Challenge Accepted

Today, I was tooling around on the internet on my lunch break and came upon a link to JA Konrath's blog. I already subscribe to it, but I had not seen his most recent post. What began as a short guest post turned into a challenge.

Joe claimed that as a joke, for fun, he wrote four novels while drinking, to see if he could write, edit, format, design a cover, and publish the book within an hour. I was not impressed with his efforts, really. I think much of it can be blamed on the beer. Not all, I am sure.

Joe continued to challenge his blog readers to do the same (without the drinking) and even gave us 8 hours in which to complete the "mission." The design was to find the fun in writing again. It is also to prove, I am sure, that independent writers can be so much more prolific in the volume of their work than authors who choose the traditional publishing route.

So, I took the challenge. I began writing MEETING MONDAY at 11:45. I mentioned I was on lunch, right? I quit at 1:00 and went back to my day job. While driving, I put some thoughts together (five minutes and forty seven seconds on Voice Memo app on my iPhone). Then, when I arrived home at 5:39, I immediately sat down and finished the story. Edited it. Formatted it. Designed a cover. Wrote a very short blurb (that actually should not be qualified as a blurb). Picked categories, pricing, digital rights, etc. And hit "Publish." It was 7:42. Not bad.

What I wrote was a prequel to my Jake Monday Chronicles series. It is basically an origin story that tells the tale of how Jake and Halley met. I had planned on writing this in 2014 to go along with the release of the Omnibus Edition of the Jake Monday Chronicles. My intent was to write a slightly longer piece. However, the limit was set between 1,500 and 2,500 words. It came in at 1800. Good enough. I wrapped it up and put a bow on it. I will add some more to it and re-publish soon. And, of course, it will be included with the other extras that I am stacking into the Omnibus Edition.

In the meantime, I am going to finish the fantasy I started. It is a novella. I am on the tenth chapter of fourteen. It was inspired by a wild game of D&D Next with some college-age gentlemen that I DM'd. When we finished the session, the guys begged me to write a short story about it. I am windy. I turned it into a novella. I am quite happy so far. I am working with a young art student to draw the cover and several beta readers. I should have it published the first week of September.

It was incredible to take this challenge. I know I can produce stuff really fast, but I usually drag my feet.

This journey of indie publishing is incredible. It is so fulfilling. I am not getting rich, but every review, every sale, every borrow puts a smile on my face. Writing is fun to me. Thank you, Joe, for reminding me.