A Gift of Freedom By M.L. "Matt" Buchman

In preparing this post, I had assumed, as I write military romantic suspense and political conspiracy thrillers, that I’d be writing about the defense of freedom and those who choose to do  so in their daily lives. 

But I didn’t because that lead me to the idea of the country I was lucky enough to be born into and our incredible freedoms here in the United States (and the horrifying threats that have arisen of late striving to squelch those freedoms). That being a dangerous subject in this day and age (as we’ve all learned by the friends we’ve lost to the current divisiveness), I thought perhaps not.

I therefore, and not surprisingly, turned my thoughts to publishing. There I considered writing about the reversion of rights from traditional publishing back to the author and what that could imply about freedom. My mind went there with reason.

I recently managed to recover the rights to my thirteen trad press novels all at once. (That’s roughly 1.2M words!) These novels represent the front end of the 42-novel and 70-short story Night Stalkers / Emily Beale Universe. I’m now free to fix the myriad early writing habits, the gross traditional editing failures, as well as the covers that have always made me cringe. I also gained the freedom to rebrand and control the marketing of these books. A huge and overwhelming task, but also a lifegiving freedom. (The relaunch will begin next month in November.)

First-ever peek at the new covers

But the definition that intrigued me most as I prepared to create this post was referenced to the King James Version of the Bible: Exemption from fate.

The very first card my wife ever gave me was back when we were courting illustrates this point. It is a Quint Buchholz painting of a man laying down his own tightrope as he walks it into the unknown sky. Head up, looking forward. “Completely emblematic of who you are,” she said, or words to that effect.

I’m one of those people who sees “the box” and despises it thoroughly. In corporation after corporation, during my thirty-odd years as a crisis project manager, I confronted “the boxes” that firms had built. “We’re structured like this, so we have to do things this way.”

My job was to ask Why? “If you were to think of your business this way, you could leverage your skills in a whole new way.” I was an efficiency and effectiveness expert, and (when I was lucky) I brought along innovation as well.

Traditional publishing is in severe crisis and collapse because they failed to change with the times. The Big Ten became the Seven, the Six, the Five, and lately the Four (chose to count them as you will), headed for the big black hole of non-existence just as they’re already collapsing through non-relevance. 

They forgot how to innovate (if they ever knew), then they lost how to be effective, then finally anything other than inefficient. Their inflexibility is often blamed on their size. Yet I worked with a Fortune 100 company on the road to bankruptcy that restructured itself in three years into a high-profitability venture, once again climbing the charts. (I had only a very minor role in restructuring their IT department over six months, but it was impressive to watch.)

Less impressive to watch is that I see indie publishing falling into the same patterns lately, “Well, I have to do it this way because that’s the only thing that works.”

I am no brilliant success. I’m a strong mid-list author. I make a better living that I ever did in corporate, but neither am I a millionaire. Yet I’m told, sometimes daily but usually more often, that there’s a formula, a prescribed path that will etch out a silver-lined or gold-patinaed future. 

There used to be a hundred of this different “perfect” paths but lately I’ve seen a convergence toward a prescribed methodology. Whole conferences have practically become cults paying homage to one path or another. I see people walking the narrow paths of others because “That’s the real way publishing works.”

From my seat, what worked was celebrating my freedom from that “fated” path. I explore that which fascinates me. I’ve built a career of looking for what’s outside the norm yet utterly intriguing.

For example: Against all advice, except my wife’s, my current thriller series stars a high-functioning autistic heroine. Miranda Chase is the premier air-crash investigator. The aircraft crashes (which she totally understands and investigates) constantly trap her in political conspiracies she can’t begin to understand. But she must solve them to survive, which she does by being her brilliant self. 

https://miranda-chase.com

Had I listened to the fates, I would still be writing military romantic suspense for traditional publishing—long past the time any joy might have leached away. Now, when I do go back to my MRS, I have a great time with it. I’m alternating series between the two. I do a quartet of thrillers, then a trilogy of military romantic suspense, then back to thrillers. 

BTW, traditional would never let me have done this at all. And indies now often shout that I’m ruining my: Also Boughts, my marketing, my career, and everything else on the planet. The only ones not complaining are my wife and my fans. Gee, who should I be listening to?

Indie publishing is not about the “box”, or chasing the market from one genre to the next, or how many Facebook ads you can afford. That is what the Fated would have us believe. Instead, I’d suggest looking up, looking around, and discovering the incredible freedom that allows each of us to celebrate what we will. Begin by asking about what path you want to build across the sky.

USA Today and Amazon #1 Bestseller M. L. "Matt" Buchman has 70+ action-adventure thriller and military romance novels, 100 short stories, and lotsa audiobooks. PW says: “Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead will clamor for more.” Booklist declared: “3X Top 10 of the Year.” A project manager with a geophysics degree, he’s designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, solo-sailed a 50’ sailboat, and bicycled solo around the world…and he quilts. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.

Playing well with others!

by M. L. Buchman

I feel as if this should be a constant theme in my life: playing well with others.

