The 2022 State of the Weech

Greetings all,

Welcome to year five of my eight-year commitment to go all in on becoming a successful author businessman. This is my fourth annual State of the Weech, where I talk about how the previous year went and talk about my plans for 2022.

The most important thing I did during 2021 was improve my marketing. I’ll talk about Hazel more in a moment, but without Hazel, I went from being pleasantly surprised I sold a book to regularly selling nine books a month. I’m convinced that this path is a good one. No, it’s not a fast track, but most good things aren’t “overnight” things. Steady effort in a solid direction usually yields good results, and I’m happy with what one year or so of effort has brought.

I released Betrayed. It didn’t have the response I was hoping for, but without being able to go to conventions, it’s hard to get word out. What I know is that anyone who’s said anything about it loved it, which is encouraging.

Then there’s Hazel. Now that was a success! Currently, Hazel sells about 38 copies a month. I expect that to calm a little. I tend to sell a lot of a book early, and then things die down. However, I’d be happy if Hazel continued to move at this pace. I know Collin and I appreciate every single one of you who’ve tried it.

I managed to finish the discovery draft of Discovered, the final book in the Oneiros Log, and I did a read-through of 1,200 in preparation for a draft I’ll do once I get Discovered to Alpha Readers.

So those are things I have done, but now I need to repeat something I mentioned recently.

I’m still writing as much as I can, but without conventions to bolster sales, money for editors and art is a serious concern. This means I’m going to make whatever progress I can, but I don’t have any real certainty on when things will come out because that just depends on how much I can save, how much I spend in marketing, and how many sales I get. So where the past years I had some pretty solid ideas on when I’d get products out to you, I don’t have that same ability this year.

But I am still working, so allow me to tell you about those projects.

Hopefully in 2023 (but don’t quote me on it): Discovered, the final book in the Oneiros Log. The discovery draft was OK, but it needs some work. I hope to finish the next draft in the next 100 days, which is when hopeful Alpha Readers can count on reading the early version. I do hope to get it out in 2023, but that depends on the things I mentioned above, as do the other projects.

The 1,200: I talked about this recently. I’m actually pretty proud of where that is now, but it does need some work. So each time I get a draft of Discovered done, this is the project I’ll skip to until Discovered is out. This will be the next release you can expect from me baring how long it takes to save up and what smaller projects I might get done.

Visits From A Man Named Nobody: This is my weekly Christian Science Fiction series. It’s larger than I thought (at least this draft). It’s growing in the writing, and I’m discovery writing it, which means it’ll have plenty of kinks to work out. I don’t honestly know when I’ll finish it, but once a draft is done, it’ll take its place in line for release. You can read it now if you want. I’ll do revisions and edits on it before its published through Amazon.

Perception of War: Images of Truth: I’m honestly frustrated I haven’t found a chance to finish the discovery draft. Other projects are more urgent, but as soon as Discovered and The 1,200 are out the door, this puppy is getting some work. This is a very ambitious project, but I can get the writing done, and I plan to. Again, this project is massive! So while I’m going to work very hard on it, it’s going to take time.

New Utopia: This is another older project that’s probably been sitting in a drawer for too long. It needs love, but the the next draft of this story (pitched as Mistborn meets Avatar), won’t be done until Discovered and The 1,200 are as far as I can get them and the Discovery Draft of Perception is done.

Mercer: Now this project could move in a lot of directions because it’s a series of shorter works. I call this Dresden meets Bones, and I love the premise and basic ideas. I haven’t really played with this much in a while, but that’s only because I owe fans of Oneiros a conclusion to their story. I’ll probably start chipping away at this once in between the above projects. So you might see Season One, Episode One before New Utopia.

Leah Saldawn and The Nick of Time: This probably the “older” project that’s farthest from being out. It’s a teen/young reader book that I think is cute, but it’ll have to wait behind those much larger projects.

