Earlier this summer my oldest sister, Diane, passed. She was the one who I played Dungeons and Dragons with when I was younger, she also introduced me to the path of publishing and writing. It’s safe to say, I wouldn’t be an indie publisher/writer if not for her. Enough time has passed that I’m much more grateful for her life than I’m saddened for her death.

Community is a word that’s been on my mind when reflecting about my sister. One of the tasks left to me and my other sister, Carol, was to publish Diane’s final novel in her Bellingwood series. I imagine there isn’t a ton of crossover between Diane’s cozy mystery readers and mine aside from family friends, so I won’t be surprised if this is new to you. What I discovered when we published the 48th novel in her long running series was a tremendous community. Dozens of people came out of the woodwork to help with the work, from proofreaders to fact checkers to just folks who wanted to say a nice word and help us along the way. It was a humbling process to be part of.

The experience set me to thinking about what it is I really enjoy writing about. Privateer Tales, Junkyard Pirate, and Boltguns and Duct Tape are so much more about a community of people working together to solve a problem than they are about any single individual. I’ve learned the industry term for this feature is ‘found crew.’ Better described as people show up as the story progresses and they end up sticking around because they’ve finally found a place to fit it.

That place to fit in is what I personally desire and also something I want to work for. My hope for you is that you too feel this sense of community when you read my stories. I’d love to facilitate a place for you feel like you’ve found ‘your people’. To that end, I invite you to join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/junkyardinsider/! I’d love a chance to meet you, so drop in and say hey!

In other news, a lot of people have been asking about book #2 in Spaceship Mechanic series. I’m excited to share with you that the rough draft of Jump Drives and Coffee Stains is complete. The process from here looks like a lot of editing and proof reading. Generally, it’s a six-week haul to get from rough draft to release, but with holidays, we’re probably looking at February 1st. I’ll go faster if I can, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

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