There wasn’t a lot of bells and whistles with April, just a lot of getting up each day and getting the work done.
I managed to write 100,183 words for the month, putting me up to 468,805 for the year.
I also put up 34 blog posts and published one new book.
Let’s discuss it all in the site’s 36th monthly report.
I managed to write 100,183 words for the month, putting me up to 468,805 for the year.
I also put up 34 blog posts and published one new book.
Let’s discuss it all in the site’s 36th monthly report.
Fortin’s Furs
The big news of the month was getting the 7th volume of the Mountain Man Series finished and published.
It’s now selling on all retailers and you can read a lot more in the introductory post I put up this past week.
I’m hard at work on the next book and it will come out this month.
The day after I published this latest volume I did a $0.99 promo for Colter’s Winter with Bargainbooksy.
It went well, and I drove the book’s ranking up from #88,000 to #9,000 or so.
Not much in the way of earnings for those 25 to 30 sales (about $7), but hopefully it’ll get a few people to buy into the series.
So far 1,875 of the Mountain Man Series books have sold. At an average royalty of $2.68 that means I’ve earned $5,025 from those books.
The books have slackened off a bit from last month’s high (600 sales then to 500 now), but things are still going well.
If you keep buyin’ ‘em, I’ll keep writin’ ‘em.
It’s now selling on all retailers and you can read a lot more in the introductory post I put up this past week.
I’m hard at work on the next book and it will come out this month.
The day after I published this latest volume I did a $0.99 promo for Colter’s Winter with Bargainbooksy.
It went well, and I drove the book’s ranking up from #88,000 to #9,000 or so.
Not much in the way of earnings for those 25 to 30 sales (about $7), but hopefully it’ll get a few people to buy into the series.
So far 1,875 of the Mountain Man Series books have sold. At an average royalty of $2.68 that means I’ve earned $5,025 from those books.
The books have slackened off a bit from last month’s high (600 sales then to 500 now), but things are still going well.
If you keep buyin’ ‘em, I’ll keep writin’ ‘em.
Doing the Work
Not a lot happened this month…from my perspective.
Mainly, it’s just getting up each day and doing the work.
Writing is just like any other job. You have to sit down and do it.
Lots of the time you might not want to. You want the finished product, not all the effort that it takes to get that finished product.
Usually you can get over that mindset pretty quickly when you get started. It’s just getting started that can be rough.
So for the most part this month, I got started each day and wrote out a bunch of words.
Keeping lists helps and I’ve written about this many times. I always make up a 10-point list of things to do the next day, and then I cross them off as they’re done.
Mainly it’s just getting up each day and doing it.
Mainly, it’s just getting up each day and doing the work.
Writing is just like any other job. You have to sit down and do it.
Lots of the time you might not want to. You want the finished product, not all the effort that it takes to get that finished product.
Usually you can get over that mindset pretty quickly when you get started. It’s just getting started that can be rough.
So for the most part this month, I got started each day and wrote out a bunch of words.
Keeping lists helps and I’ve written about this many times. I always make up a 10-point list of things to do the next day, and then I cross them off as they’re done.
Mainly it’s just getting up each day and doing it.
Politics
May campaign card
When it came to politics, it was a pretty busy month.
Locally, my own race ramped up as I got my yard signs and my campaign cards printed up.
You can read all about that in my campaign blitz post.
It’s now May and starting next week absentee ballots go out. I’ll be hitting the doors hard until then.
Stay tuned – it should be an interesting month. June’ll be out of this world.
Locally, my own race ramped up as I got my yard signs and my campaign cards printed up.
You can read all about that in my campaign blitz post.
It’s now May and starting next week absentee ballots go out. I’ll be hitting the doors hard until then.
Stay tuned – it should be an interesting month. June’ll be out of this world.
Charitable Giving
I continued my run of charitable giving this year. I like charities that give 90% or more to their cause, so I gave to the following this month:
I’m not sure how much goes to the cause on that last one, though you can look at my analysis of Montana Public Radio finances to get a better idea.
I gave $10 to each of those charities, so $40 in all this month. For the year I’ve given $160.
Not much, but it’s something and maybe it’ll help some people.
Perhaps you can give $10 as well.
- Catholic Medical Mission Board: 97.6% to cause
- Children’s Hunger Relief Fund: 93.8%
- Feeding America: 98.5%
- Montana Public Radio: ?
I’m not sure how much goes to the cause on that last one, though you can look at my analysis of Montana Public Radio finances to get a better idea.
I gave $10 to each of those charities, so $40 in all this month. For the year I’ve given $160.
Not much, but it’s something and maybe it’ll help some people.
Perhaps you can give $10 as well.
On the Agenda for May
So what do I have planned for this month?
Not a whole lot, but looking at the calendar I can see the following dates coming up:
So it’s a lot of focusing on politics, not so much on writing.
I will have a new book come out, but if you’re not reading the Mountain Man Series you probably won’t care.
Besides that, I’ll keep writing about Montana. I have a new MT celebrities post planned for the coming weeks. Maybe I’ll talk about some paranormal subjects too.
Hell, that book I wrote has sold 65 copies so far – people are not only interested in the topic, they’re willing to pay for it.
Can’t much say that for politics. I keep working on my 6th book of Montana history, but mainly for myself and for future generations. I know that no one living today gives a hoot.
I’ll also have a very short western novella coming out soon, though there’s no set timeframe and I work on it when I want.
I will say that if you like Montana in the 1860s and Thomas Francis Meagher then you’ll enjoy it. At a permanent $0.99 I think I’ll enjoy the price as well.
We’re continuing the effort to legalize marijuana in Montana too, and we have about 7 weeks to get the 24,000 signatures we need for legalized possession, 20% taxation, and government regulation.
If I’m elected to the legislature I might have a say in the regulatory language.
So cross your fingers and say some prayers – I’ll be meeting voters soon.
Until then, enjoy your mellow Sunday.
Not a whole lot, but looking at the calendar I can see the following dates coming up:
- May 2: Gubernatorial C-5’s come out
- May 3: Legislative C-5’s come out
- May 9: Absentee ballots go out
- May 24: Dorion’s Dilemma on sale
- May 26: Legislative C-5’s come out again
So it’s a lot of focusing on politics, not so much on writing.
I will have a new book come out, but if you’re not reading the Mountain Man Series you probably won’t care.
Besides that, I’ll keep writing about Montana. I have a new MT celebrities post planned for the coming weeks. Maybe I’ll talk about some paranormal subjects too.
Hell, that book I wrote has sold 65 copies so far – people are not only interested in the topic, they’re willing to pay for it.
Can’t much say that for politics. I keep working on my 6th book of Montana history, but mainly for myself and for future generations. I know that no one living today gives a hoot.
I’ll also have a very short western novella coming out soon, though there’s no set timeframe and I work on it when I want.
I will say that if you like Montana in the 1860s and Thomas Francis Meagher then you’ll enjoy it. At a permanent $0.99 I think I’ll enjoy the price as well.
We’re continuing the effort to legalize marijuana in Montana too, and we have about 7 weeks to get the 24,000 signatures we need for legalized possession, 20% taxation, and government regulation.
If I’m elected to the legislature I might have a say in the regulatory language.
So cross your fingers and say some prayers – I’ll be meeting voters soon.
Until then, enjoy your mellow Sunday.
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