New Teaser Trailer - "Emily Martin"

The teaser for the 3rd installment in the Rumbling Heart series.

 

Last Night

On a whim, I wrote a short story of about 5700 words. I'm not trying to sell it at all, just did it for fun. The link is right here. You can share it all you want. Enjoy.

Commercial for "Rumbling Heart."

To go along with the sale I am having for Rumbling Heart, I put together a short commercial. Nothing spectacular, but it's something. Here it is and enjoy.

Recorded Butterflies Commercial

I previously mentioned that I would begin exploring video advertising and this here is my first attempt at it. It's nothing great, but it gets the message across...sort of. I am working on a newer version that is a little longer that may offer additional insight into the contents of the book. This is all new to me so don't expect amazing results.

 

Recorded Butterflies - Synopsis

Here is the synopsis I wrote up on Recorded Butterflies. It's not perfect, but when your book has this many big secrets, you really have to be selective with what you write and how you write it. I hope it sparks some interest. The link to the Facebook event is here. 

In this follow up to his first book Rumbling Heart, Richard Allen continues the story of John as he moves forward with his life after dealing with the demons of his past head on.

It is October 2012 and John Allen has just gotten back into Eureka, California after spending several months on the road. Looking forward to meeting back up with his best friend Emily, he realizes that she is purposely refusing his phone calls and text messages. He finds her sudden absence from his life disturbing and feels as if she is phasing him out of hers. While his ideas as to why she’s suddenly disappeared continue to swim around in his head, she quite suddenly is thrust back into his world, and he eventually finds out the reasons behind her withdrawal. As Emily finally opens up to him and lets him in on all that has happened, he finds the truth about her hard to swallow, but then takes a step back and realizes just how hard life must have been for her since he left her side.

All the while, John is still managing his relationship with his new found love interest shortly after getting back into town after his time on the road with her. After some very serious consideration, he finds himself contemplating something that he felt he would never do again in his life. Finally realizing just how strongly he feels for her, they explore the reasons why they would want to permanently tie their lives together, and the two of them begin a journey that promises to change their lives forever.

Life seems good, and John feels that there is no way it could be any sweeter. While helping Emily deal with a major issue that shakes her to her very core, he still feels that life, as a whole, is looking up and that nothing could possibly bring him down. Little does he knows that just a few short months later, his world would be throw into chaos by something so devastating that it would quite possibly send his life into a tailspin, and that he could soon see himself heading back into that downward spiral he found himself in just a few short years before.

Filled with secrets, intrigue, love, heartache, and moments so sweet they would make most men blush, Recorded Butterflies explores John and his dreams, and offers insight into his mind like never before. It will even ask you to take a different look at him and his friendship with the beautiful and confident Emily as he finds himself looking at her like he never has before. After a few significant twists and turns, you are treated to an ending so explosive, you may want to have your heart medication close by, and you will find yourself begging for the next installment in the series.

Recorded Butterflies Release Event

Put together a little something for the official release via Facebook. If you would like to show your support, the link to the event is here. 

While I really feel that Rumbling Heart was a great accomplishment in my life, I think that Recorded Butterflies, as far as writing goes, is superior in many ways. I grew and learned from RH and because of that, the reader should get an overall better experience with my latest work. Be sure to mark "Attending" for the event as I will be giving away a couple of PDF copies of the book during the time the event is going on.

Again, thank you all for your continued support and I promise, cause Hillary asked me to, I will try my best not to offend anyone. Heh.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recorded Butterflies - Done

It's finished. A few slight oversights aside, it is ready for Amazon and BN.com. I kept getting feedback that my first book was quite long. Anyone who got through that work and felt that way will appreciate the fact that this one comes in at a whopping 278 pages so its much shorter. I would still recommend reading the first book though as this one picks up where the other left off. With the first book, I had to lay a lot of groundwork and with this one, all I had to do was simply touch on some of it as a sort of reminder. As a stand alone book, this one still has some good chops, but I think to really get into the characters, it will benefit most people to give Rumbling Heart a read as well.

All I really have left to do is type up a Synopsis and upload the work and it's all done. I hope this book satisfies my loyal followers as it focuses on the same characters as the first book and continues to explore their lives. There are at least 2 major twists in this work. They are so big that they are pretty hard to miss...in fact, they may club you in the face. Be sure to check out the Facebook event as I will be giving away at least 2 copies of RB to those attending. Great thing about the event...you don't even have to go anywhere or be somewhere at a specific time. All you have to do is click attend. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Questions and Comments on Rumbling Heart - Part 3

"There are a lot of loose ends in RH. It seems as if you forgot to end a lot of things."

