The Ready-Set-Write experience has expanded. We held our first mini-conference at the Tempe library in preparation for NaNoWriMo. And we will do it again next Saturday at the Mesa Red Mountain library. 

Jill Brenner, program director for the Tempe library, really knows how to make a bunch of authors feel welcome. Look at this beautiful sign she setup for the conference. Plenty of people came out to hear the Ready-Set-Write crew talk about writing. Then afterwards, we recorded three sessions of our podcast, taking questions from the audience and having fun answering them.

I could tell you who presented at the conference and what workshop they offered, but the sign says it all. This is a great opportunity for writers to prepare themselves for the month long writing marathon in November. Participants had the opportunity to develop a new story idea, make some decisions on what characters needed to be in their story, decide whether to take the "Plotter" or "Pantser" route in writing, think up some wicked conflict, and throw in a little romance. All in one day and all for free.

Thanks Jill and thanks to all the people who came out and made it a success.

Battlementals: Pounce and the Riddle of Fire comes out next month. In celebration of the release of the second book in the Battlemental universe, I am giving away a FREE copy of Battlementals: Quest for the Harmonicon.

Here's the link.  https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/9ad7ee0cb7275dc2

Good luck.

     It has been a busy year and Phoenix Comicon 2017 was no exception. Four days of meeting a host of interesting characters. My latest novel, Battlementals: Quest for the Harmonicon grabbed the attention of adults and youth. In the words of Alan Skousen (pictured below), a book for children of all ages. The boys were interested in reading about Thunk Hogs that attack using exploding snot and the parents were happy that their boys wanted to read. Although, I don't think they were quite as psyched about the exploding snot.
     My lovely daughter, Lucy (also pictured below), turned out to be consummate sales person. She connected especially well with the other young women and sold more books than the rest of the crew combined. Way to go, Lucy.
     Thanks to Daelyn Skousen (pictured below) for letting her husband come out and play all weekend. I don't know what I would have done without all three of these amazing individuals.

     This year I hosted four panels at Comicon. Three on writing and one on public speaking. All of the writing panels were near or above capacity for the room and I had a host of individuals stop by the booth afterwards to tell me how much they enjoyed the presentations. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth.
     I didn't do the panels alone. Adrienne Quintana, T. M. Williams, and Matthew Cerra were also part of the fun and education. The four of us had excellent chemistry together and several requests were made by the audience to have us return next year. Thanks guys for all your insightful writing advice and willingness to participate.

     With Adrienne Quintana standing next to me for most of the event, the conference turned out to be an extended planning session. We discussed the release of three more novels by the end of this year. That's right. Three more novels this year.
     Battlementals: Pounce and the Riddle of Fire is a novel that takes place in the Battlemental universe, but follows the adventures of a young Saber cub named Pounce. It will be a perma-free book and you can sign up for it on my other website. (WWW.RanTheStoryMan.com) It will have some wonderful artwork inside and is the first in a series of six stories with Battlementals as the main characters.
     The Devastation: America Crumbles is the third novel in The Gathering series and is the best one so far. I expect to release that towards the end of summer. It has been two years since the last book in the series was released and I know there are a lot of fans waiting to find out what happens to Robert and the rest of the Williams family.
     Closer to the end of the year I will be releasing my first novel under a pen name. While I don't write anything with foul language or sexual content, the stories I write under my alias will be grittier and have more violence than the stories I have already published. More on the alias and title in later posts, but it is the first novel I wrote and people have been asking me for years to publish it.

