“That’s a Wrap, Ladies and Gentlemen!”

SO I’M PRACTICALLY DONE WITH MY SECOND NOVEL!! There are just a few more passages that I have to go back and add, but for the most part it’s complete. I finished it up last night and looked back and couldn’t believe how much I’d written. I guess I was simply determined to stop at a good place. Afterwards I sat and felt…moved. It was like saying goodbye to a guest that frustrated you, made you mad, made you laugh, taught you things about yourself and showed you what you were capable of. Sometimes I feel like writing is simply another way of expressing yourself and other times I feel like it’s about discovering different parts of yourself. But the thing about it is that you don’t know what you’ve discovered until it’s all done and the final emotions and thoughts wash over you.

Creation

          Discovery

                   Accomplishment

                              Joy

                                        Sadness

                                                  Excitement

I’m gonna let it cool for a few days before I jump back in and put the finishing touches on it. Now that that project if FINALLY wrapped up, I can turn my attention to my neglected literary baby, Dark On The Rock. While I’ll still be writing about superheroes, Dark On The Rock doesn’t stick so closely to the rules and circumstances of our reality and I can allow myself more room creatively not to try so hard to make it so realistic.

I read a quote recently that said something along the lines of would I still write if I didn’t make any money from writing or never had my work published/read. I think the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. Although it would be nice to share my work with other people and get paid to do it, I think I’d be just as satisfied knowing that I had written something that changed my life if not anyone else’s. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that there are people in this world who don’t like to or feel that they can’t use their creative abilities or think that they don’t have any creative talent. But then again I’ve been writing since a very young age, so it’s hard for me to imagine myself as a non-creative individual, at least in the sense of artistic creativity.

While I’m both relieved that I finished the novel and sad to leave my character and their world for a while, I am excited about embarking on other adventures. I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Take care out there.

How do you feel once you’ve finished a writing project? Overjoyed? Relieved? Pensive? Ready to start your next project?

New Year, New Chances

There’s a sense of healing, a sense of redemption and a sense of reflection when we arrive at the beginning and the end of a year. It’s almost like reaching the end of a chapter of a book and pausing for a moment to reflect on what we’ve read up until this point before continuing on. What is it exactly that makes us wait until the end of the year to be the most reflective and to start to change and rearrange the way that we live our lives? Why not do it in the middle of the week, the middle of the month or in the middle of spring? Perhaps there’s something about 365 days of trying our best to stick to a new commitment. Perhaps when the ball drops in Times Square we drop our bad habits and hang-ups along with it. Whatever it is, I say journey onward toward the new year, toward the new you.

This year I plan on being a better me. I know that I’m capable of doing so much more in my life if I simply stop being afraid of what may happen and stop being lazy. If current events have taught us anything, it’s that we don’t know when or how we’ll be snatched away from the grip of life. I don’t want to die knowing that I could have made more of an effort to become published, more of an effort to write more, more of an effort to really explore the ideas buzzing in my head throughout the day. How many great stories and great authors have remained in the shadows of obscurity all because they were afraid to put themselves and their work out there or too lazy to truly apply themselves to their writing? I don’t want that to be said about me, and I don’t want to go to bed thinking that I wasted another day.

This year I want to work on having more of my stories published while continuing to blog and build up an audience. I also plan on continuing my search for an agent even though I’m still on the fence about becoming traditionally published. If my agent can’t get me a book deal, then maybe she or he can at least help me start my career through another medium. I would like to write comic book scripts, TV/movie scripts and video game scripts. Maybe the agent who can’t find me a book publisher will be able to find me a TV show to write for.

I’m almost finished with the final chapter of my novel and I’m ready to devote more time to my serial story Dark on the Rock over at JukePop Serials. I’m really excited about where the story is going. To think it originally started out as just an experiment. Hopefully it will help with my exposure and efforts to build a platform.

I think it’s best if I quantify my goals rather than simply state them. That way I’ll have a bullseye to aim for rather than a target. Hitting a target is easy, but hitting the bullseye requires work. (Feel free to use that quote as long as you credit me. 🙂 ) I’m going to have at least six short stories published and send out ten to 15 query letters to agents. The first draft of my novel will be finished by January 15th and I’m going to devote more time to Dark on the Rock. I also want to do more with my freelance writing. It’s always nice to have a job you like, and even better to have a job that you like and that you’re good at doing.

Alright, another 365-day long journey has begun…well less now that it’s the third, but you know what I mean.

