Today, May 1st 2008, The Magic of Eyri is a year old.

Hard to believe it has been a year already. And what a year it has been: I've sold 115 copies of the book (that I know of to date) so far, averaging around 10 copies sold a month, been to three fan conventions (two as a guest panelist), meet a lot of great people (fans and writers alike) and over all learned a heck of a lot about publishing, writing and promotion. Here's a link to my six month recap I did back in November.

Phew.

I'll admit that I had planned to have the second MoE book ("Them Bones") finished by now, but I had a few months were I was working on short stories so I don't feel too bad about not getting it finished. I have part of the first draft started, so I'm getting there. I just have to get back on the horse, which after not working on the story since early December is a bit hard. But I'll do it. Once I get in the groove, I can't be stopped.

Recent accomplishments (in no particular order, since November, that I can think of off the top of my head):

• Attending the fan convention ConFusion, sold a couple copies and met some great people.
  
• Had a signing with Jim C. HInes (jimhines) that went very, very well. I sold 8 copies in one day, my best day ever.
  
• Appeared on the Ebling and You radio show here in Lansing.
• Wrote two short stories and submitted them by their deadlines. They didn't get bought but I was given some very positive feedback on both.
  
• Attended Penguicon, where I took part in eight events. I also sold six copies of The Magic of Eyri while there (oh yeah..I still have to do a write up about the last day of the con..oops).
• Found out a middle school student did a book report on The Magic of Eyri.

On the Horizon:

• I want to revise and expand my steampunk fable short story, Slow and Steady, and start sending that out to various mags to see if I can sell it (think of it as a steampunk Wind in the Willows). I'll do the same with my fairy tale retelling, A Queen's Tale, as well.
  
• Seriously considering serializing The Magic of Eyri on my websites with weekly installments of the chapters. This would give me a chance to run through the story again and fix a few things, and add chapter titles -- which I think would be a nice touch. However, I wouldn't keep an archive of all the chapters, so if you missed a few weeks you'd be lost. I think I'd keep the previous week up tho, that makes the most sense.
  
• Being a guest at Motor City Comic Con in a couple of weeks. I ordered a new batch of promotional cards this morning, I should get them by then (or there will be hell to pay). I already have my shipment of books and I should get my mini-pins from CafePress any day now.
  
• Attending a Career Day at a local middle school to talk about working in film/video production and writing. That'll be fun.
  
• Being on a panel about Self Publishing at the Delta Township Public Library in August, I'll certainly have plenty to say.
• Finishing the second Magic of Eyri book and shopping both around to publishers/agents.
  
• Keep writing short stories.

What a year. Hopefully the next will be just as good.

Feeling way better today, other than being very tired.  I stayed up till midnightish doing my taxes last night, and even with the help of Turbo Tax it took a few hours.  I then made the mistake of taking NyQuil right before i was done (all I had to do was fold my papers and put them in envelopes)...I had to stop half way through before I passed out on my table.

After going to bed, I just kept thinking about my taxes, over and over. Nothing is worse than being sleepy/groggy from NyQuil and NOT being able to fall asleep. I should have taken the stuff, and just relaxed with an episode of Flight of the Conchords (just got the first disc from Netflix and I love it).  Once I get home tonight I'm taking a well deserved nap and going to enjoy not having to worry about my taxes any more. That is a huge stress relief, and with that out of the way I can enjoy myself this weekend.

I need to get back to work on my next Magic of Eyri book, Them Bones. I haven't touched it since November, but I think I wanna get back to it starting Sunday or Monday so I can get some stuff done before heading off to Penguicon on Friday.

I'm not 100% over this cold yet, but I'm getting there.  Having to pump myself full of cold meds and cough drops doesn't help me feel all that with it either...but at least my fever finally broke and I don't have to worry about that nonsense any longer.

Goals in 2008:

Read at least 25 books (tried to do this last year, but fell a couple short)
Submit short stories to magazines
Do a weekly sketch and post it in this blog (can be anything, just have to post some kind of drawing once a week.)
Finish second Magic of Eyri novel
Get an agent
Get both Magic of Eyri novels published by someone other than myself
Redesign websites
Advertise websites on a more frequent/regular basis
Submit The Magic of Eyri to Amazon's Search Inside
Look into making The Magic of Eyri available for Amazon's Kindle eReader