I’m still working my way toward 60 sales a month. Because of Hazel, I have three averages: My total sales per month, Collin’s and my Hazel sales per month, and my non-Hazel sales per month. The goal for sales per month is still 60, and that’s always been an initial goal aimed at growing after I meet it. I lose less and less each year, and I’m hopeful I get to that first profitable year soon.

If I’m being honest, I’m never going to stop writing. The eight-year goal has always been more about putting in hard-charging, never-back-down energy. It’s spending money on marketing and things like that. I’m hopeful that bears some fruit, but if all I do is write and publish stories I enjoy, that’s OK. I’ll work as hard as I can, and if after eight years, I’m not earning an income, well, I’ll slow down on the costs of publishing and focus more on the writing.

It’s hard to fathom that Bob Drifter came out almost seven years ago! Man it’s been fun!

If you’re interested in helping, the best way to do that is to purchase one of my books, read it, rate it, and review it. You can take it to the next level (if you like the book) by recommending it (or buying it) for a friend. In addition to God’s will, which I will always cheerfully submit to, this dream of mine isn’t possible without loyal readers.

I want to finish as I always do, by praising God, and thanking Him for all of you who read and enjoy my work. I’m blessed to have anyone enjoy my books, and a lot of you are just so wonderful to me with emails and help with reviewing drafts. Thank you.

God bless you all, and thank you for another year. I hope your hear has been amazing.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

We Got Some Reviews to Share!

Greetings all,

First, let me please thank you for the reception Hazel has received thus far. Even as I type this, things are looking good. I don’t know if we’ll hit our goal, but things are already going pretty darn well. But I’ll have more on that next week. For now, what I do have are some reviews for Hazel and one for Bob.

Since we only have one for Bob, let’s start with that.

Here’s a five-star review from Cowan on Audible:

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What a journey

Such a great book! Felt like a trilogy all wrapped into one book. So much heart put into this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on the other ones. This book has it all and takes you through a full range of emotions. Highly recommend picking this one up!

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As for Hazel, well she has two reviews. Check out this four star review and this five star review. Neither of them have a lot of words, but I promise they both have a ton of value. If you’ve read Hazel in some form or another (or any of my books), we’d appreciate a rating and review. Also, if you haven’t tried Hazel out, maybe these reviews will inspire you to check it out.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Back From Vacation With A 5-Star Review to Share!

Greetings all,

I know it’s been a few weeks. As my vacation got more fun, I decided to take it easy more and more. Of course I’m motivated to get back at it, and I’m happy to be sharing with you all again, but it was nice being with family and focusing on that for a bit.

Not only is it good to be back, but I was happy to see a new review for Bob Drifter, and that means I have the honor of sharing that with you now. You can read that review here.

Discovered is coming along pretty well. I’m about six or so chapters from being done. I’ll have some things to clean up in this draft, but I’m confident that this first pass is laying all the necessary groundwork for a great finish to the Oneiros Log.

Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading,

Matt

Where Do Ideas Come From? One Nut’s Point of View

Every now and then, one of the students at the Defense Information School where I teach will approach me to write a feature about my writing. I typically get the same sorts of questions, and one of the more common ones is about where I get the ideas for my stories.

I have to admit that this is a very hard question for me to answer. You see, I have ideas all the time. I’m more baffled when people tell me they have trouble coming up with ideas. That gave me the idea (see what I mean?) to do this blog you’re reading.

For me, ideas are very natural. Even when I was trying to think about what I was going to blog about today (I spent about five minutes thinking), I was more considering options than I was trying to think of just one.

Idea Generation Method 1: Let your life inspire you. This is probably my primary method. I have a very active imagination, so when I see something, I sometimes take it to a fantastic degree, and that leads me to a story idea. Bob Drifter came to me while watching my dad and his dog interact. There are some other childhood trauma things I won’t get too far into, but I’ll only touch on them by saying there were people who left my life, and I had trouble dealing with it, so I created this world where souls were passed on. This isn’t remotely Biblical, and I acknowledge that as a Christian. However, it was a lovely thought for a 17-year-old who wanted to feel more connected to the people around him. I really loved the idea that people can leave pieces of themselves to other people they’re close to, and, in a way, we do.

