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Join me as we travel on a
JOURNEY from UNKNOWN to WIDELY READ AUTHOR


July, 2023 Just when it seems darkest, a glimpse of dawn ...
Back from a wonderful time in Egypt and there appears to be progress on the publication of the next book. The next month could be very exciting!

June, 2023 Off To The Pyramids in Egypt 2023!!!
Thanks to a generous grant from the good folks here at ElectricSoupfortheSoul.com, I am off to Egypt at the end of the month to continue my research into the collapse of civilizations. So far I have traveled to ruins in China, Thailand, Cambodia, Peru, and Belize. Now the pharoahs get their chance to yield some clues as to how it all ends.

Good News, And Other May 2023
My next book (about artificial intelligence) has been delayed. So I continue to read and work on new projects. It gives me more time to get caught up on reading some of the books of other authors out there, as well as writing more reviews. As soon as I have a more definite timeline I would love to share it. In the meantime, now is a great chance to pick up a copy of 51 Ways!
... waiting ...

More Waiting, April 2023
Hot NEW Review of 51 Ways on YouTube! Check out the link in the box below!!! New Book On The Horizon ...
... waiting ...

Slow But Steady, February 2023
51 Months but now the 51 Ways Copyright is Certified ...
It seems like it took forever but the Copyright Office has finally made it official for 51 Ways To End Your World. I learned a lot from going through this process. Now, time to edit the new book ... .

The New Year Begins With A BANG! January 2023
Working on the NEW BOOK and Published in Great Ape ...
The NEW BOOK is looking like a February (2023--next month!) edit and a March 2023 release!!! WOW!!! An epic satire of the epic failures of our epic tech conglomerations. Plus Becoming Artificially Intelligent--A Love Story is in the 5th Issue of Great Ape Lit Mag right now! So, go get it!!!

More GOOD NEWS! August 2022
A New Book Contract, Another Story Acceptance, And It Continues To Be Strangely Funny (IX)!!! ...
Strangely Funny IX is now available for sale! Head over to Amazon to get your copy of this anthology featuring "An Arc Had Off With The Loon" by Charis Emanon!

More GOOD NEWS for the future! We just signed a new publishing contract for the next book from Charis Emanon! While it is not a sequel to 51 Ways To End Your World, be prepared for a lot of satiric silliness.

Speaking of silliness, a literary magazine just notified me that they are publishing one of the most ridiculously funny stories ever written by Charis Emanon. Think of Philip K. Dick with androids dreaming of electric sheep, but instead of an AI trying to pass for a human it is a human trying to pass for AI ... all for the cause of LOVE. More details soon.

So Much Is Happening! July 2022
A New Book, A Trip, And Electric Soup Success ...
So we have a new book soon to be out with our writing (it should be strangely funny ...), the Electric Soup for the Soul collective accepted my proposal and is sending me on an all-expenses paid research trip to Belize, and, speaking of the collective, my colleague, old friend, and neighbor, Rich S. Allpen has had a short story accepted in a new anthology! So much to promote, so little time. Plus, something entirely different is on the horizon, I hope.

The Next Next Thing, June 2022
A New Book Featuring The Writing Of Charis Emanon ...
Fantastic news!!! I just approved the galley proofs for a new book that will be out VERY SOON, featuring my writing. This is particularly welcome timing because this book will also be sold in the Amazon category of Dark Humor, as is the case with my NEW novel 51 Ways To End Your World. In reviewing the data from the past couple of months, we are connecting with readers in this niche, with sales that bounce between the top 250 and 1500 books, particularly on the Kindle side. As we continue to help readers connect to my writings in this slot, I believe we will soon be able to break through to the top 200 books and--as we go forward with new writing projects--Dark Humor and Satire Fiction are a great place to call home for my science fiction writings. I believe deeply that my writing is meant to help illuminate these dark times.

Is It May Already? 2022
Practical Tip For Writers
I am learning that it is better to read Amazon rankings for your book as a measure of how long it has been since a book has been sold rather than as a barometer of total number of sales. Two books sold in one day will push your Amazon rankings down into the low hundred-thousands, while the same two sales over an entire month will knock the book's ranking back up into the millions. A sale of 10 books in a single day puts you in the low thousands for rankings among all of the millions of books sold on Amazon, and probably puts you in the top 100 for at least a couple of specific book categories. So if your rankings look low now, you are always just a few sales away from making a giant leap. Keep promoting your work!

