The new book is here. This is the seventh Casey Grimes novel we’ve produced at Lion & Co, but it’s always a bit surreal to unbox hard copies of a story that existed only in my imagination.

But it happened. Again. Each time it’s against the odds. Each time it’s surprising. And the books are in our garage, ahem, warehouse, and ready to ship.

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Here are some photos, complete with random stuff, of us opening the first box and me signing copies for my kids, which is a tradition we’ve got.

And speaking of autographs, I’m happy to sign your copy of The Beastly Scheme. If you’d like that, just add a comment in the NOTES section when you order, or shoot me an email.

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Finally, in case you need a cheat sheet, here’s the reading order for the Casey Grimes books. I’d highly recommend reading them in order. Enjoy the new one!

Until next time…

The new book has figured out its look. Hope you like it. This cover reveal means that—well, before we get to that, here’s what it doesn’t mean.

In the traditional children’s book industry, cover reveals happen on social media. The reveal means the Design & Marketing team employed by the author’s publisher has completed a cover the author is ecstatic about. Or at least one they will pretend to be happy with—since the author doesn’t get the final say. Furthermore, this type of cover reveal means the new book will be appearing in about a year, maybe.

Now this BEASTLY SCHEME cover reveal, arriving via email from yours truly, means something a little different. First, it means I’ve finished designing this sucker and it’s as good as I can make it. I made every little tweak and adjustment my heart desires. My kids are happy with it too. Second, as a Sylvan Spy subscriber, you’re the first to know—not TikTok or Twitter. Third, Casey Grimes #5, The Beastly Scheme is finished, polished, and on the way to the printer.

Yeah, it’s already out the door.

Instead of waiting a year, you’ll only have to wait a matter of weeks. In fact, next time you get a note from me, it will be to say Hey, the book is ready. This will be happening very soon. But in the meantime, here’s the cover.

Let me know what you think!

We just got back from hiking in the Rocky Mountains with extended family. We saw deer, elk, moose, a weasel, and dozens of tricked-out Sprinter vans. You’ve probably seen the vans if you’ve recently gone near a national park. They’re the big, tall ones, some with all-terrain tires, topped with vents and racks and carriers. If you find one at a trailhead, you may look inside and see a bed, cabinets, mini-kitchen and stereo system.

Some people are so outdoorsy they live out of their vans. Not sure it would fly in Sylvan Woods, though.

Now and then people ask me if our Ford Transit, also a big van, is modded for camping, and I say Nope, I use it for people. When you’ve got six kids, you jam a cooler alongside all the backpacks and bags and shoes and coats, and that’s as modded as it gets. But I sometimes wear sunglasses while I drive, so our van is accessorized. Ha ha ha.

Speaking of accessories, readers like you have been asking for a CASEY GRIMES CHARACTER QUIZ for a while, and we finally came up with a good one. My son Miles took point on this. He found a good quiz platform, curated the photos, and spent hours writing questions. But be warned: this isn’t one of those puff quizzes where you’ll get a cheerful outcome no matter what. Lurking in the shadows are some of Trickery’s more devious characters, and you may have more in common with them than you’d expect.

I’ll go ahead and admit that while my results included Casey and Luci, I also got a strong dose of Robert. I’m ok with that, because I do share some similarities with the dangerous kid. But one time, to my dismay and horror—well, I don’t want to give too much away.

Follow the quiz guidelines and I’m sure you’'ll be fine. Maybe.

TAKE THE CASEY GRIMES CHARACTER QUIZ

Which character are you most like, in your opinion? Who did the quiz assign you? Feel free to post your answers below. If you want to turn it into a writing assignment, you could explain how the quiz got it right, and you are very much like Character A, in fact, with traces of Characters B and C. Or you could explain how the quiz got it wrong, terribly wrong, and compare and contrast the quiz’s answer with the character you absolutely, truly most resemble—at least on a good day.

One final note: Hosting this quiz isn’t free, so it will only be available for a limited time. Have fun taking it as many times as you like. I’ll be in touch soon with a bigger announcement.

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Since recovering, I’ve been taking it a little slower, doing fewer chainsaw workouts, and giving fishing a try with my daughter Flannery—who is an expert, she tells me. But as skilled as she may be, we’re both batting 0% after several outings. The fish, when we see them, have huge grins on their faces. A Hugemouth Bass actually laughed out loud, showing us its stabby teeth when it surfaced. On the bright side, I’ve figured out how to bait my hook, I think.

Here at the Vanderhorst School of Adventure, hummingbirds have been fighting endless battles over their feeders, giving me some great chase scene ideas. I’ve been doing lots of writing outdoors so I can keep an eye on the little duelists, except when the temps hit the high 90s and low 100s. Then I have to take my laptop and hide in various corners of the house. My office still looks like a cluttered attic where a book bomb went off, so it’s not easy to write in there. Heck, it’s not easy to sit down in there.

We’ve entered my favorite and best phase of book writing, the Live Audience Round. This is when my whole family gathers in the living room and listens as I read the manuscript out loud with as much expression as I can give all the characters. Every once in a very long while, I mean, hardly ever, I’ll pronounce something wrong, like a character’s four-syllable name, for example—and everyone gets way too excited.

The audience feedback, which is supposed to be professional and full of tact, spirals out of control as my kids act like a pack of laughing hyena toads, a bunch of weak-kneed wusses (I still can’t believe they thought that scene was too much), and every now and then, a crowd of fans. One of my daughters, whose name I won’t reveal, now and then shakes her legs in the air, and I’m never sure if she’s enthusiastic or bored, so thanks for that, Gwendolyn.

It’s a lot of fun, even when I have to shout them down or tell my wife to stop trying to get special treatment for her favorite character, Luciana. Being an author is pretty up and down, and it’s an occupation that shuts you inside your head a lot. That said, reading my stories to this rowdy bunch of saps and shouters is a great privilege. They know a lot about plots and character arcs. They laugh at the right times (or not). You’d better believe all the instant feedback makes the stories better. Without times like this, I wouldn’t be writing kids’ books, that’s for sure…or putting the loud back into read-aloud. Now and then I wonder if I’ll get to do this with my grandkids someday—looking way further into the future than is wise for any kidlit author.

Our last read-aloud session is happening tonight. Which means, yes, we will be drinking punch in Sylvan Spy fashion, but probably more important to you, it means the second round of edits will be complete. Just one round left. The new book is getting closer and closer.

I’m about to start cover design, and will be putting the finishing touches on Casey #5 over the next few weeks. Which brings us to an important announcement. This book now has a title. And that title is:

The Beastly Scheme beat out a few other contenders: The Marauding Monsters, United Monsters of America, and The Monster Mission were all on the ballot, but the voting wasn’t close. In fact it was unanimous. What do you think of the new title?

More details in the days ahead as the book picks up speed, as well as a couple more announcements. Both of the announcements are cool, and one of them is a pretty big deal (not a movie deal, since I know some of you will ask—still pitching to studios). Keep an eye out.

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A sentence of breaking news before we dive into today’s advice: I’m three chapters into polishing Casey #5, sitting in the hot shade on my back deck, minus the goat toad, and things are going well.

How do I get a literary agent? If I’ve heard the question once, I’ve heard it a thousand times, and a couple hundred of those times it was me asking it.

When I was a decade younger, this one haunted my dreams. If I could just land an agent, I knew my cinematic, fast-paced books would shoot up the charts faster than Casey on a treeway. But that’s not how it went.

Being a dad, I’m often telling my kids to do things in the right order and not to rush—so I’ve been reluctant to touch this question. Agents are the kind of thing you get to worry about after you’ve done a lot of writing, although there are rare exceptions. Earning the right to worry about something is a funny idea, but that’s sort of what we’re talking about. This topic of worry is way down the trail for you, most likely.

But I’ve decided my policy will be, You ask the questions, I answer them. So here goes.

First of all, you ought to know literary agents focus on the big picture. They want stories that check their boxes, and if your story does not check those boxes, it won’t matter how good your writing is. When they encounter a story, they ask themselves, Who could I sell this to and for how much? What’s unique about the concept? Does the story align with my view of the world and the topics I want to be known for? Is the author the kind of person I like?

Second—and this is an unpopular truth—you need to know at this point in time the writing industry is controlled by women, mostly young, who lean left politically. What does this mean—and why do people get mad when it is pointed out?

It means that if you hope to get an agent these days, especially in genres like middle grade or young adult, you will have to write the kinds of stories that these left-leaning young ladies want.

What do they want? Well—and now I’m going to be blunt again, but hopefully you’re used to it by now—they don’t want stories written by white males. They especially don’t want them if the white males are married to women, or would like to be some day. And if it’s possible to not want anything with a greater degree of passion, they really, really, really don’t want stories from white males, married with kids, who hold traditional values.

Example of traditional values would be believing in God, patriotism, two-parent families, telling the truth, and fighting monsters and bullies.

In case you missed it, I’m describing myself here. The Sylvan Spy tends to be autobiographical.

So the level of success you’ll have in finding an agent will have a lot to do with how far you can get from these big categories of whiteness, maleness, and traditional values. As you may have noticed, they are pretty far-reaching. Even if you’re a girl.

Certain people get mad when these things are spelled out, because they don’t want us to notice that the writing industry is controlled by gatekeepers, and the gatekeepers are motivated by politics.

