Tag: The writing journey

Pride and Joy…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on June 6, 2025

The Intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag

It’s June and that marks the start of Pride Month, a celebration and recognition of the LGBT+ community.

This marks my fifth pride month as an out bisexual man. I came out on my fortieth birthday which fell after pride that year. Obviously, I’ve been bisexual for a lot longer than six years. My whole life, actually, though I wasn’t comfortable expressing or even acknowledging that part of myself for large part of it.

I’m a member of the microgeneration known as Xennials. One of the defining aspects of my adolescence was the constant fear of being called “gay.” Not stupid. Or weak. Or poor. Or weird. No, it was that three-letter word, or it’s three-letter slur sibling that drove many boys from my generation to throw hands or undertake attempting something either dangerous or stupid. Usually both.

If you were branded as being “Gay” or “Queer”, you were a social pariah, especially in my rural community. I wasn’t exactly popular as it was. I wasn’t athletic. I wasn’t rich. I didn’t have cool things. I wasn’t particular attractive. I was a doughy boy who grew up to be an equally doughy man. So desperate was I to never have that label tattooed on my person, that I refused to do any introspection about who I was as a person at a time when that’s the most important thing we as humans can do for ourselves.

So, for the first few decades of my life, I simply turned a blind eye to the internal thoughts that should have made it obvious that I wasn’t 100% straight. By the time I finally acknowledged my own thoughts and attractions, I still had difficulty being able to vocalize it to others. There were a lot of reasons why, which I don’t want to rehash here or now, but when turned forty, I gave myself the gift I should’ve given that adolescent who was terrified of simply existing as they really were. I came out and stated to my friends and family, clearly and proudly that I am bisexual. From that day on, I refused to hide who I am. I don’t lead with it or make that aspect of my life the focal point of who I am, but all the same, if someone asks, I never deny it. That’s all I really, ever wanted. To simply be and not deny any part of who I am.

While things are, to put it lightly, not particularly great for the LGBT+ community right now, especially for our Trans and non-binary siblings, I am grateful that more young people are willing to not only announce who they truly are, they’re willing to accept and support those around them who do so. I have to believe this current environment of hatred is the last, futile gasps of a dying breed of bigots who will eventually be buried and forgotten, replaced by a better generation of humans.

Until the day those better humans finally claim their rightful place at the top, I’ll be here, getting Bi.

Er… getting by.

Moving on, let’s talk a little about LGBT+ representation and my own work. I would never claim that Tales of a Stranger Sister is a LGBT+ story, because those themes and issues are not the focus of the story. However, that doesn’t mean that LGBT+ representation wasn’t important or relevant to this story.

The most obvious example of this is the character of Dr. Rinaldi, who is a gay man that is married with a husband. Again, as the book wasn’t about him or his life, that aspect of his life was not fully explored, but in the same vein, it was never denied or treated as something lesser. That’s ultimately what I wanted to do with Streamhaven and Litia. I wanted to create a world where LGBT humans can simply exist in the world as themselves, and it’s not seen as strange or weird. I’ve heard such settings described as “Queernorm,” so if someone were to ask, then yes, Litia as a world is very much Queernorm.

There were four other characters who identify as LGBT+ in Tales, but I refuse to announce who they are (for now.) I don’t want to be seen as pulling a Joanne, claiming representation cred without actually stating it clearly in the work. Even though I’m the author, I don’t believe that something is truly “canon” until I put it down on paper and share it. In any case, those aspects of these characters’ lives were not the focus of my first novel.

Though, with that said, if I ever decide to return to that world and those characters, I have planned to make those aspects very relevant to the story, so I did lay out some context clues in Tales about who those particular characters are or will become if we continued to follow their lives. If you ever want to take a guess, feel free to email me or DM me on BlueSky and let me know your insights. I won’t lie if you get it right, though I may ask that you keep the info to yourself until I choose to share it.

Anyway, I hope one day we achieve not only a queernorm world, but one of fairness and justice for all humans, regardless the color of their skin, the gods they do or don’t worship, who they love, or how they express who they are. I’ll take a great amount of pride if we can achieve it in my lifetime and it’ll be a true joy to live in that world.

The “Intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag” and “Bisexual Pride Flag” graphics were created by the Human Rights Campaign and the whole collection along with information can be found here.

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Now with 5% more website content!

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on May 10, 2025

Illustration of Fraceska Kristavale. A girl in a yellow dress and wide-brimmed sun hat reading a book

Al Illustration of Samantha Robertson. A woman in professional attire holding a cup of takeout coffe while holding a tablet computer

Well, as promised, I’m back with some new website-exclusive content. This time, I wanted to give a little background on not only why I even attempted to write a novel in the first place, but why I wrote the novel that I did. You can find all the riveting details in the Trivia and Miscelania page for Tales of a Stranger Sister.