           We are two months into 2017. Headed into the year, I expected this to one interesting ride with many new experiences and opportunities. A lot of that is fueled by the fact that I released Battlementals: Quest for the Harmonicon in January. Battlementals is my first foray into the exciting world of middle-grade fiction and I expect it to be quite an adventure. And so far it has.
            Entering a new market meant that I needed to develop a new marketing campaign, create a new website (www.RanTheStoryMan.com), research new merchandising options, master the skills of indie-publishing, and adopt a new mindset for my brand. Although that meant a lot of work it has been interesting and fun most of the time and challenging on occasion. As of last Saturday, I can add one more item to the list—extremely rewarding.
            Saturday, was the Local Author Fair at the Red Mountain library in Mesa. All of the author events I attend are fun, but this one was special because I had the chance to see my good friendly Emily.
Emily and her mother participated in one of my very first workshops and it has been a delight to see her and the rest of the family whenever I can. In the picture below you can see Emily, Quincy, me, and Meagan. Because of the developmental challenges they all face I’m super excited to see them interested in reading. I hope that my new direction as an author will continue to provide me with many more experiences like this one.
 

  
          February also saw me visiting the Young Author club in Avondale. Adrienne Quintana invited me to speak with the students and I had a blast. We talked about elevator pitches and the children all had the chance to pitch a story to me based on a writing prompt. If this group represents the future of the writing industry then I think we are in good hands.

            Fans of The Gathering series will be happy to know that I submitted book three to the publisher at the beginning of the month. In my opinion, this is the best book in the series so far. I can hardly wait to share it all of you. The working title for the book is The Devastation: America Crumbles. Any further information about the book will have to wait until after I hear back from the publisher.

In December, I ran a contest. Anyone who left a comment on the Ready-Set-Write podcast site was in the running to win a free book. The contest is over and here are the winners.

Becca wins a copy of My Loving Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly.
Anika wins a copy of An Uncommon Blue by R. C. Hancock.
Sara wins a copy of The Shapeshifter's Secret by Heather Ostler.
Jarlell wins a copy of The Gathering: End's Beginning by Randy Lindsay.

If the winners could sent their addresses to me at ReadySetWritepodcast@ gmail.com I can get those prizes sent out to you. 

Thank you to everyone who participated. I really enjoyed the comments.  

            The answer to whether you can hear me now is . . . Yes. Not only can you hear me now, but authors Janette Rallison and Brock Booher as well. The three of us are part of the Typeractive author group that has published a collection of clean fiction and hosted the annual Ready-Set-Write writing conference for the last two years. Apparently that wasn’t enough for us and we have put together a podcast to help writers succeed in their goal of becoming published authors. We call it the Ready-Set-Write Podcast and all you have to do is click on the link and you will be magically transported there.
            Well, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you enticed by the sage advice that Brock Booher offers? Then what about the chance to spend time with the talented and funny Janette Rallison? If you close your eyes while you listen it’s just like hanging out with Janette in person—in a pitch black room where no one can see anything. I’m on the podcast too. There must be a reason they let me participate. You can listen to the podcast and try to figure out why.
            Just in case that doesn't convince you to check out our podcast we are giving away books. Ah, ha. I see that caught your attention. Janette is giving away books on her website. You can find out the details of her giveaway at http://janetterallison.com/blog/podcast-launch-book-giveaway/.
            Wait . . . I’m not done. If Janette is going to have a giveaway then so am I. The rules are simple. We currently have four episodes available. At the end of the month, I am going to pick my favorite comment for each episode and send a book to the person who wrote it. For episode one I am giving away My Loving Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly. The prize for episode two is An Uncommon Blue by R.C. Hancock. The episode three prize winner will receive The Shapeshifter’s Secret by Heather Ostler. And the person who submits the winning comment for episode four will receive an autographed copy of my first book, The Gathering: End’s Beginning.
            Feel free to leave comments on all four episodes. We would love to have questions about writing that we can use in future podcasts. As you can probably guess, comments that include details about the actual episode are more likely to be chosen.
            That’s it. Go win some books.
 

Since I bothered to put a News and Views section on my website I thought I might as well mention a couple of news items. The first is that I finished the third book in The Gathering series and am in the final editing stages before I submit it to my publisher. The tenative title is The Devastation: America Crumbles. Fans of the series should be happy to know that I think this is my best work so far.

