I'm Baaack

Wow! It's been a long time since my last post. I'm done apologizing for my lapses. Why am I done apologizing? Mainly because I doubt anyone really cares or has been waiting with bated breath for one of these posts. Not looking for pity, just being a realist.

I figured it was time to check in and update anyone who cares to read this about my current status. Also, I'm sure anyone who's made the effort to search for this blog might like to know I'm still working on stories; they're just coming at a slower pace than my previous material.

Let me also just put this out there: I really don't enjoy writing these blog posts. I do it for the aforementioned reason; so anyone interested in my writing will know that another book is forthcoming (at some time in the future, anyway). I haven't stopped writing. Although I do have several irons in the fire, I've fallen into the trap of jumping from one to the other and then to another, which is not progressing the needle as fast as concentrating on one book at a time. So, rest assured, a new book will materialize eventually.

I've discussed in the past my obsession with achieving financial independence. I have an addictive personality, which means when I find something of great interest to me, I give it laser-like focus until I can succeed at it. I did this with my finances. I won't bore you with the details as I know most people find discussing finances the cure for insomnia. However, I'm very glad I followed this path because I lost my job in January and have remained unemployed since. If I hadn't socked away a lot of my income, I'd be in dire straits right now. But, as it turns out, that exercise saved my hide! I'm also proud to say I've reprogrammed my mind about spending/saving and improved my financial situation as a result.

This brings me to yet another hiccup in the journey to publishing another book. My wife accepted a job out-of-state, so we're trying to get our house ready to put on the market. In the process, I've been visiting friends and family before I go. Needless to say, I've been very preoccupied and busy with this. I decided it was fruitless to look for another job only to leave it after a few months. Of course, getting ready for an out-of-state move would probably jeopardize my performance anyway.

These are not merely excuses for why I haven't done much writing lately, although it has made it more difficult to concentrate on sitting down to create. This is my current state of affairs and I felt that I owed it to anyone who's interested to provide an update.

This blog isn't for me to dispense writing advice. There's enough of that out there on the interwebs. Also, I don't think there's much advice to give aside from read voraciously and widely, then sit your butt in the chair and start writing, if that's what you feel compelled to do. There's no magic in it, but at times there are some glorious moments. Those moments are few, though. A lot of the time is tedious and doubtful. And don't get me started on editing. I hate editing! However, it's a necessity if you want a publishable story. The most enjoyable thing about writing/publishing, to me anyway, is holding that polished, finished product in your hands. Knowing you've written; you've created this little gem. And what's more exhilarating is having someone who has read your book talk to you about it! That's priceless.

Instead, I use this blog (or intend to, going forward) to let readers know the status of my work and to vent or share things that capture my attention. I'm not in this for the money. I know, I know. A lot of authors tout that same thing, but for me, IT'S TRUE. I don't think this is a viable means to a living. If you think that, I urge you to research more authors who claim to make a living writing (much less novelists).

I started out in 2005 with visions of grandeur, thinking I would be the next [insert famous author here]. As I wrote, studied the market, queried, received rejections, and trudged along, I also researched the incomes of other authors (who would actually tell), noted their workloads, how long it took them to finally get published, and realized this was a grueling, arduous path for little money (if one was one of the lucky few to actually run the gauntlet). After all, there were a series of gatekeepers blocking the path and if you didn't appease them, well...

Then, something great happened. The stigmatized self-publishing arena blew up with the digital revolution.

At first, I was just as skeptical as nearly everyone else. Self-publishing was for those who couldn't write. They hadn't been validated by the so-called gatekeepers; the one's who distinguished between garbage and literary genius. Or so I thought. That's largely bullshit. Sure, there is a bunch of horrible writing that gets published via the "easy button" of self-publishing. But there are also some geniuses who go largely unnoticed. Those gatekeepers, the agents and editors, don't know everything. They try to cling to a formula, and that, I think, is what's responsible for the glut of zombie books, vampire-romance, erotica, etc. that has saturated the market. Just look at 50 Shades of Gray or Twilight. And don't even get me started on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! What a rip off! Take a classic and add zombie to market it as your own?! Fuck you, Seth Grahame-Smith!

With a new, more realistic view of the writer's life, I decided to continue it as a hobby. I would self-publish, where I had total creative control of the entire process. From inception to cover design and interior layout, I set out to create my own art at my own pace. Deadlines? Nope. Someone dictating what should be on the cover? Nope. Separate contractual obligations for digital vs. paper-copy? Nope. Writing in just one genre to appeal to a certain audience? Nope. I do it ALL myself and, so far, couldn't be happier with the result. If I want to try my hand at a murder mystery, I do it. If I want to write southern fiction afterward, I do it. My only criteria is that I produce the best piece of fiction I possibly can and that doesn't mean just making sure there are no typos. I rely on my wife (an English professor) to catch any of my big mistakes and help me clean up my major mistakes. Then I get input from some graphic artist friends about my covers. And, finally, I don't feel comfortable until my beta readers have weighed in with their opinions and helped to identify as many typos and places that need clarification as possible.

Of course, reading is very subjective. Everyone is not going to embrace a book like we want them to. So, I make damn sure I put out the best possible book I can with a story I like and would want to read. There will be others who praise it, just like there will be detractors. There's nothing you can do about those who don't care about the genre or the subject. Everyone's different.

So there you have it; my state of affairs, basically. I mentioned earlier that I had a lot of irons in the fire. Currently, I'm jumping between eleven different stories, some I've worked on, some are written (they just need to be edited), and some are fleshed out ideas. But, I'm working on all of them, even if just a little. They range from southern historical thriller to contemporary horror to crime fiction.

