adventures in writing

The Journey

Ashe News, Personal , , ,

I have been trying to write this for two weeks now. I’m sure part of it is finally starting rehab on my shoulder. My daily schedule has shifted a lot since we moved. My blood sugar’s been bad, with my A1C having gone up a few points since my last visit. But here I am, finally making the words. Because I wanted to talk about where I’m going with writing right now. It’s a journey. I guess this is part of my process right now, so, why not share with y’all.

I’ve made it clear that I’ve been struggling since finishing By Demons Be Driven. Squeezed a few words out here and there last year, but always falling away again. Prepped two different books to write in ’21 and ’22 only to lose the drive again. I don’t lack ideas, at least. God, I’ve got a whole document full of ideas. Thought of a new one last night as I was falling asleep. I’ve currently got concepts for another 5 or 6 Grimluk books, the cyberpunk sword and sorcery book (trilogy? I think?), and the Stargate He-Man John Carter series. The latter two, if you’ve forgotten, would be set in Grimluk’s universe, with the former staying on Arkod, and the latter taking off for sword and planet adventures. Orcs at the forefront of both. I’ve also considered going ahead and doing Grimluk 5 like I’d originally planned before starting something new. I’ve got a big chunk of that book fleshed out in my head already and have for a long time now.

I’ve also been chewing on the idea of trying my hand at Romance. Whether an old idea or a new one, I don’t know. I’ve considered writing a romance series for Grimluk’s parents, Bakhor and Urgroz. Or maybe Emerald and Yara from Demons Within. And if I ever re-write “From Tusk ’til Dawn”, the orc lead and elf saloon girl could fit as very Buffy-style “urban” fantasy, helped along by the fact that I fully plan on bringing those two back for a Grimluk-fights-gender-swapped-Dracula book down the line (I told you I’ve got a lot of ideas for him).

And hell, I could easily finish some of the worldbuilding for the Battle of the Bands campaign and use that for a book setting too! I am absolutely fucking swimming in ideas and concepts for new books, even comics if I could find an artist who wanted to work together and get something rolling.

No, that is definitely not the problem, my friends. The problem is everything feels pointless to write. Frivolous, even. The old world is dying, straining with all its might to maintain power, one last gasp of hideous life to snuff out the new world before it can be born. We’re living in a system that demands blood, milk, and honey from a handful of gravel. The great irony being NOW needs stories most especially. So here I sit, struggling with executive dysfunction in one hand, and some unholy combination of ennui, existential overload, guilt, shame, and frustration in the other. It is incredibly difficult to pick a direction to go creatively when I feel so disconnected from life. Feeling pretty connected to myself thanks to a really good therapist and we’re starting to work on this, too.

I don’t know. I just thought maybe I’d share where I am. What I’m doing. Where I’m going. I hope life’s treating you well. May your struggles be few right now.

News

Ashe News , , ,

Been a while. Have some news.

I thought maybe I’d announce this finally. I recently went looking through my story ideas file and saw one that creeps into my mind every so often. I got to thinkin about it again and decided it would make a great project for Patreon. So here’s what’s I’m gonna do…

Starting in September, I’ll be starting a new episodic story. A reverse portal fantasy about an orc from Arkod’s (that’s the name of Grimluk’s home planet in case you forgot) past gets sucked into modern day America. This will be a slice of life kind of thing. Going from flash fiction to short story length. Very rare on the action. I want to get writing again but my book projects seem too big still. And since I have been too quiet this year, this should be a win-win for my patrons. So far, the folks I’ve talked to about the idea really like it. I hope that continues. I just want something a bit softer and easier right now. And this will be a Patreon exclusive, too.

I don’t know if I’ll do much in the way of new D&D homebrew for the foreseeable future either. I may eventually do some more Battle of the Bands stuff but considering how precarious scheduling is for my gaming group right now, I’m not sure when or if my first foray into DMing is going to happen. But, ya know, worst case, I make it into its own book. Maybe do a kickstarter for it. Who knows.

I also had an ADHD eval on Monday and, for the third time, was told that while I have symptoms, it’s all depression, anxiety, and trauma. So I’m going to be trying a higher dosage of the drug I take as a sleep aid, since it’s actually an early psych med. Supposedly the bigger dose will help me sleep even more than the baby dose, which I desperately want right now. Here’s hoping things improve. The past few weeks have felt particularly bad for me being able to get stuff done.

So that’s where I’m at right now. Still trying to get my bodily and mental health taken care of. Gonna work on this new project for the time being. And yes, there will be a new book eventually. Who knows, if the increased medication works, my production schedule could actually become an actual, stable schedule. I’ve got The Once and Future Slayer ready to start and the Crimson Warrior (or whatever I end up calling it) is also ready to go. Grimluk 5 is like half-formed in my head already, I just need to actually set up an outline, do all the preproduction stuff I do.

