It has been a while since I have posted anything, and much has happened during that time. THE PAINTING is finally out. It is my first overtly Christian novel and it has been well received. I had a book signing event recently, and it went very well. I have been interviewed for a video to be uploaded to YouTube and have a podcast interview scheduled.

I spent four weeks as a long term substitute for a teacher having hip replacement. I have never taught at this level and I ventured in with some trepidation. I have not had so much fun teaching and while I could mentally continue, my body was relieved when the teacher’s recovery allowed her to come back into the classroom.

The kids learned I was a writer and begged for a story about them. THE OOGLEY is a pre-teen chapter book written for them. I had a total of fifty students, and they are all included in the book. I managed to do this in the first seven chapters, which was quite a feat. I will finish writing the book in October and I hope to be able to give every student their own copy for spring break.

THE WRONG BOX is my second murder mystery and it is with my proofreader now. We find Deputy Sheriff Hal Blaine and Medical Examiner Judee Sill investigating how a woman’s body wound up in a supposedly empty coffin purchased as art deco. This should be out in early 2025.

Finally, NaNoWriMo 24 is around the corner. My project for this year is THE PHOENIX. We return to fictional Traverse, Illinois, Ted, Jack and the rest of the community. St Michaels AME church is celebrating its centennial when three bolts of lightning burns the building down. As the congregation and community rebuild, they learn how important that church has been to the community which won’t celebrate its centennial for another two years.

The new National Novel Writing Month challenge starts on November 1st. The challenge is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. This can be a novel or the beginning of a novel. The working title of my new project is The Wrong Box.

We return to Limestone County, Texas, for the second Hal Blaine / Judee Sill adventure. This time, the culprit is a tornado! George Haver is a rancher, and after the storm, he finds a hand-carved mahogany coffin (not a casket) on his property. He investigates the addition to his property to find it is occupied. She is young and attractive. She is also very dead. In fact, the young woman has been embalmed and positioned for viewing.

Hal and Judee must determine the identity of the mysterious guest, the cause of her demise, and how to get her to where she belongs. Be careful! There are some unscrupulous characters involved, and who knows what will happen. Judee was poisoned in the last go-round. What will happen this time?

Come back to track my progress and see if I can reach my goal of 50,000 words in 22 days! (My goal is to complete my project before Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the holiday with my family!)

Today is the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It will be my third year participating in the challenge. The goal is to write either a 50,000-word novel or 50,000 words of a longer novel. My project his year is THE PAINTING, the second book in the Ted James series.

Allora works for Ted and Jack at the foundation. She has a live-in boyfriend she is beginning to doubt. She is mad at God for allowing a drunk driver to take her dad from her when she was only 7. She is also mad at the drunk driver who managed to walk away with virtually no injuries.

A big-rig trailer tire explodes next to her tiny Fiat, sending it tumbling down the berm and putting her in a coma. She must paint a modern version of DaVinci’s Last Supper when she awakens. She wants to use the faces of people in her life, and through the process, she learns how to forgive and the mercy of God.

We will catch up with Ted and Maureen. We will visit Pam and Eliot with their growing twins. Jack is forced out of his home as the foundation grows, as does his affection for Ruthie. The foundation has a new project allowing us to meet more fascinating people of Traverse, Illinois.

NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month – starts in 9 days! I am excited to begin writing my 5th book, 3rd novel, and bring back Ted, Maureen, Jack, and Ruthie for another tale of life in Traverse, Illinois. So, what’s going on?

–> Ted and Maureen are about to have their lives turned upside down.

–> Jack is forced to move out of his house, a home he and his late wife had for over three decades.

–> Allora is Angry! She is angry with her boyfriend. She is angry with her dad. She is angry with God. Then the unthinkable happens and lands her in a coma. She has a concussion and a possible TBI. However, her awakening is not the end of the story, nor is it the answer to prayers. Instead, it is the beginning of a journey. A journey of discovery. Discovering who she is, the importance of family, and most of all, the importance of having a relationship with Jesus.

I look forward to visiting with old friends, meeting new ones, and sharing the journey with you.

The creators of America’s Next Great Author held a webinar for those of us who were not selected. Several wanted to know how many auditioned, but all I wanted to know is how can I improve for the next time. Actually, since this is for authors without a book deal, I hope to be ineligible.

About the audition – I taped my script next to the camera. This meant I was not looking down and then up as I made my presentation. Of course, it would have been better memorized, but with only 48 hours to tape the pitch, it is nearly impossible. The creators said as much. They doubted anyone could do a polished video presentation in 48 hours, especially a novice.

About the book – they did not talk about any specific book entry. However, they did note several crime writers uploaded the back story’s beginning. They prefer the back story somewhere later in the book. My back story is in the second third of the book. So I was happy to hear I am at least closing in on what agents/publishers want.

It’s all about equity! – They had to make selections based on several criteria beyond the quality of writing. They strove for equity in genres, author geographical location, age, and gender of the authors. They wanted a homogenous mix to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

The book deal – What I have learned this year. (1) 1,000 books a day (average) are published, and 75% of those are independent publishers. (2) The number of traditional publishers is dwindling. There are presently four, but that number is expected to drop to three within the next six months. (3) There are many scams out there about publishers making money at the author’s expense.

In the end, I was not selected as a semi-finalist but came away with some good information. My bucket list includes being traditionally published. If The Mexia Music Murders doesn’t get it done, then maybe The Painting is the book the publishers have been waiting for. Even if I never make it the traditional route, I am having fun and (hopefully) entertaining people along the way.

