Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 75

So Very Tired . . .

[image error]I have worked my little fingers to the bone lately. I am so tired, I only hope this will all make sense. I have been getting up at least by 9 am, prepping classes, teaching classes, writing reports for the students, then working on my books until about 3 am, go to bed, get up and start all over. On days I don't teach, it's just work on my books all day. I so very much need sleep! I have been working with my new editor, Greg Wood, to reedit books one and two in the Into the West Saga Serial. When they were first published, I could not afford to hire an editor. My mother, Sharon Stephens, and my friend, Sharon Durmaskin, tried to help me with editing but both women had full-time jobs and trying to edit my work for me (for free) in their spare time was a daunting task. I had recently come to the conclusion that if I really want to make a go of my writing career, I was going to have to break down and invest in my own future. I took the money I had been saving up to buy a very nice touring bicycle and invested it in hiring a professional editor instead. Greg Wood, has already proven to be worth the money (and worth having to continue to walk everywhere). He has reedited Into the West: The Orphan Train and Into the West: A New Home. The new edits, coupled with the new cover art Dianne Burckhardt designed, has almost made these brand new projects. I just finished uploading the new edits, including some additional material, across all the sales platforms for Into the West: The Orphan Train. I am hoping the paperbacks will be available again for purchase as soon as this weekend, the ebooks are all ready available for download. I plan to take a little break tomorrow and work on another project I was asked to join. Fifty-two western authors are working together to create a "reader" of sorts, with fifty-two 500-word short western stories. I was the 52nd western author to come on-board the project. It should be fun. As soon as I get my contribution written tomorrow, I'm jumping back into my own work and finalizing all the new edits for Into the West: A New Home this weekend. My plan is to spend most of next week working on part three Into the West: Sharon Springs. Though I will have to take a good part of Tuesday off, it's P.R.'s birthday and I have plans!Keep watching the blogs! As soon as I get into the meat of part three, I'm going to share a few blurbs here for those who like to have a sneak-peek. Don't worry, I will give spoiler alerts when I post things in the blog for those who don't like them. We are also working on more publicity things too. Watch for the trailer for Into the West: A New Home which we hope to have ready this weekend as well. Dianne is doing such a great job for me on all of this. I don't know what I would do without her. I will let everyone know when all of the new edits are live for part one and two so you can download a revised version of the ebooks or purchase a new paperback. However, for those of you who do not want to buy a new paperback but would like to read the new edits, just send a picture of you holding your paperback to Stephen.Burckhardt@gmail.com and I will send you an PDF or ePub version of the book.I've said it before and I'm going to keep saying it, THANK YOU! Thank you to all of you who are sticking with me as I work to become a good author. There is so much a person has to do when they are self-publishing. I spent about six hours today just working on getting the formatting correct for the paperback. If I had a publisher, this would all fall to them and I would only have to worry about writing. But having all of you reading my work makes all the this behind the scenes work worth while! With deepest gratitude,Stephen

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So many things are going on right now. Probably the best announcement I have is I have hired an editor! (Cue applause!) Please welcome Greg Wood to my team. With Greg around, I think you will see a vast improvement in the quality of the work I'm producing. He's already reedited book one and is reviewing book two at this moment. There are so many things he has helped me correct already that will make the reading experience for all of you so much better. I do want to take a moment to thank Sharon Stephens and Sharon Durmaskin for their help trying to catch all of my mistakes the first time around with these two volumes. I could not have gotten to this point without you ladies.The other exciting thing that has happened is, we have a book trailer. This is all still in the beginning stages for us but we are figuring it out. I've wanted to do trailers for the books for a while now but, like with most everything else, I did not have money in my budget for that. Dianne was doing more research on book trailers, trying to find something we could afford, when she found an article explaining how to make simple book trailers using PowerPoint. She made one last night just to try it all out and then refined it today. It's not too bad. I think this will work until we can get some advertising money to pay someone to do more live action trailers for us. Good things are happening. Be sure to sign up for my posse so you will get all the up to date information. Let us know what you think!Stephen

Live, Laugh, and . . . Love!

