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Join the October Club

Dear Reader,

With a rush of clear crisp wind and the scent of cinnamon, vanilla, and fallen leaves, October has arrived. Probably my favorite month of the year—and one I share with many book-lovers, I think. It’s a great time to pick up a new book (May I suggest The Boy Who Called the Foxes) or an old book (Hound of the Baskervilles, anybody?) But how about one that’s not even out yet?

I’m looking seriously at November for the long-awaited relaunch of the Dronefall Series. As some of you know, I completely rewrote book one of my six-book Christian dystopian series this year. The relaunch is going to be a big event, but in the meantime, I wanted to give certain people a chance to be on the cutting edge—and an exclusive look at the new Dronefall One before anybody else gets it.

What this isn’t:

No, this isn’t a street team or ARC reader recruitment. I’m not doing this to enlist help for promotion or get flashy reviews for launch-day. Think of it as the formation of a book club—one with very few rules or obligations attached. I wanted to give readers who actually were curious about Dronefall an exclusive experience.

Here’s the deal, if you join my email list in the month of October, in the year 2024, you automatically will become a member of the October Club.

What this is:

So, what are the benefits of joining the October Club, and where’s the catch?

The benefits:

  • If you are on my email list already, or join anytime this October, you will be sent a free ebook copy of Dronefall—the rewritten second edition.
  • You can read it anytime you want—or ignore it.
  • But you might want to check it out, because during October, I’ll be sending extra emails, giving you a behind-the scenes look at the rewrite and the vision behind it, as well as a chance for you to send me your questions and get answers.
  • You’ll be tagged as the October Club on my email list, so there’s a chance you’ll get October Club exclusive emails and content in the future.

The catch:

  • None

You have no obligation to review the book or even read the book, if it turns out to not be your thing. Like I said, you’re not a launch team. This club is for you and your own cozy autumn reading enjoyment. Of course, if you want to review the book when it finally comes out, that would be amazing. Thank you in advance if you plan to. But the book is really just a thank-you and a chance to give you a look at my heart and vision for the series before you support it. I really want to give you that.

How to Join

If you’re on my email list already, you’re automatically part of the October Club. No action needed on your part, just wait for the link to the ebook to drop into your inbox. I’ll send it out as soon as it’s ready.

If you’re not on my email list, go sign up! All I need is your name and an email address that works best for you.

One final reminder—this is a limited-time opportunity. To join the club and get the book for free you have to sign up before November 1st, 2024. The earlier in October you join, the better, since I will be sending some exclusive emails in real time, but even if you join on October 31st, you’ll still get the book.

So, join us for some cozy autumn nights in with a hot drink and a good book. Invite a friend or two to sign up with you so you’ll have some people to rant to, and I hope you all have the best October ever.

Categories
announcements

The NEW Direction of UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com

I have decided to do something completely different with this blog. I’ve decided to wreck its entire commercial potential as well as its community-building potential and make it a type of blog I can’t even find a niche name for. It’s not going to be an author blog anymore. But it’s not really going to be an art blog either. It’s not going to be a ‘life-updates’ type of blog, or a devotional blog, or a lifestyle blog or anything you’re used to seeing.

UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com is going to go from a useful educational writing blog to an entertaining and hopefully inspiring outlet for all kinds of creative output. It’s definitely a risky move. I can’t even find anything online about how to run a blog like this. I’m going to have to totally wing it and figure everything out for myself.

This is a terrible idea, right? We’re kind of doomed, aren’t we?

Not if you read on. Not if you find anything here that entertains or inspires you and are interested enough to seek out more.

What kind of content can you expect now?

I have no shortage of ideas for what to share with you here. I’ll be sure to put my best efforts into learning how to create the most engaging content I can in this new style. I won’t be droning on dully about my WIPs or doing random sketch-dumps and calling it a post. Writing great blogposts is an art in itself, and I intend to perfect it.

What type of post will likely dominate UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com going forward?

  • Fiction Posts

I’m really excited about this. I’ve got some specific things planned, which I’ll talk about in a second. Probably about two-thirds of the posts on UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com will be fiction—like my own personal Wattpad website. I’ll do flash-fiction, bonus material from my books, and short-run as well as long-running serial stories. Some will be regular, but others will have random posting schedules to keep you guessing. I’m looking forward to the freedom and variety I’ll get to enjoy writing shorter more informal work. You’ll be seeing some brand-new worlds open up.

Here and there, I’ll do other types of posts, including:

  • Art Posts

Like I said, no sketch-dumps or single-picture with no caption posts. I want to do side-by-side comparisons of redraws of my old art, detailed character-design sheets and intros to characters (you’ll get to see some of my book characters in vivid detail and full-color for the first time!) my art-journaling pages and processes, sketchbook tours with full commentary, etc.

  • Tutorials

No, I’m not cutting this category completely. Gotta do something to keep Pinterest happy, right? But probably not a lot of writing how-to. Things like multimedia art-journaling, beating creative block, and creating inspiring creative workspaces are in the cards. I’ll probably branch out into other things as my vision gets clearer.

  • Challenges and New Media

I want to become more creatively adventurous. I want to try to do stuff I’m terrible at and see if I like it. Whether it’s creating art from random prompts using random materials, trying to learn a brand-new medium or technique in a set amount of time, or something significantly crazier, I want to take a tip or two from the “I tried____” trend and dive into some new and exciting experiences.

And now, I’d like to introduce the first serial fiction series ever to come to UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com.

Dreamscape, IN: a flash-fiction series

“Everything life has to offer can be gotten by accident.”

This is an ongoing flash-fiction series written completely on the fly. Not so much a story as an ethereal rhapsody of reoccurring themes and images haunting one main character. Anything can happen from episode to episode. Read one. Read every other one. Go back and read them all if you’d like. The story is whatever you remember when you wake up.

What’s particularly unique about Dreamscape, IN is I’ve planned it to be a multimedia series. That means some episodes will be mostly writing, but will probably include illustrations. Some will feature multiple more detailed images with snippets of prose between them. Still others will lapse almost completely into webcomic form—some of which will be nearly wordless.

It’s the story of a teenage girl living in some undefined Indiana town in the Great Lakes area. The visuals will be pretty, a bit lonely, sometimes surreal. Dreamscape isn’t a real town. It’s a place she goes in her mind where there’s always the hope of something more to be had but no guaranteed way to get to it. I think, when you’ve read a few episodes, you’ll start to remember you’ve been to Dreamscape, too.

The prologue will be released on 8/11/23, so there’s something to look forward too. Hopefully, episodes will come out weekly.

What’s Next?

We’re about to jump into the regular posting schedule! Keep an eye open for my next post where I will be redrawing my art from years ago. Did I improve? Did I develop a distinctive style? Did I used to have significantly cooler ideas for things to draw?! Find out on 8/7/23!

One More Thing:

So, I’ve tried a lot of different creative and artistic media throughout my life. I’ve only actually gotten good at a few of them and there still some I’ve never tried at all. In the comment section, throw out all your best guesses on which ones I’ve never tried before. Go wild. I’ll tell you if you’re right or wrong. If you can hit on one I haven’t tried, maybe I’ll use it to challenge myself and report how it went in a later post.

Categories
My Books

Reasons to Read The Boy Who Called the Foxes This Fall

“I’m trying to finish Dad’s song.”

  Sage looked up from her camera screen. “Huh?”

  “In the notebook Mom showed me. He left a song unfinished. Don’t tell anyone. Please? I haven’t written a song in a long time. I can’t even do it anymore.”

  “I won’t tell anybody. But why are you doing it? Seems like that wouldn’t be an easy way to start back up again. Seems like it would be easier to start with a clean slate and write something on your own.” She motioned for him to turn around and look out over the town. “Co-writing is really hard.”

