End of Summer Writing Update

Currently my novel, Rejection, is on track for coming out this Fall. Formatting and one final edit have begun. Yesterday I wrote a rough draft for the back of the book, as well as an author's note for inside. This book has been a long time reaching print, and I will be happy when it is out there, and I can move on to the rest of the series. As I remarked in the author's note, Rejection is actually the first book that was written in The Conrad Chronicles series, though it didn't end up being the first book in chronological order, which is why it has taken almost three decades for this book to be published.

Besides my working on Rejection, I have also been typing up the second LOA inspired book and just started playing around with ideas for my 2018 Christmas poem. Add to this that a friend asked me to write a biography of a banana slug for a fundraiser, and I have been busy, but not to busy to enjoy hanging out with a good book a few days this past month.

Happy reading.

Writing Update-ghost book and The Conrad Chronicles

Writing always provides many challenges, especially on the publishing end. The ghost book I mentioned a few months back still hasn't been printed by the publisher. I was really hoping it would be out before Halloween, but it doesn't look like it will be.

Meanwhile, I have been diligently writing the first draft of a new novel which has now over 300 hand written pages.  This is a sequel to another book I wrote earlier this year that I am in the process of typing up.

While all this is going on Revolt, the first of The Conrad Chronicles which was first published many years ago, will be republished. A wonderful artist is working on a cover for the book, while at the same time the manuscript is being formatted as both an e-book and a paperback.  This will be the first time Revolt will be available as an e-book.

My hope is to follow up the publishing of Revolt with the second book in The Conrad Chronicles, Realizations. The cover art for it is being worked on and it is in the process of one last read through before it gets formatted for printing.  With any luck, Revolt with be available again in November and Realizations should be out by the spring, most likely March.

Happy reading!

The Stock Market, Scribophile and Life

I have always liked learning, as well as writing, so finally I have decided to learn about the Stock Market and investing. This has been somewhat of a challenge. I am discovering that almost everyone I know does not own stocks other than what is in their work-established retirement plans. The books available at my local library cover how to pick a good stock, but not the nitty-gritty of how to buy stocks. I've discovered the on-line brokers won't let you into their websites unless you give away you social security number and your bank account. I wouldn't mind that if I was a hundred percent certain their site is the one for me, but I sure would like to look at them first before I sign over all my vital stats.

I pumped the one person I know who has owned and purchased stocks today, but his experience was limited to buying utility companies, and only through a broker many years ago. He has no experience buying over the computer. He did say I need to make sure that when I buy a stock that it is registered in my name with the company and not held in some joint account. That sounds like sound advice. Clearly, I have more research to do.

Meanwhile, I have found a great website for getting my writing edited. The one glitch is I have to edit other people's work before I can post mine. That isn't so bad though, because almost all the stories I read are really decent.

This site is free (though you can pay for the extras). It's called Scribophile and can be found at scribophile.com.

Contests and Submissions

Another afternoon has been spent researching publishers accepting work and contests. This research is almost a full-time job in itself. I remember when one only had the Writer's Market Guide in hand and that was your guide to the publishing world.

For those interested I have entered a flash fiction story titled "Ancestor Fish" with authorstand.com.  If you sign up, you can read my story and vote on it. This is a new venture for my writing, and I must confess, that "Ancestor Fish" is one of my older stories and I have done nothing with it in more than a decade.  I felt it fair to give it a little fresh air, while at the same time not "risking" my more valuable stories.

Also, this website is free to enter stories and there is a cash prize, so those of you with stories might want to consider it.

I am trying hard in my research to find contests with out fees and paying publishers.  Right now it appears most contests want money and most publishers aren't paying.  At least submitting through the internet means I don't have to pay for stamps and envelopes any more.

P.S. Thank you commenter of my last blog!  I really appreciate some else struggling with blogging too.

Editing

Hoorah!  I spent a couple of hours editing the second Conrad novel today.  I managed to squeeze it in around watching my friends 9 ducks, rabbit, and cat, tending my own home and dogs, and the rest of my life.

Unfortunately, my critique partner called today. He's been sick all week, so we probably won't meet this weekend.

On the positive side, I did get the corrections mailed off to the editor at Quixote Press. Am I being to hopeful thinking this book may be out before Christmas?