An Announcement

Hello my dear readers!

Some exciting things are beginning to happen in my little realm of indie authorship. I'm working hard on completing my final draft of Running into the Darkness. Today I also created a blog specifically for my professional life as an author. There I posted a smattering of RITD to (hopefully) whet your reading appetite.

But I must warn you - some of my writing deals with very sensitive subject matter. In my personal life, I've tried to live as realistically and honestly as humanly possible - the good, bad, and ugly, warts and all. I don't cover it up but face it head on. Therefore, I've tried to create my stories to reflect the good, bad, ugly. You get the picture.

As a Christian, I have struggled with this in my writing. When I originally started this particular work, I'd planned to publish under a pseudonym - that is if I were so lucky to actually get a contract. However, as time has gone on I've had a chance to become familiar with even greater depravaties that human beings come up with. I've been reminded how the Bible shows we humans for exactly who we are - the good, bad, and ugly, warts and all. God didn't conceal our propensity toward evil acts - but he also didn't excuse it. There are consequences for our behavior.

Therefore, I've decided to publish under my name. That way in the event I actually gain some readership, I'll have a vehicle to explain why I chose to create this or that character and place them into this or that situation, with the outcome of their decisions in full view. It might even make for some charged conversation.

I always did like making people think.

So if you've a mind to check out my new author blog, you can find it at http://dabalepublishing.blogspot.com . Enjoy reading the posted excerpt if you dare.

But remember - I warned you.

Still Here!!!

It's getting crazier by the minute!

My apologies, oh patient readers, for not posting for the past month. My new cosmo career has had me working like a dog both mentally and physically - but that's been a really good thing.

But the biggest craziness has been my focus on finishing up my final draft to publishing as an eBook. All of my extra time and energy has been sitting here at my overwrought computer as I slash away unnecessary fodder and add additional hints of information to tie the loose ends of my story together. The effort is sooo going to be worth it!

Yesterday a group of about 25 of us got together to have a meeting for the Indie Writer's Alliance (see us at www.indiewritersalliance.com and www.readersmatrix.com ) to discuss the early experiences of our illustrious leader. He just started a blog tour for his recent work. Since most of us weren't familiar with such an event, he spent several hours giving us the low-down on what it is, how to organize a blog tour, and how the tour progressed at the end of the first week.

I'm exhausted twice over now just thinking of all the additional work still left to do AFTER completing the final draft.

He also informed us that eBook sales have surpassed traditional paper sales on Amazon.com - another important milestone in the rapidly changing publishing industry. Sales of Kindle for last Christmas were huge and are expected to be even bigger this season. Then with all stores closed Christmas Day, where do you think these new Kindle, etc. owners are going to look to populate their new toys?

Exactly!

So our gang is pushing hard to have our eBooks published by September. I'm still pursuing the end of July, but I still want to ensure I put out the best possible work. We'll see where things stand by the end of the month.

So just in case you don't hear from me for awhile, please know that I'm still here plugging away on my handy-dandy computer. Then look for me and my pals on www.readersmatrix.com

Your positive reviews will be most appreciated then. :-)

Happy News

Our little writer's group received some awesome news this past week at our meeting. One of our own signed a contract to be published!

It's now official.

Mighty Bri has written a great horror piece that has elements involving Thor, the god of thunder. With the new Thor movie coming out this summer the timing couldn't be better. He's about as excited as the guy gets - maybe a little dazed too.

Or is that too much Jack Daniels?

So starting this spring the book will be available in electronic format and hopefully hardcopy later in the year. They'll go through the jacket design turmoil, debates over whether to change his title or not (alert to writers - your agonizingly thought-out title most likely will not be the published final so don't waste too much time on it), etc., etc. His new blog page on publishing is located at http://fatherthunder.blogspot.com/ if you wish to follow his exploits.

So now we other GK Brainstormers will have to get our butts in gear and follow suit. Twill be some tough shoes in which to follow.

And Brian remember - don't forget to make it to meetings from now on, you hear? We know where you live and will be glad to drag your sorry butt out of your absinthe stupor!

Reading, Writing and Elephants

This evening I've spent some time reading some writing material.

That sounds kinda funny! Reading some writing material?

Okay, guess you had to be there.

So in preparation for beginning another novel (and hopefully completing the crazy thing), I'm reading about certain plot functions and character developments and seeing how I've used these components in my current works and how I might use them even better in my works going forward. My goal is to get better and better with each successive novel I compose. Maybe someday that will lead to a publishing contract and maybe, eventually, perhaps, God-willing, I'll actually be able to make a living at this.

Writing can be enormously hard work. It doesn't necessarily come easy for me. I liken it to giving birth. The baby simmers and forms for nine months and then it takes hours and even days to push the blessed event out of the keyhole.

Maybe that was a little too vivid for you. But hey, I'm a writer. If it was vivid then that means I'm doing my job and doing it well. :-)

But seriously - the ideas are very easy for me to come up with. Getting started and plowing ahead is easy too. It's that middle part and wrapping it all up and bringing closure to the story that begins the difficult pushing stage.

