The Walk

 After a very long and stressful week, as well as missing the deadline I set for myself due to the formatting issues, I’ll make this post extremely quick.

FAULT, the first book of The Walk is now available!!

eBook available FOR FREE on

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple Books

Google Books Coming Soon!

Fault is also available in print at Amazon, and will soon be available at Barnes & Noble.

And the most exciting news…

The audio book will be available in March!

Keep an eye on my webpage dedicated to The Walk for more release information as book two is currently being formatted and will release hopefully by the end of the month.

So glad to finally have a new book out! Happy Reading, everyone!

Busy Busy!

 I’m so glad to report that I have been extremely busy and productive since my last update. I’ve been learning new software to help with book formatting, both for eBook and print, and it has been a long, somewhat frustrating journey. This knowledge will help when I begin my reformatting and editing journey for The Phoenix Curse, because I do plan on a re-design of all the books currently published.

On my formatting journey, I first tried Kindle Create. It’s a nice, easy to learn program, but it’s very restrictive. It doesn’t offer much in the way of options or personalizing an eBook, but it’s convenient to use. The file type it exports to is KPF, which supposedly will convert straight to print book in the Kindle upload. I didn’t make it that far. The print book is so incorrectly formatted with no option given to the user to change it, it makes Kindle Create unusable. My next stop at Reedsy resulted in the same.

I then moved on to Scribus, which is a free typesetting program for print books. The program was absolutely baffling to me when I first opened it, so I spent a few days watching YouTube videos to learn how to use it. Not only did I learn that everyone, and I mean everyone, pronounces Scribus differently, I also found out Scribus would give me the freedom to create a print book the way I wanted to, but it would take time. All good things take time, so I got to work.

I learned how to set up my Master Pages and chapter headers just how I wanted them. I formatted my book with proper front and back matter, as well as made sure the beginning of the chapters printed on the proper page (something that Kindle Create and Reedsy lacked.) Things were starting to look promising when Scribus shut down on me unexpectedly.

Hrm… Not good.

I booted up and was able to continue my work, but the unexpected shut down was disheartening. I finally finished the chapter headers so the Table of Contents (TOC) could be generated when I realized… Hey, where did all my italics go? Again, not good. This would slow me down considerably, but it was still possible to go back and add in all the italics, even though it would be incredibly time-consuming. Not a deal breaker. Thankfully, I decided to figure out how to create the TOC, which…. corrupted my file and shut down Scribus. Ehh…

I tried a few times with the same result, so I completely wiped the file and started from scratch. I only edited a few chapter headers to capture in the TOC creation this time and immediately tested it out. No dice. File corrupted and Scribus shut down.

After two days of lost work, my search continued for a more reliable program. That’s when I discovered Affinity Publisher. It’s a paid program, but they offer a 7 day trial with COMPLETE access. So wonderful. Since I had picked up the basics of how to typeset while watching Scribus videos, I only had to watch one quick vid for Affinity before jumping right in. This time, the first thing I checked when I pulled my text over was the italics. They were there! Then I checked the TOC. It compiled beautifully. I was good to go to finish creating my first proof.

Of course there were some learning opportunities along the way, but I ended up with an awesome proof in my hands a week later. I purchased Affinity and now plan to use it to create all my print books.

The downside to Affinity is that it currently only supports PDF exporting, which doesn’t result in a nice, re-flowable text eBook. My search for an eBook formatter continued, because Kindle Create and Reedsy still didn’t offer the amount of freedom I wanted to create my eBook.

This time, I found Jutoh. This program gives you unrestricted access to their base program, although anything that’s exported will have a watermark as the first line. That was fair. If the program could produce the results I wanted, I didn’t mind paying for the cost to the developers.

First time out of the gate, I was able to create an ebook with all my personalized fonts that closely matched the print version. Being able to embed these fonts into the eBook for them to show up in kindle nearly sold me immediately. The TOC compiled well, and the book looked beautiful. Then I got to the last chapter and…. No italics!

Ugh.

So I started over again, this time opening the document as the project instead of a cut and paste. There were some issues with removing the ad hoc styles when doing it this way, but I was able to preserve my italics. Woo Hoo! I finished creating the eBook yesterday, and it looks splendid. I now have both my print and eBook files formatted and ready to go for book one.

I’m currently receiving chapters back from my editor for book two.

I’ve started the rewrites and editing for book three.

Guys. We’re getting close. I can sense a release update coming REAL SOON. So… Is everyone ready to take a Walk?

To Shoulder a Burden

 For the past month, I’ve been struggling to find what posting schedule would be best for the blog. Twice a month? Once a month? I’m leaning toward once a month since I can’t really give any more comments on the writing process except “still editing!”

Turns out that my original schedule was almost met. I did finish the 3rd draft of my book by the end of September, and I have about 10 chapters printed and ready for my editor as soon as he’s able to take them. I just ran into a few rewrites that slowed me down, but in the end will make for a better book. I’ll definitely have all the chapters to my editor by the end of this week.

Then it’ll be time for the cover. I’m looking forward to that as a different way to stretch my creative muscles.

So, now let’s get back to the story of Not so Fun and Interesting Things that Happen to Debra. After the fire, the insurance company took care of us really well. One company came in and took all our hard textiles that could be saved to ‘de-smoke’ them and put them in storage. Another company took all the electronics to test them and save what they could. A third company took all our soft textiles, (clothes, shoes, purses) to dry-clean. Spoiler alert, that smoke smell DOES NOT come out easily. I’m talking washing and rewashing clothes even after we got them back from the soft textile company.

