Tag: The Book of Isabel

Novel, writing

The Little Things

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Editing of The Book of Isabel has taken more of a priority as 2016 gets closer. The little things are becoming more important. There are things that don’t seem uniquely important by itself but become huge when you put it all together. There are things that have to get done now so that I wont have to do them later.

I always talk about how it is to be a self published author in terms of the mild successes and the pitfalls, but I’m not sure I’ve really gotten into the little things. What I mean about these little things, I’m talking about things that are not ultimately related to the act of writing the text in the novel. These things include but are not limited to the book synopsis, the dedication, and the head shots. The difference between where I was the last time I wrote a book and now, is experience.

In 2014, I felt that I rushed through everything. I rushed through the editing process. I had no real head shots and had no real idea on how to describe Hanging Upside Down. Much of everything I’ve done leading up to the book coming out seemed to be on the fly. As much as I loved the way things happened, I feel like I could’ve done so much better with time and planning.

The cover for the new book is 95% done. Draft two is about 60% done. What keeps me ahead of the game is that I now know what I’m doing when it comes to creating book pages and descriptions. These are the little things that most authors who have agents and book deals don’t have to consider.

This has also led me to think about things I need to consider when it comes to book promotion. I feel like I’ve done a decent job at creating my own marketing and my own buzz but now I have to take things a step further. I’ve been told that I will need to really consider putting more of my work out there. I need to start looking at getting officially published.

I will be hard work and I may start out with short stories. I need to try because it is the little things that will make the difference.

Facebook, Novel, writing

700 Likes

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What does that even mean?

So recently I found myself with more than 700 likes on my Facebook page and I wonder how good that is. How many like translate to success? I’m not one to believe that because I have a certain amount of Facebook likes or Twitter followers that I’m a famous or a successful person. However, it may mean that I know a thing or two about interacting with an audience which may mean a little more.

I do see this as way for me to get my name out there but I also feel that it isn’t enough and that perhaps I’m doing something wrong. The question that I immediately ask myself is how does all these likes and followers translate into new readers? This is something I still have trouble answering.

This year I realized that it didn’t matter. None of the likes or followers matter because at the end of the day, I’m still a new author with one book. Of course, this may end up changing as time goes on but as for right now, each new follower has to get acquainted with me. Each new like is a vote for the foundation of success and each new person is a potential customer.

As I push toward the second book, I start to look at things that worked and didn’t work over the past year. I’ve battled with the idea of just posting nothing but quotes and pictures of Hanging Upside Down on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. The problem is I don’t want to be that guy that people think uses social media as a spam platform. I would hate to lose anyone on social media if they felt I was being too commercial.

But here I am with 700 likes. When I made that page I didn’t know what to expect and I supposed I shouldn’t always write about it every time I get 100 more likes but It does make think about how this will play out once The Book of Isabel drops.

Will I sell more? It’s hard to tell.

my life, writing

Fight For Your Dreams

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“Who are you?” That was what I was asked a few days ago by a former student that is still getting used to the person I’ve become. I’m an author and a vegetarian which is vastly different from where I was about 4 years ago. But to answer the question, I am a person who has fought for my dream.

So who was I before that? Was I some person wandering around not knowing what I wanted? Actually, I was that person who didn’t listen to that little voice on the inside. I took life for granted thinking I should just be grateful for what I have and not take risks. I wasn’t willing to change my life because I was afraid I might fail.

I was afraid that I might lose.

Well the thing is, I stand here now saying that I’ve taken risks and that I have won some and I’ve also lost some. Life is about fight and I feel that I’m in that fight everyday. I battle against the toughest opponent I will every face and that is myself. I have expectations and dreams that have become a real part of the goals that I set for myself. Every year I have risen the bar higher, sometimes I make it and sometimes I don’t.

