Thursday, July 3, 2014...

...I submitted my Phra Jan story to a publisher in America. Today is July 12, 2014 and not a word. I have only done this once before and at least the publisher replied with a NO. Manners are a sadly missing thing these days, no? Well, we'll see; maybe they're just slow... ;-)

With a single sheet of paper, Sipho Mabona of Switzerland created a life-size elephant.

Mabona is a master at Origami and this is just amazing.

WHITE ELEPHANT from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

Phra Jan: Synopsis

Phra Jan is the Thai name for the Holy, or, Full Moon. The story begins aeons ago in the long forgotten past. A young Thai village girl named Mew, who has a question, begins a chain of events that have unforeseen consequences. It is a simple question; why are the days and nights never the same length from one day to the next? It was a question that had never before been asked; so, there was no answer for it. Her mother, her father, the village elders, all told her they didn't know the answer. Such a question, they all agreed. They said the hermit in the forest would know the answer; but, nobody could tell Mew, where in the forest the hermit lived. Mew has the gift of curiosity; this and her indomitable spirit give her a unique view of life and her relationship with her environment. With persistence, courage, sensitivity, and creative thinking, Mew finds a way to realize her search for the hermit. What she finds completely changes everything she thought she knew. Mew did not fully understand her question; if she had, she may not have taken the path into the forest. The illustrations are done in the Himmapan Forest style. Because of the time period in my story, I felt it was an appropriate art style. The origins can be traced back to the 4th or 5th century BC and are to be found in the Hindu epic, The Ramayana, which was written by the poet Valmiki. Here in Thailand the story is called The Ramakien. The illustrations are all original art, painted (by formally trained Thai artist Rewat Yutto) specifically for this book.

Pete Seeger 1919 - 2014

This pretty well sums up the man and a great man he is...

Happy New Year

Or as we say in Thailand; Sawad Di Pe Mai.

Phra Jan's editing is going swimmingly and nearly there. My editor is a true taskmaster.
My new found publisher is very interested in seeing this in print.

My first book: When Elephants Walked Backwards is undergoing a complete revision and rewrite.
Upon revisiting this book with a more experienced and critical eye, I was appalled at my poor writing.
Like most things revisited after a long hiatus, one sees things differently, and my writing didn't stand the test of time well.
The story is good (IMO) and that will not change; but the craft will hopefully show marked improvement.
This rewrite is a result of the excellence of my editor, from whom I've learned a very big lesson about crafting a story. So I had the tools to look back and see with far more clarity.
Happy trails and keep the quill at the ready.

Bread and Puppet Theater

Since writing, cooking/baking, and theater are art; Peter Schumann's Bread and Puppet Theater deserves a view. An amazing man and his art...

Greetings and Salutations on the Eve of The Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is tomorrow (it's the 20th here now), December 21, 2013 @ 11:17 GMT.
May the coming year find you and yours well.

Editing...

Argh! The editing, it never ends. And the rewrites! My editor is an absolute gem; a taskmaster, but a gem. Meticulous to a fault, which makes her gold.
After this experience, I'll likely go back and re-write my first book. Heaven only knows, I would like a bit less colloquialisms in it and some of the narrative could use a new look and edit (and that's an understatement).
I hope you budding authors out there appreciate my candor and frank-speak regarding my processes.
Writing, editing, printing, publishing, and marketing are the hallmarks of a self publishing author. Know your strengths and, more importantly, your weaknesses, before charging off into the bookosphere.
Knowing one's weakness becomes a strength and can carry you far.
I would conclude with this; get yourself an editor (even if you have to pay for one). If they're truly knowledgeable, he/she will be worth every dollar/baht.
Cheers.

Phra Jan Will be an A4, Hardcover, Coffee Table Book...

Almost there; many edits by three different people and many revisions. I'm being especially diligent and detail oriented; far more than with When Elephants Walked Backwards.

It cannot be over emphasized how important editing is, and choosing carefully who is to be that editor. I am very fortunate that my wife is an English language scholar, whose knowledge of grammar is vast.

Publishing/marketing is my personal weak point (I couldn't sell air in a vacuum), so that's the next challenge. My wife was able to market 99% of my first book's printing, some of which were bought by tourists at museums.

I will have Phra Jan printed in A4, hardback, for the 1st edition. There are 18 A4 size, full color illustrations and cover in the Himmapan Forest style by the artist, Rewat Yutto (nick name Aek). As most know, coffee table quality is expensive, even here. While half the cost of having it done stateside, it's still an expensive investment.

Since everything is in place, it appears I'll print the first 500 copies in 2014, possibly January. Five hundred is not an arbitrary number. I wanted fewer, but the costs go up steeply with any less. The net difference would only amount to a few hundred dollars (about 15%). Which translates to 300 more copies.

Democracy Now on Yip Harburg; A man You Should Know

I'll let the show speak for itself; food for thought...

Amazon Buys Goodreads; very bad news...

I've not been active there in a while, but this cuts it! I'm out of there.
Screw Amazon and the horse (cash) it rode in on...
Both here and on my website, I've stated my case against, a long time ago.

Shock! The Illustrations are Back on Track...

Friday last, my illustrator Aek, contacted my wife to make an appointment to bring the remaining 12 paintings to our home. After recovering from my shock I said yes; he came at 4 the following Sunday.
Glory be! They were everything I had hoped for (and given up on) and more.
Just as his quitting was out of the blue; so was this phone call of his renewed efforts to finish his job.
Now, they're not 100% finished; however they are about 80% (all) and I gave the final approval for the finishing details as we had discussed. Aek indicated everything would be done by the end of this month.

