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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.

A Summer of Hiking, a Writing Retreat, and a Daughter Back to College

That’s a shot off the deck from the house I rented in Lincoln City, Oregon last week, up on the bluff in the Nelscott area—a gorgeous four days spent writing, recalibrating, setting goals, and, for three consecutive nights, discussing the business of publishing with a dozen smart professional writers, most of whom were from Oregon, but several who came from as far away as Canada. Some stayed in a house together. Others rented their own individual hotel rooms. The beauty of this “parallel play” approach was that the days were spent however people wanted. With the exception of the nightly discussions, it was up to each person to turn their stay on the Oregon coast into a worthwhile one. No stories were critiqued. No fees were charged. These were all professionals doing amazing things in the business, all there to learn and share. I came away with a notebook full of topics to research further.

After years of pandemic-enforced isolation, it was great to talk face to face with savvy creative people again.

I set a goal to try to get one hike in a week over the course of the summer, and while I didn’t quite get that, I came close, ranging over much of the state. Sometimes family or friends accompanied me, but usually it was just me and Rosie, my intrepid Irish Setter. Silver Creek Falls, Mt. Jefferson, Smith Rock, Thunder Cove … There were a few busted hikes along the way (one because of multiple flat tires, another because an out-of-shape friend found he’d overextended himself), but there were many, many highlights. I was reminded again and again why I love Oregon so much. A couple favorite photos:

Horse Rock Ridge
Iron Mountain
Smith Rock
Rosie at Thunder Cove

The temperature topped out at a very pleasant 80F the last few days, but Fall is definitely coming. While the leaves haven’t begun to turn yet, I can feel it in the air. We got our daughter moved back into OSU over the weekend, so the house is a bit quieter. Now with an apartment with a 12-month lease, and a new job near campus that offers year-round employment (a dream job for her), she probably won’t be home for long stretches quite so much in the future, but who knows, life being what it is. In the thick of a new Karen Pantelli novel, so looking forward to getting in some long writing days. That was actually my biggest takeaway from the writing retreat, how important is for me to stay off the Internet the vast majority of the day and just staying in that creative space. It does wonders both for my productivity and my peace of mind.

New Book Published: LOOKING FOR LITTLE RED

I hope you’re all doing well as the summer winds down. With my son back in high school (his junior year), and my daughter soon returning to OSU, the house should be a bit quieter heading into the autumn months. Well, except for Rosie barking at our mail carrier, but everyone has a job to do, right? Hate to deprive her of her sense of purpose. Most of the time, she’s content to curl up in my office as I work. The perfect writing companion!

Speaking of writing, I’ve got a new book out! While Looking for Little Red doesn’t neatly fit into any one particular genre, it’s the kind of story that combines a lot of the elements that I love as a reader – a mystery with a twist, a touching love story, and a new take on a time-honored fairy tale all rolled into one – so I’m hoping you enjoy it too. 

More information about the book, including links to where it can be purchased, is below. The ebook is available right now from all major retailers. The print version, a nice case laminate (a hard cover with a glossy cover instead of a separate jacket, which fits the fairy tale feel, I think) is currently only available from Amazon, but that will probably change soon. Global supply issues have slowed down the shipping of the print version, so keep that in mind if you’d prefer paper. It may take a few weeks to get to you.

What if all the old stories turned out to be true?

On a rainy night at a tiny Oregon college, a shadowy figure at the back of the hall interrupts Bullwick Farley’s mythology lecture: “Little Red Riding Hood has done something terrible,” he says, “and I desperately need your help before it’s too late.”

Just another story in a class all about stories? A myth, a fable, a tale told and retold? The students might think so. But ten years after leaving a life where even the strangest stories turn out to be true, Farley faces a choice. Stick with his comfortable, if lonely, life as a professor. Or risk it all to go looking for the woman who broke his heart.

A mystery with a twist, a touching love story, and a new take on a time-honored fairy tale, Looking for Little Red provides rare insights on the power of stories to shape our lives, and the importance of memories, even painful ones.

Ebook:
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play

Hardcover:
Amazon 

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