Last Year in Review

Wow- it's been over a month since I last blogged. The trouble is, I usually get burned out in December, when the end of the year is nigh. Too many social engagements, too much left undone.

Last year was especially bad, and I was too depressed to write, due to the clown show that passes for government in this nation, from the treasonous, Russian-puppet, madman-in-chief, to his traitorous oligarch accomplices. They left the country to burn while they lined their pockets with bribes and stolen money amid their encouragement of racism and bigotry and hatred. The French peasantry had the right idea when their aristocracy went too far; too bad we can't have a dose of that here. There's a long list of villains I'd nominate for guillotine bait. But enough of that.

This last year was a busy one, but one in which I didn't publish a new novel. I wrote, but not enough. Worked on several novels, but only published a single new book of short stories, The Last Crooked Paths, and the collection of all three short books into one: All The Crooked Paths. Not as many stories out as in previous years. Am doing better this year, with over 15,000 new words in less than the first three weeks.

But still it was a banner year, with much going on. Here's some of what happened.
Don't let people tell you you can't be successful as an Independent author!
Attended book launches for friends, including Don Kaplan, Lee McIntyre, and Leslie Wheeler, and a group Noir at the Bar up in Maine.

Interviewed some pretty cool people, including Maine writer Dick Cass, local TV star reporter (and voice narrator) Josh Brogadir, forensic expert Geoff Symon, and journalist Dan Szczesny.
Attended Jeffrey Deaver's workshop, courtesy of the Mystery Writers of America.

Got featured on some awesome sites: the blog of top writer Carmen Amato, on Sci-Fi Saturday Night, on Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers, on the blog of fellow mystery author Dana King, and on Vlad Vaslyn's site, and a video interview by Kameel Nasr!

Gave workshops at the Derry, NH Author Fest and at the Lancaster, MA library, and did a talk at the Pelham, NH library. Sold books at the Boston Book Fair. Spoke on a panel about Sherlock Holmes at the Huntington Theater. Helped put on a Sherlock Holmes talk by Bob Fritsch, and a Christmas event for the Sisters in Crime.

It was a great year for bookstores (for a complete list of places that carry my books on their shelves, check out my website). We had a great signing at a Barnes and Noble in Conn. Got my books into new Indie bookstores in NH, CT, and MA. Thanks to new friends at Water Street Books, The Silver Unicorn, The Freethinker’s Corner Bookstore, and RiverRun Books.

And did book-signing events at my favorite local bookstore, the New England Mobile Book Fair, for Small Business Saturday, Independent Bookstore Day, and the fabulous annual Gala Mystery Night.

Sold books at some fun events, including the Chelmsford Farmer's Market, the Chelmsford Library, and the very cool Moxie Festival, up in Maine.

Lastly, I went to some awesome conferences. Crime Wave in Maine, Crime Bake in MA, Bouchercon, in FL (meeting the grandson of John D. MacDonald, Andrew, was an honor and a highlight), and best of all, Killer Nashville, in TN, where I got to meet a bunch of fun people, including one of my online idols, Indie guru JA Konrath, who is one cool and supportive writer.

So one wild ride last year. Going to be tough to top it, But this year have planned to publish three novels, and more stories. We'll see what the year brings.

Something positive for the New Year- good entertainment

Although the previous year had many negative things happen, with some nasty surprises, in one way it was the BEST Year Ever.

Television.

And wow, never thought I’d be saying that. I don’t watch typical network programming, disliking stale dramas, unfunny comedies, modern talent shows and scripted “reality” shows.

So you have to look for the little nuggets of wonderful among mountains of crap. But precious nuggets are there, and so rewarding when you discover them. 

Since personal tastes differ, a number of folks won’t like some of the shows here. Not going to argue the merits, your dislike is for you, and that’s fine. For some of these, I not only found entertainment value, I found some profound messages, and amazing acting as well. So I’m presenting something positive, which we all sure could use. If you haven’t heard of a show or two among these, give them a try. Netflix, Amazon, your local library, whatever, they’re worth tracking down.

Because story matters, and these had good stories that kept me engaged.

First up are the final seasons of two wonderful, deep-thought shows, The Americans and Rectify. Just astonishing presentations, both well worthy of many awards. So sad we won’t have more of these.

Two fun favorites continued on: Game of Thrones and Agents of SHIELD still kept my interest, though some folks love to bash these on occasion. Fantasy in both cases, different time periods.

All the rest were completely new to me.

