What Next?

It’s been a while since a blog post! I originally had written one prior to the book release that kind of went over my thoughts and feelings I was having the day before. (Who knows, may still post that in the future.)

First, I have to say the overwhelming support and excitement that I’ve gotten from everyone from the launch to my first signing has been astounding. I’m so grateful to have so many great people not only supporting me as an author, but the work I’ve created. From the bottom of my heart, I say thank you!

Next, as all of you are nose deep between the pages, PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A RATING AND REVIEW! THOSE ARE ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL! Uncle Sam said it best I NEED YOU! Yes, you reading this! (Do you see how important I made that? Caps, bold AND underlined. That means maximum importance haha.) Then, I wanted to address a question I’ve been getting recently.

“What next?”

What next indeed! There’s honestly so much to focus on that it’s hard to pinpoint where I should be the most effective. At this stage, it’s marketing and outreach. Right now. It’s getting The Hacker’s Monarchy into the hands of readers any way I can, aside from physically chucking my book at people on the street haha.

I’ve also begun work on the audiobook version! It’s honestly been so fun to make. I’m loving the opportunity of narrating everyone’s voices. I get to bring the characters to life a bit in my own way, giving the book an entirely new dimension of experience. There isn’t a solid release date for the audiobook yet, but I promise it’s coming.

Cool announcement! I’m going to be part of NekoCon’s Author Alley this November (2024). This is the first time they’ve ever launched this type of vendor inclusion as part of their convention, in which I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of! I’ll give more details about this event closer to the convention date, but I’m working on getting everything I need together to make this a successful marketing event with plenty of exposure to be had!

The Hacker’s Monarchy: Cocktail Edition

Hey guys! So, this isn’t going to be a traditional blog post. Well, not traditional in my blog’s sense. Today is the day I’m releasing The Hacker’s Monarchy, which means it’s time for celebration! After 10 years of laborious hard work, I think it’s time for a little bit of overdue unwinding!

I’m hosting a wonderful brewery bar crawl to share the excitement with everyone! And at a couple of stops we’ll be featuring cocktails inspired by the book! So without further ado, here they are!

Savannah Blues: A refreshing favorite among the patrons of Lupin’s Paradise!

2 oz. White Rum

1 oz. Elderflower Liqueur

Blueberry syrup for color

.75 oz lemon juice

Top with soda water

Garnish with blueberries on top

The Biosphere: Made from the freshest ingredients on Shop Street!

2 oz Tequila

1 oz Peach Schnapps

Lime Juice

Mint leaves (like Mojito)

Dash of Agave

Top with ginger ale

A New York Pulse: P-Packed with enough energy to livin’ things up!

3 oz. Vodka

.75 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz simple syrupy

Redbull

A Splash of Pineapple Juice

Lemon Wheel for Garnish

Oscar’s Right Hook: Oi! Is it hot in here or izzit just me?

2 oz. Fireball Whiskey

1 oz. Jim Beam

Ginger ale or Ginger Beer if Available

Splash of grenadine for color

Garnish with Cherry and Cinnamon Stick

The Neo Vegas Old Fashioned: Ain’t nothin’ can mask that hint of orange!

.5 teaspoon of sugar

3 dashes of orange bitters

Splash of club soda

Large peel of orange zest

2 ounces rye

Why It Continued

So, in my last blog post I talked about, “How it started.” But, in this post I want to talk about, “Why it Continued.”

I’d love to say there was no rhyme or reason that initially drove my writing and that after college I was just ‘motivated,’ but honestly, the book became an afterthought. I was more focused on how I could make a living. Without a portfolio or anything to sell besides a generic screenplay, I had nothing of value and needed a job, asap.

This isn’t my biography, so let’s flash-forward a couple of years. You know those times in life where you feel you have no other option? I felt I had no other option but to write, as I believed with all my heart that this random book I had started years ago was the only shot at stopping my parents from losing their house. Ever since the 08’ housing crisis, they were struggling through tragic circumstance after tragic circumstance until a hole was so deep they couldn’t find the way out.

I started writing feverishly. I barely slept or ate. I stopped going to the gym and gave up almost all forms of self-care because my window to help them was closing fast. Within a couple months, an opportunity presented itself and they sold their house at an agonizing loss. The sale was still a blessing, but I couldn’t shake a feeling of failure. Through all of my effort, I could only finish 6 (out of the would-be 20) chapters. With the sale, this meant they were moving away, out of state somewhere I’d barely be able to see them again. I didn’t have any money, so we all knew this sale meant saying goodbye. I was 25 at the time.