A writer's world is a strange and solitary one...I'm paid to sit in a corner, by myself, and fantasize for a living (a kinder way to say: I sit in a corner and make shit up for a living). I fantasize about what it would be like to fly a helicopter, to destroy a bad guy, to fall in love... Well, I don't have to fantasize about that one, because I did--twenty years ago and still besotted. But I have to think about how it would feel for others, both male and female, from a wide variety of backgrounds.

But occasionally I'm forced to emerge from the depths of the world in my head and interact with those around me. Sometimes just enough, sometimes way too much.

A few weeks ago I attended and assisted at a week-long short-story anthology workshop. Fifty writers, a dozen hours a day for 7 days. OMG! It was fantastically wondrously intensely and deeply fun. (It was also a little mortifying, my inner introvert is still in deep shock.) For 7 days we talked almost nothing except the craft, marketing, and business of short fiction. I did my best to be thoughtful, supportive, and curious. I've spoke to almost no one except my wife in the weeks following. Even at a weekly lunch of local writers (all of whom I've known for years), I still had little to say and am only now returning to normal.

But there is another way that I've been playing with others. In a prior post I discussed doing a world collaboration project with fellow military romantic suspense writer Cristin Harber. This month I've discovered the joys of writing a collaboration project with one of Regency romance's top authors: Grace Burrowes.

Okay, there's the catch...Regency.

Years ago, back when I was a much younger writer (in every sense of the word), I wrote a historical. I was very proud of that book and sent it off and about. A top editor from Mills & Boon sent me back a very kind note: "Thank you for submitting this for my consideration. I'll pass on this manuscript, but absolutely send me your next contemporary title for consideration." A couple of things here: 1) This was a top editor, who was willing to look at my next title. Back in those days this was just one step down from a sale. Fantastically cheering feedback on my level of writing at that time. 2) This was a top historical editor who asked for my next contemporary (and I wasn't the one who added the emphasis, she was). Hmmm...

Wind forward a couple of years, I'm taking a class. One of the assignments was to write a historical short story. The teacher handed it back and said, "Is this your best period?" It was. "Try again." I did. When the teacher, who is always very careful to never give career advice for fear of inhibiting a writer, returned the second draft it was with the whispered words, "Never try to write a historical again." I now understand that I don't have a single historical bone in my writing body.

But I like Grace (and love her writing, I read a fair amount of Regency) and we wanted to do a project together.

Now it was her turn. "Military romantic suspense? Really?"

So, we moved on to other topics, including our own plans for future series, until I said, "I'm about to launch a contemporary series set on a Montana ranch. Two of my key heroes, Emily Beale and Mark Henderson, are finally retiring from the military and from firefighting. They're going to settle on Mark's family horse ranch and mentor a whole new set of love stories."

"Oh! That's good. I have an idea for that."

The result?

So, as unlikely as it seems, a Regency author and a military romantic suspense author found common ground beneath Montana's Big Sky! (If you prefer print, they're available separately.)

We've had a great time going back and forth on this. They are two separate novels (except for a reader cookie here and there), but we were very surprised at all of the similarities in our voices. Maybe that's why I enjoy reading her books so much, because we're so similar in use of dialog, humor, even pacing.

On the collaboration I mentioned above with Cristin Harber, it was a challenge of finding a common voice between two very different sets of military romantic suspense characters. Here it was discovering an easy joy in each other's words.

I'm very proud of both, but for different reasons. The collaboration between my Night Stalkers and Cristin's Team Titan in Target of Mine is a kick-ass tale. Big Sky Ever After is a warm contemporary to get all wrapped up in during a chill Montana night.

Having now done two collaboration projects of this scale, I'm definitely looking forward to whatever next comes my way. Because whatever it is, it's gonna be FUN! And that is the real measure of what project to do next.

M.L. Buchman started the first of over 50 novels while flying from South Korea to ride his bicycle across the Australian Outback. Part of a solo around the world trip that ultimately launched his writing career.

All three of his military romantic suspense series—The Night Stalkers, Firehawks, and Delta Force—have had a title named “Top 10 Romance of the Year” by the American Library Association’s Booklist. NPR and Barnes & Noble have named other titles “Top 5 Romance of the Year.” In 2016 he was a finalist for Romance Writers of America prestigious RITA award. He also writes: contemporary romance, thrillers, and fantasy.

Past lives include: years as a project manager, rebuilding and single-handing a fifty-foot sailboat, both flying and jumping out of airplanes, and he has designed and built two houses. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife and is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing and receive a free starter e-library by subscribing to his newsletter at: www.mlbuchman.com

A New Form of Storytelling (for me)

by M. L. Buchman

After 50+ novels and a near equal number of short stories, I would have thought that I'd at least bumped my nose into most of the forms of storytelling that I'd be using for a long time to come.

• Romance, SF, Thriller, Fantasy, Mystery, even a failed stab or two at YA, etc. These all have distinct voices and techniques and it's been fun. Obviously I especially love romance (35+ novels worth), but I certainly enjoyed them all.
• Third person, first person, (a second person that went straight into the shredder), even a shot at omniscient (that my first reader sent straight to the shredder).
• Almost every length from 500 words to 170,000. (I recently checked and the only 10k blocks I've missed are 120-160,000 words.
• Stand-alone, duologies, series, even complexly interconnected series.
• Anthologies where the challenge is to match the editor's theme.
• Co-author? Never really drew me. I like owning all aspects of my story.
• Shared world co-promotions...WHOOPS!

