A Writer's Week #130: Spring Fever

Well, spring has definitely sprung here in Candlewood Corners, Connecticut. Grass is growing, flowers are blooming, trees are budding. Activity has also been rising on the writing front---from scheduling new appearances to working on production of my recently completed manuscript to the launch of a new Deliverers Series video trailer to the writing of yet another new book, things are rising to a fever pitch around here. Good stuff indeed. Here are some tidbits about each project:

Appearances

I've booked several already beginning in May, and I have more in the planning stages. I'll be posting updates on the Deliverers Series Facebook page as well as my Appearances page on this site.

Deliverers Series

I recently completed a video trailer for the overall series. Here it is if you haven't seen it:

You can view all of my Deliverers-related videos on a new video page on this site. There you will find a book trailer for each book, a couple interviews I conducted with myself long ago, samples from the audio book version of Sharky and the Jewel, and some other tidbits.

Book 4, Sparkling Mist of Time, has been receiving some great reviews, particularly from Fairday's Blog, as well as a 5-Star review from Readers' Favorite.

As the Owl Flies

The entire manuscript has been formatted, and Emily Hurst Pritchett is working on the cover and illustrations for each story. This is a really exciting project, as it will bring together short stories and poems I wrote pre-Deliverers. While geared for middle grade and teen readers, it is a departure from the fantasy adventure genre that I'm know for. I'm kind of taking a leap of faith with this little book, so to speak. In any event, I hope you all give it a shot and check it out.

When determining what formats to present the book in, I decided to publish it as an e-book and a paperback right away. After giving it more thought, I also decided to release it as an audio book. SO, once it's all put together, I will be posting it on ACX for auditions. I've already had one narrator indicate that they would be interested in auditioning, so I'm hoping I'll have some interest.

Here is the back cover blurb to give you an idea of what the book will be like:

As the Owl Flies is a collection of stories that warm the heart, and make you smile.

Originally written to be read aloud to friends gathered comfortably together, these stories convey simple, universal truths in a lighthearted, fun way. The whimsical illustrations help bring the characters to life, capturing their foibles and quirks. In between are sprinkled four poems of hope, optimism, and thankfulness that will make you (perhaps) think. Some of the friends you’ll meet within these pages include:

• A squirrel who must decide how to use the gift that is given to him'
• An old man forced to reevaluate his life.
• A disappointing Christmas present, that becomes the greatest gift of all.
• A beaver who yearns to soar.
• A girl whose dreams signal disaster.

A fun, thought-provoking read for all ages, these stories are a breath of fresh air that will revive your spirit and restore your faith in human nature.

Tales From the Dragon Islands

I'll be getting back to middle grade fantasy adventure with my latest work in progress, Tales From the Dragon Islands. I'm not sure if that will be the title of the book, or the name of a series--we'll have to wait and see. I've been working slowly on this and so far, I'm up to about 2,300 words, so just getting started, really. It's about an event that happens on the Dragon Islands about 3,000 years before the Deliverers pay a visit. 

I've been a little nervous about where this manuscript is headed, because I have an idea of the protagonists and where they will end up, but almost no idea of how they are going to get there. This will be very much a case of letting the characters show me what will happen. When this happens to me, it's always very exciting, but also terrifying. Thankfully, after really wondering where this was headed for the first 1,300 words or so, the last 1,000 have given me hope that my characters might know what they're doing. I'll let you know if that continues as things move along.

Peace

A Writer's Week #121: Cover Reveal Coming Soon

 It's been exciting times here in Candlewood Corners, Eric Scott's home town. Illustrator Emily Hurst Pritchett has come up with the goods, delivering (no pun intended) the final map, chapter heading, and of course cover for The Deliverers:  Sharky and the Jewel. 

I must say, that Emily did a fantastic job. It really gets me looking forward to what she's going to do for the next two books! You might also have noticed that the blog design has changed a bit as well. While I'm not usually a big fan of black as a design color, I think it works for a refresh. I had considered white, but it just didn't work for me. This is just much crisper and fresh. You can also see a glimpse of the Deliverers themselves at the top of the blog. I've been dying for a "portrait" of our four heroes, and Emily delivered a good one.

Now, I'm not ready to reveal the cover quite yet. I've reformatted it and uploaded book interior changes to Amazon's KDP. I'm currently waiting on a proof copy to review to make sure everything worked out all right. For now, I'll share the new map of Calendria and the chapter heading picture:

Not too shabby, right? Right now, I'm working on updating the Sharky and the Jewel book trailer. When that's done, I'll post it on my YouTube channel as well as here on the blog.

With all this going on, writing has taken a back seat, but I'm hoping I'll have some time to sit down and type out a few lines over the next week or so. I'll see you again soon. Be well.

