My newest book, for all intents and reasons, has been written. I have 56,000 words and really want 65,000, so I'm in the short rows. But, since I'm going the old route, agent, publisher, etc. on this book, I am making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed.
One thing I am being especially careful about is the frequency I use the songs I include. Since the main character is a Baby Boomer, he grew up with the Beatles, the Supremes, Petula Clark and the Motown sound. I am playing all these songs on the computer while I'm writing, but don't want to mention any song too often. Also, I have to keep track of what the main character does and when. This means I am having to use a story board, just like you would with a screenplay. I began the story board last night and it is fun.
In addition, I run every chapter through a program that reads the chapter out loud. It is hard to believe how many repeated words, and things that aren't just right can be picked up listening to the chapter being read.
Do have a good day.
Dan
Monday, March 3, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
It's Good Because It Made Memories.
I promised at least one post a week on my blog, and here it is.
I was surprised, pleasantly surprised, this week when one of my sales reports had Brandywine Bay leading my book sales. My first inclination was to go back and see if there was anything I might need to add or change. Then the words “If it works, don’t fix it.” rang in my head. It’s obviously working, so I won’t fix it.
I am happy about Brandywine Bay’s success, because I can never go back to the things that inspired me to write the book.
It was set on the Pamlico River in eastern North Carolina. When I was young, my aunt’s house was on the river and to me it was Heaven on earth. It was where I spent most of my summers. There was a beautiful little cove there that I did think was Heaven and actually refer to as Heaven in my book The Seventh Gift of God.
I’m glad I have the memories because it’s all gone now. My aunt’s house and everything around it was washed away in a hurricane and the little cove I so adored was the victim of development. I guess progress is good, but sometimes it takes so much that means something to somebody.
At least I have the book.
Have a Great Day!
Dan
http://www.danweatherington.com
I was surprised, pleasantly surprised, this week when one of my sales reports had Brandywine Bay leading my book sales. My first inclination was to go back and see if there was anything I might need to add or change. Then the words “If it works, don’t fix it.” rang in my head. It’s obviously working, so I won’t fix it.
I am happy about Brandywine Bay’s success, because I can never go back to the things that inspired me to write the book.
It was set on the Pamlico River in eastern North Carolina. When I was young, my aunt’s house was on the river and to me it was Heaven on earth. It was where I spent most of my summers. There was a beautiful little cove there that I did think was Heaven and actually refer to as Heaven in my book The Seventh Gift of God.
I’m glad I have the memories because it’s all gone now. My aunt’s house and everything around it was washed away in a hurricane and the little cove I so adored was the victim of development. I guess progress is good, but sometimes it takes so much that means something to somebody.
At least I have the book.
Have a Great Day!
Dan
http://www.danweatherington.com
Friday, February 14, 2014
My Valentines Present
Why are you getting this? Who is Dan Weatherington? Good questions.
You are getting this because your email address is on my computer. Sometime, you either sent me an email or I sent you one. You may have tried to sell me something. You may be from Nigeria and are going to send me the rest of a multi-million dollar inheritance as soon as I send you a few hundred. You may be a friend. There’s any number of reasons your email address is on my computer.
Who is Dan Weatherington? I am a writer.
What is My Valentines Present? It’s something I’m giving myself.
I have written fifteen novels. Actually, thirteen. Two are parts of the other thirteen that I feel can stand alone. Most of them are self published and that is where the gift to myself comes in.
For a long time I played the agent-publisher game. It was frustrating and took too long. A year or two for a book was nothing. There were countless hoops to jump through.
But, believe it or not. I miss it. There was a challenge to it. It was fun.
Then, came disappointment. I was browsing through several self published books on Amazon.com and B Dalton.com and the free “look inside” features got to me. Some of these people who self publish don’t know the difference between “here” and “hear”. They don’t know which “know” means be aware of and which “no” means “not going to happen.” They don’t know that the period at the end of a piece of dialog belongs inside the quotation mark. I don’t care to be connected with such people.
Besides, like I said, the old way was fun. Though I write on a computer, I still like the old Courier font. I still like pages with one inch margins. I still like the name of my work and the page number on top.
I am currently working on two novels I absolutely love. Yes, I’m writing them on my computer but they are written in Courier font and the pages have one inch margins.