But for everything they could save, there were a lot of items they couldn’t. They wrote off everything in the master bedroom immediately, and other than the soft textile company that went in for the clothes, nothing else was pulled out of there. We had a lot of keepsakes, and some were salvageable, although hard to get to. I did find all my highschool yearbooks and picture albums, but I had to dig through chunks of sheetrock that had caved in from the ceiling. I’ll also note here that the night of the fire, my brother-in-law pulled out all our gaming PCs (my husband’s, my daughter’s, and mine) along with the monitors. Because they were off during the time of the lightning strike, they were fine.

However, we had no place to put this stuff except in our car. Remember my shoulder injury that was slowly getting better? Well, that was about to change. The loading and unloading of all our luggage and computers into hotel rooms, not to mention the digging through debris, killed any progress my shoulder had made from the first steroid shot. It got worse very quickly. By July, I couldn’t raise my arm level out to the side, let alone try to lift it over my head. I couldn’t reach around behind me to put a belt on, and taking off shirts was a struggle. It wasn’t that there was just pain stomping me (and there was a lot of pain), but the muscles in my shoulder had ceased up and blocked any movement.

Back to the doctor I went, and I finally got transferred to a specialist. He gave me another steroid shot and ordered an MRI.

Guys. I’m claustrophobic. This was horrible. I spent the entire time in the machine trying not to panic. My efforts were not in vain because they got some good images. The results were a frayed rotator cuff and shoulder bursitis. All because I tried to carry in too many groceries?

People. Take care of yourself.

The hours I spent in physical therapy were brutal and am pretty sure my therapist was Satan himself, who feeds off other’s tears and pain. However, I learned the right exercises to do to help loosen up my shoulder, although I think the steroid shot was doing most of the work. I no longer see the therapist from hell and have nearly full range of motion back, if not the strength. Daily stretches and workouts with a 1lb weight are helping. I’ve learned to compensate for the injury, so now it only really affects me at night when I’m sleeping. It’s hard to find a comfortable position when your arm refuses to move a certain way. I’m not fully conquered, but I hope some day to get there.

As for reading, I’m currently working my way through The Obsidian Trilogy by James Mallory and Mercedes Lackey. Maybe once I’m finished, I can get a good old-fashioned review up. I do love high fantasy with complex magical systems. Also, this series gets bonus points for talking unicorns.

As for shows, I’m once again re-watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the 10th time, and eagerly awaiting the season finale of The Boys this Friday. This season has been crazy beyond words, but I’m hooked. If you’ve waited to binge it all at once, (and really, why did Amazon do that?) it’s almost time! Can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts on this season.

Look for my next post around the first of November. I’m getting back into the flow of this blogging thing again and should be able to stick to this schedule. I hope to have more writing news for you then! For now, Happy Reading!

Bad Memories

 This is the post I don’t want to write. If I think about it, it seems like a dream, something surreal, like I’m an outsider looking in at the events of my life, but if I look at the pictures, everything comes back full force. I won’t be posting many pictures of what happened.

On May 31st, my husband and kids left for a road trip to Florida. On June 1st at about 8pm, there were storms rolling through Dallas, and our house was struck by lightning and caught fire while we were 18 hours away by car.

The feeling of helplessness was immense. Thankfully, we had a house-sitter who was there at the time of the strike, and 911 was called immediately. Also, my brother-in-law and neighbor were there to help out. At the time, I didn’t care about our material things. I figured they were lost. I was only worried about our three cats. The house-sitter wasn’t able to find any of them before the smoke grew too thick.

The strike hit over the master bedroom where the fire burned away the ceiling and spread through the attic. This was normally where the cats would go if they were scared. Without that sanctuary, the firemen found my old man right away. For all his 11 years, Ben has always been a friendly cat, so he didn’t hide. However, this experience has changed him and he’s very shy now. We keep a large dog kennel outside for the neighborhood stray cat, and they were able to get that set up to keep him safe. Our neighbor offered to keep him until we made it home. 

Once the fire was out and they declared the house safe to enter again, the neighbors and our house-sitter found Caly that night. My neighbor packed her up with Ben and took them to her house. Caly is short for Calypso, because she’s a pirate (one eye is missing). She also has asthma, and although our neighbor tried, Caly wouldn’t take her pill the whole time we were gone. The smoke also did some damage to her lungs, and she was having asthma attacks daily for a while. The vet did a full blood workup on her and recommended an inhaler, which is the same as mine, but have you ever tried to give a cat a puff on an inhaler? I think the stress on her was enough to induce another attack. Caly has since recovered and is back to her normal routine with only a few attacks when it’s rainy outside.

That night, our neighbor helped us locate a contractor who secured the roof, as there were more storms coming in. The contractor ended up doing exceptional work for us to help rebuild the house. We spoke with him, the fire marshal, and our insurance agent, who all said to just stay in Florida. Our rooms were already paid for, and if we went home, we would just be staying in a hotel, anyway. There wasn’t anything to come back to. Except for one thing. They never found Inigo, my daughter’s cat.

My daughter found Inigo when he was 6 weeks old. That’s too young for a kitten to be away from his mother, but somehow he got into the storage room at the fast-food restaurant she worked at. She said her co-workers went crazy and thought he was a rat, but she had experience with cats and was able to catch him. My daughter promised she would take care of him, pay vet bills, and then help find him a home when he was ready. However, after caring for him in her room for two weeks before we introduced him to the other cats, the option to find him a home disappeared. Inigo had adopted her.

Whatever happened in his first 6 weeks (or that day in the storage room) traumatized Inigo. He has always feared everyone except for us and hides as soon as someone opens the front door. He grew to be a huge cat, around 20lbs of muscle, teeth, and claws, so I warned the contractor that if he found him, he might be in for a fight. The contractor’s team was working in our house those days before we made it back, clearing away debris (the ceiling had caved in all over the house from the water damage) and sitting up huge fans to help dry out the house so they could save what they could and prevent mold from growing. The fans ran on generators and were LOUD. I gave people an idea of where to look for Inigo in the house, but he was probably terrified and didn’t want to be found.

