Friday, November 16, 2012

Ramblings of a Writer


Here it is, the 16th of November, and the time just rolls on. It seems that time is always working against us and this may sound a bit disturbing, but eventually our time will run out. With that in mind, I just sit back and think, “How much time have I put into this?” And the answer I come up with every time is, “Not enough.”

There are so many things that I can add into the series, the twists and turns. My imagination is the limit! That’s one of the things that have me bent on an immortality characteristic. Immortality, what am I talking about? Oh you don’t know, perhaps you should read up on my first chapter of “The Chamberlains” which is leading up to the Within Series.

http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1903890-The-Chamberlains-Chapter-1---Unforseen

It may not be your cup of tea but it’s my tea, biscuit, dough, and chicken nuggets. You got that right, I said nuggets. I’m very picky on my works and I try to tread carefully to appease everyone and do things the “correct” way, but that doesn’t personally make me happy. And like in my first paragraph above, our time will run out. So I should do what feels right to me about my novels and how I present them.

I have that to thank to my wife, Heather Rhodes. She tells me over and over and over, did I mention over and over? I think I did. Anyway she can tell me a bajillion times but I’m too stubborn to realize that from her telling me, I have to find out for myself. If I’m not making sense, oh well, it’s the ramblings of a man in his thirties thinking, “Hey, if you don’t like what I have to say, then may your toes be eaten by rabid smurfs.” That’s right. Anyway, I must say that she’s definitely right.

Okay, back to the point of not having one. I’m just feeling a bit, what’s the word I’m looking for, nostalgic. I can only hope that people will see things from my point of view, from my mind’s eye, and hopefully that will be enough to be like, “Hey, this looks interesting,” and Within will take off. But I’ve said it once, twice, thrice, and then some; I’m working on the financial backing and I’m think if I’m impatient and can’t wait then those who are already here can’t wait either.

Is there another way to move things along? Of course there is. But if you keep turning around and going a different direction, you’ll get to your destination…eventually.

Like Vyncent and Abagail in the first chapter, they take the most direct path they can. Obstacles and distractions pop up when they least expect it. But they, like many others, find the means to go on. I too shall move on the best way I know how and eventually I’ll reach my goal.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Block


The super storm “Sandy” has come and gone. The elections are finally over along with their ads. Thanksgiving is just around the corner with Christmas to follow. So now things are finally back to normal around these parts, for the most part.

There are tons of things that can distract us, block us from our everyday lives. But our lives aren’t the only things that are blocked, our thoughts. Where I’m headed with that is, writers block and what a pain it is.

If you ever watched the movie, “Run, Fatboy, Run” with Simon Pegg from “Shaun of the Dead”, Dennis (Simon Pegg) is running a race and he hits “The Wall”. The point where you don’t think you can’t go any farther, a point where you have to “will” yourself to go on.

“Wait a second, aren’t we talking about writers block. I thought that’s where you just don’t know what to write.” Indeed it is but for me, and I’m sure others out there, there’s something more. There are times in my unpublished (at this point) life where I just want to throw my hands up in the air, delete all my files, and set fire to all the work that I have done. But that would be silly now wouldn’t it. I’d be destroying years of work and for what?

You have to move on, make yourself go forward, and it’s hard. Writers block, honestly, isn’t something that I have a problem with. I can pull a story out of my butt on a whim of a notice. Why or how, I don’t know, it’s something I have always been able to do. But my block, my block as a writer is moving forward.

Right now, coming up with the financial means is my problem to move forward. I’ve mentioned this a couple times before so you probably already know about it. If you noticed about the 50’s Housewife Project and been keeping up with her blogs and posts, you’ve noticed the financial situation. And even with a budget plan that she has worked so hard on, there are always surprises that pop up.

Right now, she’s ill and possibly has to go to the doctor. That’s just more money that needs to be used to make sure she’s better. Things like that come up all the time and with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, you know that will take some from our not-so-deep pockets.

So my block is waiting patiently, saving my pennies, and getting this book edited and released. My block is telling myself everyday not to give into these feelings and cancel the whole project like I did over a decade ago.

