Other things while I write.

See the little guys above? Yes well, those little guys have been my sanity the past few weeks. 

How, you may ask. Well over the past year my life has been insane and while writing is an escape there are also expectations and people waiting for the third book. I don't mind that, in fact I rather enjoy it in the end, but it does come with it's stresses. 

Between the three kids, and the Noah's ark of  animals, there is quite a lot to fill my days. Still being an artist is what I am. I am not happy if I am not creating.

So I draw and I paint and I write. Another love of mine has been clay. I fell in love with it in school and have done a few things here and there over the years. Well my wife bought me some Sculpey colored clay and told me to go play with it when I was super stressed one day. 

I ended up having a blast. 

It was so nice to create things and not have to paint them after. 

There are two loves in the fantasy world for me. One is the little creatures. You can call them brownies or gremlins or goblins, but they are the little curious and sometimes mischievous ones.

The other is Gryphons(griffins,griffons). These are something that I love even more than dragons, which says a lot. I mean big, bird-cats, what isn't to love? 

So with these guys in mind I started creating and hit a ton of bumps a long the way, but soon found a method I loved and began working. 

Here is a Gryphon after I finally figured out the wings. 

So anyway. I really enjoyed making them and they are a huge stress relief. All those feathers have to be hand placed and I think on this guy it ended up being around 70 feathers, lol. Still I get in the zone.

I started to make quite a few of them and they began filling up space. My wife loved them and happens to own an Etsy shop so she asked if I would put them up there. So even though selling my art sometimes make me uncomfortable I agreed. 

If anyone wants to check them out I have a Deviant Art here. Deviant Art.

If anyone wants to take one home or knows someone who would or likes handmade jewelry here is the Etsy. Etsy Store. 

Anyway my next post will be my cover reveal. I have been around to some, but I want to wish everyone good luck on their A-Z this year. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

IWSG

This group is for people in the writing world to express their insecurities or help others with theirs. If you would like to join up click here. 


I know many of you are doing A-Z so I will keep this short. A general theme of mine lately is time management. I think that is the case with most people trying to do anything in life. So I have decided to retire that worry as just part of existence and not something to overcome, instead it will be something to tweak over time. 

So this month my major worry is that I have book coming out soon. It is the third book in the Light Bringer Saga. I got the cover ready to go and it will soon be in the hands of beta readers, then my editor. I've got all of the new book nerves lol. 

Hope all enjoy A-Z, good luck on getting those post out. I plan to be around to see them all. 

As always have fun and keep writing. 

IWSG

This group is for people in the writing world to express their insecurities or help others with theirs. If you would like to join up click here.

This month I am not so insecure as I am reflective. This weekend we had a Birthday party for my youngest. This means it has been one year since I made the post where I announced his arrival to the world. 

The party was fun, if tiring(as they usually are). I always make a cake for my kids' 1st and so I did again this time. I was a little rusty, but it came out okay. 

We had Monsters theme because he loves them, so he got to where this cute little outfit.

So why am I writing about this here? Well it isn't just to show off my cute baby. It has to do with that year, now gone. It is hard for me to understand that another one has slipped away. I feel like I was just telling you guys about him for the first time. 

We writers have a saying in this business 'It isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.' I believe that wholeheartedly. With all that it takes to write these stories and build our fan base and grow and learn, nothing can be expected to happen quickly.

Still, when these moments happen it really makes you start to think on it all. For me it has really been an inspiration to be more driven. I am truly ready to be the whole person I have always wanted to be, the whole artist I have wanted to be. 

I think that maybe time moves fast when we aren't looking. When we let stress and insecurities eat up our moments. I for one am ready to use all of my time wisely.

Anyway, how is everyone else doing? As always have fun and keep writing. 

Just a song.

Hard at work on book three. Just wanted to throw this song out there.

IWSG

Edit: I thought I had this scheduled for yesterday, but it didn't post, but here it is anyway.

This is an amazing group where one can share their insecurities or help others with some advice. go HERE to join up.

