Plans for 2021.

 To say last year was shit would be a mild understatement. I struggled through it, like everyone else, but, damn. Some days were hard.

I saw friends lose jobs, my town centre become a ghost town, and nothing seemed to get any better. But, I managed to get four books published, and that gave me hope for my goals this year. So, what am I doing? Read on...

First off, the free book for my mailing list is with the editor and I should have it back next month. However, I know he is, like many other parents, home-schooling his children. If it is delayed, then, so be it. As a parent myself, I know the children always come first.

My next book will be The Adventures of Furman Simms. It's going through rough editing before I send it to the same editor and, I really like what I've written with this manuscript. I wanted a story with action and humour, and I think I might have achieved that with this book. In school, I was always the nerd trying to be funny but never was. I seem a lot better with comedy, but in written form. Not that I'm trying to boast, I know it's lame to laugh at your own jokes, but, I've given myself a little pat on the back for some of the stuff I came up with in the manuscript.

Then, there's my attempt at a military science fiction story. I've seen plenty of other authors write and publish such wonderful works that I found the whole idea intimidating. Finally, I had a good idea for a story and came up with a good enough outline for me to venture into this strange new land, and away I went. I'm working with a different artist for this title, and am going to crowdfund it to achieve a better reach. Time will tell if it works.

Finally, I want to publish written interviews with other authors and creatives on this blog. I intend on focusing on independents, like myself, because I really think smaller works are the future. Hell, take a look at the comics and graphic novels being crowd-funded on Indiegogo and Kickstarter. They're more popular than the mainstream comics.

My first big step of this year was getting this website up and running. I'm thrilled that (with a lot of help) I was able to do that. Thanks to all who've shown me support so far. I hope you join me on the continuing journey.

The Free Book

 Everybody loves a good freebie. It's a fact of life.

Many authors I've learned from have always said to have something free, usually, a short story, free with your mailing list as a way of getting people to subscribe. There's even a good book on the subject. I have had one on my mailing list until recently, a short prologue story to the Harem Nights trilogy. While I was happy with it, I really wanted to have something special for my mailing list that would set it apart from most.

So, I decided on a free novel.

NaNoWri2020 was coming up, and, I decided to take part in it, hoping for a good distraction from the bullshit that was 2020. I also wanted to try the method of Writing into the Dark, which is basically writing a full novel without an outline and letting the story lead the way. I figured, why not combine the two and see what happens? 

Well, I finished the novel two days before the end of November, which was pretty cool. The book started off as one story, but, took a major twist and became something else entirely at the beginning of the second act. I was blown away by the result, but, felt a little uncomfortable writing a novel without an outline. Don't get me wrong, it was a fascinating process, but, I decided it wasn't for me.

The story itself also proved to be a standalone, unless I have the idea for a sequel. I decided it was perfect for my mailing list as an exclusive. You won't find it anywhere else, unless, I decide to do an audiobook of it, but, such a decision is a long way off.

At the time of writing this post, the manuscript is still with the editor. The cover is almost complete (rough draft of that below) and I have advised any current mailing list subscribers of the incoming book. I've also changed the landing page of the mailing list to advise it's coming. 

I look forward to sharing it with those of you who are interested. I'd like to think this year will be good, productive-wise, as long as I keep writing with a positive attitude. Hopefully, people will like the free book, which I've titled Wasteland Vigilante (for now) and it will provide an entertaining read. 

Time will tell.

Me and my Books.

 My name is Justin Knight.

Welcome to my blog.

I've been writing stories from a young age. It all started on the floor of my grandmother's home when I was a child, staying there during school holidays. She and my aunt liked to watch their soap operas and I didn't like to stay quiet. So, my grandmother gave me a pad, a pen, and told me to "write a story or something," so I'd stay quiet.

That was when it all began for me.

I wrote many short stories, usually, ones based on video games I'd played or funky science fiction ones where little made sense. I wrote on and off for years and did actually write a book when I was a teenager. But, I made the mistake of sending it to a vanity publisher. One who was about to go out of business. Sure enough, once they'd taken my money, they did just that. Even though I got some author copies, my book never saw the light of day, but somehow, used sellers were selling copies on Amazon.

I didn't write again for a long time, not until the birth of my first child. I had a rocky start, relied on the wrong people, and had a bad first release I ended up taking down. But, that's a story for another time.

I got myself in gear and published a book that went through a lot of trial and error, Crush Depth in a Bikini, and it did alright. It was as good a restart as I could hope for, but, by God, was it a trip to get published. Again, though, that's a story for another time.

I'll have many blog posts to write about my writing, the goals I achieved, and where I stumbled along the way. I hope that, if anything, I can entertain you with the "behind the scenes" of writing a book, or a short story. If you take something else away from my ramblings, maybe even something personal, I'll take that as a bonus.

Thanks for joining me.