Writing a Dream

Posts tagged “Amazon Kindle

Rumbling Heart “Kickstart” Edition

In preparation for the release of 5 new books by the end of the year, I have decided to revamp my current release Rumbling Heart. In this updated release, currently called the Kickstart Edition, there will be several new and exciting extras to go along with the improved story. Here are some of the ideas that will hopefully make it into the new version:

  • A “Did You Know?” section with interesting factoids about the book, the characters, and the process used in its development.
  • Alternate Art and covers that were previously used or considered for the cover.
  • Q&A section where the author Richard Allen and Executive Producer Emily Carmichael answer various questions about the book and their methods.
  • A brand new cover which differs significantly from the current one.

As this will be the 3rd version of the book, any previous fans who redownload when the new version is released and go through the story again will notice several changes that we all feel needed to be made. While the overall story will remain intact, the most noticeable change will be overall length. The very first version was quite long, coming in at over 500 pages. The version that was at first going to be the first version was around 525 pages so there was already some significant editing work done on that one. Version two was even shorter, coming in at about 475 pages. Regardless of the fact that significant edits had already been done, we felt it best to shorten the book even further. While we do not have a page count at the moment, the effort to shorten the book will hopefully take it down to as little as 400 pages. While this is in the higher range of our estimates, we still want to be sure that the overall quality of the story does not suffer so don’t be surprised if we don’t hit that number. Keep in mind that 400 pages would be the story itself and not include any bonus content.

Keep in mind that if you already purchased this book from Amazon, all you have to do to get the new version when it comes out is download it again. There should not be any additional cost.

Keep your eyes open for more information regarding the 5 books slated to be released by the end of the year as well as more information on Rumbling Heart: Kickstart Edition.

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Heroes and Bad Reviews

Sometimes distractions can lead us away from our goals. Often times I find myself getting tunnel vision when I am writing an idea and that’s not always the best thing. For the stories I am developing, I had a point A to point B plan and that was not the way it should have been. There is more to a great book than who, what, when, where, and why. An explanation can be developed from those, but not a great story. Sometimes stepping away and doing other things can help you reclaim your idea from a narrow vision and assist you in turning a good idea into an magnificent book.

In October, I purposely stepped away from my stories and kept myself from writing. Why? I felt like I was becoming bored with the process. I still had idea I knew were good, but I felt like something was lacking in my writing. I needed to find a way to develop more than just an A to B story. My first book Rumbling Heart was more than an A to B story and it shows in the quality of the development not only of the work, but also the characters and the atmosphere. Sometimes reading a book can help you reevaluate and refocus on what you are trying to do. In my case though, being able to now see things from a different angle is a double-edged sword.

I looked over my work and even over some reviews and bits of feed back I have gotten over my work. The good reviews are always nice, but it is the bad reviews that always stick with you. Why? Just human nature I suppose. Here is a snippet of a negative review RH got and my response to it.

reviewNegative reviews happen. There is no way around it. Being a writer I accept that and I know there will always be people who either do not understand my work or, for whatever reason, want to find reasons to make it seem as if I did a huge disservice to the human race. I did find it interesting that this person thought her review was constructive. You can see my response to her review in the photo as well. Her response was once again nonconstructive. I liken this review to calling someone names because that is essentially what they did. If you feel the need to call me (or my work) “stupid” without offering any reason as to why you felt that way or any way to improve it, the review is completely pointless. Offering no way to improve on something is about as bad as crying because you didn’t get your way. If I were a coach and I told a child they were terrible at football or whatever other sport I was coaching them in, I wouldn’t remain a coach very long. Obviously you cannot really liken coaching to reviewing a book or a movie or whatever else you can give feedback on. Reviewers aren’t coaches. I realize that. But at the same time people who do offer feedback need to understand that the main reason you give feedback, be it positive, negative, or mixed, is so people who develop their ideas can improve and make things better the next time around. What is the point of simply calling people or their work names? Sounds to me like certain individuals either lack the ability to express themselves or they feel the need to tear someone down.

Success also breeds negativity.

