Orrin Jason Bradford's Blog, page 8
February 15, 2019
The Big R Game
This is an excerpt from my book, From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference. (Just click the link to pick up your own copy.)
If you follow the systematic approach we’ve outlined thus far, it’s just a matter of perseverance and time before you’ll receive a positive response to one of your queries. Of course, along the way, you’ll receive a significant number of rejection letters, or even worse, no response at all. So, before we jump to how to handle the good news of an acceptance, let’s take a closer look at the more common [image error]occurrence—rejection.
Many people have a tremendous amount of baggage when it comes to one of the smallest words in the English language — no. It’s mostly a learned behavior. As I’ve watched my daughter growing up, the first few years she didn’t seem to have any problems with rejection. For example, while learning to walk, gravity rejected her countless times. She’d pull herself up on her pudgy, wobbly legs, stand there for a few seconds, then try letting go. As soon as she did, gravity rejected her attempts to stand and plop, down she’d go. She’d sit there for a few moments, then giggle and start all over.
Not so with many writers. In fact, I’ve talked to quite a few writers who have so much fear of being rejected that they won’t even submit their material. That’s one way to avoid rejection. It’s just not a productive way to build a writing career. Let’s look at how to deal with rejection in a more positive manner.
How about turning it in your favor? Here’s how I went about doing just that. When I decided to try my hand at writing and getting published, I created a writing game. I call it the Big R Game. The rules are simple; in fact, there’s only one, and it’s summarized in the object of the game:
Collect as many rejections as you can as fast as you can while writing as well as you can.
I set my target for 100. Now, I know this might sound a little crazy. Why would I set collecting rejections as one of my writing goals? Isn’t that what a writer wants to avoid? Well, maybe in a perfect world, but the writing and publishing world isn’t quite perfect. My rationale for starting such a game was simple. I knew that if I won at this game I’d be doing at least two things right: I’d be writing a lot and I’d be submitting what I wrote. These are the two most important activities a writer needs to do religiously and consistently if he wants to succeed at the larger game of being a published and profitable writer.
Playing the Big R Game also took the edge off of receiving those rejection letters. Each time I’d get one in the mail, I knew I was winning the game, not only the Big R game but also the much larger game of becoming successful as a writer. I viewed each rejection as one step closer to learning my craft. If you have a problem with rejection, try a few rounds of Big R. You may find it will lift your spirit and dissolve a lot of the resistance you’ve added to writing.
The other big benefit of the game is that if you set out to collect one hundred rejections, you’re also going to get a fair number of acceptances, which, for the purposes of the game would be failures, but what a great way to fail!
The post The Big R Game appeared first on W. Bradford Swift Visionary Author.
February 11, 2019
100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 1) – A New Game to Play
I’ve recently created a new writing game that goes like this:
To write 100 or more blog posts in a timely fashion while writing as well as I can as a way to express myself as a visionary author while also sharing my books novels and stories with the world.
Let me be honest. This is my experiment in creating marketing and promotion as an expression of my true self. Each post will focus on visionary fiction and possibly visionary nonfiction. Those will be the overarching themes as I continue my evolution as a visionary author. (I’ll also explore in depth what it means to write visionary fiction and nonfiction.)
This is the first blog post of the 100+ that are to follow. I want to first share what led to this blog game. Recently, I have felt stuck in my writing. It was not so much just “writer’s block” as an overall malaise that had me not writing are doing much of anything, at least not effectively. Eventually, this condition became unacceptable to me at which point a serendipitous event happened on of all places, Facebook. That’s right, that often maligned social media site that many of us love to hate.
It was on Facebook where I learned about the Landmark Education seminar that was about to take place in Greensboro, North Carolina on Saturdays. Now, my wife and I had been active participants and leaders in the Landmark Education organization for over 10 years, but that had been over 20 years ago. (In fact, Ann and I met at a Landmark event.) When I first saw the announcement of the upcoming seminar, I was simply curious to find out how the organization had evolved over the past two decades so I decided to travel to Greensboro to attend the first session as a graduate guest. However, by the end of that first session, I had volunteered to be a group leader which also meant I had to register into the full seminar series. This meant I would be traveling three hours each way for the other nine sessions! What? Yep.
