Hello, Posse!
I think it is time to shake things up! I have been in a rut for a long time and I think I need to make some changes to get some momentum back. I did a lot of soul searching lately and I realized I have been pushing off finishing up my Into the West Saga Serial because I have been working on it for so long now and I was not ready to let it go just yet.
I have so many stories in my head I want to write that have nothing to so with the Into the West Saga Serial but I was still not ready to let go of these characters. I had to remind myself they are not all going to just disappear, I will be doing another serial later using some of these characters for a Surviving the West Saga Serial.
Before I do that though, I want to write a few stand alone books and try my hand at a paranormal/scifi book, a mystery, and some horror ... maybe even a romance. I have always loved reading all kinds of stories and have dabbled a bit in all of those genres and I think it is time to explore them more in full stories.
Part of my rut has also been doing the same three blogs every week. I did break up the monotony a bit by switching up Wednesday Whatever for a podcast, but I think I made a mistake keeping it Wednesday Whatever. When people search for podcasts, that really isn't going to draw in people who fit my genre. I need something more specific.
Thanks to the "coffee" donations I got from my mom and my friend, fellow author Mark L. Redmond (<-- click the red text to check out his work), I was able to buy a new microphone set up for my podcast. I am saving up for the interface unit, but that may take a little longer to get. I can still use the microphone without it, but the interface is what is going to clean up the sound quality the most. I really want to have that before I
do the final version of my audiobooks. I think it will make a big difference in the sound quality I can provide to my customers. That is very important to me.
So here is the plan. I am looking to change the podcast to just Burckhardt Books with Dianne Burckhardt. It's still just about whatever on Wednesdays but I want to get out that it's book themed. Also, Monday Movie Madness is going to go away and be replaced with Manic Mondays because Mondays are going to become my hard push days to work. For the blog, it may just be a short update on current projects, something motivational to get you going for your week or maybe a movie from time to time when I find one I want to share. I love movies so they will still pop up from time to time, maybe even in the podcast.
My writing focus this week is just to finish the next chapter on Into the West Family Ties and get the covers ready for the different formats and uploaded in the publishing platforms I use. The story is in my head, I just need to write it out. Wish me luck!
So now for a little Monday motivation ...
This is more of a reminder for myself than any of you. I hope you all have a great week and be sure to check out the podcast this week for what may be the final reading from Into the West: The Orphan Train. When I reach the end of the story, I am going to piece all the reading together into one "album" and see about finding a few beta "listeners" who want to go through the whole soundtrack and give me feedback on it. If you are big on audiobooks and would be interested in getting a free audiobook to check out, drop me a line.
Take care, posse!