Tornado Warning and Formatting--Yikes!

Last Tuesday night, we were under a tornado watch.

Yikes!

It's almost been a year since our cute little town was hit by a tornado, including our house. It didn’t wipe our house out. Thank God. It did damage our roof and took down four of our trees. It was a scary experience that Kevin and I don't ever want to go through again. This is what our street looked like after the tornado.

                                                          

                                       

When we were hunkering down in the basement, listening to the roar (yes, it’s true what they say: it sounds like a freight train barreling towards you), we heard several loud popping noises. We thought it was the top of our house being torn off.

It wasn’t.

Guess what it was?

Trees!

That’s right. The trees were popping out of the ground. I never in my wildest dreams imagined a tree would make that sound.

Poor, trees.

I love trees.

Our town lost like 1,500 trees in that tornado.

Now, almost a year later, we’re back into a tornado season, and it makes us very nervous. I hope and pray we never have to go through that again. I feel so bad for the people who went through a major tornado, like the people in Missouri. If I could have been there to help them, I would have.

So that was the beginning of my week, and then I heard from my formatting team. My manuscript is not formatting right to Kindle and epub.

As you know, I’m not computer savvy, so when I wrote my book in WordPerfect, I manually did most of the formatting, which screwed me in the end. LOL. Now, I have to go through the Kindle version of my book, carefully read the whole thing, and make notes where all the discrepancies are.

What a pain-in-the-ass.

That is some tedious shit.

But it has to be done.

Right now I’m on chapter eleven (I have 12 more chapters to go). On the bright side though (I always try to look on the bright side of everything), the errors will be fixed, and I’ll know what to do when I’m ready to publish my second book.

Well, I'm off to work. I hope you guys have a happy Friday and Memorial Day weekend. Be safe and have fun!

2 comments:

Never, Ever Give Up.

5/21/2012 , , 0 Comments

Last Friday, I ran across this video. When I watched it, I cried. It’s very inspirational. If you have five minutes to spare, I urge you to watch this. Be prepared though, it might make you cry.
 
 
                                                                  
 
I’m not going to lie, sometimes I feel like giving up, and I can totally empathize with this guy. But the thing is, when it comes to my writing and this paranormal series I’m putting out, I can’t quit. I love it too much. There are times though, when I get exhausted and wonder if I should continue to pursue this dream of mine.

But I’m a junkie–addicted to story telling. So much so, I’m hell bent on doing this for a living. Even if I have to sacrifice my time and sleep to make it happen.

I read the other day that writers are prone to madness.

*cringes*

Is this sadomasochistic drive I have . . .

Before I finish that sentence lets face it when you labor over a scene you seem to can’t-get-right, you totally want to pull your hair out and cry. But then something magical happens. Your heart begins to pound as an intense rush comes over you, your fingers flying against the keys, trying to keep up. Once you’re done, you feel giddy, drunk on the high of just writing a really cool frickin’ scene.

Oh yeah, baby.

That’s what I’m talking about.

*grins*

So again, is this sadomasochistic drive I have to become an accomplished writer, going to eventually make me looney tunes?

God, I hope not.

Can you imagine a home just for writers who lost their marbles? That would actually make a good story.

Maybe I should get a bag of marbles and give it to Kevin for safe keeping. :) Like Tootles (one of the Lost Boys) in the movie, ‘Hook.’ With age, he becomes senile and wanders around saying repeatedly that he lost his marbles. When Peter Pan is preparing to leave Neverland, the Lost Boys gives him a small bag of marbles. The marbles are Tootles. He lost them there. Peter Pan then goes back to London and gives Tootles his bag of marbles. In the bottom of the bag, Tootles discovers pixie dust, which he uses to return back to Neverland.

Bag of marbles + pixie dust = Neverland.

                     OR

Bag of marbles + the magic inside you = the life YOU create with your own two hands.


Which one would you choose?

0 comments:

My Book Trailer

Last night I posted my practiced book trailer, but this morning I decided to post it again with the minor changes I made to it. This is the book trailer I'm going to use when my book comes out, which should be in a couple weeks.

Kevin asked me last night if he could see it. Frankly, I was nervous because I was afraid he wouldn't like it.

Kevin is very artistic. He can draw, paint, he's an awesome lead guitar player, he can play a song by ear, he can pick up any instrument and teach himself how to play it.

Yeah, he's one of those people.

So you can see why I was nervous and a little flustered (I fumbled with the computer while he was standing over me) when he asked me if he could see this video.

While he watched it, he started laughing. Afterwards, he became quiet.

My heart was pounding.

I braced myself for the criticism I was sure would fly out of his mouth.

I told myself, regardless of what he said, I liked it, and I did this book trailer all by myself. I was proud of myself. I didn't give up and endured long moments of frustration.

Yeah, whatever his opinion was, it didn't matter because. . .

