Plans for the Future

[Recent launch. Source: Unsplash.]

This blog is about my indie writing career and what I'm doing with it. As you probably noticed, I launched my first book and made it available to you last week. I blogged about it last week. The book is about three kids and their super animal companions fighting off the Doomsday at the talons of The Bird, the evil Dog of War's right-hand monster. It's an action-adventure coming-of-age romp based on "Chicken Little." It's perfect for kids 8-12 or readers whose skills fall in that range. Adults have also read and loved it. This book series has the tone of a Percy Jackson book and is reminiscent of Animorphs. If your kids like books like those, this is for them. 

Some years ago, I made available a prequel to this series. You can read it for free on Amazon here. It can be read before or after any of the stories. It simply expands on the lore. 

[Book 2 illustration]

My next book is called Doomimals Book 2: "Cat-a-clysm" and is based on "Three Little Kittens." The three kids from book 1 team up with three kittens to try to retrieve the Mittens of Cataclysm before they are used to destroy the world. The rough draft was written some years ago and was rewritten more recently. I'm right now working on deepening the emotional context of the tale. I'll then run it by my beta readers. I hope to launch it in October. 

[Spanish. Source: Unsplash.]

Meanwhile, I'm working on a Spanish language translation of book 1 since I'm bilingual and having my nephew, TPAW aka TPA Wulfric, and whose books you can find here, do a high-quality audio recording for Audible. I made a superhero cape for him when he was a toddler, and now, he's helping me fly. His own little ones now wear that cape. He's been one of my greatest supporters and helped me reconceptualize my story structure. With both Audible and translation, I'm hoping to make it available to more people. 

[Chickens!]

I'm now working on helping Ax the Narrator, my own right-hand man and son, rewrite his masterful spin-off of my book, Just Us Chickens. The first book is called The Misadventures of the Just Us Chickens. Mine is focused on the kids and their struggles to reunite their family and save the world. His follows the adventures of the animals, particularly a group of super chickens who will save the world if ever they can stop tripping all over their own feathers. 

He took my scaredy Chicken Little, named Drumstick, and swept him into this new team. As I said last week, he wrote the first draft when he was 13 and just learning to write. It won second place in the kids' book contest against much older writers. He's now rewriting it to make it zanier, crazier, more human but also more fun. He takes his inspiration from books like Captain Underpants and The Bad Guys, though it's for a slightly older audience. We're shooting to launch this book in September, date forthcoming. 

[Writing. Source: Unsplash.]

Meanwhile, I'm working on reaching out more to you, the reader. I'll be blogging a lot more often. I'm enrolled in an online class that will help us learn how to bring my pieces to more people. I'll be donating my books to libraries and working on getting them into bookstores. I'm eager to share my books will everyone I can. I'd also love to hear from you. What do you look for in a book? 

Launched!

[The Doomimals Kids]

Doomimals features three kids striving to save the world from the evil Dog of War. She's sent the sinister Bird to hunt down three kids and their super-powered animal companions. Book 1 kicks off the whole adventure and is an action/adventure romp for kids and is based on "Chicken Little." The kids' rooster tells them the sky is falling; in other words, bad things are coming. Davis, a nerdy boy, Kitt, his heroic twin sister, and Tessa, his sweet cousin, have to fight their way through a gauntlet of animal enemies to tell the mayor the world is in trouble. Only their pets' help will help them survive. 

[Delayed launch; source]

I apologize for the delay. I thought I was ready to launch and was focused on researching how to publish on Amazon when I had my friends, Theresa Furbish and Evelyn, her daughter, play the part of final beta readers. Thanks to them. They helped me see the books still needed some work to be ready for you to enjoy. It's finally ready! Expect updates a lot more frequently now that book one is done. 

[The Cover]

Book 1 is now available for you on Amazon! Pick it up today in ebook, paperback, or hardback. Here is the link. This would be perfect for kids who love Animorphs or Percy Jackson or even "Phineas and Ferb." Included in book 1 is a link to a prequel, "If You Give a Cat the Boot," based on "Puss in Boots." If you'd just like that short story, here it is. It's free there as well. 

[Just Us Chickens]

As for what's next, five years ago, Ax the Narrator, my 13-year-old boy, won second place in the children's book category of the League of Utah Writer's annual contest. He went up against several writers like me with degrees and years of experience. My reviewers always give me feedback to help me polish. The reviewer simply loved the characters and zaniness and said, "Send me an email when it's published. I must have a copy." 

[Chickens!]

Ax has written around 20 novels and several short stories, among other things, since his first novel. They're all in various degrees of completion. With all of his years of experience behind him, he's now rewriting the original book 1 to add more depth and fun. He'll include that original award-winning manuscript for free with book 1. We're shooting to have it finished and polished in the next couple of weeks. 

[Doomimals Book 2: Cat-a-clysm]

Meanwhile, I'll be pushing to complete a final edit of Doomimals Book 2 using the help of my friends. I'm hoping to get it done in September. I'll keep you posted. Buy your copy of book 1 today.  

Revving the Engines

 

[Revving Engines toward launch--source]

Update: I apologize. I'm still poised to publish the first Doomimals book. I've just been working 12-16 hour days and have not been able to squeeze out the energy and time combined to get my fully prepared manuscript posted. But the holidays and time off is coming. I should be posting a publication date soon. We have a webpage prepared to go with it. It just doesn't have links yet. Chickens should come soon after the launch of Doomimals. Also, soon after, will be the first Kindle Vella segment of my first romance novel, After the Dream. It is coming soon. I'll let you know as soon as I have dates. 

