Bam!

Bam! In my last post, I mentioned that I’d started editing the sequel to First. Yes, I did. In fact, I finished the initial run-through on Saturday. Yeah, I probably could have done yardwork, but instead I spent several hours working on the book. I have to say, it was in better shape than I thought and expected to spend a few months on it. Instead, I shored up some of the weak points yesterday and today and we’ll see where that leaves things. Why is this so different from when I pulled Assignment Day out of the virtual drawer and spent more than two months editing it? Let’s take a little ride in the wayback machine, shall we? I’d like to chalk it up to experience, so let me explain. I wrote First and spent a LOT of time editing it, but also learning a lot. In between that writing and learning, I wrote the draft of Assignment Day. I published First and then edited Next Time. By the time I returned to Assignment Day, I’d learned a lot and realized I had to fix a lot of things to make it a better book. That translated to writing this draft for the sequel to First, where I spotted problems as they arose. That leads to less major editing in the future. Experience paid off in a creating a draft that is probably closer to the finished product than anything else I’ve written. The other piece of why it’s in good shape is due to the multiple false starts I had in trying to create the sequel. I had at least three attempts in putting together a storyline that I liked, failing miserably each time. It wasn’t until this last go-around that the mixture came out right and the magic happened. All of those factors combined into a book that I think is pretty darn good. Hopefully I don’t ruin it by tinkering with it too much.

Drafted

Great news! I finished the draft of the first book in my new series yesterday. I was right, the characters led me to a satisfactory conclusion and I set the stage for the next book. I’ll let it sit in the virtual drawer until I have the second book in the series complete, which might be summertime. That way if there are directional changes in the series as a whole, I can go back and edit the first book to conform. For those of you counting along at home, I have three books in various stages of completion. One, Assignment Day, is ready to publish once I get the funding. The second, the sequel to First, is done and needs several rounds of editing. I started doing that this morning and I have to say it’s not in as bad of shape as I thought. And, of course, the third is the draft I finished yesterday. Of the seven goals I set for 2025, completing this draft means I can mark off one of them and we’re barely halfway through the second month of the year. Lots of writing and editing going on around here and at some point it’s going to be publishing time. Looking forward to it.

Trends

As most authors do, I check my book sales on Amazon almost every day. And as mentioned previously, they don’t give you a raw number, but rather a ranking. I’ve learned over the past 18 months or so that while you can’t tell how many books you’re selling, you can at least tell you’re selling something. Why do I repeat all this? Because I’ve noticed something the past few weeks. Normally, I advertise with BookBub Friday-Sunday, spending a few dollars on running campaigns, which means I sell some books on the weekends. How do I know? Because the Amazon rankings go up for the books. Fascinating, you say. Not really, but thanks for feigning interest. Here’s what I’ve noticed that actually is interesting: I’ve been seeing the rankings also change positively at times during the rest of the week, fluctuating up and down even though I’m not running ads at those points. It’s been nice to see, although I don’t know the cause. Are my books getting recommended to other readers in ‘You Might Like’ sections? Or are people late in reading their weekend emails so that some of the sales are delayed? Have people added my books to their reading list and they’re now getting to them? Not sure if all or any of those could be the reason, but it’s fun to watch.

Ending 2

I recently wrote about figuring out the ending for the book I’m working on. Still thinking about it. I’m getting close, probably a week or so away from finishing the draft. Does it worry me that I don’t have a solid ending worked out yet? Not really. I trust the characters to get me there. In my mind I have the foundation of the ending and need to add in a little zest, like a chef would say in one of those cooking shows. It’s a little different mindset because not only do I have to wrap up the immediate story, but I also have to set the stage for the next book in the series and beyond. There will be storylines that play out over multiple books, as well as hints of characters or incidents that will come back into play at some future point. I think some of that will become clear if I actually sit down and make a map of my thoughts. Right now, though, I’m in writing mode and want to get this completed. I’ll circle back to some of that other stuff later.

