Musings From the 21st Century...

Sekrit Projekt

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:23:00 +0000

Oh yeah, and the Sekrit Projekt. It shall remain nameless, but let's just say it's something really cool.

Okay, it's a script for a proposed TV show that I'm working on with some very cool people.

That's it. The rest is a Sekrit. Don't try and get it out of me. I won't talk. Unless you give me cookies. Then I'll talk.

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Two Posts In One Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:54:00 +0000

I realize you content-hungry internet addicts out there are foaming at the mouth over this, but I realized I never updated you on the REUNION DAY rewrite.

I finished the first draft of the rewrite a couple of days ago and it came in at a satisfying 100,000+ words. I have a lot of re-reading and editing to do, though, but I'm confident it's a lot closer to what the publisher wants. Is it better? I dunno. It's different, even if the first and third acts remain essentially the same. We'll see if it hits the mark. I'm hoping for about a month to get the edits and read-through's done. We'll see.

Here's hoping.

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Submissions Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:41:00 +0000

I realize I am blogging to the Void here, but whatever. These are my latest submission numbers:

VOID SHIP
Publishers on active submission: 5
High: 339 days (3 publishers)
Low: 41 days
Avg: 260 days

REUNION DAY
Publishers (active): 2
Rewrite Request: 1
High: 765 days
Low: N/A
Avg: 765 days

SPEEDWING still has an August 2012 publish date, but I have had no contact with the publisher for several months on edits.

As you can see regarding REUNION DAY there are a pair of (major) publishers that are severe laggards on answering submissions. This is perhaps more a problem with the editor in one case and the publisher itself in the other. But 765 days? Seriously?

At this rate I'll be done with the rewrite of RD for publisher #3 before they ever get to it

Feh.

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noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:17:00 +0000

5058 / 11560
(43.75%)

NaNoReWriMo

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:36:00 +0000

3838 / 11560
(33.2%)

FAIL

NaNoReWriMo

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:29:00 +0000

For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month, also known amongst us writers as NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month.

I usually don't participate, mostly because I'm a lazy writer who's usually "not in the mood". As you well know though 'mood is a thing for cattle, and love play, not writing', to paraphrase Patrick Stewart just a bit.

But I digress. Am I participating this year? Well, kind of. You see I have this novel, Reunion Day, which in its original form was rejected by 8 major publishers (two still have it). But one of the publishers liked Reunion Day well enough to state they would be interested in a rewrite. So over the last few months I've been tinkering with the rewrite, and finally got serious a few weeks back. So now I'm into it.

Which brings us back to NaNoWriMo, or as I'm calling it, NaNoReWriMo, or National Novel ReWrite Month. Yes, I'm dedicating myself to finishing my rewrite of Reunion Day in November, so I guess on some level I'm participating. Now I'm not committing to 50,000 words, because rewriting (in my opinion) is even trickier than just writing a draft, for all kinds of continuity reasons, among others. But I am committing to finishing the rewrite in November.

Now I've already written 18,440 words on the rewite, so that's my starting point, with a month end goal of 30,000, leaving me a total of 11,560 to write this month, which on a word count meter looks like this:

18440 / 30000
(61.47%)

And so far in November (NaNoReWriMo) I've written 1,503, which leaves me about this much left to go:

1503 / 11560
(13%)

So on we go with NaNoReWriMo. Hope it's as much fun for you as I hope it will be for me.

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Duran Duran Live at Comcast Arena 9/23/11

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:51:00 +0000

My review of the DD show Friday 9/23/11 at the Comcast Arena, Everett, WA.

The crowd was small, I'd say only about 4,000, at least compared to their last arena show in the area in 2008 supporting the Red Carpet Massacre tour. That show was at the downtown WaMu Theatre, which has a capacity of about 7,000 and was full up. Everett is about 25 miles north of the city and the smaller crowd is probably directly attributable to the location of the arena. Seattle is a difficult town to get around at best, but especially so on a Friday night.

