Update 05/02/22

Just an update on my rather lack of updates….

We have moved back to eastern Kentucky after spending the better part of the past three years away and a lot of which just on the road.  So I’m getting settled back into life and all that comes with moving.  On top of that I’ve taken on a new job working third shift and I’m doing a lot of adjusting.   I’m still getting some writing done but no editing.  I’m hoping to get back into a groove once everything is settled.

Books are coming.  Including the second Howling Moon book and I truly hope to have them done and out by years end.  The second book will be a stand alone book that I like to put into the category of Appalchian Fantasy…We’ve got fairies and maybe bigfoot in Eastern Kentucky and that’s all I can say about that right now. 

And so much more coming down the road that I can’t go in to right now.

Also.  I fully intend on again having a table at pikeville comiccon.  So you should go follow that page.

Sunday Update 3/20

Some updates with a rather outdated picture of Penny to grab your attention.

A round of what is going on in my world, or worlds, depending on how you look at it.

  • We are currently in the process of moving back to Eastern Kentucky, so I’m not putting as much effort into blogging at the moment as I have been. Once the dust settles I hope to get back into it full steam ahead. The moving process however hasn’t slowed down my editing or writing as you’ll soon find out.
  • February I wrote 55k words, and I’m currently as of the time I’m posting this over 48k for March. But unlike Feb my editing hasn’t suffered. I’m about half way through another edit of Howling Moon 2 with hopes that I’ll be done with this edit by mid April. I’ve also been editing a Fairy story I wrote…there is a lot of information that will be coming out in the coming months.
  • Howling Moon 2’s title…I have the perfect title for the book…unfortunately after doing some research and digging, there are two other werewolf books with the same title. I’m bummed about this as it really fit the book and I haven’t decided what I’m going to do about that at the moment.
  • With all of the words I’ve been putting to page it’s no surprise that I’ve finished some stuff that I can’t really talk about right now. One of which is the Fairy novella that I’ve already went through and edited once.
  • Kindle Vella….it’s coming, I just waiting until I have the story complete before I start putting it out. I’m currently writing chapter 14, so, I’m hoping I can start publishing it in May for everyone to see.  Well, those with kindle vella or on Patreon.
  • Speaking of Patreon…my patreon is now live…or has been since February, I just wanted to have some stuff up on it before I started advertising it. And truth be told I’m not going to push it that much until I start putting out Vella content for people to read there…
https://www.patreon.com/stevenpaulwatson

Weekly Round Up 2/27

Don’t own the image….

So something new from me. I’ve set up a notification for WordPress. So that I can do weekly quick updates on where I’m at…so this is technically the second one.

One day left in February…I’ve wrote over 50,000 words this month. But I failed to get much of any editing done. So March though still intend on writing. I must force myself to edit and get through the next draft of howling moon 2 if there is any chance of it coming out this year.

I finished up two short novellas this month. One is an Appalachia haunting story that deals with ghosts and cults…. The other is an Appalachia fantasy with a fairy…. Both set in Eastern Kentucky cause well it’s where I’m from. 🙂

You can expect Patreon and Kindle vella updates from me in the next two weeks…

February progess report

Month is over half over….

Well over my word count goal for the month. But my editing has fallen behind. I’ll end up spending most of March editing just playing catch up.

I’ve finished not one but two rough drafts on short stories/novellas this month so far and I’m really hoping to get one of those out this year as well as Howling Moon 2.

Kindle Vella and Patreon….news coming on both very soon.

January 2022

January Goals

I set myself up going into the new year with a modest list of goals for the year as it comes to writing. After being so productive last year I thought maybe I should, ya know, not push my luck. And for the most part I was hoping to primary focus on editing, publishing, and building my audience. As every where I look for new authors, especially those who must rely mostly on themselves for promotion…building an audience is key.

