New Illustration for "The Case of the Missing Snowman"

This weekend I inked a new illustration for my chapter book "The Case of the Missing Snowman." I also posted a spread of some of the other illustrations I've completed for it. This one is in a chapter where the main character is watching a documentary about ancient Egypt. I have many more to go, but I'm getting there. Thanks for stopping by!

Finally inked an illustration for the children’s chapter book I wrote called “The Case of the Missing Snowman” tonight. 4 down, 20 to go! Scroll for pencil sketch and ink sketch from further away. #art #illustration #drawing #inking

A post shared by Dan Absalonson (@dandantheartman_author) on Jan 20, 2018 at 9:41pm PST

A spread of some of my illustrations for my children’s book “The Case of the Missing Snowman.” I really need to get moving on these. The book has been sitting waiting to be published for way too long. I have a lot more to do! :) . #art #illustration #ink #inking #drawing

A post shared by Dan Absalonson (@dandantheartman_author) on Jan 21, 2018 at 2:19pm PST

I'm 35? How did that happen?

I turned thirty five today. 35. Official mid thirties. Do I like that I'm that old? Of course not. Do I care much? Not really. If I were to describe what I'd like my life to be like at this age when I was younger I'd say I'm there. Life is good at 35! I'm married to my best friend, a beautiful woman who is way out of my league and is also an amazing mom. I have four wonderful kids that are all so awesome and different from each other. My wife and kids bring me a lot of joy and they're the best thing in my life!

I also have a really great job where I get to do what I went to school to do! Most people can't say that. I get to use the software programs I learned in school at my day job to create 3D art, videos, and textures. To the right are some chicken foot table accessories I got to make. Getting to create art for a living is a dream come true. It's awesome!

Lastly this is the year I will publish my first full length novel, and hopefully four others and two children's chapter books! It's going to be a great year. Bring it on mid thirties! I've got more than I deserve to be thankful for and big plans for a lot of book publishing! Thanks for stopping by.

A Little Update on Q1 of my Writing Goals for 2018

Here's a little update on my post Writing Goals for 2018

Q1

January

•  "Haunted House Flipper" clean up and get to Beta Readers

•  "Zombie Super Powers" finish first draft

•  "The Case of the Missing Snowman" revise from feedback

•  "The Case of the Missing Snowman" work on illustrations

As soon as I finish my beta reading of a friend's awesome fantasy novel I'll start in on finishing the first draft of "Zombie Super Powers." Also I have penciled one illustration for "The Case of the Missing Snowman," but I have a lot more to do on that . I'd better get going on those!

ALSO, 

I've been trying to figure out my mailing list. Everyone says you need a mailing list as an author. I made one, but didn't set it up right so it never sent my welcome email out when someone subscribed. That has been fixed, but I still need to figure out how to send that to people who already subscribed. I'll get the hang of it eventually! Thanks for stopping by.

My Short Stories are No Longer Free and Here's Why

You can still read them all for free at Wattpad, but at all the retailers they're no longer free. I'm following the advice of an author who knows what he's talking about. Thanks to a fellow author and podcaster, Indiana Jim, I found an amazing veteran author with some writing and publishing advice that has been blowing my mind. That man is Dean Wesley Smith. If you're a writer, you need to go read his blog posts called "Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing." Better yet by the book (Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing: A WMG Writer's Guide) and support him for sharing his wisdom with us from decades of doing this. The things he shares will rock your world! He has a lot of advice that goes very much against what you hear from most writers and English teachers. You know what though? He's been making a living writing fiction for decades so he knows what he's talking about. One of the things he says is that offering your work for free, other than for short times during promotions, is a bad idea. He says that we should value our writing. Here are his suggestions on eBook pricing:

• Under 3,000 words, 99 cents or $1.99. I would favor the $1.99 to stay out of the trash pile.
• Over 3,000 words, $2.99
• Over 10,000 words, $3.99
• above 20,000 words price it as a novel in the genre and call it a short novel
• Novels - Genre matters. Range from $3.99 to $6.99

Okay, all of that to say - you can still read all of my short stories for FREE at Wattpad. I even have some flash fiction there that you can't find at any of the retailers.

If I end up seeing some sales on any of my 20 short stories I will report back. Thanks for stopping by!

Haunted House Flipper is off to Beta Readers

My novel Haunted House Flipper is out to Beta Readers! Time to work on a different book while I wait for feedback to roll in. Then I'll make any changes or edits I agree with from their feedback and my book will be off to the editor! One step closer to publication!

Happy New Year! A Little Update

"So Dan, in a recent post you were all like: 'I'm going to try and publish 6 books in 2018!' How's that going?"

I'm glad you asked. So far I've made a little bit of progress editing my manuscript "Haunted House Flipper" from feeback I recieved from my first Beta Reader. Once I've made all the small changes from his suggestions it's off to a bunch more beta readers.

Other than that I'm currently using my writing time to read and make notes on his manuscript. He's written a cool fantasy novel that I'm making my way through. I'm excited to see what comes of it. He's a smart guy and a good writer.

In other news I've started dieting and running in 2018. I ran 1 mile on the first and 2 miles today! The rest of my family is running too which is so cool and fun!

Second #run of 2018. A very cool 2 miler over ice, snow, and some dry concrete. Can you tell the first mile had uphill and the second back down? #running #AmRunning #TrainingForBloomsday

A post shared by Dan Absalonson (@dandantheartman_author) on Jan 2, 2018 at 6:44am PST

That's it for now - Well, there is also some other really exciting news about a new project I'm going to be involved in, but we'll save that announcement for when I have something about it to share. So stay tuned, and as always, thanks for stopping by!