t see that changing, much. It isn’t a big money play for me. It’s about being able to help people, and I know it helps people.

Writing Challenge

I’ve taken on a challenge with a writer friend of mine, Michael Warren Lucas, to write three novels in three months. Writing a novel in a month isn’t exactly something new to me. The vast majority of Shattered was written in a month, and the same is true for a couple other books. The trick will be doing it three times in a row.

I’ll be attempting to write three new Grim Repo books, with the goal of getting them released in the first half of next year. It’ll be fun, it’ll be nerve-wracking, and I can’t wait to see what happens to Grimm and his crew.

You can follow along on twitter by searching the hash-tag #idiotwriterchallenge. If you’re crazy like us, you can join in!

Patreon

In line with the challenge, I’ve started a Patreon page. If you don’t know what Patreon is, it’s a place where you can support me directly for a couple bucks a month, and get some nifty rewards while doing it. Among the rewards, I’m giving patrons early access to drafts, copies of books, access to a monthly Google Hangout Q&A, and other potentially nifty things.

This month, you’ll get my new novella Making Up Lost Time. No, there’s no link, because it’s not available yet! But here’s the cover!

If you like my books, if you like what I’m doing, Patreon is a way you can directly help me do more of it!

Become a Patron!

Grim Repo Files

Parted Out – Grim Repo Files #2 Emerges From The Jump Gate!

GrimRepo2_PartedOut_E_apple
After a year in the deep dark of the Fringe, Parted Out is now available almost everywhere! It’s another fast paced adventure for Captain Grimm and his crew, and I have to say that, even after the fourth and fifth read, I still enjoyed it.

If you haven’t read about Grimm, before, I’ve got a special treat for you. Grim Repo, the first book in the series, is now free almost everywhere it’s available. I’m working on getting it free on Amazon, too, but they seem to be taking their time in matching the price.

So, download Grim Repo, then treat yourself to Parted Out!

Here’s the blurb.

Starship repossession specialist Grimm and his crew, after their last botched repo, look forward to an easy and quick job, with their eyes on a much needed vacation as a reward.
Unfortunately, nothing ever goes as planned for Grimm. Caught between a salvager who wants the same ship and a bank that has him on a very tight deadline, Grimm must use every trick he knows to get the ship off station, intact and on time, while keeping himself and his crew alive.

The first chapter and links to where you can buy Parted Out are on the Parted Out page.

Grim Repo Files

Parted Out Proof In My Hands

partedoutfront I have the proof copy of Parted Out, the second book in The Grim Repo Files, in my grubby little hands. It’s twice as long as the first book, and hopefully twice as exciting.

The book will be out at the end of the month, barring any unforeseen issues. I still have to read it through one last time and correct any issues that I see, but frankly, once the book is at this stage, it’s usually in pretty good shape.

In case you haven’t read Grim Repo, you can read the first couple chapters here, and learn all about Captain Grimm and his crew of starship repossession specialists.

The last two pictures here are what Parted Out looks like from the back, and what it looks like nestled in with all the rest of my books. It looks so happy there, right next to Grim Repo, doesn’t it?

partedoutbackCollectionOfMyBooks

 

A Wizard's Work, Grim Repo Files, Minders, October, Writing

Finished October And Other Updates

This morning, quite unexpectedly, October came to an end. I’d felt like I had started moving toward an ending a few days ago, but I didn’t think I’d stumble over it quite this soon. I would have said, when I woke up this morning, that there were at least a couple days left.

But in my second session today, things wrapped themselves up in ways I hadn’t expected, and I found myself with no more story to write.

October is, I think, a much more subtle story than I’ve written previously. It certainly isn’t like anything else I’ve done. It’s going to sit for a couple weeks before I get down to reading it and learning just what I’ve perpetrated on the world. I’ll probably let it go until just after I release Minders. It’ll be released at the end of September, just in time for you to read it in… October.

Coming up, next, though, is Minders. This bio-tech thriller/superhero origin story will be out Thursday, May 29th in most online stores. I’ve ordered what should be the last of proof copies, and if it’s in good shape, which I expect it to be, I’ll be spending Memorial Day weekend uploading it everywhere.

There’s one more thing. Parted Out: Grim Repo Files #2 has a release date, too. July 29, 2014. I’m really excited to get these books out, finally. It’s been a long, hard year, but things are finally coming together.

Tomorrow morning, I pick up where I left off on Bloodweave. I’m excited about it, too. I can’t wait to learn what Robert, Angela, Gerard, Nina, and Demetrius are going to do.

A Wizard's Work, Grim Repo Files, Writing

Writing Again

In the last post, I made some predictions about time frames and other things, and I was wrong on pretty much all of them. Minders din’t come out before Christmas, I didn’t really get back to writing as soon as I thought I would, and Grim Repo 2 is still sitting on my hard drive.

But that’s all old news.

We’re still dealing with some issues (who isn’t), but things have now progressed to the point that I’ve been able to write regularly again. Fourteen out of the last sixteen days, in fact. I can finally get out of my head and into my characters heads, and it feels really good.

This weekend, I’m formatting Minders for paper. It’ll be released at the end of May. It is, I think, one of the most exciting books I’ve written, to date. Usually, by this time in the process, I can’t stand to read my book again. This time, I’m looking forward to having to do the proofread.

Grim 2 is slated for a late July release. The book October (which I’m writing right now), is due out at the end of September. If I have time, I’ll slip in a couple of the stories that I’ve got sitting around.

I’d like to get these things out faster, but I’m not writing full time. Getting us on a firm financial footing takes precedence, right now, but I’m back on track and pushing ahead.

And as soon as I’m done writing October, I’m going to pick up Bloodweave again and get it out to you as soon as I possibly can.