Scott William Carter's Blog, page 7

Recalibrating the Cartoon Strip (Changing to a Once-a-Week Schedule, Pausing Patreon . . . for Now)

It feels a bit strange writing this post, just a week after posting about reaching my 50th comic strip with Run of the House, but, alas, reality has intervened as it sometimes does. While I love producing the strip, and plan to continue doing it, I now have a much better idea of how much time it takes — which means how much time it’s also taking from other things. Unfortunately, while I thought I could maintain the balance of writing/university work/family/cartooning without anything really suffering, it turns out there really are only 24 hours in a day, and something had to give. Lately, that turned out to be the writing, as much as I tried to deny it to myself. My weekly word counts don’t lie, since I’ve always been a big believer in tracking them so I’m honest with myself about my productivity, and they’re down considerably in the last few months. 

And since I have two kids going to college before long, and the writing is (ahem) quite a bit more profitable (and equally enjoyable), I’ve got to continue to prioritize it.  I knew when I was starting to use my morning writing time for the cartoon strip that I was going to have to make some hard decisions . . . So I’m dropping back to a once-a-week, Wednesday publishing schedule for Run of the House, starting next week (August 28).

But I’m not quitting! If anything, I’m more motivated than ever to get better as an artist and cartoonist, just as I’m equally motivated to get better as a writer. I’ve learned a ton about cartooning the last few months, both the craft and the business side of things, and I have some ideas on how to evolve the strip in the months ahead and how to keep getting better overall. This really is primarily about time. Well, yes, paying college tuition, too, but primarily time.

Finally, I’ve paused the Patreon donations. It doesn’t feel right to take your contributions when I’ve cut my publication schedule. I was tempted to just close my account for now, which I may still do, but then I saw that Patreon has a “pause” alternative that preserves some options for me. They’ve changed their membership plans since I started, so if I completely close it I’m forced onto the new plan. 

So, to recap: Going forward, you’ll be able to read all the weekly strips over at http://wwwRunofthehouse.net, and you won’t be charged by Patreon if you were one of my early backers. Thanks again for your support!

50th Comic!

My cartoon strip, Run of the House, reached a neat milestone today. I published my 50th comic!

If you’d like to read the other 49, you can see them all at www.runofthehouse.net. So far I’ve kept to my M/W/F schedule without fail since starting the strip back in April. My goal has been to just keep working on getting better, and I’ve been encouraged how much the strip has already evolved. I see definite improvement, which is gratifying. That’s what it’s all about to me, folks, whether it’s writing, cartooning, or anything else: it’s about just working at the craft and getting better. The rest is gravy. While it’s been challenging finding the time to do this with the writing, the family, the day job, and everything else, I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.

And while I know some of my most dedicated readers of my “regular” writing would probably prefer I stick to books, the balance has been very, very good for me. It’s actually reinvigorated my creativity and brought new perspective to the writing side of things, too. In other words, I think it’s making me a better writer.

And I’d love your help! If you want to support me on this journey, plus get the comic a week early, access to the backstage blog where I share insights and behind-the-scenes stuff, and other extras, consider chipping in $1-$3/month over at my Patreon page. I’d really appreciate it!

 

New Book Published: Bury the Dead in Driftwood (a Garrison Gage Mystery)

After far too long a wait, the sixth Garrison Gage book, Bury the Dead in Driftwood, is now out in the world! For those of you who want to get right to reading, more information about the book is below, including links to various retailers.

A two year gap between books may be nothing for the likes of George R.R. Martin, but I’ll try not to make my Gage fans wait that long if I can help it. In fact, it was such great fun catching up with Gage and his friends that I’m launching right into the next Gage book. I can’t promise you when I’ll finish it, of course, but there’s a good bet it won’t be two years.

Bury the Dead in Driftwood

A Garrison Gage Mystery

They find her buried in driftwood.

Harriet Abel never shows up for her appointment. Irritating as hell? Sure. It’s hard enough to work as a private investigator without potential clients standing you up.