I guess the idea is, How dare you notice, so rude!

But that’s how it is, and the sooner you know, the less time you’ll waste. Personally, I wasted almost a decade trying to land an agent because I didn’t notice. Imagine how much more writing I could have done. Imagine how much more time I could have spent learning how to sell my own books. But not a single agent took a minute to tell me the truth. To be fair, it would have been very uncomfortable for those young female agents to spell it out.

To sum up, it’s possible to get an agent if your identity—in terms of gender and race and orientation and politics—checks the right boxes. That’s assuming your writing is good. But once you get into that world of books, and politics, and politicized books, you’ll have a hard time getting out.

So, AJ, are you telling me everything is horrible and there’s no hope? Naw, I’m not saying that. Here’s the silver lining you’ve been waiting for.

The publishing world is being shaken up by new paths for authors. Those include small presses, self-publishing, email lists, direct sales and Substack.

If you self-publish like I do, you won’t get a big contract up front, or a team of editors who will massage your manuscript into a made-for-movies book. Sadly, you won’t get stunt choreographers either. On the bright side, you’ll get to write the stories you want. No sensitivity readers. No committees. No one will be able to force you to add stuff or change your characters. You’ll be in charge. And if you make money, you’ll get to keep it instead of giving half away.

Read that last sentence again. I’m being serious.

One final note. You may have noticed I have an agent. Ironically, I got mine several years after I stopped trying to find one. Scott tracked me down when he heard me on a podcast. He got in touch to talk about the Mostly Invisible Boy and ask how the heck I’d sold so many books. We agreed I’d keep on writing and he’d see what he could do with film rights, which was fine with me.

So as a bonus silver lining, I’ll point out there are some good agents out there, and while I wasn’t able to find one with a thousand queries, one of them found me after I’d been doing the grind for years and finally made a splash with my writing.

Nothing has happened yet, which is another truth about agents: They can’t guarantee loads of book sales or a movie, but a good one will work hard to connect dots for you. A good agent will give you a fighting chance to succeed on a bigger stage.

That’s all any of us writers can ask.

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We’ve got a couple things to get to today. Let’s move from quite important to even more important.

First, I’m surprised and a little disappointed no one told me about Goat Toads. Is it possible I’m the only one on this secret message ring who has encountered these things? It started when I was on the back porch being stalked by chiggers as I worked on my writing quota for the day. I was sitting in a shady spot, making steady progress, when I became aware of a very annoying noise that repeated itself like clockwork once a minute.

Have you ever had one of those electronic toys that make a mooing sound when you press the Cow button? Well, if you did, you probably don’t remember since you would’ve been two feet tall, eating graham crackers and driving your parents crazy. Us parents remember though.

But it sounded a little like one of those. Except for the Cow button, someone was pressing the Goat button. That’s what it sounded like. Not easy to put into writing, but mah-ah-ah is the general idea, only louder. MAH-AH-AH. [A minute of silence.] MAH-AH-AH. [Silence.] MAH-AH-AH! And so on. And it wasn’t far away.

My next thought, as I got more and more irritated, was that someone had bought a new solar powered deer deterrent thing and set it up without telling me. For about six months now we’ve lived on a wooded mountainside outside Fayetteville, Arkansas. It’s gorgeous, with lots to explore, and at the same time, ever since we got here, life has had a choppy, unpredictable feel. There have been a lot of adjustments.

One of those adjustments is deer. Every night when the sun goes down, they come out of the woods and eat everything we put in the ground: Flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, shrubs, you name it. We’re waging an ongoing war to keep them away with lights, sounds, smells, and human hair—yeah, it’s kind of gross—at least until hunting season starts, at which point I expect the tide of battle to turn in our favor.

Maybe deer hate goats, I thought. But it turns out I hate them even more, at least when they are bleating every 60 seconds on endless loop. And I stopped writing and walked around the yard, looking for a new deer thingy I was prepared to smash on the driveway.

But I found nothing. By the time I finished my 500 words for the day, I was pretty ticked off. Writing is hard enough at the best of times, all the more when your office is full of boxes and you are forced to write on the back porch, covered in bug spray. Add an aggressive invisible goat, MAH-AH-AH! MAH-AH-AH! and it requires an extra dose of self control.

Well, even though I was the only one in my family writing a full length novel on the back porch—why do I always find myself in these weird situations no one else can relate to? I asked myself—others eventually noticed the rude, unseeable goat. They too found it despicable.

Which led us to the unpleasant discovery of the Goat Toad. Here is a picture of the little beast.

Look at those snobby eyes. That smug little snout. That flabby gut it seems so proud of. This is the kind of creature kids in Sylvan Woods would catch in the marsh and hide in each other’s houses for a practical joke. Technically, it’s called the Eastern Small-Mouthed Toad, but someone missed a real obvious naming opportunity with this one.

The worst part of the story is we never did find it. With multiple kids on the job, we eventually tracked it down to the corner of a small, non-functional pond in the backyard which I will someday fix. But the little creep evaded us. He was very good at hiding under rocks. For a while he was in the front yard somewhere, mocking us. Then he moved to the rear of the house again. Finally, he got tired of assaulting our ears and moved off into the woods to bother someone else. From time to time we hear him, ruining the birdsong on the hillside behind our house. All we can do is pray he doesn’t return.

I just feel I should’ve been warned.

Last time, I wrote about having a goal for your writing, and it was cool to hear from some of you about the goals you are setting for yourselves. Keep after it. While I probably won’t have time to read your rough drafts, since I’m trying to finish my own book, I definitely have time to cheer you on, and of course answer your questions. So feel free to be in touch.

And now…I’m happy to announce the manuscript for Casey Grimes #5 is done.

Yeah, it’s finished.

I’m not sure what pushed me over the edge. I was chugging along at 500 words a day, and then my productivity took a big step forward. Maybe it was writing that post about goals and quotas that gave me some extra motivation. Maybe it was that creepy toad that made me mad so I tried harder.

Whatever it was, the rough draft is done at about 55,000 words. Now I have to go back and fix some things so it’s good enough to read out loud to my wife and kids. After that it will be time for a serious edit, and then cover design and sending it to my printer. So we have a ways to go. But the hardest part is over.

Whew. And woo!

There has been some celebrating.

This book took some unexpected twists and turns, and it doesn’t have a working title at the moment, but that will be coming. I’ll keep you posted, naturally, and in the days ahead I probably won’t be able to resist sending along some teasers. In fact, I think I’ll drop one now.

Casey Grimes #5—and book #7 overall since we’ve got those .5s—will not be the last Casey Grimes. Unless things really fall apart here at Lion & Co Press, the story is not over. More is on the way…and then more after that.

Now, the life of an indie author is not what you’d call safe and predictable. So I’m not so much promising a book eight as saying the adventure ought to continue and I’ll do my best to make it happen, despite the dizzying life we lead around here full of belligerent toads, shoestring budgets, and the uncharted future.

Maybe that’s what it means to be on an adventure.

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Last time the Sylvan Spy hit your inbox, I warned you some writing advice would soon be headed your way. Well, now’s the time to consider it while sipping a lemonade or mocha—or to duck, if you’re the kind of person who hates writing advice, or advice in general.

This writing post, and the next several, will be guided by questions mailed in by readers like you. Got burning questions? Send ‘em my way.

If you like books and writing, or aspire to write more or better, or even for profit, consider me in your corner. I’ll do my best to help you out because when I was just starting, I would’ve loved to have help from a more experienced writer. If you have questions or would like advice, all you have to do is ask, and personally, I think you’d be pretty silly not to. There’s a good chance I’ll tackle your topic.

If you missed my earlier writing posts, they are here and here. But enough pre-advice.

To the tips!

How Do I Keep the Writing Interesting?

Question #1 is from Kaiya, who says: I would really like to know how to keep the writing interesting, both to the reader, and me while I’m writing it. I feel like I will start something, but then I get bored and don’t finish it. Do you have any suggestions?

I like the honesty here, Kaiya. Everyone who has continued to write for more than a few days starts to feel what you’re feeling. Inspiration and excitement can only carry you so far. It rarely lasts an entire manuscript.

If you want to know a dirty little secret—or maybe a bloody little secret would be more like it, since this is the Sylvan Spy—loads of writers spend hours on social media posting gifs, memes, and photos of their work spaces with tea and candles instead of writing. They do it for the simple reason that it’s more exciting to post about #thewritinglife, so called, than it is to write.

So how do serious writers keep it interesting?

The most blunt and honest answer I can give you is: they don’t. Good writers set word quotas for themselves. Then they follow through. 500 words in a day, for example. Or 250, or even 100 if you want to start small. It’s not the size of the goal that matters, but that you stick to it.

Some days, you will feel like your writing is total hash. Ugly, clumsy actions and dumb dialog about nothing much. Maybe it’s trash and maybe it isn’t, but you will have met your quota. And meeting your writing goals, day after day, does begin to feel good and interesting as the tally climbs higher and higher.

Some of your boredom may get scrubbed off on the edges of all the action scenes and conversations and character reveals you create. Better yet, you’ll spend less time thinking about writing and more time just sitting down and getting to it. At least that’s how it often goes for me. I can write myself into caring about writing.

