A number of people have been asking me why I haven't finished "that book" yet.

It's a question writers get a lot, often from kindhearted folks who (a) think it's cool that you're a writer but don't really understand it, (b) think it's pretty much a waste of time that you're a writer but are too polite to say so, or (c) think it's cool that you're a writer, kind of DO understand it, but can't for the life of them remember exactly what book you're working on even though you had a long discussion with them about it just last week.

Sorry.  I've been watching too much John Oliver, lately. :)

My current WIP (that's Work in Progress in author lingo) is titled "The New Americans" but, for all intents and purposes, I just call it "Dad's Book."  This is because it's based on an outline that my father recorded onto a series of cassette tapes shortly before he passed away back in 1992.  If that intrigues you, I suggest you check out the podcast that Helene and I did on the subject.  It's called "Legacy: The Novel Writing Experience." It's free, and you can find it pretty much anywhere podcasts can be found.

I made a big fuss earlier this year, posting my rising word count almost daily on social media as I struggled to finish what is shaping up to be the hardest writing project of my life.  At the time, I got tons of encouragement.  Thanks for that, by the way.

Now, I'm more than halfway through the second draft.  After this is done, there'll be a third draft, and then likely a fourth.  At that point, I'll hand it off to my "First Read," who is my wife, Helene.  Following her edits, which can be both extensive and incredibly useful, there'll be a fifth and sixth draft.  After the sixth draft, I'll be sending it out to prospective agents and editors.

Welcome to my world! :)

Editing isn't more or less difficult that writing the first draft; it's just different.  You have to look at your own work with as critical an eye as possible, reword and often rethink huge passages.  Sometimes you add characters, sometimes you take them away.  Sometimes who chapters need to be rewritten. By the end of the second draft, the book can be substantially longer or substantially shorter.  It's a lengthy, often tedious process that is 100% absolutely undeniably VITAL if you want your work to shine.

And, perhaps more than any book I've ever written, I want "The New Americans" to shine, if only for my dad's sake.

So, today, tomorrow, and every day for the foreseeable future, I'll be diving again into the world of my three Sicilian brothers who become reluctant immigrant to the US in 1915.  This is a story about real people doing real things and living real lives.  There's not a zombie, spaceship, or superhero is sight!

Oh, and to answer the original query: Right now, I foresee handing the book off to Helene before the end of the year. But, no, that's NOT when the book will be "finished."  When you're a writer, nothing's "finished" until it's sitting on a bookstore shelf.  

Until then, WIP is the order of the day! :)

Haven't posted in a while.  This isn't laziness on my part.  My daughter just gave birth to my first grandchild and I'm afraid it's been a little ... distracting. :)

Well, I'm back now, and I have some exciting news!

I'm pleased and proud to announce that the first Undertakers book, "Rise of the Corpses," has been highlighted in Ezvid's "11 Books with Inventive Takes on the Zombie Genre" Wiki!  I encourage you all you to check out the link.  There's even a cleverly made video that summarizes the genre overall and each book in particular, including mine.

Promotion is difficult even for established authors, and the hunt for new ways to do it never stops.  I'm working on a new one right now, as a matter of fact, the details of which I'll share in the near future.  In the meantime, however, it's nice when some solid attention from a solid site comes my way.  My gratitude goes out to the Caroline Eliasson and the other good folks at Ezvid Wiki!  I'm a working writing, and I'll gladly and gratefully take all the help I can get!

More later.  I'm getting back on track with my other promotional efforts.

And I'm writing.  Always writing.
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Yeah, I know.  A lot of you have been doing this for years.  But, while I've been reviewed myself plenty of times, I've never had the confidence to publicly critique another author's work.  As of the past week, that's changed.

I read A LOT, and so I have a whole library of books in my head about which I have strong opinions, either positive or negative.  So, each morning, I've started logging into Goodreads and reviewing one of them, more or less at random.

This morning, I submitted a review of "Hunger," by Jackie Morse Kessler.  This short but wonderful novel isn't new.  Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt back in 2010, it's the first in a series of four YA fantasies that center around teenagers who find each find themselves declared one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  As I point out in the review, Jackie and I are very old friends, and I first read this fine book when it was originally published.  I loved it then and I love it now.  The only thing that's changed is that this time I've written a review.  Here it is, by the way: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2852865891.

I going to be completely honest here, folks.  These reviews are part of a promotional "new leaf" that I'm trying to turn over now that I'm launching into the new and somewhat intimidating world of self-publication.  It's only one leg of a many-legged stool, upon which I'm hoping to eventually launched "Dragons."  I don't know what'll come of it.

But, that said, I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.  Reviewing, I mean.  Old dog, new trick.  Who says you can't teach us?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  There's a lot going on!

I've finished a new science fiction young adult novel that I'm very excited about.  DRAGONS is set a century in the future, in an age when space travel has been privatized and mankind has extended out to colonies on Mars, many of the larger asteroids, and even a Jovian moon.  It tells the story of eighteen-year-old Andy Draco, who awakens to find himself a prisoner in a peculiar prison, held by nameless and faceless kidnappers who are making seemingly impossible demands of him.  But Andy is more than he appears - much more.  He's the keeper of a secret that's thousands of years old, a secret that much never be shared with anyone, no matter what!  It's also a secret that his kidnappers are determined to get him to reveal ... by hook or by crook. 

But they should be careful what they wish for.

If you're intrigued, then stay-tuned.  DRAGONS will be seeing publication before the end of 2019!

DRAGONS will be the first book ever published by Allegory Publications, Ltd., which is the company behind Allegory, the Online Magazine of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror (www.allegoryezine.com).  In preparation for its launch, over the next several months I'm going to be executing a book promotion plan.  This plan is slowly taking shape, as indicated by the photo of my Project Wall, which I took just this morning.  It's going to involve social media, Goodreads, and blog sites with which I'm acquainted.

I've never attempted anything quite this time before.  I'm more or less on my own on this one.  No editor.  No agent.  Just a great book, if I do say so myself, and time and drive enough to make something happen with it.  The publishing world is changing, and authors need to do more than just submit their work and hope and pray for a sale.  

These are my first steps down a brand new path.  It's scary, but it's also exciting, and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

Want to come along?