The world has gone mad. The living are gone, replaced by the mindless undead. The good news: a cure has been found. The bad news: whatever has animated the mindless undead is failing, and what’s left cannot be saved. All that stands between ext

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War is HERE!

Jun 2nd, 2017

Finally. After months of work and more than a little stress (yeah, I care too much), Scouts of the Apocalyse: Zombie War is now available for purchase. The print copy is available on Amazon (it hasn’t flowed through to other distributors yet) a

Good News Everyone!

May 30th, 2017

Today is a red letter day. It was just announced that Mik Murdoch: Crisis of Conscience has made the Prix Aurora Award Ballot for 2017. Read about that here. This is my second time on the ballot (first appeared with Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero)

Just Joshing Podcast episode 98: Michell Plested

May 23rd, 2017

I was interviewed a couple weeks ago by Joshua Pantalleresco. You can listen to that interview here.

Line Edits Complete – Scouts2 in Layout

May 17th, 2017

We’re almost there. That single statement fills me with both joy and dread. Joy that I will be sharing a book that I think readers will enjoy/Dread at the possibility readers might not enjoy it. I think that Joy/Dread cycle probably exists for

The Costs of Publishing (as an indie writer)

May 9th, 2017

There are many costs in producing a book whether you are a big press or a self-publishing independent. Some of them are obvious and some much less so, especially if you don’t live in the United States. For example, to produce a professional-qua

Almost there

May 5th, 2017

I received my final line edits last night for Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. This is very good news indeed. It means, the book is almost finished and ready for publication. Only a few steps are left: final edit of the story, layout of th

The Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War Cover Has Been Revealed!

Apr 21st, 2017

I’m not sure why it is, but the book cover always makes me realize a book is almost complete. To that end, it was with great excitement that I received the cover for Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. It is very different than the cover for

One More Touch-up

Apr 20th, 2017

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War is so close to being done, I can almost taste it. I have one little scene to work on and it is off for final line edits. I also know my my excellent cover artist is working on another amazing cover. He is cr

Change is in the Air

Mar 29th, 2017

I received a renewal notice from my hosting company about three weeks ago. They want to boost the cost of this website by about double what I currently pay. And, what I currently pay is more than double what I paid when I first signed up. When

Six Tips to Writing Consistently and Productively

Mar 14th, 2017

I have several “tricks” that allow me to write consistently and productively. They come from self-observing what hasn’t worked for me. Maybe some of these things will help you out too. Remove distractions – there are several things that pull me

Achievement Unlocked

Feb 28th, 2017

Yesterday, I finished my first full-pass edits for Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. That puts the book one step closer to its planned June release. Finishing a book in the first place is a big deal. Getting it ready for publication is too,

The Best Laid Plans

Feb 21st, 2017

I have lots of things I want to do. For example, I want to redesign this web page to make it more Young Adult friendly. I want to create a complete set of class materials for my books to make them more accessible to teachers. I want…well, let’s

When the Words Flow

Feb 6th, 2017

Have you ever had an experience where the words almost seemed to write themselves? Perhaps you didn’t realize it at the time and only saw it much later when you reread your stuff. A good indication is when you read it and say to yourself, “Gee,

You are all important to me

Feb 3rd, 2017

Writing is a solitary venture and I often lose sight of the fact that without you, my friends and fans, this life would be a hollow endeavour. Kind of a melancholy way to begin a post, wouldn’t you say? It’s not meant to be. Not at all. In fact

Reviews are Worth More than Sales

Jan 20th, 2017

I came to the realization last week that at this point in my writing career I would much rather have reviews than sales. I know that sounds odd, but there’s a very good reason I say that. The more reviews a books has (specifically on Amazon) th

Houston, We Have Revisions

Jan 19th, 2017

Last week I received the revisions from my lovely editor for Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. Ordinarily, I’m am of mixed feelings about revisions. On the one hand, revisions let me make my story better; I’m able to add some of the nuances

Scouts of the Apocalypse 2 – I have edits

Jan 13th, 2017

At this very moment I am trying my very best not to pull up my editor’s document and get to work on revising Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. If I succumb to the temptation, I won’t be much good for anything else for several days. This is

GalaxyBillies 2 Has Begun

Dec 31st, 2016

I made some promises to my Wattpad readers earlier this year. That promise was to start writing and releasing GalaxyBillies 2 in Wattpad. I had hoped to have chapters available in the early Fall but that didn’t work out. Too many other things w

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War is out to Alpha Readers

Dec 20th, 2016

I set a goal for myself to complete Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War before Christmas. Then I hit a great writing pattern and it looked like it would be done a bit before that. I reset my goal to finish by December 18th. I managed to finish

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War is almost done in Draft

Dec 9th, 2016

I’ve known there would be a sequel to Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie Plague since before I ever wrote the book. I’ve even had the broad, overarching story plotted for a long time. It was getting to the actual writing that proved problematic.

I Should Practice What I Preach

Nov 21st, 2016

I have long believed that the best way to get better as a writer is to write (reading is important too, but writing is where the rubber meets the road). I have also said many times, you can’t edit anything that hasn’t been written down. I haven

What NaNoWriMo Means to Me as a Professional Writer

Nov 2nd, 2016

When I first took the NaNoWriMo challenge back in 2005 I was worried. Worried I didn’t have the right (or is it write?) stuff to succeed. I had just spent seven years completing my first novel. How could I possibly write another (albeit shorter

Dealing with Character Mortality

Oct 20th, 2016

I just saw the movie trailer for Logan and, while I’m excited for the movie, I’m also dreading it. Wolverine has long been a favorite character of mine. In fact, I probably have been a fan for more than thirty years. That makes the theme of the

Making Progress

Sep 30th, 2016

I have a number of writing projects on the go right now and I’m excited to say, forward progress is being made. The first of those projects is the sequel to the novel I co-wrote with JR Murdock. That book is Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty,