Lloyd G. Francis's Blog, page 2
July 22, 2013
The Home Stretch…
And it’s looking good. Indeed, it appears we will be shipping out ten copies to our contest winners in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. And last but not in any way least, all the folks who purchased a book will be receiving theirs by 2 day 1st class US mail.
For those who want a up close and personal encounter with the author, you can come to Cafe International on August 4, 2013 where I will read from the book and sell and sign copies of the book. Best of all, Top, and his band, Miles Ahead will be providing vibrations that are bound to put you in the mood to hear some local literature. So stop by, order a latte and enjoy.
Don’t forget Jamaican Independence Day is August 6, the day FROM RUM TO ROOTS will be released to the general public.
July 20, 2013
Going and Coming BACK + THE SCHEDULED GOOGLE HANGOUT
Happy to say I have returned from a week in the woods in Northern California. Now it is back to the book full time. We are currently resolving the last issues with our printer, Create Space. We expect to finish by Wednesday.
Also, our scheduled book launch party will be broadcast LIVE right here on this blog. Needless to say we are very excited.
July 12, 2013
From Rum To Roots is on sale
IT’S FINALLY HAPPENED!
My debut novel From Rum to Roots is for sale on this website right now. I am very excited to make this special offer: I will send you a signed copy, but only if you purchase one from my website before August 6, 2013.
Each book is 24.50 including postage.
Merchandise will be shipped via USPS on or before July 28, 2013.
July 9, 2013
From Rum To Roots on Sale
Limited sales will begin on Friday for advance copies that will be shipped on July 28, 2013.
Stay tuned for details.
The Great American Novel
I really could not tell you what that is… Ideas?
Here’s mine:
The Great Gatsby
The Home Stretch
I can smell the coffee in the morning.
The home stretch.
On Friday my Facebook friends will be able to purchase signed copies from me directly. This afternoon I was promised that the books will be ready on July 26th. We will be shipping books by July 30th, just in time for our big RELEASE PARTY that is going to be held at Cafe International in San Francisco at the corner of Haight Street and Fillmore.
We are very excited about the upcoming events. Facebook friends will be able to purchase the book through Paypal and at this time I can only ship inside the United States.
Stay tuned for more news……
July 4, 2013
July 4, 2013
I was supposed to have released my book today. Instead I am trying not to apologize for not making our own self-imposed deadline. No apologies.
This entire enterprise has become a meditation in perfection. When I started I had no idea what I was entering. Excited about the idea I was convinced early on that I would need help. So I decided to find and editor. I have personally worked with a team of editors to bring this story to light. That’s right: a team.
In March, 2008 I walked into the office of my first developmental editor, Ricky Weisbroth. Of course I assumed I was going to be finished in a month, after all, I had been writing for almost a year now. This project was quickly coming to a conclusion, wasn’t it?
Over the next year I entered the real arena of creative writing where the writer must face themselves alone. The most important lesson I learned was that questions are all that matter, questions about motivations, characters, events, weather, pacing, and vocabulary. The answers to these questions could only be found by writing my book. Sitting there and “pondering” the answers was destructive at best. Struggle was all that mattered. Soon the story took a new turn. I loved it. My editor, was hesitant. It’s a nice story, she kept saying but don’t you think the end needs more work? Ask yourself if the characters would really do that? She asked me more questions. But I had fallen in love with my writing. I could not hear her.
My friends loved the book. So did I. I prepared to pitch it to agents. But first I called one more developmental editor, Alan Rinzler. Fresh eyes, exactly what I need to confirm what I already know, right?
Wrong.
First Alan told me that the manuscript did not even need editing. He congratulated me on having a great manuscript, well written, clean…
But…
The last third of the novel was horrible. He was quite blunt. “I can’t even edit that,” he said. “All I could do was read it and talk to you about it. You gotta rewrite the ending of your book.”
A week later, in a dark room in bed, I finally decided to get up. I decided to shake off the depression brought on by four years of hard work. I sat down with a notebook and started to rewrite. I spent one more year working on imagining a new conclusion for my novel.
Finally, Alan accepted the manuscript for editing. After he finished I took another year to work on finishing the book, incorporating some changes and rewriting yet again passages that needed to be better integrated into the plot. I finished this rewrite in 2012.
Today there are only a few small changes that need to be made and my long awaited creation will finally be available to the world.
That’s why it’s taken so long. I want the experience to be as seamless as possible. I hope the readers feel like they have spent their money well. But my deepest wish is for all of those who take the time to read From Rum to Roots to come away feeling like they have learned something about themselves and their fellow human beings.
Hope your fourth of July was a great one.
A Literary moment in time that is ETERNAL
Today represents a moment in time for the project that has become to be known as From Rum To Roots.
We sold our first book.
When the idea was born in 2002, I saw the story told in a cinematic form. Forced to abandon the project, the idea remained in the realm of my subconscious until 2006.
During this time my parents passed away. It was a moment that is frozen in time just like the bodies we leave behind. A real memory. Yet, as time has passed, despite being indelibly etched in my memory the technicolor memories of their death have, mercifully, faded into black and white.
A year after their death this idea resurfaced. The story kept nagging me. There was no real plot. It had no name, nor characters. I decided I would write a book. I started by going to the library and checking out and reading over 30 novels in 6 months while still in Arlington Virginia. I needed to study the form, to see how others approached storytelling in the novel.
My family moved out here in 2006. I can still remember sleeping on a mattress on the floor three days before our furniture arrived on a truck from the East Coast.
May 7, 2007: After many false starts, I begin a character sketch about a young woman, Daisy in Kingston. This, another moment I will never forget, was embarking on a task that would occupy me totally for the next six years.
I never stopped working. There were many difficult moments, but all of them have been forgotten. They all led to today’s moment when I received an e-mail that Paypal had just processed an order for my first sale as an author.
Indeed this moment will be eternal.
This entire post is dedicated to Anthony Agarrat and Seraiah Avalon. I love you both.
July 2, 2013
It is Finished….
Famous last words.
Tomorrow we will order the final galleys and then by Monday July 8, 2013 My debut novel From Rum to Roots will be for sale at Amazon….
Call it postpartum blues, but I have been feeling sad. I am sad about this being the end of the road with this book. I will never sit down again to wrestle with the plot, or argue with a character in From Rum to Roots.
I miss them already and I hope you fall in love with them like I did.
