Dammit! It's fricking October!

This post has gone through multiple iterations since I've come back from the GCLS conference back in July, and it's only because I'll think of something while typing, and I either get distracted or hold off on posting because my idea is a good one, thinking I would use the post to announce it because I'm always working on something. Usually that's not the case, but this time, I have a couple of things to announce lol.

Uh...since this is going to be a recap of my summer pretty much I'll put this under a cut so it's not a freakishly long post. I hope you all had an enjoyable summer, and I hope the next few months are a complete nightmare. Onto the good stuff!

*Waves From Under A Pile Of Blankets* Heyyyy........

It has been a while. I know it seems like I've vanished off the face of the Earth, but like most USians, I had a hard time processing the election, and that coupled with my normal depression and some family things, made existence painful. Now with the coming of Spring, well, Summer at this point, and a move, I'm hoping I'll be able to get back into the writing and publishing game.

Before I jump into what this post is truly about, I wanted to say I went to Queers and Quills over the Memorial Day weekend, and it was an interesting event to be at since the only writer events I've been to has been GCLS, which is about sapphic books and the authors that write them, who are primarily women identifying folx. So, going to an event where all of the queer community represented was interesting, but also a little refreshing. The queer community isn't a monolith, but sometimes we fall into the pit of putting ourselves in cliques, especially now and in the US. You can see it in the way people interact online, but if you go out in reality, the vibes are different and you forget how enjoyable it is being amongst other queers.

Anyway, it was a great event held in Portland, OR. It was my first time in the PNW and on the west coast so I was super excited. This was the first Queers and Quills event, and they did their best to include as much diversity as possible, but there were some areas where I thought they could do better, however, I also didn't attend many panels. I didn't like the scheduling of them. At most you got to go to 2 panels a day for 3 days, and that third day didn't have any panels. Maybe they'll evolve next year and figure it out, but outside of the event hanging out with some folx I know from the GCLS was a good time like always.

Anyway, want to find out what I've been up to before this weekend? Of course you do!

I would love to say that I've been working on Fate Unseen or Outside The Game, or even Grisly Politics during this time, but the sad fact of the matter is that I haven't. Listen, when I say it has been rough, I mean it has been rough. There was a full month where I came home from work, and went in my room and stayed in bed for hours on end, except to pee, which was infrequent because I wasn't taking care of myself. So, finding the headspace for writing has been such a back-burner of a want for me. And like every time I talk to my therapist, I'm like I want to get back into writing more than anything else. Not because I want to publish, but because that's my outlet, and not having it has me feeling listless.

Anyways, let's talk about the other side of this. As I said up top, I'm easing writing back into my routine. Current goal is to write at minimum a sentence It's about the small steps, and I think that's what my therapist has been trying to enforce in me, but I'm such a worldview kind of thinker and I get lost in the weeds. So, by taking it one sentence at time, I can re-kindle my love for writing. And being amongst my fellow writers this past weekend also helped reinvigorate me a bit because I want to be able to talk about my work. Like yes, I have four books out, but I would love to talk about my new stuff too. I have so much excitement about my forthcoming work, but I can only talk about it to a few people. So, we're going to take this a step at a time, and hell, if any of my readers want to hold me accountable, I'm all for it. You can now find me on Bsky.

Oh, one thing I've been thinking about while I haven't been actively writing is protecting myself as an author. Between the plagiarists, pirates, gen-AI, gen-AI sloop, and the capitalists publishing has become a bit of a nightmare. I've come to accept that the books I already have out in the ether have been pirated or scraped for LLMs what have you. That's how it goes. For future books though, I want to be more prudent, and more in control of how my books are distributed. Don't know how I'm going to do that, but I do know all future work won't be on Amazon. Except for the current series because that's not fair, so if you are a fan of The Last Pureblood or the Detective Miller series, the future releases for those series will be on Amazon.

 As for anything else, I'll be going through draft2digital, but excluding Amazon. If you are someone who uses Kobo or Scribd, my books are available on their subscription plans as well. I learned that the other day. Oh! And this also includes the Kobo app, so if you don't have a Kobo device, you can still get your books through there. I also want to say I have books through bookshop.org, but I can't be sure. However, if I do please get them through there. I'm actually going to sign up to become an affiliate because I love what they're doing, and they support indie bookstores. Print books for all published works will continue to be offered through Amazon, but I'm working on creating a store for you to purchase through so you don't have to purchase through those people.

Well, this got away from me, and it took almost two weeks to type up, but I've finally posted a fricking update. Maybe I'll do it again next month.

 Happy Pride!