I will not say I am very successful. I haven’t sold a ton of books and I haven’t made all kinds of money at this. It was never really about money anyway. I have over the last year and a half gotten hurtful messages and emails from people who see that I was somehow able to hash it out and write a book. Not many people can say they’ve done that. Sure, some people can write a small story, but my first book was 475+ pages. A little long, but anyone has to admit that writing a book of that size takes time and commitment. My followup to my first book is much shorter, but still comes in at about 300 pages. No small feat. Another big story for me which is about 70% complete will probably come in at about 275 pages. Again, not many people in the world can say they can sit down and accomplish such a thing. I am not saying I should automatically get a great review for the effort, but I would hope that people like me…artists…deserve at the very least a review explaining exactly why our work is either good, bad, or mixed.

A good review does not always have to be positive. If you gave me 1 or 2 stars, but explained why this or that was unappealing to you, I could respect that. Not offering any explanation whatsoever makes me think the person is either just looking to be mean or trolling. In a way, they are kind of the same thing.

If you are a reviewer like I am from time to time, do the artist a favor and explain why you think one way or another. In the end, we will thank you for it and so will other readers.

 

 


Getting Rid of Small Balances on Gift Cards

I was doing a little research on gift cards. Over time, I have managed to accumulate a handful of Visa and American Express gift cards. One of the major downfalls of these cards is that, in some cases, you can never fully utilize the amount that was gifted to you. On several cards, I manged to leave small amounts on them; so small in fact that it would be rather embarrassing to use them for payment anywhere you might go. To solve this problem of too many gift cards and nowhere to spend the small amounts, I turned to my old friend Amazon.

I have purchased various goods from Amazon for many years now and I must say they have definitely earned my trust. They are very good when it comes to deals and if you ever need to return something, they are always helpful and courteous. They are also my store of choice whenever I buy music. Yes, I have an iPod, but the Apple iTunes store is often overpriced and I do not like the Apple format they use for music. I prefer MP3’s which Amazon sells. Regardless if you like Amazon for music like me or if you buy other stuff like eBooks, DVDs, etc. they are a good option if you have a handful of low value gift cards you are looking to get rid of.

So, how exactly does this work out? Amazon gift cards. I know what you are thinking. Trading in one gift card for another. It may seem that way, but it’s really not. For someone like me that buys from Amazon at least once a month, it’s a great option. All you have to do is go to the website and select gift cards. It will give you an option as to how you want to gift the funds. I chose email as all it would do is send me an email with a clickable link to add the funds to my Amazon account.

It took a little patience, but I was able to move over a decent amount of money to my Amazon account which will eventually get used up. The one issue I found was in using the VISA Vanilla gift cards. Amazon states you can gift as little as $.15, but when I tried to use the VISA Vanilla to gift myself the remaining $.75 on the card, it always cancelled my order. Bummer. The other card types used were the American Express gift card and a bank gift card that works as a debit card. The two AMEX cards I used were for the amounts of $1.75 and $1.70 and had no problems with those. The Bank debit gift card was a larger amount so no problem there either. It could just be that Amazon is not crazy about eating the charges that go along with processing the smaller amounts on some cards.

I know this isn’t the perfect plan for everyone, but it worked well for me. Now I have some credit that I can use next time I want a DVD or some music. Like I said, I really like Amazon so it works for me. If you have never used Amazon, give it a look. There are always good deals there and shipping in most cases is really small. Often times they have a deal where you get free shipping on orders over $25 which I almost always take advantage of.

Like I said, not a perfect solution, but a decent option; especially since I know a few of us got some of these gift cards over Christmas!

Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon


Hard Call – Dropping Smashwords.com

I tried, I really did. But the time has come for me to stop using Smashwords.com as another source for my book sales. Why? Because I have had ZERO sales from ANY of their channels. This includes their extended channels which include the likes of iTunes. Over the past year, I tried to be patient and even directed people over to Smashwords to check out not only my work, but the work of others. Still, with all the self promotion, I have had absolutely no sales or any website referrals from them.

Amazon offers the KDP select option which is available to any author should they go exclusively with them and in exchange, you get to offer your book free for a few days a quarter. I tried this once and it did wonders for my exposure. Within just a couple of days I had over 600 downloads. I know, I didn’t get paid for it, but you have to start somewhere. In this case, sometimes just getting people to read your work is hard enough, let alone getting them to pay for something from an unknown author.

