Thank You

Happy Thanksgiving!

Max Misc , ,

Hello readers!

This post is going to be pretty short and to the point: Happy Thanksgiving! At least, if you’re in the US. If you’re in Canada, I believe you’ve already had your Thanksgiving, and if you’re in other countries, clearly you won’t be celebrating a US holiday, but the same sentiment applies: I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and hope that you’re able to find time to spend with friends and family, as well as with yourself.

Me? Well I’ll be finishing up my Stranded project, eating food, and enjoying some rare luxurious free time. I actually hit my monthly work quota on Monday, so I’m ahead of the curve by a substantial margin, leaving me plenty of time to kick back and enjoy some of these holiday days coming up.

Now, the big question is “Will there be a Being a Better Writer post on Monday after the holiday weekend?” The answer is “Yes.” Along with a quick reminder that there’s still time to request topics for upcoming posts over at the last Topic Call.

As far as other news goes, well … I’ll save that for Monday. Today is the day before Thanksgiving. If you’re preparing a Thanksgiving feast, best of luck to you, and are you making anything neat or special this year? Myself, I bought a ham. Because I really like ham, and I’m not the one making the turkey (which I almost bought anyway). Plus rolls, gotta mention the family roll recipe. With luck, I can spread the leftovers and whatnot out through next week!

So anyway, I hope you’re all able to have a wonderful weekend (Thanksgiving or not). We’re headed full speed into the holiday season (of which I’m a fan), and I hope the ride is smooth for all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Oh, and you know what? In the tradition of being thankful for something, I’d like to add a little something to the end of this post that I’m thankful for: You! All of you! Thank you for your support, your encouragement, and your love of my work. It’s an absolute blessing and a joy that I’m able to write books for the world to love and make something at it, and I’m very thankful that I’m able to, and for all of you who have helped make it possible.

If you’ve got something you’re thankful for and wish to share it (or just want to talk about your planned Thanksgiving dinner), feel free to leave a comment below.

See you Monday, folks! And again, have a happy Thanksgiving.

A Big Post – News and News

Max Books!, Misc , , , ,

I know I’ve been pretty quiet this week. I’ve been focused.

But before I say anything else. Before I talk about book news or any of the other tidbits I want to touch on today, I want to say one thing.

Thank you to everyone who left a supportive comment last week. They may not have seemed like much to you, but they gave me some piece of mind. I still don’t know if the current opening chapters of Starforge will stay the way they are by the end, but I know a lot of you were just happy to hear that I’m working my best on it and wanted to remind me of that.

So thank you. Your words of support helped ease my mind quite a bit, and I appreciated them greatly.

Tying into that, many of you will be glad to hear that I continued to press foward, and Starforge‘s first draft now sits at 123,156 words! Part one is complete, the interlude is written, and today I get to start on part two! Where things will blow up, characters will die, and … Well, I’ve already said too much. But I’m glad for all your support, and I’m working hard to make this the biggest, baddest, most jaw-dropping finale you could ask for.

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The First Seven Years: 2013-2019 in Review, and the Journey Ahead

Max Books! , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello readers! No, there’s no Being a Better Writer article today, since I’m still on break. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any content to be had! No, as we’re about to head into a new decade, 2020 now just two days away (less, depending  on when you read this), it’s the perfect time for a look back. Two looks back, actually! For one, we’ve got 2019 to look at, to see how it stacks up against 2018, but we’ve also got the decade as a whole. Well, minus seven years, as my first book—One Drink for those that have joined us since then—was only published in 2013. But as we look back today, I’d be remiss not to look over the decade as a whole and see where it’s taken both myself and you readers. To see the growth of this grand adventure as it continues to build!

So then, let’s dive right in and talk about the year! How’d 2019 stack up?

Jungle CoverObviously, the big elephant in the room is Jungle. The titan (literally, check out that word count) of a Colony sequel that landed in November. Jungle was 2019’s only book release but … what a release!

Jungle was a titanic effort, taking months upon months of work from myself and dedicated Alpha and Beta Readers to polish and prepare. But in the end?

Jungle has been a titanic success. Though only out for the last two months of 2019, it’d be impossible to talk about the state of things without it. While not quite reaching the pre-order and high-burst numbers  Colony did at its release, Jungle has instead remained a steady seller, even as it garners reviews with greater speed than Colony ever did. Reviews which have so far entirely been positive. As of today, Jungle is still sitting with a perfect Five-Star score across Amazon and Goodreads, with a lot of praise lauded on it in its reviews for how it moves the story forward while taking it in surprising new directions!

Of course, this means good things for sales as well. Jungle catching eyes has only brought a renewed resurgence of interest in Colony as well, which has seen a nice sales increase as a result of Jungle catching reader’s eyes and then going on to read both.

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