A Writer's Week #142: Mission Accomplished...Almost

 The recent Labor Day weekend was very productive for me--perhaps the most productive two days I've had in my writing career. You see, I finished the first draft of my novella, Fire & Ice. What is noteworthy is not so much that I finished the draft, but that I wrote almost 8,000 words in two days to do it.

In the past, when I set a writing goal, it's been for 2,000 words in a week. I think the reason for this sudden flood of output has been that all the remaining plot snags figured themselves out all at once and I had some time free of interruptions. Really a perfect storm.

So what does this mean? It means that I've completed a novella of about 19,500 words and that I will soon look to get final edits and rewrites completed as well as commission cover and chapter art as well as a couple of maps. I still really love Daniel Vogel's map of the Dragon Islands, but I think this novella (hopefully series of novellas) needs a new version. I am also planning to have a map of Dragon Home done so we can finally see the layout of Ang's capital city.

The Dragon Islands have so much history. It's a place with so much storytelling potential, that I could easily lose myself in its history. I think young readers will feel the same. I stumbled upon the idea of writing a series of novellas when I read fellow author Kelly Jarvis' wonderful novella, Selkie Moon. 

It awakened me to a new method of storytelling--more than a short story and shorter than a novel. It got me thinking that perhaps this might be a good way to entice preteens to read more. The attention span of all Americans is decreasing rapidly. A novella might just be interesting enough to get them to start reading without the time commitment necessary for a Harry Potter-length book. Who knows, once they get into it, they might just move on to longer books and more involved adventures. Hey, it's worth a shot.

As always, I will keep you updated on the publishing process of my latest work. I will also fill you in on my plotting for the second novella in the series, which I'm thinking will involve smuggling in the Dragon's Neck. Stay tuned.

Peace.

Summertime Fun

Hey all. It's getting to be that time of year again. The time when summer is winding down, the school year is cranking up, and a lot of us are beginning new chapters.

With Labor Day coming up this weekend, I thought I'd share some fun pictures of what I've done so far this year on the author trail. I've taken part in some great events and met some fantastic readers, and I have a host of events confirmed for the remainder of the year (check my Appearances page for details.). Here are just a few, along with a short promo video I made:

                

                 

                 

                 

                 

 

A Writer's Week #141: Writing & Filling Up My Dance Card

Over the past few weeks my latest work in progress has been evolving gradually as I write it, and I have been finalizing sales venues for the rest of the year. The WIP, now titled, Fire & Ice, A Dragon Islands Legend has been constantly evolving since I began work on it late last year. At first, I thought it might be a series of novels covering the history of the Dragon Islands, the world I created for the third book in the Deliverers Series, The Golden Dragon of Ang. 

Then, I decided that it would be a series of five short stories (one for each of the Dragon Islands) combined into one volume. However, it seemed that they could be longer than your average short stories, so I thought that perhaps I'd release them as a series of five novellas. Right now, I'm going with that, but I could still see it being released as one volume of longer short stories. Anyway, we'll see how it all shakes out.

Right now, the current work stands at 11,500 words over 55 pages. I was thinking that it would wind up being 20,000 words, but it seems to be wrapping up rather quickly, so it could be less. We shall see.

I have also had a couple of nice shows this month. One was the Danbury Street Festival, put on by my friends at CityCenter Danbury. Here are a couple pictures from that event

                       

The following week, I was privileged to take part in an author event that was part of the Milford Fair on the Half Shell. I was one of almost 40 Connecticut authors with Connecticut Book Festivals selling their books. It was a great event. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Isabella Vazquez, a college student attending her first show to promote her wonderful collection of short stories and poems. I love these events because it's a great way to connect with fellow authors and swap marketing, publishing, and other insights (as well as more than a few war stories!).

    

Just a few talented Connecticut Authors

As of this week, I have finalized just about all of my events for the rest of 2025--nine in all as it currently stands! I have updated my Appearances page to reflect the September dates and will add the rest over the next week. Keep checking back to catch them all!