R.I.P., 'Funeral With a View'

This is the third time I'm sitting here trying to write this damned post.  Flying in the face of my blog's title, I'm going to keep it succinct, or at least make the attempt...hehe

I'm putting 'Funeral With a View' aside.  Indefinitely. 

The decision came to me on Monday.  I've lost 'the feels' (yes, mark this date...I actually said 'the feels') for the story.  For the past couple weeks, as I was going over the printed copy, making notes, jotting down ideas for fixes based on some sticking points that had been pointed out to me, I've felt like an exposed nerve on two legs; grumpy, down, ready to quit.  You get the idea.  It's not that I feel the book is crap.  Does it need some changes?  Sure does.  Can I facilitate those change?  You bet.  Do I feel like it?  Not right now.

Despite being received rather well by beta readers, I'm not happy with the story.  Even if I were to polish what's dull, I'm not into the book.  It's my story and I have to be pleased with it.  Right now I am not pleased with it.

There comes a time when, if something you're supposed to enjoy doing turns you into a complete asshole, you may just wanna step away from it.  So that's exactly what I'm doing.  Truth be told, I feel so much better for not being so damned stubborn.  Part of me thought that if I didn't get it out within the next couple months, if I put it aside and let it sit, all the hours/months/weeks I'd spent editing, trimming, editing again, printing, making notes, would have been nothing but a waste of time.

Silly, silly man =D

Nothing's a waste if you can learn from it.  And I have learned a few things.  One: while I'm not satisfied with the overall story of FWAV, the actual writing in and of itself is better than anything I've produced to date. Two:  I now take constructive criticism much better than I used to.  Three (and this is the most important): I know to walk away and let things simmer if they're not working out.

Hey, I'm a part time hobbyist.  I don't have to keep up with full timers.  I don't have to worry about people 'forgetting' about me if I don't publish X books a year.  I don't have to stress about things to the point where I'm ready to take a butane lighter to the manuscript and give it a Viking funeral.  I write when I can, and I publish when I have something I feel is good enough to unleash on an unsuspecting general-type public.

'Funeral With a View' is NOT dead.  I won't allow it to be.  It was the first book I'd ever written and there's gold in them thar hills.  It'll take some time and thought and some elbow grease, but I'll get back to it...when the time is right.  Now just isn't that time.  Ain't no thang, right?

Am I done writing?  Hellz no.  In fact, I think I hear someone knocking on my door, and I think his name is Seth Gabriel.  I've kinda missed the pork-chop side-burn sporting, tequila swigging wiseass  and his whacky crew.  There may even been an idea or two floating around in my noggin.  Seth, a haunted school...  Nah.  That would be a complete bore-fest.

So much for succinct.  See?  I'm feeling better already.

Update on 'Funeral With a View'

I screwed up.  That's a hell of a way to start off a blog, isn't it?  Those three words sum up things perfectly, though.

As some of you may know, I've been working on a book entitled 'Funeral With a View'.  Early feedback was positive, and after performing much needed clean-up (tightening up the prose, fixing dialogue, eradicating over-descriptive passages), I sent it to several betas.  Once again, feedback was mostly positive...but a few glaring chinks in the armor were pointed out.  

ALL MY FAULT, and thank God for beta readers!  They're super important for someone working on their own, like myself, and I always try to gather a slew of them.  Never know who's going to catch what, or whose experience will ultimately reveal a big mistake.  While the reactions to the book have been strong (several readers expressed very powerful emotional reactions to certain events in the story, but that's a good thing.  Reactions, even negative ones, mean you've created characters people can get invested in), there are issues that need to be addressed.

I will not put out a book I'm not happy with, and I will not put out a book that leads people down a certain path in a ham-fisted manner just because that's the way I wanted it to go.  It has to be organic, it has to breath.

Some scenes, although fun and engaging, serve no point whatsoever.  They did at one point, if only in my head, but I screwed up in that I didn't push them to move the story on, or missed the opportunity to make them move things forward.  If they don't serve the story, they must go.  If they don't move the story forward, they must go.  There is a character who plays a major part in the plot that needs to be reinvented.  They need more page time, more realistic interaction and motivations to make their part real.  My image of the character and how I'd executed them on the page ended up being two completely disparate things.   I didn't get the point across.  Can't have that, no way, no how.   I.  SCREWED.  UP. 