Telescope

I still remember the first time I saw Saturn through a telescope. I figure I’m not alone in a memory like that, but hey, this is my blog and I’m telling the stories here. We lived in southern New Mexico and our class, maybe third grade, had taken an evening field trip to a local observatory. I remember seeing the planet and rings and how incredibly awesome it was to view the ringed planet like that rather than as a picture in a book. I was reminded a little of that last night when I got out the telescope the kids got me for Christmas. The weather has been overcast most nights since then and I’ve only been able to use it a couple of times, but finally we got a break. The first thing I viewed was the Moon. It was about a half-moon, which means it’s better to view so you can see craters and contrast along the terminator. Contrary to what some people think, the full moon is the worst since the shadows are what make things interesting. Plus, the full moon washes out everything else in the sky and generally makes for bad viewing. Anyway, I put the Moon in the center of the field and stepped aside for The Wife to see. She remarked this was probably the closest view she’s had of it other than in a book. Why do I tell this story? Because I think whether it’s Saturn when you’re a kid or the Moon when you’re a grown-up, they’re images you never forget. And in my case, started me on a lifelong journey of fascination with space that has ended up in my writing several books set against the backdrop of the planets and stars. I’m not saying that childhood look through a telescope made all that happen, but it sure didn’t stop it, either.

Time

It struck me recently that if I’d signed a deal with an agent back in mid-2022, my two recent books might not be published yet. I wasn’t posting to this blog at the time, but I’ve talked here previously about taking several months to research agents and send a multitude of query letters. It took a lot of time away from actually writing, but I figured it was worth a shot. The deal with that model is the time for the search, you sign a contract with the agent, the agent shops your book around, a publisher wants it, you sign a contract with the publisher, and then you wait. If an agent had been interested and able to sell First by the end of 2022, it might have come out toward the tail end of 2024. Next Time wouldn’t even be on the schedule yet since the publisher would probably want to see how First sold before committing to any other books. And Assignment Day? I probably wouldn’t have had time to finish it yet due to promotional commitments. All that to say, I’m incredibly happy I went the self-publishing route. I’ve sold more books than I expected but not as many as I want, and both have earned multiple awards. Would I have sold more with a traditional publisher? Can’t say for sure. All I can say with confidence is that it’s nice to be in control and put my books out there in my own time.

AI

I hear there’s a bit of conversation on the Interwebs about AI and writing. I took Microsoft’s Copilot out for a couple of short test drives and here’s what I found. No, I didn’t have it write a book for me. Although, I might try that and see how it goes just for fun. I took the manuscripts of Assignment Day and the new book I’m working on and asked it how I could make the story better. For the new book, which I ran through AI first, it gave me a list of about seven bullet points, saying I should use foreshadowing, more inner monologues for the characters, and some pretty general stuff like pacing. It picked up on the fact that there are multiple characters, which seemed like a good thing. Contrast that with its output for Assignment Day. The book starts off with a chapter about a character who appears later in the book, but he’s not the narrator or main character. Copilot threw out eight items, more than half of which named that first guy as the main character, and no mention of the actual first-person narrator. The list was similar to my first experiment with suggestions on more dialogue, pacing, descriptions, and proofreading.

Next, I asked for a summary of Assignment Day. This went a little better. It missed how a scene fit into the overall plot, but overall at least Copilot recognized that character from the prologue wasn’t the main one, but it also didn’t name the actual narrator and protagonist. At least it came up with a useful summary: “The story intertwines themes of technology, virtual reality, and the quest for truth, culminating in a suspenseful and engaging adventure.”

Were the answers to my question useful? For the most part, no. Would I get better results if I got more specific with my questions and honed in on certain aspects of the books? Probably, but not right now. More to come as I experiment with AI from time to time and figure out how it can actually help.

