Tag: writing

The year in a writer’s life was busy. Some of it actually went according to plan, while some of it was, well, off-plan. I continued to do events related to my book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, and continued to write for the Lincoln Group and other venues. On the other hand, some of my writing goals turned out to be unrealistic and have been punted to next year. That said, overall, 2023 was a successful writing year.

You can read about my year of traveling here, and my 2023 Lincoln book acquisitions here. I also wrote a reflections on a decade of writing here. Shortly I’ll have a recap of my year in reading here.

Getting back to the year in a writer’s life, I started 2023 with a series of presentations for various media outlets. There was the talk on how Lincoln institutionalized science for the Looking for Lincoln conversations (video), the Scholar Session with President Lincoln’s Cottage (video), the premier of a radio program called Our American Stories featuring me on Lincoln’s education (audio), my talk for Lonestar College – Kingwood (video), and my keynote speeches for the annual dinner of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) and for the Lincoln Society in Peekskill. And that’s just in the first few months of 2023. You can check out more of the Fire of Genius-related talks I gave on my media page.

I also won the Lincoln Legacy Award conferred by the Lincoln Society in Peekskill. Lincoln: The Fire of Genius was nominated for a dozen book awards, of which it was a finalist for two. I also started getting royalties for the new book in addition to continuing royalties for my previous books.

There were also several media mentions, including articles about my appearances, book reviews in Civil War Times and The Civil War Monitor magazines, and other interviews. Additionally, I was interviewed and quoted extensively in articles published in Salon (a liberal-leaning national periodical) and Fox News (a conservative-leaning media conglomerate). I did, however, turn down a requested interview with the CEO and host of a nationally known podcast featuring a universally recognized political personality because of the host’s long history of deceit and continuing attempts to undermine democracy. I wrote about the experience on Hot White Snow under the title “Writing Responsibly.”

Other writing activities included continuing to write for the quarterly Lincolnian newsletter, for which I again wrote eight book reviews and several shorter articles. I also wrote four book reviews for the Lincoln Herald journal. I continue to write for the Lincolnian.org website, now approaching around 200 articles. Then there were dozens of articles each for this David J. Kent website and my Hot White Snow blog, plus I post reviews about Lincoln books on the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project website (about 50 so far). I also wrote for the Lincoln Forum Bulletin. When I wasn’t writing, I was responding to requests for writing advice from several people planning to write books of their own. I also provided my first official “back cover blurb” for the book, Defeating Slavery, by Nancy Spannaus.

What I didn’t do was finish the three works in progress (plus one, see 2024) that I had planned to publish on Amazon. They will have to wait until next year.

Which gets me to 2024

I have two main focus areas (writing wise) in 2024. The first and foremost is to complete a book proposal for a work I’ve been researching. I had hoped to get the proposal to my agent in 2023, but travel and Lincoln Group of DC activities conspired to drag out the process. So…2024 it is. My goal is to get the proposal done in January with hopes of signing a publishing contract in the first quarter and a book in stores in 2025. I’ll have more on that project as it develops.

The second main focus is to finish the aforementioned three works in progress. One is the confederate monument book (a rational dialogue). A second is to publish second editions of my two previous e-books as print books, complete with much-expanded text and photos. Third is to complete a new Tesla book by the end of the year.

In addition, I plan to submit several articles for publication, both professional treatises in Lincoln journals and more accessible articles in popular magazines. I’m also considering developing a podcast series with the Lincoln Group of DC. Another potential project is to start a Substack column. And then there is the fiction, which I will definitely write with greater urgency in 2024.

Of course, I’ll continue to write for the Lincolnian newsletter and website, my DJK and Hot White Snow websites, and wherever else I can find space.

And yes, I realize that is a lot, to which I’ll add more traveling and continued reading.

I’m excited about starting on 2024. It’ll be busy for sure.

[Photo by Henry Ballone, Lincoln Memorial Centennial, May 22, 2022]

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

The year in a writer’s life was spectacular. My new book was released, I did tons of media, and wrote constantly, while also juggling my duties as president of the Lincoln Group of DC. Sometimes those two lives blended to the point where the line between them wasn’t so easy to determine. Adding in my year in a traveler’s life, my reading time, and my Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions, 2022 was a busy year. [See last year’s Life here]

Much of my writing activity this year was driven by the release of my newest book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, which came out in September. Feedback on the book has been universally positive, with the public and Lincoln scholars alike praising it as “a fascinating new perspective about Lincoln’s personality and mind” and “an enjoyable dive into the type of public leaders we used to have.” One Goodreads reviewer said that he “was truly fascinated by this aspect of Lincoln that has been overshadowed by his equally notable political and military activities.” Marc Rothenberg, former Editor of the Joseph Henry Papers and Historian at the National Academy of Sciences noted:

“This is the first in-depth study of Abraham Lincoln’s interest in technology and science and how that interest impacted his life and his Presidency. As Kent demonstrates, Lincoln was a catalyst for some of that transformation wrought by science and technology.”

