Hibernation Season Is Upon Us

Hope we're all fattening up and getting ready for a long winter's nap. Ha! Wouldn't that be fantastic? Just be like a bear or a chipmunk and get fat over the course of fall then sleep my way through winter. Ugh. Such a good life. The closest thing humans get to hibernation is the food coma we fall into after a big meal. Speaking of big meals, Turkey Day is coming up for USians, so I'm excited to stuff my face and the 2 weeks I will be off during November. It's much needed.

A couple of weeks ago, instead of editing the first book of my novella series, I read the second book in the Detective Miller series, which is titled Grisly Politics. I hadn't meant to do that, but I completely forgot how the story ended since it has been a year since I finished writing it. I opened it up, and I was cool with reading just the ending, but when I did that, I was like what happened here? So, I ended up reading the whole thing. I am really happy with how that story turned out. Like Eliza and Dax's relationship gains so much depth, and we get more of Eliza dealing with her shit, and of course let's not forget the murder! The murder is an intriguing plot point, and definitely one that challenges Eliza. I have a feeling people are going to get frustrated with Eliza in this next book because I certainly did, but considering her history it sort of turns that frustration into a simmer instead of a full on boil.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading it, and as apparent from my weekend, I wasn't able to put it down. Hopefully I can get to editing it Summer of next year, but I've got to see what hell that albatross Fate Unseen is going to put me through. After reading it, I don't think it will be that much of a challenge editing wise, but there is a couple of things I do need to fix. Like me providing a more coherent path when Eliza is trying to solve the case, and some other things, but it's all pretty minor.

Okay, while I'm super excited about Grisly Politics, let's talk about Outside The Game the first book in my novella series centered around a fictional football league. This is US/Canada football for my global folks. First, I had to change the title because there are way to many books titled Beyond The Game. I think one of them was a Charles Barkley book. Second, I'm almost done with editing round one. I've got three chapters left then I've got to review my changes then I'll be done. You all can thank my therapist for this. She challenged me to have either my embroidery project done or my book edited. Clearly we see which one I have put my focus on.

During editing, the word count went up 7k words, and I can no longer call it a novella. This is why I struck through the word novella in my prior mentions of the series because I can't call it a novella series when the first book out the gate is probably going to end at 45k words. While it is no longer a novella series, I still plan to keep the word count for each book in the series under 50k words, so a novella will get tossed in the series at some point.

The increased word count is due to some added scenes and I'm going to rewrite the ending. I think. It's fine in its current iteration, but I feel like it falls flat. We'll see how I feel when I get to it.

In other news, during the week that I'm off in November and not around my family, I'll be running a sale on Ko-Fi and Smashwords. So, if you've been looking to get my books for free or at a cheaper price, that will be the time to do it. I'll announce when the sale is on my socials and website.

Speaking of my website, a couple of week's back, I changed who was hosting my site because I've been trying to get away from Wix forever. I just don't like the way they do things. They're more focused on e-commerce, and I'd just like my website to be more than that. It's my spokesperson for when I'm not available and gives people into a peek of who I am as a writer. I'm sure you're all thinking, but that's what social media is for, but 9 times out of 10, I can't be bothered with social media author wise because I feel like I need to be saying something exciting, and my life is pretty boring. So, that's why leaving Wix was important to me.

I eventually found Webwave, and while there is a bit of learning curve, I do like how everything is laid out and you can do absolutely everything you need to do with it. Not an ad, but I'm definitely glad that I found them. If you do go to my site and find something off, shoot me a message. I haven't looked at it in a while after I launched it, so I'm sure something is wrong with it.

Goodness, look at this post doing the most, but it's also been a while. Oh, newsletter will be launching 2024. Not sure what is going to be in it, but it's launching lol. Key takeaways from this post: there's a sale in November, I'm still editing, and the newsletter is launching. Sign up here to make sure you get the 1st edition.

Other than that, remember to rate and review the books you read, especially those written by self-published and indie authors because boy you're missing some gems there.

Until next time...