And to reiterate, the new slice of life stories? Patreon exclusives, which you can keep up with for just $1 a month. Link in the sidebar.

Hope you’re doing well. I hope your summer treated you well, and if it didn’t, I hope the fall treats you better. Be safe, be kind, be excellent.

Life

Ashe News, Personal ,

I have not put any updates here in a while. To be fair, I’ve had few updates to give to anyone anywhere. The past six months have been…a time. Sales (and reviews) for By Demons Be Driven have been sparse. I’ve got two new books ready to start, each with a new protagonist, but I have yet to do so. Patreon content has been very low.

Burn out is the name of the game right now. I’m just burnt out. Two years of pandemic life, combined with its effects on my writing career, and a bunch of health stuff (for me and my partner) have me feeling empty. Add to that all the news that keeps flooding our eyeballs, and yeah. I even took a twitter break last weekend, I felt so bad. Then there was a shooting here in Tulsa.

I’m just not getting to live enough life right now for a variety of reasons. Covid is surging again so the summer is going to be bad for that. I still wear my mask when I go out. I’m sure we’ll all need to get another booster too.

So that’s where I’m currently at. Struggling to create anything right now and feeling ashamed of it. Struggling to take care of myself and ashamed of it. I’m trying but I hit a level of empty I’ve not felt in a very, very long time. As I told everyone on Patreon, I’m trying to get better. Please be patient with me. Which is not a thing I would say anyone needs to say but the grip of capitalism runs deep.

Hope you’re doing well. Take care of yourselves.

An Ashe Update

Ashe News , , ,

A few quick updates today.

  1. There’s a new post up on Patreon about my experience with a tweet I made going viral a few weeks back.
  2. I’ve started work on Grimluk 4 and the second draft of book 3, The Demons Within. Keeping my word goal lower on book 4 at the moment, shooting for a 500 minimum daily goal. For Demons Within, I’m basically shooting for a chapter a day but that all depends on how much work needs to be done when I get to it.
  3. If anyone has any requests for Orctober, now is the time to make them. This year’s theme is going to be D&D related.
  4. This is your friendly reminder that the Kickstarter for The Demons Within will launch on October first! Had to change some plans on a reward tier but the new plan works pretty well, I think.

That’s all for now!

Grimluk 3 News

Ashe grimluk, News ,

Picture 256

Who has 2 thumbs and finished the first draft of the next Grimluk book? This dude! At 65,885 it’ll need some fleshing out in spots but it’s done. Ultimate goal will be a 75,000 minimum and I’m certain the second draft will hit that easily. Took notes for that along the way. I’m happy with how everything turned out, even with the stuff I’ll be changing quite a bit.

That said, if you’re so interested, I’ve posted the title and a snippet over on Patreon. I’ll be sharing the title everywhere else come June if you’d rather wait.

News Things

Ashe News , , , ,

In the immediate, there’s a new post concerning some worldbuilding concepts for the Grimluk series over on Patreon today. Mostly it’s just a few things I thought were interesting enough to share but haven’t been used yet or are still forming. Check it out, only costs a buck to read everything.

As I mentioned in my healthcare post Monday, I started a fundraiser for medical costs and to help afford a new car. Between Nici and I, we need some heavy stuff taken care and I really need a newer car so I can have reliable transportation and not have to worry about major repairs for a few years. We are pretty desperate and anything you can afford will help. Along with the general state of the US, this is a pretty huge source of anxiety right now.

In more pleasant news, Grimluk 3 is chugging along, gaining momentum toward finishing the first draft. I’m nearing the 56,000 word mark as of last night. The final goal for release next year will be a 75,000 word minimum, like with Demon Haunted. The first draft goal is looking to be 65-70,000 as I know I’ll be able to fill out in the second draft. There’s plenty of stuff I’ll be rewriting and expanding as well as certain areas that I’ll just be flat out finishing (mostly just little transition sections and bits of dialogue that were bogging my progress down).

I’ll probably take a month off after that, aside from Patreon, take a week to bang out the Gwen short story I started after (and set after) Demon Haunted, get some Kickstarter planning for October, as well as some Orctober planning, and then start on Grimluk 4. If all goes to plan, and no major distractions happen, I’m hoping I can finish Grimluk 4’s draft by December.

Before I end this, just want to say that however bleak things are looking right now, find a loved one and hug them and remember that there’s still good in the world.

Stay weird, be kind.

Looking Back and Going Forward

Ashe News, Personal , , , , ,

The Hell year that has been 2016 is coming to its end and 2017 looms ominously in the wings. With that in mind, I thought I might give a bit of retrospection on the year and think about what’s to come in the new year.

