Mass Effect

I first played Mass Effect a few years ago and I was totally hooked! I am not a huge gamer these days, but this game is like playing through a really good sci-fi movie. Maybe more like playing through a really good sci-fi novel. Anyway, the story is great and very immersive.
When Mass Effect 2 came out, I vowed that I had to play it. One thing I loved about it was that your choices in the first game were imported into the second so it was like a mega roleplaying experience.
I finally moved on to Mass Effect 2 and I must say that so far it is even better than the first! You know a game is immersive when you "miss" the characters who haven't shown up for awhile.
So, more on Mass Effect 2 as I play through it, but for now, I will just say that if you haven't played through the Mass Effect universe, and you like immersive storylines in games, then get started! I love how the coices matter so much in this game! Reminds me of the first time I played "Knights of the Old Republic". In Mass Effect 2, the endgame can see your character die, all the characters die or none of the characters die. So choose wisely. I personally, hope to keep everyone alive! (Mass Effect 3 will be coming out soon and I think I will need them!)

Writing Style (Yours)

Read a great post on writing style from Seth Godin today. You can read it here.
I love posts on writing style. It's important to say things the right way, even when writing in fiction and even when writing in "your" voice. Seth isn't a fiction writer, but he is very creative and I think he writes with a great conversational voice.
I had the most uplifting rejection letter this week that I have ever received. First of all, the reviewer took the time to give me a detailed critique of why my submission was being rejected.
Just some background, I wanted to try my hand at submitting a short story, so I cut a section out of one of our Pendragon Chronicles and polsihed it into a short story. Most of the Pendragon Chronicles are short stories or novellas pasted into a broader tapestry so they work in short bites or in long feasts.
Anyway, the meat of the rejection was that the suibject was Arthurian, but the language was far too modern so it lacked the anachronistic language of the "legend".
I felt this rejection was perfect! Why? Because the intention of GGE's "Pendragon Chronicles" was to make the legend accessible to the modern fantasy reader. So, we have stripped out the more archaic language used in past volumes.
We have written it so fans of George RR. Martin or Joe Abercrombie or Robert Jordan would enjoy it. I was so glad to receive a letter letting me know I had hit the target squarely.
Sometimes rejection can be a good thing. The reviewer said if I reworked the writing, then the story would work well with their magazine. I had too politely decline, not because I am above rework. Far from it. But in this case, to know we were right on track, was a priceless bit of feedback.
I guess it is important to know your audience and write for them a bit. This is the way I would like to read King Arthur stories and so that's the way we write them. No hard feelings over the rejection. We had a first date and decided we weren't right for one another. It happens.

(NOTE: Double Dragon Publishing liked them enough to offer a contract on three books, so I'm not too broken up by the rejection.)

Carpe Diem

Today won't come again. Whatever it is you are putting off, now would be a good time to start. Don't let excuses stop you. You're to busy? Me too. Just take one step now, but do something.

• Write one sentence
• Work out for 15 minutes
• Write a one page business outline
• Read a few pages of a books
• Look for a class to take
• Tune up the guitar
• Play one song on the piano (play it three times)
• Pick out a diet plan. Start tomorrow. Livestrong.com is free.
• If your work is written, then edit
• If it is editted, then polish
• If it is editted, polished and not selling, then rewrite (or start another)
• Write the opening scene of a script
• Write an idea for a TV show
• Look into small business financing
• Submit your work somewhere
• Sketch

Just some ideas. Do something. Today. Then tomorrow...guess what...another small step

Excuses, excuses

Unfortunately, my writing and creativity has been down for a couple of weeks. I, like many creatives, have a day job as well that pays the bills (for now?) and I recently switched that day job to a new locale. New job is going great. New locale is even better as I now reside in a beach town in NC which is something I have always wanted. Been moving gradually closer my whole life. To get any closer now, I will have to get on a boat!
So, with all of the upheaval, my writing has taken a nose dive. Temporary, to be sure, but it is frustrating me nonetheless. When my blog posting is down, that is indicative that all creative endeavors are temporarily suspended. I don't like that, but it has been tough lately.
So, last night, I felt the creative beast stirring a bit so I know we will be rocking and rolling again soon. I have managed to creep forward with some blog posts, some FB and tweets and a couple of submissions (one of which got rejected today...boo, hiss!).
So now, I am hoping to press the metaphorical foot back to the metaphorical accelerator and get back up to speed. I need to stop using "life" as an excuse. If I get in that habit, then I am sure I will always find a convenient excuse readily available.

