Time for Another Update from Your Author!

Greetings!

What a busy month...at work and at home! On the work front, I've completed my editorial responsibilities for Fire and Emergency Services Company Officer, 5th edition, and turned the final files over to Graphics for corrections and printing. A major task on this edition has been to trim the size of the manual significantly. The previous edition weighed in at 928 pages (not counting the front matter [table of contents, Introduction, etc...]). 

There was a lot of material not in NFPA (R) 1021, LOTS of repetition, and excessive verbiage throughout. Thanks to a great committee of subject matter experts, excellent editors, a talented graphics artist, and my stubbornness, we brought the new addition in at 514 pages (not counting the front matter). Now the project is in the worthy hands of our Curriculum and E-Products staffs to finish those products. The entire product line should be out in mid-Summer!

Next on the project list is Chief Officer, 3rd edition. As I've mentioned previously, I inherited this project from a fellow senior editor who retired a few months back. The Editorial and Graphics staffs have been most helpful in containing the size on this manual! Today, I received the technical review comments from our reviewers and spent the afternoon inputting their comments, as appropriate. Should wrap that up tomorrow and return it to Graphics for correction. Should finalize that project within a couple of weeks!

Finally, Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting, 6th edition, is coming along very well. Thus far we've validated six chapters, will validate two more in a couple of weeks, and today I posted the final chapter to Workspaces for the committee to review and comment upon! Will validate a total of three more chapters before the July IFSTA Conference Meetings and validate the final three chapters at conference!

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I've been busy on the homefront! Always things to do plus working on the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. Tonight, I finished the last big fight scene!!! Need to write about more four or five more pages to transition from this story to lead into Foothold on Terra-Bravo. Tomorrow night...watch out!

After that, I need to edit and proof then do a final format. Then it'll be time to e-publish.

I've vacillating on the title a bit. Originally, I'd planned to call it Terra-Prime: The 2nd American Civil War. Now...I'm considering Terra-Prime: A New Revolution. Well, I still have a few days to decide. Thoughts, everyone?

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Well, time to call it a night. Let's be careful out there now!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

The Pros and Cons of Writing a Prequel!

If you've been following this blog and my Facebook pages, you are aware that I'm writing a prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. Part of the reason I wrote Foothold on Terra-Bravo before the prequel was to get people hooked on the action and characters. Another reason why I delayed writing the prequel was to see how current events play out in our universe before addressing them in the universe of Terra-Prime, the starting point of the Terra-Bravo Saga.

But I'm discovering the pros and cons of writing a prequel.

Pros:

1) Knowing where I want to lead the characters to!

2) I'm much more familiar with the characters than when I wrote Foothold or Crisis. 

3) Writing their dialogue is much easier.

4) I've left clues to their pasts in the other books so now I can expand upon those clues.

Cons:

1) Not getting ahead of myself.

2) Establishing the relationships between characters in the proper sequence.

3) Remembering minutia from stories I've already written and moved beyond! (Hey, I know I've got a pretty good memory but WOW!)

4) Not getting carried away with expanding the backstories beyond where the characters are in the future stories.

So, I'm making headway on the prequel, both excited by the chance to visit this storyline but also constrained by it. While allergies and work-related stressors are slowing me down somewhat, I'm still on target for a May e-release!

Marketing of Other E-books

I'm still marketing my three published works primarily by word-of-mouth; e-mails; and Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blog posts. As time and funding allows, I'll expand this marketing.

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Enough for tonight. I hope each of you remain safe and healthy!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Yay!

I want to take a moment to give a shout-out to Brad McLelland, a good friend of mine. Brad told me late yesterday that he and his writing partner, Louis, had been offered representation for their Young Adult Western/Magic story that they have worked so hard on! This is an excellent opportunity for them to get their book (which would be the first in a new series!) out to publishers and ultimately in print! And their choice of such interestingly mixed genres is inspiring! We can't think of anyone writing the stuff they are!

