Good afternoon, Readers!

In preparation for the most likely outcome of my submission of Soldier, which is to say, silence indicating rejection, I'm struggling a bit with retaining the will to continue submitting and publishing. I have developed a pretty tough skin over the years, but the rejections do wear on me. Couple that with working full time, plus another part time job, plus a monthly video podcast, plus my art stuff, I can feel the burnout starting to take root.

Again.

I feel as if I'm not selling particularly well, and part of that is definitely my fault. I'm not especially good at marketing my work, and so I'm struggling to reach the level of sales I need to reach in order to make this writing lark my full time gig. And I so desperately want to be a full time writer of fiction.

Being so drained, I haven't yet started writing as I promised I would. I feel like I'm in a holding pattern until I pass the indicated deadline from the publisher for my submission and until I get the final edits from my final beta reader for the novel I finished last year.

It's not been conducive to creation, this whole thing called life.

Still, I've not been idle. I've been researching various serial sites where I might publish The Lioness of Shara Mountain. I thought I had settled on a site - Webnovel. Then I read that the contract through them requires first dibs on rights of subsequent related works. The Lioness of Shara Mountain is set in the same world as (albeit a different continent to) The Great Man Series, the first book of which is Soldier... currently on submission. That publishing requirement will not do. So, not Webnovel.

There were a couple of alternatives that my good friend Jen has made me aware of - Vella and Yonder.

Vella is owned and operated by Amazon, and while it does have the structure and monetisation I'm looking for, I really, really, really dislike the way Amazon treats its employees and their authors, so I'm not keen on going with Vella. At all. It's joined Webnovel in my 'Not-Bloody-Likely-Let's-Hope-I-Don't-Get-This-Desperate' list.

Yonder I only just learnt about today, and it looks extremely new. There isn't a lot of information on their site yet about what publishing a serial with them will look like, other than they pay royalties on original content. I've signed up, though, in the hopes that when they're ready, I'll learn more information. For now, they're on my 'Could-Be-Promising' list, though the terms of their contract will dictate whether or not I will seriously consider them.

Currently at the forefront is Wattpad. I used to have a Wattpad account back in the day. I don't know if it's still there. The problem of course, is that it's mad hard to monetise Wattpad stories. They do have an invite-only site where stories can be monetised. But it's invite-only, and so I fear The Lioness will suffer the same problem as all of my other published works - discovery.

Now, I am allowed to ask for payment on Wattpad, which is nice, but also makes my skin crawl. I'm not good at that part. Still, I have both Ko-Fi and PayPal, so I can ask for a tip or a couple of bucks if folks enjoyed the story. And there's always the (very slim) chance that The Lioness gets widely popular there, and is picked up by Wattpad's monetisation site.

For now, though, Wattpad is the surprise leader in my quest to publish The Lioness of Shara Mountain as a serial story.

I'm just sad about the whole discoverability issue, but it's not like I'm not used to it by now.

Listen, the more I think about this latest work, the more I really like it. It's a good story... and perhaps a little too much of my soul for my own good. I really want to give it the best shot possible. So, if any of you know of a serialisation site that might suit, do let me know about it. I'm still researching, and as Beta Reader Three is very busy at present, I have some time.

Thanks so much for your help.

​Ciao!

Good afternoon, Readers!

As my third and final beta reader makes his slow way through The Lioness of Shara Mountain, I've turned my mind to some of the publishing details. It will be happening soon-ish, maybe. Anyway, I'm workshopping some blurb ideas for the back of the book. I could use some help. Here is what I have so far:

Anyway, it's not great. Blurbs are not my strong suit, so I'm asking for some serious help. Does this sound good? Would you read a book with this on the back cover?

​I anxiously await your opinion!

Good afternoon, Readers!

​I'm obnoxiously busy at present, so please enjoy the article I wrote for Black Gate Magazine a fortnight ago.

My love of gaming is well known amongst my friends and friendly acquaintances, and has since before I could afford my first console. In news that would surprise absolutely no one, my preference has always been for narrative games; where the story plays as much a role in the gaming experience as any tests of skill or intellect. The best games for me strike a delicate balance between challenging gameplay — combat and puzzles — and narrative. In short, I game for the same reason I read. I game to find myself immersed in another world, diving into a story that will delight and move me.

When I struggle with the world, which was quite often these last three or so years, it’s to books or video games I regularly turn. I found that when I was really struggling, I didn’t turn to film or television so much, as I’ve been feeling quite detached with the kind of stories on offer in those media. Few matched the emotional depth I, very specifically, needed. The Untamed, available on Netflix, was one of the few television shows I could tune into precisely because the stakes were incredibly high, and the narrative was spectacularly heartfelt.

Good afternoon, Readers!

This weekend past was lovely. I taught martial arts as per usual for a few hours on Saturday, and visited my father and his girlfriend Sunday, where I finally watched RRR. Brilliant film, for the record. Every bit deserving of the hype.

Slightly less wonderful, I got the first feedback from my third beta reader, and it was, as is typical, less than glowing. Luckily, I've developed a thick skin for writing critique, and I know well which critiques to pay attention to from this particular beta reader. He's very good at ensuring I don't get too big a head, which is sometimes very needed. Mostly, his advice is very good, and his keen eye is a boon, so don't worry. I'm not crushed or anything. It's a good thing he's so forthright. It's one of the many reasons I keep him as my final beta reader. In any case, he's extraordinarily busy, so it will likely be a long while before I get The Lioness of Shara Mountain back from him.

This means I can focus on other stories that I've started and not completed. I think I'll work on Daughter of the Sea, as it's a great stand-alone story set in the same world as my Avalon series (not yet finished... or properly titled... still). Hopefully by the time I'm finished writing that, my subconscious will have done its thing and finished the narrative of the third book so I can at last finish that series and start the submission process.

In the meantime, I've been off exploring other social media options. After Twitter was sold, many of my friends went off in search of a better space. Many of them ended up on Mastadon. I have an account there, though I've done nothing with it, really. In my research, I discovered a Twitter-like alternative called Spoutible.

It is a black-owned site, and has a user-end interface that is very like Twitter. Instead of Tweets, we have Spouts (in which we spout off. Get it?). Instead of things trending, they're making waves (which I rather like). What I'm rather enjoying right now is the promise of being strict about harassment as well as misinformation. We'll see how long that lasts, but that's what made me decide to go there, not least of all because Twitter is opening up to known liars again with no promises of any kind of fact-check.

There are some key differences in the user experience, but they're small. If you're used to Twitter, and don't want to spend a great deal of time relearning another platform, I really recommend Spoutible. It's only recently launched, and so there are a fair few bugs the needed and need ironing out, but my experience has only gotten more smooth since launch date. An app is coming shortly, and will probably have more kinks to iron out, but all in all, it's been good.

I still have my Twitter account, but I'm no longer active on the site. Join me on Spoutible instead. That's where I'll be doing all of the formerly Twitter-ish things.

If you decide to sign up and want to follow me, you can find me here. As you can see, I'm very inventive when it comes to names on my socials...

Anywho, that's all I've got for you at the moment. I shall return next Monday.

Ciao!