All on purpose. I wanted there to be a sense of ambiguity to the work. The very end gives you a certain amount of closure, but, as with real life, you don't always know how certain things end up. You just have to sort of make things up on your own. Some people have told me that they were happy with the ending, but it wasn't exactly what they thought it was going to be. You have to realize something though. I wanted to leave certain avenues open to interpretation. Sometimes things in life happen and as much as we'd like to see one thing happen over another, things don't always turn out as planned. I also purposely put in small bits of story lines and left them open not only so people could finish the story in their head, but also so I could always pick up where I left off with the first book should I decide to keep the story going. Obviously, I've decided to keep it going. Part of the reason I decided to keep going was because I looked at RH as I would a movie or a television series. We've all found a particular show that we absolutely loved. In this case, I wrote a book I felt I would like to read and as most writers do, I fell in love with my characters. Sometimes those shows we love get cancelled and we never get a good ending. Sometimes we are left with a cliffhanger and then we find out we will never know what happens after that and it really bugs the crap out of us. I didn't wanna do that. While somethings are left unsaid, the core of the story offers an ending so if there was nothing else after RH, most people would still be satisfied. However, I was not happy with that so I decided on my own that I wanted to keep it going. In fact, As I've told some people, after Recorded Butterflies, there will be 2 more books so in a sense, it's like getting a television series that gives you 4 good seasons. I had thought of maybe going further with it, but as we all know from some TV shows, by the time season 10 comes around, most are but a shell of their former selves and I did not want my characters to become stagnant and boring. 

"John seems damaged, but level headed in most situations. The first chapter however has him decking a man and sending him to the pavement. Will he continue this trend? lol!"

John for the most part is a pacifist. In a sense, he is like me in that way. He is usually rather calm and it takes quite a bit to get him to react to you if you are trying to get him angry. However, he doesn't take kindly to being grabbed as most of us wouldn't. As I was writing Recorded Butterflies, I was actually thinking that I would have him take out someone in each book as a sort of running gag, something to sort of make you go "Ha! he did it again," but that seemed kind of hokey to me. As far as the characters go, Emily is the one who is a bit more of a hot head. She has that mouth on her and she is pretty no nonsense. You'd think that she would be the one laying people out, but you'd be surprised. Both John and Emily are protective of each other, and that plays out in the book. 

"Do you think of certain people in your life as you write? Do you see those people as you write dialog?"

I write with avatars. What I mean by that is that I have a certain person that I see in my head each and every time I write about them. I think of the situation and I have that avatar play the scene out in my head. I've told some people who I think about when I write for a particular character and they have given me mixed feedback. I knew that would happen though as people generally do the same thing while reading as I do while writing. We all have a person we think of that takes on the role of the character and we use that image as we read. I do that all the time as I work and I'm sure I'm not nearly the first to do it. As far as who those avatars are, I won't really say unless someone specifically asks me as I don't wanna ruin their idea of who the characters are.

"What do you think the other books after Rumbling Heart will be called?"

Well, obviously the next book to be released is Recorded Butterflies. The title is both literal and abstract, double entendre. The book after that one I have decided to call "Emily Martin." It will be a slight change in the way the story has been told up until the end of RB, but it's done for a good reason. So far, the story has been told from John's point of view. The story teller shifts because of the events at the end of RB. I did consider leaving it as a first person narrative from John's perspective, but given what happens in the story, I decided to hand off the story telling to Emily for this particular time period. I think people will like this idea as I've noticed that, by far, people seem to really like Emily as described by John. It will have a different feel to it though as those people will get a first person look at her. To have someone tell you about another person is one thing, but to hear from that person directly is very different. In a sense, John has sort of looked at Emily through rose colored glasses so it's not unusual that people really like her. With her telling the story though, you get a more inside look at what she sees and what she thinks. While John was able to retell some of what Emily displayed to him, it will be different to see what she really thinks while not going through John's filter. As far as the 4th and final book in the series, I am still debating the title. I have a good idea of what it will be, but it's not set in stone.

"It seems that some of the characters change the way they react based on John being around them. Why?"

