It's my first blog post!
After what has felt like ages, I'm finally launching my author blog. It took me too long to see the appeal and purpose of a blog, even while the marketing experts and gurus preached the importance of them. I now have a small understanding of why social media can't truly replace these online diary-like things. With a blog, I'm hoping I can give proper updates without competing with the squirrelly attention span battle royale newsfeeds on social media, and I ESPECIALLY don't have to deal with Twitter's character limit here. I can fully express myself with little noise and no limitations here.
I'm still daunted by the notion of coming up with regular material for this blog to keep it alive and regularly scheduled. I know my website and online platform needed a serious boost, and I recognize this as another necessary step in my pursuit of being a successful writer. I'd been too disorganized for so long, scraping by with the bare minimum requirements of "just having a website" and "screaming into the social media void."
Bear with me and...maybe help me out a bit.
Let me say that I'm not a web designer, and this is a one-man show right now. Because I'm new to this and improvising at this point, I expect this blog and website to evolve over time. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The website builder I use has a billion options and features, so it'll take a lot of trial, error, and coffee for me to get my website and blog to be how I want them. This first post is a test. There will probably be weird, illogical things early on that my visitors will run into, so I'll do my best to iron out the wrinkles.
That said, I'll appreciate all constructive feedback, and I ask you for your patience and all your money. Ok, at least just your patience and feedback. You can use my website's Contact form to get in touch with me.
The website has been overhauled.
I recently updated the site, but it needed more love. Here's the love I force-fed it:
Different layout. My blog feed will appear on the Homepage, or at least I think it will; I won't really know for sure until after I post this. (Learning, yay!) The biography on the old Homepage has been moved to the About page. The old Subscribe page has been renamed as Mailing List, because I think it's more straightforward. I also condensed the Contact page form and listed its specific purposes.
Prettier design. The old site was as dull as a prison cell, so I added a little extra flair to tickle the eyes. On the Homepage is a snazzy slideshow of my latest releases and anything else I deem worthy of being there.
Extra links. Nothing too major, but it'll make the site a tiny bit easier to navigate. If you click the big "Gerry Hines" in the header from any page, you'll be rerouted to the Homepage. The slideshow on the Homepage will take you to the corresponding book if you click the titles on the slides. Wild stuff, I know.
Anyway, now for some actual book news.
The Integrity of the Super Club
It's been two months since The Integrity of the Super Club, Volume 1 was published. Volume 2 has been fully drafted and awaits final editing, formatting, and mythical adjustments to make it ready for action. The artwork is steadily trickling in as the illustrator is busy, but we agreed on a decent pace for the commissions. I assure you it'll look just as great as the first book, possibly better!
I'm still looking for beta readers for Volume 2. Feedback is the only way I can truly get better at writing. If you're feelin' frisky and want to beta read it, the story is available to read for free on a few websites:
Wattpad: The beloved, mighty web novel site.
Honeyfeed: A web novel site devoted to original English light novels.
Royal Road: A web novel site mostly for fantasy, sci-fi, and light novels, but has all genres.
These sites let you leave comments if you sign up for free, or you can message me your feedback using my website's Contact form. I give shout-outs to my helpful beta readers in my published books, so you'll be immortalized in that fashion for helping me out!
Please remember these beta versions are rough drafts. They WILL have problems.
Collaboration Story
Right now, I'm focused mainly on a collaboration book with my friend. We started the project 7 years ago, and it's finally getting the treatment and push it deserves. I expect it to be the next book I publish, depending on life's variables and curveballs. Because it's so different from my other books, I plan to have it published under our pseudonyms. It's a rather controversial, hard-hitting book that looks into mental health and some other touchy subjects, so I'll admit I'm somewhat worried about the reaction it'll receive. Regardless, we feel it's also an important and relevant book, and although it's fictional, it has its roots in very real things. I'm also doing some unique and different techniques with the writing, styling, and formatting, letting me stretch brand new creative muscles. More on this story to come.
ANNO DOMINI ~Allium~
It's still on hiatus. Despite Super Club taking the limelight as my featured series because of its surprisingly active reader reactions, ANNO DOMINI ~Allium~ is still my main project. All of my other endeavors are meant to improve my skills for it, and I need to be the best writer I can be before I continue it. It's a highly ambitious, complex, and heavy project. I'm eager to start work on Books 3 & 4, because that's where the story I've wanted to write all along begins; it took two books of buildup to reach this point. However, I'm not quite ready for it. I expect to publish Super Club 2 and my collaboration before going back to Anno Domini.
Final thoughts and stuff.
I recently bought a new computer after using laptops for the last 4-5 years. I plan to use it to learn legitimate graphic design (sayonara PowerPoint!), video production/editing, and (the big one) getting back to composing music. It's been 9 years since my last self-produced, unpublished album, desolItion/premonAtion, and I've been itching to get back to music for a long time. I honestly believe my affinity for music is equal to, maybe better than writing...I'm just rusty. I feel like my ear for music has improved a ton over the last decade, and now that I have a rig capable of handling the latest and greatest music making software, it's almost time to scratch that itch. I have some ideas for my reintroduction into composing, so hopefully I'll be able to add some genuine tracks to that meager Music page on my website!
And that, as they say, is that.