Michael E. Gunter's Blog, page 2

Success: 4 Important Ideas

As a musician and writer, I’ve given a lot of thought to the idea of success. In my younger days, success meant a record deal and large arenas filled with screaming fans. Now that I’m older, success looks quite different to me. But I want to talk about success in the more traditional sense because there is still a part of me that thinks about it in this way. I’m no longer interested in a rock star lifestyle, but I am interested in having a significant impact on broad scale.

Last week, I had lunch with a young man who I believe has the potential to achieve real success as a musician. He recently took part a 10-day workshop in LA where he worked closely with several highly successful individuals in the music industry. During this time, he heard their stories about their climb up the ladder of success. As he told me about them, several ideas emerged that seem consistent with those who made it. Here they are:

1. Talent is secondary. Now that doesn’t mean it’s not important. It’s just that exceptional talent is a given among those who are competing for the top spots.

2. Networking is critical. The path to success has become so complex that you need someone who knows the system to open the doors and show the way.

3. Character counts. If networking is the path to success, character determines how far you go on it. Traits like simple kindness, the ability to cooperate, humility, and generosity will open doors that will close to equally talented people without them.

4. Location creates opportunity. Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York are the key locations for musicians hoping to make it big. Moving there doesn’t guarantee anything, but it puts you in the place were the networks are formed and the opportunities are found.

There is no surefire secret to success. It’s an unscientific combination of ability, opportunity, timing, and a mysterious thing some people call luck. Very few people make it, most people don’t. That’s just the way it is. But it does seem that these four ideas are consistently present in the lives of those who achieve success.

Thinking about my own pursuit of success in my younger days, I recognize that I was completely ignorant of all four of these ideas. I hope the fact that my young friend understands these things will pay off for him. Time will tell.

BLACKWELL 3 Contest

ATTENTION: BLACKWELL FANS, this is your chance to become part of the story. I am offering one of you a chance to be written into BLACKWELL 3. Just think, your fictional alter ego could be hanging out with the Klyvians and the Blackwells as they try to complete their mission on Earth. All you have to do is qualify and submit an entry form.

To Qualify, read the books. If you’ve already read BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins and Defying Gravity: Blackwell 2, you’re in. If you haven’t, there’s still time. I’ll give you a month to get into the story and submit your entry form.

To Enter, simply email me at michael@gunterbooks.com. Type in the Subject Line: Write Me Into The Story.

While you’re at it, you can help me out with something. Several readers have expressed disappointment over Ed Tyler’s absence from Defying Gravity. Do you think I should bring him back for BLACKWELL 3? If so, can you think of a believable way to reintroduce him? (NOTE: Your answer will be greatly appreciated but will in no way increase your chances of winning.)

Other Contest Details: Please only one entry per person. Deadline for entry is August 31 at 11:59 pm. Entries received after the deadline will not be valid. The winner will be notified on September 1 and announced via Blog Post on September 6. Winner will receive a special acknowledgment in the book and a free autographed copy of BLACKWELL 3 upon publication.

High School Reunion

This time next week I will be attending my thirty year high school reunion. If you think about it, it’s kind of odd. There’s this group of people I spent four or five years with when we were teenagers. I haven’t seen or talked to most of them since graduation in 1983. We’ve all grown up, gotten married, had kids, made something of our lives in careers we never dream of back then – we’ve become completely different people. We’re as old now as our parents were then. Now I’m getting ready to interrupt my life and travel all the way across the country to spend a few hours with them.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve reconnected with a few of them. This is where it gets strange because in all of my memories of them they’re still eighteen years old. A few of us have spoken on the phone. I heard their voices and there was a little hint of who I remember, but it was buried deep within an adult I’ve never met. I’ve seen some of them on Facebook. Again, there were hints of my teenage friends in the images of adults I do not know. And then I think about how I must look and sound to them. Time has had its way with all of us.

But that’s just the outside, the physical. What about the inside where it really matters? I know how much I have changed these thirty years – in some ways more serious, focused, kinder, less full of myself, and as my wife has recently put it, “A little McGoo.” (I’ll let you interpret that as you like.) I wonder how my friends have changed. I suppose we’ve all matured somewhere along the same lines, but no doubt we’ve all acquired…how shall I put it?…unexpected characteristics. What embryonic thoughts grew to define who we are now? What passions died along the way to middle-age? What crossroads took us into completely new and surprising places? Then there’s the people – spouses, children, new friends. These were unknown in 1983, but they have had profound influence upon us.

This time next week I will be spending an evening with people I know, but don’t know. I’m eager to reconnect with my friends from the 80s, but I’m mystified by the thought of meeting these people of the present. I wonder what will come of it. Will new friendships be formed? Will some of us maintain contact after our brief evening together? Will they become significant members of our lives from this point forward? Time has put us in this most unusual situation. Time will tell.

