Hello!
It's Memorial Day weekend, a time when we pause to remember those who sacrificed everything by losing their life so others could have freedom. Have you lost any family or friends who died while serving in the military? If so, please feel free to share their story with me.
When my last newsletter went out, I mentioned I was in Utah for my youngest brother's wedding. I'm happy to report it all went well and nobody got cold feet, ha! I live on the other side of the country from the rest of my family, so it was nice to see most of them. Here's a picture of me and most of my siblings (2 of them don't associate with the family):
I'm the oldest of 8, of which, there are 5 boys and 3 girls. It was a fun time, and while there, I also got to visit Moon's Rare Books. It's been around since 1987, but thanks to TikTok, it's become well known because the owner does videos of his rare book collection. I brought my best friend to the wedding since he's basically family, and while in the bookstore, he mentioned to the owner that I was an author.
We were then given access to the room where Mr. Moon films his videos and we got to see the contents of one of his safes. We weren't allowed to photograph or video anything in it, though. I also got a photo with the legend himself:
After returning home, I spent time playing catch up on author admin tasks and constantly checking the shipping status of my books for my recent Kickstarter campaign (not to be confused with the one currently running). They were supposed to arrive on Monday, but the status kept updating between saying they were on the way to say they were still in Memphis.
After a couple days, it changed to having cleared customs and was on the way. They have arrived, and I received the final stretch goal item yesterday (dragon head candles, woo!). I'm heading out to a convention this weekend in Memphis, and then when I get home I'll be working on getting the books shipped out.
And speaking of Kickstarter, my current campaign ends today at 11AM Eastern time, so if you haven't checked it out, you may still have time depending on when you see this email. It's linked below for those interested.
I spent some time this week editing the first book of my new series, and working on book 2. I've not had time to work on it like I thought I would over the last two weeks, but I am having fun seeing how the story is shaping up. I'm not the kind of writer who outlines, so often times I'm just as surprised at how the events work out as you are, ha!
One of the things I love to do is share my wisdom regarding publishing and marketing with other authors, because most authors don't know what they need/should/could be doing to better get their books out there in the public eye. And in that pursuit, I served as the VP of a local writer's group for 2 years, handing the position off to someone new this year.
Anyway, the group puts on a writer's conference in May every year, and they asked me to speak again at this year's conference. This was the third year, and they wanted me to speak on world building. It was quite a task putting something together to speak on with only 45 minutes because world building could literally be a weeklong workshop and you still wouldn't cover everything.
I said as much as the beginning of my talk, and warned everyone I had a 28 page document we were going to try to get through. I felt like I was going over everything far too quickly, but at the end, I got a lot of feedback that it was very informative, and while it was packed with a lot of information, it was all good stuff to know.
If you're an aspiring author, or a published author, and ever have questions, I'm happy to answer them if it's something I'm experienced with. I don't claim to be a guru by any stretch of the imagination, but I've been self-publishing since 2007 and have learned a LOT from my mistakes. I'm happy to share what has worked, and what hasn't, for me in my author career. So feel free to reach out any time.
I think that's all for now!
Below you'll find a promo for paid books, as well as the link to my current Kickstarter.
What I’m reading: I've started reading A Breaking of Realms by Jasmine Young. I'm enjoying it so far.
What I’m watching: I watched Den of Thieves 2 on the plane ride home from Utah, and I honestly liked it more than the first one.
What are you reading/watching?
As always, a huge thank you for the support!
Richard
KICKSTARTER
Ending at 11AM Eastern today!
In case you missed my last email, there are over 50 books are in this promo!
0 comments