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This Issue:
Chance Encounters | Upcoming
Events | Chance for the Future | Hope
for Tomorrow | Faith in the Past |
Upcoming Projects
April
15 , 2002
I'd like
to take a few moments to touch upon some personal issues in my life. March
was a difficult month. On March 8 of this year, a good friend of mine,
Erik Gerhardt, passed away. He was a supporter of my work and a member
of this list. In some ways, he was a mentor. In others, I might have been
his. It took me a few days to sort of orient myself after getting the
news. I look forward to
seeing him again one day.
Another
problem that dealt with last month, and has since been resolved, is that
my car has been the mobile money pit. Those of you who know me well know
that I love my Mustang and spend plenty of money on keeping it nice. Well,
it seems that one thing after another was going wrong with it -- from
computer chip sensors to the air conditioning compressor clutch -- all
at the same time. As soon as one issue was diagnosed and fixed, another
would crop up. This was frustrating for many reasons. Nevertheless, nearly
$3000 in repairs later, the car seems to finally be running like a champ
and I am, once again, a happy driver.
Those
of you who know me personally also know that it is an ongoing goal of
mine to travel. I usually try to make at least one foreign trip a year.
Indeed, parts of HFT were inspired by my trip to Italy and the idea for
the upcoming Fairlight book, Faith Restored, came from my visit
to Israel. In May of 2001, I started a new day job so I had to wait a
year to get vacation enough to make a trip. That time is fast approaching.
In the meantime, I was able to save up funds to make a trip once I had
the time off. Unfortunately, the drain on my funds required to get my
car back in working condition depleted that savings. Now I must deal with
replenishing it. This means, in all likelihood, taking on freelance graphic
design work. I've already lined up some projects that I might have turned
down in more financially-friendly days. While I am extremely blessed to
have been given these opportunities to replenish my funds, taking on this
much additional work will undoubtedly leave me with less time to write.
Still,
things on the writing front are moving ahead, albeit a bit slower than
I had hoped. The list from the previous Update is still my planned order
of achievement and things should only be slowed down for another month
or two.
So, without
further ado, here's what's going on these days...
Chance
Encounters
At long last, Chance
Encounters has a new article. The other day I spoke with my brother
Brian about music and his creative endeavors. The outcome of the conversation
was inspiring, perhaps more for me than for him.
I hope you enjoy
"Writing: Why it is the Most Creative Artform" by Paul M.
Carhart
Upcoming
Events
Jonathan Martin
delivered the final version of Threkjshanelle: Collection Two
to his publisher on April 12. What does this mean? It means that our
much postponed book signing at McKinzey-White can go back on the schedule...
probably sometime in June or early July. More will follow as his publishing
schedule is solidified.
Chance
for the Future & Hope
for Tomorrow
Colorado Availability:
In addition to the copies of Chance for the Future rotating through
Pike's Peak Public Library (there are four), Heroes & Dragons (Citadel
Mall) still has a signed copy and McKinzey-White still has a few signed
copies. Media Play (Citadel Crossing) no longer has their copies of
Chance for the Future and Hope for Tomorrow so don't go
looking for them there.
There are a couple
other things in the works to expand my promotion beyond Colorado but
nothing is in place yet. I hope to have more information in the May
edition of the Update.
Still, feel free
to ask for either book at your favorite book seller anywhere in the
U.S. If they don't have them in stock, they can order them for you.
Faith
in the Past
I'm about halfway
through the latest editing pass for Faith in the Past. I'm amazed
at how much red ink I'm going through. Still, I expect it to be a great
story and a fun ride and I'm committed to getting it ready for publication
sooner than later -- no matter how much graphic design work I end up
doing to replenish my finances. Once I finish this pass, I'll hand it
off to my "real" editors. Even after they finish editing it,
the manuscript will get yet another pass by me. I believe in making
each book better than the last and am committed to putting the time
and effort into FITP to make it the best piece of writing I can. Like
HFT, FITP will stand alone, especially because I intend to shop it to
agents and traditional publishers so I can expand my readership beyond
what I am able to do on my own.
That said, I've
already started on the cover for FITP. Those of you who are regular
readers of Chance Encounters and this update will be the first to see
the cover when it is completed -- probably sometime in early May. You
might even see an early version of it... that depends on if I keep on
tweaking it for months after it's "done."
One noted change
in the cast portraying my characters: David Puckett will not be portraying
Tannk. Instead, I'm using Jerry Wrischnik who, after having his goatee
digitally removed, looks quite the part.
Upcoming
Projects
Besides FITP, a
few updates on upcoming projects:
1) The
Crockett Chronicles
Although
things are moving slowly, I am making progress on spritzing up these
humorous stories. I haven't yet started any new ones, but there are
certain things that my co-writer, Chris Weil, and I have talked about
doing to the existing stories and that is what I am working on in between
everything else. There are also a handful of new stories that still
need to be written to fill in the references in the other stories. We're
hoping for a completed and polished first draft by the end of May or
June.
2) Travel
Tips for Every Day
Most of my tips have been fleshed out. The tips have been organized
into three categories (Foreign Travel Tips for Every Day, Domestic Travel
Tips for Every Day, and Every Day Tips Adapted to Travel). The format
for each tip has also been determined. I expect to work these out over
the course of the summer. Once that is done, I'll hand it over to editors
and move on to the next project (see #3).
3) Life is
But a Dream
Once I complete "Travel Tips," I'll jump back onto this project,
which will take considerably more work because it deals with my theories
about discovering and following dreams. Perhaps because dreams are often
elusive, some of these chapters seem to be as well. Still, I am determined
to get my thoughts, ideas and theories about this down. I've had a great
deal of reader interest in this book as well as possible agent interest
so I don't want to let anyone down (especially myself). I really do
think that I have something to say about this and I hope it will help
others to do something they love with their life.
4) New Novel:
One of the Girls
Twins. Supernatural powers. Mistaken identities. Evil experiments. Told
in first person POV.
Now you know as
much as I do. Actually, that's not entirely true. I've started working
out some plot details and even some of the main characters' family relationships,
which is the first stage to plotting the whole thing (in my experience,
once the characters solidify, the plot works itself out). Every other
day or so, I find myself jotting something else down about this story
in my Palm. That usually means it's time to write it. This will be my
first non-Fairlight novel. It may be the first of a series, although
I can't imagine the series going more than three books. Then again,
Chance for the Future was going to be a stand-alone novel so
you never really know...
5) Faith Restored
No new progress here. I don't even expect to get to serious plotting
it until the end of this year or early 2003. This one has been roughly
worked out, although not to the degree that I normally plot to before
sitting down and writing. My hope is to get a traditional publisher
interested in Faith in the Past and thus the whole series. It
would be nice to write the next Fairlight novel on an advance rather
than on spec. Still, for those of you who like the Fairlight stories,
I want you to know that I have a great love for these characters and
am committed to this series and to the stories I have worked out. I
will get to it. I just want a change of pace for a bit before I dive
back into these stories. Hopefully, if you're waiting for Faith Restored,
you'll read my other offerings as they become available.
God bless you! Thanks
again so much for your readership and support.
Paul
M. Carhart
Author, Chance for the Future & Hope for Tomorrow
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