Musings & just a little venting in Tbilisi

The Surrey International Writers Conference is currently going on and I find myself sorely in need of some positive energy. The kind Robert Dugoni usually brings in bunches. Getting and reading rejection letters are part of every writer’s path. It is part of the business and the trade. This fact doesn’t make it any easier. Being a citizen of the world and away from one’s regular support group compounds the issue. Well, at least Vodka is inexpensive and good in Tbilisi. Relax, my over sensitive readers, it isn’t that bad. But at times it feels that way and at moments like those I reflect on the stories Bob told a few years ago, and will most likely say again to you attending this year. Fill up on those as they will pay as many dividends as any Masters Class. Be positive with one another, and support each other, as we are all the same regardless of the stories we tell. I know it can be difficult but endure.

I recall listening to a writer attendee talk about his Neo-gothic steampunk vampire detective novel. It was set in the last century, but the dialogue was in an abbreviated text form of language. I listened and while most certainly not my genre, interest, or understanding I nodded and was supportive. When someone interjected negatively about the language form, I responded with “It worked for A Clockwork Orange.”

We storytellers (props Rick M) face a very uphill fight. The industry is changing and the audience seems to still be shrinking. Time, our most precious commodity, is fleeting and making the time to read is difficult. I love reading and I can’t get into fiction while I am writing. I reward myself with two weeks of reading time when I finish my first draft. Letting the project sit I let myself enjoy some fiction. Traveling the world and enjoying real books means when I finally got to my copy of The Border it looked like it had been through a war. I enjoyed it immensely and was reminded of the magic of reading once again. Good storytellers can perform this magical feat. It also inspired me to pick up my own MSS and run a critical eye over it again. I re-read sections of Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass paying close attention to some tension angles and twists. It inspired me to push the envelope of the genre and write a new first chapter. Risky to be sure, but I believe it works better and adds a quirk and a twist reader’s will love or hate. Either way it will generate strong emotions. Currently, it seems to be hated. But lets put this into perspective Agents aren’t really readers. They are quasi-humans descended from the genes of the three-headed dog that guards Hell. As such they guard the gates of literary stardom and obscurity with a fierce voracity. Jaded and judgmental they journey through piles of parchment penned pap, searching for the next STEPHEN…Seriously they are human. They read our stories with an expert eye to the marketability of our stories. They know the industry and the market. Perhaps in this climate they are less likely to take many risks but, on the whole, they are positive people. I try to remember this fact when I read; “While I liked the characters and the…I just don’t think I am the right agent for this project.”

One point of criticism that I will in all seriousness add is hire some of the out of work tech gurus and start accepting PDF attachments. Honestly they could use the work and are pretty cheap these days. I write in Scrivener, on a Mac, and exporting to rich text and fixing all the page breaks, margins, exotic punctuation, and ghost monkeys is more than a little challenging. “Please add in the body of your email three chapters…page margins of…with pink bows instead of periods and underlines for italics.” I think a correctly written query is enough to let you know if this person is real or not. Then decent antivirus software at the server level should be protection enough. Bring the PDF down to an Ipad for continued reading if you think the risk is too great. Imagine reading projects formatted and easy on the eyes? Nirvana right? If you have made the decision to spend four hours reading an MSS then surely the expenditure of two hundred bucks for an old Ipad is minuscule for the combined ease to you and writer alike. I wonder how many great writers get slush piled because they sent an email with difficult to read content?

  I have been making new friends here in Tbilisi and enjoying the country of Georgia. Inga and I have been helping out friends that run a place called The English Language Club. It is a great little club that does English language training and asked if we’d come and tell the kids about Canada. It was a hit and everyone had a great time learning. Me included!

My last week in Anapa, Russia.

    I have been doing a bunch of thinking lately. Yes, I know how dangerous that can be. But hey, you’re sitting at home safe and sound so have a sip of coffee or vodka and come along with me on this little ride. I am not going to include a bunch of pictures in this blog as I want you to form your own.

