Just in time for Halloween!

Halloween is nearly hear, so I decided to publish some of the short stories from my anthology. I didn't want to publish all of them in the collection. If I did that, what would be the point of buying the anthology? Since there are eight shorts in the collection, I said I would publish four of them...well, kind of.

One of those short stories has been available for some time, long before the anthology. Anyone who has been following my track record knows that tale is Hush, Hush, My Love, which is one of my favorites for several reasons. The other three that I've selected are: Footprints in the Snow, Jason's Last Wish, and Sweet Charlotte.

The reason for this is simple. I wanted to offer readers, who hadn't heard of me, a chance to sample some of my work. What better than to offer up some of my strange and disturbing short stories in time for Halloween? Of course, chances are, if you're reading this blog, you've already heard of me and probably read some of my work. If that's the case, perhaps you'll do me a solid and introduce someone new to my work. Start with baby steps. Tell them they can purchase the short stories as a trial to see if they like my writing. I'd appreciate it. Below are links to the various distributors where my stories are for sale. Thanks for stopping by!

Footprints in the Snow at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Jason's Last Wish at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Sweet Charlotte at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Finally, falling into place

I know it's been a while since my last post and I apologize. As you may know, I wasn't up to blogging, much less, writing. I reported that I was floundering on my writing projects, unable to settle on a specific story and stick with it. Luckily, that's over. Not only have I settled into one story, but I am currently working on two! Yes, you read that correctly.

One of the stories I am currently working on is a young adult Halloween tale in the spirit of Ray Bradbury and Clive Barker. The other is a psychological horror story in the same vein as Hush, Hush, My Love. I'm very excited about both of these stories and work at them fervently.

In addition to this news, I have some more good news. Friday, I ordered a Schecter Hellraiser Special electric guitar, which should arrive on Tuesday. I have two bass guitars and have been tinkering with playing bass for several years. Honestly, I'd say I'm fair at playing the bass. I've owned two electric six-string guitars in the past, but never for very long before I got rid of them. The first (a cheap little Squire), was sold not long after I got it (thanks to my now-ex-wife), and the second (a pretty blue Ibanez) ended up going to my son after he expressed an interest in wanting to learn to play. Now that I can afford to, I've decided to buy myself a nice guitar so I can learn to play. Whenever I think about it, I get super excited about the prospect.

That about covers what's been going on with me since my last post; well, the interesting stuff anyway. I hope to deliver more good news later regarding my newest writing. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a couple of videos that demonstrate the sound of this sweet guitar I bought. Thanks for stopping by; I hope you enjoyed your visit.

A Reader's Paradise

Fall is finally in the air. We slept with the windows open last night and the ceiling fan going. It got cold and the blankets were warm. It was awesome! But, the more important thing is that I am no longer flailing with my stories. I've finally settled on an idea and started working on it. I've decided to just power through any obstacles that crop up. I don't know why I couldn't do that earlier. Maybe it was just some deep-seated mindset or something. That's not really what I wanted to talk about in this post, however.

Lately, as I was struggling with indecisiveness, I pondered the new publishing paradigm and my place in it. In the beginning, when eBooks began to change the publishing landscape, I was ecstatic. Finally, the gates and gatekeepers were becoming a thing of the past. Any author could publish their book themselves and reach readers directly, without the elite publishers standing in their way. I'm still excited about that. If not for this revolution, so many great authors would go unnoticed and that's a shame, especially for the readers (myself included).

Now that I have a few books out there, I've begun analyzing my place in the publishing world. I've had some success, but nothing like I was expecting. I follow several authors' blogs, tweets, etc. to know how they are doing. I lurk on eBook boards and keep up with some of the latest success stories of breakout indie authors (those who find themselves in the top 100 Kindle Books and sell hundreds, if not thousands, of books a month). To tell the truth, I'm baffled.

I can't help but wonder how these authors (many, still, with day jobs) manage to stumble into such luck. Of course, many of them deserve their success because of their writing. In the end, it always boils down to the writing that separates the good from the bad and good from the great. In trying to better my own marketing efforts, I usually obtain a copy of some of these authors' books to see how well they write. A lot of them are good. Sadly, some of them are not very good (although, I will admit that reading is very subjective, as is any art-form). The part that baffles me is how these mediocre writers manage to be so successful? The only thing I can come up with is that they either know some highly successful writers and ride on their coattails, or they are geniuses at marketing. But, I didn't really want this post to be about me commiserating about other writers' success and my lack of it (Well, I kind of did).

There is a former mid-list author (mid-list is pretty much gone since the eBook revolution) I used to follow because I was in awe of his success despite his horrible writing. I'm not about to mention who he is, but he writes primarily zombie books. I bought several of his books and discovered the writing to be sub-par. Yet, he was vetted by the publishing industry and had built a career on that writing. Obviously, he was doing something right because he was successful. I knew there were enough readers out there who enjoyed his books enough to keep coming back for more.

