Friday, March 10, 2017

2017 Writing Schedule Quarterly Update

It's been a busy writing year thus far in the DA Bale Publishing universe - and it's time for a quarterly update to key you in on where things are headed for 2017.

First item on the agenda, I've got some good news to share with you in relation to my publishing schedule.

The first book in my upcoming space opera series (think that old TV show I still miss, FIREFLY) has cleared the first draft hurdle and I've started working on the storyline for book two in that series, the working title being THE OUTLIERS' WAY, though I'm considering something more along the lines of Outliers' Pact or Outliers' Accord for the final title.  Who knows?  I may use all three in the end.  My plan is to get two books in publishable shape before releasing book one.  That way I can put up a pre-order for book two and release it within thirty days.  Be looking for the book one cover reveal coming later this spring and release dates announced for sometime this summer.

For those of you who are dying to read the next chapter in the Vicki saga, I'm nearing the halfway point of the fourth book in the Bartender Babe Chronicles DIE BEFORE YOU WAKE.  Last night I cleared twenty-thousand words toward my fifty-thousand word first draft goal.  If you've followed Vicki's antics up through book three, you know some major changes are getting ready to take place in her life.  I can't wait to bring them to you!  Seems lately I wake up and go to sleep (and sometimes dream) with Vicki's voice in my head.  My bedside notebook is getting pretty full about now, which is a really good sign to me.  I've no problem coming up with more crap to hit the fan in Vicki's world this time around.  By the end of this month, I should have a release day locked down and a cover ready to reveal.  Stay tuned!

Now for those of you who want the dark stuff, I've started on a new series that will take some time to dig down deep and fully plumb.  Originally I'd planned to approach it in a different way, sort of a dark romance perhaps (this from a non-romance reader who got tired of the strong-arm tactics of my fellow writers).  However, after allowing myself to ruminate on it for several weeks now, I've decided to give it a dark mystery bent since mysteries and thrillers are a better fit for me.  Sorry, gang, but my brain just isn't wired to be all gooey and mushy - bleh!  Tentative working title is UNAPPROACHABLE, but don't look for any form of release announcements on it until sometime in 2018.  This one is gonna be a slow burn to get all of the strings laid out to eventually weave together.

So for this fall, I'm allowing myself a chance to see which final book for 2017 I'll be in the mood to work on.  Will it be AIM BEFORE YOU SHOOT, the fifth book in the Bartender Babe Chronicles?  Or will it be the third as yet unnamed book in the Outliers' series?

I guess we'll all have to wait for that one.

Next item on the agenda, don't forget to check out some of the silly discussions we get into on the Coffee and Catastrophe podcasts.  For all of the other writers in the audience who seek to improve their writing, fellow author William Brian Johnson and I have spent the better part of this year thus far in our Nuts & Bolts series, discussing various mechanics of novel writing.  If you'd like to catch up on some of it, just click on the "Podcast" tab above and take your pick to listen in right here on the blog.

Last item on the agenda, be sure and sign up for my new newsletter.  On the far right of the blog here, you'll see a sign up box.  Don't worry.  I won't continually hound you about all things through the newsletter - that's what my blog, Twitter, and Facebook accounts are for!  However, my newsletter will now be the first place to go to get specific news on releases and special sales of my books.  You won't want to miss the pre-order pricing you'll only hear about there and notices when prices are about to change.  Since I'm now also direct-selling through Kobo Books, I get to take advantage of their promotions from time-to-time, so you'll want to have the newsletter to stay abreast of those deals.

In the meantime, watch for the cover reveal and release announcement of DIE BEFORE YOU WAKE coming soon.