Let's Make It Official...Unofficially

I'm not, like, announcing a date or anything like that, but, as I mentioned in my previous post, my flash fiction chapbook, "The Ever-Present Moment," is coming out this summer.

The concept is pretty complete; the stories are pretty much done and the layout/design is more or less already finished. I just ordered a proof, which should be here in a couple of weeks.

I do actually have a specific release definite date in mind; however, while it wasn't my original intention, I have decided to do this guerrilla-style.

There isn't going to be much in the way of a description or explanation. Being only 28 pages, it doesn't feel necessary; plus, it is one of those things that just is what it is: nothing more, nothing less.

Anyways, since I have already shared the photograph that is the basis for the cover, I don't see any harm in putting out the actual cover.

Mindfulness

Photo by Gabe Gott.

Back by popular demand. By that, I mean, two or more people noticed that I have not posted to this blog lately, and while they did not directly say it or probably even think it, these days, if you aren't up-to-date enough according to what your audience demands, you run the risk of disappearing from the cultural consciousness.

That being said, though, while you don't want to turn the volume on low for too long, sometimes it is healthy to take a step or two back and just meditate on your life for a bit. A month, or so, is not that long, in the grand scope of things.

Going on a hike, or two, is a good way to remind you that there are more important things in life; not so much that you are human, but more that you are a part of the world, and, even though it is faulty in a lot of ways--especially in an election season--you realize that it is really a pretty magnificent place.

One of the things that I discovered during this process is that, more than pushing myself to be this big huge success in whatever, I will be far happier if I can continue working my full-time job and also pursuing writing, and whatever else, as an artist. I think I've mentioned this before, but I feel like I need to reiterate it, as it has been a primary focus for such a long time.

While some people get into writing to eventually do it for a living, and there is nothing wrong with that, and good luck to anyone who is pursuing that right at this very moment, that is not the right path for me. It reminded me that, as someone wise once told me, it's okay to define success in a different way.

Success doesn't necessarily mean owning things or having money or the type of job that you set out to get when you choose a major. Sometimes, it has a very different definition. To some, it can mean holding true to a certain ideal, or set of ideals, even in the face of criticism. Sometimes, success can be just saying, "fuck it."

In that spirit, I am releasing not just one but TWO flash fiction chapbooks this year. It was originally only supposed to be the one (split into sections), but it actually works out better as two distinct more-clearly-focused collections.

For the first, I am shooting for a late July, early August release. It is titled "The Ever-Present Moment" and will feature the above photograph as a significant part of the book's cover. It will be fairly short, only 26 pages and less than 2,000 words, and will feature six, both new and previously published, stories.

The second set will have a yet-to-be-designed pop art cover and is titled "Dispatches from the Information Age." It is longer, 44 pages and over 2,000 words, and is intended for an Election Day 2016 release. It will feature twelve stories.

While I am glad that I had the chance to take some time away, I do hope to pick back up the "once a week on Saturdays" blogging thing. We'll just have to see what happens. I am not making any promises, but the outlook right now is good. I will definitely publish something here at least once a month, which I think I am good for, even if sometimes it stretches to over a month between posts (technically).

For now, I am going to go enjoy the rest of this beautiful Saturday afternoon, and maybe grab some lunch. Yeah, that would be a good idea.

Into the Great, Wide Open

It's only the middle of May, but this year so far has brought about a great number of changes in my life, and as I have held on, white-knuckled, a lot of what I used to hold as important has flown straight out the window, lost to the swirling oblivion.

Photo iillustration courtesy of https://pixabay.com/en/b3d-blender-tornado-severe-weather-814151/

Many of these changes have been forced upon me, and as my head stops spinning and I try to catch my breath, I work to begin making sense of it all.

One thing that has become clear is that I am going to have to let go of a lot in order to move forward, and one of those things that I need to let go of is the presence of writing in my life as the be-all, end-all of everything. Not that I am quitting writing or anything like that, but in order for me to enjoy it and sit down and do it every day, I have to do it for its sake, and for no other reason.

