An Open Book

Cover art and Back cover blurbs are finalized!

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

I am so excited to be able to show you all the cover art for The Mark of a Druid. Please click here http://www.rhondacarpenter.com/images/podcover.jpg

There is also now the final on the back cover blurb in MP3 form that you can listen to. http:www.rhondacarpenter.com/mp3/backcover.mp3

As for meeting deadlines I am totally an animal. The cover polish went back to Iuniverse today with the cover art in the format they require. Here is a link to the front and back cover art. http://www.rhondacarpenter.com/images/webcover.jpg just so you know we don’t know where they will locate the text for the cover this is just to give you all and me an idea.

This week I will be submitting to podiobooks.com and Next week Itunes. So keep your ears perked for the first episodes of the pod cast novel The Mark of a Druid.

Short and sweet this week. As I am behind in the blogs because of being out of town.

I will post when we go live with the pod casts.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

Wow what a week. I am totally proud of myself. I know tooting my own horn… I thought I would get chapters 4 and 5 in the can this week but I actually got 4,5,6,7,8,and 9 in the can. AHHHHHH! Which means at this rate I will be able to release the pod book in about a month.

Now for the bad news. Not that it is bad bad, it is just, a delay I was not expecting and had not counted on happening. But the print version of The Mark of a Druid will not be ready for release by Oct of this year. At the this rate we will be out this year but not by the end of October, unless of course a miracle happens. And I am not opposed to miracles.

So what is the hold up. Well I was not prepared for it to take 4 weeks for the cover text polish to happen. And then another 4 weeks for the cover art proofs to be in. I am excited to report that I will not have to wait for the Iuniverse cover to release the audio book. A very dear friend is a most talented artist and is trying to come up with a cover design for the audio version. Thanks you AMIE!

So what is on the plate for this week? Late tonight I will start editing Chapter 10 and then tomorrow night it is off to chapter 11 recording. I am having a blast with the recording process. I am thrilled that my work is my play and my play is my work and I don’t have to work for either. It just is.

Product is going up in the lifefirst store with week and I hope to get some free mp3’s uploaded as well. Clients, clients, clients and we love that the folks I work with are awesome! Go have a great week and stay tuned for updates on the release of the The Mark of a Druid in Pod book form!

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

The Update… Chapter 4 is still trying to crawl out of the can. But just a few more tweaks and I should be moving on to the next chapter. The plan for this week is to get 4 and 5 completed. I am now looking at possibly releasing the serialized pod casts a couple of weeks for the book release date which we still don’t have. At least not written in wood yet.

Iuniverse is doing their thing on cover design now and I should have something from them in the next few weeks, Sooner I hope. It will be exciting to see what they come up with for a cover. I gave a description of what I thought it might look like in my initial upload. I as a writer may have been a little detailed for the types of covers they do, I guess we will see if they use the detailed description or a cover type I said I liked that is out there. Of course it would not be the same but general I liked the cover It made me see and want to pick the book up and something similar may do well for the cover. Maybe they will do a combination of the two. There is a sense of excitement and fear around what they will come up with. So hold it in the light you guys that it will be perfect.

I am still thrilled we were ahead of schedule with the edits and I am hoping we will have a Oct 31 release. I believe the way it works is that 35 to 45 days after the printing set up is complete it will go live on the net at B&K and Amazon as well as other places.

The new website for The Mark of a Druid is being built for background now but there isn’t much we can do without the cover art being complete. So shift the focus to Pod casting, Clients and start recording, recording, recording.

I want to be sure that I have several episodes in above the allotted 5 for podiobooks.com so that I don’t let anyone down. The process calls for the initial 5 then weekly uploads until the book is complete. The way I see it and I have listened to many of the books on poidiobooks and itunes I don’t want to disappoint the listener. Say I get sick or I have a big conference or god forbid a vacation then who would do those weeks. If I have some in reserve then I can upload them from where ever I am. And everyone gets their fix.

As for the rest of this week. I have clients scheduled and my sister’s wedding gifts went out Saturday. This will be a breeze week! Congrats Kelli and Tim! Kiss the kiddo’s for me.

Okay it is off to record for me.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

July comes to an end this week and I am thrilled with were I am with the book. Edits were right on time and I clicked accept on the last of the changes at about 2:30 this afternoon.

