Sean Patrick Little's Blog: Still in Wisco, page 12

LONG EMPTY ROADS Hard Copy Update

The proof copy of LONG EMPTY ROADS showed up at my house today. After so many months of work and planning, I was able to hold a physical copy of the book in my hands.

As always, that moment is both very special and uniquely agonizing. In some ways, it's a culmination of a lot of work. I take a lot of pride in seeing the hard copy. In other ways, it's a lot like looking at a bad photo of yourself. You cringe, but you know that you cannot tell people that it's not you...

You get a proof copy to make sure that everything is copacetic in the printing process, because even when you try to do everything right the first time, there's inevitably a problem with layout.

The problem with this proof's layout was that, somehow, an extra page break got added into the mix, so there was just a blank page hanging out in the middle of the book for no reason. Took me half an hour to figure out how to get rid of it, too.

There were also two problems with mid-chapter breaks. Normally, you want them to happen somewhere in the middle of a page so the reader can see the jump in time/logic/point-of-view, etc...

When one section of text ends at the bottom of a page and the chapter break starts on the next page, you end up with a few blank spaces at the top of a page for no reason. Then you have to go in an do some artistic font kerning to get it to lay out properly.

Other than that, it looks good. I'm very happy with Paige Krogwold's cover. The text looks good. It's a good looking book. I can't wait for everyone to see it.

Hopefully they will be able to get the new proof copy to me within a week to ten days. If it looks good, that means I should be able to get hard copies ordered by Feb. 20, and maybe have them by March 1.

So, let's shoot for that. In the meantime, LONG EMPTY ROADS is out on #Kindle. A few copies have been sold. I'm very grateful for those of you who have bought it, enjoyed it, and written reviews for it. Keep sharing the link. Tell friends. Get those friends to write reviews. Anything you can do to get the word out is of great help.

More later.

--Sean

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079J6R5Y8

LONG EMPTY ROADS has arrived!

The reckoning is upon us, Batman...

LONG EMPTY ROADS finally arrives, available now as a #Kindle #eBook, and coming to hard copy sometime in February.

The continuing story of Twist and how he lives in a world decimated by a viral apocalypse. No longer content to weather winters in Wisconsin, Twist sets out for the south, seeking to learn if he is, indeed, the last man left alive on the planet.

Please share this link, if you don't mind. Tell friends. And write and post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, your blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter. Every little bit helps.

I hope you enjoy it!

--Sean

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079J6R5Y8

Cover is Done

Hop over to my Facebook author page (www.facebook.com/seanpatricklittlewriter) for a glance at the cover to LONG EMPTY ROADS.

The book will be out on Kindle tomorrow, and should be available in hard copy some time in mid-February.

Four Days

Four days...

It's Tuesday. On Friday I will be at Mystery to Me to hawk my last book, LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS, and tell you about the Teslacon series that I'm working on, as well as pitch LONG EMPTY ROADS, the sequel to AFTER EVERYONE DIED.

The TeslaCon novels are #steampunk books, but that's kind of a weird thing to call them. Steampunk is a highly visual aesthetic, so much so that writing about it is tricky. So, even if you've never heard of steampunk, you should be able to get into the TeslaCon books without too much trouble. You just have to make some general leaps of faith and accept that the TeslaCon Uniiverse is not quite what our universe is.

Steampunk, as I have come to understand it, is basically a modern-feel world stuck in the Victorian era. You can do much of what we have in today's world, but you have pretend that fossil fuels were never developed and figure ways around that need by supplanting them with steam engines or kerosene. Some basic electricity existed then. And of course, there is the fashion sense of the time--which is where I have to do the majority of my research. I am not, as you would say, a fashion maven.

The biggest leaps in logic for the TeslaCon books come in understanding the TeslaCon story line. TeslaCon is an immersive steampunk convention, and honestly--it's unreal. I went for the first time in November and it's a sight to behold. As part of the convention experience, Eric Jon Larson has managed to tell a continuing story, a multimedia stage show that has perpetuated a general story over the many conventions.

