Writing, Selling, Photos, Blizzards, and Such

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We took a week to visit family and friends in Nebraska and this week we are digging out from a blizzard. So goes March in the middle of the country.

From My Backyard

Book Sales – Not sure, what has happened but since Google Plus, where I posted quite a bit about writing, and about my books, started to shut down, my sales have slowed. Guess I did not know how important that site was for me. I hated seeing it go into shutdown mode; I have tried other sites, but have not fallen in love with any of them. Last month and this, so far, looks to be some of my lowest book sales, and KDP pages read in a couple of years. Guess I will get busy on some other platforms and see if it helps.

Writing – Like my sales, my writing has slowed some. I am near the end of my WIP and do not seem to want to finish – maybe spring weather will help.

Twitter – I am trying to ramp up my followers on Twitter, not sure it will help my sales but it is an excellent way to kill an hour or two every day.

The storm was just getting started good when I snapped this one.

Photos – The snow has slowed me some, but not much, there seems that I can always find something I want to photograph. Today’s photos are from the past week.

Have a great weekend.

My Amazon page 

Writing Communities

Writing Communities – I have been seeing a considerable increase in tweets and blog posts about writing communities. For the most part, they seem to be people trolling for followers using a writing community hash-tag. I am always looking for good writing people or groups to follow, but have not found much by following the links from hash-tag, writing communities or anything similar.

Mixed Messages – Lately I am starting to wonder why so many who try to sell books or services on social media make so many political posts. Most political posts are very one-sided, which is fine, but won’t this turn away half of your customers?  This type of marketing seems odd to me when anyone could simply create another profile, for political posts, and not offend half of their potential customers. My readers will see nothing political on my posts, other than a rare comment, or like, I keep that world to myself. 

Photo of the Week - 

Selling Books – I enjoyed a fantastic last two weeks of November selling quite a few books and seeing my KDP pages zoom upward. I am not sure what December will bring, but with my two Christmas books, I expect it will be good.

From the Old West – There are two sides to any man’s argument, his and the wrong one.

Snow Today – Days like this are nice for old people like me. I am sitting in my easy chair, snacking, drinking tea and watching football on TV.  A few minutes ago, a squirrel made a sneak attack on the bird feeder in our backyard. Right now, light snow is falling turning my view out our family room windows into a Hallmark Movie scene.

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

 Or

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and Keep on Writing

& 

Enjoy the coming of a new workweek.

We have reached December, creeping toward 2019

                                                                                           

I Write What I Feel

I Write What I Feel

So many times writers are told to pick a genre and stick with it. Pretty good advice, but I never follow it. Why, because I write what I feel, as my mood or life changes, my writing seems to change with it. Not a great way to get rich writing, but a nice way to keep my sanity, or what I have left of it.

I have published three non-fiction books, one a serious look at the Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of Wyoming’s beautiful Guernsey State Park, the other two are more of what I call, just for fun.  I am in the process – likely before Thanksgiving, of publishing my fourth in the - Mike and Moose and Me, series of kids chapter books.

When I am in the mood to write something longer, or more serious I write western mysteries, I have two Blade Holmes books, my best selling books, and a stand-alone novel set in central Wyoming that revolves around an ancient people’s mystery, and a modern-day murder. I also just published, only the eBook is available so far, the second of two collections of Christmas short stories.

There you have it – my eclectic writing collection.

From the Old West – Lonesome creates diseases that friendship cures.

What Am I Working On? – Nothing the next eight or nine days – we are heading on our annual trek to Branson, Missouri. That means I may miss a post or two, but I will be back, rested and ready.

 Photo of the Week –

Nice looking young couple

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

 Or

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

 

What a history and story this place must have

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

Don’t forget - next weekend we get an hour back as Daylight Savings fades away for another year.

Reading and Writing Westerns

We had the first good snow of the year over the weekend. We got about three inches, nice to see it will be warming up over the next two weeks. Maybe I will still get the rest of our garage painted this fall.

