Titus Welch

 With the eventual release of Otto and the Snallygaster pending, I will be launching beta testing soon. With this coming up, I have a new Bug Intake form . The intake form will be permanently linked on the sidebar. TW

 5+ years since I've posted anything. Thought I should get this site back up and going. Will see if anything happens here or not.

Every time I write one of these I have to apologize for how long its been since I've written one of these. For me, it comes down to writing stories or writing about writing stories... and thus I write few blogs. But I know that from a reader's outside perspective it would appear that I've fallen off the face of the Earth and have given up on writing completely if it's been too long between posts. So here I am, writing about writing. Status updates! Volume 2: -Chapters 7-12 are being proofed and prepped to be collected into Volume 2 for digital and print -Volume 2 cover is in production -Epilogue needs written Volume 3: -Chapters 13-18 are  having their first draft written Volume 2 I hope to have digital/print published this summer. The Epilogue and cover are the only items in need of "new" work. Everything else is proofing and proofing and proofing, which just takes time. Chapters 13-18/Arc 3/Volume 3 I hope to have ready for a September 2015...

Amazon very recently announced the "Pre-Order" option for self-published authors. I don't expect anyone to pre-order my work, but it creates an Amazon listing for the title ahead of time so I went ahead with making Chapter 7 available for Pre-Order. However, KDP (Amazon's Self Publishing interface) has locked me out of editing any of the book details or promotions (to list the book as free). Furthermore, I can't even VIEW the details or promotions. With that said, I believe Chapter 7 will be available tomorrow. However, I am not sure that it will be free. At the very least, it should be free on the 16th. Sorry for any inconvenience.

When I started writing this story, I just started writing one Chapter at a time. I got six Chapters published and brought the story to a good stopping point. The plan was to take a short rest at that time from the six month marathon I'd just performed and then pick up Chapter 7 a few months later. A flooded basement, a print version learning curve, and a slight obsession with a certain video game series would drag that well-intentioned time off into 18 months... Sorry. So here we are at the close of those 18 months with Chapter 7 releasing in just a little over 2 weeks on September 15th. It's been a wait for most of you who were reading from the start and less of a wait for those of you who have only recently come across Pneumadiluvians. But even those who have been reading it recently would be well-served with a RECAP. I have the awful tendency to forget plot points and wish more authors would offer a recap, so this is my attempt to part of the trend to soluti...

I'm going to take a few moments to answer some questions and, well, it's been a long time since I've blogged. When is the story picking up again? At this point, five of the next six chapters are through at least their first and/or second draft with the sixth blocked out. I've also got 3 covers more or less done. This is all a big change from the first go round with the arc 1. That first chapter, and every chapter thereafter, were written and edited in one month's time. That was rough. This time should be much, much nicer for all involved. I wrote the first big chunk of arc 2 in November for NaNoWriMo and have been working it over ever since (when I wasn't in a deep, deep Dark Souls black hole). I'm pretty much on schedule for where I want to be, which is reinforcing what I hope to be my new standard, a new chapter every month from September through February until the story is done. September's my goal for chapter 7. Specifically, the 15th just like wa...

Blogging Ok, I'll say it, it's been too long since I've updated the blog. Eight months between posts is... a bit excessive. I mean, some people probably write entire books in that amount of time and I don't find the time for a blog post? Sorry. I picked up some new readers recently so I feel I need to do something on here to let them know that I am still writing. With indie writers, there's really nothing to stop them from just not writing the next book for whatever reason. So, let me just say that despite my lack of blog posts, I am still writing. Chapter 7 I'd like to say, "Chapter 7 will be available on..." whatever day. But, as I look at professional writers (those who make a living off of writing, not just moonlighting like myself) in the midst of a series with a fan base waiting for the next book, I find that they don't announce anticipated release dates. And I think it's all for the better. There's just far too many variables t...

Most of what I do for Pneumadiluvians I like to think that I have at least a little bit of talent towards, mainly writing and art. I guess if I didn't, I wouldn't be wasting my time with them. However, something I've never been great at for most of my life is a salesmen. Not sure why, I'm just not. So, this leaves me thinking, If I'm going to be putting effort into getting the word out about Pneumadiluvians, I better be putting it into the right places. Help me make sure my efforts go to the right places, leave a comment and let me know how you've come across some of your favorite stories (whether books, tv shows, or movies, I don't care).

