A big one, of course, is the vibe I get from the client. If you seem like a pain in the ass, the price goes up. If you’re friendly and easy to communicate with, you’ve got nothing to worry about in that regard. The price might even come down a little if you make me laugh or mention you’ve done a little research on me.

If I know you’re writing a series or looking for multiple rounds/types of editing, the price comes down a touch. It’s worth it to me to build that kind of relationship (both personally and professionally), and working with a manuscript, an author, or a series multiple times is easier than starting fresh with a new voice, setting, and collection of characters.

If the tone of the manuscript is similar to my own writing, the price drops a little. If you sound like my Deviant Magic series, for instance, my job becomes a lot easier! I can do dark, quirky humor and messy characters in my sleep. If your genre or voice is wildly different from what I’m used to or the subject matter just isn’t something I find fun, I adjust upward.

And then, I consider what’s going on in the manuscript itself. If I read the sample and realize every sentence needs work, I need to charge more for the added time.

Poorly formatted manuscripts cost more as well because they’re harder to read. Seriously, writers, keep this simple and consistent: one font size for the body text, one paragraph style (with either an indent or a space after each paragraph), clearly delineated chapter and section breaks, obvious decisions about how to style/punctuate telepathy/text messages/book excerpts/etc. Keep it consistent, and don’t overthink it. This will make your design phase quicker, easier, and cheaper too.

And then, I check for a personal bugaboo that drives me up the tree: poorly punctuated dialog. I can’t with this one. I know; fixing stuff like this is my job. But man, sometimes it’s the same issue over and over and over again for hundreds of pages, and there’s no easy way to fix it with find and replace, so I’m adding another fraction of a cent to account for the frustration.

Long story short: a friendly approach and a little time up front to make your manuscript presentable can save you time and money in the editing process.

And everything else

I acquired all the remaining Deviant Magic stock from Outland. My tiny studio apartment looks like a warehouse. Big thanks to the team over there for giving me a solid deal! I’m planning to sell these locally, and also to use them when I want to give a book to people I’m friendly with.

Work on standing up Giant Sword Publishing continues. Got a mailing list almost set through MailerLite, I’ve been claiming social media handles, and I started reconfiguring my old KDP account.

Soccer’s never been my thing, but I’m glad everybody in the Boston area’s been having so much fun with the World Cup. It’s cool to see.

Til next time!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that the rights to my Deviant Magic novels are coming back to me, and that I’ll be selling the series through my new Giant Sword Publishing imprint, with an LLC of the same name. Whereas I’m a benevolent CEO who believes in both transparency and giving back to my community, I thought I’d share a bit about how I’m going to do that. Note that this choice of topic has nothing at all to do with the general malaise and brain fog I’ve felt today after last night’s late softball game (big win, three hits including a double for me).

1. Set up that LLC. This is done, along with all the associated financial crap. Related, we really need a means of disabling 2FA on accounts and services that are still being set up and contain literally nothing worth stealing, holy shit.

2. Build the brand and the website. The former’s done; the latter’s in process, mostly because modern Wordpress makes me so mad. Sometimes, I think my twenty years of experience supporting technology is actually a hindrance because I remember when this stuff wasn’t such an annoying mess of unnecessary cruft, but I digress. The brand is red and black and gray because I think it’ll look nice on a shirt or a hat, and that logo’s part baseball, part bad ass 90s nu metal, and all Scott’s Half-Assed Affinity Designer Skills. It’s good enough for now.

3. Start distributin’. I’m going to be running print through IngramSpark and slingin’ ebooks exclusively through Amazon’s KDP services. Why split?

4. Well, Amazon’s got the vast majority of the ebook market, and I want to be hyper-aggressive on that front. Kindle Unlimited? Yes, for all but the newest book in the series. Regular deep discounts and maybe even a yearly free download for book one? You betcha. Taking advantage of the fact that I have five whole books and can offer one cheaply to hook readers is a pillar of this whole scheme. Authors are sort of like drug dealers, right?

5. And then, it’s time to get promotin’. I’ve got a list of review-y/marketing-y services to hit, and I plan to run a few Facebook ads, as I’ve heard from other authors getting good returns there. If you’re an influencer, a reviewer, or involved in a book club that might be interested, hit me up. I’m going to do some local selling here in the Boston area too.

6. Get the sixth Deviant Magic book put together. I’ve got editors lined up, and I need to reach out to the usual cover artist. That’ll probably be released early next year.

7. Meanwhile, I gotta keep writing. That sci fi novella/maybe novel is my main priority, and I’ve tentatively titled the series Daylight. I also wrote out a little bit of a potential opening scene for a seventh Deviant Magic novel, just because the idea made me laugh and I wanted to get it down.

Written all out like that—yeah, that’s a lot. I knew that going in. Once I’m through the Wordpress nonsense, I’m sure it’ll be a lot more fun.

Want to hear some real bullshit?

While working on GiantSwordPublishing.com, I needed access to some of the host’s documentation. Of course, that meant going through an LLM chatbot because just having a searchable wiki is apparently too hard. I gritted my teeth and gave it a shot.

It sucked.

I got mad at it.

