Hello from Vacationland!

First of all, Texas is hot. And when I say hot, I don't mean, "man I could really use a nice tall glass of water about now" hot, I mean "it's so hot my face melted as soon as I stepped outside" hot. And everyone knows that when it's ONE HUNDRED AND SIX DEGREES out there, that, of course, is the time when outdoor nature type activity is the best, right?

No? You mean most people stay in the comfort of air conditioning when it's so hot you can fry an egg in the shade? It can't be. That makes WAY too much sense to be true. Here in Texas, we prefer to go look at fossilized dinosaur tracks and splash around in living-thing-infested water. Why? Because we're in Texas. Is there any other reason?

LOL

I may be slightly crispy, but not as deep fried as the rest of my family who went back for a second round of skin-scorching fun in the sun after lunch. Yes, that's right. I was the party pooper sitting in the shade for round 2 of water hole fun. However, now I get to chuckle merrily as I slather my family in aloe and hydrocortisone cream. Also, I shall sleep far better than they as I will not wake up from blinding pain every time I roll on to my back.

Anywho, I can haz audio bitz! Yay! So far, I have recieved recordings from two of the awesome folks in the cast. My hats off to Mur Lafferty and Dr. Priest for getting their segments to me ahead of schedule! You guys rock my socks! And my socks have very high standards.

So, I know that's not much news on the podcast front, but I am on vacation. I'm entitled to slack a little bit. Yeesh. Saturday I have an appointment to lay down some recording with a friend, so wish me luck that I don't get ditched. I've only got one shot to get her. I have threatened to do that voodoo that I do to her if she tries to give me the slip. I only buy that car accident excuse so many times before I take you off my christmas card list. This is the sound of an idle threat. Hear me roar! *mew*

Well, I am off to take my shower and then to bed. I am feeling slightly Denny's-ish, but the sun has drained me of desire to do anything but sleep. Hopefully I will have good things to post about after Saturday. Don't make me use this strangely life-like representation of you, Shauna! *shaking fist*

Schedule Update

Okay, so July first might have been a touch overzealous as a launch date. I knew that when I said it. It might have been doable if it was just me doing the reading, but since it's become a full cast recording, it was inevitable that the schedules of others would not allow for such a close deadline. Right now, the summer con season has artist Cheyenne Wright caught up in commissions, not to mention actual travel, so recording for his lines will not be able to start until the week of July 1st. And since his part is so integral to the story, we are setting the schedule around him. With luck, we can still launch in July, but I'd rather do it right and later than crappy and quickly.

And, all this is fine, as it turns out I'm actually going out of town for a few weeks myself. Hopefully by the time I get back I'l have lots of audio and promo stuff to work on.

So that is how it stands. Things are starting to come together and I am very happy with the progress.

More WIN!

Okay, I can officially officially say it now! Dr. James D. Priest, author and narrator of Kirins: The Spell of No'an is a part of The Dreamer's Thread cast! I have thusly added him to the links list to the left there, under CAST WEBSITES. Some of the folks involved here don't have websites as yet, but when they do, rest assured, they will also be included here.

I am so thankful for the wonderful people who are stepping up to help me out. I sincerely thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

A Productive Monday...WTF?

So, yours truly was quite productive today. This morning I obtained coffee in a timely manner and immediately set to work...and was then ordered to put on real clothes and make myself presentable...but then I got right back to work.

First thing I did was create promotional things to put up on the website for TDT. I created a US letter sized poster and 4-up fliers both in black and white and in color. These are so I can get other people to print them out and put them in conspicuous places where others might see them. Cuz, well, it ain't enough to just pimp yourself these days. I need everybody to pimp me too. Well, not really me, per se, but definitely the book/podcast.

LOL. I am now thinking of offering official PIMP buttons as rewards for those who distribute my propaganda. Relax, Jamie. There can be only one Pimp Extraordinaire...erm, unless you count your stand-ins (Charlie, Shauna, Cani, etc. lol). Anyway, you're not losing your job. :P

I also am close to revealing another podcaster who will be lending his voice. I am 90% sure he is on board, but until I hear a definitive yes, I shall have to keep it under wraps.