However, I knew from my previous experience with Landmark Education that I had put myself in a structure that would lead to breakthroughs in my life including in my writing career. This has already occurred (and after only three sessions as of this writing). For example, not long after that first session, I attended a Special Evening about the Forum ( the Forum is Landmark’s foundational program) in Charlotte, a mere two hours away. During the evening I met Sharon (not her real name), a guest from Jamestown (not the real town) attending the event. I shared with Sharon how I had been introduced to science fiction and fantasy as a fourth grader by my next-door neighbor, Mrs. Crabtree, who just happened to be the children’s librarian at the Raleigh library. I also shared with Sharon that even back then I had the thought, “wouldn’t it be great to one day, someday be able to give back in a pay-it-forward sort of way to all those great authors who had kept me entertained while introducing me to a world of possibility and also keeping me more or less out of trouble.” As I shared this with Sharon I realized that I had lost that spark, that vision that had prompted me to start writing speculative fiction novels years ago. So, at that moment I reclaimed it!
By the way, the seminar series has been amazing in part because I get to experience four seminars every session:
1. One seminar on the 3-hour drive to Greensboro during which I often call old friends from the area to become reacquainted,
2 A second seminar on Friday evening as I spend the night with dear old friends that I’d been out of touch with since moving to the mountains of North Carolina,
3. The actual Landmark Education sponsored seminar session which has been awesome, and
4. The seminar on the return trip as I debrief the other three seminars.
But this is just the beginning of my story on how the Hundred Blog Post Game was created. In my next blog post I will share how journaling has played a big role in continuing this breakthrough in my writing, especially a book I found on Hoopla entitled Writing Down Your Soul by Janet Conner. I’ll also share how I borrowed the structure for the Blog Post Game from my own book, From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion and Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Sell. Stay tuned.
P.S. It is my intention that these blog posts be one form of visionary writing as well. In other words, that they be entertaining, inspirational, insight-generating, and even instructional in nature which is why I’ll be including links to various resources that I have found valuable. If you read about a resource that you’d like to learn more about that’s not linked, feel free to leave a comment below. I’ll see what I can do to track it down. Thanks.
The post 100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 1) – A New Game to Play appeared first on W. Bradford Swift Visionary Author.
January 20, 2019
CRASH – A Prequel to FreeForm
While I’m in the early stage of writing the rough draft of Crash, a prequel to the FreeForm series, there’s still time for your input that will help me finish the story. What would you like to see included? What have you wondered about the main characters, including:
Sluneg (the alien),
Homlin (the alien in human form and the founder of Biogentrix,
Pat Vogt, the BIUFO agent who discovers the alien, and
Dr. Allan Pritchard, the veterinarian who helps Pat solve the mystery.
Let me hear from you. Feel free to leave your comments below after you read this opening scene.
Top of a mountain somewhere in Colorado
3:55 a.m. Just five more minutes and I can rest my hardhead on that soft pillow in my bunk, Corporal Bill Nelson thought. This was supposed to be a cushy assignment and in many ways it was, but he hadn’t taken into account the incredible amount of boredom of a 12-hour [image error]stint looking at a computer screen that never did anything but glowed green. Now he understood why such assignments only lasted six months. Otherwise, you go stark raving mad just from the boredom alone.
3:56 a.m. Four more minutes than eight hours of shuteye and then he’d be done for good. A couple of weeks on leave during which he planned to be mostly drunk somewhere in the Florida Keys and then on to his next assignment. Whatever Uncle Sam had planned, it had to be better than this one.
It started with a bleep bleep as a small green dot appeared at the edge of the screen, and then all hell broke loose as a shrill alarm shattered the early morning silence threatening to bust Nelson’s eardrums and a light above the computer screen started flashing red. Moments later, lines of data started scrolling across the bottom of the monitor as the green dot made its way above it.
“Holy shit!” Nelson shouted as he shot up straight in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He reached over to his right and toggled the switch that turned off the alarm and flashing light. This can’t be happening, he thought. Less than five minutes and he’d be done. He could slip off to his room to the cot and the pillow that waited for him there. Get some good shuteye and then get the hell out of here. Maybe I could just ignore that little green dot, he thought. It’s probably just a bug in the system anyway, but even as he had the thought his hand reached beyond the switch to the red phone. He knew his orders. Report any unusual occurrences and this one had to be a doozy to set off the alarms.
