(This is a repost from May 2024. Sue me. Here’s the new bit: The Case Of The Dead Man’s Policy is available tomorrow wherever books are sold!)

The Case Of The Dead Man’s Policy is out March 4th, 2025!

Today I’m discussing my most liked and most disliked POV/tense combos. Mind you, these are not the best ones, or the worst ones, just the ones that I happen to feel strongly about, as a reader. What do I know? I’m just some guy on the Internet.

Time For A Writing Update!

So, last time I posted I mentioned starting a new project outside of the Chloe novels. This has been going really well and I’m making good progress on it.

So, 2024 is a wrap. 

As is customary, I’m going to jump on the “Year In Review” bandwagon of posts, but I think this is also a good time to look forward at what’s in store for 2025.

Get The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot for $1.99 on Smashwords through 1/1!

Still need to catch up on the first book in the Chloe Stewart Novels?

Few of us are divinely inspired enough to have the very first novel we write - or attempt to write - be a hit. Heck, most writers’ first novels may not even be a good idea. It’s still a good idea to write a “practice novel” or two before working toward publishing, though. The experience of simply writing and completing a WIP is very valuable. 

I’m in a nostalgic mood, with American Thanksgiving so close at hand, so let’s walk down memory lane and review my “practice novels” that got away from me for various reasons.

How do I stick with the current WIP? I have a few different methods I use to keep myself on track.

Last chance to check out some free short, scary stories before the event ends on November 1st!

A few of us in this world are blessed with perfect health, but most humans struggle with some kind of a health-related challenge in their daily life, and I am no exception. It’s been one of the biggest obstacles to my creativity making it to any kind of fruition, and it’s been a thing for me since I was a teenager who my family thought just snored really loudly. I have sleep apnea, and it’s a bitch.

It's time to support some indie authors and get a chill in your bones at the same time.

There is a lingering perception in the publishing world that self-pubbed authors “couldn’t make it” at getting trad-pubbed. That the only reason you would self-pub is if your book is bad and trad pub isn’t an option because it keeps getting rejected by agents due to being bad.

And let’s be real, maybe your book IS bad. But that’s not the only reason agents feel they can’t sell a manuscript, and therefore your book is not worth their time.

There's a fresh-off-the-grill free short story available for new subscribers to my newsletter!

When you ask a writer what their least favorite part of the job is, nine times out of ten, the answer isn’t taking criticism, or writer’s block. It’s having to market yourself. Now, if you’re strictly a hobby writer and don’t care if anyone reads your stuff, that’s one thing. But if you want people to know your book exists, and pay money for it, then you have to market yourself.

One thing I’ve learned on this writerly journey of mine is that attitude is a huge part of what makes people stick it out and Do The Thing, or quit in frustration. Writing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and a poor mindset will sink you faster than a dark matter particle aboard the Titanic.

Get The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot for only $2.99 on Smashwords during July!

There’s a lot of not-so-great advice being regurgitated over and over because someone else said it a long time ago. Certain things, like the rules of grammar or story structure, are not really negotiable, of course. But today I want to go over a few writing “rules” that don’t work for me, and probably don’t work for a lot of other writers, either.

I thought today I would go over some of the things I did to cut a hefty chunk out of my book, bringing it down to the slim, trim 119k words it is today. Yes, I cut a novel’s worth of words out of my novel. So, let’s take a look.