Friends,

I am excited to tell you about my vacation trip to Georgia and Tennessee, as well as to update you on the progress of my current project, so let’s get to it…

One Year Anniversary Trip

My wife, Sarah, and I celebrated our first anniversary as a married couple last week. Our trip started with us attending my wife’s aunt’s wedding near Atlanta. We were joined by my in-laws because they too wanted to attend the wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony with a fun reception that followed. I didn’t take any photos while there, but rather enjoyed the moment and the atmosphere.

After staying the night with Sarah’s other aunt in Georgia, the four of us set off for Savannah and Tybee Island. We stayed on the island, which was an awesome experience! I had never been to Savannah or Tybee before this trip, and I hadn’t been to the ocean in more than fifteen years, so it was a good combination of things to do. We didn’t hit the beach until the second day, but we did sneak a peak of the view (we were only a block away from the boardwalk)…

Over the following three days, we got to see the sights, experience some local restaurants and other places, and get a trolley tour of the city of Savannah. It was a wonderful time that I’ll always remember!

Upon leaving Savannah, we headed back to Sarah’s aunt’s house near Atlanta to stay the night. We wanted to spend a little more time with her family, and we also wanted to split up the driving from Savannah to our next big destination: Nashville.

After checking into our hotel in Nashville, we set out for a night on the town…

The above photos are of one of the countless music bars on Broadway (left) and of the establishment’s cozy inside area (right). We got to hear a really entertaining band, whose name I believe is “Blue Honey.” At the end of the night, we returned to our hotel to catch up on our rest.

Before leaving Nashville, we stopped in at the Opryland Hotel…

We finally arrived back at my in-law’s place in Indiana after driving through most of the day. It was nice to get back and relax for another night. The next morning we took off for home and got back around lunchtime. We unloaded the car and got some things squared away, and then we took some time for some much needed family bonding time…and by that, I mean Sarah and I cuddled with Nika and Zazu on our bed!

This trip was a much needed break from our everyday routine, and it is something we’ll always remember for years to come!

The Faces of the War Collection

As you can probably guess, I didn’t write at all on the trip. However, I did jot down some thoughts and ideas related to Book Four…but it’s not quite time for that yet. Before we left for our trip, I completed the writing for Part I. The word count for it came in at over 17K words. I’ve completed the first phase of my editing for that part by editing as I wrote. If you haven’t seen my YouTube videos on writing process, you can find the first one here.

In the spirit of summer arriving and our inherent desire to feel good, I decided to divulge some Book Three story details to you here…

1) The updated word count for the book is 21,630 (before the first big edit).

2) I have already revealed that this book’s POV will be from the German side, so to elaborate on that, I will say that the main character is a German officer named Hans.

3) Despite feeling confident about a late summer release, I am getting the feeling that it will be more into fall when the book will release. I don’t want to keep my readers waiting, but I also don’t want to rush a story if taking my time will make it that much better.

4) I will begin getting the cover design process moving in the next few weeks, which hopefully will produce a cover by the end of July. It will be some time in late summer that I will do the title and cover reveal for Book Three.

Given that I have accepted a second part-time job, my time will be consumed by working. However, I won’t be swamped and won’t have to bring any work home with me, so writing will still continue at relatively the same rate as it currently is. I am definitely excited to see what the next few months bring!

YouTube

Now that my videos on writing process are completed, my vlogs will focus more on my personal, everyday life and what I’m working on regarding my writing. I can’t really take a camera with me to either of the places I work, so it’ll be more home-based and won’t involve many other people (at least to start). If you haven’t yet subscribed to my channel, or even checked out my channel for that matter, you can find it here.

Also, I’ll be sending out my newsletter this week, which will contain more details about my current project. Aside from that, my newsletters include much more detail than my blog posts and act as a more personal medium for connecting with me. So please, join my mailing list so you can get the inside scoop on me and my work!

That’s all I have for today. Thank you for your support and encouragement, and if this is your first time checking me out, I hope you like my work and will stick around to see where it goes. You can find my first two books on my website, if you’re interested in WWII historical fiction. And if you’re not, that’s okay – you can always pass the word along to a friend or family member!

Thank you again, and I hope you enjoyed today’s post.

Until next time,

-Eli