Oh...on a side note, I recently began re-reading "The Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan (The Kindle is great for reading giant books). I originally read the series as they were released up through book 5, but never finished the series. It seems like it might be a lifelong commitment to try and get through that magnum opus, but it is a very inspiring read and full of great characters, images and lands. People always knock his writing as crrrrrrap (scottish brogue) but personally, I like it a lot. It has been really fun to return to Emond's Field and find the charaters waiting like old friends.

What does James Bond eat for breakfast?

I admit that I have never read the James Bond novels. I have only seen the movies. We all know what he drinks, but today I had a different question.

I had breakfast at a lovely hotel in Wilmington, NC which can be a bit tropical and it reminded me of a setting for a Bond movie (beach, nice hotel, well dressed people).

So it occured to me...what would Bond eat? If he had any choice of breakfast food, what would it be?

I would say coffee obviously, but for the rest, does he eat a small amount, watching calories to maintain his trim form? Then again, he is a soldier and is very active, so he might have a racing metabolism. He would probably know that to maintain his musculature, he needs to eat enough protein. Does he count calories, carbs and protein? He's in awfully good shape not to have some idea of what he eats.

He would need fuel for his daily (and nightly activities).

Hmmmm.

Any insight?

Hire yourself!!!!

I read another great post from Seth Godin today. I know I re-post a lot of what Seth posts first. It might be of value to subscribe to his blog and cut out the middleman, then again, I love bringing the best of Seth to you on occasion.
This blog today is exceptional and I suggest you check it out, but in summary, Seth makes it clear that he believes we should hire ourselves. In a couple of compelling examples, he makes it clear how most professions could hire themselves rather than work for someone else.
I had just recently made the decision to "hire myself" in terms of GGE. By that I mean rather than just have GGE chase someone else's idea of what should be published, we would move forward with our own publishing arm while also sending out work to publishers. We made the decisions to court publishers while also hiring ourselves. We also made the decision that a huge financial windfall in the short term was not necessary and that we would rather produce quality work and try and build a fan base over a period of years.
The result? Almost as soon as we decided that, we now have 4 books on contract with publishers and another 2 under consideration.
In the meantime we will continue moving forward with our own stuff as well. We will continue to choose ourselves until chosen by others as well.

Self Publish or Traditional Publishing? (Best answer I have ever heard)

Read a great blog today about Self-pub versus Traditional written by Chuck Wendig. I can't recommend it enough! Great insight!

I can sum it up in a couple of quick works = "Do both"

Each year, write two novels. One for traditional publishing and one for self-pubbing. The Self-pub work can be hip, indie, niche or whatever. The traditional one should be...more traditional.

Still read the post though. Really insightful!

No excuses!!!

As I did my daily read of Seth's Blog, in which he discussed excuses, I was reminded of one of Green's quotes. "The effective range of an excuse is zero meters" (Green was an Ranger in the 82nd Airborne).
If we aren't getting the results we want, do we look for an excuse?

• The market isn't right?
• I just need a big break?
• I just need better marketing?
• I don't have the funds to do this right?

All excuses. Some of which I have used myself. There are, literally, thousands of examples of people who ignored these excuses, and in some cases had far better excuses, and succeeded anyway.
Let's give up on the excuses. Let's pretend that they don't exist! Let's see how far we can go.

Pendragon Chronicles to be published!!

Green Gates got a three book contract offer for The Pendragon Chronicles today! Looks like we will be signing that contract this afternoon. I'll keep you posted as I know more about publication dates and the like.
There are currently three books in our Pendragon Chronicles, but the story cold go on for many more. We'll see how these do and may continue the story if the fans like it!
So, we will be raising a glass to celebrate! And then back to writing. Our work is never done...