We did stay a few nights in Florida but ended up coming home early. Everyone told us to stay and enjoy what we could of our vacation, but how could we? The good thing was we had so much time scheduled off work, we could use it to help salvage some things and deal with insurance and contractors. When we made it home, my daughter went into the house first while we went to the neighbors, who had also offered to let us stay there until the insurance could get our hotel set up. We figured if Inigo was going to come out, it would only be for her. I gave her a few minutes before going in to check on her, but found her crying in what was left of our living room. She couldn’t find him.

Walking into the house was horrible. It stank. It smelled of rotting carpet and smoke. Most of everything we lost was due to either water damage or the smell of smoke seeping into everything. Not much of our actual possessions burned due to the fire being contained in the attic, but we still lost all our electronics and furniture. We were able to wash and save a lot of our clothes, and most of the hard objects in the front of the house survived. The fans did not stop the mold from growing on our couches or mattresses, not that the smoke smell would ever fade from them. That is not something you want to be reminded of.

We all came in after my daughter’s first search, and all of us looked for Inigo. We couldn’t find him or hear any meows over the sound of the fans. There were windows and doors left open throughout the house to let it air out, and we eventually figured he must have escaped. It was midafternoon and horribly hot, so we went back to my neighbors to get settled in.

Once it cooled off and my daughter had calmed down some, we decided to walk through the neighborhood to see if we could spot Inigo. That walk led us to the back of the house. Even though I didn’t have my keys on me, I tried the backdoor and the contractors had left it unlocked. I decided we might as well sweep the house one last time. We looked everywhere. While I was trying to find a safe way into the attic, thinking he could have gotten up there from all the many holes, I heard my daughter yelling from the master bedroom over the sound of the fans. She had finally found him, hiding underneath the nightstand, at ground zero, in a place that he shouldn’t have been able to fit.

Inigo seemed fine, although it was obvious he had lost some weight. I think once he got under the nightstand, he never moved for days. I dragged the kennel to the master bedroom and ignored the pain in my shoulder. My arm was still in quite a bit of pain and carrying the kennel over the fans and debris that blocked the hallway caused more damage. It didn’t matter, though. We needed to get Inigo out and to a safe place.

I’ve never seen our cats so happy to see us. The neighbor said Ben hadn’t come out from under the bed the whole time, but he came out as soon as he heard us. You could see the joy and relief in their eyes and the way they wouldn’t leave our sides. Even Inigo, who generally only gets close with my daughter, was sleeping in bed with us. All of us were safe now, and we would work out the rest later.

I have a lot left to write on what happened, but this post has stretched long enough as is. I knew it would. It’s a lot of story to tell. Some things that happened were unbelievable, and I’m not sure how much detail I want to get into, but that will be for another time.

For now, it’s back to editing. I’ve gotten a lot of work done these past two weeks, and I’m very pleased with the progress. If it all continues to go smoothly, I’ll be able to start sending chapters to my editor by the end of this week. My hope is to have the final draft, or at least close to it, completed by the end of the month. By then, I should be able to release a few details about the book(s) that will be coming soon.

Until then, please stay safe and happy reading.

It's Time

That’s right. Everything that I started working toward on that fateful day in September two years ago has finally come to pass as of midnight last night. No more papers, no more modules, no more discussion posts, and no more fucking replies. It’s done, boys. I’m done. I wasn’t stopped by chronic migraines or fibroids, or a frayed rotator cuff, or even wild dogs and lightning strikes. 

It is done.

And today, the story continues.

So where did I leave off? Oh yeah. Chronic migraines and fibroids. So, real quick about these stupid migraines and the medication that allows me to actually function. It’s called topirmate. Side effects may include “mental problems such as confusion, slowed thinking, trouble concentrating or paying attention, nervousness, memory problems, or speech/language problems” (WebMD, 2020). Did I just… ? Yes, I did, but anyway. This means it’s very hard for me to write or spell a coherent sentence. Harder to have a conversation with, but I make it through. I can normally save everything in editing, so let’s keep this dream alive, shall we? Dreamland’s waiting.

My next roadblock hit me sometime in February 2019. This one is interesting because it turned out to be quite painful and debilitating and is still lingering today, yet I have no clue how it happened. I’ve narrowed it down to maybe this being the culprit; apparently I jacked up my right shoulder trying to be She-Ra while carrying in too many groceries at once. I don’t have the power, guys. It didn’t hurt right away, and it was a slow, dull ache that came on over time that just steadily got worse. By April, I begin to notice that I wouldn’t raise my arm straight above my head because it hurt, and after that I favored it more and more, keeping it close to my body so it could ‘heal’. Spoiler alert, this was the wrong thing to do.

I believe it was May when I finally made it in to see a doctor in my general practice. I still had some use of my arm by then, although I couldn’t raise it over my head at that time. My general was too busy to see me, but the doc I did see was great, and she gave me a steroid shot and had an idea that the muscles were ceasing up and inflamed, which was halting the movement. She gave me a few exercises to do that would help get my mobility back. It was working. The family and I had a vacation coming up in June we were really looking forward to, and I was happy that my arm was decently working again. We would leave out May 31st on a road trip to Florida.

June 1st would bring about something that I never thought would happen to us in a million years, and the worst part of my journey. That will be a story for its own post.

Today, though… Today, I write. Without anything holding me back any more, I’m diving in and getting this book ready for you as fast as I can. It’s time.

