Well, 2025 is here, 2024 is--literally--history. I hope you had a great Christmas/holiday and New Year celebration with family and friends. I sure did. This year, we went up to my brother's house in Vermont. Almost the entire side of my family was there--may parents and four out of five of the "kids" and their significant others and children. Needless to say, it was a very fun time.
Once I returned home, I got down to work. No, I did not do any writing. That will come as we move a little further into the new year. No, I have several author goals for the coming year. Before I outline those, I'll give you a quick review of my goals for the past couple of years.
In 2023, I began a search for an illustrator with a view toward updating the covers, maps, and chapter illustrations of my three existing books. I was lucky enough to partner with Emily Hurst Pritchett. She updated the art for the first three books in the Deliverers Series. My other main goal was to resume writing book four in the series and complete it before the end of 2023. I was successful with that as well, and Emily began work on the cover and interior art before the end of the year.
In 2024, my goal was to publish book four and the collection of short stories and poems that had been kicking around for more than a couple decades. Again, I was able to accomplish this with the help of Emily who provided the finished book four illustrations and map as well as the short story collection cover and 12 illustrations, one for each story. My wife, Stephanie Shaughnessy, did four watercolors to illustrate the poems. I even produced an audio book for As the Owl Flies, partnering with narrator Lena Hibala. In addition, I was able to ramp up the number of books signings, author events, and craft shows that I attended--16 in all.
My goal for the coming year is to complete the first draft of at least one of my two works in progress--Quirk, a 1st person teen fantasy, and Tales of the Dragon Islands, a middle grade fantasy/adventure. I am also currently searching for someone to help me with my social media marketing platform. I've muddled along for many years on my own, but I just don't have the knowledge and talent for it. I've got a couple of irons in the fire, and we'll see where that leads. I need to get the word out.
I also made the decision that I have to start running this enterprise more like a business than a hobby. To me, it was never a hobby, but I was handling it like one--paying for art, audio, stock and marketing materials with my personal funds, and mingling all my book income in my personal bank accounts. That made it hard to figure out my income and expenses. So, I registered White Owl Manuscripts as a trade name, and I've opened an account under that name to run all income and expenses through that dedicated account.
Essentially, the past two years have been one long startup period. I've been operating at a loss, which was fine because I needed to revamp things and add to my published titles after my long layoff. Now, everything is in place, so it's time to raise awareness and move toward profitability.
I am profoundly grateful to you for accompanying me on this journey and for your unflagging support. I am looking forward to bringing you more tales and adventures in the coming years. I'll keep you updated on how it's going.
Peace
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