Fall 2019 Update: Now Writing Full Time and Other News

November 19, 2019January 3, 2020Scott William Carter

I don’t want to bury the lead, so I’ll start off with the biggest news: As of November 4th, I’m now a full-time writer.

After nearly 20 years at the university, it finally seemed like the right time. I’ve been self-employed before — I owned a bookstore for a few years in my late twenties — so being self-employed is not completely new to me, but this is the first time I’ve been a full-time writer. My commute is now thirteen feet, bedroom to office. My coworkers are very quiet . . . except when they’re cleaning their paws. In the picture above, you can see one of them, Paisley, sitting in my office recliner. Er, I mean, on my office recliner.

What does it mean for my readers? Well, the books should come a lot faster now. I won’t be writing any faster, mind you, or at least I don’t intend to. I’m just going to be spending a lot more hours at it rather than getting up at the crack of way-too-early to get in my pages before heading off to the day job. I have a good sense of what kind of pace is sustainable for me long term, but we’ll see how it goes. So far, so good. I’ve been hitting my quota, getting in my daily words on another book. I know if I get that right, I can figure out the rest.

And what is that book? Well, I’m working on a spin off character from the Garrison Gage series right now — someone who appeared in a couple books and deserves her own series. (That’s enough of a clue. You’ll have to wait until I’m done for more.) After that, I’d like to jump right back to Gage for the seventh book in that series. And then? Well, I have a lot of ideas.

Speaking of ideas, what about the comic? Now that I don’t have that pesky day job, will be I be publishing Run of the House more frequently? Well, we’ll see. For now, I continue to publish the cartoon strip every Wednesday over at http://www.runofthehouse.net. I’m going to reassess my plans with it down the road a bit, after I’ve settled into my new routines, but I fully intend to keep it going. It appeals to a different part of my creative makeup, one I’d let go dormant for far too long.

Oh, in other news, Bury the Dead in Driftwood, the sixth Garrison Gage book, is now available in audio. You can find it on Audible and on iTunes, narrated by the wonderful Steven Roy Grimsley, who has narrated all of the Garrison Gage and Myron Vale books. If you like listening to audio books, as I do, please check it out.

It’s a gray and drizzly November day here in Oregon. In other words, perfect writing weather. Time to get back to it.

New Book Published: Bury the Dead in Driftwood (a Garrison Gage Mystery)

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019Scott William Carter

After far too long a wait, the sixth Garrison Gage book, Bury the Dead in Driftwood, is now out in the world! For those of you who want to get right to reading, more information about the book is below, including links to various retailers.

A two year gap between books may be nothing for the likes of George R.R. Martin, but I’ll try not to make my Gage fans wait that long if I can help it. In fact, it was such great fun catching up with Gage and his friends that I’m launching right into the next Gage book. I can’t promise you when I’ll finish it, of course, but there’s a good bet it won’t be two years.

Bury the Dead in Driftwood
A Garrison Gage Mystery

They find her buried in driftwood.

Harriet Abel never shows up for her appointment. Irritating as hell? Sure. It’s hard enough to work as a private investigator without potential clients standing you up.

Of course, it’s difficult to show up when you’re dead.

A revered community figure in the Oregon coast town of Barnacle Bluffs, the teacher extraordinaire never gets a chance to explain why she wants to hire Garrison Gage before her body turns up in a sandy grave. Seldom deterred by the lack of a client, Gage barrels forward intent on discovering the woman’s killer. Unfortunately, the professional curmudgeon stirs up a lot more trouble than he expects, putting innocent people in imminent danger.

In the past, Gage always triumphed over whatever dark forces stood in his way, but this time he may have gone too far — and he won’t be the only one paying the price.

[Learn more.]

(Links to other retailers posted when available.)

Summer 2019 Update: New Gage Book Coming, Cartooning Stuff, and Other Sundry News

August 5, 2019April 18, 2020Scott William Carter

Good news for my Garrison Gage fans! Bury the Dead in Driftwood, the sixth book featuring the curmudgeonly private investigator living in Barnacle Bluffs, Oregon, is now with the copy editor and should be available for purchase in the next few weeks. Be sure to sign up for my author newsletter if you want to be among the first to know when the novel is actually out. That’s the cover up there (it still might get tweaked a little, though we’re feeling pretty good about it at this point), and the book description will be coming soon.

It was great to revisit my old friend Gage and the extended cast that inhabits his moody Oregon coastal town, and I’m hoping my readers will feel the same. I appreciate everyone’s patience! Two years was a long time to go between Garrison Gage mysteries, but, well, what can I say? While I know there are plenty of you who’d prefer that I just write Gage books and nothing else, I’m just not wired that way. I also had a big book that went sideways on me and needed to be put aside for a while. It happens. What I can say, however, is that I’ve been making a lot of little changes, both to my habits and my mental approach, that should add up to a lot more books and stories coming from me in the months and years ahead. We’ll see. I’m having a lot of fun and that’s the main thing. More than ever, the real joy I get from my creative work is the pursuit of excellence. Money and fans are certainly nice and appreciated (oh boy are they!), but the less central they are to my motivation the happier and more productive I am as an artist.

Speaking of fun, I’m also having a blast with the Run of the House comic strip. (Three recent ones are pictured above.) I completed my 50th strip the other day. While I’m posting most of them in various social media channels (Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, etc.), the best way to see them is at www.runofthehosue.net, posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. While the strip is free, if you want to show your appreciation, a $1/month at Patreon is certainly appreciated. By becoming a patron, you’ll also get lots of extras. Every little bit helps.

