All Over But The Shouting…
This past Saturday marked the release (finally) of The Reluctant Agent. I opted to release it on the day of the Sherburne Arts Festival. Here are a few actions shots of my day:
For my local arts festival, I think I did rather well. I sold 18 copies of The Reluctant Agent, but also sold 7 copies of The Reluctant Captain, which has been out for 4 years now! I want to thank everyone who came out and supported me by buying my book. It really meant a lot to me. After breaking down the tent and hauling the 6 boxes of books home, we went out for a celebratory dinner at Ray Brother’s Barbeque:
What’s Next?
I’m a bit at a loss as to what to do next, so I may leave it up to you, the people who read my blog. I mentioned before that I had started a horror story anthology that’s maybe a third of the way completed or I can dive right into the next story in the Reluctant series (if you’ve read The Reluctant Agent, you’ll already have an idea of what it will be). I just put up a poll on my Facebook page so you can vote and tell me what you want!
I’ll be taking
Contest Results
And the winner of the signed copy of the hardcover of The Reluctant Agent was…no one. I didn’t receive a single entry. I may decide to run this contest again at some point, so I won’t give away any clues. So read (or re-read) The Reluctant Captain. I tell you that if you are moderately exposed to geek culture, you can at least come up with one reference.
Thanks
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank everyone who is responsible for The Reluctant Agent:
- My Beta Readers Keven, Melanie, Michael, and Donna – Thanks for your feedback on the early draft. It was instrumental in making the story better
- Emilee Jayne Janitz – Thanks for a cover that was better than I imagined
- Jeannette Armstrong-Collins – Thanks for a wonderful job of editing my manuscript!
- My family – Thanks for your support and love.
And finally, thank you to everyone who bought a copy of my book! It means so much to me!
If you haven’t gotten your copy, you can buy it in multiple formats:
- The ebook is available in many formats here
- The paperback is available here
- The hardcover is available here
I’ll let everyone know the results of the poll in just over a week’s time.
Until then,
Happy Journeys!
Mike
Read MoreLong, Long, Long
It’s been a VERY long month since I last wrote.
First, The Good News
Today I received the first print of the hardcover edition of The Reluctant Captain! Forgive the bad picture:
It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye
My mother, Myrtle Tefft, passed away on February 21. My mother was an intensely private person, so I’ve only alluded here to the fact that her health was failing. Although it wasn’t a surprise, it was a shock that she went so quickly. Thankfully, she passed away in her sleep.
I owe much of who I am to my mother. My mother was born in 1930 in London, England and grew up during the Blitz. My mother was tenacious (which is the polite way of saying she was stubborn) and never afraid to stand up for herself if she thought she was being treated unfairly. I get those traits from her without a doubt.
Although my mother immigrated to the States in 1958, she kept many traditions from England alive. Until I went to college, I drank tea far more extensively than coffee, starting on tea with large doses of milk and sugar. Every year, my mother made Christmas Pudding and, for my birthday, Steak and Kidney Pudding (Note: For my American friends, a pudding means a steamed cake – in the case of Christmas – or pastry in the case of Steak and Kidney. It is NOT the pudding we eat out of cups). On Sunday dinners, if we had roast beef, we always had Yorkshire Pudding (popovers). We would often play an English pub game called Shove Ha’penny. The board is a slate with several lines engraved on it. You would “shove” English Ha’pennies (half pennies) and try to get them in between a set of two lines. It’s rather like shuffleboard.
With this comes a change for me. For nearly the last year, Mom was either in a hospital or nursing home at distances ranging from 10 to 50 miles. I tried to visit as often as I could (about every other day). As a result, most of my evenings were taken up with travel. Now, I have to adjust to having time and knowing what that really means – my mom is gone. I’m still coming to grips with it. I’ve found
I know that I will make peace with this, be able to move on, and start writing again. My mother would want that. She often asked me how my writing was going when I visited her. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I didn’t have time to write because I was visiting her, so I would say, “It’s going,” or some other non-committal answer.
Before I sign off, I want to share one of my favorite pictures of my mother and I. It was taken on Mother’s Day in 2015;
Until next time, Happy Journeys!
Mike
Read MoreWhat’s Going On?