 

-- DJ Small 

August Got Away From Me

No blog post or newsletter in August. Or maybe there was a newsletter. Hang tight. There was one! So I'm not doing tremendously horrible. There won't be one in September. I'm actually contemplating on shutting down my newsletter, and starting a Discord server to distribute news, new releases, and the like. It's much easier for me to maintain that, and I don't have to come up with content. I'm shit at coming up with content. I'll probably make a final decision on that at the end of the year.

Still chugging away at re-writes for Outside The Game. I lost all motivation to work on it or anything for that matter, but I'm going to get back into it this weekend, and try to get out of this fifth chapter and get into the sixth. A part of the lack of motivation is due to work. Going into the office 3 days a week and then staying until 5 or 6P and dealing with traffic is just exhausting. Miss the work from home days. With all this being said, will this book come out in 2024? Probably not. I want to have my editor go through it one more time. If anything, it will be a Q1 2025 release, which I am okay with. I've always given myself grace in that regard, but I also get mildly annoyed.

I started outlining a new story, but I'm not going to talk about it. I'm determined to put out a standalone novel after I publish Outside The Game and Grisly Politics. I've got all these series and my standalone offerings are pretty slim, so I'm going to try and beef them up. Actually, now that I'm thinking about, I should probably start writing my Scandal-esque story. It's in its "outlining" phase, but that's all right, I know where it's headed and where I need it to go.

Let me talk book distribution for hot second because it has gotten fcking wonky because of Smashwords being brought into the Draft2Digital fold. I'm not seeing a difference on which stores my books are available, but the thing that is rough is keeping track of reviews. Now, I do my best not to read them. They're not for me, however, I use to them go gauge how a book is performing, especially on sites outside of Amazon because I'm stepping away from them as a distributor. So, figuring out how to consolidate reviews across various platforms is a conundrum I need to brainstorm on. Other than that, if you find yourself at a lost on where to purchase my books, you can always head to my Ko-Fi shop and buy them directly from me, including signed autograph copies.

I don't think I have much else for this month. Everyone is gearing up for Spooky season to kick off the holiday season, so I hope you all enjoy it, and I will be back in October with a new blog post. Hopefully. Remember to rate and review the books you read, especially those by indie authors.

Until next time...

-DJ Small

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

Whoops!

August is almost over, and I had this post in my drafts since the beginning of the month and did not post it. Love how my brain operates.

Just a quick check in this time around. I have paused on my Fate Unseen edits to do the edits on the first book of my new novella series IFL Tales. I definitely just made that up since I don't have an official name for the series. I currently have a name for the book, but I might need to change it because there are a number of books titled with same thing, and that's a sure way for my lil ole novella to end up buried even though it's not going wide for awhile. Anyway, I created a cover few weekends ago, and got a two thumbs up from one of my favorite people who I can trust not to bullshit me, which is exciting.

I'm not sure if I've gone over what IFL Tales is about or what this first novella will be about, but I'll hold off on going into them because I want to be in my third round of edits before I do that. By that point, I know I'm pretty much one or two more edits away from releasing it. However, I will tell you all what the series is about. As we all know, well as you all are learning, I love a good series. I've got the Last Pureblood Series, The Detective Miller Series, and now this one. Avery Lawson has an end date, and Eliza and Dax will run for a minute, but I think that series will also have an end date. What I want do is pull of a series like J.D. Robb's In Death one. Like Nora Roberts has been writing those books since 1995, and is still going strong almost 30 years and 69 books later. Do I think I have that kind of staying power? No fricking clue. But what I do know is that the IFL Tales has the potential to be a number of books. Why do I think that? Because IFL Tales is going to be a set of books centered around the International Football League, which is a women's football league. The football in these books will be American football. Sorry to my non-US readers.

And while the primary bulk of the league is centered on women's football, there are offshoots of it for reasons I've planned out in other books, and you'll get a taste of in the first book. So with that in mind, I've got the makings of a decent series because the books can be centered on players of the game, coaching staff, administrative positions, and whatever else my brain develops a yen for. I've already started on the second book for this series, and I want to say I have four more stories partially outlined. Since these are novellas, they're not going to be daunting reads, but emotionally impactful. It's a bit of a challenge for myself considering my writing has taken a bit of weird turn here lately.

Anyway that's all I have to say about IFL Tales (definitely need a better name), but if you''re intrigued and want to be the first to have it, go to my Ko-Fi page and follow it, or you can sign-up for my newsletter.

Once I'm done with my novella edits, I'll get back to Avery Lawson and her wily ways. Before I started working on my novella, I got in a good place with it mentally, so I'm excited to get back to it and knock it out. Because while I know what's going on in the second book, I don't feel safe starting the third one until I get that under my belt. It's a nit-picky consistency thing with me. I don't want to include something in the third book from the second book, which I might have taken out in the 6th round of edits. It could change the whole vibe.

Anywho, I want to say that is it for now, but stay tuned because I actually have something coming out and hopefully this year. Depends on what my editor's schedule looks like. 

