(Click images for full view.)

Awesome. I couldn’t resist a photo. THE WALKING DEAD, WORLD WAR Z, among other great and delicious zombie literature and even David Moody’s HATER and DOG BLOOD books.

So anyway, not a lot going on lately. Still agent-hunting and in the meantime editing so much that I can’t see straight. This is what I get for having more than one novel project at a time. Hey, I figure having two books on submission possibly doubles my chances of finding some sort of representation.

So far, I’m still delusional. :-)

I’ve uploaded the newest edit (and hopefully the last one before actual publication) of DIRTY EDEN chapter one and would love and appreciate any opinions or critiques, complaints or compliments.

Well, I’m off to Starbucks and my nieces 2nd birthday party. Here she is, mean face and all. Heh.

Lastly, I’ve changed my Bio page a lot, if you’re interested.

First, on Dirty Eden, I have come to face the reality that the first chapter just wasn’t cutting it. Brian had some of his writing class peeps read it and provide advice, which I truly appreciate! In fact, I appreciated it so much and agreed with everything they said that I completely revamped it. I have to say that I got more positive than negative feedback from everyone, but there were a few key points that everyone seemed to share. Anyway, I took all of the advice to heart and did exactly what they thought I needed to do.

You can read the new version of Chapter One in a pdf. here.

How about some cool photos? I went to visit my brother in Eureka Springs and stopped at some cool old places along the way. I love old abandoned buildings like this.

We went to the river and Jonah decided to take a picture of the sun! Is it true that doing this can potentially fry your camera? Well, it didn’t hurt mine, thankfully.

Not too far from where I live is Burns Park, which is huge place that…let me just copy/paste from Arkansas.com:

1,700-acre park featuring a pre-Civil War log cabin; covered bridge; 36-hole golf course; indoor, outdoor tennis courts; camping, picnic area, horse trail, ball fields; amusement park; disk and miniature golf; 6.2 miles of paved hiking/biking trails; four miles of combined paved/unpaved trails; addition to half of the 14-mile River Trail; Off-Road Trail System includes hiking, biking and equestrian trails…

Anyway, there are also a lot of old mining shafts and underground tunnels as well as many more of those old buildings and places that I love.

(As always, click on any photo for a larger view.)

Look at this little guy…

Of course, ya have to take a photo against all the cool graffiti, right? Doesn’t everybody do that? *shrug*

Let’s see…I’m love The Colony on Discovery and I also can’t get enough of Man Vs. Wild, Man Woman Wild, Dual Survival, Wonders of the Solar System and I’m now all into The Event. Yes, a lot of television lately.

Where does ‘the apocalypse’ come in to this blog? My frame of mind according to my television shows should give you an idea!

I need a Maxpedition backpack…..

(Update: The Event sucks.)

{Insert Neat Photo Here to Distract from all the text}

But then there’s also a MG/YA novel I began around the same time last year I started The Mayfair Moon, which I’m anxious to get back to work on. I guess I’ll have to go with the flow and work on whichever calls to me the most.

Back to Dirty Eden – Okay, I just need to say that I really loved writing that story. It was a strange thing because in its conception, I was in the beginning of a two-year long emotional roller-coaster ride. It’s amazing what life-altering circumstances can do for a writer’s craft. Dirty Eden wasn’t just a story, it was an experience. Now, I just need to go in an edit it again so I can get back on the agent bandwagon.

Anyway, I have recently rewritten the Dirty Eden blurb on ‘The Work’ page. After several months of not reading it over and over again, I noticed something major wrong with it that I was shocked not to have noticed before. I’m mortified that I sent that synopsis to so many agents without realizing that error. The sentences were so damn long they were like a book in themselves. My writing, the actual story, isn’t like that at all. But the synopsis was because writing a synopsis is like walking a tightrope over a volcano. If you don’t do it right the first time….

So anyway, that’s my update.

OK, maybe not so much a cat suit, but you get the idea.

Yes, I’m still going to submit to agents. I guess it’s a necessary evil, so I’m sucking it up and am going right back into the belly of the beast. For now…. (I talk a lot of shit when I’m thoroughly upset – don’t mind me.)

They say most writers publish their first book in their 30’s. Let’s see if ‘they’ really know what they’re talking about.

Hmmm, let’s see. I’m just babbling this morning. I could tell my Greyhound horror story since it’s technically not in the same happy Chicago post, but I think I need more than 30 minutes to word it right and all, to give you the full horrific effect. So, I’ll save that blog for next time.

I can’t wait to go to Whole Foods this weekend to get some sushi and one of my new favorite drinks that I can’t remember the name of (Brian?). And I need to go to the AT&T store to get a new battery for my Blackberry. Why am I telling you this? Because, like I said before I’m killing an hour before I have to go to work.

~sigh~ One more day of work this week and I’m out for Thanksgiving, too. I need to get some writing in! I need to get my queries ready again and start submitting, while at the same time writing in my YA werewolf novel and on the side reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Yep. Much to do.

Now the energy to do it….

The one thing I can say is that so far I have not received any negative feedback on Dirty Eden in general. I even had a request to see more of it and although that did not prove beneficial, it to me is encouraging.

So, the first chapter has been revised extensively. Well, technically the whole novel has been re-edited and revised, but I’m only putting up the first chapter for download. You can download the pdf on this page.

As mentioned, the first chapter of Dirty Eden is now up on ‘The Work’ page for download.

I hope you enjoy! :-)

And thanks for reading!

Dirty Eden is done!  The book is now going through the editing process (well, the first edit by Brian aka Skorpius aka the Professor aka Boss with a Crowbar – one day I’ll decide which name I want to use permanently), who should probably look into editing as a career, because he’s that knowledgeable! The first chapter is available for download on ‘The Work’ page.

I’m also in the process of scoping out which publishers (and/or agents) I will submit to first. I am not at all looking forward to this. I know enough about the publishing industry to know that it feels impossible to get published because it’s not really that far from being impossible.

We’ll see, and I’ll update every step of my gory adventure for your reading amusement. ;-)

____

Anyway, this is just a quick post to mark the day I finished. Pretty soon I’ll be adding the  book blurb on ‘The Work’ page and when I do, I’ll post a blog to let you know.

A bit of advice, to avoid most issues with putting together a web site, whether it’s basic or WordPress based, don’t make the mistake (and this one isn’t embarassing because it’s an easy mistake to make) of trying to alter or add to files inside  any folder but the ‘public_html’ folder. Yeah, those of you that already knew that can laugh at me all you want, haha, but I know I’m not the only one. Funny thing is, I remember the same thing happened to me when I created my first basic web site a few years ago. I should have remembered….

Almost done with Dirty Eden, just a few more pages and I can officially say it’s complete. I’m a bit excited, but I know the publishing process that lies ahead will not be fun and will quickly turn that excitement to frustration. But I’m going to try something different. Yep. I’ll explain that later.

Well, I’m off for now. I’ll leave you with a photo outside a trucking company not even a mile from me.

(Click the image for full view)