The Time Capsule

Oh, sweet love! We were just childhood friends, but now you and I have grown up and apart. Our reuniting after being separated at a young age surely must mean something. You, a man who’s lived his entire life on Batuu and me, a woman who has traveled the stars as a result of my parents chosen “occupation”. I do enjoy the little life you’ve made for yourself; even if you’re just a farm boy. You’re all I’ve considered and all I’ve dreamed about since my parents took me away from you. But I’m afraid I may not be good for you. That I’ll bring danger to your life. That pursuing anything more than my lonely course could lead to your peril. This is an enjoyable book that not only sheds light on the world that is Batuu but tells a good and predictable story between the two main characters, Izzy and Jules. The Force is mentioned but never demonstrated, and that is perfectly fine. It’s what makes Star Wars books great! The universe is so big almost any type of story can be told. An

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash Maybe you're on a forum for video games or books or whatever interests you. Someone makes a post about a specific one of those things you so fondly enjoy and you read the post. And then you see a reply on the post the person made. Someone says something to the effect of: That [said interesting topic] is so stupid. I hate [said interesting thing]. Anybody who thinks it's cool should go jump off a cliff. Wow! People get worked up about things on the internet. They love to hate. But let's not focus on them, shall we? What do you do in this situation? Do you respond? Reason with them that their view is flawed? First, that response lacks constructive criticism. It simply says negative things without giving any reason why. It's there to instigate a reaction more than anything else. Second, why would you want to feed that negativity with a reply that will most likely generate an even more negative reply from the individual.

Yesterday, Lucasfilm announced the next era in Star Wars. It takes place during the High Republic era, which is a couple hundred years before the Skywalker Saga. Looks like right now it's going to be a books/comics thing with crossover storytelling. I'd have to imagine that there will be movies that fall into this category, too, at some point. The Jedi are more like "Texas Rangers" (not the baseball players type) who keep the peace and enforce the law from what I gather. And the big baddies are the Nihil described as "space vikings". It's said to have a "wild west" type feel to this time period. Guess they watched The Mandalorian . There will be stories for adults, teens and kids in all forms of publishing media. All of this starts in August 2020. I can't wait until then to start reading some material with new characters in a different time period than everything right now. How about you? More details than I give are in the video be

A Negative Waterfall You just watched a movie, read a book, bought a car, or even went to a park. And you know what, you had a bad experience. The pacing was bad, the plot was bad, the headroom too low, the playground equipment rusted. So what do you do? Oh, I'm sure you go right on the internet, find a forum or site for review and let the world know your dislike for whatever got you frustrated. Then you make sure you convince everyone to think like you and feel the same way about said thing. What's this all about? Well, last week I revealed what The #beplus Initiative is. Today, I'll expand on what it is with one of the many rules that guide it. As I discuss these rules, they are in random order so as not to place more weight on one rule than the other. They all actually equal up to one rule. That rule being #beplus! In the scenarios mentioned above, the focus of everything went to negativity. As a society, we have been ingrained with the idea that we need to

Just a quick post here regarding the audiobook for Imaginary Me . Things are moving along! Maybe you wonder where all the magic is happening. I know I was. So I contacted my narrator/producer, Michel Young , to have a look at his recording studio. I've learned that a studio can be a large room or literally the size of a closet. And either way, the recording result can be professional with the right equipment and set up. If you listened to Michel Young's audition for Imaginary Me , you'll know that it sounded very professional. In fact, the best of all the auditions I received. I exit this post with a picture from his recording studio. More is to come regarding Michel and the Imaginary Me audiobook production. Stay tuned.... Michel Young's Recording Studio

The last time I wrote and published anything goes all the way back to November 2014. I released the first episode of season two of The Permanant Man . At the end of the book, I wrote a message to the reader letting them know I will no longer be writing fiction. This was for a number of reasons I won't go into here. Though if you purchase the episode you can find out what I said. Wink. Wink. It was a difficult decision at the time, but I had to do it. I hated not finishing the series for those who read it to that point. Fast forward now to over five years later and something has happened. As you know, Imaginary Me is being turned into an audiobook. And the process of doing this has re-inspired me to again write fiction. It's kind of scary. I haven't done it in so long. It's like learning to do it all over again. Will I remember the things I learned before? Can I take the time to do it? Is it like "writing" a bike and it'll all just come back to me? S

