(Excerpt)

Copyright © 2012 B.C. Young

Chapter 1

The building had a familiar look to it, but at the same time, it was different. A yellow light cast a dull hue along the walls, illuminating the white exterior. There were at least 20 windows on the two-story building that Jago faced, more than The Home ever had. But some things were still the same. In the center of the building, the front protruded with its roof forming a triangle supported by four two-story tall pillars. Just like The Home.

On top of the building, a flagpole stood tall with a blue and red flag waving in the wind. Even in the night, Jago could distinguish the flag’s shape and color.

Jago stood far from the entrance to the building. A black metal fence with poles about 15 centimeters apart stopped him from walking onto the well-manicured lawn toward the fountain that shot water up into the air. The fountain must have been a good 10 to 12 meters from the large white mansion.

From everything Jago could see, the security was either lax or well hidden. He scanned the area; the sidewalk surrounding the home was empty. It was late, 2 a.m. Where were the security cameras? He wore all black knowing that it would make him harder to see if a problem arose. He should be fine though. The area seemed like it lived 500 years in the past. He had better technology on him than the people in that place could ever imagine.

A car passed him, its lights shining on Jago for only a couple seconds before it continued on its way. It still had tires. Jago was right, if the vehicles relied on that, any trouble he found himself in should be easy to escape.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out his verstometer. The silver circular device looked like a smooth oval piece of metal. Jago knew differently. On these missions, the verstometer, or VM, was crucial to success. Its uses were many. Sometimes Jago wondered if he knew them all.

He pinched the corners of the device with each hand, and it opened outward. A screen displayed. He tapped it, going to the surveillance section. Sometimes he could use it to do the watching, other times he used it to see if he was being watched. On this occasion, he had to confirm the latter.

He lifted the device into the air, waved it high, low, left, and right. No signals. No alert that cameras watched his every move. No sign of guards armed with weapons ready to shoot.

Perfect, he thought. He closed the device and put it in his pocket.

He knew a direct approach might be a problem. But with Storen off doing his thing, Jago figured the best way to find the information he needed was to go directly to the source. Besides, he had little time to search out history books that could be altered by the Karhath as much or more than they are at home. The house did look like The Home. The resemblance was uncanny, although it had subtle differences. Little things like the windows, the flag, and only four pillars.

Still, it had to be the home of the president, or some high-ranking official. If Jago could get in there, talk to him, find out if he was Karhath or if the assassination attempt over 200 years ago had failed, that’s all he needed. He would have the place that might tell him how to correct the past.

He glanced to his left and right finding an empty sidewalk. No one approached. He would do it quick. Hop over the fence, run over the lawn, past the water fountain, and to the door. It would take him all of a minute, maybe less. Getting inside could be tricky. He would need to hide behind the bushes, assess the situation, and figure out a way inside.

He grabbed the top of the fence, being careful. The thing could be electrified. He lifted his feet, planting them on the metal bars and scaled to the top. He hopped over without incident and considered if things went too smoothly. Why would they make the building stand out, fence it in, and not have better security? Maybe this wasn’t what he thought. Maybe it was just another person’s home in this place, and not the residence of the one in power. Who cares? He had to find out.

He ran toward the water fountain. His feet hit into the soft grass and his body was a black mist moving across the lawn. From the street, he would be invisible. To those watching, unless they had night-vision goggles or infrared sensors, he would be nothing more than part of the scenery.

It proceeded too easy. Something must be wrong.

A bright spotlight lit up the entire lawn. Jago froze, looking for protection. Some place to conceal his body. All he had was the water fountain and that would be useless.

“Stop!” A loud voice said from an unknown location. It filled the air and Jago had a hard time discerning the direction it came from. “Do not move. You are under arrest.”

No. This was impossible. Jago regretted his decision. How could he be so naive? Of course, they would have security. They would be ready for any kind of attack. If they captured him, making the correction would be impossible.