The First Bump

I guess it's time for another post. Still hard to get back into the swing of things, so bear with me. It's certainly a struggle. I'll take the time to say that whatever you're out there struggling with, keep at it. I'm with you. I'm here to help you put that block behind you and keep going. Life sucks right now and has the potential to get a lot worse before it gets better, so let's stay in this together.

As stated in my previous post, the rocks that started rolling downhill on top of me started in late December 2017 went I spent the night in the ER. They were the first signs of the avalanche waiting to come but minor in the grand scheme of things and also something I had spoken about before on my blog. I had spent the week with a terrible headache and couldn't stop throwing up. Not only was it horrible, but it was terrifying. I was able to get the cat scan that was long overdue and in January 2018 was finally diagnosed with chronic migraines.

Although this was something I had been dealing with for a while, it gave a name to the pain and a pathway to control. I began seeing a neurologist, and although we went through a lot of trial and error at first, we finally landed on some medication that has dampened the migraines' effects and stopped most altogether. Huge win here.

To put it mildly and short, the fibroid they found was benign, thankfully. However, it was the size of a tennis ball and nearly as round. I don't want to give too much detail, but there was some damage caused, and I had to have a hysterectomy. I had to make the decision to delay my return to college and bump out the course I had signed up for or try to push through the course work during my surgery and downtime. I chose the latter and finished the course with an A. The first step in that journey was taken.

So 2018 didn't get kicked off to a great start, but I still decided to go back to school. I had to find something flexible since I was still working a 40-hour week with an hour commute, so online was the only option. I researched, chose the school, situated my finances, and enrolled. That in itself was a chore, but I was set to start in September 2018. My yearly wellness check was in August, only a few weeks before my start date. That was when the real avalanche started.

I'll save the events of 2019 for a later post. I know we're still playing catchup here, but here's a flash-forward at what I'm currently reading. The Black Prism by Brent Weeks.

Until then. Happy reading!

To New Beginnings

It’s been so long, where do I even start? I guess by saying this post has been in my mind for some time as I’ve known what I’ve wanted to say, but when to say it? I even hinted at a few things before my grand disappearing act in 2018, but after the silence had lingered for so long, it was easier to let it be than try to break it before I was ready. Now the question is, am I ready?

No.

But sometimes life is there to force our hand whether we want it or not, and at least this time I’m glad for it.

I’d like to say that over my nearly two years of radio silence that all I’ve been up to is work and family, that the dreaded 9 to 5 has just ate away at me, and it’s all I can do to keep up with that and family. Such has not been the case. Oh lordy, has that not been the case. I have so much to tell you. So much so that this story will require multiple blog postings and maybe a glass or two of wine. At the very least, you may want to get your popcorn ready for some later postings, but for now, I’ll start you off lite.

Although my last couple of years have been terribly rocky, there is one main culprit that has stolen most of my time. In September 2018, I took my ass back to college. That’s right. I’m finally finishing out my degree. Now, because I have a full-time job, along with some other events that happened between then and now, this has taken a little longer than originally anticipated, but I will graduate this year. I can assure you that after graduation, all of that time spent on school will be back to working on my books.

Now I’ve managed to find some meager time to write and work on my new website here and there, it hasn’t been as much as I’d have liked. Right now, writing is like taking a vacation. Also, since I knew this would be a series of posts, I didn’t want to commit to writing on posts, then end up going weeks, maybe a month before I could find time to get another post down. I feel that the next post might be a bit time-consuming. However, there has been another unexpected shift in my schedule that I will get into more later that will hopefully free up a little more time.

It does feel good to be posting again, though. For now, I’ll keep it at this and look forward to getting another post up soon.

Until then… Happy Reading!

***Insert Exaltation Here***

NaNoWriMo 2017 is officially over!

AND, I would like to add, officially won!

Another month of furious pantsing behind me. I've done it before without a plan. I've done it before with a plan, and every time somewhere in the middle, I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing. Not sure if I'll ever figure it out, but at least I was able to find the will to keep going. That's half the fight, right?

Anyway, the story isn't exactly finished, so work will continue on this novel, but here is where I ask for help. I posted a link at the beginning of NaNo, announcing that I would be posting a chapter a day on Tablo. I also completed that... somehow... because apparently I wanted to torture myself by working on two books this month. Oy, I might be a little bit insane.

Well, posting this was hard. This book has only been seen by my eyes so far. No editing. No beta-reading. Just words of barely more than a first draft. However, that's what Tablo asked for, and now I have a chance of getting this in front of a publisher, but I need help. They are looking at books based on 'hits' and 'active read time.' The book has been doing fairly well, better than I had actually expected, so thank you for those that have signed up for Tablo and favorited the work! I see you, you beautiful people!

But I still need more to boost the book into the top percent so it'll be noticed. If you haven't already, please check it out, and if you already have an account, please spread the word. Trust me, every little bit helps in a big way! I've got my fingers crossed. 

What we built, they drained away...

So today I'm taking a break. A time to breathe before I dive back into that wonderful sea of stories and words. My goal is another 50k in December to try to finish this up WHILE working on Dreamland - Part Three, and that name may change. I'm looking at rebranding, and TPC will probably be the last books published under my D.R.Johnson pen. Future books will probably be under my extended name instead of just my initials. Deets on that will be posted here, of course, but just a warning of what's coming!

Until then, happy reading! 

It starts...

Happy November 1st! The first day of NaNoWrimo, the writing challenge that started it all for me. I think, had I known those five years ago what I'd been able to accomplish with my yammering, I would have started sooner. Am I anywhere near the goals I set out for myself? No, but everyday I'm getting closer, and that's what I have to focus on.

It seems every year I'm on the fence on if I actually want to jump into NaNo again. It's a challenge, and I've proved to myself that I can write 50k words in a month multiple times, so the challenge isn't exactly what it started out as for me, so why bother?

This year I've realized that's not the point.