My January Goals –

  • 10k words written
  • Edit Howling Moon

What I accomplished –

  • 31k words written over three short story/novellas. One of which I’d been plotting on for a bit and just hadn’t started writing. 20 k of that 31 went to it…and I really hope this is a short that I will get out to people sooner rather than later.
  • The other 10 k words went to the Howling Moon Spinoff that I will be posting a little bit more about in the coming weeks. I’ve been studying up on Kindle Vella and Patreon…and you will probably see that spin off in those two platforms.
  • Read through the second Howling Moon twice, fixing a lot of stuff that I didn’t even realize was there and needing fixed until I listened to the book.
  • Did quite well I think with the whole building an audience…gained a ton of followers on tiktok, mostly through booktok hashtag. The free give away of Howling Moon was a success. And it’s also been getting a lot of page reads through Kindle Unlimited… Though my blog didn’t get the amount of traffic it did late last year, I still managed to post 4 blogs in the month!

February Goals –

  • 10k words written.
  • Do a blocking edit of Howling Moon 2…if you don’t know what that is. I didn’t either until recently. Basically, going through chapter to chapter and checking to make sure there is nothing left out of the scenery. Checking to make sure anything that needs the extra bit of detail, has it. Emotions, senses, the scenery…anything that can add depth to the story. And hopefully, maybe start getting some sample edits back from a couple editors.
  • Launch Patreon account, as part of the continuing to build one’s audience. As well as post 4 blogs this month as well.

And I’m posting this on the 6th, truth is I’m already getting a heck of a jumpstart on this month’s list. 

Picture of Penny annoying Nala, just because 🙂

What are you reading?

I probably don’t post enough about what I’m reading here. In fact outside of maybe some stuff on goodreads I don’t post a lot about what i’m reading period. I can say i’ve probably read more books in the past two years. than I have the previous ten years combined before that. Of course a lot of that is because of Audible… Not all, but probably 2/3 is through audible. Since I’ve joined on average at least one a month sometimes much, much more. So here is a round up what I’ve read/listened too in the past two years….

Mercy Thompson, books 1 – 6….needless to say I love the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs. It’s werewolves, so that’s a plus. But all in all I enjoy the character. With Moon Called and River Marked being my favorite of the first 6.

Cry Wolf also by Patricia Briggs – in the same world as Mercy Thompson but follows two different characters and if you enjoy the Mercy books this one is a must read. I’m going to be getting more into this world as the year goes along. I’ve even listened to Moon Called a second time this past December.

The Lot Lands (The Grey Bastards, The True Bastards, The Free Bastards) by Jonathon French- Fantasy series and probably my favorite books I’ve read all together in this period. They’re not for everyone. They’re crude, with lots of language and such that put it sort in the outskirts of maybe what most high fantasy fans are looking for. But I loved it. Of the three books, the third one The Free Bastards being my favorite. Each book had a different mc and well Oaks was my favorite character in the first two books so him getting to be the focal character in book 3 helped a lot. And it ends in a way that makes you want more but at the same time it was a satisfying conclusion.

Thor by Wayne Smith – Bad Moon is my favorite werewolf movie of all time. And the book it is based off of it is just as good and a must read. Most of the book is from the point of view from the dog and it makes it a very interesting take on both the family drama and the werewolf aspect of the story that doesn’t translate to the movie. So it’s like a completely different story. Also the family is a lot more than just the mom and her son with Thor in the book.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman – I loved this television series…like a very adult Harry Potter. Problem is…i’m still to this day not sure how I feel about the book. It’s good and different from the series but it just doesn’t hold me like the tv series did.

Undertaker’s Moon by Ronald Kelly – Another werewolf book. the werewolf scenes alone are worth the read though I’m sure like most the end is a little too predictable. But anytime a werewolf is on page it is amazing with it’s description and the feeling it leaves behind.

A Symphony of Dragons – Lisa Shambrook – It’s Dragons. Much like werewolves, it’s one of my favorite things in the world and this collection of short stories is a must read.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – is a great set up for the First Law trilogy and though i’m going to read a couple small books before I get to the next one, I see this as a must read.

