"Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then, I contradict myself;
(I am large -- I contain multiples.)"
-- Walt Whitman
If any single phrase ever defined a writer, this is it.
UPDATE:
I finished the proofing of "Bobby Carapisi, volume 3" and sent it back to the publisher along with my idea of how the cover should look.
The main thing is, I've done right by Bobby's story...and Eric's. They'll be out there to be read by anyone who wants to.
I'm still having issues with Amazon over the re-posting of my banned books...though they are slowly addressing the issues I bring up -- like spelling my name wrong. I just don't understand why that's so hard to do correctly. It's on the friggin' cover, for crying out loud. But it's not just Amazon; I'm having the same issue at Barnes & Noble...which makes me wonder if it's the publisher just uploading it wrong. Which makes no sense; they KNOW my name and how to spell it correctly since it's done right in the contracts. If it wasn't, I might be able to get out of them.
But I'm not just being a prima dona, here. If my name's not right in their systems, the books don't link up with the Kindles and Nooks so people can't see everything that's offered. Which may hurt sales. So this is more mercenary...for the hope of eventually being paid something in the way of royalties.
Another problem is, the Kindles don't have prices. When you go to those listings of my books, they say the pricing is not available. I asked the publisher about this and he said he'd tried to correct it, already. Well...until there's a price, nobody can buy the download. So I'm hitting Amazon over that one, too.
I got my last bit of feedback on "The Lyons' Den" and need to rework the opening third. It seems to be the weakest part for everyone. Oh, well...I may have let Ace get a little carried away with some of his ways and word plays. Let's see what consensus he and I can come to.
Man...it seems the more I write the sloppier my typing becomes, and it was all over the place on LD. I dropped words and letters and reversed meanings and forgot entire sentences. Either my brain is too fast or my fingers is too slow...or a combination of the two. Maybe my dyslexia is finally catching up to me.
2 comments:
Are those the same models from volume one and two? They don't look like them. I can't wait for Eric's long over-due confrontation with his attacker regardless.
I personally liked Ace's wordplay. Yes it's campy but Ace is a campy character with his cliche detective lingo and persona. I suppose I'm not that good at giving critical feedback. I'm too easy to please. To me "The Lyon's Den" is just one of those stories you can't truly appreciate until you've finished it. It's not the roller coaster ride that some - in fact, all - of your other stories are and unless you completely revamp it from the start it's not going to be. I still think it's one of your best however.
Thanks, Michael! You're one of the people whose opinion I value, and I remember you mentioning it took a little while for the story to get going, too, so I'm just going to streamline it.
This cover is just a mock-up I did on my own for the publisher's art department, to give them an idea of what I'd like the cover to look like. I used a couple of models I like -- Mikel as Eric and Levi Poulter as Allen (in the hoodie) -- to indicate my preferred poses. But the final product is up to them because they have to license the images they'll be using so usually go with what they have available rather than have new ones shot.
I think they'll be using the same model for Eric when they do compose the cover and a different one for Allen, since this is more their book. Tho' thinking about it...I may suggest they have Bobby in the background, like in shadows, to emphasize he is still an important part of the story. That's an idea.
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