Caleb M. Golden's Blog
June 11, 2020
6/11/2020
Well, I've recently finished a short story I've been working on and am hoping to have that published in the coming weeks. After a lengthy hiatus, I've also resumed work on my 4th novel and am about 10 chapters away from completing that as well. This 4th novel is one that I'd had in mind since before I even began working on A Dark Justice. I'd intended it to be my 2nd novel after A Dark Justice, but I got to working on The Settlers' Sins and had no clue just how huge THAT project would end up being, so here we are some 3+ years later. Though I'm somewhat approaching the finish line in terms of the rough draft, this 4th novel likely isn't going to see the light of day anytime soon. The reason for that being that the premade book cover I'd had picked out for it was sold right out from under my nose. While it's true I could commission an artist to draft up another cover for me (As I did with both The Settlers' Sins books) I've decided to take this minor inconvenience as a sign that maybe it's time to start trying to move past the whole self-publishing routine and start trying to actually put my work out there. Who knows? Maybe my crappy little novels can actually become something more if I just step foot outside my comfort zone and try to find an actual publisher. If not, I still have KDP to fall back on, right? Anyway, that's all I got at the moment. Cheers for now.
February 24, 2020
2/25/2020
Well, despite a lot of distraction, family drama, and a small health issue, I'm currently closing in on the 300-page milestone on my 4th novel and as of about 20mins ago, I'm 6 pages into my second short story. After going through some of my scrapped/unused chapters for my books, I've also managed to find an unused chapter from The Settlers' Sins Part II that I can easily convert into another short story at some point as well. Kinda wish I had more to say, but that's pretty much the gist of what I've been up to lol. Cheers for now.
November 28, 2019
11/28/2019
I'm a bit overdue for an update, I suppose. As of the time of this post, I'm nearly 180 pages into my 4th novel. I've finished my very first short story as well and am merely waiting on the cover art before uploading it to Amazon. That's about it for actual updates.
On a more personal note, I've been mulling the idea of seeking a traditional publisher more often as of late. I abhor the idea of being owned, but as time passes, it becomes more and more obvious to me that if my books are ever going to go anywhere, I need a push. After all, writing a book is fairly easy, getting it in front of readers is a much more complicated venture. I'm reasonably confident in my ability to tell a fairly decent story, but I freely admit I don't know dick about marking. It seems some people can just write a book and it magically gets 200+ reviews overnight, and as any author knows, the more reviews your book has, the more likely a potential reader will be willing to check it out. My biggest concerns with traditional publishing, however, would be the time constraints (deadlines and such) as well as the idea that some agent or publisher can just up and decide at any given point that they don't like my ending, my characters, or my choice of words and demand I go back and rewrite MY story and MY characters in a way that far better suits THEIR individual taste. Believe me when I say that if there are two things that absolutely will not fly with me, it is A: being rushed, and B: someone telling me what I can and cannot do with MY story and MY characters. And, as you can imagine, such an attitude very likely wouldn't go over well with any traditional publisher either. So then the million-dollar question stands: do you sell your soul for a chance at success, or do you continue swimming laps in the sea of obscurity and just hope someone notices you? Who can say? (obviously not me at this particular moment lol)
At any rate, I suppose I'll get back to work. And before I forget, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Cheers for now.
On a more personal note, I've been mulling the idea of seeking a traditional publisher more often as of late. I abhor the idea of being owned, but as time passes, it becomes more and more obvious to me that if my books are ever going to go anywhere, I need a push. After all, writing a book is fairly easy, getting it in front of readers is a much more complicated venture. I'm reasonably confident in my ability to tell a fairly decent story, but I freely admit I don't know dick about marking. It seems some people can just write a book and it magically gets 200+ reviews overnight, and as any author knows, the more reviews your book has, the more likely a potential reader will be willing to check it out. My biggest concerns with traditional publishing, however, would be the time constraints (deadlines and such) as well as the idea that some agent or publisher can just up and decide at any given point that they don't like my ending, my characters, or my choice of words and demand I go back and rewrite MY story and MY characters in a way that far better suits THEIR individual taste. Believe me when I say that if there are two things that absolutely will not fly with me, it is A: being rushed, and B: someone telling me what I can and cannot do with MY story and MY characters. And, as you can imagine, such an attitude very likely wouldn't go over well with any traditional publisher either. So then the million-dollar question stands: do you sell your soul for a chance at success, or do you continue swimming laps in the sea of obscurity and just hope someone notices you? Who can say? (obviously not me at this particular moment lol)
At any rate, I suppose I'll get back to work. And before I forget, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Cheers for now.
September 2, 2019
9/2/2019
Been a minute since my last update, so here goes. My first novella Melvin is now finished, uploaded, and available as a perma-free ebook on Amazon. The Settlers' Sins Box Set is available now as well. As far as current projects, I'm a little over 50 pages into my 4th novel and working on a short story in my spare time.
Wish I could say I had more news to give, but that about sums it up for now. Cheers.
Wish I could say I had more news to give, but that about sums it up for now. Cheers.
July 24, 2019
Update: 7/24/2019
Well, after approximately 19 months, The Settlers' Sins Part II is finally finished, uploaded, and available for sale, thus bringing an end to my adventures with twelve-year-old Jayden Coulter and company. When I first sat down and began scribbling outline ideas, I never imagined that my little werewolf novel would ultimately come to span upwards of 300K words, let alone that I'd end up having to split it into two separate books, but here we are.
Anywho, with The Settlers' Sins behind me, I'm ready to start working on other projects. As stated in my previous post, I'll be finishing up my first novella soon. Once that's up and running, I'll begin work on crafting a Kindle box set for The Settlers' Sins. When that's taken care of, I can finally begin work on my 4th novel.
At any rate, that's all I got for now.
