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30-minute shivers. · about me · Audible · Author · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · Horror · Instagram · NaNoWriMo · narrators · readers · reading · science fiction

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I have always liked that saying. I don’t know why. Maybe I enjoy duality. As I poke my head out of the cave of 2023 into the dawning of 2024 I am looking ahead for a great writing year. I have some great intentions, both long-term and short-term.

I will pause here and do my obligatory reflections of 2023. I’ll start with the fun stuff, I published another novel “Emergence Ascended.” I Wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo, which was a bucket list item. (Now I feel like I can legitimately say I am a Novelist.) I Did an interview on Youtube to promote my new novel (It didn’t help, but it was a fun experience). If you follow my social media accounts you may notice that I do not do the random selfie post as I prefer to stay in the background (Introvert stuff) but in the spirit of self-promotion I powered through.

There is probably more highlights of fun things in 2023 but sometimes I want to keep things for me. That being said there was some interesting things in 2023, just to keep it spicy. The big one is a series of events starting with a road rage incident, our vehicle got a nice bullet hole. Sent it to the bodyshop for repair, of which there was a break in and OUR vehicle was stolen to commit a crime. It was recovered a month later with a group of homeless occupying it in an alleyway. Toxicology report deemed it hazardous and it had to be ‘totaled’ by the insurance (we didn’t want to drive a Meth car anyway.) Replaced the vehicle with a new one from the insurance money. Whew. But that is not all. A month later a windstorm took out a tree, causing it to fall onto our home, and, Guess what?… The new Van. Yup. Lucky it was a glancing blow and our Insurance (again) fixed the repairs for that (No we did not take it to the same bodyshop) But wait there is more. Our upstairs bathtub cracked and flooded the garage. SO now we have a shiny new bath room remodel (that we are still paying for at the cost of 400$ a month)All in all, though it was a financially and mentally stressful year, we survived, and I still think the good outweighed the bad as far as 2023 goes.

Whats next? I have some very good intentions for the year coming up. First on my agenda is to finish “Yellow Man.” the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo. There are some good bones in the story, and I am working on fleshing out some details and adding things I missed or neglected in the first rough draft. Who knows how long this process is going to take me, but I am optimistic I can get it finished soonish.

I have several more stories I want to get down. Most are just thumbnail thoughts, and don’t have names yet. The “Bigfoot” story is next after Yellow Man. I love Cryptids and am excited to get that one rolling. I have two possible endings rolling around, I guess I will decide when I get there. Another one is the Will-o-the-wisp story. I want to get that one done before the BIG project. The Big Project is a storyline that will turn into a series (more than likely) with some vignettes here and there. There is a great setting that I thing I can create a small little world around with different adventures to play with. But this one I am going to give a lot of thought while I finish the other three stories. I want to get those out of the way because I predict that the big project will consume a few years (at the least, unless I get bored or distracted, which is probable)

Of course I will keep on keeping on with the blog. I will jot down some more short stories for your enjoyment. I am still compiling short stories for my book “30-minute Shivers.” A collection of short horror stories.

The Audible project, I intend to start recording (for realz this time) on Sunday mornings. I can enjoy my new “recording studio” and give you my least cringy narration to Emergence Collective on Spotify.

Thank you for spending your time visiting my blog; I sincerely appreciate it. I love interacting and building friendships, so feel free to comment and like. You can follow my socials and other projects by clicking the linktree. https://linktr.ee/jshallett

about me · amazon · Author · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective

I got something cookin’!

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Oh, I can’t wait to share! But it’s a project that is out of my hands, so I have to wait to tell you. I have always been horrible about keeping a secret. Not that I can’t be trusted with a confidential secret or something like that. The secrets I have a hard time keeping are things like a gift I can’t wait for you to enjoy or a particularly exciting piece of news. So this is as far as I can go; just a tease for something very cool coming up, so Stay tuned; it could be any day now.

As far as my progress on “Emergence Ascended” goes, The rewrite of chapter 42 is very satisfying, and I started chapter 43 with great momentum.   It’s hard to gauge because I don’t know what I am writing until I write it. However, I think chapter 44 will be the last. The fun stuff is over after that, and then there are edits and artwork for the cover. (I am in the market for an illustrator for the book cover, so if there is someone you like, send them my way.)

