Thoughts on my Writing
Writing is my passion.
While my favorite things to write are fantasy, sci-fi and Steampunk, I enjoy writing EVERYTHING. Give me a topic, tell me how many words you want and I will write!
I totally need and want more paid writing gigs. But I digress.
Over the years I’ve written brochures, blogs, text for websites and many other business-centric pieces. For a time I even had my own company for this purpose, though its focus was a bit broader.
For the longest time I thought myself a pretend writer. I had only a couple small works published, I was full of uncertainty. But now I see that I have always been a writer, and always will be.
Let’s recap, shall we?
First there were my short stories, A Treacherous Stone, published by Dragon Moon Press in the anthology Rum and Runestones; and then The Vapor Rogues, published again by Dragon Moon Press in the anthology Spells and Swashbucklers. Both of these anthologies, if you have not read them, are full of stories all about pirates and magic by some pretty awesome authors!
After these two short stories had been published, I decided to try my hand at self-publishing. I began with Pathwalking – A 21st Century Philosophy. This is the first year of my Pathwalking blog, along with some additional bits. I have been blogging Pathwalking every Wednesday for over 4.5 years, and still going! I am currently exploring offering classes on the topic, and creating a workbook of a sort to go with it.
I began the fantasy series The Source Chronicles back in 1998. Along the way I had, for a time, an agent, though this was not his normal line of publishing. Then the first book – Seeker – was professionally edited. I continued to seek an agent or publisher, until I decided, nope, time to go this on my own. I published Seeker – The Source Chronicles Book I at the end of 2014.
A year later, after completing editing, I published Finder – The Source Chronicles Book II. Still not sure everyone who purchased Seeker realizes its sequel is available, and I have yet to see any reviews on Amazon.
The third book in The Source Chronicles – Harbinger – is complete, but unedited. My current plan is to have THAT one out in 2017.
Over the course of several years, I have participated in National Novel Writer’s Month (NaNoWriMo). I have, as such, completed 4 novelettes. On more than one occasion I ventured out of my usual comfort zone and wrote something different from my regular genres. One such story was Vortex Pilgrimage. Influenced highly by the works of Paulo Coelho, I decided in July 2015 to edit and publish it.
After some things posted to social media over a couple particularly dark days, an idea came to me. Back into the realm of non-fiction, I wrote a short self-help/holistic short book called Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better. I have this fairly simple idea I felt the need to express and share.
Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better also was my first foray into using Smashwords to spread my work to a broader audience.
Back to fiction, I decided after all the world building that I did for The Vapor Rogues short story, I needed to create more. So I began a new novel series. I had completed the first book, and determined to get it edited. That completed, just in time for the Steampunk World’s Fair I published Clouds of Authority – A Vapor Rogues Novel. Yes, it’s Steampunk, but it is also full of elements of both sci-fi and fantasy.
The next book in that series, Clouds of Destiny, is complete, I just need to edit it.
So I have now published a total of six different works, covering several genres. I blog twice weekly, Positivity on Mondays and Pathwalking on Wednesdays. I have 2 more complete novels, both in need of editing.
What am I working on now?
Currently I have one editing project and one writing project underway.
Editing: The first successful NaNoWriMo piece I wrote was a narrative of my experience following the reason why this blog is called The Ramblings of a Titanium Don. As I mention from time to time, in November of 1999 I was struck by a car while crossing a street (which resulted in my having titanium plates put into my right shoulder). I wrote about my recovery and my life over the next few years after the accident. It is fairly humorous, and also a true recounting from my perspective of that time. It is one of the most personal things I have EVER written, and over the years numerous people have told me THIS is the story I should be publishing.
Well, after years of resisting, I am moving forward with editing The Journey of a Thousand Miles…Begins with a Trip to the Post Office. The names have been changed to protect people, and rereading this has been an interesting experience for me. I am unsure just when I will be publishing this, but keep watching.
Writing: For some time now I have been itching to go back to my favorite genre, sci-fi. I just wasn’t coming up with an idea. Then, in September of last year, something popped into my head. Since then I have been writing this epic sci-fi space opera, creating new worlds, alien races, and using several non-traditional characters as well as playing around with some of the standard tropes of sci-fi stories. I am creating a rich universe with a diverse cast of characters, and it has been a LOT of fun to work on.
I still have no title for the story, but it’s probably so far on the order of about 350 pages and counting. Not sure when this will be completed and shared with the world, but keep an eye out for it.
Once I complete editing The Journey of a Thousand Miles…I will either start editing Clouds of Destiny or Harbinger. Additionally, I need to soon pick up where I left off in Guardians, the 4th book in The Source Chronicles.
So, dear reader, I have two requests of you. If you have enjoyed any of my works, PLEASE share the links with friends! Please, if you’ve not done so, take a moment to review on Amazon. Word-of-mouth is STILL my best marketing tool, and more readers means more people buying my work, which in turn means I can spend more of my time writing, editing and publishing. As I began, writing is my passion!
THANK YOU! Thank you for your encouragement, and all your support and inspiration. THANK YOU!
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