Anywho, with The Settlers' Sins behind me, I'm ready to start working on other projects. As stated in my previous post, I'll be finishing up my first novella soon. Once that's up and running, I'll begin work on crafting a Kindle box set for The Settlers' Sins. When that's taken care of, I can finally begin work on my 4th novel.
At any rate, that's all I got for now.
June 28, 2019
6/28/2019
I guess I should probably give an update. The Settlers' Sins Part II is done and I already have my cover art and such. Now I'm just waiting on editing. If all goes well, I'll be releasing Part II in either late July or early August.
In other news, my first short story will likely not be a short story, but rather a novella, seeing as how the unfinished rough draft currently stands at over 17K words (oops)
At any rate, the novella (?) will likely be available shortly after The Settlers' Sins Part II is released, but I don't currently have an estimated release date. Once the novella's done, I'll likely start work on combining The Settlers' Sins Parts I & II as a Kindle exclusive book bundle. When all the above is taken care of, I'll be ready to start work on my 4th novel.
That's all I got for now. Cheers...
In other news, my first short story will likely not be a short story, but rather a novella, seeing as how the unfinished rough draft currently stands at over 17K words (oops)
At any rate, the novella (?) will likely be available shortly after The Settlers' Sins Part II is released, but I don't currently have an estimated release date. Once the novella's done, I'll likely start work on combining The Settlers' Sins Parts I & II as a Kindle exclusive book bundle. When all the above is taken care of, I'll be ready to start work on my 4th novel.
That's all I got for now. Cheers...
May 16, 2019
5/16/2019
Well, folks, these have been some of the longest, most daunting few months of my life, but at long last, all major edits are done and I've ordered my first proof copy of The Settlers' Sins Pat II. My next step from here will be commissioning my cover art and passing my proof file onto my editors. Once the editors are done with the proof, it'll just be a matter of fixing any bugs they find, waiting for the cover art to be done, and then doing one last readthrough before hitting the publish button.
While I'm waiting on that, I've started back working on my first short story and depending on how long I have to wait for my cover art, the short story could hit Amazon before Part II does.
Anyway, that's all I got for now...
While I'm waiting on that, I've started back working on my first short story and depending on how long I have to wait for my cover art, the short story could hit Amazon before Part II does.
Anyway, that's all I got for now...
February 26, 2019
Rough draft complete!!!!
As of exactly 2:57 PM this afternoon, I have completed the rough draft for The Settlers' Sins Part II. This massive, unedited clusterfuck that has dominated nearly every waking moment of my life for the past 14 months currently weighs in at 156,352 words and a whopping 703 pages, making it my largest book to date. I'm not certain if I've mentioned it or not, but this book will conclude The Settlers' Sins series and I'll be starting a completely new project upon its completion. It's still a long road ahead, and it'll likely be months before It's finally ready to hit Amazon, but the hardest part is officially over.
In other news, I've also begun working on my very first short story, though I'll likely be putting it on hold while I'm editing Part II. Here lately, I've been playing around with the idea of short stories more and more and I've decided I'd like to try my hand at maybe writing a few. I figure if I can manage to shell out a few marginally entertaining short stories in between novels, it might be a nice way to pick up a few extra bucks worth of royalties and hopefully draw some attention to my other works. Could be a good idea, could be a complete waste of time. At any rate, I guess I'll find out when that time comes.
That's all I've got for now.
In other news, I've also begun working on my very first short story, though I'll likely be putting it on hold while I'm editing Part II. Here lately, I've been playing around with the idea of short stories more and more and I've decided I'd like to try my hand at maybe writing a few. I figure if I can manage to shell out a few marginally entertaining short stories in between novels, it might be a nice way to pick up a few extra bucks worth of royalties and hopefully draw some attention to my other works. Could be a good idea, could be a complete waste of time. At any rate, I guess I'll find out when that time comes.
That's all I've got for now.
January 17, 2019
1/17/2019
Happy new year! At the time of this post, I'm STILL not done with the rough draft for The Settlers' Sins Part II and can now predict that there's very little chance of me finishing it by the end of January like I'd wanted, but as it stands now, I'm officially working on the final chapters. The current page count as of today has exceeded 600 (that's pre-edit) and is on the fast track to becoming my longest book to date. While I am working on the final chapters, I don't think I'm going to give an estimated timeframe because every time I do, the big SOB ends up taking more time than I thought.
At any rate, I've also been formulating a sort of gameplan the closer I get to finishing this book. My knowledge of English, grammar, and overall technique has evolved since I first began writing and I'm well aware that my first two books don't quite live up to what is considered an acceptable standard when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and overall formatting, so before I release Part 2 of the Settler's Sins I intend on seeking out a freelance editor to help polish up my first two books and hopefully bring them up to par to coincide with this new release.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, I suppose. Here's to a new, and hopefully productive (if not successful) new year.
At any rate, I've also been formulating a sort of gameplan the closer I get to finishing this book. My knowledge of English, grammar, and overall technique has evolved since I first began writing and I'm well aware that my first two books don't quite live up to what is considered an acceptable standard when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and overall formatting, so before I release Part 2 of the Settler's Sins I intend on seeking out a freelance editor to help polish up my first two books and hopefully bring them up to par to coincide with this new release.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, I suppose. Here's to a new, and hopefully productive (if not successful) new year.
November 1, 2018
11/1/2018
Been a while since I gave an update, so to anyone that may be interested, I'm now a little over 500 pages into the rough draft for The Settler's Sins Part II. I've just killed off one of my three main antagonists and the story is a quarter chapter away from entering the third act. I'd hoped to have the rough draft done by the end of the year, but that doesn't seem too likely at this point. If I had to guess, I'd aim for it to be finished in early to mid-January if I can stay disciplined. That's all I've got for now.