Now that I am getting close to completing this book, I have to resist the urge to start my next one. My attention deficit disorder compels me to start a new project when I have enough of the last project done to be considered ‘close enough’ and then jump to the next. And that explains why I have hundreds of unfinished works. (to be fair, most are not good enough to finish.)

I want to thank  “Jolene,”  whoever you are, for Leaving a great review of “Emergence Collective’ on Amazon. It means more than I can say. Ratings and reviews help bring awareness to my books and to me, So I appreciate it sincerely.

about me · blogging

Recharging…..

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Yes I am still around!, I have been on holiday with the family. Getting away from it all and ditching technology (as much as I can.) Recharging my creative batteries. I expect to start posing again in a week or so. Stay tuned!

about me · Author · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · reading · voice acting · writing

Audible update: Bonus edition

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I decide to go ahead and do the commentary on my audiobook on Spotify. If you are interested in hearing me ramble on and attempt to share my ideas and feeling about “Emergence Collective,” there is the bonus episode now on Spotify, in addition to chapters 18 and 19.

As I look back, I can see how far I have grown as a writer in just the last year. (Ya know, when I actually started to get serious about it). Narrating the book has taught me so much more than I anticipated that it would, and to be honest, I didn’t think it would be any more than me reading aloud. But as I read, I see a lot that I can improve on, namely the overall structure. It hadn’t occurred to me when I was writing it, that my chapters are very short, (I don’t know if there are rules or anything concerning chapter length) but now I see that. The story still flows well and I am happy with the overall story. I think that “Emergence Ascended” is much more concise and smoother. the flow is better and I think I have a solid handle on the pacing. If you have read “Emergence Collective,” you should be getting excited about the sequel. I am nearing the end and I am getting excited (sort of) about the editing and final reviews. If you want to beta-read it, let me know!

In the meantime, check out the latest episodes on Spotify. Please comment/like or you can simply just say hi at Hello@hand-printsofdarkness.com Be sure to follow my Spotify page to get notified of the latest episodes!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3eu7h1p9xRSLf9VUAutnlm?si=749df4536ec045a2
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bIJfd0Ig7dNKX6K9cBIuE?si=9faec8164f864186

Thanks for stopping by!

about me · Audible · Author · writing

Afterglow

Joe Hallett2 Comments

Glad that’s over. This blog is about my writing, so I try to not bring my work or home life into it (Boring, right?) But sometimes, it had a direct effect on my writing, so here it is. I had a very stressful week at work. I work in aerospace (Boeing, Space X, Blue Origin, etc…), and in aerospace, there are several governing agencies in place to ensure quality standards are maintained. Primarily the FAA and NADCAP. NADCAP is the National Aerospace and Defense Accreditation Program. This accreditation is very important; without it the shop would not be able to make parts. Anyway, after 3 days of diligent scrutiny, I have successfully passed the audit with barely a scratch.  It was a near-flawless outcome that entitles me to “Merit,” meaning that we are successful enough to get a six extension of our audit schedule. So I am basking in the afterglow of success!

What all this has to do with my writing is that I can now focus without the distractions of work. I am sure I am like most creatives in that if there is a lot of stress in the background, it interferes with creativity.  Other good work news is that I am rebuilding my staff to pre-pandemic levels and I do not have to take up the slack anymore. No more overtime and weekend work!  All that being said, I look forward to getting some writing in!

As far as my Audible recording project goes, there is a snag. Of course, as I mentioned before, I recorded the wrong chapter last week and had intended on recording the correct one on Sunday (chapter 13) and re-recording 14 because I had some weird sound quality stuff that I want to correct.  My son gave me his cold again. I could have recorded, but I wanted to spare the audience the sounds of my sneezing, coughing and other unfortunate vocal issues. Next week? That is my plan! Stay tuned. If you like listening to the story so far, but are eager to know what happens next, check out the book on Amazon!

about me · Author · spiritualism · writing

Forgiveness

Joe Hallett2 Comments

One of the things that I enjoy about writing it is the personal growth I get out of it. Since I started writing, I learned there is much more research than expected. As an autodidact, it’s in my wheelhouse, so there is a natural fit. Anyway, I get swept into some interesting research areas as I think about the plot, how the characters fit, and their motivations. (My search history makes me look like a pacifist that is making bombs)  

So Waxing philosophically, I am thinking about forgiveness. What it is to forgive, what it takes to be forgiving. Can forgiveness be a lie we tell ourselves? How does the act affect people? As it turns out, forgiveness (now that I am thinking about it) is more than just one thing. There are a lot of different ideas about different kinds of forgiveness, but I think it can be boiled down to two. Conditional and unconditional.

