I haven't dropped a post in a while, so I figured I'd better leave one, even if it's really short.

I started sending out the queries last week. I haven't heard back from any of them yet. That's a good thing! The last time I sent out queries (about 6 or 7) the rejections came immediately. Some of them were the very next day, if i remember correctly. It was the positive feedback ones that took weeks to get. So when I check my mailbox and find it empty, there's a weird sense of relief there.

My son is in St.Martin with his grandmother for the entire week. Great opportunity to sweep over my work and tighten it up for when I get request for the full manuscript. I'm having a great time reading over my own story, so I have to take that as a positive. I mean, I've read my own book only about eighty-seven thousand times. The fact that I can do it one more time and enjoy it says a lot, I think.

Anyway, my sleep patterns haven't gotten any better. Got pretty much no sleep last night so I'm going to clean up and take another crack at it. Hope all is well with anyone finding this.

-Cheers

As a writer creating effective, dynamic,characters use to be my strong point, but lately I'm finding I'm having a harder time doing it.

I'm a little bit sadden by this and curious as to why it has happened. Off the top of my head all I can guess is that you start to see people differently as an adult. People seem less dynamic. Adults a predictable, mind controlled and so afraid to deviate from the norm.

During my teen years and early twenty's, particularly my college days, I was able to create amazing and colorful characters. I was surrounding by amazing colorful people. I could take bits and piece of people I knew, stitched it together with some strange ideas of my own and, TA-DAA! Characters I loved were born.

In any case, all is not lost. I still know how to create a good character, even if it doesn't seem to come as natural for me as it did before. Plus I know when something sounds cliché, over done, to out of the realm of possibility. I still have some of my literary "spider senses" at my command. So create a new character I have! Aren't I suppose to be done writing this book already?

The fun part about creating characters now is RESEARCH. I might not have these Dynamic people in my life, but they are out there. News clips, history, television. Yes, Personalities! Historys! They are all out there.

For this new character I've decided to base him loosely on the David Berkowitz--The Son Of Sam--and I've been researching this guy on-line. Okay, scary shit, yah? But this guy is very fascinating and the more I learn about him the more my character comes alive. You have to know what parts you're looking for though and what it is you want to take out of this persons story.

It's not the fact that this guy was a serial killer that has caught my attention. It is the fact that he is now a born-again Christian that I find most fascinating. Dude! If David Berkowitz says there is a God, I'd be inclined to believe him. Lord knows he's sent many a poor soul to go meet him!

But I am totally curious about this guys story now. All the little details I'm trying to find on the net. Like, did the dog actually TALK to him and tell him to kill people or did he just translate the barking in his own head?

What exactly was it in the bible that he read that made him convert? How did it make him feel?

He says he came from a  pretty good home but I found out he was in the military and left only a few years before his first murder. I can't help but wonder if his stint in the military had anything to do with his mental problems afterwards, knowing what we know about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) it seems possible.

Anyway, I know I'm just being attacked by distraction demons here. I need to get on and get this book completely finished. 35 Chapters complete! It's amazing! But there's no sense in quitting now.




*That pic is not of me, that's the Son Of Sam. I know! He looks like such a nice guy!He has changed though, but even so, It's still spooky...

Ladies and Gentleman, I have found a new hero...LOL



I love this guy for two reasons. 1. He's a hero and 2. He's entertaining as all fuck.  It angers me though when I watch Youtube videos about this guy and all they do is trash him because he's seems gay, he seems uncharacteristically funny about a situation which most of us would find plenty frightening, and because he's from the projects.

Okay, first of all, just because someone talks with an accent doesn't mean they are intellectually inferior. People were acting as if the reporter was throwing him math equations, or he was in the middle of a spelling bee or something. How can you decipher this persons intelligence from that little clip? You can't! That was a trick question. But a ton of people seem to think they can rate peoples IQ by how they speak. So I guess the Japanese and the Chinese of America are dumb as hell because they speak that "Engrish?"? or the Russians and the Germans and The Irish, or the Scotts...who are damn near incomprehendable when they are excited...all fail intellectually because they can't say "Jamie Foxx" without making the nearest American fly into a fit of giggles.

COME ON PEOPLE! Let's evolve a little!

Another thing about this story is that it forces me to reveal a deep dark secret about myself. I LOVE HOW BLACK PEOPLE TALK!!

AHAHAHA! I grew up in very racially diverse communities and if there's one thing I've always been happy about is having black people as friends and family and getting to sit around and just listen to them SPEAK. It sounds like a stereotype but it's true, black people are probably the most entertaining people on earth, and as a writer, I know that you can place a group of black people in any situation in a story...shoveling snow...buying food at the local Pathmart... and if you get the characters right, the conversation right, it will=COMEDY GOLD!

"MARTIN" is one of the best comedies ever! What was it about? what made it so good? Black people talking! 80% of the shows comedy bits comes from conversation alone. And this isn't just a production made up to get views...this is how BLK PEOPLE REALLY TALK!





It's not just black Americans either. The blacks from the West Indies are  really amusing to listen too. It's like the entire language is built on the entertainment factor. If you can s[peak Haitian and listen to two old Haitian men discuss the news you'll know what I mean. FUNNY AS FUCK!

But hands down, the best at speaking black are probably the blacks from the south (the southern part of North America). Sheeeeet! I can listen to them talk all day!

So in closing, i'd like to say that you shouldn't judge people by how they speak and stop trying to shame blacks into giving up something that makes them truly unique and interesting. I love how I talk, I don't want to sound like some stiff unless I am infact at a stiff ass job!

Anyway, if you can't appriciate the ART that is in how black folks talk, I pity you! LOL!

Haha! Kind of a big let down after my last post I know. But I have good reason for hesitating this time...



I took someones wonderful advice and joined a writing group online. HOORAY FOR THE INTERNET!!

Yesterday afternoon I posted the first five pages of my story---which is part of my submission packet BTW---to writingforums.com (my username is Balistic, LOOK ME UP, YO!)

Ahem. Anyway, so for I only got one critique of my work but it was good advice. Also re-reading my own except at like 5 am in the morning (I'm having really horrible sleep patterns lately, I go to sleep anytime, wake up whenever and usually don't end up getting more then 4 hours a sleep a day) I found a ton of mistakes!! Okay, not a ton, but enough to make me glad I didn't send in my submission to agents yet!

The mistakes were little and I know my overall writing is good, but I can't afford any errors. Has to be PERFECT! So for any other writers out their going bitch cakes over their work, I suggest you have it looked at by a critique group, even an online one. Competition is stiff ya'll! Everyone one and their baby mama is trying to be the next "Stephanie Meyer". How good her writing is I'll let the individual decide...but my way of thinking? I can't write a book as good as "Twilight" I have to try to make something better. That's just what it takes to succeed now-a-days because honestly, the publishing hustle has become a dog race. Which is cool with me, I'm ready for battle!




*By the way I didn't draw the picture located on the top. I found it here: http://bloodylilies.livejournal.com/profile




It's gorgeous though, isn't it? People are so talented!