After their move, I decided to make buying the house back my absolute priority. I just wanted to be together again in our home. I swore I’d finish the book, be successful and achieve the dream of buying our home back! Happy with my determination, they dreamed with me, cheering me on every step of the way. Their encouragement carried me through every page until they both passed away 3 and 4 years later.

After they passed, I felt my dream die with them. We’d never be a family again, never be in the same house and never laugh while sharing my mom’s famous lasagna ever again. I failed them, and myself; I’d lost. There was a deadline I never thought I had. Demotivated, I’d often find myself reading the note my mother left me in a journal telling me to never stop writing. Reigniting my determination, I promised myself I wouldn’t give up, and I’d see this through to the end. And here we are!

With my first launch on the horizon (call me a romantic!) I still plan to buy that house, no matter how long it takes. I can’t wait to share this journey with everyone and hope from the bottom of my heart that you enjoy it. But, this is hardly the ending. I’m just getting started.

How It Started: Pt. 2

Alright, to continue where I left off. For those that haven’t checked out part 1, definitely give it a read! This post is continuing how my debut novel, The Hacker’s Monarchy, came about. The origin story!

So, a week had passed since I handed out my 25-page chapter about an action/adventure set in an alternate reality with a dystopic timeline featuring elements of sci-fi and magical realism. I went to class, ready for my critique. Now, during these critiques, I’m not allowed to talk or answer questions. Everything is a discussion amongst the students themselves to brainstorm together, as well as the professor. Granted, my project was not the only one up for critique that night.

So the first couple of critiques came and went, and the professor saved mine for last. This is a three-hour class, mind you, so when we had only taken up about an hour for all the other critiques, I felt I was in for it when the professor shifted the discussion to mine.

Honestly, the room’s mood became electrified. People’s faces lit up with complete excitement, ready to discuss everything. Students who barely even spoke in the class would not stop talking. They were just so excited to talk about the work. They would look at me, asking me questions, while the professor reminded them I couldn’t speak. The response I received was so overwhelmingly positive I didn’t know how to react. 

Students were finding ‘easter eggs’, discussing characters, talking about the setting, raving about the narrative and beyond that, they were just thrilled to read more. Even the professor had a hard time guiding the energy of the class. I thought to myself, man, I might really have something here! So, taking that critique following several caffeine fueled writing sessions, I submitted the second chapter as my next assignment, an additional 25 pages. Nervous, but excited, I received the exact same praise as the first time! It felt like a movie. I knew I had to finish whatever story this was becoming.

At the conclusion of the class, my professor gave me one last bit of parting wisdom. Don’t stop writing. A bit of advice that would echo in my mom’s words as well. He told me, don’t revise, don’t edit, just keep writing. Finish it. Then go back.

That’s how it started! Next, I actually didn’t touch the story again until almost four or five years later. Why I picked it back up is a tale for another blog post! As always, I love hearing your thoughts and comments, so make sure to post them!

-          Dan

How It Started: Pt. 1

A question I get pretty frequently. Everyone loves a good origin story, right? Well, if memory serves me correctly, The Hacker’s Monarchy made its first debut in 2011, but not as people would think. The novel you all will come to know and love (fingers crossed!) began as a short story in a Craft of Fiction course at Old Dominion University taught by Professor Oleander. I’ll never forget her name as she forced us to memorize it along with every student’s name in the class using an associative mnemonic device. Her’s was associating a name with alliteration, “Roots of a Tree, Renee.”

Anyway, one of her assignments was to write a one-page short story, or something akin to that. I wrote a story that actually has no connection and nothing to do with The Hacker’s Monarchy at all. To be honest, I didn’t even like what I wrote. I submitted the assignment and received perfect marks (I promise!), but the only comment on the entire submittal was “Nice Title!” I thought to myself, you know what? That is a nice title.  

Flash forward a year and I was now in a Fiction Workshop, with a different professor, by the name of Professor McManus. With this course, we had the unique opportunity of submitting ANY creative works to be critiqued and evaluated by himself and our peers. For the first assignment, I had been marinating on that “Nice Title!” comment for a while, thinking, what is The Hacker’s Monarchy?

