B.A. Oliver

Was up in the middle of the night for a couple of hours as my body was not appreciative of the exercise it received yesterday in cleaning the hull on my largest boat. (First pic: barnacles on the bottom of the boat = bad performance and fuel economy. They are all gone now... until May when the damn things spawn again)

Anyhow, I'm up and bringing coffee levels up to operational levels, then once the fog is gone I'll get to work!

Currently Breeder 2 is a little under 80k words, and we're rapidly approaching one of the big reveals for this installment. I'm still struggling a bit with the pacing for this book, and all I can say is it will be out as soon as I'm happy with it. Pretty sure it will receive a heavy dose of story editing once the draft is done.

ESP 3 is at 6300 words. This episode is blocked out nicely and maybe has some foreshadowing in it for the big change that is on the way in episode 4.
I did a much better job of planning out the story arcs for this series, and the shorter length of the novella's makes it easier to do rapid releases. ESP 3 will release at the end of this month, and episode 4 will be out at the end of April.

(2nd pic: It's going to be a beautiful day once the fogs lifted)

These things can change pretty quickly, but was very happy to see that Savoring Sarah just made the #1 New Release in Humorous Erotica.
Obviously that is only possible due to the support of the readers, so thank you very, very much.
The third installment in this series will be coming at the end of March. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as they have the first two

In Savoring Sarah there are two text conversations between Colin and Nicki.
Being the trusting soul that I am, I thought that since I had the emoji’s from these conversations in the word document, they would come over to the kindle version just fine. Getting them into the word document was a pain, not huge, but enough that you would think they would stick.
Nope, and of course being tired I failed to check. I meant to, but I didn’t.
Realized the issue last night and spent an hour trying to figure out how to get the emoji’s into the book correctly. Finally ended up having to make a jpg image of each text conversation and size it so that it looks correct, at least in the kindle preview.
Amazon just published the new file and I’m hoping that once it is able to be downloaded it will correct the issue, and look decent in most people’s devices.

Looks like it's going to be a pretty nice day. Little on the chilly side here right now (26° F), but should warm up nicely once the sun's up.

Hope everyone is staying nice and warm out there.

Big shout out to everyone for reading my latest release "Savoring Sarah".

Sarah just broke into the top 10,000 in Amazon rankings, and is currently at #9750. This includes being ranked #12, 24, & 54 in the three categories that it is listed in.

If you like a spicy story set in the modern world, then this series might just be for you. Volume 3 will be coming out at the end of March and will have a few new twists in store for our budding group of film stars.

Thanks again for making the launch of this newest novella go so well, hopefully it will continue to climb up the charts.

Comment below and let me know how you've enjoyed the series so far, and feel free to let me know what you'd like to see in future installments as well.

Savoring Sarah, the second entry in the Squared Eight Productions series is now live on Amazon.

Colin's love of film has been reborn, although not how he ever imagined it.

Filming beautiful women all day sounds like a dream come true, and in a lot of ways it is. Especially when you get to co-star with one of them! Nicki is the type of woman he never would have approached before. Now she's one of his clients that is making his dreams, and fantasies, come true. Her first film has been completed and in a few days she'll be back to make another, he can hardly wait for the sequel.

But first he has to meet with his new client, Sarah. They say that good things come in small packages, and if that's true then Sarah's going to be a very, very good addition to the business.

The business and Colin's confidence are growing every day, but he's still got bills to pay and it will be weeks until the first money from the films starts to show up, so until then he's still at his old job where Colin isn't the only one to notice his newfound confidence. He's suddenly the most popular bartender at the club, especially with the female customers.

Colin's not the only one that is working to grow the business. Danielle's taken her channel live and soon the first payments will be coming in. She's also in charge of talent acquisition, and she just found the perfect new client. She can't wait for the teams reaction to her newest find, this is going to be so much fun!

Normally I'll post about how my writing is going, but sometimes the brain takes a weird tangent. Tonight is one of those times.

Just about everyone knows of the Wright brothers and how they made the first powered airplane. Most people don't remember that the first powered flight happened in 1903.

People do however marvel at how fast we went from barely achieving flight with the Wright brothers to walking on the moon in only 66 years (1969), an amazing feats to be sure. Powered flight, rockets to the moon, how amazing is man and our engineering marvels. Many people might say such feats are the greatest thing since sliced bread.

People get on planes almost every minute of every day, and we have rockets powering their way into space almost every day as well. The brilliance of mankind on display for all to see.

In the last month, mankind has landed two spacecraft on the moon, although neither of them managed to land in an upright position.