A Writer's Week #119: Drawing Up a Plan

 Since I've resumed posting this year, I've been talking about refreshing the Deliverers Series brand in order to breathe new life into the books ahead of the intended release of Book 4 by the end of 2023. The refresh will include a redesign of the blog, including a new propriety domain name, new book trailers, and new marketing.

The biggest and most important change is going to be a complete redesign of the books themselves. That includes new cover illustrations, titles, maps, chapter heading illustrations, and chapter title fonts. I searched for an illustrator for a while, and I found a cracking good one. Her name is Emily Hurst Pritchett, and she is based in Boston. She is a seasoned illustrator with a number of book covers to her credit, along with numerous other projects each year.

I really love her illustrations, and I think her style is perfect for the series. She's already started on Sharky and the Jewel. Artwork for all three books should be completed by early summer. Here are several examples of her work:

Here's the bio from her website:

Emily was raised on a steady diet of animation and comic books that built her love of storytelling through art. She studied illustration at Brigham Young University. She has illustrated picture books, middle-grade books, and role-playing game materials, including three Christmas books and two Christmas projects based on Dungeons and Dragons. She especially enjoys working on any fantasy story.

Emily currently lives in Boston with her husband and two children, where she enjoys sketching the interesting characters she meets on the street and admiring old churches. She fills her time with reading, video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and acting in community theater. Her dream is to travel through Italy, where she will also sketch interesting characters and admire old churches.

Check out her collaboration with her husband Luke, a physicist and aspiring poet, at haiku.emilypritchettart.com. 

In my next post I'll share some proposal sketches that Emily prepared from which I chose a couple to work up into more polished samples.
 

A Writer's Week #118: Progress

 This week has been busy, but good. I was able to make my weekly writing goal. I wrote almost 2,200 words, and the book is moving along. I'm at over 18,000 words and things are beginning to get interesting. I know that the plot will take an interesting twist shortly, but I'm not exactly sure how everything will progress from that point. I have a general idea of the direction I will be taking, but nothing concretely mapped out. Hopefully, I will be able to sort things out smoothly as I go. We shall see.

On the series rebrand front, my illustrator has done a bunch of thumbnail sketches for the first book cover. I find the creative process fascinating. Each person seems to have their own fairly unique approach. She'll use those thumbnails to narrow down her ideas to two or three cover sketches. She should have those ready sometime this week, then I'll get a chance to give my feedback. I'm really excited to see what she comes up with. Some of the thumbnails were quite intriguing.

As I contemplate what the cover might look like, it reminds me that I'm going to have to do quite a bit of work re-doing my marketing materials. I'm going to do new book trailers for all three books. At this point I'm not sure if I'll keep what I have and just replace the visuals, or if I'll rework them all from scratch. I'm thinking it will have to be the latter, but I won't know until the artwork and cover designs are complete.

I'll also have to redesign the blog, rework the interiors of the books, and numerous other small things. I plan to do book launches for each of the three as if they were being published for the first time. Really, they are going to be brand new. Again, I'm really excited.

Once I have some working sketches to share, I will also reveal the talented artist's name and show you some of her previous work. Hopefully, that will be next time. See you then!

A Writer's Week #117: A Fresh Start

 Hi everyone. I hope you have all had a great week. My week has been pretty eventful. It's been a while since my last Writer's Week post, but I feel like I've finally done something that's worthy of a post. I have resumed work on The Deliverers 4: Sparkling Mist of Time. The first 12 chapters were completed in 2016. Since then, I have not done much with it aside from some editing and chapter rewrites. Over the last couple months, I've written four more chapters. 

This week, I made the decision to complete the book by the end of this summer and get it ready for publication in time for Christmas. It will take a lot of work, but I'm extremely excited. So, once again I will set a goal to write 2,000-3,000 words per week in order to make those deadlines. I'll write a post each week to keep you updated on my progress.

Coming to this decision was a long process. Writing is a solitary activity. You have to be focused on the task, and it's easy to doubt yourself. I was burned out after three years of intense activity--writing books, writing blog posts, coordinating book layout and design, marketing, selling books at various shows. All of this was happening while my children were growing bigger every time I turned around. So, I stepped back for what I thought would be a year or two. That turned into six or seven. After some talks with my wife and other family members and friends, I decided to buckle down and get back in the game.

Now, I'm starting from scratch. With that in mind, I've come to the difficult decision to redesign and rebrand the series. I agonized over this for the better part of the last year. Daniel Vogel, the artist for the first three books, was just 14 when he did the cover and map for Sharky and the Jewel. He did a fantastic job on all the books and I will always be very grateful for his contributions. However, that was 11 years ago, and I felt that it was time to update the look of the series.