And, query letters and synopsis will be sent to publishers and agents when the manuscripts are finished. Will I be rejected? Of course, I expect it. I have been doing this long enough to know that every manuscript I send out isn’t right for every agent or publisher.
Will it take a year or two? Oh yes. Just maybe I will have to work a little harder, but at least I won’t be in a group that never learned the difference between hear and here.
You are getting this because your email address is on my computer. Sometime, you either sent me an email or I sent you one. You may have tried to sell me something. You may be from Nigeria and are going to send me the rest of a multi-million dollar inheritance as soon as I send you a few hundred. You may be a friend. There’s any number of reasons your email address is on my computer.
Who is Dan Weatherington? I am a writer.
What is My Valentines Present? It’s something I’m giving myself.
I have written fifteen novels. Actually, thirteen. Two are parts of the other thirteen that I feel can stand alone. Most of them are self published and that is where the gift to myself comes in.
For a long time I played the agent-publisher game. It was frustrating and took too long. A year or two for a book was nothing. There were countless hoops to jump through.
But, believe it or not. I miss it. There was a challenge to it. It was fun.
Then, came disappointment. I was browsing through several self published books on Amazon.com and B Dalton.com and the free “look inside” features got to me. Some of these people who self publish don’t know the difference between “here” and “hear”. They don’t know which “know” means be aware of and which “no” means “not going to happen.” They don’t know that the period at the end of a piece of dialog belongs inside the quotation mark. I don’t care to be connected with such people.
Besides, like I said, the old way was fun. Though I write on a computer, I still like the old Courier font. I still like pages with one inch margins. I still like the name of my work and the page number on top.
I am currently working on two novels I absolutely love. Yes, I’m writing them on my computer but they are written in Courier font and the pages have one inch margins.
And, query letters and synopsis will be sent to publishers and agents when the manuscripts are finished. Will I be rejected? Of course, I expect it. I have been doing this long enough to know that every manuscript I send out isn’t right for every agent or publisher.
Will it take a year or two? Oh yes. Just maybe I will have to work a little harder, but at least I won’t be in a group that never learned the difference between hear and here.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Priest and The Parson
The day after Christmas and The Priest and The Parson is on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Priest-Parson-Dan-Weatherington/dp/1479192996/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1356528986&sr=8-20&keywords=Dan+Weatherington
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
It Was Interesting... But, It's Over
As you did, I waited a long time for last night. The robo-calls on the telephone went past disgusting. The mailbox full of oversized postcards got ridiculous and the same ads over and over on TV were absurd.
I flipped through all the channels last night, and finally found CBS was the best, especially with the sound off. I can't say I found the least need to be reminded who 53.6% of the white males voted for in 1964 or who 73.8% of the Hispanic baggage carriers in Rhode Island voted for yesterday, so the sound stayed off. For a while, it looked like Obama was losing. Okay, but the "swing" states were still out and still out and stayed out, something I couldn't do any longer. Oh well, I'll find out in the morning.
At 1:30 I woke up. Thousands of people in front of huge Obama pictures were waving American flags and a line was at the bottom of the screen... Waiting for President Obama's acceptance speech. It was over, finally!
I now have four years to figure out how to do away with my telephone, junk my mail box and forget about TV. I believe I can do it!
Have a great day,
Dan
I flipped through all the channels last night, and finally found CBS was the best, especially with the sound off. I can't say I found the least need to be reminded who 53.6% of the white males voted for in 1964 or who 73.8% of the Hispanic baggage carriers in Rhode Island voted for yesterday, so the sound stayed off. For a while, it looked like Obama was losing. Okay, but the "swing" states were still out and still out and stayed out, something I couldn't do any longer. Oh well, I'll find out in the morning.
At 1:30 I woke up. Thousands of people in front of huge Obama pictures were waving American flags and a line was at the bottom of the screen... Waiting for President Obama's acceptance speech. It was over, finally!
I now have four years to figure out how to do away with my telephone, junk my mail box and forget about TV. I believe I can do it!
