Wartooth Writer

Hello internet people, the book the Gettysburg Writers Brigade assembled is a best seller and making money for our charity fund. We had a successful book signing this past weekend at the Gettysburg Heritage Center - thanks to their team led by Tammy!  It's only my second book signing but it was the most fun I've had since I've started writing. The Guild (or Cult as my co-workers call it) is an amazing bunch of talented men and women. We celebrated our successful launch with champagne and cake last night and began planning the next anthology.  I'm having so much fun with the Guild that I have begun furiously spinning a series of short stories of my own. I submitted one to a contest today, fingers crossed, and that tale plus a score of others will be combined into my own first anthology of short stories. Look for it in February.  I'm in love with the format now, I was afraid to attempt work in a short form but if you note my sparse style everywhere else, it seems a go

 I love Thanksgiving, in case you didn't know from prior posts on the old blog. Over the years I've been a vocal defender of my second favorite holiday. While Halloween is my absolute favorite, I'll go all out for some costumed mischief and pranks, I will go completely crazy to make thanksgiving right.  Case in point - I make thanksgiving dinner three times a year just for practice. Thanksgiving day is my Super Bowl now. I make the turkey that makes people who traditionally shun and dislike turkey, love turkey. So now on to this holiday's story!  Due to my complex life situation I had some last minute plan changes. At the last minute I was added into an invite list at a friends house where I would be able to run the kitchen! The family didn't cook much - their patriarch who does bailed last minute. To continue the Super Bowl analogy, it was as if the star QB went down and I got the nod from coach, I was going in. I put my helmet on and got into the kitchen! Wait it

 Hello Everyone,  First - the bad news, my favorite uncle, Richard Aloiau has passed away. He was a beautiful spirit, a gentleman and one of my favorite people and memories. He spent countless hours trying to give me a childhood and to teach me things like how to fish.  He smoked relentlessly and chugged cheap scotch but he was a king among mortal men. He was handsome and generous, kind and affable. He made jokes and laughed freely, he was never rude or inappropriate in an age when such behaviors could easily be ignored.  My father had many brothers, cousins and relatives. I disliked most of them. Except Uncle Richard, and of course Rebecca "Popo" and well...that is the list. Richard was a favorite and a hero who will be revisited in the 2nd edition of TO&S.  Now to the new release!  Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N9JBRW6 Isn't that great? There are 11 of us, originally 12, but 1 got scared. Our Guild is some 70 strong but mostly amateurs - only a few

The July 4th Holiday saw Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo competing in plastic boxes with no audience but a camera. It was odd, to say the least, but the announcer did his best with play-by-play. More importantly, here is what we did at our place, inspired by the event (and lousy ESPN coverage of it). I posted this to YouTube and I don't know if I did it correctly, I'm a writer without an IT department. Oh, and apologies for going back to the roots of the blog with family-oriented content, I'll bring the cosmic horrors murder and mayhem back later.

The Set-Up one of the myriad companies catering to self-published indie authors sponsored a contest. They solicited short stories where ten top entrants would be put in an anthology together. It was this particular company's first annual event of this kind. I never thought about writing short stories for an anthology, or a short story anthology of my own. I had this idea Why Time Flies (shortened to Time Flies) on a back burner as a novel/novella idea for some time. I had a basic concept but had written nothing. When this contest was announced I had been given the inspiration I needed; a brutal deadline. Two weeks to write and edit a short story. I quickly hammered out 2 versions and edited the second as it seemed to score higher in the sponsoring company's software. To be honest I preferred the first version. The editing software (I have used several noting they all disagree) was designed to rate all manner of fiction and non-fiction except horror. So, of course, I wrote a

A fellow author, a member of the twitter #writingcommunity group, has compiled a blog post of his own that amused me a great deal. He had asked other twitter and Goodreads readers/writers what they didn't like about men writing female characters. Most of the answers were about how much time men spend writing about the female character's body, particularly boobs. There were complaints about tropes (e.g. learning to love again) that are overused and two-dimensional characterizations. I looked at the complete list and examined some of my own work. Recently Salem's Son featured a bevy of female antagonists. I think I had an advantage in writing that book from a first-person perspective. I didn't have to worry about the women examine themselves in the mirror or preparing for battle by stripping off their cumbersome dress. Nameless does seem to have a lot of female attention but I don't think I took it too far. Sure, Rachael seduces the hero early on, she is Emily'

Wuhan Corona Virus, Chinese Virus, Corona Virus, COVID 19 - whatever you call the global pandemic it would appear we are not handling it by sending the best to fight it. For the record, I call it 'The Bug' in past tense reference it will be ever after the 'Wuhan Virus'. I'm Chinese, I don't like having a virus named for my ethnicity but it's not the hill I want to die on. I don't want to die come to think of it. I'd like the idiots with national media power to inform to do that (inform not die) instead of bickering with the president about the nuances of the moniker for The Bug. He's already answered the question about why he calls it that move on to ask questions the people really want answers to. Like, where do I sign up for the checks I hear are coming? Back to writing and blogging and blogging about writing. Right now I'm more interested in focusing on the craft, working on my art and writing my next book. Today I saw someone - a wr

So it's been years now, nine years of working on the three books and learning the process. With the Ox and Scorpio, it was how to assemble, select a self-publisher, use some of the web tools and establish some social media foothold - beginnings of a nascent 'author platform'. I joined the local writers' guild, the Gettysburg Writers Brigade (ht Gunner). Then Sigrunn's Saga was about refining a fiction narrative and working with a professional editor. It was my first fiction work. I waded a little further into the business end of being an Indie Author. I hosted a couple of special events, promotional events with giveaways, autograph sessions, and a little more social media and networking. I did more research and built on shelved collaborative efforts and projects. Finally, Salem's Son is published. Now we've put a new emphasis on branding with increased social media presence (I'm on twitter now) and a humble advertising budget. I've stepped up i