So part of me wonders, if we are so damn brilliant why is it that we had airplanes in 1903, commercial aircraft flying passengers in 1914, yet we could not buy a loaf of sliced bread until 13 years after Wilbur Wright passed away? Not 13 years after the Wright brothers flew, but 13 years after Wilbur passed away, nearly a decade after his brother flew their first powered plane.

Yep, we invented aircraft a full 25 years before commercially available sliced bread became available in 1928. It is estimated that close to 1,000,000 people alive today were born prior to the creation of the first loaf of sliced bread.

So the next time that someone tells you that something is the greatest invention since sliced bread, take a moment to think about it. Maybe it's the other way around.

Was hoping to finish it up last night, but couldn't do it. Took a nap and this morning finished the draft for the second in the "Eight Squared" series. I've done two editing passes, and feel pretty good on how it turned out, other than it went more than 10,000 words longer than I had intended. That was even after I moved two sections into the third novella in the series.

The first volume The First Casting is a 23,000 word novella that currently has an overall rating on both Amazon and Goodreads of 4.8 out of 5 stars. Thank you to everyone that has given it such a great welcome.

For the second volume I wanted to increase the word count to 25,000. Instead It's about 35,500, although that will change a little as I finish the edits. I hope you enjoy the extra words!

Savoring Sarah will be released next week to ensure that it is live before the first of the month. If you've enjoyed either of my other books I hope you will enjoy this one just as much.

Well it's a little milestone, but the page hit 100 followers yesterday, thanks everyone for following along with me as I try to get more writing done.

Last week or so has been mixed results. Had a couple real world issues to slog through that pulled me away from the keyboard, but still making progress on projects.

Breeder 2 is rapidly approaching the size of the first book, but there is still a good bit of story to get it to where I want to stop this time. I wish I could say for sure when it will be ready, but I don't want to rush it.

The second novella in the eight squared series is getting too long. Goal was to have it be around 25k words (1st one was 23k) and right now it is at 26,500 and counting. I've already moved a couple things from the second novella to the third one, and it's still too long, and I'm not done with a couple scenes. Everyone might get some bonus content in this one as I'm going to do my best to stick with it going online for the first of the month.

I have a third project that has actually been in the works longer than The Breeder series, and it's been getting a little love as well. Right now it's at 20k words and I'll be trying to get some more plot lines for it mapped out as we go. This is a reincarnation tale that I'm enjoying writing, and hope you will all like to read as well.

Today's main goal is going to be finishing up the draft on the second novella so that I can make the launch for it next week, then get back to Breeder 2 for most of the rest of the week.

Hope everyone has a great week, and thanks again for following my journey.

Best three star review ever! This came in a couple of days ago for "The First Casting". While getting a three star rating or review is never fun, I have to say that I don’t mind this one that much.

Same reviewer left a very nice five star review for Hometown Hero.

And if they see this post, the next couple of novella’s in the Eight Squared series will add in the romance that you were missing in this one. It won’t happen instantly, but it’s coming!

Been snowing much of the day, but that doesn't stop people around here too much. I was out doing more recovery from the most recent storm and splitting firewood earlier and could hear someone running a chainsaw all morning.

Just now took this snap of an older trawler setting shrimp pots (if you zoom in on the right side you can barely make out a buoy under the tree branch hanging down almost to the water).

Good day to stay inside and write for the rest of the day. The draft for The Breeder 2 just passed the 65k words mark and I'm aiming to get that to 75k today if at all possible.

Wherever you are, stay warm and dry!

They may not be ranked #1 & #2 in all of Amazon, but it was pretty cool to see both of my books listed side by side in one of Amazon's category best sellers list this morning.

Hometown Hero was released in August of last year, and has stayed in the top 100 for this category for almost every day since. (currently 21,331 overall on Amazon)
The First Casting was just released at the end of January, but has so far received very positive reviews. (currently 21,375 overall on Amazon)

Sequels for both are well underway and should be out soon.

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. I published my first book (Hometown Hero) on August 8th of last year, and the reception has been outstanding.
I was surprised to have six ebook sales on the first day (along with over 1000 pages read on Kindle Unlimited), and the support from everyone has been unwavering since.
Yesterday was the first day without a sale for Hometown Hero. While a little bittersweet to see that streak end, I'm very thankful to everyone who has picked up a copy, I hope you all loved it.
Hometown Hero popped back today, with three copies sold so far.

The kicker to the tale is that my latest release (The First Casting) picked up the slack and sold two copies. The First Casting is a modern tale of young people, making the most of things in the modern world. It's a lot shorter, but I expect new episodes to be available monthly. If you like your books with a lot of spicy bits, this might be the series for you. The second and third installments are well underway already.

Also the draft for volume 2 of The Breeder is really starting to take shape. I was (I think) overthinking it too much and trying to force the story. My process goes much better if I just sit down and let the story flow without thinking about it too much.

