Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 70

Monday Madness

I had my whole week mapped out so that I could finish book three by the end of the week and get it up online for pre-release sales but then my plans fell all to heck, per usual. I hope to finish chapter three before heading off to bed tonight but it may run over to tomorrow. With any luck I will be able to salvage my work plans for this week. It's only Monday so way too soon to know how this week is going to go. I'm doing my best to keep things on track. Think good thoughts for me, posse! I'm going to do my best to get his done by the weekend. Keep watching my social media for updates!If you haven't had a chance to check out I highly recommend it. I open up about my life, what it was like to move to Europe so my better half could accept their dream job, living with incurable neurological conditions, surviving six brain surgeries and even a short bout with death. I even reveal personal secrets that put to rest suspicions some people have had about me and my life. If nothing else, you might find it entertaining.Also, don't forget to share my posts about the Valentine's Day Book Lover's Grab Bag Giveaway! It's free to enter and I will be drawing on February 13th. Winner will be announced on Valentine's Day.Thanks for following along!Stephen

The Cat is Officially Out of the Bag

For everyone who has been following my work, thank you! Things are finally starting to go in the right direction for me and I'm hoping to keep up the momentum. I have been interviewed three times since November. The latest was a podcast with Wichita Life, ICT. (click here to listen)I debated about doing this. I have been avoiding any live interviews for the simple fact that the minute anyone heard my voice my secret would be out, but if I want to move forward I had to take the chance. My secret is, I'm a woman writing as a man. Stephen Burckhardt is a pen name for me. So is Dianne Burckhardt. My actual name is Shari Dianne Burckhardt. My maiden name was Stephens. I dropped the last "s" and became Stephen Burckhardt, western author.For those who have noticed, this is why I always avoided using pronouns when talking about my better half, P.R. He still wants to remain mostly anonymous but I did speak about him in the podcast. I would not be able to do any of the things I have done with my writing if it wasn't for him. To be honest there are loads of people who have helped get me here. My Mom is on the top of that list. She has supported my writing from day one, in more ways than I can count. My Dad is the face of Stephen Burckhardt. The photos I share of Stephen are all of my father at various stages of life. The main photos I use on this site are ones I took of him for a photo project when I was in college. He was about the age I am now. He also goes by Steve so it worked out pretty well for us both. He's been having a ball being Stephen for me. I had sworn him to secrecy until now and he did a great job keeping my secret. I have friends who have lent me their names for my characters, reposted my Facebook posts, bought my books, and just generally been encouraging from the beginning. The short list is: Gayla Kelly, Froshanda Grant-Bell, Carrie Westerman, Sonya and Clare Busby, Faye Finley Eidson, The Ruth family (Tim, Stacy, and Timothy), Deb and Pete Wellenstein, Patrick Gordon, and so many more! From this point on, I will go back to posting as Stephen and keeping up the image of my pen name but for those of you who are part of my posse now, you get to know all the behind the scenes info of who I really am, what I have been dealing with to get where I am now, and what I face as I move forward from here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this journey with me!Stephen/DianneShari

I've Actually Accomplished Stuff!

This has been a great week for productivity. I finally got the the contest set up and was able to get my video production app to work so I was able to make the video you see here to advertise it. Sometimes I think technology hates me. I got chapter two of INT: Sharon Springs rough edited and back to the beta readers. My mom is one of my beta readers and she caught an inconsistency in the story I had to fix before I send it off to Greg Wood for the final edit. While the beta readers are working on rechecking chapters one and two for me, I'm going to start writing chapter three. I think if nothing major happens I should be able to get book three finished by the end of the month. Considering I was trying to do that all last year with no luck, I'm excited about this! I hope you are too. So click ---->HEREValentine's Day Book Lovers Grab Bag Giveaway!!!And keep watching for more information about the release of book three, Into the West: Sharon Springs coming soon!Thanks for everything posse! I couldn't do this without you!Stephen

