S.C. Mitchell's Blog, page 44

Son of Thunder!!!

One of the interesting things I’ve found about my writing is how easily I’ve come to expect rejection.

Early on, you need to develop a thick skin while trying to sell yourself and your writing to an agent or a publisher, or you just won’t survive the sea of rejection. Just a week ago I received one of the nicest rejections I’ve ever gotten from an agent. She said I was doing everything right, but it just wasn’t right for her, and I said “Yeah, okay.” and filed it away in my mounting pile of rejection letters. I have just come to expect rejection. There are days I’ve wondered why I keep banging my head against that wall. I mean, I’ve got the self-pub thing going. maybe that’s all I can do.

Then last night happened. I check my email and see one from a publisher that I had submitted Son of Thunder to. So I open the email and start to read, looking for the “but” or “however” that usually precedes the bad news and instead read:

“I read your story this weekend and I have great news! I enjoyed Son of Thunder so much we’d like to publish your book.”

Whoa! I had to back up and start reading from the beginning, and then I notice that there’s a contract attached to the email. This is so cool, and I was in shock most of the night. It’s still settling in that I’ve taken that next big step – gotten over that next big hurdle.

I love all my books, but Son of Thunder has always been special to me. I’ve resisted self-publishing it because I really did believe it would sell to a publisher. Now that it has, I’m in heaven.

I’m not mentioning the publisher here, because I haven’t signed the contract yet, but rest assured that announcement is coming, along with all the details.

Stay tuned,

Steve

The Best Little Whorehouse…in central Wisconsin

Life takes some strange turns on occasion. A friend of mine is directing the Wausau Community Theater production of The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, and ended up a little short of male actors who could sing. Thus I have been offered the role of Senator Wingwoah (with various other bit parts). It’s been a while since I’ve been on stage, singing and acting in front of an audience, but I’m really looking forward to it. The script is quite risque, and looks to be a lot of fun, but at it’s heart, Whorehouse is a love story, and that’s what I’m all about these days.

So, for the next few weeks I’ll be cavorting with prostitutes and getting into all manor of trouble. Just business as usual for a romance author…

Until next time,

Steve

 

Gardening and the coming Zombie Apocalypse

Today is my day to dig potatoes in my garden. I garden mostly in raised beds (saves a lot of back strain) and I had an interesting phenomenon this year. I have one bed completely devoted to potatoes, and that’s all I planted here, yet somehow I had a tomato invasion of this bed. Not just one, or a few plants, but probably a dozen. And they are producing tomatoes.

Thus my quandary. Do I take the chance of the potatoes rotting and wait until the tomatoes ripen, or do I pull the invading plants (I have plenty of tomatoes in another bed) and dig my potatoes today?

Then it hit me. The tomatoes were like an invasion force of zombies, rising from the dead and pushing themselves out of the ground to try and claim my potato bed for their own. Left to their own devices these Zombie tomatoes would suck the brains from my potatoes if I didn’t intercede. I am the ZOMBIE HUNTER!

[Yes, this is the way my brain works.]

I have selected a few tomatoes, who will live on as research subjects. Notice in the picture below that they survive on the edges of society, and thus can be contained:

Okay, so here’s where things get even stranger. As I’m digging I start to wonder why I garden at all. When I think about the cost of potatoes in the grocery store and compare that with the amount of work it takes to actually produce them myself, I can’t see the trade off.

Then it hits me!

I garden because of the coming ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!!

You see…I don’t own a gun, and have little experience shooting one. As society breaks down I will need skills to survive. The guys with the guns will be way ahead of the game. We’re going to need them to shoot the zombies and hunt stray cows and deer for food. My place in the new society will be a humble one. I will have this one skill that makes me somewhat valuable. I can provide the potatoes (also some beans and carrots).

As we fight back the zombie scourge I will be fearlessly watering and weeding. A humble hero in a dark, dangerous world.

So, as you’re boarding up the Walmart while the parking lot fills with Zombies, don’t be looking for me to help. I’ll be the guy up on the roof…planting potatoes. It’s my job!

Until next time…if there IS a next time…

Steve

Seeds of Immortality

Okay! After weeks of weeping and gnashing my teeth, the plot has finally coalesced around the 3rd Demon’s Rising book, and I have a new title for it: Seeds of Immortality. I’m quite excited about this new chapter in the Demon’s rising universe. It should give a satisfying ending to the trilogy and set the stage for the future books.

Summer has been a busy season for me, with many distractions, including constructing a new office for my writing, taking me away from my writing. But the construction is complete and I am starting to settle into my new office:

I’m looking forward to a more productive Autumn writing season.

Until next time,

Steve

Recovery and beyond.

