Why Should You Be Invested in My Book? (Originally Posted 12.31.20)

Well…to be honest, you don’t have to be. I can’t force you to do anything.

However, if you’re a fan of science fiction with a diverse cast of characters and a healthy dose of romance, you will probably be a fan of Thriving.

Also, you’ve made it to 2021! That’s incredible! It’s been a crap year on top of a crap year on top of an even crappier year, therefore, you should reward yourself by diving head-first into the first of a TEN-BOOK SERIES. That’s ten full novels (projected as of today) of whirlwind adventure, aliens of the hostile and friendly variety and everything in between, elements of cyberpunk, a sci-fi horror aspect, and a love that perseveres against all odds.

Because I need to utilize the tablet feature of my new laptop more, I spent five whole minutes painstakingly writing out a chart by hand explaining how the series is planned.

A handy chart to help make sense of the madness. Don’t make fun of the way I write a “4” or a “7” please, or my ego will take a blow.

The overarching storyline surrounds the two protagonists, Warren Cougar and Orthrive’poliea. Their story is the constant over all books. The first five books are grouped into what I call the M31 Arc, and they cover the eliyi, the Emmuli, the Ammathu, Andromeda (hence M31), and an intergalactic war between Milky Way inhabitants. The M33 Arc, while not fully fleshed out yet, will likely cover spooky happenings coming from Triangulum (hence M33).

Was that a lot? It felt like a lot. One thing you could do to help ease any confusion I may have just caused? Reading my cool books.

A Bit of Backstory

I wrote Thriving (book 1) for National Novel Writing Month in 2016, the year my son was born (and coincidentally Warren would have been born exactly a week after him). I am a BIG fan of writing and consuming sequels, so I knew I would be writing more than one of these books, but I had originally only planned for a trilogy.

How it became ten freakin’ books is a bit fuzzy. I recall looking at book 3 and realizing, with steadily dawning excitement and dread, that I would need to break it up into two books, leaving me with 4 total. Then I lost my mind completely.

From winning NaNoWriMo in 2016, I’ve been writing each installment of the series in November of every year. Book 2 won 2017, book 3 won 2017, etc. And I’d recently won 2020 with book 5, the last book of the M31 Arc.

Across all five books, I have 21 ¾ drafts. Book 4 was a nightmare.

What I’m trying to say is, I’ve worked very hard on this whole thing, and I really hope I’m able to reach out and change someone’s life with the story as much as it’s changed mine. Maybe yours! I promise it’s worth a read.