Harold Holzer, perhaps the most prominent and respected Lincoln historian alive, added that:

“David J. Kent has melded deep research, genuine expertise, and a fine way with an anecdote to produce a study that fills a long-missing niche in the Lincoln literature.”

Others were equally effusive. I was honored by the reception the book received from both historians and the public. I’m a bit surprised that reviews and ratings have been slow to come, but I hope that all those reading the book will leave a short note on Goodreads and Amazon and other sites so that others can be encouraged to pick up the book.

Beginning in August I gave at least 18 presentations related to Lincoln: The Fire of Genius. Some were to Lincoln groups, others to Civil War Round Tables, one was to an Arts Club. In addition, I gave many presentations, moderated many meetings, and twice gave a course on Lincoln developed for Encore Learning, an adult continuing education program based in Arlington, VA. I also was interviewed in all media formats – print, radio, podcast, and video. You can read/listen/watch some of them via links on my Media page, plus see what events I have coming up. I already have 6 presentations related to Lincoln: The Fire of Genius scheduled for the beginning of 2023, so the coming year promises to be busy as well.

Unexpectedly, my writing life took me into the full breadth of the funeral industry in 2022. The year began normally with my representing the Lincoln Group of DC laying a wreath on Lincoln’s birthday in February at the Lincoln Memorial (which I plan to do again this year). The Memorial was also the site of the Lincoln Memorial Centennial commemoration in May, for which I was the primary organizer and served as Master of Ceremonies. Those were within the realm of activities that I’ve done before. But in June, I found myself in a funeral home hosting a special Lincoln Group meeting. There have been “presidents, vice presidents, Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, military leaders and foreign dignitaries who were honored at Joseph Gawler’s Sons,” and they have the original coffin in which Abraham Lincoln’s last direct descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was held in before his cremation in 1985. In September I was invited to give a presentation at the unveiling of a new monument at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. The intricate memorial honored famed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady with two large granite columbaria with inlaid photos related to Brady as well as life-size bronze statues of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, as well as a bronze replica of a Brady camera of the time period. Finally, in October I was in church, having been asked to give a eulogy at a memorial service for a long-time member and past president of the Lincoln Group who had passed away.

Outside of the Fire of Genius related activities, I continued to write for the quarterly Lincoln Group Lincolnian newsletter, for which I wrote eight book reviews and several shorter articles. I write constantly for the Lincolnian.org website, around 150 articles in the last couple of years. I also wrote an article for the Lincoln Forum Bulletin. Then there were dozens of articles each for this David J. Kent website and my Hot White Snow blog. Last year I mentioned that I planned to finish a Confederate Monuments book, but that took a back seat to other activities, so I’ll add it to this year’s list. There were also a couple of other writing projects I worked on, one or more of which should come out this year.

As with all writers, we survive on royalties for our work. I’m still getting royalties from my earlier traditionally published books on Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. The graphically oriented style made them popular with the general public and with younger adult readers (and even middle schoolers). The royalties aren’t making me rich, but it’s nice to see them still dribbling in. I also receive a little bit from the two specialty e-books on Amazon, both of which I make available for a low price to bring information on Tesla and Lincoln to a wider audience. You can see the previous books and directly order the two e-books on my Buy the Books page (scroll down to see them all). Since most publishers pay out royalties only twice a year and my Fire of Genius book was released in the second half of 2022, the first chance of receiving royalties will be in May 2023.

What is the plan for 2023?

This year is set to begin as a continuation of the last with promotion related to Lincoln: The Fire of Genius. I have six presentations already scheduled for the next few months, with likely many more being added to my Media page soon. [You can also see previous videos/podcasts on the Media page]

I’ll continue to write book reviews for the Lincolnian newsletter and plan to submit to the Lincoln Herald, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and Civil War Times. There should be a review of Fire of Genius in the next issue of the latter, which also says they still want to do an excerpt. In addition to reviews, I have articles in preparation for the first two that I hope will be published this year. I’ll also be posting reviews at the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project.

Last year I thought I would be publishing a book related to the Confederate monument debate. It got pushed to the back burner then, but I hope to get it out this year. I’m also working on a new Tesla book that I’ll put out as a print volume on Amazon.

Of course, I’ll continue to write blog posts on Lincolnian.org, DavidJKent-Writer.com, and HotWhiteSnow.wordpress.com. And as time permits, I’ll write fiction pieces and enter writing contests.

Finally, the new work in progress I was researching last year seems to have been bumped by a new Lincoln topic. I had a conversation with my agent before the holidays who said the publisher of Fire of Genius was interested in working with me on a new book, and the ensuing discussion led me in a slightly different direction. The goal is to get a one-pager to the publisher this week so they can start doing market research, then get them a formal proposal with sample chapters this spring. Meanwhile, I have two (or even three) potential collaborations on books that may come to fore in 2023. Stay tuned!