I apologize for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. I spent most of last week at the Gencon Gaming convention in Indianapolis. I was able to do a bit of promotion and made some great contacts. The payback has been a few days of lethargy and lousy writing. I feel I’m back on track now, though, and ready to plot my way into the future.

I’m going to be stepping back a bit, over the next few weeks to reevaluate my game-plan. The past two years have been a real learning experience. One of the things I have decided to do at one point, is to pull all my books and redo the covers. This will make those original versions incredibly rare. So if I ever do make it big, my original fans may have a real collectors item.

Anyway, around the time I finish the third Demons Rising book I will be pulling the other two off the market for a bit then relaunching the series. I have also decided to scrap the title of the third book. I haven’t come up with the new title yet, but Knight of the Night just isn’t fitting the story that’s emerging.

Also on my platter for later this year, I have decided to self-pub my Fantasy novel, Amulet of the Fallen God. I am considering doing a Kickstarter on this book to raise money for professional editing and a nice cover. It is again something new to look into, but I was able to talk to some people doing this and it seems a good path to take.

Anyway, that’s what’s happening in my little world. Now back to writing…

Until next time,

Steve

Reaching 100

Well it happened over this weekend. I reached 100. In fact, I reached 100 twice.

I reached over 100 ‘likes’ on my Facebook Author Page and over 100 followers of @AuthorSMitchell on my Twitter account. I’d like to extend a big THANK YOU to all those who ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’ me as I learn the ropes of Social Media. Also Thank you to those who follow this blog, and have commented on my work. It warms my heart to have such great support as I take my first steps into this strange, new online world.

I feel like I’ve come quite a ways, but I still have so far to go.

Thank you all again,

Steve

The appeal of the new.

Well, I’ve reached the halfway point in the first draft of Knight of the Night, and even though the characters have taken me places I didn’t imagine I would go, things look to be on track. I’ve never had two lovers so reluctant to climb into bed, but Ryan and Salina finally got there. I’ve also engineered the (temporary) return of Geoffrey and Kelly from The Forsaken Templar and incorporated Jack and Anna from There’s no such thing as Werewolves, to give you some new insights into their lives and set the stage for the series of novels I plan to write set 25 years in the future in the Demons Rising Universe.

I love this world I’ve created, and enjoying telling its story, but I am ready to take a break from it. Daughter of Darkness and Destiny: Cloud Fist have both been calling to me lately, and a fist full of new tales, set in new worlds, keep tumbling through my crazy, little mind. There’s an appeal to dropping what I’m currently doing to embrace something new and different, but I plan to push through and have Knight of the Night ready for release by the end of September, then give myself the rest of the year to explore other worlds.

Now, I have to get back to work. Nathan Gray just made his way back to Earth, and he’s got some things to tell me that I don’t imagine I’m going to like.

Until next time,

Steve

Werewolves of London – A personal appearance

Well, the Adopt a Werewolf program is over and I’m pleased to say we found new homes for over six hundred of the little fur-balls. Once again I was surprised with how well represented England was, adopting over 200 of the beasties,  especially as there is somewhat of a huge distraction going on over there right now. We also sent out 9 werewolves to Germany, and one wonderful person in France found a place in their heart to adopt. Overall it was a great promotion, and I thank you all for your support.

Also, I am pleased to announce that I have a personal appearance scheduled for this coming Monday. On August 6th, at 6:30PM I will be at the Tomahawk Public Library for my first ever, author meet and greet. Tomahawk is in north-central Wisconsin, and if you are anywhere in the area (or even if you’re not) I’d love to have you stop in. I’m really not sure what to expect. I’ll be telling a bit about myself and my writing, and answering any questions people have about my books and publishing in general. I will also have a reading from my soon-to-be-released novella, Knight of the Night, if anyone is interesting in hearing it.

It should be an interesting experience.

Until next time,

Steve

The Adopt a Werewolf campaign is on!!!

That’s right. Now you can have your very own soft, furry demon from another dimension. Thousands are waiting to be adopted right now. Yes, we know, There’s no such thing as Werewolves, but if we’d called this the Adopt a Whargan campaign would you be here now?

Think of it. Your very own snarling Whargan demon. So many are homeless right now, baying at the moon, waiting for a place they can call home. (They don’t even need shots. I mean rabies is scared of these guys.) Surely you have a place in your heart, or on your Kindle device, for a furry, snarling creature from hell.

The line is open now, straight to Amazon.com, and they are FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE!!!

Yup, the Kindle version of There’s no such thing as Werewolves is FREE, now through Monday. Get yours today!

Follow me on Twitter @AuthorSMitchell or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorSCMitchell to follow the Adopt a Werewolf campaign.

Steve

Interview podcast

Quick update:

I found the podcast of my interview on WJJQ. if you’re interested you can find it here: http://www.wjjq.com/FORM724.mp3

Steve