Revival

Colorado River Gorge in Canyonlands National Park

I was seriously considering closing out this blog. Hard to say why exactly other than there is so much else going on that I begrudge even the little time it takes to jot a note here. Summertime in Minnesota is hectic because we all know it is short and the big chill is not that far away. Writing has also taken a hit but that will make a comeback this fall. Had a good start on continuing work on Volume 6 but then the first really good weather hit, and...well, fall is not that far away.

Also, after writing for a week or two this spring I became uneasy with the direction the story was going. Good writing but the wrong direction, or I should say perhaps not being true to the characters. Maybe they were chiding me. Anyway, I know where to go now.

Working

Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, sign post

Nearly finished reading volume 6. On several occasions while editing I have had the thought, "Who wrote this?" So much has changed since five was written and six started, a lot of time has passed. Now, with the perspective of time, and having read through two volumes, I cannot avoid seeing that what I wrote is not what I ever would have said or thought about saying. That's another way of expressing how continually amazed I am at the differences between what we write and what we say. Who wrote those books? And not only five and six. All of them.What part of me wrote those books? I could expostulate on the circumstances of that time, but that would just be window dressing.

I know the books of this series will serve a purpose, for they are the stuff of life. Maybe I will find out who wrote them when work resumes on volume six.

Writing begins

Second ballon caught in profile at dawn over Sussaflei in Namibia

I started back to work, my real work, about ten days ago. Don't know exactly how it happened, or what changed, but something has been building now for several months. A great unrest within. What a treat to sit back down and start picking up the threads of The Alarai Chronicles saga. Originally I planned to drop back to volume four, read through it, move on to five, and then to six where I left off nearly a year ago and where the writing will begin again, but instead started reading five.

That was the right thing to do since a major shift in the flow of the story begins in book five. Or maybe I should say that a major plot theme ends with volume four, ripping open the veil of confidence in what is thought to be reality.

Everything is changing, and I am glad. Soon the real work of writing will begin, and true satisfaction.

New Image

South African Wine Country at Dusk (taken from the Seidelberg Winery)

I moved to Minnesota in 1997. Prior to that time while actively writing volumes I-III, I developed the habit of sketching scenes that I was trying to understand how to represent in words, or that just tugged at me. I had no particular drawing talent but managed to pencil a collection of images with the help of many erasers. After moving to Minnesota I picked up Photoshop and a pretty good scanner. The learning curve for Photoshop was tough but one by one I learned to add color to the sketches and smooth out many problems. Then disaster struck. My computer failed.

The computer would not boot no matter what I tried and no matter the advice from experts. Fortunately I had backed up the images to an external drive and once the computer was re-formatted reloaded the images only to find that a software glitch had corrupted every image.

Managed to reconstruct all of them except one. Couldn't even find what was left of it. I cannot begin to count the hours I had spent drawing in each tree individually and working to get the mountains just right. All I had left was one hard copy printed by an early Epson dot matrix.

To come to the point here, scanning it in I worked on it off and on for over five years to bring it back to even a semblance of the original. After this last effort I think it's there and is better than the original in many ways. It's called Bora Mountains in Winter and can be downloaded at ardentpublishing.com either as an HD Pdf or smaller jpg file.

The Alarai Chronicles series has been a labor of love and worth every hour. What a trip.

Summertime

Dawn over the Namibian Desert

Can't say how it's going to turn out, but just for the fun of it I'm going to set up a booth at the Riverwalk Market Fair in Northfield on at least a couple of Saturdays. Nothing fancy, just a canopy, two or three BIG posters, and a nice display of volumes I and II, Exile to the Stars and Songs of Deep Green. It will be fun just to kick back and meet people. Might even sell a few books, but that's only part of the story. This is for fun. Should have some dates and place information to post in a few weeks. Hope you will drop by if possible.

