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 on Amazon...Really!

That's right. It's really free. Help get Last Night to #1 by telling everyone you know about it and downloading it. You don't even need a Kindle reader to do it. You can use the Kindle computer reader or even the cloud reader. Just download! Download! Download!. Unfortunately, each account can only download it one time each so please do what you can to spread the word.

When I mean free, I don't mean free after some dumb rebate or anything like that . I mean free as in completely 100% free. No delivery costs, no extra stuff to do. Just go to Amazon, look up the book, click order, you will see where it says FREE and then just like that it will give you the option of where to have it sent. Again, you can have it sent to a Kindle device, the cloud reader, or the kindle for computer reader. Heck, there are even Apps for devices like iPads, iPhones, and Androids out there as well.

It's not a very long read either. It's all of 17 pages so it's short and sweet. I've gotten great reviews from scholars and a couple of hate reviews from trolls so you know it's good stuff. For a shortcut to book, you can click here. Once you read it, make sure you got back and give it a review if you have time or at least a big "Thumbs up!" so people will be encouraged to check it out! You can also visit the Facebook event by clicking here.

Thank you all for your continued support of my work and once the Rumbling Heart Series is ready to come back, I will work on trying to get those free on Amazon as well.

[caption id="attachment_1093" align="aligncenter" width="215" caption="Cover of Last Night"][/caption]

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.

Last Night - Version 2.0

There seems to be a resurgence of interest in my short story Last Night so I went ahead and reposted links to it on the books page and redid a couple of edits in it as well as reformatted it. Since it's a short, it's available for just $.99 from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. Interestingly enough this book was the target of a troll attack on Amazon which is kind of what is stirring up the interest. I guess people actually read the troll reviews and realized the reviews themselves are so terrible written that they couldn't possibly be true.

I stuck a +13 rating on it because there are some undertones to the story that most younger readers simply will not pick up on so they won't fully grasp the message. Other than that, it's actually work and school safe. It's a work I am especially proud of because I initially did it as a dare when I said I could write and edit a short story in less than 2 hours. Needless to say I was able to do it. Enjoy.

EDIT - As of last night (ironically) this title is now available on Amazon Prime Lending so if you are a Prime member, you can borrow it for no charge!

On Amazon. 

Shelfari Link

[caption id="attachment_1093" align="aligncenter" width="215" caption="Cover of Last Night"][/caption]

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.