Honestly, I pretty much spent all my energy tonight on finally putting this all together as a webpage, so I’m just gonna cut things short here. I’ll try to come back in the next few days and provide some thoughts on whatever I’m having thoughts about at the moment. Probably after I actually manage to get some words down for the next book.

Take care of yourselves, folks.

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A little bit of catching up…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on April 20, 2025

Nenene from the anime R.O.D-The TV. A young woman in her 20s sitting as a keyboard, staring blankly at her monitor.

Okay, so this update is gonna be a little all over the place, so please forgive the random jumps in tangents.

First off, what have I been up to since the release of Tales of a Stranger Sister? Well, besides constant promotion of the before-mentioned debut novel, and occasional posts here, I’ve been working on the next book. I’m about three chapters in, so that’s still a ways off. I prefer not to start talking about details of the story itself until I have an alpha draft complete, but the goal (absolutely not a deadline) is to have that step done by the end of the year. This one will likewise be a light fantasy, but also very different from Stranger Sister.

Writing on this new one has been slower than my debut novel for a couple reasons. First and foremost, I’ve spent the last two years in “Rewrite, Revise, and Edit” mode for my debut, so it’s been a while since I had to pen a true first draft. Second, circumstances occurred that forced me to change careers recently after nearly twenty years at my previous employer. Part of that entails adapting to not only a new work environment and new responsibilities, but also a new routine outside of work. Thirdly, my amazingly awesome spouse (and fellow author) has been dealing with some health issues, which has obviously impacted both of us as writers, if not to say as partners and human beings. Lastly, the world is on fire. I mean, it’s been on fire for a while now, but lately it seems like some people are breaking out the gas cans and marshmallow skewers. It’s… distracting.

I’m still getting in some writing every day (even if it’s something like these blog posts) but until I fully find that balance between work, life, and art like I had before everything went a little crazy, my output will be a little less than what I prefer. Still any output is better than no output, right? Right.

We’re two-thirds of the way through #IndieApril and my promotions have run their course. first, the positive: My 0.99¢ US promotion generated 5 sales, so that means I have now surpassed last month’s sales. *Tosses single handful of confetti in air* The negative: The 0.99£ UK promotion netted a big fat goose egg. I also haven’t sold any copies outside the promotions this month. *Sweeps up confetti and tosses it in the bin* Last-minute positive: Tales of a Stranger Sister received its first five-star rating and review on Goodreads. *Pick up bin and dumps slightly dusty confetti on self* Thank you, kind reviewer. I try not to attach the value of my work nor my own self-worth to outside validation, but still, it is nice to hear that someone liked what you put out in the world.

Oh yeah! If I can turn the conversation back around to my crazy-talented spouse: their own amazing books are currently either part of an awesome bundle promotion or will soon be on sale as part of another promotion. If you seriously want touching, heartfelt, and incredibly fun reads, this is a perfect opportunity to try their stuff.

Now, seeing as I had to install the air conditioner in our bedroom today to prevent it from becoming an unbearable sweat box, I will declare that spring is officially here. I hope yours is a season of renewal and new growth. Be kind to each other and to yourselves.

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Covers and GenA.I.

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on March 29, 2025

Okay, so two updates, one large and one small:

First, I have added a new article to the Trivia and Miscelania page for Tales of a Stranger Sister. This article, ahem, covers the creation of the gorgeous cover art and title design. Its chock full of original sketches that any cover art aficionado will appreciate.

Second, I have updated my About the Author page to include an official statement about the usage of Generative A.I. in regard to this website and my books. (Spoiler: I don’t, I won’t, and I don’t ever plan on starting.)

Big news next week! Have a great weekend everyone!

a rough sketch of the character Sam from Tales of a Stranger Sister. A woman in professional office attire lounging with a cup of takeout coffee and a tablet computer

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Happy Ears, Happy Years

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on March 26, 2025

Hey, hey! It’s time for some new page content! I have finally opened up the Trivia and Miscelania page for Tales of a Stranger Sister, and the first article for that page is all about the wonderful and beautiful music that helped inspire me as I spent many evenings scurrying across my keyboard. Typing! I meant typing! Humans don’t scurry and I’m certainly a human writer.

Yes, certainly.

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A Measure of Success

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on March 24, 2025

Writing and self-publishing is an interesting animal at times because people will mostly judge if you’re a success or not at it based on 1.) sales and 2.) reviews. That does make sense, I suppose. A lot of people bought a thing you made, and they liked it! Money AND acclaim! You’ve made it! You win!

But the problem I have with that mindset is that is dependent on other people’s actions. Other people have to do something in order for me to feel like a success or not. I can’t MAKE people buy a book. I can’t MAKE them read it. I certainly can’t MAKE them like it enough to say something nice about it. Don’t get me wrong, sales and positive reviews are certainly nice, but for most intents and purposes, it is out of my hands if either happen.