Now, I have a base knowledge of the TeslaCon story, but a big part of the need of my storytelling is to keep the novels in the same sandbox as the Con, but keep them a separate entity that is affected by the TeslaCon story, but not integral to it, because--in theory--these books will be read by people who may never attend the Con. (At least, that's the general hope.) I think it helps me to not know the Con story completely. I can compartmentalize it better. In the same way, I'd tried for a couple years to come up with a Lord Bobbins novel, but it wasn't until I realized that I needed my own characters in the TeslaCon Universe that I was able to do it. I needed my own foothold into the game.

My main contributions to TeslaCon's expanding universe are the intrepid hero, Nicodemus Clarke, a former Union Army sniper, French Legionnaire, and problem gambler, and Dolly Shaw, an enigmatic bodyguard to Lord Bobbins. It is predominantly their story that I'm telling. For the TeslaCon die-hards, there is plenty of Bobbins, Bella, Proctocus, Krieger, and Hornsby to be had (and there will be others...if this series continues), but it is a series that I hope to expand a little with each book, bringing in old favorites and new.

I hope it lasts long enough. It's a very fertile place to play.

Anyhow, back to the daily word count.

I hope to see you Friday at Mystery to Me.

--Sean

Five Days...

Five Days...

The countdown continues. This Friday, Feb. 2, I will be "dans la maison" at Mystery to Me in Madison at 6:00pm.

His most esteemed potentate, gad-about-town, racketeer, and erstwhile Lord Bobbins, Eric Jon Larson, should be there as well.

It's a weird thing to write a book set in another creative genius' playground, but that's what I did, and that is what I will be promoting.

I have never had a problem filling time with long-winded explanations and stories, nor has Eric. We should be able to fill any amount of time discussing the book, the future books, Teslacon, #steampunk, or any other topics that might draw peoples' interest.

I promise to try to be mildly entertaining. Please come, if you're free, and bring friends. Wear steampunk attire, if you have any. If I can pack the place with bodies, then perhaps Joanne will have me back in the future. Who knows? Anything is possible.

In other news:

Paige Krogwold has been hard at work on the cover of LONG EMPTY ROADS. I have not seen it, as of this writing, but I have faith that the eBook will still launch this Friday.

I have been hard at work on the third TeslaCon novel, LORD BOBBINS AND THE CLOCKWORK GIRL, and even have an outline forming for a fourth book in the series. I will begin the first round of edits on the second book, LORD BOBBINS AND THE DOME OF LIGHT, soon. And, I may be writing a novella on the history of TeslaCon in the near future. Eric still has to get me the notes on that before I can start penning it, but things are afoot! Even though sales of LB&TRR have been nowhere near what I had conservatively hoped, it would still be nice to have this series take off somewhat.

It's nice to be getting the volume of writing done that I've been able to do lately, but I'm still unemployed. That's becoming more and more of a crucible. I am trying to persevere, though. I have been applying to a wide and varied assortment of jobs, both part-time and full-time in an attempt to just get out of the house. In the meantime, I anchor my usual booth at Culver's and write.

Fingers crossed, all.

--Sean

Six Days...

Six days and counting until I show up at Mystery to Me to promote LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS, LONG EMPTY ROADS, and the future TeslaCon books.

I am starting to hit that point where my nerves start kicking in. I like that feeling, that jittery, intense, "pre-stage" feeling, but because my brain is a hateful beast, it starts kicking out worst case scenarios into my consciousness. Like, for example, having no one show up.

When I published my first book, I did it through iUniverse because, at the time, they had a deal that would put books into Barnes & Nobles. As part of that deal, I got to do my very first book signing, and that signing was that the Barnes & Noble in Rochester, Minnesota.

That was a good day for learning lessons, I think. I showed up, the manager put me at a tiny table in the corner of the store, and for four straight hours, I was ignored by all who passed by. No one talked to me. No one bought a book. No one did anything but pretend I was furniture. It was a humbling day, but it did put realistic expectations of book selling into my head forever. Now, I never expect any sales, therefore any sales I do get are simply gravy.

