Alas, dear readers, I am not lost. Just scrambling to make the hours stretch enough to cover my tasks. At the moment, success is proving elusive.

Last week was both boom and bust for my writing, thanks to a trade show I attended for the day job. I started out strong, writing several thousand words in the airport and on the plane. I also managed to write a little once I got to my hotel. But then the show hit hard and didn’t let go. I’m currently sitting at 5,953 words on my WIP.

I successfully identified the chapter I want to have ready for next week’s(!) Storymakers Boot Camp, and I am trying valiantly to have something presentable by next Friday.

However, last week I got some news that, while very good overall, has struck a serious blow to my writing plans for the summer. I have been selected to work as a census taker, and plan to spend 15-20 hours a week counting noses over the next few months. Add those hours to the 40+ I spend at my day job, the 50+ I spend sleeping, and everything else that is really non-negotiable, and there will be precious little time for writing.

There will be some time for writing – I’ll make sure of it. But precious little, I’m afraid.

Fortunately, the census work only goes through the middle of (the long, hot, Texas) summer, so come fall I’ll be able to hit the keyboard with all ten fingers flying.

In the meantime, I’ll try not to leave you alone and postless for so long. Tune in Friday for an interview with author Daron D. Fraley and a review of his excellent book, “The Thorn.”

Wait, did I just give a review? Dang! Stole my own thunder!

I feel as though I am running in a dozen different directions, especially with my “writing.” I put that word in quotes, because very little of what I’ve done during my writing time has involved stringing words together.

Instead it’s been working on my website, revising a query letter for the Storymakers query workshop, trying to build a blog following, reading books for blog tours, and trying desperately to make time to read for my critique group (sorry, girls!).

And then there’s the Daddy Job, which intrudes on my writing time whenever someone needs to go to the doctor or someone needs to be picked up after school or someone needs their glasses fitted. It’s these kind of interruptions that prompted me to set aside 15 hours a week for writing – in the hopes that I can actually get 10.

So far this week, I’ve gotten 90 minutes actual writing time from the 7 hours scheduled. It kinda stinks, really.

However, the rest of the week looks good, with no interruptions scheduled. This is important, because tomorrow begins Tristi’s April 2010 writing challenge.

My goal is 7500 words per week in my new book. It’s a direct sequel to the last one, and as I worked on the first chapter tonight (862 words – woo!) I realized that it is just a big bunch of spoilers for my last book. My first thought was to get that scene ready for my Storymakers boot camp pages, but maybe I should try and come up with another scene instead – one that won’t ruin the ending of my first book.

In other news, I’m very excited to have a new banner for my blog, designed by Katie at KatieDidDesign. I think she did a great job with the banner, and also my business cards which are based on the same design and should arrive in time for Storymakers! Woo.

Now I need to dust off my HTML skilz and finalize my web site design.

Yeah, it’s been a busy week. How ’bout you?

This week, my focus has been on drafting a SciFi short story I’m calling The Dozen Dozen. I managed to finish the first pass today. It weighs in at 5,461, which is not too far off from my 5,000 word target.

In addition to meeting this writing goal, another thing I’ve done this week is take a hard look at my long term goals as a writer. A while back I came up with where might like to be in 5 and 10 years. This week I sat down to try and set my course so I have a chance of actually getting there.

In five years, I hope to have 20% of my income generated by my writing. The more I know about the publishing world, the more I realize that’s not going to be easy. But it would be impossible at my current writing level.

As I looked at what I wanted to write, and how much time that writing takes, I realized that my current schedule of 5-10 hours a week just isn’t going to cut it. So I’ve worked out a plan whereby I can write as many as 15 hours a week. At just over 600 words per hour, that should give me nearly 10,000 words per week.

I want my writing to pay me the way a part-time job would, and so I’m committed to treating it like a part-time job, with regular hours and performance-based objectives.

What about you? Where do you want YOUR writing to be in five years?

Okay, actually that’s a little bit of a misnomer, because I didn’t have quite as much “writing” progress as I wanted, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy.

But I did actually write. I’ve tasked myself with drafting a SciFi short by the end of the week. It’s either titled The Dozen Dozen, or Branson’s Intended. Or it may be titled something else by the time it’s done. I have about 900 words, out of a projected 5000. Time to turn up the speed.

I had a birthday last week, and with my birthday money I set up web hosting and hired a graphic designer. There is a quick-and-dirty website located at www.donaldjcarey.com, and you are more than welcome to tell me all about what’s wrong with it, since I’m still in the process of deciding what I want it to be when it grows up.

Being a software guy, I’m calling this a “functional beta.” I’ll make an official launch announcement when I have the real graphics up.

I’m also preparing for three (3!) blog tours coming up in the next 30 days:

• Cleansing of America by W. Cleon Skousen on March 26
• Women of the Book of Mormon by Heather Moore on April 2
• The Thorn by Daron Fraley on April 16

And then, of course, there’s my Friday post on Book Launches and Book tours. Or maybe I’ll split those up. They are probably big enough to each warrant their own post.

Anyway, it’s been a crazy busy week, but things are happening and moving forward. How was YOUR week?

I did write this week – twice. I actually put thoughts onto virtual paper, totaling 855 words.

I was going to write today – really I was. But I got permission for the manager of the band who’s song I want to use in my book trailer, and so I spent my writing time, um, playing with video.

I have a lot of video revisions to do.

How was your week? Did you manage to shake of the distractions and write?