I alluded to this before, maybe a blog post or two ago, but it is now clearer to me than ever. Of course, much of this, if not most of it, or even all of it, is going on inside my head, and it is enough to drive a person insane.

Again, that doesn't mean that I am quitting writing fiction, or quitting publishing. In fact, what I am letting the wind take away and scatter is what has held me back from doing more of what I love for the reasons why I love it. Maybe this means that I will never be a professional writer, or whatever, but I don't care. I am doing this for me.

One of the (actual, physical) things that is getting lost to the wind is my update of my short story collection, Tales from the Fringes.

While the original is certainly far from perfect, I have come to terms with the fact that it is okay that it is imperfect, and that at the time that I published it, I did not know what I was doing. It was, after all, a learning experience, and of course the first time around what I publish is not going to be perfect, and of course I have learned a great deal about writing and publishing since then.

I just need to stop revisiting these same projects over and over so that I can move forward and focus on all of the new projects that I am writing right now, which are far better than anything that I have written before, and it would be a shame for me to postpone them or put them off any longer because I am too focused on making something perfect that can never be perfect.

The next project that I will be publishing is my flash fiction chapbook, which does not have a release date yet because there are still a couple or three stories that are being publishing in journals, and they have first rights, and I want to give people enough time to read and enjoy them in those places, first. I will, of course, let you know when those journals publish them, and give you a release date for my collection--when I have one.

The forthcoming collection's title is Dispatches from the Information Age, and I might write some more short shorts to put in it while I have time to work on it. It already has around 25-26 stories, and is around 70 pages (the way it is currently formatted), and I don't want it to get substantially longer than that. In fact, especially if I write more for it, I will probably edit it down and choose the best 20 or so stories.

I only plan to release it in print form, and I am going to take my time with the cover art and interior formatting to maximize the aesthetics of it. I am going more for artistic expression than "professionalism"--whatever that means.

Following its publication, hopefully sometime next year, I will be putting out my second novel, and sometime after that, my second short story collection, both of which are in progress. For the novel, which has changed names a few times since the last time I spoke of it, I have commissioned my artist brother to do the cover art, and even from our initial conversations, I know that it is going to blow people away--hopefully in the same way that the contents of it also do.

Thank you all for your patience, and for continuing to read this blog. I might not have the largest following, but I certainly have one of the best, and most loyal. I appreciate you taking the time to read what I write, no matter how inane or rambling it sometimes turns out to be. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

For the Lovers, The Dreemers, and Me

There is nothing better than hearing good new music for the first time. It doesn't matter what it is or how you hear it, when you instantly connect with a new artist, even though they created the music, it becomes yours.

The Black Angels recently caught my attention. I think it was on Austin City Limits, or maybe KEXP's YouTube Channel. They have this echoy psychedelic awesomeness going on that hits me in just the right way.

The Black Angels. Photo by Gina Pina from Austin, TX. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Whatever the music happens to be, when it's the right thing for me at that moment, when the notes catch my ears, something unlocks within me. It's like when I am jamming and I find a groove and ride it for as long as I feel it.

For certain songs by certain artists, I get that feeling back every time I hear them. Like anything by Donovan or The Kinks or Tommy James and the Shondells. I could listen to their albums on repeat for a month and be ready to re-up the next month going.

Variety is good, too. Like most music lovers I know, I go through phases.

Lately, there has been this local band, The Dreemers, who my wife, a couple of our closest friends, and I happened to catch at Pork Rokr last summer. It took the band a while to set up (which I image is a bit of a challenge to do on a front porch), so there was this sort of slow-building of suspense. We had not heard of them before, but when we saw them listed on the map of performances around our Highland Square neighborhood, something about them drew us in that direction.

We had seen some good performances that day by a variety of bands, and even though we did not know exactly what to expect, we had high hopes. The band of high school kids who had just performed on the porch next door had just finished a respectable "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and we sat  on curb, the sun bleating down high overhead. We waited patiently, discussing how my friends and I should start a folk rock band called Peters, Charles, and Peters. I would be Pete Peters, Adam would be Charles Charles, and Josh would be Charles Peters.