One word, Exciting! I owe a big thank you to Ashley D. Kuhre editor extraordinaire. She did an incredible job of cleaning up my grammar and punctuation. She completely respected my writing and style and made interesting and useful suggestions most of which I gladly accepted. What I didn’t accept were a matter of voice and nothing more. So thank you Ashley! You rock! I can never thank you enough.

Four days ahead of schedule the MS is going back to Iuniverse for the next step. I have a few small details to look over tonight and I plan on sending the MS back to my contact in the am. Again one word, Exciting!

So you may be asking yourself what changed in the book? Well, the advice of the EE from Iuniverse was to tone done the sex scenes and bump up the descriptions of Wales. As I stated before I was not so keen on toning down the intimate scenes. But after doing some research and having a look at my target audience again and listening to the specifics that Ashley gave on the issue… I thought it might be best to do as suggested. Other than that all of the changes were straightening out POV and grammar. They went quickly and smoothly.

Now for the pod book update. I believe I have the tech stuff for the most part worked out. Three chapters are in the can and chapter 4 about halfway in the can, sucker keeps trying to crawl out. This will be a great week to record. I have a light schedule as I freed it up to do editing. And since I don’t have a lot of clients scheduled this week for the same reason. I can limit my daytime actives to fielding calls, marketing, maybe jumping on my favorite forum for a check in and doing my sister’s wedding gift. Nope, I’m not going to tell, I hear she reads this blog.

It never fails when I work on a project whether it is editing or just re-reading, the action of working on my joy, writing, always makes me want to write more. Ideas flood into my head. It is like waking up a sleeping chatterbox. I scribble notes for later. Writer tiny characterizations for later and time slips away. I hope it is like that for you.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

The big week has arrived. This week the edits for The Mark of the Druid will be in on Wednesday by midnight. I must say I am very excited to get on with the next step. I will have exactly 7 days to determined the changes that will be made and the final returned to Iuniverse for cover design and polish.

I would really like to have the book considered for Editors Choice offered by Iuniverse, but at this point, I have not made a decision. The cost is not the biggest concern for me it is about not slowing down the process. I guess after I see what the editor has come up with then I will make a choice if it is worth adding 3 weeks to the release schedule. I really would like to have this book be a fall release and at this point if you count off the 13 weeks on the projected schedule that would make the book release a Samhain for those of you who don’t know the Druidic feast days this is Halloween or there in abouts the Fall Equinox. When I have made a choice I will let you all know.

I have had a very successful week pod casting or should I say recording. The first chapter of the book is in the can and two should be done by tomorrow night. I am finding the process fun and challenging.

There is a lot on “the plate” for this week. I want to have chapter two firmed up and in the can, Chapter 3 well underway and then there is starting on the edits while keeping up with marketing and networking online.

Oh and clients. Grin.

Truth Slithers is on hold until the edits are in and I go back into wait mode for Iuniverse to do their job. I am still very happy with my choice to use them to publish this book. Enjoy your week!

Keep Writing I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

Well, I am so excited to tell you all that one photo from Bubba’s Words of Wisdom has been chosen as a semi-finalist in the cutest Pet contest. It was actually a fluke that I entered the contest. Someone sent me their pets photo and I had been working on the translating for Bubba that day and it just made sense.

Bubba’s photo will be a appearing in a coffee table book ISBN#978-0-9770401-6-2 set for release fall of 2008. The Title of the book is Cutest Pet’s Around the Globe Photo Book

When Bubba got the letter today he was so shocked he had to laid down and take a nap. I on the other hand spent the afternoon giggling at the comedy of circumstances that took me on the road to entering him. This contest is put on by Cutestpetscontest.com. Grand prize is $1000.00 and runners up get $100.00 pet smart gift cards. So if you have a chance go vote for bubba to be on the cover with 9 of the other finalist. Click here to vote http://www.cutestpetcontest.com/bigpic.php?enum=100326190

Well that said it is time to recap the week. Chapter one of The Mark of a Druid for the podcast version is on the can so they say. I love learning new things. But I would not call myself one of the most savvy geeks our there. So this was a big accomplishment for me. Now that I have all the settings correct and I know how to do basic music mixing. I think that the chapters should move on pretty quickly. It took about 22 hours to cut, edit and mix the first chapter. So count it up folks 46 chapters to go. But I am only required to to have 5 in the can before I can start pod casting on Podio books and itunes.

I am hoping to time the release as close to parallel as possible. The release of the paper back is still not firm yet but it is looking more and more like an end of October event. For me that means a Samhain release. For you that may mean a Halloween release or close anyway. So we may have the pod casting started before if we can get the final cover in time.

