Rumblegut

       Hi Everyone! It's been a while, but pandemics can do that. Since the lockdown and my last post I've been writing pretty regularly and the first book in Davonna and my fantasy series, THE LAST WIZARD OF BRETONIA, is being read by our beta readers, who've found some interesting things. One now obviously more metaphoric than we intended passage had us both rolling on the floor, glad it didn't sneak through and get us an R+ rating. We've also begun book II and are about a third into a first draft. So the story will continue. And we've done a draft of the first book as a pilot for a TV show. Who knows what might happen with that.     For those wanting an update on Coda, my German Shepard, she's had issues with weakness in her hindquarters, so I've been taking her to get some hydrotherapy. I'm not sure how much she likes it, but she sure looks cute jogging in the water tank. Plus she's shown some improvement and gained back some muscle mass and ...

I just wanted to check in with everyone during the pandemic. I'm doing fine, no symptoms; Coda, my German Shepard is doing well too. Where I live, Spokane, we don't have a lot of cases yet, but we're 300 miles from Seattle, and they are swamped. I have friends and family there and it's worrisome. I canceled my plans to go visit over spring break and instead I'm self-isolating. Fortunately, I have a big yard and can go outside easily, and when the weather is nice spend time in the sun away from others. I'm on day eleven, so I think I'm probably in the clear, at least until I have to go grocery shopping again. I bought enough food for probably 3 weeks, depending on what I want to eat, but eventually, I will have to go out again. I work at a university, and things are going to be strange there for awhile. Everything will be done online, although there will be students who have no other choice still living in dorms. That seems like an invitation to parties, bu...

It's the end of the year 2019, and of the decade--almost 20 years later than any date I imagined what I'd be doing as an adult when I was a kid. So uncharted territory from childhood me. I pretty much stopped imagining where Stanley Kubrick did, 2001. But that's a lot of years to cover, and to build top lists for. So today it's TOP FIVE THINGS OF STUFF...for the past amount of randomly chosen time. Ready? 5. I had an awesome couple of years playing trivia. Go, Trivia Super Alliance! 4. I stopped paying for cable. 3 . This is Coda, she helps me write and is my friend. 2. I'm an author now.  I get to write with my best friend, Davonna Juroe. We're working on a fantasy series about a retired wizard who returns to duty to save stuff. Totally top five. 1. And number one...Baby Yoda, of course

Quarterfinalist in the 2019 Screencraft Horror Screenplay contest for Winterbay Abbey screenplay! I just had to put this up, as it's a pretty cool achievement for my co-author, Davonna Juroe , and I. We adapted our novel Winterbay Abbey: A Ghost Story , last year and decided to enter a few contests, and we were surprised, and delighted, to hear that we made the first cut. The feedback we received from the judges was both encouraging (very) and helpful. Almost all positive, they thought it would make a "fine feature." Good news. Here's to more good news in the future.

Major news! Winterbay Abbey: A Ghost Story is now on audio! Narrated by Matt Godfrey , Voice Award nominee, and Audiobook Listener 2018 finalist, (he's awesome, check out some of his work:  www.mattgodfrey.net/ . He reads Winterbay  just like I always imagined it sounding, except way better. It's creepy and moody, and the New England and British accents add that terrific feel of authenticity.

 photo courtesy of Davonna Juroe Lost in Ghostville fans, if you happen to be in Spokane, WA this October 29, stop by Auntie's Bookstore @4:00 pm and see me teach how to find ghosts. I'll read a bit from Ghostville , answer some questions, and of course, we'll search the store for any spirits who might be haunting the old building. It should be great fun! See you there! Lost in Ghostville --Children's Event

  It's always cool to see a FedEx truck pull into your driveway, but especially so when you're expecting something big. My author copies of Lost In Ghostville arrived today. That's a big day for any author--the day you get to see your published work on actual paper, not from your own printer, and bound, with a beautiful cover. Here's my experience opening my box of books.       Take a close look at the cover. The illustration is by Charlie Bowater. I think she made a fantastic cover, and most people who've seen it agree. You can see more of Charlie's work here: http://charlie-bowater.deviantart.com/ . We've never met, but she draws a mean mermaid.

Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts... I'm hitting the spirit world hard in August, with two new releases: Lost in Ghostville, a middle-grade humorous ghost story about a boy, his homemade ghost detector, and a ghost-napper. Winterbay Abbey is an adult ghost story I wrote with co-author, Davonna Juroe , and is set in an old, abandoned abbey in Maine, with dark secrets and a future as terrible as its past. Why all the ghosts, you ask? Well, we all have those times when we're trying to deal with loss, and both these stories helped me confront that, although in different ways. Ghostville does it by being funny, and heartfelt, as well as with robot dinosaurs and dino-poop. Winterbay is a bit darker and intended to scare. Combined, they gave me multiple ways to show the impact of ghosts, both their dark, and light sides. In either case, I hope you enjoy my expedition into the spirit world. Cheers!

Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts... I'm hitting the spirit world hard in August, with two new releases: Lost in Ghostville, a middle-grade humorous ghost story about a boy, his homemade ghost detector, and a ghost-napper. Winterbay Abbey is an adult ghost story I wrote with co-author, Davonna Juroe , and is set in an old, abandoned abbey in Maine, with dark secrets and a future as terrible as its past. Why all the ghosts, you ask? Well, we all have those times when we're trying to deal with loss, and both these stories helped me confront that, although in different ways. Ghostville does it by being funny, and heartfelt, as well as with robot dinosaurs and dino-poop. Winterbay is a bit darker and intended to scare. Combined, they gave me multiple ways to show the impact of ghosts, both their dark, and light sides. In either case, I hope you enjoy my expedition into the spirit world. Cheers!

