Today is my ten year anniversay.

Did you know – Once upon a time, my wife and I were both underwear models(but she went pro while I stayed a college amateur)?

All day long, people have been saying, “Wow, you’ve been married TEN years on THIS VERY DAY! What’s the secret to your super happy and always fun marriage?”

The answer is, “Because we were both underwear models.. duh.”

And humor.

Humor helps.

Happy TENTH Anniversary babe, I’m blessed to have you by my side. And super lucky that you get hotter every year! ❤ Here’s to next 100+ years together!

“I, Erik, take you Meredith, to be my beloved wife, to have and to hold you, to honor you, to treasure you, to be at your side in sorrow and joy, sickness and in health, in the good times and in the bad, and to love and cherish you always. Where you go I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. I promise you this from my heart, for all the days of my life.”

Back Book Cover Text for the Sequel.

In order to get all my ducks in a row for the publisher to pick up my sequel, I wrote the Back Book Cover Text.

This is always hard for me to do, because you essentially need to boil down a 100,000+ word novel into a sub-250 word narrative that will intrigue a potential buyer without revealing too much information. It’s a delicate balance. If the front cover gets you to pick up the book, the back cover seals the deal.

But, I think this one turned out better than the first.

***

After retiring from outlawing, Jedidiah Huckleberry Smith just wanted to be left alone in Wyoming with his guns and regrets.

But then he discovered an entrance to a lost world, a place full of grand adventure, as well as spectacular dangers from both prehistoric dinosaurs and a race of savage apes intent on conquest.

Now, a new fort has been established on the other side, and a strange civilization of humans and dinosaurs have been located. The people are descendants from another time, long trapped in prehistory, and with them a fragile alliance is created.

But will it be enough as Jed faces vengeance from enemies both new and old?

Will his savagery and cunning keep him and his love alive?

Or will they die, on a mountain of fired brass, amidst the guttural bellows of barbaric apes and roars of monstrous dinosaurs?

Jed doesn’t know, but he’s always willing to shoot first and figure out the rest afterwards.

***

Just to brag a bit…

West of Prehistoric has now passed Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest in number of reviews and ratings on Amazon.

May not seem like a big deal, but if you search for ‘West of Prehistoric’ on Amazon, that book always pops up below it.

So, yay beating people eating!

In other news, my dad sent me this article a while back and I just got around to reading it. It’s a short article, so I’ll post it in it’s entirety, with some BOLD emphasis added by me for those who like to skim. Growing up as a voracious reader, often reading many years ahead of my ‘educational’ level, I agree with all of what was found. (I think I read Beowulf in 6th grade or something.)

Here’s the article:

Growing Up Surrounded by Books Could Have Powerful, Lasting Effect on the Mind

Research has already suggested that opening a book may help improve brain function, reduce stress, and even make us more empathetic. Now, a team led by Joanna Sikora of the Australian National University is looking into the benefits of growing up around a book-filled environment; as Alison Flood of the Guardian reports, the researchers’ expansive new study suggests that homes with ample libraries can arm children with skills that persist into adulthood.

The 2019 study, published in Social Science Research, assessed data from 160,000 adults from 31 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, Japan and Chile. Participants filled out surveys with the Programme for the International Assessment of Competencies, which measures proficiency in three categories: literacy, numeracy (using mathematical concepts in everyday life) and information communication technology, (using digital technology to communicate with other people, and to gather and analyze information).

Respondents, who ranged in age from 25 to 65, were asked to estimate how many books were in their house when they were 16 years old. The research team was interested in this question because home library size can be a good indicator of what the study authors term “book-oriented socialization.” Participants were able to select from a given range of books that included everything from “10 or less” to “more than 500.”

The surveys, which were taken between 2011 and 2015, showed that the average number of books in participants’ childhood homes was 115, but that number varied widely from country to country. The average library size in Norway was 212 books, for instance; in Turkey, it was 27. Across the board, however, it seemed that more books in the home was linked to higher proficiency in the areas tested by the survey.

The effects were most marked when it came to literacy. Growing up with few books in the home resulted in below average literacy levels. Being surrounded by 80 books boosted the levels to average, and literacy continued to improve until libraries reached about 350 books, at which point the literacy rates leveled off. The researchers observed similar trends when it came to numeracy; the effects were not as pronounced with information communication technology tests, but skills did improve with increased numbers of books.

So, what are the implications of the new study? Take, for instance, adults who grew up with hardly any books in the home, but went on to obtain a university degree in comparison to an adult who grew up with a large home library, but only had nine years of schooling. The study found that both of their literacy levels were roughly average. “So, literacy-wise, bookish adolescence makes up for a good deal of educational advantage,” the study authors write.

Further research is needed to determine precisely why exposure to books in childhood fosters valuable skills later in life, but the study offers further evidence to suggest that reading has a powerful effect on the mind. And so home library size might be important because, as the researchers note, “[c]hildren emulate parents who read.”