This week I am also working on Truth Slithers and recording for Lifefirst.com. So this looks to be another busy week. If you haven’t heard the interview on Blog Talk Radio check out the link below.

I was interviewed by Dr. Sally Witt on Blog Talk Radio. If you would like to hear the interview or listen to any of her other shows click here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drsallywitt Thank you, Dr. Sally for a great interview and a wonderful time.

I want to give out a big thank you to Neil Dixon author of Persistent Spirit for his inclusion of my promo on the end of his chapter 23 pod cast. If you are not listening to his weekly pod casts yet of the Table Rappers Series then you are truly missing out on a great piece of entertainment. Also I am happy to spread the word that Persistent Spirit has been nominated for the European pod cast awards. So go vote! Here is the link. Vote

Keep Writing I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

What a week! Lots going on of course… I spent my time marketing online and seeing clients, researching press rooms and did my first video webcam interview for the book and my websites.

I worked on writing chapter 3 of “Truth Slithers” and had a wonderful conversation with a publisher who is interested in shopping “The Mark of a Druid” with some foreign movie investors. Now, I know what that means… nothing at this point, but it is nice to think what that could mean if they like the story and think it could make a good film. All things of this nature take even longer than print publishing. So, I have zero expectations about where these talks will go.

On the other hand, I did manage to land a back cover review for the print copy of “The Mark of a Druid” So that is awesome news one down hopefully two to go by the release date. Wish me luck.

You know how it is as a parent you think for the glimmer of a instant that you have carved out a space for yourself and then things change. When we moved into this house, I was thrilled that I would have a private office that had a separate entrance. And a view of trees. Our middle son has been out of the house for several years now. He did two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps and has been in school in Northern California for over a year. This week he called to see if he could come home for a bit and we of course said, “yes.” So we spent the weekend moving my office from the bottom floor to what we like to call middle earth. It was a big job. Now I’m set up in the what was the unused Dinning room and I am so much closer to the coffee pot! One thing that did not suffer was my view! Actually, it got a lot better I can’t even see a neighbors house nothing but trees and blue sky and I am so grateful that we still own this huge house. But I am unsure as to how this will change the pod casting, aspect that I had just gotten worked out, I need to do for the audio book. This week will be a big test week for pod casting in this space. If need be I will empty a closet and make this happen, but it would be great if everything I have to do would be here in one room.

Another busy week of waiting scheduled.

Keep Writing I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers,

Well, as weeks go this was a slow one. Not to say that I wasn’t busy. I worked everyday, but the anticipation is building for the next step of the publishing process to begin. It is like that Carly Simon song, Anticipation, is making you wait. Keeping you waiting.

It never fails to feel like hurry up and get the formatting correctly done, get this work submitted, or quarried which ever the case maybe and then it is all about waiting… “The Mark of a Druid” is currently in Editorial Evaluation at Iuniverse. So far the process has been pretty smooth. The first step for this company is internal review. Which equates to does your manuscript meet the formatting requirements for publication. I heard on the 13th that my book clear step one. YEA!!! I expect to hear about the Editorial Evaluation the end of this month to the beginning of July. It takes any where from 2 to 4 weeks.

I find my thoughts drifting to the Editorial Evaluation. There is likely nothing more frustrating than waiting for someone to tell you how you can make your joy better. It is the nature of the beast to fret over what the editor will say. A book is something you worked hard on, give a lot of thought to, and labored over for long periods of time. Let’s face it, many people say they want to write a book and never do. Others write all the time and never consider publication. Then there are those who just want to have others enjoy their work. I would write weather I was publishing or not. That being said, I am so excited about publishing this book. I want it to be the best book it can be. So I am look forward to what the editor will say and it is hard not to think about that all the time. If you let it, it could drive you crazy! I know for sure that whatever the report suggests I will listen and think hard on my changes and improvements that will come from it. The years with my forum have taught me how to take a critique so I am sure that whatever is in the evaluation will be helpful.

This week I made it a point to work on the upcoming things that had nothing to do with the editorial process but would be forward steps in my process to market and sell the book, when it is released this fall. I chose the music for the serialized pod casts of the book that will be available this fall into the winter (not sure yet) although, I would like the releases of the paperback and audio to happen at once. I also chose the sound effects I will be using. Talk about fun. If you are a book listener then you know that music with the reading of a book can create greater tension and suspense as well as emotional response. So with all of that in mind I spent hours looking for Royalty free music that would fit with my story. Once that was completed, I cut and ran a new promo by the mentoring section at Podiobooks.com. Really helpful and informative folks hang out there. I uploaded the new run in the promo section here on my site. Of course this all comes with clients and family and pets and groceries and lifefirst and all the other things I do. I know it sounds busy and it is, but it is all about making this dream happen. So it’s great and I’m enjoying the road I have chosen.

