Working over the Holidays

I’m writing this at the kitchen table of a house we’ve rented for the Thanksgiving holiday, a nice place in Florida large enough to hold 16 people within walking distance of the ocean. It sounded like a good idea at the time. The difference between the idea and reality is that the house is all bedrooms, bathrooms, and a small common space that combines the living room with the kitchen. This means that we’re constantly passing by each other and squeezing together to watch the football games and cook meals. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but I’m also a grumpy old writer who spends hours at a time in an empty house. I usually have to go outside the house to get my daily hour of social interaction. This week, it’s the opposite: I have to wait for the afternoon lull where some adults go out on grocery runs and the others down for a nap in order to get quiet time. And it’s an imperfect quiet: while writing this passage, my wife has walked in asking a question, I’ve gotten a text from the in-laws for a clarification on what type of detergent was meant on the grocery list, and my 3-year-old niece needed help opening a snack package. Nothing truly diabolical, mind you, but I know I’m not going to get any focused writing done this week. Guess I’ll go for a walk on the beach and people-watch.

Launching Badlands Born

For those of you who have been with me for a while, it’s actually the release of Badlands Born, second edition. I updated the cover and cut some fat from the beginning to make a tighter story. It was hard not to mess with the whole thing, now that I’m a little better at my craft and can see that the story I wrote five years ago could be better if I added something here and took out something _here, moved around a few scenes or reworked a scene altogether. The problem is that if I started tinkering, I’d become one of those perfectionist writers that never publishes, just polishes their story over and over again until it’s worn down to nothing. At some point you have to let it go and move onto the next story. So that’s what I’m doing.

The next story, Badlands Cursed, is in post production and I believe that it will be ready in January, barring any further surprises. Badlands Cursed follows Jasmine, now free of the Badlands, as she continues her search for her brother through the cities and landscapes he created after he abandoned his first attempt at utopia and as you might imagine, things didn’t go well. Meanwhile, Jasmine is dealing with the fallout from her trials in Badlands Born, and wrestling with what it means to be a survivor and a goddess. There’s airships, floating cities, giant robots, and plenty of action set to a hair metal soundtrack. I put in a few Easter eggs for you fans, too.

A Small Favor

The lifeblood of indie publishing is getting reviews out there on Amazon. If you think you can leave a kind review for Badlands Born or Beaumont’s Gambit, please consider taking a couple minutes and leaving a line or two about what you liked. If you hated it, but are still strangely subscribed to this list, maybe hold off on that review until book 2 and see if that agrees with you more.

Until then, don’t let the deaders get ya!

-Wade