The full day of no sales/signings has happened several times to me. I participated in the Minnesota Book Festival years ago. It was $60 to buy half a table. I did, I went, and sold nothing. However, I spent the day meeting other independent authors and I traded books with them. It wasn't a complete loss, but almost eight hours of sitting at a table and selling nothing taught me to never purchase space to sell my books. Madison Author Daze is coming, and I received an invite to that, but they want $125 for an author to set up a table. I'd never see that money again. I'll stay home, probably sell the same amount of books, and not be out a buck-and-a-quarter. I've learned, over the years, that if you have to pay to sell your books, it's probably not going to work out for you.

I did the Southwestern Wisconsin Book Festival in its first year of existence. Their deal was that the table was free, but you had to give them a $2 or $3 cut on every book you sold. They had a central register and all sales went through them. Easy enough for the writers. I spent the day sandwiched between a Christian romance novelist and a woman who wrote serial novelizations of a long-dead TV show. It was an interesting day. We were all generally ignored by everyone. Very few people attended the festival. It was an almost ten hour day of staring at my computer screen (because thankfully, I'd wised up enough to bring along work by this point). Toward the end of the day, some of the writers were so frustrated with the lack of attendance and sales, that they started going around trying to pitch their books to the other writers. I learned that day to not do that. It was really obnoxious. If the sales are there, fine. But, realize that they will most likely not be there. That's just the nature of the game.

Writer Louis Leung, on Twitter, said that if you start thinking about the bottom line, you're not a writer, you're a businessman. Businessmen make horrible writers. Write the book you want to read, and if you're lucky, other people do, too.

That's all I do. That's all I have ever done. It's hard not to dream of pie-in-the-sky when you get an email from a production company in Hollywood that says, "Hey, we're interested in optioning your book for a potential movie or series," but I've learned there that those conversations almost never go beyond the initial contact. So, here's my advice to writers: set your bar low. As low as you can possibly set it...and then lower it another twenty feet. That's a realistic expectation to being a writer.

I know that some people will show up to the event on Friday, and I will be forever in their debt. Anytime you put yourself out there like this, there is always the potential of no one showing. Even if you're a traditionally published author. (I went to an event not long ago where only myself and one other person showed up.) Until I actually see people there though, my brain will keep showing me loops of me sitting in the corner of the store, covered in dust, while spiders spin webs around my motionless form.

In other news: one of my favorite teachers ever, one of my college professors from UW-Whitewater, died of cancer this past week. Dr. Tremblay was the director of WSUW, the campus radio station at Whitewater where I spent most of my time. I loved being on the radio. It was what I wanted to do. I spent a lot of time around Dr. T. He was a New Englander with a very distinct hitch in his speech. Myself, being an incorrigible mimic, used to do an impression of him on the campus radio station. One time, I went off on a tangent during a show, doing my Dr. T impression. After we went back to music, the station phone rang. (It was a college station--the phone RARELY rang.) My buddy John answered it, then held it out to me. Tremblay had been listening (of course). "Listen, Mr. Funnyman," he said. "Where's that sense of humor in your assignments?" So, after that, I had to be funny in his class...or else. When he was giving tours of the stations to people, if I was there, he would make me imitate him.

He was a good dude, and a great teacher.

See you on the other side, Dr. T. The Patriots still suck.

--Sean

Bookstore Appearance!

Next Friday, February 2, I will be at Mystery to Me in Madison, Wisconsin (on Monroe Street) to promote LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS as well as the sequel to AFTER EVERYONE DIED, a novel called LONG EMPTY ROADS.

Everything starts at 6:00pm. If you can make it, please do. Bring a friend.

Steampunk attire is encouraged.

A January Update

I had hoped to have a cover for LONG EMPTY ROADS to show you by now, but Paige has run into issues with her Photoshop program. –When you absolutely need something screwed up, use a computer. They will find a way to let you down every time.

The hard copy version of LONG EMPTY ROADS won’t be ready by Feb. 2, sadly–but as long as I can get a simple flat done, the eBook version should still be on time. Given that hardly anyone bought a hard copy of the book, this should not set many people back.

