In Search of The Dream Catcher - Cover Art Chosen

I am very excited about the cover art we've chosen for In Search of The Dream Catcher. It took a lot of back and forth conversation, trying to figure out which way I wanted to go, but ultimately I think the correct decision was made. We've not worked the cover together yet so we're not doing a release at the moment. We want to play with lettering and see what we want to do with it from there.

Once the cover is ready to go, we will do an official release so everyone can have a look at it. With so much work going on, sometimes it's hard to decide what to work on next. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, all the books will be set with cover art and all editing done no later than October so we can do a real push for them before their release. While we'd been looking at a release sometime around Christmas, we are exploring options to move the release to sometime in Early December or even late November. We are going to make sure we get all the leg work done first before we set anything in stone. We don't want to rush this since it will be a massive release. We want it to be perfect. It won't be obviously, but we hope we do this the right way.

Some people have expressed concern over our releasing five books at one time, but I'm not worried about it. I've made it no secret that I am not a fan of cliffhangers where I have to wait months and in some cases years to see the resolution. By releasing all the books at one time we are avoiding that issue.

As the day of release draws closer, I am getting more and more excited. I don't know what will happen once all the books are out there. I just hope that my years of hard work will pay off for me in more ways than one.

R

Heroes and Bad Reviews

Sometimes distractions can lead us away from our goals. Often times I find myself getting tunnel vision when I am writing an idea and that's not always the best thing. For the stories I am developing, I had a point A to point B plan and that was not the way it should have been. There is more to a great book than who, what, when, where, and why. An explanation can be developed from those, but not a great story. Sometimes stepping away and doing other things can help you reclaim your idea from a narrow vision and assist you in turning a good idea into an magnificent book.

In October, I purposely stepped away from my stories and kept myself from writing. Why? I felt like I was becoming bored with the process. I still had idea I knew were good, but I felt like something was lacking in my writing. I needed to find a way to develop more than just an A to B story. My first book Rumbling Heart was more than an A to B story and it shows in the quality of the development not only of the work, but also the characters and the atmosphere. Sometimes reading a book can help you reevaluate and refocus on what you are trying to do. In my case though, being able to now see things from a different angle is a double-edged sword.

I looked over my work and even over some reviews and bits of feed back I have gotten over my work. The good reviews are always nice, but it is the bad reviews that always stick with you. Why? Just human nature I suppose. Here is a snippet of a negative review RH got and my response to it.

Negative reviews happen. There is no way around it. Being a writer I accept that and I know there will always be people who either do not understand my work or, for whatever reason, want to find reasons to make it seem as if I did a huge disservice to the human race. I did find it interesting that this person thought her review was constructive. You can see my response to her review in the photo as well. Her response was once again nonconstructive. I liken this review to calling someone names because that is essentially what they did. If you feel the need to call me (or my work) "stupid" without offering any reason as to why you felt that way or any way to improve it, the review is completely pointless. Offering no way to improve on something is about as bad as crying because you didn't get your way. If I were a coach and I told a child they were terrible at football or whatever other sport I was coaching them in, I wouldn't remain a coach very long. Obviously you cannot really liken coaching to reviewing a book or a movie or whatever else you can give feedback on. Reviewers aren't coaches. I realize that. But at the same time people who do offer feedback need to understand that the main reason you give feedback, be it positive, negative, or mixed, is so people who develop their ideas can improve and make things better the next time around. What is the point of simply calling people or their work names? Sounds to me like certain individuals either lack the ability to express themselves or they feel the need to tear someone down.

Success also breeds negativity.

I will not say I am very successful. I haven't sold a ton of books and I haven't made all kinds of money at this. It was never really about money anyway. I have over the last year and a half gotten hurtful messages and emails from people who see that I was somehow able to hash it out and write a book. Not many people can say they've done that. Sure, some people can write a small story, but my first book was 475+ pages. A little long, but anyone has to admit that writing a book of that size takes time and commitment. My followup to my first book is much shorter, but still comes in at about 300 pages. No small feat. Another big story for me which is about 70% complete will probably come in at about 275 pages. Again, not many people in the world can say they can sit down and accomplish such a thing. I am not saying I should automatically get a great review for the effort, but I would hope that people like me...artists...deserve at the very least a review explaining exactly why our work is either good, bad, or mixed.

