This summer has been a killer. Most of my plans died abruptly. I was still able to get some things done. Most important of all, my novel, Cordell’s Rebellion, is now published. It is available in paperback or ebook. You can ask for it at your local Barnes and Noble, or get it online.
The summer started with a case of heat exhaustion. With my heart health, that left be discombobulated for about a week. It was quickly followed with two weeks of upper respiratory infection. The three weeks after that were filled with sinusitis that just would not go away. Each of these things included exhaustion. I spent the month of June in bed.
When July came around, I slowly regained my stamina. The excessive heat didn’t help. People with weak hearts don’t do well with hot weather. Still, I could start on my list of tasks.
I completed some of the things I needed to do for my day job. I wrote some on my next novel (it’s about four-fifths done). I created the cover art for Cordell’s Rebellion and I published the book.
My decision to self-publish was based on the weird feedback I kept getting from agents. The literary fiction people said it sounded too much like action/adventure. The action people said it sounded like literary fiction. Maybe I’ve created something that is either too hard for me to describe or is not really saleable. Either way, I went as far as a I could. Doing the self-publish thing meant that the project was sufficiently complete that I could move on to other things. If I can promote and sell it, great. If I can’t, I’ve at least got copies in existence and can say I finished writing at least one novel, even if it wasn’t popular.
Now the summer winds down. I will have to go back to teaching soon. This time I will no longer have the title of Instructor, but will be an Assistant Professor. Unfortunately, that means I need to make up lost time to preparations for the coming semester. That will limit the time I can spend promoting my book. It will also get in the way of writing. The need to pay bills and have good insurance is a pain.
So, don’t be a “Playtime Peterson”; go buy a copy of Cordell’s Rebellion.