End of March 2022
A Twist In Our Story
So the book is in print, and your job is done, right??? Nope! Not even close. A month in and every day I get up early so I can post on social media in order to find an audience for my writing. Then I go to bed late, doing the same thing.

I interact with lots of folks on social media. I try to make sure I spend equal amounts of time sharing the work of others as I promote my own. I look for good matches between my book and the interests of others. I network with friends of friends. In all of this I still have to find time to read and write, to keep up my own pursuits.

I am lucky to have the other Montag Press writers; we all help each other. There are also regular sharers on social media who have been kind enough to support my work.

Then I have the Electric Soup for the Soul collective of writers. We share profits and work together to promote the work of all of the writers in our group (One Writer For All, All Writers For One). One of the writers in this group regularly gets 200 likes and 30 shares on posts promoting 51 Ways To End Your World. It feels like we are getting close to finding the right audience.

So you watch the numbers bounce around on Amazon and hope that all of the work will pay off. Will we manage to find the readers who are the perfect fit for my novel? So the drama builds again. Yes, our story has another act.

And beyond social media? Bookstore readings and in-person meetings with readers? There is so much to do!

Then you go to bed, dream of the future, wake up and do it all again.

March 2022
Our Story Ends and the 51 Ways Our Adventure Begins
After all of these years of waiting, and after months of working with the editor, illustrator, and design teams at Montag Press, a package arrived at my door in Roosevelt. Inside of the box were my complimentary copies of 51 Ways To End Your World; my book! For the first time, I held a copy in my hands.

I felt a lot of pride in that moment. Also I felt gratitude for all of you out there who contributed in one way or another.

Now, though, the real adventure begins. For the first time, my book is available for you to read an enjoy. No longer does my novel belong to me alone; it belongs to the world. I have an obligation to see this idea through, to help these words find an audience, to find readers.

So the story begins anew.

End of February 2022
51 Ways To End Your World
Published 18 Years After We Started
And Still Too Soon
So there is a lot of hurry up and wait that goes into seeing your novel published, and then you are up late at night checking Amazon to see the latest Montag Press books out (as us obsessive compulsives often do) when your book shows up on the screen.

Eighteen years after we started and the book is for sale online.

You are happy for a minute, before it hits you: I have so much to do NOW! It is all too soon! I am not ready!!!

February 2022
51 Ways To Choke A Horse
A couple of years back I submitted a different book manuscript to a publisher, who promptly sent me a promising and puzzling response. He said that he really liked my story, and believed that it was marketable. He then said that he was passing on it. Why?

He explained that he ran a small press, and could only publish a few books a year. He said he liked my book, but added that in order to publish a book he had to love it, because he would have to look at the manuscript many times during the publishing process.

I was disappointed and I did not understand. I have worked as a technical editor and reviewer on book projects before, and I knew that required me to look over each page carefully. Until I experienced my own book being published, I did not comprehend just how many times you, as the main author, wind up reading your own same words over and over.

Beginning back in 2005, when I finished writing the first draft, I immediately went into editing mode. I rewrote the story several times, and then reviewed it anew before I sent out each agent query. That was probably a dozen attempts. I set the manuscript in a drawer and pulled it out every few years to see if it was worth keeping around. That accounts for another dozen views. I sent it off to Montag Press exclusively in the fall of 2019, and then, when I got impatient, to a few other publishers while I waited for a response, each time reviewing it first.

Once it was accepted for publication, I regularly looked it over every month or so. I asked an editor to look it over in the fall of 2020, and he did a close read and made suggestions. That required another 3 reads or so.

Finally, in late 2021, the editor for my publisher began to work in earnest. After a couple of passes, the manuscript went off to 6 reviewers; each time I read it over again. At last, in January of 2022, the manuscript went to the design team, and I read through it another 6 times in the last desperate dash to catch errors.