Remember to review the books you read, especially those from indie and self-published authors.

Until next time...

-DJ Small

I Live!

It's been 9 months since I've posted anything, and my goodness am I sorry. I've been in such a hole and have been trying so hard to dig myself out of it that I've completely let everything slip away from me. Which, in all honesty is a disservice to the people who are out there waiting for me to come out with something new or pick up on one of my series. While I know I have no obligation to put out stories and what not, it does make me feel shitty. At least from a reader's standpoint. As a writer, I know I can keep writing for myself because I've been doing that for decades now, but as a reader to get invested in an author and have them just vanish is a little upsetting. So, I want to apologize for the vanishing act and I will try to get better at it.

Let's talk about a huge thing though. I didn't realize how many people followed my author pages on Goodreads, Amazon, and Smashwords. It's not a big number or anything, but there are a number of people following me, which is good to know because I am no longer on Twitter. I can't condone whatever the hell is going on over there, so I left. I did join Mastodon, but not everyone is on there, so if you're looking for me, your best bet is on Facebook. Another tech cesspool, but everyone is there. Just click the link and you'll be taken to my page so like it! I also recommend that you sign up for my newsletter. Yes, it's still around. I'll probably send out a e-mail to current mailing list suscribers go check and see if people still want to receive it. If not, they can unsubscribe from it. I'm going to bring the newsletter back from the dead, and hopefully I'll have some friends with me to keep it going. Possibly. We'll see.

Work wise the world is imploding. Nothing has been edited. Nothing has been sent to my editor or any editor. I mean, I'm writing all the time, but editing is where everything comes to a grinding halt. I'm trying to overcome this mental block with it, but it's hard. I guess the big question is will there be anything coming out in 2023? What do Magic 8 Balls say? Unclear? Or unable to determine or something like that lol. I'm going to try, but we'll see what the fates have in hand for me.

In other news, I went to this year's GCLS conference in Denver, and had an amazing time. Like seeing the multitude of people who write Sapphic fiction sort of alleviated some of my apprehensions about being more involved in the community. It was such a fun and friendly environment to be in, and talking with other authors or hearing them talk about their journeys and experiences on panels was just insightful. I would go back and possibly do a panel or two, especially if it's a fun one like a fanficion one or something. One of the things that crossed my mind while I was there, was that as nice and welcoming the GCLS conference was, there needs to be space for trans and gender non-conforming individuals. Because Sapphic and Achillean fiction isn't strictly for those with binary gender identities, and sometimes those of us who write within those spaces in fiction don't have binary identities. Like the conference did well with giving trans and GNC authors aforum to speak about their works and process, but I think having a panel on what's like to be trans and writing such fiction would be an interesting subject, but that's me.

Either way, if you ever get the chance to head to the GCLS conference, I say go for it no matter if you're a writer, reader, or just a fan of Sapphic fiction.

I want to say that is all I have, and next time I will have some more exciting for you all.

Until next time...

DJ Small

P.S. - Don't forget to rate and review the books you read, especially the ones written by indie and self-published authors.

It Has Been A Productive May

By productive I mean, I'm further along in the manuscript for the second Detective Miller book and I've been doing some work on my website. I hope May has been treating you all better than it has me. I got Covid the week before last—thanks to my sister's husband—so I've been in isolation for the last two weeks. It was a mild case and felt more like a head cold, but it left me super tired. Last Saturday, all I did was sleep and it was glorious.

Obligatory Monthly Post....At The Last Second

 Wheeeee! It's the end of April, and I'm just getting around to posting a blog. I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to go back to it. This should be a quick since I don't have much to update on. I'm still whiling away on the second book in the Detective Miller series. I'm going to be real, I can never remember what I call this series.

Mid-March Upate

Whew, child! It is mid-March and I feel like I have nothing to show for it, which is so far from the truth, but I'm sure some of y'all know how it is. It looks like we might get a quote, un-quote, "normal" spring and summer this year, but we shall see. I'm headed to my first con since September 2019. It's just for a day. I want to see how everything is being handled by the coordinator of these events. If me and my apprehension feel okay with it, I might be headed to Tampa for QFX in May. I hate how everything is contingent on what this virus is going to do, but I'm going to do everything to protect myself, and try to enjoy life as best as I can.

First Post Of 2022

 I rang in the new year on my death bed. I contracted a sickness, maybe the flu, from my youngest nephew which had me incapacitated the first week of the month and at my sister's house a week longer than I wanted to be. He tested negative for Covid and my at home test came back negative, so I don't think it was Covid. Anyone else having a hell of time getting tested for the virus that's running amok in world? Seesh.

I Know. It's February.

