Erik on Amazon

I'm just working on getting my Amazon Author Page together (something I am far overdue to do). So I have started by adding this blog to that page, and am uploading a photo (one of my actor shots) and will have a BIo up tonight.

(I can just hear my publisher saying "Finally!")

Right now I'm up to my neck in projects. I'm moving house, writing a zombie movie (purely for fun), prepping for the Toronto Small Press Book Fair, and organizing the next three writing projects:

• Historical Fiction Novel
• Young Adult Novel
• Third book in the Magics series (because I can't just leave you hanging!)

So I am going to be mighty busy for the next six months. But not too busy to post where I am going to be appearing. Watch for a list to come soon!

Running Down the Dream

I haven't been blogging much lately. The joys of working full time, commuting two hours a day, having a small child, taking classes, getting exercise, writing in what spare time I have and desperately trying to get more than 5 hours of sleep a night.

So what am I doing all this for?

I want to write fiction for a living. Not for part of my living; for a living. I want my books to be on shelves across the country, around the world and translated into different languages. I want to be cranking out at least 2 books a year, and I want to do it for the rest of my life.

It's a long row to hoe. And as all of you may have noticed, it's taking a while.

Life has a nasty way of interfereing with one's plans, and my life has certainly been interfering with mine. That's all right. Life is how you get the material you need to write.

So why I am telling you all about this?

Well, I some interesting developments have happened recently. My wonderful publisher, Dragon Moon Press, and I are going to relaunch Small Magics. This fall, I think, though we haven't got a solid date yet. And we are doing this as part of a publicity campaign for something else, which we will announce at the relaunch (hint, it's been a while coming...)

The next step on this is simultaneously building the publicity campaign for the Small Magics relaunch and the campaign around the big announcement. It means lots of writing, lots of media work, and lots of learning to do thingsI don't know how to do, like developing RSS feeds, podcasting, and developing specific social media directed campaigns.

There's lots to be done, including, possibly, a new blog that details this whole mess, as well as keeping up this one. And it's all going to take time. You know time, that one thing I don't have any of this year?

If it isn't challenging, it isn't fun.

The next steps are for me to finalize my publicity plan for the Small Magics relaunch and get working on that at high speed, keep writing on the other projects, and finish my classes at high speed. I'll be finished them this fall, all things being equal, but meanwhile, there's lots to do.

That's me. Stay tuned, and I'll be starting to put in details about the process.

Notes on Self-Discipline

A little lunch-time blogging.

I hang out at BodyweightCulture a fair amount (being an exercise junkie) and came across this thread today, which lead me to Steve Pavlina's blog articles about self-discipline.

The articles are well-laid out and give an interesting perspective into the elements that you need to become a self-disciplined person. For him, they are "Acceptance, Willpower, Hard Work, Industry, and Persistence."

Self-discipline has always been an issue with me. I tend to be a dreamer, and that can lead to procrastination and avoidance and other issues, all of which are most unwelcome in a writer. Hard to finish that next novel when all you're doing is dreaming of a beach or mountain somewhere.

I found these articles useful and recommend them for anyone who is wanting to improve their self-discipline. I plan to re-read them later this week and then start applying some of the principles and see if things improve.

And now, back to lunch. Yummy pasta with bacon. Mmmm.

Sporatic Blogging

For those who read me regularly, an apology.

Blogging will be more sporadic than usual for the next couple of weeks. Work (where I'm blogging from now on my lunch break) is moving to a fever pitch as we prep the launch of the new version of our website (www.managemyhome.com) on April 27.

I'm also doing one more edit on Small Magics, this time, on the proofs. Very neat and hopefully there will be as few changes as possible. Most of what I'm looking at is formatting, but there's been a couple of text changes as well.

So that's what I'm doing. I'll try to keep posting, but time is at a premium.

Once April is done, more posts, more often. Anyone got a favorite topic?

Update:
"Sporatic Blooging?" How tired was I when I wrote that? Anyway, it's fixed.

Quick Note

Off to Atlanta on business, so no time to blog tonight. Will write again on Thursday.