Busy, Busy

2011 has begun with a bang. Way busier than I thought I'd be, but that's a good thing. Just glad I didn't make any New Year Resolutions.

I found out just before Christmas I'd been awarded a contract for a new book with Guideposts, for a new series they've started called Miracles of Marble Cove. About 4 friends living in this charming seaside town in Maine. The thing is, I needed to start working on it in January, get the plot all figured out and a detailed outline put together by Jan 19th. An additional challenge, and a first for me, is I'd be writing as part of a team. My book would actually be the 5th book in the series, so I needed to find out everything that had already happened in the 4 books before mine.

Well, I got it all done and the outline turned in 2 days early (awaiting approval so I can start writing the book itself, which is due in May). One top of this, I'm still finishing Book 5 for Revell, which is due in April. Another first for me, writing 2 books at the same time.

On the business side, we made the decision (under the advice of a CPA) to incorporate, so we've had to set all this up this month, too. Tons of details. And this week, we're packing up to fly my wife, Cindi, out to Texas to be with our daughter, who's expecting our first grandson any day now.

Yesterday was Cindi's last day at her job at Hobby Lobby. It was a sad/happy time. She really enjoyed the people she worked with, but is very excited to be working at home again. After a month in Texas, she'll take care of the books for "Dan Walsh Books, Inc," as well as function as my "first editor" again (I don't send anything in Cindi doesn't like). She's also hoping to do something she's wanted to do for as long as I've known her...take a dog training course and work with dogs, maybe even start a side business doing this.

This big change for Cindi has been made possible by the Guidepost contract and some new book deals in the works. Actually, some good things are brewing there (thank God). Hope to share more details about it very soon.

And that's not all, the last weekend of this month I'll be the keynote speaker at the Word Weaver's writing retreat in Florida, as well as teaching a workshop there. I'm really looking forward to it, but it's another first for me. Preparing messages and speaking about Writing.

Busy, busy. But I'm not complaining. For a writer, busy is good.