A January Production Challenge — Derek Barton – 2022

This year has sure had it’s share of ups and downs for me, like I’m sure most of you can relate. While it was not as difficult and tumultuous as 2020 and 2021, I had more health concerns and some financial set backs.

This year coming up I want to meet head on and see if I can make some headway into my writing production. Currently I have four maybe five story lines fighting for air in my head! Yes, that sort of chaos and confusion does get very annoying to live with! You see, when I as a writer get inspired, the idea remains there in the back of my head almost like a petulant child. They stand with their arms crossed, one foot tapping and their bottom lip pouting — impatient and demanding freedom to grow up and to show what they can do. I love all my book children and want them all of course to shine but honestly, my health has not recovered to what it was prior to my stroke and I fall ill a lot easier than ever before. Grant it, I am getting older whch does play a part, too.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say, is I really want to get more stories out there (out of my head!) and into the world and the only way I can do that is by working harder. As someone once told me “own my stroke and stop making excuses with it”!

Next year I’ll also be producing, editing, writing and publishing my first ever literary magazine, With Malice! That’s exciting and hopefully it brings in more engagement with my work. It’s definitely tough to be motivated to write when you’ve got over a dozen books but haven’t sold more than a dozen copies in one year!! More than anything it’s getting reader’s attentions — all my work has gotten 4.5 to 5 star reviews so it’s not the content. Creating ads and paying for them is not investing, it’s more like gambling with money you don’t have and paying someone’s paying attention! With this magazine I’ll be bringing over a dozen other writers to my readers attention and they’ll be bringing my work to their reader’s attention! Win win!! Be on the lookout for those issues starting this March—one per quarter.

Have any of you bought something of mine? What attracted you to it? If you haven’t (no judgment or bad feelings), what has turned you off from doing so? I’m looking for some honest insight and maybe a direction to get better results. Any comments or feedback are highly welcome and appreciated.

With that all said, my goal or what I’m thinking of is I’m going to try and challenge myself and put it out there that everyday in January I’m going to write at least 300 words every day. Now I know 300 doesn’t sound too impressive but when you figure how much goes on all the time in your daily life…So I’m making a stand to at least getting it done every day no matter what…Oyyy putting the words and goal to print for all to see and judge — now that’s scary!

Of course there will be days when I will go for more and may write a 1000 but there will be days too that I make just my minimum. I’m hoping IF this challenge comes through I can do it for February! Who knows?!

I will also try to edit and publish some of that work for you guys too as “fresh content blogs”.

31 days x 300 words = 9,300 total. 12 months x 9300 = 111, 600!! (That’s maybe two books worth!!)

As of this post I’ll have done 24 posts this year. Not too shabby—last couple years I was down to like 10 blogs and that’s very dismal to me. The Fresh Content blogs have seemed to be a hit so also keep a lookout for more coming up this next year!!

Thanks to everyone who supports this blog and my work — maybe together we can truly create something special!!

Book Review of Stephen King’s “Fairy Tale” — Derek Barton – 2022

Fairy Tale

by Stephen King — a Coming of Age Dark Fantasy Novel

Released on September 6, 2022 — 608 pages

Being myself an avid fantasy reader and writer, this was a book I knew I had to read. The fact that I am a huge Stephen King fan is no secret, however, his fantasy works have not always been a huge hit for me. While I loved the novel, The Eyes of The Dragon, I didn’t find the Gunslinger series as satisfying. This novel has more of a feel and story tone similar to his work, The Talisman (it’s been ages since I’ve read this one, but I did enjoy it when I read it in the 90s).

The Synopsis:

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.

The story revolves around a seventeen-year-old boy, Charlie Reade and an eclectic, elderly man, Mr. Bowditch and his German shepherd dog, Radar. Told through Charlie’s eyes, his long quest begins on the fated night when his mother dies tragically and his father plummets into a drunken stupor. In this tale, King loosely weaves in key elements of the classic Grimm fairy tales with the modern issues that society faces today.

The Review:

One of King’s super powers, or given the topic, I should say his magic ability as a writer is his character portrayals. He finds a way to not only bring unique and memorable characters but makes them instantly relatable. They walk into your life like old friends and by the end of the work, you know you are going to miss them afterwards! Charlie and Mr. Bowditch are fine examples of this.

One of King’s areas of opportunity would be getting into the actual plot or reason for the story. Like in his book, Billy Summers, it takes about half the novel for the true story to begin. Although I did enjoy the story events and the character build up, King needs to find a way to “get to it” faster — several other book reviews online also listed this as a drawback and that he lost their interests by not bringing the reader to the heart of the work sooner.

The fantasy is well constructed and solid world-building aspects. The curse upon the land tugs at your emotions and the dungeon sequences makes you cringe then shout in glee. Overall, he gives a respectful nod to the past fairy tales and produces for his readers, an entertaining, modern take on fairy tales.

The narration is done masterfully by Seth Numrich, a renown broadway/television actor and by Stephen King who voices Mr. Bowditch. The performance of the story is brought to life by Numrich’s accents and theatre skills. An awesome play in your ears in other words.

The Rating:

In spite of the duration it takes to get to the true focus of the tale he is telling, this is a gem for any reader and a classic piece by Stephen King. Don’t pick up this 600+ page work expecting an all out fast pace race to the end, but sit down in your favorite chair and delve into the story, enjoying it like you would a leisure walk through the woods on a nice, Autumn day. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! For rating purposes, I would score this 4.25 of 5.

By DEREK BARTON — Author of the ELUDE series (Parts I, II & III — a Horror/crime thriller), EVADE Series (Parts I, II & III)  & IN FOUR DAYS: a Horror-Suspense Novella (available on Audible.com!).  Also the Dark Fantasy novel series CONSEQUENCES WITHIN CHAOS and THE BLEEDING CROWN (both available on Audible.com!).