Month: February 2018

Religion has been on my mind of late. Not any of the current established worldly religions, but how to create one. In my second book, I created a world set in medieval times, but not on Earth. It’s easy to create town names and character flaws but to create a whole new religion, that’s hard. It can’t be an obvious duplicate of an existing religion. Creating a belief system, and then the history of how it spread across the land is a daunting task. I’ve found several websites with instructions on how to create a fantasy religion. I’ll be working on this for quite some time.

Truth be told, I doubled my work because my world has two religions. There will probably be more, but it currently has two. I believe the second religion will be easier to develop than the first. I created a character similar to ABC’s and CBS’ MacGyver. This man knew how plants and the known chemicals interact with each other. He excelled at improvising with what’s available. Soon, a following started and now it is more of a cult than a true religion. Still, it needs proper vetting so I can use it again and again in later books set in this world.

History doesn’t write itself, especially the history of your fantasy world. The more details you can define, the better your world will be. The better the world, the more believable your story is. You may not use but one percent of the history of your world in your book, but it’s worth it to do the work. Having a logical progression of the history of your world, and its religions, are far better than tossing in random events.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading the first book in Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, A Morbid Taste for Bones. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

If you haven’t seen it yet, you should follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Yesterday morning, I posted the cover to my upcoming book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. It was posted first on Twitter, then on Facebook. I’ve received numerous congratulatory remarks already. If everything stays on track, you’ll be able to get your pleasure on April 24, 2018, in hardback, trade paperback or eBook format. Near the end of summer, it’ll be available as an audiobook. I’m super excited to announce all this. I hope you are doubly excited for your summer beach read. It’s a romp in the swamp!

There’s still lots of work to do. Proofreading and presales need to be checked off this list. Should have the first one done this week. Bookmarks and other promotional items need to be ordered. My book trailer needs to be completed. Author pages need to be set up on Amazon.com and Goodreads. Conferences and festivals have to be scheduled. There’s a lot you have to do to be a successful author. I pray you continue to help me reach that goal.

I continue writing my next book while doing everything stated above. My second book is not a sequel to Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. I’m creating a new world with fantastic characters who find themselves in peculiar situations. This book will a high fantasy novel, but currently, no magic is involved. World building is an extensive project. Not only do you have to come up with town and family names, you must also create the extensive history and a religion, or two, to put into your new world. It is still the most enjoyable way for me to spend my time.

History doesn’t write itself, but when you’re a writer, you need to spend a considerable amount of time in the history of your story.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Beautiful Hope by Matthew Kelly. My review is on Goodreads. I’m currently reading the galley of Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. That’ll wrap up this week. I’ll spend the next few months with Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

This was a great seven days. Last week I celebrated the anniversary of writing Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. This week I received the second conceptual cover image as well as the galley. I hope to share the final cover image with you next Sunday. It is a wonderful cover and it includes lots of elements from the story.

The galley includes the interior pages of the book, complete with the cover page, copyright page, acknowledgments and so on. Several people at my publisher will be reading the galley and making final corrections. Seeing your manuscript in book format is just amazing. I hope all aspiring authors experience their own euphoria the way I did. The culmination of all these years of work is finally coming tangible.

One other item on is the publication date. If everything stays on track, my book will be available in late April. I hope to announce the date soon. Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure will be available in hardback, trade paperback and in eBook form. Toward the end of summer, it will be available as an audiobook. Before long, you’ll be able to enjoy this romp in the swamp.

History doesn’t write itself, but if it did, it would say this was a good week. Hope yours was just as grand.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen. My review is on Goodreads. I’m currently reading Beautiful Hope by Matthew Kelly. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

Not four score, but seven years ago this evening, I first put pencil to paper and wrote the opening scene of Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. It’s easy to remember this day because it was Super Bowl Sunday. The Green Bay Packers played the Pittsburgh Steelers at then Cowboys Stadium. I’m not a fan of either team, but my girlfriend at the time was super excited to watch her Packers beat the Steelers.

During these seven years, I continued to write Bill’s grand adventure in tiny Bayou Cove, Louisiana. Around chapter twelve, I set the pencil and paper down and moved to the keyboard and screen. I attended my first critique group at the Springdale Public Library and introduced this wonderful group of aspiring writers to Bill’s foul mouth. The moderator at the time, writer Brad Carter, said, “I used f— in every way possible” in the first chapter. I attended classes at the Village Writing School and Northwest Arkansas Writers’ Workshop. I researched all the historical events used in my story. Finally, I finished the Cajun tale. After being rejected by Pandamoon Publishing, I pitched my masterpiece at the 50^th annual Ozark Creative Writers conference in Eureka Springs. Oghma Creative Media loved the voice of my story and offered me a contract. After three rounds of editing, Bill’s was laid out late last month. The cover is being tweaked. If everything stays on track, you’ll have Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure in your hands by the end of April.

A lot of work went into my story. And numerous individuals assisted me along the way. Thank you all, for helping me make this story great. It’s been a great ride, and it’s not finished yet. I look forward to this anniversary every year and reflect back to how this journey began. It’s a fabulous day and I truly hope you’ll help celebrate this accomplishment with me in late April when Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure goes on sale. It’s a great romp in the swamp!

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading Striptease by Carl Hiaasen. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.