What I Saw Today at the Pool

So I’m watching this guy teach his little boy how to swim on his back.

Dad knows how it’s done. I know this because I can hear him from across the pool explain the process in clear, simple soundbites: “Kick your legs up and down.” Boy kicks like a frog. “No not like that, up and down. Now keep your face out of the water.” Boy swallows enough pool water to fill his tiny bladder, sputters, spits and coughs. “That’s why you keep your face out of the water. Don’t let you butt sink.” Boy let’s his butt sink. “I said, ‘DON’T let your butt sink.’” And so goes the lesson.

Boy looks to be about four and his attention span is also about a four. I know this because he swims like a madman for about four second and then bobs up and down like a fishing float and splashes water into his dad’s face, all the while laughing like the Joker. The kid must be insane.

Dad is a patient man. I know this because he continues the lesson in spite of the son’s lack of skill and interest; and he never raises his voice. Dad is also a gentle man. I know this because no matter how much water his son splashes in his face, he doesn’t splash back; even though it’s tempting. Dad is a wise man. I know this because he stopped the lesson before the meltdown; and gave him to mom.

Funny how things like this make me think. I’m a middle aged man, but sometimes when my Heavenly Father teaches me a lesson I’m still four.

Secrets of The Books of Klyv

Books and movies go through a lot of changes during their development. The final product we enjoy is often times very different from what the author first imagined. Here are some details about BLACKWELL and Defying Gravity that were either changed or deleted during publication.

Aliens and English

In the original short-story, “They Came, They Saw, They Stayed for Dinner,” the Klyvians arrived already knowing how to speak English. They learned from radio and television transmissions recieved before their arrival. This worked for the short-story because we had to learn something about them in a very short amount of time. For the novel, however, I wanted them to go through the process of learning how to communicate. The length of the novel gave us the time to draw this out a bit. Although it happens very quickly in the book, it seems more realistic to me that aliens would not arrive on Earth already knowing our language.

Louie, Louie

Also in the original short-story, Aldi’s name is Louie. He chose that human name because the song “Louie, Louie” was the first Earth transmission he heard. During the writing of the novel, I tried several times to insert this detail into the story, but I could never find a believable reason for it. I suspect Aldi never liked the name Louie and simply refused to let me change it. Now I cannot imagine him by any other name. LESSON: Sometimes the author needs to listen to the characters.

The D.B. Cooper Connection

One of my favorite original scenes in BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins reveals that Rick Blackwell’s ranch manger, Coop, is actually the notorious D.B. Cooper. In real life, Cooper disappeared in 1971 after robbing a bank and parachuting from a hijacked commercial airliner into a blizzard in the Pacific Northwest. The case was never solved and D.B. became an outlaw legend. In BLACKWELL, I imaged an aged D.B. Cooper tired of hiding and low on cash. When he learns the identity of Rick Blackwell’s strange guests, he contacts his former partner in crime with a scheme that could once again gain him financial security. Cooper intends to kidnap the female Klyvian and sell her to whoever would pay big money for proof of the existence of aliens. He nearly succeeds, but is stopped at the last minute by Ed Tyler who inadvertently stumbles into the plot. Cooper narrowly escapes the enraged Rick Blackwell only to find himself double-crossed by his ex-partner. He ultimately meets his demise in a most fitting way. While escaping the airplane that he believes will take him to the police, he discovers too late that his parachute has been sabotaged. I had to delete this section in order to cut 200 pages from my too-long manuscript. I hated to do it, but it actually helped the over-all story.

Property Rights

Another detail that was cut for length and wasn’t critical to the story was the fact that Ed Tyler owns the land upon which the Blackwell Ranch sets. In his younger days, Ed was married to the daughter of a Shoshone Chief. The land was given to them as a wedding gift. She died young, and Ed never recovered from his grief. The tribe honored the land agreement which allowed Ed Tyler to remain on the land until his death; then it would revert back to the tribe. The man who sold the ranch to Rick Blackwell knew this, but for reasons we do not know, he never told him. This explains a lot about Ed’s reclusive nature and how he came to live on land Rick Blackwell thought he owned.

The Death of Jacques Faber

Jacques Faber is first mentioned in my unpublished novel, The Prospero Project. The story, which is set in the year 2026, begins with the announcement that trillionaire entrepreneur Jacques Faber has died in a commercial space shuttle accident. His company, Saber Technologies, then becomes the subject of an inheritance dispute among some of his partners. Interestingly, there is a minor character named Louie whom his associates half-jokingly suspect might be an extraterrestrial. This is neither confirmed nor denied.