Of course, it’s difficult to show up when you’re dead.

A revered community figure in the Oregon coast town of Barnacle Bluffs, the teacher extraordinaire never gets a chance to explain why she wants to hire Garrison Gage before her body turns up in a sandy grave. Seldom deterred by the lack of a client, Gage barrels forward intent on discovering the woman’s killer. Unfortunately, the professional curmudgeon stirs up a lot more trouble than he expects, putting innocent people in imminent danger.

In the past, Gage always triumphed over whatever dark forces stood in his way, but this time he may have gone too far — and he won’t be the only one paying the price.

[Learn more.]

Ebook:

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play

Paperback:

Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

Audio:

Audible | iTunes | Amazon

(Links to other retailers posted when available.)

Summer 2019 Update: New Gage Book Coming, Cartooning Stuff, and Other Sundry News

Good news for my Garrison Gage fans! Bury the Dead in Driftwood, the sixth book featuring the curmudgeonly private investigator living in Barnacle Bluffs, Oregon, is now with the copy editor and should be available for purchase in the next few weeks. Be sure to sign up for my author newsletter if you want to be among the first to know when the novel is actually out. That’s the cover up there (it still might get tweaked a little, though we’re feeling pretty good about it at this point), and the book description will be coming soon.

It was great to revisit my old friend Gage and the extended cast that inhabits his moody Oregon coastal town, and I’m hoping my readers will feel the same. I appreciate everyone’s patience! Two years was a long time to go between Garrison Gage mysteries, but, well, what can I say? While I know there are plenty of you who’d prefer that I just write Gage books and nothing else, I’m just not wired that way. I also had a big book that went sideways on me and needed to be put aside for a while. It happens. What I can say, however, is that I’ve been making a lot of little changes, both to my habits and my mental approach, that should add up to a lot more books and stories coming from me in the months and years ahead. We’ll see. I’m having a lot of fun and that’s the main thing.  More than ever, the real joy I get from my creative work is the pursuit of excellence. Money and fans are certainly nice and appreciated (oh boy are they!), but the less central they are to my motivation the happier and more productive I am as an artist.

Speaking of fun, I’m also having a blast with the Run of the House comic strip. (Three recent ones are pictured above.) I completed my 50th strip the other day. While I’m posting most of them in various social media channels (Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, etc.), the best way to  see them is at www.runofthehosue.net, posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. While the strip is free, if you want to show your appreciation, a $1/month at Patreon is certainly appreciated.  By becoming a patron, you’ll also get lots of extras. Every little bit helps.

Other news? We had a fun trip to Florence, Oregon a few weeks back, staying in a lake house and having a blast. Kayaking, ping pong, hanging out in the hot tub, even a couple dune buggy rides — it was a great retreat. Overall, weather has been quite pleasant this summer, both in the Willamette Valley and on the Oregon coast, and I feel almost guilty saying so, since I know that’s not the case elsewhere. Oh, and if you’re somebody who wants to lose weight, or simply get healthier overall, I highly recommend reading Jason’s Fung’s book The Obesity Code. My weight had been creeping up over the years — nothing egregious, but like most people, it was just trending in the wrong direction — and I’d finally decided I’d had enough and I needed to cast a wider net on my understanding of the issue. Of all the books I’ve read on diet and nutrition, Fung’s book finally filled in the missing pieces for me. My biggest takeaway from it? That when and how often we eat is just as important as what and how much. It makes complete sense from an evolutionary point of view, too. Read the book for more information. It’s heavy on the evidence side, which I love, but you can certainly skim some of the more data-intense parts of the book and still come away with a much-improved understanding of human physiology. A lot of it is simply reinforcement of what we already know (cutting down sugar, refined carbohydrates, and eating more whole foods, plus moderate exercise, is a recipe for better health), but if you read this book you will understand why 98% of all diets fail — and what you can do to prevent that failure from happening to you.