I’m struggling between going into where the ideas for all my books came as examples of this process and offering other methods. I’m actually articulating this so you see how my mind works as well. So the happy medium is to give you another example of letting life inspire you before moving on to other techniques.

Stealing Freedom came to mind when some riots were happening a few years back. The details are fuzzy in my memory, but what I remember is a person drove a car into a crowd. There was a lot of debate about protesting and how people respond. I worried that people would start to discuss “limiting” free speech for the “protection” of others. I had a mental picture of a little girl wearing a shock collar. Then I thought about one of my sisters being that girl’s mother. “She’d burn the world down before she let that happen,” I thought to myself. And there it was, the opening chapter to a new story.

The method (if I try to explain it) is to look at something happening in the world around you and then try to add fantastical elements to it. You can try it now. Look at one thing that happened to you today and then apply some strange or even just ridiculous element to it. Then start trying to come up with ways to rationalize that element. This will form a situation if not a full blown story.

This is easily my primary method for coming up with ideas, but there are others I’ve either heard others talk about or offered to others.

Idea Generation Method 2: Combine and Twist: What are your two favorite books? If you were going to write fan fiction and try to combine these worlds, how would you do it? If you can follow this line of thought, you’re halfway to coming up with an original story. All you need to do then is come up with your twist. Ask yourself what you can do to put a new spin on the two worlds or magic systems. Because almost all of my stories were used with the above technique, I can’t point out any one of my own stories. Neither can I name a Combine and Twist story I’ve seen off the top of my head. So we’ll have to come up with something together.

I love Dragonriders of Pern and Wheel of Time. What if owning a dragon gave you powers, but your will was always at odds with the will of your dragon? (I actually love this idea, but I promise I have enough books to write). Let’s go with this a bit further. Say we live in a world where dragons exist, and a select group of people could mentally connect with those dragons. However, if one took over a dragon contrary to one’s will, they’d have to constantly maintain control of the bond lest the dragon take over the human’s mind. That gives me an idea for a main character. What if my main character had the idea to find and bond a dragon who actually agreed with his line of thinking. How much more powerful would both become if they worked together rather than engage in a perpetual mental battle for access to the powers the dragons provide? If you like that idea, feel free to write it. Just give me a nod in your acknowledgments page (and maybe buy and recommend a guy’s books?).

Idea Generation Method 3: Fix A Broken Story: What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen or book you’ve read? Why was it bad? I’m actually currently reading the worst book I’ve ever read (I feel obligated to finish it). Now, I have that opinion of this book because I’m at a loss as to how I would even go about fixing it (it’s that bad). But, this is a great way to come up with ideas. I actually do have a personal example of this. You see, I don’t really like YA fiction. I think that there are some very overdone aspects of it that just make it predictable and unrealistic. When I had a life inspiration moment for Repressed (people were debating the right to let others legally immigrate), I knew that Kaitlyn (originally from Caught) would be perfect for that situation. However, Kaitlyn only fits two of the list of things YA characters have. She was (she’s 19 now as I’m writing the end of Oneiros) young, and she’s a compelling character. I didn’t like the stories of the young girl who meets a dangerous boy and falls in love trying to change him. That’s putting it mildly. I’m not at all against people meeting and falling in love. I’m not at all against young people of either gender wanting to find love. What I hate is what I see as the glorification of toxic relationships.

So that’s the part I changed. Instead of a girl meets bad boy plot, I had a young girl who was driven to a different goal. Can YA be about young people learning about themselves rather than falling in love with the worst possible person? The plot and writing of Repressed was easy after that.