So, I told the LLM it sucked. Verbosely. Obscenely. I felt like it needed to know. A waste of time, but cathartic.

Do you know what that damn clanker said to me?

“I know change is hard.”

I legit saw red. If I could’ve found the servers that thing lived on, I would’ve spent the afternoon stealing every single one and dropkicking them into the closet river.

That LLM is just a plagiarism machine. It doesn’t know anything. It spits out what it’s masters think their customers want to hear. And they built it to be patronizing.

The absolute gall. Holy shit. I can’t even.

My malaise is gone now. Til next week!

You can create the most compelling story in the coolest setting with the deepest lore, the craziest climaxes, the most heartfelt revelations, and the most satisfying arc, but if you fail to present it in a way that’s readable, compelling, and consistent, well…you just undid all that hard work.

This, in particular, is a place where the feedback of beta readers and professional editors is worth its weight in gold. As writers, we love the craft, and we love to challenge ourselves, and it’s really easy to fall right into the flow of a piece when the words seem like they’re just spilling out onto the page. But that means we’re too close to it; we simply don’t have the perspective or the distance to fully evaluate the presentation we’ve created. What may seem clear or fun or readable may only look that way because we already know what we’re trying to say.

And sometimes, we get wrapped up in the challenge. Can we write in that particular voice we haven’t tried before? Is it going to be as quirky and interesting and different as we think, but still clear and engaging? Maybe, but we need to make sure.

Just as important is matching a character’s point-of-view to their role in the story. If the big bad villain all the protagonists and the reader are supposed to be terrified of comes across as anything but, you risk nuking your stakes from orbit—unless you’ve got another driver of tension and a very strong narrative reason for the character to function that way.

Regardless, the voice to use is one of the most intentional, impactful choices a writer can make. Think it through carefully—and make sure to test it on a few readers.

What else is going on?

I’m still basking in the glory of the majestic triple I hit at softball last night.

And with the BAA 10K just a few weeks away, my pace is looking better than ever. I’m very confident I can finally finish that race in under an hour—perhaps comfortably.

Work on Giant Sword Publishing continues. I’ve got two excellent pairs of eyes lined up to work on the next Deviant Magic novel, and I’m continuing to set up the pieces and parts I need to turn this into a functional business.

The Red Sox stink, but I’m happy with the Patriots’ acquisition of AJ Brown.

Til next week!

For a while now, I’ve been thinking through what to do with some other writing projects I’ve been working on. I’ve been following a lot of self-published authors and small presses on social media, getting a feel for the lay of the land and how they’re approaching things. And the more I learn about the broader industry, the less interested I am in dealing with bigger traditional publishers. More power to anyone chasing that big advance, but man, that process isn’t for me.

In preparation, I created Giant Sword Publishing, LLC last August. I didn’t really do much with it until recently, since I had nothing to publish. Can I write a sci fi novella in four months? Turns out I can’t! But now, I’ve got a five-book contemporary fantasy series I can use as the venture’s anchor.

For now, I’m only publishing my own work. It seemed wise to wrap it all up as an actual business, creating an extra layer of separation from my personal life and finances. Once I’ve got all of Deviant Magic set up through it again, I may look at publishing regular anthologies with contributions from other authors, simply because I really like editing that kind of work. I won’t be publishing longer fiction from anyone else for at least a few years, if ever, and not until I’ve figured out how to make this work for my own stuff.

The little bits and pieces I’ve worked on so far have certainly given me an appreciation for how much of a pain it is to run a small business. There are endless things to make decisions about and then set up: branding, messaging, domains, websites, socials, distributor accounts, business checking, etc. I’ve already spent multiple hours swearing at Wordpress and Affinity Designer and the login page for the bank I chose. Yes, I forgot the user name and password immediately after I made both.

But I’m excited! I think it’s going to be fun, and I know I’ll learn a lot, and I’ll get to tell everyone I’m a CEO and be extra ridiculous about it.

(But seriously, when did Wordpress turn into such an obnoxious, poorly laid out, ass backwards mess? I hate it now.)

What else?

First win of the season for my softball team last night! Just a little last inning comeback. No big deal. And I’m feeling more comfortable at second base.

That sci fi novella? Still moving! Made a big change to one of the characters, a decision I may write about here next week.

I had a really fun time at a preview night of the new PickleBOS in Charlestown! Really nice pickleball courts. I’m sure the place will be mobbed every night.

Til next time!

The urge to describe a thing in great detail all at once is strong. As writers, we put a lot of thought into what our people, places, and things look like, and we want the reader to have a picture of all of it before stuff starts happening.

Unfortunately, that can lead to heaping piles of words and sentences that slow the readers pace and, often, make that mental picture harder to maintain.

I’ve got an easy two-step solution for that:

1. Establish the basics.

2. Sprinkle in more detail as you go.

For that first step, think vibes. What does the narrator or point-of-view character feel or think about this new thing you’re presenting? “That guy looks stupid/awesome/sooooo handsome/like he could bench press a truck” makes an immediate impact in a way that listing all the character’s physical traits just doesn’t. The reader’s now tasked with remembering an impression, rather than a list of details—and that’s so much easier for most people to do.

