Pressing On!

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)

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

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!

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

Special Blog Post: YouTube Launch

Friends,

The day has arrived! If you haven’t read this week’s blog post yet (tisk tisk), then I’ll fill you in on why I’m posting on a Friday…

I have recently decided to expand my author platform into the world of YouTube, and the first two videos on my channel launch today. I feel this is a good way to reach potential readers, as well as to provide current readers another look into my writing life and how I function as an author. So come along and join me!

Here are the links to the two videos, as well as to my channel in general:

YouTube Channel     ~     Video #1     ~     Video #2

(…you can just go to the Channel and the videos will be right there)

I truly hope that you tune in and follow me on this journey, because my friends, family, and readers are a vital part of this area of my well-being. I encourage you to “Subscribe” and watch more videos, as well as to tell your friends, coworkers, and anyone else you think might be interested in what I do.

Again, thank you to everyone for your support of my passion. It means a great deal to me!

Enjoy the videos!

-Eli

Onward and Upward

Friends,

I am excited to begin this new week with you, so let’s get started…

The Faces of the War Collection

Unguarded has been doing well since its release, with a handful of copies sold. I have already received a review (though it hasn’t yet been posted to Amazon) that there is a clear sign of improvement from my effort on Resistant. That sounds like good news to me!

I am hoping to tackle at least a few pages of writing this week, but as always I’ll have to see what happens. With the spark of creativity that I experienced last week regarding my short stories, I may devote a little more time to that. But I’ll talk about that in a bit.

Book Three in my WWII collection is looking to be a more serious book. I guess I mean that in the sense of what the main character experiences and thinks. As I go about my writing, I want to experiment with different writing techniques and devices, all the while trying not to stray from my original ideas and intents. I think that’s part of what writing is all about.

Looking ahead to the coming months, I can say with confidence that I believe this next book will be something of a turning point in my writing. I just have a good feeling about it. Currently, I am reading a couple of books – one a memoir, another a non-fiction account of the war’s events – that will provide me with some great inspiration and information to help build my story. And to me that’s one of the most exciting parts about writing: weaving your own story into the fabric of history. As these upcoming weeks arrive, I’ll keep you posted on how the writing goes.

The Short Story Collection

I recently had a spark of creativity with regards to my upcoming short story collection, Volume 2, which I aim to release sometime in March or April. The stories I had begun in the autumn sat dormant for a few months, with only one of them having been started. The other two were only in idea form.

However, I felt the flow of ideas increase, which told me to get writing. Not wanting to break off from working on my WWII project, I debated what to do. But my inner writer led the way. I am almost finished with the first story, with the word count sitting at around 1,200 words. My rule of thumb is to have a short story be at least 2,000 so it has some length to it. The word count ceiling is dependent on a story-by-story basis.

I think you will really like these stories. I definitely enjoy thinking up ideas and fleshing them out, and I hope to do it in a way that entertains my readers. As the upcoming weeks arrive, I’ll update you on how it’s all going.

New Project

I had mentioned before about a “new project” taking a spot on my work plate, and that I’d talk about it in an upcoming blog post. Well, today is the day for that discussion.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten into watching YouTube “vlogs” (or video logs) published by what one might call “everyday people.” Simply put, there are individuals out there that document their daily/weekly/monthly lives on camera, and upload those videos to YouTube where a loyal following exists. The followers of these people tune in every day/week/month to see what these everyday people are up to.

As I watched more and more, I became engrossed in the idea that this is an awesome thing. It’s awesome in a technological sense (because nothing like this could have been accomplished in the past), as well as in a social sense (because I’m a fan of collaboration and networking). With that in mind, I pondered the idea of joining the crowd of these everyday individuals, documenting my own experiences. Taking it a step further, I thought “Why not gear it toward my writing experiences and how I live as a writer?”

And so, beginning this Friday and continuing indefinitely over the coming months, I will release a video once a week documenting my writing life. Being the organized, OCD individual that I am, I wanted to plan out at least the first few vlogs I would publish.

The very first vlog will be just an introductory one. The first vlog of real content, though, will cover brainstorming. I talk about brainstorming in general and what I do specifically in that part of my writing process.

I intend to keep the vlogs between ten and fifteen minutes long so they’re short enough to be watched over lunch or in the morning when you wake up. These videos are in no way exhaustive or definitive; they’re simply ways to express my view on the topics at hand. At this point, I have fifteen videos planned (consequently, fifteen weeks’ worth) on writing process from start to finish, which will take us into the beginning of summer. From there, I will come up with more topics to discuss.

Another driving reason that made me want to go on the YouTube adventure is because I want to expand my author platform and increase my reach to the world of readers. And so I figured YouTube could be a great way to do that. I talk about this in the first video, so I don’t want to step on my own toes here.

