Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 74

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

Contests, New Books, and Technology

I am still coughing my head off here but I am feeling better. Yesterday, I ran all my errands I had skipped over while I was down with the worst of this cold. By the time I got home, I was exhausted. Today, I dragged myself out of bed and have been working on updating the website, setting up a new contest, and finishing up another short story writing challenge for the next western collection by Scott Harris. Once again I will be one of the 51 friends whose work will be included in the book.The first group project, The Shot Rang Out is on sale now and after just 12 hours being live for download it has already reached #30 in the recent releases list on Amazon. Now, if I could get my solo work to take off like that I might actually make some money.A little bit of old business, I want to thank everyone who entered my Facebook Friends Grab bribe contest. My facebook friends number did go up so from that standpoint I consider it a success. I was surprised with the winner. There was one person who shared almost every post I made and had almost the same number of entries as everyone else combined. I thought there was no way they would not win the contest, I was wrong. The luck must be strong with Faye Finley Eidson. Congratulations Faye for winning the $20 electronic Amazon gift card. Thanks again for the shares!I'm also celebrating the fact that I didn't destroy my new mouse pen my mom sent to me to go with my new notebook I bought so I could write on the go. I dropped it in my cup of hot tea the other night. It's probably the first time I didn't completely ruin something electronic when I got it wet. I have gone through more computers and tablets the last year than in most of the other years of my life put together. I think my klutziness is progressing with my age. I should just be glad it's my coordination that is deteriorating and not my mind. (That went a long time ago.) Thanks for following along with my crazy attempt at creating a new career. At least I'm never boring. Stephen

I Murphy and His Laws!

I swear some days I think I should just be wrapped in bubble wrap and stood up in the corner. i was just telling my mother how much I loved the mouse pen she sent me recently. I was using it all the time and it was just perfect to go with my new little notebook I bought to carry around with me to write. Tonight I dropped in my cup of hot tea. I swear I need a keeper!I have hope that it's not gone. It was still sort of working so I took the battery out and I'm letting it dry out completely in our jar of Basmati rice before I try it again. Cross your fingers for me.. On a another note. I took this week off of my teaching job so I can focus on working on my writing. I will finish writing my short for the group project I'm a part of then I will be devoting the rest of the week to working on Into the West: Sharon Springs. I plan to start sharing bits of what I'm working on and I have another contest coming up that I will be setting up this week. I want to set up a day for blogs, a day for sharing writing bits and at least one other thing but I have't decided what that will be. My life has been so unstructured the last few years because so much has been going on and there have been so may changes but I really want to get things set up into a routine so I can manage my life better. I've been struggling to keep up with everything and sometimes things slip through the cracks. Unfortunately, it's usually exercise and/or my writing that usually gets dropped when I'm struggling to keep up with everything. That needs to stop!So think good thought for me and I hope to get things figured out here very soon.Thanks for following along my crazy journey.Stephen

So Much Going On

Once again it's been a few weeks between blogs. I went to visit friends shortly after the last one and came home with a real intention to dive into work. Then I got sick.. I came down with a horrible respiratory infection and was in bed for two weeks. I am only just now getting up and around again. Yesterday was the first day I left the house in weeks.Today I was working on getting the new computer set up for writing. It's taken me forever to get this set up. I bought a little Lenovo table with keyboard. It's small enough I can carry it around with me to write on the go but it was much harder to set up than my big laptop was. |I think tonight I finally got it set. We will see.I have news. The Shot Rang Out should be available in the near future. I'll post a publication date when I know one for sure. If you do not know about this project, I was part of a group of western writers who joined Scott Harris in a writing challenge. Scott gave us all the same 18 words and we had to use it somehow in a 500 word story. It was so much fun and there was so much interest in this endeavor that Scott has decided to issue a few more writing challenges to us. I'm working on my entry for the second one right now. I will share details of that one as soon as they are available.I have more news but I'm still coughing and really want to go back to bed so I will share more later. Have a great weekend!Stephen

Just a Quick Note . . .

Due to pricing changes in the way the print on demand company prices their paperbacks, I have decided to do away with my idea to offer a single collection book when the saga is complete. If you have noticed, the limited edition trade paperback with just part one and two included, has had a price jump from $8.99 to $11.99. My profit per book has not increased with that price jump, it's all going to the print costs. To me, the final cost is just not going to be realistic.I will continue with the plan to keep releasing them all as individual print and ebook editions. Should something change by the time I finish the saga, I can reevaluate then. But for now, there are no longer plans to release a single volume edition with all the novellas from the Into the West Saga Serial. Thanks for your support and understanding. Tomorrow is another day to write, to read, and to be happy! Happy trails!Stephen