     I am always amazed when life tosses things in front of you when you either least expect it or need it the most. Like catching the perfect iPod mix on random while doing an equally random drive or walk. This has happened to me this week past the point of coincidence. Those of you that know me well understand my love of this sacred geometry of chance. Either you’ve played poker with me or sat next to me at a blackjack table. Winning or losing I love watching the odds. Not that I can understand odds correctly, my math skills are too underdeveloped for that. I just get caught up in the awe of impossible and relish the unlikely. This week has brought this to my door. Inga is running about in a packing frenzy as we prepare for the move to Georgia. Inga hates packing, but she is getting used to it with all our bounces over the past year. She also has her very own system for doing it and my system is to stay out of her way while she does. So I have been getting a great deal of writing done. I try to help as I can, but mostly I just try to be supportive. We have already rented a beautiful three bedroom two bath eighth-floor apartment in Tbilisi. We don’t need all the extra room, but our cousins helped to find and organize it all and got us a great deal so a little extra is better than a little tight. I will be telling you all about Georgia when we actually get there, but I discovered an odd fact just renting the place from here in Anapa. In Georgia, you pay to use the elevator in your own building. Just going up! I am sure North Americans will find this very strange like I did. It isn’t much and it gets added as a monthly charge to your utility fees. It makes sense in that odd way something so different makes you kinda think Hmmm?

     So this couple of weeks have brought a few finished chapters, a stack of boxes, and serendipity. Messages out of the random ether of the internet, Facebook posts, and introspection have been plotting to make me think a little. For example, a random like by a new friend of our wedding photo reminded me what a wonderful wife and life partner I have. Another random comment reminded me of what the two of us find value in; living life. Finishing the last chapter of my latest MSS had me tempted to write ‘the end’. A message from another source reminded me that as satisfying writing ‘the end’ is;  a story is rarely ever finished. So like the look of the packing. But I also know it will be done in time and correctly, I hope just like the latest story. What allows me to see these random strings is time, I am blessed with the time to slow down and smell the roses as they say and see the interconnectedness of these random items in an overall contextual framework. Inga and I pair well in this regard as she continues to put things we need in a pile to take and things we probably won’t need in a box to pack away. Dripping with sweat as if in a Stalinesque exercise video as it is very VERY hot here in Anapa right now. Me counting on her and she counting on me to see the overall picture so something important doesn’t get missed. It isn’t really fair as she is doing much more work. But it doesn’t have to be for each of us appreciates the different gifts and styles each bring to the relationship. We have a common goal and an uncommon bond. It is after all my idea and desire to stay in Russia. The common objective is happiness and it is very uncommon that both people share the definition of that nebulas word.

To that end, I managed to pass my Russian immigration test. The test is very hard. I’ve been told so is the one to pass Canadian Citizenship exam. I am not sure if this is true, but I know in Canada you get three years to do it while I only had three months. My teachers at the CenterSoyus.ru here in Anapa were awesome. So was, once again, Inga. Friends also chipped in to help the lone Anapa Canadian and together we were successful. I passed! I found out after I had passed I needed to achieve seventy percent on the exam to do so! I had been shooting for fifty-one!! So it is official and certified by the Russian Government I can speak, read, and write Russian and understand its history and laws. In truth, I know more than I can say correctly but I can make myself understood and understand written forms and the like. I still mess up masculine and feminine plurals and stuff bringing a smile usually when they know I am Canadian. They understand as most have tried to learn our obscure and confusing language as well.

    So I have already mentioned the latest MSS is complete as far as the creative end goes. It was a joy to write using Scrivener. I don’t usually endorse platforms or products here, but this is the easiest method for writing a novel. If you’re using WORD stop! This is the product to use and while the learning curve is as hard as Photoshop it is just as powerful. I still write in Pages and post into Scrivener as I am used to doing it that way but the ability to export it as a perfectly formatted PDF and search back through all the scenes with a click make continuity edits and editing, in general, a dream. I bought the program after Jack Whyte had said he used it.