That's what I wanted to emphasize with this blog post. No matter the level of writing, there seems to be an audience out there for the story. Since the gate keepers have been circumvented, so many more authors can publish their material. A reader can find just about anything that appeals to them. Just look at the Fifty Shades of Grey series. It's spawned a whole cult following and enough writers coming out of the woodwork hoping to jump on the erotica bandwagon so they can earn a slice of the success pie. No matter your reading tastes, chances are, you can find plenty of stories out there that will interest you for quite some time. Sure, there might be a lot of garbage out there you have to weed through to find that diamond. Just remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

With that, I'd like to leave you with a shameless plug. If you're looking for something scary or weird to read this Halloween, may I suggest my Adverse Anthology? I think you'll enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by!

--Insert Witty Title Here--

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I kind of feel at loose ends with my various projects; like I'm being pulled in several different directions. It may sound like I'm overwhelmed, but the truth is, I'm not. I'm more lost than anything, just drifting. Hence the title of this post. It seems to sum up my feelings pretty well.

With my writing, I am floundering. I have so many ideas and they all appeal to me. At least until I begin working on them, then the plot seems to hit a brick wall or simply fizzles out. I feel like I'm searching for the Higgs Boson and while I'm examining a theory, something shows me I'm headed in the wrong direction, so I stop or change course with uncertainty. This is the longest I've gone between stories without a definite course. There's only one thing to do, however. I need to pick a story and power through it. But, that's easier said than done. Currently, I have my sights set on a YA Halloween tale in the vein of Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree or Clive Barker's The Thief of Always, both great books.

In addition to my writing, I also have some other projects I'm working on. It's that time of year when my mind becomes distracted by the approach of fall, and with it, my favorite holiday, Halloween. This means I'm trying to create some cool silicone masks. I managed to sculpt a cool design a couple of weeks ago and then made the mold for it. When I finished the mold I went ahead and made two different casts. For those of you that don't know, a cast is when you pour in the silicone, let it dry, and then pull out the finished product. The first cast was too thin and ripped in several places. This is not uncommon. So, I poured another cast, making sure to double the amount. When I pulled it out, I had less rips, but still, that cast was unsuccessful. I haven't gone back to try again...yet.

My last distraction is my photography, which has come more to the forefront lately since I started trying to sell some of my work. I'm also pleased to announce that I am working on several new techniques. Last night, I experimented with something called light painting. When you light paint, you set up your camera in the dark, focused on a specific scene, and use a light source to highlight an area of the scene. I was pleased with my initial results and want to do more of these types of photos for my gallery. Also, there are some more techniques I want to try, but I'm waiting for the right time to try them.

Now for a confession: I made a major purchase this past week. I made the leap from my current camera (a Canon Rebel T2i) to a more professional-grade camera (a Canon 5D mark II). With the significant price difference, I did not arrive at this decision lightly, but I feel it will allow my pictures to really pop. Time will tell. In the meantime, I need to focus on something and see it through to completion. If you want to help me out, please buy one of my books or one of the photos from my gallery. It would certainly go a long way to lifting my spirits. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Once in a blue moon...

There's a blue moon tonight. There won't be another until 2015--in June, I think. Since blue moons are so infrequent, I thought it would kind of be symbolic for me to post my last post of August on the blue moon (since I can't seem to be regular with my posts).

There's not a lot exciting going on, not for the couple of blog readers I have anyway. Not only is today a blue moon and the end of August, it's also my oldest son, Robbie's, birthday. He turned 22 today. Happy Birthday, Robbie! (Of course, I highly doubt he reads my blog. He's probably never glimpsed it.)

We're on the cusp of a three-day weekend since Monday is Labor Day. In other news, I received a new lens filter today in the mail, so I'll be using it to take some more pictures that I hope will be worthy of posting in my gallery. Speaking of that, if you haven't yet checked out my online photography, I hope you will. Also, please tell your friends about it, especially if they're looking for pictures to hang on a drab wall. (BTW, my prices are highly--if not absurdly--competitive with the other photographers out there!)

At the moment, my wife and I are relaxing while we watch Ghost Adventures. The locations they visit are interesting, but really, does anyone actually believe this host? He reminds me of someone I work with (whom I find tiresome--enough said about that). Also, for anyone who doesn't yet know (where've you been?), I'm a huge skeptic of anything supernatural/paranormal. But, like I said, the locations are cool. I so want to go visit these places. :)

In the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

Thanks for stopping by!