Other news? We had a fun trip to Florence, Oregon a few weeks back, staying in a lake house and having a blast. Kayaking, ping pong, hanging out in the hot tub, even a couple dune buggy rides — it was a great retreat. Overall, weather has been quite pleasant this summer, both in the Willamette Valley and on the Oregon coast, and I feel almost guilty saying so, since I know that’s not the case elsewhere. Oh, and if you’re somebody who wants to lose weight, or simply get healthier overall, I highly recommend reading Jason’s Fung’s book The Obesity Code. My weight had been creeping up over the years — nothing egregious, but like most people, it was just trending in the wrong direction — and I’d finally decided I’d had enough and I needed to cast a wider net on my understanding of the issue. Of all the books I’ve read on diet and nutrition, Fung’s book finally filled in the missing pieces for me. My biggest takeaway from it? That when and how often we eat is just as important as what and how much. It makes complete sense from an evolutionary point of view, too. Read the book for more information. It’s heavy on the evidence side, which I love, but you can certainly skim some of the more data-intense parts of the book and still come away with a much-improved understanding of human physiology. A lot of it is simply reinforcement of what we already know (cutting down sugar, refined carbohydrates, and eating more whole foods, plus moderate exercise, is a recipe for better health), but if you read this book you will understand why 98% of all diets fail — and what you can do to prevent that failure from happening to you.

New Book Published: The Castle on the Hill at the Edge of the World (plus an update)

March 14, 2019December 31, 2019Scott William Carter

Continuing my tradition of writing books and stories with really long titles, as well as taking occasional right-angle turns in my choice of projects, I’m pleased to announce that my latest book is available for sale site in paperback and ebook: The Castle on the Hill at the Edge of the World.

While full details about the book are listed below, as well as links to various retailers, let me just say in short that while this middle grade book is aimed at younger readers, I hope adults might give it a shot, too. For me, after I had to temporarily put aside a very ambitious epic I’d been working on for the better part of a year, just to get some perspective on it, I wanted to take on a shorter, more intimate story as a change of pace. I’m hoping some of my adult fans might find it to be a pleasant change of pace, too. I think of it as a mix of Bridge to Terabithia and Coraline, so if you like either of those books, you might like this one, too. If you enjoy it, please say so on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever you bought it. Those online reviews really make a huge difference and are the best way you can show an author you appreciate their work (other than buying their books, that is!).

As for what’s next on tap? Well, you Garrison Gage fans hopefully won’t have to wait too much longer, because I’m closing in on the end of the sixth Gage book now. Nope, can’t tell you exactly when it will be out, but soon. After that? Well, as far as books are concerned, we’ll have to see (that Big Epic is starting to call me back to take another crack at the idea), but speaking of right angle turns, I have another very different kind of project I plan to launch next month:

I’m starting a comic strip.

What? Huh? Come again?

I imagine that’s the reaction of almost everyone except those who’ve known me a very long time. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I grew up loving Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Bloom County, The Far Side, and many others, and continue to love strips like Stone Soup, Get Fuzzy, Dilbert, and Luann. One of my first dreams, around the age of eight or nine, was to be a cartoonist. As I got older, I focused more and more on fiction, letting my drawing skills go a bit dormant, but as I started to get back into drawing the past few years (partly as a way to focus on something other than the Nonsense Factory taking over Washington D.C.), the old dream to create a cartoon strip came roaring back.

And I thought, why not now? Sure, my drawing skills may always need more practice and improvement, but I figure I might as well practice in public. Otherwise, I may never quite get over the hump of getting this project off the ground, and I’m fine with people seeing me get better (hopefully) as I go.

No, I’m not going to say anything more about the comic strip at this point except that I’m publishing it independently online, and that the start date will be April 22, 2019. So check back here for more information next month. I’ll have a lot more to say about my plans. Other than that, I’ll just tease you with the little cat named Lily pictured on the right, who will be one of the stars of the show. No, I’m not stopping writing fiction. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll fit it all in, especially with the day job at the university and the family, but I’ll find a way. In fact, lately, as I’ve worked on both the writing and the cartoon strip, I’ve found that switching back and forth has actually energized me and made me more productive overall. Strange, eh? It never ceases to amaze me how you can always find time to do the work you love (even when you don’t always love it — especially then) as long as you really commit to doing the daily work and let the rest sort itself out.

What else is going on? Well, I’m finishing up teaching WR 464: Writing for Publication again. While I enjoy teaching, and do plenty of short term training and presenting in both my university and creative life, I find teaching a four-credit college course like this one both rewarding and exhausting. I always come away glad I did it but also glad I don’t teach college courses full-time.

More soon.

———-

The Castle on the Hill at the Edge of the World

If everybody would just leave Sam alone, she’d be perfectly happy hanging out in The Land Between, the undeveloped forest at the end of the street where she can pretend, at least for a little while, that life is much better than it really is. Then a strange boy moves in next door and all her problems get a lot worse.

Rob (or does he go by Bobby?) insists that his parents are prisoners in a mysterious castle in another world. Others claim the truth of his past is far more tragic. When her new friend vows to rescue his parents or die trying, Sam must make a fateful choice that will change both their lives forever — and reveal just how thin the line between imagination and hope can really be.

(Links to other retailers available soon. Check here for updated information.)

Bury the Dead in Driftwood A Garrison Gage Mystery

Bury the Dead in Driftwood
A Garrison Gage Mystery