Like Dennis from that movie; I, you, everyone who is struggling with their own wall, find a way to move forward, even if it’s only one step at a time.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Those of the resting...


Well it’s been a good while since I’ve done a blog, so I’m probably overdue for one. Quite a bit has happened recently in my everyday life. Not all of it was planned but sometimes in our lives, we have to step back and take a look at everything so we can better grasp all that is surrounding us.

Recently, a couple of weeks ago to be exact, it was mine and my wife’s anniversary, our 9th anniversary. If you asked me nine years ago, I probably would have said that I and my wife wouldn’t be where we are today and I’m very grateful that we are. Of course our kids drive us up the wall sometimes and we bicker over the stupidest things but that’s just how it is. Over nine years together and still going strong.

I’m also grateful that I have someone who’s willing to help me trek around through the middle of nowhere and take photos for me to edit. And speaking of that, I need to start working on another picture here in the near future. If you stuck with me this long, you can tell I take these things slow due to numerous reasons. Main reason, I’m only one person being stretched thin.

But during all this time, I was asked if I had taken any more original photos of the graveyard that I had shown earlier. Actually, yes I did (actually my wife did), and I’m glad to share those on here.




This is pretty much the entire view of the graveyard. It’s quite mall and quaint, just the way I’ve always remembered it to be and pretty much the way I described it in the novel. Well, there could be some minor changes here and there but that’s the way it is with these things.

While we were there, we discussed about how some of the graves were decades old, and if there’s anyone living to this day that remembers those that have passed on. It does make me wonder though. How long will it be, after I’ve passed, that nothing of me, not even a memory, would remain? That thought may be morbid but the same could go for anyone out there and it’s something we would never know.



Even the tombstones aren’t entirely permanent. Over years, the engravings will eventually be illegible.  So possibly over even a longer period, our final resting places, may actually be lost. Due to no one being around to take care of these sites (especially the small ones in remote locations) and nature would take it over and not a soul would even remember that it’s there.

I feel that’s just how it is, things being forgotten through the ebbs of time. Perhaps in the future when humankind will survey a site and be like, “Oh look! We just uncovered a piece of history. These date back into the mid to late 1900’s.” Oh well, all we can do is wonder and imagine what may or may not come to pass.



Until I R.I.P., I’ll take things one day at a time.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

What's it like to edit?


So what’s it like to edit? Hmm, well I must say that going over your own work a million times over is one thing, but liking the changes you make is another. I have gone over my novels, I don’t know the exact number of times, but I can say that it’s been a lot. But here is the downfall that I have with all that, it’s me.

Yes, you, me, we all make mistakes and sometimes more than once. With the multitude of times I have been over my work, I’m still not happy. I change something here, a little there, and with every change that is made, there’s more room for flaws. I’m not a perfect writer by any means and I’ve needed help from time to time and still do. As of right now I’m in the process of getting a legit editor.

Let’s all face it. If you want your work to be perfect, you have to send it to the pros, and the cons of those pros is this, it isn’t cheap. And that’s where I’m at right now. Well trying not to stray too far from the topic, back to me going over my own stuff.

I don’t know how many times that I have changed character names, the way the come off, or removing a side story completely to build up to something more with the main characters love interest.  But characters is one thing, we all know it’s about location, location, location. Which that’s something I changed the least but I think I’m personally happy with the choices I’ve made with it.

Still to this very moment, when I read over my works for a 100th time, there are things that I want to change. I’d say it is as we go along through time, our tastes change and we perceive things, events, ideas, just a little bit different than we did originally. And that’s what I’ve been doing as well with the Within Series. I just need to stop touching it and finish the process of getting an editor.

So what I have to say about, “What’s it like to edit,” is this, “Another pair of eyes that are not of your own, may perceive things in a different light, showing you a way you never thought possible.” Editing your work is one thing, having a helping hand, another set of eyes, always seem to help me.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Reality & Expectations


I’m going to go a bit off my normal way of blogging to today and go about something a little different. I may stray from time to time, off the beaten path, over the hills, and even maybe to Grandma’s house, but I’ll try to keep that to a minimum. Today I want to go over something I that can be seen every single day and effects all of us and that is “Patience”.