I saw Creed this weekend and it really took me back to a time when I believed that anything is possible if you work hard for it. I may talk a good game about goals and how I’ve accomplished a lot of what I wanted, but the reality is that I find myself feeling a little disappointed about not doing enough. Am I not writing enough? Am I not marketing enough? What am I fighting?

I’m fighting this idea that my first plunge into the literary world is not as successful as I thought. Yet, I’m not sure what I thought would happen. Perhaps I thought I would sell more books. Maybe I thought I would have more meaningful interactions where people actually believe I wrote something longer than a blog post. Whatever the case may be, I realize that this is all in my head because I’m my biggest critic.

Creed reminded me of the fact is that I still put myself out there and I continue to take on the brutal writing schedule where I don’t sleep because I need to prove to myself that I can do this. There is this need for me to do all this on my own with help from a select few people that I’m privileged enough to call a team. I could win or lose, but I get nothing if I don’t but my hat in the ring. So yeah, I was a bit hyped when Adonis Creed did his work outs and ran through the streets of Philadelphia because I understand that passion and the need to achieve that one goal.

I fight for my dreams because no one will do it for me. There will always be naysayers and there will always be supporters and I used them both for motivation.

my life

I’ve Grown Tired of Nouns

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It’s December already. 2015 is just about over and just like year’s past, I find myself reflecting. While I’ll leave the entirety of reflection for another post, I can’t help but think about my life and how so much has changed this year while putting in perspective where I fit in this crazy world. All I can say is this is the year where I’ve grown tired of nouns (people, places, or things).

How crazy has this year been for me? Well, I won’t get into the whirlwind of being an author because there really isn’t that much to say that hasn’t already been said. I understand my place as a writer. I understand that people will always be surprised that I wrote a book without them being entirely interested in reading it. That’s just the way of the world and it wont stop me from doing what I love to do.

Instead, I will just focus on how I came to fully understand how people are. I’ve learned that friends are not always the friends you thought they were and that strangers can have a bigger impact on your life than people who’ve known you for almost all your life. While I’m not sure how this is possible at times, I do know that we never truly understand our impact on people until that moment it’s pointed out to us.

I’ve come to relearn an old lesson about assumptions. “When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.” No matter how smart someone is, assumptions will always be their downfall. Of course, I don’t exclude myself from any of this either. As we get older we lead ourselves to believe we’re becoming smarter and wiser; that we know more about humans when actuality we’re just getting better at assuming the worst of people. This type of thinking is what has gotten me into lots of arguments this year.

However, I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned from all the fuckery of this year is that fact that perhaps I gave too many people space in my head. I gave too much thought to those who only wish negative things on other people. I’ve become familiar and quite comfortable with blocking people on social media. Whereas, in the past, I gave people room to voice a particular feeling that may’ve offend me. I now find myself being intolerant of such behaviors. For example, if you feel the need to tell me #BlackLivesMatter is bullshit and you have no real argument, then it’s time for you to get blocked. This usually goes for people who were once “friends” of mine. So I will not allow people to live rent free in my head or any where else for that matter. I consider that to be a way of letting go.

Which leads me to think about where I fit. I gotta say, I don’t really know. I’ve simply grown tired of nouns (people, places, or things). I’ve grown tired of people and their ignorance (i.e. lack of awareness to their privilege). I’ve grown tired of places that promote ignorance. I’ve grown tired of things that people swear they need when they really don’t. I feel like thinking this way puts me in a minority, which I’m quite OK with.

Not sure where this will put me in terms of next year, but what I do know is that I will be traveling more than I did this year, I do know that The Book of Isabel will come out, and I know that 2016 will provide me with new challenges.

Finally, I also know that no matter what happens, I will still be tired of nouns (people, places, or things).

Novel, writing

I Write Everyday #NaNoWriMo

Blog picI’m at a point in my life where I have the chance and the opportunity to write as often as I want for as long as I want. It’s something that I feel that I have to do. While that’s not translating into more blogs, it is translating into more text. What started out as something fun has now turned into a possibility of something new and exciting.