That last was a new one for me that I'd never given any thought to. And here's what I learned tackling this project.

How it started

This is all Cristin Harber's fault. She writes wonderful military romantic suspense in her Team Titan world. Three months ago, she was just another name that I didn't pay much attention to as it went by. Oddly, I read very little military romantic suspense, because I don't want those other author's voices in my head when I'm writing.

Then someone introduced us at a conference. It rates as one of the most fun conference conversations I've ever had, and there have been some doozies. We talked character, story, marketing, series, business, more marketing, more... And we spent most of the time laughing and saying, "I know!" (We missed a whole block of sessions and didn't care.)

At the end she said, "We should do something together." I suggested some conventional ideas, short story swaps on each other's websites, etc. She said, "Actually, how would you like write a novel for my 2017 Titan World project?" Sick of the strictures of Amazon's Kindle Worlds, she decided to do the same thing, but on her own. She had nine other authors lined up, I was to be the last and the tenth.

On the (really long) flight home from Florida to Oregon, I read two of her novels. In the next few days I read two more, then I (foolishly) said, "Sure. When?" Her answer of going live in 3 months was a bit of a shocker, but I got the novel conceived and written and it launched yesterday! 

But that isn't the interesting part. Nor the contract (I actually like contracts, a hangover from nearly a decade as a paralegal and legal project manager) that had to carefully protect each of our intellectual property rights against all foreseeable eventualities.

The really intriguing part for me was that it was a collaboration project. Not just a tale in a collection, but rather a world cross-over. The story was to really cross over into her Titan World. Take one or more of her characters and include them in a romance. Ten authors (plus a new title from Cristin) all sat down to write something. They took children of Titan and grew them up and gave them love stories. They wrote side adventures for minor characters. There were as many different approaches as there were characters.

Matt's adventure

I decided to take her ultra-macho, ultra-irascible team leader, along with his rockin' leather-clad lady, and introduce them to my Night Stalkers. I had read his love story, Westin's Chase, but I'd never written anything like it.

Being true to her characters wasn't the issue.

Matching her characters' voices, mannerisms, attitudes also wasn't an issue. Cristin writes very memorable characters.

The problem was the characters themselves. Cristin writes (at least compared to mine) very over-the-top folks. Jared growls as much as his bulldog and when he issues orders its at full, former US Ranger volume. His lady Lily, who everyone except him calls Sugar, is an ex-ATF, leather-clad gunsmith. Every word either of them speaks is big, strong, outrageous. Every action is doubly so. And sex? Trebly so!

Enter the Night Stalkers. Alpha strong, sure. But understated. Thoughtful. Quiet. My sex isn't behind the scenes, but neither is it a massive multi-page romp like Jared's and Sugar's.

So, I found my opening...I'm writing along...enter Jared and Sugar.

They blow my characters off the page. They're from a different kind of world and they show it. It was the single hardest part (also the most interesting for me as a writer), learning how to balance their voices. I wanted to stay true to both Cristin's and my own characters and tone, but we are different writers. We have different tones.

I'm thrilled to say that my characters were not overwhelmed by the time I was done and that hers weren't lost. But despite the horrendous deadline, I had to spend an awful lot of writing time just working on that first meeting until they all stood both Night Stalker and Titan Strong.

Then once I had the voices balanced, I still had to write a story in which characters who react and behave differently than mine were integrated into one of my stories.

It was an incredibly challenging project. It was an incredibly fun project. Would I do it again if the opportunity arises? With the right other author? Sure! With Cristin Harber? Absolutely!

You can check out Titan World at  your favorite store:
Amazon    Barnes & Noble    iBooks    Kobo

M. L. Buchman has over 50 novels and 40 short stories in print. Military romantic suspense titles from his Night Stalker, Firehawks, and Delta Force series have been named Booklist “Top 10 Romance of the Year”: 2012, 2015, & 2016. His Delta Force series opener, Target Engaged, was a 2016 Romance Writers of America RITA finalist. In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, and designed and built two houses. Somewhere along the way he also bicycled solo around the world.

He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife and is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing and receive a free 4-novel starter e-library by subscribing to his newsletter at:

www.mlbuchman.com.

Busting Burnout

by M. L. Buchman

I've been seeing a very disturbing trend here in early 2016—I'm losing writing friends. They're still friends, but they're dropping out of writing.

"I'm just not selling enough."

"Look at xxx's huge successes. If I can't sell a 10,000 copies a month like them, what's the point?"

Or they just go quiet, really quiet.

Having burned out of careers in the past (more than once), I've done a lot of thinking on this. And with friends "disappearing" around me, I've had to stop and look at myself as well. Losing my job, career, and house again and then being such a mess that I decided the only sensible cure was to go on an 18-month solo bicycle trip around the world—it's just not a place I want to go to again. (Though I did see some incredible places and meet some cool folks along the way.)