So now I have the two-part process of editing this latest MSS and making it a book and finding an agent.  Remember it is only a book after it gets an ISBN! To this end, I have been doing a ton of research for agents that specialize in Military Fiction and don’t mind a non-USA centered point of view. I am not really sure which will prove harder. But the sequel is done. It is tight, sharp and focused. Finds Rhys up against impossible odds still loving his quirky cat!

This Day We Write Challenge!

 

      One of the things I loved about my childhood was Sunday mornings. On most Sundays, my Mom made bread from scratch. She didn't use a bread-maker; they had yet to be invented. I would wake up to find discoloured old pans laid out, greased, and ready for the next batch. The house perfumed with the scent of fresh bread. This in itself is a wonderful memory, but what makes it even better were "Dough-Dodgers."  These were the leftover pieces of bread that Mom would toss in a large vat of oil. They would plump up and were awesome.

The quaint little seaside bar that stocks my Guinness gets something similar delivered at 10 am each day. I say similar, but they are the same with the added treat of being stuffed with mashed potato and cheese or fried onions. I am not quite sure which of these are my favorites, more research is required.

I mention this in the context of "This Day We Write." A phrase I am going to attribute to Robert Dugoni made popular at the Surrey International Writers Conference in 2012. This may not be completely accurate but like most history it is how I remember it.

     The other day I posted a picture on Twitter that showed my new office view and challenged other writers to post up the same. I didn't do this to brag my place was the nicest or anything. I did it to help inspire and place into context some of the ideas of "This Day We Write." As a writer, the most important thing we do is write. We may create and get ideas as we go through our daily lives, but the core of the discipline is writing.

     Yesterday it rained in Anapa. When it rains here it actually pours. Torrents of rainwater rush down the streets threatening small cars and children left unattended. So it was less than my usual sunny day lets go down to the beach eat a Dough-Dodger, drink a Guinness, and write kind of days. I also had the flu, and not one of the wimpy North American varieties. I will spare you the details but consider I never lost a pound in my two bouts in Africa with malaria and this "flu" shaved six kilograms off me in one day. So I didn't feel like writing.

So I sat down and lacking any real creative inspiration past wrapping my Mac in plastic wrap "just in case" I did a bunch of editing. In that process, I discovered a little creativity in cutting things that didn't push the story forward. But the point is I wrote!

For me at least this is what being a professional writer is all about. It isn't waiting for a blast of creative insight or great opening line. It is about the discipline of sitting down each and every day and doing it. When it is kept in the forefront of our mind, research, creativity, and execution come easier than waiting till the nebulas inspiration strikes you.

    So the "challenge" was to allow new writers to see how we as published authors did it. Kathy Chung responded with a very serene picture of the yard with an empty chair. Does the empty chair represent the reader? Does the looming Black Sea in my picture represent the unknown distance Rhys must go in my manuscript?  I am not sure as I am not really that good in "reading" into things.  But I think the exercise is a valid one. So with this blog and with a few more posts on Twitter I will again attempt to get more people engaged in this little exercise. So do it to inspire new writers or do it to get retweeted by someone who has more followers than you but let's do it!

 Russia is ripe with rumors and allegations of hardcore criminal activity, organized crime and gang violence. Until the other night, I had seen no overt evidence of this. Conspiracy theories and stories abound about all sorts of people, places, and things. Russians love to talk in hushed tones with close friends about the latest issue that might be going on. It is a fun pastime and one I am learning to not put much weight in. The locals don't, but they still love to talk about it. The other day we had huge waves and a small earthquake. The various theories ran the gambit of a Russian atom crusher sub getting blown up by an American sub chaser off the coast of Crimea to an event created by HARP in Alaska. The Russian people are very creative. I commented that it was probably just a shift in the plates under the Black Sea, a very seismically active area and wave action usually follows.  While my grasp of the language is poor, my grasp of body language is excellent, and the body language said wet blanket. My logical explanation lacked creativity and something to build on. So like Spock in an improvisational comedy I had dropped the ball.  But I started this paragraph with the other night gang attack so I shouldn't keep you in suspense.