It wasn’t until I heard this song, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjzc-5Y9JpE in case the link get’s taken down or stops working, the song is a remix of a Johnny Cash Song, called the Apparat Remix of “I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow” (Give it a listen if you want!) But that song transported me to the opening setting of The Hacker’s Monarchy, where I saw two of my main characters walking along dilapidated train tracks in some dystopic modern-day city. I just thought, “Who are these people? Where are they? What’s their relation to The Hacker’s Monarchy” (To be clear, this is not the opening scene in the book! But, actually inspired a later chapter.)

After that, the pen just started writing, while my eyes followed along. Rather, my fingers kept on typing. Before I knew it, I had finished the first chapter of The Hacker’s Monarchy, at about 12,000 words or about 25 standard Microsoft Word double-spaced pages. Now keep in mind, most students in the class turned in assignments with an average page length of about 5 pages for critique. So, coming in with 25 pages was absolutely nerve-racking. I thought these people were going to hate me, complain to the professor, or simply just not read it. (Hey, he never set a maximum!) But I was serious about writing and maximizing this rare opportunity. Then came the day of handing out my printed copies to all of my peers and seeing their faces just drop, making the wait until critique day even more painful… (gulp).   

Ten Years In The Making

I’ve pretty much decided I want these blog posts to be informal. They’ll be more in the form of a fireside chat! So, I’m beyond happy to have received such an amazing welcome on social media with the website launch and profile updates. With more talk of the book release spreading, I’ve been getting a lot of questions, which is great! I love talking about the book or the journey!

So, beyond the initial shock of someone realizing I wrote a novel (and a lengthy one at that!) probably the most frequent question I get besides, “What’s it about!?” is “How long did that take you?”

Ten years. Crazy right? Spending ten years on a single project. For me, each week had a goal. I set out to accomplish ‘X’. When I started all this, I didn’t see the finish line ten years later. I just knew what I wanted to do.

I made it a goal, every single week, to spend at least eight hours one day writing until I finished the book. I would even take stay-cations so I could spend entire weeks on the book. For the first several months of when I truly dedicated myself, all I did was eat, sleep, and write. Looking back, I was barely scratching the surface. Now, for what compelled me to this level of dedication is a story for another blog post. I’ll also explain ‘how it all started’ in another post as well!

To be fair, the writing portion actually took seven years in order to complete the first draft of the manuscript. Now, as a writer, I feel as though that I’m never allowed to use the expression “I can’t put into words,” but finishing the final the last sentence left me speechless. I felt vacant, lost and like a bundle of fireworks ready to explode any minute! Just raw energy.

Each subsequent year was spent on revisions. I fine-tuned the novel in three drafts in three years. Yes, it takes me an entire year to run through a draft of this beast. It’s 215,431 words! Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring has 177,227 words for a reference point. That was my goal from the start. I wanted the first book of my series to rival that book in length. Editing, revising and proofreading took far longer than I anticipated, all while putting in the same time I spent on writing. Simultaneously, I was on my publishing journey, which is a juicy story in itself, that I’ll save closer to launch day.

But to close this out. It took me ten wonderful years to get here. Ten years of dedication without knowing where to find the finish line. One of the last notes my mother ever gave me before she passed away was a note written in a journal that says, “Dan, never stop writing.” Advice that I’ll always follow. Anyway! In the next post I’ll be going over “How’d it start?” Always if you have any questions, I love to hear them! Each day we’re getting closer to launch. So excited!

building the website

It’s too overwhelming trying to decide what my first blog post should be, so I guess I’m just going to start with the most recent; building the website!

To be honest, I’d say I’ve spent probably around 60 hours building the site as a complete novice. I can’t imagine being an actual web developer and coding these from scratch. There’re so many working parts to developing this site I’d never considered and still see so many steps ahead with various additions. Overall, I’m excited. Designing this was actually a guilty pleasure because of how much I enjoy design. I feel like this should have been a stressful experience, but was super fun! Can’t wait to update it more in the future!

What’s up next for me?

Focusing on social media. I’m definitely not as savvy as I should be, so I need to get back in the saddle and post more and interact with everyone. Believe it or not, I’m actually not an introvert and love talking to people.   

Then, I think I’m going to query a smidge more while I decide the exact route I want to dive in with self-publishing. There’re a few options I’ve explored, but want to solidify my marketing strategy and game plan.

Can’t wait to share more updates. Until the next post!

-          Dan