aroslav: Blog

Well, we all survived the terror--I mean error--in the post of Team Manager CHAMP! this week that declared it 'Final.' Thanks to a quick fix by Lazeez, it was changed to 'To be continued' within an hour after I found out about it, but not before a flood of email and comments came in demanding to know what gives. We all survived and Chapter 30 posted this morning. There are still seven chapters to come.

Which leaves me the rest of the month to get everything ready for the launch of my new project on October 2. I've sent a dozen advance review copies of the first "Photo Finish" book, Full Frame, out and the first five-star review appeared on B&N's presale site this morning. I'm pretty stoked. The eBook will be available when the story launches on SOL on October 2 at all major booksellers, including Bookapy. The first chapters of Full Frame have been uploaded and queued for release. It will pre-release to my patrons on September 25.

But I'm busy working on the sequels. What a time! I decided book 2 in the series, Shutter Speed, had gotten too long. So, I cut it in half and made two books out of it with book 3 being called Exposure. Of course, you can't really just cut a book in half. I had to rewrite the new ending and then completely revamp the first five chapters of the second half, so it was really a new book and not just the second half of the old one.

I've written three more chapters of Exposure this week and expect there will be three to five more yet before I wrap that one up and start on book 4, f/stop. I'm pretty sure there will be a book 5 before I'm finished with this story arc.

I'll get to Mesquite, Nevada tomorrow, and expect to be in Las Vegas for the winter starting Thursday. Except I'm not going to just sit around Las Vegas in 95-degree heat for the next month. I'll fly up to the Seattle area on September 22 for about a month, but that time will include a flying weekend to Indianapolis for my 50-year Greyhound class reunion at UIndy.

It will be homecoming weekend, and I am reminded that I met my first wife while working on the freshman homecoming float in 1968. Good times!

As soon as I have a few minutes to spare, I have a couple more new story ideas. I just need to finish this one first.

I've been on the road as a full-time RVer since August of 2013. I enjoy meeting people and taking my time to see the country. I also like the leisurely pace that gives me lots of time to write.

There is a 2-2-2 rule among seasoned full-timers. We are those who don't have a destination; we are simply here for the journey. I try not to travel more than 200 miles in a day, try to arrive at my evening stopover by 2:00 in the afternoon, and usually stay at least 2 days. 2-2-2.

That leisurely pace is not reflected in my writing most of the time. I've written four and a half books this year so far and a few partial drafts and short stories. And these are not short works. According to my daily stats, I've written over 900,000 words so far in 2022.

So, imagine my shock to find that I've slowed my pace. Until the first of August, I averaged 4,000 words a day! Now my pace has fallen to only 3,750 words per day for the year. Oh dear! What shall I do?

Nothing, really. I'm continuing to write and am still just as enthused about the stories I'm working on. The pace might pick up again when I camp for a full week over Labor Day. But I'm not really concerned.

The reason for the slowdown is that I've been preparing my next big release and taking several precautions to make it right before it's released. I'm not saying that no one will pick out flaws or mistakes in it when it's released, but few of my Devon Layne books have gone through such a rigorous editing cycle as Full Frame. And this week I prepared the Advance Review Copy eBook. The review copies are now ready to ship.

I could use some more reviewers who are ready to step up and have a review set to post when the story officially releases on October 2. The first couple of chapters will post here on SOL that day, and the eBook will be available on Bookapy and other platforms. Full Frame will pre-release to my patrons on September 25.

If you are a reviewer and would like to get a jump start on this very long book, give me a holler.

In the meantime, I'll be returning to writing the sequel, Shutter Speed, which is already nearly as long as Full Frame and will likely be longer!

I made my end turn in Columbus, OH Tuesday and headed back across the heartland. I don't move very rapidly when I'm traveling, so I don't expect to make it back to Las Vegas until mid-September. (2200 miles) Tonight and tomorrow, I'm camped about fifty miles east of Columbia, MO and then I'll spend three days in Lee Summit so I can get a reservation at Jess and Jim's for a porterhouse steak this week. Yum!

Bob's Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon, Volume 3 is posting and has been released on Bookapy. That one will finish up on SOL in mid-October. Team Manager CHAMP! and the entire Team Manager series will finish up October 2. Thirteen more chapters in that series is all she wrote.

But do not despair. The final edits of Full Frame have been received from the editors and I'm in the process of reading one more time for errors and corrections. And to code and format for posting and eBook release. I'm making sure names are correct, descriptions are consistent, distances and times are realistic, and that camera and film designations actually existed and were a reasonable choice for my young photographer to have in his arsenal. I expect to release the book and start posting it on SOL on October 2.

I am also preparing an advance review eBook copy for established reviewers who would like to review this when it comes out. There are a limited number or these, but if you would like to review the new book, send me a message. Don't bother if this subject matter doesn't appeal to you:

Nate Hart, class of 1968, has just been uprooted from his lifelong home in Chicago by his mother’s new career: Methodist minister. Moving to a small town in northwestern Illinois just before his junior year in high school, is going to mean starting over in life. But Nate’s passion for photography will lead him to other passions as he becomes his new school’s official photographer. It seems the girls in his school think it’s okay to expose themselves more than current standards would allow, because he’s just the photographer. No one else will see them, right? What Nate sees in the full frame of his photographs, however, will change the town.