    The night had a crooked moon, blood red with foreshadowing and had I been in a Robert McCammon novel I would have been aware of the pending assault. But I wasn't I was in tourist mode walking back from a popular nightclub after having a few beer and salted fish, as is the custom. Like Vegas walking on the street with a bottle is not really legal but it is for the most part ignored. The Rose Park was closed so I cut down a back alley the street lights failing to reach into the dark recesses of the street. I felt I was being watched before I saw anyone. Years of training did not fail me but try as might to find the reason for this feeling I could not. Although as I approached the corner, this changed,  I spotted the first one. He was sitting down on his haunches, common in Russia, trying to look very casual. Too casual and when his eyes darted in my direction, for just a second, I knew my sense of being followed was correct.

I passed a car and used the rear window as a mirror to look behind me. A flash of movement, crouching low crossed behind me. Hugging the shadows from one side of the alley to the other. Watching my progression down the street with feral eyes filled with need. I knew I was the target of this desire and wished I'd taken a cab. I felt the alcohol fight with and loose to the sudden surge of adrenaline. It was going to happen soon.

I searched for others. The odds were not bad right now, but I also knew more had to be involved. Two more appeared as if on command, summoned by my fear as surely as the streetlight sudden failure had been orchestrated. I tensed my legs pumping blood into the muscles for the fight I knew was coming. There would be no option to speak with these predators; I simply lacked the language skills.  The one keeping point turned and looked right at me, our eyes locked and I knew it was go time.

The demand was direct and drawn out long, and while I didn't understand what the sound was I knew what was being said. Suddenly, as if to drive a point to the demand three others, I had yet to see flanked me and repeated the same sound with authority. The two I had seen took up positions watching up and down the street, for police we all knew would not be coming. The one that had been following me up the dark alley casually bumped me letting me know he was close.

So I was faced with a potentially very hostile situation, six against one. While all of us were adequately armed, I knew, I wasn't getting out of this unscathed. So faced with this reality I handed over the left over fish I had been stupid enough to leave the bar with. Each one approached knowing they had won this challenge and took the tribute in their mouth before disappearing back into the shadows, the last one giving me a light swat with his paw, letting me know I got off easy.

 Cats in Russia seem to be the only overt sign of territorial activity. Certain stores and shops have cats that stake out the front. Welcoming those that are familiar and watching, in that judgmental fashion only cats can do, those they don't know. My apartment complex has a few and each has a very specific territory and while meetings of a sort take place it seems very structured. This has been the only overt sign of gang activity I have seen.

 Now I am not naïve, I know in anyplace where money and transient population meet you will have organized crime. Vegas and Monte Carlo come to mind. Anapa is probably no different. What I guess is different is it is invisible. I am trained to spot these types of people and made a career of doing it well and sensing violence prior to it happening. To date I have seen nothing of the sort. I have most certainly witnessed deference displayed to VIP people, but is this because they are feared or respected? Are they criminals or pillars of the community? Perhaps a little of both?  I said to a friend here the other day that I thought the salient difference between Canada and Russia gangs and criminal activity is in Russia you know who the criminals are. They come by your shop and you pay them to keep the drunks, and petty criminals away. At home, we call that taxes and taxes pay cops to do the same. Here it is just private with fewer people having their nose in the trough. Isn't that capitalism?

Melancholy Mood in Anapa Russia

     Being away from family and friends is always difficult when traveling. Perhaps part of this is our inborn sense of guilt, or weirdly construed cultural work ethic. Technology makes this easier in some regards and demanding at the same time. While it is easier to remain connected in this wired world, because of this very thing it reminds us of what we are missing. I have been experiencing a little bit of this melancholy myself these past few days. It started in my favorite little beachside bar the other day.