In the end, I am not really losing anything from this move. As I’ve said, I got no return for the work I did concerning Smashwords. For a good year my work sat there and did nothing, regardless of how much I promoted. At least with Amazon, I do get some sales there and a few reviews. That’s more than I can say for Smashwords.

Poster


Review Copies Available – Rumbling Heart…and a Few Tips on How to Properly Review

I have decided to make a few review copies of Rumbling Heart available to those interested. All I ask is that once you’ve read the book that you post an honest review on Amazon.com. If you choose to post the review on other sites such as BN.com, Good Reads, etc., that’s completely up to you. For those who’ve already reviewed for me, I thank you very much and as thanks for your honesty, I am offering you a free copy of the follow up Recorded Butterflies once it hits Amazon.

To get your gift copy through Amazon, simply email me at richardwrites@live.com or send me a tweet (@RichardAllenRH) with the email address you use for Amazon and I will get it to you. The book is a little long so I am not expecting you to post immediately, but a timely manner is appreciated. If you are new to reviewing, have a look at B.S. Meyers’s review here. 

As you can see there are no spoilers and he sticks to main points. As I mentioned, this is a request for honest reviews. I cannot and will not offer payment or additional merchandise of any sort just to get a good review. I will also not fault anyone for giving a review that’s less than stellar as long as it’s honest and points out the faults of the story properly. I’m not setting a length requirement as long as the review gets it’s point across. That being said, a review that is really, really short isn’t very helpful so feel free to write a bit if you like. Keep in mind I am also using these reviews to improve my writing so if you find a fault, feel free to mention it. Pointing out grammar errors (which do happen on occasion) is not helpful.

To give you an idea of what a bad review is, please click here.

As you can see, the reviewing doesn’t give examples as to why she felt the book was bad. All she did was spout nonsense and never once mentioned why she felt the book wasn’t worth it. This review is in no way helpful to the writer or anyone else looking to purchase the work because it gives no solid clue to anything having to do with any faults.

As I mentioned, I do not consider only positive reviews to be good reviews. Take this review about Fifty Shades of Grey for example. While I admit the reviewer does go a little overboard on listing actual numbers concerning the repetition she sees in the book, she does make her point. Her first paragraph is especially helpful as she points out that the author may not be very familiar with American English based on her use of the language, noting that many of her uses are more closely associated with British English. The review was a one star. Not a good rating for the book, but a decent review all the same. If the author had seen this, they may have tried to brush up on their American use of the language a little more and also work on different ways to implement character expression.

I don’t have an unlimited number of free copies, but I will try to get out as many as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section as I do check those daily.


Is Smashwords Even Worth the Trouble?

I’ve been using Smashwords for about a year now and I have to say, they suck…for sales. I’ve sold plenty of books on Amazon. They’re the biggest for ebooks so it makes sense. I’ve sold a few on Barnes and Noble as well. On Smashwords…zero.

For those not familiar with Smashwords.com, they are another place to upload and self publish your work. The site is relatively easy to navigate and their uploader is decent. The only problem is they don’t give me any sales whatsoever. That along with the fact that you have to format your work a certain way and also add a Smashwords.com disclaimer in your book to be considered “eligible” for their premium catalog makes it very hard to like them. In most ebooks, we already place a little copyright message letting people know it’s against the law to redistribute our work without our permission. Smashwords takes it even further, making you practically use the disclaimer they have or no premium catalog for you. With all the hoops I;ve had to jump through with Smashwords, it hardly seems worth the effort. Even with entry into their premium catalog, I’ve recorded exactly no sales from any of my works so why do I keep using it?

I really can’t tell you.

It seems kind of pointless to keep up with it. I do it right now so I can know I have the most exposure for my work, but with no sales generation I am about ready to dump them and just go with Amazon. If anyone can think of a good reason to stick with them, let me know. At this point, I am on my way to pulling all my works from them and just doing Prime Service with Amazon so I can get some free sale days out of them for exposure.

Image representing Smashwords as depicted in C...

