Friends,

I truly hope this post finds you well and in good spirits! For many of my readers, though not all by any means, this week is a week to take a moment out of our busy lives to be thankful for all that we possess. Thanksgiving is always toward the end of November, but I think it best not to allocate all our thankfulness on this one day. Giving thanks is something that should be done regularly, for we do not know when a favorite appliance may break, or when a loved one may pass, or even when our own time arrives.

My challenge to you, in this world of uncertainty, is this: when you wake up in the morning (or perhaps in the evening if you work the night shift), take a brief moment to find someone or something in your life for which you are truly and genuinely thankful. Think of what that person or thing means to you and how it shapes you, whether for better or worse, and use that to start your day off on a positive note! I can say with confidence that beginning your day in that kind of mood will help steer you farther down the road of optimism as you go about your routine. And just think what that would do in the long run, over weeks or months, or even years. I’m sure you’d be surprised.

That’s my little spiel on being thankful, so let’s dive on into the blog…

The Faces of the War Collection

At the moment, the third read-through of the Unguarded manuscript is underway. As I have said before, I am focusing on polishing up the dialogue, hoping to make it more concise, dynamic, and realistic. I am going through the text and am all the while thinking of how exciting this process is for me. I mean, this is the time when what I have worked on for many months starts coming together in what could be its final state. I am very excited to deliver this story to you when the time comes.

The word count at the moment is almost 47K, which is actually closer to my original goal word count than what I thought I’d get. The first draft came in at around 42K words, but in going through it here and there, I ended up adding enough to bring out more detail in the story. I have already clued in those of you on the mailing list as to some story details, but I will share them here as well. Before I do, I encourage you to join my mailing list if you haven’t already – it’s a great way to connect with me and get in-depth details regarding my projects before the general public hears it (usually on this blog or through Twitter). You can find the link here.

Unguarded is a story set during the Second World War, following the character of Oliver – a young college boy living in London. In this book, as opposed to Resistant, there will be an Epilogue, which has lent itself to helping expand the word count this time around. This story is very much different from Book One, yet it still captures a lot of the feeling and emotion, as well as action, experienced in the first story.

Though there is no specific release date set, I can assure you that Unguarded will be released in January 2015. Throughout this entire process, I’ve experienced a few minor setbacks that, together, have been enough to set me back in my timeline for a release in the New Year rather than before Christmas. I do hope you can bear with me as I finish this project, and I also hope that you will read it and be entertained by it.

The Short Story Collection

My first ebook of short stories, entitled Volume 1, is currently available for the Kindle for only $0.99! The next ebook, which is aptly entitled Volume 2, will be released in the spring. I will resume work on those stories after I launch Unguarded. All three stories are roughed out, with one of them actually begun. I look forward to bringing those to you!

Until next time,

-Eli