Only a few weeks between blog posts? It’s a miracle!
Things have been a whirlwind as I have a number of things going on with books. I sort of feel like a squirrel on coffee; darting from thing to thing. But here’s what I’ve been doing:
Learning Vellum – Vellum is a program that easily formats manuscripts into ebooks and paper books. It does a fabulous job of formatting and making the book look attractive. The great feature is that you click one button and it generates all of the formats at one time. One drawback (but not for me) is that it’s only available for the Mac. There’s not much to learn about it, but it is such a big time saver. Here’s what the new first page of The Reluctant Captain looks like now:
The Reluctant Captain Hardcover Edition – I’m trying my hand at publishing this in a hardcover edition using IngramSpark to do the printing. The current paperback version is printed via KDP which is part of Amazon. I’m hoping that by moving to Ingram for the hardcover (and possibly paperback), I could get my book in honest to goodness bookstores!
Republishing the Ebook and Paperback Editions of
The Reluctant Captain – Using my new found skill with Vellum, I intend to republish the ebooks and paperback editions with a reformated interior and updated covers to indicate that The Reluctant Captain is Book 1 of the Reluctant Series. I think it’s safe enough to say that now that the release of Book 2 is on the horizon.
The Reluctant Captain – Using my new found skill with Vellum, I intend to republish the ebooks and paperback editions with a reformated interior and updated covers to indicate that The Reluctant Captain is Book 1 of the Reluctant Series. I think it’s safe enough to say that now that the release of Book 2 is on the horizon.
Secret Agent Man
And speaking of Book 2, what’s up with that, you ask?
The book is with the editor right now. She hasn’t flung the manuscript back at me in disgust, so I think it’s going well. The current hope is to get the book back from the editor by the beginning of April and aim for a mid to late May release. This will be dependent upon a number of things and I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up with an actual date. Stay tuned for more details because I am going to try to do blog more often.
That’s all for this post.
Happy Journeys!
Mike
Read More2019 – A New Hope
As usual, I’ve been delinquent in providing an update. First of all, a (belated) Happy New Year to one and all! I hope that 2019 is a year filled with wonder and love for each and everyone one of you!
What’s New Pussycat?
I successfully survived the holiday season. In my alter ego as a musician, the holiday season is incredibly busy; this year was busier than most. I played in two tree lighting ceremonies and five concerts between Thanksgiving and Christmas. When a proposed Christmas Eve service fell through, I was disappointed, but mostly relieved.
This was balanced with spending time visiting my mother in a long term care facility that’s about an hour and a half from my house. I’ve been taking my dad down there 2-3 times a week after I get home from work, so with the aforementioned concerts, December was a bit of a grind and I’m glad it’s done.
What’s Up, Doc?
What is on tap for 2019?
- The Reluctant Agent – This will be the year that The Reluctant Agent finally makes its appearance in the world! My book is in the hands of an editor and I can make plans for the release of the book. Come back for more announcements, or better yet, subscribe to my email list over there on the right. I will start sending updates via the mailing list.
- Updated versions of The Reluctant Captain – Without going into too much detail, I’m going to be releasing an updated version of The Reluctant Captain. I’m not changing the story, but I am updating the formatting. My hope is that I can make the book available to find in actual bookstores! Stay tuned for more updates…or sign up on the mailing list.
- The Untitled Horror Anthology – I think that this won’t see the light of day this year. But, hope springs eternal!
- Begin work on the next book in the series – My desire is to have another book in the Reluctant series sometime next year. That’s a lofty goal considering it took me almost four years to get The Reluctant Agent to the point of release.
- Upgrading my author skills – Besides doing more writing, I’m working through some courses in my spare time. I’m taking a video course on how to use Scrivener (my new writing software) and I’m going to be taking another video course on podcasting. While I’d love to podcast, that is not in the cards any time soon.
We’ll see how much of the list gets done, but I’m definitely focusing on the first two items in the list.
And Now a Word From Our Sponsor…
I don’t like the hard sell, but I’m hoping you can do one or two things to help me get ready for the launch of The Reluctant Agent:
- Join my mailing list – I promise that I won’t bombard you with email – in fact, to date, I’ve sent out zero emails. But I would like to keep people up to date on what’s happening and it would be a big help!
