Month: March 2015

News, Quotes, and Such

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I’d like to start this week and this post off with one of my favorite quotes:

“We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.” Let’s get down to today’s material…

The Faces of the War Collection

This past week, I had one day off from my day job. I earmarked that day as a day of writing, and let me tell you–I wrote. I typed over 3,000 words in Book Three, bringing the size of the manuscript up to just over 12K words. That’s a little more than a quarter of the way done with the first draft! I was satisfied with the writing I accomplished, and am looking forward to yet another full day off this week. I only hope I can be just as productive, if not more!

Resistant and Unguarded, my first two books in this collection, are continuing to sell at a slow but steady rate. I hope to see that rate increase after I attend the Dayton Book Expo and as the following few months roll along.

Dayton Book Expo

I am looking forward to heading south to Dayton on April 25 for the Expo. This week, I’ll be putting together all my table supplies and book accessories for the event; I hope everything comes together all right! If you will be in attendance at the Expo, I hope to see you at my table. You’ll be able to find me in the Expo author directory; however, I’ll be under my real name of Mike Pratt because that’s how I signed up. Remember, Eli Kale is merely my pen name.

If I get things put together well enough over the next few weeks, I might slip you a sneak peek at my table materials, perhaps through Instagram. So keep an eye out!

The Short Story Collection

I will resume work on my next short story book, Volume 2, this week. I gave myself almost a week off from the project, mostly so I could rest my eyes and brain from those stories, but also to devote time to my WWII project as mentioned above. I also have one of the stories out to an editor friend who is looking over the story for me. Another set of eyes always helps with writing!

If all goes as planned (which it sometimes doesn’t) with this project, I’ll release the ebook by May 1. I’ll keep you posted on it. You can check out Volume 1 on the Kindle here.

YouTube

If you haven’t checked out my vlogs (video logs) on YouTube yet, I encourage you to do so! I am currently in the middle of a series on my writing process and my writing life in general. In each video, I include details about a specific step in my writing process, and how it can relate to you. I also give brief talking points on other writing-related topics, some of which go hand in hand with the day’s writing process step. Not only do you learn of how I write, but you get a glimpse into my life and what makes me the writer I am. Be sure to subscribe to my channel (by clicking the red Subscribe button below any video of mine that you watch) and to give my videos a Thumbs Up (by clicking the thumbs-up icon near the video’s title). It helps grow my presence on YouTube!

GoFundMe Campaign

I am still awaiting my first donation to my campaign to support the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. As an incentive, the first few donors will receive a Kindle ebook copy of one of my books, as a thank-you! So head on over to my campaign site and donate – even $5 will do!

As always, thank you all for the support and encouragement you’ve given me to do what I have a passion for doing. And if you’re new to me and my work, welcome aboard and I hope you can get something out of what it is that I do!

Until next time,

-Eli

Pressing On!

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I got to spend the weekend with some of my family members. Being able to do that is a wonderful thing, and I will always cherish the memories we make together! I come to you now, ready to begin a new week of work and passion. I hope this post finds you well and also in high spirits! Let’s get to today’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

After last week’s post, much progress was made on this front. I tweeted later in the week that I have almost reached the 9,000 word count mark for Book Three, and I owe it to a new system of writing that I have picked up. I set a kitchen timer for 50 minutes, taking that time to write and only write. When the timer goes off, I give myself a few (up to 10) minutes to check my phone, email, social media, and so on. Then I repeat the process over again.

Disciplining myself in this way seems to have a better effect on my writing output. I guess I’ll just have to continue the trend and see if the results will be the same for this week. If they turn out to be, then I have the feeling that much of the story will be written by the summer! Indeed, only time will tell.

With respect to Resistant and Unguarded, I will be selling copies of those at the Dayton Book Expo, which I will detail below. I will only have so many copies on hand, so if you are going to the Expo and want a copy, be sure to stop by my table early on.

Dayton Book Expo

At the Expo, which is on April 25 from 11am-4pm, I will have an author table in the Great Hall where I will be available to chat about my work and meet fellow authors and readers. I will also have a sign-up sheet where readers can leave me their emails to be added to my newsletter, as well as to be entered to receive a FREE copy of one of my books. I don’t have the details all the way figured out yet, but they’re getting there!

While I’m in Dayton, I will visit the US Air Force Museum. I am really looking forward to it! I plan on taking pictures while there, and I hope to vlog my experience throughout the weekend and upload the footage to my YouTube channel, which I will detail further below. So if you are in the Dayton area, or are already planning to go to the Expo (which is free to the public), I hope to see you at my table!

