My first novel – historical military fiction – made it to the top 10 of 9 of Amazon's bestseller lists. Via my blog I share what I have learned while writing two more.
Buckingham Palace from my Uber 12 Dec, 2019. On my way back to my hotel after a business dinner. About 10:30, 35 degrees, and light rain. No crowds.
As it is for many families, it’s been a busy December. Business trip to Germany and London, then work deadlines and Christmas. Several family members in and out of hospitals.
The trip to Germany was a mad dash through Heidelberg, Hannover, and Frankfurt, and then a quick trip through London to visit two customers there.
Though my phone’s battery had died and I was not able to take any photos, one of the most remarkable nights was a business dinner in the Heidelberg Castle. We got there late (in the dark and a light rain). In the court yard stood a single, huge Christmas tree, and the castle was dark and deserted. It was gorgeous and it was silent.
In London, my Uber driver took me home after a company dinner, and we spun by Buckingham Palace, so I took a photo with my phone. Again, the scene was deserted. And beautiful.
Back home, and after getting out of work, had some family time, and time to write again. Both have been nice. 🙂
One of the two “buck brothers” in our yard, Christmas Day, 2019
It has been a hard couple years for professional and family health reasons, though I’m not going to detail it all here. The good news is that (knock on wood) things may be settling down a bit.
I’ve started writing again. That is the good news. The bad news is that with 7 different novels in flight I’m all over the place…working on one for one week, and then jumping to another for a week then off to the third and fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh all in random order and for random durations.
One of my major failings of late is not being able to focus. Needless to say I’ve not been able to stay focused for the last several years for more than a week or two at a time on any one writing project.
As an aside, my first novel — Youth in Asia — continues to sell surprisingly well given that it has been four and a half years since I published it. The novel has sold about 4,200 copies, and I’ve donated well over $2,000 from sales. Frankly, it is embarrassing to admit how long ago I published it.
On a completely unrelated topic, my attempt at growing Giant Sequoias continues…
The Giant Sequoias
Preparing to transplant Giant Sequoias
Of the thirteen seeds that came in the little kit I bought on Amazon for $7, we have three sprouts. I’m not sure if any more have started but are not yet visible, so I will prep six pots. In addition to what you see above, I added a healthy helping of sand.
As you can see in the photo below, the small tube in front of my computer is where the seeds started. I laid out a sheet of aluminum foil to empty the contents of the tube into so I don’t make a mess or lose any of the seeds.
Where I normally sit to do my editing, I’ve set up a small station to do the transplanting.
We only found three seeds that had germinated, but we did find the other 10 seeds. As you can see below, the sprouts are small and very fragile. We are trying to keep as much of the original dirt around their root as we can.
Giant Sequoias starting small…in a tube I divided into quartersExif_JPEG_420
We got the three sprouts into the pots. The other ten seeds we put on the top of the fourth pot and sprinkled the dirt that they came with over them. I marked each seed with a small white rock. Odds are low that any will grow at this point, but thought we’d give them one more shot.
I started this project on a lark, but now that they are growing I’ve been giving more thought to where to plant them on our property when the time comes. Though they reportedly can grow in central Texas, when full grown (long after I’m dead and gone), they can consume more than 500 gallons of water per day. Though we have a ‘wet weather’ creek behind our home, and I’m assuming the water table is not too far below it, and though I can plant at least one in reach of where our sprinkler covers, I can’t imagine pumping 500 gallons of water at it a day. I’ll let my descendants figure that out if it lasts that long…
If all goes well, I figure I’ll put them in big pots next summer, probably of the 5-gallon variety. I’ll put those on the deck. Then after the trees are at least six feet tall, move them to the yard.
Now that is done…on to Thanksgiving and more writing and editing. Hopefully I can focus on one thing at a time.
This morning we spotted this young man on a porch off the end of our driveway…
Bambi hiding between two pots on our porch.
I was also able to get a photo of him from the other side peaking over the wall.
Bambi peaking at me over a wall between our porch and backyard.
Mother deer will often leave their little ones behind in hiding places while they forage or otherwise carry on with their business. We left him alone (after a few photo ops), and a few hours later when I went to check on him, he was gone.
So I headed to our mailbox, which is up a hill past a small side yard that is wedged in between three tall hedges, so well hidden and protected. Bambi was there with his mother, and they were both watching me.
I retreated to the house so as not to disturb them, but we watched from the window. Bambi was practicing walking and running, which was a bit of struggle and made us laugh. He did not have full command of his legs just yet.
When we checked on them a few hours later, they were gone. We live on 2/3rds of an acre beside a lake with a number of ravines and forested areas, so hopefully, they have plenty of room to grow and mature safely. There are also a pair of coyotes in the neighborhood, and foxes, and cars, so it is dangerous out there. But it looks like he made it through the first day or two. Let’s hope for the best.
Ever think you need help with the entire writing and publishing process? Have you ever thought about taking an online course, but you don’t know where to start and they look too expensive? Here is some great news…
Dave Chesson — the owner-operator of Kindlepreneur — has put together a very nice summary (including the review ratings) of about 50 of the courses most relevant to writers, and better yet, they are all on sale for $9.99 until 28 August.
Even if you don’t get the news on the sale until after the 28th of August, Dave’s write-ups are still a fantastic resource to help you make sense of a lot of great Udemy content.
As always, I have no affiliate relationships. So there are no kickbacks for me on this. Rather, it looks like a good deal and Dave’s summaries are super helpful so thought I’d share to help you on your writing and self-publishing journey.
Last month we were in southern England, and we spent a week in Oxford. One of the primary reasons was to visit the JRR Tolkien exhibit at Oxford’s famous Bodleian Library.
The exhibit is impressive and still open. It is free of charge, but you do have to book your tickets. To learn more, see their site. As you would expect, it features many JRR Tolkien books and details of his life. Beyond that, I was surprised by how much art he generated.
Below are a number of pictures from our Tolkien-oriented travels around Oxford. Besides the exhibit, we visited the pub that he and CS Lewis frequented, his grave, and his home.
Yet again, I was party to a discussion about traditional publishing fiction vs. self-publishing fiction. The question was if self-published authors are any good? And yet again, the discussion had several flawed assumptions:
– If you are traditionally published you write well. If you write well you will be traditionally published.
– If you self-publish, you can’t write and you did a poor job of preparing your manuscript. People who self-publish do so because they are not good enough to traditionally publish.
As in most such discussions, there is some truth to all assumptions, but when the generalizations become gospel thoughtful discussion ends. So what is the truth of the matter?
This morning, after rolling out of bed on this 4th of July, I saw that my first novel had gotten its 100th review on Goodreads and its 66th review on Amazon. From the same person, and only 4 stars, nonetheless it was exciting to hit 100 on Goodreads. That is just one of many metrics that can describe my book’s success in the market.
I wanted to share a great article I came across about Peter Gabriel and 27 of his most notable songs. Gabriel and Genesis are just two of the many influences on my writing and creative thinking.