Launch Day! Run of the House (a new cartoon strip)

What’s that up there? A cartoon strip? Yep, that’s right, today’s launch day for a new project of mine, a (not quite) daily cartoon strip called Run of the House. It’s basically about what a quirky group of pets do when their people aren’t around. And if they could talk, of course!

That’s the first strip up there, but from here on out I’ll be posting it at Runofthehouse.net, where I’ll be releasing the comic three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I’ve got over a month of comics built up as a buffer to ensure I stick to my publishing schedule. Click the comic itself and it will take you there.

I teased a little about this last month here on my main site, as well as in a note to my email subscribers, but this is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. My first dream, as a kid, was to be a cartoonist, and I grew up loving Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Boom County, The Far Side, and to this day still love great strips like Get Fuzzy, Stone Soup, and Luann. Up until high school, when I started to get a lot more serious about writing, I was still focused on art and drawing. It wasn’t until the 2016 election came along, and all its assorted craziness (trying not to get too political on y’all), when I decided I needed to focus some of that energy on something more productive, that I got back into drawing again as a pleasant diversion (while still maintaining my primary focus on my writing). That’s when the old dream of doing a comic strip came roaring back. And I thought, why not now? 

So in a way, this comic strip has been thirty years in the making . . .

Rather than trying to go the syndication route in an industry that’s really struggling, I decided to take the indie approach to publishing it. That’s where you come in. If you enjoy the comic, consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1-$3/month, where in return I offer lots of extras: early access to the strip, commenting and interacting with me and other readers, a backstage blog, “silent extra” bonus strips, etc. I’ll be doing a bit more of a “pledge drive” down the road, when I’ve got at least a modest backlog of comics up, but early backers really are appreciated and will always have a special place in my heart.

There’s a bit more on the runofthehouse.site about the strip, but I’ve already got the first Backstage Blog up on Patreon, including more Q&A about the strip, so if you want a bit more of a behind-the-scenes look into my creative life, that’s where I’ll be posting in more detail. For people who want the hanging backstage with the band feel (behind the easel with the cartoonist?), I hope to make it worth your while to subscribe with a couple bucks a month. I’ll be talking about all kinds of things, from maintaining a balance with the day job and family, marketing and promotion, motivation and discipline, and a whole bunch more. I’ll have pictures, even the occasional video.

Man, I’ve got a lot to learn. It’s a completely different kind of creative pursuit. But I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

For those of you here just for the words, don’t worry, I’m still plugging away on the latest Garrison Gage book. Shouldn’t be too long. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the funny pictures.

 

New Book Published: The Castle on the Hill at the Edge of the World (plus an update)

Continuing my tradition of writing books and stories with really long titles, as well as taking occasional right-angle turns in my choice of projects,  I’m pleased to announce that my latest book is available for sale in paperback and ebook: The Castle on the Hill at the Edge of the World. 

While full details about the book are listed below, as well as links to various retailers, let me just say in short that while this middle grade book is aimed at younger readers, I hope adults might give it a shot, too. For me, after I had to temporarily put aside a very ambitious epic I’d been working on for the better part of a year, just to get some perspective on it, I wanted to take on a shorter, more intimate story as a change of pace. I’m hoping some of my adult fans might find it to be a pleasant change of pace, too. I think of it as a mix of Bridge to Terabithia and Coraline, so if you like either of those books, you might like this one, too. If you enjoy it, please say so on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever you bought it. Those online reviews really make a huge difference and are the best way you can show an author you appreciate their work (other than buying their books, that is!).

As for what’s next on tap? Well, you Garrison Gage fans hopefully won’t have to wait too much longer, because I’m closing in on the end of the sixth Gage book now. Nope, can’t tell you exactly when it will be out, but soon. After that? Well, as far as books are concerned, we’ll have to see (that Big Epic is starting to call me back to take another crack at the idea), but speaking of right angle turns, I have another very different kind of project I plan to launch next month:

I’m starting a comic strip.