Speaking of hard copies–My friend Maddy Hunter’s new book SAY NO MOOR is out now. She will be doing an event on Sunday at Mystery to Me in Madison around 1:00pm, I believe. If you’re in the area, please consider stopping in to say hello and grab a copy. Maddy is a heckuva writer and her books are very funny.

In other book news, Alex Bledsoe announced that his forthcoming Tufa novel, THE FAIRIES OF SADIEVILLE, will be the final in the series. This is a happy and a sad announcement. It’s always nice to have completion, and to have an author be able to finish a series on his terms is always a good thing. It’s better to finish something before it jumps the shark, so to speak. However, the Tufa novels are easily in my top five favorite book series. The characters are alive and breathing. The prose is crisp. The stories are wonderful. We need more books like the Tufa novels. I will be sad to see them end. Alex will keep writing other books, though. I will be very interested to see what he churns out next.

If you haven’t seen the commercial Jack Quincey did for LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS, you should give it a play. Jack’s got too much talent to be kept down for too long. I’ve known the guy for 14 years now. (Sheesh, time flies…) He makes commercials and does some seriously good marketing for Everything Hobby in Rochester, MN. Follow their Instagram account for Jack’s puppetry. He puts out a new video almost daily. He’s doing marketing right.

After a brief thaw here in Southern Wisconsin, we are back into the teens. January typically gives a brief respite from the cold, but February is traditionally the coldest month. We had two weeks and change of subzero temps in December and early January, so getting back up to 45 was delightful. I hate the cold. I keep wanting to move to a warmer climate. I’ve been applying for jobs in the south, but I don’t foresee myself ever leaving Wisconsin. As much as I loathe the cold, the rest of the year is pretty nice here.

I’ll keep you posted on the new book. In the meantime, I think I’ll be at Mystery to Me on Feb. 2 to promote LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS. If we can get a bunch of people there in Steampunk gear, all the better.

-S

End of the Year Thoughts

It’s almost 2018. I’ve been unemployed since May, so I’m hoping that changes soon. I’ve been sending out a lot of resumes and applications. I’m overqualified for most things, though. That tends to frighten off employers. All I know for certain anymore is that I don’t want to have to stand at a counter all day, and I don’t want to make anyone food.

I hope things get better in the new year.

Last year, I cobbled together a few end-of-the-year favorites to commemorate the shift of years. So, let’s do that again this year:

BOOKS first: My favorite books of this year were TYRANT’S THRONE by Sebastien de Castell and KINGS OF THE WYLD by Nicholas Eames. I highly recommend both.

MOVIES: THE BIG SICK. Kumail Nanjiani has been a favorite comedian for a long time, and this movie had heart and soul–something so frequently missing from Hollywood blockbusters. My biggest disappointment was either THE LAST JEDI or THE DARK TOWER. Probably TDT. I left that theater angry that I’d bought a ticket.

NEW TV: I was really impressed by THE ORVILLE. It was easily my favorite new show. It was everything I missed about Star Trek: The Next Generation. I also really liked BROCKMIRE–Hank Azaria is one of the most underrated actors out there. I also really liked THE PUNISHER on Netflix. Jon Bernthal needs an Emmy for his portrayal of Frank Castle.

MUSIC: I haven’t listened to a lot of new music this year, sadly. None of the bands I really like put out new music. I listened to a lot of Frightened Rabbit’s “Painting of a Panic Attack” (which came out in 2016), Ghost’s “Melioria” (also, 2016), and Marillion’s FEAR (2016 again). Those three records got the most rotation in my CD player this year. I also liked the new Foo Fighter’s record, but I haven’t listened to it a lot.

COMEDY: As far as comedy goes, I really enjoyed both Russell Howard’s and Judd Apatow’s new stand-up specials, which both came out in the last three weeks. The best stand-up specials of the year go to Maria Bamford’s “Old Baby” and Neal Brennan’s “3 Mics.” Both of those specials went to a level where you realize you’re watching something beyond stand-up. Bammer, especially, really did something unique. Honorable mention for Patton Oswalt dealing with his wife’s passing in “Annihilation.”