As he held the receiver to his ear, he studied the lines of data. Yep, has to be a glitch in the system. No way could something out in space be traveling that fast and heading directly at Earth. A few more seconds passed before he heard a click at the other end and a gravelly voice said, “Stanwyck here. What you got?”
Holy mother-of-pearl, it’s the colonel himself, Nelson thought as he sat up even straighter. “Sorry to disturb you, Colonel. It’s probably just a glitch in the system, but I have a bogey or in my screen.”
“Size?”
“Pardon, sir?”
“What’s the size of the bogey?” Stanwick asked again.
Nelson studied the screen again before replying, “that’s the odd thing, Colonel. It doesn’t appear to be that large. Not more than forty or fifty meters across. I’m pretty sure that’s not what set off the system.”
There was a pause at the other end of the phone. Finally, Stanwick asked, “ If it wasn’t the size that set it off then what did?”
“Well, according to the data the bogie is traveling over 75,000 km/h.”
“Repeat that corporal,” Stanwick said.
Nelson repeated the number before adding, “but here’s the thing Colonel. Not only is it traveling at such an impossible high-speed, but it’s also decelerating as it draws closer to earth. Shouldn’t Earth’s gravitational field increase its speed if anything?”
“One would think,” Stanwick replied. “And what’s its trajectory?”
“Oh, it’s going to hit us all right. No doubt about it. It’s a little too early to say for sure but, if we’re lucky, it could hit somewhere in the Atlantic. That is if the damn thing actually does exist.”
“Okay, Corporal. Keep me posted. What time is it?”
“4:01,” Nelson replied.
“You due to get off your shift, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir, but…”
“Yeah, you’ll need to stay at your post. Alert your C.O. to that effect.
“Yes, sir.” Nelson heard another click as the line went dead.
The post CRASH – A Prequel to FreeForm appeared first on W. Bradford Swift Visionary Author.
December 20, 2018
Goldcraft: A Preview of Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat Volume Two
Some ideas pop into my head and pour out all at once. Others marinate in some part of my unconscious for months or even years. That was the case for Goldcraft. I admired the shop for years, well before the idea of writing the first volume of Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat came about.
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Outside Goldcraft
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Inside Goldcraft
As you no doubt can tell from the photos, the Goldcraft shop is chocked full of possibilities for a fantastic fable, many of which I included in the upcoming story. I hope you enjoy it.
Download your copy (PDF, epub, or Kindle mobi) right here.
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Save 60% off the cover price ($4.99) with your pre-order (before January 7th).
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A Swift Family Tradition: Grove Park Gingerbread Competition
My family and I reclaimed a Christmas tradition recently when we visited Grove Park Inn, an incredible hotel (and so much more) in nearby Asheville, NC.
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Grove Park is a great place to visit anytime of the year but especially around Christmas time because of the annual Gingerbread competition. Below are some of my favorite entries from this year…and yes, every entrant is made of completely eatable ingredients.
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Asheville Skyline from Grove Park Inn
What’s a favorite family tradition you enjoy this time of year? Leave your comments below.
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December 7, 2018
Charm House – My Homage to The Twilight Zone
I grew up watching The Twilight Zone on television and reading many of Ray Bradbury’s books that were often a compilation of interconnected short stories. So, I guess it’s not that big of a surprise that as an adult I might want to write stories inspired by that amazing show and those books.
Thus, Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat was born, first as an anthology of “suspenseful tales with a twist” and soon to be released as an audiobook with the marvelous Meg Price narrating.
But who wants to wait for the full audiobook? Well, I’m hoping many of you reading this will grab it up when it’s available but in the meantime how about a [image error]sample in the form of the story, Charm House?
First, a little background. Several years ago while traveling around the small towns of North Carolina I passed the original Charm House. This was back in the days before a camera that masquerades as a phone, so I simply noted the beauty of the house and its unique name. Fast forward to a couple years ago when I decided to write a book that would be a homage to Ray Bradbury and The Twilight Zone.
