Combating the Day Job

Over the past few months I’ve been mainly guest blogging on other people’s blogs and have posted their articles here.  It dawned on me that I’ve neglected my Overlords fans by not posting something for them.  With that in mind, here’s something for you!

           

Like most of you, I’m not a full time writer and have a day job to pay my bills.  Years ago, I went to college for Computer Science and find myself a Systems Engineer today.  Writing fantasy novels simply came from some dark corner of my brain.  Or to put it simply, as my wife says I’m a Libra and I need my analytical side to keep me focused during the day so that my creative side can run rampant at night.  I do hate it when she’s right!  Being an engineer pays well – much better than a starving author – so I must do what it takes to keep my family fed and keep a roof over their heads.  But wouldn’t it be great if The Overlords went mainstream with kids waiting in line at the book store at midnight for the next novel and a movie waiting in the wings?  Then I’d have enough money to write full time, something I would love to do.  Since Hollywood hasn’t come knocking at my door and the day job has taken an increased role in my life due to odd hours and travel, my writing has taken a hit.  What to do then?

It’s time to take my own advice.  At my presentations and workshops I preach to my students and would-be authors to try and write one page a day.  If you can do that, then after a year’s time you’d have yourself a novel.  Some days I write ten pages, others just one, and then sometimes I don’t write at all, but if I can average that one page a day, I’ll be close to completion.  If you’ve read my books – and I hope that you have – you’d know that I need to write a little more than one page a day.  Fantasy novels are on the average of 400+ pages and the fans simply love it!

With this thought fresh in my mind, I’m going to begin my journey to complete the final chapter of my Overlords saga.  I have an outline created, albeit with some holes, but a complete and convincing character set ready to embark on another adventure-filled journey.  I actually can’t wait to start!  I’ll be using my code to alert my fans about my progress, you know the one that looks like Bible scripture, 4:01:01, which translates to Book 4: Chapter 1: Page 1 (I’ll keep a running tally on the page count). I hope you’ll join my journey as well.

Now, for my author friends out there, how do you balance the dreaded work/writing dilemma?  Please post any comments here and be sure to Tweet and Like them on Facebook.  The more people we reach, the more we can help those who are mired in similar situations.

Until next time,

Mike

The Overlords Turn 20!

It's hard to believe that this July marks the 20th anniversary of The Overlords.  At that time twenty years ago, I had given myself a week off between jobs and took advantage of that time to begin the novel that would define my writing life.  I remember staring at the computer screen, scrutinizing every word I wrote, trying to make everything perfect.  I learned a lot that day, mostly that I'm not perfect!

Over the years Harrison Cross and his adventurer friends leaped from my mind and into print, finally becoming "real."  My first novel, Legend of the Treasure, took fourteen years before making it to print.  However, that time was not wasted, in fact I learned so much in regards to writing, character development, the passive voice (ugh!), and editing, editing, editing!  I also met some great people who helped me along this journey, and without them, I would not have anything to my name.

The next six years resulted in two more books in The Overlords series, but also a website, a cool newsletter, blog, awesome artwork, and social networking as well as workshops and presentations on writing and self-promotion, mentoring, a self-publishing company and much, much more!  I always believe in giving back what I have learned, and I intend to continue to do just that.  I'm sure the future will bring new technologies to work with and more ways to get my work "out there!"

Finally, I want to thank all my fans for without you The Overlords would be nothing more than a few books between my son and I.  Instead, I have a modest following and I promise to deliver the highest quality work for them.  I'm busy working on the final chapter of my series and after that we'll see what the future will hold.  Thanks for reading ... and stay tuned!

22 Bowen's Marketing Social

Last night, 12/21, I attended a social event at 22 Bowen's Wharf, a very nice restaurant in Newport, RI. Gail Alofsin arranged the event and invited me to network with people of interest in the local area -- reps from ABC6 (local TV), published authors, radio personalities, etc. This event proved to be a great way to promote my book. If all goes well, I should have a local interest story about my novel and self-promotion on ABC6 in the January/February time frame. I'll have to keep you posted on this one!