WRITING JOURNAL: Got my first fan art from a reader (and friend), a 3D printed spaceship embossed with the blazing comet from the cover of LONGSTAR, my upcoming novel. Thank you Glenn Stephens, this thing is truly awesome and will likely sit on my desk forever.
WRITING JOURNAL: When I set out to create the character of Fiona for my novel GRONE, I hoped she would embody resilience, strength, and the indomitable human spirit. These attributes, while powerful in fiction, often find their truest expressions in real life. And I found my real-life inspiration for Fiona in the awe-inspiring journey of Jacqueline Saburido.
WRITING JOURNAL: This is pretty much my view for 7-8 hours a day during the final stretch of finishing LONGSTAR. Writing window on the left, reference window on the right. What you can’t hear is Spotify playing the Epic Writing Music playlist in the background. Right now it’s Ennio Morricone, The Ecstasy of Gold from the soundtrack of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly… Good stuff!
WRITING JOURNAL: Starting on the LONGSTAR final chapters today. The whiteboard wall in my office is wall-to-wall with evil deeds and good intentions. I love thickly-plotted books where everything comes together in a surprising way at the end, but it takes a LOT on brainwork. plus, I’m a little high from the fumes of the whiteboard markers. The good news is… coffee! Onward!
WRITING JOURNAL: With LONGSTAR coming out soon and ORUS in the pipeline for next year, it’s time to start thinking about marketing and promotions, and one of the most cost efficient ways to spread the word about your new book release is to give a bookmark to every single human being you pass on the street. So, today, we sent off our order for 1,500 bookmarks (we use PrintPlace.com). These were designed in my ancient and decrepit version of Adobe Illustrator that is probably older than some of my readers.
WRITING JOURNAL: Got the markers out this morning and spent the entire day filling my entire fifteen-foot-long whiteboard wall with intricate plot details and awful situations (and a few extraordinary opportunities) for our friends Se Jong, Nkiru, Littlefeather, Toroni, Rupe, Zia and Arni. Unfortunately, I can’t show you the whole whiteboard because SPOLERS, but here’s a tiny corner with the concept for one of the exotic locations.
WRITING JOURNAL: Within an hour on the first day that GRONE was released, it got three 1 & 2 star ratings. It was devastating. Beyond devastating. Imposter syndrome is a…
WRITING JOURNAL: Just 90 days past launch, and we’re about to surpass 3,000 orders and 100 very welcome ratings/reviews, plus hundreds of thousands of additional page reads on the Kindle…
As a science fiction writer, I’m always on the lookout for inspiration, and art has always been my first destination for ideas. The images below are updated in real time…
Grone is out, and reviews are coming in. And they’re good.
