Howdy, everyone!

Well, the first month of my voyage into independence as a full-time writer has been quite an experience…and a success! Being able to work professionally at what one loves to do is an incredible feeling. Most of us writers have to hold down some kind of day job, which forces us to fight for whatever opportunity to express our ideas we can find. Usually it means giving up something else that's personally important, like sleep, exercise, or recreational time. So, I give thanks every day that the thing that pays the bills is now in fact the thing I love to do.

Yes, there have been adjustments I've had to get used to—like taking care of my family's insurance needs, which was all taken care of by my employer. I had already been setting aside extra money for taxes and such, in anticipation of some financial hurdles that would come up. And, of course, being available for 'home' projects that went to my sons has forced me to better manage my free time.

Writing time for me remains vampiric—I usually start around 10pm at night, and depending on how many Facebook, pro football, and email distractions I encounter, I knock off between four and five in the morning. Honestly, it doesn't mean I sit at my desk and slave over a book for six straight hours…really it's about three or four hours, and some days one or two.

It's no wonder, then, that the taskmaster side of me that is used to pushing hard seven days a week keeps the 'guilt' pedal at full bore. It may take a few months before 'we' settle on a compromise. Driven by much higher writing demands upon myself than when I was working an average of fifty hours per week for my previous employer, I managed to churn out sixty-thousand words during the month of July in my efforts to get "The Vampires' Birthright" completed as quickly as possible. If someone had asked me in June if that would be enough to reach the original completion deadline or July 31st, I would have answered with a hearty "Hell, yeah!".

If only my characters felt the same way.

At the time of this writing (August 7th), the book is sitting at 70,797 words with roughly four and a half chapters still to go, so it realistically looks like the end of August before the sequel to "The Vampires' Last Lover" is finished. Keeping the same sense of urgency should allow me to meet my personal deadlines for "Blood Princesses of the Vampires" (mid to late October) and "The Ungrateful Dead" (early to mid December).

One other new thing—and this is way cool in my humble opinion—I have a brand new website, courtesy of DigitalCharles.com. Once you see it, I believe you'll all agree it is vastly superior to my old site. The new one is in the last stages of construction as of this evening, and should be ready later this week.

Lastly, I should mention here that "Plague of Coins" is continuing its rise in popularity—so much so that it is giving my most popular book to date, "The Vampires' Last Lover" a serious run for the money in August. It's neck and neck right now, and I will let everyone know how the race turns out… there could be a new first place finisher in my small corner of the author universe for the first time in eight months.

Until then, I wish you all the very best life has to offer. Enjoy a safe, and hopefully cool, August!

Aiden