I know, I know … I already messed up my New Year’s resolution of writing a blog post every month. But it’s not that I forgot. No, really, I have an excuse:
Pneumonia. The excuse is pneumonia. And I do not recommend it.
Doing much better now, thanks.
Anyway! While that whole thing did waylay me for about a month, I do have a few updates to share. First, happy to say my novels are now available in eBook format through Bookshop.org, which just recently started selling digital editions. I’ve had my paperbacks there for years now, and I absolutely recommend buying from Bookshop.org if you want your hard-earned cash to go to companies that support independent bookstores.
Meanwhile, things have been super busy on thePrivacy Daily front, as the news about data privacy continues to ramp up. The first quarter of the year is also when the state legislatures are most active, so that’s been taking up a lot of my attention so far in 2026. But hey, they say it’s good to be busy, right?
Don’t worry–I haven’t completely neglected my creative writing! As I hinted at in my last post, I’ve lately been working in Reedsy’s writing app on something new.
You know, after breaking my resolution and skipping the blog in April, I feel like should give you something, even though I’ve become terribly superstitious about revealing my writing plans too early in the process. So, here goes, with the disclaimer that I may totally abandon this! You have been warned!
For some reason — the state of the world or whatever — has gotten me thinking again about the dystopian nation I created in my first two books, the so-called We, The Watched duology.
A central theme of those two books was forgetting, with a hero whose amnesia gives him a blank-slate perspective on how dark things have become even as the rest of society seems to ignore it. Lately, I have been thinking about how even societies that overcome such darkness may over time forget how bad things used to be–and begin to slip backwards.
So, I don’t know … I mean, who really says duology? Maybe it should be a trilogy?
Sometimes it takes more than a good idea to get started writing. I’ve long found that having the right tool makes a difference not only for getting started on a novel but for sticking with it through the last punctuation mark.
The how of writing has changed for me over the years. When I was kid, I wrote with an actual pen or pencil. Eventually, perhaps recognizing the inadequacy of my handwriting, I started typing up drafts on a typewriter or–when we finally got a computer–a Windows 95 PC.
I began writing my first real novel when I was in college. As I had done for homework assignments, I wrote We, The Watched in Microsoft Word. This software worked fine, but as I got further along in the story and the plot grew more complex, Word’s weaknesses for novel writing became apparent. Once you get over 100 pages, it gets difficult to check back what kind of clothes a character was wearing in Chapter 2, and whether they were torn during that fight in Chapter 10.
So partway through writing my second novel, Divided We Fall, I realized I needed to make a change. This novel was more complex than WTW because it followed the perspectives of two characters. That meant I had to keep track of two timelines in one book (plus flashbacks!) and make sure everything lined up properly. This simply was too difficult for me to manage in a Word document.
Luckily, I found a great new writing app called Scrivener, which in 2015 I wrote was a piece of writing software I couldn’t live without. With scenes and chapters that could be dragged and dropped around like notecards on a board, plus plenty of tags and other meta information to input, Scrivener helped me ensure continuity and general cogency throughout DWF. This became even more critical in my next book, The Wanderer and the New West, which has an even more complex plot that jumps among the perspectives of several characters.
Here’s how The Wanderer and the New West looks in Scrivener!
While I still think Scrivener is a great tool, I recently decided to try yet another writing app for a very basic reason: I was starting to feel limited by being able to access my writing only on a PC.
Currently, I use a self-built Windows 11 gaming desktop at home and a sleek and streamlined Chromebook Plus on the go. Unfortunately, Scrivener is not web-based and while there’s a way to use it on Linux, which technically works on a Chromebook, this just felt a bit too intimidating to me to try to set up. While an iPad version is now available for mobile writing, I have never been an Apple guy and didn’t want to buy a whole new device just for this one thing.
Also, even when I was using a Windows laptop rather than a Chromebook, syncing between the apps via OneDrive or Dropbox could be a clunky and precarious thing. First of all, if I planned to work offline, I had to make sure the laptop was synced before I left the house. Second, if I forgot to this, I could risk a situation where there were conflicting versions on each device. While fortunately this never happened to me, a corrupted file is a fear a writer could do without!
Recently, I realized that what I really wanted was a way to quickly access the novel I was writing through a web-based app that I could flexibly access on any device, be it a desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. That’s when I remembered Reedsy!
It’s funny, because for many years, I had been a user of Reedsy’s core service for matching authors with editors, cover designers and other freelancers. It’s why my last two novels in particular look so good!
Long-time blog readers may also recall I interviewed Reedsy’s founders back in 2015. However, at the time, when Reedsy had only recently introduced its web-based writing software, I was already in the middle of a novel on Scrivener and didn’t think I could easily transition all the work I’d already done to a more streamlined platform.
Well, last year, after some fits and starts trying to get going on a new project, I realized that one of my biggest barriers was simply finding the time and space to work. Under my current writing system, I had to be in front of my desktop PC, which–by the way–I also use for my work-at-home job all day long. Suddenly, it occurred to me: I should try that web-based Reedsy writing app!
A look at Reedsy Studio. No, this isn’t my next novel; I got the image from Reedsy’s website!
While it’s still early days, so far I’m enjoying Reedsy Studio. With an emphasis on distraction-free writing, it’s definitely more streamlined than my previous writing software. However, I’m actually finding this simplicity to be refreshing after years of toying with options and settings in Scrivener.
Reedsy’s app has also evolved over time, and now has more tools for outlining a plot and fleshing out people and locations in the story. I especially like–even more than I thought I would–the built-in templates that ask key questions about my characters. Not only is it forcing me to add much more dimension to even minor characters than I might have otherwise, but it’s giving me things to work on even at times when I don’t feel like writing the actual story.