Once I came to that decision, I had to find an illustrator. Daniel has moved on to other things, so I spent a month searching for an illustrator whose style matches my vision for The Deliverers and would be appealing to middle grade readers. Last week, I found her. I'll announce who it is in a future post, but this week, we agreed to partner with each other, and I couldn't be more excited. Right now, she's reading the first book and will be working on some rough sketches next week. Really looking forward to seeing what she comes up with and sharing the journey with all of you. 

Have a great week!

A Writer's Week #65: Fun Week

I can't tell you what a fun week it's been for me! It all started on Monday when Jess and Stephanie at The Secret DMS of Fairday Morrow's blog reviewed the audio book version of Sharky and the Jewel.  Thank you so much for your kind words, Jessica and Stephanie! You're right, Jimm Singer did a fantastic job on the audio book and I'm glad you agree. Here's a sample:

In the middle part of the week, I came up with a fantastic idea for Eric and the rest of the Deliverers to get from one island to another. In the third book in the series, The Golden Dragon of Ang, they have to visit each of the five Dragon Islands and return to the first within two weeks. Their first trip by ship took about 3 days. I knew that sailing from island to island was not going to  get them back home on time. So I had to figure out a  different way to get them from place to place. This week, I figured it out, and it ties in with a huge plot element, so I was very pleased.

Today, Fairday's blog came through again with a brilliant interview with narrator Jimm Singer. I am so pleased that everyone is enjoying the audio book. Audiofile Magazine has put the audio version in its "review queue" which means that in the next couple of months they will be reviewing it online. I'll let you know when it appears. In the interview Jimm confirms that he will be narrating the audio book version of Order of the Crystal Lion, the second book in the Deliverers Series. I'm really looking forward to working with him again.

You may be wondering when you'll see the paperback and the e-book versions of book 2. Well, it looks now like it will be in early May. There has been so much going on that I've had to push the release date back. Don't worry, I can assure you that it will be worth the wait. I'm really excited for it to come out. As soon as I know more, I'll pass it on to you.

Meanwhile, I've been working away on book 3. The Golden Dragon of Ang is progressing well. With everything going on this week, I was only able to write about 1,400 words, but I'm 33,700 words into the story. That's 31 chapters and 146 pages. This book is growing fast! I'm hoping that there will be less of a gap between the release of books 2 and 3 than there has been between books 1 and 2. But come what may, I can guarantee that there will be more to come from Eric & Co. before all is said and done. I'll be back with another update next week!

A Writer's Week: Making a Breakthrough

After last week's challenges, I was worried that this week would be more of the same. Happily, that wasn't the case. I had a great week. On Saturday, I came up with a solution to the sticking point that I'd run into on the new book. I was able to map out a solution, which led to an improvement in another area. That gave me a great outlook for the rest of the week.

I was concerned that I would not have enough time to put my solution down on paper. I had an evening meeting on Monday, and a school visit after work on Wednesday, so my time was at a premium. I had to scramble just to get some blog posts written. In spite of this, I was able to carve out a little bit of time to make a start. I was able to rewrite and edit one thread in the story. The really big change remains to be made, but I've got the road map, so that shouldn't be a problem as long as I have the time. Stay tuned.

The other great writing-related event that I was able to participate in this week happened on Wednesday night. Yes, you guessed it--another school visit. However, this visit was a little different from the others that I've made. Before I go any further, I'd like to thank Mrs. Pote, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Magliaro, and everyone at Morris Street School for allowing me to come and be a part of such a great event.

I was able to participate in an after school event for students and parents where I was able to share what inspired me as a writer. I also got a chance to ask the kids what kind of writing they did, and what inspired them.

This was a new experience for me because the grades ranged from kindergarten to fifth grade. In addition, their parents were there, too. The kids were one thing, but would I be able to interest the parents? Well, I have to say that it was a challenge to engage such a wide age range, but I have to say that I think I managed to pull it off.

Most of the children were pretty excited, and they asked great questions, and had some great insights. The parents seemed to enjoy it, too. I even managed to give them a chuckle a time or two. I spoke to two groups for a little over 20 minutes each. Afterwards, I was able to sell a few books, which was the icing on the cake.

The school year is starting to wind down, but I have one more visit scheduled in June, and I'm looking forward to it. As I've said before, school visits are the best part of writing a book. I still remember the affect that having Christopher Collier visit our class when I was young to talk about writing My Brother Son is Dead and autographing my copy. It is humbling to think that I might be able to have the same affect, I some small way at least, to have the same sort of affect on the classes that I visit. Who knows, maybe I've already spoken with the next Rick Riordan. 

This young man had a couple of very interesting questions. He's definitely one of the youngest readers I've spoken with. It was pajama day, by the way. Wish I'd worn mine!

