Thoughts on Self-Publishing, Writing and Future Projects

I've now published one short young adult novelette and two longer novels on Amazon. They have all sold to family and friends and to people that I have never met who have found them on Amazon. I'm now officially part of the self-publishing world.

It's not an easy or quick road to have people read and recognize your work, but I have subscribed to a theory about self-publishing that I read recently. It presented the idea that the best way to establish yourself as a self-published writer is to first of all write a lot, which I'm doing. I'm spending about 4-10 hours per day on it. I have worked extremely hard over the past year and a half and have learned a great deal.

The people who have read my books have liked them and have been able to see both my growth as a writer over the course of reading them and have enjoyed them. Also, in the article that I read, it spoke of publishing and creating a body of work that would give people the chance to find something that they can relate to and enjoy out of what I write, which in turn would encourage them to look at my other works. It's also important to continue to get training and improve as a writer and enter contests and seek out an agent. Above all else, it's critical not to get discouraged or think that becoming an author will happen overnight.

For the future, I would like to write more poetry and possibly put together a book during the next few months. I'm thinking about a title for that and a theme. Also, I have three books planned. Two of them are sequels to Rooms and Beatrice, which will be great fun to write. The third is a brand new book, which I'm very excited about. It will entail a lot of research and will be another modern adult fantasy that will be a take off from an older, famous historical fantasy character.

I also want to share with you how I'm doing and feeling through this process. I've had great highs and have also felt down at times. It's an exciting and very difficult process. I know the stories that I'm telling are good stories, and I know that my writing is getting better each day. The encouragement that I've had is from people who I respect as readers who have seen my progress and have really enjoyed the stories and what I've attempted to communicate with each of the books that I've written. Also, it has been wonderful to see how my blog has been so well read throughout the world. I have a lot of hits each month from people who have visited from many different countries and continents.

This blog documents my life as a writer, and I hope that you are enjoying it. I want you to know what this is like, and I want to share my work with you. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions, please don't hesitate to let me know.

And...if you haven't yet, please check out my three books on the right side of this blog and the links below each. You can also see and purchase them on Amazon by clicking on the cover of each of the books.

REVIEWS of ROOMS & Some thoughts on ROOMS and WHEATGRASS: AN IRISH FANTASY

Cover Illustration and Design by Greg Opalinski

Below are some of the first reviews that have come in from Amazon and Goodreads for my science fiction novel, Rooms, since it was published about two weeks ago.

*****
I started Rooms one evening and found the story line engaging and the characters interesting. The next day I picked it up again planning to read for a bit. A third of the way in I couldn't stop--reading all day until finished. The characters became more and more real. The diversity and fullness of the plot held me.

Stegner touches on many issues--environmental, political, social, moral & spiritual. In the process he has also created just a darn good story. It engaged me in ways I did not expect and left me wanting a sequel!

*****
The story line/plot found in this novel grabs you from the very beginning and holds your attention to the point you cannot put it down. It has twists and turns that will take a reader by surprise. The book highlights many important social and cultural concerns that really need to be addressed today as our world moves forward through time to an uncertain future. This novel is destined to become a movie - Order it now --- you are in for a very interesting ride through time and space.

*****
Beautiful, deep story that captures your imagination. As you read the book, more and more elements of the plot come into play. The unique feature of the book is that it is not only a story written to entertain a reader but is also a deep, wise and touching story that will make you think about the world that we live in, what it is and what should be really important in our lives.

*****
What a great ride and adventure! You see people give books reviews all the time where they say they couldn't put the book down, well don't start reading unless you want to stay up all night with this one. Excellent writing style, you really get to know and care about the characters. It also really makes you think about what if. Love it!!

To find the book on Amazon, you can click the links below.

Paperback on Amazon
Kindle eBook on Amazon

A Thought About Rooms: Being outside in the open, under the sun, beneath the stars - being Free!

As I wrote Rooms, I thought a great deal about the world we now live on and how people of all ages yearn for and even crave open, natural places. You see people walking in parks or along rural, city and mountain trails, families having picnics by a river or even a small pond, and others simply lying outside on the grass on a bright, sunny day watching the world pass by. It’s incredibly basic to our nature.

In my book, it is one of the themes that is woven into the plot. I thought of the human race migrating to different rocks throughout the galaxy, ingeniously figuring out ways to live and survive and all the time actually searching for another earth-like planet. How would it be to live beyond the earth, always within something? How would it affect us? How would we cope? And what would happen to us if our planet’s environment was so polluted and damaged that simply being outside could kill us?

In the first chapter, the main character, Rad, finds himself thinking back to a time when he took a chance and exposed himself to the elements, even though he was living on a lunar planet with no oxygen, little warmth and hardly any water. His primeval need took over. He had to do it. Below is an excerpt from chapter one, where he is thinking back and remembering how it felt.

“He had been living on a settlement where he’d received his first assignment after leaving the lifeglobe where his parents had raised him. It was a lunar planet with no atmosphere. Rad had walked outside the lifeglobe one night in his survival suit and had dared to shut off the system and open the optical face of his headgear for less than a minute. He remembered it very clearly and could still feel the rush of air from his suit and see the unobstructed view of the horizon and stars in the distance. The experience had been extremely frightening and yet magnificent at the same time. The cold had been severe, threatening to freeze his skin. His lungs had ached from the need to inhale, and his eyes had clouded rapidly with exposure to the elements. He’d become light-headed and dizzy in seconds; his head had pounded and ached from the rapid change in pressure. But even with all of this, the experience had made him feel extraordinarily alive. It had been a rush, more exhilarating than anything he had ever known. He’d only been exposed to the elements for a few seconds before closing the face of his helmet and re-pressurizing his suit, but being out in the open, unblocked and free, had been something that he would never forget. Everywhere he had ever been, there had always been the necessity to look through something, always needing to be protected from the ‘out there.’ Everyone was always protected from the ‘out there.’” 


A Thought about Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy: The background behind the book.

I wanted to briefly give some background behind the writing of Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy. I knew someone once who was in an abusive relationship, one that they felt they simply couldn't leave. It broke my heart, so I wrote this story.