A Japanese family who invited me in so that they could practice their English.

Badly losing a beauty competition with a 2,000 year old Indian statue.

I think the problem is three-fold:

Fold #1

The gold rush days of indie publishing are over..and have been for a year or so. Indie publishing hit with a splash. The "Kindle Christmas of 2011" brought the revolution into the mainstream. For 3 years after that people were making big splashes with $0.99 books and then mega-bundles and then... In the last year all of those have faded away. We're now to the point where indie publishing is as mainstream as traditional and (depending on whose numbers you read and how you read them, almost as large). This means that the get-rich-quick crowd, or even the get-a-major-jump-start contingent are now headed only for disappointment.

In traditional publishing it often took years to get a contract (I have 440 rejections over a 13-year period in a file somewhere). Then another 2-3 years to release after contract and we hoped that we could, over the next 10-20 years, turn it into a viable career and "retire" into full-time writing. Even my most time-advantaged and gifted traditional writing friends took a minimum of 5-7 years. The Kindle Christmas was only five years ago.

Fold #2

Some of us can run a small business and some can't. Traditional publishing took most of the mechanics out of our hands, along with most of the money. I find that the time investment for a traditional versus an indie book is little different, but they took care of finding copyeditors and designers, etc. The tasks were equally time consuming, but the details were handled for us. 

I've often heard that indie publishing is simple, it's just not easy. Sorry folks, it just ain't true. Being a writer is hard work. And then to have to found a business and enjoy that part of it as well...that's knocked a lot of my friends out of the running. 

Fold #3

Validation. It used to be that we were validated (stamped and marked as the anointed who were "good enough") by a traditional publishing contract. But in the indie world, what's our validation? The Amazon engine that says "Your book will be available in 24-48 hours" doesn't quite cut it, does it? Nor Kobo's "We'll take it from here."

Finding that motivation to drive yourself forward, sans validation, is one of the hardest tasks of all. It must come from inside. It must come from the writing. 

Friends who ask me how to keep going, I tell them they must go back to the beginning. Write. It is the reason you started this in the first place was to tell stories. Do it. If you're in it because you wanted to get rich quick...good luck with that, but don't whine to me when it doesn't work out.

Unraveling the Folds

By this time, if you haven't "folded up," you're wondering how to survive at all. I can only speak from personal experience. When I've hit the wall before, it was when my career became too important. It sounds weird, but there it is. I would work ungodly hours and apply unreasonable pressures on myself to succeed. I often crossed 100-hour work weeks (before the burnout bike trip I had done it steadily for 7 years).

There is supposed to be joy in life, at least that's what they tell us. Well, guess what. When there isn't joy, everyone can see it. It was as obvious when I was leading million dollar projects as it is when I'm writing a short story.

On The Voice this year, Pharrell Williams said something to a contestant that I think lies at the heart of this matter:

Show them how much fun YOU'RE having!

Because frankly, if you aren't having fun, you will burn out; that's a guarantee. I still work 70-hour weeks and I feel none of the edge-of-burnout that I know so well. Why? I love what I do, all of what I do. That's my guideline. That's why I do so little social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc, just don't bring me joy). But I enjoy business. I like the occasional mindless tedium of publishing, and I love visiting new places and new characters with the written word. My books are where I go to have FUN! And as long as I keep doing that, I expect the burnout will stay at bay. 

Follow the joy, I highly recommend it.

Look for my latest form of fun on February 2nd.

My newest Night Stalkers novel.

More info at my website: www.mlbuchman.com

M. L. Buchman has over 40 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year” and twice Booklist “Top 10 of the Year,” placing two titles on their “Top 101 Romances of the Last 10 Years” list. He has been nominated for the Reviewer’s Choice Award for “Top 10 Romantic Suspense of 2014” by RT Book Reviews. In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world.

He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife and is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com.

Hated, Now Love the Holidays

by M. L. Buchman

Christmas. I grew up in a Jewish household with a Christmas tree...and that had nothing to do with the problems. Some people's families are dysfunctional, some are just plain crazy. Mine was the latter, but they packed 99.9% of the craziness into the holiday season...and not in a good way. (My big sister was way smarter than me...still is. Thinking back, I'm not sure that she left her room for the entire month of December. See? Way smart.)

Scroll forward a decade. It took my best friends years to convince me to come over for Christmas. (Let's just say I was a little gun shy.) When no emotional explosions occurred I started to think this season had potential.

Another decade on and I met an amazing lady with a six-year-old daughter. Wow! Who ever knew that Christmas could be such a cool holiday? Actual reindeer bells rattled on the roof over the kids bedroom. Great story books read while piled together on the couch. Letters from Santa. (Might have written a few of those myself in later years following the Tolkien tradition. Tolkien's are worth it just for the illustrations, though his letters are awesome as well. My illustrations...well, not so much.)



So, when I started writing romances, I will admit that I had been, reluctantly, converted into believing that Christmas was kind of cool. I fought it the whole way. But...I may have written a few Christmas novels in recent times. Maybe some Night Stalkers Christmas romantic suspense and perhaps another in my Angelo's Hearth contemporary foodie romance series.