Anyway, I feel like I'm back on the right road with my writing, and getting some good feedback on The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel, so I'm expecting to make some good progress next week. Check back on Friday to learn how I made out.

Monday Interview Series: Merlin's Rebuttal

Well, things have certainly been exciting here at The Deliverers Publishing Headquarters. First of all, I am offering the Kindle version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel for free for the next three days (5/8, 9 & 10), and they've been going like hotcakes. At one point today, I was giving away a book a minute! Heady stuff. Now I know how J.K. Rowling must feel (numb). Would that folks were paying for them! Oh well, hopefully this will generate some word of mouth and some reviews!

The other thing that's been occupying my time has been the controversy generated by yesterday's interview with King Arthur. In case you missed it, he had some rather unpleasant things to say about his onetime friend and mentor, Merlin. I have to admit that I was shocked.

So, I suppose it wasn't a surprise when I received a phone call from the venerable wizard. He was upset that Arthur painted him in such an unflattering light, and that I had acted in his words, "like a most hard hearted and shameful accomplice." Well, what could I say? I offered him equal time to tell his side of the story, if he was willing.

He jumped at the chance. So, straight from Merlin's Cave, here is Merlin's rebuttal.

Greg:  Well, Merlin, it certainly is nice to meet you, although I wish the circumstances might be a little more cheery.

Merlin:  Thank you for the opportunity my boy. It really is good of you to allow me some time to defend myself.

Greg:  Not at all. We don't usually do two interviews in one week, but I thought the situation warranted it. Now, why don't you tell us where Arthur went astray in his recollection of events.

Merlin:  Gladly. Unfortunately, most everything he said was sheer fabrication. I was the guiding force behind the throne. I've known Arthur since he was a mere boy. I was his teacher, and schooled him in the ways of the natural world, government, morals and ethics. I suppose I did not do a very good job on that last item.

But to address your question, Arthur might think he accomplished what he did on his own, but it was I who laid the groundwork. As for my magic not amounting to much, I'll have you know that I have performed many extraordinary feats. I am a master shape changer, and used that power to great effect in Arthur's education.

Greg:  Yes, but what about the time traveler from Connecticut who blotted out the sun?

Merlin:  Argh! It was that Twain person. He had it in for me from the very start. Always painted me as a villain, a fool. What he did was not magic, mere looking back to the past. Hindsight is always 20/20. I look into the future. My specialty is seeing what shall be.

Greg:  Then why didn't you see what was coming?

The Book's on Nook!

Hi all. Right now, I'm between work and a big Lions' meeting, so I won't have time to post an interview as I normally do. I'll have one for you tomorrow evening instead.

I do have some news to share that can't wait, however. The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel is now available on the Nook at Barnes & Noble.com! It's $2.99, so if you own a Nook, please check it out.

          

I've got to run, but I'll be back tomorrow. Have a great night!

Folks, We Have A Winner!



The Spring Has Sprung Giveaway has come to an end. Thank you to all of you who entered by following the blog or liking The Deliverers Facebook page! Thank you to Rafflecopter for handling all the tracking, etc. Now, to announce the winner.

Drumroll...er, um, we didn't budget for a drumroll, so just bang on the table as you read this! And the winner is...De Ann Townes!

Congratulations. I'll be getting out your signed copy of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel and your $25 Amazon gift card out to you right away.

Again, thanks to everyone who participated. If you're new to the blog, and are enjoying it, please spread the word to your friennds, family and anyone else that you can think of!

A Writer's Week #13: The Middle of the Marathon

This was a fantastic week! It had the best of all possible things; a busy, productive work week, fun with the family, a decent amount of writing, a satisfying marketing accomplishment, and even a few book sales.

The writing came pretty easily this week. I wrote about 1,500 words, and I would have written more, but I started a project that took up some time. I'm at the point in the book where I'm just keeping at it, plugging away. I'm having fun writing, but at this point it's like a marathon where the exhileration of the start has given way to marking the miles as they go by. Sometimes I feel pretty good, like the guy on the right in the picture above. At other times, I'm feeling kind of flat, like the flapjack next to him (yes, that's a flapjack--it said so in the caption). I'm working on delivering (no pun intended) a great story, while gearing up for a strong finish. We'll see how everything turns out.

I was able to write and produce my own video book trailer this week. It turned out very nicely, and I'm like a new parent right now, full of pride and optimism. I've posted it everywhere I can think of, including at the bottom of my blog, and in yesterday's post. Here's a link to it on YouTube. Please share it everywhere you can, and let me know what you think.

This week was also great because it marked the seventh anniversary of Gotcha Day, the day we picked up Abigail in China. We celebrate it every year. I wrote a post about adopting Abby a while back. Every day, we can't believe how incredibly blessed we are for having Abby and her big brother Christian.