I. Did. It.

Imagine my surprise and delight when he said it was awesome, and he loved it. He loved it so much that he had me email it to his work so he could show it off to his coworkers and boss. It'll be interesting to see what they say, but I thought it was cool he had me do that.

Anyway, here's my book trailer. It'll be on Youtube once my book comes out.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday!

0 comments:

Practiced Book Trailer Revealed

Here it is you guys.

This is my practiced book trailer.

I figured out why the script was skipping onto the next picture. You have to edit the pictures in the timeline.

Duh!

I'm such a dope sometimes. LOL.

Anyway, check this out.


So that is my practiced book trailer. The final one will be similar, however, I need to make some minor changes.

I was going to post this Friday morning, but I wanted to make sure Blooger wasn't going to screw with me again.

I hope you enjoyed this! :)

Have a happy Friday and weekend.

0 comments:

Book Trailer Update

Okay, so I spent Saturday working on my book trailer.

Well, a practiced one.

It’s quite simple actually. But (you knew there was a but, right?) I ran into a problem concerning the special effects.

Whenever I put a special effect into the cell, next to the picture, it knocks the script onto another picture. I don’t know why it’s doing that, so I have to figure it out. And then I have to figure out the music because it’s not working like I want it to. Once I figure those two things out, I’m golden.

Anyway, yesterday I copyrighted my book, and then sent everything to my formatting team. Hopefully this week I’ll have a launch date so I can tell everybody when, Beyond the Eyes will be available. At least for Kindle/ebooks. My paperback might take a little longer because I’m going to get an ARC (advanced readers copy) before I approve publication. I want to make sure everything is perfect, or as perfect as can be. I know every book has a little flaw in it, like a missed word. But still, I’m doing everything in my power to make it sparkle.

When I’m published, I’ll be running contests for a free book on other blogs. If you’re interested, let me know, and I’ll hold a contest here as well. I already have two blogs with a fair amount of followers, who is being gracious enough to help promote my book. One of them has already read my book and loves it, so she’s totally there for me, which I’m grateful for.

Well, that’s it for now . . .

Oh! On Friday, I tried to figure out why the new Blogger format keeps screwing with me and couldn’t find any answers. The only thing I found was other bloggers grumbling about similar issues.

I’d like to change the look on this blog to fit my story, but so far it doesn’t appear I can do that.

I don’t know.

I’m not going to fret about it. There’s too much going on in my life right now to concern myself with it. It’ll work itself out, and who knows what tomorrow will bring, right? But for now, I’m going to be here in the moment and not allow my concerns or worries take dominion over my life.

Now off to work I go. . .

Hey, what I just wrote reminds me of the seven dwarfs singing that song.

Do you remember it?

"Hi ho, Hi ho. It’s off to work I go."

*whistles*

Talk to ya on Friday. Have a good week.

0 comments:

Book Trailer Diary

5/11/2012 0 Comments

Monday May 7, 2012

Dear Diary,

I was working on my book trailer tonight and the pictures I saved are too small for the Movie Maker screen. I tried to figure out what size they need to be in by searching the web for answers. I didn't find a clear answer to my simple problem. I even joined a forum strictly for Movie Maker questions and haven't received a confirmation email. What the hell? And then I downloaded three different programs to help me resize my photos. They turned out to be bogus, so I had to uninstall them. What a pain. The only thing I have on my computer to help me resize my pictures is Paint Net. I messed around with it for a while, however, my pictures still don't fill the Movie Maker screen like I want it to. I'm so frustrated. I know if I can get my pictures right, I'll be able to figure the rest out.  But now it's getting late, and I have to go to bed. This totally sucks ass. Stupid computer.  Tomorrow night I'll mess around with resizing my pictures again and see if I can get it right.

Tuesday May 8, 2012

Dear Diary,

I just finished resizing all my photos and now I have to see if they're the right size in the Movie Maker screen. I hope so because that forum I joined still hasn't confirmed my account. I went to 'Alsolute Write' (my writing forum) and did a thread on my problem, so hopefully somebody can help me there. But then again, maybe I already figured it out myself.  I'll go check it out right now and let you know.

Wednesday May 9, 2012

Dear Diary,

Last night I transferred the pictures I'm going to use onto the story board. I don't think I'll know if the picture sizes are the right scale for the Movie Maker screen until I can email it to myself and see it, but they do look right. I found a few more pictures I need to resize because I might want to use them as well.

I downloaded the musical piece I want to use, but then ran into some problems. (Big sigh). Sometimes it feels like it'll never end.

I downloaded a program 'thinking' it would help me download my music. Well, that's what I get for thinking. The program was totally not what I thought it was. Therefore, I had to uninstall it. What a pain-in-the-ass. It kept asking me why I wanted to uninstall it. Who gives a flying flip? Just uninstall the damn program all ready! Once that was taken care of, I managed to figure it out, and my downloaded music is now in my Movie Maker program. YAY! I was so happy. But then afterwards, I couldn't figure out how to get the music to play while the pictures were going. I felt like screaming. I didn't though. Instead, I figured it out.

