Today after quite a few weeks off, I started writing again. In about an hour, I was able to complete the rough draft of a new short story, "Flashpoint" that will hopefully be a part of a short story collection I plan on releasing as my next book.
As I sat in this goodwill trailer as the pouring rain pounds down, I got to say it felt good to be back in the groove. Of course, I still have much to do, not only with this story, but the project as a whole. I need at least I think 12 stories for a collection, though I'll have to type it all up to be sure (I'm writing by hand).
Though the road will most likely long and hard for me on this road, once again I'm reminded why I love it. It feels good to create something, to do something impratical but awesome.
I'll see what I will be able to come up with in the coming weeks and start to put it together and see what I have. Depending on what it all is, I might need a new overall title. My working title is "Snapped" since I think it will be a horror/supense collection but I guess that depends on the stories I continue to create. Then of course there is the thing of a cover design. I already have a working idea; a woman, whose raven hair obscures her face, cutting into it with a scapel as blood trickles down. Wicked eh? We'll see.
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Random thought: Damn Cabin
Random thought: The Cabin in the Woods in one of the BEST horror films I have ever seen and will go down as an instant classic that will be used to defend the genre itself. Go see it if you haven't already and go in blind. Trust me, you'll thank me later.
Genesis of a project
For some of the potential readers, they will be puzzled, curious to where the idea of this novel came from. I have given it some thought and have come up several factors to my thinking process of why this novel came to be.
1) My November 2010 car accident
There is no way around it, I have to start here. Three days after completing my first novel, I got into an accident that could of claimed my life. I walked away with the smallest of cuts and a shaken feeling in my gut.
That could have been it. And that horrified me greatly. Not just the dying at 23 part, but the fact I wouldn’t have much to show for it. I mean there wouldn’t have much to say in my obituary.
That night solidified quite a few things for me. The biggest thing being that I had been given a second chance and I sure as hell couldn’t waste it. Ironically, if I hadn't had the accident, I probably wouldn't had such a fire under my ass to get another book done and publish it. So it was a blessing in disguise I guess.
2) 2012 and Harold Camping May 21st group.
Yes, most of are pretty sure the whole Mayan thing is bogus and there is plenty of evidence that nothing will happen on December 21.
You could have tried to mention that Harold Camping and his followers. That whole media circus happened a few weeks before I started writing the initial draft. Rational people knew it was bogus and Camping predicted wrong twice last year.
The whole thing got me thinking though; if they had been right, and we only did have a few days, how would a person spend it really?
3) Change of genre
My friend Kenobi/Romulus over discussion called the novel “An anti-doomsday novel” which in a way is correct. I purposefully show little violence or rioting or anything like that if something like this were to occur. Though it may had been through rose tinted glasses, I thought to myself; if you weren’t in the middle of that madness and you had a limited amount of time to fix something, what would you really do?
4) The film Last Night
I didn’t realize it until later, but my idea had been done before (kinda) in 1998’s last night that deals with a group of people on the last day on earth before it ends. While it does have some darker elements, it and my book are somewhat similar dealing with different people doing different things with the time they have left. One guy just wants to have a lot of sex. One wants to listen to music. Another just wants to get home to her husband. It shows a world that is about to suffer the end but without the usual Ronald Emmerich fire and brimstone destruction fiction writers like to imagine the world as.
5) Time
Time. We always think we have plenty of it and we don’t have to rush things.
Wrong again.
As previously stated, my near death experience drilled into my skull the universal truth; that nothing is guaranteed. So really, that is the point of the book, the message.
DON’T WASTE TIME.
Seriously don’t do it. Don’t waste time and especially don’t waste the time of others (now my #1 pet peeve). Do things, live, experience, love. Live without the hesitations. Don’t hesitate going on that trip to Tibet. Tell that boy you love him. Eat that food you’ve never tried because we are here for only a moment.
There might not be an end of the world scenario but tomorrow is never guaranteed. Do you best to live right by you and create the world you would want to live in.
Now even as I say this, I am not perfect when it comes to practicing what I’m preaching. But I’m trying. My eyes are open to the possibilities. I hope the same for you.