We all do that in real life as well. Sometimes having someone around you changes the way you look at the world or the way you react to certain situations. Emily, Chris, and a certain other character, in their own ways, admit that the are different when around John because of the person he is. Emily for example is a very attractive woman and is used to having men hit on her, but when she first meets John, he does no such thing. It is because of that instance that Emily pays attention to him even after their initial meeting. In a way, she had gotten so used to being the object of desire that she is almost surprised that John doesn't try anything with her. Even after seeing her again and again, still John doesn't sway in the way he sees or speaks to her. Chris is different from Emily, but there is still a connection there. Chris makes the effort to look after John just as he is getting into a relationship with (unnamed character). By the end of RH, you see why people react to John in that way and hopefully I laid it out plainly enough for everyone to see that. I also hope that the main reason people react to John in that way isn't simply because he carries charisma, but because those people in a way also affect how John views the world as well. With out them, John isn't the same person just as they, without John, are not the same either. 

"How rich have you gotten from the money you made off RH?"

Are you kidding? I can barely feed myself. If it weren't for the kindness of my family, I'd be homeless. I was never really in this for money. Sure, money would be nice and I'd be a fool to turn it down should a significant sum come my way. I'd just like to make enough money to have a decent life with. I don't have to drive a Mercedes or own a 6 bedroom home. I don't have to have a fancy apartment on the 20th floor of a building nor do I have to be followed around by fans. I'd just like to make people think for a few moments on how they look at people. In a way, that was really the ultimate goal of it all. Just as I know some people look at me with disdain, I would hope that they'd see that we are all very different and regardless of our differences, we can still learn from each other. If I can do that, I will be happy. If I do en up making a fortune off this, I think I would help my family and some of my really close friends. I'd probably also move out of Texas and head to Japan or the UK if i made it that big. I hope with the release of RB, I will increase my exposure and maybe catch the eye of a big name out there.

"Do you think you are romanticizing the characters in your book? Some of the situations seem almost unreal."

The idea of a book is that you can read a story that helps you escape from the real world. That being said, certain elements of the story, such as the friendship that John and Emily develop, I've actually experienced in real life. While they may not be common, they do happen. Other elements of the book are somewhat unbelievable, but then again, who's to say they haven't really happened? We simply do not know. It's been said that real life is stranger than fiction and I believe that is true. Sometimes our lives lead us down very strange roads and by the time we get to the end of the journey, we ourselves cannot believe what's happened. With this book, John is on that road and there will come a time when he gets to the end of it. When he does, he may reflect just as any of us would. By the end of it all, you will see that all of the characters live some absolutely amazing, painful, heartbreaking, unbelievable, and down right insane lives. All that will ultimately come to a beautiful  and bittersweet end that may not be all hearts and flowers, but it is an end nonetheless. 

"Is Emily Martin real?"

No. She is not real. 

"Are there any other writers that you look to for inspiration in regards to RH or its followups?"

If you are asking about famous writers, I would have to say Hemingway as I love his minimalist style. If you are asking about perhaps some indie writers, the only ones I've really gotten into have been Tamworth Grice and Melissa Foster. I like Tamworth's work because it, in an odd way, reminds me of Hemingway. How? It's minimalist. She lets you fill in a lot of the blanks with your own ideas. Melissa is different. Her material seems to be more along the lines of what I would write, but in most cases I would write from a different perspective. One other author I'd say would be George Carlin. His books are based mostly on the material he did in his comedy shows. Still, toward the end of his career, he was still amazing when he was on a roll. I can see how he has affected my life in the way I speak my mind. He got away with his spiky dialog because he used it in the context of a joke. I don't get that same pass because I'm not nearly as funny as he was. 

 

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

Questions and Comments on Rumbling Heart - Part 2

"Do you listen to music when you write and if so, who do you listen to?"

