It’s not my fault—it’s the Olympics.
Last month, I said I would take some time off to watch the Olympics, but writing will dominate my days. It didn’t quite work out that way. Oh, I did take some time off, but writing didn’t dominate my days. I’ve always enjoyed the bobsled, luge, skeleton, ski jumping, hockey, and snowboarding—okay, I like many of the events, but during these games my youngest son and I, both developed a keen interest in curling.
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February is a short month and I didn’t get as much done last month as I intended.
Nearly every working day of this month will be devoted to writing and editing the sidequel and sequel to Through the Storm. Okay, I will take some time off to watch the Olympics—but writing will dominate my days.
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I first met Houston two years ago when I spoke about writing as a career at Centralia High School. I read some of his work and noticed a definite writing talent. Then a few weeks ago my friend Julie Zander asked if I’d like to help her mentor a writer as part of the local Rotary/TRiO program.
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I am a happy man.
Author rankings change constantly, and I tend to be more focused on writing and sales than my position on Amazon, but when I break into the top 10—well, I’ve just got to lean back and enjoy the moment.
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My friend Debby Lee is changing.
Many writers are shy, solitary, individuals that like nothing more than writing their stories and sending them off to agents and publishers. When I first met Debby I saw that reticence in her.
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Someone once said, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” I’m not sure that’s true, but in this case, I was very happy to see my name mentioned several times in The Chronicle, my local paper. A friend of mine, Julie McDonald Zander, writes a column for the newspaper and recently called me. Her first questions were when and why I started self-publishing. I told her I started my business in August of 2013, but I prefer the term indie-publishing.
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How many people does it take to create a novel?
Recently I watched X-Men Apocalypse with one of my sons. At the end of the action, we waited to see if there were any post-credit scenes (there is). As we watched the endless scroll of credits we discussed how many people were involved in the production of my last novel, Braving the Storms.
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Unlike many authors, Jennifer is an extrovert.
She denies it, but at a recent character creation workshop, I watched her work the room like a professional speaker. She listed fifty traits on the whiteboard. These ranged from age, gender, and height to hobbies, hometown, and favorite holiday.
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There are serious reasons to be an indie writer and not-so-serious ones.
This is a look at a few of both.
1. No Alarm Clocks. I live on a small farm so I still get up early, but almost never to the blare of an alarm clock.
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That was my goal 100,000 words!
I like to set goals. Each week I list chapters and blogposts that I’ll write, marketing plans to investigate or execute, people to contact, and more. One long-term goal I have is to write 100,000 words this year.
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The first book I read was Starman Jones by Robert A. Heinlein.
After that, I read every other book this master of science fiction wrote. I first toyed with the idea of writing as I read one of Heinlein’s novels. More than ten years passed before I completed my first short story and then another ten years slipped away before I attempted a novel.
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It’s nearly ready. The next book in the Strengthen What Remains series, A Time to Endure, is in the hands of beta-readers.
In the picture on the right I’m about to mail the first sixteen chapters of A Time to Endure to one of the beta-readers. In the upcoming novel, the exciting saga of Major Caden Westmore continues
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Enter and win a copy of Through Many Fires.
During the month of October I’m running a Goodreads giveaway for ten autographed copies of my latest novel, Through Many Fires. This contest is open to Goodreads.com members worldwide.
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