C.S. Robadue's Blog, page 11

Wandering Forward

MAY 2017 – Sorting out how I feel about it pretty much already being Summer (this is what a University academic schedule does to you, skews your seasons out of proportion, haha) and realizing that it is already mountain climbing time! That part I’m very okay with. And what a difference a handful of weeks makes, as the world has gone from gray to green and grandly so. Flowers, thunderstorms, leaves, hungry caterpillars, it is all on offer now that May has taken over the scene.

Still sitting on the sidelines of the writing for my next book, been so focused on other avenues that I haven’t put anything to paper in weeks. Feeling a bit guilty about this as the weather is so good (in stretches, haha) and I need to hop on my bike, ride to the ocean, and sit and ponder ideas! Will remedy this, as the brainstorming part of the creative process is the most fun part, for me at least! I like dreaming up ideas and then leaving them for future me to piece together and turn into a compelling story, haha. Take that future self!! [Jump ahead in the news postings to six months from now and see how I feel about this, grrr!!! :)]

Have checked out some new trails here in Rhode Island, so I’m not entirely focused on work ‘work’ goals and practical life pursuits (new digs!). I should do more of this and then post additional nature photos you say? That can be arranged, will be more of that this Summer for certain. Going for long walks really helps boost creativity in my experience and gives the mind time to wander along with your feet.

Continuing to read a lot and I’m 500+ pages into ‘Leviathan Wakes’ by James S. A. Corey (a pen name for a duo of scifi writers) after it came highly recommended to me by one of my friends. Has lived up to its billing and I suspect the thrills won’t stop as I wind down the last sixty odd pages of that. Not sure how I’m going to follow up this fine bit of door stopper fiction, but I have a stack of books to choose from on my bureau, so we’ll see!

Thanks for stopping by the site and look for more updates in the near future!

– CS

Thinking Green

APRIL 2017 – Hello friends! How is everyone doing as we here in the Northern Hemisphere rain our way into Spring? Well I hope! Want to congratulate the winner of the Goodreads ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ recipient! Their copy of the book was signed and mailed out some weeks back and (according to USPS, haha) arrived at its destination. Looking forward to sharing the book with more readers in the comings month as well and would consider another giveaway at some point potentially.

Right now my mind has already turned to a new writing project, which you could call book #3 if you are keeping score at home, haha. I have been keeping notes of ideas for the book, which is one of three books that I have in mind to write, so plenty of potential kicking around. It isn’t a sequel to ‘The Adventures of August Winter and the Blackstone Academy’ but that will be on the horizon at some point too, so don’t despair! As a new writer I’m keen to try out different genres and this new project will be a bit different from my past efforts.

 

Nature remains a constant in my leisure time as I went hiking this past weekend in Connecticut through some Salt Marshes (which you can see a glimpse of here). Not much was in bloom yet and only a hint of green was beginning to make its presence known. This area will be completely transformed in a matter of short weeks. Saw a few bird watchers out with large camera lens and a few other folks just taking in the beautiful mild weather and fresh air.

Have been reading another Tamora Pierce book, ‘Beka Cooper Terrier’ in Pierce’s Tortall Universe. After this I see myself reading another classic and then some YA or Juvenile Fiction books perhaps. Haven’t totally decided yet!

– CS

Spring Wanderlust

MARCH 2017 – Closing out the month and the Goodreads Giveaway for a signed copy of ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ by yours truly! The drawing is on April 1st and one random winner will be selected, so if you are reading this at posting, I’ll include a link down below to the giveaway if you’d like to enter. Have received a few more reviews of the book that I am very appreciative of as it is great to get some feedback after working largely inside of a vacuum for two years, haha. Not literally thankfully, as that would be awkward, but until the release of the book, only myself and my editor had read it.

These past few weeks I’ve really been feeling the wanderlust and wanting to go hiking and mountain climbing. Have taken a few short excursions to some coastal bird sanctuaries which have been an excellent opening act for additional nature exploration in 2017. This coming weekend I’m planning what likely will be a muddy hike given all the rain that has been urging the grass and trees to turn green lately!

Books on the Square in Providence RI is going to be the first local bookstore that is carrying ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ so I would like to extend them a special thanks! They are always so wonderful to work with and very welcoming of local authors.

Definitely need to expand the reach and add other bookstores to the mix. Find myself really wanting to get back to writing and work on a third book. But I am also very proud of ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ and would love to see more people have a chance to read it. So I’m going to plan some library talks and see how it goes. Have a couple libraries in mind to ask and will post about it on the website here once those dates/times become available.