Not much to report today on the Work In Progress front today. Since I turned in my edits to Cedar Fort, but haven’t launched back into the sequel, I don’t really have a work in progress at the moment. That will change by next week – promise.

Well, I did actually spend a few minutes outlining a Sci-Fi short story that has been bouncing around in my brain. I’ve known for a while what the story would be about, but I just couldn’t make the ending work. And then this Sunday, on the way to church, a new ending came to me, and I had to wait four hours before I could get to my notebook and get it written down. Maybe I’ll see if I can have that drafted by next Wednesday.

My writing time has really felt the squeeze this week, and what little remained has been dedicated to keeping up with our Deep Thoughts on Book Marketing series and other writing-related activities. Today’s post will be on Book Trailers – part one of two.

This delay in the Deep Thoughts on Book Marketing series has been brought to you by Editorial Deadlines; and by The Day Job – provider of exciting, high-profile projects.

As I’m sure every one of you already knows, life has a way of happening. Fortunately, the things that are happening in my life right now are of the generally good variety, although they do tend to take up a lot of time.

So for today – a quick Work In Progress report. Tomorrow we continue our marketing series with the ever popular Blog Tour/Virtual Book Tour.

My goal for the last two weeks was to get my book edited down to 300 pages and resubmitted to Cedar Fort. Last night, I finally managed to meet this goal. Woo!

I also submitted my new, official author photo, taken by my awesome sister and Photoshopped into decency by her equally awesome husband. What do you think – pretty nice, huh?

Hopefully now that this version of the ms is in, my book will be given a release date. I’ll let you know what it is as soon as I can.

In keeping with the Hitchhiker’s Guide theme, I’ve decided to name this series Deep Thoughts on Book Marketing. During the next few posts, I’ll share things I’ve learned, read, observed, and deduced about selling books, with a sincere hope that this will be more of a discussion than a lecture.

But first, a quick WIP Wednesday update. I still need to cut ten pages. I should be doing that now instead of blogging, but I’m not – maybe tonight during the girls’ Young Women/Activity Days.

Now, then: Book Marketing.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an author in possession of a good book, must be in want of a reader. However little known the feelings or views of such a reader may be on their first entering a bookstore, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding authors, that they are considered the target audience for one or more of their books.

(With deepest apologies to Austenites everywhere.)

The fact is, even the best of books will languish on the bookstore shelves (or in boxes stacked in the warehouse) unless potential readers know the book exists and have an interest in reading it. The publisher has a vested interest in making sure readers know about their books, but resources are limited and tend to flow to the few authors and titles that promise the biggest return.

As a result, the bulk of the marketing effort falls squarely on the shoulders of the author. It does no good to debate the wisdom, fairness, or inconvenience of this arrangement. My aim is simply to acknowledge its reality and suggest ways to achieve success through – or perhaps in spite of – the system.

Ideas I have for future posts include:

Internet Marketing

• Author Web Sites and Blogs
• Virtual Book Tours
• Social Networking
• Book Trailers

In-person Marketing

• Book Launches
• Signings and Book Tours
• Conference Attendance
• Talks, Firesides, and School Visits
• Business Cards, Bookmarks, and Handouts

I’ll simply start at the top and work my way down, unless someone requests that I begin elsewhere. Also, if I’ve missed something you would like to see covered, leave me a comment. I want this to be a helpful, comprehensive kind of guide.

I’ve decided it’s much easier to add pages than it is to cut them. But that’s what I’m up against right now. The revisions I made between October and January increased the length of my book by about 40 pages, and Cedar Fort has asked me to cut the manuscript by about the same number.

Now, the obvious solution would be just to take out the things I added, but I really like the changes, and believe overall they really strengthen the book. So I have to decide what to cut.

I’ve been working diligently on this, and have managed to trim 21 pages. That means I have another 19 to go, and I’m certain those last pages are going to be much harder than the first ones were.

But enough whining about having to put my baby on a diet. Tonight I did one of the more “fun” things on my to do list: my sister came over and took some pictures for my author photo. I hope to have them in the next day or two, and when I do I’ll be sure to post them so you can get a sneak peek.

Don’t you hate it when someone says, “I have potentially great news but I’m not ready share it yet because all of the details haven’t been worked out yet?” Dontcha? DONTCHA?

Yeah, me too. It drives me crazy.

But not as crazy as having potentially great news that I’m not ready to share because all of the details haven’t been worked out.

Which I have. Potentially.

The anticipation is enough to turn me into a hypocrite. Hate me if you must.

But enough about the things I’m not going to tell you yet. Here’s what I can say.

After some careful deliberation, which did not involve a dart board or eenie-meenie-miney-moe, I have decided to try and apply the Snowflake Method of story planning to my new work in progress. This is in sharp contrast to the Write Whatever I Feel Like and Hope It Works Out Somehow Method, which is how I wrote my last story.

Hopefully the time it takes to have a submission-worthy manuscript will also contrast sharply, as the I started on the last book sometime around 2003.

But I’ve learned a lot since then, and I’m excited to apply that knowledge to this next project.

So how is it going? Thanks for asking. I’m in the middle of step 3 of 10 – In-depth Character Design.

I have two characters done, and each one took me about an hour to do. Combining these character sketches with the other story planning output, I have fourteen pages of hand-written, multi-colored notes.

And one typed paragraph. Yes, I know I’m not to the “Write your first paragraph” step, but my muse was bugging me.

Anyway, sorry I don’t have more to share. But I promise you’ll be the first to know when the details are all worked out.

Soon. Hopefully real soon.