For those who haven’t watched it yet, here’s my presentation on word and page count last month at the Annapolis chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association, shortly before Beneath the Deep Wave was published.
Here’s the handout:
And here’s the original post that inspired it:
Be sure to watch my previous writing presentations as well!
Many thanks to Jenny for a wonderful opportunity to promote Beneath the Deep Wave and another upcoming anthology from Fae Corps Publishing that I’ll be featured in.
Wishing all my fellow Americans a Happy Labor Day tomorrow.
That’s right. I find it hard to believe that Beneath the Deep Wave will be available in a few weeks (on the 23rd). Ever since Mystical Greenwood first premiered, many people have been asking and asking when sequel would come. Well, the wait is almost over. I won’t be a one-book author for much longer. I am excited but also nervous. Hopefully, critics will feel I’ve gotten better and not that I’ve lost my touch.
Don’t forget you can still preorder the Kindle for Beneath the Deep Wave. Print copies will come after the release.
You can mark it to-read on Goodreads as well, and you can preorder the paperback and Nook through Barnes and Noble. Other vendors offer eBook preorders too.
Many thanks to Sally Cronin and Fae Corps for helping to promote it as well.
In the meantime, a micro memoir I wrote, “Eight Ball Corner Pocket,” is featured in the newest issue of Pen in Hand from the Maryland Writers’ Association.
You can mark it to read on Goodreads.
Also, on the 21st, I will once again be giving my presentation on word and page count, this time for the Annapolis chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association. It’ll be via Zoom only. So please register and join me at 7pn Eastern Time! Information can be found on the MWA website. You can help promote it on Facebook too!
Speaking of the Maryland Writers’ Association, registration is open for their annual conference in October. Early bird prices are available for one more week. I’ve signed up, and I hope to sell some books there. See you there if you can make it!
Now the pressure will be on to complete the third and last book in the trilogy. I imagine I will be besieged with the same questions.
Hello, everyone. If you remember from last month, I attended Balticon. Well, I had a good time, met some good people, was on some interesting panels, and I was able to sell three copies of Mystical Greenwood!
Also, in recent months, I’ve been featured in a couple new poetry anthologies. Check them out!
Many thanks to Gabriela Marie Milton for the opportunity to contribute for haiku poems to this anthology! Available in paperback, Kindle, and Goodreads.
I’ve also had this Christian poem published in the online magazine, Words of the Lamb, which has featured me before!
I mentioned this anthology a few months ago, but thanks again to Robbie Cheadle and Kaye Lynne Booth for allowing me to contribute not only six poems but also six of my pencil drawings! So yes, you can see me in action as an artist and writer! Available in paperback, Kindle, and Goodreads.
If you’re a poetry lover, be sure to check out my poetry page for other poems as well. And for you fantasy and fiction lovers, don’t forget that Beneath the Deep Wave will be coming out in a few months! You can preorder the eBook edition and mark it to read on Goodreads!
Here’s my final panel schedule for Balticon later this month at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore:
1:00 PM
Autographs with Jack Campbell and Andrew McDowell
2:30 PM
The Importance of Book Design
5:30 PM
Best Resources on Writing
11:30 AM
Recognizing Predatory Publishing Practices
1:00 PM
Dealing with Literary Rejection
Hope to see you there! And if you are reading this and are a mother, I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day.
A lot has been happening over the last few months. First off, this week I gave a presentation on word and page count for the Maryland Writers’ Association Frederick County chapter. I meant to record it for my YouTube channel. Sadly, I did not. Oh well. Maybe I’ll do that next time I give it.
For those of you who’ve followed me for a while, you may remember me discussing this topic before. For those of you who haven’t, here’s that post:
Kindle and Nook preorder links are now available for Beneath the Deep Wave! The latter is also on Goodreads!
Sally Cronin featured another of my blog posts from last year in her Posts from Your Archives series. Thanks, Sally!
A new poetry anthology is available featuring six of my poems, courtesy of poets Robbie Cheadle and Kaye Lynne Booth, who not only featured me but also allowed me to discuss my experiences with poetry as part of their Treasuring Poetry blog series a year ago. Many thanks to them, and also to Merril D. Smith for featuring a video of me reading one of my poems, which I’d written in college, as part of the anthology’s blog tour.
Check out my Poetry page for purchase links!
