Welcome and Thank You

Welcome everyone and thank you very much for the overwhelming support. I can only hope the novel can live up to all of your kind words. As mentioned on the Fan page the novel will be available in June. Inkwater works with the major book distributors and my novel will be available on their sites which include: Amazon and Barnes and Noble among others. I will sell them myself at signings and any other way to get them out there, but the websites will always be available to purchase at any time. Signing with an independent label offers a world of artistic freedom and control of how I would like things to go, but at the same time requires much more personal legwork to get the word out there about the book, which I am excited to take part in. In saying that, any word spread would be amazing to help the book gain some steam and any nudge in that area would be so appreciated. This facebook thing is so crazy in the amount of friends people amass, so please, and only if you think the book is worth it, pass the word on to people who you think may enjoy a pleasant read. I know this a bit of self salesmanship here and it is never easy for me to do, but this is how it begins, in the hands and hearts of all the amazing people I have been so fortunate to call friends and family in my life. I owe you all so much already and cannot wait to share this journey with you.

As far as physical progress goes everything is still on schedule for a June release. I am working back and forth with the label on the cover right now. Hard to pinpoint exactly what I want, but we are narrowing in.

Thanks again everyone and will be updating soon with any news.

Taking a fresh breath

The early hours of morning in November are glorious. Light beams early and the chance to surf before work is present once again. I posted a new examiner article today. You can read it by clicking on the following title Surfing: taking a fresh breath. I felt in the mood to talk about taking a look at things from a different angle, a new approach. With the small surf that has fallen upon our coast for the last week or so I have been riding a longboard and a few different boards just so I can go out and get wet. Often in the past when I performed this act of leaving my shortboard at home, I did so in somewhat of mocking manners. I never really gave the boards a full chance to ride them as they were, as the waves allowed, and often goofed around on the larger vessels. Lately though, especially in the last two weeks, I have paid attention to the boards, tried to ride them for what they are instead of doing headstands and just wishing I was on my shortboard. And, to no surprise I have had a blast trying to ride the nose, feeling the rails, and being content on whatever craft is underneath my feet instead of longing for another.
Hope all is well.

The Journey Continues

My blog to this point has not really been much of a blog at all. It has acted more as an update board than anything else, which is okay, because that is what I originally started it for. To keep everyone informed about the progress, or lack there of, on getting my novel published. I wish I had good news to report, but at this point I do not. Just going about the process of sending portions of the manuscript to various literary agents and waiting for their feedback. As I have been told it just takes the right person on the right day to pick it up in a certain mood for a manuscript to even be read. I am staying positive that this will happen and diligently going about my research for which agencies I think will most represent, and appreciate my style of writing, and then sending samples to them.

As for the blog, I am going to be more active with it from now on. I will post the examiner articles I have been writing and possibly expand upon the topics I write for the examiner in my blog entries. The articles are fun, but I am limited in elaboration because they want the articles somewhere in the 200-300 word range, which does not allow for much. If you have the time and you feel like it please become a follower of the blog. That way you can be informed directly from the blog about new articles and any information on the book.

I am a fan of short first chapters in a novel as anyone who read my first chapter of Stumbling upon Mowgli found out. Because this is my liking, and perhaps not the liking of everyone, I am going to post chapter two below. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Click here to read chapter 2

Waiting Game

Well, a copy of the finished product is now in the hands of our roommate Kelly's mother, if that makes sense. Her mom is an editor and she is going through it for me. I am so appreciative to have a professional editor take the time out of her own kindness to look over my novel. I am so indebted to her. Thanks Jeri. Once she is finished I will probably have to fix a few more things and then on to shopping it around. I have found some promising avenues for publishing it independently if it becomes too taxing trying to get someone to pick it up. The independent route might be the best alternative anyways and if starts to pick up steam on its own I will have something positive to show the publishing companies.

A few requests have poured in concerning when everyone can read the book. Obviously the business side of things must commence before a finished copy can land in anyone's hands, which realistically could take a while, so I would like to post a link to the first chapter for those of you who would like to read it. Please send along your comments, negative, positive, you liked it, you hated it, suggestions, whatever, I would love to hear what you think. I hope everyone is doing well and soaking up the day before them.

Click here to read the first chapter

Done, Finally

Hello Everyone. A long hiatus from this page, but the last few months of writing have been arduous to say the least. As I predicted, being close was only an illusion and the mythical goal line taunted my wits, my sanity at times, but enough whining, hard work is good for the soul. I made it. Last Monday I completed the final chapter and have since gone through a complete edit of the book. Editing tests patience and worth. I began questioning every word, every sentence, and almost convinced myself on several occasion to trash the whole thing, because I could no longer stand my own writing, but I got through it. It was only a self edit, but a clean version of what I wanted to put out there.

The book ended with 29 chapters and took a few twists and turns that I never mapped out beforehand, but turned out to be quite a pleasure to navigate through. My working title has also changed from Ashes on the Pacific to Stumbling Upon Mogli. The new title derived from a line in the story that summed up the book for me. The old title was more of a generic line with pleasing aesthetics, but I feel the new title does a better job of describing the main characters journey while leaving more intrigue to the imagination.