There is work to be done. It's going to take some thinking, it's going to take some planning, then it's going to take some time.  When these issues were brought up (once again, THANK YOU BETA READERS FOR KEEPING ME HONEST!),  I felt awful.  Yes, I know it's a beta version, and having people find mistakes is the whole point, but I thought I was closer to the finish line than I actually was.  But that's cool.  Better to find a problem or two now than after someone plunks down money on it only to say something bad about it.  Truth be told, this hasn't been years in the making.  I'd written the original manuscript last year (did you know FWAV is actually my first book?  No?  Well, you do now.) in about five weeks, and I started to get into deep editing after Ghosts of Demons Past was published earlier this year.  It hasn't been a day in, day out process, either.  It may seem like a lot of time as the calendar turns, and there were recent periods where I did nothing BUT edit, but there were days and weeks when I didn't work on it.  I'm a part timer, and I admit it.  In the last few days a niggling voice has whispered 'you've wasted your time' in my ear.  I punk slapped that voice in the mush.  I no longer hear it.  It hasn't been a waste of time.  FWAV ain't perfect, but it's much better than it was.  It's just not as good as it could be will be.

So, I'd blabbed on my Facebook page that I was looking at a December release.  That is simply not going to happen.  Too much left to be done.  I want to put out a product that makes people turn the pages.  I want to put out a product where the reader laughs when I want them to, be upset when I want them to be, and get so invested in these characters' lives to the point where they can't help but want to put their own lives on hold so they can see how it all pans out.  FWAV is a very emotional book, and I want the reader to feel every single emotion I'm trying to convey.  Did I accomplish that?  On many levels, yes.  On all levels?  No.  But I can, and I will.

When will the book be out?  When it's finished. There are many things in there to enjoy.  The cast is varied and colorful  (one reader, a valued and talented friend of mine, called the two main characters 'gold', and I lubs her for it!), and the story is an emotional roller coaster.  I won't allow a few sticking points to mar the good stuff.

Annnnd I'm spent!  Thanks, again, for reading.  You win a no-prize for making it this far.  =)

Take care, talk soon!

Healing, FREE E-BOOK, and what's next?

Hello all you faithful followers.  Yes, I'm still alive.  I know I haven't blogged in quite some time.  Why?  Honestly, I haven't had much to say.  Now I have a little free time as the eldest watched Drake & Josh before bed so I figured I'd type out a few words for anybody out there who's interested.

First order of business:  Healing.

Some may know this already, but some may not.  I had surgery toward the end of June.  I started to experience numbness in my left hand (pinky/ring finger) around the beginning of the new year.  Many appointments and tests later, it turned out I had neuropathy.  Long story short, a hand surgeon dug into my wrist and elbow to alleviate the problem.  I won't get into all the details, but I had a brace, followed by physical therapy for about six weeks post-op.  Prior to surgery I couldn't type and I couldn't play guitar worth a shit.  Anybody who knows me knows that guitar's been a big thing in my life for the past twenty or so years, give or take a couple weeks, days, hours. I'm getting better.  In fact, I'm not only able to type up to speed, but I can PLAY MY DAMNED GUITAR AGAIN!  There was a period where I feared I'd never be able to play again.  It was depressing.  It's been such a big part of my life for so long that the prospect of never being able to play again sucked bigtime.  It wasn't without a huge degree of trepidation that I picked up one of my several guitars and plugged in a few weeks back.  The result?  It didn't sound like a bunch of monkeys humping a beach ball.  In fact, I'm playing almost as well as I had been before the nerve issues developed.  The pinky is still numb, a problem which could very well be present for another two years, so the doctors tell me.  But I'm getting better.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll make a youtube video and post it on here so you can all be amazed by my fretboard wizardry.  No promises though!

