Plans

There’s an extra Sunday in August this year so I guess it’s bonus blog time! I really wasn’t sure what to talk about this week, the last couple entries have gone pretty deep and I’m just not sure I have the emotional energy to go there with this one, so instead I thought I’d talk about my short term writing plans and goals. I’ve got some big stuff in the works and I’d welcome feedback from anybody who happens to know what they’re doing in the field of making stuff and then making money off that stuff.  

So first on the docket is finishing the 3rd draft of my novel. I’ve been working on a full length book for a couple years now and a few months back I sent the second draft out to a few beta readers for feedback. Thankfully most of it was positive but I do have a few major changes to make before I’m ready to send it out to publishers. Hopefully I’ll have draft 3 done around Thanksgiving. 

My only big decision left to make on that project is whether I invest in an editor before I send it off to agents and publishers. In theory a publisher will take care of that sort of thing but since this is my first novel I would like to get it as close to perfect as possible before industry people see it.

In other publishing news, I’ve decided that early next year I’m going to take the short stories I’ve posted here for the past two years and put them out as an ebook. That will mean deleting them from the blog but don’t worry, I’ll continue writing and posting a new story here every month just like I always have.

My hope is to make this a continuous process: posting new stories to the blog each month then when I hit a respectable size for a book, about 50,000 words, I’ll take them down and publish on Amazon. And sure this is a bit of a “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free” situation, but the truth is I like posting my stories here. Having that monthly deadline is a great way to keep me working.

If you like what I do I hope you’ll consider paying the 4-5 dollars I wind up charging when the time comes. I AM trying to make a living as a creative and it’s not exactly easy, and in the meantime all of my stories will stay up right here at Mindfulofmadness.com at least until I have a pre-order link to share with you. 

Sadly, on the stand-up comedy front I don’t have anything new to share, we are still in the midst of a pandemic and that’s pretty much ground all of my momentum to a halt. Of course if you need a laugh my comedy album, This Was A Bad Idea is available everywhere music is streamed on the internet. I’m really proud of it and if you like the things I write you’d probably also like the things I say with my face. 

Finally the first month of the Mindful of Madness Podcast is in the bag! I’ve been planning and working on this thing for what seems like forever and to finally have episodes out for the world to hear feels great. I have some great episodes banked and more interviews with creative people you should know about in the calendar so please check it out and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Alright I think that’s enough for now, thanks for reading guys. If anything I’ve written about today sounds like something you’d be interested in, follow the blog or check out my social media (@drewjokeringram on twitter and @andrewingram88 on instagram) for more updates. I appreciate you guys.