The End of NaNoWriMo

Well, I started out the month strong with Teddy, but it was as the month wore on and I approached the last week and a half that I lost it. I didn’t lose the story, but I lost my consistent pacing between headaches, Black Friday, other distractions, and a few pure moments of “I truly don’t give a shit right now.” Therefore, I didn’t make the 50,000 word goal for my 30 days. I came in at just under 40,000.

But I’ve got one hell of a beginning. Teddy, so far, has proven to be a very promising tale. It probably features the fastest beginning to a novel I’ve written in quite some time, instantly plunging the protagonist into a nightmare that he has to find his way through.

There is one thing very peculiar about the project, however. If there were a rating system akin to movie ratings, Teddy would probably be able to achieve something close to a PG-13, due to the lack of strong profanity and minimal gore. Some people will be surprised at this, but in this case it just fits the character, and since Teddy’s telling the story, it only makes sense that the language has been toned down.

I do plan on finishing the tale, but I also plan on returning to other projects now as well. Hollow Isles has been calling to me the past couple of nights, and I have not yet returned to that realm to pay characters such as Diana Llewellyn, Zack Gable, and Jim Fisher their much needed visit. The last I left them, they were all in very dire circumstances, and I’ve sort of kept myself in the dark as to how that particular encounter is going to work itself out. Perhaps I’ll return to it briefly tonight…

New Editor?

Also, on a totally different note, I was needing to see if anyone would be interested in doing some editing for me. An old friend of mine, Sarah, was doing some editing work for me on Twilight Gardens, but as we all know life is good at doing, it has kept her busy and she’s been unable to return to work on it as of late. I was going to see if I could have someone (I trust) to work on some editing, making suggestions, and whatnot for the first two entries in the Twilight Gardens series so I can print new beta editions of both. Just let me know!

Thanks,
Mike

I Must Be A Glutton For Punishment

I have signed up for National Novel Writing Month for November. With the side projects I’ve started as of late – specifically Spiral - as well as Hollow Isles already being in progress, I’ve decided to drop EVERYTHING and devote an entire month to the creation of one full-fledged tale. I have thirty days to write 50,000 words – approximately 175 pages.

So I can definitely use some prayers or good vibes sent my way. I’m going to be writing my ass off.

I’ve decided my new project specifically for this event will be Teddy.

Two New Upcoming Publications

Here’s a quick update: in the coming months, I will be releasing two new publications on Amazon. The first is Eternal Dissonance, a screenplay I wrote over three years ago. The second is a new novella entitled Spiral. I will keep everyone updated as time goes on.

The Funny Thing About Amazon

So let’s face it: since I moved to Washington, I have not been gracing the internet with my presence as much. I’ve been caught up in my latest phase of introvertism to really bother checking some of the sites connected to my writing. But tonight I have decided to return to the ethereal cyberscape and make some comments.

My good friend Hank brought something absurdly hilarious – at least, absurdly hilarious to me – to my attention this evening while we were watching the season premiere of Californication. (By the way, Californication, in my humble opinion, is an absolutely wonderful show. It appeals to my sometimes crude sense of humor and other sensibilities, and I often find myself identifying with some of the challenges presented to Hank Moody… especially when he proposes toasts to the blank page, an obstacle I am extremely familiar with.)

Anyway, it turns out that there is a bookseller on Amazon selling a copy of the deluxe edition of Imperfect Symmetry for a whopping $52.29. …I’m selling it for $24.95. What on earth are these people thinking? They’re attempting to sell a book that hasn’t even been signed by the author for more than double than what the actual author is selling it for! (This is just proof that, ladies and gentlemen, you should just buy it from me!)

Hank, of course, insists that this means I’ve “made it.” It doesn’t matter that I haven’t made any real money off the book. It just matters that people are attempting to make money off me by ripping people off with my product.

In other news, I finally checked Amazon out for the first time since I got here… and it turns out that Jessica, a friend and the first person to purchase Imperfect Symmetry, left me a wonderful review on the site. Thanks Jessica! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the book!

