I’ve recently come to the unfortunate realization that nearly everything I’ve ever been passionate about is something nobody particularly wants to pay me to do. Drawing. Painting. Music. Carpentry. Writing. Apparently, when the universe was distributing interests, I wandered into the arts-and-crafts department and never found my way out. Why couldn’t I have developed aContinue reading “A Passion for the Impractical”
Tag Archives: book-review
Feeding the Beast
I need to write a blog post. That is, unfortunately, the entirety of my inspiration for this week’s blog post. I’ve been doing this long enough that I have written about writing, editing, publishing, marketing, worldbuilding, research, rejection, reviews, sales, failure, success, characters, covers, maps, mistakes, lessons learned, things I wish I had known, thingsContinue reading “Feeding the Beast”
A Traveler’s Guide to Lucardia
So, you’ve decided to visit Lucardia. Excellent choice. Whether you are searching for breathtaking mountain vistas, ancient cities, unspoiled forests, vibrant local traditions, magnificent ruins, fascinating religious history, or the exhilarating possibility of being chased across a field by something considerably larger than yourself, Lucardia offers an unforgettable travel experience. Few destinations can boast suchContinue reading “A Traveler’s Guide to Lucardia”
Flashback Fridays #14
This week’s look to the past was originally published on 8/13/21. I’m posting it again now because it is some good advice and a bit of encouragement that I also need to remember from time to time. Many, if not all, of us seek external validation. But perhaps the most important validation is within yourself.Continue reading “Flashback Fridays #14”
The Words That Remain: Editing Sylvanus
I have spent an enormous amount of time editing Sylvanus: Swords and Sons over the last three weeks. More time than I typically do for pure writing, and probably more than makes rational business sense, but I am in love with this tale and want to make sure it is as good as I canContinue reading “The Words That Remain: Editing Sylvanus”
Flashback Fridays #13
I don’t really have any fancy commentary for this week’s Flashback Fridays post. I just like this one and thought I’d give it a little nudge. It was originally published on 8/5/2021 during the doldrums of COVID. Cheers!
I Tracked More Than Half a Million Amazon Keyword Rankings. Something Has Changed.
I know I am publishing a post outside my typical blogging schedule, but I’ve been working on this one for a while and feel it deserves a special place. For nearly four years, I have tracked where my books appear in Amazon search results. What began as a fairly simple attempt to understand whether readersContinue reading “I Tracked More Than Half a Million Amazon Keyword Rankings. Something Has Changed.”
Timelines: The Bane of My Existence
There are certain things that keep a writer up at night. Is this character interesting enough? Does this chapter drag? Did I use the word just seventeen times on the same page? And then there is my particular torment: Timelines. My formal Lucardian Timeline covers roughly a thousand years of recorded history, but once youContinue reading “Timelines: The Bane of My Existence”
Flashback Fridays #12
For this week’s Flashback Friday, I’m going back to July 2021, when I wrote my first “year in review” post about self-publishing. At that point, I had been doing this for exactly one year and was already trying to understand what I had done wrong, what I had learned, and what I needed to changeContinue reading “Flashback Fridays #12”
Two Hundred Knights, a Bed Warmer, and a Tornado
Last week, I was on a stay-cation, which, for me, apparently means spending most of my “relaxing” time finishing writng a novel. I had been aiming for 2,000 words a day as I pushed toward the end of Sylvanus: Swords and Sons, but once I could see the finish line, that goal pretty much wentContinue reading “Two Hundred Knights, a Bed Warmer, and a Tornado”