What are your writing goals for 2013 and why do you think it is that most people wait until the new year to make major changes in their lives as opposed to starting the next day/week/month?

Why I Write What I Write

 

I don’t remember exactly when it was that I fell in love with fiction and fantasy. But I do remember there was an allure in exploring possibilities and impossibilities. Maybe it was growing up in Alabama where nothing ever happened that drove me to immerse myself in worlds where adventure was a part of everyday life, magic occurred as naturally as the wind and traveling in a spaceship was a standard practice. Reality was too bland, too boring for me, and reading was an escape from that. But reading fantasy was like dreaming while still awake. I guess fantasy and sci-fi were my Inception.

I’ve always had a vivid imagination and I’ve always been a daydreamer. I think you’d probably have to visit me in a psychiatric ward if it weren’t for a creative outlet like writing. And maybe that’s all that writers, artists, poets and other creative types are, functioning psychotics. Rather than allowing our insanity to consume us and drive us insane, we channel it and work with it to creative something…more, something beyond what we see and experience in everyday life.

I know that the world we live in holds much splendor and wonder, but sometimes all of that magnificence needs to be magnified times a thousand. I don’t want to travel in an airplane, I want to lift my arms and fly under my own will. I don’t want to simply travel to different states and nations, I want to travel to different dimensions. I want to live in the worlds I see in games like Final Fantasy, see what it would be like to have actual superpowers and have a vampire for a roommate.

For a while now I’ve been on a superhero kick. There’s just something about exploring the idea of how having superpowers changes who you are, either in a small way or a big way. Would the world be a better place if Captain America really existed? How different would the world be if it had a Captain Japan or a Captain Africa? What if the Avengers were villains instead of heroes? What if there was one person with the power to solve all of the world’s problems but they decided not to? I hope to write comic book scripts as well as novels someday, and maybe even a video game script or two. Even though I’m not up to date on the latest happenings in the comic book/graphic novel world, I’ll always be a proud comic book nerd.

When it comes to fantasy, I’m enamored with the idea of creating a new world, new rules, new races, new technology and new ideas. I believe that fantasy and sci-fi are the purest forms of creation. The genres force authors to dig deep, unravel thoughts and ideas that they’ve had since they were old enough to comprehend in order to make manifest a new universe where those thoughts and ideas don’t mean a thing. I have one idea for a fantasy story that’s been in my head for years. I dabble with it every now and then, and I’m just now starting to feel “old” enough to make an honest effort of writing it. If I do, I think I’ll have to pull  a George R.R. Martin and spend a few years on it.

As much as I love brazen, in-your-face fantasy and fiction, I also love the subtle nuances of a fiction or thriller. These are the kinds of stories that can keep me up at night wondering if the events and characters pressed between the pages of a book could actually exist. Movies like Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy make us believe that there could be a real life Bruce Wayne out there somewhere. While  characters like the Joker and Bane may not exist, the characteristics of those characters most certainly do. That is the type of fiction that I hold closest to my heart, the kind that really makes you sit down and examine your life, the world you live in and how you fit in it.

Fiction, sometimes it’s closer to the truth than reality itself.

Take care out there.

What are some of your favorite genres and why? 

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my serial DARK ON THE ROCK on JukePop Serials! Vote for it if you like it, and be sure to check back this Friday for Episode Three.

And We’re Live in 5…4…3…2…1!

“Dark on the Rock” is alive and kicking on JukePop Serials! If you’re a fan of superheroes, sci-fi, super soldiers and young adult stories, I’ve got your fix!  You can check out the first part of Episode/Chapter/Chapisode One here. If you like it, please vote at the bottom of the page! The more votes I get the more chances I have of appearing in the monthly Top 30 Serials, basically the equivalent of a bestseller list. You can also check out the 111 other serials they have through their home page to see if anything else tickles your literary fancy. Feel free to comment and leave your ideas for future installments. I just might include them! And give you credit, of course.

I plan on updating twice a month with 2,500-3,000 word installments. The story will be similar to a TV show with recaps, previews and seasons. It really does feel like having the pilot of a TV show picked up. I’m overjoyed, but there’s also that feeling of, “Oh, crap, now I actually have to go through with the thing!” But I really am looking forward to this journey, and I hope it’s one you’ll take with me.

Thank you in advance, guys.

Take care out there.

P.S. Look for a regular blog post tomorrow. I apologize for not posting one earlier this week, but I was tied up with work. If anyone would like to support me financially for a few months/years/rest of my life, I shan’t gainsay you.