Writing Plans for 2013
1. I now
describe 'what I do' in retirement as "Reading and Writing" - I read to
write; I write for personal satisfaction. My writing takes many forms,
it changes from time to time in order to maintain satisfaction levels.
2. During 2012 I added the commitment to be a monthly columnist for the digi-mag "
The In-Depth Genealogist," as The Heritage Tourist. I will continue this in 2013 with one monthly column and one monthly blog post there.
3. I became an active
'lensmaster' on Squidoo.com
during 2012 by creating/writing 126 new lenses (webpages) on a variety
of topics, with Heritage Tourism and Family History leading the way. I
will continue this activity in 2013 at a measured pace. My lenses about
books I read have been popular; I will continue to write them. I also
write reviews, have guest posts and interviews, and participate in
Virtual Book Tours on my blogs, listed below.
4. It seems I need
to have each of my five blogs to have the necessary outlets for what I
want to write. Each has its own content and focus, and I've noticed the
priority among them shifts a bit, month by month. That is fine as it
seems to keep me from getting bored.
Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories
Dr. Bill on Retirement
Dr. Bill's Book Bazaar
The Homeplace Series Blog
The KINNICK Project
4. I will continue to write articles each month for Examiner.com on my three topic areas:
Springfield Genealogy Examiner,
Ozarks Cultural Heritage Examiner, and (added in 2012)
Springfield Heritage Tourism Examiner; two or three articles in each topic, each month.
5.
2012 was a year of research (reading), writing and shifting priorities
in my fiction priorities. My only publication was another short story in
the OWL Anthology (second in two years). It was the next 'episode' in
the 1833 background research for "
The Homeplace Series."
These two short stories are now being shared on the blog "serialized"
over a few months. This will continue as I move toward the publication
of a "background" book on the family history of the characters in my
"Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited" novels (working
title: "American Centennial at the Homeplace"). This book is anchored by
an Extended Short Story about the Homeplace during the Civil War. In
2013 I also hope to publish my first Mystery: "Murder by the Homeplace"
set immediately following the end of "Back to the Homeplace" with
characters from that novel having secondary roles in the Mystery novel.
Finally, looking the future, I will continue to develop content for "The
Homeplace Series" as it moves to a transmedia platform, starting with
the
existing wiki which
will continue to be developed in association with my daughter, Dr.
Annette Lamb, and her eduscapes.com and Lamb Learning Group activities.
We are also considering an affiliation with an app developer (in the
future) to provide multiple transmedia entry points to "
The Homeplace Series"
content that will continue to be expanded and developed on multiple
platforms. ["The Homeplace Forever" - the third in the original trilogy -
set in 2006, continues in development, along with stories across all
the years from 1833 to the present, and into the future.]
6. Work
will continue, off and on, on the non-fiction family history on our
Revolutionary War ancestor, Sergeant Major William KINNICK. He is my 5th
great-grandfather as well as the 3rd great-grandfather of 1939 Heisman
Trophy winner Nile KINNICK, for whom KINNICK Stadium at the University
of Iowa is named. There is surely some promotion value there to exploit.
I will also continue to research and write on issues related to a
non-fiction family history book on my great-grandfather Michael Smith. I
am still developing alternative approaches to making this project most
effective. These two are unlikely to be finished 2013; but they are
still active projects.
7. My actual genealogy work, other that
writing for my blogs and elsewhere, largely revolves around projects
that come up from time to time from 1) contacts from and with cousins,
2) cooperatively assisting my wife on her several projects, and 3)
providing support to our youngest daughter, Arrion, on her family
history projects - primarily related to her annual trips to Europe.
Arrion visited our Smith family ancestral ground of Alsace (Colmer,
France - my paternal line) and Black Forest area in 2012 and a possible
visit to Denmark (my maternal grandmother was born in Denmark) in 2013.
Families are Forever! ;-)
Note: This will be posted to each of the five blogs linked above, this year, on January 1.