Along with working on that bit, I also sent off a few other relevant emails and re-re-recorded the promo for TDT. There were some bits still nagging at me and at J as well, so we collectively decided to fix it. We are both rather picky about things, so we agree a lot when stuff isn't quite right. Then again, we do tend to bicker like siblings as well. People laugh at us. But that's cool. I am not beyond sarcastically teasing someone in a wheelchair. Especially when he starts it. Ya did too! :P

And lastly, the website is in the process of another update. We're (I mean I'm telling, Web Monkey Scott is doing) changing it to reflect the cover art color scheme as well as updating the content as well. Hopefully these changes will go live tonight. But as Web Monkey just bought a new 15" MacBook Pro today, he is transferring all his data to new awesomeness. So, it may or may not go up tonight. The new toy always trumps the real work.

Anywho, that is all for the moment.

Cover Art FTW!

Okies, so, I am SUPER excited right now.

After hemming and hawing over asking someone to create the cover art for The Dreamer's Thread, I sat down last night in a fit of inspiration and started drawing.

Yes, you read that right. I drew something.

Haven't really put pencil to paper since circa fall '06 when I took Perspective and Drawing I from Art Institute Online. I thought then maybe I was okay at it, but any other passing attempts since then deflated the small bit of confidence I had there.

So imagine my overwhelming feeling of WIN when I churned out a bit of hand-drawn awesome in about an hour and a half or so last night. I scanned the awesome, worked my digital design magic and just finished what I think might be something good enough to call the official cover art of The Dreamer's Thread Podcast.

Okay, so there's folks out there that will take a look at this and go "uh, it's fine I guess", but to them I say "so show me something better ***hole". LOL. Well, maybe not quite that way, but if you think you can do better I challenge thee! If you are full of more awesome than I am, by all means feel free to one-up me.

Without further ado, I hereby present to you...

THE OFFICIAL ARTWORK FOR THE DREAMER'S THREAD PODCAST!



Alright, you may now bow down in the pressence of my awesome and bask in the glow of my WIN.

And did I mention... SQUUUUEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Off topic, but...

I've been asked for my song list by the twitter folks who listen to my shows that aren't in Second Life to get this, so I am posting this list of tunes here as I can't think of any other place for it to go at the moment. You can get me on Skype or Twitter during my shows and put in a request if you like. Here it is...*takes a deep breath*

All of Me
Alright, Okay, You Win
As Time Goes By
At Last
Autumn Leaves
Black Coffee
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Black Velvet
Bubbly
California Dreamin'
Close To You
Come Away With Me
Crazy
Cry Me A River
Dancing in the Street
Daniel
Don't Know Why
Dream a Little Dream of Me
Dust in the Wind
***Endless Miles*** (original tune)
Everywhere (Michelle Branch)
Fields of Gold
Fever
Fly Me To the Moon
Foolish Games
For Sentimental Reasons
God Bless the Child
Have I Told You Lately
Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Heat Wave
Heaven (Bryan Adams)
Heaven (Warrant)
I Can See Clearly Now
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
I Can't Make You Love Me
I Dreamed a Dream (from Les Miserables)
I Get a Kick Out of You
I Only Have Eyes For You
I Know You By Heart
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
I Will Survive
I Won't Last a Day
I've Got a Crush on You
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
I've Got to See You Again
In the Wee Small Hours
Isn't It Romantic
It Had to be You
It Will Have to Do (Until the Real Thing Comes Along)
Just One of Those Things
A Kiss to Build a Dream On
Landslide
Let Me Go Lover
Let's Do It
Lonestar
The Long Day is Over
The Longest Time
Love Will Keep Us Together
The Man I Love
Miss Otis Regrets
Mona Lisa
Moon River
My Favorite Mistake
My Old Flame
The Nearness of You
Night and Day
A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square
Old Cape Cod
Over the Rainbow
Perfidia
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Possession (Sarah MacLachlan)
Rainy Days & Mondays
Rehab
The Rose
Save the Best For Last
Secret Love
Sentimental Journey
September (Earth, Wind, & Fire)
Seven Years
The Shadow of Your Smile
The Shoop Shoop Song
Shoot the Moon
Slow Boat to China
Smile
Someone to Watch Over Me
Standing Still (Jewel)
Stardust
Stay (Lisa Loeb)
Stormy Weather
Straighten Up and Fly Right
The Sunny Side of the Street
Sunrise
Sway
Temptation
Tennessee Waltz
That's Amore
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Til There Was You
Torn
Total Eclipse of the Heart
True Love
Turn Me On
Unchained Melody
Under the Boardwalk
Unforgettable
The Very Thought of You
Wade in the Water
The Way You Look Tonight
Wake Me Up When September Ends
What a Difference a Day Made
What a Wonderful World
What's New
Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
When I Fall in Love
When You Say Nothing At All
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
A Wink and a Smile
Yesterday Once More
You Belong to Me
You Go to My Head
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
You Were Meant For Me
You've Got a Friend


