Tag Archives: Goals

Year in Review: 2023

Each year I create a list of goals for every area of my life. Throughout the year I work my goals, track my progress, and commit to posting my top accomplishments. I hope to inspire others to do the same.

Writing

Novels

Signed publishing contract! I signed a contract with a publishing house and I’ll have a new novel out sometime next year. Top goal!!! More info once I’m allowed to publicly announce.
Wolves of Vengeance became a #9 Best Seller in free Occult Horror Top 100 Free Kindle Books. https://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Vengeance-David-North-Martino-ebook/dp/B00F3GU182/ Top 10, baby!
Participated in the 1^st annual Terrify your Tablet/Spook your Kindle promotion.
Another one of my novels made it through 1st cuts and the full manuscript was requested.

Short Stories

Writers of the Future Honorable Mention 2nd Quarter 2023

Writers of the Future honorable Mention 3rd quarter 2023

Earned two Honorable Mentions in the Writers of the Future Contest (see above). The top 10% of entrants get Honorable Mentions. https://www.writersofthefuture.com
I edited “Tracer” from a rejection with comments to an Honorable Mention.

Sharpen the Saw

Attended: The Novel: From First Draft to Bookshelf Workshop with Jonathan Maberry.
Attended: Writing and Selling Short Stories Workshop with Jonathan Maberry.

Martial Arts

Rank Promotions

Pacific Archipelago Concepts Level 3 Basic Instructor 2023

Promoted to PAC-FMA Level 3 Instructor under Guro W. Hock Hochheim 2023 (See Above).
Listed as a Level 3 Instructor on Website. ForceNecessary.com
Began official ranking in Bruce Lee’s Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do Concepts in the Sifu/Guro Inosanto Lineage.
Promoted to Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do (JKD) Level 1 under Sifu Raffi Derderian.

Seminars

14-Hour Combination Seminar in Inosanto Kali and Presas Family Arnis 2023

Drowning in JKD Seminar at Derderian Academy of Martial Arts

Two-Day Double Impact Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali Seminar with Guro Raffi and Sifu Kevin Seaman

Chris LaCava’s Beat ‘Em & Treat ‘Em Tour (2023) at Coach Jeff Burger’s K.I.C.K Karate in Salem, MA. Stockton Multi-Style Escrima Sword & Knife Seminar.

Martial Arts Classes

Began formal Jeet Kune Do classes at Derderian Academy. https://derderian-academy.com/jeet-kune-do/
Began formal Filipino Kali classes at Derderian Academy. https://derderian-academy.com/kali/

Martial Arts Home Training

Began training Patty in JKD at home.
Continued solo home training utilizing Mook Jong, wife as training partner, Bas Thai Boxing workout, and free-weights.

Co-Host: The House of Mystery Radio Show on NBC

As heard on NBC News Radio in Los Angeles/Riverside/San Bernardino/Palm. Springs/Seattle/Tacoma/Salt Lake City/Phoenix and online podcasts. https://www.alanrwarren.com/house-of-mystery-radioshow
Interviewed James Patterson. 309,672 podcast plays/downloads, 30k Youtube views.
Interviewed Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child – 5th most popular interview in 2023! 173,000 plays/downloads/airing with a 2.1 ratings marketshare in L.A. (252,000 estimated listeners)!
Co-hosted over 100 new episodes.

Martino Movie Reviews on NBC

Continued to write and publish movie reviews for the House of Mystery Website. https://www.alanrwarren.com/martino-movie-reviews.
Began recording audio movie reviews that appeared on the House of Mystery Radio Show on NBC.

Youtube & Social Media

Interviews

Interviewed by Dominick Izzo on Them’s fightin’ Words! podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSDjS5a3Csw&t=1920s

My Martial Arts Channel & HDaveMI

Continued to make long form and short form martial arts instruction videos on Youtube channel and also on Reelz, Instagram, and Tiktok. https://www.youtube.com/@davidnorth-martino/videos
Began HDaveMI movie review and physical media channel.
Earned top 5% in Facebook rising creators.

Podcasts

Published 3 episodes of the Live Martial Podcast.
Had martial arts teachers reach out who want to be on the show. I hope to expand the show next year.

Family & Friends

Mother’s Day at North End Diner.
Helped family member move into new apartment.
Celebrated 28^th Wedding Anniversary with dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill.
Visited In-Laws for get-together.
Father’s Day at North End Diner.
Celebrated 31^st Anniversary of our first date.
Cat-sat for our neighbor’s cats.
Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving takeout.
Continued friendship with Alan R. Warren.
Continued friendship through email and social media with my former English professor.
Kept up friendships with writer friends, martial arts friends, high school & college. friends on social media.
Made new writing and martial arts friends.

Health

Annual Physical – besides an increase in weight (it’s all muscle) everything looks good!
Eye doctor appointments -everything stable.
Cleanings with hygienist and X-rays A+.
Two appointments for crown installation.

Cars

Patty’s car – inspection, oil change, tire rotation.
My car towed Breaks, rotters, oil change, fluids, new battery.
Installed Cover Craft Dashboard cover on my car.
Drove 100 miles to reset computer in my car after battery died.

House

Get new bedroom air cleaner replaced through warranty service.
New chair for Diesel.
Replaced aging recliners.
Installed nest Protect Smokes and CO2 Alarms.
Installed throw rug with mat in living room.
Replaced patio door handle in living room.
Troubleshoot dishwasher wasn’t draining. Hose clogged. Cleared out and draining again.

Movies at Theater

IMAX: Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning: Part 1.
IMAX: Oppenheimer 15/70 70mm film.
50^th Anniversary of Enter the Dragon at the Bellingham Regal Cinema.

AV/Tech

Apple Store Providence Place Mall. Replaced Patty’s Airpods Pro under limited warranty.
Upgraded to iPhone 14 pro.
Upgrade to Panasonic 4k blu-ray player.
Increased our collection of 4k and blu-ray discs.

That’s all I can remember for now. It’s been a fantastic year of personal and professional accomplishment! See you in 2024!

Writers of the Future Honorable Mention 3rd Quarter 2023

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I received another Honorable Mention certificate from the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest, 3rd Quarter 2023. It’s always encouraging to get one of these certificates in the mail. Only approximately 10% of the entrants receive these from this very prestigious contest. Congrats to all the winners!

Also, I was able to edit this story from a rejection with comments into an Honorable Mention on the next go-around.

