Between the Lines: a different kind of newsletter

I wanted to share the first installment of Between the Lines. I am having so much fun creating this. I hope you enjoy reading it. To follow along on a regular basis, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel or you can subscribe to my newsletter, Between the Lines. Either way you'll be kept up to date on all of the stuff I'm involved in.

Enough chatter. I'll get on with it. Here's the first installment of Between the Lines!

Isn't Soji awesome? Send her a Tweet @SojiBTL, drop her a message on WeChat: SojiBetweentheLines, or leave her a comment here or on my YouTube channel

Silent but Working

I know I've been pretty silent over the holidays, but I've been working really hard. I've recently decided to publish a newsletter. I know, there are so many out there, but I want mine to be different. Really different. So I'm focusing on its construction and plan for the future.

These are a few of the things that it must include:
1. It must be flexible so that it addresses my total readership -   Tweens and adults.
2. It must be entertaining and informative.
3. It has to keep everyone up to date on what I'm doing (as much or as little as folks would want to  know)
4. It will announce the dawning of new books and new book series by me.
5. It will give the inside scoop on the characters of my books.
6. Most importantly, it will provide a way for my readers to interact with me.

What a big bill to fill, but if I do it right it's totally doable. I'm completely stoked and ready to dive in. I'll keep you posted. As soon as it's ready to launch, you'll be among the first to know!

Decision Trees

Things are moving along, the text of Warrior of the Egyptian Kingdom has been uploaded, looking at a new short story to upload onto my website, and working through the benefits of starting a newsletter.

This whole newsletter thing has got my mind lost in a flurry of activity. I realize the benefits of creating and maintaining a newsletter, but I'm not sure what to put into it. I get one idea then my brain leaps to a series of others. I've been doing a bit of research, reading different ones and sorting out what I love about what these authors are doing. Each one is personal and at the same time keeps the readers abreast of what is happening in the authors' writing world.

I really want start one and I want it to be good. But I have so many different ideas about what I want this thing to do that I can't seem to focus on any one aspect. My brain keeps jumping from one thing to another. What I want most is to create a conversation with my readers. That is so much easier said than done.

I think I need to go back to making decisions the old fashioned way, writing a list of pros and cons and putting them into a decision tree. At least if I do that, it would give my brain something to focus on and allow it to calm down.

So here we go:
1.  Get a sheet of paper and a pen.
2.  What is the point of the newsletter
3.  Who is it written to
4.  How often is it published
5.
6.
7.

Okay that's as far as I can get before my brain starts squirting thoughts in 20 different directions.