I have considered deleting my previous post, but have thought the better of that; this blog is about writing, editing, printing, and publishing from beginning to end with all its joys, disappointments, failures, and mistakes; the entire process unvarnished; exposed for all to see.
So it will stay.
There are some lessons here and not wanting to push the river; I'll let those gems of life soak in over the next few months.

May your coming new year be as positive as mine. Cheers.

Bad News; Very, Very Bad News for Me...

After more than 3 years; "my artist" has decided he cannot do the job.
I'm left with 6 of 18 illustrations I needed. This is a style not easily found in today's Thai artists. Obviously I was mislead by him and his intent.
To say I'm upset is a gross understatement! It doesn't begin to describe my feelings, anger, and disappointment. He has failed me, himself, and his fiance' and nearly my own will to continue.
I've no idea how I will do the illustrations at this point and it inclines me to never count on anybody again.
What I will do is; regroup, rethink, re-evaluate and find a way forward.

Last of the Illustrations

Not dead yet... ;)
I finally received the last 6 illustrations for final approval, so Aek can finish them. Oddly enough he has a genuine problem with drawing a female face. This was a problem for rendering Khun Ya as described in the story.
Not really much more to report; except this has been a major set-back for my expectations.
I can handle it... :)

Wow, has it really been that long?

Fun or not; time flies. I'm sort of stuck: The book is finished and edited for the umpteenth time, but "my" artist is slow to finish. I considered just printing the book without pictures, but have been soundly rebuffed by those who have read the manuscript.
So, I guess I'll wait for the pictures...

Update: There are now 6 completed pictures...

...for Phra Jan. They are stunningly beautiful in the same style as the one below of Mew.
I've been really busy growing Capsicum chinense (Habaneros, Dorset Nagas, and Bhut Jolokias) while waiting for Aek to finish the rest of the illustrations. I'm hoping to be at the printers by the end of the year. Cheers.

Happy Birthday Aung San Suu Kyi; June 19, 2010

Illustrations and Illustrators; Part 2

Mew at the Firefly Cave

For my second book, Phra Jan, I needed an artist skilled in traditional Thai art. The story is set far in the past in Kanchanaburi; a mountainous province bordering Burma. Serendipity played a big part in my finding such an artist. The well known Thai artists are very expensive even by western standards, so I needed somebody who hasn't been "discovered".
While I was teaching at a Thai high school I went to the art department and my wife checked at her school as well. Some of the kids were very good but not quite what I wanted. I asked at every chance everybody I knew, but no luck. I had even considered printing my book sans illustrations.
About 6 months ago I accompanied my wife into Bangkok for her annual physical at Siriraj Hospital and an ex-student of hers who worked there led us through the maze of departments. We took her to lunch and in the course of the conversation my wife told her I write books and gave her a copy of my first one. I told her I wanted to publish my second book but couldn't find an artist.
"My boyfriend is an artist",  said Koi.
Koi e-mailed me some examples of his work; it knocked my socks off, so to speak.
Longer story short, her boyfriend is indeed an artist and exactly what I was looking for. He works professionally painting murals in Buddhist Temples. I printed out a copy of the story, Koi read it and translated it to her boyfriend Aek. Koi said she absolutely loved the story and couldn't put it down, which of course put a big smile on my face.  He's done 8 sketches and I now have one completed picture and it's gorgeous, as you can see, above.
Unfortunately he is very slow and I'm going to see if things can be sped up a bit, because at the rate he's going, it'll be years before he's finished. I hate to push a true artist so I'll have to be very diplomatic, LOL.

Illustrations and Illustrators; Part 1

I'm having illustrations done for my second book, Phra Jan.
Vetting an illustrator is one very critical step in self publishing one's book. I've been very fortunate in finding two illustrators for my books. Why two? Because my two books are different enough from each other that they require two different styles of art.
The first book is a tongue-in-cheek story about elephants walking backwards. It's in the genre of a fable.  The animals talk and are anthropomorphized which I determined would require life like animal drawings but with human like expressions. The drawings of the trees, mountains, and flora are all genuine to Kanchanaburi, Thailand; which is the location of the story.
There are many ways of finding an illustrator; google came up with 2.6 million results in 0.23 seconds. One can go to a local college, university or art school and find a student interested in extra cash. They'll also have a portfolio so you can see their actual work. In my case, I occasionally teach private English lessons and I discovered one of my clients (business English) loved art. I asked her if she was interested in illustrating my book. She said yes. Now, here I'm going to go on a tangent (not a rant); I feel it's very important for my illustrator to read my book. My feeling is, that in order to get the best of the artists abilities, they must know and understand the story. I want the relationship to be more of a collaboration; I want input. The next step is to settle on a fee. This can be googled also and the fees vary widely depending on many variables; experience, reputation, and availability to name a few. In my case we settled on a set price per illustration with no royalties on subsequent printings.
My first illustrator's English was good enough to do this (read the book) and after reading my book, she did a rough pencil sketch of a scene in chapter one. After some minor changes I gave her the go ahead for the first color plate. Athicha did a total of 8 illustrations and the cover. We followed the same formula; pencil sketch, approval/revise, and finished plate. It worked very well and we are both happy with the results.
My second book requires a very different style. I'll follow up with that on my next thread.
  
 

Howard Zinn Dies

This is truly a huge loss for America and the world. Historian, activist, and author; Howard Zinn is the person who woke me up to the real history of the U.S. and thus, the world. Thanks to him I'll never be fooled again.
RIP Howard; you'll be missed; you were truly one of a kind. Thanks.