Hello, all!

At long last, I’m pleased to report that my current two-draft stretch of writing labor has come to an end: the drafts of both “One Giant Leap” and “The Ussuri Incident” (looking at different title choices for that one) are done! It’s all about relaxing for the next couple days, but after that it’ll be edits and beta-reads galore, with the aim of having both short stories out on Kindle by the start of June, or a little after. There’ll be plenty of new work along with this, of course: May 1st will see the start of the first short story in my planned “John Lawrence” Civil War Hist. Fiction series. No certainty as yet of a finish by the end of the two months I’ve set aside for this project, but the energy and momentum I managed to pull together in the effort just done (esp. over the past few days) gives me no small hope.

Nor is it just new work that’ll be happening in the next little while. Like every author, published in any form, I’ve found the greatest struggle is simply getting my works noticed: online or in person, through an agent or my own promos. Often depressed at the slowness or dead-ends this involves, I’ve found the best remedy is talking and sharing about the travails and joys of writing with other writers, or just literary-minded people; certainly it’s given more than a few boosts to whichever project’s at hand. This, in turn, led me to wonder about trying my hand at a full-on author event, discussing my genre of choice (Alternate History) as well as the perils and boons of self-publishing from my perspective–and I believe I’ve found the perfect venue for just such an event, to be held in mid June at the latest. Part of me wonders if I’m nuts to try this, or why I’d think it’d draw any attention…but it hasn’t swayed me from trying (not yet, anyway ). I’ll be sorting out the details for this event over the next two weeks or so, and will obviously be posting updates here and on my FB author page–along with the final event link(s), before too much past then!

Well, it’s gotten late (or early) on this end, so I must log off! Enjoy the weekend, and the dawn of (proper) spring in May!