The Top 10 Blogs I’ll Be Following in 2011

This year has been an interesting year for publishing and entertainment. For me, it’s been a chance to start a blog, join a group blog, and begin seriously reading other blogs while figuring out just what to do with this Beyond the Charts thing I’m embarking on.

I’ve decided to make a list of the Top 10 Blogs I know I will be following on a regular basis in the coming year. The one you’re reading is a given. 😉

1. The New Authors Fellowship – This is the group blog I am a part of and I’ve made some good friends there as well as have read some very interesting entries over the last year I’ve been a part of it. These are some great writers with some stories to tell, and they don’t do a bad job of blogging about things either.

2. Kevin J. Anderson – Kevin and I became friends online a couple of years ago when I contacted him as a fan and that friendship has grown beyond the fan/author to where we’ve talked about deeply personal issues. He’s a really good person and an awesome author, and his blog is chock full of tid bits on writing and productivity, not to mention that he recently reposted his 11 Tips for Writers which he often cites at conventions and workshops.

3. Mike Duran – This is a blog I’ve been following with much interest this year as he writes in two areas that I am very much interested in, but rarely see blended together and done right: Horror/Thriller fiction and Christian fiction. With the way he’s talked on his blog this past year about this ghost story he’s written, I have some high hopes for his book coming out in February. I hope I’m not disappointed. The Resurrection hits bookstores’ shelves in February.

4. Dean Wesley Smith – A long time hand in the field of writing, he is keeping up on all the goings on in the publishing industry and keeping new and current writers abreast of all the scams and false hopes and then telling them what they need to know and keep track of. A true expert if there ever was one.

5. Brandon Sanderson – I’m really just discovering him. I first heard of him because he took over Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series after the unfortunate passing of the original author, but since I was still working my way through Jordan’s books, I just took that as a good sign that I could actually finish reading the series when I get to that point. Since then, I’ve discovered that he had a good reason for being picked for that task as I’ve started reading him with his free download Warbreaker. Once I’m finished, next up from him: The Way of Kings. I’m following his blog to see about news on his projects and to see what else he might say about the industry.

6. Wil Wheaton – Yes, most of you probably remember him as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but there’s a lot more to this fellow besides that role from so long ago. Read his blog to find out.

7. Michael Stackpole – I first read him with the Star Wars novels he’s done. This year I’ve looked over some of his other books online to decide what to read beyond that and have followed his blog some too. I’ll be following him even more this next year. Also, I’ve chatted with him some on Facebook and he’s a very gracious conversationalist.

8. Splashdown Books – This small independent publisher is definitely making a “splash” on the small press scene. As a publisher of Speculative Fiction with Christian perspectives, founder Grace Bridges from New Zealand talks about the themes of the novels she publishes as well as other thoughts and topics associated with the emerging genre of Christian Speculative Fiction.

9. Greg Mitchell – Much like Mike Duran, this fellow seems to have a decent story put together that combines the two areas I want to see more of. I hope he does well. I’ll be following his progress. The Strange Man hits bookstores’ shelves in February.

And what about 10?

Well, 10 will be that one that surprises me as I get into the first couple of months of the next year. It will be the one that I either had never heard of before, or will have considered for this list but didn’t think would be as “must read” as the rest I’ve mentioned and then it suddenly pops out as a winner. Number 10 is a mystery now, but before too long, I’m sure that it will reveal itself.

I hope you have found some new blogs to follow because of this list. Feel free to comment and link below to any blogs you like to follow.

My first video blog

Hi, here’s my first video blog. Sorry for the way the natural lighting dims near the end, and when the artificial lighting just goes out on me for a second there.

Total update and reintroduction for David James and Beyond the Charts.

Okay, okay, okay!!

So we got a unique situation with this blog entry here. It’s being posted in more than one location. For over a year now I’ve taken the time to get used to MySpace and had been using the blog I have with MySpace to promote Beyond the Charts. The entries have at times been regular, while other times have been sporadic. Lately, there haven’t been any. Now this blog entry appears there, and in two other locations.

I’m doing it this way to introduce myself and my two new blog areas to everyone whether they are seeing this for the first time on MySpace or one of the two WordPress blogs I’m posting this on.

See, there are some changes happening with Beyond the Charts and its founder David James and you need to be aware of them and you need to know where to go for specific information as not just one place will always do anymore.

So for starters, let’s talk about these three different blog pages:

There’s the classic MySpace blog for Beyond the Charts, there’s the new The Lost Journeyman blog, and then there’s the New Authors’ Fellowship blog I have been invited to.

So what do all these blogs mean?

It means that things are going to be a little more organized for me as I move forward with things and that some information I used to share all in one blog will now be separated so you can keep up with just what you want to keep up with, or you can still keep up with it all by looking at all three.

So how is this divided up now?

Okay, here’s what’s going on:

As a person, I’ve got several projects going on, and the ones I keep talking about are the most active. There’s Beyond the Charts, there’s my involvement with The Trump Network, and there’s the novel I’m working on. Each of these blogs will now take over one of those aspects of myself.

