Forgot to mention that you have to sign in (upper righthand corner of the homepage) to your Inkshares account to click NOMINATE. If you don’t remember your login from last time, you can also sign in using your Facebook account.

Hey everyone,

Happy Corned Beef and Cabbage Day!

It looks like I haven’t sent out an update since August, which was…three, four years ago? I think many of you would agree that these past twelve months have seemed to stretch on forever. Hopefully as the vaccine rollout picks up steam, we’ll start to see more and more aspects of life from the Before Times returning to normal. You know, like people actually going to bookstores to buy books. Which was a really poor segue for a…

SHOWTIME UPDATE

I haven’t wanted to send out an update because, well, I don’t have much in the way of big updates to share. But I figured I should pop in just to let you know that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.

Anyway, I checked in with Avalon, my copyeditor, this week and unfortunately Inkshares is still seeing some lags in the development processes of their books (thanks, COVID), causing their schedules to be set back by a couple months.

I don’t want to share any potential dates for copyediting or release since that would only be disappointing if we’re not able to meet those dates. But when we have something firmly set in stone, I will let you all know. However, Avalon assured me that Inkshares isn’t rushing any part of the process, and she’s excited about getting to work on Showtime.

In a bit of good news, Inkshares’s publishing schedule for the coming months looks to be pretty robust (take a look on Amazon) with a good number of delayed books being released. So while it’s not my turn yet, the fact that books from their back catalog are being released is a good sign that things are ramping up again.  

CONTEST AND NEW PROJECT

While news on the Showtime front is a bit quiet for now, my writing has not slowed down. The new book is done! It’s the most horror-centric thing I’ve written and is called Monsters. And no, it’s not about people who refuse to wear masks during a pandemic.

Inkshares is running a new contest, and I’ve entered Monsters.

Instead of pre-orders, Inkshares is choosing contest winners based on which books are nominated using the NOMINATION button that you’ll find on each individual book’s page.

Per the contest: “...we want to know what book projects have piqued your interest most. Which stories are the most compelling, and whose writing is the strongest?”

I’m not opening up the Monsters page for pre-orders (I cannot in good faith ask you to pre-order a new book when my previous one has not been published yet), but I am asking for something else. I’ve posted the first three chapters of Monsters and if you like what you read, please consider clicking the FOLLOW button, leaving a quick review, and, most importantly, clicking the NOMINATE button near the top of the page. It’s a short and sweet form that basically asks you why you like what you read and feel like it’s worthy for publication.

While potential publication for Monsters would be farther out, securing a slot in the Inkshares publication queue would give it a head start, effectively cutting out the long, grueling process of another pre-order campaign.

The nomination process will close on May 1st (with winners selected the month after), and here’s the page for Monsters: CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE.

ALL ABOARD THE DIABEETUS EXPRESS

As a fun side project, I started doing homemade sugar cookies with commissioned designs. If you have a need for custom sugar cookies in your life, let me know at rruszin17@aol.com.

AND NOW FOR THE COMEDY PORTION OF THE SHOW…

Q: What do you say to console an English major?

A: There, their, they’re

Thanks again for your support and patience, and I’m excited to share more news with you all when I have it!

Ricky