It’s now officially the last day of 2008.  The end of another challenging year.  It’s been a pretty good year up until about four months ago when I hit a snag.  It usually happens to do with my real job.  But, I did get one last publication finished in December!  It feels good, because my last official publication was two, well three years ago just about.  I think my New Year’s Resolution would be to get back on my Fallen Raven project.  I’ve really got to finish the edit and then submit it to literary agents again.  I’ve been so busy with work and my other stuff that I haven’t thought about Fallen Raven too much.  Sometimes it’s nice to get a break on something you were working on for about two years anyway.  I can get a fresh start on it now.

I would also like to give my sympathies to those of you out there who have lost your job recently.  I really am starting to feel lucky that I still have my job, though I’m almost wishing I didn’t.  But, it’s a tough time for those who are unemployed and I wish you the best of luck finding a new career path.  I’m hopeful that January will be better for you all in your search for jobs.  I too am looking to getting a new job if I can get one.  Just know that life can and will get better.  I’ve always believed that.

I’ll also take this time to tell you that the next chapter of “Wade” will be delayed a while.  I’ve been taking a break from writing because of the holidays.  I’ll be working on getting it posted next week.  Also, soon you should be able to download a digital copy of “My Imperfect Life” from amazon.com’s createspace.  I’ll let you all know when it’s ready.

Yes well I wanted to make a quick post wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So, I had this elaborate idea of some clever thing to say and all that, but I decided to just keep it simple this time around.  And if you aren’t a Christmas fan then happy holidays.  Of course, I didn’t think about the people who don’t like holidays.  Maybe I should then say, have a great winter!

Oh well now that reminds me, I’m sure there are plenty of people who don’t like the winter weather.  Personally I love it.  Californians sometimes forget what rain looks like, unless you’re in Northern California.

Well, this post certainly has become a mess now hasn’t it?  Then, I’ll just say, enjoy the rest of the year and I hope 2009 is better then 2008!

What a week it has been.  I felt a change was needed in my life and maybe I still do.  There’s a lot going on in my life right now and I’ve been feeling restless.  I’m feeling much better now.  I came really close this week to deciding to sell my car.  I have a nice 2005 Honda Civic(they call it a value package model) and I’m close to paying it off.  It’s technically a Japanese/Canadian car.  It was build in Canada, but the parts came from Japan.  I like to think of it as an immigrant.  I’m weird.

So, I was looking at Toyota Prius’, or is that Priusi?  I don’t know, anyway I love them to death, financial death at least.  Still to expensive to buy, but mouth watering.  It really got me thinking though about my car and how you could say it’s the standard gasoline version of a hybrid.  OK, so it may only get 35MPG at best (I’m averaging about 33MPG), but so what?  For a long time I really wanted a “green” car and I now feel that I have one.  Thank goodness I came to be senses before I bought a 2007 Ford Taurus, no offense to the car mind you.

Every few years I get the urge to go into more debt and by a new car.  And every time I come to the conclusion that I really can’t afford to.  You would think I would get the point by now.  However, I think this week was good.  I figured out why my car is so great and I know that if I do buy a new car in the future it’s going to be a hybrid.  (Or I could always have my civic converted into an electric car.)  Why was I so concerned about sending money over seas for oil when I don’t have to send as much.  Maybe that is just good enough for now.  I mean eventually the oil will be all gone anyway, though that’s still a long time in the future.  I’m really glad that alternative fuels get so much media time.

What did I finally decide to do then?  Well, I’m obviously keeping my car for starters.  I’m also going to try and re-finance my car.  I am close to owing about $4000 on the car.  Not bad.  I’, paying about $350 a month.  So, I figure I could get that monthly payment down a little bit, that would be nice.  With my hours less these days I just don’t have as much money as I used to.  That sort of brings up perhaps another topic later involving employment. 

My Imperfect Life Cover Art

Ok ladies and gents, after such a long process I have an official announcement.  I got my second proof from Cafepress.com and I am proud to announce that “My Imperfect Life” is officially released!   Yay!  The second design is much better and although I’m not completely satisfied with how they printed it, it is enough for me.  Over all, I think the cover art is much better now.  I commend Mark once again on a job well done.  I’ve also touched up the audio too.  Please take a moment to download the sample chapter in the downloads section.  You can listen to the complete first chapter for free and if you like it you can order a copy of the CD from my online store.  Just click on the picture above of the cover art.