Ending

I’ve been working on that first book in a series that I started last year and picked up again a few weeks ago. It’s going along quite nicely, thank you, but I have a bit of a conundrum on my hands. I’m not sure of the ending. Usually when I write, I have a sense of how the book should end. This time there’s a logical wrap-up to the story, but I know it’ll need a little more than just logic. I don’t know that it needs a major twist in the plot to make it good, since that would likely cause problems with expectations for the rest of the series. In fact, a few years ago I read a series that started with a major plot twist at the end of the first. The rest in the series were good, but never quite lived up to that first one. I’m not saying you can’t have a twist in a book in the series, I’m saying I don’t think that’s the right way to go in this case. So, what do I do? What I usually do. Keep writing, think about it at odd times, go for a run or two where inspiration often strikes, and hope I come up with the right ending at the right time. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Snowpast

I’m back and for anyone who was wondering, no, we did not get 9 inches of snow a couple of weeks ago. Probably about 6” total, but nowhere near the apocalypse predicted. It snowed on that Thursday and was pretty much gone by Saturday. Cold weather stuck around, though, and this morning it’s 21 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of 10 degrees. I think I’ll stay inside and write. What’s up on that front, you ask? I didn’t write any while I traveled last week, but Friday and Saturday turned out to be quite productive. And yesterday as well, which means the first book in my new series is nearing two-thirds completion. I’m aiming for 75k words but would be okay if it came in a little bit shorter than that. My goal is for these books to be on Kindle Unlimited and to keep people reading through the whole series. That means, at least to me, that word count is less important than a good story that moves the reader along. If I can do that, then it’ll be a successful series.

Snow Day

Today we’re supposed to get 9 inches of snow in north Texas, which seems quite a bold prediction. It does seem to have the local population in a bit of a tizzy, though. Kind of funny, because when we lived in Kansas City this type of forecast seemed to happen several times every winter. Here, people loot the grocery stores like the end times are imminent. Fortunately, I work from home. That means I can avoid the craziness of going anywhere and having to deal with several million people who don’t know how to drive in snow. Having a snow day is no big deal, unless of course the power goes out. I recall very few snow days during my school years, mainly because snow was a rare occurrence in the desert of southern New Mexico, and even fewer times where we got out of school for the day. We’ll see what happens today, but I’d be surprised if we got as much snow as they think we will.

I have work commitments next week, so my next post will likely be on the 21st. Until then, stay warm.

Series

As I’m working on this series, which I started last year and have now picked up again and is also still unsettled with a name, I’ve been considering totally self-publishing the books when they’re ready. By that, I mean not going through a service like I’ve done with the past couple of books and more like I did with my Desert Sun series. Don’t get me wrong, the book publisher I used is fantastic. They make an awesome cover, format the book for both print and eBook, and distribute everywhere. With this series, though, I will likely go with Kindle Unlimited, in which case I don’t need someone to handle distribution. All I’ll really need is an awesome cover, and of course I’m willing to pay for that. Since my goal with these books is to get something in the hands of readers where they can binge on multiple books, Kindle Unlimited is where I think it’ll end up. And the thing with Amazon is that if you put out a book with Kindle Unlimited, you can’t publish it elsewhere, like Apple or B&N or Kobo. So, in my mind the question is: why go to the extra expense? I’ve put out books on Kindle before and feel confident I can do it again. And Amazon offers a print-on-demand service for anyone who wants a print copy. Seems logical to me.

2025

Now that we’ve reviewed last year’s goals, it’s time to make new ones for 2025. This time around it promises to be a little simpler, at least in the goals I’ve set down. I put in some extra stuff last time about marketing and podcasts, which maybe I should do this time as well, but thought I’d rather just keep it to the writing part. So, without further ado, here are my 2025 Goals:

1.       Publish First as an audio book

2.       Publish Assignment Day

3.       Edit First Step and prep for publishing

4.       Finish writing the first book in the new series

5.       Write the second book in the new series

6.       Set a publishing date for First Step

7.       Set a publishing date for first book in the new series

There you have it. Publish two books (one audio, one print), write two books, and edit a book I wrote last year. Let’s get started and see how the year goes.

The End

It’s fitting that on the last day of the year, I look back on the year and how things went versus my goals at the beginning of the year. We’ve reached the end of 2024. How would I categorize it? I think it went very well. I published Next Time, won numerous awards for it and First, and got a lot done otherwise. Let’s take a look.

