Report on The State of calvinsharpebooks.com

It’s been about a year running calvinsharpebooks.com, and it seems like a good time to give a quick check-in. Why does the website look different? What’s going on? And that Books page hasn’t changed in a year, what gives?

I’m going to answer those in reverse order, so here’s what gives: the manuscript for my first book is completely finished, and has been for about a year now. I’ve been playing pretty coy about it, but here’s what I can tell you: it’s a coming of age comedy set in my home state of North Carolina, and it’s about the pressures and bad decisions involved with growing up. It is, in my humble opinion, a lot of fun.

So, the manuscript is finished. It’s also represented by the awesome Sabrina Lundberg. Sabrina has given me terrific feedback on the story and helped polish the story up to a shine. For the past several months, we’ve been sending the manuscript to publishers, trying to find the story a home and get it printed for the masses. That’s a slow process, particularly during a global pandemic. We’ve had some really good feedback on the writing and comedy of the story, but the book is still looking for a home. I don’t know when exactly that homecoming will be, but when it happens, I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops.

That leads us to question two: what’s going on now? Well, that story has been all finished for more than a year. So I’m on to the next one. This new project is a completely different vibe: it’s a fantasy adventure full of magic, combat, and intrigue. As someone who grew up on stories like that, it’s been very enjoyable to take a break from real life to get into the unknown. And I’ve been burning through this one. In the past year or so, I’ve written over 100,000 words. In the next few months, I’m hoping to finish up a rough first draft. The next few drafts will go faster and faster as I start shaping the story into its final form. Then, if all goes to plan, that one can start looking for a home, too.

In order to make that good progress, though, I’m going to be knocking down the frequency of the blog posts down from three a week to two. I’ve been thoroughly surprised how often those posts get read, and I always enjoy hearing from readers in the comments. That said, I want to give more of my focus to the books and start putting out more good news.

Lastly, the site looks a little different now. I’ve added a Short Fiction page to showcase “An Unburned Home,” which was published earlier this year, and “Twenty by Twenty-Six by Eight,” which is one of my favorite short stories I’ve ever written. I’ve been playing with some other short stories in my spare time, and hope to add to that page in the future.

More good stuff is on its way, but that’s it for now.

Best,
Calvin Sharpe