     I like to type outside when I am in beautiful places. This is hard to do in English speaking countries as my attention is too often pulled away by the surrounding conversations. Thankfully my type of fiction takes me to exotic non-English speaking locales.  The other day I was sitting in my usual local bar and when I went up to get another Guinness, I realized I had a Canadian "loony" in my pocket. I sit for long periods so I usually tip very well as I am taking up a seat for longer than usual. My great bartender knew I was an English speaker as we had had a few games of charades already as he tried diligently to understand what I was asking. So I gave him the "loony" along with my usual tip. His face lit up at the gold coloured coin and he asked "Canadian"? I nodded and smiled when he showed the other staff as soon as I walked away. A few minutes later the sound system that usually plays a medley of Russian music started a Bryan Adams tune from my youth. At first I thought this was just a serendipitous coincidence. Then the Canadian National Anthem started and as I stood I noticed the bar staff watching me. Standing with emotion pouring down my cheeks, I was made very aware of just how much I was missing home.

    This morning my brother from another mother used the Apple application Facetime to bring me to the wedding of two good friends back in Canada. Nubia and Sean got married earlier in the day and Dimitri called me from the reception. So even though it was first thing in the morning for me I shared a drink and toast with the people that still remained. The phone being passed to each still in attendance, and I have to admit the visual perspective was not unlike being loaded. It hit me that I hadn't been at work for three months. It also hit me how much these people were family. While the type of work makes this connection perhaps stronger, I imagine it is similar for all. Congratulations and good wishes were shared with all and the call ended again with me missing home.

I should put home in quotations, as while Vancouver will always be my home, Anapa Russia is where I am choosing to call home now. Despite all the challenges that come with remaining in Anapa  Russia. These are not the fault of Russia or Canada just the reality of where relations between our two countries have brought us. Why we are so far apart is still a mystery to me. We seem to share much of the same values and dreams,  Family and times with friends are goals pursued by the average Russian. A trait shared with the average Canadian. We both have a very socialist ideology and government structure. We both believe that health care and education are basic rights for all. So I am very confused when I look at our Visa requirements. Citizens of the USA enjoy a far easier process and can stay in Russia far longer than Canadians.

     It's getting close to the Surrey International Writers Conference again. I won't be able to attend again this year as I will be on the other side of the world. Believe me when I say this is the only reason I won't be attending.  Last year found me locked into doing things for Grey Redemption and prevented me attending and I missed it. This year the five thousand in airfare makes the trip irresponsible. I am slowly learning this thing called responsibility! But this newly learned skill doesn't stop my desire to attend. I learned so very much from the other authors in attendance. Perhaps the most important of which was humility.

     So while I get to be kept in the loop with what is going on at home and I try to keep you and everyone else in the loop with these blog entries, Facebook, Skype, and Facetime it isn't the same as being there. If I had the funds, I think I'd be racking up the air miles but within the reality that is technology will have to suffice. It is not lost on me that this substitute is sadly lacking.

Robots, Crop Circles, and Russians, OH MY!

    Wow it’s been quite a while since I’ve had time to update my blog. I’m seeing a common theme here, and in truth a troublesome character arc. But I have bored you with enough excuses already over the years so I shall just pretend like I haven’t let anyone down and go forward with what’s been new and going on in my world. I have moved once again and downsized in a 1st step in a continuum of downsizing to the point that I can either start work on the manuscript,  Left Turn No Fixed Address", or get the travel bug out of my system for a couple of years.

    Some good news I have actually been working quite diligently on the  next instalment of Grey Redemption. It had really died on the vine earlier and I was having difficulty restarting and remembering which reality, in which world, we are actually working in and that creates a lot of continuing issues in continuity. I think once a writer becomes an author one of the hardest things or challenges that this new reality brings is trying to guard your time. Between promotion and marketing, doing various dog and pony shows, attempting to get exposure in new markets and give attention to old markets, the beginning author can really get overwhelmed. I thought it was just me and that I was poor at managing time. But like most things in life when we think where the solitary person afflicted with the problem, in reality, it is hardly the case.  I watched a good friend do the exact same thing for his 1st year as a published author. However, the difference being he ignored, for the most part, the marketing promotion dog and pony show and continued on what he does best which is  write. Subsequently, he has his 2nd novel coming out published by a small but very well respected  horror publisher. So let me take this opportunity to congratulate Mark  Fuson on his 2nd book.