Okay, I think that's it. Now you can reference this whenever you need to. I should probably put this on my mySpace musician's page too, huh? LOL

Enjoy!

Let the excited squeals begin!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

*ahem*

So yes, I twittered yesterday about the great news I had about TDT, and said I would blog about it today. I hate to be called a liar, so here's my news of WIN:

MIGHTY MUR LAFFERTY HAS JOINED TDT CAST!

Did I say OMG already? Cuz I cannot express that sentiment enough as I restrain myself from running around the room in hysterical circles.

If you are unfamiliar with Mur's work, there's a link to the Murverse on the left side of the page here. I both admire and envy her for what she does every day. Her story-telling and podcasting skills are the stuff of awesome. The first podiobook I ever heard was Mur's Playing For Keeps and it was what sold me on Jamie's idea for The Dreamer's Thread. I couldn't help thinking how fantastic it must be to share your stories with the world, AND get picked up for publishing. I will be happy if people just listen to mine.

One thing that Mur expressed to me yesterday, is the need for solidarity amongst the female podcasters out there. This is mostly due to it being a male-dominated world as far as podcasts are concerned. Just talking to her yesterday was such a huge boost for me, I hope she knows that. Not to sound like a kid with stars in her eyes or anything, but she's kind of my hero. I know she doesn't see herself that way, but she should. Getting the chance to work with someone as uniquely creative and ingenious as Mur Lafferty...well, there are no words to describe how much that really means to me.

She said that she wasn't so sure having heavy hitters involved would make a podcast successful, but that's okay. Just having her on board means more to me than she can know. It makes me feel like I might have a real shot at making this work. It helps me forget the setbacks and outright arrogance of some others I've dealt with. One day, I hope I can help her in the way that she's helped me here. Her name on my podcast won't guarantee success, true, but it sure makes me feel a whole lot better.

But anyway, that is my big news. Scripts are still being portioned out and distributed, and actual production is in a holding pattern. It's time for me to start throwing my promo at people and getting some PR going. I also need to whip some art out in GIMP. *sigh* I miss PhotoShop.

Visible Progress

First, the biggest news...

THE DREAMER'S THREAD PROMO IS LIVE!

That's right, the first ever promo is hot and ready for your consumption on the novel website. Grab it, play it, share it, make everyone you know listen to it.

And in more news still, I mentioned before something being in the works, and well, here it is. The Dreamer's Thread is on its way to becoming a full cast production! Among the awesome people you will hear are Cheyenne Wright with his buttery man voice (lol) and Chris Snelgrove from the House of Grey podcast. Can I just say how holy (expletive deleted) amazing and exciting that is? It's all I can do to keep from running around the room in crazy circles giggling my dang fool head off. There are still some parts that need filing, so if anyone out there wants to have some geek fun and be part of a great story, hit me up and we'll talk.

