Updates on my life and I took some pictures today.

After these messages… we’ll be right back!

Okay… I haven’t blogged much in the last week… I HAVE BEEN BUSY!!!

Let’s see…

I made a couple vlog entries. I mean, you’ve seen them… if you haven’t, go ahead… I’ll wait. Go on! They’re right below this post. GO!!!

So, right there, you see I’ve been very busy, just with the location scouting, but there’s been a lot more going on.

As most of you know… Actually, most of you don’t know. As far as I can tell, only 5 people actually read this things… so, most people that see this don’t know anything about it. Anyway… I am a film maker, photographer, blogger, vlogger and novelist. Let’s go down the list…

As a novelist, I have been terribly busy. I am trying, with every fiber of my being, to get the first novel in my trilogy ready to sell and publish. I’ve written three of them and am working on the fourth. I am also working on a young adult novel, but these two are on the back burner for what is going on now.

I am in the process of EDITING! (http://www.dramabutton.com/) Re-read the sentence, and push the button! PUSH IT!

Editing my work is one of the most difficult tasks of my life. I know, it’s difficult to understand, but it really is. I have heard writers describe creating a novel is akin to giving birth, but I don’t think so. There is no guarantee that you will love your children.

YAY! RED INK!

I know, that is a cruel thing to say, but it’s true. One of my good friends is also a writer and she said something that makes me a little uneasy about the whole editing process, but it is soooo very true. She said that”the only people that can get published are those that truly love their words.” And that means that to get published, you have be in love with what you’ve written.

I am… I know it sounds really arrogant, but I have written three REALLY good stories. And, I will admit, for the longest time… I WAS really arrogant… I was convinced that I didn’t need to edit it… I was perfect… my words, even more so. I don’t know what changed, but recently, something did.

I think it might have been the fact that I had that dream again… the one where I am sitting there at the table, signing my book. Or it might have been the fact that my friend told me that she didn’t think she had it in her to get published. She thinks she isn’t enough in love with her work to persevere. Editing is a horrifically boring process where you have to read the pages over and over and over again. You HAVE to love what you have written, or you’ll go insane.

It also takes a great deal of determination. You send your work in to an unending stream of agents and publishers only to receive a form letter that tells you that they didn’t even have the time to enter your name on the rejection letter. Or, worse yet, they respond with, “Hey! That sounds pretty spiffy, send over 50 pages.” This is worse because it gets your hopes up. Because, thus far, I have had 5 people request more… only to have my hopes smashed like a glass at a Jewish wedding.

So… I’ve had the magnanimous help from a couple of really good friends… The Bean and The Fondue Goddess. They have been reading, rereading, rerereading and even rererereading my pages, and marking them, making suggestions for revisions, and then… reading the damn thing again.

They have been saints. These women are actually honored to do this… I cannot imagine why. I am one of the biggest assholes in the world during the editing process… it comes back to the fact that I love my words. Hell… you’ve read my drivel (provided that you followed my instructions and read back at the beginning of this post like I told you to… Well that, and it would be realllly weird if you had just jumped right to this part of the entry)… I LOVE what I do.

All that being said – I am very happy with the way things are coming along. In spite of my protestations, assholishness and childish behavior, the ladies have NOT gotten angry, slapped me and walked out. Due to their intelligence, good grace, good ideas and perseverance… my work has improved…

I said all that to say this. I appreciate you two. Thank you Bean and Fondue Goddess… you are helping me realize my dreams of being published.

There are a lot of other things going on… so lets take a look at them

Film Making:
We did all the casting for Timber’s (Timber’s company’s page)series and formed what promises to be a mutually beneficial relationship with Jonathan and Crystal from Garbage Horror.com. We are gearing up for the first episode of our series, Project Z: History of the Zombie Apocalypse. We have had round 1 of casting, and will be having callbacks on Sunday the 15th. To achieve this, we have been looking at Zombie actors, locations and make up artists (I think our MUA has been found). I also have secured a deal with a British musician for about 30 songs for the series. We are also working on the script of what promises to be an AMAZING piece… I promise you that we will release something the likes of which you have never seen! (that is a way to say… it’s unique)

I am also helping Pallo Production with some audio issues on a couple pieces and we probably have it licked.

We entered in to the Pelican de Noire film festival. Monday is the last day for submissions… I hope we get in.

VLOG:
I’ve been busy. Take a look on my VLOG page.
Look Ma, No Hands! On youtube.

BIG NEWS:
I had a big chance to prove something to myself. I have always believed that I have the ability to learn VERY quickly. Due to the folks over at Garbage Horror, we got some web space and a domain name. They recommended the wordpress web publishing platform (which I think blogspot uses, but I could be wrong) and I set out to install it.

Now, you need to realize, I haven’t coded a web page in over 5 years. They say it’s like riding a bicycle, but I was never very good at that either. So… this was a MAJOR undertaking. I learned about the installation process, the plugins, mySQL databases and all kinds of things to create my company’s web page. I’m proud of what we have. So, check out the Savage Light Studios webpage.

Photography:
I went out to City Park today and took pictures of the Bean. She’s foxy! Here are a few
for your enjoyment. The rest can be seen on my DeviantArt profile.