A good review does not always have to be positive. If you gave me 1 or 2 stars, but explained why this or that was unappealing to you, I could respect that. Not offering any explanation whatsoever makes me think the person is either just looking to be mean or trolling. In a way, they are kind of the same thing.

If you are a reviewer like I am from time to time, do the artist a favor and explain why you think one way or another. In the end, we will thank you for it and so will other readers.

 

 

In Search of the Dream Catcher - A Working Cover

Sometimes I make covers for stories just so I can have a reason to see them through. I've paused working on this story, but with the picture in my head now I have reasons to finish it. I've shared the photo before, but here is a blog post explaining how I made it and why I used certain elements.

A lot of us write in blogs or diaries or have similar ways of expressing ourselves. I have several ways. This is just one of them. Making covers can be a distraction for me which I sometimes need. When I'm in a terrible mood or look to give myself some work, I make covers. Often times they turn out terrible, but sometimes they look nice enough to share and even to use. I used the pages of several old writings I did when I was in high school. I purposely took the photo in low light to give it an aged effect. I then ran it through photoshop to give the writing an embossed look. I wanted the writing to appear very thick. I wanted it to jump out and grab the attention of the viewer while still looking somewhat unreadable. I wanted the lines on the paper to still appear so it gave it look of normality; like this was something anyone could do at anytime if they wanted. What's written on the pages? Well, some of the words you can still clearly see while other parts seem like nothing more than jumbled lines. There are also no names or titles which gives a feeling of anonymity.

When I am done working on another project, I will surely get back to this one. I don't plan on it being extremely long...maybe 275 pages or so. Compared to some of my other works, that's fairly short.

Recorded Butterflies - Cover Reveal

Here it is. Simple, nothing splashy. Just the way I like it. Can you find the butterfly? You will probably miss it the first time.

Closer

Not much longer till the release of Rumbling Heart. I am getting nervous. I am trying to keep myself from going through it for the 36th time. I keep telling myself the book is ready and there isn't anything that needs to be done with it. I can only fight this urge so long till I know I open it up and read through it one more time.

12 days.

 

Three Chapters in One Day

I guess the meds are tapering off and my OCD is going insane because yesterday I edited for over 12 hours non stop. I guess it's a good thing because I'm in the heart of the book right now and I am really having to pick at words and sentences. I've taken out another 2k words which is good and lost 2 more pages. I still have a way to go, but things are looking better already. I'm about 60% through all the work and then...I get to do it all over again when I proof it via the Kindle and Adobe Reader. I knew this first gutting would be hard so the next time around will me minor snips here and there. Seems I am pretty close to reaching my less than 200k word target and fewer than 475 pages. The next few chapters should be easy to shorten as I'm sure there is some fluff I can just cut right out. Enough of the blog for the day because it's time to edit.

Free Today - "Last Night"

That's right. Today my short story "Last Night" is free on Amazon. It's a fast read so feel free to pick up your copy today before it goes back to it's regular price! Did I mention I love reviews? Well, I do. Literary reviews are always welcome so feel free to post those to Amazon after you give it a read. Thanks again for your support.

Movie Poster

I made a movie poster which you can see below. I added a release date...sort of. I purposely did it so I can make myself work on it. I figured if I put a release date it will light a fire under me and kinda of force me to work on it, even on days when I don't really feel like I want to. The interesting thing about it is that i carries an appropriate rating. Enjoy.

Lots of Edits

Ruby's project is moving along nicely. I would say about 80% done with her stuff, but even then it gets one more look to be sure.

My stuff is still getting rewritten and editing like mad. I've dropped about 4500 words out of it overall which is not bad, but it needs more. My goal is 25k words at the very least. I'm not sure if I will hit it though as I am already in chapter 7 of 28. Who knows, I might make it. If I don't, it's not a huge deal. I just want the book to be shorter so people aren't overwhelmed by it. 500 pages is a lot to ask people to read. 60 years ago that wasn't a huge deal, but people have changed. Either way, it's no longer 513 pages as it was. Now it's closer to 500 and dropping so if I can get it to 450 that would be great.

