Turkey, New Look, Work, and Self-Publishing

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope you do as well. This holiday, two of my adult children spent almost a week home with us here in Michigan. Our middle child lives in Chicago, about a three-hour train ride from our home in West Michigan, and we probably see him the most. Our daughter is in her last year as an undergrad in the middle of Pennsylvania, and we see her less often, but usually, her stays are a bit longer. Our oldest lives in Colorado, and we see him too, but he just made a trip a month ago and got burnt by the Southwest Airlines fiasco of 2023, so he decided not to make the trip this year. But we also made the short trip to Northeast Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family on Thursday and my wife’s yesterday. Like most Americans, I ate way too much.

I’ve given up the fight. Part of my genetic sequence has burdened me with grade-bad male pattern baldness and fine hair. The combination makes me look more bald than I am, but I finally did something about it. As you can see in my pictures, I’ve shaved my head and decided to grow facial hair. I think I like the new look. Colleagues have told me I look like Walter White of Breaking Bad fame. I’ve not seen the show, but I have seen the actor and have to agree that we both have shaved heads, wear glasses, and a goatee. My wife says it makes me look angry. My mom thinks I should start smoking a pipe. I want to change my hairstyle, that’s all. What do you think? I am going to get some author headshots taken. Is this the look I should go with?

Lately, my full-time job has been crazy. My boss has the misfortune of being the most unfortunate person I know. Due to multiple personal tragedies involving illness, injury, and hurricane damage, she took a three-month leave of absence. I’ve been asked to step up and help cover her role in her absence. That has led to more focus on that part of my life than my writer life. The good news is that she returns on Monday, and my life should get a little more normal. This will allow me to update this blog and do some of the stuff I’ll mention below.

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that I would most likely publish my books myself rather than using a publisher. My main focus right now is to build my audience. If you are reading this, I will consider you a potential member of that population. But, if I’m going to break even in this world, I’ll need far more people to join that August company. How can you help? I’m glad you read that aloud. I need people who read these blogs and see my social media posts to like them. Not just inwardly but clicking the thumbs-up or heart. I need you to interact. I ask you questions in these blogs, and the comment section is where you answer. Finally, if you are a fan of fantasy fiction, you most likely have friends and relatives who also like fantasy fiction. Introduce them to my webpage, blog, and social media platforms.

Right now, I’m working on two short stories that will be published. I will get a little bit of money for them—enough to pay for my webpage, Grammarly subscription, domain name, and other author tools. But that isn’t the primary purpose of the short story. One of them, Immortal of the Saltless Sea, is what they call in the business a reader magnet. I plan to offer that free if a reader signs up for my email list. If a person wants to pay for it, there will be that option, too, but why pay for something you can get for free?

Some things to be looking for:

1>    Above mentioned email list. I’m looking for the right platform and trying to figure out how to use it. If anyone has suggestions, let me know in the comments.

2>    A bigger and more engaged social media presence on Instagram and Facebook. If I can find the right intern, maybe a couple of others.

3>    A book cover in January for Immortal of the Saltless Sea.

4>    News about the second short story, which an anthology has already accepted. More news to come soon!

Help Wanted:  If you want to participate in something that may scrape up a few dollars a month in the wonderful world of Fantasy Self-Publishing and know something about the self-publishing business. Reach out. I’ve got ideas on how to make this more successful and doing it with people I know and like is always more fun than doing it by yourself.