2017 Year in Review

From this author’s perspective, 2017 was a year when I tried several new things.

After attending a seminar at our local Writers’ Nook group, I tried my hand at writing poetry. I’ve posted a few of them in Facebook and in my blog. Some were fun and about the amount of snow we had last year (Enough Already), some were dark (Road’s End), and some were surprisingly deep (The Key). But the poem I received the most positive feedback on was one I wrote to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday titled "The Canadian Way". (Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...).

In March, I released Women 101: A Father's Humorous Guide To His Son. I normally write mysteries so writing a romantic comedy was a new experience for me. I’m also adapting it into a stage play, another new type of writing for me. It’s fun (and challenging) stepping outside your normal comfort zone.

I was a member of the organizing committee of the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival, which was held in May. It was a great experience as I met a lot of interesting people and a lot of great writers. It’s a wonderful conference and I encourage you to attend. (http://wordonthelakewritersfestival.com/)

In May, I also created a Facebook Author’s page, which is a way to separate my postings as an author from personal postings about me and my family. It also gives me the capability to use paid advertising to boost postings about my books. I tried several such postings, but I think the only one who made any money on that venture was Facebook.

I also gave away a few of my books through Goodreads Giveaway promotions. It’s a good way to let people know about my books for the cost of sending a copy of my books to the lucky winners. However, since Goodreads has now announced that they are going to charge a few hundred dollars to run those promotions in 2018, I doubt I’ll be doing them anymore.

My 2016 novel The Back Nine continues to sell well and I was pleased to see in September that it cracked the top 1,000 in the sports genre, #822 to be exact. (The book is about golf, but it's mostly about life after fifty). It has since fallen out of the top 1,000 but it was nice while it lasted.

There was some renewed interest in my 2015 novel The Second Shooter as the October 26th deadline of the release of the remaining classified records approached. At the last minute, President Trump still withheld the release of about 300 of those documents.

In November, I conducted a seminar for our local writer’s group titled “Tips on Starting a Book”. It went quite well and if you’re interested, I’ve posted the notes from the seminar on my blog. (https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...)

In November, I was also asked to be the guest speaker at the Shuswap Writer’s Group Coffee House, another new and great experience.

I’ve just looked at the financials for the year and ended up about $70 in the red, so I’m still not getting rich or famous.

I’m just about finished my next novel titled “The Third Option”, which will be the third in the “Goliath” series of books. I expect it to be released around May, 2018.

Thank you for your interest and support.