Year in Review: 2022

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Writing

Short Stories

My story, “The Midnight Club,” appeared in The Horror Zine’s Book of Werewolf Stories published by HorrorBound Press. I shared pages with Ramsey Campbell, Nancy Kilpatrik, JG Fraherty and other great writers.
Received hard copies of the anthology.
Received audio book on Audible.

Magic Moment: Review from Heather Miller:

…The Horror Zine’s Book of Werewolf Stories brings together twenty-five shirt-ripping, teeth-baring, guttural-snarling stories from names big and small. The collection includes tales written from both the victim’s and the wolf’s perspective. There are werewolves who are bloodthirsty monsters and those who try their hardest to retain some sense of humanity. There are stories which question whether their characters are werewolves at all or men suffering from psychiatric delusions. There are wolves at war, wolves at sea, wolves in the woods and wolves in the city. A few stories which stood out to me:

“The Change” by Ramsey Campbell – a psychological horror in which a writer becomes obsessed with – and then paranoid about – the strangers who gather just beyond his window in the blue glow of a bus stop lamp, and regresses to a primitive form of himself in his distress.

“Savages” by Trish Wilson – a feral child is found and held for observation, until the wolves who raised him come back for what’s theirs.

“The Midnight Club” by David North-Martino – a serial killer who lives for the thrill of the hunt gets what’s coming to him when his prey turns to predator.

“Origin of the Species” by JG Faherty – easily my favorite story in the whole collection, this one gives us a fascinating origin story for the werewolf race.

With an introduction by Stephen Graham Jones and a foreword by WD Gagliani, this anthology of moonlight metamorphosis is a great addition to any horror lover’s library, and a much-needed tome on a worthy but oft-overlooked horror character.

Writer’s of the Future Honorable Mention 2nd Quarter 2022.

Submitted to 11 markets.
Wrote 1 new short story this year.
- Received my certificate for The L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest Semi-Finalist for Expiation, 3rd Quarter 2021.

Novels

Sent out novel to the Berkely Open Submission Program in January – “No decision has been made about your query at this time.” No news IS good news!
Sent a novel submission to Cemetery Dance Books.
Completed new novel and forwarded to 1st reader.

Media

Radio/ Podcast/ Co-Host

As heard on NBC News Radio in Los Angeles/Riverside/San Bernardino/Palm Springs/Seattle/Tacoma/Salt Lake City/Phoenix and online podcasts.
House of Mystery Radio show on NBC in 2022 was the #3 most popular show in Los Angeles Market! It averaged a 2.4 market share (57,600 listeners per episode average) and had 2.9 million downloads/plays from our website!
Interviewed Dean Koontz.
Dean Koontz episode had a 4.4 market share with approximately 288,000 listeners.
Completed my first show acting as main host interviewing Reb MacRath.
Completed my second show acting as main host with co-host D.W. Gillespie interviewing Meg Hafdahl Science of Stephen King.
Completed my third show as main host interviewing Alex Gillis Taekwondo: A Killing Art.
Promoted to main co-host September 9, 2022.
Interviewed Simon Gervaise with Joe Goldberg co-hosting.
Constantly co-hosted weekly throughout 2022. Over 100 shows!
Assisted with edits, preproduction, and postproduction.
https://www.alanrwarren.com/house-of-mystery-radioshow

Movie Reviews

Continued to write movie reviews and update the “Movies at a Glance” database.
Read my reviews here: https://www.alanrwarren.com/martino-movie-reviews

Youtube and other Video Platforms

Had a Kali knife video go semi-viral gaining over 9K views and 64 subscribers.
Decided to focus my Youtube channel on martial arts videos.
Achieved 100 subscriber and 300 subscriber milestones.
Featured on Izzo’s Wing Chun gaining me at least 70 subscribers.
433 subscribers as of December.
Gained 400 new subscribers this year.
80K total views, 33.5K watch-time minutes, and 1,268 total likes.
Made new friends in the martial arts Youtube communtiy.
Learned and began editing videos using iMovie.
Learned and began creating thumbnails using Canva.
Made Youtube Shorts.
Posted short videos to Tiktok, Facebook, and Instagram.
Uploaded over 48 shorts with over 36.2K views.
Top viewed shorts: Tae Kwon Do Sparring, 9 Sword Cuts.
Top viewed videos: Solo Knife Drills, Sword to Knife, Chain Punching From Yip Man to Bruce Lee to Taky Kimura.

Check out my Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAGfK61_Pc6vOlOmUD1sRg

Martial Arts

Celebrated 35 years of formal martial arts training and teaching.
Joined The Korea Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan Association.
The Korea Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan Association accepted me as a 3rd degree black belt and issued a backdated certificate to my original promotion and signed by the President of the Association.
Made friends with members of the association.
Set up Mook Jong.
Home training 3x per week various arts.
Attended “Drowning in Kali 2022” at the Derderian Academy of Martial Arts.

Attended 2-day 14 hour weekend seminar Inosanto-Lacosta Blend/Presas Family (Modern) Arnis with teachers Guro Raffi Derderian and Guro Hock Hochheim at Chris Thompson – Just Train in North Kingston, RI.

Achieved First Level in Guro W. Hock Hocheim’s Essential Filipino Martial Arts System.

Achieved 1st Level in W. Hock Hocheim’s Pacific Archipelago (Combatives) Concepts.

Health

I had a cracked tooth fixed and my 6 month cleanings.
I had my booster.
Colonoscopy (I’m officially old!).
Eye Doctor – everything stable.
Brought Diesel for his vet appointments.
Annual physical – everything normal. All numbers good. I just need to lose a little weight.

Family

January after holiday (2021) get-together with the in-laws.
Celebrated 27 years of marriage & 30 Years together!
Helped my sister-in-law set up a Roku and Ooma Telo.
Ate breakfast with parents at the North End Diner. I helped my Dad take down his tent from campsite. Went with my mother to a jeweler to consider resizing original wedding ring.
Called my parents at least twice a week.
Decided to get new wedding ring. Also got a groove ring for martial arts training.
Chewy sent us a painting of Diesel and later sent him a Christmas gift.
We began training Diesel on a harness.
Attended local Independence Day Parade.
Attended Patty’s work dinner.
Thanksgiving and Christmas at home this year with sister-in-law.
Cat-sat for our neighbor.
Kept up with my friend and former English professor through email.
Continued a great friendship with Al Warren.

Cars

Both cars inspected.
General maintenance on both cars.

