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February 2026
Bad news.
I hit a point of burnout. I burned out after finishing my novel Shards of Nirvana. I pushed on and wrote Throw Away Lives. (One of my favorite stories.) After that I was really burned out. I forced myself to write a screenplay, my first. That drained me completely.
Burnout sucks. I don't want to write. Well, I want to write but I just can't bring myself to. I don't feel like doing anything. As you can imagine this depresses me a great deal, especially as I don't want to do anything else in life but tell stories. The idea of getting a "real" job terrifies me--because I know how dreadfully boring they are. Also, I know that any job that involves doing work while sitting behind a computer screen will pretty much be gone in two years or less thanks to artificial intelligence. (We'll all be doing manual labor jobs thanks to AI, if we can even get a job, that is. Can you tell I hate AI?)
I hope I recover, as I want to continue to tell great stories. I never expected to burn out. I didn't even know that was possible. How can you burn out your soul's purpose? Well, push yourself hard enough for eleven years straight and it will happen.
My goal is to begin writing again in the spring, around May of 2026.
Wish me luck.
May, 2025
I have begun research and development for my Dungeons & Dragons fan fiction story Strange Meats: Best Butchers in Sigil. I imagine it will take a few weeks to do all of the research and to develop the structure, plot, and characters for the story. Then it will take weeks to months to write. This story will be much shorter than Breaking the Reign of the Dead, which runs to 130,000 words and is epic in scope (and took two years to write). I'm imagining this more as a novella. I want to come back to these characters from time to time so that Strange Meats becomes a series.
To see both the original and alternate please click on the D&D Fiction link in the menu.
Update: I stopped working on Strange Meats and wrote several other stories in its place. I hope to start working on it again soon (February 2026)
I made a merchandise store! You can get everything from cell phone cases to shower curtains! To visit my merchandise store please go to: Red Bubble. You can also follow the "Merchandise Store" link in the menu.
This was a fun process and it's something I planned on doing in the future. I thought why wait? I researched the various platforms, found on that looked good (Red Bubble), and put everything together. I hope you like it!
Written sometime in mid-2024.
I am currently working on the "packaging" for all of my free and for-sale fiction. By packaging I mean the covers and back copy. I am also finishing this website and the website for Rooster & Raven Publishing, LLC. The website for Breaking the Reign of the Dead (a free Pathfinder RPG novel set in Geb, Nex, and the Mana Waste) is almost done. All I need to do is add the distribution schedule and connect some links.
Update: I took the free Breaking the Reign of the Dead website down. The story is now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardback.
Breaking the Reign of the Dead Kindle
Breaking the Reign of the Dead Paperback
Breaking the Reign of the Dead Hardback
I hope to get all of the packaging done, except for the back copy, and all three websites done by the end of June. I am waiting to write the back copy when I do another full edit of all of my free and for-sale fiction.
After the websites are done I need to continue my research on marketing--the most difficult part for me. This research will lead to the creation of a marketing plan. Once I have a plan I can define the distribution schedule for Breaking the Reign of the Dead. The release of Breaking in installments along with the marketing plan will mark the official launch of Rooster and Raven Publishing, LLC.
This process marks the culmination of almost ten years of work. The first step in this ten year plan was to master the craft of storytelling, at least to the point where my writing could stand next to the writing of the authors I love and measure myself against. That took eight years!
Now comes the relatively easy work of building a business, attracting fans, selling books, and telling more great stories to those fans.
Update
It is now September 2024. I have made all the covers, written back copy, and made all the files for print and eBooks. I am now in the process of recording audio files. I am fortunate in that the public library in the next town over has two recording studios. They aren't soundproof rooms but they are good enough for what I'm trying to do.
I am going to record audio (yes, me reading) for all of my free Pathfinder fiction (except To Trick a God). I am going to try to record Breaking the Reign of the Dead as well, but that's a long book. I want to record it because I know that a lot of people would enjoy listening to it.
When I am done with the recordings (and editing them) I will make videos for my YouTube and TikTok pages. Despite the fact that I rarely listen to audio books I enjoy making them. I would love to make audio books for all of my free and for sale material. Hopefully I will be able to.
Update: I think my voice sounds terrible on audio recordings. I could use Ai to do the narration but I don't want to. Maybe I will come around to the idea if/when I experiment with the various AI tools out there. For now I have decided not to make a YouTube channel or a TikTok account.
What comes next is the most difficult part for me: social media and marketing. However, after all this work I am motivated to make those accounts. I don't want to get 90% done and then leave the last 10% unfinished. Also, and here is my motivator, once everything is built and up I can go back to writing!
What do I want to write? It's nice of you to ask. I want to write a new Esar-Haden story (I've already begun plotting), Dungeons & Dragons fan fiction (see the Dungeons & Dragons page), and my eighth novel. This will be a dark fantasy/horror novel. I will keep you all updated here.
Wish me luck!