When the first draft is done, you get to celebrate a milestone—and you should. Writing something from first line to ending, even a short story, is a victory. It’s like having the main structures and systems of a house complete, waiting for paint and countertops. Or, since this is the Sylvan Spy, like a skeleton with strands of…well, let’s leave it at that.

Editing your first draft comes next, but that’s a lot more fun than creating it out of thin air. Lots of writers enjoy polishing a story, including me. It just takes persistence to get to the editing phase.

As far as the question of whether readers will think your story is interesting if you don’t, this brings us to what we’d have to call a paradox, something that seems contradictory or illogical but isn’t. This is one of the big paradoxes of writing. You or I can write something, and it feels like pulling teeth. Mentally exhausting. We’d rather do almost anything else, like go run a chainsaw in ninety degree heat and one hundred percent humidity—or maybe that’s just me.

But then, after the story is finished and edited, people find it pretty fantastic.

Well, let me tell you, it didn’t feel pretty fantastic when I was writing it.

But somehow it turned out ok.

Isn’t that weird?

I’d planned to answer two or three questions in this post, but it turns out one inspired me to talk enough. Coming up next, we’ll hit a popular question: How Do I Get An Agent? This is one I’ve avoided answering for a while because the truth is…complicated. And controversial. But will that stop the Sylvan Spy from dealing with it? Of course not. So keep an eye out.

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I’m behind schedule with this note, and I’ll tell you why before we get to some controversial pitch deck slides and a writing update.

We’ve had record-setting levels of rain here in the Fayetteville area, and with rain you get wind storms, flash floods, and even tornados. Not to mention Spider-Squids and Hyena Toads crawling out to enjoy the damp, monsters you know how to deal with thanks to this newsletter.

Things like that add drama to life in small doses. In big doses, they get inconvenient. The ground here has barely been dry for the last two months. Loads of mud. Stick a shovel in and you find water right away. A delivery truck got stuck in our front yard and turned it into a War Hog wallow.

Unfortunately, that’s set us back on outdoor projects. Those include building a garage to store thousands of Casey Grimes books. That’s not happening right now, which means our daily movements are still hampered by hundreds of boxes of books and…other things.

We’ve literally forgotten what’s inside some of these boxes. Why did we move them in the first place? The contents must be important but they’re mysterious. Some day we’ll open them up like time capsules. Hey, remember when you used to wear those clothes? But until the garage gets built, there’s nothing we can do about it. So instead of worrying about that, when we get a nice day, I try to get my writing done fast so I can hurry outside and grab my chainsaw.

It’s not building a garage, but hey, cutting a trail through the woods is something.

On the topic of chainsaws. Back when I used mine once or twice a year, I didn’t realize how much maintenance they need. It turns out a chainsaw creates one of those situations where you spend as much time getting ready to do work as you do on the actual thing. At this point, I’ve spent hours sharpening chains, then watching YouTubes on how to sharpen chains, adding oil, adding gas, taking the saw apart and putting it back together. It’s like learning a sport, hours of practice for every game you play. Chainsaw Maintenance probably needs to be a class at Trickery—but with a better name.

Tips and Tricks for Chainsaw Mastery. Emergency Chainsaw Defense. Chainsaw Treeways 101. Something.

And now for a somewhat gruesome story.

During our last big storm, a tornado came through a half mile from our house and took big trees down along with the electricity. The power went out, and we were lighting candles, running around with flashlights, and stepping outside into the stormy night now and then to check for funnel clouds—as one does.

I didn’t know anything was wrong until I saw blood on the floor. Big splotches, like someone had been walking around, dripping. In the pitch blackness, I’d never have noticed except the blood was lit up by a flashlight beam—which has to be one of the nastiest ways to find a blood trail in your dining room. At that point, I noticed my youngest girl, Gwendolyn, seemed a little upset although she wasn’t saying anything. It was weird and confusing thanks to the dark—like something bad had magically happened and no one had seen it.

By then we had figured out the blood was coming from one of Gwen’s hands. I got her over to the sink to rinse things off and get her fingers under a flashlight, and I was looking at a serious level of mangle. I won’t go into a CreepCat level of detail here, except to say it looked like Gwen had stuck her finger in a blender—or got nicked by a chainsaw.

And the storm was loud enough, maybe a chainsaw could’ve been running.

Back when I was a teen I did a stint as an Emergency Medical Technician, and I was pretty good. A big part of the job is not being bothered by gore, or at least entering a mode where you are temporarily not bothered—even though you maybe are. So I said, “This will be fine. Let’s pack up and head to the ER.”

And we did, wrapping up that ripped finger, moving around carefully in the dark. After driving through the storm, over a flooded section of highway and around downed trees, we reached the ER, which should have been called a WNSIRAER, We’re Not Sure It’s Really An Emergency Room. Three hours was a long wait.

Gwendolyn took the opportunity to show off the qualities which partly inspire Gloria Grimes—toughness, humor, and a kind of crazy level of courage. When she finally got treated by the nurse, Gwen said, “This stings a little,” and the nurse said, “It’s unbelievable how tough you are. I do this all the time and it makes grown men cry.”

Final tally: three stitches, fingernail ripped off, nail bed damaged, one hairline fracture. We’re praying the nail grows back.

When we walked out of the ER, there kind of was a Gloria Grimes moment with the hospital staff watching Gwen leave with a smile on her face. She’d made them into fans in record time.

And now that it’s over, except for cleaning the injury a couple times a day, I can admit it was a shocking experience. And as for the chainsaw? Safely in its weatherproof box. Somehow, we’re not sure how, Gwen slammed her own finger in the lock of our back door. Maybe distracted by the tornado.

Did you really think there was a chainsaw in this story?

Now that you’re caught up, here’s another batch of slides from the pitch deck for Casey Grimes. The first batch are here. These ones are all character photos, which means some of them are sure to be controversial. To see them all, you’ll probably have to click through to the post.

Personally, I’m pretty happy with Robert’s picture. He looks suitably fierce. Luci isn’t quite right but she’s close. Ms. Crake’s hair color is wrong, obviously, but you wouldn’t believe how impossible it is to find photos of youngish blond women with the Craken’s toughness, smarts, and brand of weird.

What do you think? Which one is just terrible? Which one misses, but only barely? Are any of them just right? And since I had to write captions for all these, which is your favorite one?

As you probably know, the idea with the pitch deck is to get a film studio interested in the story. No movement yet, but my agent likes the deck, so we cleared that hurdle. One thing at a time. Which reminds me, I need to give that guy a call.

Finally, an update on Casey #5 and book #7 overall. The manuscript has crossed 30,000 words which means it’s roughly two thirds or sixty-six percent done. These are important stats to an author. As you no doubt remember, we’re shooting for approximately 50,000 words. So the end is kind of, sort of, in sight.

It’s been tough to get in rhythm this spring, for reasons you can guess at. Kind of a muddy, uphill slog. The last couple weeks, I’ve been getting up and forcing myself to hit my writing quota first thing—before I go check on the health of my chainsaw or anything else.

My daily quota is 500 words. It doesn’t seem like much. Yeah, I sometimes go over. Some days I pound 500 out like warm-ups, flex, and keep on going to 1000. Other times I have to drag myself across the finish line when my imagination clocks out for the day around 250.

In the past I was able to crank out a couple thousand words a day. My high mark was four thousand, which is a big bite of a novel at eight percent. Let me tell you, that felt pretty great. So the slower pace is tough.

But the important thing is to keep writing. Keep stringing back-to-back writing days together.

Which brings us to our final note. The next Sylvan Spy will be a writing advice post, and I’ll be answering your questions. I already have some, and I’d be happy to have more, so send them over. Until then, check both ways for monsters.

New to Casey Grimes? Here’s my author store.

Hey,

Last Sylvan Spy, I mentioned my book agent asked me to put together a pitch deck for Casey Grimes #1. Of course I said yes…but reluctantly, like Gloria returning to the sand pit where she’d shoved a rude kid. Heading back to the scene of her crime.

Why reluctantly? Because even though the kid totally deserved it, Gloria still felt a little bad. Plus there was the chance she might get caught when she returned to the popular playing spot.

Oh, you meant me.

To be honest, I’m getting a little tired of learning new skills. It’s something I often enjoy, but since we just moved to Arkansas, I’ve been spending loads of my time learning about concrete slab construction, controlled burns, and small engine repair. Not to mention invasive plant species, the pros and cons of goats, and rifle scopes.

Learning a new skill and getting better and better at it, like learning to play a sport, is fun. Learning a new skill while learning three or four other new skills at the same time—because you have to—is not very fun.

I guess I’m having a Casey Grimes moment. Land Creature Defense plus concealing his identity from Robert plus Mythic History plus running from Old Knock... No wonder Casey struggled when he first made it to Trickery School.

Anyway, I agreed to create a pitch deck for The Mostly Invisible Boy…reluctantly.

The goal with a pitch deck is to have something visual for film studios to look at that will quickly give them the main stuff of your story. You might think producers, directors, and even actors spend lots of time reading books that could possibly be made into movies, but that’s not how this works.

Right now, at this moment, I’m tempted to go on a rant about how it’s rare for people in the creative industries—fiction writing, film—to spend time reading books. But I’m resisting the temptation. Mostly because you can read a longer version of that rant in this post.

