Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Writing - End of January Update


Writing Takes Much Time and often is an exercise in futility. I am reminded of old-time movie scenes where a wannabe writer, or sometimes an established writer rips page after page from the typewriter, wads up the paper and throws it at a wastebasket. Those scenes may be long outdated but the premise still stands. In today's world, we simply write it, in my case, read it, highlight it and hit delete. Writing takes time and can, at times, be hard work. I have long considered myself a hobbyist writer so maybe it should not matter. But, after twelve books, it does matter. I hate it when I write myself into a corner or need to tie something I missed along the way, together. And that is where I stand in my writing today. It will work out, it always does, but I may have a hurting brain before I figure all this out.

Sales - On the other hand, I can happily report that sales are still a bit on the rise. For this, I am happy. Both my sales numbers and KDP pages read are up for the third straight month. I may not be on the way to bestseller status but things are looking up.

Writing Update - I am finishing up two books, one fiction, and one non-fiction. The fiction book is the third in my, Blade Holmes, historical fiction/western series. These books are set mostly in Wyoming and have been well received by western readers. My other work, now in my first rewrite, is a nonfiction follow-up to my book, On Turning 70, and should be out soon – hope by March 1, 2020.

On a Local Note – We are enjoying incredibly mild Wyoming weather with many days hitting 50 or more degrees. This beautiful weather has allowed me to spend more outside time. Outside for me means, ten rounds of golf in January, lots of photo trips, and a few walks in our beautiful weather. It almost makes me want to start my indoor garden plants – almost.

Enjoy the day and the rest of the week – cheer for your favorite in Sundays Super Bowl.






Friday, January 3, 2020

A Look Back and a Look Into the Future


A Look Back and a Look Into the Future

2020 has got to be a better year than 2019. For me, 2019 will be a most forgettable year. A writer's life is not always easy, and I hope for each lousy year, I will have two or three good ones. One exciting thing for me is that I now have lived in every decade except the 30s. It might be a stretch for me to make that one, but who knows?

After years of writing around 300,000 words, this year was but a few thousand.  The consequences of writing less showed up in my sales, which were about half of the past few years, as were my Kindle Unlimited pages read. At times I thought maybe I had given up writing, but now I’m not sure. It might have had more to do with me than with writing. I not only wrote less, but I also gave up on a few other pursuits and hobbies. Physical ailments kept me from walking much and slowed me down from other things like photography and playing golf – looking back at 2019, I really didn’t do much of what has become my norm. But, there is always a bright side, we did some traveling, and I read quite a few good books, watched many fantastic movies, smoked some meat, completed some woodworking projects, and liked our terrific garden. I also enjoyed birthday number 71 – at my age, every birthday is excellent.


Writers are as bad as any other group at making and then not keeping New Year’s Resolutions. I have never lasted over a few weeks on any that I made. I do hope that the New Year will be a good one. Maybe I will get around to finishing and publishing the two books I have that have sat gathering dust for the past year.  Each of these books is within a few days of being completed.

My New Year’s Resolution – Enjoy life   --- As Dr. Seuss so aptly said, “Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”

Today's photos are from an outing earlier this week in Guernsey State Park a few miles from where we live.