Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Today I Started Writing: Everybody vs The Ferret: 2

Book: Everybody vs The Ferret: 2
Words: None
Time: 9:30am - 7pm
Mood: Good
Impression: It's funnier than book 1

I have been a bit worried about this project. It is quite a challenge to say that you are going to write a book in a week. And this morning when I got up I had no idea what I would be writing. But 9:30am to noon I lied in bed and I actually came up with something pretty funny.

This basis of this book is that the fruitheaded girls discover the magical power of going bra-less and they unleash their power in their never ending quest to rule the school. The boy's who are under the girls' spell must then rescue themselves and the other students from the girls' power mad clutches.

Tomorrow I am doing a commercial so I won't be able to start writing. But I should be able to begin by Thursday. Hopefully it won't take me more than 2 days to write.

And it's funny about the commercial tomorrow. This is the off season for background work so when a friend suggested that I do a little hair therapy (cut my hair into a mohawk to make myself feel better about the emotional damage done by writing my last book) I thought it a great idea. The only reason that I usually don't have a mohawk is because I have to appear profession for acting or something else.

But hours after I did it I got my first call to do a background job for a commercial. That is so funny. I will go ahead and shave it off, but I was looking forward to having a mohawk for a while. But, of course, the good thing is that I get to hang out with more than a few beautiful women tomorrow. Writing Samurai Zombie Hunter has changed me in some fundamental way and now I feel like I'm on the prowl.

Who can explain these things.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Finished my book Samurai Zombie Hunter

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 2,540
Time: 11 - 1:30
Mood: Numb
Impression: I can't tell

I'm done. I don't know how it is. I just feel kind of numb. And personally I prefer not to think about it. I now have to change my focus and do a ton of other work. That has to be done by Monday so after that I will think about editing. I might also wait to edit this book and instead do it after my week of working on Everybody vs The Ferret: 2.

Honestly, I can't say much. I'm just spent. I have to think about cover and blurb, but all I want to do is play some racquetball so I'm going to do that. This is me spent.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

My feelings before I finish this bastard book

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 3,947
Time: 11:30 - 6:30pm (minus 1hr)
Mood: Pretty good
Impression: This book represents the best story I can tell

Today was one of those day when I thought that I wrote more than I did. I'm not sure why I wrote so little today, but I did have to stop a couple of times to think of little details like my main character's last name and where the female interest lives. But still I worked 6 hours and wrote less than 4,000 words. That's unusual for me.

I know that I could have written more, but I will finish the book tomorrow and it will take me less than an entire writing day to do it. With that being the case, there is no use on working much later today. Also I hit a point when the climax of the story is about to begin and I would like to have a consistent mental state when I write.

I have decided that although this book and Run From The Reaper are similar genres, the two are very different books. RFTR is about the experience of reading a book while this book is about the emotion involvement of the story. In other words, one is character driven and the other is not.

And it's too bad I probably won't write a sequel to this book. It is clear that the next book would be quite the zombie tale. Half of this book had to be spent setting up the world and character. But not that it's created there is a lot of places that I can go with it. I am willing to say to myself "Good Job, Cristian" because I really did a great job of creating a compelling set of perimeters. Now if I can only get it reflected in the book's description.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

First Fixing Cupid review & New Samurai book blurb

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 4,067
Time: 11 - 4:15 (minus 1hr)
Mood: manic
Impression: It's unnerving

Yesterday I got my first review for Fixing Cupid. It was a great review minus one thing. Apparently there are small spelling errors in the book. Ouch! I'm sure there can't be more than 10. And although 10 might seem like a lot, out of 40,000 words, it's a pretty good ratio. And generally speaking my thought is: "Do what you can. And when you can, do better." So, when I can, I will do better.

I look forward to Samurai Zombie Hunter being done in few days. I'm not enjoying writing this. It's taken me to places that I didn't want to go. Samurai Zombie Hunter was written to be the first of a series, but I will have to get quite a few sales before I would even consider writing another one of these.