Image via CrunchBase


Frost Arch – A Short Review

Here is a review for Frost Arch by Kate Bloomfield that I did for Amazon.com.

I read over the reviews from others and I feel they are over analyzing the story. As a writer and editor (Yes, I actually went to college for this), I did find the editing lacking in many areas, but once I got into the story (which is what really matters) I found the concept intriguing and actually was a little upset that the author did not dive into the treatment of humans more. True, some of the decisions the main character made were reactionary and sort of unbelievable at times, but that’s the point of writing a story. If I wanted a story where the character did everything I wanted them to do, I’d write my own and read it over and over again. After the first few chapters, I simply forgave the grammatical blunders and focused on the story at hand so I could enjoy it. I don’t read books to find reasons to hate them. I read books to enjoy a story and a story was what I got. I think the author will take a lot from our reviews (the helpful ones, anyway) and improve on her craft. The lack of romance did not disappoint me as the concept kept me reading. I went into the book with an open mind and I was glad I picked it up. I read a book a day (really) and this one kept me interested till the end. I forgave the few lulls it had and kept on pushing through to the parts that excited me. I didn’t expect perfection. I just expected to be entertained.
I am honestly looking forward to her next work and yes, I would pay $2.99 for it. I actually frown upon those that sell their complete novels for only $.99, but that’s best saved for another time.


Is It Wrong of Me?

I know the first thing people are going to think. No, I am not bitter. I enjoy other people’s success. When people become successful, I am genuinely happy for them. That being said, I do find it ironic that people who don’t put as much hard work and dedication into their writing are somehow making it.

Example.

I am reading a book which will remain nameless as I don’t want this to come across as lashing out at this person. I do not know them personally so this is not a personal attack. Their book is doing very well, hanging around in the Amazon top 100. I pick it up and start reading it and think it’s not so bad…except for the editing. I am in no way taking away from the story as it seems decent and is keeping me interested, yet the editing is almost non existent. Virtually every single page has errors on it. I am not making this up. Pick a page and there will be an error on it. Quotations are incorrectly used throughout, periods are in the wrong places, ellipses are used and spaced incorrectly…yet it’s top 100.

Sigh.

Maybe I am being just a bitter pill. I work for almost 2 years on a book and go line by line, making sure it’s virtually error free, yet a book that would be rejected by a college English teacher is making it. Like I said, her story isn’t bad. Of course I would think mine is better, but it just pains me to see that more of us indie writers are still carrying this black eye because of terrible editing like this making it out there. The saddest part is I doubt anyone except writers and editors are even really noticing or caring. Call me old fashion, but if you are going to write a book, at least make sure you edit the hell out of it. A few mistakes are fine, but every page?


Proofs Are In

I am sitting here holding my book and thinking the white paper over creme was a good choice. I like the way the cover came out. I didn’t want it to look overly polished. I wanted to give it an older, sort of used look. I’m not sure people will understand that though so I am considering updating the cover slightly.


It’s Live

Rumbling Heart is now live on three major book outlets. Go pick it up if you like! I am sure you all will enjoy it!


Getting Ready

Just a few more weeks till Rumbling Heart reemerges as a lighter and better book. I was considering only having it on Amazon, but have decided to make it available on Amazon, BN.com, Smashwords, and I am also working on getting it on the Apple store as well. They will all be the same price and considering the almost 2 years of work I’ve put into it, I am not gonna sell it for a scrawny price like $.99 like so many other authors do. I am still looking at the numbers, but when it gets settled, I will post about it. Also, you’d previously purchased the old version, I will be more than happy to provide a copy of the new one free.


May 29th, 2012

Take a deep breath…


Three Chapters in One Day

I guess the meds are tapering off and my OCD is going insane because yesterday I edited for over 12 hours non stop. I guess it’s a good thing because I’m in the heart of the book right now and I am really having to pick at words and sentences. I’ve taken out another 2k words which is good and lost 2 more pages. I still have a way to go, but things are looking better already. I’m about 60% through all the work and then…I get to do it all over again when I proof it via the Kindle and Adobe Reader. I knew this first gutting would be hard so the next time around will me minor snips here and there. Seems I am pretty close to reaching my less than 200k word target and fewer than 475 pages. The next few chapters should be easy to shorten as I’m sure there is some fluff I can just cut right out. Enough of the blog for the day because it’s time to edit.