I'm working on my third book to be published in April. It is crazy to think I have published two books already. I am quite proud of them. For that reason and others I am fairly nervous about this one.

A few months ago I read a popular book trilogy and like many others who have read and commented on this series I found the third book to be kind of a let down. It got me thinking of why that happens sometimes. 

I think the best answer I can come up with is, beginnings are easy, endings are exponentially harder. This holds true for a series/story arc, as it does for a single book. 

I am not sure if this will be my last Sophia book, but I do plan to answer most of the questions I put out there in the previous books. It is a balancing act to do this while at the same time keeping the story exciting and fresh.

I am sure I am up to the task, but I still fight those doubt demons. I think that some of the pressure is I have readers now. I know there are people expecting me to handle these characters in a respectful and enjoyable way. I just hope I make them proud. 

Well I am off to get back to the grind. Hope you are all doing well with your chosen projects. As always, have fun and keep writing.

IF.

So I am having a music week. It is often the case when I am writing. So I will be doing songs this time for IF. 

The first one is a song that I have known since I was little, but has been shuffled back into my listening library because of a show that me and my daughter started watching a few months ago. If you are a fan I won't need to tell you which show it is.

The next one is also a song from my childhood, the difference is this one is a cover. I heard this cover on the movie A Walk Through the Tombstones. (Good movie btw) Some people don't like remakes/covers. I think when done well they are awesome. 

So finding this song on youtube led me to another cover by Nouela. 

Last one is probably something you heard on the radio, but a book I hope to have out this year(much later this year O_O) has a bit of an animal side to it. This song helps me get in the mood when I am brainstorming. 

Well these are some things that inspired me this week. What about you? As always have fun and keep writing. 

New Year, New Plan.

I want to start this post by saying, thank you. For a bit over two years now I have really enjoyed meeting everyone and being inspired by this community. I have learned so much and grown more than I could have imagined.

This last year 2014, I had the joy of seeing my son born. As anyone who has children knows, there is nothing like it. So I will hold that year as special for that reason. Unfortunately it was also one of the harder years I have had in a very long time. 

Many personal reasons, some I have shared some not, have made this the case. I am the kind of person to be optimistic and try to push through no matter what. This means I made plans and constantly saw them fall away from me. It was very discouraging to say the least. 

My writing and my blogging took a major hit and I felt, if I am honest, a bit lost. 

The good news is, writing is a part of me and no matter what happens I don't think I could stop even if I wanted to. Rest assured I don't want to.  

So I took January and really looked at everything. I got my beta readers, my CP and my editor and told them of my plans. Which I guess is another way of saying, I have a plan.

2015 will be a good year for me. I will be finishing my third book in the Light Bringer Saga. I also have plans for a new series coming out this year and I can't wait for everyone to hear about it. In the next few months I will be showing that cover for Light Bringer I talked about a bit back. 

For me I didn't want to do New Year's resolutions. I wanted to instead make permanent changes in my life that will last and take me where I want to go. I feel like I have started to accomplish that and so I am very optimistic and very hyped for this year. 

Anyway, I hope to see you all around more often and I can't wait to be inspired by your words. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

Happy New Year!!!

A Christmas with broken things.

When I was growing up I had this strange affinity towards broken things. I knew that other people wouldn't want them and so I grew more attached to them because of that. While this extended to people as well, I mostly am talking about inanimate objects. 

If I found something broken I would always try to get my mom to buy it for me and if she said why, I would tell her because no one else will buy it. 

It is not strange to me that I find my daughter having the same issue. We are after all, quite alike. Recently we found a fox cookie jar. We both love foxes and thought it was cute, but it wasn't until we saw it was damaged( a few chips here and there) that we rushed to buy it. The "broken" fox now sits on our counter. 

Well this year we moved. I love our new place with it's giant yard and pool and lack of nosy near-by neighbors. Still the problem of moving from a bigger house to a smaller house is—space. So we talked about it and we decided no tree this year.

Well Sunday we found ourselves at Wal-Mart trying to get a few odd things and some wrapping paper. It was there we saw a small white tree sitting off by itself. I made a comment about how it would fit if we wanted to get it. We agreed and I found a clerk who worked in the garden center. Come to find out they'd all been sold. 