Having said that, I have began to look at book covers of other zombie books. I have to say that the top selling zombie books have pretty weak covers. And it is pretty great to not see a book that obviously combines the samurai and zombie genres together. I don't think that my budget allows for an externally made cover for this one, so I might have to see what I come up with.

I have also done some work on the book's blurb. Here is the first draft. What do you think?

There’s a coming war… Out of the jungles of South American stumbled a priest. No one saw him for who he was, the bringer of death. 10 years later the infection seeped out of the shadows and spread across the globe. And as one bloody attack turned into a thousand and then a million, the World governments crumbled into chaos trying to decide who could live and who must die.

Out of this pre-apocalyptic world emerges Van, a lonely man who was ordinary in all ways but one, he is a samurai. Urged by those who seek to exploit him Van hires out his sword. Countless zombie deaths follow. To the pure Van becomes a folk hero; to the secretly infected Van is the beginning of the war.

Now, with the dark forces of humanity gathering on one side and the incurably diseased growing in scores on the other, civilization teeters on collapse. And Van, hiding a secret that could change the direction of the world, must use it to decide who he has to kill to prevent the coming apocalypse.

Monday, May 23, 2011

I need to decide on a cover

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 4,006
Time: 11 - 4:30 (minus .5hr)
Mood: Good
Impression: It's really coming together

Today's writing was pretty easy. It was one of days that just plugged along. But because I have so much work to do today, I won't write much.

I need to really start looking for zombie book covers that I like and would like to fashion mine off of. I also need to get my promotional info in for a book of the month contest that I'm doing. I also have to update my resume so that I can find some work. And I need to do some data entry for a work assignment a friend gave me.

So with all of that said, I must run.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Digging in the Dirt

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 4,279
Time: Noon - 6pm (Minus 1.5 hrs)
Mood: fine
Impression: Ok, I think

Today I wrote Chapter 9. It was exactly what I thought it would be. I did realize that because I'm so close to finishing I should start thinking about a cover for the book. There is an illustrator named Peter Ortiz who I'm thinking about using. Considering my budget he is expensive so I don't know if I will be able to afford him. He is also hard to get a hold of. I'm not sure why.

It is also amazing what happens when writing something like this book. It seems that when dig around in the graveyard you end up unearthing a few skeletons.

I have to say that I will be glad when this book is done. Writing this book has made me come face to face with why all of my books have the themes loneliness and isolation. The life that I lived was not a necessary life. I think that I could have been tons happier.

It is sad to look back at the events of my life and I see the few things that shaped me into the person that I have become. I now know why I'm so quick to withdraw. I know why I'm attracted to who I'm attracted to. And I know why I'm a writer.

I sometimes wonder if I would've been happier if I was a completely different person. Because if you pull a few small threads on my life and I would have been. There no changing things now, but I wonder who I would have been.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Should I write a Young Adult sci-fi book?

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 4,672
Time: 11- 1:30 & 6:30 - 9pm
Mood: Great
Impression: The chapter is awesome all around

I know that I'm currently writing a zombie book. But the truth is that I didn't actually think that I was writing a real zombie book. When I came up with the idea, I literally had know idea that zombie's were hot. I chose the subject matter because I wanted to deal with the idea of loneliness and isolation in a unique way.

And because I was after the human aspects of being a zombie, I thought that this book was going to be more about the internal struggles of a guy struggling with his inner zombie. But no. This is apparently a full out zombie book. The traditional zombie stuff doesn't happen until the second half, but the undead do limp out of the darkness in search of brains.

Chapter 8, the chapter I just finished, is almost me showing off. I have written a few books now. And because I have, I've had practice writing certain types of scenes. This one chapter seemed to have all of those types of scenes in it. I liked it.

And if anyone every needed addition proof that there was something wrong with me, all one has to do is look at the female characters that populate my books. I just created another one today. I have to say that I love the woman that I created today. I think that no healthy man should, but I do. I guess in many ways she reminds me of the strong women that Kathrine Hepburn played. And although she was great fun to watch, I imagine that Hepburn was a wildly broken person.

