I recently received a wonderful surprise from a reader friend, who is the work-at-home father of an 8-year-old. He wrote to me to share how much he and his son had enjoyed Musiville, asking me that I share his story on my blog as a guest post. I hope you enjoy his post as much as I did!
Since Father’s Day is just around the corner, he has inspired me to give away Musiville between the 13th and the 18th in the hope that more fathers can enjoy reading it with their little girls and boys. So, unless you prefer the print version, you may wish to wait for a couple of days and get it for free!
Musiville: A Reader’s Tale
FREE on Amazon, June 13-18
Being a work-at-home dad has lots of perks. The best one for me is the time I spend with my 8-years-old son after…
The story does take a little time to get into since it begins with John Cannon recovering from injuries sustained in his previous adventure. Since it was a temporary eye injury, there was a lot of focus on other senses. This made for an interesting opener, but I will admit that I did hit a point where I wanted things to move a bit faster. This was about a chapter before someone hit the action button because the pace really picks up after the first gunshot. By the way, people really have to stop standing near John Cannon even if they have a bulletproof vest. I crack a joke here, but the amount of times people next to him get hit without warning left me nervous when anyone was standing within a few feet of the guy.
I really liked how John Cannon came across as a guy who lacks combat experience. In some situations, it means he’s almost useless. Other times, it forces him to think on his feet and take actions that I found natural. He doesn’t go into the adventure like an action hero, but more like a man who has stumbled into a bad situation. It made him oddly relatable at times, especially since you’re viewing everything through his eyes. So, you know that he isn’t comfortable or completely sure of himself. In fact, I never got a feeling of confidence from him that made me think he would get through unscathed, which I really enjoyed.
One thing that did catch me off-guard was how much I truly despised the villains. The way Jacobs and Winther were written just boiled my blood. It wasn’t that they were pure evil, but there was just this smarmy arrogance that irritated me. There was no way I would want to see these guys get redeemed and every appearance had me hoping that someone would smack them around. The desire to see these two get what’s coming to them became a driving force for me to keep reading. Not sure if that’s a noble reason, but you definitely get your money’s worth if you’re looking for villains.
I would like to say more about the story, but I find that’s hard to do without leaving spoilers. There are plenty of twists and turns that got me wondering what would happen until the very end. So, there’s plenty of suspense as soon as the leash is taken off the story.
Overall, I give this 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.
After following a flash fiction prompt, I was easily convinced by a reader’s comment, that the story should continue. (How it began…)
I loved writing about sheriff Jim Burrell and his team, including Lisa Burton, C. S. Boyack’s unique protagonist of Wild Concept. Dear Craig, I still feel honoured that you allowed my piece of fan fiction. I can imagine to continue the story – with a different case of course – if you readers want it.
During the last months I took my time to format, re-edit, etc., and Smashwords accepted Neighbors! for their Premium Catalog.
(Just introduced the kid to this song when it was on the radio. He doesn’t get it.)
There’s a term I want to us for how this week, but it could be seen as crude. All I can say is that it involves a slang word for a body part and a direction. I planned for two events that would limited my writing on Tuesday and Friday. Unfortunately, Monday and Wednesday evenings went awry. All I could do then was prep a few posts for September and my anxiety journal.
Speaking of anxiety, this week has been a rough one. Sunday was fun with ‘Deadpool 2’ and Cheesecake Factory, but the weekdays were emotionally brutal. Aside from some personal stuff, two reviews vanished on me. One from Warlord of the Forgotten Age and another from War of Nytefall: Loyalty. Those are two books that can’t afford to lose any reviews and I don’t have any explanation for it. It’s frustrating when you’re trying to figure out how to fairly get reviews while the ones you do have are disappearing. I don’t know if the person who wrote them had their account deleted, someone reported these strangers as friends/family, or some other explanation. With everything else going on this week, this incident became a catalyst for me to have an almost constant anxiety attack. I used what little energy I could muster for writing. That created an odd ‘stockpile’ of anxiety that would hit me once I was done, but I got through it.
Last weekend, I revealed the Quest of the Brokenhearted cover art and got a good amount of volunteers for the simple blog tour. It should be going live by July 2nd since I’m hitting publish on the 1st once I get home from a trip. My plan is to do a low cost marketing here, which means depending a lot more on blogging and social media than paid promos. It’s a big gamble for the summer, but it’s all I can do without making things more difficult for the next book. I also have to figure out which of these options works:
List the book as ’16’ of Legends of Windemere in the title even though it isn’t. I feel weird doing this because I billed Warlord of the Forgotten Age as the finale.
Start the blurb with ‘From the pages of ‘Legends of Windemere’.
The point here is to make sure it’s clear that this book stems from the main series. I hope that will give it a little bit of a boost.
By the way, does it make sense for me to have a side character in the first volume of a book make a reappearance in one of the much later ones? I’m not sure if I should have this character make at least one more appearance before they turn up as a bigger player. It might boil down to simply how I do it.