January came and went. It was pretty wild. The Capitol was bumrushed by terrorist. We got a new president that doesn't look like a bottle of Sunkist gone wrong, and some other things happened, but I cannot recall them. We had some losses too. Larry King, who I didn't know voiced the bar wench in Shrek (thanks for that Tumblr). Cloris Leachman who was always a delight onscreen, and lastly, but certainly not least, the iconic Cicely Tyson. Her most memorable role for me, at least recently, is when she was on How To Get Away With Murder, but that woman was an icon who had bigger and more memorable roles than that.

I know I've been MIA for the last couple of months. I just didn't have it in me to do anything author related. Blogging, the newsletter, writing, editing....none of it appealed to me. Blame it on the holidays, or what, but I just wasn't feeling it, so my holiday break turned into something much longer. However, I did move into my own place at the end of December/beginning of January, so that took up a lot of my time and energy. Seriously the only things I had the drive for was Grey's Anatomy and Sims 4.

With me getting back on the high horse, I've done some author-like things. Website is down because I changed hosting services, but I should have it back up soon-ish. Depends on how much tweaking I need to do to the code. Newsletter is still once a month, but it's going to be used more for announcements and giveaways. My blog and website are going to be the main places to get information this year. It saves me from having to split my focus on a newsletter that usually doesn't have anything in it.

This now brings me to book distribution. Oh, how I would love to not be on Amazon, but it's the larger retailer so it's a necessary evil. I'm going to be doing more sales, giveaways, and name your own price events on my Smashwords and Gumroad pages. Sometimes they'll run concurrently, sometimes one will have something and the other won't. Either way, I would like them to be my primary distribution pages. Might have to come up with something bigger to gain some interest. These events probably won't start until March. I've still got to upload the electronic versions of my books on Gumroad.

I'm guessing it is time to address the elephant in them room...new releases. This year, is going to be the year of Fate Unseen, the second book in the Last Pureblood series. I've started editing again, right from the beginning, and I've decided it's going to be long book. There is no way I can cut out some of the details. If I can tweak something or remove it and put in a later book, then I will, but as for right now, we're looking at a long book. I hope you all enjoy that.

Once that is off my plate, I'm going to be focusing on The Adventures of Swift, which I started editing in December before I fell into a listless state. I know in prior posts I was saying it would be out the first quarter of this year, but since I've flipped my schedule around and decided to bring Fate Unseen to the first half of this year, Swift will be moving to the second half of the year for projected release.

Outside of that, let's just hope I continue on with this train of motivation and get something published this year.

I hope everyone had a safe and healthy start to the new year, and let's cross our fingers and hope we all get some semblance of a social life back this summer.

Remember to review the books you read. Until next time...

-DJ Small

I'm An Idiot

The heading of this post doesn't pertain to all of it, but I just realized something. I have my blog set up on the RSS feeds of my Amazon author and Goodreads pages. Why am I an idiot? Because I don't fcking post. All these people could be coming to the blog and all this jazz, but why come if I haven't posted since Obama was in office ( I miss him.). Any ways, I'm going to set up a schedule and blog more frequently. 

If you haven't read my prior post, Fate Unseen, the second book in The Last Pureblood series has been put on hold. I need to reevaluate my approach with it, or I need to do something differently. I won't go into it, but in my last post, everything has been explained. I'm hoping when I go back to it with fresh eyes the problem will jump out at me and I can fix it. We shall see.

In the meantime, I have been working on The Adventures of Swift, which is exclusively available on my Patreon page and Gumroad. I'm up to episode 11, and I've complied all the episodes into one document for editing. I say look for an updated chapter 1, and chapter 2 around the end of January or February. I've also begun developing a novella series centered around the world of professional women's football. How this happened I'm not 100% certain, but I'm sure boredom while being around my football watching family led to this. Anyways, it's just in development, but I'm excited to start working on it.

Oh, I've also continued my review of the physical copy of Murderous Profession. When I tried to put all my focus in Fate Unseen, everything else went to the wayside and this was one of those things. I'm going to be working on that over the next week or so. If I decide to do a small batch run of signed books, it will be a part of that.

Speaking of, I did a poll on Twitter asking if I should do a small batch run of signed books and all 5 participants said yes. I'm going to do another poll in my October newsletter to try and get a better read. If you're interested, sign-up for my newsletter, and you'll get it when I send out the October one on the 11th.

I did an author-y thing this week. Fellow lesfic author, KD Williamson, has a YouTube channel where she and other lesfic authors talk about their work and a variety of other subjects, including rating hot sauces. She had me on her channel this week, and it was a wicked good time! It was my first time doing something like this, and if I had PR people they'd be like, "We think you did good, but could your ass sit still next time?" My sauce was Marie Sharp's Pure Mango Habanero Pepper Sauce. It's a milder sauce because I am not one for anything spicy. I live my life at a 2. But other than discussing hot sauces, we talked about being queer and black, me being a trans man who writes lesfic, and a bunch of other things. If you want to take a look it's below.

