Is it still 2012?

 

 

Wow, I have been bad. Just caught up in sooooooooooo many things. Who ever thought retirement would be so busy? If I die young, I guarantee it will NOT be from boredom! Let’s see:
Starshot project….. I am still waiting for proofing on Book One. Don’t want to pressure the Editor. Have not heard a peep from the Artist for the cover. Need to email him.
Activities…… OK I am now involved with a re-boot of ChicagoLand Roadsters. Been to a few meetings, met some great people and am running the club website (chicagolandroadsters.com).
Spring hit so we went through cleaning and recovery from winter as well as planting, reinstalling a garden sprinkling system, deck repair and set-up and use of a new grill… Whew!
Vacation Planning….. Finally settled on our vacation plans. We will be driving down to Pigeon Forge TN, Gatlinburg, TN as well as Asheville, NC. We have reserved a nice cabin in Pigeon Forge, plan on visiting the local sights and activities there and in Gatlinburg. Plan on driving The Tail Of The Dragon as well. Then off to North Carolina to see Biltmore Mansion and Estate. My little yellow roadster is dying to get out on the road!!!
Remodel, repair, finish…… Since I re-did my workshop/Office it is now time to drywall, tape and paint the garage.
Grandkid activities….. An aborted Soccer season – my eldest grand daughter has a hip injury that ended her season early, sad to say. It was fun watching her play. My oldest grandson is playing baseball (I could watch that all day). Over the Spring I saw recitals, Graduations, a tour of a firehouse and many other things — I have 6 great grandkids and can barely keep up!!!
Weightloss…. Just begun — I want to drop 50 lbs. and get down to 210. I was water weighed years ago and was told that my ideal weight is 190, but I got near that once and never felt good. I figure 20 lbs over is better than 70! So I have begun 3.5 off so far (one full week).
Other writing…… The well is dry, please try again tomorrow

Hey?! This is Work!

Seriously — it is kind of fun. Work on Book One – Starshot: A Rockstar’s Story, continues. Still waiting to see cover art (in the next few weeks) and I am in final typo hunt — Hats off to Cathy for all her hard work in that department. So, I think looking at a April/May launch for Starshot is in the works. The initial launch will be Nook then I hope to follow quite quickly with Kindle. Of course each medium requires its own format so I have to convert one to the other. Of course, the best part of E-book publishing is there is usually an electronic fix…

The method of proofing we are using is most likely not unique but is does make it very manageable. I print out the finished — I think they are — pages, punch holes in each and put them in a binder. Cathy when she can, grabs said binder and reads with pencil in hand. She looks for mistakes, punctuation, spelling, even continuity; she edits with the pencil and/or makes suggestions in the margins. I work page by page incorporating each suggestion after double checking disputed punctuation etc in resource books or on-line pages. Once a page is finished the completed one is pulled from the binder and discarded. As of today all the Book One pages are in the notebook, minus about 15 that have already been finished.

Selling Starshot

Looking at the three books that will comprise the story of David Joseph Glossack, AKA Deejay Gloss, shows a great natural separation. Book one traces the beginnings of this Rock and Roll legend and is relatively short. This will allow readers to spend, most likely no more than a dollar or so to read the entire first book. The second and third books, much meatier sections will cost a bit more but allowing you to read each section allows you to make up your mind as you go along. I want readers to feel they want to continue so their initial investment will be very small. I am here to tell stories, not just make money…. However, if you wish you are, of course, free to send me money – as much and however often you wish. In the mean time I will be working on new glimpses into rickbudashead.

For those who wish — you are more than welcome to like my Facebook page Rick Buda – Author please do so. I plan to continue blogging here but move more of the Starshot news and information there as well.

It Has Been A While, Sorry

February 10th was my last one??? Sorry. Work on Starshot has really eaten into my time. I have now signed on with both B&N and Amazon to e-publish Starshot. I am working on the REAL formatting on the nook version as I type. Well, not really since I can barely type one thing at a time, let alone two.

As usual the forums are the places to go to find real knowledge and the forums at PubIt set me straight on nook formatting and led me to a GREAT epub editor that is just wonderful. So I have the first part (now proudly named — Book One…) formatted and I downloaded it onto my nook and my wife’s color nook. Not bad!!!. Now I am being read by her for typos, punctuation, sentence structure etc — so I am just weeks away. Nothing new in the world for Cover Art. I have a local artist working on a cover, but am still willing to look at anyone’s work if they want to contact me. Just get in touch through here and we can talk.

Also eating up my time has been a construction project. I needed to expand my workshop in the basement a bit. I now have adequate storage, workspace and a nice separation of office and tool room. I find I tend to work very slowly now that I am retired. Two reasons, One; No deadlines. Two; Take the time to get it right.

I have been busy reading others blogs as well, not been commenting much but trying to keep up!

Later….

The Joys of Reformating

I have Starshot all divided in parts 1-3. Now I have to reformat the entire thing (Part 1 is done and the formatting was not too bad). So, I managed to get a good section of P2 done, forgot to safe and somewhere lost all the formatting. Yikes. No matter got it back.

At first I thought it would be a drag, but really it’s like polishing your car. It gives it that new look. I find myself stopping to read sections. I still think it is the best story I have ever written about. I find flaws – what writer doesn’t? I am sure there will be flaws when it gets published too. But, what art does not have flaws? That is what makes it real. What makes it art I guess.