Travel & Fun

Quiet Riot, Slaughter, and Steve Pearcy (Ratt) at Mohegan Sun Arena. Summer Shack for dinner and drinks.
Went to see Scream (2022)at the theater and dinner at the 110 Grill.
NKOTB MixTape at Mohegan Sun Arena. Summer Shack for dinner and drinks.
Kevin James at the Hanover Theater in Worcester, MA. Dinner at Chashu Ramen & Izakaya.

House

Had old gas water heater disabled and blocked and a new electric water heater installed in the closet. The old water heater couldn’t be replaced and remain up to code so a new one had to be relocated. We got estimates from three companies.
Had outlet replaced.
Replaced smoke alarms.
Replaced thermostat that stopped working. I was able to do this myself!
Had upstairs fill-valve etc. replaced.
Had downstairs toilet replaced. The old one was from 1955!
The condo association provided us with a dumpster for spring cleaning.
Management company fixed damage on front stoop.
Management company fixed woodpecker damage on our Townhouse.
Installed coat rack in foyer.

Whisk(e)y, Spirits & Cocktails

Greenspot Irish Whisky.
Black Saddle 12 – smooth, sweet rum raisin, cinnamon, carmel.
Kaiyo Mizunara Oak Japanese Whisky.
Lagavulin 8 – cough sweets, rum raisin, plumb, peppery spice, smoke, dry finish, like a white wine.
Meiomi Pinot Noir.
Kohi Martini – Casamigos Reposado, espresso, brew, coffee liquor, simple syrup.
Dublin Smash cocktail – Irish whiskey, mint, lemon, simple syrup.
Bourbon Cherry Bomb cocktail.

A/V & Tech

Free subscription to Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu with Ads from Verizon.
Free year of AMC+.
Got a subscription to Friendly TV to supplement antenna.
Patty Replaced ear pads on cinema headphones.

That’s all I can remember for now. See you in 2023!

Year in Review 2020

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Each year I create a list of goals for every area of my life. Throughout the year I work on my goals, track my progress, and then commit to posting my top accomplishments. I hope to inspire you to do the same.

This was a difficult year for all of us. When talk of the lockdowns began, I decided to ask myself a question: how do I use the lockdown to make every area of my life better? I wanted to put my efforts and resources into positive action and still have an outstanding year despite obstacles that were outside my control.

Writing

I’ll start with short stories since I decided to put a lot of time into the creation, editing, and submitting of short tales. My efforts paid off with one acceptance and two honorable mentions. More info below.

Short Stories

My story Shattered was accepted and published in the Horror Zine’s 11th Anniversary issue. You might still find it free to read here.

Atonement received an Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest 1^st quarter 2020.

Received an honorable mention for my story Leviathan in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest for 3rd quarter 2020. (Including last year, this was the 3^rd story that received this honor in a row).

Completed and sent a new story (5,000 words) to Writers of the Future contest 4^th quarter.

Wrote a 1,700 word short story for Weird Tales but the contest was canceled. The story is cooling while awaiting an edit and a new market.

Sent stories to 24 markets including WOTF, The Horror Zine & the Baen Fantasy Award. More than normal and due to Covid restrictions.

Each story submitted received a new polish edit bringing writing up to current standard.

Wrote 2 new stories, one for Weird Tales and the other for WOTF.

Magic Moments

Editor told me I was writing at a profesional level.

Received invites to resubmit from pro and semi-pro publications.

Had a top editor include me in a post where he touted the quality of fiction in the Horror Zine.

Reading

I love to read but have been a little distracted. I’ll make it a goal to read more next year.

Marketing

I fell off from blogging and only posted 1 video related to writing.

An opportunity arose that I can’t talk about yet. Stay tuned, I’ll let you know more by the middle of January.

Completed the free Writers of the Future writing workshop. It’s great! What are you waiting for? Take the workshop here.

Novels

Completed up to Chapter 17 in Black Magic Bullets that began as an NaNoWriMo project. As the Covid lockdown took over, I found myself spending more time finishing up a completed novel and writing short fiction for the WOTF contest. I received good feedback on this first draft, including an excited reader who compared my story to the Dresden Files.

Completed the ProWritingAid edit of The Tower. I deleted over 30k words bringing the story from 90k to 60k. I cut this thing to the bone!

Reassessed Year of the Demon and am considering transforming it into urban fantasy. If nothing else, I’ve decided to put it through another round of edits before sending it out again.

Darkness Absolute (working title)

Began a redux in late February bringing the events back to the late 1990s. Hopefully it will be complete by the time 90s nostalgia hits.

Wolves of Vengeance

On account of the lockdowns, I decided to do a free kindle promotion of WoV.

Free kindle promotion received 31 downloads.

ProWritingAid purchased WoV as part of a Facebook promotion

Martial Arts and Physical fitness

With many martial arts seminars on hold, I wanted to make sure I kept up with solo training. My main goals were to burn calories, stay sharp, and improve my flexibility. Most of my kicking had been centered around practical low line techniques. I decided to return to high kicks to increase my stretch.

Warmed up and stretched before each session (ballistic, static, active, etc.).

I purchased Marco Lala’s stretching video and put his recommendations into practice. Check out his products here.

Performed shadow kickboxing session 3 times per week with Patty.

Utilized Bas Rutten’s Thai Boxing workout routine 3-4 two minute rounds with one-minute rest. This is high Intensity Interval training (HIIT). You can still get his MMA Workout CDs & DVD here.

Practiced combination kicking with an emphasis on high kicks for stretching. Spinning and turning kicks to reclaim agility.

Hojo Undo (supplementary exercises): Performed the 1^st five dumbell exercises in the original P90X program, low weight high reps 3x per week. Performed calisthenics on many opposite days. Also, practiced various squats for leg day.

Ken Suburi (basic sword cuts) Inspired by the last korean sword seminar I attended, I performed 100 sword cuts per session with bokken from various stances.

Kata/hyung worked various forms and studied bunkai and oyo for practical effectiveness. Focused on improving Gankaku/Jindo. In the early days we learned advanced forms for testing but tended not to go back to them.

Sinawalli: practiced double stick solo paterns shadow and on targets.

Knife: practiced basic knife cuts and patterns along with live hand positioning.

Improved my high kicks to where I can once again kick above my own head height.

Created the Warrior Temple Garage Dojang. I utilized the dumpster provided by our condo association to clean out the garage. I swept the area, put down puzzle mats, hung up an American and Korean Flag and equipped the area with training items including a target bag.

Began wearing a fitness tracker. Discovered that even with exercise I’m struggling to maintain moderate activity during the lockdown.

