It may not be apparent to the rest of you (yet), but the last month has been good to me. First, the publishers of a work-for-hire OGN project accepted the final draft of the script. Second, my editor at Evileye accepted the final draft of Lie with the Dead. And finally, I started a few things rolling on a couple of smaller projects before moving on to my next big one.
Oh, and I also built a new desk, which I continue to enjoy the hell out of.
This week marked the two-year anniversary of my first appearance on Shotgun Honey. Two years is entirely too long, so I cranked out another flash piece for them on that day. Hopefully they like it and I’ll have a second appearance in the near future. It’s still going strong as a fun little crime fiction site, and they have several repeat offenders. I was honored to be included in their first anthology, Both Barrels, and my next goal is to make deadline for their second book. (If I don’t make it in time, no worries; there’s another cool crime ‘zine I’d like to return to, too.)
Deadliest of the Species is hitting e-readers everywhere, but no reviews yet. Weird. I’ve heard from several folks holding out for the trade paperback edition, though. I’ll have more news on that front as Evileye Books and I put Lie with the Dead to bed.
I’m happy to say the publisher at Evileye was very pleased with the way Lie with the Dead turned out. He had a handful of very small notes which will be addressed no later than this weekend, if not by tomorrow. I look forward to having firm release news soon, as well as being able to share a small surprise for Winter Kill.
If you dug “Bravo Four”, the next The Pack short is under way. I have several planned and will continue to work on them as my editor and I nail down the outline for the next The Pack novel.
I will also have a short story collab going up on Kindle soon. I’ve got the original version edited on paper and will get those edits in place, and then I need to talk to some folks about designing a cover. If said cover won’t break the bank, I’ll have it live sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.
All of this is part of my revised Exit Strategy, which is my plan to get enough projects out there to write full time. I do all right when I finally have something available, but it’s still far from financially feasible to quit the day gig. I’m working up a few things that will help, but the Exit Strategy is long-term, not an immediate solution. For the next few months, at least, I’ve concentrated on making it realistic and attainable. So far, so good. I’ll check off the last goal box for last month very soon and be on track for this month thanks to some vacation time. (For the record, while there is a lot I like about my job, I can’t see myself doing it for another 20 or 30 years. Thus the Exit Strategy.)
And so begins what I intend to be a long and fruitful summer. Stay with me, folks, it’s getting better.
About Mike Oliveri
Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.