What Am I Working On? – Added 3,500 words to my kid's chapter book – pretty good week for me. This book the 4^th and possibly last of my Mike, Moose and Me series, will be complete at 12 to 15 thousand words, I am over 8,000 now, so getting close. I also spent some time working on my newest non-fiction book, tentatively titled, Elderly. It is just nicely started with about a 1,000 words and a partly completed outline.

What Am I Reading? Still - Reading Wallace Stegner - Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West. 

I am also revisiting a book I started a while back but did not finish – Love Song to the Plains, wonderful read by the incomparable Mari Sandoz

My Photo of the Week –

North Platte River Narrows in  the lake at Guernsey State Park

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

or

follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Old West Knowledge- The good thing about talking to your horse is – he will never talk back.

Photo of the Week 2 –

Little Mule Deer as the sun disappears for the day

Keep on reading and keep on writing – have a great week!

Writing - But No One is Counting

Seems I have had a burst of energy this week, more writing and much more editing. Now the weather is warming, and I can set some goals for spring. Oops, just looked out and it’s snowing – again.

Five Days Ago

I have, at times, posted a, what I did this month blog at the start of a new month, so what did I do in February? Quite a bit. First, I quit counting how many words I wrote. I have kept track of everything for two years and did again in January of 2017, then stopped. I got mixed reactions from writers who counted or did not count their words. Some thought it necessary to keep on task, others said they wrote what they wrote. My wife thought that I was getting a bit too hard on myself if I missed a day or two of writing. She was right, I put a lot of pressure on myself to write every day and to stay on pace for my quarter of a million words each year. Now I am writing, but no longer keeping track of numbers, kind of a relief and I don’t need to keep my calculator at hand.

I did go back and check to see how much I blogged last month, not bad, 11 on my blogger sites, three on Wordpress and five on Google plus. I had been away from Wordpress for a couple of years and decided to give it a try again, not gaining much traction and not sure I will continue posting there on a regular basis. Google Plus seems to have a lot of people, but I don’t get too many comments on Plus, nothing like my regular Blogger site where I have much more traffic.

This Golden Eagle Backlighted by the Setting Sun Yesterday - Spectacular Bird

I did get the review copy of my third kid's book, made a few changes on the cover and ordered another. Should go live later this week. That will be my seventh book and will be followed shortly by my eighth, as I will order the proof this week. Then I hope to finish the first draft – almost there – of my book on gardening. Busy days!

Meanwhile, keep on reading, writing and thinking of spring.

As We Left the Park Last Evening

Writing Goals

No Goals Reached

Another month and another dismal writing report. Not really, I did write some, but it was the fourth straight month I failed to reach my goal of 20,000 words. For many writers that would be a week or less of writing but for me it is running about seven weeks to get up to twenty thousand.

While not writing I found a website to make a Monet-like me.

I did take some time off

In my own defense, I did take a couple of nice trips out of state. Since making my goals seem to be pretty much unattainable anyway, I never take my laptop with me on vacation. Someday, when I reach the rich and famous stage, I will go away to a beautiful writing hideaway, laptop in tow. But, not yet.

Spent some time in Rocky Mt. National Park - always fun!

What I Finished

This month I did manage 24 blog posts, which by the way, had over 4,000 hits – thanks, readers. My word count for July was 11,601, and the blogs were more than half of all of my writing. I did get some editing work done and wrote a few pages in two of my, in progress novels.

Embarrassed to say - I am still at work on the final edit of this one

So Far

For the year I am a bit past 133,000 putting me on pace to fall about twenty thousand short of my quarter of a million goal. Who knows, once the weather turns cold, I may get my word count up. If I could just have a few 2,000 word days .  . . . . 

Part of our backyard, old-fashioned flower garden

April Words

I have mentioned before that two writers I follow commonly write more than a million words a year. Reading their posts inspired me to keep track of my word number this year. My wife was afraid I might become obsessed with writing everything down – she was right.

