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Out with the Old, In with the New

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

Welcome to a new week, one that’s ushered in some beautiful weather if I say so myself, and to a new opportunity to accomplish your goals. If you’ve set a goal for yourself this week, this month, or whatever – but find things blocking your way or hindering your progress – take a step back and remember: you can find a way to achieve what you want, you just have to know where to look within yourself to find the will. I’ve been working on overcoming some of my own goals in the past month or so, and I feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter! Let’s get into this week’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

I’ve not written a word in about two weeks.

Acknowledging the struggle or problem is half the battle in achieving your goals. My goal: writing a new historical fiction novel. The obstacle in the way: the busy and tiresome process of moving into a new house. Never having done this before, I had no idea what to expect. I know now that since we’re completely out of our old house and into our new one, things are getting to the point of settling back down into a regular routine again. At this juncture, I foresee the first week of May being my target date for resuming my normal writing schedule. State testing will be over with by that point, or at least to the point of minimal involvement by me, so hopefully my weekends will be more open to crank out the types of word counts I did before moving began.

When I do resume, I’ll continue writing Part I, which is very exciting and fun to write thus far. I’m interested to see how my characters develop and where the plot goes from here! I’m still awaiting the final book cover files from the designer, but again – they’re not needed right now; I just wanted to get them designed and out of the way. Also, I’ve gotten information about my summer schedule for school, and I’m fairly pleased: I’ll have summer school to tend to, but it’s not any teaching, only live help in the virtual rooms. So the students work through the material on their own and come to me with any questions they have about the work. After June 18 (graduation), things die down until August. There were rumors going around that school might start the day after Labor Day this coming year, but it’s not confirmed. I’m keeping my fingers crossed! During that time after graduation, I’ll be writing a lot – I’m hoping for 1,000 words a day, if not more.

That’s about the main gist of what’s going on with writing right now. I wanted to tell you that so you knew I hadn’t given up or got into a rut…moving and off-site testing for school really take it out of me!

YouTube

I wanted to take a moment to talk about my absence from the YouTube community. Given everything crazy going on with my schedule in the past month or so, getting footage every day or even once or twice a week was very hard. I know that moving could have great vlog potential, but I think that since I’m not a daily vlogger and it’s not a solid habit I wasn’t already thinking “I need to vlog the move” before it actually happened. I’ve taken pictures of the new house and of things we’ve fixed up, and I’d like to include those in the first vlog back. I’m planning on resuming vlog the first week in May – coinciding with the continuance of writing as I mentioned above. At that point, I’ll have a lot to talk about and show, so it’ll be a good time to come back!

That’s all for this week. Please subscribe to this blog if you haven’t already, so that you can receive next week’s blog post and all the posts to follow after. You can also check out my website (page links above) if you’re new to my work and are interested in historical fiction or short stories. As always, thanks to those who’ve followed and supported me for a long time. And to those of you who are new, welcome, and I hope you like what I have to say!

Until next time,

-Eli

Apologies

/ Eli Kale / 1 Comment

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and in good spirits! I also hope that you have not developed any negative thoughts regarding my absence from posting on this blog, in my monthly newsletter, or on YouTube. There is good reason for it, which I will discuss in this post and in the newsletter I’ll send out on Wednesday. But first, I’d like to give an update on book progress…

The Faces of the War Collection

The first draft of Book Four is coming along well, and I foresee a surge in writing approaching at the end of March (as I have a week off from school for Spring Break, during which time I plan to knock out a large chunk of the story). At present, I have almost 5,000 words written, which includes a full Prologue and the first section of the main body of the story itself. I have spent time here and there doing a little extra research and story planning, all with the hope that it would set me up for more productive writing during my Spring Break week. If sacrificing some word count now means to make up for it (and then some) later, I’ll do it. I also am in the final phase of the cover design, which has been one of the easiest covers in my experience. In terms of laying down my vision and the designer nearly creating that vision in one or two design attempts, this book is right up there with my cover experience for Unguarded. I obviously won’t share the cover with you anytime soon, as the story isn’t near its release, but it’s a step toward progress for the project as a whole, and is thus worth mentioning to you.

Writing Tip: When writing dialogue tags and beats, it’s good to not only use action tags to help the reader know what the character is doing, but it’s also a good opportunity to reveal what the character might be thinking or how he/she is perceiving the world around them during their dialogue exchange.

