Gunpowder and Ink!

Just submitted my first short story.

Whew.

I heard about this Weird West anthology a couple months ago when it first opened for submissions.

It was being held by Ranconteur Press, a relative new comer to the publishing world. But they’ve been selling books chock full o’ short stories like mad, so I figured why not put in.

And beside. Weird West?

That’s right up my alley, alongside West of Prehistoric.

Originally, I was going to write a ‘WoP’ type story. Not directly related of course, since my publisher currently holds the rights to Jedidiah Huckleberry Smith. But of a similar vein. Cowboys and dinosaurs. Woohoo.

Then my wife told me I should try something new. She suggested Sasquatches. (They are all the rage in our little town in the NC mountains. We have a Big Foot Festival every year.)

But with everything going on between my daughter’s health and writing Book 5, it really didn’t appear like I’d be able to write a story.

And it bothered the heck out of me. Because I wanted to do expand a little bit and try my hand at the short story game. And this seemed like the best opportunity I’d have.

Then, on Monday, things aligned. I sat down and started writing… knowing that the story was due on Friday.

Four days. Four days to come up with a basic plot and fill in the details and action.

With the wife’s blessing, challenge accepted.

So, I wrote. A bunch. About 1k words per day, which is a lot for me… for three days straight. Last night, I wrote 2.2k words.

(It has to be between 5,000 – 8,000 words. I hit 5,267 words. 🙂 )

After finishing at about 10pm, I hopped on my personal Facebook page and asked if anyone was still awake who was willing to read my first short story submission.

A few folks came to the rescue. Including my former Platoon Commander from the Marines. He stayed up until almost 2am taking notes then sent them over with some ‘conditions’.

Erik,

I am not an author and have never written anything outside of a 5 paragraph order.
I have been drinking.
I have read your prior work and I think that you are a very talented author. I am proud to say that I know you and even more proud to say that I should call you my brother.
The following is my honest and candid response:

Then he proceeded to tear my wonderful little story apart. 🙂

Which was awesome. It was exactly what I wanted and needed. Then I freaked out and typed like crazy to fix it.

And now my story is 10x better.

Summed up? If I had to put it into a quick little blurb:

An unnamed man seeks death and a confrontation with God. Finds Sasquatches instead.

Fun, fun.

If it’s not picked for the Wyrd West anthology, that’s fine. (Really, it’s just my feelings and pride that will be hurt…) I’ll post it up here for everyone to read. It was a great learning experience and neat to try my hand at something other than the WoP series.

For anyone else interested in Raconteur Press, below is the link to their site.

https://raconteurpress.substack.com

And now feels like a good time to thank my Beta Readers. Not just my old Officer buddy, (Who was the greatest officer I’ve ever known.), but to everyone who has offered to read my stuff first to make sure I don’t look stupid when it goes to print.

That includes, everyone from NC4x4.com and CarolinaGunForums.com.

You guys rock.

And a special shout out to Joel. You ALWAYS read my stuff and give the BEST feedback. And you’re enthusiasm for what I write keeps me going. Thanks Buddy!

I should know by the end of the month if I get picked.

Now it’s time to get back to Book 5, wrap it up, and move on to what I owe Conundrum Publishing. (So excited to write some WWII sea monster and Modern Day Expendables type stuff!)

Oh yes, before I forget.

I grew a magnificent mustache the past weekend. It lasted for about 8 hours before being shaved. But man, it was so cool. I just walked around the house quoting Tombstone to myself.

(You’re a daisy if ya do….)

Have a great month folks.

Thanks for the prayers for myself and my family. Answers and solutions for my daughter’s health are on the horizon and coming our way. And writing will be restored to it’s usual pace once again… one day….

Thanks!

I’m still kickin’.

I posted a little video update on FB the other day, and on a couple of the forums that I visit to let folks know where I’m at on Conquering Prehistoric.

To sum up my writing over the past few months, I wrote 16,000 words in November when my daughter was doing well. December a bit less, because work took more out of my PTO than expected… then in January I wrote 250 words, because she’s not doing well anymore.

As family comes first, the book is on the back burner. It’s probably 90% finished, and I’ve the rest of it already planned out in my head. I just need to find time and energy to work on it. And until my daughter is doing better, that’s going to be hard to find.

But we are meeting with some specialists next month to work out a protocol to help her. It will likely involve IVIG infusions and take a few months. As this illness ebbs and wanes, I expect I’ll get some more writing time in… this is just a really hard time right now. So don’t worry, the book will be finished… just not today.

(It’s taken me two days to get this much written for a blog post… I’m trying to speed through this before she needs me again.)