    Some of you know I use dictation software instead of typing manually just for the speed and break it gives me. Being  dyslexic provides a few challenges when typing and sometimes when my ideas rolling faster than my hands can keep up  I find it challenging and frustrating. So I’ve always found it easier to use new technology to adapt and overcome some of the disabilities, yes I said disabilities, not challenges. Challenges are what you give yourself if you want to be an Olympic athlete. If by nature, nurture, or damage things become harder it is not correct To say: a challenge. It is by its very nature a disability. So yes I know the PC police will cry foul, and I’ll get a series of e-mails about how this person or that  overcame their disabilities because they didn’t see them as disabilities but challenges.   Great,  hurrah for the special  class. This is my blog and I see it as disability. 

 It can also be incredibly amusing. Using dictation software and reading  when it  types what it thinks you said can be more than a little  funny. It also helps you work on your antonyms and synonyms because quite often you will say something and not quite articulate it correctly, and it will put down something completely absurd. But it’s  a robot and like the computers that run them, they are prone to do stupid things. I think the idea that we are all on the cusp of a Utopian society aided and helped by our electronic  toys/tools is about as far fetched as Hollywood coming out with something new and fresh in the movie.

     A great example of this is my  Roomba. I picked one of these up a few weeks ago as I like  the house being cleaned on a daily basis and I know I’m not going to do it. So this little round disc does an admirable job of rolling about the house picking up various pieces of  debris, entertaining the  Cat, while at the same time picking up his  hair. But, it is far from perfect and it is in that imperfection;  bloody hilarious. You see IKEA  Poang  chairs are the international nemesis of  these robotic cleaners. The legs are about 3 1/2 inches wide and so the robot sees this as a transition between perhaps carpeted and hardwood floor. Confused it tries to climb over the transition onto the carpet and then back over the transition onto the carpet, and then thoroughly confused it centres itself like some oddly round Jeep and  cries for help. This means I have to run to its rescue or rescue it when I get home.  It has of late been doing odd things. Perhaps growing tired of the molestation from The Piker. For example, the other day it was stuck underneath the chase lounge despite having more than enough clearance to go in or out. I also found it stuck underneath the leather theatre seating. How it got under the theatre seats I have no idea. Perhaps drawn to its prison by popcorn or perhaps hiding from the aforementioned evil creature. I know this sounds slightly paranoid, but in truth this little robot does seem to try and avoid any interaction with the cat  after it was attacked, viciously so, when it decided to "spot clean" near his food dish. Not knowing that the kibbles on the floor upset the robot as much as the robot upset the cat lingering far too long near his food supply. A happy medium is perhaps too much to ask for. I see artificial intelligence trying its best to be malicious. This is evidenced by the concentric circles in the  living room. The robot is obviously going around and around and around in an attempt to make the cat  ill, Or it has been possessed by alien technology and is doing crop circles. Which in itself may not be that funny however what is funny is thinking that any alien technology who would develop some sort of highly advanced engineering mode of travel and in doing so probably depleting many resources on their own planet. Would then travel through the vastness of space using navigational technology that we have yet to even conceive of, only to land on blue planet,  to push down some fucking corn. but I guess it works as a joke.

    Also new on the agenda for me is learning Russian. Yes I mean the Russian language. Now this is actually a challenge, the language having no easily recognisable characters in English and being quite foreign sounding is providing a new level of frustration. However difficult this is, it was significantly less difficult than working with the customer support section of Rosetta Stone. That was a experience not too unlike  conducting a deaf orchestra in a rousing rendition of “There’s a hole in my  bucket”. However, that challenges now been overcome I am slowly learning how to speak the Russian tongue.  Why, might this be important? Well, I guess you’ll just have to stay tuned for the sporadic, erratic, and less than scheduled posts to learn more.