Now, I’d like to explain why things have been rather crazy and spotty in the previous few weeks, and to apologize for not being as present as I should be in my writing life. My wife and I are in the process of buying our first house, and subsequently moving out of our current renter house. We’ve been having phone calls, in-person meetings, and actually seeing our new house multiple times – all within the past month or so – and we’re still not done. We are waiting for the loan process to finalize and then receive the closing paperwork. At that point, we’ll give our final signatures and then, hopefully without any hitches, be given the house keys. This should be happening during the first week of April, which means we won’t be fully moved in for another week or so (however long it takes us to get settled).

With that being said, I’d like to tell you that it’s been my goal to stay on top of blogging, vlogging, and writing from week to week. But with my school schedule (especially state testing last week and more to come throughout the majority of April) keeping me rather busy in addition to house-related things, it’s been hard to stay dedicated. This is something I’m experiencing for the first time, and so by the end of the day I’m wiped out. Like I’ve said before, I don’t like writing tired or unmotivated, because I feel it will negatively impact the story.

And so, from this post onward, I will try my hardest to at least blog every week as usual, and try to get footage for my YouTube channel when and where I can. I’m also going to push the newsletter release from April up to this week, to sort of split the difference from the one that was supposed to release at the start of March and the one to come out in May. By then, things should be back to “normal” and my routine writing, blogging, and vlogging schedule will resume. Plus, I’ll have a good deal of news for you, so that will make it something to look forward to!

That’s about all I have for you in terms of news. Keep pushing and pushing to reach the goals you set for yourself, no matter how big or seemingly unattainable. I hope you’ll come back next week to catch more news about my writing and the move to our new house!

Until next time,

-Eli

Words All Around!

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I hope this post finds you well and in good spirits, and that you are on the path to accomplishing your goals for the day, the week, or even the goals of your life. I encourage you to push on through the obstacles and trials you face, for the end result is worth the struggle. After a week’s hiatus, let me bring you up to speed on my work…

The Faces of the War Collection

In the past month or so, I’ve written and completed the first draft of the Prologue for Book Four. The word count came in at around 1,650 and looks pretty good to me at this point. Of course, I’ll go through it a few more times down the road, so more may be added, or maybe nothing will. Once the whole story is fleshed out and the scope is intact in raw form, I’ll have a better idea of what will constitute the Prologue in its entirety.

I also began writing the body of Part I (of III); it currently sits a little above 2,500 words. So hitting over 4,000 words in the first full month of writing is right where I want to be! I’ve gotten into the habit of writing on Sundays, or sometimes Saturdays, which is working very well for me. And I’ll have my Spring Break at the end of the month, so my goal is to knock out at least 1,000 words a day that week – that will really bump me forward in my writing schedule.

I’ve also gotten the ball rolling on the cover for Book Four, and so far the draft looks good. I sent back some revisions and am awaiting a second draft, but at this point I’m optimistic. It’s exciting to see it start come into being, just as it’s exciting to see this story start to take shape. If you’d like to get a preview of it and let me know what you think, you can check out the Prologue for free at this blog post link.

The Short Story Collection

I have whittled away at the next volume of short stories, but have put most of my focus on my WWII historical fiction. Fear not – I aim to release Volume 3 by the time fall arrives. I’ll keep you posted on progress as spring turns to summer.

YouTube

Just as I’ve taken a hiatus from blogging over the past two weeks, I took a break from vlogging on YouTube. There is a reason for this decision, but I can’t really touch on that just yet. You’ll understand in the coming weeks…I only ask for your patience.

New Blog Topics

In the coming weeks, I plan to release special topic blog posts that will not only vary the material I provide my readership, but it will also afford you an opportunity to better know who I am. Plus, it can be the start of some great discussions, especially with fellow readers and writers.

That’s about it for this week. Thank you again for your continued support and encouragement, and for taking an interest in my work. If you haven’t yet subscribed to my mailing list, you can do so here…that way you can get my monthly e-newsletter that has the inside scoop and behind-the-scenes details about my life and my work.

Until next time,

-Eli

On to the Next Project!

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

First off, I’d like to say that on this day of celebration in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. I hope that we can keep in mind our past and the struggles that many faced to bring about change in our world. Things can get pretty dark at times, and the civil rights era was just one of those times. The fight against racial discrimination continues today, but in different ways than before. Whatever your stance is on politics or religion or simply the proper way to act toward others, I hope that you can push yourself toward being kind and considerate and (perhaps to some degree) tolerant of those different than you. Life is a precious thing; it would be a shame to waste it by hating others. It’s not important that Martin Luther King was black – it’s simply because he was human that made his struggle so great.

