In film, temp scores—AKA placeholder music—are edited to punctuate an early cut of a movie or trailer. Think back to Man of Steel’s debut trailer—it used a score from The Fellowship of the Ring to great effect. For my writing process, that manifests rather similarly. Only instead of a cut of a movie, it’s a cut of an imagined scene that’s been in my head for a very long time.

Welp. NOVA 02 ended up being a decent chunk more sizeable than NOVA 01. You’ve all read it—we had some tasty virtue theory, psycopathy, and original sin story-telling to unpack—and all that good stuff took time to flesh out in a compelling fashion.

Quick update for you this month. NOVA 02’s proof copy just arrived (hurled onto the front porch like an assassin’s least favorite ninja star from the UPS truck, mind you) and one minor dent aside from shipping and handling, this cover looks mint.

But we don’t settle for replacements here in CT Emerson’s Procrastination Station. You see, dear reader, I never forgot about the sheer injustice of my summer birthdays drifting away to golden-tinted obscurity.

In the fires of Mount Doom—or at least my home office—I thought of a counter-curse.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but this spring has hit me with the force of a runaway train. Instead of coal, this train spews pollen straight into my lungs. And the conductor—don’t get met started on him. More times than I can count, he’s shouted, “have you finished your to-do list yet?”

“No, good sir. I’ve not.”

In the third verse of No Hands Roscoe Dash says, “I be goin’ ham, shawty upgrade from bologna,” to which his hype man replies, “ham, please.”

My main takeway from the lyrics is that crunk rap lyricists were having more unbridled fun than anybody else in the mid 2000s. Today, I’m channeling similar energy as I revel in the joy of having finished NOVA 02’s first draft!

We’ll be doing a book reading and author interview at Park Road Books on February 18th, 2023! Be sure to stop on by to get your copy of The Iguana’s Scroll signed or to heckle me with questions about the book and/or book writing process!

I’ll continue writing through the holidays, but no promises on word count once egg-nog is within reach (Miss Joan’s recipe—you already know). If I don’t hear from you, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

Spread the gala gospel folks. The people must know. Not only do you eat delicious food, but you also support a cause. This gala, for instance, supported childhood literacy. You’d have to be a monster to not to care about childhood literacy. Are you a monster? I didn’t think so. Then again, yesterday was Halloween, so maybe you are a monster.

If an independent filmmaker from the middle-of-nowhere New Zealand could adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's books to film—an impossible assignment—why couldn't I write a book?

The most frequent question from the night had to have been, “so, when’s NOVA 02 coming out?” Internally, my answer was more often than not the screaming spongebob meme. Externally, however, I consistently promised 6-12 months.

Gearing up for the release of NOVA 01!