Hungry Minds Must Be Fed…
Just finished ordering the review copies of Prelude to a Hero in print, due Monday morning (hope that extra $20 for shipping is actually worth it). Then Kathilynn and I can sit down, separately, and mark up the copy–make sure it’s all pretty for you and printable. Looking forward to seeing the final, physical copy!
Also had some challenges when it came to Smashwords. NOTE: make sure to follow their guide, no matter how much you’re convinced of your own cleverness…or you’ll have to do it all over. Resubmitted work, epub checked it (successfully) and now we wait once again. It’s all very annoying, but I’m glad this process is in place: making sure you get the best book possible.
So what now? Other than taking a small breath and perhaps trying to get some exercise?
It’s time to write again. The plotting, the outlining, the expansion of histories and even some game creation with Evan. He’s got an incredible idea for a card game that I’m excited about.
The focus is now upon the Chronicles of a Hero series. The first novel due this fall (2011). Kathi thinks I’m crazy, the kids think it’s cool and the readers need to have their hungry minds fed as soon as possible when it comes to the adventures of Wendell. So I’m working with speed and diligence.
Having gone through this process [writing with Kathi] was a great learning experience, and now I feel like running at full speed–following the carefully outlined course set for this story, and I hope…truly hope, that you’ll be an intimate part of that adventure.
I’m looking forward to answering questions, creating side stories to expand on your interests, creating merchandise you’d actually love to have–instead of creating ‘stuff’ and throwing it at you.
I want to have fun…with you and everyone you know.
Read MoreModern Music Morons.
I was driving my son to work this morning and we happened to be in the same mood for some music, so we flipped on the radio and settled for a catchy modern tune. Now, I shock many parents, but even more youth when they find what’s on my iPod or where my kids actually get their music sources. We are a well rounded family, from Mozart to Journey to Earth Wind and Fire, to Carry Underwood and back to Yanni to level to the playing field.
With the exception of Rap, I’m a relatively open guy, so long as the lyrics aren’t trash.
Yet something hit me in this song I was listening to and it seemed to echo many of the latest pop artist tunes and I wanted to bring this thought out.
Has anyone noticed that the very artists who our kids idolize and desire to emulate, are the same ones we find in the news for drugs, adultery, endless counts of ‘he said, she said’ cheating on boyfriend/girlfriend and violence…while singing songs about love, forever, eternity, we were meat to be…yadda, yadda, yadda???
I heard the phrase “we were meant to be” in this song, right after he admitted he was cheating with another woman, but since they were “meant to be” he should be forgiven as if it never happened?
Maybe after his donkey nuts were put in a vice and crushed to a powder, but even then it wouldn’t be likely. Not if the girl had any brains. But does anyone see this pattern in the music of the day? This seems to be the theme in much of the youth bands or pop artists. Kids too young to know how to deal with the pimples on their face, let alone understand what ‘love’ actually is. Certainly not ‘eternity’ being sung by a gangbanger who’s life expectancy is closer to 24 than 74.
Tell me I’m not crazy here. Tell me there are smarter people out there than those wanting to emulate the artificial intelligences like Britney Spears or Beyonce who think being good is wearing a cross between their breasts while they shake them like cheap prostitutes in front of our kids!? Maybe I’m the slow one, I don’t know…but doesn’t this bug anyone but me?
If your a parent or a kid with an opinion on this, I’d really like to hear it…because after unloading this brain fart on my son Evan, he agreed with me fully. I was quite relieved, especially after reviewing his own iPod playlist (which we share).
What’s your view?
Read More1st Kid Review Is A Hit!
The first child review is in. Granted it was by my own children, but I have playfully kept them in the dark on the new changes of the story for the past six months. That’s right, Jaime Buckley CAN keep a secret!
And you thought I could only yodel and pop popcorn…
So I printed out the 181 typed pages, punched holes in them and placed them in a three ring binder. Then I handed the project to Cesilea, who is our resident bedtime story technician. If she can’t read a story to little kids and have them excited, it ain’t gonna happen for the ordinary mortals. Trust me on this one.
So we gathered around the living room nook and listened as she started reading…and I started flinching. I hated it from the third sentence on and I found Kathi holding my hand and smiling. “Just let them have the experience. No corrects this time–just the story and how they feel about it.”
So I gritted my teeth and zipped my lips shut.
Bedtime is at 7pm, lights out at 8:30pm…but there was roaring laughter, tears at times (from the laughter) and a series of boo’s and hisses from the children under 12 when we called it bedtime at 11:12pm. It was a total success. Kathi had to wrestle the binder from Ditto to make sure she didn’t read it into the night or try and get up early to do the same. Jessica also had to be watched like a hawk, for she wanted to know where we would be setting the book down in our bedroom!
My oldest girls gave mountains of feedback, but the best comment I received was from Cesilea. I asked what she thought and when she had stopped giggling, she said: “Dad, I think it’s a HIT!” All my concerns were explained away by my kids, who laughed at all the jokes, even the hidden ones. This included Jami Taylor (age 7) and Ethany (age 6), who didn’t understand the larger words, but laughed at the reactions and dialogue between the characters. What made me smile however, was when Cesilea would laugh so hard, she couldn’t read and we had to wait for her to dry her eyes. The bouts of laughter were usually followed by “Oh my heck dad, Wendell is a MOTARD!”