The show itself was entertaining, with very interesting visuals and a good lighting display, plus three video screens of various sizes in use. Especially effective were the background animations for "View to a Kill", "Wild Boys", and "Leopard", including the ending video of Nina Hossein doing a "news report" and Anna's face slowly turning from woman to leopard. There were a ton of technical glitches, especially with the visuals during "Wild Boys". The lighting was badly off, often not picking up on someone doing a solo. This was particularly noticible during "Safe" when they couldn't seem to find Anna anywhere on the stage until the end, and also annoyingly when JT went to the front of the stage for his bass solo on "Planet Earth". I mean literally he was up there for a full minute in the dark and they only got a light on him for about the last 10 sseconds.

The sound was also poor (I was in row 12). Often the wrong instrument seemed to be emphasized at the wrong time and vocals were hit and miss. Simon's voice seemed weak to start the show, but he seemed to pick it up around the time we got to "Safe" and "Notorious". Still, I wonder if he's being told to hold back, and perhaps there are certain songs he just won't be doing much anymore due to the vocal range required.

Song by song Set List review:

A DIAMOND IN THE MIND (recording)// A cool way to preface the show.

BEFORE THE RAIN// Weird opener. Not what you'd expect. I like the song but perhaps it should have been later in the set or as an encore. I epxect they will be dropping this as the opener soon. Simon's voice was noticably weak. The song was also hurt by the fact that Simon's mic wasn't on for the first 30 seconds or so.

ALL YOU NEED IS NOW// Which should be the set opener. Well done.

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF// Okay, heard it before. Kind of a different opening with guitar cords instead of Nick's bubbly synth sound, but that could have been a mistake by the sound guys.

A VIEW TO A KILL// Great tune and well carried off with great nude Bond-ish sillhouette visuals. At this point I knew were going to be okay even though Si's voice was still worrying me.

BLAME THE MACHINES// Let's face it, this is really just a mediocre album track, not a feature track, and I would have much rather heard "Being Bollowed", "Networker Nation" or "Runway Runaway". Kind of a show-stopper, and not in a good way.

COME UNDONE//Love the song and even Dom's guitar didn't annoy me. A panty-dropper.

SAFE//I don't care for the song myself but it did give Anna a chance to use her vocal chops on the rap part.

NOTORIOUS//Always a great tune live and didn't dissapoint.

OTHER PEOPLES LIVES//Really good visuals of the band thumbing through tabloids on the video screens behind the stage. Too bad about the song.

LEAVE A LIGHT ON//Simon pulled out the acoustic guitar and was really all alone on this one, and he pulled it off. A guy behind me said to his buddy "That's a beautiful song" at the end. Damn Straight.

TIGER TIGER//This is one where the sound let us down. Muddy, confusing, synths not where they should be, and the sax solo was off. I even think they went a couple extra measure because no one was quite sure where they were. Nice to hear again but not as good as on the "Astronaut" tour.

THE REFLEX//Da da da da...

ORDINARY WORLD//A terrific version until... Dom Brown shat all over the song with an annoying, LOUD, COMPLETELY OFF-KEY, abysmal solo. I'd have paid Warren out of my own pocket to fix this one.

THE MAN WHO STOLE A LEOPARD//Visually fun though I think it left the crowd a bit confused. I think they thought it was "The Chauffer" at first. Also, Anna's wardrobe change made her look like she was in a leopard-print Romulan uniform.

PLANET EARTH//Liked this much more than I have recently, especially JT's "shadow" bass solo.

SUNRISE//Great song ruined again by Dom's messy guitar work. He's never gotten this song right. Dom Brown, you're no Andy Taylor.

WILD BOYS/RELAX//Great song, great set ender, and "Relax" was tons of fun!

(encore)

GIRL PANIC!//This traffic naked in my mind! Great song. So sorry Portland and others have missed it. Perhaps it's just too much for Simon to sing right now.

GIRLS ON FILM//As always. Higlighted by a sexy mom and her 7 year old daughter chanting "Play that fookin' bass, John" three rows in front of me.

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Another REUNION DAY...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:24:00 +0000

Rejection... this time from Solaris UK, which I didn't know we had submitted to. That brings the numbers on RD to:

Submissions: 10
Rejections: 6 (1 rewrite request)
Outstanding: 2
Acceptances: 1 (declined)

Also, just submitted a list of secondary markets to Joshua; Prime, Nightshade, Tachyon, Angry Robot, Edge, Medallion, & Hadley Rille. He knows those markets better than I do, so I will defer to his advice.

