Archives for February 2016

Photo Credit: / Link: http://collectiveinkwell.com/yesterdays-gone/
SUMMARY:Here is the summary of this book review, in case you are in a hurry: Yesterday’s Gone (Season 1), by Sean Platt and David Wright (and edited by Jason Whited) is a serialized, post apocalyptic suspense thriller written from multiple viewpoints. The story, like others of the genre, is complex and escalates steadily to the cliffhanger ending. I thought the ending was skillfully done. It didn’t straight-out annoy me as many cliff-hangers do. There was just enough resolution to satisfy me, while still (strongly) encouraging me to read the next book — which I have purchased in ebook and audiobook formats (because I roll like that).THE MEAT AND GUTS OF THIS REVIEW:My to-be-read pile is tall. I have more books waiting for my attention that I will ever find time to enjoy properly. I also know that Sean Platt and David Wright are extremely prolific artist. So why would I torture myself by starting a series?Because the are a lot of fun to watch on their podcasts. They have a healthy attitude about and pride in being writers. The first book in the series was free and I thought, somewhat unrealistically, that I might practice putting the/a book down if it wasn’t deserving of my time. (I am a bit of a finisher, despite being prone to slow reading…daydreaming… and distraction.)So I grabbed Yesterday’s Gone, Season 1 and slammed it down on the top of my digital “to-read” pile. I didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping for the best and afraid that I would be disappointed. I knew from just sampling the beginning that it was well written (as far as basic craft and mechanics) and the premise was interesting, but I was making a commitment to spend a lot of time with these to authors and their imaginations.One of my goals for this year is to learn to read faster, for the sake of enjoyment and revising my own work more efficiently. I started out reading very fast, and slipped into my normal let’s-poke-around-this-fictional-world-with-a-daydream pace. This, my friends, is a sign.I stayed up late at night with the story. When should have been doing other things, out came on my Kindle Fire. This was a last ditch attempt to give my eyes a break from phone reading, which is my normal MO. I finished it in what was a fairly short time period in comparison to how I normally read.And now I’m the proud new owner of both an ebook and an audiobook version of Yesterday’s Gone, Season 2. Season one is a long and complex book with lots of characters. There are multiple viewpoints which is something I often like, but can be mishandled by some authors. There were a few points in this story when I was having a hard time differentiating between the characters (possibly because I didn’t make time for ‘enjoyment reading’ for several days at a time; I was writing a lot). Once I latched onto my favorite characters in the story, the entire thing started to grow on me.A FINAL WORD (WRITTEN LATE AT NIGHT AFTER WORKING A FULL SHIFT AND THINKING ABOUT ALL OF THIS STUFF):Sean Platt and David Wright are the real deal. They write an excellent suspense thriller. In short these guys are pros. I don’t award as many five star ratings as I used to when I first began reviewing books. Even as I write this I’m not sure if I can justify giving a full five stars, because I hold five star books in a much higher standard. The basically have to change my life (nonfiction) or leave a long-lasting resonance that not many stories do these days.I hope the tone of this review isn’t too much. It might be that I’ve somehow expected less of writers who write in such a great quantity and so quickly (despite my own propensity to attempt the same thing). As a writer, I agree that writing quickly can often lead to a better, more honest story, but while I say this and tell myself I believe it, the long-standing view of our society is that creativity should be slow, painful, and leading to alcoholism and suicide.How dark is that? Wow. We grow up believe this and still want to be artists? Why can’t writing, or painting, or making music, or anything be a joyful and fulfilling process? Why, I ask you!?And even though I am also an independent author and bridle at the stigma, it is easy to look for faults in the work that an author has spent the time, energy, and personal risk to self-publish / produce.This makes me feel like the strangest kind of hypocrite to judge fellow indies more harshly than I would a traditional published author, but I guess it’s just hardwired into my daydreaming-prone brain.The point is that I am seriously impressed with this story and recommend it to anybody who enjoys thrillers or serial fiction or both. The only risk I took in reading this book was that I might waste my time. I downloaded it from Amazon for free and I enjoyed it. Enough to buy season two. It remains to be seen if I will like season two enough to buy season three, but I imagine that I’m probably hooked.I SHOULD PROBABLY SLEEP NOWI should probably sleep now, it’s the responsible thing.

I hope you read my earlier post today, because when I wrote it, I was basically making an excuse not to make my #3KADAY goal. Yes, all of that business-ish stuff needed to be done. And I had a lot of work to do for my second real job. And there is this strange and mysterious organization called a family that never gives up on me no matter how anoying I become. Life must come before art, but that important fact does not make it easier to keep the dream alive.There were so many things that went wrong today. I knew I was in trouble because I didn’t do the writing first as I had intended. It should have been okay because I found a long block of time that should have been just like writing first thing in the morning. About a half an hour ago I hit my 3k goal. Friday is the first day of my logging week, so it is a relief to get off to a good start. I hope that any goal you are pursuing this week is also going well.Dragon Land, the third and final book of the Lost Dragonslayer Trilogy, now stands at 51,500 words.​ I am having a blast!Just for fun, you might want to check out the free digital copy of Dragon Badge (Book 1 in the Lost Dragonslayer Trilogy.) Maybe, if you’re just crazy enough, you might even consider leaving a review. Only the bravest, most intelligent, and generally awesome readers have what it takes to write a book review!

A writer must write first and do everything else to maintain his or her career as an author after this most important task is complete. Great! I like that! However, this also explains why my emails stack up, my web page goes dormant for weeks or months at a time, and I disappear from social media. (Retweets barely count, much to my dismay.)January and February of 2016 have been full of writing. I finished Weapons of Earth, which means I finished the Chronicles of Kin Roland Trilogy. All that remains is one final revision, editing with Pro Writing Aid software, and sending the manuscript to my professional editor (BZHercules for this project). On a side note, I also paid for an additional round of professional proof reading of Enemy of Man and Son of Orlan by BZ Hercules to complement the excellent edits of Samantha LaFantasie (who did a great job for a great price). In a perfect world, I would again pay for both of these editors, but I only have a budget for one this time around.I am two thirds of the way through my current draft of Dragon Land, which will complete the Lost Dragonslayer trilogy. Along the way, I also worked out story beats for Fight Like A Werewolf, book two in the Police Paranormal series. (Die Like A Man is definitely a stand alone novel, but I really like the characters and feel like they have a few more quests to complete.)The last thing I am doing today before getting back to creating new words is to rework the book description for Die Like A Man. It should be live on Amazon soon. THE NEW BOOK DESCRIPTION
Die Like A Man was written and re-written over the course of ten years. Now I am on a quest for reviews and would like to thank in advance anyone who will consider leaving some honest feedback, not just for me, but for other readers. Thanks, Scott Moon ​Behind the badge is an assassin. Behind the assassin is a monster with scars to hell and back. Alistair Rohan is not a modern day hero, he is a man on a mission — intolerant of bullies, liars, and predatory abusers of the weak. The difference for this hard charging vigilante lies in the reason his father put him in a crucible that should have killed him. No one should have been able to endure the torture, much less survive to become a police officer. It was as though his own father thought he was a demon that needed to be destroyed. In Rohan’s darkest days he was a contract killer and a human being without a conscience. Now he is in a different place with friends he cares about and a lot of questions to be answered.Can he face the truth? Why are the people he killed coming for him? Is there ever a chance for redemption, and if there isn’t, why should he try?Die Like A Man is full of dark action and supernatural thrills. There is a reason that Officer Alistair Rohan runs down his enemies with the grim determination of a preternatural monster.

Today has been a long day, during which I worked two part time jobs on what is supposed to be my day off. In that respect, I’m just like everybody else trying to make my way in the world and pay the bills. The reason that I am writing or actually voice dictating this blog right now is because I just realized I was given break. (And should be thankful for my good fortune.)Several months ago I started listening to the Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt, David Wright, and Johnny B. Truant. I think that their ideas on writing are awesome because they center around hard work. That is a concept I can definitely get behind. Their message came at a time when I was struggling and discouraged. I can never thank them enough for the inspiration they provided.Right now I’m standing at a part time job and reading Yesterday’s Gone on my phone. Sure, there are interruptions when I have to put the phone down and watch for trouble, but all in all this story has made the night go by much faster. I suddenly realized that I was almost dreading the end of my shift, because that will mean I have to stop reading and drive home.Bummer.I am at forty percent of Yesterday’s Gone: Season One. Things are getting complicated for the characters in this book and I am growing attached to them.

This week has been good to my hands, more specifically the fingertips that get to feel the immediate satisfaction of generating stories via the keyboard. Wow, you might say, that is a weird way to put it. And you’re not wrong. I am a writer; words do funny things around me. What, you ask, is the point?I wrote an average of 2,644 words a day this week. My goal was #3KaDay, but I will take the 18,511 words that I completed on Dragon Land and be happy. (This total does not count blogs or other social media writing, it is strictly creative fiction I am talking about right now.)I firmly believe that it is impossible to ever become a fulltime writer without being able to produce in sufficient quantity. If I were building houses for a living, I would need to construct as many as possible. Writing is half art and half work ethic, if you ask me.Hard work doesn’t scare me, especially when it is this much fun.

What do you do after you finish the final draft of the final book in a science fiction series? Take a couple of days to work on your Urban Fantasy series, right? That is where I am at and let me tell you it feels great to be in a fresh project. Taking some time off from sci-fi is already paying huge dividends. For example, today I wrote over 4,500 words on Dragon Land.Mornings are for writing new words. Once I hit 3k a day, I start editing and revising finished drafts. Fridays are always my best writing days and today has been no exception. After easily exceeding my “new words” I started reviewing Weapons of Earth from start to finish for consistency of plot and story. When that is done, I will be using Pro Writing Aid and saving money for at least one professional editor.Today was has been a great day so far. I hope you are finding success wherever you are as well.