So those are three things you might try if you’re struggling to come up with ideas, but I leave you with a different challenge. Is it possible you don’t actually struggle coming up with one idea? When I talk to students, the struggle they have is that they’re waiting for that “perfect” idea. I don’t have that problem at all. My recommendation more than how to find ideas is this: Once you find an idea, write that book. It doesn’t have to be the greatest book ever. It doesn’t even have to be that good an idea. What doing this does is train you to ideate and then create. This way, when you do have that one great idea, you’re already practiced at writing and developing it. Don’t get stuck. Don’t wind up never writing anything because you’re chasing after a better idea. It’s a fool’s errand. I sincerely hope each idea you have is better than your last one, but that doesn’t actually mean the first idea was bad. So have ideas and then write them. Practice that positive habit, and you’ll find a whole bunch of books you’ve written ready to evaluate when you’re done.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

I Love Getting Reviews!

Greetings all,

Yet another two weeks in a row with some reviews to share! I still don’t think I get reviews consistently enough to warrant a “review day” post on my schedule, but if I keep getting them (this regularly), that might change.

The first review I’d like to share is a three-star review for Caught from Deedra. She was kind enough to post the review Amazon, Goodreads, and Audible.

The next is a five-star review for The Journals of Bob Drifter. This was an Amazon review from an unidentified individual.

I’m always so happy to receive reviews. Both of these reviews were every bit as informative and helpful as they were kind (even in how they expressed what they didn’t like). I thank both these reviewers.

If you’ve read any of my work, would you please consider leaving a rating and/or a review on Amazon, Goodreads or both? It really does help.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

More Reviews For The Journals of Bob Drifter!

As it is always my greatest joy to do, I proudly present this four-star Amazon review for The Journals of Bob Drifter!

Greetings all,

Amazon reviews are particularly valuable because they help improve an author’s visibility. I’m so grateful to the reviewer for taking the time to share his review. This particular review might be a little on the spoiler side of things, so I feel a bit of need to at least offer you fair warning. That doesn’t diminish my appreciation at all though.

Just when I thought it was too good to be true, I found this five-star review on Goodreads from Shawna! (Thank you again so much for your awesome support!)

If you’ve read any of my work, would you please consider leaving a rating and/or a review on Amazon, Goodreads or both? It really does help.

For now, I just want to thank this reviewer one more time.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Two Four Star Reviews For The Week!

Greetings all,

I’m happy to report two reviews for a few of my titles.

The first is a very-kind Goodreads four-star review from C Cager for The Journals of Bob Drifter. I’m grateful the reader enjoyed it. I’m glad C discovered my book, too! Right before this post launched, I noticed Cager was kind enough to also post a review on Amazon as well. That’s really above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you!

The other is a great review is one for Stealing Freedom from Paula Dyches, who put her kind four-star review on Audible, Goodreads, and Amazon. I just want to say thank her for what I call the “full support” (a review on all three platforms) review. I really do think this would make a great little Netflix movie. If you know a producer, I’d certainly be willing to talk.

This kind of support is really precious. Every review is gold in my eyes (even the bad ones). As always, I ask that if you’ve read one of my books, please stop buy one of those platforms and leave a rating and a review.

Thank’s for reading,

Matt

And The Reviews Keep Coming!

Greetings all,

I’m still receiving reviews, so I’m going to keep sharing them. I’m still not ready to make an official reviews appreciation day. That depends on if this very wonderful marketing effort has follow-on results. Still, it’s nice to have reviews to share with you. So let’s get to them!

Here’s a four-star review for Stealing Freedom from Megan Dann:

“The Worth of Words”

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”

“This book contained such an original concept about censorship and, quite literally, the worth of words. Not so much character-driven, but heavily plot-driven with tension and action packed for such a quick listen. Really cool idea; can’t wait to see what else the author comes up with.”

“Narration was okay, didn’t add to or detract from the story.”

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Here’s a five-star review for Stealing Freedom from Catrina P:

“Freedom of speech”

“For a short story, this tale sure packs a punch. Such an intriguing concept… it’s against the law to communicate. The unauthorized use of words is punishable by pain (shock collars) or if blatant enough, death. A small group of individuals plan to take back their freedoms, or die trying.”