During those times, I'll come up with every excuse in the book not to sit down and write. It's like scripture - I know what I'm supposed to do and yet I find myself doing that which I shouldn't do.

Procrastination should have been a four-letter word. Why is it that it starts with "pro"? Usually when you're a "pro" at something, it means it's a good thing.

I guess then I could say I'm a "pro" at pro-crastinating.

Plus I know now that when I sit down to start a story, it's going to be something that I'll work on for years and years. However, that was something that stood out to me in the book I was reading tonight. It talked about if you want to write a good story that you need to spend time on it, fully flesh out the characters, the setting, the underlying tensions and storylines. That's one benefit to working on a book for a series of years.

I'm just glad it takes only nine months instead of years to bring a baby into this world.

Sure feel sorry for those elephants.

Hanging On For The Ride

Well the New Year cometh - and critique group met at our regularly scheduled time tonight. Yippee! I'm finally back on schedule again.

Yeah, they're jumping for joy alright. I have a nasty habit of butting in sometimes to add my two, three, four cents. Gotta stop doing that or they'll remember how wonderful it was when I was on play hiatus.

Sent my revised query letter for them to take a look at in preparation for beginning to query agents and editors about my completed novel. They had a few excellent suggestions and I'm pumped about a couple of the revision ideas. Hopefully I'll have some time to work on it somemore this weekend.

No, I need to MAKE time for it this weekend. Too important to not make it a priority.

That's one of the things I used to be so good about, but ever since our move into the new house at the end of 2007 I've had so many other pulls on my time that writing has lost its top spot in my personal time slot.

If I'm going to really make an attempt at becoming a published novelist, I have to focus once again and get serious. No more worrying about how awful the house looks. Heck, for three months during the play I HAD to not worry about the house. I guess when I'm home it's too easy for me to see.

Plus I'm terribly anal about the new house. At least for now until we settle in completely, though I'm not sure how many years that will take. I STILL have unpacked boxes stashed away. Ugh!

Anyway, even though I'm not a New Year's Resolution junkie, I need to resolve to once again proritize my writing time if I truly wish to succeed at this.

Opportunities come and go. Just have to recognize the moment and grab ahold when it passes by.

Then hang on for the ride. Maybe I'll write a Western next.

Hey, it could happen!

Complete Rewrite

Previously I posted about going back to the first story I started almost seven years ago. I was looking forward to returning to the fantasy land I'd created.

It's become a real mess in my absence.

Remember, I hadn't written anything creative since high school (college doesn't count because everything is required down to a T). My first foray into creative writing in so long required a bit of priming the pump. Thought I'd gotten down some really good material.

Boy was I wrong.

The story idea is still really good in my opinion (which is all that matters to me). The characters continue to intrigue me. There's some great bones to work with, but I've decided that this story is too important to me to continue without some major surgery. So I'm going back to the drawing board.

Gosh I hate saying that. Spent several years working on it to get it to the halfway point. But I know I can do better. That's the nice thing about going back to something I haven't looked at in many years. I realize that my writing has improved a good deal since day one (week one, month one, year one). And that's a good thing. Any writer wants to see that they just keep getting better and better over the years.

It's hard throwing out so much work, but in the end it will be more satifying to have something of which I can be proud.

Then maybe the book will actually get published someday.

Humor - Not My Cup of Tea

There's a friend of mine who is such a great humor writer. I'm so jealous.

He's currently working on a detective novel, and the wry humor just leaps off of the pages. Kinda reaches up and pinches you on the pattootie when you least expect it. We critiqued his first two chapters this week. I was dying laughing throughout the entire thing. Even when we were critiquing last night, I was cracking up so bad at times I could hardly get out my comments. Suppose my laughter was the best compliment he could have asked for.

There was a humor contest he entered a couple of years ago with a story about the Mustang Ranch. He won first place hands down. Now before you go about misunderstanding the intent, you've got to understand that it's not what you think. Just imagine a couple of car guys, grease-monkeys if you will, hearing about a place called the Mustang Ranch. They're all set to buy themselves a classic Ford automobile. That's where it gets absolutely hilarious. And of course the story had me about to pee my pants when I read it (and it's clean too).

I wish I had the ability to write that kind of humor, but God chose not to grace me with it. When I try to write something funny it usually comes across as odd and makes people look at me as if they're not sure where I'm going with it. My friends understand, even though they too have a strong inclination to back away from me. My writing style has a tendency to be a bit intense, so humor just doesn't work well for me.

But he's just oozing with it. I guarantee you that someday soon I'll be writing a glowing review of his recently published novel. Now if he'll just finish the dadgum thing (I know you're reading this right now, so you better stop reading and get busy writing).

Then we can celebrate his success. I'll have to think of something humorous with which to toast him. That might present a problem. Maybe I could just spill my soda all over him instead. That might get a laugh.

Or else I'll get slapped.