I posted some martial arts videos on YouTube. As the summer heated up, I fell out of making videos. I might go back to it eventually.

I attended some virtual seminars on FaceBook Live.

I was accepted as a Moo Duk Kwan Herritage Member.

I attended the 75^th anniversary of the Moo Duk Kwan Zoom seminar. It was amazing to reconnect to my Moo Duk Kwan roots, roots that go back to my Dad and my 2^nd cousin.

I utilized a free GracyU program preview but I fell out of using it.

Family

Called my parents 2x per week.

Celebrated 25 years of marriage & 28 years together.

Post Christmas get together at in-laws in January 2020.

Visited parents at Foxwoods

Diesel’s yearly physical along with distemper and rabies shots.

Helped my parents with their car radio—went up for a visit and had lunch.

Health

February Eye Appointment.

March Dentist Cleaning.

August eye appointment.

September Dental Cleaning with full x-rays.

November Annual physical. Everything normal but I could use to lose a little Covid weight. I was up 5 pounds.

I began weighing in again and counting calories. Then I found that just limiting my calorie intake worked better than keeping track in a food planner.

By restricting calories and continued exercise, I was able to lose the 5 pounds by the middle of December. This goal continues and is on going. My last weigh-in near the end of December showed I had lost close to 7 pounds since my physical.

Cars

Patty was sideswiped in a parking garage and we had Liberty Auto fix the damage. We only paid deductible.

Had airbags replaced through a Subaru recall for my car.

Mass State Inspection for both cars.

Air Conditioner Warranty Repair at Mazda for Patty’s car.

House

Purchased a desk and set up an office for Patty to work from home during lockdown.

Purchased draw organizers for kitchen.

Removed hutch on entertainment center to streamline and make more modern.

Utilized dumpster provide by association to clean out garage. Turned garage into lockdown dojang.

Purchased Robot Vac to keep house tidy.

Attached a strap to our living room TV to make it Diesel proof. Patty let me use power tools?

Travel

Hahaha! Our plans were sidelined by Covid.

AV/Tech/Cord-cutting

Canceled Philo. It’s a great service and cheap, but we weren’t watching it enough.

Began donating $5 per month to Locast to get reliable local stations through streaming.

Got a 3 month trial of Peacock. We didn’t watch it enough and canceled.

STARZ – we got a couple free 3 month previews. Not enough movies or shows we were interested in to keep.

HBO $10 a month for 3 months through Amazon. We ended up going with the HBO Max promotion for $11 a month.

We tried two weeks of YouTube TV but we rarely watch anything except local/network programing. It’s a great service but canceled after the trial.

Sling Happy Hour free after 5pm or something like that. We signed up and it’s a good service but we didn’t use it enough to justify the cost after the free Happy Hour ended.

We watched The Phantom of the Opera musical free on YouTube.

Epix was free for a time on Apple+ and we watched a couple movies.

Love Never Dies free on YouTube.

Watched Halloween 2018 on Blu-Ray as part of a Twitter watch party with the cast.

Watched Sly Stallone discuss Rocky while watching movie live streaming.

I began posting Youtube videos regarding dollar tree finds and movie collecting.

Xfinity provided us with a free subscription to Peacock Premium along with a free Flex streaming box.

Other interest/passions

Don’t mind the homophone confusion in the title. Should read: Dollar Tree Blu-Ray Haul!

Made many trips to Dollar Tree stores in my surrounding area to pick up DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.

Purchased some movies on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Sampled Redbreast 12 Irish Potstill Whisky. So good! This was my first time sipping an authentic Irish whisky that’s not a blend.

That’s about it for this year. See you in 2021!!!

The Scribe’s Arcanum: Anatomy of an Indie Novel—Wolves of Vengeance Part 2

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As an organic writer, I firmly believe in letting the characters dictate the narrative within the plot structure. To that end, I created the first three main characters.

Jack Amon

Jack, much like his real-life counterpart, was a former bully in high school, a drug user, and a problem drinker. Turning his life around, he moves out of the fictional Wellington, Massachusetts, and gets a job in construction in the equally fictional Farmington, MA. When he hears about his old friends dying from wild animal attacks, he remembers the curse Michael Matheson put on all of them. A curse they had laughed off. He returns to Wellington to attend a funeral and to investigate the real reasons his old classmates are dying. Writers often use the name Jack for the quintessential hero, but I also had another reason. As I mentioned in part 1, I received partial inspiration from Flatliners (1988), and Kiefer Sunderland’s character in the film. The TV show 24 made me think of Sunderland as Jack Bauer. I decided Jack would be a good first name. In high school, I loved King Diamond’s horror concept albums and took Jack’s surname from the house (Amon) in the albums, Them and Conspiracy.

Michael Matheson

Michael was bullied which eventually led to him attending Gold’s Tae Kwon Do to protect himself. But Michael had a dark side, dabbling in black magic and the occult. Finding a spell in an old grimoire, he performed a ritual to awaken the Wolves of Vengeance, a corporal curse to attack his bullies. After performing the ritual, nothing happened. Michael chalked it up as a failure. Twenty-something years later the Wolves finally arrive and begin killing their marks. Michael never left Wellington and took over the school when Gold retired. Michael comes from my middle name and Matheson as an homage to Richard Matheson, the author of such works as I am Legend. Like Jack, he’s a composite character, drawn from more than one person, but he’s somewhat based on me.

Katty LaRocque

Katty was an aspiring musician in high school (a guitarist to be exact) and a self-described rocker chick. She, like Jack, has a problem with alcohol. Unlike Jack, she’s a full-blown alcoholic. Her pet name derives from her high school persona (catty) and Andy LaRoche’s (King Diamond guitarist) last name. She’s based on various musicians I knew in high school and a real-life rocker chick from my high school.

Welcome to Hell: A working Guide for the Beginning Writer

I had read Tom Piccirilli’s Welcome to Hell: A Working Guide for the Beginning Writer. Pic suggested newer novelists lightly outline the first half of their novels. I took his advice. Once the outline was complete, I realized the manuscript would only reach novella length. Needing to beef up the manuscript, I asked myself this question:

What characters do I need to tell this story?

Police involvement was a given. Adding a detective made sense.

The only thing I worried about was voluminous research. What experience did I have that I could transfer to the character to make him believable? Turns out, I had more than I thought.

I had worked a decade in private security, part of the criminal justice field. First, as a patrol officer, then as a security manager, and finally as a human resources recruiter. Security work put me in regular contact with police, fire, and EMS. As a security manager, I had performed investigations and later worked for a security and investigations firm, picking up interesting information directly from private investigators.

