Swimming Through Digital Fiction with My Pool Noodle
It’s kind of hard to believe it’s been more than eight years since I released my first and only published novel, and unreal how the publishing world has changed since then.
How I have changed.
Reading back through that novel now, I think, “Wow, this is one seriously happy-go-lucky work. And also… you know… pretty awful.”
Hey, I admit it.
It is far easier to admit now that, while I was a decent writer in my early twenties, I was far from a great writer. The first novel I ever completed was a coming-of-age story, complete with pop culture references. I despise pop culture references in books. The second I made it all the way through was Bleeding Through Kingdoms: Cinderella’s Rebellion, my published fairytale re-imagining that had some things going for it, but not nearly enough. Reading it now, I realize it depended too heavily on familiar character backstories, fairytale style and easy jokes.
At the time I wrote it, I didn’t really know my voice. All I wanted to do was write a snappy story that entertained people. So, that is, in fact, all I did.
A dozen novels slumbering upon my hard drive, a few plays complete, more than fifty screenplays, some contest contenders, finished, I am a far different writer today than I was when I released Bleeding Through Kingdoms in 2005.
A better writer?
That’s hard to say. I hope that I am. Eight years and millions of words poured onto the page, I must be, right?
At least, I know who I am as a writer. I know my audience, or who I want my audience to be. I know the stories I want to tell, and how I want to tell them. I know that I write fantasy and suspense and romance and sappy holiday tales and children’s stories AND erotica. I am all those things, and I never want to be pigeonholed into a single genre by other people’s expectations.
In late 2011, I took my first dip into the Kindle/digital publishing pool, releasing five novels under a pen name in order to test the waters. At this point, I am still getting my kick down, and I still reach for the pool noodle when I need to float, but having learned some things over the past year and a half, I am ready to make my real foray into digital fiction.
So, this is really just a long-winded way of saying I have some books coming out this year, with a few more planned for 2014. If you are at all interested in that, find out more at this link –> Book Releases. The first book up is a rerelease of a heavily-rewritten Bleeding Through Kingdoms: Cinderella’s Rebellion, which has been retitled Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall. Those who sign up for the email list on my writing page or in the sidebar of my blog will be given a sneak peek of the prologue and first two chapters of Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall in early July.
Also, if any of you bought the first book directly through my site, I will send you a free PDF of the rewritten novel. My apologies to those who bought through Amazon or another vendor (Change Makers, Oakland), but I have no way of tracking those purchases.
The release date for Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall is July 16, 2013, and you can expect more information soon. For now, though, here’s the new cover.