Work on the rewrite is sluggish after some good progress last week. Still plugging away.

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Updating the Hugo's for the 21st Century

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:06:00 +0000

After watching the 2011 Hugo Awards, Science Fiction's version of the Oscars, in person for the first time, I came away with the feeling that the whole thing is just a bit messed up. Specifically, I think that the ballot itself is quite quaint and, dare I say it, out of date.

Now how ironic is that? The leading lights of predicting the future being out of date? So what specifically are my complaints, and how would I fix the Hugo’s? Ah, dear reader, read on...

BEST FAN ARTIST - Now, I have no idea what a "fan artist" is, nor its significance in the industry, so in my mind, I would eliminate it. What are we celebrating here, amateurism?

BEST FAN WRITER - And ditto, what is a "fan writer", and why is it significant?

BEST FANZINE - Now I know what a fanzine is, I guess. So I guess we'd keep this one, for now.

BEST SEMIPROZINE - How about we change this one to "Best Semi-Professional Print Magazine", and add BEST ONLINE MAGAZINE - Since the online community is where the 'zine world is going to end up anyway.

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST - This category is fine the way it is.

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM - So what, exactly is Long Form? I think what we really want here is BEST NOVEL EDITOR, and I would add a category for BEST ANTHOLOGY EDITOR, as though they would both qualify as "long form", they are distinctly different categories.

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM - Again, such a quaint category. I would change this to BEST MAGAZINE EDITOR, since that's what we all know that it is.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM - This one is due for a major makeover. In 2011 "Short form" included individual TV episodes, animated shorts, and an original web music video. This, in my mind, short changes ALL those categories. I don't think "F--- Me, Ray Bradbury" is really DRAMATIC, do you? I would break this category up thusly:

BEST TV SERIES - Just what it says.
BEST TV EPISODE - The best SINGLE episode from any TV-related series.
BEST RELATED MEDIA PRESENTATION - Would include webisodes, web series, music videos, short films, documentaries, etc.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM - We all know what this is right? It's movies. So let's call it that.

BEST GRAPHIC STORY - C'mon, really? How about BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL and BEST COMIC BOOK SERIES?

BEST RELATED WORK - Related to what, I may ask? How about just BEST NON-FICTION BOOK.

BEST SHORT STORY - At last a category we can all agree on, even if I personally think the short story is a dead art.

BEST NOVELETTE/BEST NOVELLA - Again, two categories that no one can really define and that are basically anachronisms. I say we combine the two and get on with it.

BEST NOVEL - So let me get this straight, there are three categories for short fiction, which almost no one reads, and only one for novels? In my opinion it's ten times harder to write and sell a novel than it is to write and sell short fiction, so how about we start recognizing that a bit more? I'd split the category into BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL and BEST FANTASY NOVEL. It is the Science Fiction AND Fantasy Writers of America, right?

So in updating the Hugo’s for the 21st century, we've dropped 2 categories, added 5 new ones, and updated several others. In 2012 my hypothetical ballot would look like this:

1. BEST FANZINE
2. BEST SEMI-PROFESSIONAL PRINT MAGAZINE
3. BEST ONLINE MAGAZINE
4. BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
5. BEST NOVEL EDITOR
6. BEST ANTHOLGY EDITOR
7. BEST MAGAZINE EDITOR
8. BEST TV SERIES
9. BEST TV EPISODE
10. BEST RELATED MEDIA PRESENTATION
11. BEST SCIENCE FICTION OR FANTASY MOVIE
12. BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL
13. BEST COMIC BOOK SERIES
14. BEST NON-FICTION BOOK
15. BEST SHORT STORY
16. BEST NOVELLA/NOVELETTE
17. BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
18. BEST FANTASY NOVEL

So there you have it, an updated Hugo ballot for the 21st century. And we’re only a decade late.

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Submission Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:30:00 +0000

Just to update you with some numbers on my various projects:

SPEEDWING:

SPEEDWING was orphaned by the closing of my publisher, Virtual Tales, last spring. It quickly found a new home with Whiskey Creek Press, however, and I signed a new publishing contract with them in June.