When it Rains it Pours

My life seems to always be an all or nothing kind of thing. Last year I was struggling to write my own books as I was working on promoting the two I already have published, writing short stories for anthologies by award-winning, best-selling westen author Scott Harris, and teaching more English as a second language classes. I never seemed to find the time or inspiration to get past the first few pages of the third book in my Into the West Saga Serial. I felt like I was spinning my wheels most of the year. I still struggle to get a set writing schedule. I make a plan, something new pops up, and the plan gets dropped. This year has already gotten off to a better start. I'm about halfway through writing book three, Into the West: Sharon Springs (thank God!), I've written a short article for another anthology with Scott Harris, and I'm about to be interviewed for the third time in three months. Links to the first two interviews are on my Newspage.This time the interview will be a podcast with Wichita Life ICT.Watch their page for the interview to be posted or better yet, subscribe to their podcasts and never miss an interview. If you do miss their post, be sure to check out my webpage, Facebook, or Twitter for an announcement and link when the interview is live.I was interviewed twice in November but they were not recorded. They were for blogs and the interviews were conducted through emails. That was a bit easier to manage. The fact that this next interview will be recorded live presents a bit of a problem for me. I should mention, I have been keeping a secret. Not really well, but I'm sure there are still some people who have not caught on yet. However, when I do the podcast tomorrow, I will not be able to keep the secret anymore. It will be nice to not have to worry about slipping up and accidently giving it away. It's been very difficult not to give it away before now. The pressure will finally be off if I should slip up in the future. I recently had my books added to the library here in town and they even set up a display table for a few weeks. I hope to take in some contest flyers and have a special prize give away here locally to go along with the one on my website for the release of Into the West: Sharon Springs. I've decided to add a box a chocolates to the gift bag and make it a Valentine's Day Book Lovers give away. I will get the contest set up this weekend! No excuses! There will be a video advertising it online when it's ready to begin. Keep watching here or on my Facebook and Twitter pages for more information.I think that is more than enough for now. I need to go finish my edits for chapter two and get it back to my Beta Readers for another once over before it goes to my editor, Greg Wood. My goal is to have this written by the end of the month and ready for release for Valentine's Day. I want to have a free book giveaway on Amazon for my ebook version of Into the West: A New Home, the Special Edition which includes books one and two to help promote the release of book three. I plan to set up a presale before the release date for Into the West: Sharon Springs. But all of that is for another day. Thank you for following along with my crazy life. If you check out the podcast, you will realize just how crazy it really is behind the scenes. Stephen

This is a Throwback Thursday . . . Sort of.

I have been working behind the scenes on part three of the Into the West Saga Serial. It's going a lot slower than I thought it would. I had set up my time table based on how easy it was to write the first two novellas but this book is not following that same timetable. That is bad and good.It's bad because I'm seriously behind where I wanted to be at this point. I wanted books three and four out by this time. We all know that didn't happen. But along the way, so many good things have happened.I have been learning so much about the business side of being an indie author and getting things in place that will help me make this a lasting career for me in the long run. I have been networking and getting advertising in place. I'm finally starting to get noticed. I have been privileged to work on four story collections with award-winning, best-selling, western author Scott Harris. The first three are currently for sale and the fourth with be coming out soon. I will also be writing another piece for him today that will come out in a book about writing. I will post more information on that book as it becomes available.I have a contest that will be beginning soon. I'm still making a few of the promotional items to advertise it. I want this contest to really get some attention. I'm going to have it linked to the release of book three so I want this to go big. Keep watching my social media pages for videos and announcements that are coming soon. Really! I promise! Part of that is I have created a Kindle version of the Special Edition - Into the West: A New Home.The special edition contains book one and two in one volume. For those who want to catch up in time for book three, this would be an easy way to get both books one and two in a single volume. P.R., Shaggy, and I had a nice quiet Christmas and are looking forward to the new year. I plan to make this next year a big one for my writing. Crazy announcements, contests, short stories, and so much more. Keep watching my social media and be sure to sign up for my mailing list so you won't miss a single exciting moment. I NEVER send more than 3 emails per month (that is all that is allowed in my webplan and I don't have a budget to buy more) so you will not get tired of hearing from me. Wishing you all the very happiest of new years!!Stephen

Coming Back to Life in Time for the Holidays

I'm finally starting to feel like I'm almost back to normal. For the last month I have been fighting a horrible cold. I've been exhausted and this past week I finally hit a wall. The doctor sent me to bed for a week. Turns out, it was what I needed. The sad things is, I have to admit there is no way I'm going to get book three written, edited, formatted and on sale before Christmas. It's just not going to be possible. I have been writing but it is going slowly. I truly wish I had more beta readers to let me know what they think of the direction I'm taking this story before I spend a lot of time and money getting it ready for print. I like it but I'm not sure if it is as easy to follow for readers as it is for me. I like where it's going, I just hope you, my readers, will too. If you are interested in being a beta reader, just drop me a line by clicking here.In the meantime, to keep you all entertained while I finish up book three, you can always check out the third book in the series from award winning, best selling author, Scott Harris. Bourbon & A Good Cigar is on sale now on Amazon. I am one of the 52 friends who contributed stories to this collection. My story, Getting Hitched, was a lot of fun to write. I hope you like it. It will tie into my Into the West series in either book four or five. I'm going to be posting the details this week for the next contest. I want to increase the people on my mailing list so I'm going to have people sign up for one entry into the contest. I'm trying to figure out how people who are already on my mailing list can also enter. As soon as I get the details figured out, I will post the video announcement. I think that is everything: 1. Feeling better 2. Pushing back book three release 3. Bourbon & A Good Cigar now on sale; includes my story Getting Hitched 4. Next contest coming this weekNow it's time to get some sleep. I want to get the chapter I'm working on finished tomorrow. I also want to get as much writing done as possible this week because I doubt I will get much done over the holidays. This Saturday is mine and P.R.'s five year anniversary, then we'll have Christmas, and we will be celebrating the New Year out at a party in Old Town with another couple. It's going to be a great couple of weeks. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (a little late), Happy Diwali (also late), Happy Kwanzaa, Blessed Yule, or any other holiday you celebrate this time of year! Just wishing you all happiness!!Stephen

Tidings of Joy!

