A Roleplaying Game

[dice; source]

Next on the list of merch that may come with our books or at least may be available at some point with our chapter books is a tabletop roleplaying game that my teenaged boy is working on.  He is also working on the video game but has taken time out to work on this for a while.  It is somewhat inspired by D&D, somewhat by GURPS (Generic Universal Roleplaying System), and somewhat by TOON, but it's a lot simpler than all of them because he's just one kid, and I'm just one playtester, though we're likely to be able to find more.  

[Aliens from our books.]

The game will contain several of the alien races we invented for my Doomimals, his Just US Chickens, and their extended universe.  It will have aspects of magic, tech, supers, and other sources of power and will allow the player and the narrator (the equivalent of the game/dungeon master) to enter their version of our world.  He's getting to the point where we can playtest it and figure out if it works for an audience.  He's not sure if he wants to make it available to you just yet.  I imagine that will depend on how well it tests.  I hope to be able to share most of the merch he's working on at the same time as the books. I'll be delighted to share as much of it with you as I can very soon. 

Finding Writing Contests

 

[source]

I've always found writing contests motivating.  I've rarely won anything (a few first-place prizes almost 20 years ago from League of Utah Writers and a few miscellaneous prizes since, 2nd place on an essay in college, honorable mention from Writer's Digest, and a few others), but it's still fun to either come up with something fresh or to polish something you've had sitting around in a rush against the deadlines.  My son and co-writer won 2nd prize from League of Utah Writers in the children's book category--bypassing several adults, many of whom have degrees--a couple of years ago on his first novel, one he wrote when he was 13.  

[The first illustration in The Misadventures of the Just Us Chickens.]

As I'm also working on editing my stories for you, we'll be making a push to enter pieces into that same contest again.  It won't necessarily get anything officially published, but the prize money and bragging rights could be fine.  The feedback we get is usually very helpful as well.  My boy's feedback on his prize-winning book was, "Tell me when this gets published, so I can buy it."  It would be great for him (or me) to get more of the same this year.  Besides this, this will give us a chance to edit some more pieces, so they're more polished when they get to you.  

[Cover of my short story on Amazon.]

My boy, Ax the Narrator, has been wanting to write a silly story called "Just Us Chickens vs the McGuffin Puffin," a sort of Indiana Jonesish story for a few months now then get it published on Amazon as a sort of teaser for his books.  That will happen very soon and will probably be your first chance to read the Chickens.  You can already read the first of my Doomimals stories on Amazon, in "If You Give a Cat the Boot."  It's even free on Kindle.  We look forward to getting you more material in the near future.  If ever you're looking for motivation to move your writing forward, keep contests in mind.