Hello, dreamers.

As of Friday, the re-release of Wide Horizon is complete. To those of you who purchased your eBook already, thank you. For me, this means I can finally take a moment to breathe. But a moment is all I have. As I always say, the work of an aspiring writer is never done. So with that in mind, here’s what I’ll be up to this week:

Upcoming eBook Releases

Those of you who keep up with my weekly “Self-Pub Sunday” posts will know that I’ve committed myself to a regular release schedule that will take me through to about one year from now. And that’s only the beginning. For my readers, it means they’ll have a steady stream of high-quality sci-fi content for their reading pleasure. For me, it means a lot of work. But I’m looking forward to it.

As I mentioned in last week’s “WIP Wednesday“, for me, summer marks the start of novel season. And May 31 marks the unofficial start of summer. With that in mind, I’ve committed my full efforts to work on outstanding short fiction projects. My work this week will focus on MERIT 19. While the novella is set for a May 31 release, I plan to begin preorder on April 30. And as a matter of personal ethics, I am unwilling to offer an incomplete work for pre-order. So I have about two weeks to get this novella written, edited, and converted for release.

My current plan is to be through with principal writing by Wednesday. After that, I’ll give myself a day away from it (which I’ll probably spend working on another upcoming project), then edit over the weekend.

As soon as that’s done, I’ll be moving right along to the next one. All in all, I have five planned releases. And I plan to begin pre-order for each novella concurrent with the release of the previous one. Since I hope to begin work on Aquarius 1 over the summer, I’d like to have all five stories done before then. There is, however, a small problem: of the five stories, four are complete but well short of novella length, and one is currently incomplete. All of that means I have a lot of writing ahead of me. Add to that my intention to begin making weekly posts introducing readers to the Dotiverse in April, and I’m pretty sure I have more than enough to keep myself busy for the next few months.

Pioneers

As I said last week, I plan to take my time and get things right when querying Pioneers. My querying will unofficially begin this month, with two Twitter pitch parties.

For the uninitiated, “Twitter Pitch Parties” are a popular alternative to the querying process for writers hoping to avoid the daunting path to traditional publishing. In most events, writers are permitted to make 3-5 “pitches” over the course of the event, which usually lasts most of the day. These pitches are tweets that follow a set format, delivering basic information on a writer’s work (genre, age level, etc.) along with comps and a brief summary of the work. Fellow writers can retweet a writer’s tweet to boost their visibility, but are told not to “like” the tweet. Liking is reserved for literary agents. If an agent likes a tweet, the writer can immediately query them, often by omitting the customary query letter and synopsis and simply providing a sample.

One of the two events I’m going to participate in involves an above word non-writers might be unfamiliar with: “comps”. Modern publishing, traditional or otherwise, is all about marketing. Obviously a writer’s work should be unique and original, but to save time many agents like to know what they could compare your work to.

Now, for modern writers, many of whom (like me) currently have a day job and/or other responsibilities (partner, house, children, cats, etc.), that can present a problem: how does one compare one’s book when one doesn’t have a lot of time to read? Well, thankfully #CompIt is here to help. In the event, writers help one another find good comps for their work. A growing number of agents ask that comps be included in query letters. So before I go making a fool of myself (“my work would appeal to fans of The Martian, Jurassic Park, and the first Muppets movie”) I’d like to have a firm idea of where my beloved novel could fit in the modern sci-fi pantheon.

Those two events occur within the last week of March. After that, I’ll be working on my query letter and synopses, relying on the expertise of the ever-supportive Writing Community on Twitter. Then, it’ll be time to grab my gas mask and head into the trenches.

Upcoming Content

I’ve been thrilled to see the growth in readership lately. It’s always good to know readers are enjoying my work. And I’ve got plenty more in store for them. Here’s what to watch for this week:

Tuesday 3/19: “Teaser Tuesday”

Haven’t purchased Wide Horizon yet? Well you might want to after reading this week’s teaser. An ordinary meeting leaves Braylen Roads fighting for his life, in an excerpt from Chapter 2.16: Frozen.

Wednesday 3/20: “WIP Wednesday”

The good news: I wrote a story. The bad news: it’s only about half as long as I want it to be. The worse news: what I have just doesn’t feel like what I want to publish. See how I’m fleshing out MERIT 19 by starting from scratch.

Thursday 3/21: “The Cutting Room Floor”

Recently, I did something I didn’t think I’d ever do again: I made a major change to Pioneers. Learn what I removed, and why it had it coming.

Friday 3/22: “Flash Fiction Friday: Parched”

In this week’s Friday flash, start your weekend off right with a story about humans exploring their new home planet, in Parched.

Saturday 3/23: “ICYMI”

Love reading my blog, but don’t have much time to sit down during the week? I’ve got you covered, in the first installment of this weekly feature.

Sunday 3/24: “Self-Pub Sunday”

I’ve got a few surprises in store for you, dreamers. Learn about an exciting opportunity to get free eBooks in April, as well as a surprise release announcement.

As you may notice, from this week forward I’ll be posting daily. There’s always more to see. So keep reading, and dare to dream. – MK