My dad had also worked in private investigations, safety & security, special police, and fire, along with being one of the first EMTs in Massachusetts. He had been in charge of makeup and effects for emergency response training. When I was a kid he’d sometime practice the makeup effects on me. I grew up with this stuff!

I had also recently visited my local PD to renew a license and got the nickel tour. I used my hometown police station as a model for the one in the book.

The Writer’s Digest Howdunit series filled in many of the gaps.

Police Procedural: a Writers Guide to the Police and how they work

With the research and experience in mind, I set about creating Detective Adrian Callahan. Originally, he was nothing more than a generic Irish cop. My wife would later express an idea that would help flesh out his character. More on that later.

All in all, I consider my detective a success. I had a former law enforcement officer say as much. He felt my detective was accurate and believable. You can’t get much better than that.

With the decision to include a detective, I then decided that the military in some form might also be involved. I thought about adding a grizzled military captain but not wanting to include another generic character, I cast a woman as my military captain. At that moment, Captain Amanda Rann was born.

Next time, I’ll discuss how Callahan’s changes made him a controversial character, and how Rann becomes a driving force in the novel.

Get Wolves of Vengeance here!

The Scribe’s Arcanum: Anatomy of Writers of the Future Honorable Mention—Blade of the Vagabond Part 3

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For Part 1, click here. For Part 2, click here.

Realizing I could resubmit Blade of the Vagabond to the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest, I set out to put the 8,000-word version through a final polish. I uploaded the manuscript into ProWritingAid and began making my prose lean and mean. With an even cleaner manuscript, I went through the process outlined on the Writers of the Future website and submitted it through their web-portal.

Writers of the Future Volume 35

There was nothing else to do but wait and keep working on my current project. After facing rejection a few times with this story, I had no expectations. In fact, I sent it off only to keep the manuscript circulating. I didn’t feel the story in its shortest form, grabbed a top spot, and I didn’t have time to re-edit the longer version to make the submission window. Truly, I would need to add back between 1,000 and 1,500 words to sand down what I felt was an awkward transition.

Imagine my surprise when I received this email:

Dear Entrant,

Your story has been judged and is an Honorable Mention for the 3^rd quarter of the L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. (You entered between 1 April and 30 June <2019>).

Congratulations!!! You were in the top 2% of all entries.

Getting an Honorable Mention from the Writers of the Future contest is a big deal. There are no figures on how many enter the contest each quarter. It’s a very large number. From the information I had, we could estimate something like 14,000 entries! I’m not sure if that number’s accurate, but if it is, it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to make it public. They want you to send in your story, and if that number intimidates you, you’ll be less likely to submit. Probably the largest and most prestigious contest in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre. If you want to get any recognition—bring your A-game.

Receiving the Honorable Mention was a nice pick-me-up during a long dry period in sales. It showed I was on the right track, encouraging me to redouble my efforts.

It also made me reevaluate my writing career direction. Previously, I’d been submitting mostly short horror stories and writing a combination of novel-length thrillers and horror thrillers. After the Honorable Mention, I began not only working on an Urban Fantasy novel but reevaluated some of my unpublished short fiction to market it as dark fantasy or rewrite it as Urban fantasy. No matter which, I’ll probably work on more fantasy and Science fiction as I go forward.

A list of all the Honorable Mentions and Winners for that quarter can be found here.

A great post with tips on writing for the contest can be found here.

So, that’s it. That’s the full story of how I got an Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. If you enter, and I hope you do, I wish you the best of luck. Keep plugging away. I know I am!

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Scribe’s Arcanum: Anatomy of a Writers of the Future Honorable Mention—Blade of the Vagabond Part 2

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In part 1, I examined the inspiration that led to writing Blade of the Vagabond (you can read that here). In Part 2, we’ll continue as I turn BOTV into a novelette and send it out to the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

Originally, Blade of the Vagabond had a subtitle. The first 20,000-word version was called Blade of the Vagabond: Heaven, Earth, and Woman. The subtitle is a play on a Confucian concept of Heaven, Earth, and Man where, in very simplistic terms, man acts as the harmonizing force between the spiritual and material realms or perhaps between the opposites of Yin and Yang. The place in-between where truth resides. That’s close enough for a laymen’s understanding, but I’m sure I’ll get some criticism for it. If you have a more succinct explanation, feel free to post in the comments. I welcome your thoughts.

Anyway, I changed Man to Woman in the subtitle as my main character is female.

I was introduced to the term through my martial arts practice and have been fascinated ever since. The concept became the central focus of the story.

Once I had finished the first draft, I put the story away, awaiting a viable market. As I mentioned in Part 1, the open submission period ended before I completed the first draft. Luckily, soon after, the original publisher reopened for submissions.

I edited my draft and then gave it to Patty for a proofread. After reading the initial draft, Patty dubbed this story her favorite of any I had written. After a polish edit, I felt satisfied enough to send it and await a response.

Feeling this story represented my best work, I was convinced it had a good chance of selling. I sent it to them with high hopes. What happened next would change the course of how I submitted the story.

The editorial team from the publishing house contacted me and their response surprised me. Originally, the story had a prologue. In the opening, we see one villain, a henchman to the Big Bad, not the protagonist, as he prepares for infiltration and assassination. It was a long opening filled with action and intrigue. The idea was to pull the reader into the action before we reached the first chapter and met the protagonist. I felt this high action opening increased the danger and tension, setting up the story for the final confrontation.

The editors, however, had mistaken my prologue (which was clearly labeled) with the first chapter and the villain’s henchman with my main protagonist. They felt too separated from the “protagonist” as if watching a movie and weren’t fully engaged by the writing. I found this odd since my story’s subtitle was Heaven, Earth, and Woman, how could they mistake my male antagonist for my female protagonist?

Here’s what they wrote:

I appreciated how this began in media res, watching someone on a mission , but there was a lot of action with no motivation. Movies often open this way and perhaps it works better in cinema because camera angles and music can create emotional sensations in the audience, but with prose our connection is a little more difficult to forge. I spend too much of this story following the protagonist without sharing the feelings, which hamstrings our ability to anticipate or experience true tension. This is subjective and another editorial team may feel differently, so I wish you the best of luck placing it elsewhere.

Pro Tip: Editors are overworked and if they’re confused by your submission, they’ll reject you. They won’t give you the benefit of the doubt. They don’t have time.

