At the end of January I announced that I would be closing down this blog, and relocating.
Well, that time has come, and this is going to be my last post here. But I’m taking away a lot of great memories, and friendships that have formed while bringing you amazing books and authors.
But That’s Not The End Of Things
I still have so many wonderful authors and books to bring you, and will continue to do so over on my new site.
The journey continues over at http://timothybatesonauthor.com where you can sign up to get the latest posts direct to your email address.
So, if you’ve enjoyed seeing all the wonderful books and author interviews I’ve posted here, be sure to pop over to:
New Blog Slots Will Be Opening Soon!
For the authors among you, I’ll be opening up my “Author Services” pages very soon, and you’ll be able to submit your books, author interviews, and apply for one-to-one character interviews very shortly.
Please follow the new blog for an announcement on that front.
There are a number of reasons for my recent silence here on “Ramblings of an Author”, and I can only apologize for not having been able to give advanced notice.
Part of the reason is that over the holiday season I was very distracted by a couple of exciting projects.
More recently, it’s because I’m stepping into a new role for this year’s Brain to Books Cyber Convention & Book Expo.
This has turned out to be a much bigger project than I anticipated at first.
I had to decide on the appearance of the site, and I had way too many ideas at first.
Then I needed to check into the available WordPress templates, and decided I didn’t want to spent to much on getting one custom made for me. Instead I chose to spend many hours building my own – And I’m very pleased with the initial results.
Creating the basic pages for the site has taken some time, because it’s partly a migration from here, and my old Weebly site, and partly a major update of information and format.
I had (and still have) some interesting challenges with the formatting and indexing of the blog pages. This part of the site is still very much a work in progress.
Please feel free to check out the site, and leave me any notes, feedback, criticisms, navigation problems, etc. in the comments below.
For the short term I’ll be blogging on both sites, with slightly different content going out on the new site. Once I have that site settled in, and all the bugs worked out, I’ll be moving there exclusively.
Here’s the bonus homework. Visit the new site, and make sure you check out a blog post. Scroll to the bottom, and subscribe for email notification of new posts.
Reason #2 – Brain To Book Cyber Convention & Book Expo 2019
(Please note, the image is from the 2018 event, so the dates are wrong).
This year’s Brain to Books Cyber Convention and Book Expo will be running from April 12th through April 14th 2019, and I have agreed to take on a more active role than ever before.
Previously I’ve been a participating author, and then the Genre Manager for the Fantasy events. This in itself has been a lot of work, because it means coordinating blog tours, competitions, giveaways, live discussion panels, and a host of authors.
Well, this year, I’ve done something really crazy, and agreed to take on an overhaul of the event site, and much of the setup work for the event. But, I won’t be alone, because we always have a great team of volunteers t get everything running.
My wife and I have become hooked on the model kits from “Metal Earth”. Sandi loves to buy me the kits, and I keep making them.
They’re a fun challenge, with several levels of difficulty and size.
My wife brought me the Colosseum and the Parthenon for Christmas, and then we added another seven kits about a week ago.
I recently reviewed four of the Doctor Who themed kits, over on my new site. There is also a breakdown of how I found the assembly of the “Cyberman Head” kit (shown completed above).
Between all these projects, I’ve been so busy creating things that I actually ran out of material to post here.
But don’t despair, I have started working on a line-up of articles and posts for my new site, and I still have some guest posts to come on here.
Going Forward…
I’m going to allow the existing posts I have scheduled for other authors go out as planned through February.
After that I’m going to be moving all new posts to http://timothybatesonauthor.com, so please be sure to subscribe for updates. Over the coming weeks, I’ll post more reminders of what’s happening, and when.
Richard
Parsons is a maverick wolf-shifter with a tendency to find trouble. When
a traveling exhibition returns to the McCaw Museum Richard finds that
he has personal reasons to visit after hours. His audacious plan goes
awry when a particular display forces painful memories to the surface.
Can Richard face down the demons of his past before the police become aware of his presence?
An amazing take on Lycans. I love the dark view taken but also the unique point of view that makes you want to care for the dark creatures.
Jin Okubo (Amazon Reviewer)
“That conflict that is driven into the story. That beautiful story arc that starts off so well.. that builds up to a beautiful crescendo, and then it just drops you and your heart is going to drop when it’s time for it. And you’re going to feel it. You’re going to feel the protagonists pain. You’re going to feel everything.”
Jin Okubo (Video Review)
“I’m usually a gal who needs romance in her books, but I have to say that I got my hands on a copy of Under a Hunter’s Moon by Timothy Bateson and found a great read! This is a short story, so it’s a quick read, but it’s got suspense, action, and it left me wanting to know when the next one is coming out! If you enjoy shifter stories, this one is a great Urban Fantasy short story that introduces you to some characters that you’ll definitely need to know more about!”
Anna (Amazon Reviewer)
“I enjoy the author’s twist on the old werewolf lore, creating a whole new version and calling them Lupines, to allow him to break the rules of the legends without really breaking things, if you know what I mean. “
Ever since I started writing short stores, I’ve been creating 3D models of the characters (using Daz3D). These designs give me a reference point to keep character descriptions consistent.
Then over at the old site I created basic character profiles, but was never happy with the design.
