I’ve been spending well over a month ignoring this blog, but not without good reason. Life has been hectic, house, health and work all taking up more shares of the time available to do the lesser priority parts which are tossed to the wayside and put in the ‘I’ll get to that sometime soon’ pile. And then I decided to try the Twitter thing and that has proven to be so much easier, writing 140 characters instead of paragraphs like this one. But I have been writing pretty steadily and right now I’m probably two thirds through the first draft of my next book, currently titled Muckydum (but that can still change). If you have the time check me out on Twitter :
—-I’m also trying a little experiment with twitter. I have made accounts for two of my characters from The Connected and have done posts for them starting from the beginning of the book. Currently I plan to take the posts right through to the end of the book, unless of course my time again gets squeezed or if at some point I determine that the experiment is an exercise in futility.
—-I have begun to revamp my website - it’s been neglected more than this blog. I figure that’s probably going to be a one or two month project.
Until next time I look at my blog and realize it’s been awhile…
P.S. : This Wordpress is not an easy blog to use. No matter how I set up the paragraphs when I’m writing it they just don’t stay the same when they uploaded. I may have to switch to something else eventually. I can’t afford to fiddle around with this for an hour. - Just needed to get that off my chest:)
It’s funny. I’m now, what I consider, deep into writing this second novel and the story keeps evolving in my mind. Several times I have had to go back through previous chapters and enhance them to include new twists and added characters as the synopsis of the original story I sat down to write has changed. This happened to me on the first novel also, but somehow it’s not quite the same. The Connected was completely written and then I did a rewrite and added 20,000 words, mostly because the original was too brief and didn’t allow for the characters to grow. Now The Connected was speculative fiction (science fiction to most though I’m not that scientific) and the new novel Muckydum is more down to earth, about life on Earth, but with Muckydum the story is expanding as I write it. What started out as a simple character study now has expanded to two main characters with two others that have become major influential characters. Right now I have to go back into chapter 2 and add some more to supplement another plot twist near the end of the book.
I would love to write some more short stories right now, I have had some ideas, but right now I’m too engrossed in this novel. As soon as I have the first draft completed maybe then I can get a couple of short stories down before returning to the novel for the second draft.
Take care.
I have been pretty lackadaisical about updating this blog. Between working full-time, obligations and responsibilities at home and trying to make some headway on my new novel, both my web page and this blog have suffered.
The present economic state is not a good situation for a new author trying to break into the publishing market. Without a major publisher behind you it is very hard to get noticed unless you can pour hours upon hours of your time into blogging (on your own and others sites) and participate in discussions on popular writing or book sites (or Amazon). But if you spend your time doing that, then you fail to put out anything new to keep readers interested. It is a catch-22. And trying to get a publisher to take a chance on a new author in tough economic times is also verging on the impossible – profits is the key to success for them and they thereby rely heavily on their established authors to provide that guarantee of sales in times like these.
Having said all that, if you don’t keep plugging away, if only for your own enjoyment, a little bit of recognition and that slight possibility of ‘making it’, then you didn’t have what it takes to begin with.
I have been plugging away at my second novel, tentatively titled Muckydum, and I’m really enjoying the process. The story has taken shape and I’m quite excited by the prospects of how it could end up. Currently I have about four different ways to see it through to the end. I’m just waiting to see what happens along the way until I decide which path I’m going to take.
Hopefully in the future I will be able to spend more time to see what else is going on in the community. And I will try to keep this blog going.
Take care,
Steve
It’s been a busy month. Working, working, working… writing, writing, writing,,, and a little vacation in there also. Still working on the new book - onto the fifth chapter now. Also working on a new short story to post on the website. I have a feeling things may get really busy soon - time may be limited, but I am determined to get this new novel done before the end of the summer. Until later…
I’m spending most of my free time working on my new novel. Sometimes it goes quickly, sometimes a little slow. One thing is for sure - I’m sick of winter! I’d rather be writing out on my deck in the warm sunshine than stuck inside with the snow falling (constantly) outside.
I just posted the book trailer for The Connected on You Tube. It’s under the user The Indy Author.
If any new authors would like to post their own book trailers under TheIndyAuthor banner drop me an email and I will upload it to You Tube and send you the link.
Still working on updating the webpage with the items from the last post. What’s slowing me down is my work on doing a promotional video for my book The Connected that will be posted on You Tube sometime soon. I’ll have that posted here also when it happens.
Well, 1 week since my first post and just a couple of things to talk about.
The new novel is progressing - have almost completed the first draft of Chapter 2 and about halfway through the outline. I’m working on a few new photos to post within the next couple of weeks. I’m also looking over a couple of my short stories to possibly switch up the ones currently on the website.
Well presented and loads quickly easy to navigate. From what I read The Connected sounded like a very interesting book. The PhotoArt is Gorgeous Attitude is my Favourite Photo.
The second one from Ritu at http://www.phoenixritu.com/ . Ritu says: I read the excerpt of your book Connected. Its awesome. The character of the father as well as the little boy come through very well. As an aspiring writer, I admire your skill.
I would like to thank everyone from linkreferral for their reviews, it has helped me emensely in growing my website.
My first day blogging, something I said I would never do. I never felt the need to state my opinions, relate how things are going or truly connect to anyone this way. But things change and exposure is necessary when you have a novel on the market. Promoting my novel The Connected has been the most exhausting endeavor I have ever undertook.
So here I am blogging away. Here I will post any developments with my first novel The Connected. I will keep anyone who is watching up to date on the progress of my second novel, tentatively titled Muckydum. I will state my opinion on certain things going on in the world now and then, because, hey, I created this forum, I might as well use it. And I will promote others out there, be it books, art, music or other sites and blogs, that I believe are contributing positively to the community and the Internet.
That being said - my site - www.stephenchiarelli.com - has been recently updated; I have added an interview I did with Brian Knight at http://the-new-author.blogspot.com/ - I’ve added Chapter 1 (first draft) from my second novel Muckydum and I’ve added this blog — so now I can get back to doing some writing.
But first I have to fiddle with this blog page to make it look good — always something!