That being said, I would really appreciate it if you tuned in to my YouTube channel and subscribed! Gaining subscribers who talk about and share my videos will greatly increase my presence in the reading and writing community, and I would be grateful for any help my current readers can give me in that respect.

I will send out another blog post later this week when the videos go live, with the appropriate links and details included.

As always, thank you so much for your continued encouragement and support. I can’t do what I do without it!

Until next time,

-Eli

Keep Chuggin’ Along

Friends,

Welcome to a new work week, a fresh start to continue working toward achieving our goals and realizing our aspirations. Let’s get right into today’s post…

The Faces of the War Collection

In planning the marketing for my recently released book Unguarded, I decided to try something different. Because my birthday is this week, I am discounting the ebook to only $0.99 from February 15-20. If you didn’t get around to picking up a copy upon the book’s release, I strongly encourage you to get it now at this even lower price. I don’t know when it will be this affordable again!

As for other news in my WWII historical fiction collection, work has begun on the third book. The skeleton planning took place back in September 2014, and the plot was more finely fleshed out in December. Writing began in earnest on February 5, and is continuing at a good pace. If you are unsure of what I mean when I say “skeleton planning,” you can check out my post on Writing Process.

I am looking forward to exploring the plot lines in this next book, especially because of the themes in the story. That leads me to ask you this: if you have read one or both of my books, what is something you liked with regard to the story? Were there interactions between characters that stuck out to you? Was the action and tension in the plot believable and gripping? I ask these questions because I want to ensure that I not only improve my writing craft (as every writer should aspire to do) but that I also deliver good quality stories to you, my readers. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter, so feel free to email me or submit a contact form found here.

The Short Story Collection

There is no real news to report on this front, only that I am slowly getting around to writing more in the stories of the upcoming “Volume 2.” I really want to deliver some entertaining yet different short stories to you, but the ideas aren’t flowing as much for that project as they are for my WWII book. If you haven’t checked out my first ebook entitled “Volume 1,” you can find it here.

I would like to take a moment to thank my family, friends, and my readers for supporting me in what I do. Writing has truly become a passion and something I want to pursue seriously. If you are reading this as a novice writer, please listen to this piece of advice – don’t let obstacles slow you down! Don’t let the words of naysayers distract or dishearten you. Keep chuggin’ along and do what makes you happy. It may seem difficult, but it is and will be so rewarding in the long run.

Until next time,

-Eli

On to the Next

Friends,

Welcome to a new week, a new month, a new chapter. Well, new chapter for me, at least. Now that Unguarded has released and some time has passed for my mind to reset, it is on to the next project. So let’s dive in…

To begin, I’d like to share a link to another blog for which I wrote a guest post just last week. The blog, entitled English Historical Fiction Authors, is operated by fellow historical fiction author Debra Brown and showcases articles, authors, and books in the realm of British history. I wrote an article on the Battle of Britain as my guest blog post, which played well into the promotion for Unguarded. It isn’t as long as some articles on the website, but I wrote what I felt was necessary to talk about what was on my mind. It was a fun experience, and I’m grateful to Debra for giving me the chance to guest blog and for the added exposure to my work. If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to give it a look!

As for the next project, it technically has already begun. In between working days during the final phase of Unguarded, I started into the preliminary writing of the next book in my World War II collection. In this book, there will be a Prologue and an Epilogue (the first book in the collection to have both). At this point, I have just over 4K words written, which leaves me around 43K left to type if this book will be similar in length to its predecessor. And I had already had the book planned in skeleton form since before October 2014. I am very much looking forward to working through this project. And I hope that you will continue to follow along and support me in my passion!

With regard to the next short story volume, not as much has developed as I would have liked. I am still hoping to release Volume 2 sometime between March and May, but I will have to see how it all goes. I will keep you posted as I go.

There are also some things happening behind the scenes, but I don’t want to give it away just yet. But if all goes as planned, they are pretty big. It is my hope that the year ahead will be filled with great things!

Until next time,

-Eli

Unguarded: Reflection

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and on the way to achieving your weekly goals! I wanted to reflect on the experience from beginning to end, as well as inform you of some things, so let’s get down to business.

This past weekend, Unguarded released in print and on the Kindle. It has been a wonderful seven months since beginning the writing process in June. Throughout the early summer, I planned the book in skeleton form, getting the main plot ideas down before moving forward. From June to September, I spent quite a bit of time writing, applying tips and tricks I’d learned along the way. One thing I also tried to incorporate this time around is extending the length of manuscript. This was a common suggestion in the reviews from Resistant, so I wanted to listen to that and act on it.