Jago tapped his earpiece and said, “Storen, I’ve been made. Meet me at the rendezvous.”

He turned around, running back for the fence. A siren began to blare. As Jago reached the fence, a crowd of men ran toward him. He had to ignore them. Focus on the rendezvous. More men approached from his left and right as he climbed over the fence and landed on the sidewalk.

“Stop!” a guard shouted from his left. He too wore black and a light curled cord traveled up from his collar and into his ear. He brought his gun up and aimed it at Jago. “All units to the north side fence.”

Jago stopped as instructed. Armed men slowly approached on both sides.

“Get down. On the ground. Arms behind your back!” the guard yelled.

Jago bent down to follow the orders. As he did, a large truck carrying an 18-meter trailer approached around the bend from his left. Behind it, the flashing red and blue lights of police cars lit up the trees along the street. He had to run. With the gun pointed at him, any motion to leave could mean death. But this was his moment.

He darted out in front of the approaching truck. Screeching tires overpowered the siren in the air as the truck’s horn blared in the still night. It just missed Jago, and he reached the other side of it. The guard never shot him. Maybe he couldn’t because he would put the truck driver in danger. Maybe he failed to find a clean shot. Whatever the case, Jago was concealed behind the truck but not for long.

He had seconds to react. The truck jack-knifed, and Jago took the opportunity to hide. He ran to his right and hid behind a tree. The trailer of the truck tipped over pulling the cab with it. Yellow sparks flew in the air as the metal scraped across the tarmac before it slowly came to a stop.

Police continued to arrive on the scene. Jago had a problem; he had to go the opposite direction to reach the rendezvous point. Before him, a wall of security guards, police officers, and police cars kept him from getting there. What would he do? Could he blend in? They would naturally think he continued running north. If he went east a few blocks, he could then head in the direction he wanted to go. But he had to act quickly. If the man who lived in that house was the president, they could use all the resources at their disposal to close off a one or two mile radius to find him.

He ran toward a more crowded group of trees before moving east. The commotion of the truck crashing was finished and security was on the prowl. He moved quickly from one tree to the next, surveying the area before moving forward.

Now it got tricky. He reached a street marked Madison Pl NW. The protection of the trees was gone. He had to move along the sidewalk.

Police cars continued to file into the street, crowding it like a busy hover station. So far, Jago’s plan worked. The police and security focused their attention north of where the truck crashed. They moved into that central point, oblivious to the fact that the person they chased was only meters away. Jago crossed the street moving east as the vehicles and men on foot went west.

Seven trees lined the street at that point and were his only protection. He stepped behind one and waited, made sure it was safe, and ran to the next tree. He made it to the last one. The police lights flashed behind him now, continuing to increase in number with each approaching vehicle. With their concern on the opposite direction of Jago, he ran across the street to more tree cover.

Time was running out. More would be coming, and he had to get out of there. He approached the sidewalk, reached 15th St. NW, and ran south. There was no looking back. He had one and a half kilometers to the rendezvous and slowing down meant being caught. What would it be like to be trapped there? So far from home with no hope of going back. Jago shuddered at the thought.

“Storen, come in!” Jago yelled, but received no response from Storen. Where is he? “I said I’ve been made. We need to go back now!”

His feet hit the concrete like he glided on ice. Being trapped in a place he didn’t know or understand was scarier than death. He had to keep moving. His muscles began to ache as he reached Constitution Ave. NW. Save for the one or two cars in the distance; it was empty like the rest. Even though the night helped conceal him, he thought daylight and heavy foot and vehicle traffic would be better. He was a lone tree in a dark desert, hard to see but easy to pick out in the moonlight.

While the sirens had faded as he ran, a new one began to blare. From a block to Jago’s left, a police car swung around the corner at full speed. Without hesitation, he pushed himself harder, making his legs pump faster as he crossed the street.

Not much further. Just focus. The rendezvous is just ahead. Where is Storen?

