Updates on all fronts!

OK. I'm still alive and kicking. I've had a lot of radical change (par for the course in my life.) I wanted to get back to blogging a little more regularly. So lets start with an update. April saw me complete a move from my apartment to a 5th wheel, which is stage one of my master plan to go on a US tour next spring. I also completed my Camp NaNoWrimo goal of writing 30k words, which is stage 2 of my goal of publishing 2 novels and 1 anthology this year, so that I have enough work out to sell on the tour. My most recent freelance contract appears to have fallen through, which throws a massive wrench in the plans. Settling into the RV, yard selling my furniture, etc. is also taking longer than I scheduled for. So we'll see how badly this all devastates the plan. I have enough work to choke a horse reconstructing my author platform on deck for May and I need another 20k words at least to finish up the draft of my WIP (Work in Progress). So here's the plan: (modified and cleaned up slightly for public consumption) I've got three WIP's to finish as mentioned above. #1 is a mystery/thriller, working title, Vancouver Scooter Club Myster (VSCM). It's plotted and half drafted, but I hit a snag when I realized that the killer moved the body. I think I've recovered from that. This is my first stab at a mystery so I'm not sure how I'm doing until its done. #2 is an anthology I've been planning for years. I've got a brilliant theme for it and I'll be using some old and some new short stories. #3 is a NaNo draft from two years ago. It's a steam punk novel that will need some heavy revision. For those not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it's National Novel Witing Month, and the drafts it produces are as rough as you'd imagine when you try to write 50K words in one month. Even if you do complete 50,000 words in one month the finished novel will be closure to 70-100k when it's finished so the first revision of the draft takes a minimum of another month, usually two. Then the book needs to go to a first reader who will take a minimum of a month to get back to you with recommendation. After you edit that draft (another month) you need to get it to a professional editor, (another month) and then make their corrections (another month). So that's six months bare minimum to complete a book, which is why I'm doing several at once. If that seems like a lot of work in 12 months it is, and that's the writing front. I've been steadily learning the marketing front and I want to reinvent my platform this year to maximize the benefit from my tour. My website is going to need a face-lift and some additional functionality, and I've got no less than 3 books on the topic of marketing to read and implement. (A writers platform involves establishing a brand and creating a wagon wheel of real and virtual network marketing with a main focus in the middle and spokes out into other venues that drives interest in that single source of information. I'll let you know how that's going. All this takes money, so I need to pause everything and find replace the income from my freelance gig. (If anyone needs an editor/ghost writer, I'm fast, affordable, and very experienced.) I've been really blessed with skills and connections to do live events. I know many writers who are better at the online sales for which I'm envious, but I'm proud to be among a short list of authors I know who sell well in person. I'll spend a little more time covering upcoming events individually later this week, but here's a quick and dirty run down. Friday, May 31st, I'll be joining four other writers at the monthly Hillsboro Bards and Brews event and a featured author. Thursday June 13th I'll be joining the talented Nancy Kelley for a talk on the topic of indie publishing. This just finalized last night and I'm really looking forward to this event. I think there's so much people don't know about what's happening in the publishing/ebook world and a lot of writers don't have time to investigate it while trying to actually write their novel. This event will be free at the Three Creeks Library and I encourage everyone to attend and ask us tons of questions. We're heading into the summer event season, which means I'll be adding at least 4 more sales events as soon as they're scheduled. I'm also going to go ahead and commit to updating this blog every Wednesday on this topic. I'll move my crazy reposts to Mondays and Fridays. Everyone have a great day, and God Bless!