New Novel & Audiobooks in June!

It's been a while since I logged here. That's because of the scarcity of a commodity that most writer's face ... time.

There's been enough written about how to juggle the many eggs an indie publisher has to handle - editing, graphic design, formatting, publishing, social networking, website(s) maintenance, bookkeeping, blogging ... not to mention, actually writing the bloody thing, so I won't preach here. Especially, since I haven't found the secret pill to take to solve it, other than, just rollin' up me sleeves and gettin' to it.

I will say this though ... it all should be gotten to. And ... writing should ALWAYS come first!

With that said, lots of blessed and fantastic stuff happening:

• Book 3 of the CRIS DE NIRO series is in editing now. _RISE TO THE CALL_ will be out next month!
• Audiobooks for _THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM_ and _SIGNS OF WAR_ are in production and will also be released next month! My great actor-friend Elijah Alexander narrates them. I've dubbed him "The Voice of the CRIS DE NIRO series." He's awesome. He brought the characters to life in the most entertaining way. In the near future, I'll be writing about how I simply could not have created the audiobooks with Elijah, if it weren't for the most amazing company in the world - Amazon! There's a lot of difference of opinion about Amazon, but for me - Amazon is simply the best, most supportive company for an indie publisher! Thank you Amazon!
• Started work on CRIS DE NIRO, Book 4, tentatively titled _PROJECT 111_, with an expectation to release by December.
• About to start work on a new Fantasy/Adventure series, titled, SAGA OF THE SEVEN SEALS. This was actually the first series I worked on as a professional writer, back in 2010. I had written a manuscript and shopped it the 'legacy' way (47 queries, 10 proposals). I had gotten a handful of lukewarm interest, when I decided (after re-reading it several times) that it wasn't the book I wanted to write. <-- A newbie writer mistake. Instead of trying to "fix" it, I tossed the manuscript and started work on _THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM_, with the intention of going back and writing it correctly, in the future. Well, in the words of ... somebody ... "The future is now."

On another note, my great author-amigo Jeff Bennington came to town this week, with his wife and kids. He has four kids - I have four kids. They homeschool theirs - we homeschool ours. He's a neo-pro thriller author - well ... you see the similarities.  c",)

Anyway, we spent a fun night talking writing and indie publishing - sharing experiences, swapping stories and talking about some of our brutha & sistas of the keyboard (so some of your ears should be ringing). It was just a great experience. Other than being a great writer, Jeff is one of the most astute indie publishers when it comes to marketing that I know. He's a very humble guy, but anyone that has read his _Indie Author's Guide To The Universe_ knows that he knows his stuff.

Jeff was one of a few authors that actually reached out and helped me start my writing career (along with Dean Wesley Smith and Scott Nicholson). I'm proud to call him a friend and I consider him one of the up-&-coming authors that will continue to grow in success.

This will be the first time I attempt to write two novels, at the same time. I'm hoping the fact they are in different genres will help me accomplish the task. Two years ago, I read that Dean Wesley suggested a novel author should aim to write 3-4 full-length novels per year. He backed that up (as he backs everything he teaches up) with personal accomplishment and experience. It can be done 'cause it has been done! <-- that's all I had to know.

With that said, it's ... an aggressive objective, especially for an author of counter-terrorism novels. In order to make mine as real as possible, I have to research for months. I am showing progress though. My first novel (the one that wasn't published) took me 46 years to write; my 2nd took one year; my third ... 10 months; my 4th ... 6 months. My objective is to write/publish every 3-4 months. I'm not sure I'll ever attain that, or even if I do, I probably won't be able to sustain it - but it is a noble objective, and at the end of the day - I'll end up with a robust body of work published. <And that's the key to success in publishing.

Quantity and quality go hand in hand in publishing. Writers need to continually aspire to maximize both.

On that note ... back to it!