By my rough approximation, I have read 51 Ways To End Your World somewhere north of 64 times by this point in my life. You would think I would be ready to gag at the sight of my own writing, I have had to endure it so many times.

Despite all of those reads, I still am proud of what I have written. There are lots of moments in the story that surprise me even after all of these years, that make an emotional impact. These characters, Anna, Ben, Ian, and Eddie have come to live in my mind, and they are very real to me. I marvel at how they maneuver through the confines of their little world, and the ways in which they interact with each other in the Portland of the early 2000s. I always cheer for Anna to overcome the obstacles she faces, to show up the evil Scrodtop, Crupt, and Dr. Ulent, and I laugh at the funny things she says and does. Unlike every other hero I have ever encountered, Anna is fighting to end our world, once and for all. How will it all turn out?

It will be your turn next to decide if all of this re-reading and editing was worth it. I cannot wait to share this experience with you!!!

Still January 2022
51 Ways Cover Design, Behind The Smoke And Mirrors
I am not a smoker but I have waited behind members of that tribe at the gas station checkout. There is a ritual that occurs which involves a lot of pointing, rapid-fire prepositions, distinctions between gold packs, silver packs, menthols, and lights. It becomes even more of a struggle when the pair making this financial transaction speak different languages.

That is a bit of what putting together graphics on the cover of a book that you have written is like; there is a wide divergence between the vocabulary of those involved with visual arts and those of us in the written arts. My publisher has been fantastic about giving me a lot of say in the final version of this book; still, it is not always easy to communicate across the emails. Sometimes I do not have the basic vocabulary needed to express my wishes. What do you call those little packets that contain the lettering? What is another word you can use for the shade of red that is less bright than a red delicious apple but more soggy than day-old toast?

Slowly, surely, with a lot of pointing and exchange of prepositions, something is emerging, something wonderful. I credit the editor, the publisher, the illustrator, and the design team for overcoming my deficiencies in communication. Now I see it as reflected in a mirror dimly, but soon the cover for 51 Ways To End Your World will be fully known. Very soon!

Later In January 2022
51 Steps to Publication, By the Number
The cover design for 51 Ways To End Your World took a lot of effort. First I had to think of an idea, following the experienced suggestions of the editor. Then the illustrator went through the work in several phases, with color being added in the last step. It took time to do all of this. The work was worth the wait, however, and I cannot wait to share the image with you. It has some of the ingredients of classic Sci Fi covers, with some surreal updates. It introduces the main character, touches on the important themes of the story, and helps to pique curiosity. In my humble opinion this is one of the best book covers I have ever seen, and I am proud to have been part of the effort to create it.

The next step was to ask published writers to review my novel in order to provide blurbs. Fortunately my publisher had made it easy to contact some of their other writers, plus I already knew someone who had written Amazon Best Sellers. It took a while for these to be sent back in. My greatest fear was that one of them would look over my novel and say No way do I want my name associated with this! That did not happen. Instead the feedback was kind. Each reviewer focused on different aspects of the story and characters, which will help potential readers to decide if this is the right book to add to their library.

All of this feedback was then compiled into a file of Front Matter (Advance Reviews, Dedication) and Peripherals (Bio, Acknowledgement, Back Cover Summary, and Blurbs). Then this was sent back to the editor.

The manuscript and other files were next sent off to a Layout and Design Team. Additionally, an ISBN number was assigned to my book.

So my story has a number now. Slowly we get closer to publication.

January 2022
Getting Closer To Launch
Eighteen years ago I started writing an end-of-the-world, satiric thriller. After months of the story living inside of my brain, in one weekend, I typed out the first three sections, then slowly revised, finished, re-wrote, sent it out, revised some more, tucked the manuscript in a drawer, forgot about it, pulled it out again, revised some more, sent it out again, and kept doing this for 18 years. Now this story is closing in on graduation and publication into the real world.

Eighteen years is a long time. I no longer feel like I am the person that I was back then. I am so different, so set apart from that version of me that I could almost do with a new name and birth date.

The beginning of a new year is as good a time as any to reflect. How has my writing weathered the past 18 years? What does it mean to be a writer, really?