Hello Posse,I hope this blog finds you all well and looking forward to the holiday season. I am still trying to get over this flu bug I caught a few weeks back. I hope it will finally pass sometime this week. P.R. has returned from another business trip to exotic foreign lands. I spent the time alone working on book three, creating new promotional material, Christmas shopping, and putting together a surprise for our anniversary. I have been trying to figure out how to set up the new contest. I want to grow my mailing list. I know people normally hate signing up for those but I never send out more than three emails a month. Your mailbox will never get bombarded with information from me. My mass emailing plan only allows for three outgoing mass mailings a month so it's impossible for me to send more than that. I know the prize will be a new promo pack I have just put together: bookbag, stylus pen, bookmark, postcard, a brochure of the first four books in the serial and of course, an autographed book (two books are shown but the prize is only one book of your choice of those shown, bookmark not shown). Now I just have to decide what to have you all do to win the prize. I hope to have this figured out by the end of the day. For now, I'm off to write more on Into the West: Sharon Springs. Take care and keep watching for the new contest. Stephen

Turkey, Contests, and Flu Bugs...oh my!

Hello all,I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day.P.R. had to leave early Thanksgiving Day to head to India for business. We had an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner the night before so we wouldn't miss out completely. I realized we were in basically the same situation last year. I hope this doesn't become a trend.I know I had mentioned posting a contest on Thanksgiving Day but to be honest, there are two reasons I didn't do that.One, this flu is still kicking my behind. I'm exhausted and dragging around trying to get things accomplished.Two, I can’t figure out how I want to set up this contest. I want to increase my mailing list but I’m not sure the best way to go about that. I’m working on this right now.Being on my mailing list is a good thing. I never send out more than three emails per month. NEVER! I only get three mass emails per month on my current web hosting plan and I’m not going to be upgrading that anytime soon. I’m putting my reserve cash into other advertising methods.I know the prize will be an autographed copy of a book, in one of the new book bags, with one of the new pens, and my promotional material about the serials. I just have to figure out what people need to do to enter. Signing up for the email list is the basic easy way to go but I wanted to have it with bring a friend somehow. I’ll keep working on this tonight.For now I need to get some more writing done. I have miles, or rather, chapters to go before I sleep.Happy Thanksgiving!! I’m thankful for each and every one of you!Stephen*this blog was originally posted today as a note on Stephen's Facebook page.

Turkey, Contests, and Flu Bugs . . . Oh my!

Hello all,I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day.P.R. had to leave early Thanksgiving Day to head to India for business. We had an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner the night before so we wouldn't miss out completely. I realized we were in basically the same situation last year. I hope this doesn't become a trend.I know I had mentioned posting a contest on Thanksgiving Day but to be honest, there are two reasons I didn't do that.One, this flu is still kicking my behind. I'm exhausted and dragging around trying to get things accomplished.Two, I can’t figure out how I want to set up this contest. I want to increase my mailing list but I’m not sure the best way to go about that. I’m working on this right now.Being on my mailing list is a good thing. I never send out more than three emails per month. NEVER! I only get three mass emails per month on my current web hosting plan and I’m not going to be upgrading that anytime soon. I’m putting my reserve cash into other advertising methods.I know the prize will be an autographed copy of a book, in one of the new book bags, with one of the new pens, and my promotional material about the serials. I just have to figure out what people need to do to enter. Signing up for the email list is the basic easy way to go but I wanted to have it with bring a friend somehow. I’ll keep working on this tonight.For now I need to get some more writing done. I have miles, or rather, chapters to go before I sleep.Happy Thanksgiving!! I’m thankful for each and every one of you!Stephen*this blog was originally posted today as a note on Stephen's Facebook page.

It was a Very Good Day!

Hello everyone. I had a great day. If you saw the video Dianne posted on Facebook, You already know I had a meeting today with the local library. My books are available for the ebook lending program but I really wanted to get some physical books on the shelves. When I went in, I gave the director two free copies of my books for the library. He was very nice and started off saying he would be happy to support a local author and put a display table up for me in December and leave it up for a week. Well, I thanked him for that and just kept talking about my books and my unique challenges being a brain damaged writer and by the end of the meeting I agreed to bring him two more books for the library and he offered to have the display up for four weeks. This weekend they are having their semi-annual book sale. They get hundreds of people in the library for this event. I decided that I'm going to print up a bunch of the book bags and fill them with my promotional material and donate them to the book sale. I bought stickers tonight so I can put tags on everything saying "local author."I'm hoping this will generate some interest in my work. But even if it doesn't. I sure am enjoying myself right now. Keep watching for contest updates. I plan to post something about the next one on Thanksgiving Day. Thanks for following my crazy life posse! Stephen