PERSONAL EVENTS: Made it out to New Jersey for a family reunion for my dad’s side of the family–really, my paternal grandmother’s side. Didn’t tell my parents I was attending, so it was nice to haul the kid out there and surprise them. My Aunt Cynthia was murdered in early May, only about three weeks after I saw her at the reunion. It made me very glad I went to the reunion.

I lost 108 pounds since last November thanks primarily to a Ketogenic diet. It wasn’t easy, but it worked. While I’m still a fat guy, it’s nice to step on a scale and see a “2” where there used to be a “3.”

My daughter is now a teenager. Only three more years until the potential for her to be licensed driver. Please help me.

I released LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS. While the sales for that book have been poor, it was still a fun book to write.

FOR THE COMING YEAR: I will be releasing LONG EMPTY ROADS, the long-awaited sequel to AFTER EVERYONE DIED, and hopefully a second book in the Lord Bobbins series, LORD BOBBINS AND THE DOME OF LIGHT. I think Paige Krogwold might even have the cover for LER done soon.

I hope to lose more weight. Ideally, another 100 lbs. After that, we’ll see.

I hope to find a job. Any job will do at this point (provided it’s not food service or selling paint). I have a couple resumes out there right now for jobs I’d really enjoy, but I haven’t heard from yet. Given the time of year, I haven’t expected to hear from them. At some point after the New Year, I imagine everything will go back to the regular grind.

I’m looking forward to reading the new Maddy Hunter book, SAY NO MOOR, and the new Tufa novel THE FAIRIES OF SADIEVILLE by Alex Bledsoe. I also believe there will be a new Mark Lawrence book out, as well as a new Lincoln and Child book. Craig Johnson will kick out a new Longmire book at some point this year, as well. I’ll get around to all of them, I’m sure. Raymond E. Feist has a new series starting this year, too.

Also, if Patrick Rothfuss and GRRM ever finish their next books, I’m sure I’ll be reading them as well.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing my own stuff, and we’ll see what happens along the way.

Stay tuned.

Happy New Year, friends.

–Sean

Winter Writing = Cold Fingers

Writing in Wisconsin in the winter adds a new dimension to the challenge of putting down a daily word count: cold fingers. Even now, as I am ensconced in my favorite booth at the Sun Prairie Culver's, it's hard to type. My fingertips are very cold. As I'm getting older, the blood doesn't flow to the fingers like it used to, and it is complicating life. I've stopped wearing my wedding ring because my recent weight loss and declining circulation made my fingers shrink. I find myself stopping to blow into my fists often to try to heat up my hands. I am not a fan. I keep looking for jobs in the southwest. I think moving someplace warm would be a good thing now. I could stand some heat. I'm tired of winter and it hasn't even started.

It's been a month since LORD BOBBINS AND THE ROMANIAN RUCKUS came out. After a great initial sales rush at TeslaCon, the book has stagnated badly. I mean, really badly. Steampunk is a very niche audience, and even the major steampunk authors don't have great sales, so in a way, this was expected. I was excited to write the third book in the series, but now I'm questioning it. As of right now, it does not feel like this book is going to take off as I hoped it would. A few dozen positive reviews might help its exposure, but it would need to accumulate at least 50 reviews for Amazon to even start including it in their promotional materials, so it might be awhile, if ever.

The sequel to AFTER EVERYONE DIED is on track, though. It will be out on Feb. 2. I play to have hard copies at Mystery to Me before that date, and the Amazon pre-order for eBooks will be up by mid-January. LONG EMPTY ROADS became the story I hoped it would be. Like AED, it has a unique structure and is atypical of standard novels. And it is strangely hopeful, I think.

I have already started the process of worrying and fretting about the story. I hope people will like it. I hope as many people will buy it as did AED. There tends to be a drop off on sequels, though. I just need the right person to read it, though. Doors can be opened. I will remain hopeful, but at this point it feels like buying lottery tickets--you get hopeful, but inside you know you're not winning.

Paige Krogwold is working on the cover, and I hope she will be able to reveal it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I continue to look for jobs. I continue to write. I continue to watch too much television.

--Sean