2023 -> 2024
THE FACE OF GAIA: A Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure
WHAT A HISTORIC YEAR 2023 HAS BEEN IN MY LIFE
This year began with the release of THE DEATH & REBIRTH OF BELLA ERDMANN. She was the short story that started it all. The thing that’s too long to be a prologue but is also inarguably a prologue that works as a short story. Good grief. You’d think a year later I could explain BELLA ERDMANN to people.
I wanted her to be the first thing I published since she was the first thing I wrote for the MYTHIC series. She was an outlet for me to talk about a transformative encounter with mushrooms. But once it took a life of its own, the purpose of the Bella Erdmann short story, in the context of the novel, was clear. Give the audience two characters to care about, Mitch and Bella. They’ll be the dead bodies on the floor at the end of Chapter One. Second, introduce Faye, who is a main character with less screen time than the others, so she’ll benefit from a soft-intro here.
In addition to the short story, the ebook and paperbacks included three sample chapters from SHADOW OF THE SPARK. The novel was still undergoing edits, and I was releasing sample chapters.
That’s me: Cart Before The Horse.
But I was confident I’d make my release date. And I did. Now, in retrospect, I should’ve given the ol’ girl another edit before publishing. But oh well. We’ll fix it for the hard-cover release.
SHADOW OF THE SPARK was released on APRIL 30TH, 2023. As of today, it has sold 250 copies. Ninety-one of those came from SMASHWORDS this month, so a heartfelt THANK YOU to those fine folks over there for including my weird book in their sale. It helped push us past 200, and we then wrecking balled it to 250. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Now, if only all those new readers would leave reviews.
Huh? Oh, nothing. Anyway, since releasing the book, I’ve been playing with marketing, running ads, newsletter swaps, running sales, and plenty of other little experiments. It has certainly proven a good start, and I intend on building on it when THE FACE OF GAIA releases.
Speaking of which, I’ve been outlining THE FACE OF GAIA all month, and she’s looking good. However, she still needs a lot of work. So, I’ll be taking advantage of an empty house on Sunday and Monday (the 31st and the 1st).
I’ll be streaming Sunday from 11:00 am until 10 pm Eastern Time. We’ll be doing some SPRINTS so I can work the finishing touches on my outline. This stream will not be available for rewatch after it ends, as it will surely include early-stage MYTHIC talk.
I’ll begin writing the first draft at 7 am Eastern Time the next morning, New Year's Day. I’ll livestream my sprints exclusively at the MYTHIC SERIES Facebook Group. That stream will run until 11 am, and then it will be gone.
Both streams will run long enough that everyone should be able to catch some of it. It’ll be a wonderful way to say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024, so I hope you’ll join me.
WHICH IS AN EXCELLENT SEGUE TO…
My plans for 2024!
These are actually quite simple.
Complete 1st draft of THE FACE OF GAIA
Begin 2nd Draft of THE FACE OF GAIA
Get the YouTube Channel to 1000 Subscribers
Get my Newsletter to 1000 Subscribers
Sell 1000 Copies of SHADOW OF THE SPARK
We’ll check back in at the end of 2024 and see what I was able to cross off the list if anything.
