An Open Book

Welcome all!

Releasing a novel can be intimidating for a new author! The Mark of a Druid is now available in print versions. Click the buy now button to go to Amazon and get your very own copy. If you want to know, more go over to the book site. http://www.themarkofadruid.com

The advice I received this week is to look at this as a 3 year project. This gives it a bit less of a sense of urgency and gives me some room to look at what I need to do to market this project to the general public in the biggest way possible. But to be honest I love deadlines. I know, I am weird. But if you say to me, by this date, I will have it done and usually before. It is just who I am.

There are so many things to think about when sending your work out into the world. As some of you may have heard I am podcasting the novel on Podiobooks.com, itunes and may other venues on the web. It has been really well received to date and I am only half way. I am on schedule and plan on getting a jump this week on recording again.

Here is what you can do to help… Go to www.podiobooks.com listen and leave some feedback or listen anywhere and leave some feedback. Your comments help me to do a better job and it helps others to know is this novel is for them.

Please stop by the interview lick here for the Dr. Sally Witt show on Blogtalkradio.com http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dr-Sally-Psychic-Healer/2008/11/08/Rhonda-Carpenter-and-Mark-of-the-Druid Sally also does some amazing social networking training and I am proud to call her friend.

Marketing is a interesting thing fro this book and I find myself flowing into it more easily than I thought. Now I have to say Video is not my thing but I did shoot an oovoo interview that is playing on u-tube now. Here is the link. Can you say bad Godzilla flick! We have ordered some equipment that should get me to be able to move my lips and have the voice actually be right in the next few weeks. I am looking forward to making the websites more accessible to the disabled. And if you all can talk me into it I might make these blogs audio if you are someone who needs to listen instead of read. Just send me a comment and let me know.

I am so very excited to kick off the contest for the book. And we have set a date to do that! The contest will start officially on January 1, 2009. With a new website over at www.themarkofadruid.com. There are some great prizes to be won and we are working on the contest being interactive. There will be an ask the characters a question section and a ton of other things including a very cool leave a comment or testimonial that you can record right on the site as well as a fan forum to discuss the book and the things in the book. There is a lot of work yet to do to have the site ready to kick off this contest but I invite you to stick around and watch the progress. Should be a really fun ride.

Announcements this week!

Bookplates are available so you don’t have to ship me your book and pay to ship it back. What is a bookplate. It is a sticker basically that I personalize for you and send back to you in a SASE. Make sure you go over to the book site for more info and the address the how to of it.

The Book of Bubba has a new chapter posted this week. Lick on the link to your right and see what the happiest dog has to say and think on his words of wisdom! Thanks Bubba for being in my life. You totally remind me to smile at least a hundred time a day.

The Fox and I am very pleased to announce that The Fox, By Arlene Radasky is completed podnovel on podiobooks.com. Congratulations Arlene! Her podnovel is linked on the blog roll of this site. Go subscribe it is a wonderful Celtic story of sacrifice and love, that will warm your heart, bring your tissues. Or check out her site at www.radasky.com.

Last announcement!But certainly not least! There is a this very neat podshow I ran across because of Twitter. Check it out. I love this show. Can’t get enough of it. Gary and Ruth are doing a fantastic job of sharing the ancient Celtic Myths with all of us. Thanks to you both for doing this. Love it! Tune in at http://celticmythpodshow.com Subscribe by RSS, Zune, iTunes or listen on their site! Celtic Myths Pod Show promo! And go leave them a comment on itunes!

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Welcome Readers!

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

After writing the first rough and I mean rough draft of The Mark of a Druid, I searched all over for a group that would be right for me as an aspiring author. I found that group on compuserve’s literary forum. Now since I joined, the group some almost 5 years ago it has had its membership ups and downs. For several years we were housed in another location on a Forums America site. Not too long ago the forum moved back to compuserve and into a much larger community setting. Lots of the old folks are there and a ton of new ones.

One of the things I liked about our little group was that there wasn’t anyone who felt it necessary to cut you to pieces to make a point about what you could do better in your story. The crits were not only content considerate but line editing as well. (for me extremely helpful) If you saw a mistake that was an obvious typo or grammatical help were also offered as well as plot and character development.

It was an easy system. Once granted access to the library of file you picked something that caught your eye and started critiquing. After you critiqued 5 pieces, you could upload 1. Pieces usually consisted of a complete short story or a chapter or chunk from a WIP (work in progress). From then on it is 3 to 1 and trust me you would build a cash of crits to use for your uploads fast if you put any effort into the group.

The diversity of the group was wonderful, people from all over the world joining together and helped each other out. The benefits to me as an author were worth every minute I spent with these people. Now I am not going to tell you that I agreed with all of the suggestions but if I didn’t incorporate something I thought long and hard about the readers experience.

Now there are plenty or writing groups online and in your local communities as well. I like the online groups because I can get more out of them, the volume of participants is higher and more diverse. While I am not active in the compuserve forum at this time because I am in a different phase, pre-publication and podcasting, I do recommend the group. Here is a link to them the membership is free and once your work is posted it is copywrited so it is actually a way to protect your work although others say it is not safe I just don’t agree. No one writes in the same way I do. They may be able to take what is there but they would never be able to complete the work like I would have, so I don’t worry about it. And from what I know this has not happened in this place. There is also a research and craft area that can be very helpful.

I found my time in a critiquing group extremely rewarding and I hope as I move into book two in the series I will find the group as helpful again. I met many wonderful people there and one of my dearest friends and I actually met there and we talk almost every day.

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

So what is next for The Mark of a Druid?

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

The cover copy and cover art are in to Iuniverse. They now need 3 weeks to do the cover layout and book blocking. I simply can’t wait to see it. In the mean time, I am pod casting. See!

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