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Unfinished Business

 Greetings Readers,

Daddy’s Invisible Ouchy (DIO), my first kid book (of a planned series of 12), has taken over my life. I didn’t expect it to be anything more than a little sidebar. It was to be something to do when it was too difficult to write the darker horror pieces I’m already known for.

When I first launched DIO, it received immediate attention, and everyone seems to love it! It started to sell, and a local web magazine wrote a piece about me after conducting an interview. The work is unique and powerful in a way that I understood, but didn’t know if anyone else would see it.

It hasn’t all been fun and games, however. Issues with the new publisher for this project and distribution channels have been problematic. Marketing and advertising are incredibly expensive. Self and hybrid publishing is a real job I really didn’t want.

On the upside, the American Legion has published a piece on it in their web magazine Legiontown, and Military.com is also considering a piece on their webpage. These channels give me some great reach with their enormous audiences. Now, if my publisher can keep up with any surge in demand, that’s the concern.

Then there are the people who want a dozen copies free. For my own small batch inventory, I spend more per copy than the retail price, so I try to gift copies only to close friends and folks I’ve known for some time. Still, I’ve gifted almost as many as I’ve sold, at least in the early days.

But it’s not about the money. It’s about helping the families the book is intended to help. The money is important, though, to continue outreach and sequels.

Dealing with cash flow, media inquiries, and all the rest has arrested, completely, my writing. When I had time to write, I had to face a deadline from my colleagues at the Gettysburg Writers Brigade. I’ve managed to complete and submit a short ghost story (which I’ll post here per usual). I still have time to work with my editor and get back to work on the promised sequels to Sigrunn and Salem.

Most of my readers of Sigrunn loved it, but became irate at the ending, which I felt was a fun cliffhanger for the sequel. The demand for the follow-on tale is huge, and so I have to apologize to those who have been waiting. Yes, people are still discovering this book today, though it was first published in 2018.

Then there is my desire to transition into film and screenplay work. I’ve been working on a local project with a rookie director and crew. We’ve made progress at a snail’s pace while learning quickly. The project was planned for the early summer, but will consume at least a year.

I’m in a writing mood and looking at joining a retreat on a fellowship program to escape some of the day-to-day drama and chores of a world that won’t leave me alone to work.

Be patient and hang in there with me as I haven’t forgotten the work I committed to, the sequels, though I’m not sure I’ll be returning to the horror genre beyond Salem’s sequel. I’m being swallowed by the work on my kid/family titles at the moment.

The links to DIO and the two current web articles about it are linked below.

https://gettysburgconnection.org/childrens-book-by-local-author-and-veteran-addresses-the-impact-of-ptsd-on-families

https://www.legiontown.org/ownwords/14553/daddys-invisible-ouchy

And available here: 

https://a.co/d/2kwuRvY

https://store.bookbaby.com/book/daddys-invisible-ouchy

 

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