Intergration Rocks!

So I'm editing in the first of Renee's short parts and I finished Bryan's Barber Don, brilliant on both counts!! It is really cool to have friends with talent, and it is unbelievable to hear voices I've only heard on podcasts saying my words. What a trip, cereally. Floating joy, that's what it is, floating joy (see attached illustration for visual)............

Rare Father's Day Edition, with a New Poem

So, for no particular reason, I want to post up a poem I wrote. Nothing to do with Father's Day, but I decided to release it today. I woke up with this in my head a few months ago, there it was, like Christmas. And they say the concept of vates is obsolete!

Feel wonderful
I know what it is to soar,
and feel God's love in every cell of my body.
Feel good, I am a creature of The Lord.

There you have it, free of charge...........craig

Slowly But Unsurely

So, I am chipping away at Prisoner, and actually making some progress. I have Episodes 2 & 4 done, and very little to do with Episodes 1, 3,& 6. Not quite half way, but close and hopeful. By parallel, the text is almost all edit corrected, and I'm polishing a few stray lines which displeased me, but as always, the text and audio versions will be ready together, and maybe maybe by the end of July. I really just want to get my NaNoWriMo out before next NaNoWriMo!
Wonderful news, the great Bryan Lincoln has narrated a small but pivotal character for me, and I could not be more thrilled or honored. I have a scene where the lead character Piers is ill advisably picking his barber's brain (little to pick it turns out). When I read the lines, it came out Gomer Pyle, which wasn't at all what I heard in my head. Bryan gives a more urban and serious read, very nice : ) So in Prisoner, for the first time, I will have multiple music bumpers, sound effects, and Bryan's read along with brilliant reads by Renee. I have really impressed myself (at least).
Remember that I auctioned off the dedication as part of a charity 6 months ago? Well I have finished off the wording with the winning bidder, and I think you will find it touching. What a thrill to be involved at some level in the lives of so many wonderful former strangers, now fast friends. Bless you Al Gore for this Internet thing, I hope to return the favor some day soon.
So here's a photo of where I'd really like to be just now. My lovely wife and I are finishing off dinner Easter 2009 at Casa Botin in Madrid. It is officially mind you the oldest restaurant in the world. We are in the claustrophobic 'cueva' (cave = basement). I had roast suckling pig (fatty, and not outstanding, but you do have to go local please) and gazpacho, two of their famous dishes. I used to eat there a lot in the 60's, and Hemingway at in the cueva during his Spanish romps, so we were in good company. It's actually images like that which inspired my 4th book, Time Diving, which I cannot wait to focus on. It is a cautionary dark time travel tale. The 1st draft is done, but I've much work I have put on hold to get Prisoner out and done.
Anyone out there think I've rambled long enough? Well, done all agree at once! OK, chores chores chores, the I rest. Air hugs and e-kisses to y'all.............me

Two Steps Forward, One Back, So they Say......

So, I took the general advise and exported my Garage Band files to Audacity, to edit and mix them. I'm happy, Audacity does edit better than GB, my complex files sound professional! So I export to mp3 files, as to make ready for general release. D'oh! The mp3 sounds bad, way too much noise. I'm certain I'll figure this out, but just when you see a break in the clouds, you get hit with another down pour. Arg! Oh well, the first 3 episodes are done (in some universe),and they sound great! When I do get them finished and all, I think you will be surprised and pleased.
Anyway, I got The Great Renee Chambliss to agree to do a few more lines for me, three small parts in Prisoner, but what depth she adds! For the next book, I see asking her to do a larger part, which I hope she will agree to; I suspect yes, since she's so nice ; ) . I may also ask an English author to do a young John Lennon, since I will Americanize it too much. I have no interest in doing audiodrama-like productions, but using 3-4 voice actors will be in my skill range, I think.
Two years and 10 months, for those of you still counting along with me, till I can Early Retire out of my dysfunctional company (medical group, in Calif, huge, starts with 'K' and rhymes with 'miser'). It's really not different than the other companies I know all too well of from my patients and friends, but it didn't used to be, now it is, and that's a crying shame. Drones, clones, and mean-spirited corporate wannabees; the perfect mix for eternal unrest and unhappy employees. Oh well, enough of that negativity. Here's a happy picture, with me and three good friends in Madrid last year, I'm the tiny one to the right.........
I hope and truly pray all is well with you and yours, and that the Blessing upon you are embarrassing in number and volume...............craig

You Know When Snoopy Like Floated?

So I just downloaded so audio from the Great Renee Chambliss, lines she did for Prisoner. Brilliant (no, not like the gum, brilliant like I'm an Anglophile). She did a female judge right at the end, so when all is said and done, y'all are in for a real treat! I had to work today, did I mention that? No, wait, no mention of Renee's lines, nice, and work, bad by reason of management. That reminds me..........I'm nearly done w/TPN (Prisoner), and then I'm doing the dark time travel novel which sits in its first draft. After that, I'm [probably] going to do a medical novel, not scifi. I think I can tell the story of the Evil Empire rising in medicine, and the struggle of one iconoclastic MD (no autobio here)..............

Mini-Addendum

I finished the actual Episode 1 of Prisoner, as it will be dropped. I have lots to do on the other 12-13, but the is accomplishment in the air!

Inch by Inch

Well, I'm inching toward finishing Prisoner. I've edited both sound and text, and need to mix music and sound effects (new for me). The cover's still up in the air, I may need to do an interim one myself, but I'll leave that till I'm done done done with everything else. I sent my first query letter out in years to a very small house, so we'll see. I did the 'shop around thing' a few years ago, but the universe was different then, Anon Time wasn't nearly as tight as it is now, so I thought, what the heck. At least rejection won't sting so much, as I have all the new distribution stuff in place. I am and will always at least be a small fish in a small pond. The vanity of this author supersedes any quest for dinero, so I'll always have that. I don't know when the finalists for the Parsecs will be announced, so I am on indefinite pins and needles. I stand a ghost of a chance in two categories, so I hold out unreasonable hope.
I trust and pray you all have wonderful weekends and bask in the warm glow of loving friends and family, and even if you don't have any of them (which I highly doubt), at least you have my love and admiration............craig