The police car followed Jago, riding over the sidewalk and onto the large field of grass that gracefully cushioned Jago’s feet, slowing him down. The car approached, its lights illuminating the entire field in flashes of blue and red and its siren blaring like a hovertrain warning of its arrival.

Jago wouldn’t give up. He pulled his VM out as he ran. As much as he hated to do it, he would use it on the vehicle—send an EM pulse to disable it. It might buy him a few extra seconds before the police officer got out of his vehicle and pursued him. He pinched open the device, tapped a few buttons while running, and aimed it behind him at the vehicle that was a few meters away.

The flashing lights and annoying siren immediately stopped. The vehicle began to slow even as Jago continued running toward the rendezvous point. It came to a complete stop and resembled a children’s toy that lost battery power. But the sound of sirens came back. It was a symphony of noise announcing the end of Jago’s escape. They must have gotten word as to his location.

The door of the dead police car opened, but Jago cared less about who came after him. He had to escape. Worrying about Storen was useless. Maybe they caught him, and he was already trapped. They can come back for him.

“What did you do that for?” Storen’s voice yelled.

Jago stopped when he heard Storen. He had a sense of relief wash over him like the warm sun on a cool day. His breaths rapidly escaped his body as quickly as he inhaled more air.

“Why didn’t you respond? I kept calling you. I’ve been made.”

Storen approached Jago. He was dressed in the same manner. Dark clothes to keep concealed in the night. The mission called for it. The less chance of detection the better. A lot of good that did. Despite the darkness, Jago knew Storen maintained a serious look; straight lips and sad brown eyes no doubt complimented his slumped posture.

“My earpiece malfunctioned. I heard you, but you didn’t hear me,” Storen said in frustration. “What happened? You were supposed to stay put.”

The sirens grew louder and flashing red and blue lights shone on the buildings, traveling quickly in their direction.

“I’ll have to explain later,” Jago said. “They’re almost here. Let’s go.”

They ran the last few hundred meters to the rendezvous. It was at an obelisk that protruded into the sky at least 150 meters before its top came to a point, resembling a pyramid. A bright light illuminated the gray color of the stone. It was an easy point to see from many directions and maybe too obvious for their pursuers.

They reached the obelisk as a dozen police cars arrived from all directions of the large field. It reminded Jago of a Hover Derby he watched once, cars entering a ring from all sides and crashing into each other. This time they didn’t crash though. They surrounded the obelisk. Their lights flashed up into a dark night.

“Stop!” a voice said through a speaker. “You are under arrest.”

Jago’s hands shook, causing the VM to wiggle unsteadily.

“Don’t worry,” Storen said as he rested his hand on Jago’s shoulder. “We got this.”

“Right,” Jago said.

A police officer exited his vehicle, standing behind the open door. He pointed a gun right at Jago. Others followed suit, targeting Storen.

“We have you surrounded. Get down now!”

“Hurry,” Storen said. He had his VM ready.

Jago tried to drown out the flashing lights, sirens in the distance, and the voice telling him to get down. He had to concentrate. He tapped in a few codes on his VM.

“Ready?” Storen asked.

“Ready,” Jago replied.

“On my mark. 1 … 2 … 3!” Storen yelled.

They each pushed a button on their screen. With both of them together and the signal sent, it took a second for it all to happen. The signal reached out through known space, traveling through dimensional frequencies, searching upon layers of different worlds. It was fine-tuned to their world’s frequency. It reached its destination, alerting those on the other side that the portal needed to open. The other side opened the portal at the location specified in the signal and a hole ripped in the air behind Jago and Storen.

Looking through the hole, the obelisk was not there. Instead, a room full of electronic equipment and computers was in full view. Behind a glass window, several men and women sat in chairs tapping on computer screens, working out calculations that Jago wished he completely understood. No police officers, no police cars, sirens, and flashing lights. Safety. That’s what it was. Safety.

The police officers stood still, mesmerized by the hole that opened in the air.