YouTube

I uploaded my fifth vlog this past Friday, which you can find here. I am really getting comfortable making these vlogs, and I hope you are getting something out of them as you go along watching them. If you haven’t yet seen any of my vlogs, I encourage you to check out my channel for all the videos I’ve put out. And please, feel free to leave me a comment on any video you watch, and be sure to click the Thumbs Up button near the video title. It helps extend my presence in YouTube. And as always, telling your family, friends, and coworkers about it helps get my name “out there,” for which I am always grateful.

The Short Story Collection

So there’s been a development on this front. I told you last week that I had decided on a story idea for the third short story in my upcoming volume. However, I was looking through my back burner files and found that I have a nearly completed short story ready to go, save for a few minor tweaks and touches. Even if I have to add a little more to that story, it’s closer to being done than the newly decided upon story idea. That being said, I might bump the new story idea to the third volume and put the back burner story in its place. This will help bring me closer to publishing the volume. If this turns out to be the case, I can say with more confidence that Volume 2 will be out before May. More details will be posted as the weeks press on. If you haven’t checked out my first ebook, Volume 1, you can find it here.

GoFundMe Campaign

There still have been no donations made to my campaign for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. As in past blog posts, I will send the first few donors a FREE copy of one of my books upon my seeing their donation confirmation. If you haven’t checked out my campaign page, I strongly encourage you to do so. This organization and its purpose means a lot to me, and I’d be grateful for any support given toward it.

Thank you to all who give their support and encouragement for what I do. I know I say it often, but it truly means the world to me that there are those out there who care about what I care about, and that makes me very happy!

Until next time,

-Eli

Dayton Book Expo (and Other News)

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

A new week is upon us, so let us go into it with a positive attitude and a mind ready to accomplish what lay ahead! I have some news for you today, so why don’t I get right down to it…

Dayton Book Expo

At the end of April, specifically Saturday the 25th, I will be heading down to Dayton, OH for the 6th Annual Dayton Book Expo. I will be in attendance as an author, with a table all to myself where I can meet fellow authors and readers, sell/give away copies of my books, and just increase my presence in the reading/writing community in general. I am very excited about it, and I hope to make it a fantastic experience. I will have more details on it in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

The Faces of the War Collection

Unguarded has been doing well since its publication in January. I can’t say enough on how satisfied I am with that project, because it really was a fun project and I learned new things along the way. If you haven’t checked it out, you can do so here

Book Three is well underway, with the current word count somewhere around 7,000. This project, too, is quite fun and educational, as I am writing on things with which I am not 100% familiar. I have a few things in mind to add to this story that will make it better than my first two, but we’ll just have to see how it all pans out!

The Short Story Collection

I have figured out what I am going to do for my third story in my upcoming Volume 2, due to release in the next couple of months, and writing on the other two stories is also underway. I feel comfortable in saying that I’ll have the bulk of this volume complete by the time the Dayton Book Expo rolls around. You can find details on Volume 1 here.

YouTube

I released the third vlog in my series on Writing Process this past week, and am looking forward to producing more. In case you missed it, or haven’t seen any of my videos, you can access it here. Please keep in mind that these videos are not definitive or exhaustive, but simply my view and opinion on the topic at hand. I can in no way explore and explain every detail of the writing process, for it differs from person to person and would take a great amount of time to cover in whole. So I hope you can get something out of these videos, and watch them with enjoyment. To see my channel and other videos, you can click here.

GoFundMe Campaign

My fundraising campaign for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans is still in its infant stage. I am looking for individuals to donate to this cause of raising awareness of the time period and to sustain its history for future generations. As an incentive, the first 3 people to donate to my campaign will receive a FREE copy of my short story ebook Volume 1. Just snap a photo of your donation confirmation screen and send it to me via email, then I will get in touch with you. My email is: elikale.author@gmail.com

That’s about all the news I have for you today. If you haven’t subscribed to my mailing list yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. The next newsletter goes out this week, so it would be a perfect time! And as always, thank you for your support and encouragement as I do the thing I love.

Until next time,

-Eli

Spring Is In The Air

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and ready to tackle the week ahead! Let’s get into today’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

The word count for Book Three is currently sitting just shy of 5,000, but I foresee that count going up this week. I am going to try something new over the next handful of days that will hopefully improve my writing output. I will set a timer for one hour and write during that time, really trying not to get distracted. When the timer goes off, I’ll take a quick break…maybe check my emails, social media, or whatever. Then I’ll set the timer again and write for another hour, repeating the process as much as possible to fill up my day.