Dreaming about VEGAS

    Musing on Vegas is like daydreaming in Technicolor. Rarely does it happen, and when it does you really believe you should seek therapy. So can Sin City be therapeutic? Well,  I believe it can. I love Vegas, been many times, and it can be anything you need it to be. Like a good shrink it can challenge your heartfelt beliefs and shake your overconfidence, in a heartbeat. It can be the cruel Schoolmaster you need but never knew you did, or it can be a gentle caring Muse. Made garish and cheap with neon, but beautiful more in your ability to see past this distraction. Life is as such made up of these moments. The moments between the dashes, as I have heard it said. Scott D. Covey Born 1965----.

    I guess for me the most rewarding experiences or moments between the dashes are those we don’t expect, or see past the distracting obvious. I have had a great deal of obvious distractions. It is the reason I keep apologising for not keeping up with my blog. Life just gets in the way.  Perhaps more honestly the choices one makes end up getting in the way. When these choices end up getting in the way of experiences life takes a back seat to the reality of this choice.

    So amidst the ringing of bells and the cacophony of humanity the mind is forced to focus and in that focus, one can often discover an enlightened perspective impossible to find in normal life. Unless, I guess, you devote years to meditation and reflection. The plane ticket is easier or as I like to say more modernly efficient. But a warning is in order here, two to be precise. Within these Zen like and alcohol  enhanced states care should be applied in order to insure you don’t walk toward where you think you need to be; or get hit by a car along the way. So powerful are some revelations that they put you at grave risk whilst you roll about in them.

Vegas is a place where time doesn’t exist, in the same form, as it does everywhere else. It is a reflection of this time between the dashes. Scott D. Covey flight 287 arriving 1310---. But unlike life you know when the dash ends, your flight home.

    So within this reflection of life’s mirror and these musing about a fantasy oasis, we see a parallel. Some go to it to acquire money, while the wise go for the experiences, and wisdom she can share.   

Canadian Authors and the Tax system!

    I just wanted to blog up something quick. My intention is to generate comments and dialogue about Authors and taxation in Canada. I just sat through A very informative session with my tax pro only to learn that I've been doing things wrong for three years. Really? This despite doing a ton of research and engaging with various tax "pros". Some of them with certifications. I've said it before and I'll reiterate it again. This should be a must attend workshop at any writers conference. The Surrey International Writers Conference should break ground and do this. They break ground fearlessly on so many workshops already and I believe it would be a great addition. I'll even go so far as to offer to help do it! It is such an important part of the craft and ignored by many! The pitfalls and forms are so many that I doubt most of us are doing it correctly. 

    So what do you you all think? Post up here or email me directly and privately. 

 

Publicity is good even if its under the wrong name!

http://www.thevalleyvoice.ca/Voice%20Stories/October%202012/Chilliwack%20Books%20-%20Grey%20Redemption%20-%20Author%20Steve%20Covey%20-%20Oct%207%202012.htm

Just some local PR! Nice as other than a quick spot in the Langley Times newspaper the book has been getting very little attention in Canada! No idea why as I worked like hell to keep the spelling in Canadian english! But I guess I am in good company as the Surrey International Writers Conference was last week and it got very little mention in the local press and it had a book signing with trully luminary authors! SO while they got my name wrong they got the rest of the info totally correct and it is all about the book and having fun with it and not about me! Just a quick blog to keep you all in the loop.

An update on the writing! Chapter one is done in rough form and it has been difficult to write in the third person global perspective but I am learning! Along with some help from others and gentle pushes it is coming along.

The AudioBook is moving slowly. You'd think it be easy but far more hoops to jump than a regular book, Good news is it will be inexpensive for its size. Bad news is it won't be available in any format other than digital download!