Weekly Goals - February 23, 2009

Had a great time at ConDFW. So much so, that I'm attempting to get myself set up for a visit to Conestoga in Tulsa (late April).

Results for this week:

1. Finished the complete story, with a little over 1700 words on "Collateral"
2. Completed

And now the goals for this coming week:

1. 2000 words on Death Brings the Victory

Submission status for the week:

Short stories:
"Entrapment" (since December 24)
"Redemption" (since June 14)
"Profit and Loss" (since February 10)
"Trust" (since February 14)
"Deadly Decisions" (since January 31)

Aston West
novels
short stories
writing goals

ConDFW - Day Three

Well, finally made it home after a 6-hour drive from Dallas. I imagine if I wasn't such a cheap bastard, we would have stayed another night at the hotel. But all's well that ends well.

Although sales didn't build on yesterday as I'd hoped, there were a few folks who stopped by and picked up a copy. Overall, it seemed like this last day of the con was rather empty in terms of visitors. Had I realized this ahead of time, I would have brought out my laptop and finished up the remainder of my short story "Collateral" which has been nagging at me for the entire weekend.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and hope to return next year. I may try to make a stop at another Dallas con this year, though I think I'm probably going to set my eye on some closer ones in Kansas City (ConQuest) or Oklahoma City (Conestoga). I'll also be trying to get into a writer's conference (as a writer, not a dealer) sometime this year, if finances allow.

So, good night and good writing!

ConDFW - Day Two

So, another fine day at ConDFW here in Dallas...excellent response to my book, and doubled sales over yesterday. All in all, I enjoyed it a lot.

Some takeaway thoughts:

- As a married man at a con, one should think twice about bringing their wives. Some of the outfits were a bit risque, including one where a lady was wearing skin-tight leather with a chain mail bra. With the wife manning the camera, little chance of photos. Sorry to all you guys who missed it!

- People are as widely varied as one would think coming to these conventions, but for the most part are a happy bunch. There were a few, however, who would not even respond to a hello as they whizzed by. Not sure what they entered the Dealer Room for if not to browse through tables of merchandise.

- Watching others as they conduct business at their table gives you a good idea of what does work and doesn't work from a promotion standpoint. Sitting behind your table and expecting people to stop and browse doesn't. Free samples do. Samples that cost people money to buy, not so much. Chain mail undergarments definitely garner attention as the model walks around the Dealer Room.

- When figuring out how much swag to bring to the convention, always realize that whatever you have left over can be used for the next convention. It's always better to have a little left over than to run out before the end of the convention.

- Conventions are not going to be a huge money-maker for an author with a small press (with no advertising budget). The amount of money brought in will be lucky to cover the expenses, if that. As such, one should go into a convention with the mindset that it's mostly about the promotion of your name and brand. If you go into it thinking you'll make a lot of money, you're probably going to be sadly mistaken.

Tomorrow is the last day of ConDFW, and I'll be heading out shortly after the closing for the drive home. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed these posts from the con, and remember to check out my regular site if you haven't already. There, you can pick up the same samplers as the con-goers this weekend, including a sample chapter from Heroes Die Young, as well as issues of Ray Gun Revival in which my short stories have been published.

ConDFW - Day One

Making this blog post while sitting here in the Dealers Room with a little over an hour before closing for the night.

It's been a great day today, despite some confusion about the registration time. Lots of interest in Heroes Die Young, and a few sales. Hoping all of the interest turns into sales from the repeats customers.

Overall, really enjoying the convention. It was a long drive, and a little much for the hotel stay, but it's been a great time thus far.

More later...

ConDFW - The Drive

So, for the next few days, I'll be blogging from ConDFW, both here and on my MySpace page (duplicated blogs).

Today was the drive down...an interesting experience to say the least. Things were about normal until we hit Dallas itself. Yikes! I've driven in major metropolitan areas like St. Louis before, but people are just plain strange here. Texas really is like a whole other country (as the advertisements claim).