I think it’s good to try new things in terms of improving yourself, even if it’s just something small like setting a timer. Over time, those small actions add up, and the hope is that it will produce something far greater and more efficient than what would have been produced through previous habits or practices.

I’m also starting to do a better job of tracking my word count as I go through the writing process on Book Three. During the first week of every month, I’ll record my current word count, then compare the different counts later as the months move along. This will hopefully give me a better idea as to how productive I am, and it might get me thinking on how to change to improve upon it. Again, it comes back to the little things adding up.

The Short Story Collection

Good news! I believe I have found an idea to develop for the third story in my upcoming Volume 2. It isn’t for certain yet, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. As for the other two stories, they are coming along. I think it is safe to say (at least at this point) that this ebook will be ready before May. I will keep the details coming as they develop.

I recently added a story sample to my website (which you can find here) from my short story “At the Gates of Sevastopol” in Volume 1. I figured this would be a good way to give you some idea of what my writing is like if you haven’t read my work yet, so enjoy!

YouTube

On Friday, I released my second video on writing process, specifically covering the step of planning the story. If you missed it, you can check it out here. The video to be released this week covers the step of writing the rough draft.

The main reason for uploading videos to YouTube is to expand my author platform and presence in the reading/writing community, but I can’t do that without YOUR help. So please, whether you watch the videos or not, spread the word by telling your friends, sharing the video links, or clicking the “Subscribe” and “Thumbs Up” buttons on the video’s page. It truly helps bring others in the know about what I do.

Whatever is done, I want everyone to know how appreciative I am of your support and encouragement, and for your desire to read my work and follow what I do outside of selling books.

GoFundMe Campaign

So far, no donations have been made to my campaign to support the National WWII Museum. I hope to see that change in the coming weeks.

That’s about it for today’s news. I encourage you to Follow me on social media and on this blog if you aren’t already, and again, I’d appreciate it if you checked out my YouTube vlogs and GoFundMe campaign.

Until next time,

-Eli

It’s Already March!

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

A new week, a new chance to make a difference, a new opportunity to accomplish your goals. It’s crazy that March is already here! Let’s delve into today’s post…

The Faces of the War Collection

Some more copies of Unguarded have sold in the past week, and that makes me very happy to see! I encourage you to please check out my new book if you haven’t already done so. And pass the word along to your friends and coworkers!

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I haven’t put much time toward Book Three because of work and the fact that I’ve been writing my next short story volume. However, I’m not going to fret over this. The book will be tended to in due time. I don’t want to rush the writing just to match the time frame of previous books. It will be written in its own time. Another big part of why writing has taken a hit in these past couple of weeks is because of my launch on YouTube, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

As for Book Three, I am anxious to see where the story takes me and how the process goes along this time around. I’ve said it before – the writing experience for all of my books thus far has been different every time. And I like that. It shows that I am improving my craft and making the stories new and exciting, not recycling the same routine and feel when writing.

In terms of the story, I can’t give out too many details just yet, but they will be coming to you over the next few months!

The Short Story Collection

I have two of the three stories fleshed out and already half-written, but the third story has yet to be figured out. I have a pool of story ideas from which I can choose to fill that spot, but I just can’t seem to land on a solid enough idea. There is still time, though. I don’t plan on releasing this volume until further into spring, and I’m almost three-fourths of the way through the first two stories. If you haven’t checked out my first ebook, Volume 1, I encourage you to do so.

YouTube

The first two vlogs on my YouTube channel launched this past Friday, and they both already have more than a dozen views each! If you missed the launch and what it’s all about, you can check out my post about it here.

I am really looking forward to the journey ahead and seeing where it takes me, and who comes along for the ride. If you check out the videos, please “Subscribe” to my channel. It greatly improves my presence and author platform, and besides – I do this for you, my readers, and also for fellow writers!

GoFundMe Campaign

I recently started a campaign to raise money on GoFundMe, a crowdfunding site. I want to raise money for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana because keeping the history of that time period alive and understood is something important to me. If you’d like to learn more about it, you can check out the link for it here. I’d really appreciate it if you considered donating some money, even five dollars, because every little bit helps and will get me to my goal!

I am very thankful for those who have been following my work since the beginning, and for the support and encouragement you’ve given me. Please pass the word along to anyone you know who would be interested in what I do. I always love being able to share my passion with new people!

Until next time,

-Eli