When It Is Ready, You Will Know

Since I was in college, I've been writing a series on about government service. And most of the short stories there had never really went many places. They were about character development and looking at the past of characters.

Until this week. A reoccurring photo kept creeping up on my Facebook feed. And while I've seen the photo a thousand times, for whatever reason, this week it made sense, this was the image I was going to write about to tie the entire series together.

I find that the one thousand words produced by the picture that emanates silence and reverence was perhaps the most soulful addition to the series. So my next book, not due for at least another year will focus on service and sacrifice both publicly and politically. I can't promise stand alones, but I'm looking at the short stories I generated and perhaps this might be the better way to imagine that these stories all share a common thread.

There have been multiple requests for updates and the companion story to "Putting It On The Line", and while I have been sitting on the manuscript for over 15 years at this moment in time, I am not interested in releasing the continued stories of Jessie and the rest of the Bakers.

I would, however, like to request that if you had the pleasure of reading my books, any of them to date, that you would offer up a good review on Amazon.com. And by good reviews, I mean something that is sincerely useful to someone who might be looking to buy a new story/book. I don't really care if you liked the book, but it is somehow much more useful. The reviews help validate my work, and as much as I like hearing from my readers personally, I think it's infinitely more useful that someone reviews my work honestly and understands that there are all sorts of different readers that I come in contact with.

So to sum up: 1) new book in progress. 2) if you like my work, put a review on it. (Sorry Beyonce!).

Thanks! and stay tuned for more updates on Project Alpha as the summer begins, because now I'm fully immersed in the world of CCSS...

Carving time to work

It would seem counter intuitive that a writer would not have time to blog. The problem lies in the fact that my day job, while revolving around writing unfortunately does not mean by any stretch of the imagination mean I am a writer.

I still go to a 8-3:30 job and sometimes for chunks of time I have a 8-5:00 job on top of any general life responsibilities (laundry, cooking, sleeping). And then when I am finally home, I have a potential 3 hour window where I get all the things done I need for my job on top of running a company, taking care of my own writing interests, and fitting in my love of video games. 

So where does someone who professed to write about emotional sacrifice as it surrounded family and life to find love find time for love anyway?

Well actually it's much, much broader.

I love seeing the barn swallows build their annual nest and hatch their brood. 

I love seeing my students recoil doing something I have done a million times before. 

I love seeing my students reach a goal they have set for themselves. 

I love knowing my work has made a difference to someone in their academic pursuit.

I simply, honestly, find the tiniest kernel of love, knowing.that love in all places of my life is not meant to be the earth shattering love that we pursue in our lives. 

But in the meantime, I will blog more. Today's highlight: my first readers have love my new book!

I am going to love that pretty much forever.

Things that influence a writer

I can really get lost sometimes in one tiny aspect of a story line. I think that is most true with "Sheltered Hearts".

I haven't heard any reviews yet, there are only two copies out there in public, but I'm certain, they'll be moving soon.

One of the things I did differently for "Sheltered Hearts" was to develop a sound track for all things related to the book.

In the past, with other stories, I have used songs to do specific chapters or "movements" of my story. by using the music for the full story instead of things I'd like to do or say with the characters, I think I was able to provide a way out as I wrote. I could find conclusions for things that needed to be addressed in the plot and forge relationships around the character.

So for "Sheltered Hearts", here is the list I used to help remind me of my characters, moments in their lives, and emotions I wanted to explore as a writer:

Hunter Hayes "Wanted"
The Wallflowers "The Empire In My Mind"
Ryan Cabrera "True"
Reba McEntire "The Greatest Man I Ever Knew"
Glee's version of "Roots Before Branches"
Kenny Loggins "For The First Time"
Kelly Clarkson "Catch My Breath"
Nickleback "Savin' Me"
Hinder "Better Than Me"
Fleetwood Mac "Landslide"

And It's Out of My Hands

I just want to thank you all for your support the past few months as I've prepared my newest book, Sheltered Hearts. It is the first book I've independently published in over 4 years. Sheltered Hearts has just made it to the final check with the publishers, pending a 24 hour review before final publication to go live on Amazon and Amazon Europe.