I made a goal when I started all of this two years ago. My goal was to have 4 books out by the time I’m 50. Welp, I’m 41 with The Book of Isabel coming out next year and Naked City currently being written it seems that I’m almost 3/4 done. The thing is… I didn’t expect to be this inspired. I didn’t expect the longevity in all this. Sure, I didn’t want to be the guy with just one book but I also didn’t expect to have this much time.

The time I have is based on several things. The fact that I don’t watch as much television as the average American helps. While I do get into certain shows, I tend to watch what I need to and then shut off or mute the TV. Then there’s also the fact the I’m in a long distance relationship at the moment. This gives me more time than I actually want at times but I use this time to the best of my ability. Lastly, my Playstation 3 died in the summer. So I haven’t played video games in a long time. This has become a perfect storm of sorts.

Even with the factor of family and work generally taking up large amounts of my time, I’m able to find little pockets of extra time to think and be creative. However, when someone asked me when do I find time to write, the answer is very basic. I don’t sleep. haha.

Sleep is relative. Most people know that I can be a bit of an insomniac. It’s not hard to find me tweeting something at 2:30am. I try to make use of the time that I have because time is my greatest asset. It’s this time that has allowed me to write 11-14 short stories over the course of 3 weeks. I haven’t completed them all but it will happen before the end of the month.

I’ve already resigned to the fact that I may not reach the 50k word mark that is set for National Novel Writing Month and I’m OK with that. I’ve laid a foundation and to be quite honest these stories are something I can read at events. Since they are new and don’t really connect to a larger story as of yet, people may just hear me read them. Once I’m done with everything I need to do for book two, Naked City will become my priority.

I feel good about everything and all this writing makes me think that I should readjust my goals from 4 books by 50 to 6 books. I may have to sleep on that.

Novel, writing

Naked City #NaNoWriMo

New_York_Midtown_Skyline_at_night_-_Jan_2006_edit1Naked City is the name of my new project and that has nothing to do with fact that it’s like 75 degrees in New York City right now. I started this as a writing project for National Novel Writing Month just to see how far I can go with this.

My idea for this project is to write a collection of short stories. Over the past several years, I’ve written a few but have kept them close. This is now my chance to write new stories and rehash old ones that haven’t seen the light of day. I’m actually excited about this because, to me, it’s not the same as the everyday grind of writing a novel. I can write a story in a chapter’s length at not have to really worry about how I’m setting up the next one.

What Naked City is about a series of situations where different characters show their true nature. I believe we all wear masks that hide our various ulterior motives. Much of the same thing can be said about clothing as well, we tend hide our bodies from people we do not know. This collection goes into situations where character’s show what they are truly about, thus becoming naked in a sense.

For those who don’t know, November is #NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. While I have unofficially written under this banner in previous years, the stars seem to be aligned for me this year to complete this quest. Which means, I will try to write every day with the goal of reaching 50k in words by the end of the month. While, I’m not entirely sure if I will make that goal, it is the journey that I’m having the most fun with.

So far, I’ve completed 4 stories in 6 days (technically 5, since I started a day late) which I think is pretty good. However, saying something is completed is not actually true when it comes to writing drafts. The reality is that the concepts for 4 stories are completed. Once editing and revising are done then it will be something different. At this point, I just want to see how many stories I can write by the end of the month.

Which leads me to my point about timeline. There is absolutely no timeline for this. I’m doing this one for fun as I get back my edits from The Book of Isabel. Coincidentally, I just started receiving those a few days ago. So there will probably be a point where I stop writing Naked City stories and focus on draft two of the second novel.

All this to say that I can never really stop writing and with any lucky I may have another book out in 2017.

my life, Novel

Cover Inspiration

IMG_1620One thing is for sure: we never stop learning. As I slowly move along in the process of getting my second book out, I’ve taken a different approach on what I want to do. From where I stand, I’m seeing some pretty awesome things happening in terms of The Book of Isabel. Since I cannot release too much information, it’s both very exciting and also very frustrating.