Second order of business:  FREE-EBOOK

I talk about Ghosts of Demons Past constantly.  Did I mention it's now available in paperback?  Well, I just did.  Anyway, I have a short story out there, too.  Words With Fiends.  This short horror/suspense novelette (around 10,000 words/45 kindle pages) is NOW FREE FOR KINDLE!  How long will this free offer last?  For the foreseeable future as far as I'm concerned.  While Ghosts is enjoying some good reviews (just received its 25th five star review today as a matter of fact) it's not selling very well.  I'm all about honesty here.  Why be any way else?  The idea is to get people interested with the free novelette, and if they dig it, maybe they'll take a chance on Seth's maiden voyage.  Stranger things have happened.  So, head on over to Amazon and get Words With Fiends for free if you haven't already!  You may just like it.

Third order of business:  What's next?
I have a few fires burning.  I have a short story that'll be published as part of Padwolf Publishing's next anthology, "Lucky 13" sometime next year.  I'd turned it in a while back (way before my surgery) and the editor liked it a lot.  I'm pretty proud of it myself.  I think people are going to like this one.  Also, I'm part of a shared world anthology of sorts that I'm not allowed to speak of under pain of death.  That has been completed and is now undergoing the editing process.  More on that when the gag order has been revoked.  Right now I'm going through the second round of edits on my next novel.  It's titled...well, I'm not ready to give that away just yet.  I tend to keep titles very close to the chest.  Publishing said novel makes me nervous.  Why?  It's the first novel I'd ever written.  Yes, I wrote it even before Ghosts of Demons Past and let it sit and linger.  Additionally, it's unlike anything I've written to date.  It's not horror, it's not dark fiction, it's not 'paranormal' in the traditional sense.  It's, dare I say, a life story/drama/romance with a paranormal twist?  I'd given it to some 'pre-beta' readers to skim a month or so ago as I was completing the first round of edits and they liked it, despite it being a rough draft.  Still, I'm nervous.  But I'm going to finish it and publish it anyway.  I feel the story is engaging and beyond that, it carries a heavy sentimental weight, being my very first novel.

So, what's after THAT?  The few who've read and enjoyed Ghosts of Demons Past want a sequel.  Just go check out the reviews on amazon and you'll see 'sequel' is a common sentiment with each subsequent review.  Do I plan on writing more Seth Gabriel stories?  Yes.  When?  I don't know.  I'm not going to do it until I have a solid story to tell.  I do have ideas.  In point of fact, I almost have TOO MANY IDEAS.  They're a muddled mess in my head.  Still, I've no central story idea and until that happens, I'm not going to half ass it.  I've written a bunch of short stories I've written over the past year, year and a half.  Will I go back, edit them, and publish my own mini-anthology?  Eventually, yes.  Is that next though?  I'm not sure.  I'm thinking it's time to start something new.  Hit that blank page with some new characters, new words, new story.  I may even have a story in mind.  In fact, I know I do.  Thing is, it's a bit...different.  The story that's been pulling at my cortex for these past few months will most likely have to be written under a pen name and feature scantily clad people on the cover. I may even have a title, and a pen name all dreamed up for said story.  BUT, we'll see what we'll see ;)

Anyway, thanks for making it this far.  You've earned yourself a big, fat no-prize for reading my long winded drivel!  Until next time, whenever that may be, be well and happy reading!

Excluse! An interview with...Seth Gabriel?

Author Belinda Frisch has been lucky enough to land an exclusive interview with Seth Gabriel, star of Ghosts of Demons Past!  This is reblogged from her site. Seth does his best to be a pain in the ass but she gives it right back; a worthy adversary for the tequila drinking medium.  Enjoy!

I'm fortunate enough to have landed an exclusive interview with medium Seth Gabriel. 

Welcome, Seth. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy ghost-elimination schedule to talk to me about your business, your love life, and your "gift". 

You’re the man behind SG Cleaning Services, definitely not a conventional housekeeping service. Tell us about what you do.

