I did some vocal warmups by reading Smaug’s dialogue from ‘The Hobbit’ and decided to record it and play around a bit. The pitch is a tad lower, there’s reverb added, and some slowed-down grunting to make the sinister growling noise. It’s not high quality, but fun.

I’ve got something embarrassing to admit. I paid to get a few reviews on Instagram. I figured since my usual attempts at advertising weren’t paying off, I’d spend a little money to get some views. Some one offered, so why not try it?
Because it’s all a scam, that’s why. They saw my recent promotional posts and decided to inundate me with review requests. I was fielding several a day, mostly saying, “no thank you, maybe next month,” but some I took just to see how it went, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Some were well-written, some looked like they were written by a concussed donkey, and no one read past the first chapter or two.
I asked other self-published authors about them, and I was told by one and all: SCAM. The proof was received after I blocked them. I got a threatening email from one scammer (who wanted to charge me $85 for a review and interview package) claiming that if I didn’t pay up, he and his “influencers” would give me 1 star reviews on Amazon, hounding me night and day until I paid up. Not gonna happen.

Long story short, if you are a writer and anyone offers to review your book for money, BLOCK THEM. Don’t even engage. I do this all the time with scam phone calls. At my job, I can recognize one in seconds. But I wanted to believe that some people were good, so I took a chance. Lesson learned.

P.S. I took a screenshot of the scammer’s threatening email, along with his other blocked email account. Always save the evidence.

The Cindra Corrina Chronicles began as an idea for a comic book entitled Passage, originally set in the years after Cindra’s training and early adventures, which would be revealed through flashbacks. This was in the dawn of the digital age of comics, and I was still doing things by the old How To books like The Complete Book of Cartooning by John Adkins Richardson, and the overly-long-named How To Draw and Sell Comic Strips for Newspapers and Comic Books! by Alan McKenzie. These were about the only guides available in the 1980’s and early 90’s, and while full of good information, they were written for a time when pencil and ink were the only mediums, and word bubbles were attached with scissors and glue. My first effort only saw a couple of mock-up printings, but I made a cool oil painting for the cover that has since disappeared. Neither copies remain, to my knowledge. In it, Cindra was an adult warrior, trained and deadly.

Later, when I learned more about paint programs and digital editing, I decided to revamp and redraw the story from a more interesting point, namely Cindra’s early years and ‘call to adventure’ that set her on her warrior path. I began to draw the movie that was playing in my head, knowing or caring little for comic book pacing and marketing. After printing three of the five issues I drew at over $3000 in printing fees, I decided that it was not the route for me. I did the math and figured if I put out books at my current rate, I would be done in my 80’s. So I shifted to novel writing.

One does not just shift to novel writing.

It is a learning process like any other, and a craft to be honed. I penned (typed) a short story that became the roots of a greater mythology and formed the backdrop for the main plot, then dove into Cindra’s adolescent adventures, earning my lumps along the way. I tried submitting to agents, perhaps two dozen, and while I got positive feedback, no one wanted my story. So I tried self-publishing once again. Things had changed since the comic book days; the Print On Demand and online shopping model made doing a novel series practical and cheap, especially since I could do all the art and non-writing work myself. Thus began my new career path, and I have enjoyed it thoroughly ever since. Every chapter has its own artwork, so a hint of that old comic book still lives in the pages of the Cindra Corrina Chronicles.