As I put this pitch deck together, I needed to identify the big stuff. Main plot points and central themes—those I’ve worked up before. I also had to develop some additional content that’s of special interest to film studios. Things like Tone, Concept Overview, Competitive Edge, and a fun one, Key Characters.

And I needed to create a consistent visual style for the deck. The colors were an easy call: browns, grays and greens, your basic Sylvan wardrobe. The illustrations were more challenging. Since we’re pitching the book as live action, it made sense to use photos to represent characters and settings.

Let me tell you, trying to find stock photos that look anything like my characters is not an easy task. I’ll go ahead and admit there were several family arguments with my wife and kids piling on as I showed them snapshots. But in the end, everyone over here was happy—which was apparently the goal, I discovered. Who cares how I, the author, felt? I thought the first Ms. Jones was suitable, but no, it just had to be option #33. (Just kidding, a bit.)

But it makes sense, actually. If Casey Grimes ever reaches the casting stage, we’d want actors who would be recognizable to readers within seconds. Not people you’d stare at and say, Holy creeps, I give up, who’s that supposed to be? So that was the goal, as much as possible, with this humble pitch deck.

But make up your own mind. Below are the first nine slides in the deck, including some big picture stuff and a couple main characters. Did I get the concepts and snapshots right? Did I even come close?

And if you’re wondering about what happens next, that’s a good question. Apparently my agent will be contacting live action studios in the weeks ahead and if there’s interest, this pitch deck will be one of the first things they’ll see. Since all of this is new to me, I’m not totally clear on what happens after that.

Trial by combat would be a welcome option because I’m confident this story, being dangerous and full of fights and subterfuge, can take all comers. I’m also confident I can take any other competing authors, if it comes to that.

While I don’t like to boast, I may as well reveal that my strength and agility put me in the 99% percentile of all kidlit authors. All this basketball, multi-kid wrestling matches, and DIY work has paid off.

While I’m being honest, I also have to admit that children’s authors, as a group, are not known for being especially fit and dangerous. We’re more known for sitting around in pajamas, drinking green tea, and writing social media posts with too many gifs and emojis.

As an author, I’m kind of a weirdo. Which is why I’d win that author combat for sure.

But that’s beside the point, since I’m pretty sure film studios don’t use duels to pick their projects. (Sadly.) When I find out how it does work, I’ll let you know. For now, here’s the first batch of pitch deck slides for Mostly Invisible.

What do you think?

New to Casey Grimes? You can find all the books right here in my author store as well as on that other site, Amz, of course.

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Happy April! I thought I’d mix things up and use headlines for this one, a little like Jake McGusty does with his exposés of villainy and deceit. Here are some quick hitters from Vanderhorst HQ, also known as Lion & Co Press, also known as the heart of the Casey Grimes world…

We’re building a Sylvan garage.

When we moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, we knew we’d have to build a garage. Thousands of Casey Grimes books on pallets couldn’t go in the living room. We knew the garage would be in the woods. We knew the woods would be on a hill. We didn’t know the garage would have treeway access. But take a look.

The grade is so steep that it took a long line of dump trucks and a bulldozer to level the site. Now the downhill side of the garage will open at tree frog height. I’m still deciding how to take advantage of this, but treeways and zip lines are in the conversation.

“We shadow-banned your ads,” Facebook admits.

If you’ve been around, you may remember my post from last May where I described my FB ads for the books crashing and burning. “It feels like my account has been secretly blacklisted,” I would tell people. In return I would get that look. Oh, uh huh, how terrible, I’m sure that actually happened.

Or, if they’d read the books, the look might say: Oh, right, sabotage—what do you think this is, Sylvan Woods?

Because it is is not a thing that is supposed to happen. We know everything is on the level with Meta marketing because, duh, the whole concept is FB takes your money and promotes your products. So of course there’s no shadow-banning. That would mean they would take your money and not promote your products. It would undermine the whole thing.

Except…a little while ago my Meta Marketing Pro was calling me over and over and leaving me long voicemails. Usually I ignore these calls because the pros don’t know how to sell books. But this time—“It looks like there are restrictions on your account,” she said at one point during her two minute voicemail. “They’ve been there, hmm, at least since June of last year. We can get those taken care of.”

What? When I got in touch, my pro was not very forthcoming. She seemed to be following orders or reading a script. Which was too bad, because I had questions:

Why are there restrictions on my account? Well, it’s hard to say.

How would I know my account is restricted? Someone like me would have to tell you.

What are the consequences of restrictions? Ad performance would suffer.

Have the restrictions been lifted now? They should be taken care of!

So if you’re keeping score: Facebook placed secret restrictions on my account for reasons of their own. The shadow-ban remained in place for close to a year—who knows, maybe longer, since we’re being so casual and offhand about the whole thing—while I wasted thousands of dollars trying to rebuild my ads. Now the restrictions have been lifted. Maybe?

Because I have to take their word for it. The whole thing is, well, mostly invisible—except for my ads going up in flames, that was hard to miss. Now there’s nothing to do except test some new ads and see if they work. It feels surreal. At the same time I’m thinking, I knew it.

If my ads are *allowed* to work again, that would be huge. It would mean thousands of new readers could discover the series and we could stop scraping by on a shoestring budget over here. Feel free to say a prayer that FB would get out of the way and let us do our job. If there’s one thing Casey Grimes and I hate, it’s getting sabotaged by treacherous bureaucracies.

The series will soon be headed out to animation studios.

I was on the phone with my lit agent a couple days ago, and he told me the animated market is picking up and the time is right to start pitching Casey Grimes to various studios. Is he gonna stuff copies of the book in his suitcase and start traveling around the country? “Hello, vice president of DreamWorks, sir, thanks for meeting me. I’d like you to take a look at this book, The Mostly Invisible Boy.”

I don’t think it will go quite like that. Sounds like the first step will be for me to create a “pitch deck” for Mostly Invisible. Picture a glossy travel brochure, tempting you on an exotic vacation—but for a book. The deck is a splashy overview of a story’s characters, setting, themes and plot, used to pitch a film project. The examples I’ve seen are big on mood boards and pictures and read like hype tracks. They’re often outsourced to graphic design companies.

I’ve never created one before, so I guess it’s time to add another tool to my toolbox—which, honestly, is getting pretty crammed. But I have written loads of book queries, ads, and taglines, and I like graphic design, so this could be in my wheelhouse. (He said optimistically.) Once I create this pitch deck thing, maybe I’ll share it here.

Double-Breaking News: Not Animation, Live Action

My agent just called again, and he’s decided he wants to pitch the series as live action instead of animated. Works for me, since I originally pictured Sylvan Woods as live action in my head, and this way my kids can get a shot at the cameos they keep pestering me about. So for now, live action it is.

Which raises the obvious question: If this whole film thing were to actually work out, which actors play the main characters?

Finally…

I’m back to work on Casey #5.

Our house is still kind of a disaster after our move, but we’ve beaten the forces of chaos back far enough for me to start writing again. 26,000 words have been drafted and the first several chapters have been polished. I think I’ll share a small bit with you, why not?

For the the first time in his life, Casey had friends to make plans with, and they’d made quite a few. He was looking forward to wilderness capture the flag, exploring forgotten trails, and treetop sleepovers. Of course it wouldn’t all be action.

In his downtime he’d be sleeping in, reading fiction, and maybe doing some secret weapons practice. Or he could just sit on the back deck watching trees wave their leaves in Lesser Trick ’n’ Trap. If anyone asked what he was doing, he’d say he was catching his breath. What he’d really be doing was trying to get his mind caught up with everything that had happened. Sometimes that could take a while. And at the end of the summer he’d have a birthday party and turn thirteen.

But it didn’t take long for things to go sideways.

Hope you weren’t hoping for a plot point because that was never gonna happen. And that brings us to the end of our breaking news. If you have any photos or graphics that scream “Sylvan Woods!” and would like to send me some inspiration for the pitch deck, you should absolutely go for it. Questions and comments, always welcome. Over and out.

I told you it was coming and here it is. Wicked Winter Rush is the first new short story since Remember To Stay Dangerous and naturally, as a Sylvan Spy member, you’ll be the first to read it.

Fav moment? Subterfuge you didn’t see coming? Of course I’d love to hear what you think, so send a note or leave a comment right here.

GIVE ME THE SHORT STORY, PLEASE!

You may know the feeling. Life is moving along and you’re doing the things you have to do, or the things your parents make you do, and the things you want to do—within reason. Going to school, going to work, seeing friends, enjoying the weekends.

Then all of a sudden, everything changes. All the things you were doing without too much trouble become obsolete and the new tasks feel harder. Better, maybe, but harder for sure and kind of weird. Your life has taken a big turn and you haven’t got your head around it. Challenges are coming at you fast, or maybe you’re a step slow, or could it be both?

I thought I’d write this a little after Christmas. Then New Year’s seemed like a good window. Now it’s hard to believe it’s March, and my favorite part of the sports year is about to begin.

What’s going on with Casey Grimes?

I’m finally going to tell you.

There were two feet of snow on the ground in Kansas when I started writing this letter. As luck would have it, this was the same weekend we were scheduled to move. You may remember I have a lot of kids—four boys and two girls if you’re counting. That explains why our family owns about 2000 stuffed animals which required a total of four moving trucks and two trailers to make the move to our new house in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

But first we had to shovel our Kansas driveway and eighty feet of our street so we could get the moving trucks in and out. This was back in January. So we did all that shoveling and salting and our neighbors complained about us having a trailer in the street. Complaining about us was one of their favorite things—they’re gonna have a lot of extra times on their hands now. Then it snowed again.

