Anthony Wade's Blog, page 2

There’s Never Been A Movie Like ‘Boyhood’ True Originality

Around this time, when Oscar nominations are released, I like to catch up on the films. I never know what half of them are, and everybody else seems to have seen them several times in theater.

‘Boyhood’ was at the top of my list because the whole 12 years same cast was too intriguing. And I was right.

I believe film is art because you have to be creative, smart, patient, and ambitious. This film? This film is true art. To me, it’s the only one that has truly captured 12 years of life and adolescence. It’s nearly three hours long, and some would say nothing really happens. There are no car crashes, huge battles, superheroes and whatnot.

That, to me, is why ‘Boyhood’ is true art. It’s extremely realistic. You have natural dialogue, and the fact you’re seeing the same characters age and change is surreal. And even though there weren’t huge shooting scenes and twists, I stayed interested for the ENTIRE film..

Most people, I think, can find something to relate to. You have the main character, Mason, who most boys can obviously identify with — especially with relationships and many, many hairstyles. I remember the long hair phase.

All juniors and seniors in high school can relate as he feels confused and terrified about college. It’s the real world, and we all freak out inside.

His mom is a single mother, so there are a lot of people who can relate to that – especially with the difficulties of raising kids AND getting a degree.

And there are many kids and fathers out there who know what it’s like to only see each other every weekend or every other.

It’s realistic. It’s artistic, It’s thought-provoking. You’re simply not going to find anything like ‘Boyhood’

If you have not seen this film, visit the nearest Redbox and see what the hype is all about.

Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know in the comments.

Official Website And Another Free Ebook Day!

I finally got my official site set up. Like the publishing process, it was a lot of fun and frustrating at the same time. Here’s the link:

www.anthonywadej.com

I’m also having another free day on Amazon for Grandfather, so keep your eyes open this Thursday, January 15th! Remember, the price is FREE starting midnight PACIFIC TIME.

 

A Great First Step To Build Your Author Platform

If you’re a writer, aspiring author, or a published author, you know how important it is to have an author platform. If you have a successful sales track record, then it’s a lot easier to find an agent, publisher, and readers for your next project.

The thing is that first time authors don’t have this. So how do you build an author’s platform? By accident, I discovered the best way to start building this, which I should have known in the first place.

Freelance writing.

It’s a great opportunity. I began at the end of September, and now, I have author profiles on two different sites, including the quickly-expanding Business2Community. Together, I have over a hundred articles published, so that means if anybody out there needs proof of my work’s quality, they can see it with a single click.

I highly recommend finding a few freelance gigs so that when writing a query letter, cover letter, and resume, you can include your published writing and links to the author profile page.

There are places out there who will accept college students as contributors, so if you’re attending a University and plan to break into the publishing industry (whether the author side of the editor/publisher side), take advantage.

If I had done that, my resume would be a lot more solid. Freelance writing and editing is experience, and everybody knows how aggravating it is to get an entry-level job that, for some reason, demands 1 or 2 years experience.

This is your chance.

Anybody have any other tips on building an author platform?

 

 

Happy New Year! Make 2015 The Year You Challenged Yourself

Just wanted to wish everybody a happy New Year. We all make New Year resolutions, but this year, choose something unique. Going to the gym was 10 years ago, and let’s be honest . . . not many follow through that resolution.

I’ve written a few posts about getting out of your comfort zone and how it’s so important and well worth it in the end. So tonight, come up with something different; something challenging; something way out of your comfort zone.

Then, as 2016 is minutes away, you can think about and say, “This was a good year.”

Oh, and just a side note, you may want to come up with your resolution before you start the drinking. Visiting every amusement park in your country may be a bit difficult to complete in one year.

Anyways, have fun tonight and be safe. If you’ve not used lyft, download it. From what I hear, the first ride is free. Better than getting a DUI.

Check out some of my 2015 predictions here

[PhotoCredit: Source].

New Years Resolution And My 2015 Predictions

Every year, I make a new years resolution. I’m sure you all do too. And every year, it’s something like eat better and exercise more. Original, I know.

I did go through with my 2014 resolution, though I won’t say what it was. That was a first and pretty exciting right now. But for 2015 . . . I don’t really know.

