Sea Change

Yes, I have some new decor thanks to the folks at Jelly Pages. Since the novel I'm working on is nautical by nature, I thought it was time for a seafaring makeover. This format helps me focus on the task at hand, and I hope it puts you, my readers, into a "rudder and tackle" frame of mind- minus the sea sickness of course.

The title of the novel is Good Hope. It chronicles the adventures of Randall Grayson, a modern, middle-aged business man who joins the effort to recreate a historic voyage to the tip of Africa aboard the Elissa, the official Tall Ship of Texas.

The story of Good Hope began as a National Novel Writing Month project back in December 2007. Now, three re-writes later, it is the subject of a Six Month novel writing project that the members of the Humble Fiction Cafe' have selected as our 2009 project. We have specific goals to reach each month, and the intent is to have a finished product available for review on July 4th of this year.

This will pose as a double adventure for me. Good Hope was my first completed novel, but revising it into a manuscript for publication will be a unique experience and no easy task. Secondly, much like my main character, I'm very likely in over my head, but as I persevere I will be able to keep you up to date on the tragedies and triumphs along the way.

It will be an interesting six months, so strap yourselves into your bunks, and get ready to take on water, because this is indeed an adventure of fictional proportions.

Daybreak

Good Morning!

You may be reading this at any time of the day, but I want to temporarily beam you to an eastern shoreline as the sun breaks over the wide Atlantic.

I have added a new composition to my Magix music files so look for the link to my Magix Music page at the upper right. Look in the files for Daybreak. You''ll find two different files. One with the sound of wind and surf (my wife's preference) and one without- just in case you want to enjoy a sunrise without getting sand in your imagination.

I'm posting about it here because my Humble Fiction Cafe friend Linda, challenged me to compose this piece. I mentioned to her that I was working on a sunset piece, but she said that I should consider a sunrise; everybody does sunset stuff. And I have to admit- this was more challenging than I would have thought.

I hope you all enjoy the music, and the sentiments of a blessed beginning to your day- anytime you should desire to start it.

Enjoy!

Gary

Split Review

I checked in with my mom yesterday, who is still reading Split, (which is available now at LULU.com for those of you who can't wait for it to appear on Amazon or Barnes and Noble).

She hasn't read everything, maybe a story or two each week, but here are her impressions so far:

Her favorite stories in the anthology- (Aside from the obvious high praise regarding her grandson's Knowledge story): Fade to Grey, and Prisoner of Time.

As a mother, she could really relate to Prisoner, and when I first asked her about her favorites she said she liked the one by "Teresa Laws," and then told me the title. Teresa is one of our contributing authors, and I'm sure she will be glad to know that she now has "name recognition" among our early (that is, first) readers.

Regarding Fade to Grey, from contributing author Kelli Meyer: My mother said she was so shocked and surprised by the events of the story that she would stop reading and start over from the beginning, "then I'd cry a little bit, and keep going." She said the story was "horribly believable," and that she could really picture something like that happening, and is sure that it has, but, given the circumstances, we would never hear about it, because "families are so good at keeping such nasty secrets". If you'd like to know more about the story, then why don't you order a copy of the book? :)

I told her to keep reading and asked if she would like to submit a review to LuLu when she is done. She said she'd love to, and I'll get all the information from her next week.

Overall she says she loves the book, because the stories are just short enough to enjoy when she has a break, but the themes and ideas are thought provoking enough to stay with her for several days, and this is coming from a woman who struggles with memory loss.

I can't think of a better compliment.

Well, so far, I think that should count for one satisfied customer :)

Let's hope there are many more.

Gary