10565748_10101762511444786_1156603653_nOne improvement I wanted to make from Hanging Upside Down was how I handled the cover. I remember having a vision of what I wanted and I had a very talented artist, Ooge, draw up some sketches. As amazing as they were, to implement any of these onto a book cover would’ve given my readers a false impression that this was a graphic novel. Which means, there could have been a real possibility that kids could’ve tried to buy the book and find no pictures in it. This does not rule out the possibility of me actually writing a graphic novel.

B0aqEJWCcAA0QypSo instead, I picked the final image and ran with it in terms of adverting. If you read the book then you will know that steering wheel concept plays well in the book on so many levels. However, this still left me with a problem of no cover design. So, with my small budget, I had to figure out if I really wanted to spend money on a graphic designer or if I should go bare bones cheap and do it myself. Since I publish all my books with createspace, the decision to DIY the cover was a no brainer. I figured that since I was spending so much energy on editing and re-writes, the cover was something that I just didn’t want to spend too much time on.

Book CoverAlas, I came up with something relatively clean and basic that I can say I’m happy with. It had the colors that I wanted and it sticks out. Once the back of the book had the proper information, I was pretty much good to go. The feedback on it was great. People liked it and that is all that mattered. However, this time around I knew that I need to do something different. I just had this feeling that if I really want The Book of Isabel to be taken seriously I needed to get a concept and design that is going to work for me.

I was 3/4 of the way down with the first draft when I started doing my research. I knew I wanted the book to look and feel a particular way. I also knew that if I was going to really DIY it again, I needed to up my game. I don’t have the Adobe Suite that includes Photoshop and InDesign so I have to find other way to crop and design pictures. I used a web based program called pixlr for my low level needs. In the effort to explore and play around, I wanted to see if I can make Marble image for the background of my book. I looked up how to do this on YouTube only to find out that I can’t do it on pixlr.

 Quick Design           Quick Design 1

Things get a little interesting when I just start using the drawing tool. A few lines here and there and I had an image. At first, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was almost sure I can never do it again. But lo and behold, I had something. A bunch of wavy lines formed into a woman. This image had been the only thing I worked on for weeks before I finished writing the first draft. I impressed myself by using different skin tones and actual hair color that I lifted from photos of my girlfriend.

Quick Design 2  Quick Design 3 Quick Design 4

What makes this satisfying for me is the fact that I used much of my creative juices to come up with something tangible that I ended up giving to a graphic designer as my inspiration for the cover. The reality of book design is that it is more than just an image and you know what? I’m a writer and I should leave designs to those who know what they are doing even if it will cost me some money.

The final image at the top was touched up by another brilliant young artist (and Syracuse University Alum), @misajc.

This is where I have to end this cover story. I feel blessed to know many talented people from my Alma Mater that continually help me with this process. The cover is 90% done. We’re on hold until the editing process is almost complete. There are some wording issues I have to solve for the back of book before we can continue. The cover looks nothing like this but it is closely related. Once I’m ready to put it out there it will be fabulous.

Unfortunately you will have to wait until 2016.

Blogging, my life, New York Mets, Novel, writing

Mets/Dodgers Game 5 – How this effects my book… #LGM

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This is an important moment right now. When I finished draft one of The Book of Isabel, I knew there was a chance that I would have to re-write certain parts of the story because much of it takes place and the end of 2015. Clearly, the protagonist is a Mets fan and there would be a certain emptiness in the story if the playoff run (no matter how it ends) is not included in some way.

Understand that I finished draft one in early August, just as this team was just heating up. I could’ve made the decision to just wait and see what happens and then write the rest of the story but that would’ve disrupted the flow I had going. So now, here I am writing this post because I have to keep myself busy.

