Wowzers, this update is super late! 10 days into December! Sorry about that.
I spent most of November preparing for my son’s arrival, and then after he came along it was a complete blur. But the hard stuff (and honestly, there hasn’t been an overwhelming amount of hard stuff for me) is completely outweighed by the good stuff.
The first baby cuddle, the first time he grabbed my finger in his tiny hand, the first time he smiled, and even the first time he peed during a nappy change (which hit yours truly right in the open mouth – lesson learned) – all of these moments are incomparable to anything I’ve ever experienced before in my life.
I am in absolute awe of my wife-to-be Abbie. She is the strongest person I have ever met. I thought I knew what true love was before the birth of our son, but I didn’t have a fucking clue. I feel like my life only just started last month, that I’m seeing things through a brand new set of eyes. I feel like everything leading up to this was just practice.
Crematoria Online
In book-related news, Rise of the Crimson Order got a new cover last month, and new versions of the books are in the process of being uploaded to Amazon. The changes are not major. They include:
- rebalancing of stats of the items Lucas receives during the book, to ensure they adhere to the overarching gear power curve of the whole series
- addition of one scene, which alleviates some deus ex machina in a later chapter. If you’ve bought the Kindle edition of the novel, you should be able to update the manuscript when the update is live
I’m in the process of finalizing the new paperback version of Rise with the snazzy new cover.
This whole rebranding thing is for a reason. Early in 2020, I’ll be launching a Kickstarter Campaign for Crematoria Online book two. This will include a reward tier where you can get the whole story so far, which will include the two books, new cover(s) and matching spines, so it’ll look all pretty on your shelf. Book three will adhere to the same style when it’s done.
I have a lot of faith in Crematoria Online – I think it’s one of the finest things I’ve written, and I’m really excited to take you all on the journey through this story. So far, I have a whole Lucas Hutchins arc planned out, that will go for a minimum of two more books (four in total), with a potential for more after that.
NaNoWriMo
Hahahaha, NaNoWriMo was a bust. I got 17k words written during the month. That’s still better than a kick in the teeth, but nowhere near the goal of 50k.
PS, if you want to see gratuitous baby + proud dad photos, visit my public Instagram. ❤
Matthew J. Barbeler 