Just a reminder, Chapter 7 will not be released until later this year. In the mean time, I'm compiling  Chapters 1 through 6 into one easy to find volume while I write the second arc. You've been warned. While you're here, jump over to the sidebar and vote on whether or not you're interested in seeing a gallery of the artwork I've produced in the past six months for Pneumadiluvians included in Volume 1. At present, I've got 9 covers, 3 miscellaneous artworks, and I may even have a blueprint or two. So if that sorta thing interests you, let me know and vote! Or, let me know what you would like to see included in the volume. thanks~

So, I can't remember the exact date, but I remember my wife and I were babysitting my nieces for Valentine's two years ago. I believe it was the Saturday just before, which makes it February 12th, if I remember correctly. While kicking it on the couch watching my nieces, I wrote the Prologue for "The Oren Letters: Demos". At that point, I had been thinking about the book and had been doing some planning since January 2011, a little over a year. So, there I had a head full of ideas and several files filled with notes and ideas. Finally, there on the couch I jumped and started writing on my iPhone of all things. Can't say I've taken much of a break since. I planned to take a month off after finishing Arc 1 of Pneumadiluvians, but just days after the fact, I can't help but feel the itch to write more! Oh, well, if I can manage a break, I'll take a break, if it doesnt happen, it doesn't happen. So, the purpose of this post is just for me to reflect on ...

So, in an effort to expand my readership to other platforms and also provide my work for free longer on Amazon, I tried a different approach with Chapter 3 of Pneumadiluvians. I've heard from those in the know that a simple trick to get your work posted for free on Kindle (since the lowest price I can list my work at is $0.99) is to publish it with a secondary publisher who allows for free postings, then simply tell Amazon that your work is free elsewhere. So, this month I published through Smashwords which is a great free tool to get your books into other formats. However, they have vastly different timelines. The book was uploaded two days in advance and passed their initial automated reviews, however, it took 4 days to achieve premium status which is required to push the book through to other publishers (Apple, Barnes&Noble,etc), and then the books aren't shipped to the other publishers immediately, and most of them will then take another span of time for review. For a t...

So, I'm excited and nervous for the month of November. The month itself will see the release of Chapter 3 and, for non-writers, it's National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The goal of NaNoWriMo would be to write 50,000 words of something new. It can be a re-worked story or a story within an established universe. New Formats Chapter 3 will be available in nearly every e-book format out there. However, ONLY Chapter 3 will be available in the other formats for the time being. Chapter 1 and 2 will still be up on Amazon but this will be the only place they are available until December and January, respectively. When I published Chapter I, I signed up for Kindle Direct Publishing's "KDP Select" program. This program allows the author to list their book for free for 5 days out of 90 and also puts the book into the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. The advantages of this are that there's no other way to list your book for free on Amazon and also, everytime y...

Well it really happened. Here's the proof. I wasn't quite sure what to expect for sales, so I was happy when things started taking good turns. Quick Stats after 3 Days on the Market (though I think one of the sales was from today so it may be off): Amazon.com Sales - 2 Amazon.com Promos - 159 Amazon.co.uk Promos - 28 Amazon.co.uk Sales - 1 Amazon.de Promos - 6 Amazon.fr - 0 Amazon.es Promos - 1 Amazon.it Promos - 2 That means... a total of 199 Units moved! Come on! We couldn't get one more book to move! Oh well, I'm happy with 199 Units moving off of the digital shelf, especially considering that my marketing entailed only my Facebook and Twitter friends. I know some friends definitely helped me push some units too, thanks guys~ The Good News: 199 Downloads Reached #50 on Free Science Fiction Adventure Bestseller List Reached #57 on Free Science Fiction Bestseller List Reached #1,4-- on Free Bestseller List Sales/Promos in all Markets except France ...

I just realized how long its been since I'd updated my blog. But don't let that fool you into thinking that I haven't been working. Unfortunately, it's well after midnight that I decided to do this and I've already written a chapter tonight so I'm fried. This is going to be short. The Oren Letters: Demos - 25% done with 2nd Draft I'm doing some serious revisions to the story. I've finally established a documentation system for continuity that I'm pleased with and its been greatly helping things. I'm 25% done with the 2nd Draft, though that percentage is based on the current number of words in the book, and the number of words in the chapters and the number of chapters both seem to be growing as I go through the book, so perhaps my true percentage is closer to 20%. I'm on page 81 of a currently 300+ page book, lets put it that way. Sand and Cinder - Submitted I was just ready to e-publish this one via Kindle Direct Publishing when I stum...

