Friends,

Welcome to a new post, a new week, and a new chance to achieve greatness! Let’s get into today’s content…

Dayton Book Expo

This past weekend, I attended the Dayton Book Expo at the David H. Ponitz Conference Center at Sinclair Community College. There were over 90 other authors, some of which were sponsored by the Dayton Metro Library. Prizes and awards were handed out throughout the day, and there was an award at the end given to the author with the highest sales that day. It was populated by many readers, some local and some from out of town. Overall, it was a good experience!

My table at the Expo, with all of my tabletop material set up

Though I can’t put a number on it, I had many people – readers and authors – visit my table. It was great to chat with others about my writing story, my work, and what I’m planning for the future. Most of the slots on the free ebook signup sheets were filled, and many people wanted to be added to my mailing list. If you haven’t done that yourself, you can easily join the group here.

Resistant and Unguarded for sale

In terms of books sold, that number was 3. Bright side: both of my books will be in a library in Michigan, available to be read by countless high school students. I also gave away many business cards, so hopefully I’ll be contacted in the near future for networking and/or collaboration. It’s a start, at least, and that’s how you’ve gotta make your way sometimes.

My short story volume covers

Plans have already been started for next year’s expo, but I’ll wait until closer to then before deciding on returning. I’d like to attend other expos to see what else is out there; I simply treated Dayton as a test expo to get the basic gist of things. We’ll just have to see what time brings!

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

On Sunday, my wife and I visited the Air Force museum in Dayton, and let me tell you – it was great! It’s crazy to think that all of the planes there had seen action in wartime, and it’s even crazier that they survived to be showcased as pieces of history. And what made it even more special for me was that I got to see many planes from the World War II era, which greatly interests me.

75mm cannon that would have been the armament of a B-25 bomber

While there are far too many pictures to show here, know that I did see the plane that is featured in my second book, Unguarded. It is the Supermarine Spitfire, the primary fighter plane used by the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Though it has the emblem of the US Air Force – because U.S. airmen did fly it at one point – it’s the same version of fighter plane the British used…

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc

I am so glad I got to visit the museum and see these pieces of history, and know that they were used to bring the war to an end. More pictures will make their way onto my social media and website over the coming weeks and months, but I think this will do for now. In addition to these pictures, I’ll have footage of my visit in this week’s vlog, so subscribe to my YouTube channel to catch that video!

The Faces of the War Collection

Progress is being made on this front, with the total word count approaching the 15K word mark. I plan to tackle more writing this week in great amounts, so my hope is that I’ll exceed the 20K by the beginning of next week. Work will soon begin on the book cover, I hope, so I will let you know of those details when the time comes.

The Short Story Collection

Progress has slowed a bit on this project, but I still am shooting for a summer release. Keep an eye out for details about Volume 2 as the summer months approach. And if you haven’t checked out Volume 1 yet, you can find it here.

As for other news, I am still keeping up with my YouTube vlogs, with the next video going live this Friday. I’m also keeping the GoFundMe campaign open to receive donations for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. As for personal things, I am on the lookout for a new, full-time job. I’m hoping these next couple of months will bring some change in my life, and that I’ll be able to accomplish the writing that I want to get done.

As always, thank you for your encouragement and support. I truly appreciate it!

Until next time,

-Eli