Monday, December 17, 2007

Dilettante or Thug?

Webster defines the first as a “dabbler in the arts,” the second as “a gangster or tough.” Is it possible for both to describe the same person? Am I or am I? I have always struggled with the contradictions in my nature, the seeming walking contradiction of my personality, partly truth and partly fiction.

As previously written, I relish physical contact, in many ways, and do not shy away from physical confrontation. I also love musical theater, my favorite being “Les Miserables,” mainly because I saw it from a seat in “the stalls” in the West End of London with my brother. I wore cleats to play baseball and football in high school, but I also wore loafers to see “The King and I” at the Memorial Auditorium. Why is there this dichotomy in my personality and where did it come from?

Conflict is a key ingredient in any narrative; it makes the story interesting, contributing to tension that ultimately results in climax. Internal conflict is something we live with everyday. As a writer, my inner conflict is whether to write what I want or what sells. Lately I have been writing romance; because it is fun, because I am able to get published and because I learn from it. Anyone who has read my dreck knows it is tame, but, I am tempted to write more graphically.

I guess, while sitting here pondering my writer’s navel, my concern is whether I should be more graphic in my efforts at romance. Should I maintain my dilettante’s detachment or embrace my inner thug and write graphically? Hmmm, what do you think? Either of you, feel free to answer.

Spike

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Conflict and Conflagration

Have you ever had the urge to blow shit up? To exercise a scorched earth policy? To bring to bear upon others the types of hardship that have been brought to bear on you? I know I have felt that way, and I have acted on it. My actions have been detrimental to my well being.

There was this punk giving my best friend a hard time, so I confronted him. Things got nasty, so I popped him. He and three hundred of his closest friends visited my friend’s house. We called the cops. I got expelled. That was in seventh grade.

This is not an isolated incident in my life. I am the baby of three boys. My older brother was 18 months older and my oldest is 39 months older. I got beat almost everyday of my pre-adolescent existence. I learned to hit first, explain later. This became a problem.

In high school, this behavior was unwelcome, mainly because I went to a Christian school with sons and daughters of pastors who had never gone to a public school. I was a wolf among sheep, and we all know what happens when a wolf gets together with sheep. Bad things!

So now, how do I explain to my daughter that it is unacceptable to hit, to choke, to spit in someone’s face? If I do condemn this behavior in my daughter, does that make me a hypocrite?

Why is it when my daughter’s teacher tells me about my daughter’s transgressions, I laugh? Why do I find it endearing that my daughter is a thug? Why do my colleagues find this entertaining?

How do I explain to a four year old that it isn’t cool to throw down with classmates when I did the same? “Do as I say, not as I did.” But really, I want her to stand up for herself, but not be a bully. How do I teach that?

“It’s okay to hit when a teacher doesn’t respond and the kid keeps pushing you.” Yeah, a four year old is going to understand that.

I wish my life was about snack time and nap time, about arts and crafts, about letters and numbers. It would be so much easier. Remind me to ask my daughter when she is my age if she feels the same way.

Meanwhile, I have to deal with the bullys and thugs of education. Those who want to bully me as a teacher, to force me to do things that I don’t want to do. Things I don’t want to do because I know they are detrimental to my students; they are just bad practice. But, I have to tell the teacher. I can’t spit in their face, I can’t choke them. My daughter can choke and spit on the bad guys, but I can’t. How can I teach her not to when I want to?

Spike

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Die Now

I have heard that the Greeks would yell “Die Now” to winners of races and events because the competitor had reached the apex of their life and everything following that victory would be shallow and meaningless. When I heard this, it reminded me of my friends that had peaked in grade school, middle school and high school. I always took this to be a cautionary lesson on success. I felt it was best not to peak until later in life. I seem to have mastered that, until today.

I logged on to RedRosePublishing.com and found the compendium of vignettes that I coauthored with Cara Preston, better known as “Pickup Lines From a Pickup Truck,” listed as the tenth best seller in the Mainstream category of my publisher.

Should I die now? Is this the acme of my career? Is the rest of my life to be spent in speakeasy’s and dives, me assuring an aged audience of a toothless entourage that in 2007 I was on the bestseller list of an internet publisher’s list of mainstream romances?