Chapter 1: Tried by Fire and found Pure             It was no place for a god. But at the pinnacle of the ancient stairs, past the two priests who stood like sentinels on the bottommost step, and still farther past the point where blackness concealed all, hid just that, our god. Atop an uncountable number of steps, Tsor watched us from the blackness with penetrating eyes. Eyes that beheld centuries of mankind’s birthings and dyings, now watched our quarrel unfold at the bottom of those long and darkened steps. Eyes ever watching. Ears ever hearing. Mind ever judging.             Twenty-three of us huddled at the bottom of the steps in the light of two solitary torches, seven chairman, seven jugars, seven archpriests, Marcell’s wife, and myself, the prentice. Asiron stepped to the front of the group with back to the stairs and the sentinel priests. Asiron pushed the...

I dont think I've written a poem in probably 15 years since I learned what I Haiku was. But, the date mandated something from the heart. The store held cards that failed to say what I feel, so rather than pay, I attempted the improbable, I wrote a love poem. Here goes... A garden to walk in. A God to walk with. A man near perfect. God said, “Not yet. It is no good for you to be alone. Take a rest, while I take your bone. You’ve yet to see what I can do. See this helper I made, she completes you. Under your feet I have placed the world, By your side I have placed this girl. Her beauty beyond your simple mind. Unguard yourself, love you will find. Her bright eyes will leave you in awe. Your cold heart her warm arms thaw. Hard lines have framed you out of the clay, Her soft hands smooth your roughness away. She is more than a treasure to your eye, She’s the greatest gift from on high. What more should be said of this gift I give. Man, please love her as lon...

So it's been a little while, an update is in order. Sand & Cinder was submitted to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, it was only submitted two weeks ago so I dont expect a response any time soon. Which is all well and good so I can focus on others things, like writing. I've been revising The Oren Letters: Demos. The first 4 or 5 chapters were scrapped, that is they were removed, the events they detail still inform the decisions of the characters still though. I re-wrote the very first chapter, which I now love! It has me very excited. By scrapping the first 4 chapters the story gets into the action right away. I've noticed with my writing, I tried too hard to have every little thing explained so the reader doesnt feel lost, that is lost in the mundanes areas, the obvious gaps in storyline I want the reader to fill in are a different story. Anyway, I am getting excited about the Oren Letters again. Im reviewing the pacing and have some plans to spic...

We have an obnoxious malti-poo at home. She’s maybe eleven pounds and she’s high strung most of the time. By my own admission, I don’t walk her as often as I should. She’s slowly gained weight, and isn't as healthy as she once was. In the rare occasion that I take her out, she pulls so much at her leash that she nearly chokes herself. Wheezes sigh out of her as she fights for her way, trying to direct the actions of a man nearly twenty times her size, and probably at least that much more intelligent too. Usually, a mile down the road she remembers her role and falls into stride between my wife and I. I can’t blame her for her forgetfulness though, because I’ve given her so few chances to remember. I haven’t trained her how to walk with me. Adam hears God walking in the garden, and cowers at God’s presence, he knew what he’d done. He knew the relationship they once had, Adam had sullied. Enoch, though, walked with God. And he was not, for God took him. Enoch knew how to walk ...

If I had a million dollars, I’d… For most of my life, I’ve finished that statement with “do nothing.” Late nights watching tv or movies, late mornings spent sleeping the day away, maybe even entire days in bed, whatever I wanted. It sounds so appealing. The closest I’ve ever been to being without responsibility in adulthood is on vacation. Specifically, a vacation I took last year that lasted nearly a week. I spent the week with my wife and extended family, we played games, spent time outside, laughed, joked, and were in a general state or merriment. Yet, I had this discontent welling inside that was unaffected by relaxation, laughter, food, drink, or good company. I felt this was as close to having my millions and consequently, being freed of the mundanities associated with the frets of attaining money and responsibility as I would ever be. It was terrible. All of creation week’s events, it would seem, have come to a culmination, or their purpose, when we see God craft the garden. ...