Free Today – “Last Night”

That’s right. Today my short storyLast Night” is free on Amazon. It’s a fast read so feel free to pick up your copy today before it goes back to it’s regular price! Did I mention I love reviews? Well, I do. Literary reviews are always welcome so feel free to post those to Amazon after you give it a read. Thanks again for your support.


Ruby is Blowing Up!

She is currently #40 in Humor – Amazon Best Seller list and moving up strong. If this keeps up, I can see her breaking the top 100 overall very soon so lets keep those downloads going!

http://www.amazon.com/We-Are-All-Retarded-ebook/dp/B007EVYCWA/


Clip Clip

Just a quick note.

Slowly but surely version 2.0 of Rumbling Heart is getting smaller and although last night saw it only shrink by 37 words, today should hopefully see it go down by at least another thousand words. As I’ve said before I hope to clip a good 20-30k words from it altogether. If I can get it down to 475 pages, I would really find that to be a major achievement. Anything less would be even better. Well, I am back to work on it, but not before I leave you with a copy of something I work up last night. Not sure if I will use it, but it maybe the cover for version 2.0


Last Night is Free on Amazon…Really!

That’s right. It’s really free. Help get Last Night to #1 by telling everyone you know about it and downloading it. You don’t even need a Kindle reader to do it. You can use the Kindle computer reader or even the cloud reader. Just download! Download! Download!. Unfortunately, each account can only download it one time each so please do what you can to spread the word.

When I mean free, I don’t mean free after some dumb rebate or anything like that . I mean free as in completely 100% free. No delivery costs, no extra stuff to do. Just go to Amazon, look up the book, click order, you will see where it says FREE and then just like that it will give you the option of where to have it sent. Again, you can have it sent to a Kindle device, the cloud reader, or the kindle for computer reader. Heck, there are even Apps for devices like iPads, iPhones, and Androids out there as well.

It’s not a very long read either. It’s all of 17 pages so it’s short and sweet. I’ve gotten great reviews from scholars and a couple of hate reviews from trolls so you know it’s good stuff. For a shortcut to book, you can click here. Once you read it, make sure you got back and give it a review if you have time or at least a big “Thumbs up!” so people will be encouraged to check it out! You can also visit the Facebook event by clicking here.

Thank you all for your continued support of my work and once the Rumbling Heart Series is ready to come back, I will work on trying to get those free on Amazon as well.

Cover for Last Night

Cover of Last Night


Last Night is Free via Amazon Prime Lending

I’ve decided to give Amazon Prime lending a try to see how it all works out. So far in just one day, I’ve already got sales which is nice. The Prime lending, in case you are not familiar with it, basically means you can “borrow” a book from Amazon with no due date. They have a program where members pay a set amount to be a prime member which is about $78 a year and you get all sorts of benefits. Honestly, I’m not too into that sort of thing, but I know some people are doing it and if you happen to be one of those people, feel free to have as look at Last Night. If not, no worries. It’s still just $.99 so not like it’s a massive amount of money to check out what I consider to be one of the best things I’ve ever written.

You can check out the book on Amazon here.


Early On

Through the first 6 chapters, the rewrite is looking so much better than the original. It is pretty insane just how much you learn about yourself in a year. I think I’ve finally found a writing style that fits my personality. I think early on I was trying too hard to make certain language and insight work, so much so that some of the message was lost in translation. I am simplifying those areas that were too obtuse and making the language easier to comprehend. There are still a few things in there that are purposely difficult to understand and I am keeping them in there for certain reasons pertaining to the story itself.

Once the rewrite is done for RH, I will move onto RB. Emily will need minimal rewrite, maybe a little tinkering here and there to make sure story lines are kept in tact.

Once EM is done, then it’s back to the final book. I am already 70 pages onto it. The last one will need major editing when i get finished with it. As it has progressed, I have no doubt that it will easily hit 200k words, probably even 230k which is too large. I don’t want it to be any larger than say 215k words and that’s pushing it. I would like to see it stay around 200k at the most so that people still get all they can from the final installment, yet do not start falling asleep toward the end.

