Today I started experimenting with the cover art for my memoir Baghdaddy. Here are my first two attempts at banners for Facebook and the website. I’ll have help PR help and professional interpretations in advance of pre-orders, but it’s always good to try new things.
I’ll float a few trial balloons over the next few weeks.
First up is a light vs dark pair.
Let me know what you think.
This is Veterans Day weekend. The U.S. federal holiday will be observed Monday, but it falls on 11 November every year. Veterans Day is a time to honor and thank those who are serving or have served in the military. It is the day we recognize and celebrate those veterans who are still with us.
We have fought for, and we continue to fight for our friends, our comrades in arms, the people we love, and for a country and way of life we believe in. America has and will always be a polarizing beacon to the world. We are many voices under one flag, and that has been, and always will be, a challenge.
We have practiced a novel form of democracy since our declaration of independence, that few other nations thought would last. Have we consistently lived up to our ideals? Of course not, no great nation or individual in history ever has. But we strive to, and we live in a nation where freedom abounds and is cherished. Plentiful opportunities exist, and talent and effort are rewarded.
My great, grandparents came here from Italy for a better life and the American dream. They had to work hard, and they made a better life for themselves than they had had before.
The United States is a great nation, and our guarantees of liberty are still a rare thing in this world. Many people come here to live free, and for their shot at the American dream.
Nations and groups have fought to defeat us and take away the freedoms we enjoy. Veterans are the reason they failed. So, for all of you who have served, or who serve now – Thank You. For all the times it was hard or horrible, and you pressed on – Thank You.
Because you were away from home and the ones you love, andfor everything you did, or do, to protect us. Thank you. Your service makes adifference. It has made a better future for all of us.
Good news! You get to see it first. Here is the cover for Baghdaddy. There were a lot of great ideas, and several concepts, but this one was perfect. Baghdaddy is a gritty story, and a big part of it is about how surviving your childhood, fatherhood, and going to war all require eerily similar skills.
Next week I should get back the line and architectural edits and I’ll be busy. Advanced reader copies (ARCs) are going out to ask for endorsements and reviews, as I type. Some I know I’ll get, but my publisher also sent out a few wish-list requests, my favorite longshot – Chuck Norris. These folks are ridiculously busy, but it was exciting to see my ARCs go out to people who I think are remarkable. Fingers are crossed, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Baghdaddy should be available everywhere on 7 May 19, and I’llsend an update when the pre-order links are live.
The above image is from another secret location where the Cyphers battle to get their father back and maybe, in the process, save the world.
Another journey ends. I finally wrote my way to THE END. So, the story of Cypher 1.0 Ashur’s Tears, my first young adult thriller is done. We had take-out Chinese, and I munched away patiently while Jodi turned the pages.
She loved the story which made me happy because I love this story, it’s something I always wanted to write, and it was a good ten months of my life, so if my wife’s reaction was…meh…I would have had to switch to whiskey, and this newsletter would have been delayed.
Now that it’s Jo-approved, I’ll do a nose to tail review, get the markup copies out to my awesomely talented beta-readers next week for their reactions and comments, and submit the manuscript to ODNI for government review and release because based on my non-disclosure agreements everything I write must be reviewed prior to public release. Sigh. But perhaps I do know more than I think I do, or I should stop writing things like, “the above image is from another secret location”…but that’s not going to happen.
I did have a cranial MRI done a few years ago. I remember looking at the digital images with a grumpy doctor and how crushed I was when he looked over his glasses and told me, “Your brain is unremarkable.” Fortunately, that turned out to be a good thing because “interesting” areas on an MRI, are bad. ODNI’s review is a literary diagnostic to ensure I don’t inadvertently divulge something from my classified life, and that’s a good thing. The better thing is that, the more books they review from an author, the faster they turn them, once they see you do take security seriously.
After that, I need to find a good home for the story. A couple of agents and publishers have asked to see it, which is awesome, but it’s all just flattery and a heartache until the manuscript’s under contract. That should be another exciting adventure. I’ll send postcards. ?
Thanks again for reading my newsletter.
Bill
Visit BillRileyAuthor.com for updates and information on events.
Welcome to the Wild Blue Yonder Newsletter!
Thank you for all your support and encouragement, and for sticking with me on this weirdly awesome carnival ride that transforms ideas into novels.
This edition includes updates on Baghdaddy and Cypher 1.0.
This August is crazy. It has 23 different awareness campaigns. They highlight National Wellness, Crayon Collection, Family Fun, Catfish, Black Business, Eye Exams, Golf, Peaches, Immunizations, Panini’s and Goat Cheese, among other things.
When I remember, I try to do a few things or cook a few meals every month that reflect something I didn’t expect to see on the list. National Ice Cream Sandwich day was popular with Jo and the boys when I stocked up. Squid day was less popular for them, but I’ll celebrate it again just to see the look their faces when I serve all things squid for dinner. For a visual, think giving a toddler wasabi. To be clear, I’m not advocating feeding toddlers wasabi. But have fun, and do something unexpected.
Mike Towle, my Dev Editor, true to his word, returned Baghdaddy just before 1 August, and his comments were exactly what the manuscript needed. We talked before he started and one of the biggest challenges I had with Baghdaddy wasn’t the story, it was the right format to present the story in a way that would make sense to readers of memoir.
I tried a lot of different things and used a narrative style of alternating war stories with formative family stories. It worked and generated interest but each chapter needed to stand on its own, and that made the book long. Mike recommended a more traditional memoir structure to tighten the narrative, and I’ve been hard at work doing just that since the beginning of the month.
