Oh-oh....
It's almost too hard to believe. I had the story all converted into a file to upload onto kindle, I've finally decided on which cover to use, all I was waiting for was to get home from a two week trip to Europe.
Just when I was finally ready to do the long awaited deed...the computer packed in. Somehow the start up files are corrupted and the thing won't start. If it does it won't stay on any one page before it jams. I've taken it in but was told there was nothing wrong...after $125. It's going back today but if it truly is screwed...I will rebuild the file from the flash drive and the cover picture from emails and try to redo it on this laptop.
The only good thing about this delay is that I found that the table of contents for Part Two was missing. My hopes of being a published writer sting hang in the balance...
Showing posts with label Writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writers. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Saturday, 29 September 2012
The Journey is the Thing
I have been quiet for the past while so I will fill you in on what is happening with “Heathen Hearts”. After dividing the story in to three very unequal parts I have sent the first part “The King’s Grave” to a reader with the Writer’s Guild of Alberta for,...evaluation I guess. I have continued to “tweak” the later two sections while putting them together in their,...closer to finished form. The results of the professional reading will take at least eight weeks so maybe by November I’ll get the results back. After that I will take some time to implement any changes they recommend that will improve the story in the telling.
I have almost convinced myself to go with e-publishing as it seems I would have more control over the process. It is true that once the words hit the web they seem to be fair game but I’m hoping theft won’t be a problem. Some e-books actually get printed if they do well though I’m not sure what happens to author rights in that case. I thought of getting some elaborate artwork done for the cover but even the family connection might cost than I’d like. I might do a bit of experimenting with images on my own and see if I can make a less flashy substitute.
All in all I foresee the new year before this story gets into the hands of the public,...sigh!!
Some other random thoughts: I would like to have a music disc to go with this book. That said I would need the services of a musician as I am not one. My first thought was the drummer for RUSH, Neil Peart. I wonder if he’s looking for a project. Colin James is another singer/songwriter who might have the versatility to do a reasonable job for basically a “Celtic Rock” Band. I would be interested mostly in the publicity while Royalties could be worked out.
I think I have mentioned this before but I was thinking that “Loud-Macleod” should have a sound something like "Eluveitie" only without the growled vocals. “Chameleon” should sound more like “Fleetwood Mac” with a twist of “The Eagles”. The final band, “Heathen Hearts” in their last concert tour, I hear “Night Wish” from the album, “Dark Passion Play”. If I could find a musician to collaborate, the words that are already in the book are not cast in stone. I have no problems with new and better versions of those nonexistent tunes!
I guess the thing is that anything could happen it just may not happen all at once. The whole experience is on a learning curve. Hopefully the next story and the next won't take so long.
Monday, 19 March 2012
THE END,...or just another begining
"It's not finished,....(but) It's finshed!"
I finished the story last night and by finished I mean I have typed out, printed and saved to the end of Chapter sixteen. I typed out the words,...THE END and kind of just sat there. I want to do an epiloge but I haven't decided the style or how brief to make it. There is a lot of work to do before the whole thing is ready to be presented to a publisher but that's just part of the process.
My first task may be to just sit down and read the story,...from start to the end,...just to see what it reads like! It's been years since I've seen Chapter One!
Thanks to my family for putting up with me hogging the kitchen table all this time,...
Oh, a strange thing happened. Just after I transfered the last of it over to the main computor to print and save. My laptop wouldn't shut down! It just sat there with the screen off,...running. A couple of hours later it was still running and now very warm. I tried various buttons,...blind as it wouldn't turn back on,...and it shut down finally! I'll try it today and see if it is toast or was just being crankie after these three years.
I finished the story last night and by finished I mean I have typed out, printed and saved to the end of Chapter sixteen. I typed out the words,...THE END and kind of just sat there. I want to do an epiloge but I haven't decided the style or how brief to make it. There is a lot of work to do before the whole thing is ready to be presented to a publisher but that's just part of the process.
My first task may be to just sit down and read the story,...from start to the end,...just to see what it reads like! It's been years since I've seen Chapter One!
Thanks to my family for putting up with me hogging the kitchen table all this time,...
Oh, a strange thing happened. Just after I transfered the last of it over to the main computor to print and save. My laptop wouldn't shut down! It just sat there with the screen off,...running. A couple of hours later it was still running and now very warm. I tried various buttons,...blind as it wouldn't turn back on,...and it shut down finally! I'll try it today and see if it is toast or was just being crankie after these three years.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Genesis of Heathen Hearts
The genesis of the story "Heathen Hearts" basically comes from my desire to write a story or a novel. I have written historical based articles for local newspapers but wanted to something,...bigger, more important. I tried a radio play once but never heard back,...I spent some years researching a novel that took place during the South African War(1899-1902) but left it idle long enough for Fred Stenson to produce a much better job of my idea.
I had been writing a story with some success about seventeen years ago. I set up a routine of writing every evening after the kids went to bed and it was working well. Life came along and changed things enough that I have let that story slide. I may revive it one day but it was getting weird and the possible outcome was disturbing to me.
More recently I have been working on a "Viking Saga" and I'll post some of it here. I should have been working on it as a screenplay as there are so many Viking reenactors here in Alberta. The whole "gist" behind the story is something that could be filmed in Alberta and believably pass for Europe and Asia.
While working on the above story, the premise came into my head: what if you found out that in your younger days you had actually had a completely different life that had somehow been suppressed and blotted from your memory? Almost at once a series of characters clamored into my thoughts and demanded that I write their story. My wife calls these people my "imaginary friends" and they have been with me for over a year and a half.
The story of their life in the mid 1970s and thirty years later has been written. It took a year to write and I do mean write. I filled eight scribbler/notebooks before the telling was told. I am now in the process of typing a "first" rewrite, getting it onto computer and saving it in print and on disc.
I hope to use this Blog to share some of the details and perhaps a few excerpts in the hopes of not only creating some interest but keeping me interested hopefully long enough to get this thing publish! Actually I see a prequel, I see a multimedia thing with an accompanying music disc and pictures in graphic novel style.
Anyway, this is my first post so I will stop now as I still have a lot to learn about blogging,....
I had been writing a story with some success about seventeen years ago. I set up a routine of writing every evening after the kids went to bed and it was working well. Life came along and changed things enough that I have let that story slide. I may revive it one day but it was getting weird and the possible outcome was disturbing to me.
More recently I have been working on a "Viking Saga" and I'll post some of it here. I should have been working on it as a screenplay as there are so many Viking reenactors here in Alberta. The whole "gist" behind the story is something that could be filmed in Alberta and believably pass for Europe and Asia.
While working on the above story, the premise came into my head: what if you found out that in your younger days you had actually had a completely different life that had somehow been suppressed and blotted from your memory? Almost at once a series of characters clamored into my thoughts and demanded that I write their story. My wife calls these people my "imaginary friends" and they have been with me for over a year and a half.
The story of their life in the mid 1970s and thirty years later has been written. It took a year to write and I do mean write. I filled eight scribbler/notebooks before the telling was told. I am now in the process of typing a "first" rewrite, getting it onto computer and saving it in print and on disc.
I hope to use this Blog to share some of the details and perhaps a few excerpts in the hopes of not only creating some interest but keeping me interested hopefully long enough to get this thing publish! Actually I see a prequel, I see a multimedia thing with an accompanying music disc and pictures in graphic novel style.
Anyway, this is my first post so I will stop now as I still have a lot to learn about blogging,....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)