Hey Crew,

Spending time away from writing and this blog aren’t easy. Coming back to it is even more difficult. There’s a wide range of emotions from a longing to return to guilt for having been away for so long with no explanation as to where the heck I disappeared to in the first place. So I’ll try to sum up the story as best I can.

Last year, around this time, my high school buddy, Jeff, called and said “Hey, I’m getting the bands back together!”

I played drums in a band with him in high school and his 50th birthday was coming up. I had since switched to bass and Sean (the other friend from the high school band) and I were in a band after I’d gotten out of the Navy. So Jeff got us together, plus all his other bands he’d been in (and was still in) and had a birthday blow out that couldn’t be beat. It was terriffic. I had a great time on stage, but practiced for months to get my chops back to where they needed to be for the show. Curious? Here’s the video. I’m not sure why, but even though this was the biggest crowd Sean and I had ever played in front of (Jeff regularly plays in front of much larger crowds), I wasn’t nervous.

After Jeff’s birthday party (the following morning to be exact) I was feeling great at how well we did for not playing together for 25 years and not playing those songs in the same amount of time. Browing FaceBook, I saw there was an opening for a bass player to play a song for the upcoming Metal Jam.

Side Note: Metal Jam is an annual event that Jeff puts on. There is a song list and musicians sign up to play on one song. Sometimes people drop out. I was lucky enough that somoene did drop out and I stepped up to play my first Metal Jam!

It was Skid Row. I figured how hard could Skid Row be, right? I mean, it’s just a hair metal band. Oh, Jay was so wrong. That song looked simple enough but there are a couple rather tricky parts. So I practiced for a month on that song while still playing the songs we had played from Jeff’s birthday just to throw them into the mix. There was only one practice before the show and we were on second! Still, there was a big crowd as all the musician show up prior to the gig starting. So yet again I was on stange in front of dozens of musicans having a great time, and oddly, not nervous.

Interested? Here’s that video.

So that took up a majority of the past year. Playing and practing bass for a couple of shows. Both were a great time!

So after those shows were over, I still fiddled around with the bass, but I had spent my creative energy in a totally different direction that anticipated.

Also, during that time, I had been surplussed from work. If you’ve heard me talk about this before, it meant my position was eliminated and I had 60 days to find another position. Never a good time, and, thankfully, 2 days before my last day, I landed another position.

I was back to programming (sort of). The job didn’t start out that way, but it’s progessed and evolved and now I’m programming once again. After those two shows, I really focused on my job (well, I was focused on it before, but now I was putting in some extra hours to really get into the job).

We took a couple small vacations, my sister-in-law was sick (I won’t post about that here, ask me if you’re interested) and life took a lot of strange turns as it is wont to do.

So, I’m back. I’m back to writing. I’m back to editing. I’m about to get back to publishing. Here’s what’s on my plate and what I hope to be doing over the next few months.

I’ve done much better editing on V&A Shipping 1 & 2 and Giant Robot Planetary Competition 1. I also did the editing on GRPC 2 and Almost-Super Heroes 1. I’m over halfway done with Almost-Super Heroes 2. My plan is to relaunch the V&A Shipping universe. Better editing, new covers, and audio. Yes, I’ll finally be getting around to recording everything. So once I have ASH2 completed, I’ll be hitting record and going through all 6 books to record them. My plan is to drop a book a month for as long as I can keep that schedule up. Here’s what I’m hoping for a scheudle.

September – V&A Shipping 1

October – V&A Shipping 2

November – GRPC 1

That will be the rerelease of the original material plus the audio for those books.

December – Jack Kane 2

Hey! Jay, how does Jack Kane fit into the V&A Shipping universe?

Hey! It doesn’t! But Mike and I sold book 2 after finally finishing it and it’ll be out before the end of the year and we’ll be writing book 3 far faster than we did with book 2! WOO WOO! Books!

January – GRPC 2

February – Almost-Super Heroes 1

March – Almost-Super Heroes 2

April – V&A Shipping 3

That’s my plan thus far. Yes, it’s aggressive. But I need to start getting these books out the door. They’re done and collecting dust and I know many of you are waiting for more books as well as audio versions.

Here’s where I’ll need your help. In the coming months as I get these books out, I’ll be starting up a patreon page. I want to drop the books and the audio there. The audio will probably lag behind the ebook and print editions, but that’s the nature of the game. If you can’t afford the $$ for audible, Patreon will be another, less expensive option where it’ll be serialized. It’ll be a long time down the road before I start dropping the episodes as actual podcasts. We will have to see what happens. But I do intend to get my hat back into the podcasting arena.

There are a lot of plans in the works. I know consistency is key. I need you to hold my feet to the fire if I slip and start to fall behind.

I want to take a moment and thank each and every one of you that reached out to me and commented on this blog. Also, those that have left reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Your words are what keep me coming back. I know I haven’t been the most reliable author. I’m thankful you’ve all remained with me. It’s time to right this ship and set course.

Until Next time!

Stay Awesome!