Leonardo Ramirez's Blog, page 27

Four People I Want to Be with in Heaven

I woke up this morning feeling a little down about our finances and like so many other folks who work hard (some even two or three jobs) we're all finding it difficult just to make it to the next pay period. For those who don't even have a paycheck its sheer hell right now. As my wife and I got ready for the day I commented to her that since we've been married we've been slammed from the outside incessantly from left to right. Our marriage itself is fantastic. We don't regret the hard times and in fact, they have made us stronger. But my comment to her was that I surely hoped that the rest of our years together wouldn't necessarily be so full of trial. That's when I have to keep reminding myself that we have to treasure our family outside of these trials and to focus on the good that we have which is each other and our brown-eyed girl. I couldn't help but wonder if the only time we were going to be able to rest was when we got to heaven. 

In our talk I told her that I wanted to restfully enjoy life with her before then so with that said here's the list of folks I'd like to see when I get to heaven.

Think of this as a list of things that in my feeble mind would make heaven…heaven.

My wife.  And yes, I want to be married to her when I get to heaven. I know what some may believe about marriage in heaven but I'm asking for this anyway. My wife and I got married late in life (we were in our 30's) and although we've been very happy we've been lambasted by outside forces ever since. I'd like a thousand-year honeymoon please and I want it without scrambling to make the car payment. After the thousand-year honeymoon I want a hundred years of cruising at sea with all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets. 

This spread must include pancakes. French toast I can live without but not pancakes.

My daughter. I want to be a father to my daughter forever. We have way too much fun to pack into however long we are on Earth so when we get to heaven I want to build her the longest water log ride ever built in the history of mankind and ride it with her. Then we'd build a starship cooler than the Enterprise and go exploring the universe. After that, I'd want to take her to a hundred-year seafood buffet and chow down on shrimp until well….we move on to something else.





As a side note, my daughter has been saving her pennies for a year or so to buy herself a kindle. Last night I found her savings in my chair with a note telling me that she wanted me to use it to go see my dad. I broke down for a little bit and after I composed myself I went in and told her how proud of her I was.



My grandfather, Benjamin. He was an inspiration in the sense that nothing bothered him. My grandmother could be fussing at the top of her lungs at him about how he never lets him get a word in (it was actually the other way around) and he'd turn to me and wink as he giggled. Then he'd take me out to his shed where he kept spare parts of anything he could find and try to build something out of it.

My dad. My childhood wasn't the greatest and my birthdays brought me great sadness until I got married (my wife knew this and showed up at my doorstep at 4am and took me out to breakfast when we were dating). My dad now has Alzheimer's and the person he was is slipping away so in essence I never got to be the son I wanted to be. I want more time with him. He was amazing at basketball especially for a guy who is only 5'8". 





My wife says that even if I don't get my wish that heaven will be so amazing that it won't matter.

I just can't imagine heaven without them.....or blueberry pancakes.

;o)

Chat soon,Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.

Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

Mr. Author Snooty Pants

Being one of the martial arts instructors at our local dojo I try to instill in our students that training is not always about goals but about the journey. That is to say that the journey of learning never ends. I believe that it's the same way with writing.



As a writer, I've come across some who somehow seem to think that they've learned it all.



We've all come across them at some point or another.

The author who has decided in his/her mind that they are sitting high above the heavens looking down at the common folk with their lightning eyes ready to cast a bolt of lightning at the unexpected or a morsel of wisdom to the catastrophically stupid as seen in their eyes.



Totally unapproachable, these folks prefer to keep their fans at arms length and hardly take a moment to ask what is important to them.



A few years ago I worked at an original artwork publishing company when one of the artists came to town to sign their limited edition prints. I'm not into name-bashing so I won't say who it was but this artist demanded nothing less than Perrier (I think I just dated myself) and was clearly not happy if it was some other brand.



I think the most devastating event for me was when I worked for a music label and was asked to attend an interview with one of the bands. When the lead singer of the band was asked a question he turned to me and said, "everyone in the music industry is in it for the money." His band mate turned to him and said, "No, Lenny is all right." I'm glad he did but that did not stop the hurt I felt at that attack. 