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
1) My November 2010 car accident
There is no way around it, I have to start here. Three days after completing my first novel, I got into an accident that could of claimed my life. I walked away with the smallest of cuts and a shaken feeling in my gut.
That could have been it. And that horrified me greatly. Not just the dying at 23 part, but the fact I wouldn’t have much to show for it. I mean there wouldn’t have much to say in my obituary.
That night solidified quite a few things for me. The biggest thing being that I had been given a second chance and I sure as hell couldn’t waste it. Ironically, if I hadn't had the accident, I probably wouldn't had such a fire under my ass to get another book done and publish it. So it was a blessing in disguise I guess.
2) 2012 and Harold Camping May 21st group.
Yes, most of are pretty sure the whole Mayan thing is bogus and there is plenty of evidence that nothing will happen on December 21.
You could have tried to mention that Harold Camping and his followers. That whole media circus happened a few weeks before I started writing the initial draft. Rational people knew it was bogus and Camping predicted wrong twice last year.
The whole thing got me thinking though; if they had been right, and we only did have a few days, how would a person spend it really?
3) Change of genre
My friend Kenobi/Romulus over discussion called the novel “An anti-doomsday novel” which in a way is correct. I purposefully show little violence or rioting or anything like that if something like this were to occur. Though it may had been through rose tinted glasses, I thought to myself; if you weren’t in the middle of that madness and you had a limited amount of time to fix something, what would you really do?
4) The film Last Night
I didn’t realize it until later, but my idea had been done before (kinda) in 1998’s last night that deals with a group of people on the last day on earth before it ends. While it does have some darker elements, it and my book are somewhat similar dealing with different people doing different things with the time they have left. One guy just wants to have a lot of sex. One wants to listen to music. Another just wants to get home to her husband. It shows a world that is about to suffer the end but without the usual Ronald Emmerich fire and brimstone destruction fiction writers like to imagine the world as.
5) Time
Time. We always think we have plenty of it and we don’t have to rush things.
Wrong again.
As previously stated, my near death experience drilled into my skull the universal truth; that nothing is guaranteed. So really, that is the point of the book, the message.
DON’T WASTE TIME.
Seriously don’t do it. Don’t waste time and especially don’t waste the time of others (now my #1 pet peeve). Do things, live, experience, love. Live without the hesitations. Don’t hesitate going on that trip to Tibet. Tell that boy you love him. Eat that food you’ve never tried because we are here for only a moment.
There might not be an end of the world scenario but tomorrow is never guaranteed. Do you best to live right by you and create the world you would want to live in.
Now even as I say this, I am not perfect when it comes to practicing what I’m preaching. But I’m trying. My eyes are open to the possibilities. I hope the same for you.
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
Humble pie
So the book is completed and ready for sale in print form, Kindle to arrive in a few weeks hopefully.
However, I would like to take a few moments to speak about the road I had to follow in order to get here. This was no easy journey that much was for certain.
For one, I definitely now have huge respect to anyone else who writes a novel and fine tunes it for publication. Whether you’re traditionally published or going self-published I know now more than ever, that this is not an easy profession to take on. WRITING/EDITING is like get hit in the face with brass knuckles, several thousand times.
Don’t get misconstrued. I love it. I love creating when I get into the groove. What I’m saying is that I fully understand now more than anything is despite the fun it can bring, WRITING IS A JOB. As thus you must be PROFESSIONAL and treat it as thus. Don’t half ass it.
I sure as hell didn’t. From the initial draft, I was working on this, fine tuning it for almost a year on and off. And I didn’t do it all alone. I had some big help from my dad who has my deepest thanks for reading my book way more times than I think he would have like to help me trim the fat and make it sound better.
Another piece of humble pie I ate, that every writer has to at some point, is that I wasn’t the superstar my ego would like me to believe. In going through stuff, my dad pointed out A LOT of things that didn’t feel realistic, didn’t sound right etc. And though we clashed, though sometimes I got defensive, though it delayed the book more times than I like to think about, guess what? 98% of the time he was right. That is why the book is in part dedicated to him. I couldn’t have done this without him, and that’s for real.