Geeting My Ducks in a Row - Even When it is Snowing

April Writing

This month I wrote 22 blog posts and that unfortunately made up about half of my writing as I totaled only, 20,393 words for the month. That means that my works in progress did not go far. The word total does bring me up to 100,466 for the year, quite a bit short of my ongoing goal. By this time, I was supposed to be 121,000 which would be 1,000 words per day for 121 days.  I am averaging 830 words or about 170 per day short of the goal. My actual target for the year is 350,000 (I just call it a thousand a day), so I do have a bit of leeway, but am still behind.

Words Are Like Water Under the Bridge

When I am Not Writing

So, if I am not writing what was I doing? Good question.  I played 11 rounds of golf and took 454 photos during eight photo sessions, mostly wildlife and the beginning of spring and snow in spring pictures. I also started the cold weather part of my garden, planting peas, potatoes, and radishes. The peas and radishes are up, but the potatoes seem to still be in hiding. Along with writing, I also substitute taught five days in April.  Most people especially retired teachers, are surprised that after teaching for 42 years I still go back and sub. I enjoy it still, and will continue subbing as long as I can do it and enjoy my days at school. I also volunteered and worked two long track & field meets.  This month I also had a few over 21,000 hits on my blogs. I don’t keep track of how many unique visits and how many people open multiple pages, that all seems too difficult for me. I am always happy with five thousand a week. I also had multiple blogs with several comments. I try to answer each comment and love it when people take the time to put something in the comments section. I often comment on others blogs if it is something I am interested in or if it strikes my fancy. (Do people still say that)?

One of my April Favorite Photo's

As Colombo Used to Say – “Oh, One More Thing.”

That’s it for this month, hope some other writer’s post how much they have accomplished this month. Oh, I read two books, may be an all-time low for me, but I am doing some commercial writing, and researching for my next non-fiction takes a lot of my time.

Meanwhile – Keep on Writing and Keep on Reading

Note -  this post is 508 words, I’m rolling now!

Laramie Peak in Eastern Wyoming on a Cloudy Day

How Many Facts in Historical Fiction?

How much is too much? Well, now that could depend on what I am talking about. In this post, I am talking about placing facts into fiction writing. I am finishing my third historical novel, some call them westerns, but mine has real events, people and places in them. Not sure but I believe that makes these books historical fiction. I actually classify mine as historical mystery and then add, set in the old west. I also like westerns that are pure fiction, where every person, place and event is made up, they are usually not terribly long and make fun fast reads.

My new book will have a bit of Fort Laramie

I spent more than 40 years teaching history and a big part of my job involved historical research. Over the years, I published a few nonfiction pieces on various aspects of Wyoming and the old west. I started blogging ten years ago, mostly western topics and enjoy the research that some of the posts take. I guess that is the reasons my writing falls into the genre of historical.

Some days writing can be a real bear

Which leads me to the original question, how much is too much? This time, I am talking about real events, people, and places. I have read of writers that make a list of up to 25 facts they want to include in a novel. I don’t go that far, but I like the idea. My newest WIP is about one-third complete and I have included, and I had to check this and count, eight historically significant people, events or places that play important roles in the story. How many more will there be? At least four, not sure if I will include more than that.

 Working on my current novel has been fun. A few nights ago I was writing and hollered at my wife, “This is really good, the part I just wrote, I love it.”

Then like a bad husband and good writer I refused to read it to her. She just laughed, knowing that sometimes I read excerpts to her and sometimes I do not.

Who doesn't love a great read that includes a terrific horse

Writing something I like this much doesn’t often happen, but when I really like something I wrote, it is a genuine feel good moment for an author.

Write on my friends.

My part of the west, on a drive last week, 20 miles west of town

Random Thoughts About the West and Westerns

Who put the West in westerns? Sounds like a bit of an odd question, but it might be a tougher question than it first sounds. The old west, the one of so many books, is both a place and a period of time. The where is the old west is a tough question, but by most definitions it is west of the Missouri River, south to Mexico and north through Alaska. The old west as a period of time, I see as from the end of the civil war until the introduction of the automobile in America. Commonly this time period is seen as from the Gold Rush to Wounded Knee, 1849-1890.

