Today is the last day of the month. It’s been a crazy month, to say the least. Here’s a quick recap:
First, I celebrated the anniversary of my birth. Until them scientist can change how aging works, I gained a year in the age category. I have now been on this earth for 43 years. I can remember when I was young, around 11 or 12, that I so wanted to be my parents age. They would have made them 34 or 35 then. What the hell was I thinking? As soon as I hit 27 or 28, I feel each year of my life flies by so much faster. I can recall my 42nd birthday as if it were yesterday. There has to be some way to slow this shit down!
Second thing that happened this month was getting my first book published. Sure, it was a self-published adventure, but it was still a hell of a lot of work. Much more intensive than I would have ever imagined. I set the goal to be published by my 43rd birthday on July 3rd of this year. As the days and weeks ticked by, I really did not think I would make it. Add to that my moms illness, and I thought it was completely out of reach. It does amaze me how the human condition can accept and adapt to events that present themselves in life. Getting published at nearly the same time that my mother died is one event that will forever be on my mind.
The third thing was obviously my mothers death. The illness actually started many weeks ago, but her being a stubborn woman exasperated the condition. If she would have gotten the help needed 4 to 6 weeks earlier, she may still be with us today. Even after her death, she is teaching me things. The lesson I am learning now is that life is indeed too short. Okay, I already knew that, and I have tried to live for today for quite some time. She did teach me that doctors are not bad. They are needed to get along when you get sick. I am going to schedule a doctor visit in the next few weeks just to make sure everything is good with me. Seeing my mother pass away at 66 is not a pleasant experience. I do not want to have my loved ones go through that too soon. I want to die old and grey. Not so early like my mother. Passing at 66 is way too early.
Finally, my writing. I have wrote a ton this month. The most I have ever written in 30 days in a long time. I think it was November of 2011 that I last write a ton. Actually, Linear Shift, Part 1 was the story I wrote back then. I severely cut it and edited it to get it ready for publication. That first draft back then was almost completely useless. It was almost completely rewritten over the last 2 months. My stats for the month of September are as follows. Total words written: 24,193. Total days written: 30. Most written words in a day: 1,906. Least words written: 100. Average words per day for the month: 806. Also, I have not missed a single day of writing since April 12. And at that, I only missed that day because a big work deadline kept me away from my writing. Beyond that missed day, I hadn’t missed a day of writing going back to March 26th.
As for Linear Shift, I uploaded it on September 18th on the Kindle site, and on the 20th for the print book site. Through this writing at 8:00 a.m. on the 30th, I have sold 20 ebooks, and 3 print books. I just wrapped up a FREE sale on Amazon, and had given away 435 ebooks over 3 days. I SO wanted to reach a 1,000 giveaways, but I honestly did not plan far enough ahead to promote the giveaway. Next time will be better. I just know it! Now, to the reach of the book: US – 617 books. UK – 25 books. Germany – 12 books. Canada – 3 books. Brazil – 1 book. Of those stats, Germany surprises me the most. I also though the UK would have had more.
Now that the monthly recap is over, I am going to look forward to October. I plan on having the first draft of Linear Shift, Part 2 complete by the end of the month, with publishing commencing on the 15th of November. Here’s to living the dream!
Also, don’t forget to sign up for my print book giveaways! First one is easy – Join my email list on the upper right corner of the page. I’ll be randomly selecting 5 subscribers to each receive a signed copy of my book. Second, submit to my raffle, where 5 additional copies will go out