Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 10

NEW Audiobook: Fire, Pain, & Ruin

My 2020 novel Fire, Pain, & Ruin: A Rutherford Manor Novel is now fully available in audio format on Audible!

Originally the audiobook was released episodically starting on February 4th, 2021 on my website and audiobook podcast. The final chapters were never released in that format as agreed with the publisher to save them for the full audiobook release.
Now it is here.

Find it on Audible

The post NEW Audiobook: Fire, Pain, & Ruin appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Guard Your Time

It’s effortless for our time to derail. Often we get swept up by the waves of life’s affairs, forgetting what is important to us. Guard your time. That time is vital for you to grow and to enjoy. Whether you’re a writer, athlete, musician, practicing a new language, or whatever, this core concept applies to all aspects of life, especially those you are passionate about.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Everyone’s life is tailored differently with the challenges we face daily. Most of us work for a living, which will take up ten hours a day if you’re lucky (this includes commute and overtime). We also have responsibilities outside of our jobs, such as families or perhaps you���re crazy enough to pursue a creative outlet. Let’s not forget about social obligations, friends, and day-to-day chores. You also need sleep. These components chew up a lot of the time we have within twenty-four hours.

Don’t Skip Out on Sleep.

Seriously, get your required amount of hours in. Some people require seven hours, while others need eight or nine. Don’t fool yourself, as the chances of you being within the 1% who are biologically dispositioned to needing less sleep are unlikely. If you are, good for you! The rest of us need sleep. You’re doing yourself a real disservice long term. A well-rested mind can function far more effectively than a mind on half a tank of sleep.

The Juggle is Real

Even if you get less than six hours of sleep, you have to guard your time. Of the twenty-four hours, we chew up a big chunk of it with work and sleep. There are all the mundane tasks we have to do as adults, too, like eating and hygiene. I’m sure you probably love most of these aspects of your life. Like your family, you should love your family.

Still, there is something within each of us that we must do for ourselves. There’s plenty of good advice out there on why we need to spend time alone. Solitude by Michael Harris is an excellent introduction to the topic.

If time is sabotaged by the chaos of each day, how do you guard your time?

Routines and Rituals

Routines are usually a predictable and stale concept that doesn’t strike excitement. Rituals sound more fun. Ultimately, they mean the same thing about blocking off segments of your day for you. Guard your time with a rigid section(s) of the day that you will not be interrupted by any means so you can dedicate that time for yourself.

In this case, we’ll say dedicating the time to art.

Close the door, turn off the phone and social media, stay up a little later, or get out of bed earlier (not both). You could also watch less TV or play fewer video games to guard your time and focus on your craft. Ever hear of moderation? Maybe watch half an hour of the TV instead of binging four episodes.

As the day progresses, balancing the revolving door of events is more challenging, creating an actual juggling act. Personally, that is why a morning ritual works for me. Some people prefer to work on their craft at night once all the day’s chaos is done. I’m generally burnt out creatively by then. Everyone goes to a different beat, and you need to find what works for you.

Guard Your Time Even From Yourself

Here’s the twist . . . you’re the culprit! Sometimes the outside forces of life aren’t the problem when making time for your craft. Sometimes it is you. This may be due to procrastination, resulting in distractions, or you’re stuck in your own head. This is your time, don’t let others take it from you, including yourself.

Those tasks you may be worried about or the ones you think need attention right now most likely can wait. As long as someone isn’t dying or is in danger. If some unnecessary toxic thought enters your mind during your ritual, put it in a jar. That thought can be re-visited later because mind chatter is a real demon to conquer. Stay focused on your own interest and get into that trance for your craft.

Speaking of mystical terminology . . .

Fuel Your Soul

Why guard your time? Well, the points already brought up are valid enough. But if you actively partake in your ritual to focus on your craft, you will be fuelling your spirit, invigorating you once more. We’re not here for a long time, so it’s wise to invest what you do daily into what makes you happy. If it is writing, then great. Want to learn a new musical instrument? Wish you could get more exercise in? Well, guard your time by blocking it out each day, especially if you want to make progress in it.

