2021

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Hi everyone, long time no post. I stepped back from social media for a while to concentrate on other stuff. Some of my time went into work — new role with new demands —, some time went into the final touches of my latest novel.

On the last day of 2021, let’s take a small review of my year in writing. Here are my personal creative highlights during a strange year 2021 (another one!).

THE TRANSPORT PUBLISHED

2020 was the year when I wrote my sci-fi military action thriller The Transport, but 2021 was the year when I published it. Usually I get by with two new books on the market each year, but in 2021 it was a little different.

THE TRANSPORT — THE AUDIOBOOK PODCAST

It started as an experiment. And as a nod to one of my writer role models Scott Sigler and his audiobook podcast from 2006(?) Earthcore, which sort of started the sci-fi journey for me. During the recording an publishing of the audiobook I learned a lot about recording, audio processing, and reading aloud. And I managed to get through all the hundred-plus chapters, staying at it, releasing episode after episode. In that respect, the audio book was like a small writing project from beginning to end. Will I repeat it? Probably not, as it takes too much time off writing.

 

THE FEBRUARY SONGS PROJECT

Another completely different creative project. Writing songs, recording them, and publish them. One song a day throughout the month of February. I had not written a single songer for almost over thirty years and it was a huge learning and endurance process during the COVID-pandemic-dominated month. I had to learn Logic Pro almost from scratch, juggle the various equipment, fight with skill limitations on almost every instrument (including my voice). But somehow, it all worked out. Almost a year after, I can listen to the songs again without constantly thinking “Jeez, you shoulda… Oh, no, that was soooo sloppy…”. This experiment, I probably will repeat in February 2022, need to put some mental and conceptual planning into it, though.

THE OLD MAN BOOK PROJECT

As I write this, in the middle of my Christmas vacations break, I reached one of my edting milestones. One more pass and the manuscript will be ready for the editor. Similar as THE TRANSPORT, this book is not part of a series but a stand alone thriller with a different kind of hero. If things go well, I’ll manage to publish it in February / March timeframe.


Well, and that’s a wrap to another year. Was it a good year? Creativity-wise definitely, with a lot learned and tried out. Commercially? Well… working on that! Thanks for everyone buying, reading, listening to my books. Keep it on!

Final Episode of THE TRANSPORT Podcast Out Today

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A half-year rollercoaster comes to an end. Today I posted the last episode of my audiobook podcast THE TRANSPORT. 130 Chapters, 100K+ words, close to 500 pages. It was an experiment during the “boring” phases of the CORONA pandemic of lockdowns and public-life standstill. I learned a lot about reading aloud during those 26 weeks, about noise management (as I recorded predominantely in my living room at night), and about all the mistakes I still had in the manuscript despite a highly paid editor (Update time to the print and eBook editions of THE TRANSPORT!)

Will I repeat this? Maybe not. It took a lot of time off my writing activities. But it was fun during a stressful time, just as much fun as conceiving and writing my COVID Trouble over-the-top thriller last year. Hopefully, fingers crossed, this will be the last Corona project, two years is enough.

News of the Week - Writing, Publishing, Promoting - How I Spent My Easter Vacations!

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It’s been a while since I gave an update on my various workings. Shame on me. But here’s a quick one. What’s going on in the Ames-Universe?

  • The Transport audiobook podcast is proceeding quite nicely. Episode 13 just came out and recording / producing is fun, though the technical part is purely down to automation and handiwork these days. It wil occupy me for some weeks to come but is a nice distraction from pure writing chores.

  • Parallel to the podcast, The Transport also comes up chapter-by-chapter on Wattpad. A weak ploy to get more readers, however not many readers have caught on yet. Well, there’s hope.

  • Another Wattpad & Co project of mine has upstarted. It’s sort of a manga-fantasy-demon hunter story of a young girl destined to balance the worlds of good and evil, a quest she had to accept against her will. As this, for now, will be a pure online project, I plan to pack the story into a TV-style format. The four stories are set up episode style, full stories in their own rights with one overarching story line holding it together and investigating the girl’s challenges with her demon hunter situation. The four episodes will form season one. Let’s see what comes out of it. Idea is to publish it in all the online outlets, accompanied with some kick-ass manga graphics of a girl with a demon hunter sword. Episode 1 is near writing completion and will go to the editor, soon.

  • On the side, I am writing on a thriller idea I had for some time, inspired by these old-man stories that are personified by old Clint Eastwood and other senior action heroes. A mix of “Torino” and R.E.D., if you get my drift. Bob Prescott, retired, widowed, 72, housesits for his daughter in the small Florida coastal town Pelican Coast and gets drawn into the more seedy underbelly of the charming and peaceful town. It’s fun to write, as I make Bob out to be a very unapologetic guy. And an extremely, extremly ruthless guy. Pelican Coast’s underworld will have sleepless nights!

February - February Songs

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Day 28 equals Song 28. It’s done. The One Day One Song Challenge of February 2021 in this second crazy Corona year is concluded. I wonder what I’ll do with my newfound freedom in the evenings?

“February Songs” was my cheat-song. I composed it already in early January after I decided to run the One Day One Song challenge for real. Reason one was a simple one. I hadn’t composed a single song for over 35 years and I wanted to know if I still could. Reason two was a practical one. “February Songs” might have been my first song after a long hiatus, but would my creativity really last for 28 songs in a row, day by day? This song became my stand-in song should my creativity ever fail me. It didn’t. So instead it became the last song, self referencing to the project.

As it was a Sunday today, I had a little bit more time with this song. Especially the strings and brass took some attention to come out the way I wanted them to be. I scattered my work all over the afternoon and parts of the evening but at 9:00 p.m. it was all done.

Learning: None.