And I just might have maybe enjoyed writing some short stories as well (though don't press me on the enjoying part of that):

Where all this is leading is the story of my latest Christmas novel. It's little picture is up above, but here, I'll repeat it for you because it just released today and a new release always makes me giggle because I just can't get enough of it (and yes, a grown man, I do giggle).

In Christmas at Peleliu Cove I took on a Jewish Christmas. I didn't even think about it until I was well into writing in the book . And I had an absolute blast! Maybe I finally outgrew all of that familial angst (Whew! About time.) It was a chance to take my romantic suspense world, my Jewish heroine, and Christmas all in the same hovercraft sleigh. I can't remember the last time I was this merry about writing a book.

And over the years, I've come to realize that is the secret of both writing for a career and of Christmas...Unbridled Merriness! Here's an example:

EXCERPT FROM CHRISTMAS AT PELELIU COVE
Nika Maier and the crew are waiting in the Well Deck, a cavernous space inside the amphibious assault carrier the USS Peleliu). They have been preparing their LCAC (landing craft air cushion) hovercraft for a possible mission when Craftmaster Chief Petty Officer Sly Stowell returns with the news.

“Make ‘er ready,” Sly’s call echoed down the ramp before he made the last turn into view at the head of the Well Deck. It was the same words he used to start every live mission. A training exercise started, “Let’s go prove we still know how.”

“Way ahead of you, Chief,” Nika replied as he swung into view at a quick stride. Then she couldn’t resist, “Had it all inspected and prepped before any of these jokers even showed up.” She nodded toward the rest of the crew.

“What?” Tom exclaimed and Dave just looked bummed. Jerome nodded as if to say, “Of course you did.”

She heard the distant sound of several small engines coughing to life up in the garages and her pulse picked up its pace. “What kind of heat are we packing tonight?” She and Jerome had to make sure that any vehicles were positioned so that the LCAC’s loading was properly balanced and she’d fly true.

“Lots of little heat, Petty Officer Maier,” a deep voice wrapped in a soft Southern deeper and richer than Sly’s called out from the head of the loading ramp. “Fast and dirty heat. And a pair of RSOVs just in case.” Ranger Spec Ops Vehicles—they absolutely confirmed there was action tonight.

Nika glanced up the ramp to see Lieutenant Clint Barstowe arrive close behind Sly. The commander of the 75th Rangers platoon was a big man, and loaded for bear. Combat uniform, armored vest, and enough magazines for his rifle to take out an entire platoon of bad guys himself. He looked incredible. Not overly handsome, just damned good looking. Strong shoulders on a powerful frame. But mostly he radiated power—dark and dangerous. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to meet him in a trashy alley; even in broad daylight you’d best pray he was on your side.

His helmet was snagged on his belt, hooked over the butt of his knife. His service piece on the other hip and a rifle over his shoulder.

Then he totally spoiled the pretty picture by wearing a red Santa hat complete with white fur trim and pom-pom perched atop his Ranger-short black hair.

# # #

“Need to grow a white beard if you’re planning to live up to that hat, Lieutenant. Besides, you’re a little early there. And aren’t you from Arkansas? Do they even have Christmas that far south?”

Clint grinned at the heckler in surprise. Maier was always teasing people, but it was the first time she’d aimed a jibe at him in the eighteen months he’d been aboard.

“You snickering at my festive fedora, Petty Officer Nika Maier? Thanksgiving is a week gone; it’s December now. Where’s your Christmas spirit, Petty Officer?”

“I’m Jewish, Lieutenant. And we’re in the Southern Mediterranean where it’s seventy-eight Fahrenheit.”

“And you’re using that as an excuse not to be merry?”

“As I said, sir, Jewish. Against our religion to be merry because we don’t need an excuse to feel someone is out to get us—we already know they are. Besides, that’s not a fedora without a brim and an indented crown.” She picked up a three-foot steel pry bar used for tightening the vehicle tie-down chains and waved it at him, revealing a surprising strength in her slender frame. “Be glad to fix the latter problem for you,” her cheerful tone completely belied her prior declaration regarding merriness.

“And you never had a Christmas tree? I can only pity the poor, neglected child.”

“Might have had a Hanukkah bush, sir. Might have had pretty lights on it. Maybe even presents that were opened on December 25th. But I promise, I wasn’t merry about it.”

Wishing you immense merriness and a terribly cheerful turkey day!

The Danger of the Good

by M.L. Buchman

One of the great jokes on a writer is that most of the job is mental...okay, 99.999% of the job is mental. During my decades of corporate I'd say it was about <25%.

Oh sure, in corporate there were good days and bad days. Having a positive attitude made for a more pleasant working environment, made my teams function better, and made clients happier. But in corporate there was one implacable rule: it never stopped. A good day today didn't stop whatever s*** was about to roll down the pipe and plop on your desk the next morning. And having a truly crappy client call didn't mean that your presentation that afternoon wasn't going to rock and leave you feeling great. They might make me go a bit "mental" at times, but it was the job that did much of the mood making. My only choice was to make the best out of whatever plopped onto the desk.