“You go first,” Jago said.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Storen walked through the hole slowly and was on the other side. He ducked off to the left and out of view.

“Stop!” a voice said again through a loud speaker. The officers stepped from behind their car doors and approached Jago with their guns drawn.

“I can’t,” Jago said. “My whole life is about finding the detour.” He smiled, waved in an overconfident manner, and turned toward the hole.

One police officer fired his gun. With his back to the officer, Jago ducked and angled his body to the right. The bullet zipped past his left ear, through the portal, hit a far wall on the other side, and created a round hole about a centimeter wide in it.

Jago quickened his pace, realizing he shouldn’t have taunted the officers, and walked through the portal as they moved in on him. Another gun fired, this one missing to the left of the portal and bouncing off the monument behind it, breaking tiny fragments of the stone into dust. More shots fired as Jago reached the other side and the portal closed. A spray of bullets from all directions hit the monument, painting it with holes like a human paper target.

Miscorrection: Dimensions releases March 8, 2012 for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and other eReaders.

A couple of months ago, before the release of Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability, I wrote a post under my Desmond Shepherd pen name where I outlined four steps to creating an eBook cover. Following those guidelines, I created the Miscorrection: Dimensions cover. Although I needed to keep some things in mind since this is a series.

For one, it’s a series. That makes it important that I make the cover unique yet similar to the previous cover. So that was my starting point:

As you can see, the title, byline, and the orange bars are the template. The image in the center is tied to the book. For Dimensions I needed to change this. First, I used Dreamstime.com to find an image that I felt would fit the book well. I came across an awesome graphic by Liudmila Gridina.

© Liudmila Gridina

While I love the image, the red in it is a little harsh for what I want from the cover. So I changed the color to match not only what I had in my mind, but what I also felt matched up well with the story. I then took the adjusted image and placed it into my template.

I’m sure you see the glaring problem with this cover. Those orange bars stick out like a sore thumb. Naturally, I don’t like sore thumbs and neither do I care to look at them. So I took a sample of the color in the adjusted image and used it for the bars.

Now I’m getting somewhere. But as I look at the picture and then at the blue bars, I can’t help feeling like something doesn’t work. It’s like the blue bars are a separate entity from the picture. They definitely do not complement each other. What can I do? My instinct was to again adjust the image, toning down the neon blue look for something more natural. I accomplished this by adding a very subtle black vignette.

Oh yeah. That’s the stuff. At this point, I was pretty much happy with the cover. I showed it to my wife and a few other people, and they said it was good. But nagging in the back of my mind was that hard-line in the center where the mirrored images meet. It was too glaring for my taste, so I decided to blend it together, adding a black gradient in the center that lightened outward.

And there it is. The final cover design for Miscorrection: Dimensions. I think it definitely has that “sci-fi” feel, and the cover fits the story perfectly.

So what do you think? Do you like the cover? Do you see room for improvement? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo © David Ashe

My posts recently have been somewhat eclectic, straying from the usual focus of my current writing project and the progress I’m making.

So here’s a boring post about that.

Near the end of November, just after I finished and published Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability under the pen name Desmond Shepherd, I began writing the next book in the Miscorrection series. As mentioned in a previous post, I decided against writing smaller stories as I did with Preludes, instead opting to write the next book as a novel.

My plan had been to finished the first draft by January 31, 2012. I missed that mark, but did finish it the next day, February 1, 2012. So things are on schedule.

The book will clock in somewhere around 73,000 words. Did I plan this? No. While I focus on word count for my daily goals to finish a project, I don’t have an intended word count for the story. If I did, it could cause me to artificially shorten or lengthen my story, which I don’t want to have happen. That’s one of the perks of self-publishing. The writer can write the story as intended, which leads to the intended length.

Right now, I’m in the proofing and editing stages of the book. In my first read through, I’m finding that I am surprised by what I wrote. My process for writing involved writing the entire story before going back and reading any part of it. So it’s interesting when I read something I forgot I put in there, and at the same time satisfying because I like it. In some ways, it’s like reading something written by another person, giving me a good perspective on whether or not something works in the story.