Some notes from the trip:

- People claim Kansas is flat. Oklahoma isn't much better, aside from about a five mile stretch where we went up and down a big hill with "scenic turnoffs" at the top (I'm not sure what you're supposed to see from them, but I'm sure they're quite nice. We didn't stop).

- Oklahoma seems to have a casino at about every 3rd to 5th interstate exit. Meanwhile, Kansas towns battle over having one casino spread out about 20 miles apart.

- On passing the border between Oklahoma and Texas, a really smoky haze covered everything for several miles. I would have figured (growing up in the prairie country) they were burning something, but never saw any fire. It was a bit middle-of-the-day for fog off a body of water, so my only other thought is that there are still people battling the long-standing OU/TX feud with real weapons.

- Coming into the Dallas area, the major interstate remains 4-lane and has several on-ramps with really tiny merge lanes. I think maybe they should spring for some better roadways with some of that stimulus money.

- HOV lanes rock...though merging back into traffic at your exit is rather problematic. I like the way that St. Louis does theirs, where the HOV lanes are completely segregated from the main flow of traffic, including having their own exit ramps.

- MapQuest blows. Although it was useful for the main thrust of the trip, it failed at the very tail end of the trip. Slight lefts and go straights in heavy traffic while trying to discern the street names MapQuest is giving you is not a good way to go. We actually found a better way to get to the actual location by missing the turn MapQuest told us to take.

So, now it's off to find a place to eat around here...and hopefully I'll be back to give some more info (look for pictures later) on the convention.

Weekly Goals - February 16, 2009

Spent a bit too much time on edits, but hopefully it shows with the mags I submitted to. With my upcoming visit to ConDFW, this week's goals will be short and sweet.

Results for this week:

1. Finished just over 1000 words on Death Brings the Victory
2. Finished only around 400 words on "Collateral"
3. Edited and submitted
4. Edited and submitted

And now the goals for this coming week:

1. 1000 words on "Collateral"
2. Enjoy ConDFW

Submission status for the week:

Short stories:
"Entrapment" (since December 24)
"Redemption" (since June 14)
"Profit and Loss" (submitted February 10)
"Trust" (submitted February 14)
"Deadly Decisions" (since January 31)

Aston West
novels
short stories
writing goals

Notice?

Some may have noticed that I've removed the listing of my FID submissions. I wish I could say it was because the book was accepted, but we all know that isn't the case. Although there's always the off chance that one of those remaining submissions will come through with a magical acceptance (sight unseen) or even a partial/full request, those submissions have been out there for quite a while and I'm going to assume the agents in question were not interested.

Weekly Goals - February 9, 2009

A little better this week, but still a bit short on some goals.

Results for this week:

1. Finished almost 1900 words on Death Brings the Victory
2. Finished over 1100 words on "Collateral" this evening
3. Not started

And now the goals for this coming week:

1. 1000 words on Death Brings the Victory
2. 1000 words on "Collateral"
3. Edit "Profit and Loss" for submission
4. Edit "Trust" for re-submission

Submission status for the week:

Short stories:
"Entrapment" (since December 24)
"Redemption" (since June 14)
"Profit and Loss" (back in edits)
"Trust" (rejected, back in edits)
"Deadly Decisions" (since January 31)

Aston West
novels
short stories
writing goals

Weekly Goals - February 2, 2009

Didn't quite meet all of my goals this week. Not sure why, either, which is the odd part.

Results for this week:

1. Finished 1000 words on "Collateral" this evening
2. Edited and submitted
3. Not started

And now the goals for this coming week:

1. 1000 words on Death Brings the Victory
2. 1000 words on "Collateral"
3. Edit "Profit and Loss" for submission

Submission status for the week:

Short stories:
"Entrapment" (since December 24)
"Redemption" (since June 14)
"Profit and Loss" (back in edits)
"Trust" (submitted February 1)
"Deadly Decisions" (submitted January 31)

FRIENDS IN DEED:
(Out of 18 submissions)
5 queries remaining
11 queries REJECTED
1 partial REJECTED
1 full REJECTED

Aston West
novels
short stories
writing goals