[Photo by Bruce Guthrie, Lincoln Memorial Centennial, May 22, 2022]

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

The year in a writer’s life actually went much more to plan than the year in science traveling and even the year of reading time. On New Year’s Eve I had signed a contract with Rowman and Littlefield to publish my long-researched book on Lincoln’s interest in science. The deadline was July 1st, so the first six months of the year were spent diligently making sense of thousands of hours of information stored in my head, on my computer, and a myriad of handwritten and printed notes. More on the book at the end of this post.

As has been the case for the last year or two, royalties continue to drip in from my three previous traditionally published books on Tesla, Edison, and Lincoln. I also get a little bit from the two self-published e-books on Amazon. Last year I reported that a Chinese-language version of Edison was in the works, but that apparently never happened. At least, I never saw any licensing fees or sales from it. Unfortunately, anyone ever remotely associated with my books at the old publisher has left, some willingly, some not so much, so getting information has become impossible. One the other hand, people have been reading more books, in part because COVID has limited the ability to do other things. Barnes and Noble remains the only large bookseller chain for new books, but after many years of declining sales (mostly due to Amazon) it projects opening new stores in 2022 and beyond. The new stores are smaller than the old behemoths, which is more efficient. The new private owner is optimistic. Every author in the world is pulling for them. I certainly need them open long enough to stock my book.

I don’t consider myself a “freelance writer” as much as a book author. Freelancers must constantly hustle to get projects, mostly small, with a constant stream necessary to keep the money flowing. I did enough of that in my consulting career and have little desire or incentive to do it as a writer. Plus, it doesn’t really fit my writing mentality. That said, my writing life is incredibly, sometimes frustratingly, busy. Here are some examples for 2021.

• Wrote and delivered four presentations on Zoom (not counting my participation in dozens of additional Zoom meetings).
• Developed and presented a short course on Lincoln: Savior of the Nation for Encore Learning (continued education for retired people)
• Wrote three book reviews for the Lincoln Herald, an academic journal.
• Produced eight book reviews for the Lincolnian, the newsletter of the Lincoln Group of DC.
• Wrote dozens of posts for Lincolnian.org, the website blog of the Lincoln Group of DC.
• Wrote dozens of posts for this author website and my side blog at Hot White Snow.
• Had three more contributions in the “From Our Readers” section of Writer’s Digest magazine.
• Was interviewed (alongside former colleague Bob Scheuplein) on Facebook Live by filmmaker Annabel Park about climate change options
• Entered six writing contests.
• Worked on turning a presentation and some blog posts on Confederate monuments into a book to come out sometime in 2022.
• Started a new WIP.

Now back to the book from Rowman and Littlefield 

The manuscript was due to the publisher by the beginning of July, and I dutifully turned it in with a week to spare. They accepted it shortly thereafter and paid me the second half of the advance. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. Copy edits on each of my previous books had all arrived within a few weeks, so after adding in some substantial buffer time with no further response I contacted the editor. And that’s when the COVID realization hit. As with many industries, COVID has caused a lot of problems in the publishing industry, from editors working at home to staff getting sick (or worse) to backlogs on production to basic issues like lack of paper. All of that created a backup in the publishing pipeline. My book was originally scheduled for release in February. With the delay of other books ahead of me, my book got kicked to the following “season,” which in the publishing business is broken into half years. In an instant, February became September 1st. That is now officially my release date. This month the final process starts in earnest, but I’ve already seen a mockup of the cover design and we should have the book up on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites for pre-order sometime in the spring.

I’ll have more details in follow up posts, including the big cover reveal, big news about the well-known author (and notable politico) who wrote the foreword, and information about what the book cover.

What is the plan for 2022?

As the year progresses, I’ll be doing more marketing promotion for the book. I have already scheduled two presentations for September, including my official book launch in association with the Lincoln Group of DC. Many more presentations will be on the schedule, probably mostly virtual but hopefully also getting to see people in person.

Book reviews will continue to be a large part of my writing for 2022. Those who get the Lincoln Herald should see a few come out, with more going into the pipeline. I also have a review in preparation for the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. These are both academic journals, but I also plan to submit to general magazines such as Civil War Times. My book review column (8 reviews/year) will continue in the Lincolnian newsletter. I’ll also be posting reviews at the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project.

I’ll be publishing a book related to the Confederate monument debate sometime this year. The goal is to put the discussion into perspective in a respectful manner while adhering to factual history. Look for the book on Amazon in the spring.

The fall will hopefully see an excerpt from my book in Civil War Times. I’m also hoping to get an excerpt in Smithsonian magazine.

I’ll continue to write blog posts on Lincolnian.org, DavidJKent-Writer.com, and HotWhiteSnow.wordpress.com.

As time permits, I’ll write fiction pieces and enter writing contests.

Finally, I have a new work in progress. I’ve been researching an event in Lincoln’s life and putting together a proposal for a book. I hope to get that proposal to my agent and in front of publishers long before the September release of the current book. If I can do that, I may have another new book in stores by late 2023. Stay tuned.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!