So, as you can see, it was a truly spectacular week, but now it's back to the marathon. I can't wait to find out what's around the next bend.

New Book Trailer Released

It's been a busy week. Work has been a scramble, with late nights and early mornings, but it's all turned out well, so I'm happy. On Tuesday, one of my coworkers showed me a video of one of our corporate events on his iPad. It was done in a movie trailer format, and looked really sharp.

My brain immediately began working, and I thought, wouldn't it be great to make my own book trailer. I don't have any fancy Mac equipment, but I thought maybe Windows had some software. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had Windows Movie Maker already on my computer! Just goes to show how much of a techie babe in the woods I am.

I spent Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning looking for decent, public domain royalty free video to use, and writing the script. On Wednesday, I talked Christian into acting like Eric peering into the drainpipe under our driveway, but it was partuially blocked with logs, and I didn't get a good shot. It didn't matter anyway, as I later found that I had been holding my iPod Nano the wrong way and the footage was upside down!

It was then that I decided to scrap the video and go with stills. But how could I make an exciting video without video? The program features a bunch of different efffects. I played around with a number of different ones for each shot until I was satisfied.

Once that was done, I had to add music. There's a very talented composer who has scads of short compositions of varying genres that you can use for free as long as you credit him. His name is Kevin MacLeod. Here's a link to his site. After a number of tries, I found the right piece and, voila! First class book trailer. CreateSpace can do a minute long trailer for you for $2000, so I'm that much ahead. Not a bad job if I do say so myself.

So, here's the trailer. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

A Writer's Week #12: A Hectic Week

This was a challenging week at work. There was a lot of stuff going on. We were prepariing for the beginning of a four month training initiative for a new system that will affect a large portion of the company. Things have been getting down to the wire the last few days, with some last minute changes making for some late nights. Thank goodness I'm part of a great team that works well together. Everyone pitches in, which is a blessing.

In spite of that, I still managed to have a decent writing week. I wrote a little over 1,500 words. I was also able to map out much of the remaining plot line for the new book, tying together a lot of loose ends. I still haven't been able to weave together all the thematic threads, but I think I can see where there will be opportunities to do so. I'll have to leave the actual doing up to the characters. It will be fun to watch the story as it unfolds!

On the marketing side, my efforts to promote The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel have been somewhat successful. I launched a promotion, the Spring Has Sprung Giveaway. By the way, you still have time to enter by becoming a follower of this blog and/or liking the book's Facebook page. The prize is a $25 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of my book.

I also reconnected with a mentor, Louise Ladd. She's a children's book writer with a couple of series (The Double Diamond Dude Ranch Series and The Anywhere Ring Series)  to her credit. She also is a freelance editor, aka The Book Doctor. She had been very helpful to me when I first started The Deliverers. She encouraged me to pare down my first three original chapters into one, which really made the beginning tighter and faster paced. Anyway, I'm sending her the book and she's going to look it over and give me some quotes to use for promotion. It's the first small step for me to use testimonials to promote the book. Wish me luck.

I had a decent sales week this week, so I'm back in the saddle on that score. It's funny, but when I have a bad sales period, it makes me more aggressive trying to drum up sales. Wish I could be so outgoing all the time. But hey, I'm a writer. I'm a better observer than talker.

Anyway, I'm energized to have a really great writing week. We'll see how well that works out. I'll talk with you again next week!

My Favorite Books: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Last week, I introduced this column, and I have to admit that I didn't think it through as well as I wanted. This week, I'm writing about a book that really introduced me to the whole fantasy genre, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

Why is this one of my favorite books?

As I said above, this is the book that really introduced me to the fantasy genre. I've told the story before about how my mother would read us all a chapter of LWW every day at the dinner table. I was about 12 or 13, and it just sparked something in me. I think it was the idea that you could just walk through something ordinary, like a wardrobe, and enter into another world. That was something that caught my imagination.

What I didn't know when I first read it.

I had no idea when I first read any of  The Chronicles of Narnia that C.S. Lewis was anthing other than a darn fine fantasy author. I had never heard of any of his philosophical or spiritual works. I am embarassed to admit that I still haven't read much of his other writing.

I also had no idea  that the chronicles were allegorical. Now when I read them, I can see a lot of the hidden meaning. I think it's kind of cool that Lewis was able to convey a lot of the themes of Christianity in a series of books that are such good reads.

When I was writing The Deliverers, I had a hard time trying to get across the theme of Eric struggling with his father's death and his feelings of guilt. It was only after I stopped trying so hard that the message was able to come through naturally. Go figure.

I also didn't know that C.S. Lewis anf J.R.R. Tolkien were good friends, and that they were part of a writing group called The Inklings. This group of Oxford professors would gather to listen to each other read whatever they were writing at the time, and offer critiques. Believe it or not, I had no idea who Tolkien was. I would a short time later!



