A Big Step Back To Try to Move Forward

I have made a big jump today. After a few months of internal debate, I've removed Castles Made of Sand from amazon.com. I have also deleted my accounts associated with the book and I have laid to rest the blog associated with it. Why the hell would I do such a thing? Because the reason I self-published, as I've said since day one, was to catch the attention of an agent. Not only is this not working, it turns out that self-publishing might actually be counter-productive to that goal. I still completely one hundred percent support and respect the amazing friends I have made in the self-published community of authors. I am very grateful for the friendship I found with all of them because before I joined these communities online I had never had friends who were writers and I adore hearing how their work is progressing and seeing them succeed. That has not changed one bit. Unless you are a self-published author, you have no idea how hard these amazing authors work to promote their writing and to realize their dreams. I am simply at a place where I am ready to query agents for Castles again instead. And thanks to my year as a self-published writer, I finally got to experience the joy of knowing strangers had read and enjoyed my work. I also sold over one hundred copies which is more than I ever expected even if it isn't much to some. That is what I remember when those rejection letters get me down. So thank you to everyone who bought the book and if anyone out there is interested in it, I gave away nearly as many copies as I sold anyway. As long as you don't mind reading it in Word format, drop me a line. :)


In addition to this decision I finally made I am still querying agents for Rapunzel. It is going to be a full time job keeping this shit straight. haha


I've done a lot of writing this past week. I blame that for the fact that I am only half way through Stephen King's 11/22/1963. It's an amazing read so far. When I have found time to read it I find myself falling asleep with it in my hands because I don't want to put it down. It's even better than I imagined it would be. And I recommend it to all of you King fans out there who haven't read it yet. 


In the world of music, I have discovered an artist that will probably interest anyone who likes cello music, especially dark cello music. His name is Adam Hurst and his music is heavily influencing my writing right now. He's absolutely amazing. His music touches the soul, it sparks the imagination, it is everything great music should be. And with just one man and his instrument he creates this stuff that is completely mind blowing. Here, listen for yourself. No, really, I insist...

One more? Sure, why not.

Pretty great, huh? And I found him completely by accident. That is the beauty of youtube. Not only do they provide you with your favorite old songs, they can also show you your favorite new songs if you are like me and you don't exactly dig the current popular music scene. haha 


And that in a nutshell is what I've been up to for the past week. Reading, writing, and undoing my internet "career" of sorts. haha I figure I should get the latter out of the way before August rolls in. The worst month of the year for me is just around the corner and because of its usual theme (namely that anything that can go wrong will go wrong during those 31 days) I tend to hug the wall during August as opposed to trying anything new or drastic. Have a great week, my blogger friends. Remember each day to smile :)