Friends and fam! I have some updates I’d like to share with you all, the people who have actually been so kind and generous enough to support me with a pre-order (or two or three or more in some cases, ha), before I share on Facebook, Instagram, etc next week. If you don’t have time to read this all, just go ahead and skip to the part that says "IMPORTANT PART" near the bottom.

I’ll start with some not great news. ’The Shift’ unfortunately did not make the cut for the Top 10 manuscripts in the Judges Competition. I won’t lie, I’m bummed. I know everybody who makes an attempt at something and doesn’t quite make the cut always qualifies with things like "Well, I’m still proud of what I did" and "In a way, I still won..." (Just listen to any chef immediately after being eliminated on "Chopped"). And I don’t wanna do all that. 

BUUUUUTTTTT...

It IS my first attempt at a novel, ever, which is something I am proud of. And I did beat somewhere between 400 and 500 other writers, and with stiff competition from what I hear. And, additionally, WHATEVER THESE JUDGES JUST DON’T GET WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO MAN. Haha. Joking. Maybe.

All that said, I am down to only ONE SHOT at making my dream come true and getting published: and that is winning the pre-orders contest on Inkshares. The good news is I am in FIRST PLACE thanks to all of you. But there is a little over one week left, and I know the writers beneath me will REALLY put the push on to catch up.

***IMPORTANT PART***
And so I ask you all again, despite having already helped me so, so much, to please share my book’s Inkshares page. With everyone you have ever met, haha. Email people. Call up old friends. Share to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Tinder apps. Hell, share it on your Uber app if you can figure out how. I have exhausted my social circle with this and I hate to ask for more of you all, but this is the FINAL PUSH! The contest ends October 9th at 11:30pm PDT! 

For the laziest of you (no judgment) I’ve crafted a message you can just copy and paste to your email or social media profiles here:

"Hey, everybody! I have a small favor to ask: please consider helping Paul achieve his dream of being a published authoer by pre-ordering a copy of his novel at the link below. It’s only $10, and you get your money back if he doesn’t get published. I know he would appreciate it from the bottom of his heart. Thank you so much! http://bit.ly/2xQQvvs"

Thank you all SO much for your. Your support really does mean everything to me. Now, let’s win this thing! 

Much love,
Paul

To all of you who’ve already been such great supporters of my upcoming debut novel, "Skavenger’s Hunt," I’m happy to say we’re closing in on the finish line. Everything’s good-to-go for our November 14th pre-holiday-season release date, with the printer about to push the button on our very first round of books. Today’s update, though, is one I’ve been looking forward to sending your way for quite awhile now, because I get to give you the first-ever look at the last component of the book itself: Will Staehle’s flat-out amazing cover. 

You’ve seen the front cover for awhile now; which, in my opinion, was so good we could have simply placed a blank cover on the back and we would have been okay. But, no surprise, Will reached into his bag of designing talent and pulled out a SECOND image that staggered me: a silhouette time-traveling image of the story’s main character, young Henry Babbitt, tumbling through an hour-glass from present-day New York on Christmas Eve, into summer-drenched New York from long ago. July 10th, 1885, to be exact, where the lion’s share of the adventurous story takes place.

Will - I’m grateful to you for giving my first book such a fantastic look. I’m dead-honest when I say it’s one of the best book covers I’ve seen in a long, long time, and I’m beyond thankful that it’s on mine. Thanks to Adam Gomolin who had the intuition to bring Will onboard. Thanks as well to Oscar-winning producer Mark Johnson, to the Wibberleys (writers of the film "National Treasure") and to Ocean’s 13 writer Brian Koppelman (creator of Showtime’s "Billions") for their incredible blurbs in support of the project. 

To all of you, the early backers of "Skavenger’s Hunt," stay tuned as we approach that November 14th release date, because I’ll be out pushing the book every opportunity I can get. And a special thanks to Inkshares marketing wiz Angela Melamud for helping spread the word. We’ll keep everyone posted on the when-and-where of bookstore reading-and-signing events. 

