Looking Forward

Greetings, Fire Enthusiasts. Happy New Year to you and yours. I trust the holidays were a good one, and that Santa brought you at least one good thing. I had an iTunes gift card in my stocking as well as a small stack of BluRays under the tree, so my Christmas was a good one. #brat

See, everything gets decorated in my house!

The holidays were also good because I am on vacation and don't go back to the day job until January 5th. In addition, I had no writing projects and did nothing but sit back and enjoy them. My current work in progress is in the able hands of my wonderful editor - unlike 2013 when I was actually writing the thing. I wrote that first draft over four months (Nov. '13 to Feb. '14) and practically missed Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years. *laughs* #writers So, no. I finished my 3rd draft in early December, spoke to the three beta readers (all were very pleased) and sent it off. Since then, I have simply been enjoying the season and hanging out with family.

This time of year media outlets typically spend a lot of time looking back at the year that was. In terms of writing I now have three novels self-published. The reviews have been very good and I can't complain. My latest novel - Seeing Ghosts - seems to have become everyone's favorite. That makes me very pleased. That book has everything in it that moves me. It's dark, haunting and very sweet. The only problem has been the chorus of readers who have told me they would love more of that story. Sadly, the book makes a perfect circle, with a lovely red bow on it, and milking it for another book seems wrong to me.

2014 has been my best year so far. Since my stories take place where I live, I have spent the bulk of my free time focusing on reaching that built-in demographic. I have my books in a local store, and have attended every event in town, doing my level best to get the word out. It's been working, but there's still more work ahead in 2015.

That is why I have titled this post: Looking Forward. 2015 needs to build on the previous year and propel me onward. I will publish my 4th novel this year, the third book in my crossover vampire series. Although I assume I will begin writing the next thing at some point, my focus will be to market the books I already have. I really hope to see them begin to pay for themselves. We all do, right? *sigh*

I'm going to keep this short, my friends. I wish you you the very best in 2015. I hope I encourage you the way you have encouraged me to keep pushing forward. I greeted many of you bloggers and writers before Christmas because I miss you all. If you did not hear from me, drop me a line here or on one of the other social networks and say hello. If not for you guys I might have quit this a long time ago. It isn't easy, is it? Not while our books float in a virtual sea of others out there.

The next time you hear from me you should see the blitz begin for my latest novel. There will be a cover release; blurbs, teasers and announcements - although I have not exactly been secretive when it comes to what's coming for our hero Nathaniel and his extended family. There will be other announcements, too.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Apparently I had yet to have my coffee in this photo...

We'll talk soon.

Climbing Out of the Cave...with a New Book

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I want to thank you for your support and patience as I have been underground these past few weeks. I have missed my blog friends. I have seen your comments here over this time, and I thank you. Perhaps as early as this week you should see my return to regular blogging.

I have been prepping my second novel, Dance on Fire: Flash Point. The manuscript has been extensively edited by the wonderful Natalie G. Owens. I received it back from her with her final walk thru last week. In the meantime, I had been spending the past few days reading it aloud as I try and make it as perfect as possible. This weekend I made all of the necessary corrections and worked on the formatting. It was hard work, but it appears to be finished.

This week I will make certain that it looks good on my trusty Kindle and prep for the big release. Monday, October 29th will be the day. I have already been making arrangements with media outlets in my area and you should begin to see me reaching out to you on the social networks. I want to thank you in advance for your support and encouragement as I release another baby out into the world. I hope you'll like it, and find that it is a worthy successor to my debut.

For now, I am going to sign off. I literally spent every waking moment this weekend working on the project. I wouldn't have worked so hard these past few months - and certainly these past few weeks - were it not for the fact that this book has sat on a virtual shelf for nearly two years. At long last, she's ready.

We'll talk soon.

Can You Believe I'm Vlogging Again?

Good Lord! It's never easy, is it? Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I was lazy this weekend and thought I would just do another vlog. Can you believe it? You know it's really bad if I decided to do this again. Right? *laughs* If you've seen my previous attempts at this, you know how nervous I can get. Would you look at that expression! Everything went great, but this is the shot that You Tube chose to feature. *sigh*

Trust me, my friends. This is the low point of the entire thing. The video actually came out rather well, considering I did it on one take. Anyway, check it out and either beg me to do more or offer to send money if I'll never do another. ;)

We'll talk soon.

News From the Writer's Cave

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. How is everyone? Thanks for all of your kind comments concerning my new photo which I revealed last week. That was very nice of all of you. Yeah, that serious-looking photo I had been sporting for two years was a bit much. This one is more me.

Well, if you saw any of my Facebook posts from this past mid-week, you might know what’s coming. For the month of October (hopefully not all of it), I will be stuck in the writer’s cave. Sadly, I won’t be writing, but editing and producing paperbacks.

I completed my second novel (Dance on Fire: Flash Point – book 2 in my vampire series), heard back from the wonderful beta readers, carved it up a bit and then sent it off to a professional editor. I just received it back and am in the process of fixing what needed fixing. I will then format and post on Amazon. This may be as soon as next week sometime.

That sounded odd, didn’t it? My plan is to get it on Amazon and then send out review copies before having a big event/release extravaganza, which should be the week after that. Certainly, if any of you out there would like to get a copy for review purposes, please let me know.