-DJ Small

March Is Halfway Over

I blinked, and next thing I knew it was March 16th. Decided it would be a great time to do an update. I think the main reason why March flew by is because I was busy trying to obliterate the first draft of my next book, which as of 10:15pm of March 12th, is finished.

I'm intrigued to see how this book will be received because this will be my first book where my main characters won't be two women who love women. This time I've got a cis, female, bisexual main character, and a trans, sexually fluid, main character who is a person of color. It'll be different, but I hope people will have an open mind about it. I mean you really need to because it's set in a world where sex work is legal, and Dax is a sex worker who loves his job. But all seriousness aside it's a fun book, and there are some serious moments, but overall it is a light read. My goal for it is to be a quick, fun read that also gives you some feels. I'll have more information about the release of Detective Miller after the editing process. Hoping for July, but things happen. The book was originally titled, Detective Miller Meet The Callboy, but I didn't like the feel of it, so it's just Detective Miller at the moment.

During this breather between finishing the first draft and editing, I'm reading what I have thus far for the second Last Pureblood book, and as soon as I finish that I'm going to actually outline that damn story. I thought I could dive into it and get it done, but there are too many moving parts, and I want to make sure I cover all the loose ends from the first book while also closing out this part of the story. Then there is introducing the next arc of the series, and my goodness! There are a lot of parts. I can handle it.

In other news, I'm trying to get my serial out this year. Where it will be posted is still TBD. I want to do it through my site, but at the same time I can't seem to figure out how to do the delivery, so I may just post it through my Ko-Fi. Make the first chapter free, and if you donate you get subsequent chapters. It's a thought. I'm still trying to figure it all out. The serials will be setup where each season will be 10 episodes, and each episode is 10k words, give or take a few hundred. I have the first one written, but I am Sir Does Too Much, and haven't gotten around to getting it edited. So if I have some time near the end of the year I'm going to jump on that.

Before I end things, if you're interested in beta reading Detective Miller after I edit it, please let me know. I only need 2 people, maybe 3, but the more the merrier. I'm thinking of compensation, probably in the form of a signed copy of the book, but it will be greatly appreciated. Just a content warning here, but Detective Miller does have adult content and mentions the deaths of sex workers.

Okay, that was a March update, and I probably won't have another one until April. Until then enjoy whatever books you're reading and make sure you review them. It's not about money, but visibility.

-DJ Small

And Suddenly It Was December

For a year that went by slower than molasses, November went by pretty damn quick

Happy holiday season for those celebrating some sort of seasonal holiday this month, and for those of you that don't celebrate holidays, happy December.

Nothing special this entry just wanted to say thank you to all those who have purchased Reappearance of Summer. I hope everyone has enjoyed it thus far, and if you've finished reading it and want to show a little love you can leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon. For the next few months my books will be available on Kindle Unlimited so if you're enrolled in the program definitely give my books a read without the commitment. With them being in the program I'm going to be able to make the books free on certain days so be on the look out.

I'd like to take this time to allude to a new project that should be showing up in a month or two. It's not the second Last Pureblood book. It's actually something I have been working on for the last few months, and surprisingly, it was easy to write while working on Reappearance of Summer. I'll release the details about it when I'm ready for the world to know more, but it's going to be something that will only be offered on my website and you won't be able to find it anywhere else. Yeah, it's that elusive. This brings me to my newsletter subscribers. Once I'm ready to release it into the world, I'll send those of you who are subscribed to my website newsletter a link for early access to this new project. That's it for now on that, but if you want the early access link subscribe to my newsletter, which gets sent out as infrequently as I update my blog 😒

I've got some changes coming at the beginning of the year, but mostly updating the website and stuff. I'm going to introduce a new logo because I think it's time for a new one.


Last Pureblood book two. There we go. That was my obligatory mention, and you know what they say, no news is good news. Does that work in the writing world? It's being worked on. The beginning is slow, so I'm going to have to do some rewrites, but yeah it's coming along and still on track for 2019.

That is December's blog post. Fingers crossed I make another one. If not, I hope everyone has a good holiday and happy new year. Thank you for making 2018 a great one for me just by reading my books and buying them. I hope to bring you more in 2019.