I do listen to music a large portion of the day. Depending on what I am writing depends who I choose to listen to. My play my writing pretty close to the chest and I have found, at least for me, the best way to get good work from me is if I almost live what the character is going through. Obviously, I cannot go through certain events like death and breakups and other forms of heartache on a personal level everyday, but I purposely put my state of mind in those situations and let them play out so I can see what sort of reaction I can bring out. Based on what I am trying to feel, I play music that gets me there faster. Obviously, if i wanted to express a joyful mood with my character, I will play more upbeat music while at other times, say when I want to feel what it's like to have my heart broken by someone, I play much more somber music. While I am just free writing, I generally put on some sort of classical piece, generally something with a piano. I find the instrument quite comforting and I hope to learn how to play it some day. I obviously have my favorite bands and musical acts, but they aren't who some would expect. When I was a teen, I listened to a lot of Nirvana and Pearl Jam and other alternative bands. While I do still listen to them, I rarely do while I write. Lately, it's been a lot of Tool, The Delgados, Olivia Lufkin, Caroline, Velvet Revolver, and The Smashing Pumpkins. That's just a small portion as I tend to listen to all kinds of music.

"What's with you and Lisa Edelstein? Is she really your FB friend? Does it have anything to do with your book?"

One day, I was playing around with an idea. I watched all of the people I normally conversed with on Twitter and thought to myself "Who would play that person in a movie about their life?" The first person I remember thinking of was my twitter pal Melissa Foster. I looked at her photo and it reminded me of Lisa Edelstein who played Dr. Lisa Cuddy on House. I wrote a small tweet similar to "I choose @Lisaedelstein to play @Melissa_Foster in the movie about her life." I went on to write other somewhat funny comments about other people, all of them flattering. I got a lot of positive feedback and some of my tweets were retweeted. Melissa got back to me and asked why I said that and I told her she reminded me of Lisa. Soon, our conversation shifted and it became "Lisa Edelstein would be a great Megan for my book Megan's way." We both liked the idea so it sort of snowballed from there. Melissa retweeted the tweet and I supported her by continuously retweeting something similar. Soon, I found that a handful of people were behind the idea and it went from there. Coincidentally, that was the same day that Lisa Edelstein started up a personal facebook account. Before I knew it, both Melissa and I were added to her account as friends. It was pretty interesting. Obviously, Melissa and I don't know Lisa personally and many other people were added to her account as well, but it was sort of funny that the same day I created the tweet was the same day she did that. I think that's why the idea took off so well because people were already talking about her. I later found out that Melissa was able to talk to one of Lisa's people about possibly getting her a copy of Megan's Way to read so she could consider taking a role in the film which is being developed about the book. She and I both know it's a long shot, but it would be pretty amazing to look back at this a year from now and see it happen and think wow, I played a role in getting Lisa to do this film. As far as a connection to the book, there isn't one. I did this essentially as a way to give a head nod to my friends on twitter. I wasn't trying to make my name bigger by doing this.

"Chapter Five is hard to get through because of the material it covers. Was all that real? Did that really happen to you?"

As with all writers, we take certain aspects of our lives and put them into words that sometimes end up in our books. I will say this concerning chapter 5 and the entire book really...it's all fiction. The book is fiction. Some of the things that happen in 5...did they happen to me? I really can't say because people may make assumptions about other people in my life and I do not wish to cast certain others in a negative light. It was never my intention to make certain people from my past look bad. Fact is only those people who were there during those years know what happened to me. A few others I have spoken to may know, but that is for their ears and their ears alone. It's a matter of public record that yes, I did suffer abuse while I was in my 20's, but to what extent, I will not say. It's not something I generally talk about unless I am being bothered by it and the person I choose to talk to had prior knowledge on said events. As far as the person who is looked at as evil in that chapter, the person who some might associate that character with in real life is a good and decent human being. Fact is we were simply toxic toward each other and that is ultimately what caused the issues. As far as that link is nowadays, we are civil. We do not talk all that often, but we both agree that being away from each other was the best thing we could have done. I still care for that person a great deal. You cannot spend that much time with someone and not care. I forgave them for what they did and I, by no stretch of the imagination, am innocent of any wrong doing during that time in my life. We both made very bad decisions. We also do not want them to haunt the rest of our lives. We can both look back at that time and think about the mistakes we made and know that we learned from them so we could hopefully avoid those issues in our future endeavors. In a future work, I may allude to more of that situation, but I have not decided yet. 

"Is it true that you dreamed the entire book?"

