I asked you what you thought of my books and blog. Here’s what you said.

Well, it looks like winter’s finally done. After a snowstorm on April 30, we’ve finally made it over the hump. It’s been 80 degrees or so for three days now, the green is finally outnumbering the yellow, and there are bluebells on the lawn. Now, I don’t know if this is my mother’s doing or not, but whenever this happens, I get an intense desire to start spring cleaning.

But I’m not quite ready to tackle our new house (which is three times the size of our old two-room shack in Jordanville). So it was blog clean up time. I asked my readers and my Readers’ Group members to answer a few questions, so I could get a better idea of whether or not the stuff I write is even interesting. And I was frankly surprised by the response.

I got about 80 responses, which was more than I thought I would. They were in turns humbling, funny, encouraging, and definitely helpful. I thought I would share a few of the best ones with you all, and then I’ll tell you what exactly I have planned for the blog and for my books for the next year or so.

Winner for longest response

No, I won’t quote the whole thing. It was LONG. Much longer than I expected anyone to ever spend on a survey. And I’m very grateful for it. But there was one bit of it that I found especially interesting:

More of a confident you would be great to see on YouTube video, do more collaborations, more story telling. Maybe read excerpts from your books, give people a taste. They could be Facebook and Instagram and YouTube posts where you read an excerpt every week and follow up by talking about the theme etc. Get comments or feedback or interview people who have red your books and had their lives changed.”

I really liked the idea of reading excerpts and teasing out a theme from it. I think I might do that every once in a while. But more on that later.

Winner for kindest response

I would like to offer you encouragement. Your work and writing makes a significant impact on my family and I. We are Russian Orthodox, and we love to learn more about our heritage of faith; and how the saints of old can form the saints of today. Also, be strong. Raising a young family as a writer, theologian, deacon, translator… etc. is not easy. Be gentle on yourself. Practice Resurrection.”

Thank you. That’s really all I can say to that one.

Winner for being least able to stay anonymous

Your writing is getting too dark 🙂 Give more hope/love to your characters!”

Yep. Pretty sure that’s my mother.

Most surprising common theme

I had been wrestling with myself in one way–I thought that maybe I wasn’t doing enough to engage difficult current affairs and thorny political issues. But if there was one common theme to many of the responses, it was this:

It’s refreshingly free from political or cultural controversy.”

Ok then. Stepping away from the bog of political commentary… Phew! That was close.

Most common negative comment

Please be more consistent with your blog.”

Um. Yeah. Sorry about that. Things have been crazy. But now that Lent and Easter are done, things should get a little more under control. Plus, you people are going to be my accountability partners. More on that below.

Writing plans for the year

So, after some long walks among the budding trees and sprouting grasses, here are some things to look forward to in the coming year.

Blog:

1. Content scheduled a month in advance, shared with you all, so that I can feel very guilty if I don’t get them finished on time 🙂
2. Audio recordings of every blog post (downloadable)
3. Weekly facebook live sessions where I’ll go deeper into the context of the blog post, read some excerpts from my novels, and answer questions.
4. Two historical/cultural posts per month, one personal post about the writing process, and one review of a book, movie, or TV show that I loved (or hated)
5. By the end of 2018, I’ll package some of the similarly themed blog posts and add some exclusive content before making them available as ebooks.

Novels:

1. The audiobook of The Song of the Sirin will be ready by the end of June.
2. Book 4 will be finished by the end of July, published by early September.
3. Book 5 will be finished in time for Christmas 2018.
4. Books 1-3 box sets will be ready in the summer sometime on a number of different retailers.
5. Book 1-5 box sets will also be ready for Christmas 2018.

Other projects:

1. A TV pilot script inspired by St. Olga of Kiev’s life is in the works, and has been submitted to several script contests. I’m writing it together with an actual screenwriter named Ryan Jaroncyk.
2. I’m still sitting on the libretto for the opera inspired by Moses the Black’s life, but hopefully I’ll have a chance to get to that soon.
3. There have been hints of a graphic novel (or two) that I might be commissioned to write as well…
4. Bi-monthly facebook live interviews with other authors. Look for the first one in about two weeks with Joanna Briggs, who wrote the excellent YA dystopian novel Icon.

So there you go.

To keep myself honest, here’s what this month’s blog posts will be:

May 11: Russian Valkyries

May 18: How a bitter family feud in Alaska inspired me to write

May 25: Why Battlestar Galactica is Important, even 15 years later

June 1: An Unassuming Hero: Pozharsky and the Fate of a Nation

So what do you think? Are you excited to continue this journey with me?

If any of this is interesting to you, be sure to sign up for my Readers’ Group.

If you enjoyed this post, and would like to never miss a new blog post or update, be sure to sign up for my Readers’ Group. You’ll be the first to know about my novels’ release dates, giveaways, and contests. As a special thank you, I’ll send you a preview of my new novel as well as a few other free gifts. Just tell me where to send them:

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