Saturday, May 28, 2011

Book Two Outline Phase

I am deep into outlining Book Two. I am a planner, not a pantser. When I write by the seat of my pants I produce a lot of dead end story lines and wasted time. Because of this tendency, I invest heavily in the planning process.

The nice part is that this is Book Two and my world and 80% of the characters have already been created and are well established. This means that my planning is now mostly focused on creating the time line and storyboard.

Right now I am filling in the specifics in a very detailed outline. I love this process. It really puts my brain into the story, thinking about and imagining every scene. I don't think in words, in my mind the story plays out like a movie. If I don't like the way the movie is playing, I hit the rewind and re-direct the scene.

The process is extremely helpful when the actual writing begins. I have seen the scenes before, in great depth, and the writing process is much easier for it. My outline includes little details that are key to setting the tone. I am actually considering importing my outline into the novel itself, and basically overwriting it as I go. This will eliminate flipping back and forth between documents. I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

When will I write sentence #1? My guess is somewhere around June 15th. How long will it take to write the novel? This is a tough question. Most of Eternal Knight was written in one summer, just before my daughter was born. This time I won't have the luxury of long stretches of uninterrupted writing time. Writer's Block won't be a problem (I think). I know the story too well. Finding the time to write... that will be the challenge. Realistically, I need to have most of the manuscript completed by September if I want to get the book out early in the new year.

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Other Info:

You have four days left if you want to enter my Kindle/Nook/Amazon Gift Card contest. Check out the link at the top of the page for information.

The newspaper article I mentioned in my last blog post was very complementary, however they did get the time wrong for my Book Release Party on June 4th. The party will run from 2-4 PM at Wissahickon High School. And the error could have been mine. I could easily have accidentally told the reporter the incorrect time.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

My First Newspaper Review

My first newspaper article/review came out yesterday. The online edition is here. I met the reporter a week and a half ago and we had a really nice conversation. It was great fun. I've heard that a lot of writers don't like the selling process. So far I'm having a blast. I love signing books and am really looking forward to my two book events.

The actual newspapers come out tomorrow. I'll have to run out and pick up a stack of them.

REMINDER: You have one week left to enter my Kindle/Nook/Amazon contest!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Countdown(s)

Nine days left in the Kindle/Nook Giveaway contest. There are three ways to win:

1. Spread the word about the contest.
2. Spread the word about Eternal Knight's release.
3. Write a review of Eternal Knight  and post it on a blog or a bookseller's website.

Check out the link for details.

Twelve days left until the Eternal Knight Book Release Party. It will be held on June 4th from 2-4 PM in the Wissahickon High School Audion. All are welcome!

One month (June 24th at 7-9 PM) until I do a book signing at the Doylestown Bookshop.

By the way...
Eternal Knight has raised $600 for WEOF and Cure CMD so far, and we're just getting started!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Upcoming Events

Ok, so the blog posts have been a bit tame lately. I have been pouring all of my efforts into promoting Eternal Knight. On Sunday I gave my first newspaper interview. It was great fun. I'll make certain to link it  when it comes out. Besides that I have been contacting loads of book bloggers about reviewing Eternal Knight. The problem is that most of them have long backlogs of books to reads. Several have agreed to do  reviews, and most will come out over the next two months.

On June 4th I am hosting a book release party at Wissahickon High School. The party will start at 2 PM in the Audion lobby with live music from singer-songwriter John Conahan. We'll eat baked goodies and mingle while John performs before moving into the Audion itself for a book talk by yours truly. After I blather on for a bit and answer a few questions, we'll continue our snacking while I sign books and count all the money we have raised for Cure CMD and the Wissahickon Educational Opportunities Foundation.

On June 24th I will be doing a book signing at the Doylestown Bookshop. We'll start at 7 PM with a reading and Q+A session and then move on to the signing. Doylestown is a great town with loads of restaurants and neat shops to visit. Make an evening of it!

I just found out today that Eternal Knight is available in NOOK. That's the last big distributor I was waiting for.

Off I go. Have to sell some books.

By the way, your reviews are really important. If you liked Eternal Knight, please consider writing an Amazon review. And if you are really motivated you could cross post on B+N and Goodreads. Eternal Knight will only succeed with the support of its readers.

