Merry Thanksgiving, 2024

What an odd title, that? The latest Thanksgiving can occur is the 28th, which is this Thursday. Much closer to Christmas, so Merry Thanksgiving. I hope you and yours have a joyous holiday...and fewer family fights on this festive day. We’re hosting for Cathy’s family this year, which makes for a frantic period for us getting the house ready.

Sorry for the somewhat rambling start. So much has happened over the past month. I didn’t know where else to start. Perhaps I should have led with the Flamingo?

This was the first Author Nation conference. Joe Solari followed Craig Martelle’s footsteps by taking over as showrunner for what had been the 20 Books Vegas conference. It was a fabulous event. The tone was calmer, by design, but the vibe was still there. I did not go to this conference expecting to learn much. After all, this was the fourth consecutive of the same basic writer’s conference.

So why go? That’s the flamingo hiding in the corner. Why fly across the continent, spend thousands of dollars, and spend that much time in Vegas if not to learn?

Fellowship. Inspiration. Preparation. And a bit of curiosity.

Last year, Craig announced the end of the 20 Books saga. There were doubts that someone could come behind and fill his shoes. Many people said they would not come because Craig wasn’t running it. I’ve never been a fan of the cult of personality. I didn’t come to 20 Books in 2021 because of Craig. Yeah, he’s a great guy, and he gives back to the indy author community. But the show was more than just Craig. Besides, Joe delivered. I’m going next year.

A few of us had a bit of fun and create a small group called the Pink Flamingo Universe. Basically, everyone has to put a pink flamingo into their book as an Easter egg. Depending on who you ask, this can be as simple as a few lawn decorations. For others, the flamingo has to be referred to as the apex predator---whether or not they are. The photo above includes the inaugural members who came this year...and my wife. It was good to have dinner with them, see how everyone is progressing, etc.
 
So much for fellowship. What about Inspiration? There were other authors who noted that the 20Books crowd encouraged rapid-release (upwards of a novel a month). This year the focus was a bit more on defining your own author career, whether that be rapid-release or multi-media. It was interesting to see the different paths to author success. Some authors defined success differently than making a killing. I am not sure which camp I am in.

If I had to pick one talk that impressed me most, it was Russell Nohelty’s talk on author ecosystems. Check out his author site here (https://www.russellnohelty.com/) as I can’t embed links. His approach was the most memorable, even if I didn’t quite like his ecosystem model. The mechanics were sound.

All in all, I felt more empowered to define my writing success.

What about Preparation? I have a few years until “retirement.” A bit of an odd word for what I would call the next stage of my life. Glen Hicks calls it “rewired,” or when you can do what you want because your financial needs are met. Either way, I have a solid understanding of what my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer and publisher. I can create a burn down list of skills I need to master and then work them off in the next few years.

And I have a target for books to publish by retirement... or rewirement. I’d rather try to make progress there before I announce what that target is.

I’m inspired to get back into the writer’s seat. I have a goal, and if I don’t have a plan, I have the means to create one. And I have fellow authors who are cheering me on. 

I have two major goals for my writing I would like to complete by 21 February. I would like to draft the third book in my not-released alt-history series. I would like to manage creating my own covers. The art is the challenge, not the layout. I have one side project that might derail me, but it might be worth it.

That’s a long post. Thanks as always for reading.