My latest short story "The Night the Lights Came On"

Friday, December 30, 2016

2016, A Year In Review

It's been a crazy year—for all of us. That said I did get some really exciting things done in my writing career! Here is a little table showing my accomplishments in 2016 and plans for 2017.

2016 2017
Destruction Road revised and published as a paperback. The Case of the Missing Snowman publication
Sword and Urn revised and published in paperback and eBook Ghost Slaying Realtor publication
The Case of the Missing Snowman written Zombie Super Powers publication
Slug Teeth short story published in audio by The Melting Potcast, and published as an eBook Sword and Urn audiobook published
Ghost Slaying Realtor novel started during NaNoWriMo Destruction Road audiobook published
 

Destruction Road Revised and Published in Paperback

I wrote a novelette a long time ago and published it as an eBook by the name of "A Second Chance." It's about an abused teen who decides to run away, but he ends up destroying another family by taking all of his anger towards his dad out on a stranger. My friend, and fellow author, Timothy C. Ward was kind enough to go through the entire thing and edit it for me. He had a ton of great ideas and edits and this year I finally picked that old story up and went through all of his suggestions and made a ton of updates and revisions to my story. It is a much better story now and I'm really proud of it. I gave it a new title, a much better cover, and even published it as a paperback.

Here's a link to get Destruction Road free as an eBook, or for $5.99 as a handsome little paperback.

Sword and Urn Revised and Published

This year I revised and published my novella "Sword and Urn." It's available as an eBook and a Paperback making it the second paperback I've published. I'm really proud of it and think the paperback version looks great and feels wonderful in your hands. I'm very proud of the interior design and layout on that one.

Here's a link to buy Sword and Urn for $2.99 in eBook and $5.99 in paperback.

The Case of the Missing Snowman Written

I spent most of the year writing and illustrating my upcoming Chapter Book "The Case of the Missing Snowman." I finished writing it and have received a lot of feedback on it from beta readers, but I still have yet to give it one last polishing draft and complete all of the illustrations for it. It's at the top of my list for 2017 publication.

Ghost Slaying Realtor

I also started writing a book called "Ghost Slaying Realtor" for NaNoWriMo this year. I'm really excited about it and I plan to finish it and get it published in 2017.

Zombie Super Powers

I also am over halfway done writing a novel called "Zombie Super Powers." It's the book I served up to the chopping block when I went on The Roundtable Podcast to have it workshopped. The guys and the guest host, one of my favorite authors Dan Wells, came up with some really amazing ideas that helped me reshape the story into something way more exciting and fun than my original idea. I have no excuse for not having finished this novel. I'm really excited about it and I think it's the best novel I've written so far. I think it's a book I'm doing a good job of leaving all the boring stuff out of. It will be my most page-turn inducing novel I've written and I can't wait to get it out there. I'm hoping to finish and publish this novel in 2017 as well. It's already over halfway done, I need to get that thing out there.

So here's to: the first year I had books available in paperback, books longer than short stories put up for sale, and a very productive year of writing and publishing in 2017! As always, thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Books I Read in 2016

I set out to read more books this year than I did last year, but it was not to be. In 2014 I was shooting for reading 35 books and I ended up reading 42. Last year I aimed for reading 50 books and I managed to read 56 books. So this year I thought I could get to 60, but as the year progressed I found myself really busy and unable to read as much as I would have liked to so I changed my goal to 50 again. I was able to get to 51. That said I'm still very satisfied with that number, and I think I'll shoot for it again in 2017 and see where I get. I hope you had a great year of reading!

Thanks to the amazing www.goodreads.com I have a great visual layout of all the books I've read below:

  • The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds by David A. Adler           Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
  • The Most Wonderful Tales of the Year by Audible Narrators
  • Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
  • The Treasonous by Rachael Ritchey
  • Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
  • Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells
  • It Came from Beneath the Sink! by R.L. Stine
  • Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst
  • Next of Kin by Dan Wells
  • The Devil's Only Friend by Dan Wells




  • The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
  • The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
  • Sword of Deaths by Christopher Mannino
  • Take Off Your Pants! by Libbie Hawker
  • The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
  • Revolt by Timothy C. Ward
  • Void Wraith by Chris  Fox
  • Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst
  • The Kingdom of Oceana by Mitchell Charles
  • Kings or Pawns by J.J. Sherwood
  • The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
  • Scavenger by Timothy C. Ward
  • Conjesero by Carl Alves
  • Crucible and Flame by John Mierau
  • The Twelve by Justin Cronin
  • Thrum by S.K. Slate
  • Titanborn by Rhett C.  Bruno
  • The Beauty Thief by Rachael Ritchey
  • Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne
  • Shadows of the Highridge by Jay Swanson
  • Lifelong Writing Habit by Chris  Fox
  • The Body by Stephen King
  • Destroyer by Chris  Fox
  • Exiled by Chris  Fox
  • A Vanishing Glow by Alexis Radcliff
  • School of Deaths by Christopher Mannino
  • Scouts of the Apocalypse by Michell Plested
  • 2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron
  • 5,000 Words Per Hour by Chris  Fox
  • Danube Waves by Katharina Bordet
  • Putin and MH370/MH17 by David Joseph
  • Into the Nanten - The Record of My Exile by Jay Swanson
  • The Chimera Sequence by Elliott Garber
  • CTRL ALT Revolt! by Nick Cole
  • Wrong Side of Hell by Sonya Bateman
  • The Home Health Aide Textbook by Jane John-Nwankwo
  • Gardening For Beginners by Dahlia Rose
  • Strikers by Ann Christy
  • Scavenger by Timothy C. Ward
  • The Chimes by Charles Dickens