Personally, the year started off in a harsh note. I don’t exactly make it a secret that my family life is less than stellar, even if I don’t post much about it here on the Dot Com. Not a lot of that has changed. In a lot of ways it feels like it’s much worse. My partner and I are trying to move back to Tulsa and in with her mom. It’s not going very quickly due to a host of factors. So, if you want to help, buy my books, leave reviews, and spread the word about Grimluk.

Professionally, though, I think I’ve had a pretty great year. And a busy one up until October. February saw the Kickstarter campaign for Demon Haunted, which ultimately failed, topping out at $1600 of my $2000 goal. Which was cool. I backtracked and switched over to Indiegogo, making use of their flexible funding option for March. Thanks to some flexibility on Tim Marquitz’s part as my editor, the $900 I managed did the job. Even the self-publishing world benefits from good contacts. And hey, Tim‘s an author, too, and having a rough time with some health stuff, you should go buy a few of his books.

The summer was spent busting my ass on editing and finishing up the map of Ornesea and a few other image products for Grimluk, especially for the Indiegogo backers. In August, I managed to get a basic plot down for Grimluk 3 and started it. Unfortunately, by the time October rolled around, I was exhausted, so it’s sitting around 15,000 words and waiting on me to get back to it. But, ya know, hey, that’s an accomplishment in and of itself.

October also saw my first Orctober and it turned out pretty damn well and was pretty popular. I’ve also been selling pretty well. October saw me make $50 in sales, which is a definite milestone and one I’m stoked about. November and December have been great as well. December especially when compared to last year when I only sold one book for Christmas.

So, what’s in store for 2017? Well, first up, hopefully the move will get done and out of the way as quickly as possible but that’s not looking hopeful. So, beyond that, I give more hope to my mental health issues calming back down and letting me get back to work. I won’t be ready to crowdfund Grimluk 3 by Spring unless I get a sudden round of supercharging. So the plan is to work hard to finish the first draft of 3, start work on book 4, and run a campaign in October and tie it into Orctober and then shoot for another October release in 2018. I’m batting around the idea of doing a massive campaign for books 3 AND 4, but I’ll probably wait and run the campaign for book 4 in October 2018 as well.

Beyond that, we’ll see what else happens. I’m also debating getting some issues with Audible worked out so I can potentially do audiobooks as well. Depending on when I get moved, I might also attempt to start working on a comic with a buddy of mine, though that will depend on several other factors as well. I’ve also contemplated starting a Patreon again for short stories, mostly for a certain side character of Grimluk’s. I’ve also considered doing heavy metal album reviews. I’d consider trying to do Twitch streams but I don’t currently have the hardware to do that.

So, that’s all the news and forecasts I have to offer. I figure I can do some more posts here or there like my Why Orcs post. Was pretty amazed at how popular that turned out. I hope you had a good year, my friends and I hope 2017 meets you better than 2016 did. Remember:

Be excellent to each other!

News & Demon Haunted Teaser

Ashe News, Promotion, Writing , , , , , ,

Figured it was time to share a bit more of Demon Haunted with everyone. But first, some news!

Most of everything I’ve been working on with Demon Haunted is basically done. At this point, I have a few little things to finish with some image stuff and that’s it. Demon Haunted is being proofread, the first print proof arrives tomorrow, and everything’s shaping up and looks like it’ll be ready with some wiggle room before October. Whoo!

Secondly, I’ve started Grimluk 3 and I’m already nearly 2500 words in. That’s pretty exciting. Hopefully, I can get the first draft for this one done pretty quick and then start on book 4 as well. But hopefully, when folks start reading Demon Haunted, they enjoy themselves. Otherwise there won’t be a huge point in trying to put out more Grimluk, eh?

Anyways, on with the snippet! Again, no spoilers for the main plot, just a nice scene I’m fond of. Fair warning as this one is more on the disturbing side than the last one. If you’re not fond of snakes or some body horror…

Continue reading →

Year One

Ashe News , , , ,

Holy shit, guys, gals, and hellbeasts. A Demon in the Desert came out a year ago. And it’s been a hell of a year. I’ve made 101 sales, had a successful crowdfunding campaign for the sequel, and a slew of reviews both constructively critical and excited. I’ve met a lot of folks, gotten fan art, learned a lot of things, and I’m like 10,000% sure that Demon Haunted is gonna make you guys even happier than the first book. What a ride.

And hey, if you enjoyed the book and left a review, thank you SO MUCH. If you enjoyed it but haven’t, it would mean a lot to me if you left one. And if that’s something you’re not comfortable with, badger your friends and loved ones in my name! Cause Tim Marquitz thinks Demon Haunted is a great book and this hype train needs to get rolling.