At the time that the comment was made my wife and I had just moved to Nashville with our 8-month old baby and were struggling financially to where at one point I told my wife that I was going to grab my guitar and go downtown and beg. That's how desperate we were. We had just left a really bad family situation in another state and to escape the dysfunction and raise our daughter in an environment where she could grow up whole we took our tax return and moved away.

We had no family here to turn to. That's when I got the call about the job. I took it because to not take it would have been irresponsible. Since then we had been struggling to make ends meet at the time of the comment. There were times where I wish I could have gone back to that person and let them know how devastating that comment was but in the end I think it better for me to forgive and move on.



Just this past week I got into a heated discussion with someone who obviously felt that another author's post was too ridiculous to list as a discussion on a forum. The post wasn't about how they like to write about elephants who wear tutus or how they can only write after a shot of brandy. It was about structure. I tried to explain that as writers we are all at different levels of our writing career and that what may seem useful to one person may not seem useful to another. It was like talking to a bowl of oatmeal.



Please understand that to lump all authors into this category would be to lump myself into it as well. I'm a published author but I still remember what it was like to struggle to get your work to print. Even after being published I'm still working towards the next thing (i.e. Jupiter Chronicles ).



There are some really kind authors out there and I've met some of them. Our friend Shellie Brauner is one of them. In fact I'll go as far to say that if you need a school author visit, please give her a shout. She's amazing and wonderful with the kids. A music producer who is a close friend of mine, Anthony Annucci of Live Body Productions can be credited with helping me start my writing career. He introduced me to the publisher of my graphic novel, Haven and I'm honored to call him friend and brother.



Other authors/artists that have encouraged me in some fashion or another include Kevin Kaiser, Chris Campanozzi and Giovanni Gelati. I encourage you to visit their websites.



Authors, we can't change others including Mr. Author Snooty Pants but we can be careful about how we interact with those who follow our work. In fact, I hate calling them fans. I'd much rather call them friends because they are. If not for them we wouldn't have readers. I'm a reader. Well, the truth is that my wife is a more avid reader (sorry but I stay really busy) so she qualifies more than I!



Be kind to your fans/friends. Look them in the eyes and grant them the respect they deserve. Hear their words carefully. You never know the positive difference you can make in someone's life in the span of a few seconds just by listening.



Chat soon,



Lenny



Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.



Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

Warning for Authors: Beware of Pirates Lurking!

With the recent resurgence of the subject of piracy surrounding the SOPA/PIPA legislation (which I'm against) I felt it important to not simply speak against the attack against freedoms that we enjoy through use of the internet but to offer a solution as well. Simply put, the solution is for authors to educate themselves on the subject of piracy and not fall victim to it.

I say this because it seems that in a lot of the online authors groups I belong to there are so-called publishing companies that are actively soliciting authors/illustrators to submit their work. If you know me personally you might be feeling that it's easy for me to say "please be careful who you submit to" when I've already been published. 

Let me assure you that I do remember clearly what it was like to desperately want to be published. Even after being published, the feelings of wanting to do more never go away, please believe me.

So with that I'll add a friendly warning: please be careful who you submit your work to. This is especially true if they are overseas. This is not a warning against doing business with someone overseas simply because they are abroad. I'm not saying that at all but what I am saying is that our copyright laws cannot be enforced abroad and even if they could you and I don't have the money or resources to launch such a lawsuit against persons in countries whose economies even depend on piracy to survive. That point alone makes the whole notion of SOPA/PIPA utterly ridiculous but that's a whole other subject. 

More thoughts on that can be found here.

It just seems that lately I've been coming across these aforementioned "solicitors" more and more (especially in LinkedIn) in reader/author/illustrator groups looking for folks to submit their work. Then when I scroll down there are ten or twelve people offering their links and contact information and I'm concerned for them. 

Guys and gals, it's not worth the heartache of submitting your work to someone whom you've never met face-to-face or at least have had lengthy contact via e-mail. As authors we pour our heart and soul into our work so I would strongly encourage you to protect your work and if you feel so inclined, keep it here.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development offers a detailed report on piracy. There's quite a bit of reading but I would suggest going through it. The report can be found here.

