To answer the question, yes I am still working on my sense stories. I have to admit that I have been neglecting my writing work a bit over the last month and then some. I could offer a list of excuses, not least of which is starting two new jobs since my last post, but you probably don’t care. The book is still coming along with the selection of poetry. In fact, there will be a new poem posted to the site this week so stay tuned.
I happened upon another TED talk today that featured someone thinking along the same lines as me in terms of the five senses. Jinsop Lee was trying to answer a much different question that I am (watch the talk to find out his question) but his focus on the 5 senses felt so familiar and I love the way he represents how we experience something with our senses visually. To answer the question, yes I am still working on my sense stories. I have to admit that I have been neglecting my writing work a bit over the last month and then some. I could offer a list of excuses, not least of which is starting two new jobs since my last post, but you probably don’t care. The book is still coming along with the selection of poetry. In fact, there will be a new poem posted to the site this week so stay tuned.
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Photo Credit: Zsuzsanna Kilian via sxc.hu So obviously no one is buying my book this Black Friday. It's not available on Amazon.com. There is no listing for it in the iBooks store. Barnes & Noble doesn't have it on their shelves or available for the Nook. Next year at this time, I hope all that has changed. While the initial writing of these stories is taking longer than anticipated, my hope is that by this time next year, there are at least two books available in many of these outlets when you do an author search for Jonathan Ytreberg. Lose Your Senses will be available as well as a yet to be named collection of poetry. Photo Credit: Fabio Arangio via sxc.hu Sometimes seeing is believing. For some reason I have had a hard time believing the reports of devastation in the New York City Metropolitan area in the last two weeks. Quite by accident, I happen to be scheduled to be in the area this weekend. I guess now I will be able to view it with my own eyes. But what if I couldn't see it with my eyes? Would it be enough to hear the devastation? Could I smell or taste it? Is it something I could touch with my hands? More food for thought writing these stories. Photo Credit: Andreas Krappweis vai sxc.hu There is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I am making good progress with writing the "Touch" story. The bad news is that it's taking longer than I expected. The good news about that though is that there will be more story for you to enjoy once it is complete. So while I am working on getting through this story for the first time, I thought I would share a little more of it with you. After walking for a half hour, Alex turned into a small park that was two blocks away from her friend Stacy’s house. Stacy was usually an early riser, even on the weekends, but seven thirty was too early to go ringing doorbells. She walked up to the swings that hung silently in the still morning air like gallows ready for their next victim and plopped down in one of the cracked plastic seats. It bent under her weight and when she lifted her feet off the ground, the swing began a lazy pendulum trip forward and back. Alex and Stacy had spent many days and evenings on these very swings when they were younger. They were perfect seats for trading gossip from school and for the two of them to bitch about their families. Once they got bored of talking, they would spin around in place and watch the chains curl around each other only to let go and spin back to earth with arms and legs spread wide, staring at the spinning sky until they fell to the ground laughing at the dizzy feeling. There were a few times when Alex had run here with Stacy after school to avoid her grandmother. It wasn't that Grandma hit her all the time. And it wasn't like she could even feel it anyway. To that extent, what Grandma had said yesterday after smacking Alex across the face was the truth. But while Alex couldn't feel the physical pain, her emotions were much more fragile and having to look in the mirror and see a bright red welt slowly turn into a purple bruise hurt her more than the physical pain that she couldn't feel. The fact that Grandma had such little respect for her and treated her literally as a punching bag was more than Alex could handle. “Hey.” Alex’s heart skipped a beat as she looked up to find the source of the voice. “This swing taken?” Stacy grabbed the chain supporting the swing next to Alex’s and slowly sat down next to her. Alex relaxed a bit knowing that her friend was nearby. