Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We hosted here, with lots of family, two turkeys (not family) and lots of other good food. I made one of the turkeys this year, and it turned out pretty good. These are my writing buddies: Murphy (the big one) and Bella (the not so big one). They're both doodles, but the little one is a mini. Bella is my shadow when I'm home. Murphy is his own dog, but he'll spend some time with me when I'm around. They're both "my kids' dogs," but since I walk them,...
10 days ago • 7 min read
Hey, fellow writers. As the subject line suggests, my book launch for Bones of Cenaedth did not go well. Still, there is a lot one can learn from it. If you'll bear with me for a bit, I'll get to how I lost $1500, point out some obvious flubs, and propose what might help beyond fixing the flubs. Note: I'm not proofing this. It's just a gnarly spitup of thoughts. Where to learn about advertising But first, let me back up and talk about some gear shifting I've done over the past months. The...
18 days ago • 6 min read
My youngest turned 14 since the last newsletter. She invited her whole class over for pizza and general amuckness… amuckity? The parents who stayed had a blast brainstorming on a podcast proposal and chasing errant thoughts down Alice-in-wonderland-sized rabbit holes. After keeping the neighborhood lively, the kids settled in for reasons we didn’t fully comprehend (though I’m imagining a light pole or street sign might be down somewhere… or a bundle of TP might be missing from the garage),...
26 days ago • 3 min read
The Scare for the Cure is becoming a family tradition. We go to Good Luck Grill beforehand, have burgers (chicken fried steak for me, please), then venture through what amounts to a bloody escape room. This year went light on the puzzles and more heavy on the acting. Despite the fact that the adventure was book themed (the Hunter could only catch you when you were between the worlds of different stories, like Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, The Raven), without the puzzles, I found it...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
A week-and-a-half after retirement, my buddy sent a pic from the gym room at work, asking where I was. My first thought was, "Why are they in the office on a Saturday?" It was Thursday. That shows where my head is. 🙃 I haven't hit a home run in my job search, nor has anything knocked my socks off. I had an opportunity that appealed to me more than others, working at a startup called Tenstorrent. Though I didn't get the job, I realized through the process that I really like the idea of a...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
I would like to lock down my blurb so that I can send it to the cover editor. I took input from April, then made more edits. I’m open to suggestions. Also pretty happy with it. The Mother of Trees withers while the trolls prepare to conquer a crumbling world. The elves’ only hope rests on a desperate plan forged by a fanatical Warder with questionable motives. Elliah, a magicless elf cursed by prophecy, holds the key to either salvation or destruction. Forced into an uneasy alliance with the...
2 months ago • 1 min read
I've got the email sequence and epub ready for ARC readers. Sign up here for your FREE ARC epub of Book 2 of Thaumatropic Roots, Bones of Cenaedth. (It puts you on the same email list you're already on... it just tags you as an ARC reader and sends you the emails specific to the release.) All books by Steven J. Morris May you get lost this week in another world. Follow me on Goodreads. Subscribe
2 months ago • 1 min read
This is my first day “retired” after 27 years at Intel. Everyone tells me I should have a plan how to spend the first day. I don’t. I'm kinda thinking a beer for breakfast. Set the tone. Maybe ask my wife to bring it to me, so that she understands the tone too. I am sorry to say that Book 2 of Thaumatropic Roots will never be completed after my wife reads this newsletter and drops a toaster in my bath. Rude, right? What did you do, or what do you hope to do, the first day you retire? a few of...
2 months ago • 3 min read
It’s really interesting how much your identity gets caught up with your work when you’ve been at the same place for 27 years. How much time should I take to figure out who I am without Intel? I’m two weeks away from leaving my current job, and I’ve kicked the tires on looking for a new one. I wish it could be writing, but I’m not there yet. So I’ve dusted off my resume, and even done a few phone screenings. So far, nothing has been a good fit. But I wonder how much of that is because I’m...
3 months ago • 3 min read
My big non-writing news: I clicked on the "I'll go ahead and take the Early Retirement, thanks!" button at work. That means I have one more month at Intel, and then I'm off to do something different. For new folks, I have three teenage daughters, so I'm not in a place to stop working. I want to be able to help pay for college, post bail, hide the bodies of presumptuous boyfriends (I assume that takes money to do well). Intel lets you put a nickname in their system. As a big Calvin & Hobbes...
3 months ago • 2 min read