Note that archetypes and comparisons are useful here too. “Crunchy hippie.” “Wild punk rocker.” “Accountant.” “Uglier than Elon Musk and twice as obnoxious.” See differently each of those hits?

Now, we’re on to the second step. Make some stuff happen, and communicate more details along the way. “She tossed her wild red hair back, then punched me in the face.” “That truck rumbled across the pavement, cracked panels straining against the inertia.” “His beady little rat eyes narrowed as he prepared to say something insipid.” Again, notice how you can feel it—and how engaging these are in comparison to a chunky wall of bland information.

Dump the dump!

What else is going on?

I can properly throw a softball much more reliably now. Still gotta straighten out my swing a bit; the power’s there, but the launch angle needs a little work.

I’ve got a 10K coming up a month from now. Training’s been alright, but inconsistent. Might skip the pickleball for a few weeks to make sure I get in enough runs. My “whatever, I’m not really trying” pace is right at my “RUN HARDER, YOU FUCKIN TURTLE” pace from this time last year, however, so I think I’ve got a shot at a new personal best for that distance.

Got some big news about my Deviant Magic series coming soon!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

That’s not to say it’s been completely neglected; I’ve moved the next chapter forward, rearranged some of the earlier set up pieces, and spent time considering how the setting came to be. That’s not nothing, and I’m proud of that progress.

But my longest continuous stretch of writing this week was, of course, something brand spankin’ new: a possible first chapter for my seventh Deviant Magic novel.

I couldn’t get the scene out of my head. Ricky Brooks, possessed by an ancient demon lord, effectively called into the principal’s office so the adults (if you know my work, you know that’s a very loose term) can figure out what the heck to do about all the disturbing things the poor kid’s demon side is saying to his traumatized classmates. The idea just kept making me smile and shake my head. Plus, it’s a great way to prime an important plot thread for some serious movement, while helping the reader get to know one of the other newer characters and reconnect with a couple of old favorites.

Was it what I should have been working on at the time? Probably not, especially since book six still needs an edit and all the other things that make a manuscript into a book. But, since it made the words flow, and ensured I’d get the idea down before my addled elder Millennial brain replaced it with some new rant about the horrors of modern life, it was aboslutely the best use of my time.

Writers, be flexible with your projects. Worry less about what you’re supposed to be working on and more about what you can get out on the page at that moment. It’ll be so much better for you in the long run.

And other things!

Softball started back up this week! I went one for three with a single and a long line drive that would’ve been at least a triple if the centerfielder hadn’t hustled back and made a fantastic play on it. Gotta remember to relax when I’m in the field, however, so I throw it like I do in warmups.

Had a really fun day trip up to Portland, Maine last week! In particular, I enjoyed our stop at the Austin Street brewery.

I also started reading C.S.E. Cooney’s St. Death’s Herald, the sequel to the super fun St. Death’s Daughter. I’m digging it; her prose is so rich and evocative, and the voice is super entertaining.

Til next week!

A similar principle can help you reliably frame scenes and chapters.

Your goal should always be to make the reader want to keep reading. Plot-wise, you accomplish that by building narrative momentum and escalating tension.

At the start of a new chapter, present a problem or difficulty as soon as you can. What’s the POV character going to be dealing with in this next little chunk of story? What makes that problem difficult, dangerous, unsettling, or frustrating? What might happen if they fail? Note that this doesn’t necessarily need to correlate to the chapter’s main plot points; you’re priming the reader, almost revving the engine.

This also helps re-engage a reader who put your book down at the end of the previous chapter. Unfortunately, readers have to go to sleep, or walk the dog, or take their monthly shower; you can’t guarantee they’re going to read your entire story without stopping, and the end of a chapter is a great time to set a book down. As the author, you have to account for that.

But this isn’t just advice for the beginning of a chapter–it applies just as well to a scene’s conclusion.

That bit I mentioned about a chapter transition being a natural break point? Take advantage of that. The whitespace after your final sentence is a feature, not a bug; it’s an opportunity to let the reader’s mind do some work, based on the scene’s last paragraph.

Be ominous. Wrap up the scene in a way that makes the reader think. Allude to what’s coming a way that makes them wonder about the possibilities. Do something that makes them hesitate to put the book down.

You’re the author. You’re in control. Make the reader turn that page.

And other things!

I’m sad my Bruins failed in the playoffs, but I’m proud of what they did this season. The young core took a big step forward, paving the way for future success. Here’s hoping they’re able to add some more scoring punch and at least one more strong defenseman in the offseason.

Shout out to my editing client, KT Byrd, on the release of Blood Moon, the first book in The Blood Leash Series. It’s a tense, well-paced dystopian YA thriller about a group of teens attempting to escape what’s become a very dangerous situation at their corrupt boarding school. I handled the proofreading on this one.

Softball starts back up next week. I’m both excited and a little anxious; kinda worried I’ve been getting worse over the course of my last few leagues. Just gotta focus and stop getting stuck in my own head when I make a mistake. We’ll see how it goes!

Til next time!

For instance, here’s an example structure I absolutely despise.

He gave a nod.

She gave him a smile.

That gave drives me right up the tree. It’s unnecessary. He nodded is perfectly fine. She smiled at him is in no way inferior. It jumps right out at me and makes my blood curdle.