Still I have to fight getting bogged down in these little details, and forget I need to refine, to polish the story once more. It has to be the best I can do. I hope it will be enough

Email has made me mad

So last week Yahoo tells me that they are moving all the email addresses from their S******L accounts to Yahoo servers. I’d keep the same address as before and everything would remain the same for me. OK I had no real choice so I followed the instructions and hit ENTER

All my emails history, contacts and folders ……. gone.

Another reason to come to gmail

Moving Forward – Or Part Two (substitute really cool name — if you have one)

Part Two rewrite begins. Also working on a catch end hook for Part One; you know the “stay tuned for the next exciting chapter!” tag to get the reader to move on to the next part.

Speaking of parts. . . . Still Part One (Ho Hum…) Part Two (Oh what a great statement after the first part!!) and finally Part Three… Yeah Part 3. BORING! I like names! I hate just numbering Chapters and I am going to number whole parts? I don’t think so. I am still racking my brain to come up with named parts, that are great but do not foreshadow too much. So far I have come up with a few – but no real ring to it, if you know what I mean.

OK I have Music Star, so Music based? Star based? I have the whole complex novel that breaks easily into three main parts Beginning, Conflict and Resolution (Oh god that would be horrid…)

Stars – Thermonuclear Fusion, Super Nova & Blue giant (or alternatingly Red Dwarf) – Alright I think I threw up in my mouth a little.

Music? …   ……   No clue.

Any of you readers PLEASE feel free to make suggestions. I am open to ideas.

Backto the grind…

Part 2 — Or How Dull!

OK I am getting into Part 2 of Starshot, a daunting 44,000+ chunk of writing, and still have no idea of what to call each part. 1 – 2 – 3? Just too dull. How about: Thermonuclear Fusion, Super Nova and Red Dwarf (or  Blue giant)… Hmmmm Looks no better on screen than it did in my head. Alright, let’s try Beginnings, Knee Deep in Hookers and Blow, Finale.

Anyone else have any ideas? I need a muse on this

Have to say I have finally gotten the use of Italics, Bold and Underlining straight (or at least I hope so). I have to admit when I was done — the text looked SO much better. additionally I had a bad case of comma-itis. Took a bit to get ride of about 3000 commas that were unneeded.

So, back to the MS… Later all

 

Have to admit — It is starting to read like it is brand new

I Feel This Is Working

I usually know when I feel good about a project. I get happy. I also get a bit obsessive, but I can live with that. This is where I am at now. I told myself I’d take time with Starshot, but I put in extra hours and have finished the first through re-write. After a new start and a thorough continuity edit I am very happy with the progress. Now my wife gets a read through — a typo-hunt.

I have an artist working on some preliminary sketches for cover art. I had about a dozen people respond to my plea — but only one has followed u (so far). Still open — I’d love to hear from you!!

In other news I have a Facebook page (just search Rick Buda – Author) so I can hopefully spread the work about Starshot to my friends and the public there — Oh and also a page on G+ (Search Rick Buda – Author)

 

I Am Enjoying The Addiction – Starshot, The Revision!

So here I am — knee deep in revisions to a novel that WILL end up being 400-500 pages. That’s good. I’m happy. I am looking at just two more chapters for Part 1 (God I hate that. I want a Part 1 subtitle). Starshot has been sitting on the back burner for so long — I have actually forgotten some of the plot twists!

Still looking for cover art. Had a great Face-to-face with one artist. I like the way he thinks, but the art talks. I have heard from more that 1/2 dozen people who are interested — but no one has answered with “Yes, What exactly are you looking for?” I have the bare MS on display on my defunct Live Journal, so I will direct them, if thy want to read the novel there. While it’s getting revisions – The story remains eh same…

I have been using the edit features of Open Office. I like it except for the color of the red-lining. I’d like a darker shade. But if I’d work in better lighting like I should, it’s fine.

So — to those who are wondering…. The project moves forward……

Looks Like it has Started.

Due to some real support and encouragement, the ongoing plan to publish Starshot is moving forward. Along with my planning and what I think is a great little plotting scheme that will make this novel something a little different I have to write out to a group of blogs who have made me look forward to the blank pages and clumps of unedited prose. Anyone reading this and even thinking about writing can get some great ideas and support from the likes of 4am Writer and Limebird. I also read New Author Publishing because it is fun, and SO real. There are most likely more that I am missing but I wanted the bloggers to know I enjoy their efforts.

Now my re-write plan that will help me conserve the time and setting of the novel I am going to publish as a Nookbook. Starshot is set from the 60’s into the 90’s.  What I consider the golden age of Rock music. The biggest reason is because that was the age I grew up in, listening and LOVING that sound. So here I was some 400+ pages of MS. If I let it go as just a novel, I felt it would read as dated with no real reason why. So I have decided to set it as a book written by a journalist for Rock Out!  magazine. He has decided to put together all of his past articles and file materials about the Rock Superstar DeeJay Gloss, whom he has followed from discovery to the end of his story. Dane DeForest, feels it is his duty to tell the story in a novelized story steeped in the truths and intrigue of Rock history. This now allows me to present the story and have a fictional narrators voice! I have to say it feels like fun. So today, I began my re-write of Starshot. I will, I’m sure, be here from time to time to: Rejoice at great headway. Bitch at huge writer’s Block. Moan at what I am doing to my psyche. Celebrate some small advance. Inform everyone of my new favorite drink…. Whatever.