Baby Steps

In a perfect world, you could block out an entire morning or afternoon to focus on what truly drives you. In the real world, we can likely block out half an hour to an hour at any given point in time. If you can block out two hours, you’re golden!

Many people might not have that ability and can only squeeze in small spurts. That’s okay; block off your time into segments. Maybe you can block off your lunch hour and a little bit before dinner. Doing little steps within your craft is another method to guard your time

Specifically, with writing, the clich�� is we are running the marathon. Those baby steps of half an hour here or an hour there throughout the week adds up over the month and you will be amazed at how far you have gone on your project and craft. The same goes with learning any sort of new skill, working on a big project, or introducing a new habit ��� like committing to guarding your time. It takes consistency to engrave this habit into your mind.

Here’s another clich��, the tortoise and the hair tale. If you aren’t familiar with the story, you really need to look it up. Most of us are and know that (spoilers) the tortoise wins. So, don’t beat yourself up if you can’t do massive stretch goals and conquer the world each and every day.

The First step is . . . Guard Your Time Today!

Homework! Who doesn’t love getting that? Lucky for you, I’m in no place of authority to enforce this homework with punishment. Still, the benefit of participating in this homework is you get to guard your time.

Today, section off ten minutes, or half an hour, and work on that project you wanted to. Or instead of the project, warm yourself up with new exercise by writing a new seen or new musical riff, or actual exercise in the physical sense. That’s all that you need to do to birth a new daily ritual.

Remember to do it again tomorrow to nurture it.

These small steps can lead to a much more fulfilling life if you are willing to make an effort. Remember, long-term habits are challenging to create. Once you make them, they stick with you, and they’ll evolve and adapt if you make it a ritual as you go through life. Go easy on yourself at the beginning and gradually progress.

The work world is filled with sharks, and same with personal lives. If we don’t guard our time, we’ll be swept away in the lives of others who might not have your best interest at heart. Then you���ll wake up one day and wonder why you���re not happy.

Here’s a positive spin on it, if you invest in yourself, you’ll be a better person because you’ll feel more fulfilled. Being a better you is intoxicating and will attract the right people into your lives. You’ll also find it is a lot more fun doing what you enjoy, which is the point of life, isn���t it?

Beer Note: Dandy Brewing Company Wild Sour Ale

I tried the Dandy Brewing Company Wild Sour Ale for this month’s Unprocessed Thoughts. It sits at a 7% alcohol level, classifying it as a strong beer. My former IPA days have shifted into sours, and this one is all the tastes I enjoy. It’s not overly sour by keeping some yeast flavour in it. A second or third would go nicely . . . a little concerning with that 7% note but well worth it!

The post Guard Your Time appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Ice Face

Want to read this?

Click Here to Join Konn's Patreon Today

Konn's Popular Membership:
Monthly Short Stories + eBook for $5/mo CAD
$0.16 a day.



Three eBooks to dive into The Macrocosm
Monthly Short Stories in Written and Audiobook Format
Access to drafts, works-in-progress, and writing updates
High Rez Short Story Artwork for Phone Backgrounds
Your name in the thank you section of the next Macrocosm short story collection
Access to The Macrocosm Wiki

You're basically buying me a drink every month, fueling me to craft more stories!

Let's not forget you will get a copy of the Into the Macrocosm eBook to jump-start you into this strange world of fantasy, horror, thrillers, scifi, and bizarre.To view this content, you must be a member of Konn's Patreon at $5 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source

The post Ice Face appeared first on Konn Lavery.

What Do You Want from Writing?