As soon as The Dreemers started playing, the four of us were hooked. They have this twangy surf-rock, Talking-Heads-meets-The-Akron-Sound vibe going. We talked about them for a while after that, and last night, we, minus Josh, went to see them perform again, this time at this cool little art collective gallery space called Hive Mind. Two other Akron-area bands, Hard in the Pink and Birthday Noose, also performed.

The Dreemers at Hive Mind on 4/16/16. Photo by Sarah Gott.

It was an all-around great concert in a very intimate and low-key setting. The three of us had a great time, and everyone else there seemed to be enjoying the music, as well. We will definitely be going again.

One of the reasons we went last night, in addition to our love of the band and music and going to shows, in general, is because I will be reviewing The Dreemers upcoming EP, "Is, Is," for The Devil Strip's May issue, and I had to remind myself what I will be in store for when I sit down to listen to it. The EP comes out on May 13, when the band will also have a release party at Jilly's Music Room.

I have this feeling that this is going to be a great summer with a lot of amazing new music to experience and share. I can't wait!

Take It Away, Freebird

What It Means to Be An Artist in the Age of Hyper-Capitalism

Photo by https://pixabay.com/en/crow-raven-bird-sky-silhouette-434754/.

As is prone to happen, lately I have spent many hours lying awake at night, my mind racing through all subjects.

I try telling myself that I won't be solving all of my issues and all of the world's problems at 4 a.m., especially when I have to get up in two hours to get ready for work, but my brain is not always very reasonable, so I put on music and hopefully that works. I try relaxation techniques, and maybe that does have an effect, but it takes a lot of concentration, and I can't always settle my brain down for very long. Some nights, I hardly get any sleep.

One issue that my brain has been tossing around especially a lot lately has been my pursuit of publishing and selling books, and in particular how I feel like I have pushed myself towards emulating the multitude of hucksters that you see out there, particularly on Twitter, that push their wares on unsuspecting and mostly uninterested multitudes, all in an effort to sell books.

Do this, and this, and this, the marketing gurus command from their digital pedestals, and you will make some money. This is how so-and-so author makes a living off of his/her publishing, they claim, and so can you.

As readers of this blog have witnessed, I have tried on several different pieces of this advice from these online "experts," but like trying on pants at a thrift store, most of them did not fit for one reason or another.

While I have learned a great deal, and certainly what not to do and what doesn't work for me, I have not yet figured out what actually does work for me specifically. When I write, I like to push boundaries. I enjoy expressing my thoughts and feelings in ways that are uniquely me, and I don't want to compromise.

Maybe it is just irrational stubbornness on my part, and maybe I will never be successful due to it, but, yadda yadda I consider myself an artist, and as an artist, I have decided that I need to do what is best for my art, and that means trashing most of the marketing bullshit and committing myself to doing it entirely my own way, for better or worse (of my bank account).

While I don't plan on getting rid of my social media or this blog, I have considered it. I have even been so disenchanted with writing lately that I have even considered giving up on it entirely. For those of you who know me, or who have read this blog for a while and feel like you know me, then you know that is a pretty big deal, but rather than taking a flying leap off of the precipice, I am seeking my own path, and at the very least returning to writing fiction solely for my enjoyment of it. 

I have a job, I have a cool writing gig, and those things are what I need to be focusing on right now. I am happy to share my writing with whoever wants to read it, but I am not going to go out of my way, or do anything that I feel compromises my integrity, as an artist, in order to sell books.

That cheapens it and takes the fun out of it for me, and I would rather enjoy it for the sake of doing it rather than trying to cater to someone else's ideas of how it should be done.

For those of you reading this who think I am making a mistake or whatever, you can just buzz off. It's people like you who are the reason why it is necessary for me to take this step.

Besides, on the grand scope of things, it doesn't really matter. There are more important things happening in this world and in my life right now. Self-publishing doesn't have to be done a certain way just because some people have done it that way and have sold a bunch of books because of it.