A New Ending

My original concept for the story had the Klyvians remain on earth until 2026, just after the death of Jacques Faber. Sara would have been twenty-five years old and about to receive a proposal for marriage from a man who has no idea about her true nature. That’s about all I can say at this point other than the story that is now developing in BLACKWELL 3 is much more exciting and satisfying. As much as I wanted to explore the Klyvian/human relationship through Sara, the newer story will allow me to do that in a different way. For those of you who are concerned about Sara’s future. Don’t worry, she will live exactly as the Before One intends.

The Story Behind the Story

What is now two 450+ page novels came from humble beginnings and traveled a very long road. It started in 2001 as a short-story about an alien encounter on a lonely stretch of highway in the Wyoming desert. I had a hunch then that there was a lot more to the story than this one scene, but I didn’t know what. Time passed. I wrote another novel and four non-fiction books, but always in my mind that one scene played over and over. Six years passed before I felt it was time to develop that short-story into a full-length novel. I started writing about an extraterrestrial father and his daughter living among humans and providing ideas to a technology firm. I liked it, but after nearly a year of writing and twenty-six chapters, I hit a snag. It occurred to me that I had started too far into the story; thus, requiring too much back-story. Reluctantly, I put the unfinished work in a box and started over. That was in 2008, seven years after the story first came to me. After another year of writing, I finally had the completed manuscript to what I then realized would become a three novel series. I spent the next year editing, rewriting, and querying it out to publishing houses. No takers, so I began searching for an agent. After nearly a hundred rejections, I got a bite; not a promise, but a very interested agent. It was the first time someone who did not know me believed the story held promise. After seven months of correspondence which resulted in trimming 200 pages from the original manuscript, the agent informed me that her agency decided not to represent me. She was very disappointed, as was I. By then it was April of 2011 – exactly ten years after my original short-story.

In May of 2011, I called a writer friend I knew from high school to tell her my sad tale. It just so happened that she was starting a new business coaching writers how to publish their own work. I agreed to be one of her first clients. She led me through the process of setting up my own publishing business and creating a social media platform. Meanwhile, she formatted my manuscript and uploaded it to Amazon’s Createspace. In August 2011, we published BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins. Little did I know the hard work was only just beginning.

I immediately went to work on BLACKWELL 2, the novel I thought I was writing in 2007. At the same time, I set out to promote BLACKWELL 1. As my readership grew, I started seeing my story in a different light. It was no longer just a little story I tinkered with in my spare time; it was now a second job. Readers from across the country and as far away as Europe started asking me when the next book would be available. BLACKWELL was growing up, and I was becoming an author.

I completed the manuscript to BLACKWELL 2 in November 2012. By then my publishing coach had grown her business, fine-tuned her techniques, and was helping many more aspiring writers publish their books. And I was no longer a stranger to the process. Knowing exactly what needed to be done, we went to work like a well-oiled machine. We enlisted a critique group, found an amazing artist, and incorporated brand new promotional tactics. In May 2013, we published Defying Gravity: Blackwell 2.

It’s been an amazing ride so far, but we’ve only just started. We’ve got another book to write, a world of readers to meet, and exciting new projects in the works. I had no idea in 2001 that after twelve years I would still be working on that little story about an alien encounter. And I never could have imagined the impact it would have and the people it would reach.

If you connected with any part of this story behind the story or want to know more about writing, we’d love to hear from you.

Check out my friend and coach, Alane Pearce at Alanepearce.com

Meet my novel friends at www.gunterbooks.com/defying-gravity

Visit me at gunterbooks.com

Blank Pages

For a writer, there is nothing more intimidating than a blank page. So unassuming, yet it taunts with the sheer number of possibilities. It dares us to make the first move, to draw first blood, to make a commitment. Patient, it refuses to yield the secrets of what it will become. Much ink will be spilt before the session is done. Ideas will be tested; some will live and some will die. But the prize will be worth every drop of mental blood, sweat and tears shed on this battle field. For a completed page is the accomplishment of something great.

Blank pages to a writer are very much like blank canvases to a painter, or blocks of wood or stone to a sculptor. The artist takes something that isn’t, sees within it something that could be, and turns it into something that is. That is how it is with writing. When I get to the end of a page, I know that something has been gained here that cannot be acquired anywhere else – an insight, an answer, another question. Writing is more than just putting words down on a page. It is a bout with severe honesty. It is a wrestle with truth – truth about ourselves, the world, life – all things that have been given to us by the Great Author Himself.

And so it is with life. Each new day is a blank page in the story of your life. Each page is yours for the writing, and how you write it will set the course for every page that will follow. This is a truth worth remembering: Life is more than just passing time. Each day means something. Yes, it is a small piece in terms of a lifetime, but it is an essential piece of a significant story in the great cosmic drama. How do you want your story to read? Will it be a series of random pages, dead-end plots and fragmented ideas? Or will it be a record of an amazing journey?