“This was my first exposure to M.L.S. Weech’s writing. I really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to seeing what else is available.”

“For such a short story, a dual narration seemed a little much. However, both Lisa Negron and J.M. Needham both did a nice job.”

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request, and I have voluntarily left this review.”

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Here’s another five-star review for Stealing Freedom from Loki (probably not related to the Avengers):

“A probable disturbing look into the future”

If you prefer reading, the e-book is available on Amazon!

“A nice shot story with a possible future where they can take away our words, and a small group of people who will put there life’s at risk to change it! only real complaint about the book is I wish it was longer and build the world a little more.”

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”

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Here’s yet another five-star review for Stealing Freedom from Shanna Tidwell:

“Great short story”

“This was a great story. I could see this being made in to a movie or maybe an episode of black mirror or something like that. I liked how everyone thinks they are smarter than everyone else but still one outwitted them all.”

“Very interesting concept and it definitely held my attention the entire time I was listening to it!”

“Lisa & J.M. did an excellent job with narration. I will be looking for more by this author and this narrator.”

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”

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Here’s a five-star review for Stealing Freedom from Jeff M:

“Interesting premise, delivers on it”

“I’m always down for a good short story and was intrigued by the premise of this one. Glad I gave it a try. Well written, properly paced, this was perfect as a short story. Thought the narration was good too, though some of the character voice choices were a little wonky. Overall, I’d highly recommend this to fans of sci-fi and good writing.”

“I received this as a review copy at no cost other than an honest review.”

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Here’s a four-star review for Stealing Freedom from D M Reynolds:

“Disturbing”

“This story is soooo plausible given our current reality. A true dystopian tale for our times. It explores – lightly – the extremes of censorship and expression.”

“At the same time, it’s an action-packed cheer-for-the-robbers kind of adventure. Much of the world is essentially the same as ours (which adds to the plausibility). The cops are hot on the trail of our heroes… and yet nothing is quite as it first appears (just like a good heist movie!)”

“Enjoyed this story. The length and narration both suited it very well.”

“I received this audiobook for free in exchange for a fair review.”

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Not to be outdone, The Journals of Bob Drifter received a five-star review from Ronja:

“Well written, Suspenseful and Touching. Loved it!”

“This is a slow burn paranormal/ urban fantasy thriller with a hint of romance and mystery. This is not a book for people who are in a hurry to get to the scary part. (or people who want to know exactly what is going on after the first few chapters).”

“I really enjoyed this Story!
It pleasantly surprised me by being so well written, thought out and touching.”

“Every character was well developed and felt real (not just the Main Character), and I felt interested in each of their stories.
Bob is a great main character. Smart, compassionate, funny and easy to love and relate to.”

“The book is well balanced. It’s serious but also has some humorous dialog.
Some things go the way you want, others not. This keeps the story believable and suspenseful/ exciting. The ending was very strong. It completes and elevates the whole book, and I love reading such endings.”

“About half the book is written from the first person perspective of Bob Drifter, narrated by Gary. The other half consists of chapters with various other characters in the story (also written in first person). The male characters are narrated by Gary too, and the female characters are narrated by Angel.”

“Because Gary narrates a much bigger part of the Audio Book than Angel, her parts felt a bit out of place in the beginning. But after a few chapters narrated by her I got used to her narration as well.
I think both Gary and Angel did a very good job.”

“I got this Audio Book for free (thanks!). I’m voluntarily leaving this review.
Opinions and ratings are my own and not influenced by how I got the Audio Book.”

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I just want to take a moment to thank all of these people for listening to these audio books and offering reviews. I’m a busy guy. I have three sons. I work full time. I try to write or edit a chapter a day. I know what sort of effort it takes to even listen to an audiobook these days. I’m so thankful.

