Musings of Two Creative Minds

You've just about finished writing your novel and can see the finish line coming up in the distance.  But now you have a new concern to deal with, creating a cover for it.  But what kind of art should you use?  Should it be a photograph, cartoon, an image that evokes feelings from a favorite movie like having several people walking towards the reader like in "The Right Stuff"?  Should it just show an individual who appears in the story, or should it show a scene that's right out of the book? So many questions, right?  And the answer is... I don't know.  Every author has to choose their own path or vision for their work.  It's not an easy thing to do either, I know this.  All I can say is know your audience and what captures their imagination.  Make sure the art speaks to them and makes them want to pick up your work. But this can be difficult sometimes.  Tastes in art changes over the years so I thought it might be fun to demons...

I swear there are days I wish signs like this would appear so I can prepare myself... I'm sure the image above speaks volumes of what's been happening with me in the last week or so.  Too many distractions and problems to deal with and very little of me to go around.  I won't go into great detail but I had a financial crisis thanks to my old health insurance (no I wasn't sick or injured it was a premiums issue) that is finally getting resolved.  My finances are very thin at the moment but will improve shortly so now I can breathe a little easier again.   I also wound up making a major decision on the university front.  I've changed my major from Collaborative Health and Human Services to aiming for a Business Degree.  I'm leaning towards Marketing because there's a much better demand for that field, as well as getting better ideas of how to market my own works in time.   So slowly but surely I've been weathering the storms that have...

Wait I'm the one writing this story!  How did I wind up here? Did you ever lose track of where the book/story you were writing was headed?  If the answer is no, then all I have to say is, "I hate you, now will you teach me your ways oh Master Jedi?" Okay, all kidding aside, this happened to me just recently, and the sad thing was I didn't even realize that I'd lost my plot until I was about third of the way through the first draft. Now, I don't know if it happened because I was writing part of a series and was trying to remember details from the previous books, or because I got too caught up in the characters (both old and new), but I still managed to lose my original plot which was quite embarrassing.  I mean I could've sworn I left on the kitchen table next to my keys, but when I went back the plot wasn't there.  Neither were my keys for that matter, but I'm going to worry about that later, first things first. Up until the point whe...

That's right, my second novel "The Ship" is now free for for all Kindle users.  This 5-star paranormal/mystery continues the story of Cassandra Elliot and Julie Cloudfoot, the two young women who fought alongside Alex and Veronica in my first novel "The Bridge" These two young ladies have fallen in love and have come to Santa Cruz to see if their new relationship can work, as well as bury Julie's uncle who had been guarding the bridge as part of his duties as the family shaman. But there are new problems. Julie is finding out that the shaman mantle has been passed to her, but she things there is nothing to guard against as the being that had lain hidden inside the bridge is no more. However, another evil from another para-earth has arisen and has marked Cassandra is its target. Now the two will have to fight against a new threat that threatens to tear apart them apart before they fully begin. Once again ghosts, psychics, and shamans await y...

Some months back, I talked about Kindle Select and Kindle Unlimited and how I did not feel comfortable about having my e-books available exclusively in Kindle form.  For those unfamiliar with what was discussed, here's  a quick explanation.  In order to be part of Kindle Select and Kindle Unlimited, your book cannot be available in any other e-book format (Nook, Sony, Apple, etc.).  This of course means your the e-version of your book cannot be up for sale through Smashwords, Nook, and other e-formats.  This did not rub me the right way at the time, but since then there as been no activity for either of my books through Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, or other outlets besides Amazon in spite of a lot of promoting on my part. But then another disturbing trend began to appear.  I started seeing my books selling on Amazon and I began hoping this meant a growing trend in sales.  However, there was a problem.  In spite of the sales I was not s...

*FREE TODAY AND TOMORROW FOR AMAZON KINDLE* "The Bridge", book one in the Para-Earth Series for FREE for ALL Kindle users through Amazon. That's right, you can enjoy this 4 and 5 star tale for FREE. This paranormal/mystery will introduce you to ghosts, psychics, and a whole new vision of parallel realities unlike anything you've ever read before. So grab a copy for yourself and tell everyone you know so they can take advantage of this 2-day opportunity, they'll thank you for it. Book 2 in this series will be available for FREE next weekend so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy "The Bridge" and see what happens next. Click on the link below and enjoy yourselves everyone: http://www.amazon.com/The-Bridge-Para-Earth-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00B86DR9G/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0XQ3F748RYGVT4VFBH5E

*IN CASE ONE BOOK WASN'T ENOUGH, HERE'S ANOTHER SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR KINDLE UNLIMITED SUBSCRIBERS* That's right Kindle Unlimited subscribers can now get "The Ship", book two int he Para-Earth Series for FREE through Amazon.  This book has been given 5-star reviews and is available to you now through Kindle Unlimited. This paranormal/mystery continues the story of Cassandra and Julie, two young women who fought alongside Alex and Veronica in my first novel "The Bridge".  The two have fallen in love and have come to Santa Cruz to see if their new relationship can work, as well as bury Julie's uncle who had been guarding the bridge as part of his duties as the family shaman. But there are new problems. Julie is finding out that the shaman mantle has been passed to her, but she things there is nothing to guard against as the being that had lain hidden inside the bridge is no more. However, another evil from another para-earth has aris...