Another year ends
Yet the emotions carry over
Joys and pains
Ignore the calendar
Only the callous and cruel
Can make a fresh start
By tossing all the past away
Humanity exists
With hearts that see an end
While remembering the beginning
All wish to carry only the good
While ejecting all the bad
Finding different paths
In the hopes of success
To drive away the hurt
As we come to the end
This year has been really rough for a variety of reasons. Sales plunged into the dumpster and ignited. War of Nytefall didn’t really take off. Personal stuff went and still is going haywire. It started with my son being terrified of the bus, but that thankfully ended by the next school year. On a brighter side, I have a day job that I find fulfilling and am trying to find a way to get up a few levels. Still, the overall theme of 2018 for me was destructive change to my life. I’ll try to be as positive as I can here, but it’s going to be tough and a few followers know why.
I tried to get a lot of editing done this week because I want to release War of Nytefall: Rivalry in April. It didn’t go that smoothly, but not for bad reasons. Last Sunday was a day in the city with one of my closest friends, which was a blast. We need to hang out more often. (By the way, I mean NYC when I say the city. Sorry.) Monday was me waking up to help my oldest friend work on his house in the morning, which went as smoothly as our usual projects. It all worked out, but the rain was an issue and a short guy like me isn’t the best to have work on a ladder. Well, he did say I was all he had since it was Christmas Eve and I’m Jewish. Tuesday was ‘AQUAMAN’ with the parents who thought I needed some cheering up. They were right and it was a great movie. The rest of the week was Lego, appointments, and other adventures with my son. Both of us are back to school on Wednesday, so we’re trying our best to have a lot of family time. That means editing is at night if I have the energy.
The rest of this post is about the future and I think I’m going to divide it up:
Bedlam
I thought long and hard about this, but I think the blog story is where the adventures of Cassidy and Lloyd Tenay are going to end. With the job and other things, I only have so much time and energy to write. As much as some people enjoy this story, I’ve had more people tell me that they aren’t fans. It hurts to leave them in limbo, but I need to prioritize and put them on the shelf. One reason for this seems to be that more people prefer my fantasy adventures than my dystopia. I get the feeling that I’ve been pigeonholed and the bulk of my audience won’t follow me to other genres. As you’re going to see in a bit, they might not even follow me to other stories. Anyway, 2019 will be the last journey for Cassidy and Lloyd unless something major changes in terms of time, money, energy, and requests. Sorry to those who enjoy them.
This is one of my core series, so it’s going to take priority. I’m hoping to release Book 3 in April and Book 4 in December, but it depends on me getting things done. Rivalry is going to need some non-me eyes at some point, which scares me. A lot of people have offered help, but many of them talk about tearing it apart and rebuilding it. Doesn’t help that it’s part of a series, which makes shredding it more difficult. That’s not even the biggest challenge here.
As I said, it feels like much of my audience won’t follow me to other genres. They see this series as ‘vampire’ instead of ‘fantasy’ even though it takes place in Windemere and is written like an adventure story. I’ve also heard complaints that Clyde isn’t like Luke Callindor and Mab isn’t like Nyx. Seems people want me to write more Legends of Windemere and my new series is getting hurt because of that. Well, the champions are done. I need to write this one to get to the next one because I’ve got all of the Windemere adventures planned out to create a specific story. If I stuck with the first series then it would get stale and lose its appeal. Really wish I could do more to draw people to War of Nytefall, but many have made their opinions known in private that they didn’t want me to end my first series. This has been a major part of my frustration all year because I simply can’t give people what they want. That’s just reality here because I have no more champion stories to tell.
Ichabod Brooks
While he isn’t being retired like Bedlam, it will take time to get another collection out there. It has been suggested that I put his stories up here and then publish, which is an option. He could take the Thursday slot after Bedlam. Yet, I need to write some things first, which requires time. For now, Ichabod is going to be a side project in the truest sense of the word. If I don’t have time for Nytefall then I’ll work on Ichabod and use him as a mental cleanser between editing runs and new writing for the core series. This means he will return some day since people want that. Should point out that many seem to claim they love Ichabod in the same breath they say they aren’t big fans of Bedlam. That’s another reason I’m doing this because it feels like I had to pick one or the other due to limited time.
That’s really it for projects and plans. Not much else to say here. Just going to post the goals of the week, add a video, and head out.
Yahoo Image Search
We’ve all been there. Just as your head hits the pillow, an idea pops up. Maybe it’s something new or maybe it’s the solution to a story you couldn’t figure out. Either way, you’re in a dark room and starting to fall asleep. What are some things you can do to keep the idea?
As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s edition of Lisa Burton Radio. Just me this week for several reasons. The main one is that I didn’t want to stick a guest during the week between the holidays.
Still, Christmas is over, and mine was wonderful. Bunny and I hung out at the writing cabin, and it was nice and quiet.
Speaking of Christmas, what did you get? I know this crowd, and every one of you got an Amazon gift card. You’re all readers and writers, don’t deny it. After you finish your purchases, there is likely to be a bit left over, and that’s what I want to talk about today.
Craig is my author. Officially, it’s C. S. Boyack, but we all just call him Craig. See, he writes books too. His are all ebooks, so you’ll need a Kindle or one of the apps to read them.