It details which products/mediums have the highest rate of pirated product in which countries and yes, literary works are in the top tier right alongside music. In 2007, 69% of pirated products came from Southeast Asia while 1.1% came from the United States. You'd think with all the talk of pirated music that most of it took place here but according to this report, not so. Also, according to the black market watch website Havoscope, an estimated 20% of all e-books downloaded were pirated.

All this to say, please protect your precious work. Don't be too anxious to send it out to folks with no previous publishing track record in the United States. If you're considering self-publishing visit my previous post here for information on that.

Published or not, your work is your precious treasure. Guard it closely!

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

Give Your Character a Reason to Live!

Finding a cause for your main character(s) is relatively easy. Simply take an inventory of your life or the life of your better half to find a cause. I would focus on yourself or your better half though. The reason for that is life shows us that it's pretty close to impossible to identify with an experience we've never had. I can't pretend to know what it's like for someone else to have a life-threatening disease or to have climbed Mount Everest if I never have but if your spouse has had an experience it is easier for you as the writer to gain a better understanding of that experience because of the closeness in marriage. If you're not married not to worry. 

I'm sure you have plenty of life stories of your own to tell. 

In the graphic novel Haven and upcoming prose novel, Haven of Dante, the main character is suffers an atrocity close to the beginning of the story. (If you'd like to know what it is then by all means, buy the book.) This closely relates with something that my sweet wife experienced many years ago so I put it in there to show that despite the ugly card of life that was dealt to Haven she can still make good choices for her life.



In Jupiter Chronicles , I used the fact that I grew up without a father to encourage others to let go of their anger.



There's the cause.

For you it can be something different. Perhaps you were adopted and would like to share what it was like to find out that that your parents are not your biological ones. Add that experience to a character and have them show the world that they don't need to be biological parents to really love you. Although we hate to suffer through the ills of life (and that's only human), I don't believe that we suffer hardship for no reason at all. This may just be me but I think that we suffer hardship so that we can encourage others through theirs and identify.

The key word there is identify.

Without identification our encouragement is shallow and can sometimes be seen as insulting. Use the hardships that you've experienced to encourage others through your characters and through the written word.

Give your characters a reason to live and a purpose. Send them out to encourage others.

You never know who you might reach.

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

Tips on Author School Visits

A buddy of mine who is just venturing out after the release of his first book recently asked me if I had any advice as it pertains to author school visits. He was a tad bit nervous never having done one before which is completely understandable if you don't know what to expect. These are by far my absolute favorite type of events to do because quite frankly, adults can be harder to entertain than kids (at least for me). Don't get me wrong, I love meeting folks in general but let's face it; expectations are much higher for adults.

Here's what I told him:

First and foremost, be yourself. Kids are by nature intuitive and can spot a phony a mile away while hardships in life that accumulate in our lifetimes can sometimes skew our perceptions as adults. As a side note we really should be ourselves in any setting be it an author event or talking a stroll.  I'm simply stressing that we should not try to be someone we're not when we're around kids.

Don't be afraid to be silly. Kids love a good laugh and so should we as adults. For a reading I did for Dr. Seuss' birthday I wore a Seuss hat and we posed for pictures making goofy faces.  I read "Leonardo the Terrible Monster," and in the part of the book that called for it I pretended to quietly sneak up on the class and speak softly but when it came time to scare the tuna salad out of the little boy I gave it all I had. The class roared in laughter and I had a blast.

Remember it's not about you. What I mean by this try to focus on the reason you're there. You're there for the kids. Not to sell books or gain publicity even though the latter can sometimes be a natural result. Folks can always gauge motive and we as authors should keep ours pure. We're there for them. Ask yourself if you would still go if it meant you were not allowed to mention your book. I'm not saying that you should not take your book. That would be silly but if you can honestly answer yes then your heart is in the right place. Take your book, read it with glee and remember who you're there for.

Show them that you care. Don't simply pretend that you do because kids know. When a child asks you a question look them in the eye and speak to them as if they were the only child in the room. Be real. Be genuine. It goes without saying that kids may get rowdy from time to time and that there will be a time where order will have to be called but keep in mind that you're only there for a short time and as an author you can leave a lasting mark on a child that you may never see again. For some kids, this may be the only seal of approval they get outside of their awesome teacher. Reading to kids has always made a lasting mark on me. Mrs. Murphy from Chapman's Retreat gave me a bookmark when I read to her class.