If you’re looking for someone to vacuum, or shampoo your carpets, I ain’t your dude.  I don’t do dishes, I don’t do windows, I don’t mop floors, and I sure as hell don’t scrub toilets.  But, if you hear creepy noises in the house?  Noises you can’t explain?  Feel like someone’s watching you, but nobody’s there?  Have the chills and goosebumps for no good reason?  Maybe you wake up and all the cabinets in the kitchen are open? Could be the window you know you just closed is open when you come back in the room, or a book falls off the shelf all on its own.  Now THAT I can help you with, ‘cause chances are, you’ve got a ghost.  I don’t deal in house cleaning, but I do deal in ghosts.  I come in and I get rid of them, simple as that.  Backed up by my money back guarantee of course.  I’ll even hook you up with references!  Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have some Hornitos by any chance, would you?  You know, to calm my nerves?  I’m not used to being interviewed.

Rumor has it, you need to lay off the hooch. *hands over a Coke

Not everyone understands or believes in your abilities. Even your son takes heat at school for his dad’s wacky profession. SG Cleaning Services certainly isn’t easy on you. Why not get a more conventional job?

Guess that’s a no on the tequila.  Probably for the best.  Trying to cut down anyway.  So, why not a more conventional job?  Been there, done that, never panned out.  I didn’t graduate high school because of some…stuff that went down when I was in my late teens  so it’s not like a cushy career in a climate controlled office is in the cards for me.  Ghosts are what I’m good at.  It’s what I DO.  Besides, it pays the bills.  Mostly.  Sometimes.  How about a beer?

Still no. 

You see dead people, right? Are you afraid that your “gift” might have passed to your son? What if it has?

Hey!  How’d you know that?  Oh, my ‘tell all’ book.  I’m not comfortable sharing my secret but hell, I’ve seen the sales numbers.  It’s not like my skills are going to be worldwide news any time soon.  Mitch is a good kid.  Better than I deserve.  But no, I’m not worried about him inheriting anything except for my shitty trailer.  That is, until you brought it up.  Now I’m worried about it.  Man, I really wouldn’t mind that beer right about now.

This guy's relentless. Focus, Seth. You can hit the bar as soon as we're done.

Mixing with spirits takes a toll on your body, but there’s something worse. Tell us about the demon. Any guesses why this particular nasty keeps popping into your life?

Who knows?  Maybe I killed a busload of nuns in another life and this is karma’s way of stepping on my neck.  Or it could just be my shit luck. Can we talk about something else?

Ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away. With a demon on your tail and the word out about you and a certain hooker, you might want to explore this, before it crops up again and makes a mess. You have people to take care of. This demon tends to get personal.

I won’t sugar coat your track record with women. You’re divorced, and exploring a new relationship with a ‘working girl’. Tell us about Jamie. Do you think she’s ‘the one’?

Don’t go getting any ideas.  I saw you scoping out my ass on the way in here.  Can’t blame you.  It’s one of my nicer features.  You’re cute and all, don’t get me wrong, but I’m a one woman kinda guy.  How’s that for an answer?

Busted.

Tell us about your most difficult case.

Adult store in Bordentown.  Not going to say which one.  Legal stuff.  I’m good like that.  Anyway, the owner went in to open up one morning and ‘merchandise’ had been tossed all over the joint.  At first he thought it was a break in but there was no sign of forced entry.  The locks weren’t jimmied, none of the windows were broken, and he had the sole key.  My gut told me there was something lingering around the place as soon as I set foot through the door, but he insisted on showing me the security footage, so I watched it with him.  We saw toys, DVDs, anything that wasn’t nailed down, being hurled every which way…by themselves.  Tape doesn’t lie, and it proved what I’d already figured out:  he had Geist (those are the more interactive, pissed off ghosts) activity.  I spent that entire night dodging dildos, vibrators, and triple ripple butt plugs before convincing the bugger to vamoose.  I barely got the job done with my ass intact.  Literally.  I felt violated.  So I charged him extra.

I heard a slightly different story but hey, a medium has to have his secrets ;-) 

What’s next for Seth Gabriel?

I have no idea.  Since you won’t get me that beer, I may just have to go to Veronica’s and buy my own.  Or I could stop at Homer’s A Real American Gyro for a Gyro to Die For.  Maybe I’ll get laid.  Hell, I could do all three, right?  It’s a free country.