Stranger Things took the world by storm, and was a good time. Westworld was a chilling view of humanity and AI combined. Ash vs. Evil Dead was just stupid, bloody fun, with lots of laughs.

For culture, Mozart in the Jungle just warms me whenever we watch. They unabashedly love good things, and there’s so much going on, it’s a lovely ensemble.

Now the rest of these are all pretty dark, but oh, so compelling. Jessica Jones takes a Marvel character and makes her interesting, and The Man in the High Castle is adapted from a novel by Philip K. Dick, about an alternate history that is so chilling, and might give us a clue as to what we’re in for the next few years. And Mr. Robot shows us even more of that, bleak and frightening. 

But the topper, scarier than all the rest, is a British show, Black Mirror. Yes, it holds us up to a vision of ourselves sliding down a path to our own particular hells. It’s like crossing The Twilight Zone with modern themes and fads. Will chill you to the bone if you’re paying attention.

One could write a thick book about just this handful of shows, and how they stand head and shoulders above anything the major networks provide, how they perceive story, and what the effects on the viewers might be.

What gems did you find this last year?

Ending on a High Note

Well, it's been one hell of a year, with many endings- and many reboots. I feel a bit like a character in one of those movies where everything blew up, and the dazed person emerges from the rubble, blinking and wondering how they survived.

From having my job taken away once more last January (thanks, corporate A-holes) to a number of other body blows, it's been a trial. If 'that which does not kill us makes us stronger,' I must be freakin' Superman. I've got back on a mostly even keel, but writing time is hard to come by, as well as mustering the energy to create something worthwhile- the brain and body are tired after 11+ hour days at the day job and commute.

I have high ambitions, goals, and desires for writing, and never feel like I've done enough at years' end. Always have so much more to do, and there's never enough time. Still, I produce more than most writers, and by doing one thing after another, and working to completion, I manage to accumulate a fair body of work for the year.

So this trip around the sun has seen a few things done well. I'd previously put out the first three Zack Taylor mysteries with small publishers, and got the rights back to those. So redid all 3, with new covers and newly-edited content. Print and ebook versions were reissued, and then I got all 3 produced as audiobooks as well! The long-awaited fourth book in the series, A Certain Slant of Light, finally saw publication, coming out last month (more on this later, see below).

And published a book of short stories, More Crooked Paths: 5 Tales of Crime and Mystery.

Got stories into two great anthologies as well. Hope it Fits was selected for the recently-published Red Dawn: Best New England Crime Stories 2016, from Level Best Books (The Boston Globe just gave this excellent work a mention). This is the second year in a row I've had a story featured in this prestigious annual collection, so I'm quite happy with that, especially since last year's collection, Rogue Wave, was a finalist for a Silver Falchion Book Award, up against books by big-name pros of the writing world.

And got two scary stories into Insanity Tales II: The Sense of Fear, a great follow-up to last year's Insanity Tales. This came out just in time for Halloween, and provided some frights with stories from 6 talented writers.

Wrote more that hasn't been published yet, but watch for upcoming releases.

Did a number of book events and spoke on panels: Authors by the Sea, and Queen City Kamikaze Con, the Sisters in Crime panel at the Edwards Public Library in Southampton, MA, with T. Stephens and Vlad V. at the Monson, MA library, at the Scarborough, ME library with the Level Best folks, at the Lancaster Library for a mystery panel (and later a panel of horror writers), at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield, ME (where I grew up), the Haverhill Library, the Middlesex Community College bookstore in downtown Lowell, MA, and the Chelmsford author event. 

Other accomplishments: attended my 40th High School reunion, put out my first newsletter, something I've had as a goal for a while. Got to publicly read my work with other mystery pros at Noir at the Bar. Was featured in Granite Coast magazine. Also served as a writing contest judge for the Al Blanchard Award, given out by an awards committee at the Crime Bake mystery conference (writeup of that event here). At the conference I gave a presentation on producing audiobooks that was rather well-received. Sold a bunch of my mystery novels that weekend, the first time the bookseller has carried my titles at the yearly event- thank you, New England Mobile Bookfair! Speaking of the biggest and best mystery bookstore north of New York, we had a blast at the annual Gala Mystery Night, selling and signing books with the top mystery writers of New England. Attended a few other events there this year, including signings for Tess Gerritsen, and T. Stephens (to see an interview with T. Stephens, click here).