I’m really excited about this project and it’s nice to have another completed work under my belt.  It also means I have a bit more time to relax before I shift my focus to the next project.

Ok, well this is going to make me sound crazy, but I’ve had a change of heart.  I’ve ordered a second proof with the new design of the audio book.  I was convinced.  Maybe I got a bit carried away and forgot that I probably didn’t format the templates correctly or size the photos right.  I’m hoping that is it.  We will see what happens when I get the new copy with our final cover art design.  I suppose you can disregaurd the first paragraph of my last news post.

On a lighter note, I am going to offer the audio book as a digital download from createspace.com.  So, If you can’t wait to hear the story from my mouth, you will be able to purchase a download copy.  If you’d perfer to have a CD copy of the audio book, you can wait a bit longer and order it from cafepress.com once I feel its ready.  It probably won’t be ready for Christmas, but at the beginning of the New Year.  We will see.

I do apologise for any confusion.  I’m very emotional and sometimes I get carried away. 

I just got back my proof copy of my audio book from cafepress and I didn’t like how it turned out.  It really isn’t about the pictures, I new they wouldn’t be great.  Its the templates, I don’t think they are formatted correctly with their printing machines.  So, I have decided to try a different company, createspace.com.  Operated by Amazon.com, it seems to be a much more professional set up.  Unfortunately, for my friend Mark, he’s got to redo the album artwork to fit the new templates.  I don’t think it will be much trouble as we can just use the same photos we took on Monday.

This does mean that the audio book will not be released as soon as I had hoped.  However, I want the audio book to look right.  So, this must be done.  There is some good news.  Createspace.com has the option to have a down-loadable version of the audio book too.  So, I’m going to do that, and the download version should be ready before the CD version.  I want to do both so that people will have a choice.  I haven’t heard anything back from iTunes yet, but this would work out just fine even if iTunes decides not to publish my audio book.

For now, I’d say about two more weeks till the CD format is released.  I have to order a proof once I have everything set up.  Then I have to aprove the final product.  Just sit tight everyone, it won’t be much longer…

If you come to my site regularly, you will notice that the “Wade” page is missing.  I have changed it to my “Download” page now.  You can still download the latest version of “Wade”, which is up to chapter 4, and you can download the first chapter of “My Imperfect Life” in all of it’s audio greatness(if I may be so bold to say)!  I hope to have other down-loadable content there in the future.

I’m glad to say that I’ve finished the final edit of the sound files for the audio book!  They are formatted and ready to go.  Mark came by today and brought his professional digital camera with him.  We got some really great shots for the cover art.  I’m really excited to see what the finished product will look like.  The photos we took today look much better then the preliminary shots I took last week.  It shouldn’t be too much longer till the audio book is finished.

Once “My Imperfect Life” is finished, there will be a few changes to the website too.  I’ll have a download area and the online shop will have some new additions.  I’m also going to be looking into changing the look and feel of the shop later next year.  With this project now about complete, I’ll be working more on “Fear” and possible another short story.

And don’t forget, there is still my featured cameo role in, “Get Back.”  Be sure to check out the website for the upcoming film.

The next chapter of “Wade” is finished, I’m happy to say.  I’ve already updated the wade.pdf file so you can download the new version and save it over you old copy if you wish.

Also, I’m planning on introducing a weekly video blog to the site soon.  I’ll be talking about my projects and about the publishing business.  I had done this about a year ago before I started this website.  I have a couple of Youtube videos still.  I never got around to making more, but I would like to start doing that again.

Also, I’m working on finishing up the audio book.  I’ve made my own cover art designs which I’m working with.  I’m having a “finished product” test so that I can see how it will look.  Once my ordered copy arrives I’ll have a chance to see if I like the cover design.  So, very soon I should have an official announcement when I have a final version that I feel is good enough for production.

So just a quick update for the site and my current projects.