Two more things then I will be done. First thing is, after being out for 4 years, I have made Pool of Lies 99¢ on all platforms it's available on. I'm not sure if this has expanded to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other platforms the book is distributed to thanks to Smashwords, but I know on Smashwords, it's 99¢. 

Lastly, Murderous Profession will be a part of Kindle Unlimited until the end of October, and is on sale for 99¢ until the end of the month. There will be a surprise free day on Amazon for Murderous Profession. How will you know when it is? Twitter and my newsletter. Newsletter subscribers will know the day before and the day of. 

All right, I actually didn't do too bad for this post. A reminder has been scheduled for 2 weeks from now to post again.

Remember to review the books you read, especially those written and published by indie and self-published authors. And please, please, please, PLEASE! Make sure you're registered to vote and remember to vote, if not early, then on November 3rd. It is crucial. Check your voter registration here. I also implore those who live in states where voter suppression is quite obvious to keep checking your voter registration frequently because things have happened.

Also thank you to the witches and Karma for the miracle you performed 😉

Until next time....

-DJ Small

3rd Time Is A Charm

Oh, man, trying to write a blog post has been a challenging thing for me this month. Hopefully this round will stick. I hope we're all doing okay and keeping safe out there. I know some states are opening up, and I hope those of you that are affected by that are doing the best you can to keep yourselves and your inner circle healthy and minimize your exposure. I'm not going to say anything further because if I do, it's not going to be nice and next thing I know the NSA is coming to me saying, "We just wanna talk to you."

In the last iteration of this post, I had no updates. That all changed on Monday. Fate Unseen was returned to me after being in my editor's very capable hands. Let's give a shout out to my editor who has worked tirelessly to get this back to me in a timely fashion despite everything going on personally and pandemically. She is a wonderful lady.

Now the ball is back in my court. Normally when my editor sends a manuscript back to me, I'm anxious to read her notes and comments, but lately I have been dreading getting Fate Unseen back, so when I got the email that she was done with it, I groaned a little. I still need to go through the doc and read her comments and notes. With that being said, May 4th begins the marathon sessions of me trying to get this thing knocked out. I've got my notes from my beta readers and editor, and I'm ready to clean this story up a bit more.

Fate Unseen will be hitting your eReaders/Kindles/tablets/phones this year, but when that will be exactly is up in the air. In fact, it's so up in the air that it's in the stratosphere. I honestly thought about shelving this project because of my feelings towards it, but I'm going to push through because it's not like I'm writing a whole new story. It's just editing, and I'm always whining about editing. So look forward to that.

I also have another piece of news. I've edited the first episode of Adventures of Swift, and by the time this posts, it'll probably be up. I'm taking a fanfic approach with this, which is edit it and post. The edits are a one time, maybe twice, edit by me. Depending on how the first episode is received, I'll see how I feel about posting the second episode. This is going to be posted on my Patreon, so the first episode will be free, but the ones after that, you'll have to subscribe to access. $1 gets you access to everything because I'm still working on things for the Patreon.

I had a Smashwords sale in April, and I thought all my books were on sale for 99¢, but that wasn't the case. Murderous Profession wasn't on sale, so during the month of May I'll be giving it way via BookFunnel promo. I'm trying to engage my readers more and I figured a giveaway would be the best way to do that. I'm also working on getting a paperback version of this book up. Should have happened a while ago, but man was motivation shit.

All right, I think that's all I have for an update. Thank you to everyone that has supported indie and self-published authors as well as independent bookstores during these "uncertain times" (I put that in quotes because it has become nothing but a marketing ploy). You're supporting a lot of people who are struggling right now and it means a lot. Even more so when you review books because it gets me and others authors exposed to other readers. Especially us queer writers who don't have a big readership. So thank you for that.

All right, I'm going to go open this Fate Unseen doc and see what mysteries await me. Stay safe, be vigilant, and I'm sending nothing but positive vibes to each and every one of you.

Until next time....

-DJ Small

August is almost over...whoops.

The month has completely passed me by and I feel like September will do the same. Oh, boy. Thought I'd make a quick blog post before the month finishes out.

Tomorrow, August 26th, Murderous Profession will be out on Kindle and Smashwords! I'm still working on the paperback formatting, but that should be out in a week or two. Between life and work, time just got away from me. Lame excuse, but it's surprising how busy I was in August. But anywhoo, grab yourself a copy of the book and tell me what you think about it. I found it to be a quick read and entertaining, as did my editor. Of all the characters, I have a fondness for Dax and Billy. I had a fun time writing them.

