This is more nerve-racking than waiting for Christmas when I was seven! Thursday this week is November 1 and I can hardly wait! First, and of greatest interest to my readers on SOL, I'll at long last be writing the much requested do-over, Double-Take. Here's the blurb:
80-yo Jacob Hopkins had a good life; it was just too short. Who wouldn't jump at the chance to do it all again? But when Jacob is swapped into his 14-yo body, it's in a different reality. First, he has to recover from having just tried to kill himself. Then he has to deal with all the things he discovers are just a little different in this reality. Experience will help, but his memory is history.
Yes, I'm taking another new twist to the do-over, but I think it is one you will truly enjoy. Join me as Jacob discovers that he has no idea how to act like a 14-year-old and that it is experience, not foreknowledge, that will change his life.
Well, I'm writing the story in November, and if experience is any indication, also in December and maybe January. This is likely to be a very long tale. That means it won't post here until at least January or maybe February. But you can get an advance look. My Sausage Grinder Patrons ($10) at patreon.com/aroslav get to read along as I write the story. There will be blemishes as this will be available before my editors even get a crack at it. I know you hate misspellings, homonyms, and consistency errors. So do I, and that's why we take so much time editing and rewriting my stories. But sometimes you just can't wait.
As a special bonus for Sausage Grinders, they'll also get a first look at Wayzgoose's Wild Woods, the sequel to his popular City Limits. All Devon Layne/aroslav patrons receive equal access to Wayzgoose/Nathan Everett stories. The same is not true of Wayzgoose/Nathan Everett, patrons. That site does not give access to erotica or adult content.
Let's talk philosophy. Yes, I'm hoping a lot of people will join me by October 31. Ten of you could change the amount of coffee I drink each month as well as buy a tank or two of gas. But there is something more important than that.
I am committed to making all my books available online for free. Currently, I have thirty-six stories completed or in progress here on SOL. I have more stories that will make it here soon. The current serials will all complete by the first of the year and there will be a new experience starting soon thereafter. In addition to StoriesOnline, I make my stories available for online reading on my websites at www.devonlayne.com and www.nathaneverett.com. Keeping material available for free is very important to me.
I know-and I hear from-many readers who simply can't afford to buy the reading material they want. Squeezing out five dollars to buy one of my books could make a huge impact on their monthly budgets. I'm on a fixed income myself and I know the choices I make when it comes to paying for content.
What I'm really asking is for those of you who could to help me keep my writing free. Here's a sample of what that's meant this year. So far this year, I've written 643,000 words of new content. That includes City Limits, Drawing on the Dark Side of the Brain, and Living Next Door to Heaven 3: What Were They Thinking? It also includes close to 70,000 words I've already put down on Double-Take. By 31 December, I will have completed three aroslav stories and three Wayzgoose stories here at SOL.
Reviewer bill9900 said in his recent review of What Were They Thinking?, "Aroslav is one of the most proficient and prolific writers here; his talent is immense, and I cannot see how he can produce quality writing in such prolific amounts when he is limited to 24 hours in a day, like I am." Well, I have a split personality, Bill. Aroslav writes all day and Wayzgoose writes all night.
If you choose to support my writing on Patreon, be sure to choose the reward tier that matches your contribution. Patreon has begun limiting distribution of emails by tier and you would miss announcements of new material if you didn't choose the tier as well as the dollar amount.
Quick update on matters mundane. I am just about to leave Ely, Nevada headed south on the Great Basin Highway. It will take two days to reach Las Vegas and three more to reach Quartzsite, Arizona where I'll be spending the winter.
It has been a harrowing trip so far with mechanical problems on the truck (now thankfully tracked down and repaired) and a minor accident that could have been a catastrophe. A truck decided to pass me on the left as I was making a left turn. Fortunately, the only damage done to my vehicle was to remove my driver's side mirror. Presumably, his insurance is going to pay for the replacement, but my trip south has been much longer than I anticipated.
Nonetheless, you can join me by way of my travel blog and see the pictures at www.firstexit0.blogspot.com. I'll put up a new post this evening after I reach my stopover in the Great Basin.
Thanks to all of you for your continuing support and the many comments and emails I receive about my stories!