Please, if you’ve read or listened to my work, please consider leaving a review on Audible, Amazon, Goodreads, or all three. These reviews really do help.

Thanks for reading (or in this case listening)!

Matt

A Few More Audible Reviews

Greetings all,

I’m still gathering data on the marketing site I’m using to gain these reviews, but the results are still so encouraging. Why? Because I have two new reviews to share with you this week!

Here is a 4.5-star review for Stealing Freedom from Madeline:

“Good”

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”

“This book represents everything we as a people value. When that freedom is taken from us what else it left to do. Do we stay in submission and obey or do we find a way to stand for what’s right. Many times we misunderstand what people are saying. If we try to understand and keep open minds many problems can be solved without violence. I did enjoy this book and how much it reminded me that freedom isn’t free. I’m grateful for those that risks theirs lives everyday so I can have the life I want.”

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The original inspiration for this story came from violence that happened during a protest. I don’t always like or support the things people protest about, but we must allow protest because people must be able to speak, and they must be able to redress grievances. I’m glad this reviewer saw that in the theme. I also appreciate that the goal is to allow problems to be resolved without violence. This review actually makes me very happy because it shows that, to this reader at least, I accomplished what I set out to represent in this story.

Next is a 4.25-star review for The Journals of Bob Drifter from Cindy:

“New Beginnings”

“One of the many reasons I request to review audio’s is discovering new talent to add to my favorites list. This is one. You’ll be glad that you made this choice. This audio was given to me in exchange for an unbiased review.”

It’s my opinion that each thing I publish is sort of like a promise. Every book I write says, “If you like this book, you’ll like the other books I’ve written.” I don’t know about the rest of the world, but if I read something from an author, and I really love it (the most recent example would be Michael G. Manning), I’m probably going to rip through the author’s entire library. I hope this reader does try more of my work, and I hope each book both fulfills and reaffirms the promise this one made.

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In a crazy dream-world, I would have to shift these reviews to their own day so I can do other “author news” on Saturdays, but I think I’m a ways away from that. Still, it’s nice to dream now and then. For now, I’ll keep tracking this marketing effort and post my findings probably in the next few weeks.

I just want to offer my thanks to those who reviewed my work and humbly ask that anyone else who’s tried one of my books do the same, even if they didn’t like it. Thank you all again.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Reviews! So Many Reviews!

Greetings all,

I’m just simply amazed at the number of reviews I am lucky enough to share with you. I’ll articulate how this was made possible in a future blog (I’m doing more research on that). For now, I have several reviews to share with you.  Some of them are only on Audible, and I don’t know how to link to just those reviews, so I’ll just copy-paste them in their entirety here. Then I have another review for Caught I’d like to spend a bit more time discussing.

First, let’s look at several new reviews for the Audible version of Stealing Freedom.

Five Star Review from Anne-v:

“Wonderful novella!

Loved it! Loved the originality. Loved the characters. Loved the writing. Loved the story. Loved the narrator.
I’ll devour everything from this author. It’s that good.
Give me more!! I want a prequel and a sequel.
This is a future world where speaking has been deemed “dangerous” to established order. Speech is only allowed per word purchased. A mother risks everything to allow her daughter the freedom to speak.
I was given this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.”

 

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Isn’t that great?!

I mean, I don’t even know what to say! This is the kind of review every author dreams of, and I’m so grateful to Anne for leaving it. Bless you!

Five Star Review from Dee:

“Great listen!!

I enjoyed this listen very much!! In the beginning, it’s hard to know where this story is going. The writing is incredibly well-done and the world-building was exceptional, albeit scary.

That ending was inventive and quite frankly, mind-blowing.

The narration kept pace with the other worldliness of the story. Love it!!!”

 

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Again, this is a very kind review. I put in a lot of effort for the endings of my stories, so any time they get compliments, I’m particularly pleased.