As it is tradition, I take two weeks off at the end of the year to completely detach from the regular routine throughout the year. This time is intended to let the mind wander. In fact, the event is always called ���wandering mind��� for the two weeks in the calendar. Every year it serves a different purpose, and this one focuses on finding a new groove, asking the tricky question: What do you want from writing? 2022 will serve as that new start and hopefully a move in the right direction.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Last year was a big one with the writing goals. For the first time, I released three new books and four audiobooks. I���ve gone through the summary in the newsletter and on social media, so we won���t bother with that here. This Unprocessed Thoughts is about reflecting on where the two-week ���wandering mind��� session is taking me.

Resolutions

New Year���s resolutions are a clich��, and most people don���t stick to them. We can all admit it, or we should be able to admit it to ourselves. This is part of the theme of this Unprocessed Thoughts. Ask yourself the tough questions. New Year���s resolutions sound nice on paper. Rarely do we fulfil these new directions. I���ve loosely participated in New Year���s resolutions with general goals for the year. They���re low enough fruit that I can grab them as I don���t try to reinvent myself.

On a broader scale, I thought I was working towards making writing full-time for the past ten years since the release of Reality. I don���t think that���s entirely the case, as I have taken significant detours from what it means to write full time.

What do you want from writing? Well, it���s not an easy one to answer. I���ve grown and evolved the freelance graphic design and web development business and understand the required business side. Not so much in the writing as I have primarily written for passion, thinking the stories are what people want. Yes, beta readers are helpful, and they may enjoy the book because the writing is good but may not apply to a broader audience. Or maybe they���re not the right beta readers.

Keep Learning

Thankfully the lockdown and social distancing have given me time to learn new skills and topics such as:

Online Marketing

This was obvious. With conventions practically gone, it was time to learn about reader magnets, short stories, freebies, ads, promo newsletters, and so on. I���ve reached a wider range of people worldwide now because of it.

Recording Audiobooks

I covered this in another blog post. But audiobooks are worth mentioning as they pull in a new audience, different from the usual online marketing.

Write to Market

This brings us back to the question, ���What do you want from writing?��� It���s a tough one to swallow. I���m still learning it and comprehending the reality of pushing the ego aside if I want to make a living from writing.

There is tons of constant learning and navigating through the vast industry of book publishing and the indie author world. It isn���t the same game ten years ago when I started. I was just trying to figure out how to write my first book back then.

It���s Important to adapt and evolve when running any type of business. Here���s the paradox: we all know that writing a book is like writing a marathon. Marathons require consistency. Being consistent is the opposite of evolving; just look at sharks.

But you can adapt and evolve in gradual shifts while running a marathon. You can adjust your speed, conserve energy, and ensure you���re running on the right path.

What Do you Want from Writing?

You must be conscious of what you���re writing and what you���re trying to get out of it. Is it money? Is it fame? Is it self-fulfillment? Maybe it���s a mix of all three, and it���s ultimately up to you to decide what it is.

False Sense of Validation

You may have figured what you want from writing. It very well could be the same thing forever, or maybe it���s changed over the years. It certainly has for me. For the longest time, I felt the need to validate my own writing after the release of Reality. In doing so, I submitted to many awards, review groups and spent large sums of money in submissions.

Oddly enough, my best-selling books are the ones that I never entered in any awards. Is that an issue? Well, that brings us back to ���what do you want from writing?��� At the time, I convinced myself that I needed validation for my work and the only way to do that was through winning awards.

I���ve grown past that stage, realizing it wasn���t necessary. Still, I���m glad I went through that process of submitting. It forced me to get better at the craft. In a way, many award submissions acted like a paid college course. The judges gave honest feedback, which I applied to improve the writing. Plus, the ones I won look good on the CV, the press kit, and having shiny badges on covers helps pull in potential readers.

Evolve and Adapt

Yes, New Year���s resolutions may be clich��. But at some point, it is good for you to take a long hard look at where you���re at with your writing craft and career. It���s also healthy to look at where you���re at as a person and decide if that���s who you want to be. That���s the tough one. It���s worth being 100% honest with yourself, so you don���t slip into some weird fantasy. That���s a dangerous path that leads to a glass foundation bound to shatter one day.