I write about broken women just as much as I write about broken men. The romance in my mind is that these two broken people find each other. If ever I were to write a simply great girl instead of a charismatic, quick witted and spunky woman, you'll know that my therapy has finally kicked in. My characters and books might be too boring to read, but I would probably be a much healthier human being. Luckily for those who enjoy my books, there's really no chance of that ever happening.

Now about the future. I watched another interview about Amanda Hocking yesterday. She is the indie book queen right now. In one year she went from being unpublished to selling a million copies and signing a $2 million dollar deal with St. Martin's press. A story about her was what got me to go on the writing terror that I have.

After watching the video, I watched the movie 'I Am Number Four'. Both subjects have one thing in common. They are both about a genre called YA (young adult). Since my current book will be finished in a few day and I shouldn't make a decision about which sequel to write until after I check my sales on the last day of June, I'm wondering what I should do with the three weeks that I will have free in between.

One thought is that I should take a break. I have written a lot since March. One might even say that I've earned it. Another thought would be to start 'Hide From The Reaper', the sequel to 'Run From The Reaper' since from the little information I have, RFTR seems to be selling the best of all of my books. And my last thought would be to try one more genre. That genre would be YA. It is extremely popular right now and would seem to work very well with my ever present themes of loneliness and isolation.

Here's the only thing. YA is a female dominated genre. The story that I would write would be Sci-Fi with interpersonal drama. And all of my books so far have had males as the main character. But maybe I shouldn't worry about that. 'I am number four' had a male lead and it's sci-fi. That book seemed to have done pretty well. Hmmm.

I've run the concept for the book series by 3 readers today and they seem to like it. I know that it will tough to write because I would want it to do what my favorite sci-fi stories do, take you to new worlds. Creating new worlds is the toughest type of writing to because it is so involved. I have had some practice on that though. That is what I did in 'The First Day After Life'.

I think that I have to keep in mind that if I don't write the book now, I don't think that I will ever write it. And it might be nice to have one more book series that I can write a sequel to later. And who knows, maybe people will like it and make my effort worth my while. I will have to think more about it.

Friday, May 20, 2011

This is what happens when you write while abstaining from sexual activity

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 3,520
Time: 11 - 2pm & 4:30 - 8pm
Mood: Fine
Impression: I like it.

I started the second half of the book today and it starts out giving the back story of the main character's nemesis for the rest of the book. I liked it. One thing though, I'm still celibate and writing this book is constantly... how do I say this... keeping me alert.

I'm not sure what that says about me but that is the facts of the matter. This is a first for me. It's not even in the parts that obviously wood either. I'm talking about strange things that should go on a list of things to talk to a therapist about.

Anyway, I was hoping to hit 4,000 words today but I slacked off in the middle of the day and went to play racquetball. I came back and continued writing, but when it hit 8pm I wondered if I would reach my goal which was to complete the entire chapter. I knew that I wouldn't because there was a lot of stuff that I didn't add in the outline.

So since I knew that I wasn't going to finish I decided to put in a few hours tomorrow and then a full day on Sunday. My goal was only to write 6 days this week, so working tomorrow and Sunday would make it 7 days this week. I think that I could still finish the book by the end of next week but we'll see.

On a good note, the reviewer that implied that horrible thing about me in her review of Everybody Masturbates edited her review giving me an addition star and deleting the offensive statement. Victory! Also, I've gotten another 5 star review for the book. Check it out.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Unpleasant exchange with a reviewer

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 1,604
Time: 3:30 - 6:30 (minus 1/2hr)
Mood: Bad
Impression: Good enough

My morning writing routine was derailed this morning because I had to deal with a situation with on one of my books. About a week ago someone gave Everybody Masturbates a 1 start review. That would go along with my 8 other 5-star reviews. Normally I wouldn't react to that because it was clearly an outlier, but this one I couldn't ignore.

Without going into detail, the reviewer basically implied that I wrote the book for predatory purposes. It shocked me. And although I tried to handle the situation with humor, apparently I was a little too sarcastic for my own good. To be sardonic I started a sentence with "Since Human Beings have been masturbating for 10 or 11 years now..." I thought that it was clearly a bit of sarcasm, but the reviewer responded with "See, there's proof that you didn't do any research for the book because people have been masturbating forever."