I know some of you are waiting with bated breath for the next Avery Lawson book, and I am actively editing it as we speak, however, I'm taking the tortoise route with it--slowly but surely. I don't want to miss something that should have been mentioned in this one, or I mention something that shouldn't be in this book and is actually meant for the next one. Writing this story is funny because I'm working off of the original manuscript I had finished in 2015, but I'm basically re-writing the story and making it more involved as well as making sure it makes some kind of sense. I know we're working with supernatural creatures and magic and all, but I feel like there needs to be some logic to it.

With all this being said, I don't think I'm going to make the December deadline, but I'm confident in believing that the story should be set for a January release. Everything else has been taken care of. I made the cover a couple of months ago, finally figured out a title, and wrote up a blurb. All that's missing is the inside stuff.

As I'm editing the second book, I will be making my outline for the next book in the series with the hope that it will result in the third book coming out in the fall or winter of 2020. We shall see. I'm sort of getting to a place where I can balance multiple projects and put out two books a year. I failed this year because Murderous Profession was an unplanned project that came to me suddenly and took root, and I couldn't let it go.

I'm sure you all have this question floating around in your heads, which is: How long is the Pureblood series? Six or seven books, depending on where the story takes me. Material from the original manuscript is the blueprint for these first three books. After that, I have to look at my notes, but I can come up with fresh material for the series since I won't be working off of that source material anymore. The rest of the series will probably go pretty quick because this isn't supposed to be long and drawn out story. When I was young and foolish, and by young I mean like four or five years ago, I thought I could have the story told in three books, but the world of publishing works differently than the world of fanfiction.

This is where my head is at on the Last Pureblood series. I hope to have to some teaser chapters up on my Patreon in October.

Speaking of my Patreon, Fate Unseen, also known as the 3rd Avery Lawson book, will be the first book where I will start releasing four teaser chapters, but that 4th teaser will only be accessible by subscribers. Non-subscribers will have unlimited access to the first three like always. You can subscribe as much as a dollar on my Patreon.

This brings me to my next point, granted I'm busy with Fate Unseen, but I will be rolling out my first serial The Adventures of Swift in January on my Patreon. The first episode will be accessible by non-subscribers, and the ones after that will be accessible by subscribers. I'm counting this as my second project for 2020 since I plan to focus on book 3 of the Pureblood series.

The Adventures of Swift is a superhero serial with some fantasy elements. It follows Isabella Delgado, who is the vigilante known as Swift who protects the city of Whitevale from crime. When a jewel thief comes to the city, with some high-powered gadgets, Swift's life gets more interesting, and so does Isabella's, but her interesting comes in the form of the stunningly attractive Ainsley Breckenridge. How Isabella will balance Whitevale's newest villain and a new love interest who happens to be her boss's boss's ex-wife will be something you will have to find out in January. I highly recommend subscribing.

This blog post actually got away from me, and I'm glad it did. I hope we're all stoked for everything I have planned because I know I am. Either way I hope everyone enjoys getting back into the swing of things, may it be going back to school or getting the kids ready to go back. Don't forget to take some time out for a good book, and don't forget to leave a review for it.

Until next time....

-DJ Small

The Store Is Live!

The store is back up on my website. A couple of call outs; if you're an EU based reader, sorry, but VAT gave me a headache and you can't purchase from the site. However, you can still order through Amazon and Smashwords, and when I start up the serials, you can purchase those through my Gumroad store. Any tangible items, like signed copies, are only shipped to US readers, and if you try to purchase a signed copy, Paypal will say, "Sorry, but this seller doesn't ship outside the US." This may change, but the landscape of selling things online is changing, so who knows. I have thoughts on it, but they have nothing to do with this.

We have a cover for Murderous Profession, and it is below. For those who voted for Cover B, a winner has been chosen and has been contacted. If they want me to announce their win publicly I will, but they will remain anonymous. The winner is getting a signed copy of the book that will be printed by the new book printing company I'm going to go with. That's exciting because I plan to do fancy things with this book.

Oh! Reservations for Murderous Profession are also live. Fill out the form and your information will be retained, and once the book is released and I get it out to you, I'm destroying it. Read the blurb above the form so you know how reservations work. I'm working on a better synopsis for the book, but as of right now, it's a bit flat (terrible). Reservations will probably run until the end of June. If that changes I'll make an announcement.

I'm super anxious to see how selling through the site goes. If you have any problems contact me and I'll get squared away as quickly as possible.

Who wants an update on Avery Lawson book two? Yeah, me too lol. Just kidding. Okay, I've read what I have so far for it, and I think I have an idea where I'm going to go. This is my summer project, so I'm gonna take my time with it. There are a few more points that I think I need to accomplish so we can get carried into book 3 and the next arc of the story. You're probably wondering how many books are in this series. When this began, it was supposed to be five. At this point, it's probably going to be six or seven . It depends on what my imagination does, but sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride because I think it's going to be a fun and intense one.