I threw my hat of plot-ideas to one of my friends and let her pick one, not even bothering to set up my story until today. Creating a new Scrivener document felt like a chore, and then I had to name the damn thing. Ugh. That was the hardest part so far. Next step was to set up the outline, go over my notes and begin the long process of turning this prompt into an actual story.

So I wrote.

I passed my daily goal, finished out the scene and off I went to NaNo to update my word count. That's when it hit me. Seeing that old familiar screen, my daily stats up there so bright and shiny, and the sense of accomplishment that washed through me. I've been in editing mode for so long now, I've almost forgotten the joy of writing.

"A blank page was nothing but potential, pointless until it was used." 

~ Brandon Sanderson

So NaNoWriMo isn't a challenge, but an event. A month of reckless writing where I don't have to worry about editing, adverbs and punctuation. Where I don't have to flip back and forth between Ali's cynicism and Joss's naivety. That balance between the part of the world he only thinks he can save and the good Ali doesn't think she can accomplish. I know it's just me sitting at a desk for hours, working out these problems in my head, but it is exhausting work.

First drafts into a new story, new characters, new places are nothing but pure potential. A fresh journey I can walk with my brand new characters, a vacation a can spend away from TPC, and when I come back to Ali and Joss, it will feel like home.

And then I remember I wrote their POV's in first person.

Hello Darkness, my old friend...

Anyway. Enough writing for today. If you'd like to follow me on a different journey, I'm trying something a new.. and well.. a little scary. I've joined the NaNoWriMo community over at Tablo, and I'm posting a chapter a day of the novel I'm getting ready to release. The title isn't concrete yet, but what title ever is? (A hint at more scary things to come.)

Join me at Tablo!

Only 47,807 words left to go! Happy Reading!

Update

Stopping by to leave a quick update and an explanation as to why I've been missing for the past 6 or so months.

First off, I'll apologize for not getting this up here sooner. Even though I have hit a huge stumbling block in this chapter of my life, I've had time to get a post up, but it felt like I was opening a can of worms. Regardless, it should have been done, but was not. I am only human, as I'm reminded of far too often.

This stumbling block has forced me to choose how I spend my available time, and that meant having to turn away from my blog and social media presence in favor of working on my books. Even though I can't always keep to the schedule I set for myself, rest assured that I am still devoting time to my stories.

The Walk will be a three book series. The first draft is finished (for the entire trilogy), and I'm currently working through chapter 71 of the 108 chapter manuscript. This has been an undertaking I gravely underestimated. However, having a completely finished story has made the continuity easier to work with, which is an element I often struggle with in The Phoenix Curse.

And working with Edy and her girls in The Walk has been far less painful than putting the words down on paper that will end Dreamland.

So there is my quick update. I cannot promise that you will see me here more often, but I can promise to try.

Happy reading, folks, and in case you missed it. Dreamland - Part Two is now available in paperback through Amazon.com.

It's Time...

DREAMLAND - PART TWO IS NOW LIVE!!!

The Reveal

Finally.

The news you've been waiting for.

Just in time for Christmas.

Dreamland - Part Two coming December 22nd.

WHAT DAY IS IT?

Oops.

I feel like I've been here before, but this post should have been up YESTERDAY. I guess eating all that turkey has killed off some much needed brain cells. Oy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and fulfilling Thanksgiving! I was exhausted by the end of the day, but satisfied. The handle to my measuring cup broke off in my hands, half the eggs had gone bad (how does that happen?) and the dough flat refused to rise, but all in all, everything turned out wonderful. I was surrounded by family and loved ones, and that's what I am thankful for. I love my holidays, and Thanksgiving is one of the best.

Oh, and I'm thankful for stuffing. The stuffing this year was AMAZING! So good it was all gone by Friday, and I made more on Saturday, cuz why not?

Anyway, NEWS! I have news today instead of a review, although I did finish Hero and shed many tears cuz it was the five-star book I've been needing from Salvatore for a while now.

But NEWS!

First topic. For the whole month of December, the ebook of After - The Complete Book One is on sale for only $0.99!! This is an amazing deal, so if you haven't started the journey yet, DO IT NOW. That's all three parts of After wrapped up in one very large $0.99 ebook. Make sure to grab it before the end of the year!

Next topic. Those nifty cover updates! I'm really loving the uniformity of them and can't wait to reveal the Dreamland - Part Two and Part Three covers. (Yes, Part Three!)

 And here is the 'reveal' for Dreamland - Part One. I say 'reveal' because it's actually been live on Amazon for some time now, but I haven't updated it on my website yet, nor officially announced it.

Bam! And what can you expect next Tuesday? The cover for Dreamland - Part Two!

This book has been so long in coming, and this month has been super hectic. I know my editor is currently on chapter nine of ten, so I should be getting all those wonderful words back to correct and polish, and (FINGERS CROSSED) get out by the end of the year! Yes, I'm still optimistic this can be done!

And the reason why November was so hectic? I once again faced the NaNoWriMo mountain and succeeded in ascending all 50k words to complete the challenge for 2016! As promised, all of those words went into Dreamland - Part Three, so I have a good chunk of the first draft under my belt. However, along with that came some more rewrites I didn't even know I needed for part two, but that makes for a better book.

Man, this year went by fast. Only one month left to go! I will have more news for you soon, so check back next week. I might even be able to sneak another review in before the end of the year. Until then, Happy Reading all! Stay safe and get those Christmas lights up! The holiday season is well underway, now!

Happy Halloween review of Rise of the Horde, By Christie Golden

Okay. So I know I promised to review Maestro by R.A. Salvatore as my next review, except... Problems happened. Ya see, Hero just released and I jumped right on that, and shortly thereafter realized I remember precisely two things about Maestro.

