The Subplot has Lost the Plot
Aug 28, 2025 12:01 pm
Good stuff at the top! Want to hear my nomad tales of woe and writing? Skip to the bottom-- today was a doozy.
This bad boy (spoiler alert: Not an actual bad boy! Bona fide good guy, ex-Navy SEAL playing bodyguard!) is on pre-order!
Calvin Murdock's story releases next Wednesday, Augu-- oops!
September 3rd!
Grab the pre-order for 99 cents or wait and read it in KU.
After giving twenty years of my life to the US Navy, I retired, happy to still be in one piece.
Now I'm back home, helping my brothers run our family timber company in the small mountain town where we grew up.
Tyler was a kid in my command; fifteen years my junior, cocky, smart, and in love with his girl back home.
I haven't thought about him in years-- until Penny shows up on my doorstep one night; widowed, in danger, with nowhere else to go.
With my history with the SEAL team, I'm more than qualified to keep her safe, but when Penny's soft curves and longing looks start to distract me, I start wondering if I'm qualified to be more than just her bodyguard.
Pre-Order Now!
I promise, I have sleep-deprived, pointless babbling to include in this email! All the way at the bottom-- but wouldn't you also like a sexy MC book for free? Because I happen to have that too....
Welcome to the Steel Rebels MC, where these rebels blur the lines of morally gray and keep you guessing. This is a “lite” MC, insta-love, alpha heroes, standalones, and full HEA guaranteed.
So you know how a whole bunch of you have told me how much you're enjoying the suspense/mystery aspect of the lumberjack books?
Be careful what you wish for-- that's all I'm saying.
For starters-- the subplot wasn't even on purpose. I mean... sure! I wanted dogmen/werewolves to join the cast of creepy things lurking in the local folklore of Moonshine Ridge, but I didn't intentionally go down this other path of what else might be going on in the woods they call the "weeping wilderness--" until I did.
Now it's run amok and I have spent my week chasing it down and trying to make it behave... it is not behaving. And thus, it would seem that we're about to roll into another mountain man series after the Lumberjacks; but we'll be in a new setting, following Calvin Murdock's buddy, Harlan, whom (who? whom? I know someone will tell me!) you get to meet in Calvin and Penny's book next week.
NOT that Calvin and Penny's book is done, mind you!
I normally have these wrapped up, final copy uploaded for the pre-order, and off to the review team by the time I send the email. Not this week! Not this book!
It was going to be late... I have bad guys setting fire to things and a delicious, silver-fox, ex-military protector making sure his girl stays safe, and... apparently there are other good guys coming.
My notes did not mention other good guys! I don't know why they feel they need to get involved but (lies: I totally know!) they are on their way-- complicating my whole plot-- and Calvin's plans for Penny when he's sure she's safe.
It was only going to be a little late-- until I had three overcast days in a row in a campsite that didn't get enough sunlight to keep up with three overcast days in a row.
The house battery just didn't get charged enough yesterday to keep the frozen food frozen (ice cream) and the cold foods cold (unhealthy amounts of diet Pepsi.)
I thought I had a back up plan but-- let's just say that the backwoods of Washington State, 25 miles from civilization, is not a good time to learn that your fancy lithium ion battery will not charge from your vehicle's modified sine wave inverter.
I didn't get much sleep last night because I was too busy constantly checking how much charge was left on the battery every time the refrigerator kicked on.
This morning, the sun did not come out-- it started raining.
Folks: I had a great camp spot! It was free. It was gorgeous. It was on a river full of rapids that reminded me of the Jones brothers (maybe my faves, not gonna lie,) and I had very good cell signal for getting things other than actual writing done! (I mean, in addition to actual writing! I'm not behind because I was busy catching up on podcasts or anything! (Whistles nonchalantly.)
But I spent my day high-tailing it to a fancy (expensive) state park campground where I have electrical hookups so that I could get all the batteries charged up and not lose my ice cream. (There's meat and vegetables in there too. IN THE FREEZER! Not in the ice cream!)
I am really close to finishing Calvin and Penny's story. That is the good news. It'll totally be done in time for you to not notice it was over deadline at all! But I am exhausted and starving, and since this weekend is a US holiday that is a very popular camping/outdoors weekend-- I have no idea where I'm going next.
On the bright side: I got a shower! And I really needed a shower!
How was it? Was it a good enough nomad problems story? I'm sorry this summer's adventures have contained 0% Bigfoot stories for you (I am not sorry! I'm totally cool with it!) But the Olympic peninsula is where I'll be writing the last Murdock brother book...and no, I am not going to the Twilight Festival in Forks that I only just found out about.
That's it. This got away from me every bit as much as this covert, suspense subplot. I'm going to eat all the mac-n-cheese in the hobo house and sleep for 16 hours.
tl;dr? If you're looking for the tl;dr version of this email, there's no way you got this far!
Pre-order Guarded by the Lumberjack!
Grab a copy of Cassi Hart's, Protected by Saint!
~Rocklyn