Recently on my Twitter account and right here on my blog, I've referenced what I call "The #beplus Initiative" or simply the hashtag #beplus. The natural question to ask is the one I'll refrain from asking in written form. 😊 But I'll still give you the answer. The Internet (and the world at large) has this need to focus on negativity. Whether it's news reports, gadgets releases, video games, Star Wars , politics etc. etc., you will find people posting snide remarks about something. Hating on it until you can't take it anymore. Bashing people for their  liking something. It goes on and on etc. etc. It's like people live to be negative and force other people to feel the same way or goad them into an argument. You know "trolling". And lately, I'm tired of it. I'm not a negative person. I try to be positive and focus on that. And so, that's when I thought of The #beplus Initiative. To describe all the details of what it entai

As posted previously , I've been accepting auditions for an audiobook narrator for Imaginary Me . And today, I'm happy to announce who that narrator is! After my wife and I listened to all the auditions and took into account the different things to think about when choosing a narrator , I decided to go with.... [cue drumroll] Michel Young! My wife says that the moment she heard Michel's voice she knew it was the voice to compare all other auditions to. Michel's rich baritone and ability to transform the characters from the page to her ears made listening to [the audition of]  Imaginary Me so enjoyable. It is an emotional book and she feels his voice will be able to properly move listeners to feel what these characters are feeling. I couldn't agree more. As I listened to his audition, I  was impressed with the voice acting ability; especially since the three small sections I provided for the audition reading were taken out of context. Michel's abili

As mentioned in a previous post , I've been going through the process of choosing a narrator for the audiobook version of Imaginary Me . It's been a fun process, but it does require thinking through exactly what you want out of a narrator. My wife helped me as I listened to the auditions I received. Some of the auditions came unsolicited and some were a result of browsing the many narrators on ACX (also known as audiobook producers) and contacting them to see if they'd be interested in an audition. There are things to consider when choosing a narrator. The obvious one is that you want someone who can read and narrate well. The top three auditions we received highlighted that. Coupled with good reading would also be an ability to act. Imaginary Me  has a lot that happens in it, with scenarios being imagined from pirates to astronauts to spelunkers and more. From my perspective, it would be a challenging book to narrate because of this. I imagine having to sligh

As  previously posted , I'm turning my novel,  Imaginary Me , into an audiobook for your ears to sniff up like a bouquet of flowers. But just note, this audiobook won't have any kind of smellovision effects. It's just audio. I'm using the flowers as a comparison to try to be a clever writer. Am I succeeding? I'm happy to say that I have picked someone. Who is it? Well, that'll come in a future blog post. But for now, I will let you know who my top auditions were! Complete with an audition sample! This week, I'm highlighting the top three auditions I received. All of these individuals could have narrated the book and I would've been happy. They were able to bring what I wrote to life and it was amazing to hear their interpretation of my story in just the little snippets I gave them to read. In no particular order, this third audition I'd like to present to you is from Scott Ellis. His audition was full of energy that made it exciting to liste

As  previously posted , I'm turning my novel,  Imaginary Me , into an audiobook to shout my book from the rooftops! Of course, I want to do whatever I can to make sure the “shouting” isn’t annoying and is actually more like signing. Yes, I want my audiobook to be music to your ears, only without the music (maybe) and singing (again maybe)! I'm happy to say that I have picked someone. Who is it? Well, that'll come in a future blog post. But for now, I will let you know who my top auditions were! Complete with an audition sample! This week, I'm highlighting the top three auditions I received. All of these individuals could have narrated the book and I would've been happy. They were able to bring what I wrote to life and it was amazing to hear their interpretation of my story in just the little snippets I gave them to read. In no particular order, this second audition I'd like to present to you is from Michel Young. His audition was fantastic! He managed t

As my last blog post discussed, I'm turning my novel, Imaginary Me , into an audiobook for your ears to scrumptiously consume! Yum, yum. To make sure the audiobook is as delicious to the ears as possible, I have to make sure the narrator sounds great. So I've been reviewing auditions from narrators. I'm happy to say that I have picked someone. Who is it? Well, that'll come in a future blog post. But for now, I will let you know who my top auditions were! Complete with an audition sample! Over the next week, I will highlight the top three auditions I received. All of these individuals could have narrated the book and I would've been happy. They were able to bring what I wrote to life and it was amazing to hear their interpretation of my story in just the little snippets I gave them to read. In no particular order, the first audition I'd like to present to you is from Jake Hunsbusher. His audition was great! Not only is his narration clear but his abilit