I Made the Cut! Now I’m Banned from Using Scissors!

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz

Yeah . . . This is coming in late and I’m not even sure what to write.  The week was really rough on the psyche and body.  The ‘2016 sucks’ tradition is going strong, but I’m not going to list all the disasters here.  I’m tired after today.  It started with a doctor trip for the little guy, who is fine, but we wanted to be sure.  Then we went to a block party, which was a lot of fun.  Also hot and good food, so I’m drained.  Hence, the late post and a bit of rambling.  Sections might help.

Chasing Bedlam

I finished writing the sequel to Crossing Bedlam.  This won’t be out until next year, so I have time to edit.  Considering gathering a few beta readers, but I’ve become a little gun shy there.  With this series, I’ve found that jokes don’t always hit and some people want the stakes to be bigger than what Lloyd and Cassidy usually do.  I did enjoy writing this because Cassidy got to shine a lot more often.  Lloyd has mellowed a bit, which was hinted at in the previous ending.  He’s still wild and whacky, but a tad restrained.  There’s a plot reason for that too.  Anyway, I might hand this unedited copy out to a few people to get feedback.

Charms of the Feykin

Volunteers for September ‘Live’ Post Welcomed!

Legends of Windemere

I’m going to be writing the posts for September that will help to promote the next book.  I might even do the Tuesday Teasers as well to get them out of the way.  My hope is to start writing Path of the Traitors once my son goes back to school.  Though part of me is thinking of writing at night to start the project.  My hope is to finish writing the series before the end of the year in case I have to quit.  Even with a night job, I can finish what I started in terms of publishing.

Raven’s Game

This is the horror story that will go up throughout October.  This is going to get a bit sticky because I originally thought it would be the only thing going up that month.  31 sections and 31 days works, but I don’t know what it would do with the book releases.  Perhaps this would be a nightly and I’ll have a morning post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?  I’m really lost on what to do here, especially if I do a mid-September release for the next Windemere book.  I’d really appreciate opinions on this.  Would a month of one full story work or should I put a few non-Raven’s Game posts on during the day for those that don’t like horror?  What would I even do on those 3 days?  (Maybe Monster Makers would work for those posts, but with a fairy twist for the Windemere book.)

Thursday Posts

Still no clue what to do.  Bedlam Day might be it.

Suicide Squad

Seeing it tomorrow.  Already got tickets.  Woo!

Goals

  1. Get sleep
  2. See ‘Suicide Squad’.
  3. Prepare September posts.
  4. Maybe prepare October posts.
  5. Fiddle with the superheroes.  Listed the ones worth keeping and we’ll see where it goes.
  6. Get a little extra sleep.
  7. Add on- Watch ‘Flame of Recca’ on DVD.
Posted in Goal Posts | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Get A FREE Marketing Book

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Dark Destiny of Evil: Villains Can Be Chosen Too

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Wrarrl the Devourer of Souls from Conan

Wrarrl the Devourer of Souls from Conan

We always think about the heroes who are destined.  Good is always chosen by the gods while evil . . . where does the villain come from?  I mean, it’s weird that only the heroes are hand-picked while their enemies just appear.  Maybe there is a sinister force behind them, but there’s a problem there.  If there is an evil being behind the villain then that makes the evil being the true, final baddie.

Destiny doesn’t always work for a villain.  It can foretell a hero falling into the role or the rise of an enemy, but the meat of these prophecies are always toward the good.  This does make sense since you don’t need to be saved if there isn’t any danger.  Still, I always find it strange that fate rarely takes responsibility for the other side of the coin.  At least we aren’t told about it, which again is probably caused by stories being focused on the heroes.  There are those exceptions, but those tales end up turning the villain into a hero.  Not only the ‘hero in his or her own mind’, but a hero who is besting a villain that others would see as the good guy.

Honestly, it’s hard to wrap my head around this.  I’ve tried in my stories by having Gabriel admit to forging both sides of a scenario.  He is eternally playing chess with himself and it’s a game that will never end.  New pieces will always appear and many of them move on their own.  Yet, there’s still a messiness to the villain side, which I’m thinking is part of their nature.  A villain would probably believe they were in full control of their path and anything to the contrary would hinder them.  Hard to think of a villain as the big baddie if he or she is simply filling in a role.

As you can see, I’m going back and forth on this one.  Destiny shouldn’t be used exclusively for heroes, but it’s difficult to put on the shoulders of most villain types.  In my own series, the Baron knows he is facing destined heroes while believing his is Gabriel’s equal.  He still talks about having a role to play in the coming events, but it’s more of a manipulator than a game piece.  The strange thing here is that he might be just as destined as his enemies because the original prophecy always involved his defeat.  I haven’t settled on his origin, but the Baron has shown hints that he was once a god-chosen hero.  Something went wrong and he fell off the path, but that came from free will.  This puts me back to wondering if you can really do a destined villain.

I’m going around in circles here.  What do people think of destiny and fate as it relates to villains?