What? Huh? Come again?

I imagine that’s the reaction of almost everyone except those who’ve known me a very long time. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I grew up loving Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Bloom County, The Far Side, and many others, and continue to love strips like Stone Soup, Get Fuzzy, Dilbert, and Luann. One of my first dreams, around the age of eight or nine, was to be a cartoonist. As I got older, I focused more and more on fiction, letting my drawing skills go a bit dormant, but as I started to get back into drawing the past few years (partly as a way to focus on something other than the Nonsense Factory taking over Washington D.C.), the old dream to create a cartoon strip came roaring back.

And I thought, why not now? Sure, my drawing skills may always need more practice and improvement, but I figure I might as well practice in public. Otherwise, I may never quite get over the hump of getting this project off the ground, and I’m fine with people seeing me get better (hopefully) as I go.

No, I’m not going to say anything more about the comic strip at this point except that I’m publishing it independently online, and that the start date will be April 22, 2019. So check back here for more information next month. I’ll have a lot more to say about my plans. Other than that, I’ll just tease you with the little cat named Lily pictured on the right, who will be one of the stars of the show. No, I’m not stopping writing fiction. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll fit it all in, especially with the day job at the university and the family, but I’ll find a way. In fact, lately, as I’ve worked on both the writing and the cartoon strip, I’ve found that switching back and forth has actually energized me and made me more productive overall. Strange, eh?  It never ceases to amaze me how you can always find time to do the work you love (even when you don’t always love it — especially then) as long as you really commit to doing the daily work and let the rest sort itself out.

What else is going on? Well, I’m finishing up teaching WR 464: Writing for Publication again. While I enjoy teaching, and do plenty of short term training and presenting in both my university and creative life, I find teaching a four-credit college course like this one both rewarding and exhausting. I always come away glad I did it but also glad I don’t teach college courses full-time.

More soon.

———-

The Castle on the Hill at the Edge of the World

If everybody would just leave Sam alone, she’d be perfectly happy hanging out in The Land Between, the undeveloped forest at the end of the street where she can pretend, at least for a little while, that life is much better than it really is. Then a strange boy moves in next door and all her problems get a lot worse.

Rob (or does he go by Bobby?) insists that his parents are prisoners in a mysterious castle in another world. Others claim the truth of his past is far more tragic. When her new friend vows to rescue his parents or die trying, Sam must make a fateful choice that will change both their lives forever — and reveal just how thin the line between imagination and hope can really be.

Ebook:

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play

Paperback:

Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

(Links to other retailers available soon. Check here for updated information.)

Evening Writing Course in Salem this January, Writing Update, Misc.

It’s been a few months, hasn’t it? When I start getting emails from readers wondering what I’ve been up to and whether something new will be coming out anytime soon, often with a note of concern for my welfare, I realize I should probably give a little update. And just because we’re nearing Thanksgiving, that’s a picture of my cat, Paisley, enjoying the comfort of the fire on a chilly November evening. See, we’re all fine and cozy here.

Nothing new on the publishing front, alas, though when the dust settles in December this should end up being a very productive writing year. How can that be? It’s been a year and half since I’ve published something, the longest stretch in years. Well, it may be obvious, but it’s still worth pointing out that there’s a big difference between writing and publishing. I very much see writing as a discipline. I get up early and write my daily words. I keep striving to get better. That’s it. That’s all there is. Everything after that — the publishing side of the equation — is just details. Those details can be important, but they tend to sort themselves out as long as I just do my best and keep my primary focus on meeting my daily quota. Some projects take longer than others, some have to be put aside for a while, and some have to put aside for good. It happens. It’s all just part of the discipline.

So that’s a long-winded way of saying yes, I’m writing, quite a bit, actually, but no, there’s nothing new coming out at this time. For you Garrison Gage fans, that’s the book I’m working on now.  When will it be done? Who knows. It’s done when it’s done. I realize that’s not exactly helpful to my readers, but having a very Zen-like approach to the craft keeps me sane, especially since I balance the writing and other creative work with a university career and raising two kids. I just don’t want anyone to think that just because nothing has been published lately that nothing has been written.

