Tag Archives: by your side

After Action Report: 2024 Write Stuff Conference

April 14, 2024 philgiunta@ptd.net Leave a comment

Another Write Stuff Conference has come and gone all too soon. Although the convention is three days long, I was only able to attend on Friday and Saturday.

Friday’s full-day session was divided into two sections, both taught by NYT bestseller and five-time Bram Stoker award winner Jonathan Maberry. The morning class was a three-hour crash course on creating a salable novel while the afternoon was all about building compelling characters in fiction. Jonathan’s advice was compelling, entertaining, poignant, and direct.

While I was not able to attend the Page Cuts critique sessions and agent Mark Gottlieb’s talk on Mastering the Submission Process, it wouldn’t be a Write Stuff without the Friday night social event from 8:30-10PM. I never miss that opportunity to kick back and chat with fellow writers and catch up with some folks I haven’t seen since the last conference.

In recent years, cosplay has been encouraged with people dressing up as characters from short stories and books. Our first cosplayer who started years before, however, was con-chair Charles Kiernan as Mark Twain seen here with Laurel Wenson as Sister Katherine from Michael Daigle’s series of detective novels starring Frank Nagler.

Laurel Wenson and Charles Kiernan in costume — Photo credit: Christina Dunbar

Saturday was a full day of hour-long presentations by our faculty including Jonathan Maberry, Amy Deardon, Jordan Sonnenblick, Laurel Wenson, and Melissa Koberlein.

Melissa Koberlein presentation on Writing Romantic Comedies

Given the fact that I’ve had a romantic comedy idea bouncing around my head for several months, I attended Melissa Koberlein’s wonderful presentation on writing rom-coms (above) and left with a list of elements that comprise a good rom-com and a few book recommendations.

I remained in the room for Jonathan Maberry’s talk on crafting the perfect pitch. At one point, he asked the audience for a title, character name, and logline for a story. Armed with that info, he instantly created a verbal pitch for the book, summarizing both the plot and the protagonist and naming comparable titles. He did this without stammering, hesitating, or reconsidering a single word. Stunning.

At that point, I decided to set up my table for the afternoon book fair and managed to sell a few books before lunch while chatting with fellow writers Laurel Wenson, Michael Daigle, and Jon Gibbs.

By the time I made my way to Salons A& B for lunch, the joint was packed. I found a seat in the back corner table with friend, writer, and editor Weldon Burge and his wife, Cindy. I had suggested Weldon as a presenter, having worked with him when he accepted and edited my story for A Plague of Shadows anthology in 2018. Weldon and I have also had stories in three other anthologies over the years. He is an experienced presenter, small press owner, and a good friend.

Jonathan Maberry Keynote Speech

Over dessert, Jonathan Maberry delivered an encouraging, delightful, and uplifting keynote speech that was part advice and part anecdotes from his writing career. Always a joy to be in his company.

Phil and Jonathan Maberry — Phil & Jonathan Maberry

After lunch, I attended Weldon’s back-to-back presentations on writing for anthologies (above). After that, it was time for the book fair. My hottest seller was the second edition of my first paranormal mystery novel, Testing the Prisoner, which had won three awards since November, including two just days before the conference. I also sold four anthologies before the end of the day. By 5PM, it was time to call it a day, pack it in, and say goodbye to Weldon, Cindy, Jonathan, and my fellow members of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group who did a stellar job of organizing the conference yet again.

To add a little more literary fun to this weekend, two items arrived in the mail, one on Friday and other on Saturday. The first was the pack of award stickers from The BookFest Spring 2024 competition in which Testing the Prisoner took second place in the Horror\Ghosts & Paranormal category.

BookFest Stickers for Testing the Prisoner

The second item was the 12×18 poster for the second edition of my second paranormal mystery novel from 2012, By Your Side. The new edition is available on preorder in ebook format now with the paperback to follow next week.

Posters for Testing the Prisoner and By Your Side

Blog, Book Launch, New Releases

By Your Side Redux

April 10, 2024 philgiunta@ptd.net

I’m pleased to announce that the second edition of my second paranormal mystery novel from 2012, By Your Side, is now up for preorder in ebook format for $2.99 from all the major resellers including Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. The paperback will be added to preorder next week so stay tuned!

This edition has been re-edited and given a new cover by comic book artist Scott Barnett.

Purchase:

The official release date is July 22, 2024. The book will be launched a few days later at Shore Leave 44 SF convention in Lancaster, PA.

Stay tuned for further updates!

Blog, Opinion, Upcoming Projects

Ain’t Got No Razzle-Dazzle

April 21, 2023 philgiunta@ptd.net

Sun-Maid Raisins prints nuggets of advice or motivation on their box tops. It’s typically a random mix. However, every message this week has been the same.

I sure as hell don’t feel that I have much razzle-dazzle, but I’m flattered that someone thinks so and reminds me on a daily basis.

The past seven months have delivered a steady supply of crises and complications in my professional and personal lives, all of which have affected my health.