Currently, I expect the next Miscorrection story to release some time in early March. But it won’t be called Miscorrection 2.  What will the title be? With the recent rebranding of the series, I entitled the first book Miscorrection: Preludes. In line with that way of titling the book, the next one will be called Miscorrection: Dimensions.

In the next couple weeks, I will have another post revealing the cover for the book. Since this is a series, it will fit the template of the current book.

And one last thing to note, Miscorrection: Dimensions will not be enrolled in the KDP Select program. I put Fram Gage in there as an experiment, and have to say I’m not happy with the results. So you can look forward to Miscorrection: Dimensions being available for your Kindle, Nook, iPad, or other eReading device at release.

Oh, and Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability will also be available for all devices beginning March 8, 2012.

I should note that my reporting of these numbers is changing with the new year. Without going into details, not all numbers are received from all sources on the first of the month. In the past, once I received them, I lumped them into the current month’s report. I’m changing this procedure now, instead reporting the numbers exactly as they fall in each month.

This means, when I post my report on the first of each month, the numbers will be low. But, as I receive numbers, I will update the post to reflect the new sales total for the month. I will also update the Sales Numbers page which reflects my total sales since I began selling books. I ended up doing this with December 2011, so those numbers have all been updated to reflect my sales up to December 31, 2011.

Also, because numbers are fun, I plan to post my total earnings from my sales, too. Although this will only be on the monthly numbers, not on the total numbers.

Now on to the numbers! Am I disappointed? Yes. Definitely. Given the high sales from December, I expected January to be a lot higher. Am I going to let this get me down, preventing me from releasing Miscorrection 2 (which I’m about to finish and release in early March)? No way. I’ll just keep writing and putting out stories.

January 2012 Paid Sales

• 5 - Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability
• 2 - The Present
• 1 - Arrogation (Miscorrection)
• 1 – Don’t Blink
• 1 - Josie Dorri And The Coffee Ban
• 1 - Unspoken Stories (eBook Edition)
• 0 - All My Fiction
• 0 - Awry (Miscorrection)
• 0 -Copy Bird
• 0 - Felix Culpa (Miscorrection)
• 0 - Going Home
• 0 - Miscorrection: Preludes
• 0 -Miscorrection: Book 1 (Sunrise to Sundown) (Print Edition)
• 0 - Panacea (Miscorrection)
• 0 - Running To Keep Her
• 0 - Sundown (Miscorrection)
• 0 - Sunrise (Miscorrection)
• 0 - Unspoken Stories – Volume 1 (Print Edition)

Total Paid Sales: 11

Total Earnings: $15.44

Photo Courtesy of William Berry

There’s nothing worse than coming to the realization that mice have decided your house is a great place to stay. I can’t argue with them on that matter because I like where I live, too. The problem is I didn’t invite them and I’m not to fond of freeloaders!

Now I’m on a mission to rid my home of these mice who feel they can squat in my home. I will win this battle. Much like my eBook sales totals I release for all of you to enjoy, I plan on putting up a Mouse Kill total. In fact, I’m placing a widget in the upper right corner to keep track of the kills.

These mice might have been having a great time in my home, but their fun is about to end. Hahahahaha!

If you don’t know it already, Jeff had a major impact on the outcome of the Miscorrection stories Panacea, Awry, and Sundown. So, I thought it would be interesting to get his take on his involvement and thoughts on the Miscorrection series. I knew it wouldn’t be all roses (or Willows for those of you who are fans of the series), but I didn’t care. Jeff obviously … well, I’m not going to say it. Read on to see his thoughts.

Sometime in late March or early April of 2011, I tweeted how much I hated proofreading my own work. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it, and that the one person in my life who could do it — my wife — was just too busy with major work issues. B.C. Young tweeted back, offering to help. I accepted and agreed to to proof his next Miscorrection story — Panacea. Over the next month, B.C. proofed my stories and I waited for him to finish his. Then he did, and it arrived in my inbox.