In fact, just because someone else has had success with a particular approach, it doesn't mean that way will work for everyone, and if you look at the number of books that most self-publishers actually sell while trying to do it that one way, then maybe you will see that what works for the people who are selling books isn't the best way for everyone. Not everyone has the same idea of success (queue "Freebird").

That's why I have to decided to make my eBooks free, or at least leave all of the ones that I currently have free, still free, and then some, possibly.

Of course, I will still have to charge for the print books if you want to buy them online or through a store, but I will also always give away as many as I can afford to buy at a time (to people I see in person). I feel like I would rather have people read read it and give it a chance than have unrealistic expectations about who will buy it or not.

It might seem a little silly to some, but that doesn't make it silly. Especially if my goal is to gain readers.

I can't guarantee I will always give all of my books away in this manner, but at least these ones. Probably also the updated version of my short story collection, and my flash fiction chapbook. They are short and sweet.

I don't know if people will want them, but it will be one less thing to worry about and one hour closer to a full night's sleep.

Hey There, It's Me!

Photo by https://pixabay.com/en/crocus-garden-end-of-winter-670378/.

Black Sabbath's Paranoid starts spinning. I just finished my own somewhat extended jam session, and now I am chilling and listening, looking out my windows. All is right with the world again; the birds are singing and there is a soft glow, but, I imagine, the backyard kinda smells like dog shit.

A lot has taken place in my life in the time since my last posting. Maybe that is the reason for the slight bitterness. Maybe I should just clean up the yard.

Getting a job was nice. The job is pretty fun too. There is a lot of typing involved, which, I realize, is what is improving my guitar playing. Finger strength is half the battle, apparently. Having a guitar and place to go jam with my friends was basically how I made it through grad school.

It's the spring thaw! We are old and lazy now, and it is too cold to jam in the garage in the winter. We could, but we're all cold babies. That, and it's hard on the instruments. Trust me, we cannot afford to have those cymbals get any worse. The way they are is okay, though. We can just market it as "low-fi." We are the biggest fans of our music, and that sort of thing totally appeals to us.

Wait, wait a second. I just totally forgot about a key piece of information that, unless you have checked out my ABOUT page lately, or my social media, you might not have noticed. I write for a magazine now! The Devil Strip!

It's a lot of fun. I like getting to interview people who are doing what they love for a living, or who are chasing doing what they love for a living. It's really inspiring, and it gives me a chance to get outside of myself and think about all of the cool stuff that other people are doing in my community,. Plus, I think, a little humility is good for me.

Sometimes, I get nervous about how my stories are going to turn out, but then I just buckle doing and work harder, and they seem to turn out okay. Not just okay, though. Maybe even... Good? I don't know. I guess that's for the readers to decide.

I really hope that people dig my story about The Funny Stop, which will be in April's Devil Strip. I had a lot of fun doing those interviews, and Pete at The Funny Stop was a big help in putting me in contact with the two comedians who I interviewed. He was also very happy to answer my questions.

For my other story, I  interviewed the guitarist of Puscifer, which is fronted by (Tool and A Perfect Circle's) Maynard James Keenan . The guitarist's name is Mat Mitchell, and he was very nice to speak with me the night before the current leg of the tour got under way.

Also, if you haven't checked it out already, last month I interviewed Neil Zaza, an Akron native who just happens to travel the world and play guitar for a living.

My goal now, is to get settled into my new routine and stay busy! I hope to still write these blog posts every Saturday, or, rather, I hope that I get back into writing these blog posts every Saturday. It is a good excuse to get to Nervous Dog and drink dark roast coffee all morning.

Hell, I do that anyways. It is nice to be productive, though.

It's also nice to be busy enough and productive enough that I can really justify just enjoying my weekends. Life is too short not to enjoy them. So long as I enjoy it, I will continue doing it, and that goes for everything I just mentioned--except the job. Yeah, that is kind of necessary.