And that’s unreasonable. You do see the gave in edited, published work. You could justify its inclusion as a means of slowing the sentence, or to suggest more of a moment of connection. It’s not inherently wrong; it just triggers some overactive part of my brain that’s looking for an excuse to get frustrated.

So, how do I approach these? I leave a note on the first one, explaining politely why I dislike the structure. I adjust the instances that seem particularly unnecessary. And then I leave it to the writer to consider how they feel about it.

As an editor, I’m a guide. I make suggestions. The writer takes em or leaves em.

But man, this is one case where I irrationally hope the writer takes my advice. It’s almost as frustrating as seeing the letter s at the end of the word email.

And more!

Thanks for the World Series trophy, Alex Cora. It was probably time for you to move on, but I hope you find success in whatever you pursue next.

At the moment, nothing’s making me laugh harder than jokes about how Bill Belichick may or may not have been involved in the Mike Vrabel drama. Wouldn’t be Bill’s first time taking scandalous pictures of the other team.

It’s been a super busy week and a half. If this newsletter seems short, it’s because my brain’s a bit fried. I’m aaaaaaalmost through, I’ve been able to keep up reasonably well with my own projects, and I’m really looking forward to ordering takeout and being a lump on the couch tonight.

Til next week!

As you know if you’ve interacted with me online or in person, I’m very against any use of LLMs in creative spaces. I think it cheapens that work, betrays other creatives whose work was ripped off for use as training data, and funnels power to companies and executives we should be working hard to put limits on. And, frankly, does a suck ass job.

But in this case, I was a little more thoughtful. This felt different than the usual conversation around AI and just letting it run rampant.

So, I let the question marinate in my brain. And then I responded.

As a writer, I’d never turn to a generalized LLM as a reference tool. Given everything we know about how these things hallucinate and how they’re built to hook the user by fawning over them and giving them what they want…man, how could I trust that to give me the right answer? Wikipedia is right there.

And as far as asking a robot about whether certain story beats are entertaining, or logical, or compelling…that feels ill-advised too. Like, you’re not writing a book to sell it to an AI; you’re writing it to sell it to real, live people. What the robot thinks is irrelevant because that’s not your audience. Go ask a person.

I also made clear that I get the urge to use these things, to want the hype to be real, to look for a tool that makes this very hard task we do a little easier. But man, I just don’t see LLMs doing that effectively. So many of the problems people are trying to solve with these things are better handled by existing solutions.

I got an enthusiastically thankful response. And I hope I did my part to make the world a little saner, because this LLM crap has gotten out of control.

And the rest!

I’ll admit, my faith in the Red Sox is starting to weaken. But there are a lot of other “good” teams struggling at the moment too, so I’m clinging to that.

I really want my Bruins to start playing more aggressively when they’ve got a lead. Sitting back the way they have been at the end of their first two games with Buffalo is not working.

My sci fi novella is continuing to move along well! I’ve got the main mission established, introduced a couple more characters, and planted the seeds for a big twist. This one’s been a lot of fun, and I’ve been making sure I spend at least half an hour day with it.

Til next week!

Character art. Maps. Mood boards. Apps for tracking time, and word counts, and setting reminders, and scheduling sprints.

Do we really need all that? As writers, shouldn’t we just be frickin’ writing?

Perhaps. But there are also times when we need a little something to help get that pen moving.

With the sixth Deviant Magic novel in the can, I’ve started work on the first in what I hope will be a series of sci fi novellas. I briefly outlined the plot and characters, made some decisions about tone and setting, and dove in to pants the hell out of this project, as I do. That explosive first scene that introduces the protagonists and establishes the tone and the cool tech came right out.

So far, so good.

But then, I needed to put the protagonists on the ship that would carry them to the rest of their adventure.

I got them to the airlock and went “now what?”

I was stuck—stupidly, I felt, because I know how to do this and I pride myself on writing smooth transitions. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t picture their next steps.

And then someone who wasn’t lost in the fog of writerly confusion made a simple suggestion: why not just draw the inside of the ship?

I knew immediately that was the right move.

In half an hour, I had a horribly drawn but super helpful map of my little spaceship, with a few more notes about its form and function. When I went back to the writing bit, I was ready to rock.

So, do you need all that stuff I mentioned above? If it helps you make progress, then it’s worthwhile.

And for posterity, here’s that sketch of the Daylight, so you can all see I really mean it when I say I started writing because I couldn’t draw worth a damn.

What else?

I’m excited for softball season to start up, and I’m committing to finally fixing my garbage throwing arm.

Seeing communities stand up to reject AI data center projects and Gen-Z workers sabotaging LLMs in their workplaces reminds me there’s hope. This nonsense doesn’t take over unless we let it. Soon enough, companies are going to start using “our stuff isn’t made with AI!” in their marketing—and that’s when the bubble’s finally going to pop.

I still believe in the 2026 Boston Red Sox.

Til next week!

My initial answer, which I didn’t voice, was “as much as you need to.” I stumbled for a bit, describing the particulars as it related to that story and that particular moment within it. Working together, we got that scene into a really good place.