 But what is the real meaning of forgiveness?

Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.

“Regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.” Ok, let’s explore that for a sec.

To me, on the face of it, that is a selfless and altruistic act. Kinda nice. But with all things tied to true altruism (I am a fan of the subject for some reason), intention is a significant element. Of course, there are circumstances to consider, but without blah blah blahing about hundreds of scenarios. Do they deserve your forgiveness? To me, putting a condition on it, such as “To deserve it,” goes against the altruistic aspect. And makes your intentions personal. A quasi-condition? Forgive if they ask for it? That is still conditional.

The “generally” defined meaning of forgiveness stated before summarizes the true altruistic spirit of forgiveness. Anything else is not.

As I examine these ideas for my character’s benefit, I think about my feelings on the subject. I always felt I was a pretty forgiving person, but I will lean heavier on the Altruistic intention of it.

PSA, I am not writing a self-help book nor am I a psychologist. These are just random thoughts to organize my brain and get the damned story finished 😉

about me · Author · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · readers · writing

Benchmarks.

Joe Hallett2 Comments

It occurred to me that I had overlooked a benchmark on my writing journey. My one-year Blogsaverary was on February 18th. I can not boast of having a large following or mind-blowing analytics,  but I have had a steadily increasing number. I have ninety-one subscribers, and that is a lot for me. I want to thank those of my ninety-one (was ninety-two yesterday); sorry if I bored you or said something offensive, Mr. Ninety-two.)) that is genuinely interested in what I have to say. You are the ones that keep me going. As to the rest of the follow me, follow you people, understand I don’t care about numbers, And I will not follow you because you followed me. Ridiculous. (I have a low opinion of such things) Anyway, Numbers don’t matter. You can have a thousand followers that don’t read the blog, but If the one that does read it finds meaning or insight or just entertainment from what I write, that is fulfilling to me.) But sincerely, thank you to those that have stuck with me. I have developed some great friendships through my blog, which makes it worth it.

I started this blog not really knowing about blogging, to be honest. After I finished my first book “Emergence collective,” it was suggested that I start a blog to promote it. So, I did. And here we are. I am not a blogger. I am a writer looking for an audience and engagement with that audience. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of being a blogger. I feel it creates an unnecessary responsibility to continuously create content to keep my blog alive, which was created to find an audience for my books and writing. Blogging is writing, I understand that, but I like to write fiction. Science fiction, horror, fantasy, the stuff that is not entangled with reality. However, I should recognize that despite frustrations, time restraints, and bouts of apathy, I have made it past the one-year Benchmark! *pats myself on the back*

Benchmarks are tools used for “ground truthing.” A benchmark is a survey marker used to verify or validate quantitative aerial observations (Maps). That is an apt metaphor for my blog and writing journey. I can see where I am and know where I want to go.

Another benchmark (a mental one) is closer to a feeling,  but I feel that I am on the downward side of the hill regarding my second book, “Emergence Ascended.” It’s a feeling since I really do not know how long this book is going to be, but I feel I am past the halfway point. The same reason why I have yet to have a mid-life crisis, I don’t know when I am going to die, so I don’t know when it’s my mid-life (I feel I am missing out on something fun now).

Thanks again for taking your valuable time to read my blog and comment. Your engagement is priceless to me. I am looking forward to more benchmarks to come.

about me · Audible · Emergence Ascended · writing

Happy Ostara/Easter

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Its a Holiday weekend, I am hoping it I can still get some writing and recording done before the festivities commence. But as we all know, when I make a plan, it goes to hell, so here is hoping. After I actually Finished the dreaded chapter 30, Of Emergence Ascended (my current work in progress), I feel like the rest of the book is going to go fast, and that is exciting. Then I get to edit! yay. editing.. yeah.

