Monday, August 1, 2016

Ty Schwamberger ~ guest post and his novel Last Night Out (5th Anniversary Edition)


TITLE: Last Night Out (5 Year Anniversary Edition)
RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2016
AUTHOR: Ty Schwamberger
KEYWORDS: horror, murder, thriller, suspense, dark fantasy, college, horrific
CATEGORIES: Horror/Dark Fantasy
PAGE COUNT: 160
ISBN: 978-1523755073
IMPRINT: Dark Serpent
BOOK PAGE: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/lastnightout.html



SYNOPSIS:
Gabe, Alan and Erin thought one last night out on the town before their junior year of college came to an end would be fitting. The three friends did the same as always – they went to a bar. Only this time they decided to try someplace new: The Torchlight Inn. They are eager to make it a night to remember.

During their time at the shabby bar they come face to face with seedy bar patrons, a biker gang and one strange-acting bartender named T-Bone. But all is well until Alan and Erin mysteriously disappear and Gabe has to try and find his friends before being forced to pay their bar tab.

Little do any of them know the secret the place holds beneath its cracked floorboards…

Where a whole new kind of terror is waiting for them.


ONE LINER:
Three college friends go into a bar… But this doesn’t end in a punch line. Oh, no. Bad things happen to the three friends… Really bad things.

Guest Post: 
“Being a Writer (with a day job) Ain’t Easy”

by Ty Schwamberger

A few years ago I posted this as my status on Facebook:

“Being a writer and having a day job ain’t easy. Story ideas and/or your current WIP are constantly running through your mind. Add in having to deal with unruly customer, bosses, deadlines, etc., can really put a damper on your ultimate goal – writing fulltime. It’s a tough gig for sure. Just remember to keep your eyes on the prize. With a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck, you’ll one day be able to do what you were part on this planet to do – write till your fingers cramp up and bleed. And, oh yes, you’ll love every minute of it.”

I wrote this after having a rather difficult morning at my ‘day job.’

Actually, I feel like this most mornings.

Who am I kidding . . . I think about this all day, every day.

It can be difficult working for someone else until the time comes you can quit the ‘day job’ and make enough from your writing to live on. It might surprise some after looking at my bibliography that I still have a day job. Besides, having 15+ books, a bunch of short stories, audio books, some films, etc., it would appear I make enough to sustain myself on writing alone.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

At least not yet.

Of course, that’s my ultimate goal—to write fulltime. But, while I do make a nice supplemental income with my writing, it’s still not enough to sustain me and my wife’s current lifestyle. The fact of the matter is; we like nice things. We enjoy vacations, nice cars, eating out, buying new toys, doing fun things with my daughter, etc. We also plan on starting a family of our own, soon. All this takes money. A LOT of money. Now, we could scale back and not do as much, but that’s what we want in our lives together. I’m not bitching about needing to keep the day job in order to do all those things. Not one bit. That’s part of life. You take the good with the bad. The fact of the matter is; my wife earns substantially more in her job than I do. We could probably live on her income alone. Of course, if we did, we probably wouldn’t be able to do all the things we want. So, until the day comes when I make enough with my writing as I do in my current ‘day job’ I’ll continue to wake up each morning, put up with idiots on the road during the commute, struggle with unattainable goals and deadlines from my bosses, deal with unruly customers, etc. I work with numbers during the day. This isn’t my strong suit, of course. I’ve done this since graduating in 2000 from college. That’s one helluva long time to be doing something you can’t stand. Then again, I doubt the majority of people like their jobs (my wife is one of the rare breeds that enjoys what she does for a living). For most, I think it’s just something you do to earn money to pay your bills and enjoy yourself a little bit. But, to a writer, needing/having a ‘day job’ can be even more difficult than for most. A writer will constantly have a new story idea or their current WIP running through their mind. They never stop surveying the world around them for new characters, storylines, etc. They’re brain in constantly churning, wanting to spew-forth a meaty new story upon the world. Writing is what we were born to do, not sit in a cubical like a caged animal all day while taking a beating from a tiny man with a whip (hummm . . . now that might just be a good story idea . . . I better jot that down).

For me, having a ‘day job’ is horrid. I don’t particularly care for someone (other than my wife, of course) telling me what to do or yelling at me for not doing something the way THEY would like it done. Many times I have to restrain myself from screaming: If YOU want it done that way, then how about YOU do it your damn self?! Oh, I’m being paid to be your bitch? Damn, you’re right. I’ll just sit here like a wet dog and let you beat me into submission. After all, I’m a nobody in your eyes. You’re so much smarter (which according to my IQ is probably furthest from the truth) than me. You LOVE earning money for a company that already has millions, don’t you? Of course YOU do. Besides, YOU’RE the one earning so much more than me, but have half the responsibility! You bastard.

Or something along those lines.

Whew.

Okay.

I’m better now.

Back to what I was saying . . .

Writing is a lonely affair. When you’re pounding away at the keyboard there’s no one there to help if you back the story into a corner. You have to figure it out yourself. You have to put in long hours, weeks, months, perhaps even a year, to pen the best story possible. Then once you’re done and send it to your publisher, he or she might not like it, or might want you to make this or that change to the manuscript. It can be a tedious process. BUT, even with all the hours crafting the story, then editing it for your publisher, it’s still a shitton better life than having to work for someone else. A writer is their own boss. You don’t have to take any shit from anyone. You can write when/if you want. Then again, if you don’t produce, you don’t get paid. So that’s one drawback. Even so, I would rather pound at the keyboard till my fingers bleed, eventually wearing my fingertips down to the bone, than work for someone else.

At least that’s how I feel. Perhaps you have a day job that you enjoy. If so, I’m not sure if I should be envious or tell you in a very matter-of-fact way that you’re one sorry sonofabitch. Or perhaps I’ll just give you a big ‘thumbs up’ while a shit-eating grin is stretched across my face. Eh . . . I’ll just decide on a case by case basis.

But, if you’re like me, and want to write fulltime, but for whatever reason still can’t, let me reiterate what I said on Facebook:

Just remember to keep your eyes on the prize. With a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck, you’ll one day be able to do what you were part on this planet to do . . .

TO WRITE!

Yeah, that’s right.

Now get your ass back to writing!

Besides, that’s what WE writers do – WE WRITE!

Onward & Upward, my writer friends.






AUTHOR BIO
Ty Schwamberger is an award-winning author & editor in the horror genre. He is the author of a novel, multiple novellas, collections and editor on several anthologies. In addition, he’s had many short stories published online and in print. Three stories, “Cake Batter” (released in 2010), “House Call” (released in June 2013) and DININ’ (optioned in July 2013), have been optioned for film adaptation. He is an Active Member of the International Thriller Writers. Learn more at http://tyschwamberger or follow along at @SchwambergerTy.

EMAIL: ty_schwamberger@yahoo.com

AUTHOR LINKS: http://tyschwamberger.com/
https://twitter.com/SchwambergerTy







CREATESPACE: https://www.createspace.com/6032432

 
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