Thanks to everyone who has checked out the new release "The First Casting". It is out on Amazon, but their system is being slow and it hasn't fully hit the system yet. Frustrating that it still doesn't show up when searched for.

I hope those who have read it have enjoyed it.

Just after hitting publish on "The First Casting" we had a big winter storm hit us here. Winter storms mean warmer temps as warm air comes up from the south, but that wind is really moving. This one had gusts close to hurricane force (65-70mph), and a lot of them, for a long time. That is to say that I was up all night and much of the next day due to the cabin shaking and then doing some quick recover efforts (came real close to losing my smallest boat, but looks like it will be ok).

Anyhow, to do something to distract me, but didn't take too much concentration I decided to work on covers for the other two girls introduced in the first book of this series. I also realized as I was coming up with titles, that I really should have used something similar to what you see here for the title of the first book. Oh well, hard to change it now.

Let me know what you think of these covers. With these being much shorter books I'm going to try and publish one towards the end of every month. I also have a spreadsheet with a list of similar titles, if you have one to suggest, drop a comment.

Thanks,

I know that everyone has been looking forward to volume 2 of The Breeder, and that it is taking a lot longer than I anticipated to get finished. I know it's frustrating, because it is frustrating for me as well. The story is there, I know what I want to say, but for some reason it's just slow to get it written. Don't worry I'm not giving up or stopping.

I did however take a break for a couple of days to write in a couple of other works in progress and to make notes on another concept (If I don't do that they distract me). Well the new concept went and became a 23,000 word novella this morning and I just sent it to Amazon for immediate release.

I know it's not what you were looking for, and it's not HaremLIT, but hopefully this little erotic story will tide you over while I get back to work on The Breeder volume 2.

Wanted to take a minute this morning to share a book written by a fellow first time author. I only know Ed from an author's group that we both belong too, but we've exchanged a few messages over the last few months.

His book came out about two weeks after my own, and unfortunately it wasn't discovered to near the level that it deserves. I recently picked it up and read it, and it was a really good solid LitRPG book, especially for a first author.

It took about 10-15% of the book until it really had me hooked, so if you feel it not snagging you in the first couple pages, I encourage you to hang in there until it hooks you too.

His book has a little FTB mono-romance in it, but that is a minor bit in the world and relationship building that he does.

I look forward to seeing more from Ed in the future, and hope that you will feel the same after reading his book.

The link below will take you to his book on Amazon, where it is available via Kindle Unlimited.

Thanks in advance for helping out another new author:

The Grumpy Little Kobold: A LitRPG Adventure The Grumpy Little Kobold: A LitRPG Adventure

The Peregrine mission has said that the mission has failed due to a propulsion leak and that they will NOT be able to reach the moon. Among other things this mission contains several samples of human DNA and cremated remains. So now these DNA samples will be floating loose in space being subjected to solar radiation for who knows how long.
If that isn't a good segway into a book idea in some fashion....

View from the porch this morning.

Woke up this morning to a nice little surprise. My first published work Hometown Hero just passed 1000 ratings on Amazon with a 4.7 star average!

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have invested their time into reading my work. The feedback you all have given me is priceless.

As for an update on book 2. Far less than I planned has happened since the last update on Dec 21st. The following morning I had a very unpleasant surprise when Wells Fargo (who I had banked with for almost 30 years) closed my account due to me not having an 'acceptable address'. Near as I can figure they mean that I don't have a street address as I live off grid. The timing of this really couldn't have been worse. It was about time to boat into town to stock up on groceries, and the month's royalties from the book were in progress.

Long story short, had to sell a couple things in order to have enough money to open a new bank account with a local credit union. Still waiting on the check from WF with my account balance, as well as last month's royalties, but ready to move forward. Due to this fiasco though I have not been writing very much, instead making phone calls and sorting things out. We've also had two more winter storms since the last post (fortunately no major damage to anything).

While I'm behind where I want to be, I'm still focusing on finishing up the second book in January. I'm hoping you will like it as much as the first one.

Thanks again!

Quick update on how the writing has been going.

It has been hard to stay focused these last couple of months as we keep getting slammed with strong winds. Seems like every week there is a new storm in the forecast, including a new one starting Saturday :(

This week however I've finally been successful in getting the world of The Breeder to start flowing naturally again. The last three days I've put down over 10,000 words, and woke up in the middle of the night with several thoughts, which just led to another 1000 or so.