Writing is about staring at a blank page and finding story. It's about writing through the times when the story isn't working, as well as when it's flying. And the joke on the authors is that something good can bump you off the tracks just as well as something bad.

My traditional press editor told me that Target Engaged (the first book of my new Delta Force romance series) is the best book I've ever written (not that she's read any of my dozens of indie books). Guess what? That simple bit of feedback made it almost impossible to write the next book in the series (Heart Strike will be out next August). How do I live up to the standard of "best ever?"

Simple answer: You don't!

You write the next book to be the best book you can at that moment in that place and time.

I can't begin to emphasize that enough. So, having just finished (finally) Heart Strike (and I'm quite proud of it actually), and understood the mayhem that simple compliment to Target Engaged had caused me, I thought I finally had the "Danger of the Good" under control...

HA!

Last week I found out that Hot Point had been chosen as a Top 10 Romance of the 2015 by Booklist. Then they offered a compilation of the Best 101 Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years which had two of my books on it.

Now the challenge is to go back to that blank white page and simply write the best book I can. Harrumph! Saying I need to do that and actually doing so are a world apart as any writer will tell you. So I was looking for a way to reengage with my next Night Stalkers novel (coming in October).

And then I look at another upcoming release. On October 14th, by first "Ides of Matt" short story collection will become available (you can pre-order the electronic now, paper available on release day). I think about this collection a lot when I'm having trouble writing. There are some really wonderful stories in here that I don't know how I ever found them in the world of the blank page. There are others that I think of as simply "good stories." They work and I'm glad that I wrote them, but they don't have the Snap! of one that really clicked. Yet as I was writing the introduction to each story, I remembered how much fun it was to write that particular tale. Every time I so enjoyed the experience of discovery of character and story.

That's the secret I've discovered about how to react to the good reviews and the bad. It extends into everyday life as I contemplate the good news and the bad as well.

Follow the fun!

I love every tale mentioned on this page and on my website. I had so much fun writing the two short stories that went up this month on my website (one was free on my site--no longer but it's still for sale, the other one is still free to newsletter subscribers or for purchase). And I love the Night Stalkers book that will be coming out in October though it has neither cover nor title yet making it hard to promote,

I love writing!

It gives me something to be thankful for every day. And if I focus on that instead of reviews, accolades, stray comments, and other distractions, then I can dodge the "Danger of the Good" (or the Bad) and keep doing what I love most: Telling Stories.
---

M. L. Buchman has over 40 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the Year,” nominated for the Reviewer’s Choice Award for “Top 10 Romantic Suspense of 2014” by RT Book Reviews, and twice Booklist “Top 10 of the Year” placing two of his titles on their “The 101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years.” In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world.

He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com. 

Giving Back - military romance style

by M. L. Buchman

Sometimes you get a chance to give back and sometimes you get a chance to pay forward. I think it is an interesting difference.

Years ago I asked my writing mentor, a very successful writer with over a hundred novels in print and many appearances on many lists, what could I possibly do for him in thanks for all he had done for me?

"Nothing."

"Uh..."

"What you can do is pay forward. Help a writer who is anywhere on the path behind you." And I have done my best to pay forward whenever the opportunity arises.

It is also one of the reasons I tell the kind of stories that I do, whether in my military romantic suspense Night Stalkers series or in a whole different genre like my Dead Chef thrillers. The single unifying theme of all my writing is to Champion the Human Spirit. I always seek to write stories that uplift us and show some of the wonderful things I see in the world. One of the strongest themes for me has become honoring those who choose to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. I make no judgment as to what they are sent to do, but in turn am constantly awed by what they do in that service.

However, every now and then, I get a rare opportunity to pay back as well. For my writing mentor, who has long since become my friend, it is typically help with a particularly odd piece of software (I was a computer geek for many years).

But how could I ever pay back those who serve to protect our country and keep what peace is possible? The opportunity came up when I was invited into an anthology to help benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Eight authors and the publisher Sourcebooks have collaborated on an anthology and all proceeds are being donated to the WWP.

The Way of the Warrior is filled with a brand new Night Stalkers tale by myself, a Troubleshooters, Inc. tale by Suzanne Brockmann, and more by Julie Ann Walker, Catherine Mann, and others. Stories of survival, of teamwork, and always of finding true love. Please, buy a copy (8 novellas in 472pp also equals a great investment in reading pleasure as well) or donate directly to the WWP, I know of no worthier cause and am thrilled at this opportunity to pay back.

Available for pre-order now (May 5th release).

M. L. Buchman has over 35 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year” and Booklist “Top 10 of the Year.” He has been nominated for the Reviewer’s Choice Award for “Top 10 Romantic Suspense of 2014” by RT Book Reviews. In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com.

March Enjoys Messing With People...

...especailly ME!
by M. L. Buchman

Maybe it’s because I was born in March.

A bit closer to birth than I am now

Maybe it’s because of the whole “In like a lion, out like a lamb" thing. For the first 3 or 4 decades of my life I could say to any Philadelphian that I was born in the second worst snowstorm in Philly’s history and they’d all say, “Oh, mid-March” and name the year.

