The very real condition of a character dying without your permission
Hello and welcome back to the blog – glad to have you here.
It’s been a busy few weeks here – between doing Indie Author Day events in Blacksburg and Radford, and the NRCC Comic-Con, and being on Jason Tudor’s
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Dollar Box Reads podcast, and getting new T-shirts made using the awesome logo so lovingly crafted by Chris Eder Design (see the shirts in the shop section on this page), and opening an unexpected box from Rosies Beef Jerky – wow, I’m amazed I’ve had any time to write! But I have!
As I get this blog post done, I’m about 60% finished book 4, which now has the very official title of Red Priest Rising. It’s so official that I actually have the book cover for book four already as well, which means I’ve got to really start getting it together and finish.
[image error]Over the course of the summer I’ve gotten a lot of really good feedback on the cover and so I’m happy to report that OliviaProDesign, a designer from the Ukraine I found on Fiverr.com has agreed to do the work on book 4 as well and I’m very happy with what’s she’s done. The feel is the same, but the color scheme is a little different, and I’m in early conversations with Enoch Creek Productions to do a very short Cover Release Trailer here probably sometime in November, so be on the look-out for that!
This week while writing chapter 22 I had one of those moments that you hear about and don’t believe – especially before you start writing. It was one of those, “I didn’t know that would happen” moments. Before I wrote my first book, (and I know I’ve said this before, but it bears mentioning again) I used to think that was a silly thing to say.
How could a writer not know something was going to happen? But it’s true, you have an idea in your head and the characters do what they do and before you know it, someone is dead on the floor and frothing at the mouth and all you can do is stare at your keyboard and go, ‘what the hell just happened there?’ Totally unplanned and unlooked for but that’s the beauty of writing without a plan – sometimes stuff happens.
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I considered for a minute undoing the damage I’d done, but then as I looked at the whole sequence of events in context, I realized it made a lot of sense and so I had to scrap whatever mental plan I had for the character and move to plan B (or plan K, if I’m honest). So, that’s been a lot of fun, and it keeps me interested in seeing how this is all going to turn out. I’d by lying to you if, at this point 60% in, I could tell you what happens to every character by the end of this book. I know the generalities but not the specifics.
In other news, the new season of Peaky Blinders is on and if you haven’t made that part of your viewing routine, you’re missing a great show. And if you like British stuff, Amazon has a couple seasons of a quiz-style show called Mock the Week, which is just hilarious – but even better if you have a live-in Brit who can fill in some blanks for you. If you don’t have your own Brit, give it a try anyway and let me know what you think.
And once again, a special shout out to Rosies Beef Jerky. After the Dollar Box Read podcast aired, and Jason asked about my first name, I mentioned that I know
of a few guys named Rosaire, including the owner of Rosies Beef Jerky. A week later there was a box by my door so I’m super grateful to Rosie and Shannon – they didn’t have to do it, but I really appreciate it here in the writing cave. If you like Jerky or beef sticks, check out their site and get yourself a sample – they do an 8-flavor gift pack for only 15 bucks and they also have flavors such as maple, maple and bacon, jalapeno cheddar and a lot more.
[image error] And finally, if you haven’t already – please take a moment and leave my books a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Reviews are super important – be honest, be fair and if you can leave one for every book you’ve read in the series, that would be fantastic. Thank you so much.