In case you missed them, here are the two covers I did in the last couple of weeks. The first is for Ruby's book and the second is for mine. Hope you like them.

Clip Clip

Just a quick note.

Slowly but surely version 2.0 of Rumbling Heart is getting smaller and although last night saw it only shrink by 37 words, today should hopefully see it go down by at least another thousand words. As I've said before I hope to clip a good 20-30k words from it altogether. If I can get it down to 475 pages, I would really find that to be a major achievement. Anything less would be even better. Well, I am back to work on it, but not before I leave you with a copy of something I work up last night. Not sure if I will use it, but it maybe the cover for version 2.0

Last Night is Free via Amazon Prime Lending

I've decided to give Amazon Prime lending a try to see how it all works out. So far in just one day, I've already got sales which is nice. The Prime lending, in case you are not familiar with it, basically means you can "borrow" a book from Amazon with no due date. They have a program where members pay a set amount to be a prime member which is about $78 a year and you get all sorts of benefits. Honestly, I'm not too into that sort of thing, but I know some people are doing it and if you happen to be one of those people, feel free to have as look at Last Night. If not, no worries. It's still just $.99 so not like it's a massive amount of money to check out what I consider to be one of the best things I've ever written.

You can check out the book on Amazon here.

Slash and Burn

To slash 2 thousand words in a single stroke is pretty harsh, but when you are gutting out a bad angle from a good story, it has to be done. I am in the process right now. There will be some filler to write, but I don't mind doing it because the story in the end will be much better. It simply wasn't seeded in reality so when it grew as big as it did, it looked good, but not as beautiful as it could truly be so something had to be reworked. I knew exactly what the issue was and as has always been my motto, less is more. In this case, I am cutting an angle that was over complicated and required far too much explaining and the reader was getting lost by it. The rest of the story is terrific and the characters got enough development. It will also require me to look over a few other works but that is alright. In fact, it will give me a little more to add to the work that comes right after this one which is small by my standards anyway.

This one at it's last stopping point was a massive 222k words. Yes, a monster. I have slashed out a lot and already it's below 220k,  closer to 219k. May not seem like a lot, but I am only on chapter 3 of 28 chapters. I am thinking I may be able to get it to as little as 180k words which would be terrific. I just don't want anything to feel rushed. If i have to leave it bigger, then I will. However, if in the end I can say I slashed 42k words and the book turned out amazing, that's a major accomplishment.

Back to the pit.

Products of Failure

Failure is not always a bad thing.

Sometimes you fail so terribly that no one even realizes you were there in the first place so you can withdraw completely and reintroduce yourself as something completely new if you want. I am considering doing just that. I have withdrawn my work from all websites and am currently reworking it into something I feel is better. I am leaving out my short works, but all my major work is getting redone. In some cases, it is getting reworked for length and reedited for content. I already know what I am taking out and what few things I am putting in. It will streamline many things so I feel that the work will still send out the same message i wanted to send upon its original release, but will be much more plausible and people will connect with it better.

I am not making massive changes, but a few semi major changes will be made. Characters will remain the same, but certain events will get overhauls. They need it. Certain parts do not need certain details while others need a little more. Sometimes it's better to let the reader fill in the blanks for themselves.

Many of you do not know I have been ill for...well...for some time now. I am trying my best to deal with that while still keeping focused on work. In fact, I think it's best that I do work while trying to deal with my illness. I need something to distract me while I go through my therapy.

And with that, I am off to do some big time editing.

A Moment in the Sun

Here's a link to a post from my other blog. Enjoy.

http://rumblingheartseries.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/a-moment-in-the-sun/

Writers and Honesty

I am going to get some hate mail for this post, but this will be nothing new for me.

Being that I am a writer by profession, I obviously know a ton of other writers of various genres. While in college, I was an English major so I know a thing or two about literary writing. Not saying I am the all knowing, just saying I know good writing when I see it. This is my 2 cents.