1.       Publish Next Time - Done! My time-travel romance came out on June 11th. I’m proud of this book and the reviews and reactions to it.

2.       Promote Next Time and First - Done! I used BookBub all year in various ways, but also utilized other services, especially with the release of Next Time. Some of the services I used were geared toward the romance segment and that seemed to pay off okay.

3.       Do a featured deal on BookBub with First - Not done. I found after I recorded my goals that this is a tough one. Not impossible, but really tough for small-press authors like me. Once I dug in a bit to how it works and the books featured in BookBub’s emails, I realized this was not going to happen. It would’ve been nice, but I trashed this one early on.

4.       Do a new release deal on BookBub with Next Time - Not done. I also found this was a tough nut to crack and decided to spend my resources in other ways.

5.       Finish writing the first book in the new series - Not done. I started it and made it a good way through a first draft, but ultimately left it unfinished (for the moment) in order to write the sequel to First. I’ll return to it after the first of the year and see what I can make of the concept.

6.       Write the second book in the new series - Not done. See #5 above.

7.       Set a publishing date for Assignment Day - Kind of done. I’m about a day away from my final, final edit of this book. I have a goal of spring or early summer, but not a hard and fast date yet. Almost there.

8.       Get a total of 500 reviews for all the published books across all sites where sold - Done! I just tallied up reviews across Amazon, Goodreads, Reedsy, Apple Books, and B&N, and tallied 503! I know I missed a few, but to all who left a rating and/or review, thank you! They mean a lot and honestly, I didn’t think I’d meet this goal.

9.       Be a guest on at least three podcasts - Not done. I only did one podcast this year that I recall. Enjoyed it, but tbh I didn’t really spend a whole lot of time trying to accomplish this. Instead, I put out weekly videos on the run-up to Next Time’s release on various platforms and that seemed to work well.

As far as goals go, it appears to be a mixed bag. Thank you for your support in 2024 and I’m looking forward to big things in 2025.

Enough

At some point in writing a book you have to say enough’s enough. You can tinker with it, finding little things you’d like to change here and there, but at some point you have to be done. My daughter sent me a meme the other day that said, “Writing a book is like reading a book, except the book hates you.” Maybe a little strong, but there’s truth in that. I’m at this point with Assignment Day, where I need to say I’m done. I’m doing my final readthrough (out loud), but that should be it. My sister is going to copyedit it next month, and then I need to figure out when to publish it. I think it’s good enough, which sounds like faint praise, but the improvements I’ve made the past couple of months definitely made it better. Could I keep going and continue as my own worst critic? Sure. I have other projects to work on, though, and it’s about time to cut this one loose. I’m hoping to have this final round completed by the end of the year, less than a week away, and then it’s on to other projects that need my attention. Such is the life of an author.

Winding Down

The year is winding down and next week I’ll take a look at how it went compared to my goals. And then with the new year starting, I’ll set some goals for 2025. In the meantime, I have some time off work the rest of this week, which should allow me to finish editing Assignment Day. We’ll see. I still feel like I need to spice it up just a tiny bit. And then I want to read it through one more time, aloud to myself, so I can catch those pesky little errors that hang on as long as they can. I also want to start looking back into the possibility of turning First into an audio book and how that would be distributed. So yes, I have a few things to do over the holidays. Hope you enjoy yours.

Holidays

Prices slashed! Get ‘em now while you can! These deals won’t last forever! Yeah, that’s how I feel after cutting the prices on First and Next Time for the holidays, kind of like an ad for used car sales. I lowered them both to $0.99 USD and will be running some ads starting the 25th to get that sweet post-Christmas gift card money. I don’t plan on leaving them at that price level for very long, though, so these deals really won’t last forever. Sales have been pretty consistent since I raised the prices a few months ago, and even though the volume is down, I’m actually getting more in royalties. Not that I’m getting a ton of money, just more than the meager pittance I previously got. And this is still a pittance. When I raised the price of First to $2.99 USD, that meant the royalty rate increased to $2.10 USD per copy. So from that perspective, every copy sold paid the same amount as six copies sold at $0.99 USD, where the royalty rate is $0.35 USD per copy. Which might make you ask: why lower the price? Because the opportunity is ripe during the holidays to get my books into the hands of more readers. I’ve probably said it here before, but I’ll say it again. My goal is for people to read my books and enjoy them for that brief period of time, escaping into another world. Not for me to get rich, ‘cause that ain’t happening. The payoff is when someone tells me how much they liked the story, or the characters, and that they wish the book kept going. That’s what I’m looking for over the holidays.