I just wanted to take a moment before I go throw some serious romance at P.R. to wish everyone a wonderful Valentine's Day.I hope you all know how much I appreciate each and every one of you who have continued to follow me as I find my way in to becoming a legitimate author. Keep watching my website for some exciting announcements coming soon. I'm working hard so one day you can all say, you knew me when I was a struggling unknown. We can have a big party, laugh about it, and play "remember when."With gratitude,Stephen

Catching Up and Hiring an Editor

I was actually able to catch up to my timeline I had set for this weekend. Due to actually being able to have quality time with P.R. for a few days, I fell behind my timeline before Friday was even finished. But here it is, Sunday night and I just finished re-reading part two, Into the West: A New Home. I didn't go crazy and add pages worth of new material to this book as I had with part one when I re-read it. Which makes sense.With part one I was a lot more nervous about writing a western for myself and I think I was hesitant to really dive into the story head first. By the time I got to part two, I was feeling more comfortable and confident in my writing. I'm hoping this trend continues as I work through the story. Now that I'm done re-reading parts one and two, I'm ready to start typing part three into the computer. With any luck, I will have an editor by this time tomorrow who can review one and two for me while I write part three. I actually have three great candidates all of whom I would be extremely lucky to work with. If I could afford it, I would hire them all. But tomorrow I will have to choose one who can do a good job and yet I can also afford without having to go into debt to pay them. Fingers crossed!Be sure to keep watching my blogs and website. When I am ready to release part three, I plan to do a few special promotions. I haven't really decided exactly what just yet, so keep checking in so you don't miss out when I announce everything. Have a great week,Stephen

Covers Are Coming Together

We think we have the art and quotes set for the covers for part three and four in the Into the West Saga Serial. The colors are still in question though. We should have the final art set this next week. I started reviewing part two, Into the West: A New Home today. I had hoped to be further along in it than I am at the moment but I was spending time with P.R. P.R. is between projects so we are enjoying some real quality time right now. P.R. loves to cook whenever there is time. Lately, I have been treated to some amazing breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. It's been great having P.R. home after the month long business trips last year. We are making up for some lost time.Tomorrow will be a day of reading to get through part two and setting up part three in Word. It's time for Mrs. Kelly to lay out her plan to settle Elizabeth and Conner in new homes in Sharon Springs. The children are not going to be happy to be split up into two different houses but Tim and Doc are determined to make it work. Keep watching the blogs for a few sneak previews from Into the West: Sharon Springs.

I Got So Much Procrastination Done Today

Here it is, only Friday night, and I already feel like I've wasted the whole weekend. I had to go to the doctor today and they gave me another vaccination booster. One of the side effects was drowsiness. Check! I have been dragging ever since I got home. I have been able to get some work done. I have a few people who are actually considering joining my team as an editor and working with me on the books. I've contacted them and given them a basic overview of my project plans and sent them the first book to look over. I realize I need to start investing in this career if I really want to get it to be a viable source of income. Tomorrow is going to be a full day of work on the books. I plan to review book two, decide on the final cover art for three and four, make a few more video ads, and check into getting a trailer made for book three. Dianne and I also need to sit down and review everything for the audio books. We really need to get them set up finally and work on getting all the audio tracks finished. Things have started to move pretty well lately and I plan to focus my energy on keeping it going. With any luck, I might to see an upturn in online followers soon and that will eventually translate into more sales. Don't forget to sign up for my "Posse" so you will get all the latest updates: book release dates, contests, brides, and freebies. While you are on the website, sign up for the Member's Only page to see my personal home videos, download short stories that give you more information about specific characters, and sign up for the birthday club. Thanks for following and have a great weekend,Stephen

Wanted: Editor/Proofreader

I have been saving up money to buy a bicycle but I think it would serve me better to use that money to pay an editor. I am in search of someone to do proofreading only, no rewrites or story polishing. I need someone to make sure all the periods and commas are in the right place, make sure I spell Conner with and e instead of Connor, and that all the their's are there and not they're. To be honest, I'm not sure the best way to go about finding a good editor I can afford (or if those two things are even compatible). I've thought about searching freelance sites and maybe even Linkedin. I have already sent out messages to some friends to see if they know someone who does this kind of work. I really hope I can find someone soon. I am in a good place right now working on the books and I do not want to lose my momentum or focus. If you happen to be an editor who has an interest in editing a western serial, I'd love to hear from you. If things work out, I would be interested in having the same person work with me for the whole serial and possibly future projects. This serial collection is currently planned to be a five book serial with the possibility of more. Each novella is about 100 pages in Word, about 25,000 words. The first two books have been edited previously but a lot of things slipped through the process. I would like to have them reedited as soon as possible then the others, as I finish writing them. If you have any interest in this project, please contact me at Stephen.Burckhardt@aol.com with your rates and turnaround timetable. If your rates fit within my budget, I can email you the first book for you to review and we can go from there. I hope to be working with one of you very soon!Stephen

