Much to the chagrin of my eldest son, my first grandson, Alistair is in love with Disney’s Fairy movies which prominently feature TinkerBell (not to mention a whole host of other fairies). For his first birthday, my daughter-in-law wanted to celebrate Alistair’s favorite by making a pirate ship scene from one of these movies with cake. So the night before, my wife, Megan and I turned the kitchen into a baking and decorating center. The picture above is what we ended up with. I think we did pretty good for not having any real experience with this cake decorating. While we talked, carved and frosted, I realized that cake making has similarities to writing; that is, #1 you’ll never get anywhere if you’re timid and #2 you’ll be frustrated if you don’t have a plan before you get started.
In other news, we’ve adopted a new member to our family. Meet our new three-legged buddy, Finn. Janet and I frequently watch the Vizsla rescue sites and when Finn came up as a possibility, we just felt he would have a home with us. Finn’s story was that he was found as a stray, although in good shape. The first shelter that found him, had difficulty placing him, but Meghan, who runs Midwest Vizsla Rescue brought him into her home and put out the word that he needed a home. We believe Finn is between 2-4 years old and we have no idea what happened to his rear leg and he’s not overly stable on it, preferring to stay on carpet over hardwood. If you know anything about Vizsla’s, you know that they are extremely athletic and we expect he’ll strengthen up just as part of living in our active and always busy home. Here’s a fun fact; you might not know that Nick is named after my terrier of the same name and Jack, his red-headed brother is named after one of our old Vizslas. I think we’ll see Finn in a story soon; that is when I finally figure out his personality quirks.
As to writing, stories and all that … I have three big projects in the works right now. The project likely to be delivered first is the audio book; Fool Me Once. I’m very excited to be working with the very talented voice actress Laurel Schroeder. Laurel brings a wide range of voices as well as a very high degree of professionalism to the project and I think you’ll agree with me that the end product is superb. The second project is the audible narration of Parley. I’ve decided to work, once again, with Mikael Naramore, the same voice actor who read Rookie Privateer. For me Mikael set the gold-standard for what I should expect from narrators with his excellent interpretation of Rookie Privateer.
Finally, that brings me to my summer writing projects. Currently, I’m working on Dark Folk, the second book in the Witchy World series. I’m very much into the end story, having passed the 75% writing mark. The only thing that’s a little tricky is that I’m no longer in love with the title I chose a few months back, so don’t be surprised if it changes. The leading contender for titles is Wicked Mess. In Privateer Tales news, I’m expecting to start on Blockade Runner, Privateer Tales #11 by the end of July with a target of December for release. After that, if all goes well, I have yet another story, in a totally new series that I’d like to write in 2016. It’s going to be a busy year, but you all make it worth while!
As always, feel free to drop me a line. I always enjoy hearing from readers.
Happy Reading!
Jamie