My dad was once traveling in the Mexican jungle during my birthday--he was an IBM engineer who spoke no Spanish, so I have no explanation for it, but he was there. I know this for a fact because he sent me a postcard of a plastic toucan (had to be plastic…I mean those things are too silly to actually exist, aren’t they?)

C'mon, really?

The postcard said simply, “In jungle, have boots and parka just in case.” (And at this point let me say, the whole East Coast-Arctic Blast thing…I feel really bad about that.)

So, what do I do when surrounded by too much weather? I write romance suspenses. Of course, I do that when it’s sunny and beautiful out as well (and when it’s raining on the Oregon Coast like right now). For some people, Christmas is the time of things past, present and future…you know, ghosts, New Year’s goals, stuff like that. For me, it’s definitely the chaotic, turbulent transition from winter to spring. That and growing a year, um, wiser? Taller? Further behind? More experienced! That's it.

So here are some of this springtime’s past, present, and just barely future.

NIGHT STALKERS PAST 
My latest short stories go back in time to discover how two of my favorite characters, Michael Gibson and Emily Beale, came to join the Night Stalkers. Check out Heart of the Storm and Beale’s Hawk Down.
FIREHAWKS PRESENT 
Smokejumper Two-Tall Tim goes home to the small town of Larch Creek, Alaska and rediscovers his own past, the wildfires of his present, and the dreams of the future in Wildfire at Larch Creek. (Cool tip: this is also the start of a new contemporary small-town romance series coming this summer.)

NIGHT STALKERS PRESENT 
Bring On the Dusk gives us Michael Gibson’s long-awaited love story…and this may have been my favorite one to write. I love these characters so much. The fliers of the 5th Battalion D Company just keep getting more fun to write.

NIGHT STALKERS NEAR FUTURE 
And just to tease you, a new Night Stalkers' company is coming, the 5E, launches a new cast of characters on April Fool’s Day! No kidding! Preorders not ready yet, but you can buy to on 4/1!!! Target of the Heart, next week.

March has treated well this year. Hope I didn't hand off my March curse to you.
-------

M. L. Buchman has over 30 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year” and Booklist “Top 10 of the Year.” He has been nominated for the Reviewer’s Choice Award for “Top 10 Romantic Suspense of 2014” by RT Book Reviews. In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com.

Hot and Cold Running Releases

by M.L. Buchman

One of things I think I enjoy most about being an author is finding out about strange places and people. Writers cover a wide spectrum from "I just make it up as I go" to "I want to get as much right as I can" to nutcases like me who are total research hounds!

"Bloodhound Trials Feb 2008 -79" by John Leslie - Flickr: Wikimedia

Okay, maybe I'm not that bad.

This habit of asking: "What's over there?" has led me to innumerable odd places over the years, an ice & snow climbing class on Mt. Rainier, hiking in the wilderness of a half dozen states, flying and jumping out of airplanes (though not the same one), and bicycling around the world for a year and a half to name a few.

All of that experience gives me the jumping off points for my stories that lead me to yet stranger research corners. And sometimes it is the juxtaposition of those corners that is the most fun.

This month I have an ice-bound short story and a blazing wildfire novel. Writing those back to back was particularly amusing because, as a writer who is a research hound, I immerse myself in the environment.

To write Heart of the Storm I drew on dozens of climbing texts that I've read (mostly when I was younger and it would scare my parents to death--I then started building plastic model motorcycles which really freaked them out, though I've never owned a real one), winter climbing blogs, equipment sites, and my own experience riding my bicycle around the base of Mt. Rainier (a 14,000' peak in Washington state that's at the center of this story).

To write Wildfire at Larch Creek I was abruptly back in my Firehawks world of wildland firefighters, specifically the smokejumpers. For that tale, in addition to all my prior research into wildfires I was off into mircoclimates in the valleys around Denali and just how do the small village survive out in the Alaskan bush, I also went reaching back to the tiny town where I spent six years as a kid in upstate New York (1,200 people and 10,000 head of dairy cow).

This is pretty much the whole town; the school and gas station take up the other side of the street.
(image from Google Maps--new sidewalks! Very cool!)

A Night Stalkers short story (click for more info)
How Michael and Mark came to fly together.

A Firehawks / Larch Creek romance (click for more info)
Two-Tall Tim finds returning home is never easy on the heart,
especially when true love awaits.

They were certainly fun to write!

Also look for (or pre-order), the next Night Stalkers novel coming March 3rd!!

A Night Stalkers novel (click for more info)
Delta Force Colonel Michael Gibson gets his Night Stalker...for life.

Perhaps I should have titled this blog, "A Bro-mance and Two Romances" or maybe "Cold, Hot, and Steamy Releases!"  I do so love writing! 

Now I'm off to research...but that would be telling!

Measuring Success

by M.L. Buchman

Measuring success as a writer is a splendid, squirrely, ever-changing target. It is almost as curious a journey as trying to find the end of the book that you're writing--elusive, exciting, and when you get to the end, you are thrilled at what you've achieved...and then you look up and realize it is part one of a series and more lies ahead!