Okay, so go to the store and check out things. Any comments or suggestions anyone has, you can fill out the contact form on the website, comment on this blog post, or hit me up on Twitter. I want this to be as easy as possible for everyone. You can also contact me through the store front as well.


That is it this round, and I bid you adieu. Keep on reading and reviewing. Not just me, but other authors too.


-DJ Small

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chages

First and foremost happy February and happy black history month. May we all learn something this new.

So, the reason for this post is because I'm changing things up. I originally wanted to release book two of the Pureblood Series the first half of the year, and my standalone book the second part of it. I've accepted that releasing three books in 2019 isn't going to happen, but I knew it was a lofty dream.

Thechange in my releases is due to the second Avery Lawson book being more involved the further I get into it. When I started writing it I was using the"pantser" method, and it's gotten complicated. For those who don't know what the pantser method is, it is when you are flying by the seat of your pants while writing with little to no outline. In my case I know what points I want to include but the in-between bits are a little dicey, and it leads to me staring at a blank screen. I've got a decent amount of the story written, but I want to take some time to plot out the rest of it along with making sure it jibes with book one. There are a lot of elements being introduced and I want to make sure it all makes sense.

In short, book two of the Pureblood Series will be released in the second part of 2019.

Now you all are probably wondering what the hell is coming out in the first half of the year. I am currently outlining a book that is rom-com at it's core, but there is a some mystery involved. This will be the first book where one of my main character's is trans, so I'm excited about it because I've been wanting to put out a book where the main character is trans* for awhile now. Fingers crossed that it will be out before in or around June.

So the changes aren't anything drastic, but definitely a deviation from what I wanted to do. Though I'm not to keen about it needs to be done because I want to make sure you all get a good story. Okay, I'm off to do something writer like. Everyone have a good one, and until next time...

DJ Small

January Has Been Unkind To Me

Sigh. Let's rap good people. It has been a craptacular January for me, but I think things are getting back on track, especially after that bout of the food poisoning. I'm waiting to receive my survey on it, would not recommend.

Last Pureblood Book Two

I honestly have been plugging away at it and there is a nice chunk of it done, but I'm finding myself at a point where I feel like the pacing is sluggish and there are some elements I am truly struggling with. I find myself growing frustrated with it, but at the same time I also haven't been able to give it the proper attention it needs. Between the holidays, work, and life in general it barely got my full attention. I'm getting a new work schedule, and life is becoming less intense, so hopefully I can focus on the story and give you all the proper book you deserve considering the first one.

I think my lack of patience is the cause of my frustration because book two is like the second part of laying the foundation, and it requires more exposition and more explanation around Avery's change. So there are no opportunities for me to make it as dark and twisted as I would like, which make me want get to the other books because they'll be more action driven and dark. It becomes a meatier story. But the foundation is important.

At this point, still expect book two in 2019, but I can't give you firm answer of when because of my issues with it.

Other Projects

As we all know I have revamped the site, which included a bit of code learning so I can do what I want do on it. At some point this year, I will be rolling out serialized stories as website exclusives. You'll be able to purchase them of the site and download them directly to your device. I just need to get the first few episodes written out and through a couple of rounds of editing. The first serialized story is written, but I hand wrote it so it's not quite ready yet. I would say expect itaround summer time because it's more or less a side project. Something to give me a break from The Last Pureblood.

Depending on where I am for the Last Pureblood my standalone book for the year is up in the air. I was leaning toward one idea, but then I came up with this whole other idea which is pretty cool too, so I'm probably going to throw a dart to help me decide. What also helps is one is actually outlined while the other one just has loose plot points. Welcome to my insanity. I'm still determined to put out two books out this year, so fingers crossed.

Other than that only other thing I want to add is that I'm going to work on getting the newsletter up and running again, but it may be awhile. Until then I'll try to make two blog posts a month, but don't hold me to it lol.

That was an update kids, and I'll see you all in February!

-DJ Small

P.S. If you have read any of my books, don't forget to leave a review on Amazon or on Goodreads. Help a struggling author out.

Ahhhh....November Is Upon Us

It has been awhile since I have done a blog post. Yikes! Between Reappearance of Summer and work I'm surprised I remember my name. I hope all those participating in NaNoWriMo are having productive and fun writing sessions, and I can't wait for the new books to come out. As for me, my writing life is dedicated to the next book in the Last Pureblood series, but before I get into that let's talk about my partially released book, Reappearance of Summer.