Congratulations, Brad and Louis!!! Here is wishing you all the best!!!

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Now some of you may wonder why I haven't gone this route as well with my stories. The truth is, I've thought about it, quite seriously. But I'm not willing at this time to sacrifice sole editorial control over what I write. I've got something I want to say and by setting my stories in the science fiction/adventure genres gives me a way to say it! I may never get another opportunity to say it the way I WANT TO SAY IT otherwise and so I've decided, for now, to e-publish my stories.

If the future allows, I'll seek the means to publish the stories in other media (print!) but for now I'm content with my approach.

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I'm working on Chapter 14 of the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga and am building to some really cool (I think) action scenes! Chapter 16 should be the kick-off point for the action to start.

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Enough for tonight. Y'all have a good night!

And be careful out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Allergy Season and the Writing and Book Selling Processes

Allergy season is in FULL bloom here in North Central Oklahoma! This state is home to millions of red cedar trees (which are in fact a type of juniper). During the Dust Bowl era thousand of these trees were planted along property lines because they were quick growing to make wind breaks. They also very invasive, drain the water table, and ruin pasture land but hey, nothing's perfect right?

So we moved to Oklahoma where I discovered to my chagrin...that I'm highly allergic to cedars! Each year at this time, I suffer through the clogged sinuses and itchy, burning eyes trying different allergy medicines until I get the right one. (It's different each year!)

Needless to say, this time of year does NOT find me at my best. Being tired, doped-up, bleary eyed, and generally miserable does not make for the best writing or editing at work or at home! Since work pays the bills, I've been focusing my writing/editing efforts there to ensure quality products go out to our fire fighters! Sadly, my writing output at home has dropped off somewhat.

But, for the last couple of days the allergy and medically induced haze has lifted and I've made some progress on the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga! I'm now 12 chapters and 112 pages into the story; setting the stage for the action in the second half of the book. Yep, I'm still on target to e-publish in May!

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Sales have slowed somewhat on Foothold on Terra-Bravo and Crisis on Terra-Bravo. Sales have yet to pick UP for Honing Your Instructional Skills. So, I've got to spend some real time and effort this month getting the word out, advertising as it were! I'll be trying out a variety of advertising opportunities; some old, some new. Bear with me over the next few weeks as I do this! (And don't forget to share my posts with your family and friends who are science fiction fans or instructors!)

All three books are available at Amazon's Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble (b&n.com), Smashwords.com, and several other online stores in a variety of formats for virtually every e-reader out there. Foothold on Terra-Bravo and Crisis on Terra-Bravo sell for $2.99 each while Honing Your Instructional Skills sells for $0.99 (it's not a very long e-book). The links above take you to the Amazon Kindle Store.

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I need to do some more advertising AND more writing on the prequel, so I'll close for now. Best wishes to all my family and friends who read this!

Remember, let's be careful out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

About Writing and Selling

Terra-Prime: The 2nd American Civil War, the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga is coming along nicely! (Yes, I've made a slight change in the title.) Thus far, I've written 92 pages (11 chapters) and I'm nearing a major transition point within the story. I'm still on track for a May 2014 e-publication dates.

The flow on this book is similar to that of Crisis on Terra-Bravo, more action oriented.

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Once I have Terra-Prime published, I'll see when Kyle is ready to tackle our next book in the Terra-Bravo Saga. If he's still out of pocket (family/work/college), I may press on with an idea for a new, military-adventure series tentatively named "Roman's Legion". It's set in the modern era and involves a group of former military members who set up a paramilitary/soldier of fortune/adventurers organization. I've pretty much outlined the first book in my head. Now to put that on paper and prepare to write it sooner or later.

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Foothold on Terra-Bravo and Crisis on Terra-Bravo continue to sell on the Kindle Store at Amazon.com. Still waiting for a sale of Honing Your Instructional Skills. Need to do some vigorous advertising all the way around.

So, if you know of any science fiction or adventure fans out there, please pass along the links to the Terra-Bravo Saga e-books.

