I’ve climbed the mountain of getting the first short story and first publication to done. Following the advice of a lot of other (successful) authors, I’m hustling to keep my name in front of people, Keen Edge of Valor selling and getting reviews, and building my relationships with my readers and my peers.
Most importantly though, I’m continuing to write. Since the submission of Fellblade, I’ve been making progress on a novel (Title TBD) set in a science fiction universe of my own creation. I’m drawing inspiration from the life of William Marshal, one of the greatest knights to ever live.
At FantaSci a few weeks ago, I was given some amazing education (Thanks Kevin Ikenberry and Monalisa Foster) on plotting and proper use of character voice that helped me understand why certain parts of my work in progress made me uncomfortable when writing. I’m at about 31k words with it, almost done with the first act, and will go back and edit it with what I learned in mind.
BUT I’m putting that on pause right now. The Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Contest submission window ends this month and I’ve got a great story idea for it. I can’t say too much about it because it’s possible that one or more judges may read this blog and I don’t want to disqualify them from reading my submission. I’m at 13k words out of a max of 8k for that one.
What I’m Reading: Last Week, I finished reading Salvage Title by Kevin Steverson. It’s fun, mil sci-fi in a universe that has expanded to include a number of books by a number of authors. I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.
I just finished Valor’s Child By Kal Spriggs. It was surprisingly punchy for such a short, YA targeted novel. What seemed like a “boot camp” story turned into something a lot more about relationships and growing up than I expected. It was a pleasant surprise. I will be getting more books in this series.
I’m currently reading, for enjoyment, Servants of War By Larry Correia and Steve Diamond. I’ll post more on this one later, but it’s starting off strong.
Professionally, I’ve been reading through the Author Fundamentals books by Chris Kennedy Publishing. The books are relatively short, the advice concentrated, and the chapters digestible in small chunks. If you’re looking to get started as an author, these are a really good resource that doesn’t require dedicated attention from you to plow through because of the organization. They’re also easy to reference later.
Each blog, I want to provide one more thing for my readers that might make a difference for you and your loved ones. This week: Go For A Walk. The TLDR here is that for every thousand steps you take in a day, your all cause mortality is reduced by 12%. Get up and move.
Comment Below and let me know what you’re reading, and if you’re doing the “one thing.”
Nathan Balyeat 