I saw a book challenge on Goodreads, and they were talking about their reading goals for next year. That made me think about all those books I keep saying I’ll read but never do. I still have Casual Vacancy in my car after getting it when it first came out. smh

 

 

So I think one of my 2015 goals will be to read those books I said I would. This includes the Divergent Series and D.J. MacHale’s latest SYLO trilogy. Seems pretty good.

 

I don’t know what else I’ll include in my resolution, but I do have a few ideas on what the year is going to look like.

For me, I think I’ll find a full time job pretty quickly. And I think it’ll be an interesting year with Grandfather and how my publishing experience goes. More importantly, I think I might be able to travel somewhere awesome.

Now, I’m about to get all economicie over here. Everybody is always talking about how the economy is crap and everything is going to collapse. I don’t think that’s going to happen. At least not for many, many years.

 

A report just came in that the economy grew 5%, the biggest growth America has seen since 2003. Unemployment may still be high, but compared to what it was a year ago, it’s a lot better. Right now, it’s 5.8%. Did you know that there’s a Natural Rate of Unemployment? In 2007, it was 4.31% That means that the normal rate of unemployment isn’t 0% because Supply and Demand doesn’t intersect at 0.

5.8% isn’t great, but when you compare it to the natural rate, it’s a lot better. And the way things are looking, it’s going to keep getting better.

So my prediction is that the recovery is going to really take off this year. By the time 2016 rolls around, I think we’ll be at our natural rate and expanding.

Speaking of 2016, a lot of politics is going to go on this year. That’s a given. It happens the year before every election. But I think this one is going to be a lot more . . . hmm . . . I guess brutal is the word for it.

It just seems like the two parties are growing further apart – which drives me INSANE. But that’s another post for later. With everybody fed up with Obama, it’s going to be a huge fight for 2016. I predict a lot more fighting, arguing, separation, and close-mindedness.

And, of course, I think it’s going to be a great year for technology. Hell, Google just unveiled their first self-driving car, and they expect it to be on the road next year! And with this whole Apple Pay thing being successful and Samsung wanting to come up with their own thing, I think people are going to start leaving credit and debit cards for their cell phones.

I know I’m thinking about it with all of these hacks at places like Target.

That’s pretty much it. Huge advancements in technology and huge improvements in the economy. And for me . . . well, it’ll be an extremely interesting year. I have no idea what opportunity I’ll be snatching, and I have no idea where I’ll be. I’m clueless.

And that, to me, is the exciting part.

Next Stop . . . who knows

[PhotoCredit: Source]

Download ‘Grandfather’ On Amazon For Free – Christmas Day And The 26th.

I promised to have a few free promotional days for Grandfather, and I thought – why not Christmas, ya know?

So if you’re wondering, “What book should I read next?”, enjoy YA, and want a need twist on Dystopian fiction, check it out :)

Here it is on Amazon.

Read an excerpt or learn more about the book here.

I believe the hours are pacific time, so depending on where you are, you may have to wait a bit.

Merry Christmas!

‘Grandfather’ Release Is Today – Woop Woop!

Been planning for this day for several months, and it’s finally here!

It’s priced at $0.99 – but keep an eye out for my very soon $0 promotion days.

If you’re interested in reviewing it – let me know, and I’ll make sure to email you when those free days get here. Will be very soon :)

Some of the book details – like the blurb – won’t be posted for another 24ish hours, but you can visit the Grandfather page to read the description and excerpt.

Visit Amazon and check it out!

I’m Finally Done – Summary Of My Overall Self-Publishing Experience

Wow.

That’s the only word I can think of. Exciting, stressful, fun, infuriating, extremely difficult . . . if you’ve self-published before, I’m sure you know all about the roller coaster ride. If you’re just getting started:

I’ve not been on the blog for two weeks – even though I promised myself to get on at least once a day.Things have been so busy with my freelance writing, meeting with the editor, and doing my final runthroughs of Grandfather.

The Exciting Part

What’s not exciting about publishing your own work, ya know? I worked for years on this, and knowing that it would be digitally available before Christmas was exhilarating.