Which ones will cover which?

The new official blog of all things pertaining to the growth of Beyond the Charts can be found here – https://beyondthecharts.wordpress.com/

That means the old one on MySpace will be taken over primarily by another topic – in this case financial and business information – even though it is still a Beyond the Charts location, and will be the main blog I use to promote my part of The Trump Network until I set up a different one and you can find it here – http://www.myspace.com/beyondthecharts

Finally, if you want to keep up on my journey as a writer to see how I’m doing with that and what happens when I eventually finish my novel, then keep up with me and some other authors here – http://newauthors.wordpress.com/

On each of these, the main focus will be what I’ve listed as being discussed, although my own personal viewpoints and what’s going on with me personally with each category will come into play sometimes as well – more on the writer blog than either of the others.

Now that you know all of that concerning the blogs, let’s do a general update that introduces all three businesses to you so that everyone is aware of everything going on with each item I do, and then from this post on, you decide where and how many places you want to follow me at.

First up, Beyond the Charts.

Beyond the Charts – http://www.beyondthecharts.com – is a mainstream online store that focuses on Speculative Fiction in many forms as well as Hardcore Music of varying kinds. As of now the store only sells Movies and Music but will soon have some Novels and eventually Comicbooks and Games.

You can keep up with Beyond the Charts several ways:

You can visit the new official blog The Lost Journeyman – https://beyondthecharts.wordpress.com

You can go to MySpace at – http://www.myspace.com/beyondthecharts

You can go to Facebook at – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clarkesville-GA/Beyond-the-Charts/94716168345

You can go to Twitter at – http://www.twitter.com/beyondthecharts

You can go to the all new Message Board called The Wasteland at – http://beyondthecharts.proboards.com/index.cgi

So there are several ways to keep up with Beyond the Charts. And that last one, The Wasteland, is really new too, only a couple of weeks in existence. So feel free to go there and register and post about the different topics available.

Beyond the Charts is growing in sites in order to make sure you have a place for all your Speculative and Hardcore needs, not only just getting the product, but staying informed and having a place to socialize with like-minded individuals. I hope to fill an order from you soon and chat with you on the board!

My work with The Trump Network is relatively new.

Basically, it’s something that came about one day while online in December. I had already been with another well-known Network Marketing company for many years and didn’t like my lack of the success I should have had. Then I saw Trump was doing this and I had to switch. I failed to renew at the end of the year and I joined with The Trump Network – that just launched in November – in the middle of January.

One of the things that I’m really impressed with about this opportunity is that I don’t have to go around bothering total strangers and bugging my friends and family about it. The vast majority of the marketing is done online, and I love the leads I’m generating that way. Indeed, my sponsor is helping me tremendously and I’m already signing up people.

To find out more information, just go here and see a clip of Donald Trump and then click over to the next page so you can see some more of what it’s about – http://www.marketingmentorsusa.com/davidjames.html

And finally, but not least, my life as a writer.

I don’t have any novels finished, although I do have some short stories that are finished and I might look into getting some of those published while I’m working on finishing a novel. I recently sent a short story to a fantastic editor named Jeff Gerke – http://www.wherethemapends.com/writerstools/writers_tools_pages/editorial_services.htm – and what he sent back to me was very informative and gave me a lot to think about to improve it. Soon I will be jumping on that short story and implementing some changes. Of course, I’ll send it back to him and see what he thinks and do anything else he suggests from there.

As far as the novel that I feel should be finished first?

I haven’t touched it in a long time, but soon I will be taking a couple of hours out each evening and adding to that story. It already needs the prologue changed to the first chapter and a new prologue that’s much shorter to replace it. It also needs to have some adjusting in how the supporting characters are seeing the main character. The main character might need some adjusting too.

People say “When I have time to write, I will.” I used to be one of those. Now when I’m not writing, I take responsibility and when I say something, I say, “Now where can I take some time from to put toward writing?”

This very blog entry is a perfect example of that. I was both looking forward to it because I wanted to get going with things and letting everyone know the different things I’m doing and where all to keep track of that, but at the same time I was dreading it, because I knew it would take a lot out of me. I finally just buckled down late at night/early one morning and spent an hour or so typing this so that it could be ready to post on all three of my blogs as a way of introducing me and my projects to new people while reintroducing and updating things with others who have kept up with me for some time.

I suppose this is enough to say for now so I’ll draw it to a close. Ultimately, I have a lot on my plate, and I stay rather busy. But I’m never afraid to address concerns, so if you have any questions or comments about any of the things I’ve shared today, please shoot me an e-mail at dj@beyondthecharts.com and I’ll respond as soon as I can.

Be encouraged,

David James
Writer
Founder – Beyond the Charts, LLC
http://www.beyondthecharts.com
Independent Marketer
The Trump Network
http://www.marketingmentorsusa.com/davidjames.html