This book has taught me two things. One, I'm not doing pre-orders again. It just doesn't work out for a writer with a full-time job. You need to have more than four hours a day to be able to meet the deadlines. Second thing I learned is that I need to keep records of my ISBNs stored in several different locations. The one company in the US that sells ISBNs had a security breach and I couldn't access my ISBNs on the management site. I have them now and things with the physical copies of the book are moving along.

I just finished reading the proof to see what errors were in it, and that book is going to be my first magnum opus, at least to me. I feel it hits everything on the emotional scale without being too much or bogging down the story, and both main characters are likeable. Summer swears a lot, but I mean she's also been through a lot. Again, this is just my opinion. If you want to see if I'm wrong or right the book comes out on Smashwords and Amazon on 11/15, but if you truly can't wait, you can get on my Gumroad store where I released it on 10/29, the day it was supposed to come out, however, a pre-order snafu happened, and that ended with me having egg on my face.

Right, so with Reappearence of Summer under my belt I'm trying to get the momentum going on book two of the Last Pureblood series. I read a few of the reviews and everyone likes the story, but everyone hated the cliffhanger and I seem to repeat a lot of things. There is no cliffhanger in the second book—we got to get this thing going, and I'm being mindful of the repetition. I try to catch everything, but after four or five rounds of editing (1 of those done by my editor) it's hard to see the unnecessary filler. I'll recruit another editor if I need to.

What's exactly going to happen in book 2? Well we're two days out from Avery's first change and she's done killed a whole lot of people. Girl went from harmless park ranger to having a body count. So we got to address everything from the last book. We need to know what's going on with her and Rhea and if they make it official or if it's a dead fish in water. Also Avery isn't normal and we need to know why. There are a lot of things for me take hold of and run with them, and I'm going to, but I'm also going to be introducing elements to set us up for other parts of the series. We're still building this world, but I'm also going to give us some more action, feels, and murder. Maybe on the murder.

I have decided to switch up my book release strategy. Pre-orders are done, so I'm going to announce book releases the week before they come out, but only for Amazon and Smashwords. I don't know about physical copies. I've been thinking about not doing them, but I also know it's nice to have the actual book in your hand. I'm on the fence. Either way it goes I'm committed to releasing two books a year which is doable with my full time job.

This brings me to my standalone for 2019. I had everything planned out, but then I was hit with the mother of ideas and it will not go away. I was supposed to work on my first trans story, but this mother of ideas has me changing my schedule. But this idea has a title, plot points, a soundtrack, and a mother fricking ending. How can I ignore that? It's not to say my other story didn't have all of that, but this one is more captivating because it's going to be completely different for me.

Okay, so we have caught up on everything you missed in October. Oh, about the newsletter, I will be cancelling it. I don't have much to put in it, so yeah. If anything you can follow me on Goodreads and be notified of new blog posts since the blog is linked to it.

All right, this turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated, but I'm glad it did. Again, Reappearance of Summer comes out on 11/15 on Amazon and Smashwords. So don't forget it to get and after you read it tell me what you think about it. Actually, if you've read any of my books you should review them or at least rate them on Goodreads. Look, I even provided a link 😏

I hope we've enjoyed the update and until next time...happy reading!

-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

9/10/2018 Is The Day!

Good day one and all! I'm still recovering from Dragon Con and the rest of the work week, so bear with me. This was supposed to be a vlog, but then I realized I talk too damn much and have zero video editing skills. Also my face is ugly, but this is neither here nor there. Onto the purpose of this post.

Reappearance of Summer

I am aiming for October 29th for a release date, but it is a tentative one. Depends on what the editing process has for me. Pre-sales will start September 10th and end on October 15th. This will only be on Smashwords and Gumroad. I feel like a month and some change gives me enough time to order books, sign them, and ship them out to their new homes. If it looks like an October 29th release date isn't possible, I'll let everyone know, but fingers crossed for the 29th of October.

Amazon faithful, I mentioned in my last post why I wouldn't be doing pre-sales on there. You all will have to wait for the book to be released. Trust me, the pre-sale crowd isn't getting anything you aren't.

Patreon News

I talked about this in my last blog post and it will also go live on September 10th. This is where I'm going to post my short stories, commissioned artwork, and other stuff. I give stuff away also, but on a quarterly basis. So check it out and let me know what you think. The first few posts will be the intro post then I'm going to dive right in to my first short story series entitled The Trials of Swift and The Dark Queen. It's a superhero story. Excited for this one to get out.

Okay, those are the important points. I'm working on book 2 of the Pureblood Series and it is going swimmingly. If I don't run into any snags I should be on track to have it out in the first quarter of 2019. Anyways this was a quick update to let everyone know September 10th is a busy day for me, but you know what? I said eff it all and pulled the trigger on everything, so you all benefit.

Hope everyone is enjoying what's left of summer and can manage to enjoy a good book while doing so.

Until next time...

-DJ Small