Once that is done, I must turn my attention to the paperback versions of both books. I did have a paperback of Dance on Fire once before; however, it is a second edition now and must be replaced. The reason why I am spending that time doing that is because my series takes place in my real-life hometown and I am still working on tapping that market. I have already begun reaching out to the media outlets, especially those who covered the first book in 2010. I also haven’t done any library events or book signings in a while and am excited to get back in that game.

What does this mean for you, my friends? Well, it means I will not be blogging for a while. I promise you that I will miss that, and will endeavor to get through this period as quickly as I can, so I can get back.

Speaking of which, I’d better get back to my cave.

We’ll talk soon.

Have I Been Stalling?

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts... Wait! There are still Fire Enthusiasts out there, right? Hello?

Hello, my friends. This is precisely why I have come before you this week; to talk to you about my writing. You may have noticed that I have spent more time this year talking about the books that I have read more so than the books I have written. There's a story behind that; however, it isn't a very good story. Suffice it to say that there has been some drama behind the scenes which appears to have ironed itself out.

If you've been coming by periodically you know that there were some corrections that I wanted done to my first novel, Dance on Fire. Those are being done now. Both the e-book and the softcover will be corrected. The regulars may also realize that we've been stuck in the editing stage for quite a long time for the sequel, Flash Point. You would not be wrong, but that, too, is nearly complete. Those should be hitting my inbox in a matter of days and then I will pull a 24 hour shift and get those sent back out to my publisher. *Thinks again* Ok, perhaps not a 24, but as close as humanly possible.

In the meantime, I have begun editing the third novel that I have told you about entitled, Ghosts, and am very pleased with it. That book wrote itself very quickly this spring. I should be asking for beta readers at some point in July, if all goes well. I've never used betas before, but am looking forward to it. I have had a couple of wonderful people already offer to do that, and I love them for it. It has been a long time since my first release, and although I still don't exactly know when this second one is releasing, I do not want to wait as long for this third one to come out.

If you are unfamiliar with Dance on Fire, here's the blurb:

Each May, the Central California town of Kingsburg celebrates its Swedish heritage with the annual Swedish Festival: a weekend event where the town puts on its traditional dress, culminating with a dance around a Maypole on Friday, and a Swedish pancake breakfast and parade on Saturday. The town with a population of over 11,000 residents draws thousands more to the event. This year, two uninvited guests also converged upon the unsuspecting town.

Nathaniel is a vampire. He wandered into town, bothering no one; feeding upon stray cats and other vermin, wanting nothing more than to have a place to rest his head. Vincent is a second vampire, and the one responsible for making Nathaniel. He has been searching for his long lost “son” for well over two centuries. Vincent’s goal is to take Nathaniel home or kill him. Nathaniel has often wished for death, wondering why God ever allowed this punishment: to walk the earth undead and unable to be redeemed. Does God remember the little boy from Romania who watched his parents die, was raised by the murdering vampire, only to become one himself? What does God think of Nathaniel and could there yet be redemption for one outside of heaven?

Ten days before the start of the Swedish Festival the most tumultuous week in the history of Kingsburg has begun with two vampires leaving death and destruction in their wake. Kingsburg Police Detectives Mark Jackson and Michael Lopez, Barbara and the entire Lopez family find themselves drawn into something that threatens to destroy them all or leave them scarred forever.

In a marriage of the classic horror story and the Christian themes of good conquering evil and redemption, Dance on Fire is the account of characters being drawn into the fire and the supernatural forces around them watching as they burn.

Here's the blurb for Flash Point:

Five years after the death of their only child Tiffany, Steve and Angie Rosen receive an unexpected guest to their Morro Bay, California home: their daughter. She comes with a tale of having suffered a terrible head wound in the fire that took their Kingsburg home, causing her loss of memory and migraine headaches that force her to hide from daylight in order to prevent. Tiffany's reemergence is treated like Manna from Heaven; however, her story is only half true. Tiffany is a vampire and their daughter in name only. She sleeps during the day and hunts for human blood during the night, and has come back to enact a twisted revenge upon those who ruined the plans of her master, the notorious vampire, Vincent. And she is not alone.


Five years after the terrible events that reshaped the Swedish Village, Kingsburg lies unsuspecting as five vampires descend upon her with a great evil in their black hearts.
Five years after old wounds have finally healed and the old fires were thought extinguished, Police Chief Michael Lopez and Officer Mark Jackson and their families find themselves surrounded when fires blaze anew. The good vampire, Nathaniel, has pledged his service to these people, but he is no longer among them. He lives high in the Oregon Mountains near the California border, seeking whether God might have a place in His kingdom yet for him.
When Nathaniel discovers that Tiffany has returned, will he be too late to stop her? And will his desire to protect his friends destroy what God has begun in him? It will all begin with a Flash Point.


If you have yet to grab a copy of Dance on Fire, give it a week or so until I announce those corrections. I'll be sure to let you know.


I apologize for all of the delays. The next few weeks should be very exciting. I hope to have specific announcements and reveals for you. I will also be conquering that last peak: Amazon.com. The book has been everywhere else and now finally will be available everywhere. I thank you all for standing by me during this process and for always being good to extend me some encouragement. I hope I have done likewise.


We'll talk soon.