Wesley McCraw's Blog, page 5

General Update on House of Cabal

Tonight, I’m back to writing after a two-week vacation. It’s time to finish House of Cabal Volume Three: Orchard. This mostly means reading through the whole thing a few times looking for errors, as I’m not hiring an editor for this one. Gulp.

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I’m not sure how long this will take, but I’m not rushing it. Still, you can expect a release this year.

I would have never released a book without hiring an editor when I was starting out, but this book is my sixth release, and I think I can manage to edit it myself if I’m diligent. Also, I did have a beta reader look it over, so it won’t just be my eyes on it.

Books are never error-free even with an editor’s help, but I would definitely recommend hiring one. And yes, I would hire one this time if I had the budget, but not quite enough people are reading my House of Cabal series to justify the expense.

Gentle nudge: If you’ve read either of the House of Cabal books, please review them. Volume two only has one review on Amazon. Thanks! Your help means a lot to me.

I’m not expecting to make a big splash with the release of volume three, but I’m playing the long game. I’m still working on ways for more people to discover the series and they will always be a part of my back library.

In other House of Cabal news . . .

I’m not a huge fan of the first paragraph of the first book. It’s definitely overwritten. I might simplify it a bit in the near future. I’ll probably also do a light readthrough polish of all three books before I release a collected edition sometime next year.

Well, I think that’s about it on the House of Cabal front. I’ll try to keep this blog a little more up to date going forward. Happy reading and happy writing.

 

The revised edition of THE FORGIVING releases tomorrow!

You can read the new edition of The Forgiving for free online here.

Tomorrow, the eBook is free on Amazon for a very limited time.

But the big news is you can now buy The Forgiving in paperback!

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Lake Arcadia Paperback Giveaway

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Tomorrow is my birthday!

To celebrate, I’m giving away signed copies of my queer romance novel Lake Arcadia. To enter, just follow me on Twitter @wesleymccraw and RT the Lake Arcadia Giveaway post I tweet tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

The Forgiving Revised

Over the next eighteen days, I’ll be releasing the revised edition of The Forgiving, chapter by chapter, on a special website.

The revised edition of the eBook is now available in full HERE. The paperback will be available soon.

The first two chapters are already posted on The Forgiving website under The Book So Far… .

Enjoy.

via Posting The Forgiving

FREE Because I Need More Reviews

Lake Arcadia is free on Amazon for a few days. I would love to get your thoughts on my new gay romance novel. It has strange fiction elements for those of you who want more from a book than just steamy sex scenes.

Download the eBook HERE.

Lake Arcadia is FREE

My MM romance novel is free until this weekend. I'd love to get more reviews, and I know a lot of you like steamy romance. This one has a few twists.

You can get here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...

My book is out and ready for reading.

I thought I should make a quick note here:

Lake Arcadia: A Sex-Magic Novel is up on Amazon in eBook and paperback.

It already has two 5-Star reviews. I’m very happy about this. It seems some people are reading it very quickly!

It’s a contemporary gay romance with strange fiction elements like a pagan cult and time travel. The reviews sell it better than I ever could. It makes me feel really great that readers are really loving it.

You can see for yourself HERE.

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My First Romance Novel

So Lake Arcadia, my first romance novel, took me about two and a half years to write. Though, I’ve kind of lost track, to be honest.

How do people write romance novels so fast? Some romance writers produce a book a month! I tried to write mine fast, and it took me two years longer than expected.

There are probably a few factors as to why this is the case.

I’m new to the romance genre.
My book very clearly rejects some of the romance novel formula.
There are some strange fiction elements that complicate things.
I’m trying to hold my third-person prose to a high standard and didn’t want to compromise.
My novel is fairly ambitious for something with erotic content.
Oh yeah, and I’m a slow writer, rewriting everything over and over.

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I’m not sure I’ll ever write an erotic romance again. I feel like I’ve left everything on the table with Lake Arcadia, but who knows what ideas will strike me in the future. That said, there will probably always be erotic and romantic elements in most of the stuff I write. Sex and romance are basic elements of life. But they aren’t ALL of life.

On the up side, this book is the longest I’ve written, and it took me the shortest amount of time to write. I’m making progress.

I definitely think Lake Arcadia taught me a lot. I can’t wait for you to read it.

The Great God Pan

Lake Arcadia: A Sex-Magic Novel is tangentially inspired by The Great God Pan, a novella by Welsh writer Arthur Machen, who inspired much of H. P. Lovecraft’s writing. Stephen King described The Great God Pan as “Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s worth reading.

Thanks to Project Gutenberg you can read The Great God Pan for free HERE. And you can get a free audio version through LibriVox HERE.

To be clear, Lake Arcadia isn’t at all horror. In fact, it’s fairly lighthearted, but inspiration can come from the strangest places.

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Public outdoor sculpture at Columbia: The Great God Pan

More Work on Lake Arcadia’s Cover

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Brief update: The proof copy of Lake Arcadia came in the mail today. I’m still going through the inside, but the outside looked too dark and muddy, so I worked on making it brighter. I also added some back text. I’m liking it more and more.