I wrote Mexia Music Murders for NaNoWriMo 2021. Then I got feedback on Finding Ted James, suggesting I tighten the storyline. So, I focused on one murder and rewrote the book from start to finish. Then I had Debbie line edit the project, and Becky proofread the manuscript. So now it is time to see if any pros are interested.

I subscribed to Query Tracker and sought out those agents who were interested in mysteries. Some wanted a female protagonist, and others wanted an LGBQTI angle. For those that looked promising, I went to Agent’s Wish List, which gives a better idea of what they are looking for. Unfortunately, some were not on AWL, and I cast them aside. I have sent eight query letters to eight agents. Within twenty-four hours, I got my first rejection notice.

My plan is to spend three months hunting for an agent. This means I should send out close to 100 query letters. Not enough time? I don’t know. I must get the book out there and into the reader’s hands at some point.

You never know when someone will say, “That is just what I have been looking for.” But, at the same time, there is another book with a story wanting to be told. Each book becomes better, and I am confident that at some point, I will write that one novel a publisher believes in.

PANTSER OR PLOTTER

It is rumored that Robert Ludlum, the Jason Bourne books’ creator, would create a detailed outline before committing a single word to a page. It is also rumored Stephen King simply sits down and begins writing. Ludlum was a plotter, and King was a pantser. In his book, The Three Story Method, Zack Bohannan opines that pantsers waste a lot of time writing and editing. He also believes everyone needs to be a plotter.

I consider myself more of a pantser than a plotter. When I wrote The Album: Growing Up in the Age of Innocence, I was definitely a pantser. I wrote each chapter without any forethought or planning. Then, when I ran out of stories/chapters, I arranged them in a way that made sense.

Finding Ted James started with a premise – a retired burglar. I let the book lead the way, and it took me in directions I had not anticipated. However, after the first few chapters, my writing became less random. When I sat down to write, I would review the most recent action and answer the question, “where do we go from here?” Although not written down, the love protagonist’s love story was carefully orchestrated.

I did not outline The Mexia Music Murders, my first murder mystery not yet published. Nor did I do a lot of research ahead of time. Instead, as I reached critical stages in my writing, I would stop and confirm where I was going with the story was appropriate. I knew where I wanted to go. I just didn’t always see the path I needed to follow.

So, what about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser? If you are detailed oriented, which I am not, then plotting is a logical way to organize your thoughts. I have always been quick on my feet. As a first-year teacher, the principal would visit my classroom unannounced. Regardless of the topic, I was always able to immediately incorporate his presence into my lesson. To the casual observer, it may look like I was “winging it,” but I always had a purpose and a direction.

So back to the opening question. It is not an either-or answer. You are you, and that is enough!

I am in the throws of one of the hardest parts of writing. I finished my first murder mystery. I used the editor function in MS Word. I ran everything through Grammarly and ProWritingAid. I even uploaded the novel to Fictionary. Each of these presented issues requiring attention, but then I gave it an editor.

With Finding Ted James, I felt I had arrived as an author. While I received kind reviews of my first two books from family and friends, I received enthusiastic reviews from people outside my circle of friends. I even sent it to Kirkus, and while they were not gushing over what I had written, it was a positive review.

Mexia Music Murders was written in four weeks during NaNoWriMo. Then I listened to the comments made by writing coaches after they read Finding Ted James. I tossed the first edition and rewrote the book with a focus on a single event. The first draft flowed, but the second version was challenging. A friend gave me inspiration on how to end the story.

Then I gave it to Debbie, my editor. For most of a month, I languished in writer’s limbo. MMM is not done, and I don’t want to start the next project without putting MMM to bed. Now I have my mystery back, and now I have to take what Debbie has suggested and use her comments to make this my best work yet.

I am not whole unless I am writing. My wife will attest to my quirkiness when I am not writing. If you are a writer, then you must write. I am back in my happy place as I polish my novel. But I did not waste time. I began a study guide for an Edgar Allen Poe short story and laid out the first 14 scenes of my next project.

Writers write, and that is a simple truth. If you are a writer, write! It is not how many hours you set in front of your computer or how many words you write. It is ok to write junk to practice a skill or experiment with establishing the setting. The key is writing.

This week, I finished my first murder mystery. Actually, I wrote my first murder mystery in November 2021. My writing coaches suggested the story was too broad, so I tightened the focus. This proved more challenging than anticipated. However, I persevered and got it done. Then I went through the editing process.

1. Microsoft Word Editor
2. Grammarly
3. PWA (Pro Writing Aid) General
4. PWA Sticky Sentences
5. PWA Overused Words
6. PWA Style
7. PWA Grammar and Spelling

Now, I will send it to my editor. I participated in a webinar where an author had his wife edit his book. Returning his latest book, she told him to look at the last page. There was a note, “I just wasted 90 minutes of my life.” Devastated, he went back and read her other comments. Finally, he did the revisions she suggested, and the book was successful. Hopefully, my editor won’t feel as if she wasted her life.

I met an independent author and bought one of their books. It was horribly edited, and I learned the author relied on the publisher to edit the book. As I have progressed as a writer, I have taken more and more control of my writing. I have my wife, and at least one other person read what I write and accept their feedback. And while I am using an editor for the first time, I used the editing tools available to me as a writer. I want my editor to focus on the story and not be distracted by basic sentence construction, spelling, and grammar errors. (I read a book by another independent author. That book had sentences over 70 words long.)

On average, a thousand books a day are published. 75% of the books are published by non-traditional, independent author/publishers. The average book sells 150 copies. I was asked by a consultant about my goals. I said I wanted to be above the average and sell 151 copies!

What is your goal? How do you plan to get there? Let me know if I can help.