Most importantly, I can now jump into my novel whenever inspiration strikes, no matter where I happen to be or what device I happen to have with me. At this time in my life, when it comes to writing, this may be the most valuable feature of all.
The air quality danger is down to “very unhealthy,” so I can probably go for a walk!
I’m still going to a rock concert tonight (Temples — very good!).
Hey, now I can use some of my leftover N95 masks! Or maybe I can really get stylish and break out my old cloth masks!
Are we getting used to the kind of thing we used to read about in dystopian novels and post-apocalyptic films like The Road Warrior?
People often ask me if this kind of thing inspires me to write. Honestly, what it inspires me to do is to retreat into a popcorn video game like Marvel’s Midnight Suns or an optimistic TV show like Ted Lasso. Ah… fictional England, all they care about there is the next soccer football match!
I have been working, slowly, on a new novel. I am not addressing the COVID-19 pandemic or our imminent environmental doom. Those are great topics for other authors, but not much of an escape for me.
Yes, I’m still writing in the dystopian genre, and it’s not another comedy (though writing a political satirewas a great escape from a depressing series of years!). I’m having a good time figuring out what makes my characters tick, as well as spending more time on the world building as well. In other words, I’ve been taking a lot of notes. However, I’m feeling optimistic that the end product from all this will be worth the effort.
So, I got off of Twitter. You probably know why. I think I just couldn’t stand all the toxicity and chaos, and honestly I was getting worried about the privacy and security of staying on, too. I know some people are waiting for the ship to literally sink all the way beneath the surface of the water, but honestly, I didn’t see the point of holding out another month or two. It’s not like there aren’t any lifeboats.
Respect to the folks playing out the sinking ship, I guess!
One lifeboat? Mastodon! Take a look at my brand new profile! I look forward to chatting with you there! I’m also still on Instagram and Facebook, but finding myself spending less time there due to the never-ending barrage of ads and sponsored content. I’m going to try to do better to keep this blog updated and be more regular with my newsletter. Those are probably the best ways to keep posted on my current projects.
Speaking of, I recently blew the dust off a first draft of a short story I wrote years ago called “Six Straight Roads.” It’s not dystopian or sci-fi like I usually write. It’s kind of a nostalgic piece about playing Capture the Flag with my friends when I was kid. I brought it to a local writers’ group about a year ago, and got a lot of great feedback, but then I procrastinated on actually revising the thing. That was, until a couple weeks ago when I got COVID-19 again and got in some quality quarantine writing time! (Note: I do not recommend getting COVID-19; quarantines are the worst). Long paragraph short, I made a lot of progress getting “Six Straight Roads” into shape. I just need to do another proofread and it should be ready to go. I’m considering submitting this one to some mags before self-publishing it, so that could delay its release a bit more. However, my goal is to have it out to you all in some form this spring. Stay tuned!
I’m also in the early stages of writing a new novel. I’ve done a whole lot of notes and outlining, and have even written a few chapters, but it’s still pretty early days. I hope to share more soon.
For those of you looking to pick up one of my books on the cheap, Smashwords is about to launch their end-of-year sale. It runs Dec. 15 to Jan. 1. I will have some great deals on eBooks for all my novels, including my debut duology We, The Watched and Divided We Fall for free! You’ll also be able to get The Wanderer and the New West and Utopia PR for less than $1.50. That means you can get all four of my novels for the price of coffee, and maybe less, depending where you get coffee!
I am excited to announce that the Utopia PR audiobook will be released July 1, 2022, on most popular retail sites, including Audible and Barnes & Noble (click to pre-order).
Want to read the book early? If you’re happy to write a review, you can listen to the Utopia PR audiobook from now until June 12 on NetGalley! Thank you in advance for your help creating buzz and spreading the word. I’m an indie author so this is really the biggest way you can help me, even more than paying for my books (though that is also appreciated, of course)!
Narrated by Tristan Wright
I recently had to approve the audio recordings of each chapter to make sure they were just right. Let me tell you, it was an absoltue blast listening to narrator Tristan Wright bring my book to life. I know I might be biased, but I daresay the book is even funnier read aloud. Wright brings out all the individual wackiness of Blake “The Hammer” Hamner (the n is silent), Our Leader and the rest of the cast. Sitting alone in my home office, I seriously LOLed at his reading of the speech in which Our Leader ticks off every crazy idea in Blake’s Grand List of Distractions.
This was my second time working with Findaway Voices to create an audiobook (The Wanderer and the New West audiobook is also now available and 50% off until April 30 on B&N!). As before, it was a seamless process. Based on my requirements, they provided a list of suggested narrators, and then I asked a few of them to send audition tapes. It was a tough choice, but I’m really happy with what Tristan Wright has done with the book. I can’t wait for you to hear it!
Of course, if you’re not keen on audiobooks, you can get the book in eBook and paperback formats from major online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org (or ask your indie book store to order it!). Check out the official website for Utopia PR for more information on the book and where you can buy it.
Just in case you haven’t heard my elevator pitch before, Utopia PR is a sci-fi satire about a public relations rep seeking work-life balance while managing crisis after crisis for a dystopian president. PR extraordinaire Blake Hamner (the n is silent) put off his honeymoon for his big break: joining a major political campaign for president. Now, the “Hammer” struggles to make time for his marriage as Crisis Communications Manager for Our Leader, who since taking power has become increasingly mad and totalitarian.
So yeah, mark July 1 on your calendars for the audiobook’s release date. Or better yet, pre-order it. Or better yet, get the free advance review copy (ARC) on NetGalley and write a review! I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of it!
