Guesss whooooo's done?!?!?!?

That's right!!!!

No B.S.
No subtleties
No playin' coy

I Effing did it! Book three - "THE OTHER SIDE" - the epic conclusion to The Longest Road and The Change, is DONE! Finished! In the bag! I'm not sure of another word or phrase so I'll just stop there.

At times I wanted to step back and make it two parts. Other times I wanted to throw something at my screen. But in the end, I powered through and last night, just before an hours-long power outage in the area, I finished the fourth draft!

Over a year ago I started working on "The Other Side." I knew a general direction of where I wanted the story to go, but one thing I've learned from writing is sometimes you have to let the characters and story take the reins. And I did, albeit to an extent (I am the author after all), but so much happens in this novel, so much love, so much heartache, so many cheers, so much heartbreak, new allies alongside your favorite heroes, despicable bad guys for you to curse, but one thing is certain, you can expect a fast paced, in your face finale. And if I may be so bold as to quote the back blurb from "The Longest Road"....every stop is filled with surprises, twists and turns as their lives continue on this roller coaster driven by hope and shadowed by despair....and this roller coaster is one more wild ride from the end.

After "The Change," I really wanted to take my time with this story. All too often with books, TV shows, and movies, a series finale can be a let down, it can fall short, it can be not exactly what we hope for. But it has been my hardest endeavor to build this book, to create a story with such intensity as this. And after reading through it time and time again, I believe this EPIC ENDING will be worthy of your approval. I hope by the time your finger flips the last page or swipes the screen one final time, that you sit back, exhausted and say "Damn, that was an ending...what a story!"

Okay, maybe you can use your own phrases, but seriously, my goal is to leave you with a bittersweet (mostly sweet) feeling of fulfillment. I can promise you laughs, I can promise you "oh shit!" moments and I can promise that it's not all roses in this story, not everyone makes it...but the struggle, the passion, the drive these characters exert and what they endure is worthy of the ending they achieve.

So Thompson, what does this mean? When can we actually read it?!?! Damnit man give us answers!

Well to answer my metaphorical self posing to be a fan, here's what happens. Some point today I will do a lot of copy and pasting in order to get it in a format to send off to Severed Press. From there, the book will go through editing. With a page-length like The Other Side has, I wouldn't be surprised if it took 3+ weeks to get back from editing, who know's maybe more? It is Christmas (that's right I said it) season- but of course, for those with different beliefs I wish you and yours happy holidays- so the end of the year craziness could also push back editing time frames.

No matter, the hard part is done. So, after it gets back from editing, I'll give it a once over with a finer tooth comb and if all is well, stamp it with my final approval and then it's yours. How does that sound? Awesome. So sit back, pull out your copies of "The Longest Road" and "The Change" and get caught up on all the action because very soon, you'll be neck deep in "The Other Side!"

Well, that's all I got for now. Keep checking back here, Google +, FB, etc for updates. Oh, and real soon, +michael boyajian will be releasing some artwork from "The Other Side" :) which even I have yet to see...

So stay tuned world, and thanks again for your support.

Love,

me

direct questions, comments, concerns, criticisms = theasthompson@gmail.com

Merry Christmas/Happy Bday

Good Morning, everyone!

Don't worry this post will be short :)

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. And for those who have different beliefs, I hope you had and continue to have an excellent holiday season. I hope you got to spend it with the close ones in your life, and who knows, maybe you even met some new friends?? There's a ton to be thankful for and one of the things I'm most thankful for has been the opportunity to put my stories out there for you to read. I really appreciate all of you for supporting me in my writing. I hope that as time goes by the writing continues to improve and the stories continue to get better and more exciting.

Also, I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who wished me a happy bday. I appreciate the messages/calls/texts from all of you. You seriously rock! Aaaaand IF you felt like giving me a present, it wold be awesome to hear you in the form of a review on amazon. Positive or negative, long or short, it's nice to hear from readers to see what they liked/didn't like and how I can continue to make better stories with each book.

That's it, I'm done :)

Again, thank you and I hope all of you had an excellent Christmas/holiday season and whatever your plans are for NYE, have a blast and be safe!! And hey, it's about to be a new year so whatever you've been holding off on, do it! Travel, start a new hobby, ask the person out, go for a career change, learn something new; whatever it is, go for it and give it all you got, you'll be glad you did! Don't let time pass you by!

Bye world!

-me