My plate is full. In fact, I am probably spreading myself too thin in my writing, and that very likely may be preventing me from getting stuff completed on a more regular basis. Here are the status updates on some my current projects:
I released an e-book last month containing some of the stories I entered in contests for the Ozark Writers Conference back in October 2021, including the 1st place-winning In the Midst of Chaos. It is a humorous look at society and culture. You can purchase it through Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and many other places where you buy digital books for just 99-cents. Here is the Kobo link: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/in-the-midst-of-chaos-1
The first book in my Lonford Universe series is currently with the editor, and I am supposed to be getting it back to wrap it all up by the middle of next month. Unless, they want me to cut it or split it, the book is sitting at 180,000 words and will probably be in the neighborhood of 450-500 pages when it hits the shelves. It is tentatively titled Slipping the Cradle and is a murder mystery on a space station orbiting Venus as humans try to terraform the planet. It will be published by Fleet Press.
Newspaper Reading is a collection of poetry that I wrote over the last two years and will be released February 1st this year from Carter Vaye Productions. I had the painting for the cover commissioned by a local artist. It looks great. The first book in the Slo-Poke & Rabbit series of children’s books will released March 1st this year, also from Carter Vaye Productions. The illustrator is the phenomenally talented Lea Parette. The second book in the series, Barry the Bear and the Snow People, already won third place in the 2022 Afton Rainbolt Chidren’s Book Award.
Just this past week, I finished the rough draft on the first book in a middle grader reader series called Grey Hall about a group of anthroporphic animals that live in an idyllic valley. I am meeting with the illustator this weekend. She has shared some of her first sketches…INCREDIBLE!! I am very excited about this series. It will be pure adventure like I used to read in grade school.
Also this week, I wrapped up the first and second drafts of some stories I will be entering into several categories for the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. 2022 conference to be held in Oklahoma City May 5-7. I finished the Young Adult short story “Little One Hush” and the Adult Flash Fiction “Where the Current Cut” this past week. I have other entries ready to go including the Adult short story “Long Black Ribbon of Night” and the Science Fiction short story “Forum.” Deadline is February 1st. Busy times.
I am working on a historical horror Bishop, which is the first in the A Dark History series. The first draft is completed, and I am going through some edits and writing the second draft that I will turn in for the publisher’s editors to tear to shreds. Completion is about two months out.
Back in 2017, I had a short story titled “We Take Care of Our Own” published in the Project Moonbase anthology from Pro Se Press. It opened up a new world wirtten in the style of the old pulp adventure stories like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. The story continues in the book Chief Carter. The first draft is done and the edits and turn-in draft should be completed by May 1st this year.
Those are most of my writing tasks currently…other than the blogs I write for several companies and other miscellaneous projects. I plan, and hope, to keep this updated weekly, sharing the progress and ideas about my writing projects.