Nothing is written in stone when it comes to life, well . . . mostly, and you are allowed to evolve and adapt. Ask yourself, what do you want from writing? Perhaps you come back to the same answer as before, or you may realize you���ve never been fully honest with yourself. It���s part of the emotional rollercoaster that comes with any creative endeavour. Don���t be afraid to question yourself. You may be surprised at what you find, and you���ll be better for it.

Beer Note: 948 Brewing Company Extraterrestrial Bitter

For this month���s Unprocessed Thoughts, what do you want from writing? I tried the 948 Brewing Company Extraterrestrial Bitter, a 5.3% alcohol volume can. My girlfriend found it at the famous Sherbrooke Liquor store here in Edmonton. I���m a big fan of space and aliens, so it was a good fit. Bitters are hit and miss for me, and this one has a lot more hops than I anticipated which give plenty of flavours. It is a good one-off drink to mix with your evening to keep yourself adapting and not get stuck.

The post What Do You Want from Writing? appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Post Religionism

Want to read this?
To view this content, you must be a member of Konn's Patreon at $5 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source

The post Post Religionism appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Focus

This November, I did not partake in NaNoWriMo. Last year I started working on a new series with the working title of Ash. Instead of starting a brand-new book, I decided to continue where I left off with this manuscript. Of course, from 2020 November to 2021 November, there was more. I rewrote and released Rave, Seed Me, recorded a bunch of audiobooks, launched the Patreon short stories, and wrote another draft titled World Mother. Clearly, my focus is all over the place.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

For this Unprocessed Thoughts, I will dive a bit into some of the creative ideas that I have been working on. It will give you insight into the purposes of where it is all going. The direction has been scattered into the outer limits with little focus. The writing orbits a larger concept I���ve been leaning towards for probably a decade and a half.

Focus is a difficult task. Predominantly when you���re self-driven with your work. As writers, it���s entirely up to us to finish that story. It does help to have a publisher deadline or other means of a closing date, forcing you to get the work done. Friends and family must be mentioned as well. Still, when there is nothing applying pressure, it is easy to start floating around and wandering in different directions aimlessly and forgetting what your focus is about.

This is where I have been for the past year with the detour. The shattered yearly convention routine and the global pandemic probably had a big part in this. The aimlessness led to the rewriting of Seed Me and the new book draft of World Mother, which ties into the larger picture of the Ash series. A number of the short stories on Patreon have been loosely wrapped into the Ash series as well.

On the grander scale, I���ve mentioned all my stories fall under the same universe. Into the Macrocosm was the first glimpse into that. The sequel for the short story collection will follow a similar route, providing stories at various times within the universe. The Ash series brings this to light where the future, the past, and the present collide. It���s sort of the equivalent of Stephen King���s Dark Tower.

You might be wondering what the hell Ash is about. I���ve been sparse on the details, the storyline, and even the genre it falls under. The story is still in its infant stage, despite being a decade and a half old. Ash was always a world premise but never a story premise until recently. Last year was the first time I deemed my writing skills worthy of the story, and I���m pretty excited to work on it.

Progress has been sluggish due to the classic ramp-up of graphic design and webwork from the fall leading into winter. Project crunch time seems routine, which is good if I want a roof over my head.

I���ve also taken advantage of leaving the province a couple of times with reduced travel restrictions. Next year it���s related to a much more significant life change than I���m not quite ready to get into. We will, just later. The change will likely reflect my writing and when the next book will be released, and we���ll worry about that then. And through all of this, I���ve managed to type some words down.

Focus is something that everyone struggles with, even beyond the creative types. With writing, we are both a manifestor and the support group for creating our worlds. Ultimately it���s up to us to type out those words and revise that story to share with people.

The Ash series may have started as a ridiculously slow slog, but all this extra writing I���ve been doing is creating a more immersive and richer universe. The first book of Ash will introduce you to a clash of themes and obscure characters. Yes, I���m fluffing up a bunch of vagueness. Smoke and screens, baby!