Likewise, if you know of instructors or teachers who may want to look at some new approaches to take in their instruction/teaching, please share the link to Honing Your Instructional Skills.

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Enough for now! Have a great week folks and remember...let's be careful out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Honing Your Instructional Skills - 9 Steps to Improving Your Teaching!

One of the greatest adventures of my life was serving as an instructor at the USAF/US Army Fire School at Chanute AFB (Rantoul, IL) and later at the DoD Fire Academy at Goodfellow AFB (San Angelo, TX). My tour at Chanute began in April 1986 and ended in November 1992. My time at Goodfellow began in April 1994 and ended in October 1997.

As much as I enjoyed my time "on the floor" at the various fire departments at which I served, I really enjoyed my time as an instructor. Thanks to mentors such as Senior Master Sergeant Robert Trowbridge, Master Sergeant Don McGee, TSgt Jerry Blaisdell, Mr. Kenneth Medlen, and others I achieved Master Instructor status within 2 years and won numerous instructor awards to include Junior Enlisted Instructor of the Year (1988). During my time at the DoD Fire Academy, I earned two additional awards: the Goodfellow AFB Civilian Technical Training Instructor of the Year and the Air Education Training Command Civilian Instructor of the Year (1996).

More importantly, over the years I developed an approach to engage my students and bring out the best in them. As a result, my student test average was approximately 94%. Over the years, I've encountered many of my former students and found they had translated their success in Tech School to success in the field. Many of them have returned to the DoD Fire Academy to serve as instructors themselves.

For several years, I've tried to boil down my approach into a book that instructors could use to improve their instructional skills. My initial thought was to focus on Fire Service Instructors. With the advent of e-publishing, I decided to revise the book so that any instructor/teacher could use the approach.

Last week, I e-published Honing Your Instructional Skills - 9 Steps to Improving Your Teaching! on Smashwords.com. Through Smashwords, it is available at their site and at Barnes & Noble (b&n.com). Tonight, I put it up on Amazon's Kindle Store as well.

I hope instructors will take a look at this book and apply the approach to their instruction.

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Looking at the view count for my previous post, it appears that some folks may have been put off by my title of "Sacrificial Lambs." The post was about how authors create some characters merely for the purpose of killing them off to move the story along. Guess I need to work on my titles a bit!

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More snow and ice predicted for tomorrow but nothing is supposed to last. I plan to get some writing in on the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga this weekend (hopefully 2 chapters worth!!!) and maybe write a Hub or two.

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Stay safe!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Sacrificial Lambs - Creating and Writing Characters Who are Doomed!

I was chatting with one of my readers the other day and she told me she cried when one of the characters died. I thanked her for the compliment which surprised her. I told her I had written that character for two purposes...one of which was to die heroically.

You see, quite often in fiction, a character's primary purpose may be to serve as the sacrificial lamb to:
-- move the plot forward
-- grip the readers' attention
-- elicit strong emotions

Think about your average murder mystery. No corpse (or supposed death), no mystery! Think about all the slasher films. Definitely got your attention, eh?

Then think of all those stories in which a beloved (or even hated) character dies! You feel bad when the beloved character dies and great when a hated character dies. (Sorry, Yeller. or Sorry about that, Emperor Palpatine!)

As an author, I will use that plot devise. And I freely admit, there are some characters I've written whose sole purpose to exist at all is so that I can kill them at some point in one of my stories. If they elicit a tear or a cheer from my readers at the proper moment, then they will have served their purpose.

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Made more headway tonight on the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. Wrapped up Chapter 8 and got our stalwart heroes out of a jam. They have a long trip ahead of them with more danger along the way and still more waiting for them when they reach home!

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Honing Your Instructional Skills has received Premium Status on Smashwords.com which means it will be pushed out to places like Amazon's Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble, and many other fine e-bookstores soon.

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Think I'll sign off for tonight. My eyes (and the rest of me) are tired!

Stay safe!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014