Updates, Collections, New Stuff, Old Stuff, and Other Scams…

Well, here we are again, and I am going to try to make this one as concise as possible. Then again, I’m not very good at that. I cannot use my advancing “age” as an excuse, though I would like to say it makes my memory a bit more hazy, which is convenient.

Today is the day I choose to do what I feel like doing. Anyone around me would think my actions were boring, mind-numbing, and no different than any other day, but not the case.

I found myself getting to do what I like to, and feeling the need to create again. Things happen for a reason, and today is not an exception.

I’ll not tell you the number, but I’m proud to know that I am Original Gen X. Like a vintage wine, I manage to escape the Boomer generation, to become whatever the hell it is I am, and what we are.

I’m fine with it.

Okay, what is going on here? There’s been some things. First of all, I’ve finished off yet another edit of a manuscript I started writing a few years ago. I completed this, called “Damaged,” and while I still think there’s more I can do, I’m feeling some good things from it.

Let me explain a little bit about how my more positive view on this weird story came about: I was talking with my publisher, BookSpeak Network host and historian Dr. Lawrence Knorr (when you talk history, he’s a doctor, folks). We’d just finished a podcast recording regarding a book called “The Boys from Rubber City.” Steven Richard Smith recalls his Akron, Ohio boyhood in the 70’s, and L. and I, not far off in age though more about how we lived semblences of Smith’s life.

He asked if I had anything of the sort, and could I write about my Vermont upbringing? Well, I’d already done that in my last book, “How the Story Ends.” But then, “Damaged” reminded me that yes, I had written again about change, and how a town changes, how life changes you.

I did that in “Live from the Cafe,” as well. Find those here on the website under “Books,” and the network shows through the “Podcasts” tab here, hint hint hint…

“Damaged” is not ready, a ways down the road.

That said: my new one, “Legend of the Black Swan,” is getting closer to editing, and my fabulous cover artist, Megan Arney has really exceeded herself. It’s getting good, on all fronts.

Also: a new Brown Posey Press collection is soon to be published. 22 authors (yours truly included), 22 bits, chapters, poems, stories, all here in this anthology, or whatever we’ll call it.

I was the initial editor of these pieces, but to be honest I did little editing. Only the most minimal of cuts and fixes, because I wanted our people to do the heavy lifting. They’re better at editing literary pieces, while newswriting is where my hack-slash-burn method is at best use.

Anyway, there were some really nice gems in this, which will give the reader an idea of what BPP has going for it, and how the fiction wing of Sunbury Press Books has a lot going for it. Some good friends, and fine writers here…and these are just bits…the real treasures are in their full-length works. Okay, myself included.

I was asked about a title, and I lobbied for “The Author’s Wordtrack,” with the added BPP Anthology blah blah blah that we have to have.

Why that? Not sure, but I wrote down some key words from the stories and realized almost every one of these is a journey, with a start, difficult middle, and an end. Instead of a musical soundtrack, we have a wordtrack.

Why not? But who knows what anyone will say, and yet I like that one.

Now, “How the Story Ends” has won a couple of small awards. After years of nothing, two recognitions in two days—how does this work?

So what happened? Well, first I learned my work earned a PenCraft Awards “Runner-Up” honor! Now, that’s really nice…when you look at the winner’s list, you see a lot of winners, but you also see a long string of categories. There was the overall winner, then 1st place winners, 2nd place winners, and runners-up.

Well, I got in—who knows how many books were submitted?

Then the next day I got another answer. Some months back, I’d entered “How the Story Ends” into The BookFest contest, and promptly forgot I’d done it. I earned Third Place in the Fiction-Literary-Coming of Age division. A podium finish!

So I’m not unhappy about this. So many entries get nothing, even good ones. I’d like to think that “HTSE” was a solid work that was partly autiobiographical, came to some truths, and allowed me to move forward in my writing but also personal life. I think it happened.

Now, I want to also give a heads-up to fellow authors…right around this time, there was a string of spammy, sleazy emails coming in. You get them all the time, people who want to get your website millions of hits, your book millions of looks and sales through our wondrous Twitter campaigns, etc.

The worst were these motherfuckers who would write you, claiming to be the head of an actual company, meetup group, organization, say they loved your book so much, it “TOUCHED THEIR HEART.” Caps mine. They try to reel you in; want you to do this, do that, and it’s all about stealing your money. Using legitimate people’s names, identities, etc., to do this.

Not a day goes by when some people remind me they are shit, and I prefer Kao’s company to humans.

If it’s too good to be true, friends, it is.

The next part of this is events that I recently went to. Honestly…book fairs and events are big networking parties. You may or may not sell, but you will make some friends hopefully.

I’m choosing more wisely where I go. I am avoiding the big events, and a lot of the conventions because we have been priced right out of the building. Certain ones don’t cost much, but also you must factor in your gas, food, tolls, lodging…what’s worth it, what isn’t?

Some of the conventions, which cater more to pop culture as a whole and include authors, filmmakers, anime, collectibles, etc., are great fun, but when you see people trucking in a mini-mall setup, with thousands of dollars in product, you stand little to no chance to sell anything.

Today, I met a fellow indie author named TJ O’Connor, and snagged the first of his detective series. Nice guy, and we talked shop. He will be of help to me in the future, and I hope to be for him.

My podcast is designed to bring people along my trip. If an indie or self-published author has done the work, I’ll see it in the books. I’ll see it in the covers, the promo stuff, all of that. There’s a lot of work that goes into this, and no one ever sees it. Most of it, we do ourselves.

Again, have a look through the Podcast tab, and you’ll see all our shows.

I haven’t stopped writing. I have not stopped working. Retirement does not fit into my plans. I have a career that isn’t work, although some jobs made it feel that way. I have things I love to do, still. I have music to listen to, books to read, and no matter what certain alleged humans want us to think, hope is NOT dead!

There is reality in hope, and it’s real every damn fucking day! No one can control our minds. 1984 has not been manifest but by those who believe it so.

As a Malian artist and activist said years ago, and which is the title of a documentary, “They will have to kill all of us.”

They don’t have the stomach for it.

I’ll be still standing when this bullshit collapses on itself. You will not censor me. You will not silence me. None of us, for we think, we dream, we go on.

I have more to do, and I want to view as much of it, and enjoy it as it happens. I do not expect to appear anywhere else this year, and I don’t know when 2026 is going to start up for me…but there will be a new book soon, and I hope you will support it, or my previous works, all available.

Life is, to borrow a phrase, “Well, Lived.”

Peace, Out.