Formatting

Capetown South Africa at dusk

Recently, maybe over the last month or so, an unease has been steadily building. I find my thoughts drifting off into plot scenarios and dialogue streams. The other day it was a major digression from the task at hand to review images related to later volumes in the series. Is it about writing or, perhaps more accurately, getting ready to resume writing? Don't know. Maybe it's just Spring... Time will tell. Whatever the case, something is brewing and although this internal and growing sense of urgency is unsettling, I like it.

The frist review

This was quick. I received the first review of Songs of Deep Green in the mail today. I like it!

Volume VI

Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
Indian Ocean to your left, Atlantic Ocean to your right

Increasingly, my thoughts are turning back to Volume VI in The Alarai Chronicles series. I quit writing at about the mid-point well over a year ago now. I like the writing, I think it was some of my best, but I was losing my way. I'm sure it had to do with the way the first book was hanging fire as I wrestled with how to get the word out on a broad basis. I can't speak for other authors, but it's so hard for me to write creatively in a publishing vacuum. This is all about writing for people not an intellectual exercise.

Still haven't solved the publicity problem at this writing but I am convinced it will be solved before the end of the year. Things are about to break in favor of Songs of Deep Green, Exile to the Stars and thus the series - big-time. Now that gets the creative juices to flowing.

Namibia

Namibia - Sussuflei National Park as seen at sunrise from a balloon

My son worked in South Africa for some time and had been urging me to travel with him in that area for several years. There was always something that prevented the trip until this year I ignored all the obstacles and simply did it. I mention the trip here (got back in April) because it was such a varied, spectacular, and moving experience. I know that life is different now, and I am changed - how can that not affect what springs from the mind and finds expression in writing?

Our travels took us through South Africa, south and north, Namibia, and Mozambique. I posted nearly 80 images on my Facebook wall (http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000529275197) and will also post a few here.

I am looking forward to the outcome when writing resumes on Volume VI in The Alarai Chronicles series.

Writing, writing

It's tempting to take Vol III, THE DEVIL TAKE YOU to the typesetting level but that is really putting the cart too far out there in front of the horse. I do love writing and then putting it all together between two great covers. Nothing like it.

I edited Vol III here about two months ago during a slack period and will do so at least one or two more times before it is ready to go to typesetting. DEVIL completes the marine cycle and returns Jeff and Carl to Rugen where VOL IV, REQUIEM, begins. From sea to land and then?

It's coming.

In the mail

Wonder of wonders the brochures did come as promised. That led to a mad scramble to put together all the review packages and get them in the mail. DONE! Well, except for one that I added on at the last minute, Publisher's Weekly. That will go out tomorrow.

Now it's time to catch my breath and consider the next moves. Sure wish the new website flash animation was up. Getting worried about that. Have to wait another week or two before pushing the "Let's get it done!" button.

Movement

They finally came. The brochures finally arrived today and they are gorgeous. Now it's a matter of putting everything together and getting the review copies out. Review editors like four months to ponder things, but I'm short almost a month. Next push is to get the website updated and new material on the Home Page - that is, new flash animation. Looking forward to it.

This publishing experience, That of SONGS OF DEEP GREEN, is totally different from what I have experienced in the past with EXILE. This series is going to take off now and really fly. I guess you could ask why I am so confident, and I could tell you, but for now let's just say that I'm not going solo this time around. What a difference that makes!

Front Cover, SONGS OF DEEP GREEN

Back in town

Well, I tried to post more but wow, what a busy time! The first short print run of SONGS OF DEEP GREEN came, the cover is gorgeous, and now let the action and adventure begin. Working five hours a day in a split shift really cuts into the usable time to get organized, but I think tomorrow it will be possible to package and mail out the review copies.

This book is not only action and adventure at its best, but it is also science-fiction that you can sit down with and know its the real thing.

Going to upload the cover graphic today. Wish I could also upload the book's front material graphics, but that will have to come later. This story will really appeal to anyone who ever considered taking up sailing or already has the bug.

How do you navigate an ocean that must be as large as the Pacific without charts navigation tables or instruments? Over 3,000 miles to go and not a clue to what's out there, or back there for that matter, except the coast has to be off to the east somewhere.

Back soon.