Scatterbrained

Well, it's been awhile since I posted in this joint. And there's a bunch of stuff to catch up on. So here's all the stuff that is up in Frank J. Edler Land as of late:

The biggest update is that my new book, SCATTERBRAIN, will premier on Kindle eBook and paperback on October 12th! All the previous posts earlier this year about eating avocado and eggs with Chuck Buda and Tim Meyer in Panera Bread around New Jersey led to this release! The fruit of that labor is a tale of B-movie Killer Brains from the monster's point of view. It is available NOW for pre-order on Kindle ahead of its release. 

It's hard being a Killer Brain. Just ask Scatter, a Killer Brain who just wants to be a Killer Brain. But he can't, his parents want him to get a job. Scatter would rather do what he does best, terrorize the city with his pack of Killer Brain friends. But Scatter is about to find out life isn't fair.
Crazed neurosurgeon, Dr. Justin Case is out to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of the Killer Brains. And now he has Scatter in his sights. Along with his cohort, Coda, Dr. Case will stop at nothing to exact his revenge and seek the closure he has sought since he watched his parents get devoured by Killer Brains as a child.
The odds are stacked against Scatter. He must navigate life while trying not to fall into the clutches of his would-be nemesis. Can Scatter get by without a little help from family and friends. He just wants to live life doing what he loves but sometimes responsibility has a way of rearranging your priorities. Join Scatter as he navigates through life, the job market and a city full of crazies all keeping him from doing what he loves, being a Killer Brain.

The promotion for SCATTERBRAIN has already begun. "The Gal In The Blue Mask" blog hosted an interview with Scatter, star of SCATTERBRAIN as part of her Halloween Extravaganza. Check it out to find out what Scatter Brain is all about as well as check out an expert from the book. And because I'm oh-so-special, blog host Meghan Hyde also interviewed me as part of the Halloween Extravaganza! It was a back-to-back Frank-O-Palooza!

In addition to all the SCATTERBRAIN hullabaloo, I've also landed my first Zine appearance. I love the idea of DIY zines but I've never had the drive to do my own and I've been underwhelmed by some of the others I've seen out there. That was until I discovered Ben Fitts' new Rock N' Roll Horror Zine. The Rock N' Roll Horror Zine is the perfect place for my writing style. And as it just-so-happened, I had started working on a series of short stories I was toying with the idea of putting into a collection. But the idea petered out once I started work on SCATTERBRAIN and other upcoming projects. When I saw the call for Rock N' Roll Horror inspired stories for the zine I figured the stuff I had worked on would be a great fit. Zine editor, Ben Fitts agreed and my story, That Time I Hung Out With Motley Crue now graces the pages of issue #3. You can order your own copy of The Rock N' Roll Horror Zine through Etsy or follow their home page here to get bundle deals as well!

And to round this whirlwind month out, I will be taking part in a Halloween Book Signing at Second Time Books in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey on October 27th from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. This appearance was rooted in our Beers N' Fears Brewery Tour this past spring. Before our stop at Spellbound Brewery in Mt. Holly, NJ we stopped at this quaint, little second hand bookstore in neighboring Mt. Laurel. It is a gem of a shop that carries books across a wide array of genres. Their horror and fantasy section were especially appealing. I, myself, bolstered my Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson collection at a nice price. Anyway, we made nice with the shop owners and when we explained what we were up to with our Beers N' Fears appearance that day they invited us to do a signing at their shop anytime. Well, Tim Meyer, Chuck Buda and myself will be cashing in on their generous offer by doing a Halloween time book signing at this fantastic shop. If you are in the area I encourage you to come out, check out the shop and maybe you can be one of the first people to get your hands on a paperback copy of SCATTERBRAIN there as well!

That's all for now. Keep an eye and ear out for me in the weeks to come for appearances on your favorite podcasts and blogs as I criss cross the intra-webs spreading the gospel of SCATTERBRAIN for the world to hear! And don't forget to pre-order your copy of SCATTERBRAIN today so it's sitting there for you on your Kindle device the moment it is released!

GOAL!

On April 1, 2014 I set out to accomplish something I never have before. It seemed like a daunting task at the time. I knew it would take time and I set a time frame and a minimum pace in order to archive that goal. On the first day of April, I set out to write my first book.

As I've stated, ad nauseam by this point, the way I was going to accomplish this was to write 1,000 words per day for fifty days. The goal being a first draft of fifty thousand words (at least) by May 20, 2014.

Am I happy to announce that today, May 13, 2014 I crossed the fifty thousand word mark. Seven days ahead of schedule. There is still some story left to write, so I'm not stopping here. I should have the entire first draft complete by my May 20th deadline so there is still a small victory for me to attain. But the main goal has been reached and I actually feel accomplished.

At times I've felt like I was zipping along. Other times it feels like I've been at it forever. But really, when I take a step back and look, its only been a month an a half. At that rate I could write eight 50,000 word first drafts in one year. That's kind of impressive to think about though I would never be so mad as to try it.

Thing is, I know there is still a lot left in the process of getting this book out to the public. When the first draft is done I have to go back and do the part I dread the most, self-edit. Then when I'm sure I've got it as clean as I can it will be shared with a few select others for some more clean up. Then we reach the point where I have to make a final decision on whether I want to shop the book around to indie publishers or tackle publishing on my own.

So there is still a way to go before I can get this out to the wide world. If all goes as I hope BRATS IN HELL will be available sometime in the Fall 2014. Winter the latest. I hope.

Thanks for following along on this trip to 50,000 words. Please stick around. There is a lot more to come.

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Little Victories

It's been awhile since I checked in with you all. The first draft of BRATS IN HELL is now 75 percent complete. It's also May1st which means only 20 days remain to complete my goal in time.

Can I do it?

Oh, you betcha! I'm a little more than 37k words into the story. The goal is 50k by May 20th. So at my current pace of 1k words per day I should cross the finish line with a few days to spare. Certainly, I won't stop dead in my tracks there. If there is more story to be told obviously I will go until it's done.

Have I been honest with myself and suck to writing a minimum of 1k per day? Honestly? No. BUT... by and large I have and then some. Even on days where I have come up short, I've always written something. I think my worst day was still a little more than 500 words. Plus, weekends have proven fruitful at times where I've pumped out over 3k words over the course of two lazy days. In the end, it's all even out pretty much.

The story itself has just reached the end game. The battle for Hell is about to go down. The most exciting part is that someone has to die, I'm just not sure who yet. I have to wait for the story to tell me. That had been the most fun part of all this. No matter how much I plan, outline and jot down notes, the story doesn't really play out until I actually write it. Often the story has given my outlines and notes the middle finger. The story says "F You! THIS is how it goes down!" That is when is been strongest too.

To round out this update with a bit of happy news, I've had two short stories accepted into two different anthologies. Just before I started to write BRATS IN HELL, I wrote these two stories. They are both for a series of anthologies called STATE OF HORROR. Each anthology focuses on one of the states. The first two are for New Jersey and Illinois. I managed to get a story into each. Look out for them this summer!

I imagine my next post will come when I cross the finish line. I'll talk to you all then.

FJE