It's Coming Together! New Cover Artist and New Editor

There are some people out there who have more talent and ability in their pinky than I will ever have in my entire body.  Writers, artists, surgeons, musicians – it can come in many forms.  People who are good at what they do and obviously have a passion for it.  I’m not jealous…just the opposite, I always find it a joy to come across someone like this, and I also find it inspiring.

I’m working with the amazing and talented editor Danielle Fine, who is, quite frankly, running me through the ringer.  I’m now convinced that I may be a decent storyteller, but I’m an awful writer.  Thankfully Dani is there to write my wrongs.  (Heh)  Not only is she cleaning my mess to make Buried in Angst an easier read, she is pushing me (one could say beating me) to be a better writer.

After only a handful of chapters I can tell you she is already worth it.  Dani not only edits, she does some amazingly creative cover work as well as book trailers.  If you are a storyteller like me, hire her to be better.  Check out her web site here: http://www.daniellefine.com/  Needless to say, I gratefully welcome her to the team.

Last week I had to seek out a new artist to work on the cover of Buried in Angst.  It was one of those paniced moments that was really my own fault.  I had an artist, and even a backup, but I simply waited too long to tell them I was ready.  Blame it on procrastination, being too busy, or me, their schedules were just too full by the time I asked.

I sent out a request on deviantart with a link to my book and a description of what I was looking for. Within 24 hours I had 40 replies.  Some were awful, (by the way, for future reference, if your specialty is drawing bad pictures of naked people tied up, this immediately removes you from my selection of serious contenders) some were amazing.

I have a hard time making these decisions on my own.  I blame it on being colorblind, but really, I have no taste.  So, I sought out my team of alpha-readers and friends to help.  I had narrowed it down to 2, and shared their work with my team.  It was fascinating, the men on my team liked one artist, most of the women on my team liked the second artist – but my wife didn’t want either of them.  I was torn, until Josh Calloway introduced himself.

Communion sold me.  I’m not an art critic, but this gorgeous image had depth, color, character, and the sexiness that I wanted.  While I love all of his work, Future Utopia also caught my eye.  An image like this makes me want to write about it.  Be stunned, and check out his gallery here:

http://ninjacart.darkfolio.com/gallery/641161
https://www.facebook.com/joshua.calloway1
http://joshcalloway.blogspot.com/ 

It’s a little painful to think that the cover will be better than my actual book, but I’ll embrace the fact that I like everything that Josh has put out there.  Not only is he a consummate professional to work with, but creative to a fault.  I sent him my chapter, my idea for a cover, a bunch of really bad mock-up pictures, and he quickly replied with several ideas far better than my own.

I’ve been saying this on twitter for months, but can’t wait to share, now more than ever!  Buried in Angst has become far more than a gathering of words, it’s a production – and I hope that everyone who reads it enjoys the work put into it.

Visioncon 2013

Visioncon…wow!  So, I was looking for conventions in the Midwest with the intent of doing roughly one a month, and was fortunate enough to come across Visioncon.  I didn’t know how many people would be there, so I assumed it would be smaller and a good way to start the year.  Was I in for a surprise.

My original plan was to drive to Springfield with Cristi Thursday night so we could rest up for Friday and Saturday shenanigans.  Her boyfriend, Brandon was going to surprise her by showing up Saturday afternoon (being Valentine’s weekend and all).  With Murphy’s Law in full effect, Cristi  got sick early last week.

We were both in panic.  It took me a month to make her costume, Cristi has been working out to get in shape to wear it, we did a huge photo shoot for the poster.  After several days of dying, Cristi went to the doctor and found out she had strep throat.  While strep itself sucks, it’s knocked out quickly by antibiotics and rest.  Unfortunately, Brandon and I were forced to spill the beans about her surprise so she could have an extra day’s rest and bring her Saturday.

Cristi did fucking amazing.  The best reaction when she first walked in was from Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica) who was leaving just as she arrived.  He did a double-take and said “Holy moly”.  Being her first con in the costume, she was a little nervous, but that didn’t last long.  Everyone attending Visioncon was friendly and welcoming, making it easy for her to fit in and have fun!




