Two Weeks!

Sorry about the lack of blogging and tweeting, but I had only one choice: finish editing and formatting the novel. Any available time, and some culled from not sleeping, have been spent trying to make this book the best it can be. At least the best this initial FDO edition can be. The Limited Edition FDO (For Dickheads Only) copies will be here in two weeks. And that's after I finish some final tweaks today and tomorrow and upload the final copy.
Yeah, I know, I was going to do that last week, but I continued to find spelling and formatting errors. So, this is where it stands now. I assure you this initial run must arrive in two weeks so I can share with friends and then get on the road for the PKD festival in Colorado. I'll post a better update AFTER that upload! Just wanted to say that soon the new book blog and and a lot of tweets will ensue! And, Happy BD KD!

proving my legitimacy

One of the things I truly hated about working for government was justifying my existence. For those who don't know, a significant percentage of government workers really are worthless "bumps on a log." They lack incentive or initiative, probably because they've been beaten down by arrogant supervisors or politicians.

On any given day, I could walk into my office in a cheerful mood, ready to accomplish something, and immediately be attacked by some ass who wasn't sure I was earning my pay. So instead of being productive, I would spend the day proving what I had done over the past week, month, or year. It was demoralizing.

I swore when I retired from government I would never waste my time accounting for my work or actions again. Wrong! I spent an inordinate amount of time a few months ago justifying a dental claim. And, now, with the novel, I've had to justify and explain myself to bankers, lawyers and publishers. I am sick of this. So sick, in fact, I wanted to toss the book and all the legal BS into the trash and just forget it.

It seems no matter what we do, from traveling to writing to just living, we are constantly forced to prove our legitimacy and justify our actions. I hate it! I want a real Independence Day. I vow not to explain myself or my actions, not once tomorrow, July 4th!

AKS -- when??

Oh, I wish I could give you a solid answer. You can see it's getting close... the cover is done, the inside pages are still being edited. When I resized the book for uploading, it became a formatting nightmare. Art work and sketches flying off the page, my once perfect pages (they way they looked) a disaster. And, the gals (Mo and Kay, my editors) are combing over it with an extra fine-tooth one. That is fabulous, cause they don't miss a lick! Hopefully it will be error free, and sans my sick cliches, when ya'll finally see it.

For now, just gawk at the PKD Festival site and I assure you when I've seen a good galley (PROOF COPY) I'll be shouting from the roof tops! Oh, check out the PKD man in the maze vs. little alien. The cover on the right is final! Now, what font for interior? Does anyone want to suggest a font they like for reading novels? Garamond (12 pt) is receiving mixed reviews. Now is the time, while I'm still formatting. After the Solstice, it will be too late, baby.

Intergalactic Release!

At 7:30 tonight, A Kindred Spirit (my metaphysical novel about Philip K Dick) was discussed on KGNU radio in Colorado! This was the first public announcement about the book. After learning that the first U.S. Philip K Dick Festival would be held in August of this year, I decided that would be the perfect venue for the official release. Luckily, PKD festival organizer Dave Hyde agreed. So, we determined the International -- or Intergalactic Release -- would take place in Nederland, CO (sort of like Neverland, right?) just a few miles from Boulder.

Hyde spent quite a bit of time explaining the premise of the novel, and even used my disclaimer that "Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental." I'm tired from a long day of finishing up the cover art, and talking to the publisher, or I would add more. I taped his comments. For now, I'm just thrilled to have such a perfect way to release the novel. We decided today to create an FDO Limited Edition for the festival. FDO, of course, is For Dickheads Only, in remembrance of Hyde's fun Phil 'zine. yay!

Writing

I could write a book, on writing a book. In fact, I think that may be my opening line if I ever actually speak publicly about my novel. I ask myself IF I really want to publish and WHY. Most people say, "for money." That's never been my motivation. Maybe if I was hungrier and desperate I would swallow my pride and conform to more traditional methods. Let some NY editor, or Chicago-born AP stylist, tear it apart and restructure it as the next blockbuster bestseller.

No, I simply want to tell the story. It's a story that will not leave me alone, that I haven't been able to walk away from and one that must be told. It may not have a blockbuster ending, and I may take too many liberties with viewpoint, but if I don't release it, get it out there -- told-- I will never rest or move on in life.

A Kindred Spirit (my novel) is myth-based fiction, a journey. My heroine, Niki, does indeed venture forth from the common day world of Ottumwa into a realm of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are encountered and victory is hers. She does help release the earth-bound spirits and in doing so has the basis for her own Peace Treatise. It's a quest for meaning, purpose and to learn "what's really real."

That is where Phil comes in. Even though some of my friends still say it's about Phil, and Philip K. Dick is a central figure, the real story is about finding purpose and meaning in life. That was Phil's Mission, that was what drove Bishop James Pike to his so-called heretical search in the desert and that's what motivates Nicole J. Perceval (aka Niki.)

I always wrote it using Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" model and later Chris Vogler's bible "The Writer's Journey." But calling it a mythological journey seems too heavy for a lot of folk, so I've been saying, "It's a metaphysical mystery, a ghost story with a mission" or things like that.

So, yes, I will publish it. I have to. But, next to quitting smoking, this process has been the hardest damn trip imaginable, fraught with more danger than Niki's journey. Writing itself is hard, but editing and publishing -- that is pure demonic hell.
"We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want." -- old Taoist saying

Camelot Lost

I feel embarrassed to be an American. This decline in integrity, values, ethics and even lack of spirituality is getting to me. The current oil spill crisis is U.S. caused, even though the company is British Petroleum. The U.S. oil industry lobbied to relax standards on the underwater equipment because they didn't want to pay the extra money for safety. All other nations ponied up and made sure their rigs were safer. Now, here we are (the U.S.) polluting the earth again. Earth Day my ass.

We are the ones who taught other countries how to create plutonium and nuclear power and now we don't like the proliferation. Nuclear power is NOT safe. It is subject to terrorist attacks, and would be far more devastating than the tens of thousands of birds and wildlife we will kill with the current oil spill crisis. A serious nuclear accident or terrorist attack on a power plant could wipe out the country or world. My friend just told me the old nukes here in the Monzano Mountains are leaking radio active waste into our water supply. Great! We won't have to worry about 2012, we'll all be dead by then.

Our new "conservative" president is too "thinky" to make any serious change in our national energy policies. So we continue on with old out-moded "drill and spill" oil rigs and new potential nuclear meltdowns (because no one will remember past human error and the true nightmare of reactors gone haywire.) We are not moving fast enough to convert to clean energy sources like wind and solar. I would get up and leave (the U.S.) but if those of us who actually remember that history repeats itself, turn over the reins and let the upcoming uneducated slackers with no morals or ethics run this place, we're certain to fall like Rome. We're already in deep decline. And, no matter where I go, America will manage to screw up the entire planet. Truly tragic for those of us who grew up with Camelot dreams.