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

#FridayReads – Tribe of the Snow Tiger by @CYallowitz is Spectacular! #IARTG #SFF #bookreview

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Retiring a Post Type & Starting the Volunteer Request

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Yahoo Image Searc

Yahoo Image Search

So, Questions 3 is no more.  Nobody really responds to it and asking about it in a previous post didn’t really make me think it was worth keeping.  I might bring it back from time to time if I come up with a topic or to promote a book.  This means Thursday is a blank space for now.  Not sure what I can do here and I’d rather not keep it entirely blank.

I considered doing a weekly ‘7 Signs/Tips’ post every Thursday since people really enjoy those.  I’m leaning away from this only because these posts take time and I don’t want to run them into the ground.  My Tuesday and Thursday posts tend to be less planned than the M-W-F ones.  I could feasibly make this day about my own writing ideas and bring back the ‘future ideas’ stuff from a few years back.  Those were hit and miss since I kept a lot of info secret to avoid spoilers, which made suggestions hard to respond to.  I’ve also noticed that authors, myself included, tend to react to things like this through our own writing styles and focus.  This is only natural, but it makes things complicated over the Internet.  Great for face-to-face and email, which is a more private back and forth.

As you can see, I’ve no idea what I’m doing on Thursdays.  Next week might be a list of the Chasing Bedlam chapter titles to see what people think.  Maybe I could make Thursday exclusively for the Bedlam series?  That book tends to be forgotten and put on the side while I focus on the fantasy side of my writing.  Again, this would require more planning and might be tough when I start promoting the next book.

To end this:

Volunteers Needed for September (hopefully) debut of
LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE: CHARMS OF THE FEYKIN!

Figure I should start that up now.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

It’s a PARTY, and you’re all invited #RRBC

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

I’ve posted about my membership in the Rave Reviews Book Club before. This is a collective of authors who support each other via social media, and other venues. I think it’s a fabulous group, and I’ve benefited many times over from being a member. Now it’s your turn to benefit from a blog party we’re all throwing. This party is open to the general public.

The name of this party cracks me up, it’s called The Rave Reviews Book Club Back to School Book and Blog Block Party. For a bunch that loves Twitter, that one eats up a bunch of the characters in a tweet.

Here’s how it works: Seventy-one individual blogs are going to post throughout the month of August. There are prizes at every stop, and some of them are pretty awesome. All you have to do is visit the post and leave a comment. This will…

View original post 339 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

7 Signs You’re a Destined Hero

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The title is pretty self-explanatory.  Still, I should say something . . . Buy Crossing Bedlam for 99 cents because it has NOTHING to do with destiny.

  1. You get the feeling you’re being watched.  Not by anyone around you or anything in the shadows.  The laptop webcam has been covered by duct tape and the shades are drawn too.  Still, you can’t get over the idea that there is a large crowd of people watching your every move.  (If you’re on an HBO show then this includes bathing.)
  2. There is a strange mark on your body that is either easily covered or people ignore it unless it’s the focal point of an event.  You’re not sure where the thing came from or why getting laser surgery always results in the machine exploding.  The mark itches whenever you go near certain areas like libraries, graveyards, warehouses, or that one door in your high school locker room.  There’s also that old guy in a robe that is repeatedly pointing at the thing and making spooky noises.
  3. Demons wiped out your family on your birthday.  This is not a subtle sign, especially since they did it before you got to eat your cake.  As if every chosen hero has to avoid sugar and carbs?
  4. You have a reoccurring dream that involves an unknown symbol, the voice of a god, and a flash of light at the end.  Some nights there are shadows in there to attack you or other times an unfamiliar object that you strongly desire.  The only thing you do know is that a deity is getting a kick to the nuts for destroying your sleep pattern.  You’re failing mathematics because of grogginess . . . at least that’s what you’re telling the teacher, principal, and your parents.
  5. At some point in your life, you learned some type of combat.  Learned is stretching the term too because you’re naturally good at this.  The whole thing comes disturbingly easy and you’re repeatedly told that nobody has ever mastered this skill so quickly.  At least until your destiny calls for a mistake or the gods want a chuckle.  Then, you trip over your own foot, roll blindly across the floor, and take out an entire cheerleader squad.
  6. The horrible state of the world doesn’t phase you.  Not in an apathetic or submissive way like most people.  There is a sense that the end is near and you will have a hand in it’s arrival.  As long as the inevitable mentor doesn’t catch you on a day when you don’t care about other people.  It’s also possible that you might sleep late and miss whatever event was designed to trigger your destiny.
  7. A god shows up and tells you.  Not subtle, but less traumatic than your family becoming a demonic buffet.  Though not by much.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

August/September 2016 Writing Contests

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Read ‘Love Denied’ for 99c / 99p from 3rd to 10th August…

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Smorgasbord Summer Reading – The Rock of Magus – A Religious Conspiracy Thriller – Code Red in the Vatican by Toni Pike

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Charles Yallowitz
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment