Hello everyone!

Firstly, I want to say that I hope all of you are safe and well. This is truly an ever-changing situation in which we live in, and I know all of us are doing our best to navigate the murky waters. The purpose of this message is to update you on my progress with, RESURGENCE.

Before the pandemic, I didn’t have much time to work on my edits. Teaching required my full attention. What I didn’t expect is for the school shut down to do the same. While I may not have been teaching in the classroom, I was constantly grading, answering emails, checking in with students’ wellness, and packing up my classroom in preparation for the big move into our new middle school next year. With that being said, however, I do believe the delay was a gift from God. Here is why.

Our country is broken. No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall, no matter your opinion on how our country’s leaders have handled the pandemic, no matter your take on the riots sweeping the country after the horrific deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, millions of people are hurting. I have been given the opportunity to take all of this in and use RESURGENCE to bring a sense of unity back to this world and most importantly, inspire youth for generations. The characters in RESURGENCE will bring to life the emotional struggle we are all facing and hopefully inspire people to create an inviting world for all, regardless of who you are or where you come from. 

The beginning of a book is always the toughest to write. Especially when it comes to science fiction. I have to find the perfect balance between prose and world-building, oh, and not to mention, keep the reader in suspense the entire time. I have written the first four chapters of this new draft, and you will find them uploaded to Inkshares. If anyone is willing to read them and provide me with feedback on the STORY (grammar mistakes are a given), I would greatly appreciate it. And if not, well, I look forward to finishing the story this summer. 

Head to Inkshares.com/books/resurgence and click on the "read" tab to begin reading the new draft!

Best wishes,

Alec Michael Dood

Feel grateful to be working. Being a remote-working introvert, not much has changed for me. Hope all is well with you my friends and fellow writers. Are you using this time getting busy with writing? 

Read an article about the state of booksellers in this pandemic time. It concerned me. Folks are likely shopping at Amazon to get their book fix. I do too, but thought: What if I bought some books on Inkshares? We all have an interest in keeping the enterprise sailing along, right? Whatever happens happens, but I still believe, so I committed to buying five books. Here are my picks:

Abomination

https://www.inkshares.com/books/abomination

Dracula vs. Hitler

https://www.inkshares.com/books/dracula-v-hitler

Welcome to Deadland

https://www.inkshares.com/books/welcome-to-deadland

The Love Fool

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-love-fool

One Murder More

https://www.inkshares.com/books/one-murder-more

The Talkers are Talking

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-talkers-are-talking

Okay, there are six now—all trade or hardcover books, me being an old school boomer who likes his paper. Some of these are on my Kindle app but they’re dead to me there. And The Talkers are Talking is still in production. Darn! Guess I’ll have to wait for that one.

Hi everyone!  

I hope this message finds you safe and healthy in these odd times.  I know that things are very out of sorts on my end, but my family and I are doing well, and making the best of a bad situation.

A lot has happened in the past year with the book.  In February of 2019 I set about overhauling the original manuscript to make the overall plot and timeline more exciting from the get go.  I finished that version in February of this year and sent it on back to Inkshares for review.  I must say, I’m very happy with the changes.  The book as a whole feels more complete and polished.  

Now, that doesn’t mean it is done.  Far from it. 

The manuscript is in line to get reviewed by Inkshares and I’m expecting a lot of notes.  Every time I go back through the book I find more ways to tighten things up.  The story, in my opinion, is fun and exciting, but there is always room for improvement.  This is, after all, my first novel and I’m learning how to better my writing every day.

But, with that being said, I just wanted everyone to know that we are still working hard to get this book into your hands, and into bookstores!

I also wanted to pass along a few notes for anyone who is interested.  First, I updated Tainted’s page on Inkshares to include a new "back cover" description of the book.  Second, I took down the old prologue, as it no longer appears that way in the new manuscript.  With its removal, I included the updated introduction to the book.  Not quite prologue, more of an introduction to the narrator/world.  Take a moment to pop over and give it a once over, I would love to hear what you think!

Thank you for your patience and sticking with me through all of this.  I really appreciate it.  And I can’t wait for you to dive into Tainted!

PJ

Concerning the book: We’ve updated Chapter 1, reposted with changes from the latest edit. We submitted a full re-edit in February, in hopes of getting the book published by April. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as the coronavirus crisis affected a whole stream of the publisher’s projects. But we’re still pushing and we appreciate your patience and your faith in us. Doyle and Lou

Howdy, folks.

It’s hard to believe it’s been only three months since my last update. Feels like a year. I hope everyone is keeping safe and sane as best they can as we weather this viral storm.

Today, I returned the revised manuscript for BoAT to my editor at Inkshares. I do hope that with two rounds of developmental edits now complete, the end is in sight, but we will see.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary, if you can believe it, since I got the word that Inkshares would publish this tome. Whether you work with a publisher large or small, it can routinely take 18-24 months to get a book out the door.

With Inkshares, I had hoped to shorten that cycle to 12-18 months. But thanks to social-distancing measures, it’s hard to say when we might have a launch date for BoAT. Bricks-and-mortar bookstores, in addition to online sales, are an important part of Inkshares’ marketing strategy. The team doesn’t want to launch any title at a disadvantage. Neither do I.

So, stay tuned.

As some of you know, since my last update, I have had a cancer diagnosis – metastatic melanoma.

I have had two surgeries to remove all the lymph nodes under my left arm. In mid-May, I will begin targeted gene therapy – a year of fiendishly expensive meds that have a good chance of completely and permanently eradicating the cancer.

By some morbid twist of fate, a half dozen friends, neighbours, and former colleagues have also had cancer diagnoses in recent months.

This of course puts a whole different flavor on living in the time of a pandemic. It emphasizes how much the small victories matter. How much a positive attitude matters. And how important it is to occupy yourself in productive ways.

Thank you all again for your patience and support. Stay safe and keep reading!

Cheers

Leo