Anyway, this is the make/break week for me. Since January, I’ve written 3 books, edited 3 books, and published 1 book. This isn’t counting the outlining and prep work I’ve done for other projects. My goal of having all the 2018 releases in first drafts will hopefully be met by Friday. It doesn’t look good though because I know I lose one morning and I can’t afford even one schedule curb stomp. This also depends on me being able to write tonight and getting tomorrow free for at least 2 sections. That plan is already looking fragile because of other changes to the schedule. I was hoping to get the September posts and blurbs for War of Nytefall: Lost done before school ends too. Glad I did a few editing runs on that book, which means it will be an easy set up coming September.
My hope for the summer is that I can focus more on my son and getting my anxiety issues handled. I can work on Raven’s Wrath and some outlines when I have time, but it’s going to be strictly projects that I can easily walk away from. This way, I can return to writing feeling refreshed in September. I still have to decide if I’m going to write War of Nytefall: Eradication or The Longbow of Ichabod Brooks first. There I go thinking too far ahead again. I’m actually thinking of using nights and any days I get to myself to start working on that second project. Short stories could be a little easier to handle.
Here’s another question: What do people think about switching off doing Ichabod Brooks and Bedlam for the foreseeable summers? I can’t really think of a way to keep doing Bedlam in February since 4 books might be my limit. Do people even remember Lloyd and Cassidy at this point?
That’s pretty much it for me. I’ve been toiling away here and trying to remain somewhat conscious and positive. That second one can be a real challenge at times. On the plus side, I am getting some Kindle reading in. Not sure what to say about that because I don’t recognize maybe 75% of the books I have on there. It’s a lot of romance, which isn’t really my thing. Anyway, what’s the plan for next week?
Write and hopefully finish War of Nytefall: Rivalry.
Choose a teaser for the following week.
Necessary life functions.
Buy more seltzer
Complain that Netflix and Prime don’t have Yu Yu Hakusho. Hulu does, but I don’t want to pay a subscription.
Father/son Saturday, which is today. It’s really just martial arts, errands, and haircuts because we’re both very shaggy.
Think about the Super Earth to Windemere switch. That might be the project I tackle during the last week of June.
Not by choice: Have at least 3 anxiety attacks to make things that much harder.
The definition of Dark Fantasy is “Fantasy with elements of Horror in it.” So the question is, how much Horror is required to take the story out of the realm of Fantasy and into the realm of pure Horror?
This is something that hasn’t been clearly defined and it is not my intention to try to carve out a dividing line for the genres here, but only to stimulate some speculative conversation among readers of these genres.
Both of the genres, Horror and Fantasy, are typified by strongly imaginative elements. Much of what I’ve read in both genres might easily fit into the other. For example, I found a story set in Hell with some of the familiar landscape we expect from that location (thanks, Dante) in the Fantasy section. It was unquestionably dark and so easily classified as Dark Fantasy. But why not Horror?
It is time to write
Yet what tool shall I use today
So many options
*
A pencil maybe?
Great if I make a mistake
Yet there is smearing
*
Perhaps a new pen
Because I feel confident
I think it just leaked
*
Quill and ink could work
All I need is a feather
Gulls are really mean
*
My phone can take notes
What could possibly go wrong?
Duck autocorrect
*
Markers or crayons!
Both smell of delicious fruit
I cannot read this
*
Time for computer
You can’t go wrong with high tech
Look at the kittens!
*
A tool has been picked
It is time for the next stage
Book, pad, card, or wall?
Don Massenzio It’s time for the next subject for my 2018 author interview series. Author interviews are posted every Friday throughout the year. I am honored to continue this series with author Jemima Pett. You can catch up with all … Continue reading →
Craig here today, and this post is a bit challenging for me. I know I don’t read as much as the other Story Empire authors, and rarely get the chance to read something that isn’t from one of my author friends. It does happen on occasion, so I’m bringing you something a bit different today.
Cheri Priest is one of my favorite authors, and I rarely get the chance to read her stuff these days. One of the things I love about her is the creativity that goes into her work. She isn’t afraid to come up with some odd ideas and forge ahead. I also appreciate the amount of research she obviously puts into her work.
The first book I read of hers was Boneshaker, which went on to become a five book series. Now, I’m not a series guy, but I read them all.
Even though her approach is rather generic, I believe there are a lot of useful tips here to help you improve your Facebook ads!
5 Ways to Create the Perfect Facebook Creatives
When we see them in our News Feed, Facebook ads look simple. But a lot of work goes into making them that simple, because they have to say a lot as non-invasively as possible.
To make the perfect Facebook ad creative, you need to diligently implement best practices that make your creative amazing every time. There are five ways, in particular, you can make an ad creative that reaches your desired goals.
1. Use Listicle Headlines (For Article Posts)
Headlines are the text that appears directly below the main visual of your…
Welcome all you caregivers, and children who are now taking care of their parents. You’ve landed on Lisa Burton Radio, the only show that brings you characters from the books you love. I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl. My special guest today is Michelle DePalma. She has an elderly parent who requires round-the-clock care. “Welcome to the show, Michelle.”
“Thanks so much for having me, Lisa. I admit I was a little apprehensive about being interviewed by a robot. I didn’t know what to expect. But you seem pretty normal to me. At least, as normal as any of us can be…”
“My bio indicates that Two Wells, Texas is a very small town. The kind of place it’s good to be from, if you know what I mean. Something has pulled you back to Two Wells. Can you tell us about that?”
FREE on Amazon, June 13-18 