The total numbers for SPEEDWING:
Submissions: 6
Rejections: 4
Acceptances: 2.

So a 33% acceptance rate on that one. Average of 55 days out on submission; acceptances took 29 and 31 days respectively for an average of 30. The high was 117 days for a response; the low was 29 days.

SPEEDWING will be published in August 2012.

REUNION DAY:

My first agented novel went out for submission to 8 publishers on 12/9/2009. I also submitted RD on my own before aquiring my agent to Virtual Tales, and received an acceptance, which I turned down in favor of agented submissions to the major publishers. So far, the numbers for RD look like this:

Submissions: 9
Rejections: 6
Acceptances: 1 (Offer turned down)
Rewrite Requests: 1
Outstanding: 2

As previously stated, the acceptance was from the now-defunct VT. There is one rewrite request pending (which I am working on) and two submissions still outstanding after 605 days (as of this writing). I won't say who the publishers are that still have REUNION DAY (but their initials are DAW and Tor). Baen recently passed on RD with a "very close" comment and an offer to work with me on my next project, which is gratifying, but as Joshua said "Ultimately no is still no."

Submissions on RD have averaged 269 days, with a high of 605 (and counting) and a low of 30 days.

VOID SHIP:

VOID SHIP is a bit of a different animal. It's been submitted to 10 different publishers, but none of the submissions has been through my agent. We disagree on the book; I love it, Joshua does not. So I ended up submitting it myself to various publishers. This has been awkward, to say the least. The numbers on VS:

Submissions: 10
Rejections: 4
Acceptances: 0
Did Not Receive: 1
Outstanding: 5

One editor I sent VOID SHIP to did not receive it because it came through from my email rather than Joshua. It has not gone back out through Joshua to this point.

Average days out per rejection: 68 days. Total average per submission is currently at 101 days.

Total average days out based on 24 submissions: 154 days.

Bottom line, you do a lot of waiting as a writer. It's all part of the business I guess. So the sooner you submit your work, the better, I say.

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One More Thing...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Unbeknownst to me, my novel SPEEDWING is now scheduled for publication in "the first half of 2012". So if you're following at home, that's sometime between January and June.

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Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:21:00 +0000

VOID SHIP got its first rejection from a major today, Orbit/Hattchette. 44 day turnaround, which is nice considering there are still 3 major publishers who haven't responded to REUNION DAY after 464 days. Nice comments too, along with the usual "good luck with placing this". 1 down, 9 to go.

Speaking of REUNION DAY, I have been engaged in a rewrite of the submitted draft for the last six weeks or so. There is at least one publisher of the five who rejected it that is interested in a rewrite, so I'm working on that. So far I've trimmed about 35,000 words, mostly from the second act. I've tightened the opening and first act to about 98 pages and I'm about to embark on a completely new second act, which is exciting. More action, a tighter story, more of an adventure and a bit less character. The third act should stay mostly intact. Right now I'm at 70,000 words, so that's a good jumping off point.

SPEEDWING is still in development at Virtual Tales. No pub date, no cover art, and so far no editing feedback. I know there's work to do there, as I have to make it more YA and I've also got a new ending in mind. Also, in case you didn't know, you can sign up for a free four chapter preview here; whenever we get those chapters edited and ready to go.

That's all for now...

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Test Posting

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:09:00 +0000

Test test test test test...

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FREE Preview of SPEEDWING!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Shiny Toy Guns - Together Again

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 05:06:00 +0000

SPEEDWING Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:20:00 +0000

Press release for my novel SPEEDWING, coming in 2011/12 from Virtual Tales Publishing... http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/85174/

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Submission Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:34:00 +0000

So I thought I would give you updates on my novel submissions for the last year or so and let you know where I'm at.

REUNION DAY went out for submissions to 8 publishers on 12/15/2009. So far there have been 5 rejections (with one possible rewrite). 3 submissions are still outstanding; DAW, Tor, and Baen. And yes, it really does take that long sometimes to even get a "no" from a publisher.

