Year of the Hunter

Yeah, I know, I don’t blog much. I just don’t feel like I have anything to put on my blog yet that anyone not in my family would give half a warm crap about. Most of the noteworthy little things that happen to me and mine, I put up on Facebook. I feel like writers’ blogs should be more reserved for pertinent writery things, or those and interesting personal tidbits…but only if you’re at least a moderately well-known author who has a noteworthy size bank of followers.

Which is not me. Not yet. Workin’ on it.

So that’s why my blogs will be few and far between for a while, methinks. But I will put this major personal tidbit up: In December, my wife and I had our first and only child together. Hunter Klein Houser. I’ve been a stepdad for about 5 years, but this was my first rodeo going through the pregnancy months with Shelle and then having a newborn who is my own flesh and blood. I had anxiety attacks and nightmares for months about being an oaf and accidentally hurting or killing the baby, but every day that I don’t, I get more and more over those fears. They’re still present, but I’m good with that. It’ll keep me from killing him in the future by being an oaf. And something about having extended my family line and having this little creature who looks up at me with wide, wondering eyes has given me a renewed passion to become a successful, inspired writer and a better overall human being.

The thought of reading my own published stories to my son one day is the essence of why I’m dead set on becoming a full-time author. That, along with the thought of who-knows-how-many-other parents reading my books to their kids…the prospect is an overwhelming source of inspiration. Now I just have to find the time, you know, in between scrambling to find a steady source of income in this economic toilet bowl, raising a baby, raising a 9-year old, keeping up with household chores, running normal human errands, trying to have some semblance of a social life with family and friends so that I don’t lose my mind, and being generally fatigued during all of this due to having a nite owl newborn with a maximum volume level like a friggin’ air raid siren. Sure, no problem, life. I’ll get right on that.

No, I sound cynical, but I still fully intend to make my dream into a reality. Somehow.

The Oxford Comma

I’ve gotten into a few little conversations about the Oxford comma, and I always stood on the side of those who use it in their writing, although I never felt like I could fully articulate why. It just felt right, like if I stopped using it, something could horribly wrong. I saw this example recently and went, “There it is. That explains it better than I ever have.”

Mother Goose is Finally Dead

Well, after spending a couple years in publishing limbo, I’m happy to announce that Mother Goose is Dead has finally been released by Damnation Books. It’s an anthology of modern day myths, fables and fairy tales. The pdf download is available here, the Kindle version is available through Amazon, and the good ol’ fashioned paper version is available through Barnes & Noble. I know, I know, why not have it all available in one spot, right? I guess that’s the current state of the publishing industry with the growing number of reading options, and sometimes they’re not all on the same page (ba-dum-pssh). I’m just happy it’s out at all. My wife Shelle and I each had our short stories accepted by this antho four years ago, and the original small press kept putting us on hold until the editors decided to shop it elsewhere. Considering it contains 26 stories, the price is a bargain no matter what format you go for. OK, stop reading my blog and go buy it. Go on now—git. Err…then come back and check my blog later.