That’s right! It’s coming out in August. Here is the cover:
Beneath the Deep Wave is available for preorder from some vendors as an eBook, but not yet in Kindle, Nook, or print. More sales links will be posted when available. In the meantime, here’s a synopsis, and be sure to read and review Mystical Greenwood before Beneath the Deep Wave comes out. That way you’ll be caught up and won’t have to deal with spoilers!
And would you believe it, this is my 100th blog post! That’s a milestone. Many thanks to Sally Cronin, also, for sharing one of my previous posts in her Posts from Your Archives series. It’s been a good start, I think, to the year. I’ve taken further steps to balance the scales beyond social media. For this year’s Lent, I’ve given up watching videos on the computer, so my only YouTube usage has been on the TV. I’ve also been trying to limit my email logins to three per day.
I hope to see you next month at my presentation on word and page counts. See my events page for more details! I’m also hoping to be on panels at this year’s Balticon. I’ll post more details when I have them.
Here are the latest additions to my collection of inscribed books.
I purchased Marissa D’Angelo‘s novel The Cursed Spirit and Captain Michael J. Dodd’s Chesapeake Bay Odyssey at the 2022 Maryland Writer’s Conference.
I got a copy of Who Can Best Work and Best Agree when Charles Matulewicz visited Odenton Lodge #209 (yes, I am a Freemason).
I purchased Lewis F. McIntyre‘s A Gathering of Eagles, F. J. Talley‘s Twin Worlds, and Millie Mack‘s Take a Dive for Murder at the 2023 Maryland Writers’ Conference.
Check out the others:
If you’re a poetry lover and are looking to read some holiday-themed poetry either now or later in the year, check out this anthology from Southern Arizona Press featuring mine!
You can also mark it to read on Goodreads!
Many thanks to Zee Kelley for promoting Mystical Greenwood.
Happy Presidents’ Day to all my fellow Americans!
Many thanks to Lisa Haselton for interviewing me on her blog:
Interview with YA author Andrew McDowell
If you’re an author looking to do an online interview and promote one of your books, be sure to check out Lisa’s site!
As I revealed last month, the sequel to Mystical Greenwood is going to be published in August 2024. The title has now been unveiled. Here it is:
Stay tuned for more information!
With the new year coming, we always think about what we’re going to do differently. I’ve discussed resolutions before, but now I’ll speculate on where things may be going next for me as a writer.
Presently, the sequel to Mystical Greenwood is is in the hand of beta readers, and Fae Corps is aiming to release it in late August, just as the second edition of Mystical Greenwood was. Editing it had been my focus at the end of last year, and since I have always intended for the One with Nature series to be a trilogy, that means there will be one more book about Dermot and his fellow sorcerers.
But as I’ve said so many times, I don’t want to be confined to just one or two genres, so I do hope to venture out into all the others. I’ve had, over the years, different ideas for each, but I have discovered that I can only work on really one or sometimes two at a time. Many of them have really never come to fruition and remained solely based on themes or interests of mine that I’d like to pursue. Now, they could be late bloomers, but an episode of the Merry Writer Podcast from last year encouraged me to consider that I ought to be willing to let go of ideas that don’t grow. That could be.
True, I may not totally give up on all bits of them, but perhaps letting go can lead me to discovering new, better ones instead. Outside of One with Nature, that one mystery story involving abused pets has had the most attention, mainly because of how it had once been a college assignment. Still, I hope to finish it. Some of those themes previously mentioned are in mystery and horror, and I would like to do something in science fiction. I also hope to find some ways to dust off stories from history that, to me, aren’t as well known, but I admit that some of my favorite historical periods have been popular in fiction and film. I would also like to explore science fiction, but nothing concrete has formed in my head.
I won’t go into too many details, but just know that other ideas are there. Plus, they may not all be unique, something discussed in another good Merry Writer Podcast episode, but as long as I have some that I feel are unique, I’ll be content. Case in point, some reviewers of Mystical Greenwood described it as a typical fantasy hero’s journey, which it is, but that the focus on Nature made it stand out. Well, we’ll see where this year goes. Last year I resolved to be more positive and less worried about being perfect. I don’t believe I kept that. All I can do is try again and keep trying.
Many thanks to Sally Cronin for featuring Mystical Greenwood in her Christmas Book Fair. Enjoy this reading from earlier this week of a sneak peek from my next book. Happy Holidays to all!
Andrew McDowell