We are now on the 13th year since I published the first Silver Ninja book. I didn’t know Cindy’s birthday was in August until 2018 when I released the 1st edition of A Bitter Winter. *2nd Edition is out now! *

I often forget to do something for Cindy’s birthday (her being a fictional character and all) and we already missed Jadie’s birthday in July. I think the reason I don’t focus on these events besides the fact that the characters aren’t real is because I haven’t had anything new to share. Normally I like to share artwork, excerpts, website updates, events, etc. But aside the 2nd edition, there really hasn’t been anything new artwork wise.

HOWEVER! That doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on things. Let’s dive into it below.

Sanctifiction News

The long delayed Sanctifiction: The Darkness at Home is undergoing major rewrites. Due to my job, I haven’t had time or energy to invest in writing my first horror entry. It’s a project I’m excited about, but claiming I haven’t struggled would be a lie. Everything I envisioned for my horror story didn’t turn out as planned. What I wrote wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.

Some concepts just don’t work. I struggled with my detective’s name. No matter how many times I changed it, I couldn’t accept it. Initially his name was Scott Barnes, but I found it difficult to connect with the character. I later changed his name to Alvin Scott Barnabas which served as a placeholder until I eventually envisioned him as a Guatemalan American. (No, not based off me. I was thinking along the lines of Oscar Isaac.)

I chose a Latino detective because superstition is prevalent in hispanic/latino culture and I felt his heritage could enhance the setting. The world I envision for this story draws heavily from Catholic religious iconography but with my own unique twist. The video game Blasphemous greatly inspired me. I wanted to continue the theme of deformed monstrosities created by their utter devotion to faith.

What’s in a name? A lot apparently.

Names are sacred. Names have power. Most people, upon hearing their name pronounced incorrectly, will correct the individual. Names are a legacy, a dynasty, they carry the entire history of a family. Names are a birthplace, a symbol of respect, a brand. It’s the difference between Kia and Rolls Royce.

Remember when Kings and Queens would forbid their princes and princesses to marry someone of low birth? You cannot sully the name of your birth right.

So, Alvin Scott Barnabas didn’t really sound like a Guatemalan name. Every time I thought about my detective’s name, I would say his name with a Spanish accent, and it never sounded right. But when I looked up authentic Guatemalan names, they were too hard to pronounce and spell.

I needed a name that: A.) Would fit a Latino heritage. B.) Could be pronounced easily in Spanish. C.) Reflects who the character is.

Luckily, I found one! But his name reveal will be when I’m ready to publish the book.

The Silver Ninja News

My spoiled first born always grabs my attention even when I should be focusing on the new member of the creative family. I have (finally) after months of waiting, shipped out hardcover books to a select group of readers who are a part of The Silver Ninja newsletter. Hopefully those books will arrive at the end of this week or next week.

I have also completed plotting out the main components of Cindy’s next adventure. I even figured out a powerful motivator to get her into the action. One of the issues I was facing with Cindy was how I could get her to the setting where the conflict takes place. The desire to “do good” was not enough. A compelling conflict requires high stakes and I didn’t have anything that could drag her in.

I finally figured out what I could use to pull her into the conflict. This is one of the second to last steps I needed before I can start writing her next adventure. All that’s left is figuring out where to begin the story and whose POV we’re going to follow.

Fun stuff that’s coming soon

Currently I am assembling an Unofficial soundtrack mix for Sanctifiction and The Silver Ninja on Youtube. These are tracks that inhabit the essence of each series in terms of mood and atmosphere. Sanctifiction is dark and brooding, bordering on obsessive while The Silver Ninja is heroic, dramatic, and aggressive. Currently I am building the playlist on music.youtube and will explore whether it can be rebuilt on Spotify.

Very excited about what I have so far, and I look forward to sharing the playlist with you all soon.

Sanctifiction playlist will most likely drop in October.

Want a preview of what’s on the album? Here you go:

Personal News

After I published the 2nd Edition of The Silver Ninja: A Bitter Winter, I took a few months to reflect back on this whole… writing thing. I haven’t been promoting the books, with the exception of a few in-person sales and ads I spend a small amount of money on each week.

I don’t buy facebook ads and once in a while I’ll throw in A Bitter Winter as a recommendation on Reddit. So, I recently asked myself why that is. Why am I not promoting the books as hard as I should be?

Well, the sad reality is… my current job, although rewarding and definitely one of the healthiest workplaces I’ve ever been to. Is a massive drain on the brain. The challenges and distractions I face on a daily basis leave me incapable of brainstorming and writing down my grand ideas. Before, when I had time, I could dedicate myself to writing throughout the day. I often had jobs where most of my time was spent waiting for a render to finish.

Now that my job challenges me to solve more complex problems, I find myself unmotivated to tackle difficult problems with my writing. Then there’s the question of income. I think it’d be amazing if I could pay my bills with a silver or sanctifiction story, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

I write, because it’s fun. So, I don’t need to write to market, and I don’t need to force myself to churn out not-so-great books to build my sales rank.

And I currently don’t hate my job so I’m not in a rush to dig myself out of a hole like I was at previous workplaces.

All of this to say that I now consider myself a hobbyist author. Writing is a hobby and is not something I anticipate will make any profit anytime soon. I still want it to someday be profitable but for now I have to be content with the fact that I am a very busy man, and I don’t have the free time I had when I was younger.

I still want to give myself deadlines and stick to a schedule where I continue to try to release more books. But for now, I want to adopt the hobbyist mentality so I’m not constantly beating myself up for being unable to hit deadlines. Maybe by focusing on the joy of writing rather than the headache of publishing, I could write faster and eventually turn this into supplemental income.

Anyway, thank you all for reading this far. I genuinely enjoy writing blogs and creating content for my books. I just wish I had more time!