Homer's a saint for feeding you and putting you up in that tiny office of yours, even if it's only to play XBox. That ass you're so proud of isn't going to stay so firm if you don't expand your palate to something other than gyros and tequila. Empty calories, Seth. How about one of your famous breakfast plates? I hear the landlady has spare bacon.

Fanpage 1,000 likes giveaway!

Hey, everybody!  Long time no read!  I've been a bad, bad blogger, but it hasn't entirely been my fault.  I had surgery on my left hand back in late June and I'm just now regaining the feeling in my left pinky and ring finger.  Typing has been a pain in the ass up to this point, but it's coming easier now.  The doc and physical therapist assured me that I'm getting better.  Recovery is a slow process, but I'm getting there.  Funny thing is though, the therapist said that typing is good therapy!  So I guess I'd better get back to it.

Another reason for the lack of blogging has been the lack of time.  Ghosts of Demons Past went live back on June 10, and I've been doing my best to promote it.  Part and parcel with that, I've been working via Createspace (which I've now dubbed Createstress...don't get me started) to  produce the paperback version of the novel!  It's taken me forever to get everything straight for printing, but with the help of my friend, author Julianne Snow, I'm one step away from ordering the proof copy.  The files are being reviewed now and once all is well with the cover I'll have an actual, physical book...with my name on it!  I'll be sure to keep you posted, but needless to say, I'm stoked about it.  

Anyway...back to the purpose of this post.

So, my Facebook Author Page has hit 1,000 likes!  More like 1,100 plus right now, but who's counting?  In celebration of hitting that milestone there is a HUGE giveaway on the page.  Thirteen e-books are up for grabs, including a kindle copy of Ghosts  of Demons Past.  All you have to do is hit up the rafflecopter giveaway below and you're entered to win.  Simple as that!  But wait, there's more!  I did say the giveaway is huge, didn't I?  With the help of Angela Pratt and Joooood (Judith) Frazee, we'd gotten so many donations that there's going to be a facebook event in just under two weeks' time.  Signed books, swag, and a signed paperback of MY book, Ghosts of Demons Past.  Cool, right?  More on the event as details are solidified.

So, start mashing buttons on that there rafflecopter down below!  Lots of cool stuff to win!  And if you don't enter, you can't win, right?

See you around the interwebs, folks!

                                   1,000 LIKES GIVEAWAY!!!

Going under the knife!

Gonna post about something unrelated to books for a change.  Well, mostly at any rate.

Not long after the new year I developed a numbness in my left pinky, part of the ring finger, and the surrounding palm area.  I chalked it up to too much typing or too much guitar playing and thought nothing of it at the time, the idea being that it would just go away.

It didn't.

Long story short, I've been to about five different doctors through ten appointments and three different tests.  I was poked, prodded, x-rayed, hit with magnetic waves, and had electric currents shot through my arm.  Don't worry, it sounds worse than it really was =)  During the course of all of this, I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy.  In layman's terms, a nerve somewhere between my elbow and wrist is pinched, thus the numbness.  It's just like carpel tunnel, only it's the nerve on the pinky side, not the thumb side.  

So, what now? 

SURGERY!  On Wednesday morning (at the ungodly hour of 6:45 am) I'll be undergoing surgery on my left arm.  It won't be much unlike the orthopedic surgery one would get on their knee.  The good doctor will be making a small incisions at both my wrist and elbow.  He'll be clearing up some room in the small tissue in my wrist around the tunnel where the nerve runs.  That should solve the pinky/ring finger numbness.  A similar incision will be made around my elbow, but he'll be performing what's called 'radial nerve translocation'.  That involves moving the nerve from where it runs along the funny bone to an area where it won't be pinched.  

Friends, both online and off, have been asking me if I'm scared?  The answer is, no, not really.  After MONTHS of dealing with a finger and a half that feel constantly asleep, and all the requisite tests and doctors appointments, it's nice to have a fucking answer.