Why I would recommend this book to others.

I would recommend this book because of it's simplicity. There aren't a lot of wasted words in this book. It's very simple and direct, just a good story without a lot of window dressing. This book allows you to paint the pictures in your mind. I love that. There's nothing like imagination for making a book come alive.

Also, who wouldn't like to go to another world, and become a king or queen? Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan liberated an entire country, just by being who they are, and remembering who they are. What a great message!

A Writer's Week #11: Down in the Valley

The purpose of this column is to chronicle my journey as I write my new book, and as I market my current one, The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. For the most part, that journey has been filled with highs.

On the writing front, the new book has been a joy to write. There hasn't been any of the wrong turns and retooling that marked the excruciatingly long process of writing the first book. Although I've only had a chance to really write on the weekends, I've been able to put the time I had to good use pretty consistently.

Meanwhile, on the marketing side, book sales have been consistent (check out the book here. If you've read it, please review it.), for the most part. I've been able to have a book signing, visit some classrooms, and had a few interviews. This blog is also attracting some attention, and page views have been rising steadily (please become a follower and like the book on Facebook by clicking over to the left.).

This week, however, I've felt a little like I've stumbled into a valley. Last week, I wrote that I'd reached a point in the book where I had to step back and think through where the story was headed. I was anticipating that I wouldn't get much written this week,. Secretly, though, I hoped that I'd get things mapped out quickly and get a respectable amount of writing done, too.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. I mapped out what I need to include in the story, but I'm still not that clear on how it will all be accomplished. I decided that I'd had luck following the characters' lead, so I'd let them lead me through this patch. Well, I still believe that's the right course, but I only wrote a couple hundred words before I had to stop. I felt like I was writing a bad cartoon. So, I'm going to regroup and give it another go this weekend.

The marketing end didn't go so well this week, either. It was the first week in a while that I didn't sell a single book, either in person or through Amazon. I'm also struggling for ways to get my book reviewed and out in the public eye. I think it just comes down to asking, but I don't like to be pushy. This is something that I'll just have to get over.

To be honest, I'm going to have to look at the marketing aspect of this whole deal. I can write, but publicity aint my strong point. I'm trying to do at least one thing every month. With this in mind, stay tuned for a little promotion that I'll be announcing this weekend.

Overall, though, I've been pretty lucky. I've had a lot of support from my family, my friends, coworkers, and all of you. Thank you so much. The valleys are inevitable, but it won't be long until things are moving forward once again. I'll let you know how things are going next week.

Monday Interview Series: Alice (as in Wonderland)

Happy Monday, everybody! This week, I'm really pleased to be talking with the legendary Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She is the heroine of one of the first modern "fantasy" novels. Actually, her journey is a little like Eric's in my book, The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. She finds a way into a different world by following a white rabbit, while Eric follows a white owl. Hmmm, you know, I never realized that until now! Of course, Alice's adventure was, in my opinion, much stranger than Eric's.

Anyway, let's get the show on the road. Here's Alice.

Greg:  Welcome, Alice! Alice, that's a lovely name, but, uh, I don't know your full name, what exactly is it?

Alice:  Some people say that my full name is Alice Liddell, a young friend of Mr. Carroll's. Personally, I prefer to be called Alice. Just Alice. As for my last name...I'm not telling!

Greg:  Oh, well, okay, Alice it is, then. How old are you, Alice?

Alice:  I'm seven annd a half, if you please, but many people are surprised by that. They always think I'm older, although I can't understand why.

Greg:  Yes, well,  if I may say so, you seem very grown up for one so young. As I mentioned in the introduction, your first adventure began when you chased a little white rabbit down a hole. What about the rabbit attracted your attention, and why did you chase him down a hole?

Alice:  First of all, I would like to make it perfectly plain that I was in no way looking to cause anyone any problems. in spite of what the Queen of Hearts might say. My growth spurt had nothing to do with the stolen tarts. It was also not my intention to knock over the jury box. Besides, not allowing people to grow a mile tall is such a silly law. I'll admit that it is out of the ordinary, but certainly nothing to lose one's head over.

Greg:  I heartily agree with that, my dear, but you didn't really answer the question.

Alice:  Question? What question?

Greg:  What made you chase the rabbit down the hole?

Alice:  Rabbit? Oh, yes of course, the rabbit. As I recall, it was a dreadfully boring summer day. There was nothing to do except laze by the river. When the White Rabbit ran past, it was impossible not to notice him. For one thing, I was bored, for another, who wouldn't notice a rabbit dressed  in a smart suit of clothes, looking at his pocketwatch? It's just not the sort of thing one sees every day, or at least it wasn't then. so of course I had to follow him.

