The Empty Nest!

It’s gone! Left home!

My little manuscript, all bundled up, with its lunchbox full of meaningful prose, backpack full of plot and suspense, gone. It walked out of my computer and made its way to the publisher. It was so quick – an attachment, a few answers and the click of the enter button.

It’s grown up so fast. It seems like only yesterday when I was staring at a blank screen, when the first couple of chapters were coming into their own, when my plot took its first tentative steps.

Oh those sleepless nights! Oh those sick days with contagious writer’s block! But now its gone. No point perusing over old drafts, regretting scenes that were cut, ideas never added.

But neither is it time to sever the ties. There is still a long process of book size, cover, images, style … And it’s time to seriously lay out a marketing plan.

Oilspill dotcom has left home and is on its way into the big, wide world. I hope it will travel widely, make many new friends (preferably the book-buying type), and even create a reputation for itself.

Bon Voyage – Oilspill dotcom.

Alon

New Year’s Writer’s Resolutions.

I’ve always considered it kind of kitsch – making New Year Resolutions. In fact, every December, I make a pre-New Year’s resolution not to make any next month, but always do. This is based on my struggles and attempts to be efficient and to set goals that guide me through each month. And the reality is that this accountability is what enables me to produce at the level I do, while holding down a demanding job, being held down by the demands of a young family, and demanding from my body to think it is still in its 30's when it isn't.

But there is something empowering about setting goals at the beginning of the year and outing it in Blogosphere. The accountability grow considerably. So here goes:

1) Oilspill dotcom will be published in March.
2) I will hold two launch parties – one in Berkeley and the other in San Francisco
3) I will market intensely until the end of the year, following a marketing program that I will finish developing in January.
4) I will sell 500 copies by the end of the summer.
5) I will continue to edit Lost Heroes (my next novel) and finish it by the end of the summer. I will then spend 6 months shopping it around.
6) I will begin writing something new during the summer.

FINALLY: I will identify myself as an author and seek every opportunity to promote my work and myself.

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful New Year,

Alon