Here it Goes: Novel or Nothing!

For the past few months, I’ve been really busy. It feels like two sides of me are organizing the year ahead when it comes to new projects. Writing has always been my go-to when finding inner peace or to unravel the concepts involved in life. While I am an avid consumer of entertainment, I strive to be a content creator. I’m here to entertain the masses.

But, as it turned out, I’ve really branched out when deciding to become a narrator. It gave me another outlet to express myself.

So that, understandably, has taken up a lot of my time. And I don’t mind. I love immersing myself in being a storyteller.

I now work for three companies: Acx, Bee Audio and Findaway Voices.

If all goes well, I should be quite busy this year when it comes to my full time job. But, my productivity has slowed significantly with writing.

So, for the new year, I’ve given myself a new goal. From this date forward, I am done working on Novellas and Short Stories.

There’s a couple of reasons why:

1.     Short stories and Novellas are quick to produce and I want to challenge myself more and not just take a quick dip in and out of worlds.

2.     For the rest of the year I want to work on ONLY Novels. So that’s anything over 50,000 words in length.

3.     I have a backlog of novels that are screaming to be written.

4.     And I want to get at least 3 full novels done this year.

Currently, I’ve been taking my written works and have put them up on Audible. Three of the titles (Right Outta My Mouth, Village Americana, Pickpocket Frankie) are narrated by me. But the majority are narrated by other very talented people. The reason for this is two-fold.

First, I know I don’t have time to narrate everything I have written. Besides, there are some stories I’ve written where I have convinced myself that I am just not the right voice for it. Second, since I started narrating in 2014, Audible Acx has had a swell of new narrators. Thousands more people have gotten into this field. A lot of them are looking for their first book to narrate. I remember when I was looking for that chance to become the voice of somebody’s story, so now I’m offering that to people who are trying to break into the industry.

Also, I’ll be moving to a different house. Which will be a big change for me and my family. And since this seems like the year for big change I figured why not have big goals.

But, dear reader, there are more titles to come in the future.

I’m putting the final touches on two novellas.

One is called The Digital Novelist and the other is called The Loop. They’re both what I’ve come to know as Sci-Fi Horror.

And they are the final two stories I’m going to include in my newest collection titled Night of Novellas. (6 novellas in all with introductions, extras and behind the story segments)

The last novella I’ll be working on before I jump headfirst into novels will be a title I call The Transcriptionists. It’s a crime thriller that came to me one day.

But, after all that, it’s Novel or Nothing, folks.

I still have a list of titles that have been percolating long enough.

THE BIG SCI- FI BOOK is the one I’m most anxious to return to, as it also ties into another title I’ve written called Thief of The Gods: An Area 51 Confession.

I’d also like to return to Mr. Dead Eyes 2. Because the audio book for the first book is in production now and it sounds great. It’s giving me new ideas of what I can put in the second installment.

I also have two spinoff sequels to Pickpocket Frankie. These two books don’t have the titular character Frankie in them. These are more focused on two big characters mentioned in the book. And those are both crime thrillers.

I also have another novel planned for the private investigator Thomas Wilker. But this will be set way before the events of Mr. Dead Eyes.

Add to that a behemoth novel I have planned that is in the genre of literary fiction. I don’t know how long it will be, but it will definitely have a large cast of characters.

So, yeah, it’s clear to me that the novels in my head are screaming for attention. And all I have to do is open the door. Why wait, right?

Remember, always set new goals for yourself every year.

And, as always, keep writing.

;)

Is It Too Late To Come Back?

I write this post, trying to gain some new ground. I'm pretty sure I haven't written a word of fiction for a year. And yet I have a box filled with half-finished fiction.

Just seems so hard to come back to it. Did Hemingway have dry spells? Vonnegut? Heller? Bradbury?

I'm 25,000 words into a crime fiction caper and have been dying to return to my characters. I've also been itching to write Mr. Dead Eyes 2. I'm also working on a sci-fi thriller involving visitors from the future.

Right now I'm fully focused on narration. 30 different projects. I've read some good books this past year, and each one has been needling me to finish my own writing projects.

But after a solid year of no new words?

Is it possible?

Maybe I should finish all my narration gigs first. Or should I just jump back in, guns blazing?

What do you think?





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A New Segment

Seeing as how this blog is all about books, interviews with writers, movies about writers and the like, I figured I'd try out a new segment on here to give me more things to talk about and to get opinions on the subject.

Whenever I would read a book, I would get a crystal clear vision of how the book would look if it were a movie inside my head. But, as with most cases, the movie compared with the book just doesn't rack up. Whether it was a flaw in the director's plan or the screenwriters I guess we'll never know. But there is one thing we can be sure of: Is the original concept still there?

It takes a lot of guts to think anyone could capture the tone of a novel and translate it to the big screen. But it takes even bigger guts for an author to give them the go ahead to do so. If some big Hollywood types showed up to your house and asked if they could make a movie about your book...would you do it?

Micheal Connelly said that once you take the money, you're allowing them to do anything to your idea, even if the idea is not even a shadow of it's former self. But, publicity is still publicity, isn't it?

When asked what he thought about Hollywood ruining his novel Jumper, Steven Gould pointed to his bookshelf and remarked, "Take a look. They're not ruined. They're still up on the shelves."

We'll find out one way or another while we take a dip into the comparison of book and movie.

The new segment is called: The Adaptation Station.

I have five books lined up right now that I'm in the middle of reading but I am also open to requests.

Any takers???