Books I've read, Disappointments, and the Future

I've been reading books for the last two years with a different eye than ever before. Being a working author, I see and read them with a much more concentrated fervor. I look at the plot, characters, setting, phrasing, words, and many other aspects of a book in much more detail.

Also, I've chosen the books that I'm reading much more carefully. I've read more Stephen King, Tom Robbins, Ian Rankin, Suzanne Collins, Tana French, Hugh Howey, Sheri S. Tepper, Margaret Atwood, Patrick Rothfuss, George R. R. Martin, Lois Lowry, Mary Stewart, Brian Jacques, and I just finished The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings again by Tolkien as well as several others. They all do things much differently and have varying strengths that I can learn from.

I was particularly excited to read Tolkien again. It had been a long time, and I also read more about his thoughts behind the book, which were very enlightening.

A great disappointment recently was that Amazon decided to discontinue their Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. They didn't publicize that they were going to discontinue it, and I know that many thousands of writers, including myself, had spent a lot of time preparing only to find out very late that it would not happen.

However, Amazon has started something new that they call Amazon Scout. It looks like a promising venue for indy writers, and I'm going to look into it after I finish The Chosen.

Also, after I get The Chosen published, I will be looking at some other contests, contact more agents, and pursue some other promotional avenues for my works. I will need some time off from writing, as I've been working 6-10 hours, five days a week or more, since April of 2013.

The next project that I will work on will be a sequel to Beatrice. I already have a lot of it planned and ready, but the chance to do something else for a while will be good for me. I would also like to write some poetry again. It's been too long!

To all those who have been reading my blog, I again want to say thank you, and watch for The Chosen. It will be completed and published in March!