Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 81

Calling All Indie Authors ...

When you are starting out in this business it can be a real uphill battle to get your work noticed. Because of this I have come up with the idea of an Author Exchange page on my site. The idea behind this page is for indie authors to cross promote each other's work.It cost nothing to join this network. All you have to do is be willing to add a link to the HOmestead page of my website on your page and I will do the same for you as well. That is it! The more authors we can get to join this free program the more traffic it will be likely to generate for all of us. It's a free simple idea and while there is the chance that it won't do a lot for us, it most definitely won't hurt!To join, simply add a link to my page, www.stephen.burckhardt.com, on your site. Then send me an email at Stephen.Burckhardt@aol.com with a link to your page showing me you have done this. In the subject line of the email, list the name and genre you wish to be listed under.  That is it!Here's hoping we can all get more traffic to our sites.

Time for Escape

I feel as if I'm in shock. I never really believed there was a chance that Trump could end up being president of the United States. I am heartsick.Now more than every I feel the need to bury myself in my writing. The idea of becoming entrenched in a world of my own creating is much more appealing than watching the disaster that has happened to our nation.So now my world is the Kansas territory a few short years before it gained statehood. The lives of Elizabeth and Conner  MacBride will be my focus while I come to grips with what this election says about Americans and the state of our nation. God help us all.

After the Election

I am looking forward to this election being over. It has brought out the worst in a vast majority of people. Friendships have ended and families have divided. It is a reflection of the worst of humanity.I am looking forward to focusing on work and school. P.R. and I are planning several trips. We will be going to our first comic-con the first weekend in December, to see Cirque du Soleil the weekend before Christmas, and then the big trip, Venice for our anniversary, Christmas, and New Years,In the meantime, I will be back in my classes Monday through Friday from 8:30 - 1, then home to teach my online classes from 2-3, then go out again to run errands, then back home again to write. My days will be so much more full but the getaways will also be so much better.I am working on writing part three, Into the West: Sharon Springs. I really want to get this one finished and in editing because I have had a fantastic idea for part four, Into the West: Most Wanted. I can't wait to get to that part but I will have to set everything up in Sharon Springs first.I'm really looking forward to getting back to the work of writing and not focused so much on the marketing, web design, social media, etc. that you have to do as an indie author if you want to get your work noticed. The writing is where the passion is and after months of watching the worst come out in Americans near and far, I can use a little positive passion in my life!

Getting Into a Very Full Schedule

I taught my first class today. It was so much fun. My first student was a little girl. She was so smart and so cute. I had a lot of fun talking to her. I did make one mistake in class but I caught it and corrected myself. I went over time by a minute and a half but for my first class I think that was pretty good. Tomorrow I have two classes back to back. I teach the same material in both classes so it should be easier.I took a break after class and played with Shaggy. Poor guy gets shut in the living room when I'm teaching. He can run out on the patio and around the living room; he can hear me talking in the kitchen but he can't see or get to me. I try to make it up to him with a lot of treats and we we play fetch when I'm done. It helps me wind down after the class too. This is all new to me and I really want to do a good job so it's stressful. It's a good stress but still stress.Now, I'm working on book stuff for the rest of the night. I'm torn between working on the website some more or start writing book three. I'm not really in the right mindset for writing tonight. I think I'll start on that tomorrow and work on the website some more tonight. I almost have everything moved over from the old site. It will be nice to have it all rebuilt. One more thing I can check off my huge list of things to do.Tomorrow I have two classes to teach, errands to run, and start writing book three. This will be my last free weekend for a while. I plan to spend it with P.R. and Shaggy and try to really enjoy the time we have together. Starting next weekend I will have to teach on Sundays. I am really looking forward to finishing the class I'm taking. Things will be so much simpler when that is over.