Keep watch, though, because more about Ash is soon as my design company projects start to close off at the end of the year. I���ll be taking my yearly time off to refresh and start anew. A blank slate for 2022 is what I need to zone into this series and get my writing back to speed. The story is long overdue, and I am thrilled to share it with you all. Focus is the key.

Beer Note: Arcadia Brewing Inc Coliseum Blonde Ale

Arcadia was birthed as an excellent pub down the street from me, and recently they switched to being a brewery with a new location. Their brewery keeps the same graffiti aesthetic charm that the bar had, and now, it���s even better with their own booze.

Of their beers, the blonde ale is an easy drink, as most blondes are. This one has more of a sting which I like. It complements the punk artwork on their walls and cans. This particular blonde ale is called Coliseum, which is a sporting arena right here in the city. The artwork on the can represents the Coliseum itself which gives it a good Edmonton charm. I���ve had many of these beers before and thought it was worth mentioning as the beer of the month.

The post Focus appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Mercy ��� Bioringer IV

Want to read this?
To view this content, you must be a member of Konn's Patreon at $5 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source

The post Mercy ��� Bioringer IV appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Recording Your Own Audiobook: A One Year Journey

Recording your own audiobook is filled with highs and lows – kind of like the writing process. This post we’ll chat about the pos and cons of taking that journey. Audiobooks were gradually growing in popularity over the years, and then, the audience grew a lot. There has been an increase in subscription plans seen through Audible, Kobo, and Scribd, giving listeners various choices. From the creation standpoint, more platforms and services are available for authors to connect with narrators and audio engineers, making deals easy to obtain and sign off on. This all leads to more books transcending into the audio spectrum and into new listeners’ ears.

It is all quite exciting. As a writer, you can reach new audiences. Some readers may prefer to never touch audiobooks, and others swear by them. Some listeners enjoy the fact that they can perform multiple tasks while listening. Some also like both. The book’s subject or story will determine if they will listen to it or if they will read it.

What If You Are Interested in Recording Your Own Audiobook?

Yes, that is what we are here to discuss. Deals with narrators is a widespread way of approaching the audio realm, and for a good reason. These people are professionals, and they understand how to best execute their voice. You may even split it a third way with an audio engineer to make the sound quality superb. All of that is dandy. But we’re here to chat about the interest in recording your own audiobook and what I gathered from a year of recording them.

What We’ll Look at In This Post

Deciding to record your own audiobook is a daunting task. First, there’s writing the story. This is a big objective, and congratulations to you if you’re at this stage. Following the writing, you must have a home studio set up to record your book. Or you need access to professional equipment by other means.

Having the equipment is one thing, then you must master how to use them. Oh, let’s not forget the narration itself. This must be as engaging as the first word in your book. Just like writing, narrating has to capture the audience’s attention right away, or you’ll lose them. Some listeners will put an audiobook down because they can’t stand the voice.

These are a lot of skills to ask from someone whose job is to tell good stories. With all aspects of the writing industry in the modern world, writers wear many, MANY hats. This isn’t to discourage you, as you’ve probably already learned new skills from having a book published.

So, for this blog post, I’ll share my own personal experience recording audiobooks over the past year. We’ll look at the pros and cons from a high-level perspective. You can find plenty of articles online covering the nitty-gritty details of technical requirements and software. Narration performance is another topic entirely, but we’ll note it.

Why One Year?

Before we jump into the pros and cons of recording an audiobook, let me explain a bit of my background and why I chose one year to record audiobooks.

My Background

As an author, for years, people have asked if I had my works in audio format. Due to the lack of time, I did not, and my efforts were better spent writing a new book. In 2020, I started exploring audiobooks and offered the stories in a new medium for people to enjoy.

Starting in October 2020, I have recorded five audiobooks. Seed Me, Into the Macrocosm, Fire, Pain, & Ruin, Cultivate: Seed Me Relapse Edition, and Rave. Each of them took an astronomical amount of time to complete, from initial recording to publication. Of course, each audiobook got easier as I became more confident as a narrator and more knowledgeable in the production phase.