While not concentrating on my writing, I occasionally have people ask me to read their work who want "an honest review." I am ok with that. I'm not the kind of person to massage another's ego just so they can feel good. If i see flaws or what I feel are flaws in someone work, I point it out. I feel i give real literary reviews. I don't just tear into a work and say hateful things like "THIS IS AWFUL!" or "This author sucks!" No. Sorry. That's not professional or helpful in any way. What I do point out are both the good points and the shortcomings of a book. Perhaps a character was left underdeveloped or maybe there was a loose end that was left untied. I will point those things out in a heartbeat. I will also offer praise if warranted. If the story was solid with good character development and keep the reader interested, I will say that as well. I very rarely give 5 star reviews because I feel that almost any book can always be better. That being said, I;ve discovered one thing in the writing community.

Writers do not want honesty.

They want someone to rub their shoulders and tell them that they're the next frickin Hemingway. They want only reviews that make their work sound like it's the next Harry Potter series. It's not! It's clucking horrifying! Ok, maybe not that bad, but it can definitely use some work. I cannot tell you how many people have stopped following me on twitter, have placed me on ignore, and have flat out just lied about me all because I gave what I felt was a very honest and objective review of their work. I had someone unfollow and ignore me because I gave their work a 3.3/5 on a competitor's website. Hey, last I checked, 3.3 out of 5 is not too shabby. It's obviously not perfect, but I'm also not calling your work complete and utter dog [expletive deleted].

To all my fellow writers, I say this: Grow thicker skin! The world is not a nice place. People are mean and vicious and some of them will only want to tear you down. If you get a legitimate, critical review of your book, take those words and think about them and learn from them. As a writer, I do feel we are on the same team. Heck, the same family, and like a good and loving brother, I will tell you when you need to brush up on a few things. I've had people call my work complete crap and that's ok. I've also had beneficial reviews and because of those I am becoming a better writer.

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

Caption

Caption

While reading the times and looking out the window,

I wonder sometimes as to why I am being watched,

constantly by the carbon products of my internet life.

 

The drilling of information seems far exceeding my needs, yet

before I begin with my microblogging nuances, I feel the need

to read the newspaper which is still dutifully delivered to my door every day at 5am.

 

After I have had my fill of coffee, a bite of a bagel, and a story

about the city council asking for another municipal bond,

I find myself on the computer, hunched over my keyboard

just as I was 15 minutes before I fell asleep last night.

Writocrisy

It seems there are countless people out there who want to tell you how to write. I find it rather alarming that there are more people looking to change my style of writing than there are people reading my material. To have someone tell you to change your writing style while never having read your work is absolutely ridiculous.

If there is any confusion as to what I am saying, here it is in plain English: there is no one, single way to write.

Write the way you feel is best for you. All these people out there telling you to write this way and that way are completely full of crap. Example: I've had three different professional editors tell me three different things and of course each of them thinks the others are full of it. So...who is correct? Maybe none of them are. Maybe they are so self serving that they don't even realize that they are just hurting themselves by constantly disagreeing with each other. Each of us has our own style of writing and our own methods. For anyone to come out and tell me what I am doing is wrong while not even taking the time to read any of my novels or short stories, or even my poems has no place in my life. Read my work, look at it from a literary standpoint, then maybe you can offer some critical review. Until then, I could care less about your "writing advice." Sharing experiences is fine, but when you tell me I am doing it all wrong, maybe you need to look in the mirror and say the same thing to yourself. You cannot say you support all writers, yet tell us we are all wrong in one form or another. Just as I have never said I am perfect nor is my work, I have also never told anyone they are wrong in the methods used for their creativity.

Pushing ideals on people is wrong, especially when you can't do the same thing for yourself.  And as I've always said, you cannot force people to do things they do not want to do. In my mind, doing that is a form of slavery and no one respects a slave master.

Emily Martin and Last Night

All Links are live. You can access them here.

Ty all for the continued support. I've found that even now, I have a few people lingering around that would rather see me fail in my attempts to make something of myself. I also know there will always be people who hate me because I am able to do something they are not. I will not recognize their attempts at trying to derail my passion by mentioning them by name. All I will do is just keeping doing what I do. As the old internet saying goes, "haters gonna hate."

The development of my short story into a film is proof that persistence can pay off. I spoke with the director last night and we have come up with some very workable ideas and it looks like we can really make it happen. It may not be tomorrow or next week or even next month, but it will get made. It will be taken to various film festivals and hopefully, we will gain some recognition not only from our peers, but also from those who never stopped believing in us.