No feedback from outside readers yet, but Kathi and Ditto have always been my harshest critics. Last night gave me a ton of hope that, well…I don’t actually suck as a story teller. The cover design for the novel is underway as we speak.
Read MorePlease Don’t Let My Baby Die.
I was talking with a good friend I have never met. Lafe Langford. Good man, great father and an inspiring example of faith and life in general. We were talking about Mexico, where he lives, the wildlife there and the fun it would be to come down there for some R&R.
We got to talking and he sent me a link to his site, where I read a heart warming story about his experience with his infant daughter Amanda and her life threatening challenge with a bad heart. I recommend this article if you have had struggles with hospitals or health providers. It reminded me of when Cesilea, my oldest, was just an infant herself.
We had moved to West Valley City, Utah and Ditto was just three months old. She had health struggles from the moment she was born until just over a year old, especially with fevers. It was always a challenge to get her temperature down, even with the medicine the doctors gave us. One day I came home from work and Kathi was in a state of panic. Cesilea’s temperature simply would not drop. We did everything we had been taught by the physicians and even our own parents. Nothing worked and as new parents we did what all inexperienced new parents would do: We put the baby in the car and sped off to the closest Hospital.
It was zoo day. The lines were so long, the waiting lines just to get your admission paperwork done zig-zagged through the lobby and out the front doors of the Hospital itself! They had a guard in the lobby making everyone wait their turn, the old women behind the desks shouting out numbers. I didn’t see a single child in line, it was wierd. Within three minutes Cesilea’s breathing had become so shallow, I couldn’t tell if she was breathing at all. Her skin had become so hot it was uncomfortable to hold her. Her body went completely limp.
I remember looking at Kathi and saying “Follow me.” I was determined to make someone listen to me.
I held Cesilea tight against my chest and turned my shoulder into the crowd, pushing my way through. I remember coming up to the guard who blocked my way, people snapping and cussing at me as I cut in front of them. I looked at the guard and opened my arms to reveal my lifeless looking baby and growling, “Move“. He just nodded and held his arms out to clear the way for Kathi and I to get into the main lobby.
Striding up to the counter, I stepped in front of the man sitting in the administration chair and leaned over the counter, placing Cesilea directly into the arms of the grumpy old woman who shouted at me to get back in line.
Her reaction was shock as Ditto’s hot flesh touched hers. The change in her expression was instant as she looked back at me, tears now flowing into uncontrolled sobs.
“Please,” I pleaded, “Please don’t let my baby die.”
Her wrinkled little hand whipped out and hit a button on the wall, yelled something I can’t for the life of me remember, but within moments there were 2 doctors, 3 nurses, and a cart there to take Kathi and Cesilea into the back. In under 10 minutes they had the baby’s fever down as I sat with the woman and did the paperwork–the older gentleman giving me his chair.
When I apologized for my actions, the woman reached over and grabbed my hand.
“My dear, there are days when I forget why I’m here. You did the right thing, in the right way.”
Between you and me, something happened in that experience. I had pushed past the guard at the prompting of the spirit in my heart. “Open your mouth, I will fill it.” was what I heard in my mind, yet when I reached that grouchy woman and opened my mouth, I had never felt so helpless in my life. My whole heart reached out to her in that instant…and regardless of what she was experiencing that day, love met need and my daughter was saved.
That’s my belief, anyway.
Read MoreGames Children Play
Our kids are spoiled. Look at all the toys, games, electronic devices and media saturated environments they are involved in? Most youth nowadays could probably break down a computer and design software if they were motivated, but can’t figure out how to have a verbal conversation with their own parents in a social setting that doesn’t allow texting.
Do you remember our lives as youth?
Hell, if I was lucky, I got to spend 20 minutes trying the cutting edge game called PONG!
I had tinker toys, leg-gos and ever-cool lincoln logs. It’s when the best football games were the ones you played live, with friends, and come home with the trophy scars of war. You remember those days, don’t you? The adults wanted you to play touch football or flag football, but as soon as the adults turned their heads long enough or left the field, the rules went out the window! Yeeeeeaaah baby!! Knees, elbows and bloody lips were the call of the day as the pig skin rolled across the ground and you dove at it to save the day.
Now the only bloody lips are from the fights of who gets the playstation controller.
What happened to creative games? Creative game play?? Using your brain to come of of new, fun ways to spend time!?
So many of us are wasting our time on things of no consequence. Crap, even business men play games of doing business, thinking it’s some kind of achievement to create a business in the realm of ‘moneyville’ while their work suffers in real life [or they could become ever more productive].
I have a lot of find memories from when I was a child and the games I played.
…ok, they were actually games other kids played on me.
…ok, they aren’t really fond memories.
…ok, they sucked actually, but I survived.
Bugger this. I’m gonna go play Mafia Wars.
Read MoreMy Latest Book