Here goes, my unvarnished truth: This past year I wrote 5 original stories of varying lengths that moved all the way from hand-written notes to typed manuscripts. I submitted these to 46 different magazines, journals, webzines, and anthologies. Three of these were accepted, plus one more left over from last year. Two of these found homes in paying markets. One of those contracts came with an advance and royalties as part of a book deal. These numbers are separate from close calls, personal responses from editors, encouraging emails that said something along the lines of not for us but keep sending.

Overall, an 8.6% acceptance rate. Is that where I stand? Does that single number define me as a writer, tell you who I am?

Maybe I should play the comparison game. A few writers send out publishable work regularly, collecting acceptance letters effortlessly. Many writers would have been happy to have had any acceptances this year. A lot of the writing advice columns tell you that one acceptance makes it all worth it.

I read those columns, but that is not what keeps me going. I am the pilgrim of old; I already know what is behind me so I keep moving forward.

The stories write themselves through me; they come unbidden and force my pen to paper. Maybe I am the stories, or the stories are me. It is unknowable, or too knowable. I just write.

So the world could end in 51 ways or 51,000 or not at all. That is what writing means to me. Each moment could end a thousand different ways, each one gets sorted and told again, and comes to a new conclusion.

Writing is thinking. Stuff that is in these dark recesses, hidden from consciousness, comes crawling out onto the page.

What comes out of my head? What appeals to an editor? What beckons to the reader? What has meaning? What survives?

Who came first? Teller of tales and listener, chicken and egg, we bring each other into existence.

Why? Do I write or do you read the ideas through me?

There is no more ancient human ritual than story telling. We give meaning to the shadows cast by the fire on these dark nights. We are drawn into the circle; it warms our blood.

51 Ways To End Your World comes out in a couple of months or maybe less. Readers will have a chance to give my little story life in the realm of imagination. What will you think of it? I cannot wait to find out!

September 2021 to December 2021
Fast and Furious but also Slow as a Snail
So what is it like to be a writer with a book being edited for publication by a small (and fantastic) press? It is a little like playing the game of Sorry, when you get one of your pieces into the home row. You are almost to the end, but not quite, and you are constantly aware that bad things could still happen, you could still slip farther back and away from the dream.

It is an in-between kind of place. Should you tell everybody you know that you have a book coming out? Will that jinx it? You want to shout it from the roof tops but you also are not quite sure what to shout.

If you are not wealthy enough to make it on your earnings from writings alone (and I am certainly not), you still have other jobs. Are you a writer? Are you the jack of all trades still?

You still send out other writings, still get lots of rejections offset by the oases of acceptance. You read when you can. You plan other books. All of that seems to wind up hinging on what happens with THIS ONE, this book.

The editor contacts you with tasks, with needs. You send in the manuscript, you send in responses to edit suggestions, you send in cover ideas. Every time you are contacted it feels so real again. MY BOOK IS COMING OUT SOON!

Weeks pass between publishing tasks, and the feelings of certainty fade. Am I a successful writer? Am I even a writer? The doubts begin to nag at you once more. You long for those moments of certainty, when you are so caught up in the tasks of making your book a reality that you do not have time to doubt.

At last the editor sends you the first sketch of the cover. You print it out. Someone else has taken your idea and created art from it. What once only existed in imagination now has a form.

In those moments of doubt you now have a charm to fondle, to comfort you. This is REAL. It is REALLY HAPPENING! My novel will BE OUT SOON!

May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, 2020, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August 2021
Still Waiting and Waiting and Waiting
I spent the time joining a Facebook group that included other authors that had their works selected for publication by the Press that had contracted to publish my novel, I made new Facebook contacts, sent out more short stories (with mixed success which became more unforgiving as I sought out larger markets), maintained a web site (ElectricSoupfortheSoul.com), formulated plans for the next book (which also met with mixed success and wound up in the land of rewrites), I read a ton of good writing (particularly as written by other authors published by the same press), I connected with a relative who happens to have a MFA and who was also willing to help me hone my words, and I impatiently waited for that next step.

