What’s next for Lee Hall…

I agree the title of this month’s final blog entry is a little self centered but you have to be that in order to write a blog. It’s all about the me apparently and so my second book release has been and gone, sales are still trickling in bringing it to around 20 units sold so far.

My conclusion right now is yes Darke Blood has been a success for an independent author like me but right now I have done all I can to market the book. Much like Open Evening or any book; real success takes investment of time and along the way I have learned a hell of a lot. And now I even have a back catalogue, groovy right?

So what is next for me? Well as an independent author I mostly have control over what I plan to release and what I want to work on next. The turn around time from finishing a draft to publication is around a year or maybe less depending on the quality of the story and availability of editor/publisher/cover artists.

 “Good ol’ ‘CH'”

Yes for those who are aware of the ending of my first book Open Evening (I wont spoil it, that much), it ended with a nod towards where the story was going to go next. The word Cemetery House in all it’s damning glory was mentioned in the final pages and yes that is what I am currently drafting at the moment! I guess that’s an exclusive scoop, of course I will announce that officially when I am ready. But let’s just say I am around 30,000 words in.

Darke Blood 2?

All I can say is read the first one, then we’ll talk about a sequel! Review it and let people know about it. And yes Darke Blood and Open Evening are connected in a way or two.

A super hero comedy book!

Back in 2015 when I decided to drop the series of books about robots in the future I came to a proverbial fork in the road, I was either going to write Open Evening or try having a go at a comic book style hero story. At the time I had more story to go on with Open Evening and so I wrote it, over the last few years I have gathered some ideas of how to make this potential super hero book work, so watch this space.

Acting? No I was just asleep..

pan

I have been taking a break as of lately in terms of all things stage, and by that I mean all things Iver Heath Drama Club. My efforts were needed towards Darke Blood and IHDC’s current production nodded heavily towards giving their youthful demographic a chance with some big roles for their up and coming show Peter Pan! So naturally I thought it was appropriate to step back for a while and maybe recharge a little.

Right now I have every intention to return to the stage for auditions in the late summer for the next IHDC pantomine show; I hope I still have something relevant to offer in my forever hopefulness of getting a larger role this year, we shall see.

Iver Heath Drama Club presents Peter Pan tickets available now online! Support local live entertainment! 

 

And remember every writer needs reviews for their work, if you have read either of my books, be cool and leave a review!

And here are a few highlights of social media from the week… Click on them and they take you places!

18724262_10154794920571559_1146209394141167616_n

 

 

snip

2017 #writing #revolution

Warning: Old Post Alert. How did you find me… 

Who would have thought putting black ink on the underside of your forearm would leave such a bad rash after?

revolution

Either way the photo looks kind of cool and I’m willing to live with the redness for a while, plus it also displays my prime directive for 2017!

Revolution! Not viva la France or anything politically crazy like that but something I have envisioned for my little patch amongst the world of the internet and book writing. In order for me to have any type of success and to sell books I must revolutionise the way I do things here. After all this is a journey to publication and that is an experience that doesn’t finish after I reach print, especially for the first time.

2017 will see my second publication come to life and its coming sooner than you think! An announcement is imminent but until then you will have to put up with me telling you about my next novel DARKE BLOOD and the range of other exciting projects I have lined up for this year. So here’s the plan….

THE NEXT BOOK!

I set out just over a year ago to try and repeat the model I used when drafting Open Evening; that was to write a stand alone story in order to build up a profile as an author and try and make it a little bit good. After much frustration and hard work throughout the beginning of 2016, I clutched the few straws of ideas I had and made them into a wonderful little book I am ever so proud to bring to world.

DARKE BLOOD is a story of one person’s journey to find out who they really are and along the way meets some ‘people of the night’ types and some ‘spell casting’ types. Everything culminates in what I can best describe as a shutter island meets a gender swapped Twilight, sounds interesting right, cool.

MY NEXT PLAY!

This month, yes this month I will be making a moderate return to the stage for Iver Heath Drama Club’s annual pantomime show Jack and the Beanstalk! For those within the area of Iver heath and surrounding I must urge you come on down to watch a wonderful show put on by great performers who do so much for the community and guarantee a night of entertainment, plus you get to see me in a totally non writing capacity. Tickets can be found here which are very competitively priced, and I must stress there aren’t that many left, we have even sold out our Friday night show!

MY NEXT PLAY (that I am writing)

You may or may not know but I also write plays. 2016 saw the debut of my stage work with Hotel Doom and was a wonderful success. Well I’ve only gone and done it again, well kind of. Over the summer I envisioned myself writing a pantomime based of the story of Beauty and the Beast. I currently have ACT 1 of a script drafted which I fully intend to complete after presenting to my drama club peers. Then my full vision would be to direct it, exciting long term plans are the best plans. I say that because there’s nothing more satisfying than having a plan and then having someone ask you about it and you tell them until they get bored. Seriously having a plan is where success grows from!

OTHER STUFF INCLUDING TOP SECRET REBOOT OF OLD PROJECT THAT IS MY DESTINY TO WRITE

Right now after a nice few weeks away from editing I am drafting some new material. This stuff is very much connected to why I set out to be a writer. There will be robots, enough said. Right now I will call this Project X43.

JOIN MY MAILING LIST!

I have said before and will say it again, I have an abundance of free material I want to give out but I need you to sign up via email to this website. Trust me good stuff will only be sent your way, sign up today!

And so my 2017 is fully planned, I even have a list on my wall. Let the revolution of writing begin!!!!