Well, I've got more scripts to set up so go check out the website!

Frazzled nerves

One bad thing about being a procrastinating overachiever is that your ideas often are much, much larger than what you are actually capable of doing. This is especially true when you have grand ideas of a collaborative project that requires the compliance of other people. The hardest thing to do is ask someone who knows nothing about you for help in furthering your dreams. More so when those strangers are already leagues ahead of you on the road to success. You want their name attached to your project to help promote it, but since you're nobody, it's very very hard to convince them they should acquiesce to your request. Thus, you end up feeling like it's a very private club that they won't let you in. Sort of like high school, only actually important.

Another problem with trying to get these folks to help is that they tend to be very busy, and simply cannot, even if they want to. Being a newcomer, it is also very easy to make a social gaff and feel hugely embarrassed when they call you out on it. And then there are those who will help, but the price for that assistance is much higher than you are willing to pay...especially when there is no guarantee for payoff for you.

This is a tricky game, especially when no one tells you the rules. It's like trying to tunnel through rock with a very small hammer and chisel, and there's miles of stone between you and your goal. Even if the others would just chip at the rock a tiny bit with you, that would further you along, even if just by the tiniest bit.

So, what to do? Nothing for it but to keep trying I guess. It's been a slightly discouraging day, but it's not all bad. I did decide on music for TDT. The song I found is beautiful and perfectly suited to my tale. I'm not going to spoil the surprise of which one it is right now, but I think people will agree with me when they hear it.

Anyway, now I wait for email replies and hope for the best. Finding just the right voice isn't easy, especially when you can so clearly hear a character in your head. And it isn't as though I can get some voices and not others. The male characters are proving the most difficult.I can pull off a gay man easily enough with a little voice filtering, but that's about the extent of my talent there. Doesn't help that moving a lot also means my pool of nearby friends is very very limiting as each time you move, you're just less enthused about having to make friends all over again. Thus, my options for using my friends voices on my equipment is probably a harder thing to accomplish since most of my friends are nowhere near me. At least other podcasters have the right equipment for recording audio.

Maybe I should just throw a kegger and make people audition at the door. Then I can just plop them in front of my mic, give them their lines, and be done with it. LOL

This could be a really fun project. I just wish more people wanted to have geek fun with me. *sigh*

What are YOU listening to?

Another doc visit, another prescription. The Cold That Wouldn't Die continues to...well, not die.

But enough about my health FAIL. Today I would like to talk about some of the authors that I like to listen to. Maybe give you all some recommendations. The first one I have to mention is Mur Lafferty's Playing for Keeps. This was the first podiobook I ever heard and is officially responsible for getting me hooked on podiobooks. I downloaded it on the advice of Jamie Jordan, as he wanted me to hear what he wanted to do with my book. If you have even the slightest interest in superheroes or comedy or just a damn good story, this is a book you must listen to.

Another that recently impressed me was Morevi: Remastered written by Tee Morris and Lisa Lee. And while the story and writing are nothing to sniff at, what really blew me out of the water was the audio production of the podcast. The sound effects, the guest voices, the soundtrack...it was just flawless. I am obsessively thinking about having some folks record speaking lines for TDT, but it might be a bit tough to do on my schedule this time around. I especially have to give a great big hats off to Philippa Ballantine for her portrayal of Askana Moldarin, the female protagonist. Simply brilliant. If you want to hear podcasting at its finest, Morevi is a can't miss example of audio mastery.