We pulled the snow shovels back out.

I’m not even going to talk about what it was like to pack up our entire house, including a garage full of Casey Grimes books on pallets, and our huge family library of kid books and classics and mystery stories and theology and philosophy (books weigh a lot), and more boxes of “keepsake clothes” than you would think possible. No, I’m not going to talk about that.

I also will not explain how we staged our outdoor gear and garden equipment by the driveway for easy loading and instead it got covered in snow and frozen in place. I also won’t spend time on how we packed my wife’s mom’s house into a moving truck as well, just to make things extra challenging.

I don’t think we would’ve ever made it out of there except we got a lot of help from family and friends over several crucial days. The morning of January 13, a small fleet of moving trucks and trailers left the Kansas City blizzard zone and headed south in search of a better life.

Unfortunately, they’d also had record setting snow in Arkansas. But six hours later, we’d all arrived at the new house without anyone getting stuck or going off the road—that would happen later.

Allow me to give you some advice. Don’t move in a blizzard if you can help it. Because unloading trucks and trailers in snow and ice is not any more fun than loading them the first time, especially if your seller’s agent happens to be dishonest and lies to you about where the house keys are so the moving crew is stuck outside for extra hours.

Despite conditions, our team took a big chunk out of the unloading before it got dark. The following day, after some more heroic work, my brothers Daniel and Johnny and my bro-in-law David headed back to Kansas.

We were on our own.

Suddenly being on your own in a house in the woods is a weird feeling. On the one hand, it’s hard to believe it finally happened even though you spent years fighting to get there. It’s a lot to take in. On the other hand, the cold furnace and the empty propane tank and the broken locks and dead lights aren’t gonna fix themselves. Then there’s the storage crisis—boxes everywhere, and more stacked in the carport getting snowed and rained on. Which boxes will be ok in the elements and which ones are going to rust and melt?

Plus the book problem. The previous owners must have owned about five, and kept them on a windowsill. We can’t keep ours stacked in the dining room forever.

For the last six weeks, I’ve been building shelves, clearing drainage ditches, mapping the crawl space under our house and fixing all sorts of stuff. I’ve been hustling and putting on muscle but also creaking a bit and collapsing into bed at night.

When it stops snowing and raining, we’ll get a concrete slab poured and build a garage so we can deal with our storage crisis. That will be a big step forward. For now, we’re living with chaos—and we haven’t even started painting yet. There’s a lot of beige in this house, and as you know if you’ve read Dark Sky’s Ashes, that’s a condition that will not stand.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. What does it mean for Casey Grimes? Well, you might think all the fixing and building could make it hard to write, and you’d be right. Progress on the new novel, Casey #5, hasn’t restarted yet. To be totally honest, I haven’t opened that file on my computer since we moved.

However, there is good news.

A small side project has been in the works and it’s 99% done. Inspired slightly by the snowpocalypse we survived, the new short story will be available for you to read within days. Absolutely free, as a thank you for being a Casey Grimes fan and Sylvan Spy subscriber.

You won’t find this one anywhere else, so keep an eye on your inbox. I’ll be in touch again soon, very soon, right after I put the finishing touches on the short story.

But first, if you live in wooded country, you’d better keep an eye out for WarHogs. Yeah, even in winter. You’d think pigs would avoid snow if possible, but their mottled, ugly hides must be pretty thick because they don’t seem to mind. We got an unpleasant surprise when we found cloven hoof prints on the ridge behind our house. It looks like the swine have been keeping an eye on us. They may be hideous but they’re not dumb—and you sure don’t want to be caught on the ground by a herd of them. Those foot-long tusks and scythe-like dewclaws can go through guts like a hot knife through butter.

Stay vigilant.

Hubba hoy, adventurer.

Rule Number One got a good response, so we’re back with Rule Number Two for aspiring authors.

When I started seriously trying to write my first children’s novel in 2013, I had a couple things going for me. I was a good writer, generally—essays, blog posts, editorials, articles, marketing copy. And I’d followed Rule Number One, which gave me a serious head start.

But there was a problem.

The kids’ books I’d read, I’d read for fun. I read them to enjoy them, to get lost in a good story. That’s the best way to read anything, obviously. But if you want to be a writer, you don’t get to do that all the time.

You have to read and pay attention. When you read a sentence or a scene that really works, that grabs you or makes you smile, you have to stop and ask yourself why. The answer is always right there in front of you on the page, but it can take some work to see it. It takes more work to take the thing that worked and learn how to do it yourself.

This brings us to Rule Number Two.

Learn To Play With Words.

After I started writing my first book—which by the way was Dark Sky’s Ashes, and had to wait its turn to get published—I realized how blissfully unaware I was of the tricks of the kidlit trade. I was like Gloria and Casey wandering into a weapons closet and having a wonderful time playing Mace Versus Sword without knowing how to use weapons.

For several drafts, I had a wonderful time crashing around too. I wrote wild and confusing action scenes. I wrote dialog that was too silly. I struggled to get my characters’ thoughts on the page.

Luckily, I caught on to this after a while, and I had some help. This is why you need to have at least one good beta reader who cares about your writing and has the guts to point out problems. I’m fortunate enough to have six young beta readers (my kids) who answer questions honestly, and one older one—but not old (my wife)—who can really pick things apart.

With their help, I was able to get a handle on the holes in my writing. That’s when I started going out of my way to play with words.

Here’s what I mean.

I started reading books with a notebook beside me. When I read a sentence I really liked, that caught my attention, I wrote it down. Then I asked, why do I like this sentence? What does it do that works so well? What is the secret of its swagger and charm? Then I wrote my own version of the sentence. Then I’d write a few more. Sometimes I’d move clauses around to see if the sentence could still do its thing with its parts rearranged.

For this post I was going to pull out my leather-bound writing notebook and give you some of the sentences I copied down. Unfortunately, I already packed that notebook and haven’t seen it for weeks. If you missed the post where I explain we’re packing up our lives to move to Arkansas, here it is. So…pulling any of those sentences out of my pencil-smudged pages or taking pictures of my work is out of the question.

We’ll have to improvise. I’ll make up an example.

Luci stabbed Casey with her dagger eyes. He’d known it was coming because of how quiet she’d been when he arrived five minutes late to Magic Club and the way she was squeezing her scythe-staff.

Read more

It’s time. The moment you’ve been waiting for. This edition of Sylvan Sketches attracted a lot of attention. Maybe it’s because people enjoy drawing monsters. Maybe it’s because the Bog Creep or “murder cat” is especially popular. After all, these are some of the most vicious little beasts in Sylvan Woods.

Whatever the case, now we’ve got a lineup of murder cat mugshots to help you identify these hateful creatures if you ever come across something unexpected out in the trees. Of course, that would be unusual, since the Unified Wilderness Alliance works tirelessly to keep the borders secure. But every once in a while, a monster or two sneaks through…

Here’s the original clue our artists had to work with.

And here’s our lineup of original Bog Creeps.

Leading off, this creep by Gwendolyn is deceptively calm and soft-looking. Then you look in its eyes, and yikes—that diabolical stare gives the whole game away. This creep is hoping you’ll try to pet it so it can take your hand off.

Martin did an impressive, horrifying job capturing the creep’s voracious nature. This one would sell its own mother for a late night snack. Since the average Bog Creep is orange and black, I’d say this is a rare variant with extra black pigments. A Midnight Creep is what you’d call that. Or maybe it stuck its head down a chimney to sniff the people below.

Flannery’s murder cat has learned subterfuge. You can see the outlines in the air of its size when fully fluffed out. This creep sensed it was being watched and shrunk as small as possible. Next, it will start purring to lure you closer to its tree. That would be a big mistake. Look at those angry eyes!

This creep by Hunter has stopped trying to be sneaky. Its bare claws, bristling fur and rageful face tell you something bad is about to go down. This is how the monster would’ve looked right before it jumped at Casey and Gloria their first time in Sylvan Woods.

Thea’s monster seems to have a little magic of its own. It makes me think of an evil Cheshire Cat. You get the idea it might close its fiery eyes and float into the shadows—only to reappear in a tree right over your head. No wonder that stick figure is freaked out!

This picture from Ezra puts the monster in a fully-realized fantasy landscape. For a second, you might think you were looking at a big house cat like Casey did—then the horrible truth hits you. This creature is three times too big and it has a devilish expression. Plus there’s a broken sword on the edge of a murky swamp where tree branches reach for you with twisted fingers…

Kaiya blurs the lines between the real and the imagined with those flaming eyes. It’s a magical touch that makes this creep more sinister. If you weren’t ready, seeing this face appear out of the forest darkness would have you running through the marsh like an olympic sprinter.

Elena turned the creep project into a mixed media comic strip, which is pretty fantastic. The monster flying in from outside the frame is cool, and gives you some idea how horrifying a murder cat attack would be if you were careless enough to leave your sword at home. As Luci might say, This is why Preparedness is a big deal!