Oh and if you have not see yet I have added two colleague’s promos to the colleague’s tab above. The first is “The Fox” by Arlene Radasky and the second is Neil Dixon’s “Persistent Spirit” of the Table Rappers series. Click on over and check out their promos and subscribe to their free pod books. You won’t be disappointed. I promise!

The webcam came this week and I spent a good deal of my time learning how to shoot with it and setting the stage for what is to come on this website. Yes, that’s right we will be having Vloged book reviews and interviews with authors in the near future. Sounds like a blast. I am always up for learning something new. So wish me luck. I will let you know when they are starting to be posted for viewing.

You may ask, when does she write? Late at night! LOL When everyone is asleep and the house is quiet. Usually between 10 and 2 am. I did write this week almost every night. I am working on Truth Slithers a story of Murder and unrequited love, loosely based on a true family story. I won’t say more than that at this moment, but it is going well. And I am hopeful that it will be complete and ready for first draft editing by November.

Another busy week ahead. I hope you are inspired to…

Keep Writing, I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

The Elevator Pitch or Keynote. In the world of Iuniverse is a one or two sentence (25 word count max) where you succinctly tell readers what the book is about and why they should buy it.

I have taken the last few days and really thought about this. I have narrowed the field to 3 choices. The idea of summing up this book or any other book in 25 words is terrifying. There is so much that goes into writing a book and with The Mark of a Druid there are 5 plot lines, so… getting all that in was a real struggle for me.

Here they are. You tell me what would make you want to buy this book?

1. While a hypnotherapist researches reincarnation she finds out more than she expected. Ancient revenge seekers, druidic prophecy and a mysterious man vie to consume her.

2. Reincarnation, druidic prophecy, shape-shifting, ethereal visions, love and lies, create a dangerous struggle against ancient revenge-seekers bent on destroying Eve and her soul mate, Ryerson.

3. Revenge is exacted, love rekindled and an ancient prophecy undertaken while Eve searches for the truth to an age-old-question—Is reincarnation verifiable?

Now on two the keyword search criteria. I am enjoying how I have a checklist of things to do.

Keep Writing!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

We all have busy lives outside of our writing and if you are truly, a writer you will make writing a priority. This is something I think we all struggle with especially when we are first starting. By the time your day is done your mind is blown and not always in the zone of writing. You know what I mean, when the words flow onto the page and struggle is not even on the planet. Here are some tips to get yourself writing and in the zone!

Be persistent. Pick a time that you will have a quiet hour. Start with that. Make it the same time every day. Take your weekends off or if you have a fulltime job leave them in but take one day or night off a week. As I have said in previous blogs, I am a night owl and find creative writing easier to do when the house is silent. However, I know many writers that love the early morning hours. So, pick your time and stick to it. Trust me when you get in the swing of it, and an hour will fly by and you will be adding time to your project.

Before your fingers touch the keyboard, read the last paragraph you wrote and then meditate on it. Take 5 minutes and breathe. Close your eyes. Stop the flow of Life Talk in your head and Become Silent. Put your mind into the story. Be in your scene see it, smell it, hear it, use all your senses if you can and if not use your dominate sense. If you want more information on dominate sense discovery I will be happy to write about it. Take a deep breath and write. Let it flow, the creative process is not the place to edit, analyze or judge. Most Novels are created in funny little chunks that may or may not be linear. You can always cut it later. One idea will lead to another! The simple act of putting your mind there will start those creative juices flowing.

Put on inspirational music and create the mood. Light a candle or burn incense. When I was writing “The Mark of a Druid” I played lots of Celtic music. While writing “Truth Slithers” I have been listening to gospel. Who Knew!

I have a friend who likes to walk before writing. The act of expelling physical energy will release endorphins that will make you feel good. And clearing your head by walking couldn’t hurt.

Join a good writers group. I like the online forum listed in the blog roll. There is a very diverse group of people and it is secure. I may never have finished my first novel if not for the encouragement and technical help I received with this awesome bunch of folks.

Keep Writing!

Rhonda R. Carpenter