New year, new plan

 

Okay, kiddos, time for serious talk.

The #1 reason I joined Facebook back in 2014 was to promote my novel, which -- at the time – had just been picked up by Permuted Press.  I figured I’d get the ball rolling on creating a fanbase and all that.  Well, those of you who were around back then know how that publishing deal turned out…and the next one…so I finally nutted up in 2016 and decided to self-publish.  When you go that route, every single bit of promotion falls upon you, so you have to find a way to balance your writing and your personal life and being your own hype machine.

Let’s be honest: I suck at balancing all that.  My personal life (i.e. working at my paying job) eats up much of my time and energy, and scrolling FB tends to eat up a couple hours every day as well, leaving little time to decompress and do things with my husband and…you know…actually write.  This past year was semi-productive, as I did get a couple of things out there, but while I got to have a bit of fun while writing them, they made me no money and the public’s enthusiasm for them seemed middling.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew this whole writing gig would make very little money, so don’t look at this as a veiled plea for donations or something.  Us here at Casa Del Hillwig are doing just fine (again, I have a paying job), I’m just frustrated that not only did I pass the 7^th anniversary of my first novel’s publication without releasing the second book (though you can read the first chapter of it if you buy the hardcover edition of Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw’s Tale!), but for the first time since 2011, I didn’t put out another installment of “An Illustrated History of Jonah Hex” when November rolled around (though one of those writings I previously mentioned did kinda fill that gap).  Big miss on both of my major projects.  So I’ve been telling myself the past couple of months that I’m gonna do better next year, I’m gonna buckle down and get at least one of those things completed and published and all that jazz so I can offer more than just one dang book at the cons.  I just have to figure out how to get rid of distractions, or at least manage my free time better.

This brings us back around to Facebook.  One of the writers I follow is James Fell who wrote two volumes of Today in History Shit Went Down.  He announced recently that he’s going to devote less time to FB because it literally isn’t paying off anymore.  Like many pros on the platform, he’s been getting fucked over by the algorithm, which is showing his posts less and less to people who’ve actually liked/followed his page in favor of paid advertising, aka sponsored posts.  So he gamed the system: He literally bought a sponsored post so he could tell his followers that he’s cutting back on FB in favor of Substack.  I admired his chutzpa, so I subscribed to James Fell, along with Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, whose daily history/news wrap-up is usually the first thing I read every morning when I log onto FB.  Substack sends the stuff directly to my email instead, meaning I don’t need to go to FB anymore to read her post, which then leads to me getting sucked into a doomscroll through the rest of the site.

In other words, I just discovered a way to wean myself off of that daily FB login.

I’m not quitting Facebook, mind you.  It is a useful tool, it’s just I now have proof that the reason I made the account to begin with doesn’t work as well as it used to.  It’s taken me close to a decade to get over 300 followers, so if someone like James Fell -- who has literally a thousand times more followers than me -- is getting buried by the algorithm, then I have no hope at all of reaching anyone new unless I shell out money…and even that is a shot in the dark.

So things will likely get quiet around Facebook as far as my posts are concerned, both personal and professional.  I’m thinking like once or twice a month, I’ll put up a fresh post with a link to my blog attached – as I’ve done for this one – and probably share a meme or two in the interim like usual, just so you know I didn’t die.  Matter of fact, expect the next blog post around the 19^th or so, because I’m turning 50, and that seems like a good as time as any to step back, reassess all these little projects I have going on, and give y’all a sit-rep.  See you then!

No history post this year, but here's a consolation prize!

 

For those of you tuning in to read the next installment of "An Illustrated History of Jonah Hex", I'm sorry to say I don't have one for you.  The project is still going on, don't worry, I just got busy the last few months with something else Hex-related (also life got in the way...you know how it goes).  Lucky for you, I finished that other thing just last night so I could debut it on Jonah's 185th birthday!

If you're like me, you were terribly disappointed in the Justice League: Warworld animated movie, both for how they treated ol' Jonah and for overall being a not-very-good story (most of the reviews I found for the movie rated it as merely okay).  So, being who I am, I figured out how to fix it, at least in terms of Jonah's portrayal.  If'n y'all follow this link right here, you'll find a brand-new fic titled "The Deaths of Jonah Hex" that'll maybe make up for the lack of Hex history this year.  Let me know what you think of it, and hopefully I can get my ass in gear so I can get this project wrapped up by this time next year (or at least have a proper installment for you!).

Wanted: Reviews!

Hey there, folks! If you've got a few minutes to spare his weekend, I'd like to ask you a favor. I'm prepping some new promotional material, and I want to include some quotes from reviews, but I have very few on Amazon at the moment. So if you feel so inclined, pop over to https://www.amazon.com/Swords-Sixguns-Outlaws-Tale-1/dp/1540506924#customerReviews and jot up what you thought of my novel. It doesn't matter if you bought it at a show instead of Amazon, so long as you read it and can give me your honest opinion. As soon as the new promo stuff is done, I'll post it on here so y'all can see if your review made the final cut!

Forgotten be my brain (or "Better late than never!")

Found an email in my inbox this morning from Matt Van Auken, a fellow Hex-nut and devoted follower of this li'l blog.  Seems my Swiss cheese brain forgot to post further details about the new project I spoke about in November!  I apologize profusely: I've been more diligent about updates over on the Facebook page for Swords & Sixguns, but I thought for sure I'd done the initial post here as well.

