One year after “The Wilderlands,” I want to look at the book I wrote a year ago, reflecting on having gotten it out and how I am feeling about it 365 days after the fact.

Do you want to write a book in just 30 days?

On paper, it’s a very appealing and doable notion—right up until it comes time to put things on paper. Let’s break down exactly what it entails.

Following the end of NaNoWriMo, I wanted to mention a few of the alternative organizations/events I’ve heard of with writing events next month. Bare in mind I haven’t used most of these and don’t necessarily endorse them. These are just names that have come up when I looked into what’s happening outside of NaNoWriMo this year, and a little bit about them.

For those who are relatively unfamiliar with M.R. Carey (as I was) he is likely most known for his novel, The Girl with All the Gifts which released in 2013 and got a 2016 film adaptation. He’s a British author who also publishes comics and other novels under the name Mike Carey.

I want to talk about something that probably should have been the first in this series: How to come up with the idea for a novel?

Here’s the four pieces of advice to follow before you begin writing a word of your novel.

If you haven’t read The Wilderlands, hopefully this music can help you determine if some of the themes and ideas in it will mesh with you. If you have read The Wilderlands, hopefully you find a couple of new songs to enjoy!

I ran two giveaways for my epic fantasy novel The Wilderlands which published in fall of 2024 and had an audiobook released this past summer.

I did this in hopes of getting my book in the hands of some more readers and, hopefully, generating a little bit more word of mouth interest in the book.

Here’s how that went.

I recently saw two movies and two T.V. shows that have all made me want to talk about why I love genre fiction and why I tend to be attracted to it more than realistic fiction, biographic writing, non-fiction, and most other genres.

If you’re reading this, then the audiobook release of The Wilderlands is available now via most major audiobook distributors.

I’m giving away 10 physical copies and 20 e-book copies of my book, “The Wilderlands” away on Goodreads and Storygraph over the next few weeks.

Something to know about me is that, in the back half of my high school career, I ended up on a stand-up comedy kick. So much so that I actually won the talent show my senior year with a stand-up act.

Josh Johnson represents the most interested I’ve been in stand-up since then.

It’s the last weekend of April which means it is once again Indie Bookstore Day! In light of that, I wanted to encourage you to look for indie authors if you find yourself out and about this weekend.

Everyone told me that I shouldn’t do it and I didn’t listen.

It looks like Mark Zuckerberg stole my books.

According to a recent report from The Atlantic — ‘The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem’ by Alex Reisner — about 7.5 million books have been stolen by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, owned by Mark Zuckerberg.

Near the start of the year I spoke to a class about writing and self-publishing. After the class was letting out, one of the students came up to me and asked something I’d never asked or considered asking. To paraphrase, the question was: “Has any criticism you’ve gotten influenced what you put in your book?”

t’s the end of 2024 and, as tends to happen at the end of every year, I’m left reflecting on and considering the future and the question of “What comes next?”

Despite a rather rough November in many regards, this year has managed to be a modestly good year for me personally. Principle among the things I have been thankful for is the support I’ve gotten from friends and family for The Wilderlands as well as the long lasting help of the people who helped make it.

Now that the book is out, I have a little bit more time to talk about what goes into self-publishing.

Here, I want to jump a little bit into the specific financial costs.

Today is Oct. 29 and you can, at long last, check out my newest book, a lyrically written grimdark fantasy novel titled The Wilderlands!

The Wilderlands, isn’t my first book, but it’s the first book I’m trying to go all-out with from the jump. I’m putting the ebook up at the same time as I’m launching a print version with an audiobook planned to come quickly on the heels of the physical/ebook release date of Oct. 29, 2024.