Indie Game: The Movie and That Creative Bug

So I've been meaning to post about this for a few weeks and have just gotten around to actually writing it.

My husband and I sat down with a bowl of popcorn to watch Indie Game: The Movie. I have to say, I wasn't expecting much, so to see such an inspirational film just blew me away.

I'm not a gamer myself, per se. I like something with a good story and something not too challenging. But when you're me, pretty much everything is challenging. Chris, on the other hand, is a bona fide gamer, and his ultimate dream is to become the next Shigeru Miyamoto and come up with some awesome games. (I honestly think that's why we're a perfect pair - I write my books and he makes his games and we work to support each other in our dreams. We're trying to collaborate coming up on some ideas, so stay tuned and fingers crossed). You can check out his rarely updated Facebook page and I'll pester him to update it, although he's busy learning and making games, so it's understandable why he rarely updates it. I have trouble with that, too.

Any hoo. Back to Indie Game. It chronicles a few indie game makers on the road to releasing their games. Since they were children playing their first games, they've made mental lists of things they want to play for themselves and have worked to achieve that. Here's a video of one developer's past. It's mirrors a lot of Chris's and my pasts with creating our own world and being slightly different than other people.

Now, I'll admit that staying with a book from beginning to end (to date, it's only happened a few times for me). Imagine that tenfold with a polished video game. These guys have deadlines, pressure, depleting resources, and DEADLINES! These guys have sacrificed everything to release their games. One of the games profiled, Super Meat Boy, which I know is a strange name to the uninitiated, basically makes its creators dreams come true.

At one truly awesome point, one of the programmers was reminiscing as Super Meat Boy's first reviews were rolling in from reviewers prior to publishing it to the masses. The game was getting stellar reviews and some of the highest kudos seen on the XBLA platform. It's the point where the guy realizes that all his hardwork, his childhood ambitions, and his dreams are going to come true. "Everything's happening now," he says in awe. It really is quite an awesome moment to behold. I can't find a clip online of it, but I highly recommend watching it. I really teared up watching the disbelief on Tommy's face.

That's something that Chris and I are aiming for in our individual capacities. Just that moment of knowing that we've made it as an author and a video game developer. And I really want that to happen, even if it is 1/1000th of the success of these guys.

Because it's something we're doing for ourselves. And it's such an inspirational piece of film to watch.

So, kudos to the filmmakers, and good luck to everyone who has ever had a dream and is working to make it happen. I'll be getting back to my writing now. Jacob Smith is Exceptionally Average is with an editor at the moment, as I'm trying to perfect it as much as possible to give my baby as much of a chance as I can. I'm working on it's sequel at the moment (!) and I'm having a lot of fun with it. There will be two sequels, although the first book is standalone.

You'll enjoy it, I promise.

x

Whuddup?

I've been so bad. Sorry guys for not being here, even when I said I'd be back in my last post. I've had a whirlwind past few months, filled with job-changing, life-settling, and stuff like that.

Still no excuse, I know.

But I won't dwell on the past. Onward and upward, as I've been telling myself.

Jacob Smith is Exceptionally Average is with its editor, hopefully getting some magic fairy dust that will make it into the book I know everyone will love (my friend Emily did a first editing pass, and really thinks it has potential, fingers crossed). I've also been planning out its two sequels. Don't worry, the first book is entirely standalone, so you'll only have to commit to one book. But I promise you, I have some big plans for Jake Smith.

With that said, I'll do a cover wrap reveal of the book in all its glory. I'm quite pleased with it, because even though I had some severe limitations, I didn't have to compromise too much on my vision of it, so I'm really happy. I do one day want to use the fabulous PhatPuppy Art, but that may be a while. Once I get the final dimensions of the thickness of the book, I'll be able to add a spine and the back copy.

So that'll be another reveal. ;)

Here goes the book cover.

If you're a book blogger and are interested in reading an ARC of Jacob Smith please email me and I will lovelovelove you forever. I'll send you a physical edition of the book, plus anything else to promote it. Dress me up like a monkey, record me singing "My Heart Will Go On" - anything if that makes reading and reviewing my humble little book more enticing. I will embarrass myself to make it work.

Hmmm... What else? I have a few cooking stories to share, at the behest of my friends Cbel and Sam. Where do you guys think I should start?

I have an idea. And that will be the next post. FYI for those who don't know, I'm an absolutely terrible cook. Worst part is, I actually try. Just something about substituting, not following the recipe, not get it. I blame my cooking equipment, but I don't think that's it. I don't know. All I have to say is "chutney" is not "curry".

And that'll be my next blog post. I promise. Gimme two days and a glass of winter cider and I'll have it up here.

I won't leave you guys hanging for so long again. Promise.

Erin x

So you wrote a romance novella AND a picture book?

The short answer: Yes.

The long answer: Yes, because I had two stories to tell.

The why is a bit more interesting and I've had so many questions asking why (actually, I've had none, but I'm preemptively answering future questions. Pretty cool, right?).

Embracing Her Wolf and Bedtime at the Zoo are complete polar opposites of the literary spectrum. I know this. But they came from two different places in my heart and in my life.

Embracing Her Wolf was a bit of an experiment. As mentioned before, I've always had trouble finishing stories that I've written. I even have a draft of a book saved on this computer that is 345 pages long and I just can't bring myself to finish it (that's a post for another time, because that book will be making a comeback - hint, hint). So, after finding out how great and wonderful it is to self publish your books, I also saw that there were varying lengths of books. What better way of getting back into writing than starting on a novella? And a paranormal romance to boot - that's where I was mentally at that time. Well, six months later, I FINALLY released it in its current form. It was the first piece of writing that I ever fully sat down and edited from beginning to end, had my husband read it, edit it again, send it off to friends to read it, edit again, again, and again until I was about to tear my hair out. In a novella of 17,000 words, it took me just as long to edit it as it did to write it. The joys of editing.

Bedtime at the Zoo grew from a single print ad I did for a class. The very first picture I drew was of the bear holding his teddy bear, getting ready to sleep. From there, I added and added to it, and compiled all of these pictures into a storybook. It was a labor of love for four months, constantly drawing and tweaking the drawings. My art direction assignment turned into a full-blown copywriting assignment as I had to write the words to go with my book. I'm very proud of the final outcome. And it's great to make something with your hands every once in a while.

So, without further ado, I've approved the printed version of Bedtime at the Zoo for print through CreateSpace and Amazon (still waiting for Amazon to post it to the store) for $7.99. To celebrate, I've also lowered the price of the eBook to $1.49 as well on both Amazon and Nook.

Thanks for the support guys. NEARLY done with Extraordinarily Average. Should be up and running soon!

Erin xx

Welcome to my blog page!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my personal blog page, where I discuss everything writing, what's going on in my life, what's happening with my books, and whatnot. I'm just a fledgling writer at the moment, but I'm working on it.

Currently, I have two books self-published on Amazon and Nook: Embracing Her Wolf, a paranormal romance novella, and Bedtime at the Zoo, a children's picture book. The paperback versions are coming soon, I promise, and I'll start investigating other ebook publishing outlets.

I'm writing my third novel, tentatively titled "Extraordinarily Average", a YA book about a boy who's so average, he's considered the perfect human specimen by aliens that want to colonize the planet. So, that's on the books for now, and I have a fourth book outlined after that.

Feel free to contact me for a review copy or make some comments. It'll be exciting to see what happens from here on out.

Thanks for the support, guys,

Erin Hayes