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Cover Art by Circecorp
So, I’m trying to decide what to do with Ichabod Brooks. He’s fairly popular even though the book doesn’t sell any better than the others. After making Derailing Bedlam a blog-only story and feeling like I’m giving up on Cassidy and Lloyd, I’m left wondering if I should do the same to Ichabod. The way I see it, I have two options:
Much like Bedlam, Ichabod Brooks just came to me on a whim and I’ve enjoyed running with the unexpected ideas. They don’t have the pressure of the bigger series, so maybe I shouldn’t worry too much. Perhaps I can even set out to gather all of the Bedlam books into one big collection (minus the political one) and publish that one day. I just find it hard to have these ideas written or beyond the outline stage and not share them.
So, what do people think? Guess I’m asking for both Bedlam and Ichabod Brooks.
Hotel Transylvania
(I was only going to do War of Nytefall, but I decided to include Ichabod Brooks, Crossing Bedlam, and Legends of Windemere.)
Lloyd Tenay– We sure fit a lot of people in here. So, I go first since I’m in the title. I would like to have the first appearance of Spider-Man, which is ‘Amazing Fantasy #15’. Bet nobody saw that coming.
Cassidy– Who smells so bad? Uh, a nickel-plated .41 caliber Colt Thunderer or the .38 caliber Colt Lightening. Both double action. I believe those were the ones favored by Doc Holliday. Next!
Lost– I went a big bed shaped like a bunny! The pillows will smell like tomatoes and the blankets will be self-cleaning. Oh, and it can move on its own. You never known when you’ll want to sleep on the road and sleeping bags are so boring.
Mab– No idea. I mean, it isn’t like I can’t just take what I want. Although, I could always use a fun heist with my old partner. We haven’t done anything like that in years.
Clyde– A challenging fight would be nice. Haven’t had one of those in years . . . Fine. I also want to go pull a heist with my old partner. Give me back my leg, Mab, before I beat you with that Lloyd guy.
Bob– A horse.
Luther– I do need some oil for my sickles. They’re getting rusty.
Titus– You two are rather simple and practical. I want . . . Hmmm . . . There’s a type of meat found to the west that I haven’t had for a long time. Really like a steak made out of that. Not sure what animal it comes from either.
Xavier Tempest & Nadia Sylvan– We have each other.
Archillious– My greatness demands a statue built in its honor. Not right now, but once I decide on where it should go. In the meantime, I would gladly accept the open praise that I truly deserve.
Fizzle– APPLES!
Gregorio Roman– At my age, I don’t really desire anything. All I hope is that life doesn’t get boring. Eternity would be unbearable without excitement.
The Duchess of LaSalle– A collection of bubble baths. It’s so hard to find beauty products in the Shattered States. Why is this starting to run so quickly?
Chastity Sullivan– I think the guy running the show is getting impatient. Looks like some of us are missing too. What do I want? Actually, that indoor tree and strange candelabra thing look like fun. That spinning game is giving me some ideas for the Scrumptious Siren. Can I borrow your Earth holidays? Honestly, I’m more of a giver than a taker.
Kira Grasdon– That my book gets mentioned in here too. Quest of the Brokenhearted! Thanks! Now, I’d like my fiancee back.
Kai Stavros– Could always use more knives.
Stephanie Talon– All I desire is the attention and love of my mistress. Why are all the champions be left for the end?
Dariana– Sorry about that. I guess being retired means we aren’t moving as quickly as we used to. Not that we’re old, but there’s no rush for us. I would like to have some ice cream. The food in my current location is good, but I’m getting bored of it.
Sari– I still want my candy wagon. It would be so much fun to drive that around the world and give free treats to people. Kind of like that big old guy in your world. Don’t think I’d want his outfit though.
Nyx– A good night’s sleep? I’m trying to run a kingdom, raise kids, and not blow up that obnoxious mercenary country that popped up on my border. Doesn’t help that the twins take turns crying for me. Think I’d rather fight Baron Kernaghan again.
Delvin Cunningham– What my wife said. Alexander and Fiona are just as much a handful as the twins. Those two really need to stop bickering, especially when they’re at the academy.
Queen Trinity– I want all of the books that were lost during the Baron’s reign to be revived and returned to my people. We lost a lot of our history and culture, which I’m sure has to be hidden in the world somewhere.
Timoran Wrath– A good mug of ale and a hearty roast. It is the simple things in life that I prefer these days.
Luke Callindor– The ability to go back in time and stop myself from making a really big mistake. Actually, that sounds pretty immature and I have to accept responsibility for what I did. So, I just want a day of peace. I’m so tired of running. Who’s left?
Ichabod Brooks– Just me and I’ve been having fun watching you kids run around. Well, you kids and the collection of immortals. Now, what to ask for? An enchanted oven would be helpful when I make cookies for my adventures. The one I have is good, but the magic was designed to obey my wife more than me. So, I have to depend more on my own skills than it. On second thought, I’d rather it go that way. I’ll take a family vacation to Cerascent then. One that doesn’t turn into an adventure. That shouldn’t be too much to ask for.
I didn’t really plan this whole thing out. Tomorrow has some funny character stuff for Christmas, but then I set up a Teaser Tuesday as if it’s a normal day. So, I’m going to do some Christmas stuff now. Yeah . . . I also kind of forgot what I was going to post about and it’s for the best. I’m out having a day for me, so I won’t be commenting much until night. Been a while.
WOW! Didn’t expect a bunch of Hitler memes when I typed ‘Christmas Jew Meme’. That ends that idea.
Legends of Windemere 