As 2016 continues to unravel and reveal what’s in store for us, I hope that you’re finding yourself striving toward achieving your goals and reaching for your dreams and aspirations, as well as being the best version of yourself that you can be. I have only a few items to talk about today, so let’s get down to it…

The Faces of the War Collection

With the release of Imminent in its second week, I am pleased to say that so far it has been received well. It was fun to research and write, and I’m glad that it went off virtually without any major hitch. The pre-order price of this book was $2.99 and I ended up deciding to leave it as such since the book went live. But that won’t last too much longer, so pick up your Kindle copy before the price goes up! The print price, of course, is still $8.99. Now that that story is behind me in terms of new writing, my focus now shifts to the next project.

I’ve mentioned in my YouTube vlogs before that I plan on writing the final two books in the collection simultaneously, testing my boundaries and experimenting with new things. And I think that doing it this way might lend to keeping the content I write fresh in my mind so I’m not sticking to the same project for such a long time. So today marks the beginning of the next stretch of my writing journey, but this time I’ll be tackling two books.

The tentative release details for Book Four include a date sometime in late 2017, with Book Five releasing sometime in 2018. This, again, is because I’d like to have some uniformity and a streamlined look to the books and their details. Here’s what it will look like when it’s all over:

Resistant (2014)
Unguarded (2015)
Imminent (2016)
Book Four (2017)
Book Five (2018)

You can see how my OCD and attention to detail really kick in here! So that’s where things currently sit with my WWII historical fiction work, and I hope that I can produce two more stories with the same feel yet explore new or unique perspectives and challenges for my characters. Most important of all – I hope that you will join me on this journey (or stay with me if you’ve been a part of it for a while) and we can see how it ends, together.

Writing Tip: When writing action tags for your characters, try to picture yourself in their shoes in order to get an idea of sensory details in any given moment, especially during an action sequence. 

The Short Story Collection

At the moment, I am working toward completing the next volume in the collection. The tentative release date is sometime this summer. I’ll have more details as winter turns to spring and progress is made on the stories.

As for my most recent volume (#2), there will be a free promotion all next week! You can find the Kindle ebook on Amazon and pick up your free copy if you don’t already have it. This volume was the follow-up volume to my first, which released in the fall of 2014. I hope you enjoy it, and would appreciate a review or direct feedback to me via email or social media. I like to know how I’m doing and where I can improve!

That’s about all the news for this week. I am very excited to get things rolling on these new WWII books, and I hope you’re excited to read them when the time comes. Thanks to all who have offered me encouragement and support, and to my readers – for without all of you, my work would be nearly impossible!

Until next time,

-Eli

Update: Imminent Release

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Friends,

The week of Christmas is here! I hope this post finds you well and in good health, as well as in the position of achieving your goals. If you’ve been thinking of implementing something new into your lifestyle or have been wanting to set goals for yourself, there’s no better time to start than within the next couple of weeks. New year, clean slate, many more opportunities! I have a few important items to discuss, so here we go…

The Faces of the War Collection

This past weekend, I completed the final edit of Imminent, which is currently available for pre-order and set to release on January 8. The final word count came in at just over 46.6K, which is almost 1,000 words less than my previous book, Unguarded. Resistant‘s word count came in at just under 38K. Just figured I’d give you a snapshot of the word count across all three books.

cover_6

In terms of the discounts and deals going on with these books in the lead-up to Imminent‘s release, there has been a little change:

Resistant will be FREE from December 28 until January 1
Unguarded will have a Kindle Countdown Deal from January 13-19

Due to the price change I made on the Unguarded ebook ($4.99 to $3.99), there can’t be any promotions made until the book has sat at its new price point for 30 days. So instead of promoting it the week before the release of Imminent, it’ll come the week after. I really wanted to relay this change in information so that you aren’t blindsided by it, and perhaps can better plan for purchasing if that’s what you were going to do!

I still have until next Monday, December 28 to submit the final version of the book file to Amazon, so I think I’ll take today and/or tomorrow to read through the manuscript one last time for good measure.

After Imminent releases, I plan on beginning the process for the next book. As far as my plans are at this point, it will release sometime in 2017. For now, I’m planning on writing the fifth and final book of the collection simultaneously, bouncing back and forth between the two projects for the writing and editing parts of the process. It’s something I want to try with regard to my writing process and style, and in an effort to test my boundaries. I have the stories pretty much planned – I just need to iron out the details then begin the actual writing!

