My title sounds like a country-western song. In fact, it may be a song. I'm using it because I'm back again to this blog. I'm like a wayward lover that always strays but then comes back again. Anyway, I'm posting a copy of the cover of my next book here. Masters of Camelot, an Arthurian fantasy sort of, except that it features Lancelot and most of it takes place hundreds of years in the future. It's not for sale yet, but it will be soon. I'll keep you posted.
I still have Drowning available for sale. It's a gritty YA contemporary. You can get it here.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z3HCPCQ
I've finished the sequel to it and have submitted it to my publisher. I'll hear about it in the next month or two, I guess, but with COVID19, who knows for sure?
And then there's https://www.episodicreading.com/, a UK publisher who is trying to revive serialized literature. Episodic is using one of my fantasy novels and four others as soon as it gets off the ground. You can check the news out at the site. I'm not quite sure when all of this is going to become a reality, but it will be soon.
I have also recently sold one screenplay and optioned another in the last four months.
That pretty much catches you up to date on my publishing news. That's not the only reason why I'm writing though. I think I want to make a point here. That point is that you shouldn't really give up on your dreams unless you're absolutely sure that's what you need to do. Believe me when I say that about two years ago I was ready to give up on one of mine. I was 60, had gotten a bad health report, and I was a little down.
I thought a lot about giving up on my writing, but I decided to go to one last writer's conference. I've attended the Ozark Creative Writer's Conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and really loved it. This is the one I chose as my last. I'd gotten wisdom teeth taken out, screwed up my knee, and almost didn't go. But I wanted to see if it sparked anything. I put on a knee brace, popped pain pills and went. I had entered 10 of the writer's contests as part of the conference. I placed in three of them, with one first actually. It heartened me.
Then I entered #pittmad. (Google it to see what it's all about.) I was asked by two publishers to send queries. Both accepted some of my work. The cover art above is for the second novel that Between the Lines Publisher accepted. Drowning was the other one. The other publisher was @episodicreading.
Then, I got the health news. It dealt me a blow, and I almost let it kill my writing dreams again. Then a year after that, I sold one screenplay and optioned another one. Not until I turned 60 did I get a huge writing success. And at 61, I got even better news with the screenplays. Then, I found a freelance editing job. One domino tumbled and several followed.
Now COVID has hit. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I think maybe I'll keep writing. In writing, every time, you publish something, you've accomplished a dream. It's not a one and done thing though. Each time something gets selected for publication, your confidence improves, another dream realized.
I remember when I was in the midst of struggling with my writing stuff, I saw a cartoon. I can't remember it exactly, but it was one of those, don't give up your dreams because they might just be around the corner things. The cartoon was a guy digging a tunnel looking for diamonds. In the cartoon, he had dug and dug and dug and was just about to give up. In the cartoon, the diamonds were just about two feet in front of him.
I'd like to say that inspired me to keep going but it didn't. I had given myself a deadline, and I was close to making it there. My ministers had always told me that God's timeline is not our own. I didn't know God's timeline would take so long to get here.
I'm going to wait and see what happens in the coming year. Long about October or so, I'll reevaluate. What's going on in the world and what's going on in my life will determine what the next steps will be. Dreams don't have any limit though. You can have as many as you want or as few.
I'm not going to be one of those people who tells you that you should never give up because you will always get your dreams. We all know that's not always true. Usually, though when one dream fades away, you'll see another one that you might have overlooked before. Keep looking.
I still have Drowning available for sale. It's a gritty YA contemporary. You can get it here.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z3HCPCQ
I've finished the sequel to it and have submitted it to my publisher. I'll hear about it in the next month or two, I guess, but with COVID19, who knows for sure?
And then there's https://www.episodicreading.com/, a UK publisher who is trying to revive serialized literature. Episodic is using one of my fantasy novels and four others as soon as it gets off the ground. You can check the news out at the site. I'm not quite sure when all of this is going to become a reality, but it will be soon.
I have also recently sold one screenplay and optioned another in the last four months.
That pretty much catches you up to date on my publishing news. That's not the only reason why I'm writing though. I think I want to make a point here. That point is that you shouldn't really give up on your dreams unless you're absolutely sure that's what you need to do. Believe me when I say that about two years ago I was ready to give up on one of mine. I was 60, had gotten a bad health report, and I was a little down.
I thought a lot about giving up on my writing, but I decided to go to one last writer's conference. I've attended the Ozark Creative Writer's Conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and really loved it. This is the one I chose as my last. I'd gotten wisdom teeth taken out, screwed up my knee, and almost didn't go. But I wanted to see if it sparked anything. I put on a knee brace, popped pain pills and went. I had entered 10 of the writer's contests as part of the conference. I placed in three of them, with one first actually. It heartened me.
Then I entered #pittmad. (Google it to see what it's all about.) I was asked by two publishers to send queries. Both accepted some of my work. The cover art above is for the second novel that Between the Lines Publisher accepted. Drowning was the other one. The other publisher was @episodicreading.
Then, I got the health news. It dealt me a blow, and I almost let it kill my writing dreams again. Then a year after that, I sold one screenplay and optioned another one. Not until I turned 60 did I get a huge writing success. And at 61, I got even better news with the screenplays. Then, I found a freelance editing job. One domino tumbled and several followed.
Now COVID has hit. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I think maybe I'll keep writing. In writing, every time, you publish something, you've accomplished a dream. It's not a one and done thing though. Each time something gets selected for publication, your confidence improves, another dream realized.
I remember when I was in the midst of struggling with my writing stuff, I saw a cartoon. I can't remember it exactly, but it was one of those, don't give up your dreams because they might just be around the corner things. The cartoon was a guy digging a tunnel looking for diamonds. In the cartoon, he had dug and dug and dug and was just about to give up. In the cartoon, the diamonds were just about two feet in front of him.
I'd like to say that inspired me to keep going but it didn't. I had given myself a deadline, and I was close to making it there. My ministers had always told me that God's timeline is not our own. I didn't know God's timeline would take so long to get here.
I'm going to wait and see what happens in the coming year. Long about October or so, I'll reevaluate. What's going on in the world and what's going on in my life will determine what the next steps will be. Dreams don't have any limit though. You can have as many as you want or as few.
I'm not going to be one of those people who tells you that you should never give up because you will always get your dreams. We all know that's not always true. Usually, though when one dream fades away, you'll see another one that you might have overlooked before. Keep looking.