I was going to walk away when a thought hit me. "What about the one on the floor?" I said.

The clerk peered around me and finding the tree said, "Oh I'm sorry sir, only half the lights work on that tree, it's broken."

Me and my daughter looked at each other. He had said the magic word. I asked him if they would sell it anyway. A quick call to his manager and we got our lovely broken tree at a discount. Amanda(my wife) wrapped a few lights we had around it and you would never know it was broken. 

So for all the broken things out there I hope you find your place and to all who celebrate it I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. For those that celebrate other things Happy Holidays and for those that celebrate nothing....come on get with it man!!!

Inspiration Friday

Love. Yep. There is a reason that Romance is such a big genre. People enjoy reading about love. In all its forms, unrequited, unexposed, soul mates, rekindled. It just makes for great reads. 

This week I want to give some songs I like to listen to when trying to write those types of stories.

First is a song all about meeting that perfect person and wanting to show them just how perfect for you they are. It was originally a Justin Timberlake song, but I always liked this version better. 

Next is one for those moments when love is there, but it is not yet fully trusted. Sometimes it is hard for a character to trust love again. 

Next is the hard one love not returned or lost.

Last is the love we all want. The one with no strings attached or unconditional love.

So these are my musical inspirations at the moment, but I have something else. I have not post pictures in a bit of one of my biggest inspirations so here he is Dorian, growing much too fast for his dad.

Anyway these are my inspirations what about you guys? As always have fun and keep writing. 

IWSG

If you would like to join this awesome group go here and sign up.

I missed last month due to personal things, but I wanted to make sure I got one out this month as I love being part of this group. 

It is timely as well because the topic I wanted to share was about editing. I just got finished going through the edits for Ashes and it really inspired me to share my views on self publishing with an editor. 

So two books in, why did I not get an editor from the start? Well I imagine they are all the normal reasons most people try to go without. 

I loved English growing up and always got good grades so I should be able to handle things. 

Money is always an issue when trying to get something you created out there on your own.

If you write a great story isn't it more important than a "few" grammar mistakes?

So let's look at these.

Loved English. It's true, but honestly even if I was an English teacher(which I am not) as the author you are too close to your work. You see it in your mind as much as on paper. Just having fresh eyes alone is invaluable. If those eyes happen to be educated in finding mistake all the better for you.

Money. Oh money, you insufferable necessity. Here is the thing, I learned something when I was in sales at a younger age. The best way to sell a product is to add value to it. There are few things you can do that add as much value to your work as having it edited. (Cover, revisions, formatting) 

Last is a big one. A good story can beat a bad cover. If people fall in love with your character they can overlook a lot of things. The question is, how many people do you want to reach with your work? If you put something out there that has blaring read lights to a large portion of the reading community you are going to lose readers. Why not make your book as accessible as it can be?

Personally my editor, the wonderful Janie Junebug, is one of a few choices I made in my writing journey that I am so grateful for. She has a way of making me feel competent while at the same time making me a better writer.

She may at this time be editing this post while shaking her head, but I know she has my back. I know I can go forward and write and when the time comes she will add the glue that makes my manuscript a solid piece of work. That my friends, is priceless. 

Anyway, tell me about your editors or if you are looking forward to having one. As always have fun and keep writing.

Inspiration Friday

Movies

This movie was amazing. Truly my favorite of the year. If you have kids go and check it out, but if you don't have kids...go and check it out. So much heart. It looks beautiful and laughter comes in ten minute incriminates. Do yourselves a favor and check it out.

Music.

Just a fun song. Kind of has an older feel to it.

Books

This is a really cool one to write about. One of my favorite fantasy authors is dipping his toes into the self pub. market. Putting out,  The Education of Brother Thaddius and other tales of DemonWars. A collection of short stories from his world of Corona. It is a great place to jump into his books. Here is a link to his Amazon, CLICK ME!!

Well that is what inspires me at the moment. As always, have fun and keep writing.