The memory of Charm House returned along with one of the homes of my neighbors that reminds me of the original Charm House which has its own unique history, having previously been owned by Robert E. Lee’s aunt.
[image error]In my mind, the images of these two houses merged into one and became the setting for the story. My neighbor’s home is at the top of the hill at one end of Robert E. Lee Road and at the entrance to this narrow road are two large stone pillars, which also makes a cameo appearance in my story.
So, now you know the bits and pieces that inspired this story, and in the process, I’ve provided you with some hard to ignore hints as to where exactly is Foster Flat. It’s all around me as well as within me. Perhaps one day when I’ve become a rich and famous author (and probably well after I’ve passed on to whatever is next), fans of my stories will flock to this region with a copy of Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat in hand trying to figure out which building, street, or landmark was the inspiration of this story or that story. And in truth, if that does ever happen, they won’t be disappointed. The clues are everywhere.
So, let’s get on with Charm House, which is below as available below as audio.
Or download your free copy in either PDF, epub, or Kindle mobi HERE.
You can also pick up a copy of Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat on Amazon Here.
Or from other online stores HERE.
The post Charm House – My Homage to The Twilight Zone appeared first on W. Bradford Swift Visionary Author.
September 19, 2018
Visiting Green Banks: You Gotta be Committed
A few weeks ago, my lovely wife (who’s as geeky as me when it comes to stuff about space) and I drove over six long hours to see the Green Banks Observatory. [image error]Oh, and we brought along Argos for his first long-distance trip. He did great. In many ways, he did better than his two owners who needed frequent rest stops to stretch our stiff limbs.
You see, Green Banks houses some of the world’s largest radiotelescopes in the world, and they have intentionally been placed in one of the remotest areas with the least amount of people per square miles available on the East Coast because the scientists want as little interference as possible so they can listen for radio waves from other worlds. That’s also why our government established the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) which is an approximately 13,000 square miles dead zone. That’s right, no cell towers, not even microwave ovens allowed. In fact, the observatory owns a truck that drives around looking for offenders (and they find them on occasion).
While taking the tour, our guide, Tessa, explained that they’d recently had to fine one of the locals who kept turning on his hidden, bootlegged microwave oven. The radio wave detective also picked up a Dollar General Store that had recently opened in the area when their checkout scanning system sent out interference. They eventually solved the problem by painting the store with a special metallic paint that acted as a shield against the illicit waves.
Yep, these folks take their Quiet Zone seriously.
So, why did I want to visit this remote location? The short answer — because of Babble and Rabble.
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Green Banks – Ground Zero for the Cosmic Conspiracy Series
When I wrote Babble during the 2013 NaNoWriMo, I searched and searched for the perfect setting where Bobby Gentry with his mother’s help could [image error]fulfill his mission. In an effort to avoid any spoilers here, I’ll say no more about what his mission is…only that Green Banks was the perfect location for the climactic scene at the end! But life was hectic in November and the NaNoWriMo deadline was pressing me to conduct my research on Green Banks online rather than paying a visit.
However, as I began to write book two of the Cosmic Conspiracy series, Rabble, I decided it was well past time to pay a visit to Green Banks. (Tiny little spoiler alert, the opening scenes of Rabble take place at the giganamous Green Banks Radio Telescope.)
Is There Life in the Universe?
I doubt there’s an SF fan in the world who hasn’t asked this question multiple times: Is there life in the Universe (other than our own, of course). And there’s no better place in the world to explore this question than at Green Banks where a dedicated team of scientists work diligently every day in an effort to answer it.
Enter the Drake Equation, “a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.” According to Wikipedia, the Drake equation is:
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where:
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on our current past light cone);
R∗ = the average rate of star formation in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develops life at some point
fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations)
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
Simple, right? So, what’s the answer? Well, that’s really not the point since the “equation was written in 1961 by Frank Drake, not for purposes of quantifying the number of civilizations, but as a way to stimulate scientific dialogue.”
For more information, check out the Green Banks Observatory website.
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August 28, 2018
Answer 2 Questions to Receive a Preview Chapter of Rabble
I received such great input and suggestions from my last “3 Questions” survey that I just had to ask again. This time just answer two questions to receive access to a preview of my work-in-progress, Rabble, book two of the Cosmic Conspiracy series.