Now, none of this is life threatening.  I can easily live with a pinky finger that doesn't want to do what I want it to do.  But, I'm a guitar player and I've written a thing or two: something I'd like to keep doing.  I'm right handed, but the left hand is my fretting hand.  That's the hand that picks out the notes on the guitar's neck.  Without a functional pinky and ring finger, I can't feel the strings and the results are shitty slop to say the least.  I'm no Steve Vai but I don't suck either.  Guitar's been in my life for over 20 years and I've gotten pretty good at it.  The prospect of never being able to play again blows.  Also, there's the whole writing thing.  That's not so bad because I've basically retrained my left hand how to type.  I've been clocked at almost ninety words per minute, so yeah, it blows not being able to type up to speed but I've been working around it.  Timing-wise, it's not so bad.  Ghosts is published and I've been taking a bit of a break from writing, although I'd like to get back to editing my other book.  So, that's going to be interesting, but at least it won't involve long hours of typing; it's mostly just cleanup.  

So, what next?  Insofar as recovery, I'll have a brace on my left hand for about a week.  Furthermore, the doctor informed me that I'll need to wear a 'dressing' on my arm to protect the elbow for 'longer than that', and in addition, my elbow will be 'tender' for a while and my hand 'won't exactly work properly' right away. 

That's the long and short of it, folks.  While I'm not scared, I'd like this shit to be over with at long last.  Seems we're headed that way.  After months of this crap, it's good to have a probable solution in sight.  If'n ya don't see me on FB or blogging much for the next few weeks, you'll know why.  

And that's that!  Hope this post finds you well!  Until next time, take care.

Ghosts of Demons Past is LIVE! Also, free stuff, interviews, ramblings

Long time no blog, people!  I've been recalcitrant in my ramblings as of late.  Why?  I was busy as hell getting my debut novel ready to publish on Amazon.  Good news is, it's finally, FINALLY up there!  I'm drained, exhausted, and happy all at the same time.  I won't go into detail as to what I had to go through this past weekend to get the thing up there, but let's just say that, other than a few excursions out of the house, I neglected everyone and everything to format the book, check it, re-format when I ran into troubles (of which there were legion), wash, rinse, repeat.  It was a learning experience, lemme tell ya.  I hadn't run into many problems when I published Words With Fiends.  Ghosts was an altogether different beast because I'd hired an editor (which meant more changes to double check) and it's a full length book, which meant inserting a table of contents, page breaks, all that good stuff.  ANYWAY, it's done, and it's available to purchase!

So, here are the buy links!  I'll put it on my dedicated Ghosts of Demons Past page as well.  (Side Note:  the Kindle sample contains not only the prologue from the novel, but THE FIRST SEVEN CHAPTERS AS WELL.  If you're unsure as to whether you want to buy the full book for the outrageous price of $2.99, the sample offers you a big chunk with which to test the waters.)

Buy Me!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

NOW, onto other business.  I've been interviewed by two sites.  You're probably sick of reading my interviews by now (I've had a couple of them) but these involve the possibility of winning FREE SHIT!  What shit is up for grabs, you may ask?  Why, a Kindle copy of Ghosts of Demons Past of course!

The first interview is with the nice folks over at the One More Chapter Blog .  I am their June 'Featured Author', and at the tippy top is a Rafflecopter entry form.  All you have to do is click on one or both of the buttons, and you're instantly entered to win a free copy of my debut novel (doesn't that sound cool?  "Debut Novel'?).  There are over 12 days left so you have plenty time to enter.  Go over, enter, and check out the interview!

The second interview is over on the Bloodletting website.  Bloodletting is a text-based fantasy roll playing game.  Cool stuff.  After you've checked out the interview, give the site a browse!  Bloodletting is also having a giveaway, which includes a Kindle copy of Ghosts of Demons Past as well as a bunch of other stuff.  Here's the link to the Rafflecopter Giveaway!

I'd like to thank Jude (aka JOOOOOOD) Frazee for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to come up with the questions, host the interview, and run the contests.  Thanks, Jude! 

It's not easy putting yourself out there, and I'm part excited/part anxious about finally having Ghosts of Demons Past out in the world.  It's been nearly a year in the making, and has been through many edits, read by many people, and has even suffered a few hiatuses.  I hope people enjoy it as much as I did writing it.  It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, but now that it's done?  I can say I'm proud.

Thanks for reading folks!