Matthew Ledrew's Blog, page 34
November 6, 2017
FREE eBook – Reptilia by Matthew LeDrew
Bestselling author Matthew LeDrew returns to his horror roots in the terrifying new novella, Reptilia. When an aggressive new virus breaks out at a small town hospital, its up to a small team of doctors to try and figure out the source of the contagion before it’s too late!
Reptilia
Matthew LeDrew
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Purchase (eBook):
ePub
PDF
Mobi
Title Information:
Release Date:
October 2017
Status:
Available
Book Type:
EBook
Cover Price:
FREE with Mailing List Signup!
Page Count:
63
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Reviews
November 4, 2017
T.H.E. / Engen NaNoWriMo Success!
The first in a long month of T.H.E. / Engen Books writing events was hosted last night at the Barbour Drive T.H.E. location! Over a dozen NaNoWriMo competitors came out to enjoy coffee, sugary treats, and writing talk with publishers and editors working in the field today!
Writers came and worked and pinned their NaNoWriMo Goals to our pin board.
The Tutoring Center at 75 Barbour Drive has become a hug of writing and the arts for the Mount Pearl community over the last year, with adult learning courses geared towards writing and allowing it’s space to be used as a safe, quiet space for those practicing their writing goals on occasion 
November 1, 2017
Do I have a novel in me?
Can Peter Foote write a novel? We think so, and we can;t wait to see it! ❤
I decided to jump into the deep end and signed up for NaNoWriMo, and I’m a bit freaked out!
Between real life job, big responsibilities at the lodge, my part-time bookstore, spending the first weekend of November at my fiance’s house for our monthly visit, can I REALLY write 50,000 words?
Honestly? I kind of doubt it, but I’m going to try.
Now, I’m not trying to be self-effacing, nor am I fishing for compliments (though feel free to toss me some if you want), but I realize that I might not be ready to “win” and I’m ok with that. Up to this point, I’ve limited myself to short stories in the 3000 – 6000 word range, can I do 10x that?
Now for some of your cynical types (you know who you are), you might be saying “He’s giving up before it even starts”. Instead, I’m looking at it…
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Chillers Submissions Closed!
Well everyone it’s been ten long months, but the submissions call for Chillers from the Rock is finally closed! We have gotten a metric ton of submissions this year, and our submissions editor Ellen Curtis has already dutifully begun going through them!
We have gotten over fifty short story submissions this year! Over the next month or so these are going to be divided into different categories, read, and discussed at length by our team. The deadline was changed to October this year so that we could have time to work with authors whose work needs just a little touching up, giving us a chance to do some back and forth and get even more of the talented people in our region in.
Great reviews keep coming in for Jacobi Street!
Great reviews keep coming in for Jacobi Street, the August release from Matthew LeDrew! The Youtube channel Coates and Jackets did an excellent piece on it (above), and a reader named Jeff wrote the following insightful piece on Goodreads on October 30 2017:
Full disclosure: I’ve never read anything in the Engen Universe before, nor anything by Matthew Ledrew for that matter, save for his three entries in Sci-Fi From The Rock (2016). Also, my only interactions with the author were observing him at the last few The Most Dysfunctional Writing Panel Ever panels at Sci-Fi On The Rock (and I hope he’s recovered from his laryngitis).
Given all the above, I was a tad trepidatious going into this offering; would I be lost without prior EU knowledge? Can this guy really write an interesting horror story?
The answers to those questions are a resounding no and absolutely, respectively.
Jacobi Street was exactly what I was looking for, a great story that required almost precisely as much free time as I had to read this past week (which, sadly, wasn’t as much as I’d like). I wanted to read something thematic for Hallowe’en, without a ton of gore and violence, but interesting just the same. This hit the spot, with its psychological horror revealed bit by bit in perfect fashion. I found myself reading “just one more chapter” several times over the past few days, until I steamrolled through the last 10 or so last night and into the wee hours this morning.
The author does an impressive job introducing and fleshing out his cast of characters, especially given the relatively short length of this work. I was left with a solid mental picture of each of them, and was completely invested in the protagonist’s relationship with his partner, as well as his work relationship with his boss and those with his colleagues. Likewise, the titular street itself had a ton of life breathed into it, and if I close my eyes I can picture the gallery and its infamous painting.
As I was reading I kept an eye out for the twist I surely expected would come. I was still pleasantly surprised by what followed, which I won’t spoil here, but it was very well done, again especially given the length of the work itself. We’re all heard of the theological question about “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”; here, Ledrew shows us how much evil he can evoke between the four corners of a page. Turns out it’s more than enough to thrill and chill any reader, horror lover or not.
In short, if you’re looking for a good psychological horror story to read, do not pass this one up. It’s picture perfect.
High praise! We’re very happy that the little book named Jacobi Street is being so well received, as we very much fell in love with those characters as well during its publication process!
October 31, 2017
NaNoWriMo – Are you ready for this?
I may not be ready for this.
Confession time: I have never participated in NaNoWriMo.
[image error]Preparing to stay caffeinated and hydrated. There’s no singular reason I have never taken on the task of writing a complete novel in the month of November. It’s just the way things worked out for me. Early on, before I was published, I was developing a regular routine and NaNo wasn’t part of that. More recently, I’ve been in the middle of editing or redrafting projects so the timing was off.
But this year it all changes.
Why is this year so different? Is it because I found a NaNo community that I think will inspire me? Is it because I really want the experience of throwing myself into my art for a month?
Is is because I have a deadline coming up and I am contractually obligated to finish a draft by December?
It’s all those things.
[image error]Got the candy all ready.So once the trick-or-treaters are done this evening, I am taking the left-over candy and going into full writer mode. If anyone needs to talk to me about anything else, it’ll have to wait for December.