For the most part, yes. The core idea for the book came from a lucid dream I had. It was so vivid that it stuck with me for days. I ended up writing the dream down as it was just something that wouldn't leave me alone. I found myself having the dream over and over to the point where I thought about writing it down as more than just a blog post. That was really how it all got started. Through the process of writing the story, I continued to have dreams surrounding the book and I sort of just let those dreams write the book for me. Oddly enough, the original person I saw in my dream was not what ultimately led me to developing a character that came from it. While I saw that person, I heard someone else's voice. Once I figured out whose voice that was, they are who became that character to me and I took it from there. Through the months I spent writing, I kept dreaming of that person and it was as if they were guiding my writing and helping me to develop the story. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced in my life. It's one thing to dream of an idea, but it's something else to have that person come to you again and again through the course of the writing process. I guess it can be attributed that once I figure out who that person was, I spent a good deal of time studying up on them and reading about them so it makes sense that I would have dreams about them every now and then. However, the dreams at one point were virtually a nightly occurrence. Even now as I am finishing up my followup to RH, I still have dreams of them and they aren't letting up. I guess when I stop having those dreams, I may not want to write anymore. I can't really say for sure. 

"Will your next book offer anything else regarding the development of relationships between that characters?"

Yes. The story will continue, and in my next work Recorded Butterflies, relationships will be tested and everyone of the characters will go through something that will change their lives forever. One character in particular about halfway in gives up the ghost on something so tragic that it might change the way my readers look at them. I spent several days constructing how I would write it and I think I do it a great justice with the words I use and the way I weave the telling of that arch. I hope that the readers will notice the absence of a particular word through the entire telling of that arch and appreciate the way I managed to exclude it. Also, at the end, something so explosive will happen that it will leave the readers breathless. I promise though, as soon as I am done with RB, I will immediately start work on the next book to follow it because there will be huge questions that people will want answers to. It's not a cliffhanger, at least to me it isn't. A cliffhanger leaves you wondering what something could possibly be. I, on the other hand, provide you will an answer. The only question after that is how is the aftermath handled. 

"In the book, you make small references to religion. Are you religious? Why did you make those references?"

I do not follow any religion. I did when I was a kid, but that was sort of forced. As an adult, I tend to ask more questions and that seems to piss off some religious people. As with other matters, I don't wish to make people angry on that front. I just don't understand some of the things people take as fact regarding it. I'm not exactly against religion. I look at it this way: if religion helps you get through your day and makes you a better person, then I say have at it. As with most other things in the world, it's the few bad apples that make religion difficult for the rest of us. As long as you're not out killing people or forcing your beliefs on anyone else, I am ok with it. I think of myself as agnostic. I'm not really sure what there is and if there is something, I will accept it as long as scientific proof exists. The religious mentions in the book are played against the characters themselves. There is a little more to those images and I leave very very subtle cues that some people may not pick up on as I don't generally make everything literal. While no character has come out and said that they follow any particular religion, I'd like to believe that they would at the very least be somewhat spiritual; some more than others. There is one particular image that is given in the book that will play out across the entire series of books. Religion will be explored more in the next couple of books, in the third most notably. 

 

Be sure to catch part three.

[caption id="attachment_916" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="RB possible cover"][/caption]

Question and Comments on Rumbling Heart - Part 1

I've had a few comments and questions regarding my most current release Rumbling Heart. Although I was asked about being interviewed sometime in the next week or so, I will address a few comments here and now. The questions or comments in some cases may not be verbatim, but the general idea is kept in tact.

 

"Your book is really long, almost an epic."

I wasn't really going for any specific length. I wanted it to be a good size work and I knew I had to lay a good amount of pretext and background story as well. I wanted to give a great amount of detail while not letting the story get too boring so while there is a great amount of material there, I hope I was able to keep the story interesting by keeping it on the move and rarely letting characters just sit around while they watch paint dry. I wrote the book with the idea that I could let it be a stand alone , but I also wanted to give myself some room to continue the story if I chose to. Obviously, I am choosing to write more on these characters so the works following this one will not be nearly as long as most of the groundwork has already been set. 

"Your book is $2.99 while some authors have chosen to make their books even less expensive."

Oddly enough, this was not really my idea. When I'd finally tested the waters on pricing, I was considering making the book very inexpensive, but then I found that because of the size, Amazon wouldn't allow me to make the book any less expensive because of the costs associate with its delivery. I actually reformatted the original release to make it slightly smaller and reloaded it to Amazon, but they still did not allow me to lower the price which is why it's still currently $2.99. Regardless of the price, I would like to think that $3 is not a huge amount to ask for my work considering its size and I also feel that the overall quality is relatively good when compared to other independent authors. If in the future I am allowed to lower the price on RH, I will seriously consider it. BN.com doesn't put such constraints on pricing, but for the sake of continuity, I left that pricing the same to match Amazon. I am considering a BN only sale where I price the book even lower, but I am trying not to isolate my fans who use a Kindle. 

