(To be completely accurate, it’s the plan for the rest of 2015 and 2016, but let’s not get too hung up on technicalities)

As is normal for anyone approaching the end of a calendar year, I’ve been thinking about the year that has passed and the new one ahead. After some high quality musing,  a few different ideas fell into place and I set about creating a writing schedule for the next year.

I was excited when I sat down to make the schedule. Mere moments later, I was overwhelmed and panicked. That’s right, I made up my own task list and promptly freked out at how much there was to do. Who needs external adversaries when your own brain is playing Moriarity to your low rent Holmes?

After a considerable amount of calming down and coffee drinking, the panic passed. There’s still a lot to do, and I’m not promising my internal deadlines are hard and fast, but I have a road map. Would you like to see it? Here are the highlights:

• Finish the first draft of book #4 (underway now, aiming to be done by end of February. Gonna need a title too)
• Revise WitchKids for an enhanced 3rd edition, with even less mistakes AND new content (ETA Mid-March)
• Revise Kingmaker for an enhanced 2nd edition: less oopsies, new story bits (ETA End of March)
• Revise The Patchwork Boy for enhanced 2nd Edition (ETA mid-April)
• Edit and publish book #4 (ETA oh geez sometime in 2016. End of May?)
• Book launch party for book #4 (after it’s done, okay?)
• Forest City Comicon (November 5&6)

And that’s not everything I want to work on, either. Sheesh.

The latest in my series of unique adventures put me in front of a room full of writers, to give a talk about science fiction and paranormal fiction as a part of a writer’s workshop series. I’ll admit, the vague and massive topic made me a touch nervous. I had a fear that somewhere there was a detailed note describing what I was actually supposed to talk about, and the class would sit and watch me with puzzlement as I talked about exactly the wrong thing.Continue reading “Learning From the Front of the Class”

The continuing quest for new readers is at times very tiring. It’s no easy feat to convince hordes of strangers to invest time (and a little bit of money) in your writing. But you have to do it,  because writers need audiences.

Oh sure, storytelling is a self-fulfilling pursuit to an extent. So is daybecauesdreaming. If internal satisfaction was enough, then most books would stay unwritten, floating in their author’s head in a nebulous cloud of possibility. Committing those ideas to concrete form on paper is driven by a need to share that story.

So, with a song in my heart and some promotional material in my hand, I set up a table at our local Comicon (Forest City Comicon) and gently hawked my wares to the attendees. Some people stopped to chat, many smiled nervously and walked on, and a bunch took a promotional bookmark that me and my tablemate foisted upon them. (Here’s what the fancy bookmark looked like)

But there was one interaction in particular that made the day worthwhile. I was sitting at the table munching away at a mediocre hot dog in a very stale bun when a young girl, probably around 9 years old, came up to the table with her little sister in tow. The older girl was in a Sailor Jupiter costume and had a very serious and earnest look on her face. She locked eyes with me in a feat of rare bravery for someone so small and said “your book sounds interesting and I think I might like it,. Can you tell me more about it please?”

My dad instincts wanted me to hug her and praise her for being so brave and well spoken, but I wisely chose not to hug the tiny stranger across the table. Instead I gave her a quick summary of the books. It was an interesting challenge to condense my normal rambling explanation into something a child could absorb on the spot, even a bright child like the girl in front of me. She listened closely with her attention unbroken throughout the whole exchange, and when I finished, she thanked me and walked off with her sister. Less than 5 minutes later, she returned with the rest of her family. Her dad asked her “are you sure that this is what you want?” and she nodded fiercely. Dad handed over the last of her allowance and she promptly handed it to me to buy her own copy of WitchKids.

And that was the best sale I have ever made. Thanks, Sailor Jupiter.