Have been lent a lot of books to read by my friends that have cut the line in my ‘books to read’ list, haha. Right now I’m reading ‘Beka Cooper’ by Tamora Pierce, which has been written as a series of journal entries. Can see some similarities to it and other books in Pierce’s Tortall Universe, and early on there is a lot to like in this entry.

As always, if anyone has any book recommendations or hiking recommendations (in New England ideally for practical purposes, haha, but elsewhere if it is world class trek!) I’d certainly like to hear about them in the comment section.

As promised, here is the link to the Goodreads Giveaway for ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’! Hope everyone’s Spring (for those readers in the Northern Hemisphere, happy Fall to you fair readers in the Southern Hemisphere!) is off to a brilliant start and I’m sure I’ll be posting again soon!

– CS

 

Winter Is Here

FEBRUARY 2017 – With the launch of ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ last month it has been a very active stretch on the WaveGarden Arts front for yours truly! I haven’t yet planned any library talks or done the broad strokes of the marketing work that needs to be done. Have sent out some copies of the book to early reviewers to get some buzz going for the project. Whether that is positive or the alternative, haha, that remains to be seen. I’m just super excited to have people reading what I’ve been working on the last two years! With the extra month or two of tweaking I put into it I am much happier with the finished piece than I would have been otherwise.

 

Have also started visiting local bookstores to discuss having my new book available there, which makes the launch all seem so much more real. I have a handful of others still to contact. As I add them, I’ll create links from each of the book pages on the site here for the different shops. Right now they are all located in Rhode Island here in the US, but would certainly be open to expanding that reach.

‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ has been catalogued by the Ocean State Library system and is now included in their collection which is phenomenal, love that! Has anyone out there had experience with submitting copies of your book to the library of congress? As that was suggested to me and I might look into that as well. Plenty to do!

– CS

 

 

 

 

 

First Editions

JANUARY 2017 – Is official, ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ is now ready to be shared with the world! Very happy with how it came out after months of futzing with all the finer points. Curious about this new book? Here is the first short blurb that I’ve written about it!

“Oslo Robins has always been a bit of a misfit. After his reclusive grandfather passes away and his family inherits a large estate in the countryside, his life remains anything but simple. New home, new school, means all kinds of adventures for a child of the city. When fantastical things start happening, Oslo discovers that his grandfather’s estate is hiding more than a few secrets! Written and illustrated by C.S. Robadue, it is a story of suspense, adventure, friendship, and the knowledge that there is an unseen world, that begins right where our imagination ends.”

 

The first edition copies of the book have already arrived! Went with the matte finish for the cover and designed it to look like an old book, that might have been lost for ages, waiting to be re-discovered. In the coming days, weeks, and months I’ll be promoting the book and getting the word out there in the hopes that people give it a chance and enjoy the story that I’ve been working on these last several years. Is so rewarding to be able to flip through the pages and recognize that all that work has born fruit.

Book is now available online for order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and soon in local (New England) bookstores.

Outside of the new book being released, I’ve been reading a lot. Would very much like 2017 to be one of my most prolific years as a reader. I’m reading ‘Trickster’s Choice’ by Tamora Pierce right now and read ‘Mistress Wilding’ by Sabatini prior to that. Want to read a few more classics next as I always seem to come back to them. Hope everyone is doing wonderfully and thank you for stopping by!

– CS

The Tao of Tula and Oslo

DECEMBER 2016 – I am honored to be sharing with you all that my new book is going to be titled ‘The Tao Of Tula And Oslo’ and will be released in January 2017!! Have been holding on to it tightly and keeping everything about this book top-secret as I’ve been going over every detail in the book over and over again, as I want it to be as true a reflection of the concept as possible. Feel like an over-protective parent and this is my new baby or something, haha. Always feels like there is a lot at stake with a new book release and I want to get it right and create a worthwhile piece when I do finally set down the pencil, push away the keyboard, and close the creative idea journal.

And I think the time has come! Thus I give you…

Outside of I don’t even know how many cover to cover read-throughs of the book I did this month, there has also been the holidays to relish and enjoy. In the photo above you see the first proof copy of the book, which of course spurred on near endless edits, as there is no substitute to seeing how it actually prints and being able to assess where the project stands. With the book itself nearing completion, that isn’t the end of the road for the work. As now the world needs to know that this ‘top-secret’ project actually, uh, exists! haha.

Let’s leave that until next month, as without a beautifully finished book, there is nothing to even ponder marketing or promoting, etcetera. Other than reading my own book (over and over again, does that count as multiple book read for my yearly total?? Uh, nope!) I read a few other books in December, including the first in Brandon Sanderson’s ‘The Reckoners’ series and more entries in the ‘Fruits Basket’ series by Natsuki Takaya.

