Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy New Year!


Hi!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy new year! May 2015 be filled with lots of happy new memories, time spent with friends and family, and lots of books!

~~ H. S. Contino

Sunday, October 26, 2014

A Few Updates

Hello fellow bookaholics!
 
It's been a while since I updated this blog, so I decided to take a few minutes to share a few updates on my fledgling writing career.
 
 
Writing Projects
 
Although it's been a quiet year on the publishing front, I have spent a great deal of time working on writing projects. I have several fictional manuscripts in various degrees of completion on my hard drive. One of them is coming close to completion. I'm hoping to self publish it in the spring of 2015. I'll share more details when I'm closer to a final draft, but it's a futurist science fiction novel. I'm tentatively calling it "New World," but the title will probably change as I get closer to publication.
 
I've also been spending a great deal of time researching local history for a non-fiction project. I've been working on the manuscript for over a year; but, due to the large amount of research involved, my progress has been slow. Ideally, I'd like to eventually publish the book through a traditional publisher (since self-published history books don't tend to do well). It's just a matter of finding the right publisher. Once again, I promise to keep my readers updated as I continue to work on this project.
 
 
 

 

4th Annual Florence Festival of Books

On Saturday, September 27th, 2014, I attended the annual book festival in Florence, Oregon. Every year, the event gets bigger. This year, there were more than 70 authors and seven publishers in attendance. As always, I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet and chat with readers and fellow writers. I look forward to attending the event again next year.



 
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
 
November is just a few days away. I've been jotting notes in preparation for NaNoWriMo 2014. This year, I'm going to try my hand at writing a fictional romance story. But, since this is me, there'll be a twist. The story will be set slightly in the future. In addition to the romantic storyline, there will also be a 2nd storyline. It's science fiction in nature and ideally, it'll give readers something new to think about. A moral dilemma of-sorts.
 
I'm tentatively calling the story "Someone That I Used to Know." My goal is to complete the rough draft during NaNoWriMo (so by the end of November). I'll then set the manuscript aside for a few weeks before returning to it with "fresh eyes" to begin the long process of editing and refining the story. I tend to go through multiple drafts before I'm ready to publish my work.
 
 
As always, thank you for following this blog and supporting my writing career.
 
~~ H. S. Contino


Sunday, August 31, 2014

4th Annual Florence Festival of Books

Hello all!

     I'm happy to announce that I've reserved my booth at the upcoming 4th annual Florence Festival of Books. This year the event will be held on September 27th at the Florence Events Center. The doors open to the public at 10 am. The event runs until 4 pm.


 
 

      This annual event is a lot of fun. It's free to the public to attend. There will be both authors and publishers available to answer questions and sign copies of their books. There'll be a combination of fiction and non-fiction writers. For additional detail, please visit the Florence Events Center webpage:


 
 
I hope to see you there!

Monday, April 7, 2014

2014 Market Season

The 2014 Farmers Market season is almost here. Woo-hoo! 

I've been working hard lining up markets and festivals. The following is what I have so far:

The Coquille Farmers Market is under new management this year. It'll still be held on Thursdays at the Community Center, but many of the vendors will be setting up inside (in the small auditorium). The market begins this week. The hours have also changed. We'll be setting up at 10 am and open to the public from 11-3.

A different group has formed a new Saturday market in Coquille this year. It's being called the Coquille Valley Farmers Market. I'm still looking into the details. I believe the market opens next Saturday.

Finally, I will be returning to the Coos Bay Farmers Market. We'll be selling on Central Avenue on Wednesdays beginning in May.

I will not be selling at the Bandon Old Town Marketplace this year.

I'm excited about the new season and I look forward to seeing everyone-- both shoppers and fellow vendors-- again soon. I'll be selling my usual combination of hand made crafts and autographed books.


As always, thank you for supporting my little business. You're all awesome people! :)