Date: 2018 November 12
APOK News
Welcome to another edition of Behind the Dust Cover (BTDC). Here at APOK Headquarters, there has been lots on the go. In the past week;
- We’ve performed 2 more photo shoots in frigid waters and there are a couple more planned for the near future. We are on a quest to find those perfect images. Stay tuned to FB as I have already posted a couple images and will continue to post more;
- As previously mentioned, revision #26 has been sent to the editor, I anticipate hearing from him within the next couple of weeks.
- JSPW Animations Studios released a new APOK video – APOK’s Bullet – great movie intro; and
- We have given out the first KINDLE and the third CASH prize. CONGRATS, Tima AMAD, and Melanie KAVANAUGH. There are many more draws, so get your name in now for an opportunity to WIN
With less than 7 months before APOK Derailed gets released, there is so much to do.
Thanks,
Mike
BTDC – APOK Derailed – Writing the Follow-up
Navigating APOK through the ocean swells of the book industry (writing / editing / marketing), excited my imagination of what could be. Plotting my new destination, I began mentally preparing for the journey. Looking at the map, I quickly realized that there was no way around it. I would be forced to travel through endless obstacles.
Organizing and maintaining momentum with a book tour, combined with the demands of home life, intertwined with the side effects of the accident took its toll. Finding energy and time to write became elusive. Time management was essential to complete this book; but how do you manage something you don’t have?
Unlike APOK, time was a luxury I didn’t have. Shaving off a seconds here and minutes there, I would crack open my laptop and struggle with direction and my imagination. The ideas weren’t firing the way they had during my first go around. Instead the moments I gained alone left me frustrated and fatigued. I would pass out and wake having elapsed time, an opportunity, and little to show for it.
Negative thoughts began to bombard me. Like evil imps, they relished an opportunity to make themselves known. Had I lost it? Was I, a one hit wonder? Wrestling to subdue these demons, I tried various tactics to win. I remembered a saying that I heard in passing, and decided to write it on the wall. It was something that was going to help me fight off the imps and remained focused on what was important instead of concentrating on what I wasn’t doing;
“One word at a time makes a sentence, one sentence at a time makes a paragraph, a page, a chapter, a book. It all starts with one. Refuse to quit and all is possible.” There were times when I had to be content with only writing a sentence.
It wasn’t easy, but I maintained discipline and refused to quit. Slowly as my energy levels increased, I gained time on the clock. Every minute I gained, I would write. The process was slow but I believed that I could do it. As the saying on my wall goes, so too my sequel was given life, bit by bit. By January 2016, nearly 3 years later, I had developed a framework, I had a beginning, a middle and an end. The journey was far from over but I achieved step one of what I set out to do. I finished the first draft of APOK Derailed.
Mike’s Thoughts
It can be a daunting process when you think of it in its entirety. The amount of words alone can be scary.
Depending on the way you think can largely dictate how you approach this situation.
Some like to plot out the entire story and then write it out.
While others like to discover what they writing each day at a time.
Either way works but its finding out which way works best for you.
Whatever way you approach the situation, don’t look at the entire staircase. Just focus on each step and conquer it. You’ll get there, but it will take time.
Work on something that you’re really excited about. There will be times during the process that you won’t be excited; Know that it’s normal. As the old cliché saying goes (its only cliché because it’s true and it doesn’t get any more real than that) “If it was EASY everyone would do it.”
It takes perseverance Just get writing and enjoy the process.
Till next time,
Mike