Patience is something that, I’ve experienced personally, has went from a virtue to almost non-existent. In this day and age, now is the moment, we’re living in it, and everything we want has to be at that moment in time, now. But good things come to those that wait, so they say. I for one, don’t like to wait, just like the majority of the human population.

With the mentality of this age, ordering what we want online, not having to go out and pick it up, or purchase and download, it is all in the now. That’s the speed of life I guess but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Unless there’s some sort of time machine that I don’t know about.

So with all this patience that I’m lacking, I’m now slapped with two things. Those things are “Reality” and “Expectations”.

Reality vs. Expectations: Round 1, Fight!

My expectations in everything I do are higher than probably what I should actually build myself up to. Great expectations can be achieved quickly, knocking my patience right out the door. But with great expectations comes great financial backing.

Let me stray over toward the Within Series, my brain child since I was a teenager. I can launch that sucker in a month or so if I had the money to plop down for it. Big shocker here, I’m not a wealthy bloke that can do just that. So instead I have to cut corners and find other methods to continue on my quest of having a novel published. And all that takes time and patience.

Reality vs. Expectations: Round 2, Fight!

So the reality of all this is that I need to wait, which means others will have to wait as well. I may have had the FB Within Page pushed too early. Oh well, it’s there, it makes me feel better, and now it’s time to work on it some more. I hope in the future, before I kick the bucket, that it will all come together the way I expect it to.

Everything takes time, even if I wish it didn’t, and though I want to rush things, I can’t. With other things in life I have noticed, if you rush something, there’s bound to be mistakes that you hadn’t anticipated. Take your time, ease into it, because sometimes you might want to look into the river before you jump in. You never know how deep it really is or isn’t.


…Fatality

Sunday, July 15, 2012

How do you get in the mood?


How do I get in the mood? Wait, what, is this a trick question? Oh, of writing. Of course that’s what was meant. What was I thinking?
      How I get in the mood to write, well I must say that it’s different depending on the scenario that’s surrounding me at that moment in time. To get my creative juices flowing, I usually have two ways; 1: it has to be extremely quiet, or 2: I need to jam out to some music.

Let me go over the first one, “Silence is Golden.”

      This is how I usually get my writing done. No noise, no work calls, no children fighting over their toy light sabers (granted my wife usually sees my struggle and intervenes), nothing but the sound of my fan. So once the noise is…wait what was I writing about? Oh that’s right, I forget everything and have to retract my work and find out what I was trying to portray out into words to begin with. Like right now, the children are going on about some toy carrot and umm…what was I saying?
      But hey, that’s just one of the joys of being a parent. Also as being a parent, my bed time surpasses that of the children (insert evil laugh here). During that time, I have almost 100% of uninterrupted brain storming, but there’s a downfall. There’s always a downfall.
      Yes working late at night gives me the chance to get my create juices flowing with the joys of silence, but there’s something else that lurks in the night. Its name is, “The Sand Man”, and he doesn’t take kindly to those who try to stay awake longer than one’s capability.
      Once I start fighting the “The Sand Man” and continue writing, I read it a day later when I’m more awake, and I’m like, “What was I thinking? Did someone slip some LSD in my coffee or something?” Most of it is usually bad but there are times that I create something so farfetched and strange, I can chisel off some of the “Crazy” and make something of it.

Now let’s move to the second one, “Setting the Mood.”

      Music, it sets the mood for many different scenarios in our lives. Such as jogging down the road, driving in our vehicles, or setting at our desks while typing up a blog. Music makes a scene come to life in a movie. You want a good action scene; you need to have an upbeat tempo to rock out on.
      So for me, if I’m really into it, I pick a bunch of random songs that I like from my massive playlist, start skimming through the list, and choose what I think would best fit my scene. On a personal note, I’ve already mentally picked a song for my main character in the “Within” series. Yeah, call me nerdy.
      Anyway, back to the music. It helps me get into a “feel” of the scene. Like what would I want to see right now during this certain section of a song? I try to mimic the songs rhythm into actions and feelings, that way I can hopefully transfer what I’m feeling at that time, with what I think should happen in a scene, and put it all into words. After that, I hope the reader can feel the same way I did, just by reading it.