I laughed it off thinking that she was joking. But this morning someone else posted a comment say that I never really addressed the fact that I said people have only started masturbating 10 or 11 years ago. I was shocked. I then had to go back and give a very detailed answer as to why I had been sarcastic and everything else.

On one hand it was a good lesson on posting on public forums, ie. not everyone gets sarcasm. On the other hand, I'm again pretty pissed that someone could publicly imply that someone has predatory intend based on a book that they admittedly haven't read. And now I have more responses that I have to go and respond to and I know I'm just going to get more pissed when I'm done. I must remain calm.

I expected to have very strong reactions to the Everybody books. But readying yourself in theory is much different than dealing with it when it happens. I'll just try to keep on.

Luckily my only plan today was to finish the first half of the book. I hadn't planned to go any further than that. I was able to do it in 3 hours. Unfortunately it was only 1,600 words. But hopefully that still does mean that I could finish the book by the end of next week if I push hard enough. We will see though.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Celibacy is driving me insane!

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 4,816
Time: 11 - 6:45 (minus 2hrs break)
Mood: About to lose my mind
Impression: It is really sexual

The last time that I wrote this book I was celibate as well. I remember it being tough, but I don't remember it being this tough. I go through these phases where I'm fine and then a second later I'm about to collapse onto the ground from amorousness.

I think the last time I was smart enough to keep myself from looking at things that reminded me of sex. This time I don't seem to have that type of self restraint. I'm amorous so I look at things that one would be driven to look at. I then feel like a caged animal going through my mental Rolodex of who I can call to get off. Sadly no one comes up.

I'm not going to last much longer. I don't know if me breaking down will be good or bad for the book. But Jesus, I can't keep doing this. I remember from the last time that after two months the feeling goes away, but at this rate the book will be done way before then. By tomorrow I should be done with the first half. The second half is shorter and should only take another 2 weeks.

We'll see though. I'm starting to hate this book. There is a part of me that wishes I had never thought of it. But I remember the first time after 4 months when I reread it. I liked it quite a bit. Maybe in another 4 months after it's done I'll feel the same way. Who knows. Maybe I should go and play a little racquetball. Yeah, maybe I'll do that.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

You ever feel like giving up?


Book: Zombie Samurai Hunter
Words: 4,000
Time: 11:30 - 6:30pm (minus 2 hrs break)
Mood: Down
Impression: It's good

I wrote 4,000 words today but felt that I wrote a lot more. I had said that I would write an entire chapter today but I can't do it. I took a break for dinner and then watched back to back episodes of Oprah interviewing James Frey. It was interesting. But the result was that I no longer feel like writing. I know that 4,000 words is pretty good for a day, but I was hoping to satisfy a psychological need that I have tonight. And not writing doesn't help me.

I think that the celibacy thing while living alone is causing me to feel things that aren't pleasant. What also doesn't help is finding out that someone that you thought you could be interested in is dating her ex. To be honest I kind of feel like my skin is boiling and I need someone to touch me to remove the heat. And yes that will be mentioned in my book. Most of what I feel ends up in my books. I'm not great with expressing my feelings in everyday life, but I'm fantastic at explaining them to others in stories. I always have been.

And since I barely feel what I'm feeling, I explain my feelings in a way that people who do feel, feel very intensely. But I have to say that today is one of those days when I wish I could just go to sleep and stay there. I think that I have done more than my fair share in life. I could live with that being a completed set.

I imagine that there could be people who read this and think, wow, Cristian really seems dark today. But the truth is that this isn't even close to being a bad day for me. The only difference is that because of what I spent the day writing I feel less capable of hiding it. Man I feel like I'm on fire. Oh well.

Monday, May 16, 2011

My first day back writing Samurai Zombie Hunter


Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter
Words: 4,392
Time: 10:30 - 4:30pm (minus 1hr for lunch)
Mood: Good
Impression: It's good

After 5 months today was my first day back writing Samurai Zombie Hunter. I was very hesitant to start up again, but it wasn't bad. Unfortunately I have to go to a really dark place to write the book but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It flowed quite easily once I was a few hours in and I wrote almost 50% more words than required.