But when it comes to revealing information the reader or protagonist doesn’t know…well, how do you know what “as much as you need to” really means?

It starts, really, with the desired pace of the story. If you’re building a slow burn, you need a steady drip to slowly increase the gas feeding that flame. If you’re looking for something more frenetic and action-oriented, it may be worth dumping the details out faster to get to throw the reader right into the repercussions of those reveals.

Then, think about what a particular scene is trying to accomplish. I’ve written before about setting goals for each scene (I think), and that strategy plays well here. If you’re just trying to get your main characters moving and clarify the stakes a bit, provide the information necessary to drive those outcomes. If you want to completely break a character and give the reader all the feels at once, bring the new information in hard and fast.

Like so many other things in writing, deciding when to communicate what is a precise balancing act. The needs of the scene need to be considered in relation to the goals of the broader piece. There is, unfortunately, no one-size fits all solution here.

And that’s also why we have multiple drafts. Sometimes, you just need to pick a direction and see how it works.

Epilogue

As of this writing, my beloved Boston Red Sox have finally won two games in a row and a series. I still believe. That first week and a half was so bad that such a talented group couldn’t not bounce back.

I also a little tired of the ABS challenge system. Talk about something else, please, all commentators of every game.

I’m making slow but steady progress on my new sci fi novella. I’ve decided each chapter is going to have both a title and an intro quote—things I just haven’t really done before, mostly because I never thought to.

Til next week!

While I was confident I could make it work, I was also anxious. The world, in case you haven’t noticed, is a dumpster fire, and a certain demented orange dipshit keeps pouring more and more gasoline on those flames. Meanwhile, greedy tech bros continue scamming mouth-breathing managers into buying their magic AI solutions, making the job market an even bigger trash inferno. Abandoning a regular paycheck that had kept me very comfortable was a huge risk.

But so far, it’s unequivocally been the right move.

My head is so much clearer. I’ve long thought that working office tech jobs had obliterated my once vaunted ability to focus. Those roles required me to be able to shift not just gears but entire vehicles at a moment’s notice, which meant I always needed to have half my brain primed for something else. As a giant introvert who needs to turn himself on to interact well with other people, that was even harder. The last few years saw me working on individual tasks for no more than fifteen minutes at a time, constantly bouncing up and down my to-do list because I just could not keep my addled mind in one place.

Three months later, I can focus again. And it’s glorious.

I’m not just spending bigger chunks of time on individual tasks, I’m also more efficient. Shit’s actually getting done. That processing power I was wasting on being prepped for a Teams chime or an email from someone with a fancy title who needs something now don’t you know who I am this is mission critical but only to me but I’m still going to vaguely threaten your job security to get what I want has been reallocated to whatever’s in front of me.

And because I’m not always halfway into Be Friendly and Engaging Mode, the social situations I actually care about are so much easier and fulfilling. A few of my friends have told me they’re jealous of how much happier I am.

This change is also working professionally. I’ve had a steady stream of editing requests, from both repeat customers and new clients alike. My IT consulting has also been fulfilling. Things are good.

And even if it all blows up—even if I have to crawl back to the office world with my hat in hand, ready to pretend I love synergizing paradigms and jumping on quick calls—this opportunity to reset my brain and rediscover the kind of work I actually love has been invaluable.

Epilogue

Last night, for the first time in a long time, I was up past my usual bedtime, writing. The opening chapter in this sci fi novella I’m working on turned out exactly as I’d hoped!

As of this writing, my Red Sox are 1-5 and looking super shaky. I still believe. They always stink at the beginning of the season.

PAX East was a great time! Things I liked: Lunaria, Aniimo’s gorgeous graphics, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction, Lemony Fresh, and Tiny Metal 2.

Til next week!

Take this article on 404 Media. A company called WebinarTV has reportedly been scraping public Zoom links off the web, recording those calls, and posting them for view on their site, with analysis from two AI-generated hosts.

This really good, truly horrifying article sent my anti-capitalist, tech-skeptical, dystopia-riddled, overly-hyphenated brain into overdrive. How long before this kind of thing becomes a feature of video chat platforms themselves, rather than an exploitative scam from some new tech twats trying to make a buck by stealing people’s stuff and recycling it as “content?” Could our horrific corporate overlords use this kind of software to “rate” their employees’ performance in meetings or filter for topics they don’t want discussed? And given the popularity of streaming sites like Twitch, there could absolutely be a market for watching other peoples’ meetings—and allowing outside observers access could totally become a condition of access to a video chat platform’s free tier.

And then my brain went there’s a science fiction story in here somewhere.

There very well could be. But at the moment, I’ve got no characters. Not much of a setting. Maybe some lore, you could argue.

It’s a situation, not a story.

I bring this up because it’s a fantastic example of something I almost always end up talking about with new writers. Is spinning this into a piece of fiction a cool idea? Totally! But what’s actually happening in a story based on this bullshit? How does any of this affect a protagonist’s life? What state is that person in at the beginning, and how are they personally changed by this situation at the conclusion? And how do I present all this in a way that makes the reader connect with it and feel something about it?