Thankfully, because this was during covid, we had a lot of time to spare due to lockdowns, social isolation, and nasty Alberta winters. So, it was the perfect storm to finally stop making excuses and try recording audiobooks.

To my advantage, I have done plenty of live readings over the years and previously posted YouTube videos of me reading short stories. I am also a music hobbyist, which gives me some basic understanding of acoustics and sound recording. The musical components have also slithered their way into the scores found within the audiobooks.

The software I used isn’t a standard. However, I have the software, and I made use of it. It’s intentionally designed for soft synth electronic music, but I used it purely for recording my musical equipment and audiobooks. All in all, I wanted to record audiobooks without investing a dime into anything new other than my time.

After releasing them consistently, it helped give me a sense if I wanted to continue recording them or take a break. These pros and cons are things I considered and notes that will come in handy to you.

Pros of Recording Your Own Audiobook

To start, let’s look at the positive aspects of recording your own audiobook and why it might be something that you should consider.

New Audiences

Audiobooks take a long time from beginning to end, and they require the same level of commitment as writing and finishing a book. Gradual and consistent progress every day will eventually take you to the end of the project. If you’ve written books before, audiobooks are no different. Of course, there’s the learning curve that comes with them.

The perk of recording audiobooks is you give your audience another method of discovering your story. They can hear your voice, as the author, deliver the story directly. You can also tap into the new and growing avenue of audiobook listeners who may never pick up and read one of your books.

Royalties and Project Management

If you record your own audiobook, you keep all of the royalties. In addition, you avoid any contract details or potentially paying narrators upfront. It’s all yours, you own the rights, and nothing else gets in the way.

Then there’s the project management of other people. Many writers don’t mind it, but if it’s not your jam, recording your own puts it all on your plate, and you can do it at your own pace.

Narrative Performance

Narration is an exciting part of the recording. You get to emphasize the words, characters, and scenes that happen throughout the story. This gives you a fantastic opportunity to bring the world to life through your own voice, the creator of the story. You can express fear, excitement, anger, and suspense all through pacing and tone.

You have already mastered the craft of the written word and have painted beautiful prose. Now you can take those words one step further and subdue them into people’s ear canals where they can absorb the passion of your storytelling. It can be a fascinating aspect of recording audiobooks. Then again . . .

Cons of Recording Your Own Audiobook

. . . recording your own voice can be pretty frightful if you’re not confident. Let’s talk about the negative aspects of recording your own audiobook. Even though there are plenty of good things, there’s a dark side to it.

Time

Audiobooks still take time to record. If you are recording them yourself, you are looking at spending many hours, many weeks, and months recording one book. This amount of time starts to sound very familiar to writing the first draft of a brand-new novel for your existing and potentially new readers.

An extensive critical piece of advice I wish I had read before I started this recording journey was, “audiobooks are worth recording if the book has consistent sales.” Don’t ask me where I read this from, for I can���t remember. However, it is an excellent piece of advice. There���s some books I probably would have skipped if I knew or thought this through. There���s some I would have recorded instead too.

If you have a book that is selling well and consistently, it means the audiobook will reach more people. It’s those clever Amazon AI algorithms doing their job. If your book isn’t selling well, the audiobook will likely be dead in the water.

Budget

Here’s a brief one: money. Notice I mentioned “not spending a dime” in my reasoning? Buying the software and equipment can cost if you want to record high-quality audio.

Learning Curve

As mentioned in the pros, there are a lot of moving parts in it. If you don’t understand audio recording or acoustics, you’re going to have a steep learning curve. There are a lot of technical requirements under the submission standards from each of the platforms.

Regarding acoustics, you don’t want noise where you are recording. It can be tough to find a quiet room and dampen the environment to have a crystal-clear audio signal without any distractions. That car that drove by, or that pet that made a noise? Well, now you got to re-record that sentence.

