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. 

 

The New Year

    The Christmas holiday season has come and gone, unless your Russian. It is hard enough to find the time to write and more difficult making the time to write. I've said it before being a storyteller is more about discipline than anything else! Four hours a day, everyday, each week, and month! It helps if you have some creativity, something to say, and a little writing skills. Well how little skills is enough is I guess my true claim to fame!

    So what has been going on in my world. Not enough discipline! My personal SELF discipline to sit and write each day has been lacking. It has been quite a while since I have made the time to update my blog and my typing speed and accuracy is to say a little frustrating. Usually my odd typing style and keyboard awkwardness pair well with the flow of ideas and mesh in a totally disabled and workable way. Not so anymore. The backspace and edit is being employed far more ofter than it should. This screams loud and clear my absence from the keyboard is as obvious as the extra notch in my belt that I need to do a few things differently!! Yes I know double exclamations provides more insight in to my lack of proper writing skills. But I wanted to shout loudly and lack the fonts! Wouldn't that be a great new invention? Fonts that show tone, emotion, and inflection? It would sure clear up a great deal of issues with Texting. "Great Book" written in bookman, or in sarcastic, would now be totally clear!

    I mention this as my Twitter followers just went over 29k and keeping up is one thing, but understanding what someone meant  in so few characters without a selective font can be a challenge. So too can be what I should say. With so many followers it behoves me, I feel, to tweet something interesting! "Making bacon wrapped egg rolls  with fresh scallions" just wont cut it anymore. I guess my guerrilla marketing and getting a few press mentions creates its own issues.


   Thanks for reading and sharing this experience with me. I will be writing more and attempting to keep my blog interesting and up to date. I'll work on the tweets as well! LOL! All the best to all of you for this year.

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!

October's New Beginnings

I have been doing a ton of research for Grey. I’d like to be able to keep the real feel of Grey Redemption with this new story. Part of the problem, as a writer, is not taking the easy way out. That is to ask the reader to suspend belief too often. As storytellers it’s easy to simply say; “ well in my world it’s like this.”  I remember all too well the sense of let down when one of my favorite authors wrote about the main character flipping off the safety of a .38 revolver.

            So how does Rhys work within the New World Order? Gone are the days of simple cipher drafts left unsent in anon mail servers. Money transfers? Not these days without some heavy company profiles. I don’t want to spoil the book for those only reading the blog, so yes I get he can do a lot more now at the end of Grey Redemption but what if he still wants to be off the grid? What if he still needs to work off the grid and further needs to work outside of his normal and ordinary associations? He can’t very well use the same master forger that Simon knows about can he?

            In doing this research I have come across the Dark Net or the Hidden Web. These are websites only accessed under P2P share protocols, or anonymous browser.  First off don’t go looking for this stuff. Really it probably isn’t the safest thing to do. Remember when all the talk was don’t read this book as it would lead to demon possession or play with this talking board as it could unleash evil…How many stories and films have been made along these plots? Well this side of the net is that dangerous! Really! I fully intend on removing the hard-drive from the computer I am using to do the research and burning it. Remember once seen things cannot be unseen. Temper this advice with the fact that I have little faith in humanity and am pretty jaded by my work. Seriously any drug, perversion or general felony can be bought or sold on this darker web.  Seriously, ANYTHING is available and seemingly permitted or at least tolerated by these tech savvy gurus. Remember when Narcoterrorism  was the scary buzzword of the nineties? The trench coat mafia was the image used to sell conformity and terrify school children. Well you know all the geeks and nerds that got teased and abused? They grew up. The trench coat mafia was a joke and Narcoterrorism did little but get certain groups elected, money, and power. But this Darknet or Dark web seems to be the nerds’ revenge and it is very real. It is incredibly slow, circa 1989 speeds, and it has tons of broken links, mislabeled content but it seems that the world of everything is Permitted is just under the surface of the mainstream.

            Imagine a Groupon style site that lists hits. Yes were talking contract murder. Where someone posts some bully, manager, boss, or politicians name. Then someone else posts a price. When the offered price is reached, you guessed it the HIT IS ON. Obviously the president was on it with a huge number. I didn’t look closely as I didn’t want to be privy to anything should it happen in the future. The close eyes, quickly hit the back button was employed as it often is on this darker trek.

            So how does one pay for this bag of pot, cocaine, assignation? In a new currency called Bitcoins.  Bitcoins seems to be the new Cyber Currency. Yes there is even an app for that! LOL! I have been researching how this currency works and could go into a long explanation but suffice to say it works and is virtually untraceable. So why no big headlines warning about this? Easy. Same reason the person checking your luggage and taking your nail clippers while the flight attendant gives you powdered creamer and long stem wine glasses. You only need to believe your safe as it would take far to much money and effort and personal resolve to really be safe. You don’t know about it, well you didn’t, and so “they” don’t need to come up with a way to “protect” against it. 