(The answer, probably, is that the protagonist gets unexpectedly famous through this tech and has to deal with those repercussions, balancing being entertaining with actually accomplishing their job, and how that changes both the character and their workplace.)

There’s a lot of work to do here, but that’s the fun part. Weaving together the bits and pieces that take an idea and turn it into a narrative is what writers do. It’s not just slapping some cool stuff onto a page and calling it a day.

The other stuff

Happy Red Sox opening day to all who celebrate! I think they’re a playoff team, that Jarren Duran’s in for a monster year, and that Tristan Casas is gonna turn it around.

I’ll be at PAX East Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to a deep dive into one of my favorite pastimes. I almost always come home with a list of indie games to play.

March has been a super busy month, both socially and professionally. I’m feeling super grateful to all of my editing clients—especially the repeat customers who keep coming back.

Til next week!

It’s going to be, for lack of a better term, my rant space. The place I can really unleash my voice on all the political, economic, and cultural crap my hyperactive brain constantly spins around. A messy, brash corner of the internet that isn’t afraid of a little cussing and a bunch of offbeat takes.

In the first post of this brave new initiative, I channeled Frank Costanza a bit–I do have a lot of issues with the way things are and what’s going on and just how stupid it all is. Starting to get that out in an organized fashion was cathartic and primed me for a very productive few days. I said a bit of my peace; it calmed my brain and let me productive in other ways.

And that feeling proved another old adage of the author biz: all writing is good writing, even when it’s not necessarily in service to your primary projects. Time spent shaking my fist at the clouds may not be time spent working on another novel, or making progress on my list of short story ideas, or directly promoting my existing catalog, but it still stretches those narrative-producing muscles, helps me arrange the hoarder’s den that is my headspace, and feels real damn good. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I felt more invigorated to pursue my “real” work after publishing that initial post.

It’s also freeing in an empowering way, related to my previous thoughts on platforms a couple weeks ago. On that little Wordpress blog, I can do whatever I want. I don’t have to play to some algorithm or its audience’s expectations. It’s not really a business strategy. It’s ambivalent toward marketing. There’s nothing to sign up for, no subscriber count, and no metrics. It’s just me, frolicking in a field in comfortable clothes, nice craft beer in hand, swearing at the aspects of modern life that make me talk to myself in a way I hope entertains a few other people.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a return to what the internet should be.

But because I know I work best when I embrace my need to be a creature of habit, I am gonna keep it on a schedule. Look for a new post every Monday.

And to tie all this back to this particular publication’s main focus: writers, make sure you’re making time to work on the stuff that makes you feel good. We’re doing this because we love it. Get out there and make something wild, messy, and loud the way only you can, and I guarantee it’ll free you up to be more intentional with the rest of your work.

What else we got?

Hot on the heels of sending the manuscript for my sixth Deviant Magic novel to my editor, I also wrote up a cover description. This one was a challenge, but I think I’ve got a concept that matches both the imagery of the existing series and the mood of this wild book. I’m super excited to see what the artist does with it!

The World Baseball Classic was super fun. Kinda think it should happen more often.

I’m really looking forward to PAX East next weekend! I’ll be there Friday and Saturday, scouring the exhibit hall for indie games with short lines. I am less excited for the convention center food.

Til next time!

It’s a thing that seems to be in short supply these days. Everybody wants EVERYTHING and they want it RIGHT NOW, GOD DAMN IT. Bosses refuse to understand that work takes time. Customers don’t understand that the thing they want doesn’t just fall off a tree. Social media, digital delivery, LLMs, and our twisted, out of control form of late stage capitalism have somehow broken everyone’s brain in a way that’s made the very concept of time despicable, unreasonable, and unacceptable.

As writers, we’re not immune. We all want to see our words in print. We all want success. We all want a platform. We all want some version of my dream to retire on a yacht and write books while sipping margaritas all day, with occasional breaks for pickleball or heckling the New York Yankees.

But patience, like so many other aspects of life, is a skill—and it’s one that’s as important to writers as our ability to imagine complex worlds or string together coherent sentences.

Writing that book? It takes time.

Editing? It takes time, especially if you want it done right.

Cover design? Layout? Proofreading? Not instantaneous, and you shouldn’t expect it to be.

Querying publishers? Finding an agent? Submitting to anthologies or journals? There are people involved on the other side of this equation, and they can only review one story at a time.

Marketing? Finding an audience on social? Building that mailing list? Time, time, time.

Recognize it. Take a breath. Relax. Stay persistent. Don’t take shortcuts. Enjoy the journey, because it’s worth so much more than the destination. And it might just get you a bigger yacht and tastier margaritas.

What else?

With all of my fantasy baseball leagues kicking off, I am distracted. I’ve only got four teams this year, each in very different leagues, each in a very different stage. I love it.

I’m slowly, steadily, building out a bunch of the stories percolating in my head. And I’ve been shopping around a couple of short pieces I always meant to shop around. No bites yet, but as I wrote above—patience.

Shout out to Russ Capasso’s Host, which I finished reading the other day. This one’s an extremely well told sci fi techno-thriller about a journalist investigating a mysterious signal coming from an old satellite. The prose flows wonderfully, the good guys are easy to root for, and the mystery’s compelling. Check it out!

