This last weekend really flew by for me. Was really busy doing some fumbling around trying to convert the format of my 1st novel--that's right, I'm ofically a novelist now!! Can you believe it?!
My first novel is entitled:
And there IS someone I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude for gratitude for help expediting this day to come sooner rather than later, and that person is Kiffer Brown at Chanticleer Boor Reviews & Media. For the most part I had an AWEFUL time at the PNWA Writer's Conference I went to last week. Didn't get "discovered" and after a while I fell into a pity party where I found myself thing I'd never break no matter how well I wrote, or whatever method of smoozing I implored. But then I told Kiffer a LITTLE BIT about my story and its over word count of over 780,000 words. Now a the time I was locked in thinking, hey, I can get by with a 1,200 page book BECAUSE this an epic story much the same as J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings.
Kiffer told me I didn't have one book, but seven. At first I TOTALLY blew her off, thinking she didn't know my novel the I know my novel. BUT after giving it some thought I started thinking, "Hey, I can do this the 25 chapters or so of the master cannon of A Legend in Thars are all segments of story that lend themselves to break points. Don't think I've got seven novels there, but 4-5 easily. And guess, though their not as polished as the 1st book in the series, they're not all that far off either...
So though I pretty much chalk up my experience at the 2016 PNWA Writer's Conference as a failed venture (I didn't get discovered, didn't get the IMMEDIATE satisfaction of "breaking through" and scoring with an agent or outright book deal) I did make some valuable progress once I got my mind right again. Someday I will post about the DEEP mental anguish I went through that Saturday night I came home from the Conference, and lingering affect of possible missed opportunities until about Thursday.
After dealing with my pride, I got back to work. Did some more tinkering with the first book, as I'm ALWAYS on the quest for better writing/better content.
Building your platform as I writer was again stressed at the 2016 PNWA Conference, as was author "branding". I'll go into "branding" in another post in a week or so, but for now I'm happy to say I am on Twitter and Facebook now. I found Facebook was pretty easy to get the hang of. Still working on figuring out Twitter. Did manage to update a new e-mail signoff incorporating my expanded persona, and links to my Facebook and Twitter pages--and even this blog!
So why did it I wait? Blame it Kim Kardasian. Just kidding Kim, I blame my bias on a wider range of superficial celebraties than just her. Still, can anyone answer me this question, has Kim Kardasian ever worked an honest day in her life?
The whole thing about looking at cell phone screen all the time and sending gibberish "tweets" just felt below me as a writer. Don't mean to sound all high falutin, but I just felt as a writer the blogosphere was more catered to me delivering content than waisting my time on Facebook and Twitter, THAT'S why I avoided them for so long.
But now, I'm all in. I'm going for it folks. I'm going to grow my brand, and achieve the dreams that God has put on my heart using both Facebook and Twitter. I got to thinking about it today, and Facebook and Twitter are great places for introverts like me (and most writers for that point) to TRY to connect with other people. And so for the next week or so I'm going to really make Twitter and Facebook a priority. Gunna reach out to people, and TRY. Don't know if I'll succeed or not, you're never guaranteed results in life. But I'm going for it! Writing wise, I going to do some clean-up this week, then probably start my NEXT novel which is going to be an expansion of script I wrote a few years back. My plan here is to to have two different books, NOT going to drop the ball with Thars. Unless the Lord cuts my life shot, or the end times start, seeing The Legend of Thars series is something I intend on seeing all the way through. More to come on the novel's progress later. Spent a lot of time behind the keyboard and I need a break, gunna watch a movie. Maybe a rom-com. Till then stay well,