“The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.”—Terence McKenna
What a bizarre adventure.
I knew coming into this new and unexplored region of my existence, wouldn’t be without it’s struggles.
It always sounds easy… at first. Always.
Write/do the thing.
Put it away–come back with fresh eyes.
Fix glaring issues.
Repeat.
Continue to repeat, until you have three quarters of the damn thing memorized.
Spend the money.
Find an editor you can trust.
Locate a reputable artist to unleash their creative superpowers for cover art.
Do some read throughs… just in case… while waiting.
Maybe get another editor to doublecheck the grammar and look for additional oversights (cause one can never be too careful).
Question what to do, during the downtime. Focus on the next installment? Work on something else?
Advertising. Marketing. Social media. Website.
What are you missing? Go find out.
Get all finished products together–Announce it to everyone who will listen.
Find the confidence.
Rip the bandade off, press publish. Shed a little tear.
Take a nap.
My nap has lasted far too long.
During this four year marathon of writing and researching, I found myself in and out of many online groups. Mostly Facebook… a few podcasters. Poetry groups, and “write a paragraph about this picture” groups. Indie author forums. Drinking in what I could.
Day, after day, after day, hour after hour, minute by minute, my notifications were blaring, like a never ending alarm; phone vibrating across my desk. All day, every day. Borderline maddening.
Adjust the notifications. Mute the loudest, and the most repetitive.
Silence the groups one by one.
I don’t have time for this.
Eventually, everyone is silenced, the ringing has stopped, the notifications have slowed down to a crawl; easy to keep up with, quick replies, short reads… and it’s a breath of fresh air.
On this leg of the journey, this phase of the maze, I’ve found it’s twice as difficult now that I’ve silenced those important groups I was once a part of. I found the poetry groups to be relaxing, and comfortable to engage with other people who shared a common interest.
I was once learning from the ones who were doing this phase of the maze, long before me; regardless of their individual levels of success, and because silence is golden, I bailed.
What dictates “success” is based on nothing more than the individual’s manifestation of their success. There was information to be garnished, and information is important, and I discarded those fountains of knowledge, instead of drinking them dry.
I’ve found that thirst again. Came up out of nowhere.
It’ll take some searching on my part, to find the right fit, but I’ve come to that point where re-engaging with those lost places would be beneficial, even subtly. Maybe fill in a few “empty” spaces. Because I’ve made time my bitch, I’ll be reading more as well. Supporting who I can, and continuing to put out good energy.
I asked a confidant in the community which direction sounds best, to reach that next rung on the ladder.
The reply was, to join “This specific group”, lurk around a bit, and it just so happens that “group” was one of the first groups I silenced during my conquest for peace and quiet.
Everything always seems to come back full circle.
Those are the signs and clues I watch for.
Anywho…
A few updates, and perhaps a question.
I received a heartwarming review for the Surrender Game, by someone who has supported this site, long before I pressed publish.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The Guardian War Chronicles, Volume I. The Surrender Game, by Jeremy Morang, is a science fiction novel that revolves around a distinct struggle to reach an ancient piece of weaponry. This weapon is a symbol of dominance and authority and confers power and glory over the person who possesses it. Liberty Bell is a High Intendant of the Truckstop One fueling station. She is wealthy, brash, straight-forward, greedy, a gambler, rude, and an alcoholic vapor addict. By accident, she gets involved in the struggle of the Guardians to reach the fragment which is a small part of the powerful ancient weapon. Liberty Bell gets stuck in this fight with little more than a clue, as the fragment of the sacred weapon is delivered to her house by chance. This puts the entire universe out of balance. The guardians of the weapon want to have it and Liberty is standing between their goals. They are coming for her at her truckstop to reclaim it and continue on their quest of ultimate glory.
The Guardian War Chronicles, Volume 1. The Surrender Game is the first in, what promises to be, an epic science fiction adventure story. Author Jeremy Morang’s thrilling space opera is a unique fit in a packed genre. Liberty Bell is an intriguing character that is well defined within a short amount of time, which is great because things move rather quickly after the opening scenes. With little time to waste readers are thrust into a universe of danger and mysticism that feels as if it is only barely revealed in this story.
Liberty Bell is a lot of things, pick your adjective, but she is definitely a character who’s rough charm grows on you, and once you take a liking she is easy to root for. It is nice to have a grounded character in a story with dense lore.
This novel reminds me a bit of the movie Legion with Dennis Quaid, add in a bit of the movie Priest with Paul Bettany and you’ve got a story that knows how to setup intriguing characters and propel them through an action filled adventure. The Guardian War Chronicles, Volume I. The Surrender Game is a riveting novel that is consistently entertaining. I can’t wait for volume II.” –Literary Titan
If well grounded characters in a riveting action filled novel is your thing, the link is below.
The best thing about this review… I’ve never seen Legion, or Priest. I vaguely remember the trailers, maybe I saw Legion, but I can’t recall the guts of the films.
That always struck me funny.
I’m researching and tinkering with writing a script. I’ve been told it needs to be a movie, so I figured… why not write something for fun and see what happens? It’s a movie which has been playing out in my imagination for many years, so, why not?
I’m playing around with the idea of a newsletter as well, as recently suggested. And, therein comes the question.
If I was to add a newsletter button, re-do the site a little, what would you like for a newsletter to include? I figured I’d start there, and see what comes of it.
I suppose that’s enough for tonight. I have some chocolate chip cookies to make, and tomorrow will be a busy day.
Be good to each other. Chase the dream. Chat soon. Like, share, subscribe.
peace
The Surrender Game is available for purchase on Kindle for only $3.99. Please subscribe in the provided area to receive a notification of new posts by email or feel free to like my Facebook page to receive information about the Surrender Game, the Guardian War Chronicles, and other installments to come. Please give this a like if you like it, share with others to help spread the love, or leave a comment if you wish. See you at the next one.
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