YouTube

For this week’s video, I plan on posting it on Thursday. It will be brief, because I want my readers and followers to enjoy time together with their families and friends, not stuck glued to a TV or phone screen. The following week’s video will probably be more along the lines of a normal video. If you haven’t subscribed to my channel (where I talk about my writing and teaching lives, as well as travel and other things), you can click the link above or search Eli Kale in YouTube.

I think that will about do it for this post. I want to wish you a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or whatever you prefer – I just hope that wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, that you’re with family and friends. I am excited for the coming weeks and the prospect of new goals to be conquered, as I hope you are too. Take care and be safe this week!

Until next time,

-Eli

Details All Around

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I’d like to start off today’s post by remembering the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941. It’s the event that acted as our catalyst for war, resulting in our involvement in both the Pacific and European theaters of the war. Without our entry, things may have turned out very differently. So please, take a moment and think about how this day 74 years ago changed the course of history, and be grateful for the victorious outcome our country achieved in its aftermath.

~ * ~

I’d like to thank you for reading this post, and to welcome you to my blog. If this is your first time reading, you’ll find information in my blog posts related to my writing projects, as well as to other things going on in my life such as teaching and traveling. If you’re not new, then you already know! Let’s get into this week’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

In my WWII historical fiction collection, I’ve made some good progress on my third book, titled “Imminent.” At the moment, I have about 13K words remaining in the manuscript that still need edited and placed into the final draft file, so things are progressively coming to a close. I got a good chunk of work done yesterday, and I’ll continue to chip away at it over the coming weeks. A reminder from last week’s blog post: the new release date (more than tentative but not 100%) is January 8. If not then, it will be around that time (like the following Monday the 11th, for example). I am wrapping up communication with my cover designer this week, so you can expect to see a reveal next week. There will be other book/story details given at that time as well, so keep your eyes open!

If you haven’t yet checked out my first two books, you can find them on Amazon in both Kindle and print formats: Resistant and Unguarded.

Writing Tip: A piece of advice I was once given stated that when writing, don’t be too liberal with the exclamation point. The person said, “If the character isn’t on fire, don’t use it.” If used too much, it can take away some of the urgency or emotion in the dialogue, which can negatively affect the story.

The Short Story Collection

I’ve said recently that I plan on developing the next volume of short stories simultaneously with the fourth book (writing begins in January), and that I hope for a summer release. I currently have the three story ideas in place; I just need to plan them out in detail. From there, the writing could take anywhere from 2-6 months. My focus, however, will be on my WWII projects, so the short stories will be tended to here and there.

If you haven’t yet checked out my first two volumes, you can find them available for the Kindle on Amazon: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Writing Tip: When writing story text (dialogue or otherwise), don’t include too many commas in any one sentence. In most cases, those lengthy sentences can be broken down. Having too many commas can lend to reader confusion. 

YouTube

I’d like to thank those who have subscribed to my YouTube channel and who’ve watched my videos. I make these videos to document my life – writing, teaching, traveling, and personal – because I want to share my experiences with those who will listen. We all grow in our own way, but having a part of that growth be in the form of connecting through an amazing platform as YouTube is pretty awesome, and I want you to join me on the journey!

You can subscribe to my channel here, where you’ll find weekly videos posted about my writing projects, my teaching life, my travels, and certain aspects of my personal life. And if you’d like a more detailed look into my work, as well as to connect with me and fellow readers, I encourage you to join my mailing list. You can email me at elikale.author@gmail.com with a quick “hello” letting me know you’d like to be added to the list. I welcome anyone and everyone!

That will do it for this week’s blog post. Be sure to check out next week’s post where I’ll reveal the book cover for Imminent and detail book/story details.

Until next time,

-Eli

Be Grateful

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

Welcome to a new week! I hope this post finds you well and on your way to accomplishing all you set out to do this week. I have a couple of news items, so let’s get to it…

But first, I apologize for my YouTube vlog posting late this week. I experienced WiFi issues and didn’t post it on Friday, but it’s live now so go check it out! Also, this blog post is live later than normal, mostly because I was finalizing the YouTube video and I was tending to the work of my job. So now, let’s get into this week’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

With this week being Thanksgiving Break for me, I’ll have some time to really devote toward progressing through the editing of Imminent. I’m really hoping to make some strides toward the story’s completion, so that it’s completed sooner than later. I’ll have more details over the coming weeks as to what is for sure going to happen with the book’s release, as well as the cover reveal and all that fun stuff.

Writing Tip: When editing, try to replace adjectives that are often used – or really any words that are repetitive – in order to sharpen your vocabulary and smooth the story’s flow.

