Allen Dusk

Well…life has been a blur lately, but I’m slowly and steadily making progress toward wrapping the first draft of The Girl Alone. As of today I’m about 2/3 through the first draft, which is currently about 19,500 words, and the plot is evolving closely to what I originally outlined. As with any story I write, there’s an idea for a beginning and an end, and some ideas for how I’m going to transport my characters from one location to another. Sometimes in the middle of things I get an idea and go with it. That’s the fun part of this creative process.

I had hoped to have this project online a few months ago, but life events have pushed it back a bit. Going back to school, moving to Portland, and exploring this great new city I’m living in have gobbled up most of my free time. I know there’s the old saying, “A writer writes,” and that’s exactly what I’m doing when I have time to devote to this project. My current goal is to get this story wrapped by March 2014, and have the first chapter posted online by April. Hopefully I’ll make it.

In addition to writing The Girl Alone, I’ve been working on promo materials for the upcoming Shady Palms audiobook which I am super stoked about. I’ve also been learning how to format videos for Instagram and Vine so I can reach out through social media to an untapped audience of potential new readers. I’ve also been tweaking the final looks and function of The Girl Alone website. I think I finally have it where I want it. So, as you can see, in addition to being an author, I’m my own publicist, web developer, and video editor as well. In the end it all helps inspire my creative process.

Here’s a small sample of the creatives I’ve been playing with, and you’ll be seeing more soon.