I don’t understand where February went, and March is similarly flying by. This month is looking extra busy, especially in the next few weeks. Got a new pickleball league starting up, a Bruins game to get politely buzzed at, and a couple days at PAX East.

Til next time!

Are Wordpress blogs still a thing or has everybody moved to Substack?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the different kinds of writing I want to do and where it needs to go to find an audience, drive book sales, create opportunities, and keep my beer and video game funds flowing. And I’ll admit that having a good time while all that happens is important to me too.

For instance, there’s this here newsletter. I do actually have a Wordpress blog, because blogging is fun and Wordpress is easy it feels like a good place to put stuff that doesn’t fit here. I’ve got another Wordpress site built entirely to support my Deviant Magic novels that should maybe see more regular updates. I want to do more short fiction, which opens up questions about Patreon, Amazon KDP, and submitting to anthologies or creating one of my own. I’ve got a lot of thoughts from my time in non-profit tech that would make fun articles somewhere. And then there are the other novels and novellas I want to write, which could be serialized, could be shopped around, or could provide a foundation for a publishing company of my own.

On the one hand, it’s great to have so many options. On the other hand…holy shit, that’s a ton of possibilities to assess, understand, and choose from.

And to make the challenge even bigger, each of these platforms comes with its whole separate ecosystem to learn about. What does the reader base expect in terms of style, tone, and word count? Is there yet another esoteric algorithm or feed I need to figure out how to play nice with? What are the best ways to promote this work and make sure people can find it?

Should I cut the crap, stop overthinking it, and get all my work into one place? Maybe, but then which place do I choose, and how does that affect what I should be writing to maximize those efforts?

Given all of this, it’s no wonder I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, and why it still feels difficult to find success despite all the potential paths to it.

As I look back on these last few paragraphs, contemplating the conclusion I’m building to on the fly, it’s becoming clear there’s only one way through this swamp: make the best decisions about platform in the moment, stick to em for a little bit, and then evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. That may sound obvious, but if there’s one thing to remember about the modern world, it’s that the clear direction gets so easily lost in the cloying forest of stuff clamoring for our attention.

Wish me luck!

And some other things!

While I’m finding success and enjoying life as a freelance editor and a tech consultant, I’ve also been looking for one more part-time job–specifically something that gets me out of the house, interacting with people, and doing work that isn’t typing in a box. I’m thrilled to say that I’ve latched on with a non-profit as a host for social sports leagues, and I’m looking forward to getting started!

I recently found an easy way to add to my writing routine: I bring a notebook with me to the gym. Scribbling down a few items in an outline or a couple sentences in a draft in between sets keeps the writer brain moving. Long sessions are great, but don’t underestimate the value of those shorter bursts!

Til next week!

The obvious reason is well-known: it’s bad to support the plagiarism machines built by shady business twats who don’t care about the environment, potentially ruining the livelihoods of millions of people, fucking up the tech hardware supply chain, inducing psychosis in their customers, or flooding the internet and various online marketplaces with grifty, half-assed cruft.

But when authors turn to Large Language Morons to generate a cover, or provide editing, or to handle layout, or to narrate an audiobook, there’s an opportunity cost directly and negatively impacting their careers.

I’ve worked with an awesome crew of super-talented professionals to publish all seven of my novels. These are people from all over the country, with a wide array of skills and perspectives I don’t possess. Every single one of them has made my work better.

They’ve looked at my writing through multiple lenses and sets of experiences, and used that very person-ness to suggest awesome improvements.

They’ve taken the themes of my stories and turned them into wonderful artwork that was so much better than what I expected.

In the case of my audiobooks, my wonderful narrators took the time to understand and interpret my work, adding their voices to it and making my own jokes so much funnier.

I don’t see any of them as often as I’d like, but I consider them all lifelong friends. They’re available for advice, for re-posting my stuff on socials, and for just shooting the shit. When they see an opportunity they think I’m a fit for, they send it my way. I’ve learned something that’s helped my career from every single one of them.

And, most importantly, they’re fun!

They’re my network. And like it or not, even the most solitary writer needs to foster connections with other people if they want to find any sort of success.

The plagiarism machines will never fully replace the value of working with another human. Using them means losing strong opportunities to improve your work and your life. Keep that in mind when thinking about how to turn that manuscript into a finished product.

A few other things!

I’m days (hours?) away from finishing the first draft of my next Deviant Magic novel and submitting it to my editor. It’s fantastic—and I’m excited to see how the team’s going to make it even better!

I’ve also been picking at an idea I thought was going to be a short story. It’s getting bigger, and it might actually be a novella.

Til next time!

That’s a statement written without any judgment, by the way. You don’t know what you don’t know, especially when you’re new. And that’s fine!

This week, I want to demystify the editing process a little bit with a quick overview of the different stages, what they’re good for, and why they’re typically done separately from each other.

1. First up: we’ve got the editorial assessment. In this stage, an editor functions as a sort of super alpha reader, providing a document with broad, high-level feedback on the state of a manuscript. The idea here is to nip any major problems in the bud so a writer can get more out of the next phase of the process. An assessment is most useful for newer writers who feel a little unsure about their work.