This creep by Levi seems normal enough—until you study its stuck-up, sour mouth and the unearthly color of its eyes. This monster feels wronged by the world. It has spent a long time nursing its grievances and it is ready to take all that anger out on someone else. Beware!

Miles does a good job capturing the monster in its natural habitat. In fact, this could be the moment when Casey and Gloria spot the murder cat for the first time. There’s the hollow log and the marshy ground. Any second now, the creep will start stalking closer…

Some Bog Creeps love secrecy. They’ll sneak along in the shadows, edging closer to unwary kids. Some will even pretend to be cats. This monster by Evie has decided it just doesn’t care. Fangs out, all the time. It’ll take all comers. Hopefully whoever runs into this one will see it coming!

When you first look at this creep by Aisalyn, it strikes you as a noble creature. Look at its great posture, chin up, shoulders back. And it’s made an effort with its fur too. Then you remember the whole thing is only a facade, an act to hide the molten rage burning inside. So deceitful!

This creep actually looks happy. And no wonder, with its jagged razor teeth and the fat blind mouse wandering toward it, the beast knows it’s about to eat. Ruby captured this murder cat in a split-second of joy. Of course, once it devours that mouse, it'll be back to resentful rage as usual.

Asher does a lot of computer drawing, but here he shows that with just a pencil he can create a monster that will haunt your dreams. The hatefulness of this creep is unmatched…look at that face, smoking shrieks. This thing would be at home in the BeastWoods, but you could also see it making a cameo in some alien thriller film.

Finally, here’s a mentally unhinged creep from yours truly. I’ve always felt there’s an element of madness in these beasts, and here, the crazy got the upper hand. This creep won’t back down from anyone, not even Robert Pierce, which is what you’d call a fatal flaw. But good luck wiping away that terrible grin.

We did it! Now you’re prepared for the full spectrum of Bog Creeps. To everyone who joined in, thank you. Hope you’ll draw again next time. And speaking of next time…here’s the sketch clue. This is a wintry one: Casey and Gloria’s treeway, the one that stretches into the woods from the back of their Sylvan house.

It’s not long on detail, so illustrators will get a chance to use their knowledge of treeways from the books.

Feel free to send your sketch along anytime. When we collect enough, the Casey and Gloria’s Treeway edition of Sylvan Sketches will go live.

We’ve got a lot to get to. There was a big response to the Bog Creep aka Murder Cat art assignment, and that will be coming in a few days. Since creeps are black and orange with some brown thrown in—white, red, and yellowish green, if you count their hateful faces—they are kind of autumnal monsters. If you’d like to join in last minute, get me your drawing pronto. The sketch clue is here.

Before we get to that and other posts in the works, it’s time to talk about what’s been going on with the Casey stories and Lion & Co Press—by which I mean me, my wife and kids. In case you missed it, Lion & Co is our family publishing business. For better or worse, we are totally responsible for the Casey Grimes books.

But first…

Well, it’s been a weird year for us at the Vanderhorst Monster Control School. About this time 2023, we started making plans for a cross-country move. We wanted an outdoorsy location that was family friendly. Some possible destinations (suggested by you) were South Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Arkansas, Western Kansas, and Bali. I think I’m leaving a few out, but there were plenty of good ones.

Over the last year, we’ve discovered how hard it is to make a move when you’re a big family (six kids) with an unusual job (writing Casey Grimes books) and property you have to sell first before you can go somewhere else.

All of these factors plus extra ones, like crashing ads and neighbors who don’t like adventure, have made for a long year. But it looks like something is finally changing. All the work and mess we’ve been dealing with—painting the house, fixing broken garage doors, packing up two million stuffed animals, and much, much more—is leading somewhere.

We are moving.

Or should I say, We are moving!!!

But honestly, We are moving is more my speed. I’m pretty worn out.

Unless someone drops a grenade—or a campfire inferno—down the chimney, we’ll be leaving Kansas City early in the new year, and heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas. How did we choose Fayetteville?

Research and road trips. I’ll spare you the details, but Fayetteville won the Vanderhorst sweepstakes because 1) the area is pretty Sylvan with trails, forests, lakes and rivers, 2) we found a house with acres where we all fit, 3) we can afford it…barely. But compared to some other destinations, it’s a bargain.

We’re looking forward to a change. At our current place, the walls were closing in. We’re ready for a new adventure.

As I’ve said before, I like to read and think about philosophy, God, and the stories that shape our lives. That means I’m familiar with the Bible. One of the most famous Bible stories is about Abraham, a middle-aged man who packed everything up and left his daily grind, his house, his regular—and headed out into the unknown with his family. He wasn’t sure what would happen. He didn’t have a handle on the new normal. All he knew was God wanted him to do it, and good things would happen if he did, although the good things would probably not be easy.

I’m obviously not Abraham, who is a towering biblical figure, but I do think we have a little in common. I’m a middle-aged dude taking my wife and kids, packing everything up (a horrible task), and heading into the unknown. Yeah, it’s just Arkansas, not the land of desert tyrants and marauding warriors—but to us it is shrouded in mystery and we’re not sure what will happen. We’re hoping for good things, better things, even if they don’t come easy.

Wish us luck. And if you know the area, say hi.

What does this mean for the stories?

It means writing has been slow while I do all the stuff you have to do before you make a cross-country move. Honestly, the level of chaos over here is pretty high. But once we arrive and start to settle in, work will resume. I expect to get Casey #7 pounded out in the first half of 2025. We have another big surprise on the way, likely arriving the first quarter of next year. And in the meantime, the lineup of posts here will continue, with Behind the Scenes, Writing Advice, Sketch Clues, Breaking News, and more.

One more update before I wrap this up.

As you may remember, I signed with an agent over the summer. His goal was to sell the movie rights to Casey Grimes. When I chatted with him last week, he told me the market for live action film rights is pretty bad right now. Apparently business-as-usual in Hollywood is not working these days...which honestly does not surprise me. (Hey Hollywood, make movies people actually want to watch.) However, he asked if I’d be ok with him looking into the animated market, and I said, Creeps, why not? And he said, Hubba hoy!

Actually, he said, What do you think? And I said, Yeah man, let’s go for it.

Getting Casey Grimes optioned to an animation studio would be the first step. After that, the stories would have a chance at getting produced as films or a series. So that will be something to keep an eye on.

Last thing, we’ve got a sale for you. 30% all books with checkout code MONSTER. (Dents & Scratches excluded because they’re always on sale.) This is a deep discount at the author store that you’ll find nowhere else, and now would be a great time to grab the next book in the series or line up the perfect adventurous Christmas present. Enjoy, and talk soon.

Since our last sketch clue, pictures of Bog Creeps, or “murder cats” as Gloria calls them, have been making their way to my inbox. We’ve got some nice specimens—or, more accurately, some scary, ferocious, and hateful specimens. But I’d like a few more, so how about it?

Here are reasons to join us.

1. Drawing your own version of this despicable monster will activate your imagination and help you see scenes in Casey Grimes.

2. You’ll get to compare your own sketch to the other drawings—including mine.

3. I’ll probably comment on your artwork.

4. Thousands of people will see it.

5. It’s fun.

Use the sketch clue below to make your art using any medium you want. Then send it my way. And feel free to share the challenge with other artists you know. We’ll be posting all the Bog Creep editions soon.

In other news, as Jake McGusty would say, I did an interview.

Actually, Jake would probably say, “In other news, there’s been a War Hog sighting near Deep Down, kids, but remember, we can’t all go chasing it at once. You know what those tusks can do to your intestines, especially if you corner a hog underground in a tight tunnel in the dark. So grab a spear with a long handle and take turns!”

Unfortunately there haven’t been any War Hog sightings. I did see a Belted Kingfisher yesterday when I was walking back to the parking lot after playing pickleball. And I did an interview.

I’ve done author interviews in the past, and this one was cool because it was a picture interview. Yeah, there are words, of course, but big chunks of the interview take place in pictures. How does that even work? There’s only one way to find out. Another cool thing about this interview was, thanks to Michelle at Library Binding, we got to some details about Casey Grimes and my writing that have never been uncovered before. Check it out:

Library Binding

Meet AJ Vanderhorst, Author of the Casey Grimes Series

Welcome back…

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a year ago · 11 likes · 5 comments · Michelle Watson

Hey,

If you read a lot, at some point you’ve probably wondered, How do I get [this book I like] in my library so I can check it out? People ask me this question on the regular about Casey Grimes. What you may not know is some authors are even asking this question about their own books, like this lady:

Ok, so apparently the answer isn’t obvious. Let’s talk about this a little. And just so you know, what we’re about to discuss applies to any book you’d like to see in your local library, not just Casey Grimes.

First off, let me point something out. If you’re like Quenby, and you’re afraid to go to the library in person, possibly riding your bike, you’re gonna have a hard time checking out books. This memeish idea that writers (and readers) are so shy that conversations with people IRL can cause trauma…is pretty stupid.

I would go so far as to say it’s a dumb trope. If you are a bookworm, you still ought to be able to smile and say hi. If you are an author, you still ought to be able to carry on a conversation. What do you think? Am I being too mean?

Anyway, maybe Quenby has no problem talking to people, and she’s just understandably nervous about asking a librarian to put her own books in the library. Which would be awkward.

And that brings us back to our question.