Frankenstein

I wanted to share this review of Dean Koontz's latest "Frankenstein" novel. I have always wanted to read this series, but just have not gotten around to it. Sounds like it might be worth it!

Stitch

Started GGE's newest property last night. A horror novel with the working title of "Stitch". We have planned and planned this one. Maybe planned a bit too much. I realized that we could keep planning forever, or I could write something and we could adjust on the way.
I am so glad I started! The story feels "right". It is fun to write! Our storytelling gets better and better with each property we develop.
I am also glad we switch genres around. We write some fantasy, some young adult, some western gothic, then some horror. We might not be good at one of those...hopefully we aren't bad at all of them!
I did something with Stitch that I haven't done before. I put together a soundtrack. I made a playlist on iTunes of songs that reflect the mood of the book.
It is longer than a soundtrack. I need it to be able to play for a couple of hours. Here's a preview, "Little Red Riding Hood" by the River City Ramblers is on there. That song creeps me out. Fortunately, it also helps put me in just the right mood to write about "Stitch".

Random thoughts

I should stop sabotaging myself. I love creating and being part of GGE, but I slow myself down sometimes. I tell myself "who are you to think someone wants to read your ideas?"
Or I more simply, that same little voice says, "you suck".
Why do I listen? I don't know, but I am getting better at not listening. What happens then? The sabotage becomes more subtle. It comes in the form of excuses like "GGE doesn't have the funds to launch a graphic novel right now...better wait" or it comes as caution like "better do more research so you don't sound like an idiot".
Research is good, of course, but researching is not creating and eventually one has to stop researching and write!
What am I afraid of anyway? Failure is temporary. It's not fatal. It won't affect my family or take food off the table. In my case, abject failure might mean embarrassment, but only if I let it. Who am I trying to impress anyway?
In fact, I should seek out failure and embarrassment. Why? because those who have gone before and have succeeded...they have failed, and failed and failed all the way to success.
Failure is a stepping stone, not the end result. Each "failure" is just a milestone on the way to success.
So go...fail! I'll stop sabotaging myself. Maybe you should to. I don't know what we can accomplish, but I do know this - it will be more than we'll accomplish if we give up!

New work

So everyone involved with GGE has a "day job" as well. Mine is in Pharmaceuticals. I just recently took a new job in a new town.
I am really excited about it! I'll be living and working on the East Coast just a short walk to the beach (Wilmington, NC - home to Screen Gems Studios where One Tree Hill is filmed along with a plethora of films, shows and shorts).
I think the new role will provide even more time for me to focus on GGE and creative endeavors. I am thrilled beyond measure about that as well!
I don't expect my blogging or social networking to slow down in anyway, so stay tuned!

Do The Work!!!

Just had to take a break from what I reading to tell you about it.
I downloaded "Do The Work" by Steven Pressfield. Sort of a companion volume to "The War of Art" - which is just about the best book ever for a creative person to read!
So, the Kindle version of "Do the Work" is free and so very much worth more than that!
It's a short read. It's inspiring and it provides practical advice for getting us off our duff and into the arena of our particular "art" - in this context "art" may be actual art, such as writing, painting, singing or sculpting or it may be leading a group, getting in shape or starting a new business.
My public service today is just to A) tell you about the book and B) let you know it's a free download on the Kindle.
Back to reading for me!

Good advice

In all of our discussions about motivation, marketing, inspiration and the like, we should always be mindful about this quote from Joe Konrath that is very relevant to the artistic life:

"Don't write shit"   -Joe Konrath

I think we can all agree that quality is critical in all things, and Joe has put that very succinctly.

