Busy Summer

My first week back from Louisville has been a busy one. I've written two articles for Clutch, started writing the rough draft of my newest book, led a writing workshop, and been all over the  MOV setting up readings and signings. Here's a rundown of all the events I have coming up in the next few months. This schedule is subject to change and I hope to add more, so go to my website and click on the News & Events tab to see the newest information.

June 25 (That's today!): I'll be at J&M's Used Bookstore from 11am to 2pm signing books. They're in the old Blockbuster store near the Southside Kroger. Note--buy the book from the bookstore and then I'll sign it. That's not how it works at the library.

July 5: Vienna Public Library from 6pm to 8pm. That will include a reading and q&a time at 6:30.

July 16: Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library on Emerson Avenue from 11am to 1pm. PLEASE NOTE: That's a change from the original announced time. I changed it so I could attend a personal event of great importance.

July 23: South Parkersburg Library from 10am to 2pm. This too will include a time for readingsfrom Dawn of Grace and q&a. The reading will take place at 11am.

chamberdata.net

July 30 (this is tentative): Point Park Marketplace. Times TBA, but I plan to be there sometime early in the day. This coincides with Market Vendor Fair, so come down even if you don't want to buy a book! BY THE WAY: You can now purchase all my books at the Marketplace. Same great price.

September 30-October 1: Pullman Square in Huntington. I'll have a sale booth at the Ohio River Festival of Books. Exact times are TBD.

October 28-29: West Virginia Book Festival at the Charleston Civic Center. This is a huge event with dozens of booths, along with big name authors doing readings. There are also always activities for kids, lots of giveaways, and a gargantuan used book sale.

Hope To See You June 25!

I'm glad to be back in Parkersburg, though I really enjoyed my week in Louisville. I met some new friends and had a lot of fun. I hope Kansas City is just as fun next year. But now that I'm back, I can start promoting my new book in earnest.

Toward that end, my first big event is a signing next Saturday, June 25 at the new location of J&M's Used Bookstore on Division Street. It's just a few doors down from Kroger, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it at all. I'll be there from 11am to 2pm, and I hope to see you there.

I'm also planning to do signings at all the local libraries and anywhere else that would be interested. I'll let you know when I get those set in stone.

I also plan to have an online launch party in the next couple weeks. That's where you come by and visit me cyber-style. It'll be on Facebook and you just drop by my author page during the designated time and check in. There will be trivia games and giveaways. Unfortunately, the only refreshments will be holographic meatloaf, but you can show up in your underwear and no one will care.

Finally, I want to share that I've figured out the general outline of my next book. The big news on that is that it will not be a Shalan Adventure. It won't be a detective book at all. It's all about a 16-year-old girl name Elizabeth Janeway, known as EJ to her friends, who loses her mother in a freak accident, only to discover that, despite what her mother had told her all her life, her dad is not only alive, but he is a powerful businessman and the mayor of a nearby city. I worked out the plot last week and I have to say I'm excited. I think it has potential to be a book of note--if I can just write it. I will definitely be shopping it to agents and publishers rather than publishing it independently, as I do with Harry and Dee. For Shalan fans, have no fear--I plan to continue their story. I'm just taking a break to work on something a little more literary in nature.

So what can you expect from Harry and Dee? Well, the plan is to release a new e-book-only novella. I believe this will be a second prequel that tells the story of their wedding and his hanging up his shingle in Parkersburg. It will pick up where "Harry and the Redheaded Angel" left off and tie into the beginning of Harsh Prey. After that, I have a vague idea for a spinoff series for Jenn.

So that's all the news that fits from here in the land of Joe. I hope to see you on June 25 or some other venue soon. I'd love to sign your copy of Dawn of Grace.

Dawn of Grace Is Here!

I'm in Louisville, so this will be a short post. I just want to let everyone know that my new book, Dawn of Grace: A Shalan Adventure is out and now available to order in paperback and for Kindle. To order the paperback from Createspace (the best way to order is directly from the printer), go here. If you would prefer to read it on Kindle, just go here.

The first place you'll be able to buy it in person will be at J&M's Used Bookstore on June 25, where I'll be doing a signing from 11am to 2pm.

Have a great week and thanks for your support!

PS--in case you missed it, here's the trailer for the book:

More DAWN OF GRACE News!

It looks like we're in for a rainy day today, which is okay with me. Yesterday was busy outside and inside both. I went target shooting with my pistols in the morning with my fellow enthusiasts. As an interesting side note (well, interesting to me), the two pistols I own are the same two that are owned by Harry and Dee Shalan. That's obviously not a coincidence. I own and am familiar with these two partly so that I can write about them and not sound like an ignorant rube. But anyway, after I got home, I finished draft four of Dawn of Grace and began the final proofreading read. I didn't get far, though, because then it was time to help my dad with the yard. So I slept well last night.

But since today is going to be quiet, my goal is to finish my final polish and start the submission process with Createspace. I won't be able to finish it because I don't have the cover photo yet, but by the end of today, literally everything else should be complete and ready to set up. I've already done all the formatting--I put it in the correct format two drafts ago so I wouldn't have to worry about it. The acknowledgement page is finished, as is the end-of-book stuff. So once I get the cover art, it will be one step and the book will be ready for final proofing and then ordering.

This is the original location of J&M's.
The new, huge store is in the Kroger/
KMart plaza in south Parkersburg
and will open June 11.

Why am I telling you this? Because it means that you'll soon be able to pre-order Dawn of Grace: A Shalan Adventure. And it means that, assuming no major disasters between now and then, you'll be able to put your hands on a copy for the first time on June 25 at J and M's Used Bookstore, where I'll be doing a signing from 11am to 2pm. And it finally means that you'll be invited to my launch party sometime in July.

I have to say that, even on the fifth thorough reading, I'm still finding proofreading and typographical errors. I know that the previous four drafts were not done primarily for the purposes of proofreading, but it still amazes me that areas that I hadn't touched in subsequent drafts and therefore have been exactly as is since I initially wrote the manuscript have words missing, wrong words, etc. So, as I get deeper and deeper into this writing thing, I'm realizing more and more just how important multiple drafts, each for a different reason, are vital. If only I had known then what I know now, my first book might have been a lot better. But the past is past and I'm excited about the future. I hope you are too.

Hopefully, this will be you reading my
new book and trying to decide what
glowing words to say about it in your
review on Amazon.

So it's sincerely my hope that I'll be in touch as early as tomorrow to ask if any of you would be interested in a pre-read in exchange for an honest review. If you agree to do that, I'll send you a signed copy of the book absolutely free. This offer is open starting now and I'll take the first twenty people. All you have to do is comment on here or send me an email. Or you can wait until I officially announce it in the next day or two. Thanks in advance for considering it.

PS--Don't forget that if you've read and enjoyed my previous three books, two of the greatest things you can do to help me are to tell your friends and to write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. As an independent author, all the ads and events in the world don't do half what word-of-mouth and reviews can do to help me be successful.