Writing Irons in the Fire

I grew up in the Appalachian region hearing old sayings all the time. Today, I was thinking about how many irons I have in the fire right now as a writer. Over the last year, I've been working on my Appalachian Roots Series set in the Appalachian mountains in the 1800's. Cleared for Planting came out in print in March, and Sown in Dark Soil was released in September. I just sent Uprooted by War to the publisher, and I will begin reading through and editing Transplanted to Red Clay soon, since it will be the next and last book in this series.

In October, The History Press contacted me and asked me to consider writing a non-fiction, history book for them. After much thought and prayer, I wrote the book proposal they wanted, and sent it to them this week. The editor said I should hear something by next week. If they go with the proposal, this will consume a lot of time in research, writing, and photography, but it's also exciting.

In August, I went to a special writers' retreat at Lake Tahoe. After talking with MaryLu Tyndall and Tamara Leigh, I realized that many well-known, established authors, who had been with traditional publishers, have decided to self-publish. I've been pondering this for months, and I think I'm going to give self-publishing a try with a short, stand-alone novel set in Pennsylvania in 1739. I'm planning to send When Winter is Past to an editor next week. Yes, I'm contracting an editor. Even with edits from me, my beta readers, and an editor, some mistakes still slip by, so I wouldn't even think about publishing something without an editor.

When I went to the book festival in West Jefferson in September, I met a new small publisher from Georgia. She seems to do more with marketing and promoting the books than my current publisher does. Although I love Ambassador, going with an additional one would enable me to bring my books out more quickly. I still have 12 unpublished manuscripts. If I do, I will probably use Through the Wilderness, a stand-alone set on the Oregon Trail to test the waters.

In addition, I'm not happy if I'm not also writing something new. I'm working on an early New Mexico series. I finished the rough drafts of the first two, set on the Santa Fe Trail, and I've just started the third one. Writing the first drafts is the most fun of all for me.

That's five large, writing irons in the fire. I also continue to write a blog every day, which would make six. Since the old flatirons tend to be heavy, that's probably enough to try to juggle at one time. I'll keep you posted about how it goes.

____________________________________