Hey Folks,
I almost didn’t post a Journal entry today. Nothing in “Of Interest” today, and I didn’t write any new fiction. But I wanted to share with you.
Wow. What a great day! Already! (It’s about noon as I write this.)
It isn’t a great day writing-wise, at least not yet. And if it ends either way, that’ll be fine too. But it’s a great day in the realm of serendipity.
Now understand, I’m in the middle (well, the first quarter or third) of a novel. The D.R.E.A.D. thing. Only I already know I’m going to change one character name when it’s all said and done because I want to use that character name for a series character.
Anyway, the serendipity started when a fellow I’ve never heard from before emailed to request my novella, Jobs Like That. It’s the one (if I remember correctly) that I wrote “in public” one scene at a time back when I had a dedicated site for that. Later, of course, I compiled it and published it.
I sent him the file free since I have that special going on right now. He said if he liked it, he would definitely be buying more of my books.
Okay. Good to hear, right? That’s what I would hope.
But then a few individual fragments of previously fleeting thoughts got together and gelled in my mind.
If he likes it… so I pulled it out and read it again. Just as a reader. I liked it. A lot.
And I remembered that I’d originally written and posted it one scene at a time “in public.” So it was born as a kind of serial.
And the main character struck me as a guy who could easily be a recurring series character. A Jack Reacher kind of guy, though I wrote the novella long before I’d read my first Jack Reacher book.
Then I remembered the “source novel” I wrote awhile back titled Keeper of the Promise. I don’t want to give away too much, so suffice it to say that novel was to serve as the basis for a series.
Then (my thoughts roiling around) I thought of Smith’s Monthly, the montly magazine Dean Wesley Smith’s been producing for awhile now.
And I thought again about new readers who are discovering my work and “if I like it….” And then I wondered whether they might like to have an alternative way to get my work. Kind on an ongoing sampler of genres, short and long stories, even poetry.
And that led back to Smith’s Monthly where it soon morphed into “Wait a minute. I could do that too.” (grin)
So now, smack in the middle of an ongoing work in progress, I have a new project. Or rather, a few new projects.
One is to produce my own monthly magazine. Unless I get a HUGE demand for paper, I’ll make it electronic only in .mobi, .epub and .pdf. It will be available via subscription and through all the usual vendors on a per-issue basis.
Of course, it’ll take a month or so of thought to be sure I get the format right. Whole novels or serials? How many short stories per issue? One genre per issue or a sampling of genres?
Another project is to write a sequel (or two or twelve) to Jobs Like That.
Another is to write a series around the new character I’m about to steal from my work in progress.
And I think there’s one more project, but I can’t think of it at the moment. (grin)
Can you tell I’m excited, or what? (grin) The new world of publishing is just a great time to be alive.
See you tomorrow.
Of Interest
Sorry. Nothing today. Of course you could always click the Writer Resources tab on my website and browse.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 650 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 650
Writing of D.R.E.A.D. (novel)
Day 1…… 3391 words. Total words to date…… 3391
Day 2…… 3827 words. Total words to date…… 7218
Day 3…… 3194 words. Total words to date…… 10412
Day 4…… 2456 words. Total words to date…… 12868
Day 5…… 2197 words. Total words to date…… 15065
Day 6…… 2794 words. Total words to date…… 17859
Day 7…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 17859
Total fiction words for the year………… 224823
Total nonfiction words for the month… 7300
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 70810
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 295363
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 5
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 31
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 5
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………………… 193