            So, October is a month of new beginnings and new stories. The prequel is going to be shelved for a while as I really think the sequel is a better way to move the story forward. Health scares are over and hopefully in the review mirror for a long time and as I gave up drinking I wont have to worry about messing up dialogue at 2 am after two too many vodkas and ice. Hopefully the creativity won’t suffer!

Thanks for reading, and remaining interested.

Cheers

Scott (now ready to channel RHYS again)
View from Fairmont Empress gold room 206. Where the plot was hatched! 

Grey Redemption and the AudioBook challenge

Hey Everyone,

    So, it has been another long while since I updated anyone on anything! Seems that I am saying that a great deal this year! It has not been for a lack of trying! I have been so incredibly engaged that staying on top of my blog is taking a back seat. Now I know why famous author types hire people to do this!

   This being said I think it is a little more honest the way I do it. We all have incredibly busy lives! Be it a stay at home mom, police officer, or writer. So we all know the challenges the day to day of life brings. Add to that the ups and downs and Facebook pokes and distractions, as welcome as they might be at times, and you get infrequent posts. Someone said Facebook is like jail. You waste a ton of time hanging around while getting poked by people you don't know well. I thought it was a funny perspective.

   My life has settled into a new normal, and while it is not without some new and different challenges, it is all good. I managed to steal a little bit of time to sit and reflect a little on what has been going on with the writing and the direction things are going. So lets break some news.

   I have a new Publisher and agent and together we have a new strategy for Grey Redemption and the prequel, that's working title is Grey Dawn.  Awesome and scary news as it means the white board timeline and the character lists have to be distilled into a new yarn! Been working on it a bit, less than I would like but it is hashing out ok. At issue is not messing up the original by confusing a content edit with a new fact that doesn't fit. I know I wrote it so it should seem like an easy thing. But in reality the original got so cut up that I have to be very careful with the facts of that edited reality! For example it would be cool to show how the old Regimental Sargent Major dies in the beginning of Grey Redemption as a great deal of readers liked the character. Editorial brevity had him simply die in the plane crash. Rhys never shares the cigar he was gifted by the man with Baal's eyes! Instead he smokes it alone in the back of a train car...So consistency with the published work's reality is a bit of a Leviathan! (Props to Rick M)

   Many readers and fans have commented as to the detailed imagery in Grey Redemption. Some good and some bad comments. Both are valid. This is to say that some people like the idea of reading how a mercenary moves through a large airport while others prefer the jumping timeline method. I have written before how I wanted the reader inside the mind of the main character. A 544 page book written in the first person perspective is a stylistic challenge. So I chose not to do the flash ahead. It would have been easier to simply start the next scene with:  Vancouver June Ninth, 18:15 hours. But I felt, and still do, that the effort of the reader to read through the minutia would pay dividends when the action ramped up. But like it or not almost all have agreed that listening to it on a Audiobook would be great.

    So let me be the first to tell you that it is currently in the works! Yes, the copyright and distribution issues looks to have been overcome! The script, as it is called when working in the audio format, is moving through first reading and the actor that is reading it has an awesome voice for the genre! I am truly looking forward to getting a full copy, putting it on my Iphone and sitting back to enjoy the yarn anew! It should help with some of the edit continuity challenges I've been having too.

     Distribution should be via Itunes and Audible. Two of the major players in the audiobook market. We are kicking around a few other options in addition to the major players, but nothing solid yet. The price point for this work should be pretty reasonable as well. I am actively trying to get it on the sites for around 4.99 or 5.99! I know the audio version will make people like my brother in law happy, and I hope it fits a niche for the others that have requested it!

    The timeline for this project is a little fluid and depends on a bunch of different factors, not the least of which is me finishing Grey Dawn! The plan as it sits is to release the Audiobook of Grey Redemption and then six months later release Grey Dawn as an Ebook only. Sales numbers of Grey Redemption are heavily weighted toward Ebook downloads so doing another three format release just doesn't make sense. I get that the Ebook can't be signed and the like but I have a fix for that as well. More on that later. Going with the single format release allows me to better control the price point of that as well. I promised fans  a cheaper version for Grey Dawn and I will come through!

    Following the release of Grey Dawn we will look at the numbers and see if we can do an Audio version as well six months to a year later. So that is the plan. You have no idea the amount of work that has gone into getting us here! Hopefully things go as planned and you can look forward to having a cigar and a pint, lying in the sun, seeing the world once again through the monster that is Rhys Munroe!