"Do you think your book is being looked at in an unfavorable light considering the article you wrote about Casey Anthony?"

In some circles, maybe. I've made it well known that I don't always say things that are popular among certain crowds, but the book has absolutely nothing to do with Casey Anthony. It was thought of and written well before the verdict made the news. I think less than a few pages in, people will see that it has no connection whatsoever. I occasionally write up articles on current events. They are separate from my novels. I doubt I will ever write a book on a topic such as Casey Anthony as that's not really my style. I can write up a few pages about it, but after that, I tend to get bored with it. I thought the article I wrote was good, but it's far from perfect. I'm not saying that my views are the be all, end all of the way people should look at it. I was just trying to make the point that we all have our own opinions on it. Another was that we need to do our own research and then perhaps come to a decision on how we feel about it. There was irony in the article to a certain extent, but people didn't seem to understand that. 

"What about the death threats?" (followup to previous question)

I'm not worried about it. I seriously doubt that anyone would try to hurt me. If they did, they would just be tarnishing their own cause. There is nothing wrong with feeling passionate about a cause. I've felt that way about things that I've seen and heard of, but never to the point where I considered killing someone. That just seems completely unreasonable to me. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm not violent by nature. I would rather hug someone than strike them. As with many things in life, we should simply agree to disagree. I don't dislike anyone for having a different opinion than I do. Kind of like people getting at me for saying things that they think are mean and rude. You may think it's ride, but I don't. We just see it that way. I'm not trying to tell you that you should be like me, yet people still feel the need to tell me that I am falling out of the social norms by saying certain things. At the same time, I have others telling me that if I am pissing people off with my words then I am doing something right. I don't say mean things to get a response from people, but some are going to think that way regardless. People have said means things to me and I am ok with that. I think one difference could be that at least I feel I know who I am. I know I'm not easy to get along with and I know that bowing out of a friendship or relationship would be better for certain people in my life. Up till now I've made it well known that I know I am at least a little crazy. At least I admit that. I think it's also good that I at least admit that I come across as an ass sometimes when compared to other people's ideas on social standards. If I am an ass, so be it. I am what I am. People either tend to love me or hate me. If you choose to threaten my life or to severe ties with me if I do not change, then just save yourself the breath and do it. If someone chooses to separate themselves from me, there isn't much I can do about it, now is there. 

"4 a guywho writes bad poetry and blogs out of boredom, U sound terribly interesting." (Via twitter)

I don't think I am all that interesting. I'm just a guy who says things that cause a stir. I don't wake up in the morning and think to myself about what I should do to piss people off. As far as poetry goes, I know I'm not great, but I like to play around with the format. Some people have told me that my poetry is quite good, but I am my own worst critic. I am the same way with my novels. I suppose I owe my small, poetic accomplishments to a handful of poets...people such as John Keats, Billy Collins, and Emily Dickinson. I also looked at a work by Stevie Smith call "Not Waving, but Drowning." In it, she alludes to suicide and speaks about what one person sees, another might not and so on. As far as blogging, I really do get rather bored at times so I type up articles on various topics. Some are good, some are not so good. 

"Are any of your characters based on real life people?"

I wouldn't say they are based wholly on a single person. When I was coming up with the characters, it was very much on the fly. I simply thought to myself what would someone in this situation do in regards to a certain circumstance? I wanted the characters to have a very human side to them. I didn't want these characters to be perfect or come across as "Holier than thou" or anything like that. I wanted them to be people you could possibly know. In a way, they are all small extensions of me. John is obviously quite calm in a lot of cases unless things go absolutely haywire in which case a disturbed reaction is understandable. If he stayed perfectly calm during say a nuclear attack, that would seem a little odd. Emily is quite different from John. She tends to be a little more off the cuff and direct while John tries to be a little more diplomatic. She has a mouth on her, but not to the point where you question her intellect. Chris is kind of like how I see most twenty-somethings in this world. They are looking to dig in their heels and get their life started, but it doesn't always work out. They lack the wisdom that someone even a 5-10 years older than them has. Trevor is somewhat similar to Chris in that he is also in his twenties, goes to college, and thinks he knows exactly what he wants. Like Chris, he also is often blindsided by things that he doesn't see coming, but not because he keeps his eyes closed to them. He just never thinks certain great things could ever happen to him and when they do, he loses his cool because he doesn't know what the next steps are. He's never been through them so he is flying blind in a sense. 