We may not become rich or famous, but we will change people's ideas about the subject matter that we cover. I think when all is said and done and our film is made, I can look back at all the hate that's come my way and laugh a little, knowing that all their harsh words did was strengthen my resolve.

Not everyone can write a poem or a short story or a full novel for that matter. It takes endless nights of tedious editing and corrections to get the story exactly the way you want it. Not everyone can pull that off. I've done it now for the third time. There will be at least one more. I find it funny that people who say my work is terrible have never even read it so...how could they possibly know? I can understand criticism if you'd read at least one of my works, but to say my material isn't any good when you've not even looked at it shows only a lack of self respect. I feel sorry for people like that because those same people who hate me are the ones that know deep down they could never do what I do. I'm not saying these things to show off my ego because I really don't have one. Just as I do not hate those who work in other professions and do their jobs well, I would hope that others would at least do me the courtesy of being decent, but that's people for you. People fear what they do not know and they hate others for no other reason than that they possess or have accomplished things they never could.

I may not end up with an Academy award or a Pulitzer in my hands, but I will still have my books. Even after I am gone, those will still be here. For generations to come, my words and stories will echo through time. What will you leave behind? What will be your legacy? Bitterness? Hate? Obviously, those are not very admirable traits. I know I'm not nearly a perfect person, but I do have things most yearn to have: passion, love, persistence, patience, and plenty of stories to tell.

You have a choice. You can either listen as I tell them or hate me as I move forward and write more. Heck, even ignoring me shows more than standing around and hating me. When you stand there and speak badly of me, it only goes to show that I've got your attention so I must be doing something right.

Maybe one day people filled with hate will be ready to move on and do something more with their lives. I don't have the greatest life and I do not claim to be famous or rich or even popular. I am just me. A writer's life isn't all that glamorous. I sit in a room in front of a screen, typing out endless ideas and making them into something that might touch people...and I am ok with that. If I choose to give my art away, that's my choice. After all, it's my talent and not yours.

Who knows really when all this writing will end. Ultimately, that's up to me. I've openly stated that I may not write another novel after the final RH installment. Maybe that's all I have to give. Maybe I've said what I needed to say. Only I can make that decision. Know this though, when I'm heading out the door, I want to leave my work with people who will protect it's artful quality and do something meaningful with it.

[caption id="attachment_1093" align="aligncenter" width="107" caption="Cover of Last Night"][/caption]

Last Night - The Movie

I've spoken to a director about some of my work and we are currently discussing taking one of my stories and turning it into a short feature film. While the talks have just gotten underway, it is still a very exciting idea that one of my works could be made into something more substantial that just a few words on a piece of paper. It's still very early, but we will continue our dialog as the weeks progress and hopefully, it will take us somewhere. Sometimes things like this can take a lot of time, but I am hoping we can get the ball rolling fairly quickly. With time, the two of us plan to sit down and rewrite the story into a workable script, something that can be converted into film while still getting the message across. Depending on the length of the script, we're not quite sure at this point just how long the short will be. I'm not a film director by any stretch of the imagination so I will leave those estimates up to them.

Still, the prospect that this could turn into something more is very exciting as I'd love to have one of my works expanded upon like this. While I was hoping that Rumbling Heart would be looked at, I have no problem starting small as Last Night is a much smaller, easier story to turn into a film as the production costs will be very light and workable. RH on the other hand would require possibly millions to produce.

We all have to start somewhere. I hope this pans out.

You can check out the short story for free over at Smashwords.com or by clicking here.

[caption id="attachment_1093" align="aligncenter" width="442" caption="Cover of Last Night"][/caption]

Recorded Butterflies is Now Free

I've dropped the price for Recorded Butterflies to free via Smashwords.com. Currently, Rumbling Heart is also free so you can download both books for absolutely no cost to you. Head on over and check it out while you can. You can download it as a PDF or you can DL a file that will work with your Kindle, Nook, and several other popular eReaders. Thank you all again for your continued support of my work and I look forward to feedback. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @RichardAllenRH