PREPARING TO WRITE THE WORLD’S GREATEST NOVEL… OR NOVELLA?

Currently, I’m wrapped up in writing my latest Small Brand America book. This fifth edition from the series is focusing solely on craft bourbon distilleries. It’s really coming together nicely and I can’t wait for it to be printed. Also, because I can never work without challenging myself, I’ve also taken on  a companion piece. A cocktail book featuring all bourbon cocktails from the companies featured. I just came up with the idea this week, but I think it’s a pretty awesome one. I’m in the process of reaching out to all 20 companies featured in the book to see if they are interested in participating in this second book.

Look for both of these books in March or April depending on how quickly I can get them turned around.

Out in the horizon is really a pet project for me. A personal “bucket list” of writing. Creating my first novel… or perhaps novella. The actual distinction between the two is a little murky. I know that every fiction piece I’ve created thus far has either been a children’s book (pretty clearly defined) or a short story (also pretty easy to figure out based on the length of the pieces).

For sanity purposes I’m going to land on 15,000 – 30,000 words as a novella. Shorter than that is a short story. Longer is a novel.

Having never written anything beyond a short story, I don’t know where the buddy tale I’m working on is going to fall. I haven’t yet written a single word of it. I’ve been researching some of the information I need for the story (it has a backdrop of Kauai so I want actual restaurants/beaches/etc. to be in the book). I’ve even put together a detailed outline (number 11 pages currently) of the story. In my head I would say I’ve got the whole story down and I’m incredibly pleased with like 7/8 of it. That number might not seem bad, but I won’t settle for a story I’m 7/8 pleased with. I need to keep working through it in my mind until I am completely satisfied with my work or I won’t release it.

Once the bourbon books are done, my focus is going to turn to this book and I’m not planning on working on any writing other than a couple of books for my Coffeehouse Jazz series. Those are fun and shouldn’t be a distraction from what I’m trying to accomplish with my novel… or novella. I won’t actually have a clue which it ultimately is until I’m done writing, I guess.

I suppose that’s part of the fun here. Just start writing and see what happens. I’ve got the infrastructure of a story in my outline, but it will all come together when I start putting the words on the page.

I can’t wait!

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BEER, BUDDIES AND A COFFEE DRINKING CAT

I’ve been working with several of the craft breweries featured in my book Small Brand America IV this week. With the holidays coming up, I’ve got a pretty interesting plan to promote my book this Christmas season. If this comes together, it has the potential to be my largest book promotion yet so I really hope some of the companies featured in the book are on board.

Next year I’m planning on writing my first novella. It’s represents a great progression in my writing from my nonfiction work, my children’s book series and my short stories. I’ve done a lot of work on the story, which is about two buddies living in Hawaii, and I’ve even managed to start an outline. The really fun part is the fact I’ve got some friends in Hawaii that I met while writing the third edition of my Small Brand America series which focused on food companies based in Hawaii.

Two of the people in that book have personal backgrounds which fit so nicely in the book so I asked them to be in it as characters. The good news: they are in! It’s kinda becoming a signature move for me to incorporate real people into my fictional work. It makes for this unique blurring of reality and fiction and the inclusion of these two individuals is going to really make for some fun in this one!

My biggest news of the week is the fact I’ve completed writing on the third book in my Leo the Coffee Drinking Cat™ series. The book is written and illustrated. I just need to complete the editing (yes, even kid’s books need to be edited) and get the cover back and then it will be ready to publish. Can’t wait to get this one out there.

Any way you look at it, that’s a pretty good week!