In Wyoming, we like to say we are the last of the old west, or that we are the real west. If that is true, the west of today refers to wide open spaces. That’s the reason California and most of the highly populated Pacific coast are no longer thought of as the west. Genre westerns often were set in California, gold rush, land grabbers and city builders all made good plots. Today the west coast still makes an excellent setting for movies and books, but none are thought of as westerns. Western’s weather set in the 1800s or present day need wide open spaces.

 Today writers of westerns set in modern time seem to follow this idea. It is easier to write a western if there are wide open spaces involved, Wyoming and Montana come to mind here.  Mountains, forest, wild rivers and long lonesome highways seem to make good modern western stories.

But the real west is defined by the cowboy. If a cowboy is involved, it must be a western story. Western romance sells millions of copies each year, the book covers usually depicting a cowboy, shirt unbuttoned, hat, boots, and beautiful women. Why do they sell? Is it the western flavor, the romance element, or the wide open spaces? I would guess it is a bit of all of the above. Today the sparsely populated west is full of romance and mystery to many people, especially people from metropolitan areas.

One of the reasons we live in Wyoming is because we love the empty areas. I know, this is not for everyone. We have to drive more than an hour to the nearest Wal-Mart and nearly two hours to a Shopping Mall. For many this would be a disaster of colossal proportion. Even worse, the closest hospital is a half hour away and to find a lawyer, accountant or college we must drive at least half an hour. But we trudge on. The reason we like it here, all of the photos on this page were taken closer than the nearest Wal-Mart.

Love the west!

Book Sales Looking Up

Not sure I will ever figure out Amazon book rankings, but they are fun to follow. Actually I do understand that they are based on the old, “what have you done for me lately,” principle. That means that rankings are by both total sales and sales today, yesterday and this week.

My books have stayed pretty consistent in the top million. Doesn’t sound like much but there are 14,000,000 books for sale on the site. Of those 2,000,000 are eBook only, the other 12,000,000 available as books and many as eBook’s also.

Today I have all three of my books that are available as print books in the top 130,000 on Amazon – wow three books in the top one percent of all books sold on Amazon.

What does all that mean? Not much unless they are your books, then it can get really depressing or really exciting. Today it’s exciting, in a few days I will be back to 800,000 or so, but it is still fun to watch.

In other news, still working on revisions for my historical western, Commitment, wasn’t happy with the original eBook. That book is still available but wait for another week or 10 days and the new revised copy will be available and the book should also be available for the first time.

Still looking good to get my book of Christmas stories in the West published by November 1.

Below see screenshots from today’s rankings. I am saving these until I see better ones, hope it is not too long.

Many thanks to all of you who have taken a look and purchased my books.

Blessed and Thankful.

Product Details

·         Paperback: 258 pages

·         Publisher: Old Trails Publishing; First edition (May 18, 2015)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0692394885

·         ISBN-13: 978-0692394885

·         Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

·         Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

·         Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#1686 in Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local

Product Details

·         Series: Mike and Moose and Me Growing up Novels

·         Paperback: 136 pages

·         Publisher: Old Trails Publishing; First edition (April 16, 2015)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0692434070

·         ISBN-13: 978-0692434079

·         Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 x 9 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

·         Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

·         Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

o    #4185 in Books > Children's Books > Humor

o    #4945 in Books > Children's Books > Action & Adventure

Product Details

·         Series: Mike and Moose and Me Growing up Novels

·         Paperback: 132 pages

·         Publisher: Old Trails Publishing; 1 edition (April 16, 2015)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0692432965

·         ISBN-13: 978-0692432969

·         Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 x 9 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

·         Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

·         Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

o    #1975 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > Humorous

o    #4948 in Books > Children's Books > Action & Adventure

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