For those who have been asking about my next novel here's an update: The above image shows the chapter, page, and word count of a novel I sent off to my editor on Wednesday. Last night I commissioned a very talented individual to work on the cover. If all goes according to plan, this means I should have a finalized cover in the next 30 days and a finalized book ready for market in July or August.
Stay tuned for updates.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted updates on books, life, or anything else so I thought I’d do a short update on things then share some news about an old book.
Those wondering when my next book will come out, all I can say is soon. Very soon. I’m towards the end of my second rewrite. It’s been a slow process mostly because my free time is limited. I work on the book every day from 4:30-6:30 a.m. At that point the kids are up and life takes over. There are little kids to feed and big kids to get off to school. Then it's off to my job. Once I’m home at night there are sports practices for some kids, church activities for others, homework to do, and dinner to prepare and eat, and then it’s time to get the younger kids ready for bed. By the time everyone's in bed for the night, I’m too physically and mentally exhausted to write.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not complaining. I have a nearly-perfect marriage, seven wonderful kids, a day job that I love, and a home to keeps everyone warm, dry, and happy. Having lost everything that mattered many, many years ago, I wouldn’t trade any of that for more writing time because books are books and families are forever.
But the books will keep coming. I promise you. They won’t stop because for some reason I can’t stop writing the stories that filter through my head. In the meantime, here’s some news about my first book.
The nice thing about owning the rights to your own book is that you can do whatever you want with them. It’s been 10 years since my first book and memoir Room for Two was published. To celebrate, I’ll be posted the entire book in my blog. Starting Monday, I’ll post Chapter One and will continue to post a chapter for the next 16 weeks until the entire book is up.
So if you haven’t read Room for Two before, now’s your chance to try it out. If you have, then you can enjoy the journey again, one chapter at a time.
Traveling for business this week so there's no Widower Wednesday column today. Instead I thought I'd give you all a quick book update:
Finally, here's a pic from dinner last night. Yes, the place has great bulbs. As a result, you can probably smell me a mile away. :)
Three quick updates to share: Book update: Over the weekend I finished a solid draft of Living with a Widower. I’m only like two months behind schedule on this but it’s finally to a point where I can start wedding story submissions with the chapters. If you submitted a story but haven’t heard back from me, don’t worry, you’ll hear from me one way or another soon.
Blog update: Until the aforementioned book and some other writing projects back on track, Widower Wednesday will be a monthly column, appearing the first Wednesday of each month. If you still need a Widower Wednesday fix, you can find links to my 2011 columns here and my 2012 columns here. Sometime this month I’ll create a master index of all my Widower Wednesday columns going back 2009. I’ll post a link on the blog when it’s up.
Where’s Abel Update: My public appearances are shaping up for the first half of 2013. If you happen to be in the area for any of these, feel free to stop by and say hello. I've got a few more events that I hoping to add to the calendar soon. You can always see the most up-to-date list here. Currently my public appearances are as follows:
February 14-16 Life The Universe and Everything (LTUE) (More details to come) Provo, Utah
March 9 Write Here in Ephraim Snow College Ephraim, Utah
March 30 Utah Chapter Romance Writers of America 11:00 a.m. | Centerville Library Centerville, Utah
May 9 Storymakers Bootcamp Instructor Provo, Utah
May 10-11 Storymakers Writers Conference Provo, Utah
If you’d like me to appear at an event, you can contact me here.