  Co-writing. Yes, it was. Especially when your partner was dead. There was the constant overhanging question of whether the other writer’s vision was coming through at all. It was all the worse when you could never check in with him to ask. “I don’t have any other ideas.” He pushed his bangs back and glanced over at her. “It’s kind of—”

  “Sorry, do that again.”

  “Why are you taking portraits? I thought this was supposed to be a street-photography thing.”

  “You have to take the pictures you see. Anyway, I think you can do it. A lot of your stuff already sounds a lot like Dad’s stuff. It might take a little while to get back into it, but that’s understandable. Don’t give up on it.” She sauntered off away from him, apparently not seeing any more pictures there.

  “I wasn’t going to give up on it,” he said. And that was when he realized how close he had been to doing just that. “I was just thinking…it’s never going to be the song it was supposed to be.”

  “Cade, that’s okay. No song really is.”

                                             Excerpt from The Boy Who Called the Foxes

What is The Boy Who Called the Foxes?

The Boy Who Called The Foxes was born from one thing, really: my obsession with the cozy, brisk, dreamy, eerie, exhilaration of the autumn season. When the idea sparked, all I really knew was I wanted to write a story that would be the literary equivalent of a rich pumpkin-spice latte on a crisp October morning.

For a long time, that’s all I had. It was driving me a little crazy. I didn’t have any characters, no specific setting, no themes—I didn’t even know what genre it was going to be. But finally, the catalyst came in the form of a single image—a boy calling foxes.

The Boy

  I didn’t know a thing about the main character at first. The title came before I had a name for him. At last, I came up with Cadence Kim—a guy who was kind of in the same stage of life as I was. He was a college graduate wondering where his life had gotten him so far. He was on his way back to move in with his mom and siblings again, since his job-hunt in Chicago was going nowhere.

  But most importantly, Cade was an artist. He was a musician who couldn’t seem to live life the way everyone else thought he should. He was a sensitive person who saw the world through different eyes and wanted something it couldn’t seem to provide.

  And he had lost his father—a similar person who, though an incredibly quiet man, had influenced his family to its core.

The Vibes

Obviously, a major draw for any potential reader would be the autumn aesthetic. I know I’m not the only one who lives for those short months toward the end of the year. The descriptions are loaded with the roar of October wind, the migrating birds, the changing leaves, the cozy coffee houses, caramel apples, autumn festivals, etc. I tried to make it as immersive as possible.

While writing this book I was constantly surrounded by everything I thought could help me set the mood. I burned fall candles, drank a lot of chai, created a Pinterest board, and listened to ambient sound and playlists I curated for the project. So, the writing process itself was a kind of therapeutic experience. Almost like a vacation. I hope some of that comes through for the readers, too.

The Themes

Themes typically start emerging later in my planning for writing a book. They come from looking at my characters and their problems and their hopes and dreams. Cadence’s dreams have given way to disappointment in the beginning of the book. He’s disappointed in himself, and knows his old acquaintances are going to be let down as well. So, he spends a lot of time trying to hide from his situation and avoid confronting the changes that have rocked his world.

I think it’s something a lot of people can relate to. Especially if you were ever one of those people who everybody said had “so much potential.”  Yes, there’s so much you could do, but what will you do? A lot of us don’t actually have our whole lives tied up with a bow by the time we’re eighteen. Don’t let the YA novels fool you.

The Other Perks

Of course, I could go on and on about how this book is worth your cozy autumn reading time. It’s fun, it’s lyrically written, it’s loaded with healthy best-friend relationships between siblings, introvert problems, settings you’ll want to move to, journal entries, original song lyrics, and just a hint of otherworldliness to set it apart from other general contemporary fiction. But rather than keep you here any longer, reading a blog post, I’ll send you off to read a book instead. (You can decide for yourself whether or not it’s The Boy Who Called the Foxes.)

More On UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com:

The Rise of “Gritty” Christian Fiction

How to Survive a Creative Dry-Spell

How to Write a Book Review that Actually Helps Readers

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