Things are Never Easy

Just when I think things are going to go smoothly for a while, wham! Reality hits me in the face. I decided to pick up a part-time job to get a little extra money coming in so I can quit depleting my 401K. I have started teaching English as a second language to school children in China.I do the whole thing online in a one-on-one class. It should be fun. I'm really looking forward to my first class. I have had two classes scheduled but neither child showed up for the class. I have another class scheduled for tomorrow and I'm hoping I will finally get to teach. I only have to work 7.5 hours a week during their peak times for this program so that leaves me plenty of time for writing but it also gives me enough cash to cover everything I was paying for out of the 401K money and more.I'm also signed up for the class I need to finish taking. It starts again November 21. After my class starts, time will be a little more scarce.  I will get up at 6 am, go to my class, rush home to teach my English classes, then go back out to run errands if needed, and then have the evening to write. I will have to work 2.5 hours on Saturdays to fulfill my required peak hour time once my morning class starts but I only have four more months of my morning class then I'm done. I hope! I just hope my sanity holds out that long.I've been taking a private class on Saturdays with my former teacher to make sure I am where I need to be to pick up my class again. At least that can stop when the class starts again and I can just teach and write on Saturdays. With any luck I will have all day Sundays to just spend with P.R. and Shaggy.P.R. has been great about helping out around the house more as I have more things on my plate. Of course, P.R. would help out anytime I asked no matter how little or how much I have going on. P.R. is just great like that. I don't think I could have wished for a more supportive spouse if a genie created one for me. Which is great considering how much I will have to do in the coming months!I have been creating this new website. It's been a real trial trying to get this together. I had tried iPage but was very unhappy with their non-existent tech support. Then I just decided to buy the premium program here on Wix. I have had my website on here for years so I don't know why I didn't just buy the program here to begin with but in my defense when I searched for the best hosting sites iPage was at the top. I have no idea how they got listed so high.Now, I need to finish rebuilding my web page, start writing book three, work with Dianne to come up with cover art for three, and finish the audio for books one and two, while going to class and teaching a class and at some point spend time with the family. Yeah, that's not a lot. I think if I give up sleep I can handle it all. No problem!

New Website is Looking Good

I am feeling pretty good right now about the new website. I was a tad upset when I had to start over again after getting rid of iPage. But sometimes having a setback is a good thing.The new site is looking nice and I think it will be a vast improvement over my old one. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. I hope to have it connected toStephenBurckhardt.comlater this week.November is going to be a very busy month for me. I will be starting my class again and with any luck I will be teaching classes too. I signed up to teach English as a second language (ESL) to kids in China. I have one more test to pass and when/if I do I will start teaching kids one-on-one online.This school only requires me to work 7.5 hours a week so it will leave me plenty of time to write once my class is over with in January. Another good thing about teaching this class is one week will pay enough so I can stop taking money out of my 401K to cover my student loans. Everything past that can go in our house/emergency fund.  The real trick will be keeping up with everything until the class I'm taking is over January. Lord, help me! More importantly, Lord, help P.R. live with me until February!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I'm sure some of you have noticed I haven't been blogging this week. I had bought my own domain, StephenBurckhardt.com and had started building a new website through iPage. When I tried to set up my blog the RSS feed wasn't working and their tech support has been working on it for over a week now and it's still not fixed.The category buttons on the support page didn't work either and I had to use my Geek Squad account to fix that issue since the iPage tech support couldn't get it fixed. Plus, today when I went to log onto iPage, their server was down. It was just not worth the money I was paying for it.So now I'm start to build a new site again. I haven't hooked the domain to this page yet but I will get to that tomorrow night. I wanted to make sure this was going to do everything I wanted before I paid for it. I do not want to start over again.I have a test tomorrow and if I pass I will have a second job. I will be teaching English to students in China via the internet. I've done one test so far and passed and if I pass two more I start teaching. I get to set my own schedule and can work as much as I want and only have to work 7.5 hours a week so I will have plenty of time to write ... until my class starts up again in November. When that happens I'll be lucky to sleep.I keep feeling like I'm taking one step forward and then two steps back. If this keeps up, I'll be doing a cha cha in no time.

Ugh! The Yin and Yang of Technology!

[image error]Technology can be great, when it works. I can keep in touch instantly with friends around the world. I can build a new website on my own domain,StephenBurckhardt.com.But when technology doesn't work it can be a real headache.I have been trying for a week now to set up my new blog on my new site and I keep getting a server error when I try to connect the RSS feed. I have been talking to the tech guys at iPage, who hosts my domain, for about 5-6 days now. They have asked for screenshots, asked me how I put the RSS feed on my page, asked what the error message was that I keep getting. Then today they closed the issue and it's still not fixed.Frustrated with all of this, I went into the service chat to cancel my service with them. Then in a few minutes I was told that the issue is with their server and they have people working on it. Something I was not told by any person I chatted with, emailed with, or contacted in the ticket messages. UGH!So now I've had to, for the time being, reconnect my blog on my old site to be able to broadcast my blogs again. Why does it seem like there is always something that doesn't work quite right when you are trying to play catch up?So I'm giving them one more day to fix the issue. If it's not fixed tomorrow I will have a hard decision to make. If I cancel my service with iPage, the page I have created atStephenBurckhardt.comwill be deleted and I will have to start yet again. I really love the way it looks and it will be very frustrating to have to start again. I might try setting up a blog on WordPress and and just connect it to my page but I really do not want to do that. I want to keep things as simple as possible. Right now, I don't know what I should do.We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Progress! I have a New Domain, New Webpage, New Email, and New Commercials.