- Review my current book – If you’ve read The Reluctant Captain, I would love it if you added a review on Amazon, Good Reads, or the platform of your choice. Reviews are a big help both to me as an author and as a way to get more attention.
Until next time…
Happy Journeys!
Mike
Read MoreThanksgiving
It’s certainly been a crazy year and particularly, the last few months. The one good thing about Thanksgiving (besides eating yourself into a food coma), is that it makes me think of the things for which I am (or should be) grateful.
Things For Which I Am Thankful
- My Family – I thankful for my family, particularly my wife and son. They put up with me when I’m writing and when I’m stressed out and overtired.
- My Job – I’m thankful for a reasonably stable job that provides for my family. Having been through times without a job, I realize how fortunate I am.
- Music – I’m thankful for being able to perform music. I hate practicing, but I love playing. Although this time of year, it can get a little crazy (7 concerts within the next month).
- Writing – I’m thankful that I’ve been able to finish another book and I’m well on my way to finishing the first draft of another.
I know there are many things I’m not remembering. What are the things that you are thankful for?
A Holiday “Tradition”
And what would Thanksgiving be if I didn’t bring out my Thanksgiving story…
The Call of Cthurkey
by Michael Tefft
(with apologies to H.P. Lovecraft)
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human stomach to tolerate the most obscene combinations. Cooking shows on the Food Network strain in each direction to inspire more and more strange combinations, but so far, none that our stomachs can’t handle. But someday, we will find the combination of foods that will surely drive us mad.
My knowledge of such a thing occurred this Thanksgiving. As was tradition, we assembled at the house of my parents. In the morning, we gathered in front of the television to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as was our want. I could smell a strange odor coming from the kitchen; at once delicious, while at the same time repugnant. Strangely, my mother would not let me help in any way with the cooking, saying simply she was trying something different and wanted to make it a surprise.
After some time, I asked my father if I could borrow his computer to check the hockey scores as cell reception was nearly zero at my parents’ house and my fantasy hockey team was not going to run itself. He grunted from his recliner and I went to my former bedroom, now the home office.
As I brought up the browser window, I noticed that one of my parents had left the browser brought up in a page full of strange and arcane recipes. As I read the page, I looked in horror at combinations of gelatin formed into translucent prisons for meat, vegetables or fruit. As the dread rose along with the bile in my throat, I read the “Comments”. And buried in the comments was a link to what was described as the most forbidden food combinations put together. The link simply read “Crockernomicon”.
With some trepidation, I moved the mouse and with a deep sense of foreboding, clicked the link. The site loaded; I immediately felt like I had stumbled on some lost and forbidden lore. I saw recipes for Jellied Chicken Loaf, Shrimp Aspic Mold, and Pickle Stretcher Salad. The more I read, the more my stomach gurgled and I swallowed hard to force down the rising bile. And then at the bottom of the page was a link to “A Truly Unique Thanksgiving Treat”. To my horror, I realized that the link had been already visited. With trembling hand, I clicked the link.
At the top of the page, I saw the phrase “In his tureen of Gr’vy, Chturkey waits for dressing”. Before I could read any more, my sister came to the door to tell me that the feast was ready. I closed the browser before I could finish looking at the screen, sure that I saved my sanity.
I followed my sister to the dining room table and froze. Before me lay a tableau out of a nightmare. A collection of abominations that would destroy a man’s sanity covered the plates and serving trays. First, a transparent green tower trapped what looked like coleslaw within its shiny emerald walls. Nearby, a translucent white mound with flecks of red and green; the whole thing wobbling as the plate was handed from person to person. More and more of these transparent or translucent concoctions were handed to me. I knew what was expected and with rising dread, I scooped the various congealed food onto my plate. As I stared at the utter horror awaiting me, I was snapped from my daze by my mother’s voice. “Now for the main course.”
Nothing that I had seen in my life prepared me for the horror that arrived on the platter. On a bed of brussels sprouts that looked like the spawn of the Triffids, lay a true abomination. A fully roasted turkey with the tentacles of an octopus and the legs of a crab stretched the limits of sanity of my mind. This could only be one thing: the dread Cthurkey. Nothing I had seen in the Crockernomicon had prepared me for this. My father took his electric carving knife and hacked into the monstrosity. When asked if I wanted white meat or dark, I asked for white in fear that I might be eating turkey stained with the inky blackness of the octopus.