Baubles.
Gromph Baenre touching himself.

Yeah. That last scene stuck with me. My daughter also reminded me of Jarlaxle's internal monologue quipping about his relationship with the dragons. That was gold. There was also a big demon that needed taken care of, Yvonnel up to something nefarious, yada, yada, ect, ect, but the book was split. One half followed Catti-brie while the other half followed Drizzt. It was not my favorite book of the series, but it wasn't the worst, either. I am, however, extremely disappointed that Salvatore did not let us know if the carpet matched the drapes, ya know... referring to Gromph and the state of the Dark Elves. Do they even have carpet? I don't know. Perfect learning opportunity missed if you ask me. For science!

 I think Grom needs a snickers. 

Anyway... On to a book I can remember because I just finished it Saturday. Oy, my mind is split up into too many worlds as it is. Ferelden, Faurun, Tamriel, Westeros, Randland, Azeroth.. just the tip of the iceberg. It's no wonder I can't keep track.

Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden is not currently available in ebook. I think this is the reason why I put off reading it for so long. I stumbled across a copy a few months ago, so figured I'd give it a go. Took a while for me to get hooked, as it normally does, then somewhere a little before the halfway point, I was sucked in, did my obsessive read-it-all in one day thing, and the verdict? The book is fucking depressing, and I loved it.

I'm actually a huge Warcraft lore fan, and this is not the first Warcraft book I've read, but after some research, I decided to start my journey chronologically. I'm surprised it's taken me this long to actually start 'at the beginning' since I've been a fan of the franchise since '95 when the first game I purchased was Warcraft: Orcs vs Humans. Oy, feel old now. Moving on.

Rise of the Horde is mostly told in Durotan's perspective, son of Garad, Chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan. He is an orc who loves and cherishes their traditional way of life, but he's caught in a tide of destruction he's unable to fight against when Kil'Jaeden begins to manipulate the orc leaders. He must obey or risk his loved ones and clan members being murdered for his disobedience. The near complete genocide of the Draenei that follows is absolutely heartbreaking.

Of course, going into the book, I already knew the fate of the Draenei, as well as what's in store for Durotan down the line. That didn't change the emotional impact the text had on me once I was absorbed. It was a great start to this journey. I've already got my copy of The Last Guardian ready to go. Not sure when I'll be able to pick it up since...

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow!!

My 5th year of writing furiously. I think all my TPC fans out there will appreciate what I've chosen as my NaNo project for 2016. Dreamland - Part Three. Yes! I'm shooting for the next installment to be released early/mid 2017, and I have my last year's NaNo project ready to be edited. I am in total love with that book and can't wait to get it ready to present to you all!

One thing at a time, though. Priority still being Dreamland - Part Two, but now the majority of the project is  resting on my editor, BUT NO PRESSURE. He has had some real life shenanigans jump in his way as well. Oh real life. Quit being so silly.

Countdown to the Dreamland - Part Two cover reveal starts tomorrow, so if you aren't currently following me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you can keep an eye on the webpage. Thar be changes ahead, soon!

http://www.thephoenixcurse.com/books
Facebook: DRJohnsonwriter
Twitter: @DRJohnsonTPC
Instagram: @DRJohnsonTPC


Happy reading, everyone!

Bound by a Dragon, by Linda K. Hopkins

It's about time for another review! I think I'm behind... Well, when am I not, but I actually forgot to get my review up for the last Drizzt book, Maestro, and the next book in that collection is coming out next month! I'll get a review of Maestro up before the next book is released, I promise. Man, there were some memorable scenes from that book, and I actually can't wait to cover it.

Okay, so onto Bound by a Dragon, by the lovely Linda K. Hopkins. 

The Dragon Archives

This book was a solid three stars. I didn't dislike the book, but there wasn't much of the book for me to fall in love with either. It's a very mild book. The highs weren't high and the lows weren't low. However, I still enjoyed the story and the characters and would recommend this to a younger reader who might want to get started in supernatural romance. 

As I said before, despite the title, this book is very mild. Could I have possibly been hoping for a good ol' Kathleen E. Woodiwiss bodice ripper? Perhaps. It's been awhile since I've indulged in a steamy, medieval romance and those were always my favs. I did not find it in this book, but the characters still managed to worm their way into my heart. With the book being such a lite and quick read, I will probably pick up the rest in the series at some point. 

Man, I am super behind on my reading this year. Maybe I shouldn't have binge watched all of Fringe and two seasons of American Horror Story. And Daredevil. And Lucifer. And Once Upon a Time... and the list goes on. Oh well. A good story is a good story however it's being told. I realize the 'good' part of that is relative but leave me my vices. 

It's the last day of September and the original deadline to have all my chapters turned over to my editor, but I knew that goal was smudged a while ago. However, things are still progressing well for me to finish before November, but I have a lot to get done before NaNoWriMo. October is going to be busy busy busy!

I'll be back soon with a Maestro review, and until then, here is a snippet of Bound by a Dragon.

Happy reading!!

American Horror Story

It's time for season six...

AND I'M SO EXCITED!

I just finished binge watching Freak Show and Hotel, so I'm ready for this to get started! It amazes me how different the characters are from season to season, and nothing beat Dennis O'Hare in Hotel. Just amazing performances all around, but I terribly missed Jessica Lang in Hotel. Gaga was a fantastic addition to the cast, though, and I can't wait to see what season six has in store!

A short book update... Things have gotten slowed down lately due to the day job. Unfortunately, I lost two weeks worth of editing time for Dreamland - Part Two, but I am now back on track. I wanted to be finished by the end of this month, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. Chapters are still going out to editor number one as I finish them, so hopefully it won't take me much longer to finish than I originally planned.

