Musings of Two Creative Minds

Starting today it's Free (Sound) Sample Saturday over on Helen's Blog "The Forever Detective". What is Free (sound) Sample Saturday? Simple, it's where she shares a chapter (or two in this case) from the Audible version of her 1st solo book "Forever's Too Long".  A mystery involving vampires in the noir setting of 1947 New York City.  And since I've been posting for months about doing audiobook recordings, I felt it was only appropriate to share this with you since "Forever's Too Long" is my first complete voiceover project. That's right you'll be hearing me narrating the story, and supplying the voices voices for the entire cast. Furthermore, next week we will be sharing the 2nd chapter and so on in the following weeks. Some come and take advantage to check out the Prologue and full 1st Chapter of this 5 star rated series and see what everyone is talking about, by clicking on the link below: https://www.theforeverdetective.

Our first novel in the Para-Earth Series, is going to get a complete rewrite!  Yes, you are reading that correctly. You're eyes are not playing tricks on you. I know earlier this year I said I was going to try and clean up "The Bridge", but the further I got into reading it, the more I saw just how messed up it had gotten. But before I go further, a little history lesson. "The Bridge" was the first book I ever released, so naturally there were a lot of rookie mistakes made in it, which were pointed out to me early on in the reviews (even though those same reviews gave it 4 and 5 stars). But I couldn't ignore the fact that there were problems with my baby. I call it that, because I did all the writing and did not credit my wife for all the help she gave me in developing the story. So I tried going back and fixing the errors only to wind up with mixed results. A third attempt was made, which still seemed plagued with problems. Finally, a few years ago, my edit

  In the span of 10 months, Helen and I have released 3 audiobooks which I have narrated. We just released "Forever In Deep" last week.  Links: Audible          Amazon          Itunes All three books are the entire "Forever Detective Series" to date. Helen has more stories coming and will be releasing a fourth book "Forever Festive" this November. We are hoping to have the audio ready to be released at the same time so people can have that option to stick in someone's stocking or leave under their tree, (electronically speaking) of course. Remember, you can gift someone an e-book or even an audiobook. Links: Audible         Amazon         Itunes Links: Audible         Amazon         Itunes Now this may not seem like such a big deal, but for someone who spent over a year researching how to create audiobooks, as well as getting the proper equipment, and learning how to use it all, this is a huge deal. In fact, I'm kind of hooked on doing audios. For

  Hello everyone, we hope you've all been doing well. It's been quite a week around here, or a couple of them actually. Both Helen and I got our 2nd Moderna shots, and both of us felt pretty crummy in the following days. Unfortunately, in my case a nerve problem in my back became exacerbated to the point that I've not been to work all this past week, and next week isn't looking to great either. My doctor is trying to line me up with an MRI to see what's going on.  But in the meantime, I tried to take my mind off my discomfort by being busy. In this case it meant finishing the final edits on the collaboration with my high school friend Rich Caminiti, and lo and behold... the 2nd draft is now finished and in the hands of beta-readers.  If you're wondering what the book is about, here's a little hint: Was it just bad luck and weather that doomed the Donner Party in 1846, or was it something 'else', something evil and powerful? And is it still there wait

  Hello again everyone. I recently had a request to the links regarding to all my posts here about doing audio recordings. As I started to gather the links, I quickly realized that they were all seriously scattered throughout the blog, as I'd done them over the course of 13 months. Plus, there were a number of other entries in between which made them even more difficult to find.  So today's entry mainly consists of all the links for easy access to anyone who wishes to look over the details and suggestions I had about audio recordings. So far there are only eight entries, but I am planning on more in the coming months.        ADVENTURES IN AUDIO RECORDING LINKS: Part I: https://musingsof2creativeminds.com/2019/07/27/adventures-in-audio-recording/ Part II: https://musingsof2creativeminds.com/2019/08/09/adventures-in-audio-recording-part-ii/ Part III: https://musingsof2creativeminds.com/2019/08/25/adventures-in-audio-recording-part-iii/ Part IV: https://musingsof2creativ

My rating: 5 STARS -  This Series Keeps Getting Better and Better... This may be my favorite installment of this series to date. Between this one and the two previous books I'm feeling like the series is maturing as a whole. The first book "Soul Taker" did a good job of introducing us to the author's vision of this world, while "Sundance" and "Demon Tracker" started fleshing that world and its characters out more and more. In "Bounty Hunter" we dive more deeply into this series and get a new perspective from one of the actual members of the Council of Twelve. This time we start out seeing things from the perspective of Centriel who having seen how the world's of his fellow Archangels have changed, and wondering if he will ever find such happiness. Then he meets Simin a Demon Hunter and soon both their worlds' are turned upside down, and we are soon drawn deeper into the manipulations of Hell and it's many minions. Finally, I w

Sorry for the long delay in posting here, but as you're about to find out we've been VERY busy. First off I am proud to announce Helen's 2nd solo book "Forever Haunted" is now live on audio at both Audible and Amazon for just $17.46 or 1 Audible Credit.   Once again I am the voice of her main character Rafael Jones (along with every other character). This is my 2nd full audiobook narration and I'm thrilled to help bring her characters to life once more. And yes I am still "Chief, Cook, and Bottlewasher" for the audio. The recording and editing process took longer than I'd hoped, but I learned some new tricks (through trial and error) that I will be sharing with you all in future posts. I've gotten things down to a checklist I keep on hand for myself of how to edit the audios for pacing speed, volume, pauses, etc. which I did not do the first time when I recorded "Forever's Too Long".  And with the amount of time that passed betw

Happy New Year everyone! Yes, I know it was a couple of days ago, but I'm still wishing you all the best for this new year.  Like most people, I'm taking a look back at 2020 and what I managed to accomplish in spite of all the chaos we've experienced with this Pandemic. Helen and I have been extremely cautious to avoid getting it since both of us have conditions which would likely land us in the hospital if we were to catch Covid - 19. And here in California where we are, the ICU's are currently filled and overflowing.  Mind you, I've been working full-time for the county in spite of the situation. So I haven't had extra time to work on personal projects as much as one might expect. Still, I did manage to get a number of projects completed in 2020.  For starts, I managed to get my first audiobook narration out on Audible Amazon Link:  Forever's Too Long (Audible) I also created my 2nd and 3rd book trailers (both for Helen's "Forever Detective Series