SPEEDWING went out on on 6/28/10 to 4 publishers. VIRTUAL TALES Publishing made an offer on the book (YA SF) and I accepted on 7/29/10. One submission was withdrawn by me when it became apparent it wasn't a good fit. The other two publishers have so far not responded, and if they ever do, they will be told the book is "no longer available" due to my deal with VT. You should be hearing more about SPEEDWING very soon.

VOID SHIP has just gone out to 9 publishers (all majors) with a 10th possible. Some of these publishers are the same ones who have yet to respond to REUNION DAY, and one of them says to expect "12 to 18 months" for a response. This is just the way major publishing works, folks. Waiting is tough.

So the totals are 21 submissions; 5 rejections (1 possible rewrite); 1 acceptance; and 16 oustanding submissions with a long wait time of about 14 months.

In the mean time, my brother Mike Bara and I are working on rewrites for a Hollywood talent scout on a script called TRIPODS. The script is based on an unsold short story of mine called "Tripod Pest Control" that I couldn't find a home for in 2009.

Also, I have done a few scribblings on the potential rewrite of REUNION DAY, but that is on the back burner until the TRIPODS script is complete and editorial rewrites are done on SPEEDWING.

Time marches on.

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Wild Boy by Andy Taylor

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 01:15:00 +0000

Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran by Andy Taylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Andy Taylor was Duran Duran's original guitarist and the most (only) professionally experienced musician in the band, and he had a huge influence on their early success.

In this autobiographical look at his life with the band, we find out lots of details about the founding of the group and the wild and crazy times they experienced in the mayhem of the burgeoning MTV era.

Basically their managers, the Berrow brothers, kept them working non-stop on touring, making albums, then touring again for five years straight, so much so that none of the band members had time for a normal life. This, along with being fueled by copious amounts of money and cocaine led the band members to become estranged from each other, resulting in the inevitable breakup after Live Aid in '85.

The other interesting fact is that for the most part the members of the band didn't engage in much groupie-hopping. Given the circumstances that's kind of surprising.

Andy seems like a pretty level-headed guy who was looking for stability in his life. He seems to have finally found it away from the band after quitting them for the second time. A very interesting read.

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View all my reviews

All You Need Is Now...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:20:00 +0000

1. All You Need Is Now (album version) - 4 Stars
This feels like two songs in one. From Nick Rhodes' opening schizo synths to Simon's agressive "Wild Boys" style vocals the song somehow morphs into a sweeping, melodic chorus that takes the song in a completely different direction. The synth then returns and drags you back into schizo-land, then back to the anthemic chorus. Somehow it all works.

1a. All You Need Is Now (single edit) - 3 Stars
About a minute shorter than the ablum version, this one starts with a softer acoustic opening of the chorus before taking us to shizo-land again and back again. They also shorten the fade-out in favor of a rather jarring smash-bang ending. Will it be a hit? Your guess is as good as mine.

2. Blame The Machines - 3 Stars
Another song that feels like two songs in one. The verse and chorus seem disconnected, jumping rather suddenly from one to the other. This mixing of the beats could work, I guess. The over-dub of a female GPS control voice in the bridge is also incongruous, and the song just kind of ends.

3. Being Followed - 3 Stars
Starts off promisingly with some great lyrics by Simon about paranoia and a solid disco-rock beat. The chorus follows perfectly the first two times, then breaks down a bit in the bridge before falling completely apart at the fade-out with unecessary siren effects and Simon actually singing "La-la-la-la-la-la-la" at the end. Weird.

4. Leave a Light On - 4 Stars
A welcome change of pace with a beautiful ballad. This one is really growing on me. It's the closest thing on the album to "Save a Prayer". Begins with a lovely synth melody from Nick. "I know... I swear..." Simon croons as the chorus begins and it's compelling stuff. Also reminds a bit "Matter of Feeling" from "Notorious". At only 4:23 you wish it was a minute longer to reach epic ballad status. Still, great stuff.

5. Safe (In the Heat of the Moment) - 0 stars
In which the band takes a detour into rap (that worked so well on Red Carpet Massacre) and the song completely deflates the album. A turd that cannot be polished, like "Bedroom Toys" or "Hallucinating Elvis". Yeah, it's that bad.

