State of Writing

I’m about 14,000 words deep into my next SF installment. I intend to write at least 7,000 more to complete it. If I can do that this week, I’d be pretty stoked. I did remember that I need to continue recording the audio for Wolf of the Tesseract 2. Maybe next week… this weekend I’ll be at Crypticon MPLS slinging books.

I’d very much like to outline what might be the most mainstream book idea I’ve been excited about. It involves Jack Churchill, Nazi mad scientists, and modern suburbia. We’ll see. It might be one of those ideas I don’t get to for years, but I wrote notes (Nanowrimo maybe?)

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State of Writing

I had a big week… and not just because of all of the huge things happening in my work life, but rather in spite of it! Crazy busy, and yet, I found pockets of time to write (during which I was very focused: I’d sit down, write a scene, close my laptop, and then head to work, etc.)

I think I wrote probably 5,000-8,000 words or more last week. Some computer issues arose, even, and my Scrivener crashed… luckily I remembered reading some posts about the auto backup feature and I I recovered 1500 lost words in just a few minutes.

Mainly, I worked on the new Dekker’s Dozen story, which is coming along wonderfully. It’s a little more mystery/intrigue than the previous ones and I’m enjoying the layers of a story like that and even surprised myself with little things that developed as I wrote some scenes. (and those moments are what makes writing so much fun!)

More to come… I’d like to have Dekker’s Dozen: Spawn of Ganymede at 75% complete by the weekend. I think that goal is achievable.

State of Writing

This week I had a great time (as usual) at #mcba #fallcon which is one of Minnesota’s premiere conventions for creators. I got some more work in on the next Dekker’s Dozen story. It is the sequel to Weeds of Eden and is titled “Spawn of Ganymede.” It’s pretty well sketched out and all over but the writing. Hopefully it will wrap up in a couple weeks and weigh in around 20,000 words. More to do, so I’m gonna keep crackin!

 

State of Writing

So I had what felt like a productive week. I got a few blogs written for the future, talked with a few libraries over the weekend, and got some recording done in the studio. I was also offered a publishing contract… a pretty terrible contract—you can read about it when the blog releases in a few weeks (I had a story perform very well on Wattpad and one of their up and coming competitors offered me a check and continued royalties to sell out on it. No thanks.)

In the midst of all the political nonsense that continues to shake the western world I escaped and dedicated some time to write as a means of escaping and put down several thousand words this week in two different stories I’m working on.

Hopefully, more to come this week! I’d like to keep working on the new Dekker’s Dozen installment and finish the first chapter of my new fantasy (not a TKR title). Also, I gotta get that audiobook up for Darque Gates of Koth—TKR#1 just dropped the other day and has had a lot of downloads already… I gotta keep my momentum strong.

State of Writing

I got rough outlines done for the next Dekker’s Dozen novelette and for my untitled fantasy novel. I did some recording on a few new chapters for Wolf of the Tesseract: Darque Gates of Koth. There’s not much I can hope to do this week except continue on that course… refine outlines and keep recording.

My plan is to write a sample couple chapters on this fantasy WIP and then pitch it to the company who was talking with me (it’s in a shared universe). Hopefully I can get a thumbs up or down with a completed outline and an early sample. If it’s a no-go I can complete the story and remove some of the trademarked elements.

I’m also still waiting on getting Fear in a Land Without Shadows back from editing. That will be my priority once I get it back and I’m excited to get cracking on a final version around the time that the new Writers Market for Lit Agents releases.

State of Writing

I was able to complete my audio version of my Dekker’s Dozen prequel. I didn’t get much progress on the second WotT novel’s audio, but I will keep working at it this week!

I have a short story out on submission, now, and I’ve managed to start putting together for a kind of sword and sorcery tale. Once the outline is complete and ready I will pitch it to the folks over at SFR as it’s a story in the Dragon Dice game universe. When I last spoke with their execs, they were interested, but some time has lapsed and so I figure it’s worth putting together something solid to follow on the heels of their very successful Kickstarter campaign. If it ultimately doesn’t work out, I can always change a few of the world-building elements (places, trademarked race names, etc.) and have a solid one-shot fantasy.

I’m going to keep working on outlines for the untitled fantasy as well as the next Dekker’s Dozen outline (I’d like to have two more short stories in rough draft by Christmas) while I wait for my editor to get finished with Fear in a Land Without Shadows. It should be ready any week now.

In the meanwhile, I’m also booking self-publishing workshops and toying with the idea of starting a patreon page… but we’ll see.

State of Writing

I didn’t blog my Monday reports these last couple opportunities. I’ve been a bit swamped with things, including back to back comic cons.

Two weeks ago I had a huge class (like 60 folks) take my indie publishing course (From Idea to Paperback). I was a bit overwhelmed! Usually, whenever I offer one for free there are only a couple who attend, so thank you!

This last week I had a few setbacks. I was doing some recording for one of my two audiobooks in progress and a computer error crashed my software… and I discovered that it had not been autosaving, so I lost a huge amount of work. I’ll begin again this week and my goal is complete the recordings for the next Dekker’s Dozen book this week.

State of Writing

Swamped. But still going! Life is like that.

I’ve been hard at work on some project management items that are related to writing, but aren’t quite the thing I like. I’ve been putting together a writing course for authors that I intend to teach at some upcoming events (and will be available for private bookings. I’m planning to push this through the early months of 2019 when conventions and other bookings are in decline.)

Alongside the class materials I have developed a 24 page workbook to accompany the Indie Author’s Bible. The workbook is filled with formulas, templates, and interactive sheets to help writers plan for success and launch books with their best foot forward. More on that soon, but for now, you can check out some info at: http://www.authorchristopherdschmitz.com/speak (the writing course will feature an exclusive handout to the workbook giving a few extra pages as a premium handout).

I have also been in the studio to keep these audiobooks rolling. The Kakos Realm 1 just completed with a separate narrator who is producing the first trilogy. I’ve been working on a few others. Grandma Ethel’s Donuts and Hollowpoints is available on ebook, now, and I recently completed the audio. One Star is also available and the narration is being recorded and due by October (both have gorgeous covers, go check them out!) I’m also about a quarter of the way through recording Wolves of the Tesseract 2.

Lots going on. I have also begun gathering notes for my next Dekker’s Dozen installment. Weeds of Eden will begin recording this week (a great way to refresh myself and exactly where I was going with the story arcs) and then I’ll start outlining the next novella!

State of Writing

I am sooooo close to being able to write creatively again J I finished the workbook and I hope to finish revisions/edits on it this week to make it print ready. Maybe I’ll even get a chance to start fooling around with outlining for my next Dekker’s Dozen story.

Perhaps I’m procrastinating my Hidden Rings series when I’d hoped to be wrapping up another installment around now, but I’m feeling drawn to short fiction. It helps me stay sharp, and there are a few stories which I’d very much like to complete for future reasons (another Dekker’s Dozen print installment and a few other stories I’ve kicked around for many years in different variations.)

Ideally, the rest of my year looks like this: while recording two audiobooks in the works, outline and write another Dekker’s Dozen novella, sketch characters and outline a fantasy story I’m toying with, rewrites on Fear in a Land Without Shadows before beta reads, and then work on the next Hidden Rings book this fall/winter.

Time to get crackin.

My Publishing Story Pt.1

I often field questions via email. One of those recently was “how did you first get published?” I thought that’s a good story, one fraught with trolls and many other dangers. It might lend some credibility to my advice, and maybe you can identify with parts of my tale. I’m certain you can all relate to parts of my journey.