Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 73

Eureka!

It is no secret to those of you a who are following me, that I have been struggling to get book three written. For my process I always think about the book, figure out the basic outline of the story in my head, then sit down and put it on the page. I write one draft, do my edit, have it edited by another person (now that would be Greg Wood), run it through a reader so I can listen to it, then do the final edits. I never do a major rewrite on the page. I do all of that in my head before I ever put a word on the page. With Into the West: Sharon Springs, I've had a vague idea of where I wanted the story to go but It didn't click in my head the way books one and two did, until today. I was in the shower thinking that I wanted to spend today writing and trying to figure out just what I wanted to write when is all fell into place. Well, to say "äll" is a bit of a stretch, the first three chapters locked into place in my head. I still have just a vague idea for the big conflict and the resolution but I feel confident they lock into place as I work my way through the first three chapters. It's crazy how writing can seem like such a chore when you are struggling to find your direction in a story but then once you find it, it all becomes as natural as breathing. I think next Sunday may have to be a Sneak Peak Sunday. I'll post a special excerpt from my current work on the Members Only page on my website. If you haven't joined the Members Only page yet, it's free to join and if you join before June 1st, you will be eligible to win an autographed copy of the Special Edition of Into the West: A New Home.As always, thanks for following along with my crazy life as I attempt to create a functional writing career for myself. Your support is priceless to me!Sincerely,Stephen

Too Much Fun!

I have been off line for a few weeks now essentially. The reason for that is I have just been having too much fun living life with P.R. Last year was tough for us. I was finishing up some classes I had to complete and P.R. was traveling all over the world for work. I think out of 12 months we were actually in the same country only about 9 of those months, if that much.So this year we have been enjoying the fact that we actually get to be together a good deal of the time. Two weekends ago we went to a Star Trek convention and last week we went to a comic con, my first. It was so much fun!Not only did we get to have fun with cos players, meet stars, and get photos and autographs but I also hit it off with another fan there and P.R. and I have now become friends with another sci-fi fan. Something I never expected to happen at a convention.I have to admit, the comic con was a bit hard on me physically. I stood in line, on a cement floor, for an autograph for more than an hour. Most of that time the line wasn't even moving as we waited for the star to come back from taking a break. I was in pain for days after that but I did eventually got to meet them and get their autograph which I will have forever and the pain will eventually all pass so to me it was worth it. This weekend we are finally going to see the new Avengers movie before I learn any more about the plot than I all ready have. There is also a food truck festival going on somewhere in town this weekend so we may have to hit that up before the movie. I am doing my best to work in writing too. I just designed and ordered some business cards to hand out as I visit local bookstores and libraries to try to get my books on the shelves. We will see what happens. I want to design either a post card or flyers to have printed up too. Besides all of this, Dianne has a voice again so we are going to try working on getting some recordings done for the first audio book and see how that works out. If it goes well, we will then worry about recording the other books as they come out. if is doesn't, then we won't be likely to devote any more time to that venture. I think what I'm going to start doing is set it up where I work on certain things on certain days. Right now I'm just trying to do everything everyday and we have all seen how well that has worked out for me. From now on, Monday's I will focus on the audio books, Tuesday I will try to at least write a blog. Wednesday, I will work on short stories for the website, the anthology I'm partnered with, and contests. Thursday I will focus on publicity and Friday through Sunday I will focus on book three. I'm doing my best to do better with time management. We'll see how this works out. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for following along with me as I figure this all outSincerely,Stephen

A Quick Note

Things have been crazy around here the last few weeks. To be honest I haven't gotten a lot of writing done. I know, shocker. P.R. has been surprising me with a lot of fun adventures. The last few years, P.R. has been working a lot and we haven't been able to go out as much as we would like but lately we have been making up for it.We've been going out to eat quite often. We have gone to sporting events. We have gone to a Star Trek convention and this weekend we are going to a comic con. We have tickets to see Tom Jones, and later in the month, The Hollywood Vampires with Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, and Alice Cooper. We have tickets for movies and more.I swear I am getting writing done between all these things and still teaching my ESL classes but it is going slow. In the mean time, The Shot Rang Out is on sale now on Amazon under Scott Harris. I am one of the 51 friends whose work is included in the book. Be sure to check it out! The Shot Rang Outby Scott Harris and 51 Friends