Short update, I know, but I needed to get something up here! I'm still reading the Harry Potter books, so I'm not sure if I should review per book or after the series is done? I'm only on book two right now, so I'm still undecided!

Also, we have a new Drizzt book coming out next month as well, so another thing that's making me all jittery!

Man. All these new shows and new season. This is my favorite time of the year!

Ello, Loves!

I just wanted to drop by today to leave a really quick note. This summer has been way busier than I expected with vacations, big birthday bashes, and the release of Overwatch and Pokemon Go. Oy, I am NOT going to hit my reading goal this year, I just know it.

Before I get on to my spoilery fangirl gushing, quick update on Dreamland - Part Two status. Things are moving along pretty well. My goal is to finish all my rewrites and beta edits next month, and send the manuscript off to my copy editor. As I said, this summer has been busy, so my editing time has gotten squished down a bit, BUT the time I do have left to dedicate to the rewrites is actually going smoother than anticipated. So, yay!... I think?

NeWay...

THIS POST CONTAINS GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS!!!

Here is a quick rewind of what I've been up to since the last post. Game of Thrones. Oh. My. God. I know the hype has died down since the season finale aired, but man... It was epic. I loved loved loved this last season. It was practically flawless (if we ignore No One) and soooo satisfying. That shot of Young Ned holding his nephew and then the switch to Jon... Not gonna lie, but I dropped my head and just cried for a moment. I was so overwhelmed. I had no idea how invested I've been in these books and theories until it was all finally served to me from the TV screen. It was a wonderful moment. Also, my money is on Lyanna naming him Jaehaerys, btw! (I'm probably wrong.)

And Cersei... Oh, you go girl! I have never watched someone go so completely batshit crazy in such a fabulous fashion. I am so excited to see how her story line plays out next season. I am really going to miss Margery, though. Her death was very quick and unexpected. I think I'll miss her the most, even though Hodor hit me the hardest.

Man... That night was brutal.

After my crazed experience of dealing with the GOT void last year when season 5 ended, I was prepared to distract myself this year. I picked a show to binge watch and dove in, fully committed... and watched all five seasons of Fringe in two weeks. Somehow, I knew I would be watching it someday and managed to make it through all this time without any spoilers. I thoroughly enjoyed the watch and got a new shirt to add to my ever growing collection of fan t-shirts!

It's my favorite thing. My very favorite thing.

And now... I don't know what the hell to do with my life.  Le' sigh...

Guess I'll have to keep occupying myself with Overwatch until I find a new passion, -- Junkrat of course, because I've never been able to aim to save my life -- and I have found myself spending an exorbitant amount of time in local graveyards lately thanks to Pokemon Go. Still haven't found a damn Pikachu yet.

The search continues... as does the editing! Happy reading, everyone! Will try not to be too long before another update rolls around. Until then... Cheers, love!

Kiss Me Dead, By Dale Ibitz

Hello out there! It seems like it's been a terrible long time since I last got a review posted, as well as an update. I was able to enjoy a brief vacation at the end of May, ya know... right after I finished the Dreamland - Part Two first draft. Yeah? Is that the crowd roaring I hear out there? Good, good. Enjoy that little bit of excitement there, cuz the editing is already underway!!

So, not only do I have that taking up blogging time, but Game of Thrones just totally sucks me in. This season has been astounding, and I've honestly found it hard to think about anything else. With the show surpassing the books, and us long time book readers finally getting some answers, I can think of nothing else! I mean, on one hand I can write a blog post, but on the other, I can read another crazy fan theory how Ned and Lyanna Stark are somehow still alive and hiding in the swamps!! Oy. It's not even a conscious decision, it just happens. I am looking forward to the end of this season, where I plan on cracking open my post from last year and seeing what theories got shot to hell.

Aside from that, I have still been reading and listening to my audio books. I've started Harry Potter (again) and have a couple other indie novels I need to get reviews up on. I'll get back into the swing of reviewing with Kiss Me Dead, by Dale Ibitz.

I picked up this book after going on a mad search for Angel mythos. I did find a few that dealt totally with our feathered friends, but somehow Ibitz caught my eye with this tale about a reaper-human hybrid. The book doesn't have many reviews, so if you do pick it up and take a fancy to it, please do a fellow author a favor and smack a review up there on Amazon or Goodreads, or your platform of choice. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, good reviews mean the world to us!

Now, on to this juicy little tale and my three star review.

This book was really delightful. I know that the three star review might seem a little low for a book I like, but it is a really good story, and it is also told well for the most part. There were just a few issues that I wasn’t able to overlook that I hope my review can be constructive on.

As I said before, this is the book I chose to fill the void that’s been deepening for angel lore, and I think it was a taste of what I wanted. It mostly deals with reapers and reaper mythos, which Ibitz gives us enough to really sink our teeth into. There was not a lot to the angel side of the story, just a few bits sprinkled in here and there, but it was well crafted to what the story needed. The two found a really nice balance and fit perfectly together.

The book is structured really well, too. Ibitz grabs our attention right off the bat with two points of view intricately woven together during two separate time periods. We get Christian the reaper from 1938, and Brooke from present time. The chapters alternated between the two, giving us a parallel story until it finally met in the middle. I have to say, the way these two individual arcs lined up and fell together at the end really kept me turning the pages.

The way Ibitz knitted these stories together really showed her skill as a writer and was one of, if not THE, high point of the book for me.

Now, let me explain why some of those stars didn't get filled in.

My first issue was due to the overuse of flowery prose. Now, some flowery prose is needed and refreshing in a book or manuscript, but there were several instances where it felt the prose went a little bit overboard. Everything was flowery, and it was sometimes hard to decipher descriptions which led to an exhaustive read for something that should have been simple. Prose needs to be changed up some. Highs and lows, ebb and flow. Flowery and simple. A book needs them both.