Music is the universal language after all.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Struggles of Publishing

                Today, I’d like to talk about, “The Struggles of Publishing.” I myself am currently unpublished and that’s something I’m going to overcome in time. Yes there are still some things that need to be buttoned up on my works but hopefully that’ll be soon dealt with and behind me. When I say soon, I really mean, give or take a year. You know how it is. Authors…
                I’ve been lately and always, stuck between wanting to get published the old fashion way or move forward to the way of the future the way of EBooks. There’s not really any need to throw out fifty to seventy to one hundred query letters anymore. I think it doesn’t matter, just as long as you know that your work is solid (or not in some cases), and you can put it out there for the world to view.
                A friend of mine pointed me in this direction more than once and I’m coming around to it again. To be honest, quite a few people have directed me that way and dare I say it again, “more than once.” But there are those, including myself, want to hold a book in my hands when I read. Not an electronic device, but that’s when it hit me.
                After doing some digging, I realized that if you are one of those types of people, who want the feeling of paper between your fingers, then you can have it. Amazon.com, the one I’ve been looking into the most, does have a feature (for a higher price of course) that allows one to buy the novel but only in paperback.  So other than my friends, that feature is also luring me more and more towards EBooks.
                So The Struggles of Publishing, with EBooks, just make sure you have your work decent and throw it out there. Perhaps in another time I’ll look back at the old fashion way, Publishers and the people of that sort. But for now, I’m all EBook baby! Now about editing my own work and looking for an editor. That’s a blog for another day.

                Stay safe my friends.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

What Inspires Me

                What inspires me? Tons of things come to mind. There could be a couple of individuals sitting at a table enjoying a meal then my brain kicks in and says, “Now add killer rabid penguins into the mix!” Hey, I did say that there is tons of a thing that come to mind, and that’s just one of them.
                Mostly I would have to say it’s my dreams.  Could it be the pizza I ate right before bed that creates such morbid and twisted nocturnal visions? Perhaps, but that can’t be all there is to it. So what can I do with these dreams? I twist and turn them around memories from my past and slam it all together in an explosion of creativity madness.
                And with like anything you want to make as perfect as you possibly can, you think about it, and I thought about mine a lot. I’m a travelling technician in the good old state of West Virginia and while I’m on these back roads, I have a lot of time to think. But there is one special road that I do a ton of thinking on and that’s Route 50.
                I still get and have gotten some of my best thoughts on Route 50. There’s just something about that road that gets to me. It’s a long trip and most of the time I get little or no cell service so I’m bothered less to none while travelling that route. There’s that and then there’s the pretty straight forward path that takes me nearly into Ohio and not much curves there. Maybe there’s more to that road than I can see, I don’t know, but what I do know is that if I didn’t travel on that road as much as I have and still do, I might not be as far along with the Novel as I am now.
                But what else inspires me is seeing someone else I know doing something similar. I could see an acquaintance or a friend writing a poem or making a song and I think, “Hey, I can do that,” which I or anyone else can. You just have to put your mind to it and do it. “Time, patience, and gumption,” that’s what I say.

                Carl Jung:
The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man (1934): “The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.

Unveiling Myself to the World of Blogging


Hey to all those folks out there. Anthony Rhodes here and I’ll be blogging about whatever comes to mind about my novel(s), the Within Series. The name is something that may change in the future, depending on how it gets published.
                With the way the internet is today, from what I gather, more and more people are using Kindle, EBooks, etc. and that might be the way I go. So for now and the way I wish for it to always be, “Within” will be the working title.  “What type of novel is it,” you might ask or “What’s the storyline?” Well that is some of the things I will cover in this blog but not so much until I get fully comfortable with the whole process and moving at a steady pace in the right direction.
                And with that said, please bear with me through all of this.