Now, my job was to simply proof his work. That is, look for typos and dropped quotation marks and other such things. But as I read, I knew I had to do more. I’m a teacher by nature, and charity dictated a deeper responsibility than just highlighting the manuscript’s surface-level mishaps. So I emailed B.C. asking if he’d like a full critique. For some reason, he agreed.

I spent the next few days reading and making notes, and in the end sent him three documents. The first, using MS Word’s comment feature, was a line-by-line edit of his 70-page manuscript. The second was a three-page critique. And the third was what I called a “deep edit.”

Why so many documents?

Writers all take up the craft with a mixed bag of skills. Some of us have a knack with language. Others know people and can develop great characters. Others are skilled with place and setting. And others have a knack for developing plots full of twists and turns. But if we’re strong in one area, we’re usually weaker in others.

B.C.’s strength is plotting. This makes perfect sense. He came to writing after the television show Lost inspired him. Miscorrection has the same feel: episodic, lots of twists, lots of questions, lots of reveals and false reveals.

But plot is just the skeleton. We readers aren’t interested in the skeleton. We want the flesh and blood of characters, setting, motivation, all of which come to life through vivid language. Reading Panacea was like looking at a skeleton. You knew he had something solid, but perhaps not as interesting as it could be. So it took me a while to explain what I thought he needed to do to improve.

And what did I think he needed to to? Well, that’s not for me to say. But I can say that he did improve. I helped out with the next next Miscorrection stories — Awry and Sundown — and was rewarded by watching a writer develop.

Now here’s the thing. I’m not B.C.’s target audience for Miscorrection. This says nothing about his work. I’m not Stephanie Meyer’s target audience for Twilight, but millions have found deep satisfaction with her story. Also, via an email conversation, I learned he had set up certain rules for himself of how he’d tell the Miscorrection saga (at least in the first several stories), and some of these rules really annoyed me. Again, this is simply a personal preference. A friend once read a story of mine, A Bag of Strawberries, and when I asked if he liked it, he said, “No, not really.” Then he qualified what he said: “It’s well written, and it works as a story, but I don’t like those kind of stories.” I could respect that. I’m not sure I like the kind of story “A Bag of Strawberries” is. My friend is a bit odd in that he understands stories on a deep level and can analyze the heck out of them; he’s smart enough to make the distinction between looking at my skill of the craft and his enjoyment of the story as a reader. Same thing is true here. I saw improvements in B.C.’s writing, but as a reader, I couldn’t help be feel frustrated with the overall story. I kept wanting to rewrite it, change things, write it my own way. Which would’ve destroyed his vision for it. And since it’s not my place to toy with his vision of his story, I focused all my critiques and advice on ways to make that vision sharper, more engaging.

Working on the Miscorrection stories, I was eager to try something else out by B.C. So I read Running To Keep Her — and wow, was I blown away. Within two paragraphs, I knew the guy had exploded as a writer. I knew he’d taken almost all my advice to heart about showing and not telling, about getting deep into a character’s point of view. It was fun to read, and did I feel validated and proud. I wanted to say, “Hey, look at this, I taught this guy how to do this.”

Which isn’t exactly true. All I could do was say, “Here’s how you need to improve.” He was the one who sat down and got to work.

Once, we spoke about him possibly going back and rewriting the earlier Miscorrection stories — Sunrise, Arrogation, and Felix Culpa. If I recall correctly, I told him not to worry about those old stories, to press on, that you only get better as a writer by writing new stuff, not by rewriting old stuff. And if I recall correctly, he had already decided to do just that. Bravo for him!

He tells me he’s now returning to the Miscorrection universe and working on a novel. I’ll be interested to see how he’s improved as a writer in general, and how he’s improving Miscorrection in particular.