2. Next, we’re heading for developmental. A lot of writers choose to start at this phase. Here, the editor’s focused on the core components of your story: plot, setting, character, tone, pacing, and structure. We’re looking for inconsistencies, missing information, events that are out of order, out-of-character behavior, and opportunities to make the story stronger, the characters more dynamic, and the whole narrative more appealing. This feedback is often communicated via in-line edits and comments, plus an additional document detailing higher-level recommendations.

3. Developmental typically leads to a pile of revisions for the writer. Once those are complete, it’s time for copy editing. This isn’t just fixing commas and making sure everything’s spelled right; it’s also another check for inconsistencies, for sentences that lack clarity, for annoying repetition, and anything else that might inhibit the reader’s understanding. These tasks typically happen after developmental because it makes the most sense to handle them when major story revisions have been completed.

4. Then it’s off to design. A layout professional takes your manuscript, makes it pretty, and produces a proof.

5. An editor then gives that proof one final read. That’s proofreading. At this point, we’re looking for things that maybe went weird during the layout process, and for any last spelling or grammar mistakes that somehow persisted through previous stages.

And then, you’re done! As I hope you can see, editing’s an iterative process where each step builds on the previous, eventually refining a manuscript to its ultimate form.

What else is going on?

After a few weeks, I think I’m finally used to my new pickleball paddle. It’s carbon fiber, with a lot of grit on the face—a big change from my previous too-smooth fiberglass. The sweet spot’s really different, and I’ve got a little less power, but that grit’s given me so much more control, especially on dinks. Fair trade!

I’m about 65% through my first round of revisions on the sixth Deviant Magic book. I still love it. Just a few more details to iron out!

With Fallout complete, I picked The Great back up. I’m about halfway through the second season and still very entertained. Such a fantastic cast.

Til next week!

That means it’s time for revisions! I’ve got some notes I know I need to address, but I always start fresh from the beginning and give the thing a full review.

I’m about a third of the way through that process. One interesting thing that keeps popping up: hooooo boy, I sure did plant a lot of seeds I never used, or that were contradicted by later decisions. That’s a sure tell that this one took me a while.

I like what I was going for with a few of these proto-sub-plots. There was drama! And stakes! And crazy possibilities! But they don’t fit, so they need to go. The delete key has been my best friend, and that’s okay. This process comes right along with being a raging pantser. I’ve done it before. I can do it again!

And the more I read, the prouder I become of this particular book. I absolutely bit off more than I could chew with this one. Who knew “The Crying of Lot 49, but fantasy, and tying together years of plot threads!” could turn out to be a challenge? But I crushed it, and I’m excited to hear what my editor thinks, and the possibilities for where I can continue to take this series look awesome.

My next major challenge is identifying a title. I’m not one of those writers who knows what a book or story is going to be called before he sits down to write it. I need to finish the thing, take a step back, and really think about it. There will probably be a couple beers involved. And I’m sure I’ll pick a title, forget what it was, and maybe pick a new one, multiple times, as is tradition.

Life and such

I’m disappointed my Patriots lost the Super Bowl—especially like that—but that ending doesn’t tarnish a wonderful season. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Vrabel and Co. address the flaws in the roster as they gear up for that super tough schedule next year.

And I’m feeling better about the Red Sox. That division is looking monstrous, but they’ve put together what looks like a potential contender.

Got a new pickleball paddle. Less power, more control. It’s made me better at dinks and drops, but I’m still getting used to it on my serves.

Til next week!

I rock a Red Sox cap pretty much everywhere I go. I wear a lot of flannel and basic jeans. Normally I don’t care enough to put on shoes that aren’t old running shoes. I have the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old boy.

At first glance, it’s easy to think I’m a sports bro who hasn’t picked up a book since high school—and people occasionally tell me so.

I’ve loved my sportsball and my Massachusetts teams since I was little. But deep down, I’m a giant nerd who grew up on Star Wars and Terry Brooks. Give me some aliens or some elves and an epic story and I’m as happy as I am at the ballpark.

To me, it’s the same thing.

The sports world is a fantasy setting. It’s speculative fiction. It’s a bunch of very human people existing in a parallel universe with different rules from real life, where success comes in triumphing over your evil enemy however you can. It’s an extended, long-form narrative driven by victories, losses, and our own strong opinions about what our favorite teams should be doing—and how.

Sports are just another form of storytelling. And that’s why I love baseball, football, and hockey as much as I love a good book.

Extra innings

I really enjoyed the conclusion of Fallout’s second season. The show did a great job wrapping up a few threads while deepening the mysteries of several others. It’s been really cool to see one of my favorite video game universes through a whole different lens and format.

While we’re talking about gaming, I also just finished my latest play through of Mass Effect (Legendary Edition). That setting and story still kick ass after all these years, and I’m excited to dive into the second game in the trilogy.

For my Patriots to have a chance this weekend, I think they’ve gotta get Drake Maye moving around more. Give me bootlegs, rollouts, designed runs, the works. I’m hopeful about the team’s chances, but I won’t be too disappointed if they lose. Reaching the Super Bowl in head coach Mike Vrabel’s first season with the team is an unabashed success.

Til next week!