As I write this, the Mets are down 2-1 and I have to remember to focus on everything I’m feeling. Angst, nervousness, and the general feeling of not wanting to watch this game. If they lose, there will be numerous break downs of “the slide” and the lack of offense from David Wright. I believe it’s important to show how passionate the protagonist in my book is about all this. It’s almost easy to express love and hate, but to really get into how a person lives and dies with a team is something most of us can relate to.

This post is also proof that writing is more that just a hobby for me. It’s the only thing that keeping from biting my nails and pacing around this apartment (hold on as I watch them look silly against Grienke).

I think there’s something to be said for instantaneous twitter reactions. Stats like these pop up and I hate to see them.

A fan of the opposing team has to push it out of his/her mind, but I think the biggest thing I’ve had to deal with is the delay between TV coverage and mobile/twitter updates. I have to mute apps and turn off social media in the middle of an inning so that nothing is spoiled. Is that weird? To have spoilers during a live game? This isn’t Scandal and yet I have to be aware of that.

Mets just tied the game in the 4th inning on a sacrifice fly after a stolen base (during a walk…what?). My heart is racing because the Mets have decided to fight and I love it. Still fired up. I killed a Heineken and that won’t be the last.

Every inning is a different feeling. It’s clear the Dodgers are pushing the issue. I’m really trying not to be stressed but deGrom has been living dangerously all game. I’m not the type of person to pray for a win because something tells me that universe doesn’t care about such things. There is a part of me that feels prayers are finite and we should never waste them on trivial things. I will always pray for someone’s health but a game? Not so sure. If this is meant to happen then it will happen.

Daniel Murphy hits a home run.

I tried my best to not wake up my cousin who was sleeping (its a little after 10:00pm). It was a muffled scream. I jumped up and down. My bad, she’ll be alight. This whole game is now different but it isn’t over. Nervousness turns to pure anxiety. Now it’s a matter of counting the outs left until this game is over and (not) praying to God they don’t blow it. Which leads me to think about how I would re-write all this in my book. I didn’t want to assume that the Mets would even be in the playoffs. So now, I have to take notes of all the big things that are happening so that the reader can actually believe that the character LIVED these games.

Both starting pitchers are now out of the game going into the bottom of the 7th inning. I now understand why they call it the stretch inning. Nine more outs until I can say that the post season continues, but for now… a much needed bio break after beer number two has been consumed.

Noah Syndegaard is in the game and he’s dealing (thank Thor). That was my last beer because I only had two. I won’t even get into the fact that since I’ve become a vegetarian, I’ve become a liability with liquor. I’ve often thought about describing the transition of diets in the book too but that might be a little too much.

How much of a problem is Justin Turner? This ex-Met and current Dodger is killing us. The Mets couldn’t keep him because they have an all star third baseman, duh. I don’t remember him being this good and it’s a problem. Syndegaard blows him away. #THOR

The announcers brought up the fact that Murphy is a double away from getting a cycle. No has ever hit a post season cycle…and neither will he.

I’m not happy that Cespedes looks bad in this game versus great pitching. That may be an issues against the Cubs. <— Look at me assuming we will win this game! We are still up 3-2 and Jeurys Familia (our closer) is coming into this game in the 8th inning to get the last six outs. Wow. This man cruised by that inning. This may happen people!

This may be the longest blog post I’ve written and it makes me think about all the sports writers who do this all the time. They write an article, tweet, and watch the game. That is incredibly difficult considering they are probably at the game and have to run to do interviews afterward.

Dodgers, of course, bring in their closer Jansen to hold serve. I kinda laugh that he walked Flores to get to Familia for the rare closer vs closer match up at the plate. No surprises that Jansen wins that match up.

Three. More. Outs.

In a fitting effing move, Chase Utley comes to bat and flys out. I wont get into it with him. Ellis goes down swinging. OMG! This might be it! Kendrick Strikes out!!!

my life, Novel, writing

Happy Book Birthday (to me).