I ate and soon the strain was more than my brain could handle. Dinner became a blur. I must have passed out as I awoke alone on the recliner in front of the television, dimly aware that a football game was playing. As I tried to shake the horror of the feast from my mind, I kept hearing the words from the dread Crockernomicon in my mind:
“In his tureen of Gr’vy, Cthurkey waits for dressing”
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Mike
Read MoreThe Times They Are A Changing
Hello again! It’s been a while since I’ve posted. The major reason is that my mother has been in the hospital (She’s being released on the day I write this). What that’s meant is that I have had almost no time for writing. That will probably continue for the near future. I realized that if I want to keep writing (and I do), I need to change how I write and I think I’ve come up with an approach that works
The Good Ole Days
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a programmer in my day job. I’m used to dealing with manipulating large sections of text. That’s why I’ve had no issue writing in Microsoft Word. I would open up the Word Document and just pick up where I left off. If you had to rearrange paragraphs, it wasn’t great, but I could make it happen. And it supported the way I write. In the writing world, writes tend to fall into two camps. Plotters outline and plan each chapter and scene in detail before writing. “Pantsers” write by the seat of their pants; they just dive in and see where the story goes. I have been much more of a “
Changes
A couple of months ago, I decided to buy a program called Scrivener by Literature and Latte (what an awesome name for a software company). The product is made to help you organize and produce documents. You may ask, “What’s big deal? Word can do that.” And the answer to that is “Yes, it can.” But Scrivener can do some much more. You can keep notes about characters, setting, or any research you need within your project. If you break your writing down into smaller units such as chapters or even scenes, you can move them around and rearrange them to your heart’s content. And when I, you click a menu item to turn this back into a Word document or even into a digital book.
Since I realized that I am mostly going to have short blocks of time to write, I decided to plot out my short stories in more detail. I took each story (except the previously completed story) and broke each of them down into the scenes I needed for the story. I think that’s going to help me in two ways. First, I think I’m an impatient writer. I know, how can I say that when I’ve been working on The Reluctant Agent for three years? What I mean is that I really want to get the plot out. I think that means I tend to want to race right to the plot (especially in short stories) and I sometimes skimp on things like characters and description. Plotting out the scenes helps get that out of the way and I’ve scratched that itch. Second, I now have a roadmap for getting work done. Since I’m likely to have much smaller units of time, I can work
Here’s a screenshot of my current horror story anthology project;
I don’t know if this will work, but I’m giving this experiment a try. I have mixed feelings about my potential success. As a writer, I’ve been lucky that I’ve always been able to outline in my head. Doing all of those outline exercises in English class felt so tedious for me because I just did it in my head; why did I have to write it out?. On the other hand, Scrivener feels in some way like the Visual Studio of Writing. I use Visual Studio for programming. In modern programming design, you break things down into very small units that have certain properties and can do certain things. To write an application, you have to tie all of these units together to make the program do what you want. I can’t help but think that Scrivener is just like that. So maybe this experiment will work after all.
In Other News
You may have noticed that I just made The Reluctant Captain available on Kobo, another e-book distributor. I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of driving lately (approaching 200 miles a day), so I’ve been listening to podcasts to past the time. I’ve recently started listening to The Creative Penn which focuses on the business side of being an author. It’s an excellent podcast and I’ve learned so many things. One of which was that I really should make my book available via Kobo, especially since all of the work to create the e-book was already done. I took about thirty minutes, set up the Kobo account, and uploaded my book. The very next day, I had a new sale. So, yeah!
In a few weeks, I’m taking a mini writing retreat. I’ve reserved a cabin for two nights and I’m hoping to get a bunch of work done on these horror stories. We’ll see if this experiment helps. If it does, I intend to use this approach with my next novel.
That’s all for now.
Happy journeys!
Mike
I think because it’s Fall, I’m thinking of all things macabre. While the editing work begins on The Reluctant Agent, I thought I’d take the time to write some horror short stories. I’ve previously had written one story and was expired to write another one after our vacation this summer. So I decided to pull to
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