Greg:  When you put it that way, how could you not? Following the rabbit got you started on what would be a long, strange trip, so to speak. What stands out as the strangest encounter on your journey?

The Deliverers Hits the Road

Hello, all! Tonight I've got a special post. I wanted to post a few pictures from Friday's visit to Mrs. Robinson's fifth grade class. I wrote about the visit on Friday. I had a great time, and the kids asked a ton of great questions.

My thanks fo Mrs. Robinson for inviting me, and for the following pictures.



That's me, happy they're asking questions!





Hey, they're interested!



When it was all over, I handed out some Deliverers bookmarks and pencils--you know, snazzy marketing stuff. They all wanted me to sign their bookmarks--pretty cool. Luckily, Mrs. Robinson had a Sharpie--I'll have to make a note of that for next time.



This is me signing. Albert looks bored behind me!



Still signing--guys, don't miss the bus!



The students were great, and Mrs. Robinson is a fantastic teacher! I can't thank them enough for letting me come and spend some time with them.



Teacher & Author Stephanie Robinson holding some snazzy
bookmarks. Nice hat!



So, it was a great afternoon that I won't soon forget. It was the perfect first school visit for this shy, reclusive author. I'm ready for more. If you're a teacher in western/central CT, or Westchester County, New York, I'd love to come to your class and do a reading and answer questions, or whatever you'd like. Leave a comment, or message me on Facebook!

A Writer's Week #9: This is What It's All About

What an interesting week I had! It was filled with aggravation, but there were many great hidden moments. I had a great time with the family over the weekend. I wrote a bunch. I sold a bunch of books. It seemed that every time I turned around, someone wanted a copy--or two. Even the stressful work week ended well. I wrote all about that yesterday. Today, the work week ended on a high note. I finished the preparations for next week's training sessions, and I was able to pay a visit to a great class of children.

That visit was truly the shining moment of my writer's week. I spent the afternoon with Mrs. Robinson's 5th grade class. What a great experience! I have to admit that I was nervous. This was my first visit to a class as a writer. I've read to classes before, but always other people's books.

This was the perfect day to visit, because it was Read Across America Day. It's a wonderful annual event, and I was proud to be a small part of  it in my first year as a published author.

So, when I drove over today, I wasn't sure how it would be. Would the kids be interested? Would they ask questions? I was slated for a little over a half hour. How was I going to fill that time? I knew that Mrs. Robinson had read the first chapter of The Deliverers to the class yeaterday, and had asked them to think of some questions. But, really, how many questions could they ask?

I felt reasonably safe. I planned to read chapter 2. That should generate some interest. If nothing else, it would kill some time. Then, they'd ask a few questions, and time would be up. A respectable presentation, but nothing really spectacular. After all, it wasn't like J.K. Rowling was visiting, how into it could they get, right?

The fact is, I never got the book out of my bag. From the moment I sat down in front of them, they asked one question after another. And they were great questions! They asked where I got my ideas, who the characters were based on, how long it took me to write the book.

A half hour later, the questions were still coming. I handed out some bookmarks and pencils. Then they asked me to sign their bookmarks. What a great day! As I've said in the past, this is what writing is all about. When you can connect with the reader, and see that you've touched them in some small way, you know you're doing something right.

I want to give a big thank you to Mrs. Robinson and her entire class for making me feel so welcome, and for being so interested. I learned a lot about all of them, and I hope they learned something about me and the writing process! I'll have some pictures in a future post. Stay tuned.

What? Oh, how did the writing go this week? It started out great, but with everything that was going on, I couldn't turn in the monster writing week that I had hoped. Still, I wrote a little over 2,000 words on the new book, bringing me into chapter 20. I'm still behind my original goal, but I'm not sweating it much. I also sent the book in progress to Daniel Vogel to read so he can begin to think of ideas for a cover.

So, things are moving right along. I wonder what next week will bring...

Stopping to Smell the Roses

Whew! What a week it's been! Did you ever have one of those weeks where life just seems to keep throwing you things, so much so that you don't know whether you're coming or going? That's the kind of week I've had.

First off, the weekend was great, I got an ungodly amount of writing done (more on this tomorrow in my A Writer's Week post). On top of that, unlike most of my Sundays when I write, I wasn't a hermit. I wrote a little, then I actually got outside and threw the football around with my whole family (yes, even my wife touched the football, not something she's keen on). We had a blast. Then I went back in and wrote some more. Fantastic.

Then, it was Monday. It was a busy day at work--lots of prep going on for a major training initiative coming up. That was okay, I was expecting that. I've been working on this for a while. Tuesday comes, and now it's monkey wrench time. Plans are thrown out of whack by an unexpected schedule change. Annoying, but nothing too radical, at least not after it all got settled. The only problem was, it took a good part of the day. Oh well, I thought, there's always tomorrrow.

