My poetry book "Explore: 107 Haikus" is finally published!

I'm still waiting on the proof copy of the paperback to come so I can review it before I publish the paperback version, but you can go and pick up the eBook version now! If you have Kindle Unlimited you can read it for FREE! I had a lot of fun writing this little book of haiku poems and I think readers will get a kick out of it too. I'm most excited about the paperback version as I think this kind of book lends itself more to that medium than an eBook, but I think the eBook version is still a great option. Many people prefer eBooks. For fiction I know I do. 

UPDATE:

The paperback is out now! Grab a copy for you and one for a friend!

Buy my new book at Amazon in paperback.

Writing Progress and Future Plans

Ever since I started down the road of training to become a pastor I mostly stopped writing. I have yet to write any new fiction, but I have been making progress lately on my book of Haikus. 

Here's the introduction to the book:

This is a book of 108 Haiku poems. Explore our world by guessing what each one is about. Haikus are poems made up of three lines, each with a specific number of syllables used. The pattern is five, seven, five. The first and third lines have five syllables, and the second line has seven. In this book I have divided the haikus into different topics. Each topic will have simple instructions on how to guess what the haikus are alluding to. Think of each haiku as a set of hints. This is a great book to read while traveling, either alone or out loud with a group. Everyone can join in on the guessing. Enjoy!

And the cover:

IN OTHER NEWS: I am toying with the idea of writing some new fiction for a brand new publishing avenue. Amazon is starting something called Kindle Vella. Click that link and you'll see their video on it. It will be a new platform where readers buy tokens and then spend those tokens on episodes of stories. You get the first few episodes for free, and then to read more episodes you use more tokens. I think I may start fleshing out an idea I've had for years about a boy who discovers he can fly and once the government finds that out he end up working for them to find and capture ancient and/or magical artifacts that they don't want the world to know about. I also have a couple other ideas I might try instead of that one, but the idea is a fun one. It would definitely be a different animal than tackling a novel if you did it right, making each short story it's own episode with a beginning, middle, and end. Seems exciting! That's it for now! Stay tuned for the release of "Explore" and possibly some serialized fiction. Thanks for stopping by!

Running Around Indian Trail | A Poem

For a casual day that won't make you burn and huff,

There are endless quiet neighborhoods lined with serpentine sidewalks.

If you've saved your jog for the later hours fear not,

The lights of all burn bright to illumine your sneakered steps.

If you're up for a war on your calves to reach the zenith,

Barnes road will go on and on deriding you to stop and walk.

The easy breezy way back down will be worth the sweaty mess you become,

And you'll soon find yourself dragging your feet back up to catch that view again.

If you can find the treasure at the end of the pristine paved lands,

There are trails to be found looping around under lines humming with power.

On rainy days they make a tickling fizz from the raindrops dying above,

And if you're lucky you just might spot a deer bouncing across your path.

Two Penguins of Differing Opinions

There once was a happy little penguin who danced in celebration of a most joyous event. Another penguin looked on in derision, appalled at his lack of decorum. 

Doesn't this boisterous little partier know the proper ways of the penguin? the older penguin thought. Penguins are dignified. Doesn't he know this from our formal habiliment?

I Wrote a Little Fiction

Here's the funny story behind all of this. One of my awesome co-workers got the idea to Photoshop out Waldo from a Where's Waldo image and then place it in the breakroom. Everyone will be looking for Waldo in the image, but he's not there! I thought it was an amazing and hilarious idea and it totally worked. Then I wrote next to the picture a list of people who had "found him" so people would look even harder. All this time a great company photo of all the employees together, which I won't post out of respect for my co-worker's privacy, was on the board next to this sans Waldo image. One of my co-workers photoshopped Waldo IN to that photo and put that on the board in place of the original. I love all of this. All that to say this all lead to a goofy idea I had to write a little note in first person from the perspective of Waldo leaving the first image and coming into our company photo. So now that you have the context here it is, the only fiction I've written in a couple years ever since I started pursuing becoming a pastor. Click on it to view it at a larger more readable size, I've also pasted the text below.

I managed to make it off of the ship. It wasn't easy but I couldn't stand it anymore; that feeling of eyes always watching and somehow searching for me and me alone among the packed crowd. I can't describe how I know that's true but I do. Anyways, now I stand comfortably in a place where no one is expecting to find me. Instead of rubbing shoulders with firemen and giraffes I casually blend in behind the small crowd. This place is warm and inviting. The smiles seem genuine. I think the people like being here and care about the work they are doing together to make the customer successful. I will stay here for as long as I can in hopes the eyes do not find their way to me here as well.

My friend at work didn't know I wrote it yet and commented that it was dark. I attribute that to a podcast another co-worker recommended to me called The Magnus Archives, a horror fiction podcast with an amazing premise that gets all the better as the meta narrative takes over.

In their own words:

The Magnus Archives is a weekly horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organization dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team.

Individually, they are unsettling. Together they begin to form a picture that is truly horrifying because as they look into the depths of the archives, something starts to look back…

That's also the only fiction I've been listening to lately but I wouldn't trade it for the time I'm spending getting an amazing education from Western Seminary for my Masters in Biblical and Theological Studies.