Musings of Two Creative Minds

That's right folks, the proof copies of "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home" arrived last night at our front door, and we couldn't be more excited. For those who don't know what a "Proof" copy is,  they are a printed version of how the book currently looks, before an author gives the final OK, on a book to be sent for publishing.  This is the author(s) last chance to make sure the paragraphs are aligned correctly, the page breaks are clean, no words are being cut off, and to look for any final grammar issues in the text. It also give the author a good idea of how the front and back covers look, and that the image or words are not being cut off.  In this case, we saw right away that there is an issue with the cover.  The image is supposed to be framed by a red border on all sides, but as you can see in this photo the image is touching the edge.  Naturally, we'll need to move it over to the left slightly. As for the interior, ...

     With the voice of experience, Mr. Gaughran shares his many insights of the world of publishing, and in particular self-publishing.  With the advent of e-books, many writers and would-be writers have found themselves faced with the opportunity to finally put out that book they’d been thinking about for years.  Yet, they quickly find that the most daunting task, is not writing the book itself, but how to get it out to the public.  Should they go the tradition route of finding an agent, and then a publisher?  Can they deal with the countless rejections or avoid the scams that promise seeing their work in print, for a ‘nominal’ fee of course.      Mr. Gaughran provides the reader with enough food for thought that would make a seven course meal look like an appetizer.  But he never gets preachy.  Instead he simply supplies the reader with tools and knowledge to navigate the world of Indie Publishing.  He provides ...

In spite of all the excitement of the anticipated release of "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home", this October, I keep hearing people ask 'Whatever happened to "The Door"?  Are you going to finish that story?  I want to know what happened next with Alex, Veronica, Julie, and Cassandra.' For those who are still wonder the answer is a resounding "YES!"  I am currently working on that story as we speak.  In fact I've been working on it for quite a while...  a really long while... like over two years... (groan) All right knock it off Roscoe!  I don't need to hear more laughs coming from the peanut gallery.  Sheesh. Now I hear the rest of you asking, "Why is it taking so long?"  Well the answer is quite simple, I've spent the last 24 months with a serious case of 'too many ideas'.  What does that look like you ask?  Here let me show you... You see one of the biggest problems I've had was that I kept g...

Today I was in one of my moods regarding creativity and decided to share another side of myself.  As many of you know,  I not only write, but I'm also an artist who specializes in soft pastels and charcoal.  I know I've shown some of my book covers, but today I felt like sharing some of the other works I've come up with over the years. This first piece is a soft pastel which was inspired by a song by Nina Gordon, "Tonight and the rest of my Life".  Her we have an angelic figure who holds a universe in her arms and behind her you can make out large fingers which in turn cradle her. This piece was coming along beautifully until it came time to do the face.  I couldn't find the right one to use, or get the angles right.  Then my wife stepped in and posed her head just right, and from then on the painting seemed to come alive.  It held even more meaning than before to me as I retouched areas and strove to finish it with great love and affection, f...

We've all been there, slaving away at a story and finding yourself getting more lost or frustrated with where it's going.  Even if you have a well planned outline to guide you, there's always a scene or situation that arises that leaves you flummoxed and frustrated.  You can't seem to move the story or yourself forward for one reason or another.  What do you do? Well, in my case I get up and walk away from the story and I mean in every sense of the word.  Step away from your computer and do other things.  "But for how long?" I hear you ask.  My answer is simply this, "As long as it takes." "But I can't stop writing, I've got so many ideas in my head..."   GREAT!  Go work on one of those instead.  I'm not saying stop writing by any means.  What I'm suggesting is that you let your brain work on other projects, or activities such as go bowling... Take a nice long walk... Go someplace... In...

         Welcome back to another installment of collaborations: what do they look like and how do I make mine work?  Okay, actually, I’m continuing the discussion from last time.  After all, this is supposed to be a blog, not an ongoing saga.  I also want to apologize for any strange grammar or punctuation errors in this entry because I’m using Dragon instead of actually typing on a keyboard.  WRONG DRAGON! SORRY DIDN'T MEAN TO WAKE YOU UP, SIR.  PLEASE JUST GO BACK TO SLEEP!            Whew!  Anyway, I'll be sharing my adventures with Dragon Speaking Naturally software, and learning how to use it, in another blog entry,  For now I’m going to continue to share my experiences with collaborations            Now, last time I talked about my collaboration with my old friend Rich Caminiti, today I’m going to be discussing my other collaboration with my wife H...

As you all know by now, I've been working on not one but two different collaborations.  The first is "The Pass" a historical/fantasy piece with a fellow I went to high school with some 30 years ago, Richard Caminiti. (for the sake of privacy, I left the clipboard showing his name and arrest number from this police photo out - JUST KIDDING!)  Actually it's not really a mug shot, but I couldn't resist  using this shot because the expression on his face is so serious.  Of course I'm going to get an earful later for this, but that's what friends are for, right? The other is another installment in my Para-Earth Series, titled "The Misty Mountains", with my wife  Helen Krummenacker.  Note: DEFINITELY NOT A MUG SHOT! Okay, now that I got that bit of silliness out of my system, lets get back to today's topic namely the discussing more challenges one faces with a collaboration.  Now in Rich's case, the biggest challenge ...