First of all, there’s no magic button to push to “get a book in all the public libraries.” The Casey Grimes books are in quite a few of them, but every once in a while, someone comments on one of my posts and says, I have a great idea—you need to put your books in all the public libraries! Or: If your books were really great, they’d be in all the public libraries! Something like that.

Naturally, fans like it when their favorite books show up on library shelves. Authors like it too. It’s a win-win. So why isn’t every book in every library?

At this point, you’ve probably guessed. Shelf space is a problem. Not even the most hyped books, published by the biggest presses, appear in every library.

Factor in the thousands of books published by indie authors like me and you understand the logjam. Odds are, only the most famous and most promoted books will appear. That’s because a lot of authors don’t have marketing firms and industry connections.

But there’s something more powerful than a PR department.

Go to your library. Choose a friendly-looking librarian. Say, “Hello, I was wondering if you can order a book for me that I really want to read.”

Believe it or not, this works probably ninety percent of the time. The librarian will write down the book or books you want. Within a week or two, they’ll appear on the library shelves. The librarian may even send you a note to let you know the books arrived.

Why does this work? Because most librarians really want people to read, especially kids. Makes sense, right? If they can put books on the shelves they know people will read, they are happy to do it. It’s a guaranteed win, like Gloria playing Uno.

Against my better judgement, I’ll tell you a secret. A lot of libraries have book request forms online. You can fill them out in minutes. Without leaving your house. If they don’t have a Suggest For Purchase button, you can accomplish the same thing by emailing the library. So even if you have skin that shrivels in the sunlight because you are secretly part Tree Shriek…you can still ask a library to buy your favorite books.

Of course, you’ll have to check them out in person.

Good news, right? I’m surprised how many people don’t know this. The catch is it doesn’t work so well for authors. Libraries are happy to hear from readers who want new books on the shelves. They’re not so interested in hearing from authors who want their own books on the shelves. You get it.

So when books from indie authors like me appear at the Antioch Acres or Bubble Springs or New Athens Library, it’s because a reader like you asked the library to order them. Which is awesome.

As an author, it’s a big compliment, and of course it helps more people discover the stories. It’s like you, the reader, are part of a street team spreading the word about Casey Grimes. So if you have asked your library to get my books, Thank You. ❤️ And if you notice your library doesn’t have Casey Grimes…now you know what to do.

Hey, wait a minute—is this whole post about AJ asking me to get his books in my local library? Nope, this will work with any book you want to read. But yes, I’d love it if you asked your library to order the Casey Grimes books. I’d even love to see photos of the books on the shelves, you know, out in the wild. Of course I would!

Finally, and this is a bonus section…there is one more wrinkle we can add. If you want to make a slam dunk case to your librarian about why she should order the Casey Grimes books…or other books you like…you could use a flyer to show how great the books are and what a win it would be for the library to own them.

On that topic, here’s a flyer I created for someone to hand to a librarian. You’re welcome to steal it and print it.

And here’s a flyer created by a reader, Brooklyn, to use in her own library. I had to share it because its so cool.

Check out the details. Robert has a camo vest, along with the trademark spiky hair. If you look real close, you can see the light blue string from Luci’s beast deterrent necklace as she gives someone dagger eyes. Casey is cautiously hopeful and Gloria is daring in all pink. We’ve got appearances from all the main characters in the series, plus a scythe staff, a dragon, Alias the crow, and the split screen that combines action and closeups. Not to mention the color gradient. If you want to have some fun promoting a series you love by creating amazing artwork, this would be the way to do it. Great work, Brooklyn.

And now you know how to get your favorite books in your local library—including Casey Grimes, of course.

Before we get started, we’d better get an important detail straight. When we talk about this particular piece of weaponry, we usually say “Casey’s sword,” but that’s not exactly right. Alert readers—like Ryan, who mentioned this when he sent his artwork over—know the truth: This sword originally belonged to Gloria, and she was kind enough to let her brother use it. (Extra points if you remember what happened to Casey’s first sword.) Nice work with the Grimes trivia, Ryan. If you’re wondering, all this happens in Casey Grimes #1, The Mostly Invisible Boy.

In later novels, Casey keeps the sword under his bed and continues to act as if it belongs to him. In reality, he’s hoping Gloria forgets to ask for it back.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the drawings. It was cool to see a few more people join in this time around. The Sylvan Sketches seem to be picking up speed. As a reminder, here’s what our artists had to work with:

And here’s our first sketch:

This sketch from Flannery really emphasizes the value of this “priceless Sylvan relic.” Look at that solid gold hilt, which would make you feel very bling and cool. As if that’s not enough, there are gems sprinkled across the hand guard. Bonus, gold being heavy, it would pack a punch if you had to clout a monster with it. Since gold is softer than some other metals, I’d be willing to bet this gold has been magically protected in a way that has kept it dent-free over the years.

Miles obviously had big plans, and I like that. His ambitions for this sword turned out to be bigger than his paper, and it worked out fine. You can tell this is an enormous, beast-hashing weapon that would make monsters think twice about picking a fight. No wonder Gloria was happy to loan it to Casey. This sword would be taller than she is! Nice detail work with the engraved vines on the hilt and the ghostly blue glow around the blade. I’m guessing it would take about four more pieces of paper to draw the rest of it.

This sketch from Isaiah has some amazing detail. We’ve got multiple gemstones, a two-handed grip, streamlined hand-guard, and a fantastic engraved blade. Are those overlapping leaves at the bottom? The sword is so elegant, and at the same time so cool, you could see yourself yanking it off your backpack in a dangerous moment in the woods, carrying it at the ready through an underground cavern, or wearing it to a fancy Sylvan party. But if you took it to the party, you’d find an excuse to take it out of the sheath so your friends could admire it.

This edition from Ryan is straight-up deadly. Great use of color, emphasizing those sharp edges and the leather-wrapped grip that would be easy to hang onto even if your hands were sweaty in a situation involving Sebastian Drooce or a Butcher Beast. The hand-guard and spiky pommel are brutish in the best possible way. Enemies would take a step back. Friends would take notice. This is a fearsome, attention-getting blade.

This is an impressive take from Ezra. The precision of the multiple bloodlines on the blade are next level, and since I’ve encountered this artist before, I’m pretty sure he used a ruler or triangle to achieve those razor-sharp edges. Frankly, this is not a blade you would want to test with your finger. Let me restate that. If I saw someone stretching a hand toward the sharp end of this sword, and I liked that person, I would yell, NOOO! If I was Robert Pierce, I might say, “Wouldn’t do that if I were you.” With a blade that cool and clinical, you might think the weapon would be for lab use only. But nope, the warm glow of the wood pommel and the green-blue highlights give the sword a personality for everyday use.

This gleaming death-ray of a sword is from Asher, and we’ve seen his work before. In case you don’t know, he illustrated the Gloria Grimes picture book and he has a way of making art look easy. Whether this was light work for him or not, he’s added some high-impact details. That blueish blade looks magically charged. The pommel at the bottom of the leather-wrapped handle has an emerald carved to look like a leaf, which is a great idea. Finally, the whole weapon looks so formidable, like something Aragorn or Prince Caspian would carry, that it’s no wonder he added a gold-banded sheath. That would add even more value, and it would also keep you from stubbing your toe on this sword and slicing your foot off.

Our final entry is from me, and I wanted to try a couple things. First, we’ve got the wicked curve at the end of the blade but I’m not sure I got the dimensions right. After staring at it for a few minutes, I don’t think the real Sylvan Sword curves like that. For one thing, it would be extra work to store. You’d need a sheath that folded into place with snaps or buttons, and good luck getting the sword out in a hurry. My other experiment, which I kind of like, was to put the SW engraving on the bottom. Maybe that would explain why Casey didn’t notice it for so long? Something to think about.

And that’s a wrap. Thanks for sending in your sketches! Hope you’ll join us next time—parents and teachers, feel free to share with your young artists. On that note…here’s the clue for our next Sylvan Sketch. You can send your artwork over anytime. We’ve done the WheelWraith. We’ve done the Sylvan Sword. Next up is a…

Every now and then, someone gets in touch asking for writing advice. Some of them are kids and some are older. They’re all young, aspiring writers because they haven’t been writing very long. I don’t mind. Writing is such a weirdly cool pastime, it raises lots of questions—and being asked those questions is flattering. 

It’s also humbling, because I don’t consider myself the greatest writer in the world. I do think I’m pretty good. On my better days, I sometimes think the needle even might be leaning great. My skills have come a long way after publishing roughly 300,000 words, and I’m always trying to improve. Since I don’t have time to write a letter to each person who asks me for advice, I’m writing this one. 

 Now, if you think you might want my writing advice, I’d better warn you. I took a fiction class in college and didn’t learn anything about writing fiction. I’ve read loads of writing advice online, and I thought most of it was stupid. Almost everything I’ve done as a kids’ author goes against the grain of the Big KidLit Industry. In fact, the Casey Grimes books became a success in spite of those people. So you’re about to get advice from a contrarian. That’s a person who does things his own way. I’m kind of a rebel writer. 

That’s not what I set out to be, but it’s what happened.