Okay, lesson learned.  Allow me to finally elaborate...

You may recall I dipped my toe into Amazon's new Kindle Vella format a couple of years ago with a story titled "Godheart".  While that story remains incomplete at the moment (frankly, the response to it was underwhelming), I decided near the end of last year to start up a new Vella story called "Forgotten Be Thy Name".  Part of the impetus for this was realizing that, aside from the tongue-in-cheek story I managed to slip into the anthology The Fans are Buried Tales, plus a couple of Twitter posts by Jimmy Palmioti and James Gunn, there had been no official acknowledgement of Jonah Hex's 50th anniversary.  Matter of fact, considering the current climate, there may never be featured in a DC property again outside of a wordless cameo.  Let's be frank here: he's a gun-loving former Confederate, so without a lot of explanations and/or alterations, it's going to take a lot of doing to sell him to the general public in 2023 and beyond.

For those that know him well, however, very little selling is needed.  We know he's not a racist, we know that the era he normally exists in -- the Old West -- justifies many of his actions, so for those of us who aren't ready to let go of him just yet, I decided to pick up Jonah's story from where we last saw him in Death Metal.  If you don't recall, that story featured a Black Lantern-style Hex fighting alongside Batman and a bunch of other heroes against twisted versions of the Dark Knight.  While far from my favorite story, I bought it for Hex, and got to experience the gut-punch of seeing him consigned to Hell for his actions.  Considering his background, this destination was an inevitability -- Jonah himself had commented on this more than once over the course of his career -- but it still hurt to see it happen in the manner that it did.

So consider "Forgotten Be Thy Name" to be literally the last Jonah Hex story.  It certainly won't be the last thing I ever write about him (still gotta get the history project printed!), but if there truly never is another appearance by him officially, then this at least will give both the old man and his fans some closure.  Keep in mind that this story is not official to any degree, so I "filed off the serial numbers" (i.e. Jonah is never referred to by his actual name, hence the title).  This is because Kindle Vella generates a small amount of revenue for me, so I have to do my level best to skirt any copyright issues that would otherwise relegate this story to unpaid fanfic.

The story is being released one chapter at a time, with 5 chapters up so far.  I'm trying to put up a chapter every month or two, usually around the 15th (missed February).  First 3 chapters are free, and you'll have to buy "tokens" to read further, but they're relatively cheap and can be used on other Vella stories as well.  So go on ahead, give "Forgotten Be Thy Name" a look, and let me know what you think of it so far...and I promise to give y'all blog updates more regularly so this doesn't happen again!

Just in time for gift-giving!

 

Found out recently that the postal rates will be changing again next year, but they did inform me that (for now, at least) they have a slightly-cheaper option available.  So as a little holiday incentive for y'all, I've cut down the shipping rates on my online store to just $11 for most U.S. orders!  We'll see if we can keep that deal going after the New Year, but just in case, get your orders in now!

Got a busy weekend ahead of me!

 Been working so hard on my little secret project for next month that I almost forgot to post about my upcoming appearances, one of which I mentioned a few weeks ago.

First up is the Holiday Open House at Paperback Writer Books this Friday, November 18th.  I'll be there 5-8pm along with a few other local authors, selling our wares and waiting for Santa to arrive at the Fountain Stage not too far from the store.  The entire event runs until 9pm, but I'll have to cut out a little early because I need to get up bright and early the next day for Blue Water International Comic-Con on Saturday, November 19th.  That show runs from 11am to 6pm, and I always have an awesome time there.  Matter of fact, I'll be in Port Huron setting up for Blue Water just a few hours before I hoof it back to Mount Clemens for the Open House...like I said, busy weekend!

So whether you're free this Friday or Saturday -- or both! -- you've got two opportunities to find me so's you can buy some copies of Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw's Tale for all the folks on your holiday list.  And don't forget to come back around here in mid-December for the unveiling of my latest project!

A mite slow on the draw

 As you regular readers of this blog likely know, I've been working on turning "An Illustrated History of Jonah Hex" into an actual published book.  I'd hoped to have it done by now, but there have been distractions along the way, one of which was writing a Hex tribute of sorts for the anthology book The Fans are Buried Tales.  I've also got something else up my sleeve that I hope to have out next month, but my original notion of releasing the Hex history book as part of a big 50th anniversary celebration of the character...well, I failed on that end.  I'm still going to release the book, but it won't be for another year or so.  Frankly, I'm a little disappointed that DC let the occasion slip by without so much as a cameo of the old man somewhere (unless you wanna count "Hex's Texas Steakhouse" sign in the background of that League of Super-Pets movie).

Until the book becomes a thing, I'll continue with the Hex history posts here, though they'll likely be of the Appendix sort, keeping "The New 52" and beyond for the actual book.  I appreciate y'all sticking by me as I move at my stupid-slow writing pace, and remember, if you have any sketches or original pages/covers you'd like to contribute to the book, drop me a line at swordsandsixgunsnovel@gmail.com and we'll have us a palaver.  Also, if you'd like to meet me in person, I'll be at Blue Water International Comic-Con in Port Huron, MI on November 19th.  Come on by, say hello, and buy some stuff!