Please Respond to these 2 QuestionsFirst Name *Your Email *Enter the email where you want your free copy of Practical Health sent.Question #1 Purchasing from my own website bookstore I'm considering adding an online bookstore to my website here at www.wbradfordswift.com. There's a fair amount of work to do this but afterwards all my current and future books could be purchased direct from me and made available in PDF, epub, and Kindle (mobi) formats. If this was available, how likely are you to purchase books direct from me if the prices were comparable to other locations (or maybe even a little less). 1= not likely, 10=For sure!12345678910Question #2 What Patreon rewards would you love to see me offer? I'm moving forward with the redesign of my Patreon page to a 'book-a-month' approach. The basic patron reward (probably $3 level) will be: the patrons receives a book each month selected by the patrons from 3 possible choices. Plus regular updates through the patrons-only blog on Patreon.
My question is what other rewards would you like to see and receive if you became a patron? Choose from the list below PLUS please suggest some of your own. Each additional reward level would include the basic reward above. PLUS:an inspiring article or personal essay often related to what it takes to live a life on purpose. (Remember I'm a co-founder of Life On Purpose Institute and a Life On Purpose Certified Coach.)a Mystery Bonus. It may be an audio story, a video excursion into my life as an author, or the latest work-in-progress.Be immortalized in a future fantastic fable short story. You and I will create a character together, hero, villain, or something in between, with your name or a nom de plume if you prefer.Add your own suggestion below.Here's where you can really help by suggesting additional patron rewards I should consider offering on my Patreon page. Let me know patron reward might have you (and others) jump on board as a patron. VerificationPlease enter any two digits *Example: 12This box is for spam protection - please leave it blank:
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August 27, 2018
August 2, 2018
Receive my Latest Story by Answering 3 Simple Questions
This little ‘quiz’ has 3 simple questions, and you can’t get them wrong. Just take a moment to consider each one then respond honestly.
Please Respond to these 3 QuestionsYour Email *Enter the email where you want your free copy of Practical Health sent.Question #1 Book-a-Month Club? I'm considering making a major change to my Patreon page and turning it into a "Book-a-Month Club." Each month the patrons would receive a list of 3 of my book titles from which to select the one they'd most want to receive. I would then send out the winning selection to all the patrons. If the monthly pledge was under $5, how likely would you be to giving this a try and becoming a patron? (Please answer on a scale from 1-10. 1 being highly unlikely, 5 being neutral, and 10 being highly likely you would become a patron.) BTW, as a patron, you'd become a major supporter of my work and help inspire me to keep writing.12345678910Question #2 Audiobook Fan or Not? As you probably know, I've recently teamed up with Meg Price, a professional narrator, to produce one of my favorite book children, Babble, as an audiobook. I'm thinking of turning more of my books into audiobooks. So, I'm wondering how many of my readers enjoy listening to audiobooks, especially fiction. (Again, please answer on a scale from 1-10. 1, never listen, 5 occasionally listen to audiobooks, and 10 being your an avid audiobook fan like me.)123345678910Question #3 What Next Book Would You Love to See from Me? I'm about to start writing the first draft of Rabble, book two of the Cosmic Conspiracy series. (Book 1 is Babble.) I'm hoping to have Rabble finished by November so I can use NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to write the rough draft of another book, but which one would you most want to see from me? Here are a few suggestions:
or,
Thanks for playing. I look forward to sending you a copy of Practical Health, a dark and prophetic story but with a glimmer of hope at the end.Book 3 of the Amberlin series (book 2, Awakening, is due out soon.)The next book in the Saga of the Dandelion Expansion series. (This would pick up where Seeds of a New Earth finished.)The next book in the Zak Bates Eco-adventure series (book one was Dominion Over All & book two was Endangered.) or,Start a new series like the Tess Barkley series (a young woman vet student who turns out to be an animal communicator and empath is caught in a world where genetic engineering has gone wild).Or is there another book you'd rather I write that I didn't mention? Let me know what it is.Add a comment here about any of these questions here: VerificationPlease enter any two digits *Example: 12This box is for spam protection - please leave it blank:
Thanks for playing. I look forward to sending you a copy of Practical Health, a dark and prophetic tale with a glimmer of hope at the end.
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