I still have it.

Now go have fun.

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.

Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

What Draws You into a Book?

It's no newsflash that the print publishing industry is in a slump. Don't get me wrong, I love to hold a book in my hands and I have yet to purchase a Kindle or Nook. There's just something about the printed page that speaks to me like the smell of the ink and the rough texture of the page. My stance on the slump is that publishers are taking less risk but that's a whole other argument. Conversely, I am for embracing technology and thinking ahead which is why I ask the question: 

What draws you into a book?

Is it the cover? The synopsis? I posed that question on Facebook and got some really good answers. My friend Reba Darling stated that the first chapter is what draws her in. I'm glad I asked the question because her response made me consider putting out the first chapter of Haven of Dante before it releases. I probably will after the editing process is complete.

Jayson Bumbalough touched on established franchises like Star Wars as having fillers. It's a good point. My response to him was that given the state of our economy every penny counts and the last thing I would want to do as an author is ask someone to buy my book and them end up feeling like it was a chore to read it so when I write I do keep the audience in mind and try to throw a twist in that won't disappoint.

With all of that in mind, I'd love to hear from you.  I've written in the synopsis for Haven of Dante below. 

Tell me what you think and how it could be better.

For generations, the Dante family line has been in an ancient war between humanity and the nine circles of hell who call themselves "The Aristocracy".

Fearing a new holder of the mantle to fight the evil, the Aristocracy seeks to eliminate the Roberto and Beatrice Dante and take control of new technology created by their company, Dante Tech that will aid them in recreating hell on the surface of the planet and establish their reign on Earth.

The Aristocracy has their sights on the last remaining Dante, a young girl named Haven. After the tragic death of her mother Haven Irena Dante endures the vile theft of her innocence and goes missing.

After two years, Haven returns but she is very different.

And all of hell is about to reap her wrath.

What draws you in?

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.

Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

No SOPA For Me, Thank You!

I'm taking a quick break from working on my business plan to bring this to the attention of my friends and readers and encourage you to act. In case you haven't already heard, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is presently making its way through Congress right now. If passed and signed, this bill will enable the Justice Department to issue court orders against websites suspected of copyright infringement and/or trafficking copyrighted goods and is a bipartisan effort. 

For an update on its progress please click here.http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.3261:

This trend was all started a while back by record industries trying to prevent illegal downloading and started suing 10-year old kids instead of their parents. Before I go on let me say that I do not hold a grudge against record companies (or companies in general) because I used to work for one and learned a great deal by working there but they're not perfect either and in my book wrong is still wrong and SOPA is something that I wholeheartedly disagree with. 

Why?

Simply put, you can't stop piracy by censoring the internet. As I mentioned in a previous post China's economy is based on piracy. I'm picking on China here because they are the leading pirating country in the world. The only way to stop that is to make our own products and bring manufacturing back home but for some reason politicos who create the ease for manufacturing abroad are the same ones who tout the desire to create more jobs at home but that's another story.



No SOPA for you!
All industries evolve and when numbskulls who are too proud to admit when they're wrong to try and control the natural evolution of a market it naturally ends up in freedoms being taken away. I-Tunes is a result of market evolution. Because of i-Tunes, illegal downloading is down and we now have a safe and legal (not to mention moral) way of getting the music that we love to enjoy. Remember those cassette tapes that folks would record records on? Yeah, they went away! Go figure. The key to survive in the marketplace is to adapt and learn what the trends are and try to be ahead of the wave.

SOPA is censorship pure and simple. The internet is the last place on Earth that we have to lift our voices freely in expression of thought and the freedom to gather.

Don't let them take that away. Call your Congressman today.

With malice towards none,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of prose fiction and graphic novels in the genres of Young Adult and Children's Books.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

2012

Happy New Year!

I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a safe New Year. Ours was a blast but above all it was great downtime for our family. Among the cool stuff we got for our daughter she also opened up a slew of games which we had fun with. After our stint at the Nashville Rescue Mission we spent some time with friends on New Year's Eve playing even more games. It was my first time at Apples to Apples and I really enjoyed it.

So what will 2012 bring?