Thank you,
Matt

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Kemp Says

My friend Kemp recently wrote a nice article about being a part of the creative process:

I HELPED MAKE THIS!

He also had a nice article written about him:

Polk Lawyer in Tune...

Eternal Knight wouldn't be what it is without Kemp. Take a look at the articles and give him some great feedback.

And, by the way, Eternal Knight is now available from Apple.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Interview and Contest

I was recently interviewed by CherylAnne Ham at her Making Words Happen blog. It was a fun experience to be the interviewee as opposed to the interviewer. Stop by her blog and say hello. She has a lot of great writing advice. She also does reviews on Good Book Alert


I'm still plugging away at promoting Eternal Knight. I'm getting a lot of nice feedback, however the challenge seems to be getting the word out. How do you get attention for your book when there are so many others out there? I have been writing to a lot of book bloggers in the hope of getting more reviews. I also have my book release party on June 4th at Wissahickon High School, and it looks like I'll be doing a book reading and signing at the Doylestown Book Shop on June 24th at 7PM. I'll confirm the date soon as I am trying to see if July 1st will work.

Don't forget my Kindle/Nook/Amazon gift card contest. The link is at the top of the page. It is easy to enter and the prize is terrific.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

New Eternal Knight Map

Steven Sandford just sent me this map he created for Eternal Knight.

It is fantastic! This map will replace the current Eternal Knight map and will be used in the rest of the novels in The Orb series. Steve also did the maps for Christian Cameron's historical novels. Check them out here. By the way, Christian writes some of the best historical fiction you will ever read.

Just a reminder that I am running a Kindle/Nook/Amazon Gift Certificate contest. Entry is simple. You get raffle tickets for writing a review of Eternal Knight and/or simply telling other people about the contest and the novel's release. Piece of cake. Check out the link at the top of the page for details.

If you enjoy Eternal Knight please let your friends (or enemies, hell, just tell everyone) know. Word of mouth is a novel's best friend. This is especially true for an independent novel!

All the best,
Matt

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Five Star Review!

Eternal Knight just received a five star review from Good Book Alert! What a great way to send Eternal Knight into the world. It was also the first review I have ever received from someone I truly didn't know. Friends might tell you that they like something you've done, but it is so hard to truly accept what they are saying at face value. After all, they are your friends and they don't want to hurt you.

I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by for the virtual release party last night. I had a lot of fun. It felt good to officially release Eternal Knight.


We had four free book winners from last night:
Twitter: Susan Kaye Quinn
Facebook: Karen G
YouTube: Adam Heine
All commenters: Brennan W

I'll get your books out to you ASAP!

Dont' forget the Kindle/Nook/Amazon Gift Card Contest. It runs until June 1st.

Goodnight!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Virtual Release Party

Welcome to the Eternal Knight Virtual Release Party!

For the next two hours I will be on my blog, Facebook, and Twitter, answering questions and giving away prizes. Prizes in the form of free books! I'll also introduce my Kindle/Nook/Amazon Gift Certificate contest.

For now, let's start with introductions. I am the guy who is incredibly excited to be here tonight because I am officially releasing my novel, Eternal Knight. 

The first contest:  I will randomly pick a winner from everyone who comments on my blog. All you have to do is introduce yourself, tell us the name of your favorite novel (or character), and tell us why you like that novel (or character). If you are a writer, you can tell us about your favorite project. The winner gets a signed copy of Eternal Knight. If you are overseas, you'll get an ebook copy.

Keep refreshing your screen. More to come!

The BIG TICKET contest of the night is the Kindle/Nook/Amazon Gift Certificate Contest. Hit the link to check it out.

Free book contests are going to involve:
Twitter
Facebook
Youtube

The Youtube free book contest: I'll randomly pick a free book winner from everyone who comments on the Eternal Knight trailer one of my student made for me.

The Facebook contest requires you to "spread the word" about Eternal Knight on Facebook. You have to make a Facebook update that announces that Eternal Knight  has been released. One free book to a random winner. Post below and let me know that you've Facebooked the EK announcement.

The Twitter contest is the same as the Facebook contest. Spread the word. But instead of announcing it here, you have to include the #EternalKnight hashtag. One free book to a random winner.

All of the contests (except for the Kindle/Nook one) will last until midnight EST, Monday, May 2nd.

If it is before 9 PM, refresh your screen to see new comments while you are visiting.