On another note, I’m teaching WR 464: Writing for Publication again this January for Western Oregon University. A little twist this time: It’s part of a new offering of courses in my hometown (twenty-five minutes away from WOU itself) as the university starts ramping up a Salem, Oregon presence. It’s also offered in a hybrid format, meeting for two hours on Wednesday nights from 7:30-9:30 while the rest of the content is online. For me, I’m focusing on the business aspects of publishing in the face-to-face component, so there’s plenty of opportunity for questions, with the craft part of the class online. (Otherwise the content is much the same as previous times, which you can read more about here.) I’ll be back to post a bit more info soon, but the first session will be Wednesday, January 9, 2019.

If you have a serious interest in writing and selling fiction and creative nonfiction, and you want to learn the nuts and bolts of professional writing, both the traditional and self-publishing routes, I promise you that you will get a lot out of this course. My goal is to clear away the myths and set my students on the right path. If you want to get on that path, take the course. The rest will be up to you, but I will do my best to get you on the path.  Use the contact form on this site if you have questions. And no, it’s not going to be offered fully online anytime soon. Perhaps someday, but the hybrid online/evening course approach is what the university is focusing on for the Salem courses for right now. It’s a great opportunity to get upper division college credit as well, if you’re working on finishing your degree.

Back soon. If not, though, remember, I’m still writing . . .

Port Orford, Oregon – July 2018

That’s a picture from our recent week-long stay in Port Orford, Oregon. We rented a beautiful house nestled in the hills near Port Orford Heads State Park, and just forty-seven steps down to what was practically our own private beach. Heidi took this photo when we walked down the grass-covered steps that first night at dusk. It was such a magical moment that I actually said, “It’s like something out of a fairy tale.”  The southern Oregon coast is so far from the major areas of Oregon that it’s not nearly as touristy, which isn’t a bad thing at all in my book. We had fun hiking the South Slough Estuary, visiting the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, and just hanging out as a family, as we often do when we make our frequent forays to the coast.

Alas, no publishing news to report. It’s been a lot longer than I’d prefer between books, but sometimes it can’t helped. I do appreciate your emails, even the hectoring ones, because a hectoring reader is still better than no reader at all, I think. Yet in the end I just have to write my daily words and trust in the process. While I truly appreciate every reader I have, I can’t do it any other way. The books come when they come. Sometimes they come out fine the first time, sometimes they go sideways and need a bit more work, but I’ve learned the hard way (oh boy, have I) to just keep the focus on the work.

If you want a good book on the subject, check out Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. It’s one of my favorites. When Herrigel himself was learning archery from a Zen Master in Japan, he was scolded for fixating too much on the goal itself:

“Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind! You can be a Master even if every shot does not hit. The hits on the target is only an outward proof and confirmation of your purposelessness at its highest, of your egolessness, your self-abandonment, or whatever you like to call this state. There are different grades of mastery, and only when you have made the last grade will you be sure of not missing the goal.”

 

Postcards from the Garage: Sunset in Bandon, Oregon (and a brief update)

That’s a shot of the beach in Bandon, Oregon in mid-December. My daughter wanted to visit her best friend, who moved to northern California a few years ago, and we found a way to make it happen — flying her down from Portland to Arcata. It’s not something we can always do, but special friendships are worth a special effort, we believe, so we do what we can. The problem was that the airline decided to drop the route from their schedule (lack of demand, I guess), so while she was able to use one of the last scheduled flights south she needed to be transported home another way. I made it into a father/son road trip, and the two of us drove down together, cutting over to the coast at Reedsport, Oregon and heading south on Highway 101 all the way to Crescent City, California, where we picked up my daughter. As anyone who knows me can probably guess, I seldom pass up a chance to spend time on the Oregon coast. Staying in Bandon allowed us to break up the drive and enjoy a few fun stops, like the John Dellenback Dunes Trail. The Umpqua Dunes were rumored to have inspired Frank Herbert to write his classic of science fiction, Dune. Here’s a shot of Calvin atop one of the towering hills of sand:

