Shameless plug for an awesome writer!

Not too long ago I was fortunate enough to get the contact details of another writer who I heard about through the work grape vine.  After playing some getting-to-know-you tennis, she offered to help read, edit and provide awesome feedback for my first book, John Awakening.  Just had to throw the awesome logo on here.  

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I then asked if I could take an "authory" looking photo of her and throw it on my site.  I also nabbed her website address and just ran with it to here.  So check her out and give her a shout out if you can for being so awesome.  

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https://katherinehillis.wordpress.com/

Now you might be asking yourself why any of this is relevant?  Well if you've been paying attention to any of the previous posts you would soon realize that my goal with John Awakening is to make it an amazing community effort.  I already have other books I've wrote on top of this one, but wanted to give people a more personal touch to at least one of them.  I'm always looking for people who would love to take part of this effort and don't you worry, I'll shamelessly plug each and every one.  I can't say enough how much it means to me to have people help out.  I'm getting really excited about my newest release that will be being edited then put out on the market.  But for now thank you and for everything you do as one of the amazing people that make John's universe possible!  

As always follow us, pin us, tweet us, just spread the love!

One painful nail at a time. Can an author and a camera ever really get along?

One painful nail at a time. Can an author and a camera ever really get along?

Recently I was able to meet a very talented, and attractive, photographer (my wife).  I was in the process of trying to find the right photo that I wanted to go with for my campaign, book covers and just all around sentimental value.  There's a tinge of narcissism to that.  We decided on a location and were excited to try it out.  It was an old railroad stop located at a deteriorating building outside the city.  The building had been wonderfully covered in local artists graffiti.  This set against the dead lake of the Great Salt Lake was a very tantalizing location with a lot of potential.   

Regretfully, upon arrival, the building and railroad stop had been removed.  Apparently it was on private property and its numbered days had finally come to an end.  This came as a major let down but we still tried to squeeze some lemon juice out of it all.  We chose a couple locations and just went with the flow.  

 One of the locations was out on the flat sands of the dead lake itself.  We brought a prop chair and just starting taking photos.  My 2 year old son interrupted the shot at least four to five times. It was a brisk thirty degrees or so outside but I kept my poker face strong, burying it in my hands.  We were looking for depth and contrast.  This photo was done in both color and black and white.

If you're like me taking photos of yourself is like giving yourself toothpaste shots, it's painful.  Maybe it's because I struggle with seeing myself justly through the eyes of a soul sucking judge (camera not wife), or it's because I'm not good at being told what to do.  Either way this one was picked at great embarrassment to myself.  I'll cringe here as I write it, but will go ahead anyways.  This was done at the flats of the Great Salt Lake.  A beautiful view of a vast spans of highly contrasted colors and depth.

This was done near some reed like plants that caught our eye.  It much like the rest was just an open shoot of ideas in the creative soup.

Same location as mentioned above but slightly furthered out.  

Now comes the moment of truth.  I will be putting these photos out for the masses to judge and piece apart.  Hopefully with the constructive critiques I can finalize my decision on one and move forward with getting this over, I just let out a long sigh.  You want the house but forget that it was built one painstaking nail at a time.  At least this is one less nail!

Please provide any feedback and your pick for what photo you like best and why.

As always stay tuned for more updates as I continue to push forward.

Creative Feedback

I'm excited to put out the news that I am releasing my book out to a group of creative authors for some awesome feedback!  These extremely charitable people will not only be giving grammar feedback but also be analyzing depth, holes, plot and potential critical changes!  This makes me a little nervous but at the same time I'm glad that the time has finally come.  Going to take aim and shoot for the stars.

In other news I am finishing up my fourth book that I have been working on for the past little while!  I've also almost finished a basic video tease to help satitate those more visually inclined audiences.  There's a lot coming and I hope that this can really turn into something with some hard work and creativity.  Again, have questions?  Ask them!  Have suggestions?  Give them!  This ia about community and this book, John Awakening, will be nothing without you.  

#thejohnbooks #mikelparry225 #johnawakening

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