Isn’t it funny how time flies? It doesn’t seem like ten years since I published my first book, but I recently passed that milestone. September 1, 2013, was when I published Acting on Faith, my first novel. I’ve come a long way since then, now with more than 50 books published. That journey, and the one in which I am still engaged, has taken my life in a different direction from anything I might have expected. This past summer, I knew…
I’ve seen lots of movies about AI run amuck. The Terminator was an early one, and those movies were good for about the first three, then there was The Matrix, where the first was good while the rest (haven’t seen the fourth) were pretty much abominations. I tend to like dystopian, disaster, thriller movies, as they tell stories about the human spirit and people rising to the challenge, even if the scripts are not often the best and some of…
In this episode of Funny Friday, I thought I’d talk about funny as in “weird” rather than funny as in haha. I’ve often spoken about the different parts of the writing process and how I do in the various parts. I do pretty well in outlining, but it’s fairly hot and cold. If I get an idea, I can run with it, but it will sometimes take me a while to get into outlining a story. Editing, proofing, grammar checking…
I have been working on a novel since April, and I can finally see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. “If Not For the Entail” is my best composition yet, if you believe those who have read it through to the end. The plot revolves around Elizabeth Bennet’s efforts to save the family estate from a fraudulent ownership claim. I sent the manuscript to the editor today, and I plan on publishing somewhere around the third week…
It’s that time of year when my wife and daughter leave to visit her mother for the summer. Of course, I’m not exactly on my own, as older sons are both still at home. They don’t go anymore, as they both are old enough to have responsibilities now. One might think that with the lack of distractions I get lots done in the summer. While that usually is the case, it takes me a little while to get used to…
Writing is not an easy business. As with anything, it takes practice and dedication to improving one’s skill, and while I can not speak for other authors, I am always finding something new I’m doing wrong, things that I can do better, or habits in my writing that I try to avoid. Creative writing can be a completely different beast altogether. While a certain measure of research goes into any writing, much of creative writing comes from within. One thing…
I began my writing career, such as it is, in 2017. My brother, Jann Rowland, was doing well as an author, so why couldn’t I? How hard could it be? I had always been an avid reader, so why not treat the world to my unique humor and sarcastic wit? I won’t describe the rude awakening I had upon publishing my first literary masterpiece, but the reviews were unflattering, to put it mildly. Almost every part of my storytelling was…
I have been a self publisher my entire writing career. It started with my first release back in 2013, and snowballed from there, with a few releases here and there, what I could fit around my day job, until finally I decided to leave that job and become a full time writer. Only once did I submit to a publisher, and that was not accepted. The only things I have ever done that were not self published were audiobooks, which…
Though my brother spoke of the coming of spring, I have not seen anything of it yet. We are still cold and we are getting enough snow to bury us until June, as this photo from my front window will attest. As I spoke at some length about this in my last post, I will not bore you any further. But you can likely tell by my choice of image that I am eager to leave the winter behind and…
Anyone who knows me well understands that I do not like winter. When I lived in Japan, people would not understand when I told them, given they knew I was from Canada. Being from Canada is exactly what has made me so contemptuous of the colder months. There are some definite benefits to living in a colder climate, such as fewer venomous creatures, less extreme storms and the like, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Thus, you will…