Happy to report, I’m halfway done!

It’s been a hectic last couple of weeks. Between work, having a nearly three-year-old at home, and my wife’s schedule for school, it’s been tough to find time to write. Finding time to write that also coincides with having the mental creativity to write. It’s a tough window to find.

As of this morning’s writing session, I’ve crossed the 40,000 word mark in the next book’s first draft. Which signals approximately the halfway point in the book.

I’m hoping to find more time to write over the next month or two, so I can finish up the first draft before diving into doing my first round of edits.

Someone once said that you should find something to do that you love, so I’m going to try to devote more time to write this first draft and get it finished! I’m very excited to finish it up and get some feedback on it.

If you’re interested in being an early reader to offer your feedback, drop me a line!

Progress Update: 30k words!

I’ve been chugging along the last few weeks, some here, some there, working my way through the first draft of title-yet-to-be-announced book number 3.

Today, I crossed the 30,000 word mark. Though I didn’t write as much as I wanted to today, on account of construction equipment being loud right outside my office (we’re putting in a stamped concrete patio). Even with headphones in, I could feel the vibrations from the machinery, which made it hard for me to focus.

But I still got around 2500 words in today. I’ve been trying to write 3000 on days I do write, which isn’t every single day. But I’m inching closer and closer to where I want to finish the draft at, before I go back and punch up some spots I recognize need some work. I’ll leave that for editing, though.

Thanks to those of you who’ve left reviews for My Last Days and also those of you who’ve reached out to show support for the next book. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the messages I’ve been getting from you!

Podcast Guest: What I Miss?

On a whim, I responded to a Reddit post (I don’t even remember what subreddit it was in, honestly) looking for guests on a new podcast called “What I Miss?”. Its creator bills it as “A chill conversation about things that matter, and things that don’t”.

While I’m not the biggest fan of podcasts (I’ve tried a bunch of times and I just can’t get into them), I love story telling. So I jumped at the opportunity to be one of the initial guests, especially since I got to talk about my work, how I got where I am and lots of other things.

We also played a super fun game called “Did I Write That?” where Jordan (the host) went through a bunch of old (and super cringe) song lyrics from my other website and then made up some of his own. I had to guess if it was something I’d written or not. And it was so much fun. I hope he has me on again and I can play again!

If you want to listen to me ramble — mostly incoherently – about life, writing, inspiration and a bunch of other silly things, my episode goes live on June 10th. You can listen to it here.

I’ve started my next book!

If you’re not following me on social media, you missed an important tidbit from last week. I’ve started my first draft of my next book.

In fact, I’m over 10,000 words into it after just three writing sessions (totaling a little shy of five hours.) For comparison, My Last Days is around 92,000 words. So I’m chipping away at it pretty quickly.

As is typical of how I write, I’m just going and going and going. I don’t like to spend a lot of time outlining and creating character personas. Particularly since most of my characters are rooted in reality. They may not be exact clones of actual people in the finished product, but they are as I’m writing. For me, that makes drafting much easier and quicker. Does it make a better end product? Probably not. But it’s how I enjoy writing and I fear when this feels more like a job than a passion, I’ll not want to do it anymore.

So far, I’ve exposed two hints about the book. In case you missed them, I’ll share them here, too:

  1. In takes place in 1996 – so much nostalgia coming your way!
  2. It takes place in Billerica, Massachusetts.

I don’t have any goals around when the draft will be done. I didn’t want to impose any additional self-apposed stress on myself until life gets back to a closer semblance of normal (namely, daycare re-opening.)

For now, the goal is to write a few chapters a day until I feel comfortable with the first draft. Then work on tightening up the main plot points, the characters, and the entire premise before shipping it off to beta readers. If you want to be a part of the beta reading process (you read an early draft and provide your honest input), sign up for my mailing list. It’s the best way to get the inside scoop on the new book, as well as exclusive discount coupon codes for future books!

My Last Days’ First Review – Five Stars!

Getting feedback on something you’ve created is wonderful. Even if it’s negative. Just knowing that your work was good enough (or bad enough) to inspire someone to write a review online means a lot.

I was so glad to see that My Last Days got its first review on Amazon yesterday, just about a month after being published. I’m even more elated that it’s a five star review!

If you’ve finished reading your copy, I’d love it if you could take a few minutes to pop a review up on Amazon. It’s incredibly important for self-published authors to not only get positive reviews, but to get a lot of them.

Thanks for being the first, Melissa!

Launch day!

It’s been an endless day of fighting with an almost-three-year-old to get eye drops in her eye after emergency cataract removal surgery yesterday. I know, I didn’t know a toddler could get cataracts, either!

But I wanted to take a quick moment and acknowledge two things.

First, it’s been almost six years of my life. Of ups and downs, loves and hates, happiness and sadness, but the day is finally here. My Last Days is officially available as of today.

Second, I wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank each and every one of you who pre-ordered a copy. Further, those of you who’ve already started reading, maybe have finished, and maybe have texted me your thoughts along the way. Thank you beyond words. It means so much to me, especially in this weird state of the world we live in, that you’d spend your hard earned money on my book.

I’d love to say I spent the whole day online, talking the book up, promoting it however I could, and begging you all to tell your friends. But I didn’t. My little girl comes first, and she always will.

One week left to pre-order… and some other updates

The last three weeks have flown by. Almost in the blink of an eye, as they say.

Since launching the new site here and getting My Last Days available for pre-order, things have been a little hectic. I’ve been packing and shipping pre-order copies out myself, which isn’t a big deal. Except I offered a signed copy with a “witty or funny inscription”, which turned out to be much more challenging to come up with en masse than I thought. And, surprisingly, most folks who wanted a signed copy opted for that option. I think my mailman hates me.

That said, time is running out to get a pre-order in. But only if you want a copy before the public gets theirs next week. Digital versions will go on sale on the 6th and I’ll do my best to get your copy to you before then if you order in the next few days.

I’m really pleased with how sales are going so far. I’ve outsold A Sour Chord already, which is not that much as that didn’t sell very well.

I got my first actual piece of press this week, too. Our local town blog posted a nice writeup about me and included details about the book. You can find it here.

That’s about it for now. My anxiety has had me up since 1:30am (it’s now 5am), so I figured I’d knock out an update while I couldn’t sleep.

I hope you’re well and staying safe. Wash your hands and wear a mask for pete’s sake.

So many updates, all at once!

Oh, hi there. It’s been a while, I know. Actually, it’s been over a year. That’s inexcusable, at least in my own eyes.

Anyway, I’ve been up to a lot of things. Besides just living life, being a dad, working my job, working my other job, keeping my humans alive and trying to be a good friend to my close friends, I’ve done two momentous things as of just now:

  1. I published My Last Days! Finally, it’s available for pre-order starting today and will be available on May 6th.
  2. I launched my new author site. This took longer than I’d like to admit, but I’m happy with the result.

As a special offer to those who read my blog, you can use the promo code BLOGREADER on my online book shop will receive 10% off their order, with no limit. Pre-order your paperback or hardcover of My Last Days and you’ll get it on May 1st, before the public. You may even get it sooner than that, if I can get out to the post office to ship them out.

It’s also available for Kindle, Apple and Nook, and is available on Google Play and Smashwords. eBooks are just $2.99 as a promotional launch price. The paperback and limited edition hardcover are on sale until the end of May. Buy them right through my site, pay by credit card, or through your Amazon account.

And, please, tell your friends, loved ones, strangers, the guy at the grocery store. Tell everyone, but do it from a safe social distance.

Thanks for all the love and support over the years while I got this thing finished up and available to you all!