Have a great day,
Dan
Saturday, October 27, 2012
A Good Week
Have I used "A Good Week" before? Probably so. But it was a good week. My books are doing okay. The Priest and The Parson will be out in a couple of weeks and I'm well into The Thrill Seekers - The Haunting of Derbyshire Castle, the last of the Thrill Seekers Trilogy. And, my webpage http://www.danweatherington.com/ has been brought up to date. But, enough about me.
The Bishop, the Parson, the Professor and I have done our lunch thing uninterrupted by funerals, weddings, meetings and Bar Mitzvahs for a solid monthe... four weeks... one twelfth of a year. The Professor did miss one lunch, but it was because of some latent desire he has to be a school bus driver and knowing the cause, we gave him an excused absence.
Otherwise, it has been great!
We have hashed over politics to the point, I believe, the country, state, county and city are now in fine shape... that is if all these candidates will listen to us. I don't remind the preachers not to spout politics in the pulpit, probably because we think they agree with us. We think! Now the Bishop's "Man of faith for Obama" pin is a dead giveaway. And, when I announced I had already voted straight Democrat, I was quickly reminded that meant I had voted for a couple of candidates that we had already established weren't exactly desirable, I could have crawled under the table. BUT, this too will pass.
Have a good weekend and a Good Week.
Dan
The Bishop, the Parson, the Professor and I have done our lunch thing uninterrupted by funerals, weddings, meetings and Bar Mitzvahs for a solid monthe... four weeks... one twelfth of a year. The Professor did miss one lunch, but it was because of some latent desire he has to be a school bus driver and knowing the cause, we gave him an excused absence.
Otherwise, it has been great!
We have hashed over politics to the point, I believe, the country, state, county and city are now in fine shape... that is if all these candidates will listen to us. I don't remind the preachers not to spout politics in the pulpit, probably because we think they agree with us. We think! Now the Bishop's "Man of faith for Obama" pin is a dead giveaway. And, when I announced I had already voted straight Democrat, I was quickly reminded that meant I had voted for a couple of candidates that we had already established weren't exactly desirable, I could have crawled under the table. BUT, this too will pass.
Have a good weekend and a Good Week.
Dan
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Actual Headlines
Do they proofread this stuff? Here are actual newspaper headlines:
-Miracle cure kills 600 patients
-Rangers get whiff of Colon
-Total lunar eclipse will be broadcast live on Northwoods Public Radio
-The bra celebrates a pair of historic milestones this year
-Starvation can lead to health hazards
-Rally against apathy draws small crowd
-Police arrest everyone on February 22nd
-Parents keep kids home to protest school closure
-New sick policy requires two day notice
-Nudists fight erection of towers near Wreck Beach
-Man with 8 DUIs blames drinking problem
-Hospitals resort to hiring doctors
-Homicide victims rarely talk to police
-Barbershop singers bring joy to school for deaf
-Meat head resigns
-Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after 25
-Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find Weapons
-Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum
-County to pay $250,000 to advertise lack of funds
-Puerto Rican teen named mistress of the universe
-Man accused of killing lawyer receives new attorney
-Study shows frequent sex inhances pregnancy chances
-Bridges help people cross rivers
-Meeting on open meetings is closed
-City unsure why the sewer smells
-Worker suffers leg pain after crane drops 800 pound ball on his head
-Miracle cure kills 600 patients
-Rangers get whiff of Colon
-Total lunar eclipse will be broadcast live on Northwoods Public Radio
-The bra celebrates a pair of historic milestones this year
-Starvation can lead to health hazards
-Rally against apathy draws small crowd
-Police arrest everyone on February 22nd
-Parents keep kids home to protest school closure
-New sick policy requires two day notice
-Nudists fight erection of towers near Wreck Beach
-Man with 8 DUIs blames drinking problem
-Hospitals resort to hiring doctors
-Homicide victims rarely talk to police
-Barbershop singers bring joy to school for deaf
-Meat head resigns
-Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after 25
-Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find Weapons
-Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum
-County to pay $250,000 to advertise lack of funds
-Puerto Rican teen named mistress of the universe
-Man accused of killing lawyer receives new attorney
-Study shows frequent sex inhances pregnancy chances
-Bridges help people cross rivers
-Meeting on open meetings is closed
-City unsure why the sewer smells
-Worker suffers leg pain after crane drops 800 pound ball on his head
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