Of Titles, Reviews, and Shrines of Bacon

Hello, hello!  It's been some time before I've had a really thorough update; and so the time has come ("the Walrus said") to talk of many things.

The first point I have to share is that a lot of things have happened behind the scenes.  The most notable of those things is that I have thoroughly revised "Tornado C"—in time to submit it to the OYAN Novel Contest.  But you had to have a name for the novel to submit.

It was a long, agonizing process.  It involved ridiculous names—I considered "That Ending Though" for a while—and almost-fitting names.  Finally, while brainstorming with a friend, I came up with something, several hours before my deadline.

I'm actually immensely pleased with the title.  It's sort of poetic, and it fits the novel well—as a story of monologues and deep thoughts, and high-emotion points where I tried to write the prose in such a way as to evoke poetry.  And while it still has rough spots, the novel has been significantly reworked for the contest, landing somewhere north of 100,000 words.

After I receive the results of the novel contest—that's several months out—I'm hoping to use A Swiftly Moving River to break into the traditional publishing world.  STASIS and The War Horn were my experiments, a way to expand my platform and get some work out there.

But I think A Swiftly Moving River is my first really good novel.  I've never had a novel that affected me this emotionally before, and I think that's a good indicator of how powerful it will be for the reader.  It's the sort of novel that might actually get published.

Next up on my list is the fact that I'm writing an exclusive Will Vullerman story, called "White-Out".  I'm two thousand words in and loving it so far.  It may be available to read soon, as part of a giveaway.  I'm planning on using it for marketing—I have a couple tricks up my sleeve to try and get the word out about STASIS.

Which brings me to my next point.  While the sales are doing well for STASIS, the Amazon page is lonely.  See for yourself:

If you've read the book already, I encourage you to be the FIRST to write a review—and even if you aren't the first, consider taking a few minutes to write one anyway.  Reviews are huge when it comes to marketing, and an honest review will help my marketing more than all the banners in the world.

It's a good cause, too!  I'm using the funds to try and apply for a writing workshop this winter.  Every sale I makes contributes two dollars towards a week of intensive writing development.

And finally, I'm in the States.  It's a long story of how I got here (I was evacuated due to the severity of the Ebola outbreak), but I'm happy to be in Kansas again.  I continually think of all those still in Liberia, however, and any prayers you have for them would be appreciated.  The outbreak continues to worsen, and that hits close to home.

Being back in the States has certain comforts, however.  Bacon, for instance; and whole milk.  While America tends to enshrine bacon, I do love it.  It is a beautiful thing.  (Whole milk is even better though.)  Kansas being the best place in the world, I am terribly grateful to be back again, to see my homeland after nearly a year of being apart from it.

That about sums it up.  How is YOUR writing going - if you have a current writing project?  If not, what are you reading?  (I'm reading the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, and I'm pleasantly surprised by how good it is.)

Till next time,