Tag: people

A Year In Review (and a look forward)

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Two thousand and ten was a pretty damn good year for me – both personally and professionally.  I got engaged right before the new year to my beautiful fiancé (believe me, it’s essential you have someone in your corner that believes in what you’re trying to accomplish), strengthened existing and literally made dozens of new friendships and had a slew of book deals and some other various ventures come to fruition that will be announced after the first of the upcoming year (one in particular is going to blow a lot of people’s socks off in the publishing world).  In 2010 I had a short film come out, a few short stories (including one in Shroud) and two anthologies where I was the Editor.  Then comes the upcoming year; where I have a total of seven books that are due to be released.  Half of these titles I will be Editor on and the other half will be my own writings.  Looking all the way to 2012; there will be a short story collection, a novella and another anthology where I’ll be the Editor.  Almost all of the upcoming books during the next two years were announced in 2010.  So, as you can see, it has been a hell of a year.

2010 was the year I set the stage of things to come.  2011 is when I start to take over the genre – in more ways than one – but that involves the announcement that will be made after the first of the year.

Until then…hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season.  See you all in 2011.

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Context 23 Schedule

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

As you know, I will be a guest at Context 23, in Columbus, Ohio, August 27th – 29th.  If you haven’t already booked a room at the adjoining hotel, well, I’m not sure what in the world you’re waiting on.  I had a wonderful time at Context 22 last year and I’m sure this year won’t disappoint.  In any event, I wanted to update you on my schedule for the weekend (the below list does not include any of the devious things I’ll be getting myself into throughout the weekend):

Friday, August 27 at 8:30 pm – Showing of my short film, Cake Batter, followed by a brief Q&A session (a VERY limited number of copies – like, seven, which is all I have left – will be available for purchase right after we watch the 22 minute film).

Saturday, August 28 at 1:00 pm – Sitting on the panel, Making A Living As A Writer, with Tim Waggoner, Rosemary Laurey, Elizabeth Massie, Jerry Gordon, William H. Horner and Elie Harriett.

If you’re planning on attending the convention, please feel free to come up, say hello and chat a bit.  The overall atmosphere at this con is very laid back (with a great night life) with plenty of diverse panels to attend to learn more about writing, publishers or the business side of the industry.

Hope to see you there!

A Yearly Ritual

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

My 32nd birthday is dead ahead…September 4th to be exact.  Every year as my birthday closes in, I begin to reflect on the previous year.  Not sure why I do this on my birthday and not New Years, as most people do, but I just do.

Lots of things have happened over the past year from  9/4/08 – 9/4/09:

  • My first novel was published in November 08.
  • Several short stories were published during this time.
  • One of my stories was optioned for a short film.
  • The reach of my writing started to move out from the Ohio area to the rest of the country and now beginning to pick up steam overseas.
  • A short story collection was completed and sent to the publisher for consideration (still awaiting word on this).
  • Completed a novella about a ‘doctor that makes a house call’ which will be one of three novellas written by three horror authors and packaged into one book.
  • And other various business and personal happens – some were not so good and some turned out great!

All of this makes me think about the upcoming year and what I want to have accomplished when the big ’33’ comes around in 2010.

My goals (as far as writing is concerned) are as follows:

  • Finish my novel-in-progress that I had to put on the back burner when Night School was accepted for publication (it is about a classic monster with a vary unique twist and parts of it are probably some of the most hardcore and best written stuff I have ever done).
  • Continue to pitch movie ideas to a certain major film studio.
  • Watch the short film (based on my short story) ‘Cake Batter’ come to life on the screen after it is finished shooting in the coming months.
  • Continue to work with Shadetree Films to produce more short stories and potentially a feature length film.
  • Besides finishing the aforementioned monster novel, I would also like to write two additional novels on top of that.
  • Would like to see the short story collection picked up.  If not, I will more than likely break apart a great collection and begin to submit them individually to various magazines.
  • Submit the 3-novella book to publishers and hopefully get it picked up.
  • And I’m sure there will be a few short stories and maybe another novella mixed in there as well.