And here’s another, with the ocean far in the distance, just to give you a sense of how strangely wonderful this place is:

Other than that, not much to update, really, just thought it was about time to say something since it had been months. We’re still improving our old house and kids are fully settled into their new schools. I’m still working on the book I’m calling the Big Epic. I know quite a few of you are waiting for another Garrison Gage book, and believe me, it’s the next one on tap, but it was just time to work on something different for a while. I’m keenly aware that there’s risk involved, that my readers may not always follow me to what’s turning out to be a very different kind of book, but risk is also a critical part of being any kind of creative person, I think. Otherwise, if you’re only going to play it safe, why bother?  So, there it is. Somehow I find myself writing a strange hybrid of paranormal/alternate history/time travel/suspense/romance . . . Or, you know, a book that just doesn’t fit neatly into any categories. C’est la vie. That’s all for now, hopefully back before too long.

Summer Update: Buying a House, an Eclipse, and Other Writerly Disruptions

First, a tiny bit of publishing news. A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart, the fifth Garrison Gage book, is now available in audio. You can download it at Audible, Amazon, and elsewhere. Steven Roy Grimsley continues to do a fantastic job narrating the books.

In addition, it seemed like about time for another general update. I know, I know, I’m such a prolific blogger, cranking out posts at a torrid pace of one every month or two. But that’s okay. If nothing else, I’m living proof to my writing students — I taught WR 464: Writing for Publication again this last spring, and promotion is one of the last things we talked about — that it is quite possible for a fiction writer to have a successful writing career and barely be online at all.

Work continues on a new book I’m simply referring to as The Big Epic, though not as fast as I’d like (more on why in a moment), and after wrapping up teaching a one-credit course on publishing for non-writers, we’re in the late summer lull at the university before things pick up in the fall and I start doing a lot of workshops and training for faculty wanting to take advantage of different aspects of digital media in their coursework and scholarship. A good chance to take a breath.

While there was only one brief trip this summer —a quick foray to Astoria, Oregon over the July 4th weekend  — it’s been the most intense few months we’ve had in years. The reason? We bought a new house. Actually, we bought an old house that’s new to us, a charming 1930 home in the “Tudor Rival” style, with two stories and a basement. While a few things have been updated over the years, it still needs a bit of work and TLC, but it’s such a lovely old house that we’re okay with all that. It’s also just a few blocks away from both of the kids’ schools and just a few more blocks from the best park in town, so the advantages to us go beyond the house itself. Still, we lived in the previous house for sixteen years, so there are a lot of good memories there.

But boy, this whole process has been exhausting! As we contemplated starting down this road a few months ago, when we were deciding whether to make an offer on the  house, I told Heidi that this process (buying/selling/repairs/moving/etc) would consume our lives for six months at least, and I think my prediction has proven fairly accurate. We’re about four months through that six months now — if you consider the beginning point when we first thought about moving.

What else? Oh, the eclipse. We were right in the path of totality and experienced it from our front yard. What else can be said other than it was amazing? I expected it to be amazing, but what I didn’t expect was to have such a powerful emotional response to it, to spontaneously whoop and burst into cheers when the fun finally disappeared behind the moon. We wanted to experience it at our house partly to mark our start there (we’d only been in it a few weeks at that point), and  I’m glad we did.

This week, I saw my daughter off to her first day of high school. My son started middle school last week. It’s a time of change. It’s been a hectic summer, and I’ve let my creative output suffer because of it. I’ve also, despite my best efforts, let the Nonsense Factory  located in Washington D.C. get into my head more than usual, and I’m determined to channel that energy into more productive things. We’ll see how it goes.