Look for part 2 to the questions and comments on RH.

Recorded Butterflies Almost Here

I did a massive amount of work on the next book yesterday. My eyes finally began to fail me after editing and revising 162 pages. I found myself rereading certain parts 4 and 5 times which wasn't bad, considering toward the end I started missing things so it was a good idea to stop. I am back at it today and I am hoping I will be done with all edits and revisions in no more than 2-3 days. At that point, it's back to figuring out cover art.

I've also been exploring other means of advertising my work. Someone gave me the idea of making a small video using only sounds and words to draw additional attention to them so I am looking into that. To create such a video is rather easy. While it's far from the best video creation software, Windows Movie Maker should work just fine, but I am also looking into other free software to use. I've also considered using my own voice as a mini narrative to accompany the images. I will be using only images that I've created and photographed and a few Public Domain images. I may also create some video. Thankfully, my trusty digital camera shoots video, both standard and widescreen at up to 720p so that should work out well. I think if i can pull it off, it will change the game a little for me so I have to make sure and do it just right. I've also discovered a man by the name of Kevin Mcleod. He creates royalty free music and some of his stuff is quite good. All that the asks is that you give him a mention which I would be more than happy to do so if I decide to use music, it will probably be from him.

The Facebook page is doing alright, considering I haven't really pushed it all that much. For those interested, the link to it is here. Feel free to visit and "Like" it. I'd appreciate the it greatly.

To follow will be a short write up on a few points concerning my first work Rumbling Heart. Be sure to check out that post as well.

Recorded Butterflies - First Proofer Run

First time through a proofer and not nearly as many issues as I thought there would be. Still, the story overall is slightly shorter than I wanted it to be. Through my final revision and one more go through an editor I will hopefull add about 5k-9k more words. I have an entire arch I can add so that will help. its small so I can plug it in almost anywhere. The book will be available on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

All this is moving along well, but I still need to secure a cover for this work. I am sticking with the black and white theme I used on the first book, but I am torn on what image to use. I can use a butterfly, but I don't want it to be taken too literal. I am also looking for a few concert images that are public domain. If you happen to know of a few images available for free use, please let me know. As of right now, these are the two images I am looking at. The butterfly I can go with as its a PD image. The other I cannot because I do not hold the rights to it. The second one however is more along the lines of what I am looking for.

[caption id="attachment_916" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="RB possible coverRB possible cover-like image"][/caption]

New Review of Rumbling Heart

Check out the latest review for my book Rumbling Heart.

http://tiny.cc/scoar

Break Out

Broke out of the slump and getting back into the swing of things. Finished revisions on Chapter 5 and it looks pretty good. Will obviously go over it at least one more time, but all in all, it turned out really well. Moving right on to Chapter 6 revisions and I am also writing down an idea that came to me very late last night as I was trying to sleep. It's something completely different from what I've written before...ok, maybe not completely different, but different characters and a different story. I will plot it out after thinking about it some more, and when I figure out of I have the knowledge to pull it off. There is only so much you can get off the internet, but I hope that's enough.

On a side note, why I am having such a hard time getting people to follow me on Twitter? I know I'm not all that entertaining...but I'm not very annoying either! I am like a gold fish in a goldfish bowl. When you get bored, you come over and look at me and smile, but then don't feel the least bit bad when you ignore me the rest of the day. I guess I can live with that. Any way, if interested...

@richardAwrites

Hitting a Snag

For a few weeks when it came to writing, I was unstoppable. I knew I'd eventually hit a lull and here it is. Not exactly sure why, but last night just could not get myself to work on the latest chapter as far as revising. I've found that when I push myself to do something when I don't have my heart in it, the work doesn't look or sound good and the overall story suffers. Rather than making myself do this, I will just wait till the inspiration hits me again.

I keep thinking that when I am done with this saga or maybe even before that I will up and leave Texas which is something I want to do anyway. I could never return to Texas and be just fine with it. I've gotten an offer to get setup in Minnesota and who knows, I may just accept that offer. Been looking at Virginia as well, but haven't heard much back on that front so I don't know. All I know is I've had my fill of Texas life and think it's time to move on.