It is saturday now and I know I havent blogged in at least a week so here is what is up. I have my DIY editing job nearly done for The Last Good Man. I purchased two books on editing just for this short story and they have paid dividends, I think. I have about three thousand story ideas/partially finished stories/short stories that need to become novels/etc... As well as a handful of poetry ideas. One idea I really think I can get to take off is a story about a group of guys who are working and out of the blue decide to drop everything and hit the road cross country. Plus I have the novel Alaskan Nights which is about a hundred pages so far, I would like to hammer out an extra two pages per day on that one until it's finished. Most recently I have begun to sketch out a comic series. I am not one of those "comic book people", in fact I have never purchased one and have only read a handful but I came up with a great(I think) concept and look to put it to paper. My website is crawling towards completion, I would say it's about 90% finished and when I get it complete I will publish ASAP and let everyone know. So thats whats up, stay tuned for my website and keep up the good writing yourselves. MVP
So I guess it is Tuesday. Have been diligently working on my website and I think we shall all see it up in some form before the sun sets on this week. I have started a new novel and am working hard to wrap up some editing on a couple short stories. I hate editing but alas it must be done. I guess my unfinished short story count is like six and my unfinished novel count is three though two are close and my unfinished poem count is two. I would love to publish something this spring for the sole purpose of I want to have a book signing. I probably would struggle to sell twenty at this point but would be cool to have a handful of people show up and actually want to purchase something I wrote and get it signed. I need to post a link to a story I had published in a book last year. I don't care for it but the more I think of it the more I realize that it is a publishing credit and a decent story for children as well. It's far to light hearted for my tastes but I wrote it so I guess I must deal with that. Here is the very rough first paragraph of my newest venture into a novel. I am thinking the title might be "Strides At Midnight", we shall see. "Hezikiah Neilsen trudged through the early morning darkness, alone. It could not have been later than two he thought, he was pretty sure he had been on the road about an hour and he left sometime around one so two was a close guesstimation. It was raining out, not just a nice invigorating sprinkle though or even an impressive thunderstorm, no it was a late fall drenching on the south coast of Lake Erie. It seemed the rain was falling at hardly a few degrees more than sideways due to the wind that was gusting well over fifty. And it was cold, not middle of winter deep freeze cold but the thermometer was hovering right around thirty when Kiah left the house."
So I have been somewhat hard at work writing(Somewhat/hard at work...hmm) and have made some descent progress in some short stories. I am making it my goal to have about a half dozen done this month. Am alsotossin a novelette idea around my head. A guys girlfriend gets kidnapped, he tracks her, killing enemies in his way . Eventually he gets close and they kill her, he keeps killing her kidnappers and as the last one is dying he tells the MC that she is not really dead, not only that but she orchestrated the whole thing to run away from home. MC has a few angry but calm words with her and leaves. Then it sets up a sequel where he got so used to killing he becomes a serial killer and she is the only one who can stop him. It needs a little work butwhaddya think? I am also working on some designs for t-shirts to sell on my web site. At first I was a little hesitant to do this because after all who wants to buy a shirt by me? I am not some fashion designer or anything. But as I thought about it I decided that I wasn't selling it as a Matthew Von Prince shirt but as a cool shirt that just happened to be designed by me. So I think I might be able to get a few people to buy one. I spent the weekend on the ice, fishing, did pretty well too. My group of four caught eighty Perch. Missed some fights I was going to go to but had a good time. I was pretty thankful Ididn't get killed going out on such a warm day after hearing about the people on Lake Erie. Matthew Von Prince, AKA EmmVeePi PS Watch for my website and FREE short story to be published soon. PS Sorry if it's not perfect in grammar or punctuation, or if it rambles a little but being a blog I think I can get away with that.
So I have been much lax on the writing of recent. I just found a foot tall stack(literally) of old writing of mine. I will have to sort through it and see if I had any diamonds in the rough. I know there were a lot of short stories, some descent, most not so much. A novel too, a project I spent years on and never came close to finishing. It was one of those page or two a week projects. I am also going to look into some writing workshops. I am a descent writer at best and simply have a few things to say and some stories to tell. So I want to really work on my delivery so any reader of mine will have half an idea what I am talking about. I have been really hard at work on my website of recent. Still have not got anything up on the web but am working on completing it before I ever throw anything up. So there will be nothing there for a while yet and then all of a sudden it will be complete and ready to be viewed by millions, or a few dozen that's fine too. The color scheme is working out descent but it's a little tough as I have no graphics and/or website experience and am during it virtually all myself. Just got back into the boxing gym recently. Tough stuff, I had forgotten how hard it was and taking eight months off didn't help. I am doing alright though. The way I am looking at it is that I cant be worse than the first day I stepped in the gym. Good times, anyhow I need to go and do some real writing so I can actually throw something up for people to read. Matthew Von Prince, AKA EmmVeePi PS Watch for my website and FREE short story to be published soon. PS Sorry if it's not perfect in grammar or punctuation, or if it rambles a little but being a blog I think I can get away with that. PS And don't let that whole FREE short story thing make you think I am going to make people pay to read my writing. While I plan to publish a collection of short stories at some point I full intend to post many for free for the foreseeable future.