I'll probably write a follow up post (this one's getting a bit too long) about those stories where I'll ask for input from you, the reader, as to what you'd prefer to see. This is something I've never done. And, of course, I'm hopeful if I expect to get one or two responses. In which case I'll do what I always do; focus on whatever appeals to me at the time. Damn, I love the freedom of self-publishing.

Thanks for dropping by!

Status Update and Cover Sneak-peek

I haven't posted any status updates in a while, for those who might want to know what's going in the world of J.R. McLemore. Let me appease those few people now. If you recall, I posted a while back a list of projects I was working on. Well, that list has changed.

I'll get to the changes in a moment, but first, let me assure you that The Old Royal is still slowly marching its way toward publication. It is currently in the hands of a third beta reader and I am anxiously awaiting feedback. Hopefully, there will not be any major changes needed. I'll review the feedback, make the necessary edits, and hand it over to a fourth beta reader. When I receive the story back from that last reader, I will go over it one final time and then publish it. I know this sounds like a lot of beta reading, but I want it to be the best story I can deliver and I feel that having more people look at it and point out faux pas for me to address is the best way to ensure a quality story.

In that previous post mentioned above, I said I had a southern Gothic book called Lathem's Lament that I needed to edit. This has not changed. Nor, I am sad to admit, have I done any editing on this story. I promise, though, I will. My thought was to release Lathem's Lament simultaneously with another book, which I will mention in a moment. Since Lathem's Lament is not crime fiction, I was hesitant to release it separately. I thought it would be better received if it was released along with a crime story for those readers who don't care to read southern Gothic. We'll see what happens closer to the release date. Maybe I'll release it separately, maybe not.

And now for the change. But, first, let me be open here and confess that I tend to flip-flop between projects. I will get excited by a story idea before I finish outlining it, only to start writing prematurely. Once I realize that the story needs more time to mature, I abandon it with the intention of returning to it later. I've done a lot of flip-flopping during the previous months. I finally settled on a story called Carniville that has been lurking in my Story Ideas file for a while now.

I turned the plot over and over, filling in obvious plot holes and sketched a cast of characters that I felt comfortable with. I pitched the idea to friends who provided enthusiastic feedback and, after feeling comfortable with the notes and outlines I've made, decided to proceed. Carniville is a locked-room mystery. It is the story of a murder that takes place at a small apartment complex in Florida where sideshow freaks live when they are not touring the carnival circuit. When the fat lady is murdered in her apartment, and her husband becomes the prime suspect, a resident name Blake feels obligated to expose the real killer in order to clear the husband's name.

I'm not very deep into the story--only about 50 written pages so far--and I am very excited by what I currently have. I've never written a mystery, especially a locked-room mystery, so this is a real challenge for me. I feel that it's coming along very nicely. In fact, I'm so excited about it, I've already developed the cover, which I've included below. I welcome any and all feedback regarding the cover and what you think of my short synopsis. Does it pique your interest? I hope so. Also, I hope you'll stick around to read it and The Old Royal when I publish them. Thanks for dropping by!

My Feet Hurt: An Update Status

Hi everyone!

I hope your holiday season is progressing happily along. This title pretty much summarizes how I feel. Not trying to be whiny (that'd be a horrible of me since I am fortunate enough to be in a nice location), but my feet really do hurt. We're staying just off the main drag, Duval Street, only three blocks from South Beach. Whenever we go anywhere, we walk. I've walked from one end of Key West to the other. I got to see Hemingway's house, the southern-most point of the continental US, Highway 1's zero mile-marker, Mallory Square, Higgs Beach, etc. And, my feet are sore.

I've taken an ass-load of pictures and hope to take more. There's so much here to see and do! This morning, I laid out on South Beach and read some of Duane Swierczynski's, The Wheelman. So far...Awesome! I'm completely loving it. This guy can spin an engrossing crime story.

However, the best thing about this trip so far, aside from the typical vacationy stuff and time with family, is the part where I finished the first draft for The Old Royal. I thought I would have completed it two days ago. God knows I was at the finale when I'd left off at home. But, I didn't want to rush it, so I took my time, thought it out, and wrapped it up yesterday. Now, I've got about six days to try to complete an editorial pass through it. I think I can squeeze in the time for that. If not, I'm going to make the time. I'm still shooting for a mid-to-late January release for the book. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

I hope everyone's holiday season is great! Thanks for stopping by.

Status Update: My Writing Projects

So, it's been a while since I gave a status update on my novel, Majoring in Murder. Well, I finished tweaking the eBook format today for the Nook and Kindle. In addition to that I worked on formatting it for the paperback edition I hope to publish through CreateSpace. I've never self-published a paperback, so we'll see how that turns out.I sent the Nook version to a new beta reader and hope to have it back sometime early next week unless he finishes before then, which he might. He said he was a fast reader. I've got my fingers crossed that he likes it. I expect to publish it in early November.

NaNoWriMo is fast approaching and I've been giving some thought to what I want to write during that time. At first, I was thinking of writing a non-fiction book about making silicone masks. I still plan to do that, but as I was looking through my idea file, another story caught my attention. One that was begging to be written. It's sort of different from the stories I normally write. This one is less horror and crime, although there are some seedy characters in it. I like to think it has a stronger sci-fi element to it, which really isn't my forte, but nevertheless, I'm going to take a stab at writing it. We'll see how it comes out. The non-fiction book will follow sometime soon after that.

Also, I began editing a Southern Gothic novel I wrote last year called Lathem's Lament. After reading Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, I wanted to write a book in a similar vein. I wasn't all that excited about it when I finished, thinking I had failed as I put down that last word. When I returned to it today and began reading, however, my excitement was renewed. If all goes well, I hope to release it sometime early next year.

That's pretty much what I've got on my plate. I plan to be busy and productive. I'll let everyone know when I release Majoring in Murder. In the meantime, here's an SNL video I thought you might enjoy.