StarFleet Carl: Blog

I've sent Chapter 90/30 off for final editing. Then I'll stick my fingers in it one last time, and that'll do it for Book Three. Just to avoid screwing things up, it will (knock on wood) go up for sale on Bookapy on July 1st. I know that's not a Saturday, but the method to my madness is, that starts the new quarter, even if it's on Thursday.

Which is good timing. We should close on the house on the 25th, so that'll begin the gutting and project time. I had several slow weeks in a row, and those have disappeared now. I've a closing this Friday, and four more home buyers lined up, including one who is an investor. As in, looking to buy an apartment complex (or two) type of investor. These take some time to get lined up, but when you're talking a commission check of $26,000 - certainly I'll get out there in the heat and humidity to make that deal go through.

I've been doing my final reads and edits of the rest of the unpublished chapters this week. Chapter 82(22) made me tear up. I was reading it, going to myself, damn, this is some emotional stuff, who's the jackass that wrote this? Oh, yeah, right ... (The Vietnam Memorial scene STILL gets me, and I wrote that more than a year ago!)

I have started - but not gotten very far - on Chapter 091(01) of Book Four. If you wonder why I'm writing the chapter numbers this way, it's because when I started this story, I had no idea it was going to go this far, or grow this large. What really ... I don't know if annoys, or scares, is the right choice ... let's go with bothers me, is how much stuff I'll casually write, and then three weeks later, sometimes even before it's published, see something about EXACTLY what I just wrote show up on the news as something that was discovered or has happened.

Just uploaded Chapter 16 for Saturday. Now that monsoon season seems to have ended, we've immediately gone into baking season, with near 100% humidity and 90+ degree temperatures.

Or as we like to call it, a normal Oklahoma summer.

As for progress, I've got three chapters off for final editing, and halfway through what should be the last chapter of this book. That'll have to be edited and such, so I'm going to shoot for the completed book to hit Bookapy around the end of the month. Obviously, it will NOT be the end of Cal's story.

Well, maybe not so much. Let's just say that Machapuchare and Machu Picchu aren't quite ready to give up their secrets just yet. I'm now writing Chapter 89 - which is number 29 for this book. That means it's almost done, so BE PATIENT! It'll still have to go to the editors, and then I'll do one final run through of everything before I put it up on Bookapy.

Be thankful I didn't end it at Chapter 87. There was actual discussion about that. You'll understand when you read it, but I figured that it would be too dirty of a trick to pull on everyone. I think that you can assume that means it was a cliffhanger. Lord, would it have been a cliffhanger. If I had done that - you'd all hate me. Seriously. All three of my editors agree that the ending of Chapter 87 is probably going to be incredibly controversial for those who wait to read it here.

I'm chuckling with evil anticipation, actually. Not just because I'm foreshadowing something you're not going to see on here for three more months! Well, actually, yeah, pretty much, just that. MUUAHAHAHA! Also, for those of you who have complained that I haven't had any explicit sex in this book yet ... Chapter 88 does.

When Chapter 90 is done, I'm taking a slight break. Hopefully not of a leg. I need to finish getting the rest of Book One as cleaned up, so I can see if it's worth anything. I have a story in Mushroom's 'Night of Madness' universe that I need to finish. I'm also working on buying a house myself, and we all know how much fun moving is. That means Book Four - and there'll HAVE to be a Book Four - probably won't start gracing these pages until maybe Thanksgiving. So, end the fighting, destroy the bad drugs, and live in peace!

Don't freak out today (Wednesday) - that's just the Cast of Characters updating a bit. Saturday will be when Chapter 14 posts, and it's being uploaded today as well.

I think an email response I got from previous blogs is right. Cal is a 16 year old boy, acting LIKE a 16 year old boy. Sometimes he's all grown up, and sometimes he's just a dork. How can he 'come of age' if he's acting like he's got the life experiences of a 50 (59, in my case) year old man behind him all the time? Also, Jennifer isn't necessarily the greatest judge of character as an adult - she was married to a child molester for HOW long? Only staying with him because of her own guilt due to cheating and her church.

I had hoped to have Book 3 done by Memorial Day. I'm going to miss that deadline. I have a closing on Friday, and then this weekend we're spending time with family. Of the six of us in this generation, four of us are prior service and one of us is still in the military. I know - which a lot of people don't - that this holiday isn't for us, the living, but to remember those who have served our country and are now gone.

One grandfather a US Marine in WWI. Three uncles - one a US Marine (including Iwo Jima), one in the US Navy (North Atlantic convoy duty), one in the US Army Air Corps (P-38 crew chief in South Pacific), in WWII. My wife's father, USAF. My flag flies for you, and the rest of your brothers and sisters in arms that gave their lives for our freedoms.

Those of you reading this who are also authors know that sometimes the Muse beats on the inside of your head until you finally say, "Fine, here!", and then allow what she's pushing at you spew forth from your fingers to the keyboard.

Three hours and 4,000 words later, I sent it off for checking. It needs rewriting. That was obvious to me before I even sent it out. It's a story set in Mushroom's 'Night of Madness' universe, and it's dark. Not the universe - the story. I'm four chapters away from finishing up Book Three of 'A True History'. Thank God for buffers.

I did some thinking about the recent criticism that people have been posting in my comments and in emails. I decided that since I'm not writing this to satisfy you - I'm writing this to satisfy myself, and you're the lucky recipients of my willingness to SHARE this with you, that quite frankly, I don't care what you think. I'm going to keep writing this, what I want to write, and posting it here. If you choose not to read it, that's on you. I do know one thing.

You click on the link to the Clitorides Awards, and then on the 2020 Winners, and the very first book that shows up is 'A True History - Book One', as the Epic Erotic Story of the Year 2020.

"Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand,
I don't care cause I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me."
- Sonny Rhodes