On one final note, I’ve returned to work on Hollow Isles. I plan on dabbling on some short stories as well. There’s one, a little creepy crawly story called “Bed Bugs,” that needs the real meat of the story to be written still, and I’ve also got a few other projects dying to be written. Hell, I even picked up a notepad tonight after work and started writing a new poem.

The literary machine is cycling up once again, and soon it will be leaving the station.

Until next time, read a good book (something you’ll enjoy preferably), have a good drink, and think some good thoughts in my direction. They will be much appreciated.

-Mike

Relocated

So it’s official: I’m living in Kirkland, Washington now with my friend Hank.  For those of you unfamiliar with the area, it’s just outside downtown Seattle.  The job search is going reasonably well, I guess, but I haven’t secured one yet.  As soon as this stage is over, I plan on getting back to writing.  Until that time comes though, I find my mind easily distracted and I can’t concentrate on the other worlds I craft yet.

Until then, I hope the job search goes well!

Editing on Moonlight’s Requiem…

…has been completed!  That’s right, I finished editing the 742 page hardcopy manuscript this evening.  Now all I have to do is update the files on the computer, and I’ll be one step closer to sharing the novel with the world!

Hollow Isles Update

God, it’s good being back in this world.  I’m already a little over 30 pages into the tale, and so far a major villain has been maimed, a major character has vanished, Zack has had dealings with a certain pink stuffed bunny rabbit (gasp!), and Diana actually fights someone!  This book is definitely off to one hell of a start!

Writing Commences on Book 3

That’s right, everyone.  I’ve started some preliminary writing on the final installment of the Twilight Gardens trilogy.

The tentative front cover art for the darker second installment, Moonlight's Requiem.

The series, one of much frustration and joy for me since the latter part of ‘06, has been on a hiatus of sorts for nearly eight months now as I’ve gone back and gone through a rigorous editing process on the first two entries, Twilight Gardens and it’s much darker successor Moonlight’s Requiem.  Now, with less than eighty pages left of editing the latter work, I’ve began the arduous task of re-entering the perilous world of Montgomery Ferguson and his friends as they face the final chapter of their story.

I haven’t fully devoted myself to the story as of yet though.  I’m still working on some side projects.  The main one at the moment is a short story entitled “Bed Bugs,” a tale about one family’s fight for survival against vicious killer ants… and when I say killer, I do mean it in every sense of the word!

My newest stories are definitely new editions in the story universe I’ve already established.  That’s right: they also fall in the same mythology as the trilogy.  Although the events are related and stand on their own as individual stories, locations and even characters are mentioned or seen in several of these tales.  “Aborted” and “Memoria,” for instance, involve a shady apartment building called The Studio, which was mentioned in Moonlight’s Requiem at one point.  “Bed Bugs” sees the return of one of the characters from “Memoria” in a supporting role sometime after the events of that story.

As for the Twilight Gardens series, many people don’t know what it is.  For those individuals, let me give you a brief rundown.  The story mainly follows Monty Ferguson, a seemingly ordinary young man who, as it turns out, has limited extrasensory abilities and the ability to slip into another world.  This is not some alternate reality or other version of Earth, but a full-fledged world wholly separate from our own where the siblings he never had in our world are alive and well… and, in one case, very angry.  Unbeknownst, he has attracted the attentions of an evil force that becomes bent on his destruction.  In order to slowly rip his life apart around him, it manipulates four souls to become its messengers, and each of them represent a different trial for Monty and his circle of friends.  As fate would have it, Monty’s role in these events is far beyond his own comprehension, but before long he will begin to discover a horrible truth… and may have to sacrifice far more than he bargained for in order to do what is right and necessary.

The tentative cover art for the third installment, Hollow Isles.

Of course, there is a love story in the tale involving Diana Llewellyn, the girl that got away, and as events unfold, Monty’s relationship with her affects the lives of him and his friends in ways no one would have been able to foresee.

And so the third book, Hollow Isles, is underway.

Introduction

Welcome to my new official page.  I’ve been looking for a way to have a centralized location on the net for all things related to my budding career as a writer, so I thought this would be the easiest way to do so.  I figured I would also be able to spread the word about me this way as well.

As time goes on, I’ll open the doors to my little world and give you glimpses at what lurks within.  So stay tuned.  There is much to come, and I’m just getting started.