Newsletter April 2026 - Why I Make Art

Hello again,

April was another busy month at work for me, but I did manage to read more from my horror book collection. I finished The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher and now I'm reading Maeve Fly by CJ Leede. So far it's my favorite. I think I'm starting to get a little bit about what makes horror different from other writing genres.

I also thought a lot about the central problem I have as a writer: "Which project should I push?" You see, from all I hear, to publish successfully, you need to find your pigeon hole and stick to it. If you publish a fantasy, you then focus your attention on writing more fantasy and build an audience, write more sequels perhaps, and build enough momentum to sustain a career. Switching genres is a big gamble and basically can mean starting over.

Here's a parallel story. When I was a professor early in my career, the way you were supposed to be successful was to study a particular scientific niche and publish papers about your findings. You build your reputation as the premier expert on [insert niche subject], write grants to do deeper research on that subject, and repeat. Your past work in the area makes it easier to get money to do more similar research. I, however, wasn't interested in any one area of science enough to want to make it my life. There were too many other interesting areas to learn about. I didn't want to miss out on them. So, I left academics and found ways to be a part of Science while maintaining the flexibility to continue expanding the breadth of my knowledge.

I'm the quintessential jack-of-all-trades.

Back to writing, and more broadly, making art. I enjoy writing fantasy, science fiction, thriller, mystery, and now I'm dabbling in horror. And like in my science career, I also like blending genres. To top it off, I've done children's books where I wrote and made the pictures. I've also done 3D modeling and animation (see some of my old posts if you are curious for more). My art career seems to be following the same trajectory as my science career. I don't want to box myself in. I want to pursue whatever direction my art takes me.

My central problem, I realized, isn't "Which project should I push?" Because if I push one, I risk having to drop the others. Really, the problem is "Why am I making art?"

The answer, I think, is that it's fun. It helps keep me sane. And, frankly, it gets the stories out of my head. They keep coming and if I don't get them out, my brain gets full.

I enjoy the act of creation, but I don't enjoy trying to create something that will sell. When I wasn't trying to get published, I had the most fun. When I focused on trying to get published, it sapped the fun. I have a successful career, and I don't want to make my hobby a second career. That was my big realization this month.

However, I do want others to enjoy the art I create. I've never wanted a huge audience of people who just sort of like my work. I'd rather write what I love, and find the probably small niche of similar weirdos who also love it.

My new plan is to re-release the updated version of A Clockwork Murder on the self-publishing sites (Amazon, draft2digital, etc.). I'm also going to publish it serially on a web novel site (or maybe more than one). I'm considering Scribble Hub and Royal Road, but let me know if you have experience with any of them.

My goal is simple: to find readers who click with my writing. I don't care about likes or shares (other than the fact that they help get it in front of more people). My measure of success will be how many folks enjoy my writing enough to go sign up for my newsletter. I want to find my peeps. People who sign up so they can track my progress on the next book and be excited when it drops.

Hopefully more news about all that next month. In the meantime, here's the original and new book covers for A Clockwork Murder.

Similar vibes, but hopefully more eye-catching. In the original, I was going for a '80s LA murder mystery style book cover. Now I'm trying to lean more into the fantasy, but keep the murder vibes.

And for those that care, here's what it looks like in Blender, the 3D modeling software I use.

Anyway, time to get the kids ready for school and me ready for work. Sorry I missed my newsletter deadline again, but I was away last week for work. I did still get it out in April though. 😼

Until next month,
Todd