Alured de Valer: Blog

Chapter 33 of Best Summer Ever. Morgan is full of plans, Gary is put to work, Arlene extracts her payment. What's not to like?

The story blew past 140K downloads overnight and is already nearing 141K. The score finally ticked up to 7.80 after flirting with that mark for nearly a week. And I've passed 350 followers.

I was able to get Chapter 49 in the can last night despite real-world events taking up a chunk of the day. And I'm up to nine patrons on my Patreon account! It's almost to the point of paying for my Internet service.

Chapter 32 of Best Summer Ever has been posted. This one features a whole lot of Arlene. She brings big news on the legal front, jumps in on a business opportunity, makes up for lost time with Gary and makes a generous offer. She has a lot on her plate.

The story has now passed 135K downloads. The score hit another new high and, for the moment, is holding. And I've hit 350 followers. A good way to start the week.

I'm almost done with Chapter 48 and things are just falling into place. I eagerly await the chance to get things posted here. Enjoy your reading.

Chapter 31 of Best Summer Ever has been posted. Gary muddles through the rest of Sunday, helps Kacie in her hour of need and is in on the start of two new enterprises as Monday gets under way.

The story keeps chugging along, passing 129K downloads overnight. The score has reached a new high and I'd almost swear it was a tick higher last night. It looks like I've gained 10 new followers and now am almost at 350.

Another productive day saw me get Chapter 47 in the can and 48 well under way. I finally hit another one of those major story points I had outlined.

The coming week has some major personal business looming, but I have enough of the story in hand that posting should not be affected as long as all the machinery continues to function.

Thanks for reading! It's such a kick to see my little story holding its own around here.

Chapter 30 of Best Summer Ever has been posted and seems to already be drawing a response. The cheerleaders return and trouble follows. Arlene saves the day again. Kacie and Gary are both feeling under the weather. Maybe a foot rub will help.

This one just kind of forced its way into the story. As much as I like keeping things light and happy, life isn't always that way. Sometimes, shit just happens. Maybe some good will come of it.

Things keep going well. The story is nearing 125K downloads, the score lost and regained a point, there are even more followers and I got two chapters written yesterday. I'm finally getting around to some more of the story points of my original outline. I am now 15 chapters ahead, which makes me feel pretty good. I hope the readers will like them when they hit the site.

Novelist Larry McMurtry died Thursday from heart failure at the age of 84.

McMurtry and Dan Jenkins are probably my two biggest influences as a writer. I discovered both about the time of my senior year of high school/first freshman year of college (McMurtry's All My Friends Are Going to be Strangers, Jenkins' Baja Oklahoma) long before I ever thought of writing or journalism as a career. Both were from Texas and wrote of Texas things. Both are now gone, just two years apart.

As much success as McMurtry had with screen adaptations of his work, I found myself drawn to those that never made it to Hollywood. Somebody's Darling and Some Can Whistle were particular favorites.

McMurtry seemed to have a knack for making a melancholy tale grab hold of a reader and not let go. The Last Picture Show and its numerous sequels captured that perfectly.

From Horseman, Pass By in 1961 to The Last Kind Words Saloon in 2014, I don't know that he ever published a bad book.