aroslav: Blog

My sincere wishes that you all have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023, and that you are blessed with peace of mind.

I feel a little obligated to review the past year, which was definitely not as stressful as the one previous. I hope you found it an improvement.

According to the stats page, I concluded six new stories on SOL in the past year. They were all pretty hefty in size. (And are all eligible for nomination for Clitorides Awards!) I also started posting Full Frame and that will conclude in four weeks. Not to worry; Shutter Speed is edited and ready to begin posting on or about Groundhogs' Day.

I love stats, and I update mine daily. According to the big spreadsheet on my computer, I wrote 1,390,020 words in 2022. I think some of them were pretty good. Well over half a million of those have yet to be posted on SOL or released as eBooks! There are definitely some good things in the air for 2023.

Here are some of the highlights of what to look for in 2023 from the pens of aroslav and Wayzgoose.
1. Shutter Speed (Book two in the Photo Finish trilogy) February 2, 2023
2. Exposure (Book three in the Photo Finish trilogy) April 16, 2023
3. F/Stop (Book four in the Photo Finish trilogy) July 30, 2023
4. Over Exposure (Book five in the Photo Finish trilogy) October 15, 2023
5. Steven George and the Terror (sequel to Steven George and The Dragon) by Wayzgoose, mid-February, 2023
6. In a Few Words, a compilation of Devon Layne short stories to be released as a single volume. mid-April, 2023
7. A new work in progress by Wayzgoose based on the short story, "The Burgundy Chamber." Late 2023 or early 2024
8. Follow Focus (Book six in the Photo Finish trilogy) January 2024
9. The continued release of short stories and essays in To Make a Long Story Short compilation by Wayzgoose.

I am keeping my fingers busy, which I'm told keeps them out of the devil's playground. Must make more time for play in 2023!

I have discovered that there are readers out there (surely not you!) whose political, religious, or sexual preferences are so fragile that they cannot bear to read about a fictional character who disagrees with them. Therefore, I have devised this warning for all my stories:

Stories and novels by aroslav (Devon Layne) or Wayzgoose (Nathan Everett) may contain explicit sexual content, and may be contrary to your religious, political, or world view. That's life.

I encourage you to seek out those stories among the thousands on SOL that do not offend you.

Well, if I don't quit writing on this blog, I'll never get the next chapter I'm working on written. Have a Happy Nude Year!
aroslav

I hope that as the sun begins its journey toward summer in the northern hemisphere that it brings with it abundance and good tidings for all. And as it journeys away from my friends in the south, may the seeds you have planted ripen and may you harvest an abundant crop.

Here, the champagne has been opened, the house is clean, the potatoes are in the oven, and the guests are soon to arrive. Our solstice celebration is about to begin.

Here's to the lengthening of days!
aroslav

Well, a topic like that could include dozens of things, but a couple come to mind right away. When I was writing Living Next Door to Heaven 1, I had to come up with a sequence of television shows in which Brian has a different recipe for demonstration with one of his girlfriends for each show. That continued into LNDtH2, but was further complicated by needing comedy monologues that would be given by a 22-23-year-old woman (Elaine) and actually sound funny. What an oddball task.

Of course in Full Frame, I've had to sink into more than I ever thought I wanted to know about photography, but that's the main theme of the story, really. In book three of the "Photo Finish Trilogy," Exposure, I had to return to developing a standup comedy routine for one of the female characters. If it's any indication of whether or not I succeeded, my ex-wife read them and asked why I wasn't writing for comedians because they were great. Whoopee!

Writing book four of the trilogy--which might actually turn out to be books four and five at the rate I'm churning out words--I've had a whole new challenge. I've had to storyboard an entire Hollywood movie plot! And, I think it hasn't turned out too badly for a 1971 murder mystery movie. I can well imagine that we'd be watching it as a classic today if it had been made then. It hurts my head to think of that as fifty years ago!

The movie is germane to the plot of the story and had to have certain elements that would be brought up as evidence of Nate's culpability in a political campaign started by his nemesis, who keeps rearing his ugly head throughout the series. Maybe I didn't actually need the entire storyboard, but it drove me crazy that I needed these particular plot elements but didn't actually know how the story all held together. Now I know it. In fact, I might develop the movie script into another complete story once I have the "Photo Finish Trilogy" complete.

By the way, three books of the trilogy are complete and through the last round of edits, but waiting for me to finish a final review before I'm ready to release book two, Shutter Speed, the first of February. I've written nearly two-thirds of book four, F/Stop, which might be divided into two books because I just can't seem to stop writing. And I know there is another book that follows this one, so perhaps I'll have...

Do we call a series of six a "sexology?"

That seems appropriate.

I've often received messages from readers in Australia and enjoy hearing from you. This time, I'm asking for some pointers and guidance.

In book four of the Photo Finish trilogy (or maybe it will be book five--not sure yet), my hero, Nate Hart will be visiting Australia for a two week intensive course at RMIT in Melbourne. (Photography) This is in January 6-20, 1971.

Can you offer suggestions of key things Nate should do, see, or experience during his two weeks in Oz? Let me know what your ideas are.

Thanks!
aroslav

I expected dancers in mini skirts and go-go boots on the counters, but alas I think I'm just getting breakfast (with no illegal drugs). We'll see how they handle their corned beef hash here. The Hash House is a Las Vegas chain that is only open for breakfast and lunch (until 2:00). Part of my quest to find more breakfast places while I'm living down here in Las Vegas. There's a 45-minute wait if you want a table (at 11:00 a.m.), but I got seated at the bar right away.

It's tempting to have a bloody mary while waiting. They say it will still be 35 minutes until the food comes up. So, what better to do on a Sunday morning than to communicate with my friends at SOL.

You might detect that I'm in a good mood. I am. I have managed 34 straight days of writing an average of 5,000 words a day on book four in the Photo Finish Trilogy. I already know there will be a fifth book and I'm waiting to decide if there will be six. If I make it to that, maybe I'll retitle it the Photo Finish Sexology. That sounds appropriate.

My patrons, by the way, are reading the story as fast as I write it, with raw content posts each day. Of course, that isn't the story anyone else will read. This one will go through a pretty extensive rewrite before my editors even see it. So, my NaNoWriMo challenge for November ended up being 152,000. Four days later, it's 172,000. If it goes over 300k, I'll split it. There's the sixth book!

I'm also working on that other guy's next story. Wayzgoose will have the sequel to Steven George and The Dragon out sometime in January if the rewrite continues to go well. I expect to start sending it to my editors this week!

-BTW, the CBH at Hash House is specacular and arrived in about ten minutes instead of the expected half hour plus!-

I'll be headed up to Seattle in a couple of weeks for the holiday season. it's really wonderful to have passed the family Solstice tradition on and have my daughter hosting this year.

In other miscellaneous news, of the ten women's basketball teams I'm following in Iowa, only one is still undefeated. The one I modeled the Salter Crusaders after is in the midst of a losing season so far. However, the school where my favorite high school player went (the one whose record I modeled Natalie after) is still undefeated and she's getting some good playing time in. Only problem is that this is an NAIA school and not a Div III school, so I'll never see her play against any of the other schools I follow!

Well, that's the news from Lake Woebegone South. Have a great week!