Hi all. I know I’ve been a bit inconsistent on the blog this past month and I apologize for that. A lot has happened, including the passing of a dear friend, and I haven’t quite adjusted to all of it yet. Still, since Roc Rider is now out you guys deserve a more comprehensive update on where my various projects are at and what you can expect as we move into the final quarter of the year. This update is going to cover everything; the blog, Roc Rider Book Two, the Roc Rider audio book, the choose your path adventure game, and other books in progress.
The Roc Rider Audio Book
I thought I’d start with this, since I seem to have a growing interest in the audio book ever since doing my live stream reading of the first chapter. I recently got in touch with a dear friend to seek her advice on prepping a recording space, who put me in touch with a different old friend who is a bit of an expert on this stuff. Before I can begin I need to prep a space. Since I know what I need, now it’s just a matter of finding a room to prep and the materials to prep it with. Once I have a space prepared I’ll be borrowing some nice recording equipment to do the narration with. I don’t have a specific timeline on this yet as there are a large number of factors at play, but I’m going to tentatively say that the first quarter of 2018 is a safe bet.
Roc Rider Book Two
I know there are now more than a few people wanting to know when the next book is coming, and thank you very much to everyone who is so excited for it! I am too. I got started on the preliminary work for the second Roc Rider adventure a month ago, however in the wake of my friend’s death I suffered some setbacks and haven’t done much work on it since. However I am as of this week working on the second book in earnest again and I like the progress I am making so far. I can say with confidence that we will have book two in 2018.
I have an ambitious plan involving the Roc Rider series and when the books will release, however I don’t want to say what it is just yet and put too much pressure on myself at this early stage. At the end of the day I will always prioritize the quality of the books over getting them out quickly and don’t want to disappoint anyone by putting a release schedule out there and then not being able to meet it.
So, what do we know so far about book two? Here’s what I can reveal:
- We will learn more about the mysterious enemy who controls the skull-eyed man, and why he has such an interest in a roc egg
- The city-state of Bayside will feature as a prominent location
- Tanin will encounter a person from his past who will muddy the waters of his life and his quest
- We will learn more about the enigmatic religion of The Narn, from beyond the northern desert
The Blog
In looking back at my performance on the blog thus far through 2017, I’ve been pleased with how well I’ve done overall but a bit disappointed in some respects. For the first part of the year I used a content schedule, blocking out what posts I would do and when all the way through June. While I did end up doing different posts in lieu of my intended one several times, having the schedule really helped me stay on track with the blog and keep fresh content coming regularly.
As an experiment I decided to go without the content schedule for a while and see which method produced better quality posts for the blog. The content schedule definitely wins out here, and one of my projects for this coming weekend is to sit down and write one for the remainder of 2017 so that the blog will once again be more consistent.
A few blog types have been more sparse than I intended after last year’s end of year survey, such as my random thought rambles, the Books That Should Be Games, the Canine Writing Lessons, and most notably the short stories so many marked they wanted for the blog to tide them over while they waited for the book.
In the case of the Canine Writing Lessons, I find those unfortunately just can’t be done on a schedule. As much as I like writing them, that’s one blog type that has to come to me organically in order to be any good.
Books that should be games has only the restriction of finding a book that would work as a video game, which isn’t too hard, but they can be time consuming to write and often get pushed back.I do intend to do more of them, but perhaps not as often as I’d originally hoped.
As for the short stories, well… I’m still trying to figure out how those work into my overall writing process without taking anything significant away from getting my next book out. I do enjoy writing them and would like to get more out to you, but you’ll have to be patient with me for now as I try to figure out how precisely I’m going to do that.
I of course have every intention of continuing the Get Nerdy On Thirty which I think has been pretty successful so far, the book reviews which are getting vastly more traffic than I ever anticipated and are quickly becoming one of my more popular post types, and these works in progress updates. I’m going to experiment with some more different post types as the year goes on and perhaps we’ll do another end of the year survey to get everyone’s feedback.
The Choose Your Path Adventure Game
There’s been virtually no news about Corruption Menagerie since the demo launched a while back and for that I apologize. The technical issues I encountered with it are quite something to puzzle through and with the Roc Rider book launch at the forefront of my mind I haven’t given it any thought since posting the demo. Over the next few weeks/months I intend to experiment with a few possible solutions and determine their feasibility. I have to factor in my available time to learn whichever medium I choose in addition to the other factors, so this is not a decision I am going to rush. The survey about the fate of the game is still active if anyone didn’t get a chance to answer it and wants to provide their opinion.
Other Books In Progress
I do have one piece of writing that may be coming out to you before the second Roc Rider book releases. Or it may come out after, we’ll have to see. This as yet untitled work is the result of my efforts last year during the 3-Day Novel Contest. After debating for a good long while whether it had merit enough to invest more time in, I sought the unbiased advice of a fellow author who determined that it is indeed worth polishing and putting out. When it is complete I will, for a time anyway, be offering it as a freebie incentive for those who sign up for my mailing list. Anyone already subscribed when the story releases will also receive a copy.
I have given some thought as well to what I want to pursue after Roc Rider, and I have at least four possibilities, three written or partially written, all in need of rewriting. You can read a few details about these projects in my recent interviews about Roc Rider. As we get closer to the end of the Roc Rider series I’ll start to release more of what I have in the way of details on these projects and try to get some reader feedback on what you’d like to see from me next.
And that’s it folks! All things worth saying Aaron’s writing related wrapped up in one post for you. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer them as I’m able.