In spite of being sick last week, driving to Springfield, promoting Angst all day, and going to a romantic Valentine’s dinner with Brandon – Cristi pulled it together to hit the room parties with me Sat night.  Let me tell you, we were both glad of it!  We had a blast, the party rooms at Visioncon are incredible…from what I remember. ;)

As always, we met some great people, including our neighbor Heather Decker (aka Biff Manly) who drew these great pics of Cristi!  Be sure to check out her deviant art page!

Visioncon was much more than our scramble to get there.  There was a constant stream of people coming through the door!  We made new friends, saw some great costumes, and had so much fun we will definitely be back for more next year!  Thanks to Cristi and Brandon for everything they did, and thanks to everyone hosting and attending Visioncon for making it such an amazing experience!

Rough Draft for Angst 2 is Finally Done!

I’m a little beside myself right now.  They told me the second book was the hardest, and they weren’t kidding.  (Of course, this means the third book is easy, right!?)  Whew, I feel like I just gave birth to a monster!  I wasn’t completely sure what to do after writing a novel, after a lot of pacing and consideration, I decided to write.  I figured writing blog post sharing details and the expected release date was long overdue.

The Buried in Angst rough draft is now complete.  The sequel to my fantasy novel, Angst, weighs in at about 130,000 words.  This is about 5,000 more than the first book.  Buried in Angst is 64 Chapters long, 65 if you include the prelude.  This is not the last Angst book, I’m about 1/3rd done writing Drowning in Angst.

What does this mean?  My alpha team has been reading and reviewing all along and the good news is, their feedback has been all positive.  Over the next several weeks I’ll be pushing hard to revise this draft per their suggestions before I release it to the beta team.  I’m hoping to have their feedback within 30 days or so.

My wife edited Angst after I received feedback from the last beta team.  Unfortunately her new job is too demanding for her to thoroughly scrub it.  Because of my own insecurities, and the fact that it took so long to write, I don’t want to release the sequel without a fine polish.  Everyone who enjoyed the first book deserves the best I can provide, so I’m in the process of interviewing editors.  It’s a little expensive, and will drag out the release date, but I want it to be right.

I’ve been told, based on the length of Buried in Angst that it will take about 60 days to edit.  That pushes the release date to May.  I hate waiting that long, but I really feel it’s best to offer the most professional and clean novel I can make available.  I’m not one for patience, but hopefully you will find this to be good news.

My other good news is that, I’m not gonna wait to start working on the next book!  Drowning in Angst is mostly written in my head, and I see no reason to hold back the flood gates.  (Heh, sorry for the pun.)  Throughout the 90 days Angst 2 is being reviewed and edited, I’ll be writing Angst 3.  I’m hungry to complete this series.  Obviously not in a rush, but I’m having fun and have more ideas I want to tackle.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for their support and patience.  Working full time, being a full time parent, being social, trying to stay somewhat healthy and then writing full time is tough to balance.  A lot of life gets in the way, but I’ve got this great team of friends, family and amazing people who have told me they like Angst and want more.  Your gracious reviews and thoughtful messages via Twitter, Facebook, my blog and e-mail have kept me writing.  I’m forever grateful.

Introducing Cristi - new spokesmodel for Angst!

I am excited to announce that Cristi will be a spokesmodel for my fantasy novel Angst at Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions this year.  Cristi is a great friend, as well as one of the advisers on my alpha team of readers.  Not only does she offer a lot of great ideas for my book, she will bring a lot of fun to conventions!



After attending ConX in the fall, Cristi actually admitted to having fun with the rest of us geeks. ;)  With this in mind, I put my cosplay costuming skills to the test, this time with scale maille.  Cristi and her boyfriend Brandon came over last weekend for a photo shoot – and needless to say she totally rocked the costume!

The first show we are attending this winter is over Valentine’s Day weekend (Sorry Brandon…and Angie!) Cristi and I will be bringing a little extra adventure to Visioncon in Springfield, MO.  This show looks like an awesome time, and the guest of honor will be Aaron Douglas from Battlestar Galactica. (Frackin’ skin job!  Heh.)  So be sure to stop by and see us for some pictures, and some Angst!


Watch this page for more con announcements in the coming weeks: http://www.gotangst.com/p/appearances-and-cons.html






Thanks to Cristi for all of her efforts promoting Angst, and we look forward to seeing you at cons in 2013!