In other news, I got a cool shout out from Pro-Gun Millennial’s Blog.

https://progunmillennial.com

Red Menace’s Reading Room: 2023 Recap

West of Prehistoric by Erik Testerman – A great adventure novel set in the American West of the 1880’s except with dinosaurs and barbaric ape men. The premise is a lot of fun, the characters are great, and the action scenes were brutal. I can’t wait to get into the rest of the series. Also, apparently the author is a fan of us here at PGM. So on the off chance you’re reading this: Great book! 10/10

Groovy.

🙂

And as always, if you’ve read my books or listened to them on audible, please leave a review. It really helps sell more books, and the more books I sell the more likely I am to keep this side gig going. And tell your friends. Gift them copies. Be that guy(or gal!) that doesn’t shut up about how great cowboys and dinosaurs are and that you know this author who did this book thing that was awesome…

Til next time!

Erik.

Welp, I failed. Happy New Years everyone!

I was supposed to have Conquering Prehistoric finished by end of year. That’s been my goal for some time now. And I failed miserably at that. The book is turning out to be longer than initially thought, and I spent a week sick with zero writing, and finally in my list of excuses, work unexpectedly took more out of my ‘time off’ than I thought.

Anyways, as I tell my kids when they complain, “Waaa, waaa, waaa.”

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we did. No snow, but plenty of rain… to the point of nearly being a hurricane. I think the rain was blowing sideways when we reached my parents Christmas Day, after driving an hour through the wet fog. (You know it’s starting to get bad when people put on their hazards)

But my sister and my little brother were in town. So the entire family was there. Plus 4 dogs. (I didn’t bring any of ours. Because they are either monstrously too big to join in or laughably too tiny to play with others.)

I didn’t take any pictures either. So I’ve nothing to share.

Well, I did take this one of myself and ‘Skyla’. (I tried for three days to get a hair cut and never succeeded in doing so…)

Anyways, 2024 is just around the corner. And I’m excited, I always like the start of a new year. And 2024 is shaping up to be an interesting one already.

Resolutions are kind of hokey, but I’d like to get back in shape since I’m dang near pre-diabetic now, shoot guns more, and work on my writing/time management.

I wish you all the best ending of 2023 and the brightest of beginnings to 2024.

Erik.

Audible for Raiding Prehistoric is out!

So excited. I’m going to listen to it today.

The best man from my wedding narrated this. He built a sound studio in his house for it. So I’m expecting it to be full on awesome and the beginning of a long and royalty happy side gig for him.

I’m going to listen to it today.

Groovy.

Link below.

RAIDING PREHISTORIC – AUDIBLE

End of Nov update

16,000 word written this month.

That might actually be a high score for me. Although, I may have done just as well back in June 2018 when I started writing. But to be fair, most of that was garbage that was either thrown out or heavily rewritten. (I originally had a point of view from the Big Bad Ape in West of Prehistoric… it was…laughably bad…) These 16,000 words are all useable, just need a little editing.

And I absolutely could not have done it without my daughter’s health improving. We’ve still a long way to go, but there is a noticeable change for the better. Yay heavy antibiotics hidden in ice cream for the win. And a major thank you all for your prayers, they worked!

Conquering Prehistoric sits at 55,000 words right now. The minimum goal is 70,000 words for a full length book, and I try for 100,000… but I let it end where it ends between those numbers.

And I think seeing that I wrote basically over a quarter of the book in a single month shows just how difficult writing has been this year.

At this rate though, plus with my PTO I need to burn before the end of the year, I might actually finish it by New Years. Then I can start sending out copies for proof reading while I get back to work on the WWII book.

Will there be another West of Prehistoric book?

I don’t know. I’ve talked before about wanting to start another series in that world about 20-30 years later. The concept resides in my head right now. There aren’t any notes or outlines or such yet. I also know of a great way to continue Jed and Skyla’s story, the villain for that will be set up at the end of Conquering Prehistoric.

It just comes down to sales and what the publisher wants.

And I’ve currently got my 5 book contract signed with Conundrum… They’ve been nice enough to not give me a strict deadline. But I don’t want to abuse their hospitality by doing more WoP books while owing them.

All I can tell you is… tell your friends about these WoP books if you like them. Spread the word, buy them for your kids, post about them on your various web forums, help them sell so the publisher wants more.

And buy the future books I write. Help me stay a relevant writer.

My broken down Jeep Wrangler depends on those royalties. 🙂

I almost forgot.

Audiobook for Raiding Prehistoric! I think it’s wrapping up now. I know my buddy took a week off from work to get some audio time in his sound booth.

He even sent me a picture of himself working on it.