Hey folks,

This school year has been a bit crazy, so if I missed wishing you a Happy Birthday, or you noticed a significant decline in my posts/communication, I apologize. Happy birthday, condolences and congratulations. I hope to be coming out of the rain shadow of the self-indulged deluge really soon. Perhaps this will give you an idea of what I’m up to…

1. In order to have more time to write, I have taken a voluntary time/pay cut from my day job as teacher. I’ll be teaching 85% of full-time this year. But in order to do that I had to finish my coursework for my FINAL raise as a teacher [other than very occasional Cost of Living Adjustments]. In order to do that I completed over 100 clock hours between June 15th and September 30th. This was on top of completing a fence, prepping for classes and teaching. The final raise makes up for about half of the pay cut.  And come December, I will be be teach one less class per quarter. [70 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 24 weeks = 140 hours more to write between December and mid-June!]
2. So, what have I been doing writing-wise? I wrote a new Deserted Lands short story, titled DRIFT AWAY, for a Young Adult anthology. The work title for the Anthology is THAT MOMENT WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGES… It will be FREE and you will get introduced to 30 new YA authors. Caveat: The stories are all cliffhangered with a link to the author’s newsletter sign-up. Sign up for the newsletter, get the rest of the story. Page 2. [If you got that send me a note!]
3. I’ve also been re-editing Straight Into Darkness and have finished the 2nd Edition. When I went back to read it before starting NO MAN’S LAND, I found TOO many errors of various kinds, as well, as the ‘should have said that differently’ notations.  So I paid for another round of proofreading from Spencer Ellsworth, an amazing writer/editor/teacher and friend. I just got the new print copies yesterday.
4. What that means, besides getting on to the next writing project is that I have about 100 paperback copies of the Original Printing. I’ll be selling off those and the last of the original 500 copy print run of ALL IS SILENCE at cost. Price of the books + tax, price of the shipping, AND INSCRIBED for only  $14.99 in the U.S. So, if you want a copy for when I get famous… [I’ll also through in a free e-book download of ALL of my works so far.  So, you can save the print versions and read the updated ebook versions! I will keep this deal ONLY in person or for people buying direct from me online. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. I think it will also include a discounted price on the paperback of NO MAN’S LAND when it comes out next year.
5. I’m working on getting translations of  ALL IS SILENCE into Chinese, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese. So far the only certain one is Chinese and it is in the editing stage!
6. At this point I have NO APPEARANCES scheduled, so if you know of a Convention or Event that might want an author present, let me know.
7. I am doing NaNoWriMo and promoting my very own hashtag: #NaNowPlaying [Post what music you are listening to as you write.] in November. If you are local, hit me up for Write-Ins. Windward Writers will be hosting a couple community Write-Ins in my classroom and hopefully, some local libraries in November. My NaNoWriMo username is robertlslater [like almost all my other social media names] and you can buddy me if you’re interested in helping me write NO MAN’S LAND.  I can use the peer pressure.
8. I’m not sure I’m going to do my usual November promotions because I am feeling overwhelmed. I will be doing a BookBub advertisement to try to get folks read TOILS AND SNARES and sign up for my newsletter. Both  ALL IS SILENCE & STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS are on sale 30% off at KOBO. Scroll down to SciFI & Fantasy. Promo Code: 30Oct.
9. A call out to Mark Leslie and KOBO for exceeding Amazon in sales over the last six months, mostly in commonwealth countries: Canada, Australis, England, Ireland, and New Zealand. I’ve sold more ebooks outside the U.S. than inside for the last six months!
10. Waiting for DESERTED LANDS in audio book format? I am staring recording. I’m not certain I will stay with myself as the narrator, and will audition other voice actors. If you’re interested in giving feedback, please sign up for my newsletter in the ORANGE box at the top left of this page.
11. I made it to eleven. This post goes to eleven. As a final word. PLEASE VOTE if you can. Wherever you live/love. You can change the course of history. Try to find someone you don’t agree with and discover common ground. This has been a divisive year, find ways to connect with people on the fence as well as those on both sides. We are all in this together. At least until Elon gets the Muskies to Mars!

“(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding?” Thanks Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello for defining one of the tenets of my life.