I felt a lot like one of those little green, three-eyed aliens in that movie from a studio with the name that rhymes with Disney, the ones that wait for the claw to pick them up and carry them out of the glass case where they are all piled: Pick me!? Pick me?! Pick me!!

April 2020 An Ambition is Fulfilled
Almost exactly a month to the day passed after I had sent off a response to the publisher who had asked me if my novel was available. During that time I forced myself not to count my chickens before they hatched, not to dream too much, to keep my ambitions in check. I remembered daily that I always hope for the best but prepare for the worst, and that my book was still in front of several small publishers and had not yet received a single rejection.

The COVID pandemic was becoming more real, as schools shut down and there were inklings that we might all wind up being asked to wear masks. Life was dreamlike as it was, nightmarish at times, but in my mind there was still that undercurrent of personal hope.

Then, another email from the publisher, laying out terms in a contract complete with an offer of a nominal advance. THEY WANTED MY NOVEL!

My first task, once the contract was signed, was to withdraw my submission from consideration at the other publishing houses. This was actually quite a leap of faith for me, as I am one who always like to have a backup plan.

Now my focus changed. I changed to we. The publisher would be working with me to get my novel into print.

Portland Must Die! was to become my working title. What comes next is the story of how it all turns out.

March 2020 An Awakening
I had waited now for several months, maybe close to half a year. My novel had not received an acceptance notice from that first small publishing house, but it had not been rejected outright either. I submitted it to a few other places.

In the meantime, some of my old works had found homes. In fact, there had not been many rejections. I was encouraged to write more, while I waited.

Then, in the middle of the night, I woke up with a feeling that something had changed. I was there on the shores of the Columbia River, at home in Roosevelt, Washington. I was far closer to the end of middle age than I cared to admit.

I could not sleep. I checked my email. I had something in my In Box.

There it was, the very first small press I had sent off my novel manuscript to back in late 2019. The managing editor asked: Is this manuscript still available?

I think I forced myself to wait a day or two (although possibly it was only an hour or so), before I responded: YES, it is still available.

Then I waited.

2019 The Road Less Traveled, And It Did Make All The Difference
It was much easier to send off submissions electronically. I had some success. My confidence grew. I found my old novel in a backup directory. I went thorough it line by line.

Then I looked through the web sites of small publishers. I do not know if there were more or less of them than had existed back in the early 2000s. At the very least, it seemed like the ones that I did find were more independent, having found new paths to make money in the age of digital books and on-demand printing. There were still the frauds to navigate past, the ones who wanted money from the author to initiate a special publication run. There were also, however, legitimate small presses seeking manuscripts, the kinds that offered at least a token advance and who edited the work.

One of these small presses in particular intrigued me. In fact, the moment I saw their website I felt like I had found a home. I wrote out an awkward query, pasted together a synopsis, attached the novel, and sent them an email. My novel was exclusively theirs to consider. What would come of it?

2018 The Path Appears Once More
In 2018 I was googling my own name, as some of us do idly from time to time, and found that one of my how-to articles, written under a pseudonym, had been the inspiration for a study carried out by a major university. In digging further, I found that several of my other ideas had been cited in some minor academic studies.

I was a resident of Hong Kong at the time, and I had the availability of leisure. So I began to write again. I wrote a series of related articles that I then sent off to 24 different journals and magazines. It turned out it was much easier, no SASE needed. You could just copy an email, change the recipient, attach a file, and off your submission went.

Responses were much quicker this time. So were the acceptances. A third of my articles were picked up; it was the single best year I had experienced in making submissions.

It also made me wonder: Could my other writings be worth pursuing?

Could my novel, still hidden in a drawer, be published?

Spring, 2006 Patience, or Something Like It
To remind you of what it was like to live in olden days, I must acquaint you with the idea of the SASE. This phrase stuck out like a sore thumb in the writers guides, and I soon learned that it meant self-addressed, stamped envelope. Like the type you tuck in with your manuscript when you put all 160 pages of it into a business-sized envelope in the hopes that the agent/publisher will send you some sort of response. It was quite expensive to print, then you had to pay for the stamps, and then you waited.

And waited. And waited.

I still thought the book was good. I had completely rewritten the thing once to make the opening more exciting. When that did not do the trick, I reversed the order of the action again. I polished the words. I read about revising and tried to follow suit.

