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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

Audible · blogging · NaNoWriMo

Downtime

Joe Hallett3 Comments

Needing some downtime. NaNoWrimo was a great challenge, but to accomplish it, I put off and set aside a lot of things (I should have been doing). Sacrifices needed to be made. Catching up on those things and mental fatigue is telling me to chill for a bit. It’s the holidays anyway, so I am taking it slow between family gatherings and other festivities.

I feel that I had a productive year with my writing and art. Looking forward to 2024! My current work in progress, “Yellow Man,” will be my focus once I return to it. I finished the novel for NaNoWrimo, but it is not complete. There is a daunting amount of editing, plot holes, and things I want to add and clarify. The story is kind of complicated (because I am a masochist, I suppose), and it will take some finesse to clean it up for publishing.

The same thing goes with the Audible project. I have good intentions to work on it, but now I am busy again, and to do it right, I need the right mindset as well (and the holiday cheer Saturday night doesn’t help recording Sunday morning)

By the way, did you know that Kindle is an excellent gift? It’s instant, and there are no shipping charges!
Thanks for stopping by!

Audible · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Horror · NaNoWriMo · narrators · Podcasting

Im not stalling really.

Joe HallettLeave a comment
Yellow Man

I have been reviewing what I wrote during NaNoWriMo, the novel Yellow Man. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it since I wrote it so fast it felt like it would be a trainwreck. Overall, I am happy with the story. There is a lot to edit, no lie, and I missed a few crucial relationship interactions that I wanted to get in (I started a storyline between two characters but forgot about it halfway through). Since I barely met the word count goal, it’s technically not an entire novel, so I am glad that I forgot the extra content, and now I can take my time and add it in. I am also on the fence about the very, very end; I exposed maybe too much. I like to assume the reader is intelligent, so I try not to make some things obvious or point things out. so I might change it. If anyone wants to beta-read it and give me an opinion, That would be great! I am reluctantly starting the editing process (not my favorite part of writing) and I might share excerpts from it.

On the Audible update: I will resume recording Emergence Collective on Sunday and share it on Spotify. The studio is ready to go so I am going to start from the beginning, chapter one, since the sound quality has much improved since the first recordings. Would you prefer pure book content, or would you like commentary before or after the episode? I might keep it pure. I dunno.

How is the new release of the book going? Slower than the first. I don’t really know how to grow an audience, this is my broad stroke attempt (the blog), other than that I think I have only one copy sold to a stranger the rest of the six copies sold are the three I gifted and my close family. My severe introversion seems to be a roadblock. I guess when I die I will start selling books, I cant wait! just kidding, but maybe if I do get famous, after I die, you can say that you were here when it started!

Thanks for stopping by Give it a like and comment! I

Audible · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · NaNoWriMo

Audible Update: Took on too much

Joe HallettLeave a comment

As excited as I am about having my recording studio ready, I will have to wait to record. At least its not because of technical issues that are the most frustrating for me. But because this month is packed, and I don’t have enough time or mental energy to do it all.

NaNoWriMo has taken a life of its own, dominating my time. I wrote a lot in Yellow Man this weekend, but I am still a couple thousand words behind. Currently sitting on seventeen thousand words. (Which is crazy to me.) It was just bad timing to be honest. I had just finished writing Emergence Ascendedand am still working on the final edits. So to try to record Emergence Collective is too much. After NaNowriMo is over, I can cool my jets a bit and dedicate myself to that project.

Author · blogging · NaNoWriMo · writing

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Joe Hallett9 Comments

No, Mork, that is not Nanoo Nanoo. NaNoWriMo is a writing challenge to finish your novel of fifty thousand words (or more) in one month, held every November. Sounds crazy (especially when it took me two years to write sixty thousand). The idea is not to end November with a ready-to-publish manuscript but to get your crazy idea out of your head onto proverbial paper. Bang out two thousand words a day, and you can login a sixty thousand word novel that is ready to be dissected, rearranged, edited, edited, etc…

This year I joined officially. It was good timing since I finished Emergence Asended, I am ready to get to work on “Yellow Man” (I have got to come up with a better name). Oh… maybe “Slicker”? Anyway, I figured I’d give it a shot. I do not expect to do two thousand a day; that’s a great average, but I hope to keep close to it, more on the weekends and whatever I can pound out at lunch and breaks from work. If you are a writer and you want to participate, It’s not too late to start. It is only day two. Search my username JsHallett on NaNoWriMo.org and we can be writing buddies! Challenge and support each other, or join the forums and make new friends.

Are you gonna join? Let me know in the comments, or just say hi!

Audible · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · readers

Chapter snippet…

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Chapter 33 of Emergence Ascended just a tease. Sadly the Audio gods are angry, and my plans of recording more chapters of Emergence ascended went the way of the Dodo (with fewer feathers.) Still in the plans I might try to squeeze it out after work, if I can fine a quiet space. I have been considering dropping chapters of Emergence Ascended right here. Any interest out there or should I wait for the book release?

Thanks for checking it out!

art · Author · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective

Switching gears

Joe Hallett3 Comments

It’s been a great couple of weeks, with a quick vacation and a holiday weekend. I did not spend any time writing. I let myself get bored. Boredom is a very healthy state of being in my opinion. It makes your brain ooze creativity as it aches to do something, anything. So I let myself get bored, refilling the creativity, parts of my brain. I also switched gears from writing and spent a lot of time doing some laser engraving projects (As shown above). Now that things are going back to normal, I will start posting again and writing my WIP. I also plan on recording more chapters of “Emergence collective.” So if you have been following my Spotify, more episodes are coming soon (Sunday maybe)

Thanks for checking out my blog!

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 · 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.

Author · blogging · writing

The act of creation itself is the point.

Joe Hallett6 Comments

The soft buzzing and thumping on the window caught my attention. I watch the house fly repeatedly hurl itself toward the window, confident of its escape despite the uncounted attempts it has made before, but maybe the next one. I am amused at the fly’s confusion, oblivious to the nature of the impenetrable barrier that has prevented its passage to the outside world. Buzz, thump. Buzz, thump.

My amusement fades as I now sympathize with its plight and its frustrations as I similarly smash myself against the impenetrable barrier that is myself, my imagination. I hurl my words against the page one by one, only to realize that I am not getting anywhere, no progress to be made, but I, too, continue to assault the page unrelenting. Maybe the next word. The next paragraph.

I destroy everything and begin again, but I find a sense of calm in this destruction. Like a sand mandala, I recognize the impermanence of it and change my state of mind, allow the process to complete itself, and give in to it. Thump, buzz, another word.

Chapter 30. How many versions are there? How many more? Will the next word, sentence, or paragraph enlighten me to move on to its completion? Yes, and then, I will begin again until I am finished and at peace.

The truth is that I have written and rewritten several versions of chapter 30. Each one gets a little closer, but I have typed and deleted more words in this one chapter than anything I have written before. And the funny thing is that it is not one of the “important” chapters. It’s not a chapter that needs a special message, clue, or red herring. Even this post had more than one version. I started it, but it read like I was complaining or whiney about the lack of progress. I am not a fly that can not see the glass it smashes itself against. I know there is a way around it.