***

So, pretty cool. Teach your kids to read and instill in them a love of reading, and they’ll never be bored, and you’ll be more likely to have a ‘Honor Student’ bumper sticker on your car. Also your kid will turn out better.

January Update Post.

This month I received my first royalties check from the publisher.

I think that makes me an official author now. Woop!

Unfortunately, the e-book released on Sept 18th, and I waited until Oct 2nd for the Paperback to be released before I told anyone or announced that it’d been published. Which means I got royalties for only about 10 days in the 3rd quarter of 2020. (We get royalties quarterly.) So the sales were pretty slim since only people who follow Severed Press’s social media knew anything about it.

Now the 4th quarter of 2020 will be defining as that’s when I announced it on the forums and social media. I’m pretty excited for that check, which should arrive in April. I’m going to buy a helicopter.

As for writing, it continues of course.

I’m pretty excited about the third book, even though I’ve a lot more left to write, research, and figure out. But what I’m doing and introducing into the series is going to be awesome. I really can’t wait to finish it and get it in the hands of beta readers. I REALLY want to tell people about it, but unless they’ve read the sequel, it won’t make any sense.

Originally, as mentioned on the blog, I’d hoped to finish the third book in 6 months…

Glad I didn’t have an official deadline on that since we are finishing month 7!

In my defense, during that time, I spent a lot of time going over the sequel again in depth. (Even though I’d declared it finished.) I added another character and a subplot to ‘thicken’ the book some because it ended up shorter than the first. I made sure to do this in a way that matters so that it’s not something stupid, pointless, or overly verbose. It’s substance, not just superfluous length.

Then over the holidays I greatly slowed down my writing, as appears to be my usual custom for the last couple of years.

But now we’re back in full swing and making progress.

One little thing to add to this post- If you’ve been reading/watching the news, you may have seen this latest bit of intolerant garbage:

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/literary-agency-fires-employee-for-using-parler-gab/

Basically, a literary agency, fired an employee for STATING that they use Parler.

Not for what they said on Parler, but for simply -using- Parler.

This is crap.

I’m thankful I have a publisher who only cares that I write good books and make them money. Which is how it should be.

So long, 2020. Hello, 2021.

2020 was kind of a strange year… (Is that an understatement?)

Overall, I consider myself and my family rather blessed. Our jobs were affected very little by the Chinese Plague and we stayed fed, warm, clothed, healthy, and happy.

I’m certainly not digging all the societal ‘norms’ that we’ve come to with COVID, but they’ll end at some point I’m sure, like previous pandemics, we’ll move forward still. (At least this wasn’t the zombie apocalypse.) I look forward to never wearing a mask again, but I’m glad everyone is learning to wash their hands diligently after they go potty.

I’m anxiously awaiting longer days, warmer weather, knowing the actual numbers of my book sales, going back to church, and socializing again.

Lows of the year – Too many big picture ones, but the Presidential Election and Covid certainly top the list.

Highs of the year – Getting my first book published. That was awesome. We also sold our old house and paid off the majority of any debts we had. (So long student loans!) Now all we owe on is our minivan and house. I highly recommend becoming debt free, it’s the only way to live.

Going into 2021, what do I expect?

In America – Chaos. Lots and lots of Chaos.

In Writing – I’ve slowed some as I wait to see if sales were high enough for the publisher to accept the sequel. I’m pretty confident they’ll take it, but it’s hard to be working on a third book in the series while the second languishes on a thumb drive. I do need to write a ‘teaser’ for the back of the book still, so that may get posted here once it’s finished.

I’ve got a map for the series to be four books right now. Which works well, since I’m considering using West of Prehistoric/East of Prehistoric/South/North etc as titles. Then yesterday, after some delicious BBQ and a trip to the local gun store to see the barren ammunition shelves and thinning gun racks, my dad gave me a brilliant idea for a 5th ‘offshoot’ book for the series. So that’s a good possibility as well.

And I’d love to do another series on the same world, based about 20-25 years later. The early 1900’s was pretty cool when it came to weapons. 🙂

At some point I need to get cracking on my WWII Monster Book, the outline is finished on that. Then there’s the Space Marine Book I want to write, nothing is done on that. And I’ve a word file full of possibilities for other books that I’ve written down and forgotten about. At any rate, I need to finish the third book and hopefully get most of a fourth book written as well before 2022.

In Blogging – Probably gonna post less. Politics is to chaotic to comment on right now and societal upheaval seems around the corner. So I’ll mainly be sticking to writing updates, some book reviews, and such that tickles my fancy.

So… 2021.

Bring it on, cause it ain’t stopping for us.

Let’s hope for the best, know that Gods Will shall be done, pray hard for the guidance of our leaders, and keep your powder dry.

And I’m gonna start writing my little fingers off.