I have been celibate for a week now, and quite honestly, I don't think that it will last the night. Too many temptations. Oh well. Maybe I'll just break it once. We'll see.

Other than that I got a list of everyone who won a free copy of Fixing Cupid. It was 200 people total. Hopefully I will get a few good reviews out of it. I think that it is a hilarious book, but my opinion barely counts.

I can't write much today because I just finished writing moments ago and I need to try and find some acting work before it's too late today. I also am screening the movie Cats Dancing On Jupiter tonight. I have to leave in a few minutes for that. And I need to eat before I go.

More tomorrow if I'm not working. I promise.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Was interviewed for a documentary because I wrote a book

Book: Happiness Thru The Art of... PenisLink Enlargement
Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter

Today I was interviewed for a documentary on penis enlargement. I'm not sure what I can say about it, but I was very happy with the interview. It is never until I do interviews that I realize just how much information I have on a topic. And also, you never know how much information you have until you look around and ask people, "did you know this?"

Anyway, it was fun. I still have to figure out a way to be on camera more. I love it and I'm good at it. I guess the point is that if I keep doing it and do it well, I will get more opportunities.

Today is day two of celibacy. I miss masturbation. Did you know that Everybody Masturbates? Yeah, I read that in a book somewhere.

I did not do any work on Samurai Zombie Hunter today. I probably won't do any tomorrow either. But I feel that as long as my day is productive then I'm fine. The truth is that after my interview, I was so jazzed by the way it went that I couldn't do any more work for the day. Instead I got in a brisk few games of racquetball. Tomorrow I have a job interview and then I have a friend in town that I promised to spend time with. Thursday though. I will be back to writing on Thursday.

I have also decided that I will be checking my sales numbers at the end of June. There will be no backing out of that. It is firm. That is when I will do it. And my goal is to have Samurai Zombie Hunter done by then.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I will be celibate for the next 2 months while I write my next book

Book: Samurai Zombie Hunter

Just a quick note to say that
I reread the first 3 and a half chapters of Samurai Zombie Hunter. It is good story telling. Tomorrow morning I have to do some research for my afternoon on camera interview for the documentary company interviewing me about Happiness Thru the Art of Penis Enlargement. And after that I check out my notes for what is going to happen for the rest of the book.

I hope that I can match the style that I started in the first chapters. It is a very sexual style, and no doubt it has to do with the fact that I was intentionally celibate while I was writing it. The first chapters are bursting with sexuality. And if I am going to do justice to what I have started, I have to be celibate again.

I remember the celibacy driving me nuts the first time I did it. I don't look forward to starting it, but I guess I already have. And for the next 2 months I won't even touch myself in a masturbatory way. If I remember correctly, this will be hard for the first month. And then after I lose all desire to live life, the overwhelming feeling will subside.

But I'm tired now and I'm going to sleep. I can barely keep my eyes open. I will have to write more on the topic tomorrow.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

My book is a book club selection

Book: Run From The Reaper
Book: Fixing Cupid

I am still on vacation from writing so I have been spending my time doing that other thing that writers do. I'm promoting my books. Last night I emailed everyone in my address about my 'The First Day After Life' 5 star review. I've gotten a couple of great responses from it. I had been waiting to send it out until I finished Run From The Reaper and Everybody vs The Ferret: 1. It was good to get that done.

Also, I've made a decision that I will make as large of an effort possible to get at least 1 blog interview per week. It's ambitious but I have to try. I already spend a lot of time on Amazon Kindle's Facebook page and on Kindle Boards. I'm already giving away free copies on LibraryThing and blogging and tweeting. Blog interviews were the next logical step.

So this week's interview will be a live interview on Saturday with GreatMindsThinkAloud Book Club. And the interview will be the first step in them making two of my books their book club selection. In June Run From The Reaper will be one of their books. And in July they will be doing Fixing Cupid. If you would like to join along please sign up. It will be fun to have you.