So getting advice from me could be good or bad. My approach has resulted in six Casey Grimes novels, a novella and several short stories with more on the way. It’s resulted in over 180,000 books sold in a few years. Will it work for you? You’ll have to be the judge. Whatever happens, don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

We’ll start with a single rule, and if you’re into this series, I’ll eventually walk you through my entire creative process and get to popular questions like, Do my characters need to be likable? Can I edit my own work? and How do I get published? But we’ve got a ways to go before we talk about stuff like that. Which brings us to… 

Rule Number One: Have a Good Time Reading

Does this one seem obvious? Maybe so, but you can’t take anything for granted. Everything I learned about writing began when I learned to read at age six on Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ house. I realized my mom would let me stay up later and later if I kept working on my phonics. Up until that point I’d been holding out—I was a stubborn kid—but that night I learned to read so I wouldn’t have to go to bed.

Once that happened, there was no stopping me. I was surprised at how easy and fun reading was, and I started checking out stacks of books from the library. Dozens at a time. I started with dinosaurs, hideouts and pirates and moved on from there. Luckily didn’t have an iPhone to stare at, so I read them all and my mom would take me back for more. Eventually I started riding my bike to the library. Longer books, I’d check out and carry home in my backpack. Shorter ones I’d read in the aisles. This type of thing used to be a lot more common. Maybe we can bring it back. 

If you have a bike and a local library, go for it. Then send me a note and tell me how it went. Include a photo to prove it really happened if you want. What did you check out? Was the librarian cool? We may have to create some kind of Books & Bikes award. 

Anyway, I’ve read thousands of books over the years. Since I’m a dad now, I read thicker ones so I don’t get through as many as I used to, but I still read thirty to fifty a year. If you want to write, you should read a lot too, and you should enjoy it. Why should you? Let’s try to put it into words.

Reading a good story shows you what is possible for a writer. It gives you ideas to try and things to avoid. After a while, it will teach you what good writing looks like and what bad writing looks like. It shows you the kinds of things that should happen (and not happen) in the books you want to write. It also keeps you from being an irritating snot—which is what happens when someone who does not read books tries to write one. 

Most important, reading a great story wakes up your imagination so you know what it feels like to be pulled into an adventure. If you don’t know that magical feeling, you won’t be a good writer because you, the writer, will be trying to create that magic, trying to capture it—and it’s not easy, like cornering a White Stag or a Golden Snitch. These are things you’ll only learn by reading lots of books and having fun doing it.

Personally, I read lots of kid books, and I especially did when I first started writing my own. I also read detective stories and crime fiction because I love mysteries and tough, gritty heroes. I also read classics, because they’re the best, action novels because I like action, and suspense because I like suspense. You get it. Oh, and obviously I read fantasy because I like imaginary worlds. I also read nonfiction, because theology and philosophy stretch my mind—and who wants a brain that sprains easily?

Let’s make another obvious point here.

If you are really into a sport, let’s say pickleball, than reading is like watching players backpedal all over the court and jump in and out of “the kitchen” whacking a plastic ball. If you’re into rap music, reading is like watching the artist swagger onstage and dance around while he spits into a mic. You’re enjoying the performance and being inspired. 

You don’t need to read all the books at once. Start with what you like, then branch out. The important thing is to keep at it, and keep having a good time. Reading needs to be something you like. 

Now, this brings up a controversial question. The DNF problem. 

What if you start a book, and you realize you’re not into it? Should you give up and give the book a Did Not Finish rating—the most insulting rating possible? People have been arguing about this for a long time. Here’s my take. 

Whenever I start a book, I give it at least few chapters—up to fifty pages if it’s longer. Some stories take more than a few pages to get from zero to sixty, and that’s ok. After several chapters, if I’m still not into the book, it becomes a DNF and I don’t feel bad about it. I gave it a chance, and my goal is to have a good time reading, not trudge through an exhausting story. 

There are important exceptions, though. One is when the book is a classic that thousands of people have loved. The Hobbit would be an example. Maybe I feel like it starts kinda slow, and it was written in a different era, and how many dwarves are gonna knock on this door anyway?—but I’m going to keep reading because the book has proven itself. If I were to give The Hobbit a DNF, that makes me look stupid, not the book. And by the way, it’s a great story once it gets going.

Another exception might be a book that a good friend really likes, or several friends. Usually I’ll read that book cover to cover, even if I don’t feel the same passionate love. Once I read a 1200-page book for this reason. (It was just ok.) 

There can be exceptions the other way too. I’ve given up on books after a few pages because I could quickly tell the story would be stupid. Some of those books I’ve come back to later and discovered I was just in a bad mood that day. But some I was right about.

Hopefully you’re starting to understand the dilemma. The important thing is to keep reading and, for the most part, keep having a good time. You will need to read more than your friends—unless you have very cool friends. Reading needs to be a hobby for you.

At this point, you may be wondering why I’ve spent so much time talking about something obvious. Here’s the kicker.

You’d be surprised how many wannabe authors don’t have time to read. Back when I hung out on Twitter, I ran into dozens of grown-ups who were eager to write books for kids. These people knew their stories would be amazing, wonderful, and shiny—way better than Harry Potter, they said. But these adults didn’t have time to read themselves. If you asked what they were reading, they’d give you a weird look and get right back to posting #AuthorLife GIFs and squeeing about the characters they were about to create (but hadn’t started yet). 

They were way too busy to read because all those TikTok videos weren’t going to watch themselves, and anyway, they already knew what the perfect kid book would be like—because they were going to write it, of course! And besides, who has time to read kids’ books? Scrolling through social media for hours was way more important. Needless to say, none of these people ever wrote a good kid book. Most of them never wrote anything at all.

This is making sense, right? To become a writer, you will need to sacrifice all the time you waste staring at your phone. Less time on social media, more time reading books. You need a story-loving brain—not the attention span of a sugar-sipping gnat. If you can pull that off, you’re way ahead of most aspiring writers. That’s why rule number one is so important. Have a Good Time Reading.

But…if you’re someone like us, and you want to be more than a story spectator…reading is not enough. You’ll need a special skillset very few possess. It’s not rocket science, but I’ve seen it in the wild so rarely it could be considered a superpower. We’ll talk about it next time when we get to Rule Number Two.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, leave me a comment or a like. Happy to answer questions, and of course I’d love to hear from aspiring authors or educators who teach them. These posts will be paid content in the future, so now might be a good time to upgrade your Sylvan Spy subscription (or ask your parents to). If money is tight but you don’t want to miss out, send me a note. I’m happy to offer gift subscriptions when they’re needed.

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A Note About Patronage

The Casey Grimes stories are my full-time job. It’s a risky life but good, a little like fighting monsters for a living. The books began as read-alouds with my kids, but after I got up the courage to publish them, the series took off and I started making enough to justify the huge amounts of time and energy it takes to write all those action scenes. Hundreds of notes from readers helped too, although they aren’t as useful for feeding my teenagers.

You may already know, but I created and published the Casey Grimes stories without permission from Big KidLit. The agents, editors, and committees who decide what kids ought to read have very selective tastes. I don’t like their priorities, and it turns out most kids and parents don’t either. Long story short, I like battling Big KidLit. Gaming the gatekeepers. Defying the dragon. It’s a good fight and a needed battle—but there’s not much of a safety net. 

If you love courage, tenacity, and most of all, adventure…if you love fantasy books written for the people—and the people are boys, girls, and parents—I invite you to think about becoming a paid subscriber or founding Sylvan Spy member. The stronger the support I receive from you, the more books, short stories, and posts I can promise. 

What are you signing up for? World-class fantasy adventures that are retro in a wild, magical way that used to considered normal…but rare…because, let’s be honest, a series like this doesn’t come along every day. Boys love them. Girls love them. Parents love to steal them. Books for kids you’ll be happy your kids are reading.

This will be short and sweet. First off, we’ve got an announcement. Second, we’ve got a call for art. Third, we’ve got a special deal.

First, the announcement. Work on the next Casey Grimes book—that would be CG #5 and book #7 overall—has begun. It just took a while.

This year has been tough because we’ve been trying to make some big changes here at Vanderhorst HQ. The key word there is trying. We thought by this time we’d have sold our house and relocated somewhere more adventurous, taking Lion & Co Press with us. I thought I’d be writing the new book with new views.

Unfortunately, things keep happening to prevent our escape. It seems to be dragging out forever. 2024 will go down as one of those awkward years.

Turns out, it’s not easy to write a new book with moving boxes piled around the house and furniture stacked in corners. But enough is enough. Finally I started the manuscript with help from some cool weather and the back deck. I’ll be honest—it’s on the choppy side. It’s rough. But 25,000 words are on the page. That’s about half a novel, and luckily I have a good editor, who also happens to be my wife.

Casey Grimes #5 will definitely happen.

Second, the call for art. We’re looking for more pictures of Casey’s Sylvan Sword. Do you like to draw? Do you know someone who does? Let’s make this happen. Create your picture with pencils, markers, crayons, whatever you like, and send it my way. These pictures will appear in the next Sylvan Sketches. Everything you need to know is in the clue above, which you are free to share.

Third, the special deal. It’s been a while since we’ve had a sale, too long, in fact. So here’s a sale in honor of The Yet-To-Be Determined Future Home of the Vanderhorst Family and Lion & Co Press and the Next Casey Grimes Book Which Has Begun At Last.

This is good for 20% off books and ebooks with code FINALLY at checkout. If you’ve been eyeing the next book in series or know someone who needs an intro to Casey Grimes, this is your moment.

SHOP THE SALE