Author: Scott William Carter

Summer Update

That’s a shot of Mission Bay in San Diego, where Heidi and I spent a lovely five days a couple months ago. We went there partly to celebrate my fiftieth birthday (yikes!), but mostly because neither of us had spent more than a day there. San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, Coronado Island . . . We had a great time. It was also a nice break from weeks of gray and drizzle here in Oregon.

Not that it’s raining now! The weather has been spectacular as of late, which is pretty much the norm this time of year in the Willamette Valley. These are the months when I couldn’t even imagine living anywhere else. I once told a waiter in Istanbul (now there’s a way start to a sentence) that God created the Earth in six days, and on the seventh day . . .  he realized he hadn’t got it quite right, so he created Oregon. I was only partly joking. I love this place. I’m not the only one either. Here’s a shot of Rosie on a recent hike at Pheasant Creek Falls:

Is that the face of pure joy, or what?

The third Karen Pantelli book will soon be entering production, due out in six weeks or so, and the next Garrison Gage book (I’ve got about a third written) shouldn’t be too far behind. I’ve continued to publish two Run of the House comics a week via email and at www.runofthehouse.net. You can see one of the latest at the bottom of this post. If you’d like to subscribe, Mondays are free. Wednesdays are for paying subscribers, but the annual subscription is currently 50% off.

Astute readers will notice that the website has gotten a makeover. That took more time than I would have liked, but it was necessary. The old one was getting more vulnerable to cyberattacks (the age we live in, alas, even for small fry like me). I wanted a cleaner, simpler look, anyway, especially since I’ve even more fully embraced being an Internet Minimalist. Speaking of that, I’m still off social media. I don’t miss it. That’s not to say I won’t use it again at some point, but for right now, at least, I’m much happier without it in my life. We’ll see what the future brings. I still think the best use of my time is to channel it into my creative work.

And the best way to never miss one of my books, of course, remains my “New Release Newsletter.” I generally only email when I have something new out (there are no chatty posts like this one), so please do sign up. No spam and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Back before too long. Meanwhile, I’ll see you in the funny pages:

Enjoy the comic?
Click HERE to receive
a FREE Run of the House
every Monday.

Quitting Social Media (Mostly)

That’s a shot in Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon from a couple weeks ago. As we often do, Heidi and I decided to spend a couple days at the coast, much of it spent staring at the Pacific Ocean. A great way to recharge.

Some minor news: I dropped my personal Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts a couple months ago. I’d been thinking about it for a while, long before Twitter became a dumpster fire, and even before Facebook made it impossible for even your friends and family to see something you post unless you pay for it. There’s parts I’ll miss, of course (so many cute cats!), and I have no problem with people who enjoy social media, but this year I’m really making a concerted effort to only use the Internet with intention. To be very selective about what I read and why. As I mentioned when I announced the return of the Run of the House comic, I’ve really become a fan of Substack, the newsletter subscription service, and I’m already following quite a few people on there, across a wide range of fields: Ted Gioya, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, Simon Owens, Sherman Alexie, Austin Kleon, and Sam Kriss, to name just a few.

Since Substack makes its money by taking a cut of subscriptions, and not by selling the customer to advertisers (the model for almost all social media), the incentive for the company is primarily to keep the writers and readers happy, not the advertisers, and that’s created a very different experience for everyone. I’m rooting for them, and not just because I’m using the platform for Run of the House.

Anyway, I didn’t even mention I was leaving the social media sites above before I pulled the plug (it felt a bit like huffily shouting “I’m leaving!” at a party), but I felt I should mention it here now that I’m pretty certain I’m not going back, at least not any time soon.

The best way to make sure you never miss one of my books is visit this site or sign up for my “new release” email newsletter.

A Free Comic Every Monday! Run of the House Returns

A couple months ago, I re-launched of my Run of the House comic strip. It’s now published twice a week using the Substack platform, meaning it goes out both as an email and it appears at www.runofthehouse.net, the Substack website, and the Substack app, which you can download, if you so choose, and read many other fine publications.

If you want to try out my comic, please subscribe! Mondays are completely free. Wednesdays are for paying subscribers. If you sign up for the annual subscription, it works out to $3/month, but I’m currently running a “50% Off Forever” special that brings it down to $1.50/month.

When I originally published Run of the House, I used a combination of Patreon, a homegrown website, and social media, but I never liked that approach. I was already a fan of Substack as a reader, since it eliminates most of what I don’t like about social media. As a writer, I like it even more.

I originally put ROTH on hiatus because I couldn’t quite get the balance right with the writing. Now I’ve got a better handle on it, and I’m several months ahead, so I feel confident enough to announce the re-launch publicly. I don’t expect everyone who likes my novels to like the comic (heck, most of my readers don’t even like all my novels), but give it a shot. If the comic gives you ten seconds of joy, I feel I’ve done my job.

Looking for Little Red Now Available as An Audiobook …Narrated By Me!

That’s Rosie at the park today, with impatiens blooming in the background. After getting our flu shots, and treating ourselves to breakfast as a reward, we hit the local Saturday Market and stopped for a walk at the park. Early fall days are often gorgeous here in the Willamette Valley and today was no exception. My heart goes out to people in Florida, who just experienced quite the opposite of gorgeous. (Boy, that’s the understatement of the year, isn’t it?) We have our own worries as far as natural disasters are concerned (every heard of the really big one?) but hurricanes are not one of them.

I do have some neat news: Looking for Little Red, already available in print and as an ebook, is now available as an audiobook … narrated by me! It’s available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes for immediate download. And yes, except for narrating a short story as a way to learn how to do this (“The Red Scarf,” a little holiday tale that was originally published in Cicada magazine) I’ve never done this before. I’ve worked with narrators on many of my other books, of course, but I’ve never done one myself.

Will I do it again?

Very likely yes, though how often, and for which projects, remains to be seen. It was was very time-consuming, which I expected, but I also enjoyed it more than I thought I would. So it will probably be on a case by case basis. There are still many of my books (like the first two Karen Pantelli novels, for example, read by the excellent Jennifer Pickens) that make a lot more sense for someone else to narrate.

Other than that, a lot of good writing days in lately. After the writing retreat I mentioned last month, I came back even more committed to making sure I’m spending the bulk of my most productive hours on what Cal Newport calls “deep work,” and that’s been paying dividends.