Another Blog(post) (So is it proper to call each entry to a blog a blog or do you call it an entry(like I just did) or post or something?) Anyways, so I purchased a domain which I will post a link to as soon as I get something up. I kinda got the layout designed in my head, now I just need to see if I can accurately convey it to my web designer. Should be cool though. I would really like it to be more than a website about me. Maybe throw up a forum and have some user submitted stuff and such. The only thing I am worried about is coming across presumptive to think that people want to use my site as a hangout(online), we will see. Also thinking of some marketing ideas. My primary goal is simply to write and have people read my writing. So I am thinking of selling two lines. The one(which I don't have a title for yet) will just be a book/books/etc.. sold at virtually production cost, just rounded up a dollar or something. The other line would be called the Signature line and the name is very explanatory. It would be the same products but autographed, maybe with a short note or something. Also the Signature line would probably have drawings and the sort. All priced a little higher. I just recently purchased a few notebooks so hopefully when I am nowhere near a computer I can still get some work done. I have done the same thing before, the only issue is that it is a pain in the butt to write it out once and then have to type everything in. It is not so bad though cause I try not to just copy it onto the computer, I use the transfer as an opportunity to do my first edit. Here is a sample list of titles I am working on. The Last Good Man(Short Story) Trip of a Lifetime('') Shattered Tranquility('') Hero(Poem) Tears In a Hurricane('') Matthew Von Prince, AKA EmmVeePi PS Watch for my website and FREE short story to be published soon. PS Sorry if it's not perfect in grammar or punctuation, or if it rambles a little but being a blog I think I can get away with that.
Blood In The Ink Kinda of a weird blog title I know but It will make sense by the end, I hope. You see I am not an expert and have not really spent a great deal of time in this place we call earth, but I have, through as much observation and as much thought as possible, come to discover a thing or two. One of the most terrible things I have discovered, and maybe not terrible to some but an atrocity in my mind, is people writing too much from there head. Writing too much from their head, yes it seems the writers that there are, and isn't it odd that at one time everyone wrote but now we need to have writers, get so caught up in worrying about the so called "proper" way to design a story and standing out from a technical perspective they forget to make a good read. Now don't get me wrong, to say that everyone should go out and write in any manner possible could very quickly destroy the art, but most of all the art needs heart. Take me for example, I hate to use me as an example but its what I got at the moment. When I write a story I don't sit down and plan it all out in some kind of outline, I don't break it down and reconstruct it in my editing. I shoot from the hip so-to-speak and just let the story take me where it pleases. I honestly believe that there were millions of stories thrown into the universe at the beginning of time and its simply a matter of getting them on paper. So don't go into a story, or any piece of art for that matter, thinking your going to strong arm it into being what you want it to be, your result will be a badly mangled specter of what could have been. And the same goes for editing, don't change it more than necessary, clean up your dialogue where need be, fix your grammar and punctuation and maybe if your feeling crazy try making the story a little more dynamic but leave it be. A piece written from the heart will always have its place, it might not win a prestigious award, a fat publishing contract or even a single fan. But a piece written from the heart will always have its place in the world and will have its moment in time for many a grateful reader. So write from the heart, write whats in your heart, blood is in your heart so in short write with blood in your ink. Matthew Von Prince, AKA EmmVeePi PS Watch for my website and FREE short story to be published soon. And my normal grammar disclaimer: Sorry if it's not perfect in grammar or punctuation, or if it rambles a little.
First Blog Well, Being my first blog EVER I am not sure what exactly to write but being as integral part of this society as it is(blogging) I realize it is utterly absurd to ignore such a medium for my writing career/promotion. It seems most the literary crowd, both readers and writers, have completely fallen behind the times whether through complete accident and ignorance or claiming that literature is an art founded in the past and that it should remain classical in all manner including the writing process, I actually know of writers who keep using the typewriter like that somehow makes them a better writer if they don't take advantage of the technology we have developed. It really is absurd, the writers, publishers and consequently the readers are kept in dark, silent libraries and lounges. The writing is of such a level of supposed quality that it seems entirely unpractical to either write or read and is nearly unintelligible to half the potential audience. And if we question the manner of the composition we are considered dumb, lesser etc.. And if we don't have a literary degree from a major college then how dare we write? Look at the music and film industry. Two industries that have embraced the world we live in. After all, who cant find a couple friends who play instruments, take advantage of all the editing and sound tools available on the computer and have a song up on numerous networking sites and such within hours, being heard by thousands, with a stroke of luck, millions. The same holds true for movies, a quality camera could be bought with a few friends(or even one persons) weekly pay and taking advantage of the video editing and video sites on the internet to be seen by a nearly endless number of people. And its not just in the creation of the art either that literature is behind the times. Promotion just as much. Movies and music embrace the social networking sites and the internet as a whole for marketing and are rewarded with millions of sales. Then a publishing company puts a couple posterboard announcements at the local library and maybe even bookstore if their feelin crazy and wonder why only a dozen people showed up for the book signing and they cant even sell four figures. I fully intend on taking the art to another level. Do I have any illusions of being a celebrity millionaire author? None! Okay well not may anyways, but I am hoping to, in a significant way, make an impact on the way the art is created, delivered and received. So I guess that is my first ever blog, it kinda led to a subject itself. I fully intend to use all avenues in the improvement of my writing, reading and publishing, all avenues including a blog. Matthew Von Prince, AKA EmmVeePi PS Watch for my website and FREE short story to be published soon. PS Sorry if it's not perfect in grammar or punctuation, or if it rambles a little but being a blog I think I can get away with that.