Until then, hope you enjoy this look at Will’s cover, which you’ll be holding in your hands just a few weeks from now. The "Hunt" is about to begin...

******* FREE STUFF AT THE BOTTOM! *******

Wow, that Launchpad Contest was a wild ride. Looks like this Horror Contest might get scary too!

Like when Mike’s Vampire and the Dragon blew past me into first place. Felt good at the top for a couple days. It’s okay being his wingman. I ain’t ashamed to admit there’s a little man crush going on. Who knows, maybe we could team up for a writing project. That might be interesting. 

What do you think?

If you’re so inclined to pre-order Murder Happens, now is a good time to step up. I’ll be forever grateful to all who have supported this project...and helping me work out my mommy issues.The excerpts of Murder Happens have been getting good reviews. If you haven’t had a chance to read them—the reviews and/or the excerpts—go check them out. Really appreciate getting feedback, too.

Spent the last week working on one particular chapter. It’s deep into the book, so unlikely I’ll post it, but I can share a bit of my process. 

My day job takes up a lot of time and the huckstering for pre-orders takes up the rest. That’s my process! Oh, and checking the leaderboard constantly, that’s the biggest time suck. 

BRB…okay, still in 2nd.

Murder Happens is a complete manuscript. I finished it a few years back. Using it more as an outline and rewriting all the chapters. I squeeze in an hour or so in the evening, a day off here and there. And the weekends as much as possible around my chores…like checking the leaderboard. 

Okay…still in 2nd. 

I use Scrivener. It’s great. Also capture notes and ideas with my phone when they hit. That’s usually in the middle of the night. Without the day job, I would probably get up at 4 a.m., put in 5,000 words or so, then call it quits and binge on Netflix. Okay, probably 500 words. 

Revising never ends. I spend a lot of time on one sentence or a paragraph until it rings true. I read aloud to myself or anyone else who’ll listen. Highly recommend it. Your ear hears what your brain ignores. Sure, I make stuff up all the time, but I’m reading this update out loud right now.

As a writer, I haven’t settled on a genre yet. I’m a genre bender. But what about gender bending? I wrote a short story called Glams vs Red Plaids. I wrote it with the intention of weaving it into the larger plot line of a novel. 

The story is FREE Thursday through Sunday so grab the Kindle version and download it. It’s what I have to give now to show my appreciation for your support. 

Joan calls it dystopian biopunk. It has gender issues with a battle of the sexes, all three of them.

Fun, right?

Go check it out, doesn’t cost a thing because I’m crushing on all of you.

If you don’t like my story, then check out The Dog of Jesus that pops up when I go to the page. It’s got 176 reviews. Glams vs Red Plaids has none, so there’s that...

One more thing,  a great big shout out to Mike Ostrowski because he’s an awesome dude. His book Lost in the Fog is a crime thriller the way it should be done.

Here’s a link to Glams vs Red Plaids, go download a FREE story:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075H5BWTF

Here’s a link to Murder Happens, go pre-order:
https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens

Here’s a link to Lost in the Fog, go buy a copy:
https://www.inkshares.com/books/lost-in-the-fog

Here’s a link to The Vampire and the Dragon, go pre-order if you already pre-ordered Murder Happens.
A man crush only goes so far :o)
https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-vampire-and-the-dragon

Now get outta here!

First off, thanks for your support. We’re off to a slow start but pick a metaphor a) Rome wasn’t built in a day or b) it’s a marathon not a sprint. I’d pick the Rome one because no one actually likes to run marathons.

To help keep everyone updated, and streamline things, I’ve started ArtElliott.com. Feel free to copy and paste that link into any social media you might have (shameless plug for shameless plugging). I put a new post up today about messing around with a mock up cover so check that out.

Charlie really likes the green picture - I’m partial to the pinkish one. I’ll keep messing with it. My ’shop skills are lacking so the mock-up will probably end up looking pretty mocked-up but the general idea will be there. The options are slightly pop art and aggressively neon. I was trying for something bright but not light. Loud but dark. The book is fun but not always happy and I wanted to show that in the cover. Set expectations from the very start.

-Art