a new excerpt

Please enjoy a taste of chapter three by sheri…

http://kvpalumproject.wordpress.com/chapter-three-by-sheri/

quality trumps deadlines…always

Our goal was to have this book (”Artifact”) on the virtual shelves in the middle-to-end of July.

We’re pushing that timeline now. But that’s okay. Plenty of last minute edits and re-writes were done, and we believe it has made our first novel an outstanding piece of work (although, I’m sure you’ll be the judge of that!).

Right now, the final editing and continuity checks are being completed, and I believe this thing should be ready to order on Amazon.com by the first week in August. However, keep checking back here for updates.

Four months ago, when we gave birth to this concept of nine people who had never met in person, only on the ‘net, cranking out  novel, I would have thought the creative process of actually writing the thing would have been the tough part.

Man, was I wrong!

The Artifact, Indiana Jones and Cleopatra

What does The Artifact novel have to do with Indiana Jones and Cleopatra?

In real life, Dr. Zahi Hawass, an archeologist known for wearing an Indiana Jones style hat, believes that he has uncovered the tomb of Cleopatra. If he has (and he believes he may find Mark Anthony as well), it would be one of the most significant archeological finds of our century.

In the fictional world of The Artifact, archeologists, Sean Tyler and Jan Fisher, set out to find the tomb of another ancient lady, Sahlek. What ensues is pure fiction, but the adventure rivals the mystery surrounding the Egyptian ruler, Cleopatra.

While novels often mirror events from real life, The Artifact’s reflection on current events is purely good timing. Hmm. Maybe it’s an artifact thing. And if you’re wondering what that means … you’ll just have to read the book.

Final edits are in the works. So be sure to check back for a publication date.

just a cool quote

“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office.”  -Robert Frost

Is this true, or what?!? We love doing the things that are fun, and we shut down for everything else…I love this quote!

-Whig

major inspiration or just showing off?

You know, during this huge collaborative process of writing a book between 9 authors who have never met, you look for inspiration in the strangest places.

Some look for it in music, others look for it in quotes from dead people. I happened to find a recent inspiration for writing at the strangest of places…a bookstore!

Okay, the truth. I wasn’t looking for inspiration. I was looking for an autographed copy of “Escape From Andersonville” directly from the author…the incomparable Mr. Gene Hackman. And, as you can see, a photo was also included in the package.

                                            

Seriously. That’s all. No great insights. No revelations on the processes of writing. Just a time to show off a recent fun moment.

And, oh yeah…check out the book. It’s pretty cool. 

-Whig

Churchill looking over our shoulders

‘Writing a book is an adventure.  To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement.  Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant.  The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.’

Winston Churchill

Churchill has always been one of my favorite historical figures. He was a man of character and wisdom, and led a nation through it’s darkest hour and into it’s finest hour.

And then I read this quote last night.

Now, he is my absolute favorite!

new excerpt available

Please enjoy some of the opening chapter of our novel, written by Esr960.

Excerpt: Chapter One

Constrain, or get brevity

So… does size matter? We were talking among ourselves about writing and how long the longest piece we’ve ever written was. I’m a nonfiction sort, a tech writer by trade, so I’m used to gigantic how-tos and grant proposals, but not grand stories. When I write fiction, it’s the micro-mini super-short one-paragraph tiny type of writing. I would much rather write the introductory paragraph to a totally original piece than write the whole piece myself. Ideally, I’d be writing the last paragraph after someone else wrote the rest, and be summing up the whole thing and tying up all the loose ends, all left-brained-like.

In a way, I’m the consummate hack. I have no problem at all taking someone else’s universe, someone else’s characters, and putting them in a new setting or giving them a new adventure. Heck, I’ll even give them a new friend to pal around with, if that’s what the assignment calls for. But the idea of a whole universe coming at you directly from my brain? Well, that’s not who I am.

Artifact writer a star!

Our very own Cvalin made an appearance on an episode of X-Files title “Release.” Here is that clip.

The Sound of Writing

I don’t always listen to music while I write, but I often get inspiration from it. I’ll be sitting in my car listening to the radio or a CD, and either the music or the lyrics or both will give me an idea that I’ll start to work on in my mind, and by the time I sit down at my computer, it’s ready to flow straight from my fingers. Once I figured out that my chapter for this book was going to be dark, I put together a CD of songs I had that fit the mood. I listened to the CD at least once a day, and it gave me all the ideas I needed to fill out my chapter. I called the CD “Cool Darkness.”

Here’s a sample of some of the songs that gave me my inspiration:

• Veteran of the Psychic Wars - Blue Oyster Cult
• All Along the Watchtower - Bear McCreary/written by Bob Dylan (from the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack)
• Disciples of the Watch - Testament
• On the Dark Side - John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band (from Eddie and the Cruisers)
• Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
• Close My Eyes Forever - Lita Ford
• Holy Diver - Ronnie James Dio
• Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
• Joey -  Concrete Blonde (acoustic version)
• The World I Know - Collective Soul
• Put Your Lights On - Santana with Everlast
• Daughter (Live Version) - Pearl Jam
• Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones

It’s a pretty eclectic mix, but they have a certain darkness about them that served me well when trying to come up with ideas for my story. If you’ve never done it, try it sometime.

~cvalin