While I love my publisher and believe internet publishing and ebooks are the future of the industry, I refuse to believe that this is my “die now” moment. I just hope that I am still lucid enough to recognize whether it is or isn’t. It would be a tragedy for me to find out that as a seventy year old, after winning a volleyball tournament for diabetic amputees, that this was my moment, and I fucking missed it.

Let’s hope and pray that I haven’t peaked yet!

Spike

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

My Second Time

I am going through the final line edits for my second book to be published by RedRosePublishing.com and am finding it somewhat less exciting than the first time. That is, I surmise, to be expected. It may also be a function of my editor being different from my first story, and from the first round of edits on this book.

I think it is silly to be attached to an editor. I am attached to an editor. Therefore, I am silly. That is a syllogism.

Why is it important for me to know this stupid stuff? Mainly because I encounter smart kids everyday that want to know it too, that will need to know it at some point. So, what now? New editor, wants to make a few changes, whatever. Go with the flow. I think the new editor is probably good, probably different, probably smart. But, it mucks things up for me. Feel free to substitute an “f” for an “m” in the previous sentence.

Here is my shiznit. Show it to me in the final draft! I keep getting it with changes tracked and I get confused, I am a simple man. Simple is as simple does.

I feel a need to travel! Anyone want to host a writer/teacher in Latin America or Europe? Let me know, free books are available.

It is never the same as the first!

Spike

Monday, November 19, 2007

The Inexorable Grind

“Pickup Lines From a Pickup Truck” has now been on the proverbial shelf for almost three weeks and I have begun the inexorable grind towards anonymity. I wonder if the other authors at RedRosePublishing.com experience the same phenomenon; if Raven Star, Shara Azod, Skyler Gray or Jae-Lynn McKnight are struggling with their next projects?

Hell, for that matter, did John Grisham feel this way after “The Firm.” I remember reading that Grisham followed up “The Firm” by writing “The Pelican Brief” in six weeks. Granted, it wasn’t the best novel he wrote, but he did sell the movie rights. I wouldn’t mind that type of follow up.

But, it would appear that my window of opportunity is slowly closing. I doubt I can afford to wait a decade between books like Donna Tartt or David Duncan. I do have another coming soon, “A Slice of Life,” but after that, the Romance pipeline is empty. I have started two other short Romances, but have all but abandoned them at this point. I lack the discipline to write regularly and that is a product of having a full time job and young children. I also have a young adult novel and a memoir in the works, but all of my writing projects are being neglected currently. I doubt that admission is going to fire up my readership, but, that constituency is pretty small at present.

The nice thing about writing short stories, Romance or otherwise, is that the time required to complete a project is relatively short. This allows people with other obligations, like me, and people with short attention spans, like me, the opportunity to complete projects and submit them for publication. Once the demands on my time slacken, I feel confident in my ability to devote more time to writing. In the meantime, I will continue to explore writing opportunities and to read.

My current reading list includes Michael Chabon and Kurt Vonnegut. I have been a fan of Chabon’s for almost ten years, but Vonnegut is a new addition for me. I read “Slaughterhouse Five” about a month ago and am currently reading “Welcome to the Monkey House.” It’s a collection of short stories. Both of these authors intimidate me. If I wasn’t aware of the wide variety of readers, I may actually quit writing when considering their prodigious talent. Of course, I feel the same way about a lot of writers.

In spite of the intimidation factor, I am going to work hard to reverse the inexorable grind towards anonymity; I am going to work hard on the next project; I am going to work hard to continue writing. I hope you continue reading.

Spike

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Oops, I forgot!

It has come to my attention that I have not been actively promoting my book, which was the main reason I started this Blog in the first place.

Oops, my bad.

I started writing about fifteen years ago, not for publication, just for shits and grins. I read Mike Shayne, Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen magazines as a kid. I always read the shortest stories first because my attention span was short. But, by the end of the month, I had read all the stories but the novelette, which was 25-45 pages long. I reluctantly read it because the next magazine wasn’t due for a week or two and inevitably, I had read the mag cover to cover before the new one came.