In late September 2022, a colleague at my day job died suddenly at the age of 42. The ripples of that loss have not yet abated. We’re still feeling it and stress levels have been high, but we’ve brought in help and made enormous strides. That’s all I can say about that.

Unfortunately, a few weeks before he died, I began experiencing a few health issues, which have since been exacerbated by extreme stress. I’m managing it with help, but I’ve been in a dark place for seven months and counting. Anxiety and depression have been frequent companions for most of my life, but this is worst they’ve ever been. Every day I hold onto hope that it will get better with time, patience, and taking the proper actions toward recovery.

Of course, recovery would me much easier were it not for for a recent family complication that has landed on my shoulders. Again, I can’t say much about it, but this could evolve into a critical situation in the near future and erode even more of my writing time.

Another complication that presented itself even before all of the above was the 2021 announcement from the small press that published my paranormal mystery novels (Testing the Prisoner, By Your Side, Like Mother, Like Daughters) that they closed shop and are no longer accepting submissions. Although they’re leaving all current titles on the market for the time being, they are no longer working with the writers to promote, run sales, or otherwise keep the books viable.

In light of this, I’m preparing to publish second editions of Testing the Prisoner (2009) and By Your Side (2012) over the next year. I’m taking the opportunity to re-edit both books, tweaking them just enough to strike a balance between my writing style of the time and my writing style today. Both will undergo a facelift with brand new covers by a local comic book artist. As for Like Mother, Like Daughters (2018), I’ll tackle that once the first two are finished. Stay tuned for more info.

I am pleased to report that my detective story, “Pearl of Great Price,” will be included in the crime noir anthology, Hard-Boiled and Loaded with Sin by Hawkshaw Press (an imprint of Devil’s Party Press). The book is slated for release on June 26, 2023.

Also, my science fiction comedy tale, “See You Around the Cosmos, Sweet Cheeks!” took Honorable Mention in the 2023 NFPW Communications Contest. Click here for more information about the National Federation of Press Women.

I was disappointed to learn that Delaware publisher Cat & Mouse Press retired their annual Rehoboth Beach Reads short story contest after ten years. The contest had a fantastic run and I was honored to have two stories published in the contest anthologies Beach Nights (2016) and Beach Secrets (2021). I also had two stories included in Beach Pulp (2019), an open call anthology that pays homage to the detective and SF pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s.

Finally, my YouTube channel has not been updated with new content in nearly a year and is suffering from abandonment issues—again. I recorded a reading of “Pearl of Great Price,” which will posted to my channel when the book goes live in June or thereabouts. I plan to record other stories and updates that will go live soon as well.

That’s where I’ve been for the past several months. Peace of mind has been at an all time low, but as always, I press forward.

I hope all is well with you and yours and that you remain safe and healthy while navigating these bizarre and dangerous times. Don’t lose your razzle-dazzle!

Articles, Blog, Gratitude, Technology, Writing and Publishing

Pass a Microsoft Exam, Buy a Car…

June 4, 2022 philgiunta@ptd.net

I’m excited and relieved to report that on Tuesday, May 31, I passed the second of three Microsoft exams toward my Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. After taking the next week off to remind myself how it feels to have a life, I’ll begin studying for the third and final exam. If all goes well, I’ll schedule that for the end of July.

Later that same Tuesday, after months of research into various midsize SUVs, I traded in my 16-year-old Hyundai Santa Fe for a 2019 Hyundai Tucson. I’m still learning all of its “bells and whistles” and while it’s only a four-cylinder engine (where the Santa Fe was six), the Tucson is a smooth ride with excellent handling.

So what’s new on the writing front? Unfortunately, not much since the time I had previously dedicated to writing is now consumed by taking Microsoft courses and studying for exams.

However, I managed to complete a new ghost story in April called “Where the Skeletons are Buried” involving Miranda Lorensen, my psychic-medium character who was last seen in my 2018 novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters and her ghost hunting team introduced in my 2013 novel, By Your Side. Work with these characters again was like reuniting with old friends. “Where the Skeletons are Buried” is being shopped around.

I’m also re-outlining the next full length novel involving Miranda and her team. One of the original plot threads, while compelling, gave me pause in light of our current sociopolitical climate. The more I developed that part of the story, the greater was my discomfort. So, I scrapped it and am moving in a different direction.

Lastly, I’m waiting on responses about two different short stories from two different editors and a publisher that accepted a detective story from me last year for publication this year has completed their move from Delaware to California and should be ramping up their operations again in July.

Stay tuned for more updates on these projects.

Blog, Opinion, Works in Progress, Writing and Publishing

Getting Back on Track

September 12, 2017 philgiunta@ptd.net

So I recently finished a short story about a young man who buys a haunted Camaro—and inadvertently destroys the life of a paroled car thief. The story is now in the hands of critique partners and happens to be the only writing project that I actually finished this year. If you followed any of my previous updates, you’ll know that 2017 has kicked the shit out of me and in doing so, caused my writing output to plummet.