I've had terrific writers as guests doing interviews on the blog this year: Dana King, Kat Parrish, Leigh Perry, Patrick Shawn Bagley, and Peter Dudar. I've been interviewed by others this last year, notably Ann Everett, and Debbi Mack on the Crime Cafe. And just last night, was featured by Dana King, to end the year on a high note, celebrating A Certain Slant of Light, which he kindly read and gave a recommendation for. That's an awesome way to end a year for a writer, being recommended by another writer you respect.

So how was your year? What did you learn and accomplish, what are your regrets for this last year? What do you plan for next year?

I hope to get a slew of works out, including novels, short stories, and collections. And maybe some more non-fiction. See you soon. Gotta get back to work, so I can get those out... 

Have a safe and happy New Year. Celebrate and enjoy, and remember those who have left us this past 12 months.

Happy Post-Holiday

Hope everyone had a good holiday. It was quiet family time here. All is calm, all is bright.

The latest additions to the released books have been added to The Wall.

 

Now to prepare for the New Year ...

 

So much more to write ...

 

And promote- already have 7 book signings and 2 conventions scheduled for the new year.

 

Stay safe and enjoy your own brand of festivities.

New Year, New Goals

Happy End of 2012.  

Well, we survived the Apocalypse, and all the trials and tribulations of the last 12 months. Whew!

A year ago, I set a set of insane writing and production goals for 2012. I was prompted, in part, by the advice of long-term professional writer Dean Wesley Smith, who also had set himself impossible production goals.

At the time, I knew it was a stretch (well, impossible really), but I wanted to challenge myself and do more than I'd done in all the years before.

And I did. Although I fell far short of my stated goals, I accomplished and published more in one year than some writers do in their entire careers.

First goal- produce a book a month, 12 in all.
This included novels and story collections. I had a backlog of many stories, and learned how to put these into collections and sell them as books, producing both ebooks and print versions.
7 of these story collections got published, and my second novel, for a total of 8 books. Short of the 12 goal, but still a great output. Am I happy to have met "only" two-thirds of an impossible stretch goal? You bet.

Second goal- produce a story a week for sale in ebook format, 52 total.
I quickly found that the time and resources to do this was at a level that could not be sustained. You need careful editing, a good cover image, formatting, descriptions, and adding the links everywhere.
I did the first four stories, and stopped, realizing it was more important to produce new material. So I really fell far short on this goal. Am I happy to have abandoned this goal? Nope. Would love to have over 50 stories up for sale, but it'll have to wait.

Along with all that came other writing milestones.

I wrote new stories, and had modest success, with sales and publications.

I finished writing most of the third Zack Taylor mystery novel "A Shadow on the Wall." That'll be out soon.

One past story was selected by Every Day Fiction to be in their upcoming "Best of" anthology.

One new story appeared in the charity anthology Nightfalls, where I'm in with some pretty good new writers.

I was selected as one of "50 Great Writers You Should be Reading" by the national radio program The Author Show.

I'm a weekly guest on WUML (91.5) radio, speaking with host David Tierney about writing.

I've had numerous talks and signings, attended shows, and made many new contacts in the writing world.

All this-- plus publicity-- has to be done when not at my day job.
So no excuses for not writing!

For the coming year of 2013, here are my new writing goals.

Again, from the advice of Dean Wesley Smith, I'm going to shoot for an average of 5000 new words a week, for a grand total of a quarter-million by year's end.

That's the equivalent of four good novels, and 4 is the number of books I plan on publishing in 2013. Still pretty ambitious.

So what are your goals (writing or otherwise) for the coming year?

Happy New Year 2011

Anybody else think that was a wicked fast year? Holy crap, it shot by like a bullet.

At least I feel like I made progress this year, so I can't grouse too much.

Writing accomplishments:
Finally got my novel published! Got it into bookstores, libraries, signings, got to talk about it in person and in interviews. Had the book launch, which was a smash success. Got my first royalty check!

Finished the second novel and sent off for publication. It was supposed to be out by now, but snags at the publisher have delayed it through this season. Not cool, as I've lost quite a few sales because of this.

Kept writing, and published more stories and poems.

Published the first of my short stories and collections as ebooks, a different direction and strategy.

Dipped into audio, recording and publishing my first podcast.

Greatly expanded all social media. Not necessarily a good thing!

Went to the Crime Bake Mystery Conference, and had a great time.

So all in all, pretty darn good. I can look back and say it was worth it.

So you have a safe and happy holiday. Let's see what the New Year has to offer!