Think about your next blank page. It may be today or it may be tomorrow. Whichever it is, it is blank because it has not yet been written. Think about what it could be. Maybe you need to make a decision about something. Maybe you need to make amends with someone. Maybe you need to do or say something that should have been done or said a long time ago. Maybe you just need to put the past behind and start a new chapter. Whatever it is, this could be the first page of something really great. Determine to make this day worth reading and start writing.

Character Profile: Aldi

Gender: Male

Species: Klyvian

Birthplace: Onboard a spacecraft bound for Earth from the planet Klyv.

Age: Unknown

Height: 7’2″ (2001) / 6’6″ (2016)

Languages: Klyvian, English

Appearances: “They Came, They Saw, They Stayed for Supper” (short-story); The Prospero Project (novel); The Polar Bear Lodge (unfinished novel); BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins (published novel); Defying Gravity: Blackwell 2 (published novel)

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I met Aldi in 2001 on a lonely stretch of highway in Wyoming. I thought he and the others were Russians, but it turned out they were extraterrestrial explorers from the planet Klyv. They came here for the same reason we humans search the heavens – curiosity and the hope of finding life beyond their own home world. It turns out we are the aliens they were sent to find.

The thing I noticed about Aldi, other than his height, was his smile. Now you don’t think of aliens as being big smilers, but Aldi is. He smiles all the time. And it’s not a fake smile either. It’s just an outward manifestation of his character. Aldi is the most content and happy person I’ve ever met. Again, not what you’d expect in an alien. But that’s just the thing. I no long think of Aldi as an extraterrestrial. True, he’s not human, but he is the most kind and genuinely good person I’ve ever met. He’s like a brother to me.

Aldi is also insatiably curious, especially about human behavior. He wants to meet every human he sees; sometimes with awkward consequences. He’s fascinated by human history. He’s still trying to get the hang of human humor. And he loves coffee and fast cars. But Aldi also has a keen eye about us. He is often puzzled by human inconsistency and quick to challenge deviations from what he calls “The True.” Surprisingly, Aldi’s questions and comments never come off as judgmental. Who knows? Maybe it’s that perpetual smile.

You can get to know Aldi yourself by reading his story in BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins (2011) and Defying Gravity: Blackwell 2 (2013).

Rick Blackwell

Silence Can Be Golden

I once heard a story about a man who accepted a challenge to remain in silence and solitude for one entire year. The prize, if he succeeded, was an astonishingly large sum of money. On the day before he would have won the bet, the man exited his seclusion and lost. When asked why he could not have lasted just one more day, the man replied, “No amount of money can compare to the wealth I received in my silence. I’ve already won.”

That’s all.

When Perfectionism Isn’t Perfect

Disclaimer: I am not a perfectionist. So what I am about to say may be viewed as an attempt to validate my own imperfect efforts. This is not my intent. I believe we are called to pursue excellence in everything we do. And I do my fair share of sweating over the many tiny details of my work. I really do want to get it right. So, with that in mind…

Perfectionism can lack heart. I once read a story about a man who built a robot to serve him. In the course of time, the robot observed its masters love of music. On night, while the master slept, the robot taught itself how to play the piano. Possessing a computer brain, it downloaded music theory and programmed its fingers to form chords and play scales. Of course, as a machine, it was able to do this flawlessly. Upon completing its programming, the robot began to play. The master heard the music and came to investigate. He listened to his favorite piece of music played with perfection, yet he was not moved because the robot had no heart. Though flawless in its execution of the art, the robot could not replicate that human component that touches the emotions.

Perfectionism can become an impenetrable wall. I have met incredibly talented artists who wanted to share their art with the world but did not because it was never complete. There was always that one verse that was not quite right. There was always that one part of a scene that needed to be tweaked just a little more. There was always that one part of the picture that needed a little better shading or a different color. Ironically, their amazing talent had become an amazing curse. Every artists knows the weak parts of their craft. Some cannot set their art free to the world unless those weaknesses are made perfectly right. The irony here is perfectionists are not perfect. They may be excellent, but they will always find one more thing that needs to be corrected. And so many wonderful books, songs, paintings, and sculptures will remain in the workshop and never make it to the stage.

And now a word to those who enjoy our art: By all means, continue to expect us to do our best, but please remember we are human. We don’t mind you pointing out our mistakes. In fact, we welcome it because we do want to get it right. But also consider how hard it is to put our craft out there on the stage for all the world to see. Our creations are like our children. We want you to enjoy them, imperfect though they may be.