Everybody Loves A Compliment

I came across something today that really pisses me off to know. Just this weekend, my friend Mark Mans and I were discussing books, publishing, and how elusive success is. We were commiserating that it seems like all the self-pubbed authors around us seem to be getting rave reviews, which in turn leads to lucrative sales, right? Both of us are slow to turn out stories because we deeply care about creating the best work we can for our readers. In a nutshell, we care about quality over quantity. Meanwhile, many authors (successful authors, I might add) are releasing books in as little as once per month! Some even claim to write some of their books in a single week. I'm not making this up people. :(

I've got two novels available: Majoring in Murder and The Old Royal, in addition to an anthology, An Adverse Anthology. I can assure you, I did not write any of those books in a month, let alone two. Each of those books took me several months to write. The short stories in my anthology took less time, but it did take quite a while to gather enough for a book. The reason the process takes me so long is because I have to edit them. When I finish editing them and feel that they are ready for someone else to read, I always consider the feedback of no less than three beta readers. At the end of that process, I usually go back through it one last time myself and release them into the wild. It's a tedious process, but in my opinion, it's completely worth it for my readers. After all, I want to create the best story I am capable of producing. Now, I'll admit that I know not everyone will like what I create. Writing is very subjective and I am aware of this.

So far, my stories have various reviews on several different distributors; some good, some bad. For instance, at the time of this post, on B&N, my short story Hush, Hush, My Love has received about 22 ratings/reviews (unfortunately, not everyone leaves feedback, just a rating). 10 of those ratings are 1-stars. You can view them yourself here. I'll be honest, it hurts to have those one-star reviews, but the five-stars more than make up for them. On Smashwords, the same story has 5 four-star reviews! I can't explain the diversity between the different distributors. I can tell you this, as an author, those reviews mean everything. Writers need validation for their work. Also, the more positive reviews we get, the better our work looks to other potential readers. It's that word of mouth that tells the next customer that our book is worth reading...or, so I thought. (Before I continue, I will tell you right away that I continue to be hands-off when it comes to my books' reviews).

As I learned today, not all authors have any scruples. I want honest reviews of my work. If someone I know reads one of my stories and feels compelled to leave a review, I always plead with them to be honest. I don't want them to leave me a glowing review because we're friends and they feel obligated. For instance, I received a 3-out-of-5-star rating from a colleague at work because my descriptions "didn't take him there". You know what? I thanked him for his candor and I respect the fact that he was honest with me. However, it seems that there are many authors who participate in cliques that go around leaving one another positive reviews to help each other out. When I learned of this, it made my blood boil. But, today, I learned that some go farther than that: they actually pay third-party services who leave glowing 5-star reviews without ever reading the book and they don't even know the author.

So, while some (possibly only a small subset of us) authors are trying to become successful by truly honest methods, others are simply bypassing the traditional method of producing a quality product in order to fool readers with tens (or hundreds) of purchased, dishonest favorable reviews. This not only pisses me off because they are cutting in the line to success, but it also devalues the honor system that reviews provide while, at the same time, deceiving readers. It makes it harder for me and the rest of the honest writers to succeed. I'm so mad, I don't even know what else to say on the matter without resorting to cursing and breaking something. Below is the original source for the article. I'll let you read it for yourself. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Original article: The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy - The New York Times

And Now for Something Completely Different

As the title suggests, this post is a divergence from my usual posts where I pimp my writing. For those of you who don't already know, I dabble in amateur photography in addition to writing novels and short stories (as well as creating silicone masks and creating photo-realistic drawings, but I digress). My photography started out just being for me, for fun. I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T2i and began experimenting. As I became more familiar with the camera, I purchased more expensive gear to take more interesting photos (star trails, etc.). However, my hoarding the photos I had taken didn't sit well with the rest of the family, who complained about me not uploading them to Facebook or giving them over so they could do it. After all, I had taken many pictures featuring them.

Recently, after visiting an art gallery in La Veta, Colorado, my wife suggested I sell my pictures. She said, "Yours are every bit as good as any of these." Many of those photos hanging on the walls were very good and I highly doubted mine measured up. (Did you know I am extremely self-critical?) I expressed my doubts and she responded by saying she would try to sell them herself if I would give her some of the photos. So, I did. We went through some of the thousands of pictures I have stored on my computer and selected a fraction of them to sell. I uploaded them to a personal portfolio online with a website called Smug Mug.

After researching some other, more established photographers' prices, I set my prices to be very competitive. After all, I'm not looking to get rich (or even quit my day job) by selling my photos. Although, it would be nice and a guy is entitled to his daydreams, isn't he? I simply hope to offer my photos to anyone who thinks there is a place on their wall for something I captured. That would be enough. For instance, a large (24x36 metallic) print was around $300.00. I thought that was ridiculous (although, a metallic picture looks awesome!) and wondered who would part with that much money for a picture. So, I cut it down to just over a hundred dollars! I know, right? That's incredibly cheap compared to any of the other artists.

With all of that said, I hope you'll go check out my portfolio. If you see something you like, something that would look good hanging on your wall, go ahead, get it. Even if you're not in the market to buy art, please, leave a comment on my gallery. You can even leave comments here, good or bad, but hopefully constructive. Lastly, if you're not looking to buy anything, but know someone who is, I would greatly appreciate you passing on word of my pictures. Thanks for stopping by!