These experiences motivated me to write “Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck” and “A Slice of Life,” and the unfinished novel and the unfinished memoir. They have informed my writing style, my choice of subject matter and ultimately, who I am as a writer –whoever that may be, it is still a work in progress.

As part of that work in progress, I would welcome any comments from readers. I write for myself, but part of my motivation is to make readers happy. So, please, buy my books at WWW.RedRosePublishing.com and let me know what you think. I am Spike_Fremont@yahoo.com.

Peace!

Spike

Monday, November 5, 2007

Fits and Starts

I was a little bit excited to start my new short story, had it all mapped out with character sketches and a plot outline. I started it three days ago. And now it is flotsam, awash in the milieu that is my life, forgotten and forlorn as I attend to more pressing needs.

This is just one example of how writing takes a back seat to life, often by necessity. I really don’t have a choice. I cannot tell my employer to hold a deadline while I take a few days off to finish a story. Nor can I tell my kids to go chillax while daddy writes. Some things are more pressing than others and writing gets kicked to the back burner, to simmer, to burn or to turn to mush while life’s demands occupy your attention.

The key for me is to have that story calling to me every day...Spike, come bring us to life, make us dance, give us something to do. Of course, I have several projects talking to me and the squeakiest wheel will get my attention. Whether it is the novel, the memoir, the journal, the Blog or the short story that gets my attention depends entirely on which story is calling the loudest and most stridently. More often than not, the most strident voice is that of life’s responsibilities and the stories will have to wait.

As long as they keep calling me, insistently and with commitment, they will get attention from me, they will get written, they will get brought to life.

Spike

Friday, November 2, 2007

Post Release Stress Syndrome

So the chat last night was fun. We had about 15-20 people total, not all at the same time. Now the hard part starts – promoting. I don’t think EBooks sell a lot, maybe 100 is a big number, but it seems like free advertising to me, an opportunity to promote myself and develop some sort of presence. We’ll see what happens.

It’s Friday and I am looking forward to the weekend! I have a few things to do around the house, but I want to get started on my next project. I am going to write another romance. I have characters in mind and a semblance of plot, but I need to flesh it out and get writing. I am anxious to apply all the things I have learned from going through this process.

I also need to get with Rene on cover art for “A Slice of Life.” We finished the editing – just need final line edits, then cover art and then it is ready. It may go November 15th, but more likely December 1st.

Keep writing.

Spike

Thursday, November 1, 2007

The Big Release

The day is finally here. “Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck” is on the front page of www.RedRosePublishing.com and available for purchase at $1.99. How cool is that? The whole process of writing to release has spanned about nine months, which is probably a pretty short cycle in the publishing industry, but seemed like forever to me.

I have finished the second round of edits on “A Slice of Life.” I have to do the dedication and then work with Rene on the cover art. I have no excuse now and need to get started on the next project, which I think will be another short story.

Spike

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Two Days to Release

The cover for the book that Cara Preston and I wrote is on the coming soon page for Red Rose Publishing – that is pretty exciting. It is mislabeled as Erotic Romance, but, small issues for small minds.

I spoke with Cara tonight – we are both excited about the release, and proud of the book. It was a great experience writing the book together and a lot of fun having it edited by Rene Lyons. She did a great job, and did the cover art too.

I bought the SpikeFremont.com domain recently and am working on the website. It should be up in a rudimentary fashion by Sunday. Things are fun right now.

The book by Cara and me is pretty fun. I hope you buy it.

Spike

Monday, October 29, 2007

Release Date

The latest on the release date for “Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck” is this Thursday, November 1st at www.RedRosePublishing.com. I finished the final edits recently and have seen a copy of the eBook in Adobe format – it was pretty exciting for me. It had Copyrights and ISBN numbers, which for a bibliophile like me, is pretty big. The book is only $1.99 and downloading it is hassle free – I have done it myself. I think it is sort of cute and funny and I hope you like it.

I am thinking about having a contest. My thought is to give away a copy of my next book; “A Slice of Life” which I think will be out in December. I was thinking of maybe having readers tell me their favorite part of “Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck” and then choosing a winner from the responses. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to contact me either by responding here or by sending me an email.

