October 2022 Author Update

You read that right. A new book will release in three days. On Oct. 4th Amorphous Tides: A Fantasy Novellete will be available to purchase.

Even better, if you’re a part of the Mustache Cartel, you would’ve received this for free.

If any part of the newsletter wants a copy, please let me know, and I can resend it to you. I encourage you though to please support the release if you can and to leave an honest review, that way others can decide if the story is for them. It really goes a long way.

I’ll spread the news when the book goes live.

I’ve been hard at work editing multiple projects recently, and one project finally wrapped up its sixth draft. My upcoming fantasy steampunk “The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates” has a new coat of paint and sharpened edges.

After a professional edit or two, I plan to publish next year. No other project has required this much attention and I maintain strongly that I want this story to publish at its best.

The only bad news, some family medical issues (that I don’t wish to dive into) may delay the release a bit. Not by much, I hope, but I intend to keep you all posted. I appreciate everyone’s patience and hope you all can enjoy the book as much as I do when it arrives.

You may recall that I’d finished a first draft whilst editing “The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates.” I’ve since begun revising its third draft. Its second draft added a lot of character changes that I wasn’t comfortable with and lost some of its charm, so weeding through it, I saved what I liked and dumped what I didn’t.

I hesitate to discuss this one too much though. Part of me is unsure whether I should publish this one, but I intend to stay on the grind until I can proceed with the more strenuous editing process for “The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates.”

The story follows a crafty secretary who’s forced to assemble a team of hardened criminals by a crime don in order to save her sister. I wished it to be a short series with each book she’s assembling the team with another member, and book one she rescues “The muscle,” a swole, grouchy convict with magical powers from an isle chockful of corruption, ghosts and a mysterious supernatural entity known only as the “Servant.” Who does he serve? And why? Time will tell. (*insert maniacal laugh*)

In other news, The Write Practice began their annual fall short story contest. At least two of the active alumni community are participating, as far as my knowledge.

This year’s theme? Haunted.

I’ve workshopped a short piece following a bullied girl who can talk to ghosts and the boy whose world gets turned upside down when he stands up for her. Fingers crossed, it’ll go far. The grand prize is valued at $660, with the runners up getting about $280 worth of goodies.

It’s been nice to write something new while I edit. I miss simply writing for fun, and it irks me that the editing process takes so long. At this point, I don’t care whether I win; I just enjoy the process and daydreaming about the story while tweaking and turning on how to make it better.

I’ll hope to update you when they compile the stories so you can read them for yourselves, decide your favorite, and hopefully get inspired to write a story of your own.

The end of the year is fast approaching, and last year I created a post on the website celebrating and promoting the stories from the Active Alumni, The Mustache Cartel, and even some of the Self-Publishing School.

This year I hope to do the same.

If anyone in the Mustache Cartel this year has published a book and would like me to share it on my website, please let me know. Finding your ideal readers and getting your books in front of people can be hard, and I’d like to help the community here around this upcoming Christmas time.

Please note that this is only for books published this year, so everyone can have a place, and so the authors can look back see what they’ve accomplished this year for a bit of encouragement. Stress can be hard on some people during that part of the year, and while I can’t guarantee I’ll share everyone’s, but I’d like help as many as I can.

These kinds of long form posts also take an incredible amount of time. So, the more info you can provide about the book, the better. Links to where people can read the look inside, and purchase the story are extremely helpful.

It’s still early to talk about this, but I thought I’d gauge interest.
Would anyone want their book shared?