"H" - Completed!

Hey gang,

This week's been crazy, but I just wanted you all to know that "H" has been completed. Well the first draft anyway. For those of you who are regular to our little home in the country, expect a quick reading. For those of you who I regularly send first drafts to, get ready, "H" is coming and it's fucked up. If you thought Drain was twisted, wait til you get a gander at this. I was in a Chuck Palhuniak mood, and it clearly shows in this little story. Gross, but gross like a car wreck. You want to look away, but you can't. ;)

Publicly, you guys should be seeing this around mid to late September!

Later!

Stefan

"H"

I've been missing for a couple of days, Holly wasn't feeling well and I stayed with her. I came back to work today but couldn't get the vibe for the next chapter ... too much of a downer for such a beautiful day. This section contains two funerals and is going to be long and draining to complete, so for the benefit of the bright sunshine outside, I settled in on the beginning of that weird-ass short story I was talking about earlier, which right now is called "H".

It's off to a good start and I'm curious to see how it will play out as the story continues to roll. This might be the next short story release. I'll probably work some more on it tomorrow before getting back into Online on Monday.

Chapter 6

Today I outlined Chapter 6 which I'll start work on tomorrow morning. The first sub-section of this chapter is likely going to be a big 'un. Come to think of it, I think all of Chapter 6 is going to be the longest one so far. We'll start tieing some character reletionships together which will last for the remainder of the novel.

I've just finished reading Carl Hiassen's Tourist Season. That was a lot of fun and I think I'll be picking up the rest of his books over time. I've just started Owen King's We're All In This Together. If you noted the particular last name and wondered, yes, this is Stephen King's son. I'm only a few pages in but it's strongly written, though wordy and often too poetic. I'm curious to see how the rest of it plays out.

Turning The Corner

Okay, so I wanted to wait and see if my new plan was working ... and with great relief, it is.

I've found a new place to write during the days, a great little coffeehouse in Colonial Heights, VA, about 15 minutes from my house. In the last three weeks I've written about 7,900 words, which is about 7,800 more than in the last few months. Getting out of the house and being in a social setting is paramount for this writer, it would seem. After having said that, I just put Chapter 5 in the bag. Keep in mind this is the re-write of Online. After this version is completed it will be personally edited then off to the real editors and finally publication.

The Juggler concept album is moving along quite nicely. I'll make some sample available around the first of September. The songs are mind blowing! Pro-Aggression is an amazing band!

A new idea for a short story popped into my head the other day over breakfast and Holly really likes it. I'm deciding whether or not to go ahead with it or wait a bit and see if it cooks any longer. There's benefits to either scenario. Let's tentatively title this one, "H".

That's about it. I'll try to get back to this journal on a daily basis after writing, which means you should hear from me again on Monday.

Peace,

Stefan

Fans

I've got to say ... sometimes the best part of this job is finding people across the world that know who you are and have enjoyed your words. I've heard from people as far away as Scotland who have somehow come across my books. In the last week, I've heard from people in Texas, Minnesota and California. The woman from Minnesota is a big fan of both my books.

It's that kind of news that keeps the gears grinding and pushes me onward.

Tonight I'm hoping to finish off reading the Online manuscript so that I can jump back in.

Thanks for reading and the continued support!

Back "Online"

Okay, so to say that my lyrics for the album were well received might be a bit of an understatement. The two most important people in the project Chris (Pro-Aggression) and Holly (muse) read and loved them! So the album goes forward with some early listening for me relatively soon. Pretty exciting stuff. Really ... if you haven't checked out Pro-Aggression's stuff, you're missing out.

So let's see ... yes back to the writing. Well for tonight--if I can stay awake long enough--I've got to print up the current pages of Online; A Ghost Story and sort of catch up to where I left off. I hate letting go of the heartbeat of a story, but sometimes it can't be helped.

Drain seems to have been also well-received. Holly used words like "hair-raising" and "gooey". :) Overall it was apparent that I had fun with it, which I did. I'll probably write a second draft sometime next week. The new official release date for the story is August 1st.

Well that's all for now boys and ghouls.

I'll be back Sunday night. Until then ...

Drained ...

Just a quick update here.

I've just about completed all the song lyrics for the Juggler album and I've just tonight finished the first draft of Drain. I'll try this out on Holly to see how it works and I'll let you know how the second draft goes.

Ben Again is a much bigger story than first anticipated and will most likely become a novella. I'm thinking of putting another novella with it, working title Twinners and putting them out as a book called Incarnate. But more on that later.

I'll be sending the lyrics to Chris tomorrow. Hopefully he won't think they suck. :)

Pro-Aggression & Darkwriter

Well it looks like the Pro-Aggression/Darkwriter deal is a go! I'm really excited about this project! Imagine, a Juggler concept album!

I took tonight away from the stories and worked on the layout and some preliminary lyrics. In this project I'll be writing the lyrics and Pro-Aggression will be doing the music.

The working song titles are listed below. Please keep in mind that this is a work-in-progress and things could change.

1) Judas
2) Brain Angel
3) Sins of the Mother
4) The Shunite
5) Goodnight Sweet Prince
6) And Prometheus Hangs
7) Victims
8) The Magician
9) Elizabeth
10) The Bargain
11) Prince of Emptiness
12) Ugly Love
13) The Shunite - Reprise

I'll be off tomorrow night as it's Holly's birthday and I'm taking her to see Tim McGraw & Faith Hill.

See you Thursday night/Friday morning!