Thanksgiving

This time of year is set aside for each of us to take stock of what we’re thankful for, but we really should be mindful of the things – the blessings – we have in life from day to day. So right now, I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude and thankfulness for a few things…

First, to my loving wife, Sarah, for loving, encouraging, and strengthening me on a daily basis. For putting up with my goofy side and even being goofy herself. She is who I get to laugh with, get to talk with, and who I get to spend my life with every day, and for that I’m very thankful.

I am grateful for the friends and family in my life, near or far, and for the impact they’ve all had on me. Even though we might not see each other as often as we’d like, the bond we share is strong and keeps us close in a special way. My family and friends mean a great deal to me, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world!

Lastly, I’m so very grateful for the talents and passion I’ve been given, and that I get to share them with those who desire to involve themselves in my work. I may not be a stellar writer, superstar athlete, or quintessential renaissance man, but I am a unique individual who thinks his life has been pretty awesome so far, and is excited to see where it goes. And that’s enough for me!

I implore you to find something you’re grateful for this week, and to hold on to that thing, person, or whatever it may be. Cherish what you have and who you are in this moment in this world, because you never know when or how it might change.

Thank you for reading this week’s post, and for your continued support of my passion. If you’re not yet a member on my mailing list, I encourage you to send me an email at elikale.author@gmail.com to let me know you’d like to be added. With my new book on the way, you could win a free copy in a giveaway! There are also other cool things I do with my newsletter, so check it out.

Until next time,

-Eli

New Short Stories Released!

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

I know I’ve said this before, but the autumn season is wonderful! So many beautiful scenes to be seen and smells to be smelled, all before the backdrop of everyday life! Time flies by, whether we realize it or not, and soon it will be a new year. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s get into this week’s post…

The Short Story Collection

After much time of fiddling with different ideas and developing nascent stories, I’ve finally arrived to the point of releasing a new volume of short stories! I originally wanted to publish this ebook shortly after Unguarded came out earlier this year, but I opted to focus my writing efforts on Imminent. At that point I thought, “I’ll get the new volume out by summer.” That didn’t happen. “Early fall, perhaps.” That didn’t happen either. My goal, then, was to release it by my birthday in February.

However, my writing muse intervened and urged me to finish the work and finalize the stories, one of which was already completed. I sent the other two off to a friend for some feedback, which I quickly got back and implemented. After a final read-through, I submitted the ebook to be released through Amazon, and it was done very quickly. I submitted it Thursday night and it went live within a few hours, having the official release date of October 15. You can check it out and purchase it on this sales page!

Cover of Volume 2 in “The Short Story Collection”

Like my first volume, the stories in Volume 2 vary from my larger projects with regard to different aspects, such as scope and story premise. That’s been the whole goal all along: to produce new content that is different and that allows me to experiment with my writing. So I encourage you to pick up a copy on your Kindle (or through your Kindle reading app) and let me know what you think about my new work. I hope you enjoy it!

The Faces of the War Collection

Progress is being made with the edits for Imminent, with everything still on track for an early December release. This story is really coming together as I’m going back through and addressing changes or additions from my editor. The idea is that she’ll complete her work by November (thus allowing her to do NaNoWriMo), which then will give me a month to go through and do my final read-throughs. My goal is to submit the final manuscript to Amazon by November 30 so that it can be available for purchase by December 11. Details regarding pre-order for Kindle and the costs for both formats (print and Kindle) will be given when the cover is released – sometime in the next few weeks. Barring any major impediments, you’ll have another WWII historical fiction book by Christmas!

Indie Writing Advice

Due to Volume 2 being released, I had to take care of the book’s details in Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). There’s a YouTube video that covers this on my channel, so feel free to check it out. I’ll say that it would be good to explore the ins and outs of Amazon KDP before you are ready to upload your book. This way, you are familiar enough with how it works and what all needs done in order to complete the uploading process for publication. That is, if you’re wanting to sell your work on the Kindle platform. Personally, I only sell through Amazon. Everyone has their own reasons for choosing what platform(s) they sell their work through, and each certainly has its own draw. So if you’re in a position where you have a manuscript nearly ready for publication – and you want to sell it on the Kindle – I suggest you log into KDP and get acquainted!

That’s it for this week, but there’ll be more in the coming weeks! Thank you so much for reading this post, and for your support and encouragement of my work. If you haven’t yet done so, I encourage you to join my mailing list (you can email me with a brief “Hey, how are ya? I wanna join the mailing list!” at elikale.author@gmail.com) to get the most detailed and behind-the-scenes information regarding my projects, especially Imminent!