I’ll post again when ‘The Tao of Tula and Oslo’ is available in bookstores, on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble for those that are interested in giving it a read. I’ll also be reaching out to the local libraries (for those of you living in New England) about having copies of it available there too!

Want to say Happy New Year to you fair reader! Thanks for stopping by and catching up with the latest. Hope 2017 is a wonderful year full of passion, inspiration, and promise!

– CS

When It’s Right, You Know It

NOVEMBER 2016 – World continues to change and grow and us right along with it. My thoughts have remained focused on the goal of completing my current creative pursuits and publishing a second book. Encouraged by this sense of urgency as it has fueled hour upon hour of dedicated effort towards finishing this journey. If I had to plot on a line graph the hours of work (and amount of effort that goes with those hours) it would look like a gentle climb over time until it nears the end where the line shoots up through the ceiling! The level of effort needed to see something through can be tremendous, keep fighting those lazy days, and the voices saying “Oh, it’s good enough.” You’ll know when it is done.

If I had to pin the challenge of the month on one specific thing, I’d say it was designing the cover for the new book. Came up with design after design after design, haha. None of them were ‘right’ I discovered, after hours creating them and being like, eh, it’s okay, but not great. Need it to be great! Had an idea in mind originally, but was never able to fully realize it. Was another design that I was envisioning that could have been awesome too, but, that didn’t work out either, haha. Finally, I combined some elements that I really liked and sort of returned to the well a bit of visual styles that I’m a fan of and landed on a new vision for the cover.

Which turned out to be fantastic! I’m very happy with the cover art and keen to see what it looks like printed. Is going to be difficult to get the colors correct and the registration as I’ve envisioned it. As I have opened the design file on four different monitors up to this point, and it looks different on every one. From what the display settings are of course, but I am super curious then what the actual end result is going to look like, haha. My last book cover for ‘The Adventures of August Winter and the Blackstone Academy’ is darker than the original source file was intended. I’m still very happy with it, just a hint different from what I expected. Tried to counter this scenario for the new book, but I’m not sure if I made it bright enough.

Plan is to send out a proof version of the book in several days from now. I’ll know then about the printing registration and tonality. In my next news entry I will be revealing the title of the book, so check back for that! At this moment I’m fairly confident that the title will remain as it is now (as of time of writing), but you never know, an alternate inspiration could strike. Along with the proof printing run, goes the good news that the book is just about finished!

Fine-tuning is taking place right now, including a certain amount of page formatting. Have switched the page size itself and last night I dramatically changed the page count (lowered it by close to ten pages) by decreasing the footer margins. Looks sharper and is just as readable (in my opinion). And this will also help me offer the book at as low a price as possible, which is certainly a goal of mine too. So that it is within reach of anyone who would wish to read it and enjoy the story. As of today, I’m rather set as well on making this book available digitally. I didn’t do that for ‘The Adventures of August Winter’ as the formatting for the illustrations in the digital version never reached my standard of presentation. As they created orphan paragraphs and so forth through the adjustable formatting of e-readers.

Going to have to get over this (personally, haha) for the new book as apparently e-book readers (the people themselves, not their devices specifically!) are used to illustrations being a bit willy-nilly in digital versions for just that reason. Bringing the conversation back to what I said earlier, about wanting everything to be ‘right’, to me that also means the illustrations being of high quality. So I’ll do everything I can to make sure the end result is as good and true as I’m able to have it be.

More rambling next time, hope everyone is enjoying a fantastic finale to their year and I’ll be in touch again with some major news in the not-too-distant future!

– CS

 

 

Imagination vs Reality

OCTOBER 2016 – Autumn leaves have been absolutely spectacular this year, probably the best I can recall in my entire life. Whether due to rainfall patterns, soil PH, what have you, it has been quite inspiring regardless of the reason for this colorful flourish. Doesn’t seem so long ago that everything was lush and green, like this scene (see below) from a hike I took over the Summer. Going to be pining for those days shortly, haha.

Winter is not without its perks, especially for a writer and avid reader. The days growing short and ample excuses to remain holed up in the house with a book in hand are also welcomed territory. And I’ve already been taking full advantage of this phenomenon, haha. With the illustrations for my new book (still not ready to share the title just yet, maybe in my next post…) being the main beneficiary as I have made a huge leap forward with the drawings. Of the (currently) 18 chapters of the new book, I have all but one of the full page illustrations ‘finished’. Last minute futzing as I go to scan them in to the computer will certainly take place, to darken up shadows and make lines crisp. Drawing from a lot of natural scenery to create the artwork and I’m very pleased with how it is looking. Nature provides all the details, as sure it is easy to just draw a tree or some rocks, but if you draw from real world sources it will have a level of depth that can’t easily be faked.

Some things are easier to draw from strictly one’s imagination, but I think the human eye is very good at detecting ‘fakes’. Sort of like how a lot of CG in movies looks, you can just tell it isn’t genuine, feel it is the same with drawing. Granted most art is so stylized that it is a non-factor, but I would say to anyone trying to draw trees and living things, there is no substitute for first-hand observation. So go take a walk out into the 3D realm of the world around you! And take note of the angles of trees, the cracks in rocks, and the shapes of clouds. It can all work its way into your art and give it that extra bit of something, that intangible that people will be drawn to.

Read a few books this month, one called ‘Happy Money’ By Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton that my roommate had on a shelf one evening when I was at a loss for what to read and finished all my books from the library. Anyways, it was an insightful look at how we spend our money and makes the case for using it towards things that deliver happiness versus material possessions. That is an over-simplification of their book, which I would recommend reading if you want to tackle some subject matter that you might never have given much thought to before. And don’t shy away from investing in experience, charity, and others.

More and more energized by my creative work each day, putting a lot into the new book. Which, has gone through another draft since we last talked. It was incredibly helpful to have my editor read through it and write a series of notes (in addition to the grammatical fixes here and there) that posed questions about the logic of the plot and character motivations. More self-imposed deadlines are coming up soon, so picture me at my computer reading and re-reading passages, tinkering with wording, and getting frustrated trying to scan in the illustrations and maintain the registration of the drawings, haha.

Who knows, I’m probably doing that right now as you read this!

– CS

 

The Name of the Wind

SEPTEMBER 2016 – Been a stretch since my last post and in that intervening time I have been working rather feverishly on the new book. Which is always news that I’m thrilled to be able to report back. Have become quite settled in my apartment and even changed offices at work, so yea, life has been quite productive the last handful of weeks. Lots of detailed editing continues on the production front as I did a complete cover-to-cover full edit of the book before turning it back to the capable hands of my editor for another round of notes.

This won’t be the last round of edits, as these pursuits are cyclical and I have at least one more complete read through and editing storm in me for the latest title to be penned from my imagination. With this window of time I have a few weeks to really put a lot more into the illustrations themselves. As for every bit of additional editing that takes place in the text, I want to see additional detail added to the drawings and make them all the richer for the effort.

As I mentioned last month, I had started reading ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. I have since finished it and found it to be an exceptional work of fiction. The delight generated in his warm and enigmatic storytelling is palpable, with the main character, Kvothe, typifying this momentum. The near 700 pages of the book went by so quickly and I’m keen to pick up with the Chronicler in the sequels as I believe it is a trilogy of over 2000 pages all told. For fans of the genre (Fantasy) it is a must read in my estimation.

Flipping genres entirely, I’m now reading ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking. It has long been on my reading list, and a recent screening of the film ‘The Theory of Everything’ launched it to the top of the list.

Putting a lot of time into my pursuits lately and I hope to have more to share in the coming weeks. As the year feels to be closing out as fast as a lead weight down a hill in one of Galileo’s experiments! Thanks as always for checking in with my progress and I welcome emails and book/film recommendations.

Cheerio

– CS

There is always rocks

AUGUST 2016 – Wheels are turning, boxes filled, and a new semester starting. Has been an extremely busy handful of weeks, full of moving, and keeping on top of things at the office. Gearing up to make a major push forward with the new book as it has remained off the to-do list in favor of other obligations. That is all changing, very, very, very soon. My wonderful editor is only two chapters away from completing a full cover to cover edit of the book, which is fantastic. I have about three more illustrations to get down on paper. So despite the continued creative doldrums (outside of ‘work’ work) that I am presently in, there is still plenty to celebrate.

In the midst of all this I have been doing a lot of reading. Socking away words and a desire to join the chorus of storytellers that have given so much to the world. I read another Brandon Sanderson book since last entry, a spin-off of the Mistborn series. Was also handed the book ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss from my friend who had recommended the Mistborn series. Saying that “I have to read it” haha. Only a handful of chapters in, thus far I’d say he is quite right (haven’t told him this yet, of course, haha).

Once I’m settled back in with everything in September, I intend to really hit the ground running, err writing, err illustrating. Next few months are going to be a full on creative press. Looking forward to it!

– CS