Exporting your files and making sure they reach the technical requirements is a whole other ballgame. You can spend a long time tweaking your files, submitting them, getting them rejected, tweaking again, and submitting until you finally understand sound mixing.

Narrative Performance

In contrast to the subsection under pros, we are going to talk about narrative performance again. A lot of people are not comfortable hearing their own voice in everyday situations. Then you add the component of entertainment on top of that! Narrations take skill, which is why there are professionals who do it full-time. Recording yourself can be daunting, especially if you don’t have anyone to coach you to improve your voice.

It can be intimidating to record yourself and sometimes feel outright ridiculous, emphasizing words in ways that you may never have done before. You may not be comfortable with it, and it might be a dealbreaker for you. You may even take personal offence reading criticism of your own voice from reviewers and listeners. The performance may even cause listeners to give your audiobook a bad review, so be wary of recording your own books. Get friends and colleagues to listen before you submit the book.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide if you want to record your own audiobook. If you have some technical background and are comfortable with performance, you’re off to a fantastic start. Otherwise, it may be a steep incline. The pros and cons listed here are not to tell you what to do, and they are to help you weigh the options.

In short, decide if you have the time and effort to commit to such a heavy task. Perhaps you are better off hiring a professional narrator and sound engineer to record the audiobook, and you don’t mind the project management.

Here’s a third option, maybe none of this is worth your time at all, and you are better off writing the next book for existing readers and drumming up new ones. In the end, we’re writers, and there is a large pool of readers out there in the global market.

Have anything else to add about recording your own audiobook? Share in the comments, and we can discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly with recording audiobooks.

The post Recording Your Own Audiobook: A One Year Journey appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Observe Through New Lenses.

We are two months away from 2021 being over! I am ready to observe through new lenses. For the past year, the view has been through cracked glasses. This is metaphorically speaking, of course, because I had laser eye surgery and no longer need glasses. It���s not all down and out. I finished massive milestones that I haven���t even had time to reflect upon or take a breath from ��� onto the next thing. One objective was a massive web project, hence the delay in the blog. In addition, I finished a year-round exploration of recording audiobooks. More on that the come in a future blog post where I���ll dive into what I���ve learned and the pros and cons.

To summarise: I am glad to be moving forward and closing this chapter of my life. Now, I���ll be working on new stories. We���ve been during times since last March, and 2021 has been a bumpy road for me compared to 2020. The light at the end of the tunnel is proving fruitful in terms of workload and life goals. Right now, I reside in a state of bliss where nothing new is happening, and the old is sealed. In fact, I���m kind of enjoying this strange thing known as ���nothing.��� Maybe I could get used to this . . . as long as I tread lightly, for a body in motion stays in motion.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Time travel! I swear everything is moving at lightspeed. Technically, yes, we are travelling into the future every millisecond, bringing us into a new moment of now. Realistically though, it is just my perception due to project crunch time. It���s like a space rocket sending you into hyperspeed and blasting you into a new realm, one of cold Alberta winters looming.

New Reads. New Lenses.

Yes, the writing has lessened over the audiobook and web project sessions. But, I have been absorbing a couple of interesting books. I got a subscription to Scribd back in September to understand listening to audiobooks, because you know, I was recording audiobooks. Perhaps it would be a good idea to know about other audiobooks. Duh.

This month, I listened to Chuck Klosterman���s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto while reading On Equilibrium by John Ralston Saul. Both writers have a dry sense of humour, which is right up my alley. They paint obscure and often accurate outlooks of our society and the human condition. While reading John Ralston Saul���s work, you can���t help but feel a sense of absurdity about the current state of society and how we see ourselves. It���s heavy philosophical stuff. Chuck Klosterman is also an entertaining character, filled with jabs at himself and other people in cynical expression. He covers strange topics such as The Sims and what it means to be rockstar ���cool.���

Smashing these two books together and jamming them right into my brain creates a blast of new perspectives. They���re letting me see the world through a fresh lens, one that I haven���t been able to articulate. One that was desperately needed. One that I knew was required to grow, but I felt stuck for most of this year. It���s healthy to get new perspectives on the world. Otherwise, we fail to understand the ever-changing state that we and the planet are in. Whether we like it or not, the world is in motion, and a body in motion should stay in motion.