Two others that I must mention next, and they are two very, very different authors. The first is Collin Earl with his House of Grey podcast. I think I like this story because it is very much like the kinds of stories I myself write. The House of Grey is a beautifully woven tale that speaks of innocence and the belief that magic is real. A tale like this is a fragile thing. You have to be willing to put aside all your jaded, real world thoughts and lose yourself in fantasy and illusion. It's target audience is young adult, but, as J.K. Rowling proved, a good story is just a good story. When you can set aside the ugliness and monotony of the every day, you can take yourself back to that time when anything was possible. High school not quite a bright spot in your memories? The House of Grey can take you back and change the experience to one of beautiful people with lots of money doing mysterious and supernatural things. And while there is a slight sense of cliche in the 10 Things I Hate About You or She's All That kind of way, it's not clear that there will be a happy ending. I picked this one up primarily for listening in the car with little ears present, and ended up with an addictive plotline to boot. I needed it because the next author I'm going to mention is most definitely NOT suitable for children.

And who else could I be referring to if not Mr. Scott Sigler? Okay, perhaps I could have said Matt Wallace or J.C. Hutchins. But no. Today I talk about the self-proclaimed FDO. In particular, I have got to recommend Infected, and it's sequel, Contagious. Mostly this is because the final episode of Contagious posted this past weekend and it's still fresh in my mind. Not only is Mr. Sigler a NY Times Bestselling Author, but he's a rather gifted weaver of tales as well. If you're adversed to blood, violence, and cursing, I'd steer clear, but you'll be missing out. Not only are Sigler's stories engrossing (and sometimes gross), he's also a phenomenal narrator with a head chalk full of science. Part of what makes his brand of horror so disturbing is how plausible facts behind it make it seem. He's got the fine art of military tactics and current arsenal down cold, as well as a solid foothold on biology and chemistry. The key to making all that entertaining to the reader/listener, is that the explanations don't go over your head. He doesn't overwhelm the reader with the minutae of DNA and chemical reactions, instead making it an integral part of the story while giving things such as muscle fibers and microscopic organisms what seem like almost character roles. His insight into the very thoughts of his victims and badies give each character their own unique nuances, so much so that you could believe these people were no less real than you or I. His own brand of voicing brings them to life. Especially creepy is the premier auditory experience of those nasty blue triangles. I could have crawled out of my own skin when the first "No! Kill!" seeped through my speakers. Sigler can truly take you on a thrilling ride.

So now that you have some suggestions, I highly recommend you go and seek out these superior podcasts. You've heard the rest, now hear the best. And tell them I sent you.

*smoochies!*

Website Work

So, I'm doing some more work on the website for TDT, which is going to include putting a link to this blog there, instead of creating a whole new one. I've gone through the layout here on blogger and added some stuff like my Twitter feed (follow me!) and a whole ton of links at the bottom of the main page. These links take you to a bunch of other author/podcasters, and, of course, a link to Jamie Jordan's website. Without Jamie, none of this would have happened. The podcast of TDT was his idea after he read the novel, and without his knowledge and experience, this dream would have faded long ago. So please check him out! He does other work with other podcasts including Gaming Uncensored as well as Mur Lafferty's Playing For Keeps. He's all busy with E3 this week (fooey on that!) so he's not been around to bug me about working on stuff. He also pimps me in Second Life for my other part-time job as a live internet radio diva! That's neither here nor there as far as this blog is concerned, but should your curiosity be roused, you can check out that facet of me here.

I also started work yesterday on recording the promo spot for TDT...you know, the thing that you beg other podcasts to play so you can get more listeners? I finally have all my words right, there's just one thing wrong. I am STILL congested. I swear it's the cold that wouldn't die. For over a month I've been either coughing my lungs out, trying to halt a running nose, praying my head would explode to stop the sinus pain/ear infection, or unable to taste, smell, or hear much. It's pretty much been a month of SUCK. This is what I get for quitting smoking? There's incentive for you. X_x

There's a few other things in the works, but I'm keeping those under wraps at the moment until I know for sure if they'll work out or not. So there's more news to come. I am tentatively announcing a launch date of July 1st for TDT podcast, so cross your fingers it doesn't get puched back AGAIN. For now, I'm off to meet my new doc and do a few errands.

*smoochies* to you all!