Signing my first contract in 1995 for a book that released in 1997 was a heck of a big moment. That was a huge success, even though it was with a small press that would soon be out of business, I got to hold my first two novels before it did collapsed.

My first contract with a major publisher in 2010 was pretty darned amazing, marker on the path to success, even if it was 2 years from contract to the release of The Night is Mine.

Then there was a cold February night, still before the release of The Night is Mine. I had been out of work for over a year courtesy of the recession. We had just moved to another city for a job that I had finally landed and were flat broke. That night we received the first money from the first book of my contemporary romance series, "Angelo's Hearth."

Where Dreams Are Born sold 20 copies in its first month. The check was for $53, for the whole month! For the first time in a year I was able to take my wife out to dinner, we even had a beer with the meal! It is still one of the great markers of success in my career, sitting in a quiet pub with a burger and a brew and playing cribbage. Who knew that "success" could have such a simple moment to measure it. (There was enough left over for a nice lunch a week or so later! Major success!)

That "Angelo's Hearth" is now a completed 5-book series and my #2 most successful series after "The Night Stalkers" is a constant joy. (Though, as that series is complete, I expect that "Firehawks" will take over with the December 2nd release of #2, Full Blaze [now available for pre-order...hint, hint.])

In 2013, after yet another ridiculous experience with corporate America, my wife and I decided to make the jump to full-time writing. I still work the same insane hours that I worked for corporate, BUT I'm working for me and spending half of every day in some cheery fantasy-land of writing. I am a much happier and healthier person than I was two years ago, despite the long hours.

Why? Because I'm doing something I love. I came late to writing in my mid-thirties, but I have never found anything to be anywhere close to being so much fun.

Curiously, success keeps sneaking along and nudging you on the shoulder to say, "Hey, remember me?" It came along and gave me a nudge and wink just last week. Our local chain Fred Meyer store out here on an obscure section of the Oregon Coast has a little book section. There, on a seriously rain-soaked night, I received a jazzy little reminder that success is not only the big things, it can also be the little ones. And if we watch for them and revel in them, they can bring a surprising amount of joy.

So, here is me, feeling all goofy and floating about five feet off the ground, when I spotted this:

The first four books of my "Night Stalkers" series, all in a bunch. Not even in the tiny romance section just a single rack wide in this store, but in the across-all-genres "Popular Authors" section! Whee! My t-shirt, by pure chance that day, says: "I live in my own little world, but it's okay. They know me here." It's a cheerily successful little world and I take those success, big and small whenever I can find them.

So, what little (or big) successes do you have to celebrate?!
-----

M. L. Buchman has over 30 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year” and Booklist “Top 10 of the Year.” In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com.

I (heart) Romance Cliches...

...because it is so much fun to break them!
by M.L. Buchman

I actually started writing romance based on exactly that concept. I began as a science fiction and fantasy writer. I discovered romance and began incorporating stronger and stronger love stories into my writing (still not romances).

I wanted to try a romance, but I did want to write along a cliche. Why? One, I actively despise cliches and stereotyping (this is one of my rabid platform things, so don't get me started [don't believe me? Check out this Publisher's Weekly Radio interview.]) and two, I had seen the success of those who find the cliche and buck the trend.

Sandra Brown looked out at the world of romance and the world of mystery and made a huge success that practically created romantic suspense.

Suzanne Brockmann read an article on Navy SEALs and military romantic suspense exploded onto the market.

Both of them had looked at a cliche and wondered how to turn it on its head.

For me I was doing research for my Dead Chef thriller Swap Out! My hero had to be rescued by a cool helicopter. (I don't know where my writer brain comes up with these ideas, but I trust it and went looking for a really extreme helicopter.) While researching, I stumbled on the U.S. Army's 160th SOAR, the secretive, helicopter-flying Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the Night Stalkers.

That still didn't do it for me. Cool, might use it some day, but it didn't have the cliche-breaker I'd been looking for.

And then I found the Night Stalkers application: "Must be male to apply." (After 30 years, this finally changed in 2013, but I was back in 2008 at the time.)

BANG!

I knew I had it! Was I going to create a whole new genre with this idea like Brown or Brockmann? No, but fitting right in as "Buchman" struck me as a good sign.

What did I create by spotting the cliche and breaking it?
Cliche: The alpha male hero and the woman he falls for along the way.
New: The alpha female hero who meets the alpha male on the common ground of the military, and  who gets the man she happens to deserve.

Thus was born The Night Stalkers series:

(this includes the first reveal of the draft cover for Michael's story coming in Spring 2015!)

And the Firehawks series:

(Full Blaze is coming Dec 2, 2014 and takes the wildfire battle Down Under.)

And I just sold two more "First Women of..." series that will be launching in 2015 & 2016. Maybe they're all just one big series: Buchman's "First Women" of Military Romantic Suspense... I like it!
---

M. L. Buchman has over 30 novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year” and Booklist “Top 10 of the Year.” In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction. 

In among his career as a corporate project manager he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com.