My first book, West of Prehistoric, came out on Sept 18th, 2020.
Thank you all, from the deepest and most fleshiest parts of my heart, for giving an unknown wannabe-author a chance to entertain you. I hope to continue doing so for a very long time to come
Much love and gratitude,
Erik.
First off, I did the podcast interview with Matt James of Conundrum Publishing and Real-Life Fiction.
(The above photo was me testing out a web cam that I’d purchased for the interview. The picture was much better than my laptop would have given, and as an added bonus, it had a light and a mic on it to keep me loud and bright instead of sitting in dark shadows with sinister whispering.)
The interview lasted about an hour and was a lot of fun, at least 25% of the podcast was just us laughing. Part of that is because I write well but talk like an idiot…
Tentatively… it will be out at the end of September on both YouTube and Podcasty-type places.
Please watch it, and if it racks up enough views or ‘listens’ maybe they’ll let me come back for a follow up since this one was so fun.
Second off, I did the interview on Wednesday. It’s Sat night and I’m just now sitting down to work on Book IV. That’s because every day this week after work involved me sweating mightily while struggling to put together a swing set for the kids. Ugh. So much sweating and frustration. Especially when the very first piece you bolt in, you put in upside down.
Third off, Book IV story line is getting good. If anyone paid really, really close attention to the first book there was mention of a sister that was never mentioned again throughout the other books. That was for a good reason. And that’s all the hint you get.
Fourth, my goodness folks. The Reviews.
WOW.
I wish I could snag an Amazon screenshot showing all three books. But essentially:
West of Prehistoric: 222 Reviews. 4.6/5 stars.
Enter Prehistoric: 162 Reviews. 4.6/5 stars.
Taming Prehistoric: 75 Reviews. 4.6/5 Stars.
It took WoP 1 year and 1 day to hit 100 reviews. EP it took (I think) 10 months. TP is at 75 and it hasn’t been out 6 months yet. And they all have the same rating, that’s pretty sweet!
I’m not sure how I’m doing over on Goodreads. I don’t bother looking anymore as it’s considered a leper by most established authors. Because if the writer has any notorious views, as in the same mainstream views of 20 years ago, then readers will bombard their books with 1 or 2 star reviews before the book is even released. That place is trash. Don’t go there. Let that Amazon branch wither and die.
Have a wonderful weekend folks.
I get to be interviewed for a new podcast next week which shall later be uploaded both on Youtube and where ever Podcasts are played.
Kind of nervous.
But also really excited.
And honestly, the biggest dilemma I’m having now is whether I use my sons awesome ‘wall of dinosaur filled shelves’ as my background or the walls of my very masculine writing nook in the basement…
Deep thoughts to be considered.
Anyways, back to writing Book IV. (I’m a little ahead right now and want to stay that way.)
I’m 39 and at 60 everything is going to change when I lose the majority of my sight.
It’s called LORD (Late Onset Retinal Degeneration).
What is that?
Something kind of sucky and super rare. (Lucky me!)
***
https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/4357/late-onset-retinal-degeneration
Late-onset retinal degeneration is an inherited retinal dystrophy characterized by delayed dark adaptation and nyctalopia and drusen deposits presenting in adulthood, followed by cone and rod degeneration that presents in the sixth decade of life, which leads to central vision loss. Anterior segment features such as peripupillary iris transillumination defects and abnormally long anterior zonular insertions are also observed. Choroidal neovascularization and glaucoma may occur in the late stages of the disease.
This section is currently in development.
***
Well, my mom’s side of the family is in the ‘Number of People with this Disease’.
(Which, as an aside, is why it was so awesome when I got my books turned to AUDIO! Now they could listen to them!)
So, sixth decade of life.
I’m picking 60 as my ‘eyeballs gonna expire by’ date.
And I feel sort of bad about this… that while knowing I may very likely be legally blind in the future, I haven’t prepared well for it.
First is the boring stuff. Mainly aimed at helping my family out. By 2043 I want to have the house paid for, our 401K stocked up well enough for my planned forced retirement at 60, and debt free.
This is doable. With the help of Dave Ramsey’s calculator I worked out the math on how to pay the house off by then. And it’s gonna save us $88,000 in interest! As for debt, we’re pretty debt free. Except for our vehicles and I’ve started really considering at trading my beautiful, wonderful, immaculate, and gorgeous 2022 Ram Rebel for something used that I can pay off quicker. I’m on the fence about it. But it makes a lot of financial sense. So… we’ll see. (It’s such an awesome truck!)
The 401k… ugh. I worked the numbers and I’m not THAT happy with them. But I’m also partially banking on a total collapse of the US Dollar and our economy by then and living off the land by growing meat and veggies in the backyard.
That’s about 50% true. But I’m planning for both scenarios. Thus, more money goes into the 401k to make us more monies down the road.
And Social Security? -snort- Yeah, I ain’t banking on that.
So that’s the boring stuff.
The really, really important stuff?
Writing.
đ
Gone are my daydreams of spending my golden twilight years in front of a computer, endlessly pounding away at the keyboard, churning out best selling novels filled with masculinity and adventure.
I mean, I can probably still do it. But it’s gonna be pretty different depending on how my eyeballs go. There are options to keep writing, but none that I’m excited about. Dictating? Ugh. Writing on a monster computer screen using my surviving peripheral vision? Ugh. But I also can’t imagine NOT creating verbal entertainment for the rest of my life, so we’ll see.
But there is a new found, “Holy Smokes I’ve got to get moving!”, on my writing passion.
21 years.
At my current rate, that’s 21 books before things start getting difficult at one book a year.
And to be honest, that’s not good enough. I can’t settle for only writing 21 more books the traditional way.
So.
It’s time to kick it up a notch. It’s time to perform. Time to put out. Time to produce.
It ain’t over yet.
Time to aim HARD for that 1 book every six month goal.
Let’s go for 42 instead of 21.
“Good.”
It’s August 7th and holy smokes, where’d the year go?
More importantly… how is Book IV going?
Good. I’m on a writing roll, to the point where I’m forcing myself to stop and do a blog update instead of writing about someone getting eaten during a prehistoric river crossing. But words are going on computer screen at a nice rate, I’m excited, I’m vibrant, and I’m ready to get this sucker into the reader’s calloused and gun powder scented hands.
(Who am I kidding? I have soft keyboard and cubicle hands these days… nary a callous or sparkle of gunpowder on either one.)
Some randomness.
First, on the sharper side of things – I discovered Scallywag Tactical. They make awesome pointy things for poking people with AND they are located a few hours away from me in NC.
I had to order the wife something… in Tiffany blue. (And a couple little push blades that go on your key ring.)
They make gorgeous blades, check them out. Arm your ladies, gents!
Second, on the boom boom side of things… I came across a SCREAMING deal of a Savage Stance without safety. Not a bad little piece. For the $300 it’ll make a nice truck gun… but meh. I can barely push the mag release in and I have YET to be able to get the slide release to work with my big mitts. (I’ve got to slingshot the slide to reload)
Neat, but… This thing will probably go down the road to another owner. I may make $50 on it, also.
What else.
Stuff I’ve read recently that didn’t suck. Drop Trooper series by Rick Partlow. We bumped into each other online in a FB group, friended each other, and exchanged signed books.
Also I discovered “Dungeon Crawler Carl” which has been very entertaining.
And I just got my copy of Dr. David Jeremiah, “After the Rapture”.
And finally, on the woof woof side of things.
Our Bull Mastiff has been working on her latest manuscript.
“PEEING ON WOOD FLOORS, A MEMOIR.”
by Roxy B. Mastiff.
Gunpowder and Ink! 