You can still purchase the current version of Rumbling Heart over on Amazon, but I won’t blame anyone for waiting till the rewrite is done. I don’t see it taking anymore than 10 more days.

Heart

Image by Phillie Casablanca via Flickr


Rewriting

Through the past year, I’ve learned a lot about myself and about writing. I’ve learned that there are times when I need to dive into a little more detail and there are also times where I can be long winded. I’ve slashed thousands of words out of my work since I began, but sometimes thousands just isn’t enough. I also believe I’ve found my place in the writing world. On more than a handful of occasions, I’ve been told I tend to write more as a story teller. That may seem like a general term for a writer, but I believe it’s not. Sometimes people write simply to inform you on certain events so that you know what happened. Other writers, story tellers, take you by the hand and let you walk with them as they lead you down the very same road it feel that they once took. So often I am asked if the events in my book are real because of the way I’ve written them. For many, it feels to them as if I am presenting to them a glorified anecdote and calling it a book chapter. I am ok with that.

It is for that reason that I am going through my previously released works and rewriting certain portions of them. Obviously, even after going over them countless times, there are still a few piece of the books that simply do not flow as well as I want them to and even a handful of grammatical errors. From my very first serious work to Rumbling Heart to my latest release Emily Martin, my style has morphed and become something very different that how it originally started. I’ve discovered my shortcomings and taken hold of my strengths. For this reason, I have decided to take on a simpler, story telling approach to my work from here going forward. In the first book, there is quite a bit of story telling, but I believe I made certain instances far more complex than they needed to be from a grammatical perspective. For this reason, I am sure that RH will go from about 220k words to something a little smaller; maybe about 210k. Still quite large, but smaller and still telling the exact same story. At one time I was going for more of a Hemingway type approach and style, but it seems that many of her techniques died with him all those years ago as some of my critics are calling portions of the work “old” when it comes to style. It was for this reason that I tried what I did with Recorded Butterflies. I took on a very different perspective with this work and I think i did alright. It still wasn’t exactly what I was wanting to do, but I did it.

The latest book Emily Martin is the one I am the most proud of. I found my strengths with this book and I was able to really connect with my Emily character as she tells the story. While I felt I was almost one in the same when it came to my character John, it turns out that I was more in sync with Emily and the way she saw her life and handled her station in life. It was obviously not the way she grew up or the life she lived, but it was more of the place she found herself as an adult. The feelings that she had kept pent up inside her were something very close to my own so I was able to really speak from her perspective. I will make updates to this work as well, but only for the sake of continuity. Even after the release of my final work in the series, I think I will still be most proud of Emily because of the way I was able to convey my feelings through that character.

That being said, I have work to do.

 

Visit Richard’s Amazon author page here!


Amazon Author Biography

I spend a little time and worked on the biography on the author page I have set up on Amazon.com. It seems pretty solid and I think I will leave it as it is, but I wouldn’t mind a little feedback. I tried as much as I could to focus on the work and how it came to be. Although I don’t have any reservations about keeping many of my personal details out of it, I still wanted to make the page about the books so that could be focused on and not so much on me. I figure if people really are that interested in the work, then they will eventually want to find out more about me. That will come with time. Have a look at the page here and let me know what you think.

I duplicated this data for the Smashwords bio page as well which can be viewed here.


No Breaks

My attempt at forcing a break from writing is not working. I wanted to give myself a good month from it so I can prepare to head back to Austin and just so I can unplug, but it’s not working. I cannot stop thinking about the final RH book. I know it won’t stop bothering me until I just up and write the darn thing so I might as well do it in between the times where I am looking for apartments and permanent work. Unfortunately, writing isn’t paying me much. That being said, I did get a royalty check the other day which was nice.

The name of the last book? Not saying, at least not now. I am just going to work on it and get it outlined and first drafted. I don’t want it to exceed 450 pages, but we’ll have to see how it goes. This will be the first time I’ve written where I am looking to keep pages to a minimum. I want over 375, but less than 450. We’ll see how it all goes.

 


Emily Martin and Last Night

All Links are live. You can access them here.