New Edits Coming

I don't know what got into me. I decided to reread Into the West:The Orphan Train and Into the West: A New Home before I started the hard push on writing Into the West: Sharon Springs this weekend. My intention was just to do another check for typos while I read but ended up adding a few scenes.I did not plan to flesh out the story anymore but I think it really rounds out the characters even better. If you have the ebook versions, you will be able to download the new edits as soon as I get them uploaded, if you are interested. However, if you only purchased the print version, you would have to purchase the print version again to get the updates. I do have a proposal for those who only bought the book in print form.I don't want you to have to purchase the books again (that is a lie, I'd love to have you buy a case of books and give them to all of your friends but I'm realistic) unless you want to have the new cover art as well. If you only purchased the print version, and would like to read the new edits, just take a photo of yourself holding your copy of my book then post it on my Facebook page. I will contact you when the new edits are live and send you a PDF copy of the new edits for free. Or you can wait until Into the West: Sharon Springs goes on sale and I will have a weekend give away for Into the West: The Orphan Train to help publicize the release of part three. You will be able to download a free Nook and/or Kindle version (if I can figure out how to set up the Nook giveaway. I haven't checked into that yet.) I hope to read Into the West: A New Home by Friday so I can spend the weekend getting a jump start into writing Into the West: Sharon Springs (FINALLY, right?! I know!)Thanks for hanging on with me. It is much appreciated. I hope to always be worthy of my readers loyalty. TTFN!Stephen

Facebook Friend Grab Contest

I've had this contest on my website for a while now but I have never talked about it, so here we go. I want to increase my Facebook following so I'm willing to bribe people to help me do it. Follow the easy steps below and you could win a $20 electronic Amazon gift card.Start posting today for your chance to win. Be sure to tag Stephen and set the privacy to "public" on all your posts to qualify for your entries.Goodluck!StephenCurrent Bribe: Facebook Friend GrabYour Reward:$20 Amazon gift card.Deadline for entries: April 1st, 2018 (Yes, it really is April first. I promise it's not a joke, it just makes me smile to make it April first.)How to claim your bribe:step 1 - Share Stephen's Facebook page on your own Facebook page and tag him on the post. Posts must be set to "public" sharing. If you don't tag him, we will not see it so we can't enter you for the post. You can earn one entry per day. step 2 - Earn extra entries for sharing Stephen's blog posts on your Facebook page. Posts must be set to "public" sharing. Tag him on the shared posts and you will earn one entry for each unique blog share. In other words, you can't share the same blog fifteen times and get fifteen entries. You can share fifteen different blogs on the same day and get fifteen entries. step 3 - Earn even more entries by posting a review of Stephen's books on any bookseller or book review website, such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or Goodreads, etc. Just post a review and share a link to it on your Facebook page. Posts must be set to "public" sharing. Be sure to tag Stephen in your post so we can see it. You will earn 3 entries for each review. step 4 - Sit back and wait to see if you win.

It's All in How You Say It

I have had a few people ask me why I write Margret's dialog with an accent but I don't do that with her children. In my mind it's pretty simple but I'm sure it could do with a little explaining for those of you who are not in my head. Margret and her husband were born and raised in Ireland and moved to the U.S. in their late teens. Their speech patterns were learned in Ireland. Elizabeth and Conner, however, were born and raised in the U.S. While I might throw in a stray word here or their that they will say with an accent, like calling their dad, da', for the most part they will be speaking with a neutral accent because of their personal speech influences. At one point, it is mentioned that they spend a lot of time with a woman who is English. They also spend a lot of time around Americans at the home where their mother works and in the shantytown where they live. The children learn their speech patterns in New York City. Elizabeth even went to school until they became homeless and their mother was too afraid to send her anymore for fear someone might learn of their situation and take the children from Margret. Ironic, I know, since she ends up giving them up on her own, but that is different because it was on her own terms when she was ready to do so for their sake. See, all it's quite simple really. I have met people who have parents who immigrated to the U.S. and had rather thick accents but the children did not. They might say a certain word here or there where you can catch a bit of an accent to it but for the most part they sound like everyone else where they grew up. It is from these personal experiences that I drew upon for my decided to write their dialog the way I did. Besides, Dianne Burckhardt, who is doing the voice work for the audio books, says she can only do accents for so long so I need to cut them short. I hope this answers the question of accents for some of you. If you want to ask me a question about the books you would like answered in a future blog, feel free to drop me a line at Stephen.Burckhardt@aol.com or go to the "Keep in Touch" page at StephenBurckhardt.com. Write "blog questions" in the subject line. Thanks for reading me!Stephen