Craziest Writing Distraction Ever

So . . . we got a new umbrella for our patio. This is great because I can write sitting out on the balcony now that the weather is nice again. However, today, it is proving to be a bit challenging to stay focused on writing a western when I feel like I'm in some weird sci-fi/horror flick. Let me explain.It's fairly early in the morning and the sun is still low in the sky. I set up the patio to settle in and write in the fresh air for a few hours. I open the patio umbrella, but the cushion on my chair, a cloth over the table, and set down my industrial sized cup of coffee and a plate with four frozen Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. I was just about to start writing a blog when Shaggy began begging for a cookie. Since dogs cannot have chocolate, I got up to go get him one of his treats. I try not to gag as I give him a dehydrated chicken foot. Shaggy takes his treasure and runs off as I go back to my place on the patio. I settle in my chair as I take a drink of coffee. After setting my cup back down, I place my laptop in my lap (seems like the appropriate place for it) and as I wait for my computer to start up I reach for a cookie. What my hand hit first confused me for a minute. It was a little spongy and sticky but gave way as I pushed my hand forward. I pulled my hand back instinctively and looked at it. I had a cobweb on my hand. I looked around the table but could not see any spider. And more odd that that, the cob web had been built over my cookie plate in just the time ti took for me to walk inside, hand Shaggy a treat, and walk back outside again. What kind of Ninja spiders do we have here?I wiped the web off my hand and took another big drink of coffee to help dispel the heebie jeebies I was feeling. I tried to but the incident out of my mind and proceeded to log into my webpage. The morning was unusually quiet and I decided I needed a little music to add to the noise in my background. I can't work if it's quiet, it's distracting. So I get up and go into the house to get my Bluetooth speaker. I come back out and place it on the table and connect my phone to it and pick a playlist to listen too.As I settle in again, I reach for another cookie only to feel the same sticky, stretchy sensation. Again I pull my hand back and look at it. This time there is more webbing than before and I was in the house for just a few minutes! I search the table and the surrounding area for any signs of a the spider doing this. Nothing!Looking at the table I found it fascinating that the only place I could see any webbing was over my cookies. It is as if the spider was using it as bait to trap something. Me? I can almost hear him plotting. "The next time he goes inside, I'm going to make my trap even bigger and this time i will surely capture him! I will eat like a king forever and never have to hunt for a meal again!" Then the spider laughs maniacally while rubbing two of his legs together in melodrama villain style. And people wonder why I take so long to write at times, this is why! Things like this happen and I go off into my own little word of being in an epic life or death battle with a ninja spider using Girl Scout cookies as bait. I will get on track now that this is out of my system and hope to have a good portion of chapter one written and a first edit pass done today. The thing that worries me is I need to go get more coffee and who knows what ninja spider will so not that I have finished off the Girl Scout cookies. God only knows his evil plans. Wish me luck! Thanks for following my insanity. StephenUpdate: Before |I was even able to press send on this he struck again! While I was distracted writing this blog, my stealthy foe was able to lay another trap. With the cookies gone he used the only other bait available to him, my coffee!! As I was rereading this and preparing to post it, I mindlessly reached for my coffee and took a drink only to end up with a web in my mouth! This stealthy ninja spider was able to weave a web over the top of my coffee cup as it sat beside me and I never saw a trace of him! My foe is formidable but I will not fall this day! The epic battle continues! (Seriously, see why it's so hard to get things done around here? My imagination is like a bag of squirrels on crack sometimes.)

Members Only

Some of you may still not know it but I have a contest going on right now. If you join my Members Only page you will be entered to win an autographed copy of the special edition of Into the West: A New Home. It costs nothing to join the Members Only page. All you have to do is sign up.Now, to sweeten the pot, I have added another contest on the Members Only page. This one is a trivia quiz. So you can double your odds of winning something. The quiz is just three questions long so it's not going to be too taxing. However, I think there is one question that will stump most of you. I'm looking forward to reading the answers. So join the Members Only page and take a chance to win.Have a great night and thanks for following me.Stephen

Home Alone

I have come to realize that when P.R. is not home for dinner I have a tendency to eat like a teenager who's parents are gone for the weekend. Tonight I made some rice and ate a half a jar of olives stuffed with garlic. It was not the most nutritious thing I could have had. I know part of my problem is I don't want to take the time to make a real meal if it's just going to be me. I've always been great at taking care of other people but tend to let things slide when I'm just taking care of myself. I need to work on that.Today I got back to teaching. I had been off sick while I was getting over the lung infection. It's hard to teach children to speak English when you can't stop coughing long enough to speak to them. I realized how much I had missed them after the first class. Some of my students are so adorable I wish I could just chat with them all afternoon. It's nice when you actually enjoy what you do. Dianne has been fighting this same cold. We had hoped to work on the audio books this last week but it's rather difficult to record voice tracks when everyone is coughing constantly. It seems like we have been trying forever to get the first audio done. As God is my witness, we will get the first one done by this fall! I hope . . . Don't forget to sign up for the Members Only page and be entered in a contest to win an autographed copy of the special edition of Into the West: A New Home.Contest ends June 1st, 2018.Check the Members Only page for a new behind the scenes information coming soon. Thanks for following my blog!Stephen