For starters, I'm hoping that it all doesn't end on December 21st but for you, my hope is that this year brings not just what your heart desires but what it needs to stay strong. With the coming elections this year will be a pivotal one. Will our country go one way or the other? We shall see. I'm one for making choices based on much prayer and research.

As far as writing is concerned, yes I'm still working on a business plan. Although I believe in always having a plan of action I'll have to admit I'd much rather be writing than putting something like this together. It hasn't been fun but I'm plugging away because the reality is that it takes money to publish a book on your own. There is great angst in the thought of going to investors because I don't like to owe anyone anything but given the state of the publishing industry I don't have much choice and that could work out for the better. 

Either way I know in my heart of hearts that things will work out as they always do and  Jupiter Chronicles and Haven of Dante will release.

I have found an amazing editor that I'll reveal at a later date but I'm excited about him helping me out. He's been a great guy to dialogue with over e-mail so I'm stoked about working with him. For all you other indie writers out there, I highly recommend a professional editor for your manuscript. Not using one is what has kept the indie market in a lesser light in the past but that is changing. An inspiring article that my friend Michael D. Hamersky sent me speaks of 2012 as the year of the artist-entrepreneur and is very encouraging as it outlines the various mediums that are seeing an upsurge in the marketplace that are conducive for indie authors. Please take a read when you get a moment by clicking here. 

If you're a comics fan, Michael's blog is the one to follow. Check out his site here.

For my previous post on why you should self-publish please visit here.

All that said, I'm really looking forward to everything 2012 will bring. More importantly, I'm looking forward to growing with my family and spending more time with them and friends….

…like you.

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of prose fiction and graphic novels in the genres of Young Adult and Children's Books.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.com and sign up!Thanks for reading!

Our Visit to the Nashville Rescue Mission

Hi All,

Hope you're having an amazing holiday season. As for us, we didn't get to sleep on Christmas Eve until passed midnight because our daughter (like most other kids) just could not get to sleep so Mom turned on a Harry Potter CD and after a while she was out. Of course, she was back up at 5 a.m. at which time we opened our gifts but then suddenly found ourselves waking up on the couch 2 hours later not fully realizing that we had all fallen asleep. After waking up we had fun with our daughter in playing with her new stuff. Incidentally, I highly recommend Connect Four Launchers. It's a blast. I also started a tradition with my wife which was to write her a Christmas letter. She cried. Not sure if that was before or after I woke up though.

As far as what we did today I don't think that I'll use the word charity work even though going to homeless shelters and missions is how it's described. It sounds too disconnected to me. Part of what we do we do so out of caring for people so to a small degree it's relational work. I don't want to do something like this just for the sake of saying I did it or to boast about it but to really care and to teach our daughter that there is caring in doing. It's not enough to say that you care about someone. You actually have to do something about it otherwise (at least, to me) they are empty words.



My wife and I had done this type of thing many times before so now it was our daughter's time to join us.

One thing I will say in boasting (mostly for posterity should my daughter ever read this later) that I was immensely proud at how hard our daughter worked today. Even better, she did it with a joyful heart. She wanted to do it and would not stand idly by when there was something that needed to be done.







She wasn't satisfied with scrubbing walls and tables. She wanted to serve the meals and she was adamant about it. I'll be honest in saying that we don't like to wait around too long when we're hungry but since we were feeding others she pushed through our lunchtime and truly placed the needs of others ahead of her own. She did well and we all had fun doing it. We even made some new friends today who were a joy to work with. Maria, Danielle and the others…thank you for making it fun for us.

As far as the Nashville Rescue Mission itself goes, they do an amazing job. The kitchen was spotless and they had the operation fine-tuned. We plan on going back and encourage you to find one like it of your preference. It's not charity work. It's a relational effort. And with the economy the way it is I'm sure that there are a lot of us that are one or two paychecks away from being on the other side of the food line.



Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of prose fiction and graphic novels in the genres of Young Adult and Children's Books.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.

Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.comThanks for reading!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Hope that your holidays are safe and that you're surrounded by those that you love and hold dear. Thank you for your kindness and for your support but more importantly, thanks for being my friend.



May all of your dreams come true.

































































Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of prose fiction and graphic novels in the genres of Young Adult and Children's Books. 

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.

Want to follow this blog? Visit http://leonardoverse.blogspot.comThanks for reading!