The book cover was probably one of my favorite parts. Starting this blog was fun too, because I got to connect with others trying to publish and just readers in general. I always thought blogging would be lame, but no . . . it’s pretty cool.

Believe it or not, I really enjoyed a lot of the editing process too. After I got the copies back from my editor, I loved seeing the suggested edits and explanations. I really got to see the mistakes in my work I made without realizing it. For example – I loved repeating certain phrases like “he/she/I smiled” or “It seemed.” It’s always exciting to learn about your mistakes because in the end, it makes you a better writer.

 The Stressful Part

I think what got to me the most was managing my time with other current projects in order to make the December 20 deadline. There were a few times I seriously didn’t think I was going to make it – like Wednesday and yesterday.

Some of the editing changes that required plot changes throughout the entire books got to me too. It’s easy to change one sentence or paragraph, but with something major . . . even something simple like changing hair color, you have to go through the ENTIRE piece carefully tomake sure you changed every single detail.

The Fun Part

I mostly touched up on the fun aspects in the exciting section above. But I have to bring in my thoughts over these past few months.

Seems weird, doesn’t it . . . having fun thinking?

But just thinking about how my book will be published soon was so much fun – even if it’s not through the traditional route. I was in control of everything, and that’s something I love when it comes to my work.

I love trying new experiences, as many of you already know. This was definitely new, and while it was stressful and hard, it was fun learning about the entire process. Before, I knew a very little about self-pub. Now, if somebody told me they were thinking about it, I would have a list of what I learned and some great advice to make the process a lot easier.

The Infuriating Part

*Sigh*

Many of you guys can probably guess it was the stupid formatting process. These last two days, I’ve wanted to pull my hair out and chuck my laptop over the deck and let the dogs have it.

I swear, I ran into the same problem over every time, and no matter how many times I followed the directions on KDP’s help forum, nothing worked.

During the conversion, my first-line indentions were getting all screwed up. None of them lined up, and sometimes, it looked as if I had a seizure and repeatedly hit the ‘tab.’ I found out that you’re supposed to set the indent numbers manually in ‘paragraph‘ rather than using ‘tab’ I did so, and no matter how many times I tried, it didn’t work.

What I ended up having to do was forget about saving the document as a doc. and saved it as a web page HTM. I just figured this out yesterday, and after following the first-line indention directions and praying like crazy, everything worked out perfectly.

So angry.

The Difficult Part?

EVERY SINGLE BIT OF IT. Fun and exciting doesn’t always mean easy. Writing is fun, but it’s very difficult. Playing an instrument is fun, but it’s extremely difficult. Just the emotional roller coaster was difficult. But it’s done. I can now move on to Book 2.

I’m hoping to write a detailed post in the future containing some tips for those getting ready to enter the self-pub process. I know I’m not the only one.

Anyhow, if you’re interested in Grandfather, just keep an eye out for the release post tomorrow!

Note: The Grandfather Campaign is still going on, which you can learn more about here.

[PhotoCredit: Giphy]

Write the Novel — Third Edit — Last Chance to Remove Book Killers

Anthony Wade:

Some great editing advice here. Use the chart!

Originally posted on Sharon Wildwind:

Even if you’re going great guns, I doubt you’ve finished the second edit, which involves printing an entire copy and reading it all the way through, marking and making notes as you go.

So this week’s blog is about what to do when you have finished. What comes next — the third edit — is the last chance to get rid of book killers. Some book killers don’t show up until we have a chance to read the entire story, in sequence, in a concentrated time period; in other words, while we’re doing the second edit.

To do the next part, it helps to draw a bar graph. I’ve posted one on my web site. Feel free to print a copy and use it. Or make your own. The blank chart looks like this.

Third Edit Blank Chart

We each have to decide where our condition of enoughess falls. For…

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Obama On Stephen Colbert Was Too Funny. Watch Obama Take Over The Report

If you guys didn’t see Obama on The Colbert Report last night, then you’re missing out. LMAO. Even if you don’t like the president, watch.

http://www.business2community.com/social-buzz/president-obama-stephen-colbert-obama-reports-news-colbert-calls-emperor-01091362