The final version of Baghdaddy will begin with an introduction to the world in the aftermath of 9/11, highlight what happened when two different Presidents called for uprisings, and review some of the reasons we found ourselves in Iraq. It will also discuss why childhood, fatherhood, and going to war are very similar things.
After the Intro there will be three short chapters of battles in my war to grow up, followed by surprising experiences in Kuwait, and a behind the scenes tour of fighting terrorists and insurgents in Iraq. As I watch the story get tighter and move even faster, I’m confident I made the right decision. But after years of work, a developmental edit is tough. I knew it was coming, but it still feels like my baby is having major surgery so he can grow up big and strong. The good and bad part is, I’m the surgeon.
I’ll finish the changes to the first part of Baghdaddy today. My deadline to return my edits to the manuscript is the 23^rd. After I get the new structure right, there are still a few different types of edits yet to come, but we are on track for a Spring 2019 release.
My new book Cypher 1.0 is somewhere between halfway and three-quarters of the way complete, and I’m still chipping away at it. Next week, I’ll be far enough along on Baghdaddy to also get back to writing Cypher. This is a great example of “Be careful what you ask for,” but I’m getting ready to start the last two major sequences in the second act, and I can’t wait to begin.
I love the characters in this book, and after I get this novel out to my alpha readers, I’ll introduce the Cypher children to you. I’m working hard to finish this book by the end of September but getting Baghdaddy to the publisher takes priority. Keep your fingers crossed. It’s going to be close.
Thanks again for staying with me on this journey.
Bill
Thanks again for reading my newsletter.
More information on my books and events will follow.
Also, the first 50 people to sign up for this newsletter will be invited to the Baghdaddy launch party at a place still to be determined somewhere in or around Boise Idaho.
My wife found me sitting on the floor in the kitchen, drinking coffee — sighing.
“What’s wrong?” She said.
Looking around, things weren’t terrible. The house was in good order, dishes were done, everything was clean, and mostly picked up. I couldn’t really complain. We have a great housekeeper who takes care of all the big things every other week. All we have to do is clean up after ourselves, but…I was in the middle of a new book, and at that weird point where I start fixating on things that, truth be told, no one else really notices.
It’s a sickness that straddles the backs of both writer’s block and procrastination. One where I find myself walking from point A (anywhere) to point B (the scene I’m in the middle of that I already know how to finish), when “Bam!” I have to immediately stop and do something completely random, inconsequential, and stupid — that’s, for no reason, sudden the number one thing on my to do list. And I can’t look away, or stop.
“Cat hair.” That was how I answered my wife’s question. “Cat hair’s everywhere.” We have two cats and some was, and the dark hardwood floors we have were a little dusty, and bits of garlic parchment — forensic evidence of the dinner I’d made the night before, clung hidden from sight against the cabinet baseboards. In a place that only I could see, while sitting on the floor, drinking my coffee, and sighing.
This wasn’t an unknown problem. It was a simple equation I didn’t even have to solve for “X.” Animals + dark wood floors = more vacuuming/more tolerance toward hairy floors. I wasn’t either, and my teenagers weren’t consistent enough to make the problem I was fixated on go away.
“What do you want to do about it? I could call one of the boys to vacuum?” My wife asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee and pulling out a kitchen chair. It disturbed the undergrowth and I watched a dust bunny chase after her chair followed by a clump of cat hair pursuing the bunny. My wife sat in the chair, sipped her coffee, and split her time between updating Facebook and watching me.
I sighed. “No. That won’t solve the problem.” I thought about it. “What we really need are catgirl maids.” I said it without really thinking about it, or their care and upkeep. A brigade of cute, semi-furry professionals. Well versed, and experienced, in cat hair containment.
What I was thinking of was something like this:
I was still lost in thought thinking about finally getting up off the floor, and getting another cup of coffee, when Jodi said. “Catgirls aren’t really a thing. If they are, you can’t buy, adopt, or enter a service contract with them, even with Amazon Prime. So, sorry babe. Plus, even if they were, you’d be too distracted to finish your new book.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Sigh.
“How would you feel about a robot? And stop sighing.”
“I would actually feed good pretty good about a robot, if the right technology is finally here.”
I had warm childhood robot memories that looked something like this:
Five minutes later, Jodi ordered me a robot. I was actually excited enough about it to get up off the floor, and get back to writing. The next day a small box arrived, and my wife gave our robot it’s first charge. It was nothing like the maid-bot I was looking forward to, but my son Xander took an interest, programmed it, and set it loose:
Xander named my new robot maid; Steve. So, from Catgirls to Robo Steve. Sigh.
Well, that’s what I want to say. I was skeptical, but Steve actually does a great job. He’s no Rosie the robot. He’s a mostly autonomous dust-buster, floor polisher, and carpet vacuum. He cries for help if he gets stuck, but otherwise he does the job, quietly everyday. My cat hair problem is gone, the floors are never dusty, and even when I sit on the floor there’s no under counter cooking debris. Really, they look great. So great I returned to my office to write a blog. But worry not. I’m getting back to my book, after I hit post.
If you’re interested, there are now a lot of robot floor cleaners on the market. For us DEE BOT seems be working well, for not a big investment after holiday discounts. I don’t get a commission, but I do think the technology is pretty cool.
I’d rather have Catgirl maids, but Jo’s right, when that time actually comes, I probably won’t write as much. So, until my next ridiculous fixation, I’m back to work, and I’m really happy with how my new story is coming along.
Thanks for checking out my blog.
Bill Riley
Check out what’s happening at www.billrileyauthor.com