Five Star Review from B VanDyk:

“I absolutely loved this sci-fi

I thought the premise of this future was fantastic. A great heist style story against an oppressive regime.
Thinking of the current culture to extrapolate to this end was an awesome commentary. I’m looking forward to more from this author!

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.”

 

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All I can say is, “I’m happy to provide more!” All these reviews are so kind, and I’m so blessed and happy that people like Stealing Freedom. Honestly any rating and review is nice, but when they’re this kind, how can I not appreciate it that much more?

That brings me to this four star review for Caught:

The reviewer once again (she’d listened to Stealing Freedom and was kind enough to try another of my stories) left a review on both Audible and Goodreads.

This review is awesome! Now, is it as complimentary as some of the above reviews? Maybe not, but it’s so insightful, and I wanted to talk about one specific segment. You can read the whole review through the above link, but I wanted to focus on one part.

“The premise is very interesting, however, I was disappointed that this was book 1 of a series. This shares a lot of good elements from books like Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, and with 1 tweak (the death of someone), this would have made a great stand alone. As it is, and someone survives that shouldn’t have been allowed to, there will clearly be a book 2, and said character will be back.”

Later she says, “Also, the charm of this book is largely rooted in the dreams and the experiments. Without that mystery, I imagine sequels will basically be the A-Team with powers.”

I’m in no way about to “respond” to this review. That’s bad form. Her opinions are hers, and I value them. The interesting thing is that she would have liked Caught better if it was a stand alone.

Here’s why that’s interesting: I originally intended it to be a stand alone.

I’d just finished Bob, and I really needed something light, fun, and fresh before I started on another ambitious project.

So then, I spoke with others in the business. If you look at my work, you’ll notice I barely hold still. Their advice was to generate books in a series to build a following. That advice made perfect sense to me.

Before you go too far, I’m not saying I invented Betrayed and Discovered just to pander to an audience. Yes, my goal was to provide people who like Caught more stories from that world, but it wasn’t just for that reason. I was speaking to my brother about some of the things I knew.

In once scene in Caught, Steve (one of the main characters), notes Kira (a secondary character in that book) has more reason to hate the general than anyone else.

My brother asked me why. When I told him, he loved the idea. I’d just filed the detail away as part of the world building and history of Kira’s character. But I wasn’t planning on going back to those characters for quite some time if at all. Once I told my brother that spolierific detail, he urged me to write that sequel, and that demand, combined with the advice of self-published authors I respect, led me to go ahead and write the other stories.

Oneiros Log, even Caught as a stand alone, was always designed to be my super hero universe origin story. I love X-Men. I think the Avengers movies are great! But I’m frustrated at the lack of other super heroes. In my opinion, you’re either an X-Man, an Avenger, or a member of the Justice League. Everyone wants to write for those series. I wanted to create something that at least has a fresh perspective on supers.

But I think Brook makes a very valid and fair comment, and I felt that was a great point. I’ve often said I would go back and write several books in one universe if I had it all to do again. I’d still publish Bob. I’d still publish Oneiros Log (at least Caught). But I typically write the stories that are most energizing to me at the time.

It’s a interesting challenge to be an author who is a discovery writer at heart trying to make sure he’s building an audience. I made the decision to move forward with the rest of the story (which is way more about Kaitlyn and Kira), but it’s interesting to see someone feel the way I felt about Caught. I can only hope that the rest of the trilogy (and Kaitlyn’s little side story) are entertaining enough to justify writing them.

I thought about adding this information. I truly, TRULY, hope that this isn’t seen as a rebuttal to Brook’s very kind review. It was a wonderful review. It was a thoughtful review.

But I though that keen observation demanded an open and honest admission of my original intent and how I came to change my mind.

I’ve never had so many reviews to share at the end of one week, and I’m humbled and honored to have these to share. I can only hope and pray that the reviews keep coming.  I just want to offer my most sincere appreciation one more time to all of these reviewers. It’s my hope that the reviews inspire more people to give my work a try.

As always, thanks for reading,

Matt