Good luck fellow writers. Happy writing!
If you too are jumping into the NaNoWriMo pool, find me online at nanowrimo.org/participants/amlabonte.
October 27, 2017
Coming Soon: The Write Project Podcast!
[image error]As announced previously, Engen is going to be kicking things up a notch with an all-new twice-monthly podcast starring Amanda Labonté, Ellen Curtis, and Matthew LeDrew! Each 60 minute episode will have three topics / segments: Writing Chat, Publishing Chat, and General/Reviews Chat!
The Write Project Podcast starts in November as a part of the Engen Books / The Tutoring Center’s NaNoWriMo 2017 celebration! Subscribe to the Engen Books YouTube channel and make sure and hit the bell icon when you do, and you’ll be notified when we upload new episodes! ❤
October 26, 2017
NaNoWriMo Engen Books / The Tutoring Center Events: All November long!
Kickoff NaNoWriMo 2017 with Engen Books and T.H.E. Tutoring Center! Come state your personal writing goals and mingle with other authors!
There will be snacks and beverages, and a quiet room available for those who want to actually take this time to kickoff writing! ♥
We’re going to be having events every Friday in November! Come write, discuss, and stay on track! ♥
October 23, 2017
Going Full-Time | Distractions | Matthew LeDrew’s Blog
This might have to be my final post under the ‘Distractions’ banner, if only because I will, very soon, not be able to abide distractions anymore. That is to say, as of January 1 2018, I will be going Full-Time writing and publishing through Engen Books.
This is a massive step forward for me personally and for the company as a whole. We’ve made great strides in the last ten years helping to build ourselves as Atlantic Canada’s premier small-press, indie, and genre publisher. We’ve taken on a massive amount of new projects and new authors which has helped expand our library exponentially. This is going to give me the time to really pour gasoline on that process. We’re going to be expanding into new areas and taking on new authors, as well as making sure our existing stable of amazing talent like Ali House, Ellen Curtis, Amanda Labonté, and Paul Carberry remain focused and driven to succeed.
It isn’t, however, without risk. While we’ve had an amazing year in 2017 and this was a part of a 5-year plan for us, this wasn’t a strategically-planned and calculated move. This came out of necessity because of some upheavals in my person life that I’ll disclose as I become able. Suffice to say, we’re viewing this as a positive and bravely making this leap forward.
October 18, 2017
How I “Outline”
(Spoiler Alert: not very well)
A writer I know recently shared the outline for her last book and I was amazed at how elegant and organized it was. The whole format was really simple and clear – Chapter 1: this happens, Chapter 2: this happens, etc. I wondered if this was something that could work for me.
Then I realized that I don’t actually do outlines. When I’m writing a story, I generally have a bunch of vague ideas and scenes floating around in my head. They usually don’t get put on paper until I’m actually writing the scene, or if I’m “thinking with my pen”*. There are no charts, no graphs, not even a list**. It’s kind-of a mess.
Case in Point: let’s look at the outline for the book I’m currently working on.
It started out as a one-line idea and started growing from there. I thought of scenes I wanted to see, moments I wanted to have, and then I created a rough through-line (very rough). As I started writing and the story began to grow, I had more ideas for scenes and moments, and then the plots developed further and become more detailed.
If I was to actually try to do an example of an outline for my thought process, it would look like this:
Version 1:
This story is about X, following in the footsteps of Y
Version 2:
X follows in the footsteps of Y
Eventually X faces T
Version 3:
Opening scene
Introduce X
Do the “big reveal”
Come up with “the plan”
X faces T
A faces X
Then we eventually come to…
Current Version:
PART 1
Opening scene
Introduce X
Do the “big reveal”
Put “the plan” into motion
Year 2 – the important bits
Year 4 – the important bits
After Year 4 (speed it up a little)
Finish with the “dun, dun, dun” part
PART 2
Scene with T
Daily life stuff/catching up
The letter
More letter stuff
The accident (or should that come later?)
The downfall (how far & how fast?)
(find a good end part)
PART 3
Eventually X faces T (or do they ever actually meet?)
Something to do with A – someone other than T goes to A
Another “big reveal”?
Does A go to X?
Does T leave?
HOW IS IT ALL GOING TO END?!?!?!?!
As you can see, it all kind-of goes to pot at the end (there are so many things that could happen and so much could change!). This is mainly because I haven’t written that far yet (the only reason Part 1 is so cohesive is because the first draft of that is done).
While I wish I was organized enough to have the whole story planned out, I’ve decided to lean heavily into the make-it-up-as-I-go-along process. I’m considering all possibilities, no matter how strange. If I want to add in a new scene or chapter, I just do it. If I want to change a character’s motivations, I go for it.
But that doesn’t stop the dread when I realize I have no idea how I’m going to end this – or if I even can…
But who knows? By the time I finish the rough draft of Part 2, I might know exactly what needs to happen in Part 3.
Or I might be just as clueless as I am right now.
It could go either way.
***
_________
*”Thinking with my pen” is what I call it when I start writing anything related to the story in an attempt to come up with ideas. I free-form write what I want to achieve and think about ‘What-if’s and write down everything that comes to mind. It’s probably the closest thing to outlining that I actually do. (I also do this with a computer, but ‘Thinking with my keyboard’ doesn’t sound as cool.)
**I love charts and graphs, so this is really a missed opportunity.
***I’m DEFINITELY going to create at least a rough outline for my next project. While I like the flexibility to add and remove whatever I want, I really should know where I’m going. It should also cut back on how many times I have to go back and add stuff in, which I’ve been doing quite a lot lately.