I hope you check out RedRosePublishing.com and consider buying “Pickup Lines From a Pickup Truck.” Let me know.

Spike

Friday, October 26, 2007

Launch Party Redux

We had the launch party at Ecata Romance last night. It was pretty fun. I met a lot of people and got some great advice on promoting my books. Now I just need to keep writing and keep promoting and who knows, I might get my picture up in the Post Office when I grow up.

I signed up for National Novel Writing Month last year and they automatically signed me up this year. It’s a contest where anyone that writes 50,000 words in the month of November wins. Winners get a certificate. In the past, several winners also got print publishing contracts. I am considering trying it again this year but I am not sure if it is the best use of my time right now.

I need to find out from RedRose when my release is for “Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck” so I can let everyone know. Several people at the launch party told me that they heard it was funny and cute, so hopefully I will sell a few copies.

Spike

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Launch Party

I have been through the editing process for my first book. It was enlightening. I confirmed my suspicions that I am not a good writer. It’s a bit of a conundrum – I am good enough to get published, twice, but I still need a ton of work. It confirms all the things I have learned, mainly that good writing is rewriting

RedRosePublishing.com is having a launch party on October 25th at 9:00 PM. It’s a chat format and you can go there: http://www.catanetw ork.com/chat. html. I will be there chatting up “Pickup Lines From a Pickup Truck” and “A Slice of Life.” Neither book is available yet, but I want to try to create a little buzz. “Pickup Lines From a Pickup Truck” will be available next month and “A Slice of Life” will probably be out in December.

Finding time to write is difficult. I have two young children and a full time job. I have written these two shorts, a 15,000 word memoir and 20,000 words of a young adult novel in the last three years. I wish I had more time, I feel I could write more.

My next short is conceived – character sketches and a plot summary developed. I am excited about applying the things I have learned from the publishing process and hope to write a tighter story with more developed characters this time. Writing truly is a muscle – the more you use it the more efficient it gets.

I hope to see you, both of you, at the launch party on Thursday.

Spike

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Social Conscience

I recently completed a graduate level course. I was shocked by the ignorance I encountered, particularly the righteousness of one of my classmates. Any graduate level class involves a great deal of discussion and give and take. Argument, after all, is a learning experience.

One classmate struck me as particularly argumentative, and, frankly, ignorant.

This classmate seemed very sure of themselves; rolling their eyes and presenting a book review in a contrived lesson that they felt was particularly effective, but wasn’t. I decided to Google this person.

I was shocked at the results. This person had a blog; the last post was in 2006. They also had a web page for their students, last updated in 2005. There was also an article where this person was quoted at an anti Bush rally.

“I am an activist for social injustice.” The quote was attributed to a person on a bike to which was attached a depiction of Bush hung in effigy. I was initially appalled at the blatant use of the propagandistic use of “us against them.” The statement implied that those that were not “activists against social injustice” were therefore activists for social injustice.

I am not an activist against social injustice, but that does not mean that I am for it. In fact, I am committed to preventing it by educating those who are subjected to it. But, the question is, if we are to hold ourselves out as examples, and I am not doing that, how committed are we if we can afford to live in Manhattan, own a bike and can afford to build an effigy to hang on the front of our bikes?

Wouldn’t it be more productive if our “activists” worked to educate the public to social injustices and identifying those? Wouldn’t it be more productive to go door to door to register voters? Wouldn’t it be more productive to work in a soup kitchen? Wouldn’t it be more productive donate our bikes?

I would warn my readers, both of you, to be wary of those who present themselves as activists. I would also admonish you to help more by giving of your time – help Habitat for Humanity, volunteer to help cook at the soup kitchen, but, remember, charity starts at home. Make sure that your kids are fed, loved and educated first!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Red Rose Launch

Red Rose Publishing opens tomorrow! I'm excited about the new publisher, I want them to do well. I plan on checking in at midnight tonight and buying a book or two. I hope others will as well.

Spike

Hello!

I just created this blog for a collection of vignettes that I wrote with Cara Preston. The collection is under contract with Red Rose Publishing and I needed to get a website, so, let's see how this looks!