Yet, there’s more to learn. Many wannabe writers base their stories on films and TV shows and use a cinematic technique throughout the whole book. Because of this, the cinematic technique may brand you as an amateur. It’s unfortunate but understandable.

Also, there’s an important reason I didn’t share the antagonist’s feelings: he doesn’t have any. Using a potion and mind-altering meditative techniques, the antagonist blots out his feelings.

What I thought was obvious wasn’t. Would every editor feel the same? There was no way to know. Removing the Prologue didn’t hurt the story. With a few tweaks, I annexed it. Cutting the story lowered the word count making it more marketable.

Pro Tip: Novellas and novelettes are a harder sell for newer and less established writers.

I also wondered if readers who liked the prologue would enjoy the main story and vice versa. Both sections had a different tone.

Next, I sent a modified version to a top pro magazine. The response I received was encouraging. This editor enjoyed the writing. He wrote, “some really good writing here,” personalizing the rejection letter.

Pro Tip: Getting compliments from professional editors at top magazines is a very good sign. It may mean you’re writing at a professional level or are close.

Here’s the thing: did I think a top magazine would buy a 16,000-word novella from a virtual unknown? No, but it was worth a try and gave me valuable feedback. You can’t win if you don’t play.

Encouraged by the pro editor’s response, I sent the story to L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest. The 16,000-word version didn’t win.

Then I heard about another contest at a very large and popular SF and Fantasy Independent press. The problem? Their upper word count was 8,000 words. If I wanted to send them Blade of the Vagabond, I’d have to cut the story in half. Could I trim the story to its essence, reducing it to the low end of novelette form, while keeping enough plot for the story to make sense? That was a good question. Some poignant moments and a subplot or two would need to be removed, but I believed it could be done. I set out on a mission.

I whittled it down to 9,000 words without losing the main plot, but I had to do without some poignant moments and some of what made the first two versions of the story unique.

Now to shave the manuscript to 8,000 words, I had to lose a connector scene. The story still worked well enough, but I wasn’t happy with the transition between one chapter. If I wanted to submit to the contest, I’d have to live with it.

Once sent, I returned to my novel (working title: The Tower) already in progress.

When the contest ended, and they announced winners, it was time to send Blade of the Vagabond somewhere else.

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Vol. 35*

I received an email notification from the director of Writers of the Future that there was still time to submit a story for the 3^rd quarter. Could I send a different version of the same story to the contest? I’d have to find out. If allowed, I figured it was worth a shot.

Next time I’ll tell you what happened, how I edited my manuscript into shape, and what I learned in the process. I’ll see you then.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Scribe’s Arcanum: Anatomy of a Writers of the Future Honorable Mention—Blade of the Vagabond Part 1

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Today I’d like to discuss how my story, Blade of the Vagabond, was created and how it was ultimately awarded an Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest.

The idea to write Blade of the Vagabond came when I noticed an open call from a major science fiction and fantasy publisher. They were looking for fantasy novellas inspired by non-European cultures. An idea hit me so powerfully that I stopped work on my novel in progress to focus on this new project.

At the time I had no hope of making the deadline, but the idea wouldn’t leave me alone. I put everything aside and pushed on.

The first inkling of a concept for this story began to sprout while taking an Arthurian Literature class at UMASS Lowell. The professor, Dr. Archer, assigned a paper where we were to write about any topic on the Middle Ages we wanted to explore. I knew exactly what I wanted to research and became excited by the prospect.

Having been a martial artist all my life, and having years of training in a system centered on Japanese Feudal combat, I decided to research Medieval fighting systems. My focus was on sword schools as there was ample woodcut evidence through surviving woodcuts that depicted the techniques.

I used books like Sigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Arts of Combat: Sword and Buckler Fighting, Wrestling, and Fighting in Armor by David Lidholm.

Knightly Arts of Combat: Sword-and-Buckler Fighting, Wrestling, and Fighting in Armor

As I crafted the paper, I thought about how interesting it would be to include realistic combat dynamics into fantasy fiction. The concept stayed in the back of my mind but remained just a potential idea jotted down in my notebook.

When I learned about the open call for non-European inspired fantasy fiction, I thought it would be fun to create a world based on ancient Japan. Although, I also drew from ancient Korea and China.

The Comming of Conan The Cimmerian*

Wanting to create a swashbuckling sword and sorcery epic fantasy drama, I drew upon many inspirations including Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian and Kull the Conquer series of stories. Inspiration also came from the Seven Samurai (1954) and the Jidaigeki (period dramas) and chanbara (sword fighting Amurai cinema).

Seven Samurai*

However, I didn’t want to include the samurai or the ninja as this had been done to death. Instead, I used an obscure book as my inspiration for a fighting wizard character: Leung Ting’s Skills of the Vagabonds. The book had capitalized on the 1980s ninja boom comparing the Chinese Vagabond assassins to Japan’s ninja assassins. Marketing at its finest! The glowing eyes on the cover of the book had stayed with me over the years and I thought it would be great fodder for fantasy fiction.

Skills of the Vagabonds

Delving deeply into Japanese mythology, I began to craft the story into a 20,000-word novella, the low end of the word count required for submission.

For the title, I decided on a mixture of Skills of the Vagabond and a variant of the “Swords” titles prevalent in the fantasy genre like Swords against Wizardry (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser sequence) by Fritz Leiber and Sword of Destiny (Witcher Saga) by Andrzej Sapkowski. Blade of the Vagabond sounded like a fantasy story to my ear.

Sword of Destiny (The Witcher)*

Despite the open call ending before I finished, I soldiered on completing the first draft and then shelving the project until, six months later, they opened for submissions once again.

Next time, I’ll delve into the submission process that led to receiving an Honorable Mention. I’ll also reveal the original title and how and why it changed. I hope you’ll follow my blog to find out what happened.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Year in Review 2019

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Each year I create a list of goals for every area of my life. Throughout the year I work on my goals, track my progress, and then commit to posting my top accomplishments. I hope in doing so it will inspire you to do the same.

Writing

Novels

Finished the third-draft of The Tower of Abandon, a horror-thriller novel that is hovering around 75,000 words.

Entered the St. Martin’s Minotaur/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition.

Participated in the National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Began writing Black Magic Bullets (Urban Fantasy) during NaNoWriMo and published 16 (first-draft) chapters on my blog.

I FREAKING LOVE THIS. It fills a void that Harry Dresden has left. –Review from a Twitter follower.

Began utilizing ProWritingAid to tighten my prose.