So, those of you that are eager to hear the next episode on Spotify, That is my focus for the weekend. Happy holidays for those that celebrate them and have a good weekend for those that don’t. Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog!

about me · Author · blogging

Where ever you go, there you are.

Joe Hallett2 Comments

This blog is my space to write about my writing journey. So I try not to talk about the mundane life stuff like work or personal matters, since everyone already gets to have their own, I don’t need to give them more. But work-life does interfere with my writing, so that part of the crossover is what I am talking about. Hopefully, this will be one of the last times I type the word Covid. but yeah, that’s part of it. The Aerospace industry had also been impacted by Covid. The one-two punch for those of us that are Boeing Subcontractors, The 737 Max production getting shut down for almost 3 years has almost killed our shop and I have watched many (of our competitors muwahahahah) completely go out of business. Our workload has decreases and we had to let a lot of good people go. Most of my crew too.

That means that I have been busy doing the work of 3 other people that I used to lean on. Don’t get the idea that I am complaining, that is not my point. The point is that fatigue and time to actually write my stories and keep up with the blog have been influenced by world events. I am pretty sure I have made similar posts with promises that I will be more consistent in posting on the blog. I apologize that that hasn’t been the case.

That was then, this is now. Covid is seemingly under control, the FAA has allowed production again and our shop is getting much busier, and hiring! (If you work in Aerospace and need a job, I know a guy 😉 ) That being said I am building my crew back and that should give me some of my valuable time back to give to you. If you have stuck with me so far, I sincerely appreciate it. If you are new to my blog, expect more fun to happen. As always feel free to comment on this post or shoot me an email at hello@hand-printsofdarkness.com or simply give it a like! Thanks for reading.

about me · art · Emergence Collective · readers · science fiction · spiritualism · writing

Character snapshot, Visual edition: Mark and Trina

Joe Hallett2 Comments

It’s a character snapshot, but these two characters are equally important
together as they are apart, so I decided to lump the snapshot together. I
really enjoyed writing the relationship between these two. I really wanted to
express the kind of purity of love two people could share if they had the
freedom of innocence….

 

Mark’s beat-up Honda fishtailed around the corner of the driveway and then
skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust in front of the longhouse. Trina had
a white-knuckle grip on the dashboard as if she was holding on for dear
life. “Why do you have to drive like a crazy person?” she shouted, but the look
on her face was one of excitement rather than terror.  “Umm, because
it’s fun?” he said with a chuckle. “Well, here we are. Let’s find the best
cabin before anyone else calls dibs.” 

“Yeah, good call,” she said as she got out of the car and stretched her
back. “This is a cool place,” she said as she looked around, taking in the
layout of the place. “But geez, namaste much?” Mark chuckled at that last
remark. “Yeah, he was the poster child for hippies, I guess. That’s
probably why my dad and Grandad pretended he didn’t exist.” “I think
you might be cut from the same cloth, honey, ya know? A long-hair dropout in a
family of lawyers and doctors. You’re not gonna get rich, but I love ya,”
she said softly. 

He walked over and put his hands on her tiny waist, and pulled her close to
him. “That’s how I know you love me. You’re not a gold digger. He
whispered in her ear, “That makes me richer than any of ’em.” 

“I think this place is making you mushy,” she whispered back. He moved
closer to her ear. “It’s also making me horny.” Then he playfully swatted her
butt. She pretended to be mad and started to push him away but grabbed his
hand and started pulling him to the cabins. “Let’s go find us a cabin, my
‘mushy’ man,” she said and winked at him. He dared not resist as she led
him down a random path. “These cabins are all in good condition. I was
imagining something like sleeping in a dirty barn,” Trina said as she
peered into the window of a pleasant-looking cabin. “I like this one, but I
want something, ya know, a little more private.” “Anything for you,
love,” he said, smiling. “Yeah, I think Uncle Frank had a lot of time on his
hands and kept the place up nicely.” 

They reached the end of the path at a cabin that seemed to be the farthest
from all the others. Mark walked up the few steps to the porch and opened
the door. “Should I carry you over the threshold?” Trina pushed past him
with a smirk. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, bucko,” she said
sarcastically. 

“Well then,” he said with an exaggerated bow, “after you, m’lady,” then
followed her in.