Happy Birthday You Funny Old Stick

 

Sent to me ages ago by a fan... credit to Bluesun

Psst hey wanna buy a candlestick?

 Quick update on the writing: it's going slo

w

ly

but it's promising. Next week is Bastille Day and I hope to have a more comprehensive update then. 

Meanwhile, here's what it looks like in Book Central: 

Followed by ???? and then, PROFIT!

This one time, at Writing Camp...

Welcome to July, and welcome to working on the book for Camp NaNoWriMo. I'll update weekly during this time to let y'all know how it's going. Between this run and November's I'm hoping to finish the book and get it into print early next year. Wish me luck!

Run, Valjean! Run!

Stars in their multitudes... and stuff....

Are you there, blog? It's a me, Mario

 Just a quick post to say things are still grinding away. I wanted to observe the usual Fifth of June day for the Alphabet boys (and an early Dunk A Cop Not A Donut Day) and hopefully, I can start making it a habit again to post on the regular.

I have decided not to raise the prices on the print versions on Amazon after all. Even though I get less money that way it's only like 50 cents when you take it all into account and I'm not going to be fussed about that. I've pretty much sold all the copies of the first four I'm going to anyway (except for the stray new readers, hi I see you thank you!) so it makes it even more important to get the next book out so I can actually make multiple sales in a month. 

If anyone is interested I can start posting snippets of the work in progress, Absolution, here on the blog. That way you'll get a teaser, I'll have something to post here and there, and maybe the feedback fairy will visit. I'll see what I can find that I want to post later this month. And no I won't be posting the Guernsey segment again. That's been up like twice now already. Even I'm tired of it :-D

And now in the famous words of Rocket J Squirrel (no relation to the raccoon) "And now here's something we hope you'll really like!"

Well there's your problem, you're writing with a hammer

Not Dead, Just Pining for Fjords

Okay so there's a little bit of news going on here. 

Yes, book will happen. No, I don't have a deadline or estimation. I have discovered that nothing makes me want to write LESS than setting a time limit. Nanos have come and gone and I have done, mathematically speaking, diddly over squat. (*)

On the plus side though I have been diving deep into some research for future stuff, which always helps because in order to get to write the new shiny stuff, I have to get the stuff on my plate out of the way. Hey, it worked with Honor, you know?

IMPORTANT NEWS about the First Four Books (printed versions only): Amazon has announced that they're recalculating print costs and adding about a dollar to their side of the take (and therefore subtracting a dollar on my side, assuming the final price that I set does not change.) So I'm wondering how much to change the print editions' prices. This change will take place sometime in June. So, basically, if you're wanting the print versions of Resurrections, Sanctuary, Adrift, and/or Honor, you will want to buy them in the next month to get them at the cheaper version. Note that this does not apply to the e-books, as, clearly, there's no printing involved. 

Personal news is I'm still not working, waiting on a final appeal on my disability application. My income comes from these books and Ebay. I do have a stable roof over my head and a bed of my own. And a cat. So that's all okay then.

I can't promise when or even how often I will update the blog. But at least it's here, I'm here, and maybe you are too. Hoping this blog entry finds you well. 

Les Gavroches - Antonio Sciortino
Statue of Gavroche and the brothers (Jules and Auguste)
1904, Malta

_____________

(*) from the following cartoon. One of the trilogy of great 80's cartoon series (Bloom County) along with Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side.

Paris, Ten Years Later

 

Yes, work is now recommencing on the book. This was originally all going to be the first half (!) of Inferno but, well, I've already got brick problems so I felt this was best. I want to thank everyone who has stuck around during the past few years of utter crap (in my head) and letting me rebuild my stamina and confidence. I have discovered PauC fan art on Tumblr and it makes me soooo happy I could just fall off a bridge. I have given myself a tentative finish date of end of the year (2021) for this one. 

Wish me luck! I love each and every one of you, even if you number in the single digits. 

Nano did not go as planned

Well I signed up for Nanowrimo again and then some stuff happened and no book got written. But I'm okay with that. I actually had a kind of breakdownthrough on how I want the next book to go. Traditionally, so I'm told, it's that middle part of the work that is the hardest part, whether it's a movie or a story. I should not be so down on myself for choking at this point in the narrative. 

Leaving you with this, for now, courtesy of @sparknotes on Twitter: