Andrew Einspruch's Blog, page 5

“Please, please marry my son.”

September 2, 2018

Let me tell you a story. Stick with me.

I used to teach creative writing classes called Freeing Your Creativity. I taught a lot of them, especially, in the early- to mid-2000s. I’d talk about what makes a story work, a bit about story structure, and we’d do written exercises for creativity.

At the beginning of the class, to loosen people up, I’d do two or three two-minute writing sprints based on a first-sentence prompt I’d provide. Because I wanted to set a good example and because it was more interesting to me if I did, I’d do the exercises along with everyone else.

One of my standard first sentences was, “Please, please marry my son.”

At one of these classes, probably 16 years ago, I wrote a sprint using that particular prompt, which started like this: “‘Please, please marry my son,’ implored the chipmunk to the maiden.”

Two minutes later, I had a cute germ of an idea about a mother chipmunk who was trying to convince a princess to marry her son, despite his utter unsuitability.

The idea stuck with me, and over the years, I’d tweak it and see if it would go anywhere.

It didn’t.

Every now and then, I’d take it out add a few hundred or a thousand words. But somewhere around 15,000 words I completely bogged down.

In April of 2016, I thought, “I have to finish this thing.” I put myself on a media fast (no podcasts, no audio books, no anything) and just let the story rattle around in my head. Between that and discussing it with our daughter, Tamsin, who is wonderful and very good at this kind of thing, I got a framework for a story which had a beginning, middle, and end.

I got to writing.

I finished the first draft in January of 2017, and kept writing, because the story wasn’t the little 35k word YA novella I thought it was going to be. It had grown into something more substantial, a multi-book humorous YA series that you’ve heard me talking about if you’ve been with me for even a little while.

My fellow human, it gives me incredible pleasure to let you know that The Purple Haze, book one in the Western Lands and All That Really Matters series is ready for you to enjoy.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be able to write that sentence.

Do you know what the first line of the finished novel is?

“‘Please, please marry my son,’ implored the chipmunk.”

After all this time, it’s still there.

Get You Copy of The Purple Haze

At the moment, The Purple Haze is exclusive to Amazon, and ebook only (I’ll get to paper soon, I promise). If you’re in Kindle Unlimited, you can get it that way for free.

Here are the main links:

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com.au

If you use a different Amazon store, just do a search of the title and my name. It’ll show up.

Thank you for giving The Purple Haze a try. I hope you enjoy it.

Video: Aretha Franklin’s Musical Genius in Two Songs

September 2, 2018

As tributes for the late Aretha Franklin flowed at the news of her passing, I came across this fascinating Vox video that dives into the genius of how she did what she did, focussing on “Son of a Preacher Man” and “Dr. Feelgood” and how she brought her gospel roots to her music. Well worth a listen.

Video: Pinball Wizard by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

This made me smile so much. Such a fun arrangement of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard.”

And for those who don’t know the original (there might be some of you), I’ve put the original below it.

Finishing Energy

July 21, 2018

Writer Joanna Penn talks about finishing energy when it comes to projects like books, and I’ve been thinking a lot about that as I’ve edited these past weeks.

Finishing energy is that last bit that you have to bring to a project to get it across the line and and be able to raise the “Done” flag. It’s a very different feeling to “starting energy,” where everything is new and the possibilities are endless. It’s also different from what she calls the “saggy middle,” where you’re getting bogged in the mire of getting through it all (that’s sort of where I am with book three at the moment, being about 50k words into 80k).

You can certainly avoid finishing energy, but unless someone’s going to finish it for you, then you end up with a dozen half-finished whatevers that never see the light of day. You also know when someone thinks they’re finishing when it’s clear to everyone who looks at them that they’re fooling themselves. (“Mission Accomplished” anyone?)

So my question this week is, what needs your finishing energy at the moment? For me, it’s this series. What’s it for you? (Leave a comment if you’d like, and let me know.)

Video: Come Take It Away

Photo editor James Fridman got a request to remove a bike from a photo. I’ll leave the video to speak for itself.

I was just going to put a link to this other video by him, but it’s so great that I’m embedding it too.

The Wombanditos – Free Copy Available Now

July 1, 2018

Yesterday, it happened. Yesterday, I stepped over the line into the realm of self-published author. I can’t tell you how pleased I am.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “The Wombanditos,” the prequel novelette to my humorous YA fantasy series The Western Lands and All That Really Matters. I’m so, so thrilled to have made this first step.

And as I’ve been promising all along, it is available for free. You can grab your free copy here.

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8-year-old Drummer Nails Led Zeppelin

Check out this eight-year-old girl drumming along to Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times.” She just nails this difficult piece. Even if you’re not a Zep fan, look at the sheer joy on her face as she plays. Priceless, especially at the end.

As a bonus, you can also watch Robert Plant’s reaction to seeing this video.

Cover Reveal: The Wombanditos

June 25, 2018

I’m thrilled to be able to share this with you. It’s the cover for “The Wombanditos.” Woo hoo!

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The artwork was done by Stuart Bache, who’s doing all the covers in the series, and if I may say so, I think it looks fantastic.

So excited.

Dancing in the Movies

These compilation clips are a lot of fun. Please enjoy this supercut of dance scenes for scores and scores of movies. Fun, and makes you want to dance. (Not sure what one bit ? They are listed here.)

Six Things to Enjoy

May 13, 2018

Here are some things for you to enjoy.

Bobby McFerrin (that’s the “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” guy) demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale. (YouTube)
142 voice commands to use with Siri. (ComputerWorld)
Know any creative people? You might relate to Why Creative People Sometimes Make No Sense.
Here’s a great term to get to know: “phone bored.”
Seth Godin on principles and tips for doing good Powerpoint slides.
YouTuber Editing Is Everything remixes film trailers in different genres. Here’s seven different genres for Wall-E. (YouTube)