After completing the first draft, I gave the manuscript to two of my friends. They acted as my beta readers and editors, one of them actually being my editor on the first book. While I awaited their feedback, I contacted my cover designer and got that process moving. Knowing what I wanted this time around, I received the final cover less than a week from when I placed the order for it. If you are interested, check out BookFuel for their author services. Soon after that, my editors/readers each gave me some great feedback, helping me shape my story into the second draft. It was in that draft that much of the story kept its form, remaining that way all the way until publication.

The third and final draft (in terms of major changes to the manuscript) was finished around Thanksgiving. I rested my writing mind during the holidays, which is a good piece of advice for aspiring writers. Taking breaks is not a bad thing! I then read through the third draft two more times before the middle of December arrived, tweaking and amending parts of the story that needed it. The biggest aspect I tried to pay attention to was the dialogue. This has been an ever-changing aspect of writing for me in the sense that I have been putting much effort into trying to make it the best it can be.

I then gave the manuscript to my editor for three weeks (December into January). He sent me really helpful feedback and answered a few questions after I went through his changes. With the manuscript very close to being complete, I did one final read-through. Again, I focused on dialogue, as well as keeping an eye out for grammar and spelling one last time. I finished this item on the checklist the day before I needed to submit the manuscript to Amazon (for the pre-order).

After submitting the formatted ebook manuscript to KDP (.mobi files for Kindle, by the way), I formatted the print document. Createspace provides templates that make formatting easier on the indie publisher. You can check them out here. I wanted to streamline the look of my books, especially those in the Faces of the War collection, so I simply made the formatting for one book and saved the same document as different files for each of the books. This may take you some time, but it will help improve the image of your books, which improves the quality of your brand.

When the time came to submit the print version to Createspace, I did that with much excitement. The next morning, I received an email from Createspace stating they found no formatting errors and that the book’s publication awaited my “O.K.” I gave the final submission through my profile on Createspace on Friday evening of last week. Even though the prompt then said it would take 3-5 business days to process, the book still went live Monday morning. Sometimes is just works out for the better in that way.

Overall, I was very happy with my writing, editing, and publishing experience this time around. Writing has given me such joy, and I hope that the content I distribute does the same for my readers. I am very excited for the possibilities in store for me in 2015, and I can’t wait to get moving on the next project.

One final thing is this: if you are a new or somewhat new writer, and find yourself discouraged or unmotivated, please do not lose heart. All it takes it just to work a little here and a little there to get into a rhythm. And if you’re not feeling the writing vibe at the moment, then do some reading. Anything you can do to stimulate your creative mind will help you out. Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something just because it’s 45,000 words away. You can do it!

I hope you will check out my books, especially Unguarded, and tell me what you think in a review!

Until next time,

-Eli

Final News on Unguarded

Friends,

Welcome to a new post…I hope you are well and in good spirits, ready to tackle a new week ahead! Let’s get right into today’s post…

The Faces of the War Collection

As you know, much has been happening throughout the past weeks with the preparations for Unguarded‘s release. There are a few things in particular that I’d like to point out:

  • Pre-order: this will remain open until Saturday, January 24, which is the release date for the book. If you pre-ordered Unguarded for your Kindle, it will automatically be delivered to your device on that day. At some point after the release, the price will go up to the usual amount of $4.99.
  • Resistant: though this book and Unguarded aren’t directly related, they’re part of the same collection. As such, I wanted to make my first book available at a cheaper price on the Kindle and encourage you to pick it up. You can easily find it here. I plan on keeping the book on sale until the end of January. My hope is that you will pick up both and enjoy reading both, but I am grateful for your interest in my work either way.
  • Newsletter: if you aren’t subscribed to my newsletter already, I encourage you to that as well. You can email me at [elikale.author@gmail.com] or click on this link. The next newsletter will be sent out this Wednesday, January 21 and will contain details about Unguarded‘s release – details that won’t be revealed right away on this blog. In addition to details, I will be having book deals/giveaways and other things of the sort, so there’s no real reason you shouldn’t be on the list. Check it out today!

Those are the main points I wanted to make that will affect the immediate future. There are a few other things I’d like to talk about…

The Short Story Collection

The next volume in this collection is underway, with a tentative release time in the spring. As the weeks go along, and after Unguarded is launched, I’ll give this more attention in the blog posts. If you haven’t yet read or seen my first volume on Amazon, you can easily find it here.

Future Projects

I have already begun to brainstorm ideas of what to write after I finish my WWII collection. I really enjoy writing these books, so I want to be sure that I finish what I started and complete the collection before wholly moving on to another big project. I can say, though, that two projects have been fairly fleshed out in terms of story ideas and certain plot details. I’ll have more on this in the coming months.

I’d like to express my gratitude to you, my readers and followers, for your continued support and encouragement throughout the writing process. It means so much to me! When next I post, a new book will be released with a new story to be experienced. I hope you will experience it with me.

Until next time,

-Eli