-DJ Small

Hello, hello!

I feel like it has been sometime since a blog post, but I haven't been doing anything except working. Kidding, I have been doing book and author things. A newsletter wasn't one of those things because I completely forgot, but October will have a newsletter.

Reappearance of Summer is still with the editor and I should have it back by the end of this week. Once I do my review I think I'll be two steps closer to being ready for the book's release at the end of October. If you haven't done so already you can pre-order the ebook on Amazon, my Gumroad store, and Barnes and Noble. Signed copies can also be pre-ordered through the Gumroad store. I'm only ordering enough to fill the pre-orders I recieve so if you want a signed paperback of Reappearance of Summer do it now because pre-orders end on October 15th.

For the last year or so I've been trying to figure out what to do with my serialized short stories. I was going to do Patreon, but honestly I couldn't justify charging people monthly and if I got caught up in something else then there would be a period of time where I wouldn't be putting out content. So, I nixed the idea in the bud, and kept thinking about what to do because offering the serials is a stepping stone for my graphic novel which isn't in the near future, but definitely in the next two years. I tried to go for Radish, but it seems I don't fit their platform. Fortunately, I rubbed my two brain cells together and have figured out how to offer my serials and will share the details at the beginning of 2019. I want to have the volume one of the first finished first. 

Book two of The Last Pureblood series is being written as we speak. It's sitting pretty at 15k word at the moment, but by the time my weekend is it should be at 20 or more. Things pick up right where we left off. I'm introducing some new characters, Avery meets Jon, and of course Avery's big change happens. There are also some exciting bits in this one. The second book is going to wrap up the groundwork book one started and we're going to start getting to the meat and potatoes of story line which is Avery dealing with her role in the supernatural community and the war among the werewolves. There is going to be excitement abound.

Lastly, my first book Pool of Lies turns two on September 26th, and to celebrate it's getting a face lift along with a nip and tuck. In book terms: new cover and I had to update the insides. The book will be on sale the entire week of the 26th for a dollar so make sure you get the story that drove me into self-publishing.

Okay, so this actually was an informative blog post. Proud of me. Main things to take away: pre-order Reappearance of Summer if you done so especially if you wanted a signed paperback; book 2 of The Pureblood Series is underway; and check out Pool of Lies new cover. Oh, and leave a review if you could on any of the books. They help the algorithms.

Be safe, be happy, and enjoy a good book.

-DJ Small

My Metadata Is Going To Be All Screwed Up

I can't seem to spell the word reappearance and spell check on my browser seems to only want to work 75% of the time. Thus, screwing up my metadata because I have to go back and change everything which takes like 24-48 hours to switch over. Anyway....rant over.

Pre-order your copy of Reappearance of Summer today! Physical copies can be reserved on my Gumroad page. Digital copies can be reserved on Amazon, Gumroad, and Barnes and Noble.

This is me putting my foot in my mouth. I said I wasn't going to do Amazon pre-orders because of how they do them. Well, I figured out if I schedule the book release for two weeks later than the release date then I can compensate for any incidents which may arise and cause me to delay the release. This being said, the release date on Amazon says 11/15/2018, but it is actually 10/29/2018 barring any complications. So, no one is getting jipped. This is me trying to get around Amazon's tight policy in regards to delaying pre-orders.

Any questions let me know. I have updated everything with the correct spelling of the word "reappearance" and you should see the update in like 3 days because everything is sooooo slow.

Oh, small announcement. I am beginning a serial and it will be available on my website. I have decided not to do Patreon because I couldn't justify it. I've deleted my page and if you were really stoked about it, I'm sorry. Maybe I'll work something out in regards to giveaways and what not.

All right, this was a quick update and don't forget to pre-order your copy of Reappearance of Summer especially if you are wanting a signed copy because I'm only ordering enough to fulfill pre-order numbers. Just an FYI for you all.

I'm off to go see where else I need to go correct the spelling of my book. Until next time...

-DJ Small