Self Directed Effort (for my 350th post)

Seth talks about Self Directed effort today. For creatives is there really any other kind? We write, draw, paint, sing, etc. whenever we can. It's not easy to find the time and we don't have the benefit of a boss or coach demanding that we practice our craft. We have to force ourselves to do it. Of course, many times we are more demanding on ourselves. We force ourselves to pursue our craft despite life's pressures.
Sometimes, we try and hide what we are and we try to ignore the call to art. Steven Pressfield talks about this in The War of Art. When we live a life unfulfilled, we turn to alcohol, couch potatoism or a million other distractions to make us feel better about ignoring our true nature.
Bottom line - listen to your internal taskmaster who is telling you to create. Don't lose your family in the process and keep a balance between your art, whatever it is that pays the bills, your family and your health.
All four are important!
Don't let your art suffer for the other three!
(By the same token, don't lose your health or your family while chasing the dollar.)

Thor review

Went and saw Thor this weekend. My review, in a word, great!

Here are some details (no spoilers).

The visual effects are amazing. The scenes in Asgard look great. The casting is fantastic! Everything looks really good.

The acting is phenomenal and I love that the movie captures a lot of the relationship issues in the house of Odin.

Thor certainly comes across as a bad ass so his appearance in The Avengers should be phenomenal!

I loved a brief cameo by Hawkeye (not in costume).

The movie borrowed heavily from the Walt Simonson days of Thor, which is just as it should be, in my opinion. Walt wrote the Thor that everyone fell in love with and I like that they kept a lot of that for the movie.

The Warrior's Three were great! I did have one question, where was Baldur The Brave? But the movie does fine without him. Very epic film, good casting, acting, action and effects. Really no reason to miss this one!

Opinions

I realized something today. There are millions of people whose opinions I care nothing about!

That sounds mean, but I don't intend to sound mean. What I am saying though is this:

There are plenty of people who might think GGE stories are "weird". There are people who may think I am a terrible writer and that GGE will never make it as a small publisher, entertainment company, comic press, etc.

Most of the people who think that are people whose opinion mean nothing to me.

On the other hand, there are people whose opinion does matter to me. Very much. These are people I respect, admire, and care about.

Let me brainstorm a few of them. I'm sure I will miss some - if I forget your name, don't be upset...if you are reading this, then I probably care what you think!

Michelle Gates, James Gates, John Gates, Abigail Gates, Tim Green, Josh Green, Natalie Green, David Bond, Deborah Bond, Keith Pruett, Jeremy Harvey, David Burdett, Jeff Rozic, Bassel Majzoub, Sean Taylor, Frank Fradella, Ed Crandell, Bobby Nash, Danny Kelly, Dody Eka, Del Hewitt, Bruce Carlisle, William Sexton, Ted Whittenbarger, Calvin Daniel, Scott Claringbold, Marci Baun, Alex Adams, Jeremy (of i Zombie), Rick Floyd, Bill Harrison, Jackie Orton, Stephen Zimmer, Sean Fannon, Walter Rhein, Johnny White, Mark Swart, Tim Arthur, Steve Nibbelink, Buffy Cary, Jennifer Shepherd, Seth Godin, Joe Konrath, Evan Jensen, Barry Reese, Ron Hanna, Rob Siders, Gillian Pearce, Jeff Gonsalves, Joe Abercrombie, Chris Guillebeau, Shane Berryhill, Cory Doctorow, David Peterson, Patrick Rothfuss, Barry Willdorf, Jay Piscopo, Michael Hamersky, Dan Barnes, Randy Belaire, Breanne Brady.

That's just a few like-minded folks who love fantasy, science fiction, superheroes, wizards, dragons, zombies, vampires, etc.

For those of you writing, creating, etc...make sure you are listening to the right people. And more importantly, make sure you are ignoring the right people.

"Show Me a Hero"

Sean Taylor's book "Show Me a Hero" is definitely worth a look! I have read a lot of Sean's work from his earlier days with CyberAge Adventures and his superhero fiction always rocks. 

I love "Wild Card" and other novels where superheroes are a factor, but the setting, dialogue and events have a bit more mature storytelling.
It's like superhero stories specifically for grownups!
So this book, as near as I can tell, is an Omnibus collecting a lot of Sean's best work in the iHero Universe (which is a very cool world, btw.)
Just a humble recommendation for a very cool book.