Here it is! New cover for a  new book! This is the ARC cover for my new middle-grade ghost story, LOST IN GHOSTVILLE, due out Aug. 1 from Capstone .

I've known Jessica Young for about three years now. We belong to a critique group and every month she sends me a new piece of writing and returns the favor by struggling to read parts of my manuscripts. We've actually never met in person, but we've talked voluminously, including a two-hour conversation about quantum mechanics as it relates to story structure (yes, it was as thrilling as it sounds!). She's fun and smart and funny, and so are her books. Her newest,   Finley Flowers (Original Recipe)  has just been released, and it's fantastic. I've had the honor of reading Finley since Jessica first came up with the idea and I'm so happy to see it make its way into the world. It was a fantastic story idea from the start (and has the most awesomely named nemesis in all of kid lit, wish I'd thought of it) and has only gotten better through successive drafts. I'm eager to see if any of the joke ideas I tossed Jessica's way made it into print (none...

Author Mary Cronk Farrell tagged me to be one of the Next Big Thing Blog Hop authors. This traveling blog started in Australia. Each author answers ten questions about his or her work in progress and "tags" from one to five others to be The Next Big Thing. Many thanks to Mary for inviting me to participate .   I actually have two WIPs, so I'm going to shamelessly tell you about both of them.   Book one:   What is the working title of your book? My working title is FREELAND Where did the idea come from for the book? That's a bit of a story. Originally the idea was a takeoff from a manuscript I had just finished. I wanted to put my education, a PhD in History to some use, but not in as a straight historical fiction. I wanted pirates and weird steampunk technology, and came up with an idea about a brother and sister working as spies for George Washington during the 1790s. That got tossed around and reworked quite a bit. FREELAND is now set in an alternate...

Author Mary Cronk Farrell tagged me to be one of the Next Big Thing Blog Hop authors. This traveling blog started in Australia. Each author answers ten questions about his or her work in progress and "tags" from one to five others to be The Next Big Thing. Many thanks to Mary for inviting me to participate .   I actually have two WIPs, so I'm going to shamelessly tell you about both of them.   Book one:   What is the working title of your book? My working title is FREELAND Where did the idea come from for the book? That's a bit of a story. Originally the idea was a takeoff from a manuscript I had just finished. I wanted to put my education, a PhD in History to some use, but not in as a straight historical fiction. I wanted pirates and weird steampunk technology, and came up with an idea about a brother an sister working as spies for George Washington during the 1790s. That got tossed around and reworked quite a bit. FREELAND is now set i...

I love getting personal reviews more than anything. Here's a letter I received from a 3rd grader who read Roll Up the Streets!    Five stars!

Just recently I did both a reading and a bookstore signing of my book, Roll Up the Streets. I’ve been giving it some thought as to which is better for an author to do. I think most people would assume, and I always have, that a reading is better than a signing. You get to sit down with a group of interested listeners, read a couple of chapters—I did a bit of acting with props and a squeaky voice I worked on, don’t ask why I gave my villain a squeaky voice—interact with the audience and actually see and hear their reaction to your story. My reading at the Tinman Too bookstore went very well and I got to hear the laughs in person. That’s always rewarding for any writer used to working in isolation. I also spoke with a couple of 11-year olds, my core audience, both of whom wanted to be writers. So as well as being entertaining, I could also encourage future writers. I also managed to sell a few books. All in all it was as good of an experience as I expected. The signing was a bit diffe...

Stop by and see my book reading of Roll Up the Streets! Saturday, Oct. 9, 1:00 pm. Tinman Too Chidren's Book Store. 809 W. Garland Ave. Spokane, Wa. For more info call the Tinman Too Bookstore: (509) 325-3001 Or email: tinmanartworks@yahoo.com Directions: Map

For those of you who don't know, SCBWI is the tongue-twisting acronym for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. It's a professional organization for writers and illustrators, and would-be writers and illustrators, all looking to make contacts, improve their skills, and generally be better at their craft. SCBWI holds a yearly conference during the summer in Los Angeles, where the headquarters are, and regional conferences all over the country and world during the whole year. This past weekend I had a great time attending the regional conference in Spokane, Wa, my home region . If you're serious about writing you should consider attending some kind of conference. The guest speakers are usually other writers or illustrators, and editors and agents who are available to also do critiques for the attendees. This is a good way to see how your writing looks to someone from the biz and not just your spouse or even critique group. It's also a good way to...

I love being interviewed! So check out this one by D.L.Kingwriter . I answer all of your questions, or hers actually, and only make up a few things.

Book readings are the best way to see the reaction of an audience to your work, especially for a children's writer. Reading to a critique group of adults is great for the writing process, and scanning a review once in a while, well, that's a mixed bag. Too many reviews are much too brief to be of any help. But reading to a group of kids can tell you a lot about how your intended readers will respond to your story. I wrote my book, Roll Up the Streets! while reading it a chapter at a time to fifth-graders at Holmes elementary school in Spokane, Wa. Every Friday I'd sit down over lunch and read a new chapter while watching the kids chomp on whatever horrifying public school lunch was offered that day. The whole idea of centering my story around evil corndogs came from those lunch readings as well as half the gross passages in the book. I owe a lot to those kids. I'm holding a book reading on Oct. 9 at the Tinman Too children's bookstore in Spokane on Oct. 9. It...

Roll Up the Streets! hit the streets this week! My first book, finally available. Book readings/signings to follow. Stay tuned.