Why the Delay?

 

[Delayed launch--source]

I'm still planning a launch very soon on book 1 of Doomimals, Book 1 of Just Us Chickens, (both chapter books on KDP select, at least for the first while).  I'm also planning to launch part 1 of the Christian Romance book, After the Dream. I'm doing final editing on the latter two. Both kids' books have been illustrated. I was poised to publish Doomimals a few weeks ago since it's totally ready to go, but then, we realized it would be a good idea to have a website set up first. 

[Working on books: source]

I did have a website for several years, but it came up for renewal. I couldn't justify the price, so we started over. We have someone working on it now. Any day now, we'll have a basic page, and Doomimals Book 1 will go up.  In the meantime, Ax the Narrator (my son) will continue to work on new chicken books, a Wiki, and a universe-building role-playing game. Meanwhile, I'm doing the editing and getting the help of my writers' group on future sections of the romance novel.  Very soon, we'll announce a date, and I'll launch it and announce it on social media and advertise it everywhere.  Be watching for these books soon.  

 

[My teenage child's illustration for book 1.]

I'm ready to launch Doomimals. I'm just waiting for my husband to build our new website, so we can have something to which we can direct the reader. We are working on a landing page that will give you links to our KDP Select chapter book series, the Doomimals books, very soon to the first Just Us Chickens book (I'm wrapping up editing on the first one), and Imperfections, a Christian romance series that will go up on Vella. All of them, plus my published academic theses (one on the Pimpernel and one on fairy tale adaptations into fantasy and the healing power of fiction) will be linked to from the landing page and will become central pieces on individual pages. Our webpage will give you access to this blog as well as our pieces. 

[Upcoming fanfiction, source.]

I'll also shortly be working on highlighting my writer's blog, my mourning blog, and my cat blog in individual books.  I have a small readership but hope to broaden that. Meanwhile, Ax the Narrator will be working on a Doomimals universe Wiki. He's also doing a fanfiction crossover between Just Us Chickens, "My Little Pony," "Ben 10, " "Milo Murphy," "Phineas and Ferb," "Total Drama," as well as other popular pieces. It will be free, and I'll be linking to it here and on my website.  I also have various younger children's books that have already been written and just need to be prepped for publication. We will have a lot of material on our new publication website, Sleepy Hollow Press. I will keep you posted here as we make progress. It could even be later this week. 

Coming Soon: Launch!

[Just US Chickens cover]

 In the next week or so, both Doomimals Book 1 and Misadventures of the Just US Chickens will both be coming out. I have both covers just about finalized. Doomimals Book 1: Cock-a-doodle-DOOM! has been fully edited, and its images added. It's just waiting to get formatted. Just Us Chickens is almost done with its final edit. They will both be available on KDP Select for the first few months, anyway. We'll see past that. 

[First illustration from Doomimals Book 1]

We'll meanwhile be working on Just Us Chickens Book 2 and then a backstory for one of the main characters. Then, we'll work toward launching Doomimals Book 2. A FB page for each series will come out. We're shooting to release a new book per month as much as possible. We'll announce here, on the Just Us Chickens FB page, on Twitter, on a new webpage soon to launch, and everywhere else I can think of. We'll also be working on launching an Amazon ad campaign. Be watching for forthcoming news. 

Twice the Chickens, Twice the Fun

[Super Chickens]

My teenage boy, who will be going by Ax the narrator, is the other half of my writing partnership. He's the wildly creative half of our team who is unrestricted by adult fears and limitations like I have been. All you have to do is have a slip of the tongue, throw out a crazy wordplay, or watch a movie and play with him, and he spins off into a new character, subplot, or a new book, which he can churn out in a few days. It was his slip-of-the-tongue when he said Alpacalips that my brain started churning, and Doomimals was born. I, meanwhile, have the master's in English and the practical sense of grammar, structure, writing, and literary depth. I run into writer's block frequently, and he bails me out with his wild ideas. He'll spin out a crazy scene for me, and I'll weave it into something ready to be read. 

[School of Rock-source]

Recently, we watched the Broadway musical "School of Rock," based on the early 2000s movie with Jack Black. Even though it's about a slacker scamming his way into a substitute teaching, he must have done something right because during my Master's program, my whole group of budding college English instructors was taken on a field trip to see the movie in order to learn to teach in a creative way. But in the eyes of my boy, this became the inspiration for a crazy plotline about super chickens substituting at a high-brow school, where they end up having major super battles with possessed teachers. 

[The Bad Guys, a silly book series recently adapted for movie theaters. Source]

While I'm finishing up the editing process and doing the last items to prep my first book for publication, my boy is churning out zany Captain Underpantsesque/The Bad Guys-like insane books. I was going to release one of my books then one of his books, but it's pretty clear his go a lot faster than mine. How does this translate to your experience? The new plan is to put out one of my books then, the next month, release one of his then, a month later, another of his. Doomimals will come out every third month or so while his are going to come out a lot faster. As soon as my first is done, we'll immediately focus on pumping out his, one after another. It's something to look forward to in the near future.