Never underestimate the use of simplicity. "It was cold."

Need to be a little bit more descriptive? "It was cold."

It’s simple, but the emphasis gets it through to the reader. Then the flowery statement of how the MC or POV is handling this coldness can follow. Not every noun needs to be personified with a feeling of its own to describe the scene. Like I said, it got a bit exhaustive. The flowery prose was good, just a little overdone.

The next issue I had was heartbreaking. 

So, as I mentioned before, there were two point of views for this book. One of those POVs had a climactic scene that was building, and building, and building and then… Nothing.

We find out what happened by way of someone telling another character. We didn’t get the fulfillment of seeing the scene play out in front of us, and the culmination to that storyline was extremely unfulfilling. I don’t think it did the characters justice.

I guess this should go along with my first nitpicky review, but I also had an issue with how everything was just so intense for anything the main characters were feeling. I guess this was mostly Brook, but every thing she felt was just mega intense. It resulted in a lack of space for her to crank up the emotion when the really big confrontation finally happened. It left that scene a little bit underwhelming.

This book was good enough that I immediately checked the author’s page to see if I could find out any more information on another book in the series. Unfortunately, there isn’t one yet, but there is one in the works. Yay!

I followed Ibitz on Amazon. Her work is definitely worth it, and a preview of Kiss Me Dead is below for your convenience. Gives it a clicky and see what you think!

That's it for my review and now I'm only two books behind on reviews! Double yay!! That is, until I finish reading my next book... Oopsie.

Welp, all you Game of Thrones fans out there, hold on to your butts for Bastard Bowl next week, and I'll be back soon with my thoughts on this season!

Until then, Happy Reading!!! (and... watching?)

The Vampire Within, By Johi Jenkins

Happy May! Is everyone ready for summer yet? It's hiding just around the corner, maybe closer than we think. Us Texans can definitely feel it already. Springs here are very short, but I can't wait to get out in the pool!

As nice as today is, I dropped by the ol' blog to poke around a bit, leave a juicy review, and remind my giveaway winners to make sure they check the email they signed up with to claim their free copy of After! Not all the coupons I sent out have been claimed yet, so here's a list of winners once again. If you're on this list and haven't already, CHECK YOUR EMAIL! You have a free book in there collecting dust!

• Taylor Hess
• Jones Dodson
• Vicky Wallette
• Shannon Modrak
• Wanda Ritter

Now that we have that out of the way, lets jump into the review.

Once again, I'm behind on getting these posted. I actually finished The Vampire Within by Johi Jenkins what seems like months ago. It's sad that I can read a book before I can post a review. Or, in this case, three books. Yeah. You heard right. I'm three books behind and closing in on finishing the fourth.

So, anyway. Let's get to it. 

The Vampire Within is the third novel in the Thirst Within series, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Definitely a guilty pleasure for me since I don't typically read this genre, but after I finished the book (way too fast, I might add) I ended up on a book bender trying to find another story of the same calibre. I had no luck, so if anyone has any suggestions of a good supernatural romance (maybe throw in some angels) then I'm all ears. 

When I first started this book, there was a part of me that really wanted to know how the story would end, and another part of me that really wanted the story to keep going. By the time I reached the end of the book, it was evident that the story was going to continue. However, I did not expect the cliffhanger that followed. Dammit. I'm going to be dying until the next book is released.

Here's a little history on this book series. It starts out with Thirst Within and follows up with the prequel, Corben's Thirst. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it is a true series and you will need to start with book one so that you can get to know the main cast. By the time you get to book three, you'll be so enthralled with the characters, you're not going to want to let them go. I can't really go into the plot of The Vampire Within without spoiling Thirst, so I think I'll just leave you with all my glowing accolades. 

Not sure which one is my favorite of the three books, but I just can’t wait to read more from the series. Remember, I'm still on the hunt for a good angel mythology book!

And yes, I'm very excited for the Preacher debut on AMC here in a couple weeks. Read those graphic novels over a decade ago and really enjoyed them. Can't wait to see what AMC, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have in store for us.

Aside from that, work on Dreamland - Part Two is right on schedule. I'm thinking I'll be hitting about 10 chapters for this installment, and I've already got 7 of them written. It's moving right along!

Happy reading, everyone!

Giveaway Reminder!

Or possibly, first notice... I apologize for that. I was not aware that Networkblog is no more. This was a service I relied on to share my blog posts to my Facebook and Twitter followers. I found a new service that I'm trying out that looks promising. If you were shown the way here from Facebook/Twitter, then it's working wonderfully.

So, here we go... A current giveaway is underway already for 5 eBook copies of After, the COMPLETE book one of The Phoenix Curse. The winners will be gifted their copy through Amazon.

Already have all three parts separate? Who cares! Sign up to get the complete book for your convenience. (It might actually have less typos in it.) Know a friend who might want to read it? Both of you sign up to increase your chances. The gift code is not specific to your email or Amazon account.

 The giveaway has been running since the 15th, and so far has a very poor turnout. Your odds of winning are pretty damn good if you sign up now. You still have until Friday, BUT it is possible to get an extra entry per day if you tweet about the contest! Since it's possible we lost a few a days due to my failed promotion of the contest, you can send an email to drjpublishing@gmail.com and I'll make sure those extra entries get thrown into the hat.

There is one small hurdle to enter. You do have to sign up for rafflecopter as they are hosting the giveway, but don't worry. It's quick, free, and they do not spam you. (I won't spam you either.)

Remember, the object of this giveaway is to get the word out about the book, and get a copy into the hands of someone who hasn't read it, so sign up and share share share! Visibility is key and if you win, the gift code can go to any one of your choosing.


a Rafflecopter giveaway