Short Stories

Awarded an Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest putting my story in the top 2% of all entries.

My story Shattered (3,200 words) was shortlisted for inclusion in an anthology.

Submitted to 11 fiction markets including 2 submissions to WOTF.

Reviews

Wrote and posted a review of glass slipper dreams, shattered by Doungjai Gam.

Wrote and posted a review of Ararat by Christopher Golden.

Read through a manuscript and gave input to a pro/Indy writer.

Notable Books Read

The Chinaman (The Foreigner) by Stephen Leather

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Ararat by Christopher Golden

The Big Bopper Rises by Reb MacRath

Dr. Sleep by Stephen King

Without Remorse by Tom Clancy

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Writers of the Future Vol. 35

Marketing/Platform

Wrote 21 plus Scribes of Arcanum Anatomy of a Sale blog posts.

Reposted 2 of my out of print stories on my blog.

Posted 16 (1^st draft) chapters of Black Magic Bullets on blog.

Family & Friends

Introducing our adoptive cat, Diesel!

We adopted a five-year-old tuxedo cat from the Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary. He had gone semi-feral and they thought he might never be adoptable. Surprisingly, to all the staff, Diesel took to us very quickly. Although, once we got him home, he hid for almost a month. Now he can’t get enough of us and has made it his mission to become a lap cat. The main challenge we had with him is that at some point, as far as the vet can tell, he bit the inside of his cheek and he had to take meds to heal his wound. We brought him to the vet 4 times this year for checkups and it seems he has finally healed. Diesel has made himself at home and has become a part of our family.

I drove my dad (and my mom) to an eye doctor appointment the day after his cataract surgery and then we went to lunch.

I met my parents for breakfast at Foxwoods.

Met briefly with friends at the New England Whiskey Fest.

Saw Rambo: Last Blood with my dad.

Went to New Orleans for our Anniversary.

Had Thanksgiving dinner with the In-Laws.

Kept in touch with my friend and former English professor through email.

Martial Arts and Other Training.

I was Patty’s plus one at Planet Fitness. Most of my time there was for leg days. I spent 30 minutes on either the treadmill or incumbent bike and then performed weighted leg lifts and squats among other exercises.

Celebrated 32 years of formal martial arts training.

Had the opportunity to take a couple Hapkido and open classes this year.

Attended the Chung Suk Kuhapdo (Korean sword) seminar taught by Master May of the Blue Stone Dojang.

After the seminar, I was invited to have lunch at Arisu Korean Restaurant in Leominster, MA. Had Sujeonggwa Cinnamon with Ginger Punch, Bulgogi beef with white rice and some appetizers, miso soup, and either Seafood Paijeon or Kimchi-jeon.

Home training included shadow boxing using JKD attack by combination (ABC) and Bas Rutten Boxing and Tai boxing HITT training, Kali double and single stick, stick and dagger, Bunkai and forms training, and Kunhapdo sword draws and 100 cuts.

Health

Had my annual physical and am the picture of health. Although, I could use to drop a couple pounds. Haha!

My doctor wanted a spot on my forehead checked by a dermatologist. I went to the appointment but it was a false alarm. No issues. Whew!

Began calcium and magnesium supplements.

Saw my ophthalmologist twice and my pressure has been down.

Had two dental cleanings. Dental exam showed a cracked tooth and I had to have a root canal that took three appointments to complete.

Cars

Had to replace tires on my car. They were nearing the end of their tread cycle and had dry rot.

I went through the process of replacing my driver’s license with a Real ID.

Patty’s struts failed and were replaced under warranty.

A small piece of composite worked it’s way inside one of Patty’s tires and was fixed for free.

Patty’s vehicle needed brakes and rotors.

Updated Patty’s out of date Mazda infotainment system firmware.

Cord Cutting

To save money we hooked up a Clearstream antenna to receive free Over The Air TV.

At the same time we switched to Philo for live TV streaming.

During the year we utilized free and discounted premium streaming services including Showtime and Starz. Starz is still ongoing.

Utilized free 30 day free trial for Netflix that is still ongoing.

Shopping

Utilized various discount stores and got loyalty cards for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet and Ocean State Job Lots.

Utilized a discounted BJ’s membership that is still ongoing.

Finances

Refinanced our mortgage

Leveraged taxes again to a tax preparer.

House

I put everything aside for about a month to do some much-needed house repairs.

We brought in an electrician to replace wired smoke and CO2 alarms along with adding a heat detector in the garage.

The electrician also updated lighting in the dining area, kitchen, and upstairs hall. We also had them replace the broken exhaust fan in the bathroom.

As part of the bathroom refresh to prep for the electrician and plumber, we painted the ceiling and installed a stick-on backsplash.

We had Victory Plumbing come in and rebuild shower fixtures in both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. The downstairs had seized and needed replacement and the upstairs was going. Also, I had to refresh the downstairs bathroom faucet and the kitchen faucet which was leaking.

I replaced the downstairs toilet innards to stop it from running. (I was tired of chasing after it! Haha).

I replaced the doorbell with a wireless doorbell.

I also changed out the garbage disposal.

We replaced our old stove since two of the burners no longer worked, and our old fridge since it was dying.

We had the electricians add an outlet in the garage ceiling to be up to code and then replaced our broken garage door and automatic door opener.

Travel & Fun

New Orleans

We hadn’t been to New Orleans since the year 2000 and it was nice to return to the Crescent City. It was very hot and muggy and we decided not to venture too far from our hotel, but still had a great time.

Stayed at the Wyndham French Quater – it was fine but would not recommend. The Concierge tried to pressure us into a timeshare presentation. We had trouble getting the maid service to clean our room but they were right there on the day we left looking for a tip. I have a tip for them—do your job!

Deuce Mcallister’s Ole Saint Kitchen & Tap was right next door, and very convenient when the weather became too oppressive for walking.

Started many a morning (or afternoon) with Chicory coffee and beignets at Cafe Beignet.

A bartender at B.B. King’s turned us onto Hochstadter’s Low & Slow Rock & Rye and Old Fashioned cocktail in a bottle.

We marched in a popup parade.

We ate at Oceana Red Fish, had Muffulettas at Central Grocery & Deli, and a farewell meal at Acme Oyster House.

Hung out at Jackson Square, toured St. Louis Cathedral and the Old Ursuline Convent, and walked around Frenchmen Street.

Watched Steamboat Willie at the Cafe Beignet at Musical Legends Park.

I performed Karaoke at The Cat’s Meow. Hey, someone has to entertain the people visiting the Big Easy! Watch my performance here!