I’d rather base whether or not I am a success or not by measuring it against the goals I’ve set before myself, and I’m a strong believer that a goal is something actionable through one’s OWN actions. That’s why I refuse to set goals like “sell 1,000 copies of this book” or “get 100 5-star reviews.” Those aspirations are dependent on others, and it basically makes me a bystander in my own journey. That, frankly, sucks.

So, when I first set out to write and sell my own book, I set four goals:

Write a story to the best of my ability at the time
Revise and edit a story to the best of my ability at the time
Publish and Market a story to the best of my ability at the time
Do it again, taking what I learned last time and doing to the best of my improved ability at the time.

By the terms I set before myself, at this moment, I’ve achieved 75% of those goals and I’m currently working on achieving the other 25%.

I’m a #$@%ing astounding success, and to hell with anyone who tells me I’m not. You’re not my self-affirmation supervisor.

Calvin and Hobbes comic strip by Bill Watterson. Calvin is explaining why the 75% score he received on a test should be an "A" and not a "C" because if anything else achieved 75% success-rate, it would be praised and not referred to as "Average"

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Master of the Soft Sell…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on March 22, 2025

Well, I finally sold my first paperback copy of Tales of a Stranger Sister. It appears that my cunning and subtle sales strategy of standing in the middle of a busy intersection and screaming “Buy my book!” is finally working.

To the three people on Earth that appreciated that reference, I thank you.

But in all seriousness, thank you, physical book-buying stranger. The fact that you not only took a chance on my debut effort, but wanted a copy that will physically sit on your shelf somewhat blows my mind. It was a pleasant emotional boost on what has been a very trying week for me personally.

I promise you, I don’t plan to use this blog just to report every single sale I’ve made. Like I said above, it’s been an emotionally trying week in my personal life and simple things like that take up less mental energy than most other things right now.

That said, I do plan to use this site for some additional content beyond just promoting Tales of a Stranger Sister while I work on my next book. I have some additional material about my first novel in the pipeline both in the forms of bonus materials and in behind-the-scenes minutiae. I also want to talk more about the writing process, both what I’ve learned during creating Tales and what I’m applying from that experience toward my next novel. To summarize, I plan to detail the interesting mistakes I made, what I learned from them, and the amazing new mistakes I’m making now.

I also want to talk more about the things I love beyond writing. Other books I’ve read and loved (or loathed), media I’m enjoying be it TV, Film, Comic, or Game, and I might even share some snippets of what two writers sharing both a home and life together is like.

But that will have to wait until next time. I need to head back out into the intersection now.

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Two Dollar Royalty, Priceless Feeling

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on March 6, 2025

So, I’ve been a published author for a little under a week now. I’ve been a writer for over 30 years, but this is my first honest attempt to create and sell something I could call entirely my own.

I didn’t get into this with any grandiose dreams of instant success or literary stardom, like so many who want to make their mark on the literary arts. Let’s be honest, if I wanted to be rich or famous, then writing a slice of life fantasy novel was probably the least efficient way to achieve either. No, as cliche as it may sound, I wrote a novel because I wanted to tell and share stories. I believed that I had something unique to share and that was worth asking for something in return.

When I decided to self-publish my first novel, it was not so much because it was the easiest way to get published, but because I wanted to create this story in the manner I felt best. I wanted it to have the cover I imagined in my head, be the length I thought it needed to be, and all the other creative and editorial decisions that I wouldn’t have been afforded if I had attempted the traditional publishing route. To paraphrase the old song, I wanted to do it my way and succeed or fail on my own terms.

So, using the metric of creative freedom, this project has been a resounding success. I am proud of what I have created and am eternally grateful for all the individuals who helped me reach this point.

And while I didn’t start this journey with expectations of sacks of fan mail and solid gold yachts (or solid gold fan mail and sacks of yachts), I did have hopes that someone, somewhere would see what I was offering and think that, yes, what I was asking for in compensation for my creative effort was fair and justified. For the five days since the book went live, I will admit that I watched my sales report page with some anxiety as four days passed without a single sale. Then, on day five, a most glorious number appeared:

1

One. Uno. Eins. Un. Ichi. Not Zero. I had made a sale. Someone – a total stranger – has bought my book. I say, with some confidence, that they are a total stranger because the sale came from Australia, and I seriously doubt anyone I know would bother to use a VPN just to boost my already prodigious ego. Not only did they buy my book, but the bought it at the price I asked for. That meant that they thought it was worth the cost because it could be something that they would enjoy. The royalty I’ll receive may only be a few dollars but knowing that someone felt my book was worth the cost is a genuinely priceless feeling.

So, to that stranger from the land down under, thank you. I sincerely hope you enjoy this story. I hope you will see the website address in the About the Author section at the end and visit this page. I hope you see that your simple purchase really meant something to me because you were the first person to give my book a chance without hesitation. More than anything, I hope when you finish, regardless of whether you liked the story or not, that you at least feel that you got your money’s worth.

And I hope you won’t be the last.

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