Right now the draft is sitting at about 50,000 words, and I want to make this second book a little longer than the first one (85,000 words), so still have another 50-70,000 to go. Sounds like a lot, but now that I'm finally feeling the world properly I think that the rest of the draft will come together really quickly. I feel really comfortable saying we will be starting the new year off with book 2 in January

I appreciate your patience as I figure out this writing thing, and I promise that I won't take a couple month break after finishing book 2, but will dive right into finishing book 3, which already has a pretty strong outline finished up (as well as over 10,000 words drafted). I'm hoping to have both book 3 of The Breeder and the first book in another series I'm working on out in the first quarter of 2024. More on the new series soon, I hope you will all like it as much as you have The Breeder.

Today will either be a real good day to write, or one that I get nothing done. Biggest storm of the winter (so far) will be blowing through today and tonight. Wind gusts of 65mph are expected for my area.

Getting into areas of book 2 that should be easy to write as they are the areas that I've spent the most time thinking of, will try and knock out several of these between checks on things outside.

Boats are secured as well as I can, plenty of generator fuel and firewood. Spent yesterday getting ready for it, so hopefully all will be well.

Not expecting much sleep tonight, hopefully I can at least peck along and get story elements for Breeder 2 & 3 fleshed out.

Not a fan of these big winds.

Yesterday was a day I've been looking forward to for a long time.

In August when I wrote Hometown Hero one of the hardest parts was sitting and typing for so long on an old wooden bar stool that was the only chair I had that would work at the desk I'd built.
I've tried using a folded up blanket, a throw pillow from the couch, but sitting at that chair to write is a pain in the ass. So once Hometown Hero had made a few bucks I decided it was time to get a new chair.
Spent some time going through Amazon as any options in town would be very limited, and eventually decided on which one to order. Got lucky and it was a lightning deal, good discount and lightning deals are like clearance items and should ship quick, right? Excellent, I can focus on other things for a week or two then hit the sequel hard once the chair gets here.
Wrong, Over a month went by and the chair still hasn't shipped. Trying to write, but now my mind is focused so much on how uncomfortable the barstool is I can't focus for long.
Finally the chair ships and starts the convoluted journey to Alaska. Since it shipped UPS, this means it goes to Louisville KY first. Even items going from Seattle to S.E. Alaska (hour and a half by plane) go to KY first.
Eventually it arrives in Anchorage, where it gets stuck for a delay due to weather or natural disaster. For some reason anything I order that ships UPS gets stuck in Anchorage, but normally it is blamed on a security inspection, so a weather delay was at least a change of pace.
Finally I get the notice, the chair has arrived and is ready for pickup on Thursday. Just in time for an early winter storm to roll in. Now I'm stuck due to a weather delay. Probably could have made it into town, but just not worth the risk. Storm clears out on Saturday, of course the mail outlet is closed Sunday and Monday.
I know, too long, get to the point.

Wednesday finally get in a trip to town, which in the winter months is an all day event. Picked up a neighbor who wanted to go in as soon as I could see to navigate the boat, and off we went. Thick fog, but smooth water going in. Got the chair, lots of groceries (Thanksgiving turkey!), gas for the generator, and propane for the stove and slowly headed for home. My boat is older and with a half ton of supplies on board it's a not the fastest vessel on the water.
Finally got home and got everything unloaded and put away right as it got dark (4pm).
Chair assembled easily, now I just have to dislodge the cat anytime I want to use it. Already making good headway on the next book, my back and backside like the new chair almost as much as the cat does.

Just a quick update on a couple of things.

First up, looks like we have a release date for the audiobook for HomeTown Hero. Royal Guard Publishing has been working hard in prepping the first book and looks like it will drop on December 1st.

I have been working off and on the last couple of months on the sequel, and while the plot and story have been developing okay I've been struggling with getting the feel and flow of the start right.

The past few days I've forced myself to just sit and write, and finally the personality of some of the characters that I was missing are starting to gel and the story is coming out easier.

Not sure when book 2 will be ready, but I am going to push myself really hard and see if it is possible to have it launch with the audiobook on December 1st.

Even better news (I think) is that book 3 is progressing nicely at the same time as book 2. For some reason the story and some of the scenes for this one keep popping into my head and distracting me.

More later, for now here's an image that helped to inspire a LOT of the background story for book 3

Can't tell from the photo, but today I've got 50+mph gusts of wind and lots of sideways rain. Had to relocate the bigger boats somewhere safer for the day.

To honor today's weather Jay and the gals will have an absolutely miserable slog between towns. Cold, wet, you know adventuring at its finest.

Hometown Hero just passed 1,000,000 page reads overnight on Kindle Unlimited. Something I certainly didn't expect to see in just six weeks. Thanks to everyone for giving a new author a chance. Now I just need to get book two's first draft done!
Good news is that winter is closing in, lots of time to write here in the winter.