And so it Begins

I am finally starting to feel accomplished . . . at least a little bit. I have my second short story turned in to Scott Harris for the next group project book coming out soon and I finally got the formatting all done for Into the West: Sharon Springs.Today I was able to finish all the legalese, acknowledgements, and basic set of for the book and actually started writing! Cue the hallelujah chorus! So as promised, here is a Sneak Peek at the opening of book three, Into the West: Sharon Springs. Now a bit of a disclaimer first. This is the first draft so this could change but this is how it started out today with the writing of the first draft. Enjoy or turn back now if you don't want spoilers!Chapter 11Tim Ruth read the notice once more. According to the paper Phillis Todd had given him at the town meeting last week, there was a train coming with foundlings who were looking for homes.Tim had been trying to figure out how to broach the subject with his wife, Stacy, ever since he had first read the notice. He knew it was going to be a hard sell with his wife to convince her they needed to take in one of the foundlings but he had to try. Tim hadn’t been able to shake the idea of having a little girl in the house again since he learned it might actually be possible.Hope you liked the snippet. Don't forget to join the Members Only page on my website for more sneak peeks while I continue writing part three Into the West: Sharon Springs. It's always free to join and you will be entered to win and autographed copy of the special edition of Into the West: A New Home. This edition had both parts one and two in one volume. It's a pretty sweet deal! Thanks for following along, I hope things will be getting more interesting here in a few weeks. Keep checking back so you don't miss out. Stephen

Take Two!

I just finished editing my entry again for the next group project with Scott Harris. For some reason this piece was more of a challenge for me. I'm hoping it will be well received but now I need to switch my thoughts back to Into the West: Sharon Springs.At the end of Into the West: A New Home, Mrs. Kelly says she will agree to separating Conner and Elizabeth but now we have to find out if it actually happens. I am backing the story up like I did at the beginning of Into the West: A New Home and covering the story again but from the point of view of another character. I like doing this to give more prospective on what is going on behind the actions of some of the other character. Why would Tim Ruth come alone to a meeting about adopting a child? You would think that is something the whole family would want to be there for, or at the very least, his wife would want to go too. What made Doc Pete decide to speak up and offer to adopt Conner? What had he and his wife talked about the night before that led him to do this without her there with him? These things call all be answered by going back and covering some of the same time again from these characters point of view but which one will it be? You will have to read Into the West: Sharon Springs to find out. Don't forget to join the Members Only page to get entered to win and autographed copy of the special edition of Into the West: A New Home. Check the Contest & Bribes page for details.Thanks for following along on my journey. It's crazy, fun, scary, but amazing all at the same time. Thanks for sharing it with me. Stephen

Decisions Decisions

A friend of mine is at the London Book Fair this week. He's been posting all kinds of photos and talking about everyone in the industry that he is meeting. This makes me wonder if I should invest some time and money in a trip to a fair as well. I'm still in the beginning stages of my career and I am not sure if I am really ready to try to set up meetings with real industry players just yet. There is a big book fair in Germany in October and I have a few months yet where I can get registered to go and still get the early bird pricing. If I can get part three of my saga finished and in print by July, it might be a possibility. I know it would be beneficial to my career I just do not know if I am fully prepared for it just yet. We will see. I sent in piece for the next group writing project but I need to do some rewriting. I'm going to work in that tonight and hope I can get some more work done on Into the West: Sharon Springs. I had taken this week off from teaching so I could focus on my writing but I'm disappointed in how much time I've actually been able to spend working on writing part three. I had so much stuff I was trying to catch up on that I had been neglecting while I was down sick with the worst of this cold that I feel like I'm still just playing catch up. We'll see what I can get done this weekend. Don't forget to sign up for the Members Only page on my website and be entered to win an autographed copy of the special edition of Into the West: A New Home.Have a great evening!Stephen

New Contest and Writers Block

First things first, I have a new contest! This one is simple. I want more people to join my Members Only page. The membership is free, you just have to sign up for it. Select The Saloon in the menu bar on the top of any page on my website. In the dropdown menu, select Contest & Bribes. There you will find all the details for this contest. Join today and then just sit back and see if you win. Today, I am trying to finish up my latest writing challenge for another group project with Scott Harris and a host of other western authors. I am surprised I have been having such a difficult time with this one. When I heard the prompt, I thought, how fun. I was excited to get to work on it. But I have been working on it for three days now and have just not been happy with the results. The thing is, the writing prompt this time is a horrible cliche (when you finally get to read it you will understand) and it's proven difficult to get beyond that train of thought. But today I decided to try just writing something without the prompt so I'm not focusing on it. Then when I finish the basic idea of the story, I'll work the prompt back in. My ideas have been flowing better since I started thinking of it that way. Now, if I can just get finished with it today. Fingers crossed. So, check out The Shot Rang Out by Scott Harris and his 51 author friends. Sign up for my Members Only page and get entered to win an autographed copy of the special edition of Into the West: A New Home. The special edition contains part one of the saga, Into the West: The Orphan Train, and part two, Into the West: A New Home. Don't forget to keep checking back here more updates on how part three, Into the West: Sharon Springs is coming along.Drop me a line sometime, I'd love to hear from you. Stephen