Dealing with Crunch Time

Since it’s the last Sunday of the month, I’ll be talking about my writing and events. Next week I’ll go back to talking about world building. If there’s a topic you want to hear about, just let me know in the comments.

I have also created a page listing all the magic I have on my world. I’ll be posting more about specific schools of magic as I have a chance to post them.

The Iowa Author Fair is coming up on October 8th at the Des Moines Public Library. I’m hoping to have a short story called The Invisible published and available for the fair. I’ll be showcasing my two novels there and will have them in paperback for sale. This will be my first author fair, so I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I have a lot of work to do before getting there.

Speaking of work to do, I posted a list of 16 things I wanted to get done with my writing before the end of the quarter. Let’s see how I did:

1. Write my first draft of The Invisible.

This was completed.

2. Alpha read The Invisible.

Also done.

3. Revise The Invisible based on my alpha read and submission restraints.

I decided to use the other short story for my submission, so the restraints were relaxed. I have revised the story, which made it a little longer.

4. Submit The Invisible to beta readers.

This has been done.

5. Revise The Invisible based on beta readers.

I’ve done some revision, but still need to get comments from beta readers.

6. Edit The Invisible.

Not done. Still waiting on betas, but I have hope to get this done before the end of the month (and quarter).

7. Submit short story (due September 1).

This was postponed to late October.

8. Proofread Illusion of Truth.

Completed.

9. Approve cover for Illusion of Truth.

It came out looking awesome! You can see it here. Thanks to Brent Nichols of coolseriescovers.com for the great job!

10. Publish Illusion of Truth.

Done! You can buy it anywhere e-books are sold or in paperback at Amazon.com

11. Develop scene list for Corruption of Blood.

In progress. Not completed.

12. Finish first draft of Corruption of Blood.

Not done. Bad Dan!

13. Plan, write, and prepare to publish as yet unknown short story.

Completed. It’s called the Hole in my Heart. It’s completely different from anything else I’ve written.

14. Read The Vanished Man by Jeffrey Deaver.

Completed. If you’ve never read the Lincoln Rhyme series, I’d highly recommend it.

15. Hold a giveaway on Goodreads.com.

Not done. Bad Dan!

16. Hold a giveaway on Amazon.com.

This is going on right now! You can get the e-book version of Heir of Chaos free anywhere e-books are sold! If you like it, give it a rating. If you don’t like it, give it a rating! Any feedback just makes me a better writer, so while I hope you enjoy my books, let me know how I can be better!

11 completed out of 16. Pretty good, I have to say. Here are my goals for next quarter:

  1. Prepare to draft Book 4, which has no title.
  2. Write 1st draft of Book 4 during National Novel Writing Month, winning for the 5th year in a row.
  3. Edit The Invisible.
  4. Approve the cover design for The Invisible.
  5. Publish The Invisible.
  6. Finish the first draft of Corruption of Blood.
  7. Read How to Market a Book by Joanna Penn.
  8. Write a blog post per week.

That’s only eight things, but they are huge! I’m publishing a 10,000 word story, writing a whole book, and finishing another in three months.  Wish me luck!

Thanks for all the support. I really appreciate it. As always, if you want to hear about anything, let me know in the comments.

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