Ty all for the continued support. I’ve found that even now, I have a few people lingering around that would rather see me fail in my attempts to make something of myself. I also know there will always be people who hate me because I am able to do something they are not. I will not recognize their attempts at trying to derail my passion by mentioning them by name. All I will do is just keeping doing what I do. As the old internet saying goes, “haters gonna hate.”

The development of my short story into a film is proof that persistence can pay off. I spoke with the director last night and we have come up with some very workable ideas and it looks like we can really make it happen. It may not be tomorrow or next week or even next month, but it will get made. It will be taken to various film festivals and hopefully, we will gain some recognition not only from our peers, but also from those who never stopped believing in us.

We may not become rich or famous, but we will change people’s ideas about the subject matter that we cover. I think when all is said and done and our film is made, I can look back at all the hate that’s come my way and laugh a little, knowing that all their harsh words did was strengthen my resolve.

Not everyone can write a poem or a short story or a full novel for that matter. It takes endless nights of tedious editing and corrections to get the story exactly the way you want it. Not everyone can pull that off. I’ve done it now for the third time. There will be at least one more. I find it funny that people who say my work is terrible have never even read it so…how could they possibly know? I can understand criticism if you’d read at least one of my works, but to say my material isn’t any good when you’ve not even looked at it shows only a lack of self respect. I feel sorry for people like that because those same people who hate me are the ones that know deep down they could never do what I do. I’m not saying these things to show off my ego because I really don’t have one. Just as I do not hate those who work in other professions and do their jobs well, I would hope that others would at least do me the courtesy of being decent, but that’s people for you. People fear what they do not know and they hate others for no other reason than that they possess or have accomplished things they never could.

I may not end up with an Academy award or a Pulitzer in my hands, but I will still have my books. Even after I am gone, those will still be here. For generations to come, my words and stories will echo through time. What will you leave behind? What will be your legacy? Bitterness? Hate? Obviously, those are not very admirable traits. I know I’m not nearly a perfect person, but I do have things most yearn to have: passion, love, persistence, patience, and plenty of stories to tell.

You have a choice. You can either listen as I tell them or hate me as I move forward and write more. Heck, even ignoring me shows more than standing around and hating me. When you stand there and speak badly of me, it only goes to show that I’ve got your attention so I must be doing something right.

Maybe one day people filled with hate will be ready to move on and do something more with their lives. I don’t have the greatest life and I do not claim to be famous or rich or even popular. I am just me. A writer’s life isn’t all that glamorous. I sit in a room in front of a screen, typing out endless ideas and making them into something that might touch people…and I am ok with that. If I choose to give my art away, that’s my choice. After all, it’s my talent and not yours.

Who knows really when all this writing will end. Ultimately, that’s up to me. I’ve openly stated that I may not write another novel after the final RH installment. Maybe that’s all I have to give. Maybe I’ve said what I needed to say. Only I can make that decision. Know this though, when I’m heading out the door, I want to leave my work with people who will protect it’s artful quality and do something meaningful with it.

Cover of Last Night

Emily Martin Cover


Last Night – The Movie

I’ve spoken to a director about some of my work and we are currently discussing taking one of my stories and turning it into a short feature film. While the talks have just gotten underway, it is still a very exciting idea that one of my works could be made into something more substantial that just a few words on a piece of paper. It’s still very early, but we will continue our dialog as the weeks progress and hopefully, it will take us somewhere. Sometimes things like this can take a lot of time, but I am hoping we can get the ball rolling fairly quickly. With time, the two of us plan to sit down and rewrite the story into a workable script, something that can be converted into film while still getting the message across. Depending on the length of the script, we’re not quite sure at this point just how long the short will be. I’m not a film director by any stretch of the imagination so I will leave those estimates up to them.

Still, the prospect that this could turn into something more is very exciting as I’d love to have one of my works expanded upon like this. While I was hoping that Rumbling Heart would be looked at, I have no problem starting small as Last Night is a much smaller, easier story to turn into a film as the production costs will be very light and workable. RH on the other hand would require possibly millions to produce.

We all have to start somewhere. I hope this pans out.

You can check out the short story for free over at Smashwords.com or by clicking here.

Cover of Last Night