Thanks to The Story Reading Ape for inviting me back for an encore. I love a good challenge, and writing a December post, while it’s still August, is a good challenge. The question becomes one of what to write about.

I’m sure there will be posts about Christmas, and books that have that theme. There might be a post about Saturnalia, or Beltain. How am I going to work the kind of stories I write into this theme.

Christmas plays is a pivotal event for one of my characters in The Playground but that won’t carry a whole post. You might want to check it out if you like stories about malignant children’s toys.

I want to write about December as it plays out on my writing calendar. My biggest promotional time is always September and October. It makes sense, since I have several paranormal titles, to hit it hard around Halloween. By November, I’m tweeting something or updating Facebook, but that’s about it. I suppose I’ve reaped my harvest, and am digging in for the Winter.

December is the time to draft new material. I have a half finished novel, tentatively called The Yak Guy Project. (Who am I kidding, I’ll probably use that title.) It’s about a young man who grew up in our age of entitlement. He’s lazy, self centered, and spoiled. He get’s plunked into a world where those are not the best survival skills, and there isn’t a cellphone or hotspot in sight.

I like a personal challenge for every project, and this one has been interesting. Instead of using a more traditional story structure, I’m (loosely) following The Fool’s Journey, as represented by the major arcana of the Tarot deck.  is the fool. As he goes along his merry way, he meets the other characters in the form of mentors and obstacles. The yak actually speaks, and joins him for the entire journey.

It became pretty obvious that I can’t use all the cards. It will cease being an interesting adventure before he achieves godlike status, but it’s a fun challenge and I’m looking forward to getting back to it. Some things are still up in the air. Will the Yak Guy become The Hermit, or will he meet The Hermit? I don’t know yet.

This is one of those books I just had to write. After I finish, I don’t know how in the heck to market it. I write science fiction, paranormal, and fantasy. What the heck is this going to pigeonhole as? No seriously, if you know tell me in the comments. Is it a portal fantasy? How will I market this thing? It’s going to be a story of growth and maturity, of sacrifice and success.

These days, I write short stories to fill in the gaps. This could be when I’m struggling with a plot element on a novel, or after work while my wife is watching television. I’ve published these in two different Experimental Notebooks HERE 

When I assembled the second Experimental Notebook, I pulled one story out. I thought it was too good to just drop it into a loose collection of stories. The world deserved more exploration, and it had too many possibilities. It’s called The Enhanced League, and it’s about a professional baseball league that doesn’t worry about performance enhancing drugs. There will be a bit of science fiction about this collection.

This will also be a collection of short stories, but they’ll all be set within The Enhanced League. This gives me a personal challenge, because there will be an overarching story to tie it all together. I get to play the game both on and off the field. There will be trades, retirements, drug abuse, and skullduggery, along with home-runs, stolen bases, and championship seasons.

I’m taking great pains to make this league different from Major League Baseball. There are aluminum bats, laser equipment that calls pitches, and it takes on more of a pro wrestling kind of spectacle. The Enhanced League succeeds because it’s accessible to the masses, where MLB has kind of gone behind a veil of paying to watch it.

If it all works out, I might get to release The Enhanced League on opening day for Major League Baseball. I’m not setting that as a deadline, however. It would be cool though.

Promotion takes a backseat, but it remains in subtle ways. I’m gathering photos to use in promotional posters. I use a character as the spokesmodel for my books, and I already have a folder with things for Lisa the robot girl to pose with. These include yaks, umpire uniforms, and beautiful Chinese silk dresses. Those of you who know, and love, Lisa might want to check out her Facebook page

Winter is my favorite time of year as a writer. I don’t relish the weather, but it’s when I draft new material, and I can’t wait. Creating new stuff is the part I like best. I’m looking forward to spending some time with a talking yak and his spoiled brat, with a few PED abusers and corporate stiffs.

I hope all of you have a happy Christmas season, and get to enjoy something you look forward to. I’m sure Chris will have several posts dealing with gingerbread and mistletoe, and I wanted to submit something different

Craig Boyack.

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