Not that I���m criticizing the act of being still. In act, being still is healthy if you remember to be within the moment and not let your mind wander in pointless directions and waste your energy, ultimately destroying a good mood. Being in the moment can allow you to see things with a fresh eye. These two books are currently simmering in my subconscious, letting me appreciate a newfound view of my own existence.

Okay! New Lenses, Got it.

Enough with the serious talks. That���s what I���ve been up to while wrapping up these big projects. October is the month of spooky, thematically fit for everything that I write. The fall season is filled with a lot of noise and, truthfully, not a good time for me to toot my own horn (market the books) with limited resources. I do far better in off-publishing seasons, like February or May. With that, I will use this time to write.

What���s Next?

Such is the struggle of writing ��� which idea do you birth into the world? There are dozens, if not hundreds, of premise ideas that will never see the light of day. They���re fated to swirl around aimlessly in the mind until they fizzle into nothingness. The ones that manage to cling to the neurons of your brain and escape destruction are a clear indicator that it���s an idea worth exploring. The three drafts I have on the go are all promising, and I���m equally excited about them.

Thankfully, I am not in any rush to head for the next convention. For me, 2021 was too soon. 2022 I���m making some significant life alterations, making conventions challenging to be a part of. 2022 will reveal itself when it does. For now, I will be working on that next draft.

I wish I could partake in NaNoWriMo with everyone this year. Unfortunately, I will wait on the sidelines and cheer all of you to write that first draft. I am on a slightly different path this year. As I rambled on in this post about philosophical ideas and stillness, it gives me new observations and ultimately new views that���ll channel into the writing craft.

Beer Note: Collective Arts Creativity Good Monster NE DIPA

For this month, I tried one of the Collective Arts beers featuring different artists on their cans. The gnarly wolf-man on this can is by Dan Dippel from Liverpool, New York, United States of America. I took a risk, and I must admit I knew better than to embrace the hoppy nature of IPAs. However, the artwork was pretty cool, and this is a strong beer containing 8% alcohol. Strong beers are pure satisfactory while writing these monthly posts. The beer has a citrusy heavyweight to it. I could see my younger years enjoying this more. All in all, it is good for one beer to start the night off with, or just have a single drink and pass out.

The post Observe Through New Lenses. appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Before the Fables – Making the Macrocosm

Behind the scenes of how the Into the Macrocosm short story collection came to be. This episode also elaborates on the superverse that all of my stories fall under, why it exists, and why I love transmedia storytelling.

Episode ListingEpisode 1Episode 2Episode 3Episode 4Episode 5Episode 6Episode 7Episode 8Episode 9Episode 10Before the Fables – Making the Macrocosm

Breaker

Google

Overcast

Pocket Casts

RadioPublic

Spotify

Apple

Enjoying the audio story?
Get the full book in audio, ebook, or print. #goodreads-widget { font-family: georgia, serif; padding: 18px 0; width:100%; } #goodreads-widget h1 { font-weight:normal; font-size: 16px; border-bottom: 1px solid #BBB596; margin-bottom: 0; } #goodreads-widget a { text-decoration: none; color:#660; } iframe{ background-color: #fff;width:100%; } #goodreads-widget a:hover { text-decoration: underline; } #goodreads-widget a:active { color:#660; } #gr_footer { width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid #BBB596; text-align: right; } #goodreads-widget .gr_branding{ color: #382110; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; } Goodreads reviews for Into the Macrocosm Reviews from Goodreads.com

The post Before the Fables – Making the Macrocosm appeared first on Konn Lavery.