Sheltered Hearts surrounds Blair Jacobson as she tries to manage the aftermath of her father's recent death. She knows how isolated she is in her life that has been consumed by work, like her father. It is her little inlets to reaching out that helps her and her brothers and sister find that the house they grew up in was more than just a building conceived and built by their father, but the safe harbor they never thought they would ever have.

Still available on Amazon.com: ParaEducate (with Megan Gross, Jennifer Kurth, Ph.D, and Lisa Yamasaki), Putting It On the Line, and Small Voices.

In the next few months I'm preparing ParaEducate's first adapted curriculum book, Geography, and potentially a release of the US History book.

I'm really excited and cannot wait to see what I will get my hands on just around the corner.

Final Stretch

So I'm sitting in front of the computer staring at the completed manuscript I'm getting ready to publish. I have an "acceptable" cover though that may change shortly pending my mood next week when I finalize all my materials to the publisher.

I cannot tell you how hard it is to sit and summarize a book I've written about for the better part of over a year in only five sentences. Especially since the published version is nothing like the version I spit balled through my writing in a NaNoWriMo over two years ago. But the characters stand, and that's the most important part to me. My characters can weather the changes of editing for any reason. 

And all I know is that this is all (editing, designing, going to regular work) harder than it is supposed to be to upload the final materials and tell the publisher to green light the project. After all, this is my baby. What sort of part of me will now be vulnerable once people start reading my newest book?

I'm also sitting on about three middle drafts for the different volumes of ParaEducate's newest round of materials. This is a different sort of vulnerability as I try to organize all the sources I have for my materials.

All of these things are coming out in the next five to six months right on top of each other. It will take a small miracle to keep them all organized but I'm getting there. And hopefully, they'll all find the audience that I've intended them to be seen by.

There is quite a bit of vulnerability as an author and running a company whose goal is to publish to a specific industry. And it can be confusing at times, even to me as I consider all the parts of my public life. But the best part of my growth as a writer, is the chance to share the stories and materials with more people. And that's where this is all headed. Non-fiction or fiction, that is the greatest joy I have when that finished book is in my hands. That is really what the final stretch is about.

Books Are Precious

One of the reasons I keep writing: I have loved books. I love the journey and the story within books. And even as I have migrated to ebooks for some things, I love the tactility of a book. It reminds me that the knowledge and experience within the book is valuable, not to be overlooked.

As I begin the second round of editing of my first fiction book in over 4 years, I'm looking at the events surrounding its concepts and I was discussing this with my business partner from ParaEducate, Megan Gross.

And I admitted that I had to deviate from the original intent of the book. She did poke fun at me about it briefly and yet, as I examine the esoteric nature of my story for the first time in print as I make suggestions to myself to improve the nuances in the story: the romance still remains. Books, written or otherwise are a romantic nature of themselves. It means that the book itself is valued for simply the attempt to reach someone and pursue a series of thoughts that no one else might have been willing to share in the same manner.

But as my book may not rise to the top of the New York Times Best Seller's List, I am reminded that my story never originally wanted to be shared with the greater population. Even still, the population at hand will only ever see my books when they find the need for them. But I am not discouraged. The remains of my thoughts shall live on and on. And if only a small population sees the book, than I have achieved success.

Books are precious. And will always be so.

Writing, Theater, Professionalism, and Who Really Did All The Work...

I'm still riding high: my students did fantastically today. We still have another show to get through.

But this got me thinking. My students wrote their original script and one of the comments: they wrote in TV fashion because the scenes were short and sweet. But that is actually not an affect of having not enough theater. My students who pursued this project are well versed in theater. But the short scenes lent itself to a lot of different information.

One of the things that are struggled with is professionalism, and teaching it to the students. And classes like Theater are direct links to professionalism. All skills I have to demonstrate make them stronger people in professional life: ability to problem solve in real situations, demonstrating the difference between leading and following, knowing when to lead and let someone else take the lead, and simply: the accountability to someone else.

Another random musing: everyone congratulates the director and the actors separately. The way I've always been taught: the director gives the boxes that the characters need to fit into and everything else is with the actor. The director is responsible for the final product over all, but the details, even when the director is working through the details and making the show complete, the director isn't the one who takes the final bow. The director is the one who comforts, who frames, who makes the impossible plausible. 

So what does this really mean to me as a writer: it's another experience. And I know one day, I hope to be in the thoughts of my students when they receive an award for the amazing things they've done.