Hello my friends,

I feel like I'm finally getting on the right track for my writing career. It's been a rough first year but I am not discouraged. If anything it makes me want to try that much harder to make my dream of a full-time writing career a reality.

If you have found your way here, you will see I have my own domain now thanks to Dianne Burckhardt. She bought DianneBurckhardt.com and is letting me piggyback on her setup with my own subdomain StephenBurckhardt.com. With this new domain comes new opportunities.

I am in the process of creating a new, more professional looking, website
I am able to create my own mail address: S.Burckhardt@StephenBurckhardt.com
It will be easier for anyone who is interested in my work to find me and my books
I will eventually have my own store where I can sell my own books and other supporting products the list goes on ...

After I get a basic version of this site up and running, hopefully by the end of the week, I plan to get started writing third novella installment of The Into the West Saga, Into the West: Sharon Springs . I'm behind my schedule I set down for myself in getting this book written. I need to paly a little catch up before the holiday season puts me even further behind.

Dianne and I are working on finishing up the audiobook version of Into the West: The Orphan Train. This process is taking us a bit longer to learn than we expected but once we get this all down and the first audiobook has been produced, the rest of the books will go much faster. We are excited about getting the audiobooks out and will continue to work toward that end. We had wanted to have this first audiobook produced before now but we chose to strive for quality over getting to market faster. I personally want to make sure everything I produce is the best I can possibly make it for those of you who spend your hard-earned money on my work. You deserve nothing less and I will always do my best to make sure you get my best work.

Thanks for following my career and I hope you stick with me as I set and meet my goals. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Where to Begin?

So much has been going on. First, and most annoying, the G key on my laptop is sticking so half the time it doesn't actually work. It's making writing very interesting. A close second in annoyance is I'm still coughing. So much so, P.R. made a special trip today to find the strongest cough syrup you can get over the counter.I have been working with Dianne on a new website. I really do not have the money to put into one so I'm going to piggyback on her site and help out with keeping it up. The new website will be under a dedicated domain name. We are currently trying to decide on the domain name. We would love to have some input from anyone and everyone about what you think would be the most memorable and easy to find name.The Choices are:1. BooksByBurckhardt.com2. Books-by-Burckhardt.com3. BurckhardtWrites.com4. Burckhardt-Writes.com5. DianneBurckhardt.com    -   It will ultimately just be her site after I get my own6. Dianne-Burckhardt.com   -    I will just have a subdomain of my own on her site for now7. BurckhardtBooks.com8. Burckhardt-Books.comDrop me a note and let me know which one you like or suggest one we didn't think of.I also recently found a tutorial that explains how to set up audiobooks with chapters so a listener can skip from section to section. I'm hoping to try it out soon and see if I can get it all set up. Getting closer to figuring out my audiobooks!Lots of progress being made though it doesn't really feel like it. I have a lot of catching up to do after our vacation and getting sick. I hope I can get back on track this next week. For me that means getting at least the first chapter of book three written.Speaking of book three ...I'm looking to build a team of beta readers. What this means is I'm looking for people who have accounts with Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and/or Goodreads or are willing to create accounts. You will get a free copy of my books before they go on sale. You will be required to read it and give me feedback within a week. Also you will be required to post a review on one or more sites mentioned above the week the book is released. When I finish a serial I will publish a book containing all novellas in one volume. There will be a page in the collection book listing all the beta readers and thanking them for their input. There will also be a page on my website to thank beta readers. When I have contests and giveaways there will always be something extra for the beta readers. So that is it. If you like reading free books and giving your opinion this could be for you.If you are interested in being a beta reader for me just drop me a note at stephen.burckhardt@aol.com  subject line: beta readersNow, time to figure out where to start.