Whitesnake Concert – Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI

Patty took me to see Whitesnake at Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI for my birthday.

We had a blast. Birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse and washed it down with Slow & Easy whiskey sours at the concert.

New England Whiskey Fest – Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI

Here’s a list of what we tried at the New England Whiskey Fest, along with initial impressions. If it wasn’t so busy, I’d have taken more pictures.

Glenfiddich Bourbon Barrel Reserve 14 – We both prefer the 12 or 15 Solara cask. Sweet arrival with a dry spicy finish.

Eagle Rare – Very sweet. Would make a good mixing whiskey.

Sazerac Rye – one of Patty’s favorites. Very spicy. Probably better in a Sazerac, but no problem drinking neat.

Whistle Pig Straight Rye 15 – Okay, would try again.

Highland Park 12 – Lightly peated. Nicely balanced. One of Patty’s favorites. I liked this a lot.

Auchentoshan 12 – I tried this. Very nice. Floral and sweet. Enjoyable.

Laphroaig 10 – Patty didn’t’ try. Either my tastes are changing or this whiskey has mellowed. Still has a strong taste of cough sweets, but I swear I was hunting for peat. Maybe tasting so many spirts changed the nature of this whiskey on my pallet.

Jameson Black Barrel – Patty tried. She wasn’t impressed.

A mixed drink with Bully Boy white whiskey. Patty tried and enjoyed it.

West Cork Port Cask finish – Patty tried and did not like.

Food

Bourbon infused cupcakes. Awesome!

Fred and Steve’s Steak House Steak Sandwich (I ate two!).

Shipyard Pub Truffle Fries.

Wicked Good Chicken Cheese Waffle or something. I had this but didn’t like it.

Wrapped Scallop w/ Bacon. Patty had one. She thought it was awesome.

Fiji supplied the water.

Popa Chubby provided the music.

A good time was had by all!

2019 Movies Watched in 2019 at Home

The Foreigner **** Starz – This is from 2017 but watched after reading Stephen Leather’s novel.

Captain Marvel ** Movies Anywhere.

The Curse of Llorona *** Amazon $.99 rental

Avengers: Endgame **** Movies Anywhere

Avengement **** DVD

Triple Threat ** /Blu-Ray

Annabelle Comes Home ** Prime rental

Kill Chain *** Prime

John Wick 3: Parabellum **** Blu-Ray

6 Underground *** Netflix

Men in Black: International * Starz

Spiderman: Far From Home **** Blu Ray

Brightburn ** Starz

2019 Movies watched in the Theater

Rambo: Last Blood **** Cinema World Fitchburg.

Ad Astra **** Providence Place IMAX

That’s it for 2019. I’ll see you in 2020!

Happy New Year!!!

The Scribe’s Arcanum: Anatomy of a Sale—The Hours of Sleep Part 1

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I was hoping to tell you by now that I made a short fiction sale this year. Although that hasn’t happened yet, I’m pleased to report that I received an Honorable Mention for the 3^rd quarter of L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest. I’m also told that it puts me in the top 2% of all entrants. I’m awaiting my certificate and will tell you more once it’s posted on their official blog.

Last time I mentioned I would talk about giving your work away or, in this case, gambling on the potential for royalties, and a free electronic copy of the anthology. Think long and hard before you give up “first rights.” Once you give those rights away, you can never get them back, and the next time you sell the manuscript, you must do so as a reprint. Reprint sales are not as lucrative as new story sales.

Pro Tip: It’s never a bad thing to give your work away to a legitimate charity anthology.

The idea for The Hours of Sleep began as, of all things, the original lyrics to a song. Back in 1996, I was working an interim job, and I had some extra time on my hands. My wife had purchased an entry-level keyboard/synthesizer for me to mess around on and burn through some of my creativity. This was a year before I began writing and submitting short fiction. I decided I wanted to write a progressive rock/thrash metal/goth-pop album. All I had to work with was a boombox with a double tape deck, an omni-microphone, the synthesizer, my voice, and a coffee can for reverb and echo.

Back at my parents’ house, I would have been able to use my dad’s DJ and production equipment. But here in our new apartment, I didn’t have access to those niceties. I no longer had a drum set, and I wasn’t hanging around musicians like I had in the ‘80s. Still, I was determined to make an album.

Without going into the full story, I ended up writing a song called Vomit Dirt Cascade. Haha! I know… Great title, right? The title meant to call up the image of the undead exploding from a fresh grave.

The Lyrics that inspired The Hours of Sleep short story:

Numbness kills the pain

The night was black in vain

Latent Precambrian

Urges to kill and win

I’ll make you my slave

Steal your blood from vein

When there is nothing left

You will be twice dead

Thirst in your black hole soul

Carrion has claimed his toll

Now you’ve become the naïve

But if I was the grave

Vomit Dirt Cascade!

The original title of my story was Twice Dead, but I took another song called The Hour of Sleep (inspired by John Carpenter’s Brotherhood of Sleep in the horror movie Prince of Darkness) and made it plural.

I’ve been thinking about posting the audio on YouTube. If I do, I’ll provide a hyperlink here later.

Back in the year 2000, my wife and I made a return trip to New Orleans. We hadn’t been back to NOLA since our honeymoon in 1995. We stayed at the Bourbon Orleans, and a bellhop had given us some advice on where to visit and which areas to avoid. The dark and dangerous streets of the French Quarter excited my imagination. Then, in our youth, being adventurous, we had drinks at a vampire bar, as part of a tour led by a self-proclaimed “real-life vampire,” living in what is known as vampire reality, who called himself Vlad. In the center of the space, there was a cage large enough to hold a human standing upright.

When we returned home, this experience (along with my song lyrics) coalesced into the story I eventually titled The Hours of Sleep.

After finishing the manuscript, I sent the story out and began collecting rejection slips. One editor said he thought The Hours of Sleep was the most original vampire story he had read in ages, but he didn’t take vampire fiction any longer and wouldn’t be buying it.

I sent it to the now-defunct Dreams of Decadence and got a great rejection letter. The editor thought the story was original and well written but she also passed. I would later study her magazine to discover why it wasn’t such a good fit. I talk more about this in my posts about the story, Despair.

With The Hours of Sleep returned to my virtual trunk on my hard drive, I gave up on the story and moved on.

In 2012, I noticed an open call for You Can’t Kill Me, I’m Not Dead Yet: a Vampire Anthology and tried my luck.

I’ll tell you what happened next time.