A Far Out Fantastic Site

It's the first Wednesday of the month and this new year of 2026! That means it’s time for the first monthly Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop of the year!  In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season! I have, although its been a busy one, and so I've had to slow down on the writing projects some but not too much. I'm just now getting back into the routine and that includes finishing up the final touches on my upcoming book of short fiction, "Bad Apps", and that's making way for myself to return to a monthly series here at A Far Out Fantastic Site! So, keep reading to find out the details! The optional IWSG question for January has been perfect timing for me! The question: Is there anything in your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done in 2025? Yes, two things. F...

Credit: Pixabay Can you believe we’ve arrived at another holiday season and the end of the year? It seems like each year goes by so fast! There are all kinds of great stuff to look forward to at this time of year: time with family and friends, good holiday food, gifts. But it's more about the giving than the getting. But the giving can really deplete your bank account, especially if you're like me and have a big family. Well, that's when you look towards the holiday sales. One of many of those is Smashwords' End of Year Book Sale in which my books are participating in! Want something chilling to read during this holiday season? You'll find mine and plenty of other authors' books of science fiction and horror at that sale! And if that's not enough, check out the list of links to holiday horror reading and viewing below!  Smashwords End of Year Sale Is the holiday shopping making your money vault go low? Well, from now through January 1, you can find my books ...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another I nsecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop ! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. So far, this week has been one of letter/email writing in regards to my fiction work and not so much of writing or editing the fiction itself. I did complete the first draft of my first short story in two years over the weekend though. But read on for more about that letter-writing to, supposedly, fans. I also answer the optional question of the month and have the latest on the beta version of my upcoming short story collection, "Bad Apps". IWSG Question of the Month Now for the IWSG question for December: As a writer, what was one of the coolest/best gifts you ever received? That's an easy one. The coolest and best gift I've ever gotten as a writer is my talent and inclination to write. Now as far as materia...

Credit: Pixabay November is often a small month compared to October and December that book-holds it. However, for me it has been a big month. That is, a month loaded with writing tasks. November has been a month of preparing my newest short story collection, "Bad Apps", for its beta release. It’s been a month of formatting the eight short stories into book form and making a clickable table of contents that will make it easier for readers to jump to each story. It's been a month of copying text from each story’s file, pasting it into the book manuscript’s file, and then reformatting those passages that's styles were either lost in the transition or came from a file that I did not think to format properly when I had first typed the story onto the computer. The official book may still be two or three months away, but the beta version of "Bad Apps" is now ready for release! Or, at least ready for release to those who have volunteered to beta read and give me the...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. October was a very busy month for me! I had been formatting my book of short fiction, "Bad Apps", for beta reading most of the month (or so it seemed) and still am. I also had the Halloween edition of the newsletter that I was putting together and released just before October 31. If you're not subscribed to my free author's newsletter, you can subscribe here . On top of that, I was busy putting together a Halloween discount sale for my books which I've actually extended to the end of the week! (More about that below.) Plus, there were seasonal events that I attended. I was trying so hard to get more done than 31 days allows for that there were times when I thought I was on the edge of madness! But I survive...

Credit: the blogger Halloween is upon us! And I've been busy doing writing-related projects in relation to the holiday. One is the Halloween edition of my free author's newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call" which is now out. Be sure to check your in-boxes if you haven't done so. If you're not subscribed the newsletter, you can do so here .    Also going on now through the Halloween/Day of the Dead weekend is a sale on my books! You'll find more about that below. But first, I just wanted to share with you a comment of mine to a YouTube video I watched a while back about the extensive commercialisation of Halloween. This time of year offers plenty of opportunity to make a sale (as with my discounted books listed below), but we must remember that the hallowday is primarily about the community, both living and dead.  Blogger's Response to Video,  'Halloween is Dying'   (I encourage you to watch the video at the link above to get a better understa...