Until next time,

-Eli

Fall Is My Favorite

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

Autumn is in full swing here in Ohio, with the trees turning colors and the temperatures getting cooler. It’s probably my favorite time of year! Let’s get into this week’s content…

The Faces of the War Collection

The editing process continues for Imminent, with everything still on track for a December release. I’ve decided that once I receive the edited manuscript from my editor, then I will reveal the cover and book details. It’s easier and way less stressful letting out that kind of information when you have the story back in your own hands versus still waiting to receive it – mostly because you can’t control it if you don’t have it. I’d hate to reveal the cover and details and then find out there’s a snag in the editing or I need to do a major rewrite, thus prolonging the book’s release. That wouldn’t be fair to you, my readers!

Teaching Life

My new teaching job is going well, with my second full week beginning today. I teach through an online program, educating about 200 students across the state of Ohio. I’m currently teaching one class – Modern World History – three days a week. And yes, I’m working the other days of the week as well. When I’m not teaching, I’m planning lessons, creating presentations, and answering emails, among other things. It’s an exciting new endeavor in my life, not to mention the profession for which I went to college!

YouTube

I capture aspects of my everyday life through the lens of my digital camera, and upload that footage to my YouTube channel every Friday. I talk about indie publishing and the progress of my writing projects, as well as teaching in this new position. I also touch on travel here and there in my videos. If you’re interested in any or all of those topics, come on over to my channel and check out what I’m doing from week to week!

Indie Writing Advice

As a writer, you should also be reading. It’s good practice to always have a book ongoing, whether it’s in physical form or on a reading device. I actually have a few books that I’m reading right now, each of them different from the others. “Let’s Get Digital” by David Gaughran touches on his experience in the self-publishing world; “The Craft of Intelligence” by Allen W. Dulles covers the author’s experience as an intelligence officer in the Cold War; and “On Hitler’s Mountain” by Irmgard Hunt.

The first book is one I’m reading for knowledge, because learning about how the indie publishing world works is vital to being an indie writer. I’m reading the second book for research purposes, because some of what I’m learning about here will apply to what I’ll write later. And the third book is my “just for fun” book, because reading shouldn’t always be business. So if you don’t have a book cracked at any given time, then get on it! Reading books helps make one a better writer of them.

That’s it for this week. Thank you so much for your interest in my work, and for reading my post this week. I encourage you to follow this blog, subscribe to my mailing list, follow me on social media, or even subscribe to my YouTube channel – any and all of those things will help keep you informed on what I’m doing, and will help us connect with each other.

Until next time,

-Eli

Teaching and Writing

/ Eli Kale / Leave a comment

Friends,

Another week, another chance to chase your dreams. Cliche? Perhaps…but quite an endeavor all the same! Let’s get down to business…

The Faces of the War Collection

As you are probably aware, I have recently taken a full-time teaching job where I can work from home, educating high school students through an online program. This is something that has been long awaited, and it’s also a blessing. Due to the fact that I basically jumped right into the school year, I have been left with little time to devote to editing. Not that I have much to work with just yet – my editor is making her way through Part I. My hope is that I can plan ahead in the semester and hopefully get my lessons and presentations completed for the months of November and December, thus affording me more time in the evenings and on the weekends to tackle my story. That is where things stand as of now, and they can only improve from here. Look for more details regarding the book’s publication as October turns to November, and tell a friend about it!

I plan on doing some sort of promotion for my other books in the run-up to the release of Imminent, but I’ll have more details on that as time goes on. You can check out my books Resistant and Unguarded – in print and on the Kindle – on Amazon!

Indie Writing Advice

There was a post I read recently by Justin McLachlan that talked about common writing mistakes that make you look like an amateur, and I thought it was a good read! One mistake that stuck out to me was this: using fancy dialogue tags. Justin insists (and I agree) that “said” is really the main tag you really need. Sure, you can throw in a little bit of “yelled” or “exclaimed” or “interjected,” but always trying to use fancy tags can often take away from what’s actually being said because the reader is caught up on the tag, not the dialogue content.

That’s it for this week. Thank you for reading my post and for lending me your eyes for this little while. If you’re interested in finding out more about my work (books, YouTube vlogging, blogging), just click the “Follow” button on this site. You can even join my mailing list to get my e-newsletter, which includes more in-depth details than what you’ll find here or on my social media. It’s kind of like a VIP club, so I hope to see you there!

Until next time,

-Eli