My other big announcement is that Battlementals: The Quest for the Harmonicon is scheduled for release January 21st, 2017. This is my first effort at writing middle-grade and according to my critique group I have found my true calling as an author. I'm already working on the second book in the series and have the basic plot in mind for the third.

What's it all about? Here's the back cover blurb to intice you to check it out when it is released in January.

Chase Freeman is a boy with a heart for adventure stuck living in dull Drifter Flats. The only exciting thing that ever happens in his small town is Eclipse Day and even that isn’t enough for Chase—until he sees the strange ball of light streaking across the sky. Enlisting his best friend Jordan, her little brother Luke, and Harlan the smartest boy in school, they follow the light to an American Indian medicine circle. Drawn into the middle of it, the four friends are suddenly teleported to the Battlementals dimension along with the school bully Brendan and his friend Lena. 

Once there, they find an elemental people desperate for them to accept the grand quest to save the universe. A deadly alliance has pulled it out of balance and, soon, everything will vanish altogether. Friends and enemies will have to find a way to work together to assemble the Harmonicon, defeat the Salt Giant, and find their own undiscovered abilities that will help them complete their quest. But when dark secrets are put in the wrong hands, their mission unravels and time is quickly running out. As the universe systematically starts to disappear, Chase and his friends race to put all the elements they’ve gathered together, but will it be too late to save it?
  

             The Time Out for Women conference was this weekend and I’m thinking that ANWA should really be AN-WOW. The organization provides a safe environment for LDS writers to pursue their craft. Those of you familiar with ANWA might notice that I did not state that it provided LDS women with a safe environment and that is because the members voted to allow men to join this wonderful organization. Marsha Ward gave a inspiring speech about the decision that not only made me feel welcomed, but helped me to realize what an honor it is to join forces with these spiritually-guided women.
            Over the weekend, I managed to make several new friends. The speculative fiction table at the Thursday night workshop had a brilliant group writers gathered together. It was my job to act as “mentor” for the table, but these folks certainly didn’t need me to guide them. My thanks go out to the following people for making it so much fun: Dustin Thompson, Tamara Thompson, Christine Walter, and Sean.
            Then there were the friends that I made during lunch and dinner. Matt Peterson, DeAnn Huff, Kathy Cowley, and Chanda Simper. What many of you may not know is that I’m a shy person and it is difficult for me to put out the energy to meet new people in a social setting. However, at this event lunchtime became an enjoyable opportunity to make new friends because everyone was so kind and approachable.
            Last year I attended the ANWA gala and left early. Not because it was boring or the people made fun of me, but because that sort of environment is my kryptonite. Lots of people I don’t know, in costumes that I do a horrible job of guessing correctly, and having conversations that I hesitate to interrupt. Also, all of the background noise makes it difficult for me to hear what people are saying and I feel stupid when I’m not sure how to respond. But this year the friends I mentioned above made the event enjoyable for me. That includes the part where I didn’t recognize Kathy Cowley and she totally dismissed my gaff as inconsequential. Thanks, Kathy.
            The wonderful Janette Rallison introduced me to Brad McBride and my life is already better for it because of a discussion we had while waiting in line for dinner. Then there are the wonderful ladies who were an integral part of the conference who we all get to meet and know better as they do their job; Nan Marie Swapp, Deb Eaton, Bonnie Harris, Melinda Sanchez, Kari Pike, Lisa Crandall, and Nikki Wilson.
            Before any of you have a chance to accuse me of name-dropping because I know all of these super cool writers, let me say that I had fun presenting the classes I presented and learned helpful tips on how to improve my craft in the classes I attended. More importantly though, the conference as a whole put together several pieces of a puzzle that has given me direction in my writing career. The keynote speech from Jeff Savage, my lunch conversation with Chanda Simper, and a combination of what Brad McBride taught in his class and the subsequent discussion I had with him about it all came together in a powerful way.
            My thanks go out to everyone I mentioned. In one way or another you have helped me along my path as a writer. And for those of you who didn’t attend the Time Out For Writers event—I hope to see you there next year.
 