The Road to Valhalla Series by Melanie Karsak – a five book series which I burned through the first two books rather quickly. If you’re a fan of Vikings and fantasy this series is for you. I will be picking up and reading book 3 very soon. I’m enoying Melanie Karsak’s writing a lot, so much so that i’ve picked up her steampunk Little Red Riding Hood series to read down the road (3 of my favorite things all in one place).

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan – I finally broke down and started the series, read the first 2 books in it…I will read further I’m just not in a big hurry to do so at the moment.

Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris – Read the first book in the series, it was actually the first book I picked up on Audible. Big fan of the True Blood series and enjoyed the first book. I just haven’t gotten around to any of the rest of the series yet, but I will. My wife loves this series, both the books and the television show. It was what we listened too when we were driving back from the westcoast.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames – After so many people recommended this one I finally picked it up…

The Golden Spider by Anne Renwick – Steampunk! I’m wanting to read a lot more steampunk novels as I love the genre and this one was good start, will read more from her.

Big Damn Hero, Generations, and Life Signs…book 1, 4, and 5 of the firefly novels. They filled a hole I needed from missing Firefly. They may not be amazing, but it’s fun to revisit that world. Life Signs is probably my favorite of the Firefly books so far.

The Dragon Tamer by Ava Richardson – More Dragons. 🙂 This was a decent YA read with a lot of potential as a series, just haven’t gotten around to the next book.

Elfed in New York: Intern – was a fun little read that seemed to end way too soon. I’m looking forward to reading more.

I’m not sure…I think that’s it for the past couple years.

The Howling Moon Series

So I figure an update was due for all things Howling Moon.

Book 2….I have a title. Only a couple people know what that title is and I can’t tell you it just yet. I’m saving it for a reveal… Preferably once I have it back from an editor, and I have a cover and release date 🙂 But I do have a title. I’ve also went through it twice this month already and have set it aside until the first of Feb, where I will go over it once more making sure I’m happy with it. And then it goes off to an editor and from there, hopefully things will start to take hold and it will move fast with lots of updates coming in late spring and summer. I am working my butt off. I want it out to the readers this year. 🙂 That is my number one goal as a writer in 2022. Publish Howling Moon 2! So for all of those who are looking forward to it, it’s coming!!

I’m working on a novella/short story involving a completely new character in the world of Howling Moon. A character that plays a very big part in Howling Moon 2. Though it’ll be completely separate from it. It’s own stand alone story. I haven’t decided where, I’ve been looking into Kindle Vella…and even Wattpad. But I hope to start posting chapters of that by spring and I’ll be updating here when I do.

Book three and four… I plan on doing a in-depth edit of book three this year. And maybe get a schedule in mind of when it would be released. I don’t want it to be years between book two and three. Book four I probably won’t touch this year. After writing it in November…I still have decisions to make on where the future of this series is going.

Book one is no longer up on it’s free promotion and back to regular price. Since the first of October last year it has gotten a big bump on social media and hits on amazon, etc. I believe a lot of that has to do with just how much I posted to this blog with snippets and updates, etc. And the free promotion a week or so ago on amazon….I had expectations on just how much traction it would get, how many people would pick it up. And it was over double my expectations. And it is currently enrolled on Kindle Unlimited so if you’re a member of that you still can check it out for free 🙂 And I’m ecstatic about that as well. In the past week in KU, over 1000 pages have been read. All about getting it out there, right!

That’s about all I have on the series for today….

Free! Howling Moon

I was trying to figure out the best header for this blog but I wanted to get straight to the point. Howling Moon is free on Kindle for the next week.

This is an appreciation post for all of those who have been following me. For those who like and share all of my stuff across social media. And especially those who are now following the blog. If you decide to pick up Howling Moon! I really hope you enjoy it!