Well, tomorrow came, bringing with it it's own set of challenges. Another reworking of schedules annd putting off what I really needed to concentrate on. I would always rather concentrate on one thing, but my job usually demands that I multitask, which helps keep the brain limber--doesn't it? Today was more reworking of schedules and improvising, and running a Lions Club meeting, and running here and there,, but everything turned out okay. It all got done.

If it sounds like I'm rambling on and venting a little bit, you'd be right. This is a total venting post. But then I got to thinking. Was this week crazy? Yes. Did I feel like I was running around all over the place both at work and at home? Sure. But if I stop and think about it, this week had some fantastic moments stuck in between the crazy ones.

For one thing, I sold some paperbacks on Amazon for the first time in a while. I sold a dozen copies of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel in person this week. Kindle sales are okay. I spent some fun time with the family. I work for one of the few companies that gives you a little bonus if they did well the previous year, and we received that this week. My wife is still speaking to me, even when I come home bent out of shape about my day and then park myself in front of the computer to write interviews with characters from books.

Our lives get pretty hectic, and they don't always go the way we want or plan, but there is always at least a little good that goes on in our lives. We just have to take a minute to stop and recognize it. Stop and smell the roses. They're always there, among the thorns. Take a look, and I'm sure you'll see them, too.

Tag, I'm It--Who's Up for a Game of Book Tag?

Yesterday, just before going to bed, I checked out my Facebook page to see if anything was happening. Turns out my friends Fairday annd Lizzy from The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow shared a link to their fantastic blog. They wanted to play a game--book tag.



What is book tag, you ask? Excellent question. I have no idea. It's just a bit of fun. Oh wait, I do know--there are even rules. Here they are:

THE RULES

1) You must post the rules.

2) Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.

3) Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.

4) Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Here are the questions posed by Fairday and Lizzy:

1. When did you start blogging? 



I'm fairly new. I started in the middle of October last year.

2. What is your favorite food?

My wife would tell you everything, and that would be pretty close to the thruth! Really, it's anything sweet.

3. What is your favorite book from childhood?

Again, another tough question. I'd have to say, My Brother Sam is Dead, because it was a historical novel based on events that happened in my area, and I met one of the authors, Christopher Collier, when he visited my school.

4. Best concert you have ever attended or what concert would you like to attend?

Any of Jethro Tull's concerts are good, although Ian Anderson's voice is shot. I have a friend who has a band called The Jody S. Cipot Band that plays in New Milford, CT from time to time. They always put on a great show!
  


Jethro



Jody

 
5. PC or Mac?

Definately PC.

6. Where do you buy or get most of the books you read?

These days I'm buying a lot of Kindle editions of books, but only if they're under about $8. I can't believe the prices publishers are charging for an electronic version of a book. I also like to check out any small out of the way independent bookstores when I have the chance. Some good ones: R.J. Julia in Madison, CT, and the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington, CT. I also go to our town library quite often. The kids love going and they have a great selection of books, audio books, and videos. The price is right, too.

7. If you could be friends with any character from a book, who would you be friends with?

Gandalf, the wizard from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. He'd be an interesting guy to hang with, and I might even have a chance to get caught up in an adventure or two!

8. Favorite holiday?

I would have to say it's Christmas. It's still the one time of year that's downright magical for me.

9. A book you think everyone should read?

What, besides my own? Let's face it, The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel is a fun, exciting book for kids, but apart from that, I'd have to say The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Just a great book, with a great message.

10. If you could have one wish, what would it be?

I'd like to have a time machine so I could go back to see what things were like 100, 200, 300 years ago. That's my secret, selfish wish. If I only had one wish, though, I'd do the right thing and wish that there was no poverty or war, and that everyone was happy. Who knows, if that ever happened, maybe someone would have enough money and time to invent a time machine!

11. Favorite beverage?

Ice cold, unsweetened iced tea. Nothing better when you're thirsty!

Okay, now it's time for me to give a shout out to some of my favorite blogs and say:

TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!!!!

And here are the blogs that have been tagged:

Ro--Always Inspired

My Life, One Story at a Time

Dragonscale Leggings

The Perfect Herald

In the Clouds

Skeletica

She Writes Again

Paranormal Goddess

Under My Apple Tree

Books Are Magic

Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog

Here are my questions for all of you who were tagged:

1. If you could go back in time, what event would you most like to witness?

2. What is your favorite childhood memory?

3. What is your favorite movie?

4. What do you like to do best on a summer's day?

5. Coke or Pepsi?

6. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

7. What is your favorite book? (I know others have asked it, but how can i not?)

8. Who do you think was the most important person in the 20th century?

9. What's your favorite kind of candy?

10. What book makes you laugh most?

11. Rock, paper, scissors?