            If you live in Arizona, I have good news for you. The Time Out for Writers conference is only two weeks away. I am excited to be part of this event. ANWA does an excellent job of putting on a friendly and instructive writing conference. If you have never been to a writing conference then this is definitely the event for first time attendees.
            Just follow the link above to register. If my words of encouragement haven’t been enough to convince you to attend then please check out all of these great classes which are part of the conference.
 
Anika Arrington with Crafting the Siren’s Song: Deep POV and Narrative Voice
  

Aprilynne Pike with Writing (Un)Realistic Dialogue
  

Melanie Jacobson with Push Her Off the Roof: Escalating the Stakes
 
* Warning * Melanie has advised us that she plans to torture characters during the class and for attendees to expect a rather brutal experience. (I’m so going to attend.)
 

Melanie Jacobson with Fast Drafting: The One Thing That Will Boost Your Productivity Overnight (and a Few Others That Help)
 
(No mention of torture in this class description.)
 

Bradley McBride with Taking Over the World, One Friend at a Time: Building a Loyal Community via Social Media
 

Katherine Cowley – Optimizing Your Author Website for Google, Facebook and Pinterest

 
Katherine Cowley with Rule-Based Worldbuilding for Fantasy, Steampunk, and Science-Fiction

 
J. Scott Savage with Am I Writing a Middle Grade Novel or a YA Novel?

 
J. Scott Savage with Four Part Pacing

 
J. Scott Savage with From Idea to Marketable Pitch (Two-Hour Intensive, Thursday Workshop)

 
James A. Owen with Why Eggs Benedict is Crucial to Your Success as an Author (Two-Hour intensive)
 

Annette Lyon with Self-editing and Revision: Dig Deep to Learn the Nit-Picky Stuff—And Make the Best Impression (Two-Hour Intensive Workshop)

 
Annette Lyon with How Scrivener Totally Rocks & Will Make Your Writing Easier & Faster

 
Jennifer Lunt Moore with Research: What’s the Point?

 
Jennifer Lunt Moore with Elements of Swoon-worthy Romance

 
Matt Peterson with Copywriting: The Perfect “Day Job” for Writers

 
Dr. James Blasingame with Doubling Down on the Resolution: How to do the Best Young Adult Authors Create and Interior and Exterior Conflict Resolution?

 
Catherine Jones Payne with The Indie Dream Team: Choosing Your Self-Publishing Team

 
Heidi Taylor with Elevator Pitches: Take Them to a Higher Level

 
Heidi Taylor with How to Craft a Query Letter

 
Patricia Nelson with What’s Working in YA Now?

 
Patricia Nelson with Rookie Submission Mistakes

 
Janette Rallison with Scene Structure: What it Takes to Make Your Writing Work All Novel Long

 
Michelle Wilson with Getting to the Heart of Non-Fiction

 
Michelle Wilson & J. Scott Savage with Conquering the Devils in the Writer’s Mind

 
Randy Lindsay with Jumpstart Your Creative Juices Workshop
 
(Woo-hoo! That’s me. Should I be worried that my titles aren’t longer?)

 
Randy Lindsay with Keep ‘Em Reading
 
(Here’s your chance to heckle me with a workshop I’m still getting used to presenting.)
 
 
Heather Flaherty with Action Over Expository Workshop
 
 
C. J. Anaya with Guerilla Marketing: Launching Your Book to Bestseller Status
 
 
Tamara Passey with Friends Don’t Let Friends Publish Junk
 
 
Agent/Editor Panel with The Inbox
 
 
Indie/Hybrid Author Panel
 
 
            That is an amazing amount of great information for writers at any point in their personal journey with the written word. Come on out and learn some new skills, network with other writers, and make some new friends. Hope to see you there.