Ærick Graham's Blog

Wow, August is nearly here. Autumn is on the horizon. I love the autumn. Mostly because by the time September rolls in, I am sick of the heat and sun (I love living in an area with four seasons). Also, because my birthday is in October. Followed by Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I am a fan of the holidays and it all starts with my birthday! 

But before then, we have August. And next weekend I'm attending the Willamette Writers Conference. My first time actually.  I have a co...

What does it take to be an author? One might ask.

I am living that experience. I can say it has been simultaneously exciting and disappointing, hopeful and discouraging, the best of times, the worst of times. I wrote a book, so what is the next step? No, really, what do I do next?

In my search for that answer (and an agent and a publisher), I found this blog from Brent Weeks (a fellow Oregonian) sharing his insights toward his path to publishing. If you are like me, this sharing of knowledge is...

As I mentioned, it has been a year since I have blogged, but I have not been idle. I have attended some writing conferences. I am going to the Willamette Writers Conference at the beginning of August. I am meeting with an agent to pitch my already self-published book.

Why? You may ask.

Well, the simple answer is I want a career in writing books, no matter what the path, self-pub or traditional pub. This is what I have wanted for 15 years.

Self-pub authors have had success which have turned into...

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, 2018. I did. Having a holiday in the middle of the week is everyone’s favorite thing. (side-eye stare).

Wow, it’s almost been a year since I blogged. Obviously, I am terrible at this. At the blogging thing…and having an on-line presence…which does not help me grow my audience or get me closer to my goal of being a full-time writer. (Until I became an author, I never had Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads…any of that, because it’s sooooo millennial [emoji with...

Ok, not me, but my book, The Woodcutter King. Sam, from the youtube channel Sam's Nonsense, was kind enough to give my book a shout out and a chance to share it with her audience. I can't tell you how happy this moment made me. Pure happiness.

There are many Booktubers out there, but I really like Sam. She's from Oregon...not only does she love books, and fantasy books to boot, she is a gamer, como yo. And loves RPGs. This month she is participating in #TheReadingQuest, which is like an RPG-i...

A word about the next project.

After completing The Woodcutter King, the questions was, what to write next? I always intended to write more about Edrick and Alaric. Theirs is a saga. But as I submitted my manuscript / query letters to agents and publishers, with utter rejection, the question was to soldier on alone, or shelf it (like recommended by those in the biz) and start anew.

I have lots of ideas. I was ready to go a new direction. This time, a female protagonist, less epic fantasy, simpl...

The book giveaways are over. I was astounded to see 900 people sign up. Exciting to see so much interest. Congratulations to all the winners! For those that won the signed paperback, these should be hitting the mail by the end of this week and arriving at your doorstep very soon.

For those that did not win, just know, if you have Kindle Unlimited you can check it out for free! Go find it over at Amazon.

As always, please rate your reading experience on Amazon or Goodreads! Sharing your thoughts...

Update - My Amazon Kindle give away is closed. Congratulations to all the winners!  ONLY 3 more days until my paperback book giveaway ends. 243 people have entered. I am super excited about all the interest. 

To those that receive/ received a copy, I hope you enjoy. Please share your reading experience by leaving a comment on Goodreads, Amazon or both! It will mean so much to me and lets other readers know if this is a book they can get to like...or hopefully love.

This may not be the last give...

So, up until 6th grade, I hated reading. H-A-T-E-D reading.

It was such a chore. It took a long time. The amount of pages in a book was intimidating. Movies and tv was so much more accessible. All I had to do was passively watch - eat my cheetos and drink my Nesquick milk. With books, I had to dedicate time and there were words I didn't always understand. And some books were confusing. Never had that experience with movies.

I was convinced I just did not like books or reading.

Until D&D. Ok, now...

IF you are a fantasy reader or writer, chances are you have read The Lord of the Rings....possibly seen the films as well. For good or bad, Tolkien is attributed with the birth of modern day fantasy. Either directly influencing or in reaction to and avoiding his writing style and content. He did not establish the genre, but he took it to another level. He influenced and continues to influence every fantasy author that came after.

From fantasy novels post LotR, to art, film, video games, and ro...