And I waited some more. In my case, only one SASE ever returned to me, with no manuscript included despite the excessive postage stamps I had attached to the manila envelope for that very purpose. Just a single form letter, on one page, in one paragraph, that let me know that the agent could find no use for my story but wished me well in placing it elsewhere.

That was it. The sum total of my responses.

Finally, after about 20 outings without a reply, I looked up small presses. More of them existed back then I think, but they tended to be very specialized or very poor. Some of them appeared to be the kind that would photocopy your book, bind it with paper clips, and sell it at street fairs and farmers markets. Others, like their bigger competitors, only wanted queries from agents. I wound up settling on one or two of these that seemed alright. With high hopes, I sent off my manuscript. Nothing. Not one more response to add to my little pile.

I was in the process of changing jobs. My literary friends were moving on with their lives and away. I no longer had much time to write, let alone to waste on a manuscript that had netted me not one single personalized response. I could not afford the effort any longer.

The novel went into drawer. Over the years, I pulled it out sometimes, read it, and marveled that it had not found a market.

Then I let it rest in peace.

Fall, 2005 Turning the Corner Towards Publication
The pressure built once more. I had to send the manuscript out. I thought it was good enough. Would anyone else?

I had already been published widely by this point; I had seen short stories, poems, how-to articles in print. Sometimes I made a little money off of my writing; one year I made a lot. There had been a positive review of one of my stories in a magazine, and several of my articles had been referenced by others. I had even been part of book projects as a reviewer and as an editor. I had written words that other authors used, and even seen one of my quotes wind up as a blurb. I knew what it was like to go into a bookstore and find my name on the cover of a book.

This novel business would be no different, right?

But it turned out to be very different. To begin with, back in those days every working author purchased something called a writing guide. You used it to identify markets to which you might send off your work. Novels, however, turned out to be very different from sending out short pieces. You were supposed to write something called a query letter. You were supposed to go through an agent, not approach publishers directly. You were supposed to write a synopsis.

My book, however, was good. Of that I was certain. Those rules did not apply to me, surely. I would just send off the whole manuscript, as I had always done with my writing. Once they read my words, acceptance letters were soon to follow, surely?

Summer, 2005 Feedback
At that point I had a wide circle of literary friends from the college where I taught and the writing workshops I had attended. I printed and showed the manuscript to my closest friends. They thought it was worth pursuing. I made changes; I grew in my confidence in the work.

Spring, 2005 More Pages
Then, as if a mirage, the muse left me. Nothing filled my brain, no ideas, no insights, no creative thoughts whatsoever. The well was emptied.

Finally, I forced myself to sit down and re-read what I had written. As I read, ideas returned. I began to craft the final two sections of the novel.

2004 The Page
At some point in late 2004, I could not stand the pressure any longer. I flipped open my laptop, opened up Microsoft Word, and let the words pour out onto the digital page. I started on a Friday night and ended on a Sunday, non-stop writing. By the time I was done I had five parts of a planned seven-part novel. I could barely breathe, I was so exhausted by the labor.

2003 The First Step of a Thousand
Back in the early 2000s, I had an idea for an end-of-the-world, apocalyptic novel with a cast of thousands. The idea came to me bit by bit, like pieces of a puzzle dropped into my skull.

I saw it as a movie, inside of my head, but with portions that could only be written in a book, with sections that no director would ever tackle. I wanted the words to be the key. Since I worked in downtown Portland, the city where I had been born, I started casting from the thousands of people I had run across over the years. Everywhere that I looked I saw characters, with stories to be told, which could find a home in my own creation.

I wanted the pages of my novel to be populated by as diverse a group as I had come across over the entirety of my life, to arise from all of the landscapes in which I myself had lived, from the trailer park on Failing Street to the village of Lopinot on the island in Trinidad, from the kids in the neighborhoods of Tijuana to the students I had mentored on a college campus overlooking Pioneer Square.

Unbidden, the ideas kept coming. Still, I had not typed out a single word. Everything was all in my head, building up steam, ready to boil out of my ears. I just let the pressure build.