However, that’s all about to change, with the recent leaking of several files from the Seattle Police Department’s Supernatural TaskForce.
This Reporter Just Received Several “SPD:STF Classified Files” From An Anonymous Source.
Over the years, Seattle residents have heard rumors of things that defy explanation. From ghosts to real magicians, from vampires to creatures from ancient legend, there is apparently an agency that deals with them when they come to public attention.
These newly acquired files give us an insight into some of those who have allegedly saved the city from many unexplained threats, or caused them. Who knows what the truth of the matter is… But this reporter just gives the facts as he sees them, and it’s time the world knew about these threats…
— Silas Agnew, SeattleWonderer.Com
Click the profile images to access the secure documents…
I’m going to keep this week’s post rather shorter than usual. I’ve been busy working on my new author website, which has been a great learning experience.
I’m creating everything from the ground up, including:
Page designs
Revised versions of the reader content from the old site
A whole new blog design with different layouts for each blog post type
Updated Character Profiles
I had character profiles on the old website, but I was never really happy with their format. So, I tried something new. I’ll admit that I’m biased about the results.
But, because I’m so happy with the new format, I’m sharing a sneak peek with you. You’re seeing this before anyone else, because I won’t be linking the character profiles into the menu until they’re all done.
Richard Parsons is a wolf-shifter with a drinking problem, and the star of several of the “Shadows Over Seattle” stories. Check out his profile to see what kind of police record he’s built up…
I’m officially a NaNoWriMo winner, as off 7:30pm on November 27th 2018.
Today was a surprisingly amazing day of writing. I wrote over 4,000 words and finished NaNoWRiMo three days ahead of the deadline.
“Of Wolves And Men” now sits at a nice 50,163 words, and I’m reaching the half-way marker. Things are only going to get more interesting for our hero from here on out.
What Now?
I’m going to keep writing hard and fast until the end of the month
Then I’m going to slow down a little so I can work out the end of the story before I reach it
I’ll keep posting the Friday Insight posts until just before the novel reaches it’s end
If you’re interested in seeing where my NaNoWriMo total finishes, check out my profile.
There comes a point in every author’s career where they need to have a website that is entirely theirs to control.
Since I started writing I’ve had my blog hosted here on WordPress, and my website hosted through Weebly. And I’ve been very proud of the work I’ve done on both sites, but keeping a consistent look between the two sites has been difficult.
Even worse, if either site decided to delete my accounts I would lose everything I’d produced.
So now it’s time for a huge change, and that means I’m taking control of everything.
What’s Coming Up?
If you scrolled this far, you’ve seen a glimpse of the current state of development on the website. Here’s a few of the things you can expect to see:
A dedicated page for each of my books
A new author profile page
An author services page
A new home for my blogging
If you want to get a look at things as they develop over the next few weeks, you can see it at http://timothybatesonauthor.com.
That’s right, you read that right… Ramblings of an Author has surpassed 600 posts.
I can’t believe I almost let a momentous event pass by without comment.
My only excuse is that I got caught up in the whirlwind of the “31 Days of Halloween” event.
I Want To Thank EVERYONE Who’s Followed Me For Years!!!
Readers, Followers, Ramblers… Whatever you like to think of yourself, you’re the people I do this for. What started out as a means to get into the habit of writing something regularly has become something of a passion for me.
226 of you clicked that ‘Follow’ button, but so many more catch my new posts through Twitter and Facebook. I can’t thank you all enough for your continued support and interest.
And To My Fellow Authors…
Writers, Authors, Contributors, Friends… It’s a pleasure to have been able to work with every single one of you. I really love being be able to share your books, interviews, and guest posts. So many of you have invited me into your worlds that I can’t help but feel blessed.
What’s Coming Next?
After running the “31 Days Of Halloween” event for the last two years, I’ve come to see that themed months are a ton of fun.
That’s one reason I’m currently running my “Friday Insight”, which follows my NaNoWriMo 2018 journey. Each Friday you’ll be getting a taste of what I’ve been writing during the week. I hope you enjoy.
Meanwhile…
Let me know in the comments how long you’ve been following, and what features you keep coming back for.
In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month, yesterday concluded my annual “31 Days of Halloween Event”. – 31 posts went out over 31 days.
If you can spare a few moments, I’m also seeking some feedback on the event (scroll to the bottom of the post).
This Wasn’t A Solo Endeavor
None of this would have been possible without the help, and contributions from some wonderfully talented authors. So, here’s my round-up of the contributors, the posts they provided (in the image captions), and where you can find them.
If any of them provided you even the slightest entertainment in the Halloween build-up, please go show them some love… and tell them how much you liked their contribution.
(Times are for the Alaska timezone, EST -4 hours, GMT -9 hours)
Entries can be earned by completing any of the three tasks, and one of the tasks can earn you additional entries every day.
Here’s how the prizes are going to break down.
Prize
Item
Provided By
1st
E-Book “Wolves In The Desert” Audio/E-Book “Ghosts Of The Sea Moon” E-Book “Protecting The Dead” E-Books “The 13: Tales of the Illusory”, “The 13: Tales of Macabre”, “Till Death Do Us Part” E-Book “The Greatest of Books”
Timothy Bateson A.F. Stewart Katherine Gilbert Stephanie Ayers
Timothy Bateson (ramblings of an author) 