Book news, movie reviews, hot takes, etc.
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Why “Love Letters to a House on Fire” Matters to Me
“Are you okay?” That’s what some people have asked me after reading Love Letters to a House on Fire. The simple answer to that question? Yeah. But when I was writing some of the things in that book, no. Love Letters, for the most part, is a fun and quirky collection of short stories, poems,…
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My Name is Hammerfist Vol. 2 is out now!
There it is! At long last, the sequel to My Name is Hammerfist is out and ready for you. Not gonna lie, my journey writing this book was a little tough. This is going to be a place where I serve some tea about my process of writing Hammerfist 2, including the thoughts I was…
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Free Tools Authors Can Use for Book Promotion
Authors are solitary people. It can be hard to find your audience, let alone get in front of them. Trust me, I get it. With years of writing and marketing experience behind me, though, I’ve found several tools that have helped me strengthen my brand as an author. Are these tools going to suddenly rocket…
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Awaiting Further Orders – A Free Sci-Fi Short Story
I wrote the following short story for the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. Since I didn’t win it, I now have full authority to publish it wherever I want! In retrospect, it’s probably best that I didn’t win because I’m not sure I want my name attached to anything associated with L.…
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My next book will be free for everyone. Here’s why.
Guys, marketing a book is hard. Like, really hard. I studied public relations in college and most of my professional career has been in marketing. I’ve been around the marketing block a time or two, helping make millions of dollars for some companies, so I kind of know how things are done. But marketing books?…
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The importance of beta readers
Sometimes you’ve got an awesome idea. More than likely, you’ll have a good idea that needs a bit of work. I didn’t start using beta readers for my books until my second novel, and boy am I glad I did. The truth is no author is an island. No matter how much I’d love to…
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Well, my first fantasy trilogy is done.
Today is April 2nd, 2022. That means Awakened, the third installment in The Wevlian Chronicles, is now on Amazon. And that means every book in my fantasy trilogy is live. Published. Done. I have mixed feelings. Don’t get me wrong, I feel great about this accomplishment. It’s been fifteen years in the making. I originally…
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A hate letter to traditional publishing
Okay, okay, the title is a little harsh. And clickbaity. I apologize for that. And this isn’t even written as a letter, either. So I apologize for that, too. The truth is, I don’t hate traditional publishing. I think it’s just fine, albeit fraught with its own set of problems. It’s kind of like Marvel…
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August 2021 Writing Update
Awakened – ~57,000 words, approximately 1/2 of first draft July was a productive month! Still had the chance to go back and edit some things that I had written before, but mostly it was a chance to move forward. On some days, I steamrolled and wrote as much as 3,300 words. That’s a new record…
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July 2021 Writing Update
Awakened – ~39,000 words, approximately 1/3 of first draft Things are coming together. On the surface, it looks like I only wrote 4,000 words over the last month, but a lot of what’s been done has actually been rewrites. I began rehashing things from earlier in the story, only intending to spruce some things up,…