Today, I've been searching for another musical piece I can add to the end of the one I already have. If there's still time left tonight, I want to go to YouTube and watch a video on the next step I need to do with the Movie Maker. I also want to watch some more book trailers.

Well, that's it for now. I have laundry I need to fold and other mundane stuff before I can work some more on my book trailer.

Thursday May 10, 2012

Dear Diary,

Last night I resized those three pictures and uploaded them to the Movie Maker program. I also went to YouTube and watched some videos on how to put my movie together. It's pretty simple really, and I'm almost ready to make my practice book trailer. All I need to do is blend two musical pieces, write a compelling summary of my book, put it on the pictures, and do the special effects. Then I'll see if it'll yank any emotions out of me. I'm looking forward to seeing the end results.

Today, I wasn't able to work on my book trailer like I wanted to. I was too busy with other stuff. Not to mention, my shows were on tonight (The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle). I make myself take two hours out of the week, away from everything, and decompress. My other favorite show is 'Supernatural.' Sadly enough, though, I've missed this whole season.

Oooops. Sorry. I'm getting off track. But anyway, I'll spend this weekend working on a practice book trailer, then I'll do the one for my book. Hopefully I'll have it done by Monday.

Friday May 11, 2012

Dear Diary,

It's Friday morning and this damn Blogger system won't let me post these diary entries. I don't know if  it's because I wrote it in cursive or what? But I'm sooooooo annoyed. The computer at my work has been acting goofy too. I just don't think I have the patience or temperment for this. . .

Anyways, I'm sooooo glad it's Friday. Between the challenges I have at work, trying to keep up with things on the home front, and all the stuff I need to do to launch my book. . . Let's just say, so far this year has been highly challenging, overwhelming, tiring, exciting, productive, and scary. And this year isn't halfway over yet. Almost. But not yet. It makes me wonder what the next half is going to be like.

Well, I guess I should go to work. Maybe tonight I'll be able to work on my book trailer. I know I can to it. Like I said earlier--I think it's pretty simple to do, I just have to play around with it. But the thing is, will I like it? I'm anxious to find out. Can't wait. :)

0 comments:

Blog Post Problems

5/11/2012 0 Comments

I'm frustrated right now.

I have this cool blog post I've been trying to post for an hour and this stupid Blogger system keeps screwing it up.

I have to go to work now, but when I get home I'll see if I can get this system to comply. So check back tomorrow or later tonight. Hopefully, I can get this issue resolved.

0 comments:

Pondering the Book Trailer

5/07/2012 0 Comments

This past weekend I found a great website that has royalty free pictures I can use, without worrying about copyright issues.

Here’s the website: http://www.sxc.hu/home

I spent five hours on Saturday looking at pictures and saving the ones that caught my attention. Afterwards, I went on another website with music I can download and use for free.

Here’s that website: http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/#

The music is listed in categories: horror, electronic, soundtracks, etc.

I’m still trying to figure out which musical piece to use.

I also spent some time checking out book trailers on YouTube. To be honest, I didn’t find any that wowed me. The ones who actually had a production company do their book trailer were cool. However, I’m not in the position to do that kind of thing. I then began pondering whether I should do this or not. I think I’m going to go ahead and create a book trailer, but if I don’t feel anything while I’m watching it, then I won’t send it out to the world. Because seriously, what I want is a book trailer that will conjure emotions out of the person watching it.

Do you know what I mean?

Like heart pounding, omigod I must check this out.

That’s what I’m aiming for and all the book trailers I checked out didn’t make me feel anything. So we’ll see.

I’m not giving up, but I’m also not going to present something to the world I’m not happy with.

Before I wrote this book, I was wondering what to write (I might have told you guys this before, but I don’t remember), and Kevin told me to write something that scares the crap out of me and could possibly be real. So that’s how, Beyond the Eyes came about. It’s scary, but not jumping in your seat, scary. It’s more like haunting, creepy, skin crawling, scary, where it makes you wonder if it’s true.

At least it does to me.

And that’s what I want to create in my book trailer, damn it.

So I’ll continue working on it this week and see what happens. I’ll letcha know on Friday how it’s coming along. Until then, have a good week and take care. :)

0 comments:

Short But Sweet

5/04/2012 0 Comments

This week flew by, which is good, and I’m so glad it’s Friday. I’m hoping this weekend I can work on doing a book trailer. If I’m able to and things go well, I’ll post about it.

Anyway, I’m sorry this post is super short, but right now I’m kinda brain dead and pressed for time. So I’m going to bid you a farewell with a scene from the movie The Wedding Singer. I really like this movie because it shifts me back to the 1980s (the movie is set in that time), and I like Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. If you haven't seen this movie, Adam Sandler's character is depressed because his fiancee left him at the altar. In this scene he's singing a song he wrote about her and how he's feeling.



                                                             

 
 
 
HAPPY FRIDAY!

0 comments: