Category: Blog

Lots of things going on recently!  I’ve rearranged things quite a bit and opened the site to the public now that Sophichkin Meets a Mermaid is available in Kindle format on Amazon.  I’m so excited by this news that I’ve even set up an Amazon Author page for myself.  I guess that means I’m famous n’ stuff now.  All blog posts here will be mirrored there int he future.

Work on Sophichkin’s Mountain continues, with the always wonderful Milana Samarskaya.  By my count, we’re 7/12 of the way done now.  I hope to have something finished by the end of 2016.  Keep your fingers crossed!

I mentioned working with some additional illustrators in my last post.  Things are moving forward on that front, with two or three stories in the protected area of the site beginning in earnest.  I’ll keep you posted here as things progress.

Finally, I’m exploring some print options right now for those of you who simple must hold a dead tree in your hand as you read.  A rather well known publishing company has expressed interest, and I’m currently weighing the benefits of this route versus self publishing.  Either direction is exciting and opens up lots of new possibilities for Sophichkin and her adventures.

Until next time, please always be honest and never stop bargaining in good faith with destiny.

-Daniel

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update, so what better time than a month late on a rainy, lazy Saturday afternoon?

I’ve been working to line up illustrators for all of the stories.  Milana Samarskaya, a wonderful artist from Taganrog, Russia, is just finishing up the pretty pictures for A Day for Meeting Mermaids. We’re now discussing which story to tackle next.  You can read more about Milana here.  She’s been wonderful to work with, and her dreamy, colorful style has been pitch perfect so far.

I’m in the process of ball rolling with two more fantastic artists and couldn’t be more excited to work with them both!  I don’t want to jinx anything just yet, so mums the word until we get a little further along…but I’m super duper mega stoked about it.  Their styles are wildly different, and should bring something unique to this little universe we’re creating.

You may have noticed (who am I kidding, no one is reading this) that I’ve changed the generalized, ambiguous main character in most of the stories to a little girl named Sophichkin.  I’ll be giving them all the same treatment as time permits, and using that as a chance to give another editorial pass to each story.  For those in the know, Sophickin is a nod to my own little girl, and she’s pleased to be the heroine in all of these stories.  That world weary, jaded and pragmatic part of me that pays mortgages and electricity bills also recognized this as a chance to produce them all as a series in the hopes of moving more product.  Try it, you’ll like it.  First one’s free, kid.

The Winding Path Publications route proved to bear no fruit, but I’m still very excited about Kindle and ePublishing as well as some print-on-demand avenues.  J.J. Fast Publishing continues to be a great resource to flatten my rather extreme learning curve.

So what’s next?  Well, hopefully I get off my bum and pound out the 15 or so stories languishing in the “Ideas” folder of my Scrivener project.  The messages and plots are all ready.  I just need to put my fingers on the keyboard and give them all proper births.

After that, who knows?  I’d like to tackle something a little meatier and have a few ill formed concepts bouncing around inside my skull, but nothing concrete as yet.  I’ll be sure to keep all zero of you that are reading these posts up to the month as to what’s happening.  Until then, keep it simple, be honest and always bargain in good faith with destiny…

-dsf

This site is intended to be, at least initially, a workspace of sorts for my writings, and a way to share them with a select group of friends and family.  Please don’t share the username and password I gave you!  Most, if not all, of the stories posted here will be works in progress.  In other words, still under construction, in need of polish, clunky, poorly worded and just plain not done.  Chances are, the older the post, the more pretty and shiny it’ll be.  The newer the posts will definitely need some TLC (or to be thrown in the trash heap).

That said, I welcome and desire your feedback on any and all of the works here!  If I’ve invited you to read these, it’s because I value your opinion and trust you enough to be honest.  How and if you leave feedback is entirely up to you!  Use the comment fields, send me an email, call me on the phone, hit me up in chat.  Makes no difference to me.  I also reserve the right to ignore your opinions and secretly resent you for the rest of your life.

In the meanwhile, happy reading!

-dsf