Whew!  Sounds like a lot of work ahead of me, huh?!  Well, perhaps it is.  But, I also know that I need to start pushing myself harder than ever and really start to turn out some material over a relatively short period of time.

Those are my thoughts for now.  And since I’ve heard from a few of you about getting/sending me something for my birthday, feel free to shoot me an email and depending on what it is (ha ha), I’ll respond with my mailing address.

Now on Facebook!

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Yup, that’s right.  I’ve joined the drones of people and have joined Facebook.  I have contemplated whether or not to join for some time now, but yesterday night decided to ‘go for it’ and ‘see what happens’.  At this point, I’m not sure how long the page will be online, though I suppose that all depends on YOU.  So, if you want to add me to your existing or new Facebook page, go ahead.  You’ll more than likely get a more personal look into my life…whether that’s a good or bad thing…that’s for you to decide.

Click here to visit my Facebook page.

Enjoy and Happy 4th of July.  Be Safe!

The move to T-Town and some updates

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

I rarely, if ever, mention personal stuff on here, though I feel like making an exception this time.  Well, that and some other stuff.

As you know, I currently live in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.  Though, in one week from now I will be moving a hour and a half west to T-Town or better known as Toledo, Ohio – The Glass City.  This is not only because I have yet to find a ‘day job’ after being downsized in February after being with the company for 5 1/2 years, but also for personal reasons, that I won’t be mentioning here. 

With the move looming, I find myself looking back at the last nine years here in Cleveland, after graduating college in 2000.  The city and people have provided me with some good and not so good times.  I often wonder how things would have turned out if I wouldn’t have moved here after college.  Not that I had much choice.  Ya gotta go where the job takes you, ya know!?  Which is why I moved here to begin with.  The best thing to come out of living in Cleveland, of course, was the birth of my youngest daughter.  She rocks!

Anyway, at this point I am pretty much starting over.  Starting at the bottom and working my way back up, again.  Not that there is anything wrong with having to do that.  Ultimately it  may build my character.  That or it will just kick my ass and leave me lying in the gutter.  Either way, I am pretty much exhausted at this point in more ways than one.  It IS time for a fresh start.  Either way, I plan on continuing to pursue my writing career. 

There is one thing currently in the works (that I haven’t officially announced, but if you cruise the page you’ll see what it is already) and I am still awaiting word from a publisher on my short story collection that I sent out for consideration.  In addition, I am about 2,500 words away from finishing the novella that I mentioned here.  Though, there has been a little bump in the road with one of the authors I mentioned disappearing on us.  So, at this point, I have contacted another author and inquired if he would be interested in the project.  Then, after my novella is completed, I will be moving onto the ‘novel-in-progress’ that I had to put aside when Night School was published.  Currently, I’m at 25K words and my goal is to have it completed at the end of this summer and then sent out for consideration.  After that, I’m going to be switching gears a bit and venture into writing something else besides horror (don’t worry, I’ll come right back to it), that someone suggested I give a try.  I’m not going to mention what genre it’s in yet, though you can see quite a bit of ‘it’ in Night School.

That’s it.  Some random thoughts and some updates to tide you over until the 2nd (2 of 2.  The first being the hardcover edition of Night School coming out) major annoucement that I mentioned was coming a week or two ago, finally gets made official.

With that, I’ve got the SUV packed up and ready for a drive to T-Town tomorrow, er, today!  Time to get some rest and hit the road bright and early.

Lauren Conrad pens a novel – WTF?!

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

Tell me it ain’t so!  Lauren Conrad, star of The Hills, has written a novel, L.A. Candy, which was due out in stores on June 16th. 

Believe it or not – it is about a girl who moves to Los Angeles  for an internship and winds up being the subject of a reality show…humm…sound familiar?  If you want to see some photo’s of Conrad, her book and read an excerpt (though, I have no idea why you would want to), click here. 

As far as I’m concerned, this is a prime example of another one of these ‘stars’ writing a book, that more than likely can’t write worth a lick and getting published (but will ultimately sell a crap load of them) all because of their name.  Oh, and is it just me or does Conrad look like a bobble-head these days or what?  Damn, why do I even care?!