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Alex staring at the same six inches of the ground under her feet as she swayed gently back and forth, Stacy looking around the park and trying to figure out what to say to Alex. “Where were you last night?” Stacy asked. “Out.” “With who?” “No one.” Another minute of silence. “Where’d you go?” Alex didn't answer this time. She was already getting tired of being interrogated and didn’t look forward to all of these same questions if the cops ever caught up to her and brought her back to Grandma’s house. “I don’t want to talk about it!” She said it a little more forcefully than she had intended. “I ran away.” The silence returned for a few minutes as Stacy had understood the underlying message that the conversation about Alex’s whereabouts last night was over and it would be pointless to try and continue it. After a few minutes, Alex slid out of her swing enough to set her feet on the ground. “Can I borrow a few clothes?” Stacy put her feet down too and let a big smile spread over her face. “Yeah, come on.” Despite the late hour (or is it early since my clock read AM at this point?) I have had a very productive evening of writing tonight. I have set the "Hearing" story aside while some folks take a final read through it before my last round of revisions and am focusing 100% of my effort on "Touch" at the moment. While "Hearing" currently comes in at about 6 pages, "Touch" is already over 17 pages and it will probably end up being even longer when put into the final book format. I'm on a bit of a roll so I'm going to go back to the writing, but wanted to give a quick update. Don't forget to visit the Indiegogo campaign page for Lose Your Senses. It's time. I officially launched my Kickstarter project tonight and it is open for pledges. I have put up several levels of rewards most of which include some variation of a free copy of the book once it is published (estimated publishing date is early December 2012). While I know times are tough, I would ask that you stop over to the project site and be so kind as to pledge just a single dollar to the cause of helping me publish this book. It has been a long dream for me to publish my own writing and with your help, I can fulfill that dream. Thank you in advance for your support and I assure you that you will not be disappointed by this and other projects that I have envisioned for the future of Outermountain Writing.
Music Credit: It's Friday and time to post another excerpt. I decided to give a little more about my friend who lost his hearing in the freak seesaw accident. Check out the previous portion that I posted here. The first night that I was home, I sat on my bed staring at the stereo system and stacks of CDs on top of my dresser across the room. Something that I had always taken completely for granted now functioned as little more than a paperweight for me. I pulled out the copy of Michael Jackson’s Thriller that I got from my dad for my 11th birthday and put it in the CD player anyway. It was already late so I plugged in my headphones and uncoiled the cord so that I could still sit on my bed and listen. Nothing. I checked the volume to make sure that it was on. The last time I used the stereo, I had left the volume about half way up. I cranked it all the way up and pressed the headphones hard over my ears trying to block out any other sounds from the world and willing my ears to pick up some little hint of sound. Nothing. I twisted the volume knob one more time in a vain attempt to get more volume but it was already maxed out. Nothing. I sat with the headphones over my ears for a few moments, playing Michael Jackson’s famous voice in my head and mentally reciting Vincent Price’s creepy voice over. Nothing. I finally gave in and screamed at the top of my lungs, or what I thought to be the top of my lungs. I didn’t care what time it was and if I woke up my mom and my sister. Or everyone in the neighborhood for that matter. All I wanted to do was listen to my music and that was never going to happen. Ever. I am one step closer to getting this book that I'm working on into published format. I found an online publisher (The Book Patch)that I think I'm going to use to print the books. I will be setting up the Kickstarter campaign in the next week or so as well so look for updates on that very soon! I will be posting the link to the exact campaign page. The last thing I need is some ideas for giveaways on the Kickstarter campaign. I am definitely going to be offering "roles" in the stories to three lucky donors. Three out of the five stories will be available to feature your name as the lead character or give you the opportunity to name the lead character if you don't want to use your name. I also want to offer up some free copies of the finished book, probably to be sent out no earlier than Christmas. Anyone that donates will get their name on the website as a supporter and depending on how many folks help out, I will probably put names in the book as well. Now back to the writing since I really have to finish these stories now!! I posted an interesting question on the Outermountain Writing Facebook page the last night. If you had a choice, which of the five senses would you give up? After I posted it, I spent a good 5 minutes thinking through my own answer before making a selection. There are certainly things about each sense that I wouldn't want to live without, but some overpowered others after a little deliberation. Hop over to the Facebook page to cast your vote.
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AuthorMy blog is here to give updates on my writing projects and occasionally post new poems or story excerpts. Archives
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