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Going into 2017, I promised myself not to write any more short stories this year so I could focus on the first draft of the SF novel I started writing last year. Four chapters into the first draft by April 2016 and the novel ended up on the back burner for a home renovation, a Kickstarter to fund a new anthology, the release of said anthology, and writing six new short stories for contests and anthologies.

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As productive as that was and as proud as I am of those stories, the SF novel languished. Then came 2017 and I set my sights on finishing the first draft by December. Four more chapters were written between January and May… and the novel was again sidelined while I edited submissions to a new anthology, finished a month-long home renovation, then watched my summer collapse along with the roof at my workplace as a result of a severe storm. I want my summer back, damn it!

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So, to get my writing chops back in shape, I cranked out the aforementioned short story about the haunted car—just so I could feel good about finishing something this year. I thought I would then return to the SF novel…

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Instead, I’ve spent the past week crafting the plot synopsis for my next full-length Miranda Lorensen novel. Almost there. I spent more time working on it in my sunroom this evening—and peeking up every so often to watch a tiny bunny roam around my neighbor’s shed. Who can resist bunnies?

If all goes as planned, this novel will tie directly to the novella that my publisher accepted back in June. The novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters, addresses some aspects of Miranda’s life mentioned in my novels Testing the Prisoner and By Your Side.

I jotted down a quick jacket blurb for the novella recently. It needs work, but…

Psychic-medium Miranda Lorensen and her daughter Andrea set out for a “girls night of ghost hunting” at the home of Andrea’s closest friend, Wendy. When Andrea Lorensen stumbles over Wendy’s dead body in the woods, the shock triggers Andrea’s own latent abilities as a medium. Against her mother’s wishes, Andrea decides to ensnare Wendy’s killer with help from the other side.

Meanwhile, Miranda travels to Salem, Massachusetts to speak at a paranormal investigators conference. When she is invited to participate in a local ghost hunt, Miranda encounters a spirit that leads her to the truth about her past life.

Now, hopefully, the novella will be released next year with the novel to follow a year or so later. My concern is that as of 2018, it will have been FIVE years since my last novel. Yikes!

During that time, I’ve been focused on short stories and editing anthologies, which has proved fruitful. My publisher and I have released two volumes of the Middle of Eternity speculative fiction series, my work has placed high in a few local contests, and I’ve been published in a handful of other wonderful collections such as the ReDeus mythology series and Beach Nights. I firmly believe that short stories and novellas are nutritious parts of a well-balanced writing career.

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As much fun as those projects have been, a few solo publications are definitely needed within the next year. While Miranda has earned a modest fan following–and several readers have contacted me to ask when to expect her next adventure–people have short memories these days so I hope all of this works out as planned!

Blog, Book Signings, Writing Contest

Of Home Renovations, Work Disasters, and Book Signings…

July 5, 2017 philgiunta@ptd.net

In a previous post, I discussed the recent home renovation project that consumed most of June for me. I painted a large portion of my second floor through the middle of the month and the renovation was completed as of June 29 with the installation of new carpet! Now, approximately 80% of our second floor has new carpeting.

Since then, I have been busy reassembling our dining room and library with little or no time at all for writing. In fact—and to my chagrin—my SF novel-in-progress took a back seat for the entire month, but that wasn’t entirely unexpected to be honest.

New Carpet-Library

New Carpet-Hallway New Carpet-Stairs

Empty Bookcases

Bookcases Filling Up

To make matters worse, a severe storm struck my area on July 1, causing a partial roof collapse at my workplace, accompanied by flooding and a natural gas line rupture to the generator that provides power to a portion of our IT equipment in the event of a main power failure—which also occurred.

As a member of our IT Infrastructure team, I was called in to assist with disaster recovery implementation, an activity that required participation not only from my own immediate team, but various members of our corporate parent’s IT group as well as vendors of the two or three of the major hardware and software platforms we rely on.

After a continuous 50-hour conference call, during which I slept no more than 4-6 hours, our systems were restored and business was able to resume. Unfortunately, the disaster occurred on my birthday, forcing me to cancel all plans with my wife and family. A final critical issue remained outstanding into Monday that I was not able to resolve until July 4…so that holiday was also lost.

It has been a brutal four weeks, friends. I am exhausted to the point of burn out and as of this writing, we are still working through new and unexpected problems, while I’m still working to put my house back in order.

On a high note, the Bethlehem Writers Group announced the winners of their 2017 short story contest and I am proud to have taken an Honorable Mention (as I mentioned before!) with my story “So Hungry…,” which will be published in the fall edition of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable online magazine.

Also, I look forward to my book signing at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, DE on Thursday, July 13 from 11AM to 1PM. The titles available for purchase at the signing include my paranormal mystery novels, Testing the Prisoner and By Your Side as well as the speculative fiction anthologies Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity and Elsewhere in the Middle of Eternity, and of course, Beach Nights!

Lastly, I will be meeting with Firebringer Press publisher Steven H. Wilson next week to discuss the release of my paranormal mystery novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters later this year.

Once the mayhem subsides, I hope to return to work on my SF novel in progress and resume some semblance of a normal routine.

Enjoy your summer!