Hello World

“HELLO WORLD.” A little something every coder will recognize…

Now that’s out of the way and my newest experiment is launched.

Set the Stage

I’m sitting here at 2:52 am, typing this out and listening to Coltrane on headphones. The family is sound asleep and it’s just me and Otis (and he’s crapped out in his kennel). I’m grateful for the opportunity to finally make the first post to my new blog after getting the tech stack sorted (thanks to the folks at Synthesis and StudioPress). The commitment I am making to you readers, my circle of AWESOME supporters, is a bit intimidating for me, but I believe that I need to do this. It’s been a long time coming.

Writing of Blackout

The writing of BLACKOUT is an interesting story. I was lucky enough to attend the Mississippi Valley Writers Workshop at Augustana College in Rock Island, back in August of 1995, where I won recognition for outstanding fiction and the Prologue of Blackout (that was all I had written of the book at that point). I still have both awards and a photocopy of the checks on my bookshelf! The awards were signed by Bestselling Author, Max Allen Collins and R. Karl Largent, and I was lucky enough to have their encouragement as well as the support of Matt Clemens, another outstanding local author. At the time I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before I was swept up by a major publisher. I finished the novel that year and immediately found an agent in New York who said she’d represent me. That was the last conversation I had with her and the daily grind of making ends meet pulled me back into the world of car payments and mortgages, so I shoved BLACKOUT into a drawer and moved on.

Flash forward twenty-one years—and I have a completely different perspective. The crash course in publishing I got while putting together the digital and print editions of BLACKOUT has convinced me that this is not only something I can do on my own, but it’s something I really enjoy. However, I owe a debt of gratitude to all of you who have supported my efforts, liked my pages, retweeted me, shared my posts and all of the other fantastic social media love you’ve shown. If you had not encouraged me I would not have the confidence to pursue this dream.

Coming Soon

In addition to getting mjmblog.wpengine.com launched, I am working very hard to get the audio tracks recorded so I can begin mixing the audiobook version of BLACKOUT. I have to admit, I absolutely love narrating the story and I know that love will shine through in the final production. So far, the biggest challenge has been an unusually tough allergy season, which has prevented me from getting much studio work done. Somehow a thriller just doesn’t work when it sounds like it’s being narrated by Elmer Fudd.

Well that’s it for my inaugural blog post. I am heading off to slumber land.

Be well, and check back. I need all the help you can spare.

M. J. Murdy