So what I would like you take from the above is to remember that your work can always be better. You can always tweak it better, and if somebody mentions a big problem with something, more often than not they have a good reason for it. Listen to literary criticism no matter how hard it can be sometimes. You will thank yourself and them later.
Finally, this whole experience made me take a good look at myself and what I accomplished. Do I believe I did a great job and make a decent book? Yes. Is this a Farewell to Arms great? Fuck no. I’m not at Hemingway’s level and not trying to be him, or anyone else. I want to be the best writer I can be. And that’s probably the biggest lesson to learn; that I will always experience new things, I will not stop learning and when it comes to writing I can AND will improve. Sky’s the limit now.
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
However, I would like to take a few moments to speak about the road I had to follow in order to get here. This was no easy journey that much was for certain.
For one, I definitely now have huge respect to anyone else who writes a novel and fine tunes it for publication. Whether you’re traditionally published or going self-published I know now more than ever, that this is not an easy profession to take on. WRITING/EDITING is like get hit in the face with brass knuckles, several thousand times.
Don’t get misconstrued. I love it. I love creating when I get into the groove. What I’m saying is that I fully understand now more than anything is despite the fun it can bring, WRITING IS A JOB. As thus you must be PROFESSIONAL and treat it as thus. Don’t half ass it.
I sure as hell didn’t. From the initial draft, I was working on this, fine tuning it for almost a year on and off. And I didn’t do it all alone. I had some big help from my dad who has my deepest thanks for reading my book way more times than I think he would have like to help me trim the fat and make it sound better.
Another piece of humble pie I ate, that every writer has to at some point, is that I wasn’t the superstar my ego would like me to believe. In going through stuff, my dad pointed out A LOT of things that didn’t feel realistic, didn’t sound right etc. And though we clashed, though sometimes I got defensive, though it delayed the book more times than I like to think about, guess what? 98% of the time he was right. That is why the book is in part dedicated to him. I couldn’t have done this without him, and that’s for real.
So what I would like you take from the above is to remember that your work can always be better. You can always tweak it better, and if somebody mentions a big problem with something, more often than not they have a good reason for it. Listen to literary criticism no matter how hard it can be sometimes. You will thank yourself and them later.
Finally, this whole experience made me take a good look at myself and what I accomplished. Do I believe I did a great job and make a decent book? Yes. Is this a Farewell to Arms great? Fuck no. I’m not at Hemingway’s level and not trying to be him, or anyone else. I want to be the best writer I can be. And that’s probably the biggest lesson to learn; that I will always experience new things, I will not stop learning and when it comes to writing I can AND will improve. Sky’s the limit now.
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
The Book is done (For real)
Hello, fellow blog readers. Yes, I have returned from the dead once more. I apologize once more for lack of posts but I have been extremely busy with the book and not much else (other than my real job) and haven’t had much going on or anything to discuss.
But now I do. As of today my novel, “Tranquility” has now gone live for sale on my Createspace e-store and Amazon.com for print copies (links will be posted at the bottom). Kindle will be coming soon.
It just feels so good I must say. I can now officially say that I am a published author. Something new to put on resume I guess lol.
Though I am realistic about my expectations, I am still idealistic about it. The thing about this emerging market that I absolutely adore is that anyone, anywhere, has the opportunity to make it. Some will go big like Amanda Hocking and J.A. Konarath and that’s great though. But what is really great are the proverbial “other guys.” The guys that will do well enough to make this their full time profession and be happy for it. The guys that add a little income every month to make thing easier from themselves. The possibilities are endless here.
For the moment, even though I know of several that have told me they will buy copies, I still have to face reality. It’s not going to explode into a bestseller in one day, and tomorrow I will still have to report in at my job.
But what is great, is just as I previously stated is the opportunity. The slightest of chances, the sliver of hope one can hope for a better situation. That’s the American dream baby and there’s nothing better than that.
Book links here:
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Tranquility-Tim-Easley/dp/1475119313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334685474&sr=8-1
Createspace
https://www.createspace.com/3838567
Until next time, fly high and fly well.
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