HudI can go into this whole thing about what the book is about and how I spent hours upon hours of writing. I can tell stories about how I went through three drafts and had to re-write the ending. I can talk about isbns, self publishing, and the creation of the cover. The thing is, I just don’t want to. I feel that all these things are just to get people excited about a book that came out a year ago.

Instead, I will talk about what it means to be an author. I was having a discussion the other day with a friend a mine and she was telling me that she felt that blogging has become flooded. Everyone wants to blog and if that is the case, does that mean everyone is a writer? I’m not sure I can answer that. I don’t have an MFA. I don’t run writing workshops.

What I do know is that being a writer is something that has defined who I am. I’ve always done it. I’ve always written stories, I just never followed through. Hanging Upside Down is the first real literary work that I’ve followed through on. This does not include research papers, essays, old and new blogs, poems, or short stories that I’ve codified in a nice little folder. The act of following through for me is what changed my status from a writer to an author. It is that act of follow through that has gotten me to finish the second book. I never wanted to be an author of just ONE book.

I’ve enjoyed my rookie year as author. I’ve learned a lot about the industry, about how book sales and royalties work, and I’ve learned how to handle the various amounts of bullshit that comes across my way. I’ve come to respect those who have come before me and those who come out with books almost every year. I find myself enjoying other people’s work a lot more because I can see the little nuances in every chapter while questioning if I would have written some passages differently.

I’ve learned to soak in the successes and deal with the failures and to be honest, there enough on both sides to cancel things out. My measure of success is based on the goals I’ve set for myself. I have never, nor will I ever, base my success on money or fame. Consistency is the only way I can continue to make strides. If I’m constant in what I’m doing the rewards will be far more than I can imagine.

There are some rewards to this. I’ve never said no to anyone who needs advice about writing a book. I feel it is my duty as an author to help writers with their goals. I have a particular interest in writers of color so much so that I have really thought about doing some drastic things. The problem is that I have no time to do anything more than just be a guide.

Lastly, I feel that I need to address a perception that I think people have of authors from my limited point of view in this space. I think there is the perception that because I have a book out that I’m automatically a success in the field. I get the feeling that many people who have not read or bought the book think, I will get to it sometime, he is fine. I say this as a writer of color and not just some self published writer, you cannot simply bypass a product simply because you assume our work is doing well. At the same time, you cannot assume something is not good if we are not mainstream.

Being an author means I’ve joined a community of folks who followed through on their writing goals. I look forward to sharing this journey each step of the way. I still can’t believe it has been a year but pretty soon I will be saying, I can’t believe I wrote a second book.

Novel, writing

The Book of Isabel – Draft One

IMG_1289 Last night I completed the first draft of my second book. I’ve been very intentional this year about getting this done. I wanted to finish this book before the summer was over and I’m happy to have completed the final touches a few days after Labor Day.

I was thinking about formally announcing the title at an earlier time but I wanted to wait until I had something to present. Also, I’m thinking that I’ve probably mentioned this title at least once or twice over the last year, so to some people this not a revelation.

Anyway, the real work now begins with editing. I want to take my time and work with several people on this. I’m determined not to make the same mistakes I did with Hanging Upside Down. I anticipate a few more test readers and some proofers to finalize the book edits.

The other thing I’ve done differently is working on the book cover (which I wont release for another month) much earlier than I did with my first book. I know the type of feeling I want to give off when people see the cover and I’m sure that I was able to succeed at that goal as well. I’m working with an artist on some final touches with it.

I say all this because I feel bad that I’ve not been able to blog more. There was time when I would blog about things that I claim to be doing but I’ve moved on passed that. I want to focus on this book so that I can finally talk about something I’ve done and not something I’m doing (does that make sense?).

So over the next few months I will be really getting into this book and formulating a synopsis. The thing about self publishing is that the author has to think beyond the text. I have to think about the business side. While there was a time when I was nervous during the first time I did this, I am now looking forward to rocking this out. I know whom to contact and what the process is to get this book off the ground.

I’m excited.