I attended my first writing convention as a published author last weekend. I have heard other writers say how everything changes once you are published so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

While there were subtle differences in the way people I know treated me (greeted several times as a “world-famous author”), people who did not know me treated me much the same. That is, until they learned I was a published author. Then they had lots of questions.

Even so, not much different.

What was different was the way I saw things. I now had a book to promote and sell. I had to be “on” all the time. It was both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I think it also gave me new confidence as a writer. I have battled to achieve the brass ring and now it is in my hands. That made talking about writing easier with both fans and pros.

I think (and this could only be because I was putting my own internal spin on things) that publishers were more open to talk to me about my projects. Imagination, maybe. Either way, I found myself talking about my projects much more.

The final oddity to the situation comes from the fact that I am co-editing “Method to the Madness, A Guide to the Super Evil”. I had the great pleasure of speaking with some of the successful authors. It was wonderful to be able to tell them that they were in the anthology. Unfortunately, I will also have to deliver the news that some people did not make it in. (for clarification, if you are reading this, have submitted and have not yet heard back, do not worry. We are revising the contract and will be sending more responses out in the coming days).

It is an interesting thing to attend a writer’s con as a published author for the first time. I know I’m going to reflect on it often in the coming days and months.

Tags: a guide to the super evil, a method to the madness, book launch, irreverent muse, Michell Plested, mike plested, published author, signing, when words collide

Priorities are funny things. What is important today may not be quite so important tomorrow.

Take, for example, Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. If you were take a guess and say it is my HIGHEST priority right now, you would be bang on. Until I get this baby launched, nothing will even come close in importance to me. However, three years ago, it wasn’t really even on the radar. I was working on several other projects and Mik was on the shelf. Then a little matter of Five Rivers taking an interest in it and KABLAM! Mik jumped to the top of the priority list.

That isn’t to say that I’m ignoring everything else. I haven’t missed an episode of Get Published in more than 2.5 years. That’s 87 episodes for those of you paying attention (actually, it is more, but the official episode number is currently 87). Even now that I’m on vacation, I will not be missing any. I pre-produced two episodes just to ensure that I wouldn’t miss a beat.

It did occur to me some weeks ago that I should probably be thinking of the next Mik Murdoch book. I talked it over with my publisher and we agreed that it would be very nice to have the second book ready for edits by the end of the year.

Once again, Mik Murdoch writing went from no-priority to near the top of the list.

I decided that I would try to write 500 words per day on the new book while I was on vacation. That would mean about 8,500 words on the book. Half-way through vacation, I’m only 250 words shy of that goal. That’s a BIG win, but it also reminded me that I do have other projects on the go that should currently be higher or on par with Mik Murdoch.

For example, Jeff Hite and I are editing the anthology, “A Method to the Madness, A Guide to the Super Evil”. I have work to do on that. JR Murdock and I have also written a steampunk novel tentatively titled, “Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty”. I am doing the beta edits on it right now.

Both of those projects need and deserve some attention.

So, I’ve made a decision.

I will continue to work on Mik Murdoch 2, but only to the originally planned 500 words per day. Other writing (and reading and editing) will be put against the other two mentioned projects. The other two at both at the point where that extra time will be enough to ensure they get finished quickly.

So, MM2, which had made it to priority 1 during my vacation will now have to share the top spot with two other projects.

And that’s all right with me.

Tags: 5 rivers, a guide to the super evil, a method to the madness, boy superhero, editing, five rivers, irreverent muse, Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty, jeff hite, jeffrey hite, jr murdock, lorina stephens, michael plested, michel plested, Michell Plested, michelle plested, mik murdoch, mike plested, revision, steampunk, writing