Now the next hill to climb, publication. Where to go? I know in this day and age most publishing companies will not even talk to you unless you have a literary agent. The independent route sounds enticing, but I would like to test the waters first and see how many doors get slammed in my face. If anyone has any ideas or contacts I would appreciate your thoughts and assistance more than you know. I am new to this and feel lost in uncharted territory.

The journey was long, but worth every second. I did not follow a particular pattern or strict regimen and let words flow as they came. A chapter in the beginning here, a piece of a chapter near the end there, a random thought in the middle at any time. It was fun to write that way, but also took a bit of time to put all of the scattered pieces together. I did however write the final chapter last. I finished the last word, saved it, printed it out, read it again, saved it on a flash drive, read it again, and almost broke down into uncontrollable sobs. Such a rush of pure elation and accomplishment ran through my veins that it made every moment of staring at a computer screen or leaning over pen and paper worth while. No matter if two people read it, or two million, I finished a large task that I set out to do and no one can ever take that away from me. I have already won, what happens from here on out is all gravy. I dreamed to know this feeling, this completion of what at times felt impossible, and for that I give thanks. The journey has meant everything, I cannot wait to see where it leads next.

Holiday Update

A warm seasons greetings to each and all. Hope that everyone gets to share some quality time with those they love and cherish. Nicole and I are off to Colorado to visit with her family, her younger sister and her sister's husband moved outside of Denver six months ago, and we are hopefully going to get some powder days on Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, and Vail. Though the high temperatures are predicted in the upper teens and low twenties, and the low temps in the negative zones, I am excited to explore and take some runs in a new territory.

As for progress on the novel, I wish I could say that I met my tentative deadline and will be finishing before the end of the year, but I did not quite make it. I am not going to make any excuses, I just did not get there. I am much closer though, and the extra time has given me passage to discover a more lucid voice throughout the story. I think I am getting caught up in the colossal task of accepting my work as worthy and complete. It almost seems impossible, but there is one piece of advice I need to keep reminding myself so I can see this through to the end; which is," Life is about the journey, not the destination." We can get so caught up in the end result that we miss the sublime profusions of creativity and life present in every breath we take. Accept the journey, be aware of it, and it becomes clear that the final destination is no destination at all, just another journey. So let it flow. My pen to paper, fingers adherent to keys, the journey continues.

Welcome

Greetings to each and all. Thank you for taking the time to navigate over this way while gallivanting about the net. Welcome to the site. Not much going on yet in the way of graphics or items to check out, but my main objective for writing a blog and getting the page up and running revolves around completing my novel. I am getting close. Whether or not anyone will want to publish it or not presents another struggle altogether, but better not to fret over that obstacle until I reach it, I need to finish first. The process evolved quite organically, as so described by a respected friend, the desire in my system, a piece here, a chapter there, a massive jigsaw puzzle spread out in my mind. Patches of blue, the dark corner, flat edges of defined foundation, and before I knew it the borders took shape. With a firm basis the pieces began to fall into place. The bulk of the puzzle, oh 20 chapters or so, reveals a majority of the image, now I just need to set in place the remaining tiles to tie the whole thing together. I am rather excited, but also faced with the reality that finishing can be the most arduous of tasks.

The story is fictional, but much of it I can relate to instances in my life. I am still working on a title, I wrote down Ashes on the Pacific as a working title, but I am sure that will change. The story revolves around two friends, Cosmo and Dane. Dane is the narrator, a man of 30 looking for a way to break the cycle of a routine he has fallen into. He wrestles with fear and self confidence. He is engaged and on the brink of major transformations in his life. Cosmo's uncle, J.P., who mirrored as a substitute father for Cosmo, recently passed away and Cosmo wants to send his ashes out to sea at J.P.'s favorite place in the world, an isolated fishing village three quarters of the way down the Baja Peninsula. With a surplus of hesitation Dane walks out on his job and joins his friend for the journey. During the trip Dane rediscovers his dreams, his desires, and tackles his fears, while re-learning to live in the moment under the philosophies of his eccentric friend Cosmo. Surf sessions, travel adventures, personal tragedy and triumph, self-searching, and release of the spirit, the two friends help each other get through difficult times in their lives while meeting up with interesting characters and adventures down the coast.

Might be a little self promotion in that synopsis of the novel, but what the hell. I am not naive enough to think that just because I am close everything will commence in a smooth, rapid fashion and within no time the novel will be complete, quite the contrary actually, as I am prepared for the battle ahead, most of all my own self confidence to trust my abilities. I have foolishly put a deadline upon myself for the end of the year, easy landmark to follow, I will put in a full effort to achieve that goal, but not to the detriment of quality in trying to make haste. Thank you for taking the time to read the initial blog. I am sure I will be due for one of my rants soon and those will appear on the site, as well as updates and possibly some excerpts. Please pass the site along if you get a chance, and who knows, maybe when I do finish we might be able to create a little buzz out there that could assist the publishing and manifestation of one of my life long dreams. Thank you for all of the support and incredible energy. I will do all in my power to produce a project of substance and worth your time to explore. Until my next rant.
Squeeze the day out like a sponge.
Nicasio