6. Girl Panic - 4 Stars
Could I give this a higher rating? Yeah, I could. It's not perfect, but it's damn close. A great rock song where once again Nick's synths stand out along with Simon's singing and lyrics. Just an up-tempo fun rock song that works perfectly from beginning to end. The only incongruity is the use of a synth solo in the bridge and fade that was once leaked as part of a different song and sounds promising enough to stand on its own. Too bad about that part.

7. The Man Who Stole a Leopard - 3 Stars
I know, many fans are going to love this song, from the "Tel Aviv" like synth opening to the "Chauffer"-like sequencer, but the fact is the song never really gets going, has no chorus to speak of, and never achieves the heights of the songs it's trying to emulate. The newscast voiceover at the end goes on too long, distracting from the song. Near miss, but a clean miss. Update: I now find this song disturbing, thus I updated it to 3 stars. I won't listen to it before bed though, or I'd never get to sleep.

8. Runway Runaway - 3 stars
The album's feel-good rock/pop song equivalent of "Last Chance On The Stairway" from "Rio". Very good lyrics. Just barely three minutes long then it quickly fades out. Not memorable but you find yourself humming and singing along while it's playing.

9. Before the Rain - 4 stars
A very good closer. A slow-paced number that I like much better than "Leopard". Has the same spacey feel and evokes songs like "Winter Marches On" or "The Chauffer". Love the strings at the end.

10. Mediterranea - 4 Stars
A "bonus" track available on the physical CD in April and as a download in Europe. Again a slower paced number with a bit of an up-tempo chorus that would have served the main album release much better than a few of the tracks noted here.

If I were putting this album together, I'd do it like this:

1. All You Need Is Now
2. Being Followed
3. Girl Panic
4. Leave a Light On
5. Boys Keep Swinging (David Bowie cover track)
6. Blame the Machines
7. Runway Runaway
8. Mediterranea
9. Leopard
10. Before The Rain
11. Safe (Trash Bin)

There are apparently three more tracks coming for the physical CD release (including "Mediterranea") plus two "reprises" of AYNIN. And, we are now getting official reports of three MORE "bonus tracks" from the AYNIN sessions that will be available in various packages. That makes 15 tracks plus the two reprises. They are finally getting the "content" part of the internet.

Physical CD Release:
Mediterranea
Other People's Things
TBD
Bonus Tracks:

Early Summer Nerves
Too Close to the Sun
TBD

My favorite of the post-reunion albums so far.

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VOID SHIP

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 05:33:00 +0000

The final draft of VOID SHIP is complete and sent off to my wonder agent Joshua.

The Draft topped off at about 89,500 words, perhaps a bit short, bit we'll see if Joshua has any ideas for lengthening. For my part, I think it's pretty good right where it is.

Hopefully there will be more news about this project soon.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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VOID SHIP is complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:51:00 +0000

Well, the DRAFT is.

81312 / 81312 words. 100% done!

Rewrites will probably commence on Monday. The draft will be expanded and revised, the plot points all connected, cross-checked, and put to bed. I expect this process to take most of the month, likely finishing by Octeober 1, at least that's my goal. I will probably shoot for 90k on the rewrite.

I finished in 106 days, by far the fastest I have ever finished a novel draft. It could probably have been done in 60 days, had not other life problems and holidays inserted their ugly noses into it. Plus I've been just plain slacking off the last three weeks.

Pretty good considering that the story came to me in a dream the night of May 26/27, 2010.

Very Cool.

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SPEEDWING - Pleased to Announce...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:40:00 +0000

I can now announce that I am in contract with the good folks at VIRTUAL TALES (http://www.virtualtales.com/) to publish SPEEDWING, a YA SF adventure novel. Publication date is TBD, and the book will be out in trade paperback and a variety of ebook formats, including Kindle and nook.

More info as it comes.

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VOID SHIP Progress 06/24/10

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:20:00 +0000

53231 / 90000 words. 59% done!

Year-To-Date Wordage

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:12:00 +0000

55007 / 150000 words. 37% done!

VOID SHIP Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Bara) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:08:00 +0000

Been a while since I posted an update here. Mostly happening on facebook.

40175 / 90000 words. 45% done!

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