First, let me start out with an apology. I missed my last newsletter. I know you’ve been checking your email waiting to find out what’s going on with me and I let you down. I’m sorry. The good news is I’m getting back on track and will do my best not to miss another newsletter…ever.
So, what’s been going on with me you ask? Well…
Mentor Program
I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about the mentor program I’m working on. The first step was figuring out the details, then I had to find an aspiring writer to work with. Now that I have found my first protégé we are hard at work writing our story. We are about six chapters into the first draft currently. I’ll have more details on the story soon but for now I’d like to introduce you to the first participant in the Sidestreet Publishing Mentor Program, Nolan Hoitt. Nolan is a student at the University of North Georgia majoring in cybersecurity and minoring in film. He has an extensive Hawaiian shirt collection and his celebrity crush is Jon Favreau. I’m really excited to tell you about what we’ve been working on. You’ll be hearing more about that soon!
Taken Update
I know you’re anxiously waiting for book three, Taken. I promise, I will have it out in 2021. The story for Taken was originally going to be book one of the Keeper Chronicles. At the time I was new to writing and I found it was more story than I was capable of. I put it on the back burner and thought I would get back to it. I’m having trouble writing it again although this time it’s because I’m really too close to the story. It’s gone through so many iterations in my head over the years that when I get something on paper, that other idea seems better.
I got over thirty thousand words into it before I figured out what a mess it was. My only recourse was to start over completely. About week ago, I opened a blank document to start from scratch. I will be able to use some of what I had written. Other parts that I really like just aren’t going to fit so I will either turn them into a short story or possibly use them in book four, depending how things go.
Springer Mountain Press Summer Slasher Horror Anthology
I wrote a short story for the Summer Slasher Horror Anthology from Springer Mountain Press. The story is called Torch’s Fate. It takes place between Betrayal and Taken. It’s called Torch’s Fate. Like the same suggests, it goes into what happened to Torch after Betrayal. The anthology will be out in June.
Do me a favor…
Last March I was really starting to see some momentum building. Then the pandemic hit. All my events for the year canceled. Any momentum I had came to a screeching halt. I’m starting over again from the beginning, trying to claw my way back up. Now we have a vaccine and events are starting to be booked for late 2021 or 2022. If you’ve read my work, please leave me a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It doesn’t have to be an in depth analysis of my work, just a simple star rating and a couple sentences of what you thought is a big help! It may not seem like much, but it really does make a difference. If you know someone who you think would enjoy it, please tell them about it. Even if they have no interest in reading it, a wereotter is an excellent conversation topic.
Coming Up in 2021
I’m going to be hard at work on getting Taken finished, working on a marketing plan for The Keeper Chronicles, and finding some events to go to. Stay tuned, I’ll have some big announcements in 2021!