exercise regularly

eat healthy

spend less time on social media

Yah. Let’s go with that.

New Year’s Day is such a cliché as a starting point for new projects so that the short lifespan of new year’s resolutions is a cliché in itself.

Even so, I cannot resist the inspiration of resolve and hope that comes every January 1. 

So here goes.

Changes for 2021

2020 sucked. It had its good points, like the day I published book 2 of the Dark Age trilogy, The Children of the Seventh Son. That was good. 

So was the electoral loss of the 45th president of the U.S. 

And the Bury household adopted two kittens.

And both our sons got good jobs.

So it wasn’t all a tortuous waste, but it’s time to make some changes. To start with:

• regular posts on the Scott Bury, Author blog and the Written Word blog
• less Twitter.

There’s just not enough time for everything, and Twitter does not work for selling books, or even publicizing them. I’m going to try to use it to engage with you readers better. Instead of “buy my book,” it will be more “tell me what you think.”

New projects

• The Children of the Seventh Son, the second book in the projected Dark Age trilogy, has  been available as ebook since November on all the major platforms. I will publish the paperback as quickly as I can make the presses roll.
• Amazon | Smashwords | Draft 2 Digital | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks
• Dead Man Lying, the next Hawaiian Storm mystery, has been sitting on my hard drive for months, ready for the editor. I hereby commit to releasing it as soon as I can get through quality control, first as an ebook and then as a paperback.

My next book will be a dystopian near-future alternate history, set in the Great Plains of the U.S. 

It starts with the idea that seemed to underly the novels of Philip K. Dick (The Man in the High Castle, Minority Report, Paycheck, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which became the movie Blade Runner, the novella that became the Terminator series, and many more): 

The future will be just like the present, only worse

I have finished creating the outline, and once I finish the Dark Age and Hawaiian Storm books, I can connetrate on dustopia.

Question: which title do you prefer: 

• The Fractured States of America, or 
• The Woman from the Prairie Bank?

More stories to write!

But I won’t stop there. In my last email newsletter, I asked subscribers what they wanted from me. One request was for another Wine Country Mystery, following Wildfire.

The good news is that I have the idea, the mystery and the overall story arc worked out. The next step is to write an outline, then to start writing the story.

So you can look forward to the return of Tara Rezeck, her daughter Roxanne and the faithful dog Charlie. 

That’s not all 

Being an author in the 21st century is a very busy career. There’s so much to do besides writing stories down.

That’s why I am happy to be a part of a cooperative authors’ group called BestSelling Reads. No, this is not a commercial. It’s that the support of other authors helps boost the impact of my promotion. It also gives more readers more opportunities to engage with writers. 

So keep watching this space for updates with links to:

• online panel discussions with writers and readers
• podcasts about books
• giveaways
• emails
• and more. 

Tell me what you want

I’ll repeat the offer I made in my email newsletter: send me an email or connect via social media and tell me what kinds of stories you want to read.

To make sure you stay up to date, subscribe to the newsletter. You’ll get news in advance of this blog, as well as new opportunities for stories, giveaways and freebies—and a free ebook premium!.

Write to you, and maybe talk with you again soon!