Also, a date was set by the documentary company that will be interviewing me about my book Happiness Thru The Art of... Penis Enlargement. Apparently I am one of the foremost experts on the form of penis enlargement called Jelqing. They will be coming by my place on Tuesday to shoot the interview. It should be fun because let me tell you, I love being on camera. I have no problem admitting that.

It was a busy day. There is a clear benefit to having written in so many genres. I wonder if it outweighs the downside of not building up a consistent readership? Well, I guess I will never know because I could never just write in one genre continuously. I hope that readers will choose to check out my other book anyway.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Released 2 books today

Book: Run From The Reaper
Book: Everybody vs The Ferret
Mood: Great!
Impression: It's pretty great

Today I released 2 books. These are both books that were created from previous scripts that I spent a lot of time on. I'm very happy with both releases. And the great thing is that both books got sales on their first day. You've got to love that. Thank you readers.

On an unfortunate note, I do have to change the description for 'The First Day After Life'. Unfortunately I received a bad review and I think it was because the person was expecting something else when he read the book. The funny thing is that I didn't want to write what I wrote. But I was talked into writing it.

There was even a point when I said, "Don't you think that a reader might be upset if I don't mention the fact that the book takes place in the living world and the afterlife but I don't mention it?" The person said that they wouldn't. Now I have a bad review. And the unfortunate thing is that I found it just after I emailed 300 people bragging about my other great 5 star review. DAMN IT!

Oh well. What are you gonna do... I mean other than looking around my place looking for something destructive I could do to take my mind off of my one bad review. But hey, on the other hand, I did get 3 great five star reviews in the last couple of days for 'Everybody Masturbates.' Well, I guess you can't win them all.

I keep thinking whether or not I should change something in the book 'The First Day After Life' and I keep thinking 'no'. The book is exactly the way that it should be. I wrote it the way I did to answer the question of why bad things happen to people. I can't explain that without talking about everything that I did talk about in the book. That is what the book is. Oh well. I guess that that is the problem with writing books, sometimes people don't like them.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Everybody vs The Ferret:1 is done!

Book: Everybody vs The Ferret: 1
Words: 7,852 (editing)
Time: Noon - 4:30
Mood: Excellent
Impression: It pretty good

I am so happy that I'm done! I am so incredibly happy to be done. I was so tired. This fury that I was on was such a burden to me. The absolute truth is that I think that I lost my mind for a moment there. And all I could do to survive is write. And since that is the only thing that I could do, I did it and I didn't stop doing it.

I was writing out of desperation because I was having an existential crisis. I really didn't know why I was living life. I have always gotten so much praise from people for everything that I've done and yet I still wasn't were I wanted to be. And it was killing me. And I don't really mean that figuratively. I mean that I was closer to death than I will admit. I wanted to not be here any more.

But then I started writing. And I wrote with complete abandon. I decided that if I wasn't going to be here anymore than I was going to leave something behind. And I knew that if it existed electronically then it would survive me. So I converted everything that I had into an ebook and I just kept going.

But today when I hit publish on the Kindle program I felt such a relief. I was so happy! I was done! Even thinking about it now I almost want to fall down onto my knees and cry. It was an incredibly dark time for me. And writing kept me alive. And now that that is done I can let whatever happens to me happen. If I must go back to a marketing job that I don't love, I can do it. If I have to go back to the Bahamas and die there, so be it. What I'm saying is that I have accomplished what I wanted to do and now I'm open to what may come next.

I still have things scheduled to write. For example after my week break is up I have to turn my attention to the next one which I don't even want to acknowledge. And in a months time I have to write Everybody vs The Ferret: 2. But today after I finished the book, I drove to the racquetball court and I felt normal again. I needed to be done so badly. And now I am. And I'm going to enjoy it for a while.

Though in the mean time I have the launch of Run From the Reaper in a day and Everybody vs The Ferret: 1 the same day. And I will have to do as marketing for that as I can think of so that I it does what it is supposed to do as a book.

Honestly, everyone who is reading this. I hope that you enjoy the books. They and especially Run From the Reaper represents me in an accurate way. And when you read it, keep in mind that the runner in the beginning of the story is me. That is how I felt when I wrote it. The Red Reaper was my demon.