Thanks again, Jeff. Not only for this post, but for pointing me in the “write” direction to continue to improve my craft. And don’t worry, I won’t correct above what you may or may not correctly recall, because honestly, I don’t know if I correctly recall either, and I’d hate to make a miscorrection.

About Jeff Ambrose: My name is Jeff Ambrose, and I’m a writer. My love affair with science fiction, fantasy, and horror began when, as a young boy, I used to watch old monster movies down in the basement. When I was ten, I saw the American Express commercial with Stephen King, which made me curious enough about the King of Horror that I pulled one of King’s novels (Rage, of all things!) down from my mom’s bookshelf and read it in a few days. That turned me on to reading, which, in turn, led me to try writing my own stories.

Besides writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror, I also write mystery and crime fiction under the name Mark Sled, romance fiction under the name Robin Kirkwood. And sometimes I’ll commit literary fiction and publish it under the name Scott Elder.

I live in North Texas with my wife and four children.

To learn more about Jeff Ambrose visit writerjeffambrose.com.

This week’s FYP Weekly Deal is for:

Unspoken Stories. This is a collection of five short stories I wrote. They are Copy Bird, Going Home, Josie Dorri and The Coffee Ban, The Present, and Running to Keep Her. You can get the eBook now for $0.99 on Amazon or Smashwords. It will be available for $0.99 for the next 24 hours. What are you waiting for?

What’s my sales goal for 2012? None really. I plan to write and publish more, but sales are out of my control. Of course, I hope I sell more than 2011. Maybe two to three times 2011′s numbers.

For December 2011, Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability continues its rapid selling pace. I am extremely happy with its success. Overall the month was varied with sales. It was a good month, and I look forward to January 2012!

December 2011 Paid Sales

• 16 - Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability
• 9 - The Present
• 4 -Copy Bird
• 2 - All My Fiction
• 2 – Don’t Blink
• 2 - Going Home
• 1 - Arrogation (Miscorrection)
• 1 - Awry (Miscorrection)
• 1 - Felix Culpa (Miscorrection)
• 1 - Miscorrection: Preludes
• 1 - Panacea (Miscorrection)
• 1 - Sundown (Miscorrection)
• 1 - Unspoken Stories (eBook Edition)
• 0 - Josie Dorri And The Coffee Ban
• 0 -Miscorrection: Book 1 (Sunrise to Sundown) (Print Edition)
• 0 - Running To Keep Her
• 0 - Sunrise (Miscorrection)
• 0 - Unspoken Stories – Volume 1 (Print Edition)

Total Paid Sales: 42

Now that 2011 has come and gone, I can look back and smile at what I have accomplished. Go ahead, smile with me.

During the course of the year, I went from planning on finishing the first book for Miscorrection to doing so much more. I also wrote five short stories and a novel under a pen name. In total, I wrote about 185,000 words this year and learned more than I ever thought I would.

I’ve also met some great online writer friends like Jeff Ambrose and Steve Umstead. Jeff’s been integral in helping me learn more about writing, offering tips and tricks and books to read to help my craft. Steve, through writing his Gabriel Trilogy, has shown me that you can write three novels in a year. Plus, I’ve watched his marketing and see that it has paid off for him.

As I look to 2012, I need to top what I did this year. So here is my goal. I plan to write and self-publish four novels in 2012. Two of the novels will finish up the Miscorrection trilogy. The other two novels will be in the Fram Gage series under my pen name Desmond Shepherd.

Can I do it? I think so. It will require that I write in the neighborhood of 300,000 words. A couple of years ago, that sounded like a lot. Now? It definitely sounds doable.

So 2012 … it’s an important year. It’s going to be the year in which I write four novels.

Smile!

Regardless, there are new Kindle owners out there. Basically, they’ve got their cake. But what’s cake without some icing?

That’s why I’ve decided to make Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability available for free from December 25, 2011 to December 27, 2011. Consider it the icing on the cake!

Click here to get Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability free for your Amazon Kindle!

Enjoy!