This book contains explicit sexuality as experienced by and related by a teenage male in the 1960s. Things do not always have the same delicate handling that they do today. "Explicit sexuality" does not mean there is fucking in every chapter. It will take quite a while before young Nate manages to maneuver his girlfriend into bed. Or vice versa. It is a long book, intended both for eBook and serialization on SOL (260,000 words). If you'd like to review Full Frame, send me a link to one of your reviews to be considered.

At the same time that I'm preparing Full Frame for release on SOL on October 2, I'm 230,000 words into writing the sequel, Shutter Speed, which will be even longer. It covers a bit more time for the story arc and will be followed by a third volume, f/stop, as soon as I can start writing it.

So, obviously, the reason I don't travel very fast when I'm out crawling across the country is because I have to stop a couple of days and write after each little drive. Very talkative characters!

Hope your summer is going well (or winter down-under).

I'm currently in Columbus Ohio, getting ready to retreat to the west on Tuesday toward Las Vegas. It will take me close to a month to get there, so don't assume I'll be there next week. Probably someplace in Missouri.

I've just uploaded the first chapter of Bob's Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon, Volume 3, so it will post automatically three days after the last chapter of Volume 2 posts on Tuesday. With luck, I'll have the eBook ready to go by then, too.

I spent a day in Chicago this week, exploring some of the places where my book Shutter Speed will be set. Shutter Speed is the second in the "Photo Finish" series that will begin with Full Frame the first of October.

When I was preparing for the book, I needed to have the hero get advice and help from a camera store in Chicago. I remembered a camera store that had been in business on Wabash since 1899 and decided it was a huge old store and would be perfect for the hero's contact. So, I decided to visit it again this week.

On May 30, 2020, Central Camera was burned in the riots following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. While he watched fire fighters as the store burned, owner Don Flesch didn't cast recriminations against the rioters, but said, “I’m angered about what started it.” In the midst of vowing that he would rebuild better than ever, he also offered this advice:

We also encourage you to learn about and support organizations working for justice and accountability:
George Floyd Memorial Fund
Chicago Community Bond Fund
Know Your Rights Camp
The Bail Project
The National Bail Fund Network
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Communities United Against Police Brutality
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Black Visions Collective
Reclaim The Block
Sincere thanks to everyone who has contacted us with well-wishes and encouragement. We’ll be posting updates about progress with re-opening our business. Look forward to seeing you again soon!

I visited the store on Monday this week, open now during limited hours and not quite as expansive as it was, but continuing to push the space and fill it. The people were friendly and happy to talk with me. I saw the exact model Nikon F camera that my main character uses in 1968 sitting on a counter. Same Nikkor lens. The paper and chemicals have been refilled. Film is available. The store was bustling.

It is exactly the kind of place I imagined my hero encountering in his move to Chicago in 1968. I am glad to have chosen that store as the model for my fictional store in Full Frame and Shutter Speed.

More adventures forthcoming, I'm sure!

As part of my research trip, I have camped all this week in Northern Illinois. Tonight finds me at Illinois Beach State Park, north of Chicago. I've had a great time exploring the region that my next epic series, Photo Finish, will be based on.

Photo Finish is the series name. The three books I have planned for it are Full Frame, Shutter Speed, and F/stop. The first is finished and edited, but I'll do one more read-through now that I've visited the area. I'm over halfway through drafting the second. I expect to start writing the third in September. I'm loving the way this is coming together.

Let me say for the record that I LOVE librarians! I met two in a one-room library in Elizabeth, IL who listened to what I was writing about and set to work finding me a resource. I spent a couple of hours with an old-timer (like me) who told me stories of what it was like in the area in the 60s. A wonderful way to spend an afternoon. I drove all over the area taking pictures and making notes about the atmosphere.

I also spent a day in Dubuque, IA. There is a scene in Full Frame in which the hero takes his date to a Simon and Garfunkel concert at Loras College. (Actual fact. The duo played there in April 1967.) I wanted to check the place out. Wonderful! And such friendly and helpful people--both students and staff. Beautiful campus.

I just happened to poke my head in the gymnasium and take a few pictures so I'll be able to orient myself when I start watching basketball this fall.

You see, while researching basketball in Iowa for the Team Manager series, I accidentally became a fan of the American Rivers Conference Women's Basketball. That's the Div III conference in this area.

I've visited three of the campuses and gyms on this trip--Simpson College, Loras College, and University of Dubuque. Each visit has included poking my head in the field house. Simpson is being renovated this summer with new environmental systems. It will be beautiful. Loras and University of Dubuque are also beautiful facilities and now I know right where the camera is situated during the games.

My campsite here at Illinois Beach is beautiful, but is undoubtedly the most mosquito infested camp I've had all summer! That could be partially a result of the torrential rains that pelted this area last night from about midnight until one o'clock this afternoon. For the record, OFF tastes terrible, even if you don't get it near your face.

I will be doing a little investigating of the Chicago Loop tomorrow as much of the next series takes place there, as well. Then Tuesday, I'll move on to Indiana. Yes, the sacrifices I make to write entertaining stories for my fans at SOL! I'll be camped right near where Brian and the Clan of the Heart came from in LNDtH.

I guess that's the update for today. Carry on.