Urgency

Now that I’ve completed my effort of revising the beginning of each chapter in Assignment Day, I’m reading through it again to see how it flows. Once again, that got me to thinking about a few things. Is the climax of the book good enough? I’ve worked on it quite a bit and I think it’s almost there. However, I also wondered if the book is missing something, namely urgency. One way to create urgency and an extra sense of danger is to make the threat timebound. Threat might be too strong a word, but think of the conflict, the force against which the protagonist is waging his effort. If that conflict is up against a ticking clock (not always a literal clock), then the reader feels the tension as well. I think that’s what’s missing from the book. A few weeks ago I added an event that means something, but it’s not clear that’s a hard and fast deadline. For a book I thought was close to being in shape to publish, this is taking a lot of work. That’s a good thing, though. Better to figure it out now than after it’s published.

Middle

One of the things I’ve been focusing on the past several weeks while editing Assignment Day is the beginning of each chapter. The book has 50 chapters and I bet I’ve changed how half of them start. What do you mean? you ask. I mean that the beginning of a chapter should draw you in, just like the end of a chapter should make you want to keep reading. I found a lot of instances where a chapter started soft. By that, I mean one or more paragraphs of prose or exposition, kind of like an introduction before getting to the meat of the chapter. I don’t remember where I heard this advice, probably from multiple places, but it went something like this: always start your chapter in the middle of the scene. It means starting with action. You can always go back and recap what the reader missed in the first part of the scene, if necessary, but throw them right into the middle. That immediately stirs up the reader’s interest and keeps them going. It’s a style that’s a lot less passive, and that’s what I want in my books. And so the editing continues.

Shift Back

I’ve decided I don’t like the chapter I added to Assignment Day last week. It creates too many problems, including the fact that it undermines one of the main premises of the story and I can’t resolve that issue to make it work. The addition seemed like a good idea, or at least worth trying. That’s the great thing about writing. I can do like I did and write the scene and see if it fits. It costs nothing but a little bit of time, unlike adding a scene to a movie or TV show where I’d have to pay lots of people to create the set and prep it for a few minutes of filming. In this case, I might keep some of the chapter but rework it a little, using it to create more questions than answers I don’t like. It does address a plot thread that was dangling, but I think I can do it in a different way. We’ll see how this goes.

Shift

I continue to make changes to Assignment Day during the editing process, including one I’m unsure about. I added a chapter yesterday that’s an interesting wrinkle to the story, but I’ll need to revise the chapter quite a bit since it’s too explanatory - one character kind of lecturing to another - and will have ripples in later chapters that I’m not sure I want. This is the part of writing that turns out to be interesting, if not exactly fun. I considered not writing that chapter at all but thought, hey, why not? Experiment and see if it turns out to be a good thing, and if it doesn’t I can delete it. I know where the idea came from in my brain since it seems like it should be a necessary component of the book, but again, I’m just not sure yet. Next step is to see if the effects on later chapters make sense, and if so, then re-work the new chapter to be palatable and not such a blatant plot device.

All that aside, I’m making one more addition to the book that I know I’ll like. It’ll add an extra layer of relatability for the reader and no, I’m not telling you what it is. At least not yet. Okay, it’s a dog. I figured the main character and his family needed an extra component to their interactions as well as something the reader can relate to. Maybe it seems a little indulgent to add something so minor this late in the game, but it’s my book and I can do what I want. Plus, I like dogs.