Hey guys, I just wanted to give you all a reminder about UpLive. The site has been up and running strong since Sunday and has gotten a lot of positive feedback, but there are countless people out there who could use the type of inspirational messages we are trying to send. It’s going to take all of us working together to get it going strong and spread far and wide, so please make the effort. Go to the site, read the posts, share it with everyone you know. Share this post if you don’t want to do that. Just make sure that you help spread the message. There might be someone out there whose life really could be saved by the type of inspiration this site can give. It only takes a second to share, so come on guys, help us all out. In the meantime, whether you draw inspiration from it or not, I hope you will take the time to read the posts and appreciate the feeling behind them and the talent of those who have written them. If you like them, let the writers know. Feel free to comment and share. This is more for the public and those who need it than it is for us, either way. We don’t need gratification. We just want to help those who need it or could use it. Anyway, I hope you all had a great Memorial Day and a great first half of the week! The link to UpLive is below, please share and enjoy.
Excited
New Channel, Big Sale, Free Story!
Hello friends and fans! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and great start to your Memorial Day.I am working very diligently to find ways to bring you all the sort of advice and inspiration that you enjoy with this blog, and here are some ways that I have thought of. First off, I have finished reading the first book for my book club and I’m very excited to post my commentary video on Tuesday! I sincerely hope you will all join in on the fun and take part in the discussion. In the meantime I have decided to do a few things to help my work become more available to everyone who is interested. First off; my work “The Reaper and Other Tales” is now 50% off! That’s right, my bestselling work, a collection of short stories and poems spanning over three years worth of work is now available for half price! In addition to that, I have decided to put up another piece of my work here, for you all to have and (hopefully) enjoy! The story I’m posting here is one that was inspired by the big snow storms we had here in Southwest Virginia back in February.
Also, don’t forget about the new site, UpLive, that is now up and running. My first contribution to the site will be posted on Thursday, so don’t forget! The writers contributing to this site are some very talented people, and I am honored to work alongside them. Please share the site with everyone who could use a little pick me up or some inspiration. Here is that link;
http://www.uplivedaily.com/
I hope you will all take part in my book club and share it with everyone you know, also. This can really be a huge thing if we all pitch in and join the discussion! That link is here;
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC57mZlzf3sIL_rayJsxbFZQ
As for the sale I have begun, I hope you all enjoy the work and share it as well. If you do (or particularly don’t) enjoy the work, please give it a review. That is very important with this type of work. Here is the link to that book;
And finally, at long last, here is the story that I have decided to share with you all. Please feel free to comment on the work and give me any and all feedback on the blog and any of my efforts that you would like. Without further ado, here is the story entitled “The Last Survivor”.
The Last Survivor
Ice covers everything. Pain fills my body as the debilitating cold pierces all five layers I’m wearing, but I can’t stop. The cold is bitter, wind blowing in my face, drying my lips beyond repair. The frigid air chills and solidifies the blood that seeps from my cracked mouth. I close my eyes as I stumble on, feeling the sharp ice that has already formed over their bare, moist surfaces.
Opening them again, I see the bridge, my final destination and the stone river below it. There are no cars moving, their inhabitants long dead; murdered or frozen. The winter set in days ago, all forecasts seeing no end to the arctic freeze. I’m the last survivor of my group, possibly the last on earth. And I feel so alone. The railing of the bridge is coated in ice. I can barely climb on. Stripping off two coats, I prepare myself. The river below is frozen solid, the water still and unyielding.
The wind pierces my skin now as I lean forward, letting the frigid air swallow me up. Almost 1,000 feet below, the river rises up to meet me as the arctic air does its work. The ice takes my body as its own, I cannot move, can’t even blink away my nearly painless fate as one final thought crawls through my rapidly slowing brain. At least it will be fast…
The last survivor watches from his glass prison as the woman plunges downward. She lands ten yards from his ship, frozen in its place on the water, her body shattering into a million pieces as he feeds the last log onto the guttering fire. He can’t help but wonder, as his last few minutes of life are devoured by the flame, how long it will take for his own end to find him.
New Name, New Project, New Stage of Life
Hey there friends and fans! The new name is a fresh start that I hope you all enjoy. If not, I ask for feedback in any way possible! So, with college behind me, marriage and my future ahead of me, and a plethora of books to read ( and write, of course!, things have taken a new turn in my life! First and foremost I have started a new and awesome thing that I am very excited about. I’ve started an online book club!It’s on Youtube, which is a new way to take it (I think), and gives people multiple ways to respond. I really love to read and talk to everyone around me about the things that I’m reading, so this opportunity excites me to no end. I really hope that each and every one of you will take part in the book club with me.
The plan goes as follows; I’ll post a video each Thursday, presenting a rundown of the book that I’ve chosen for that week and give everyone the opportunity to purchase, check out or otherwise get the book in some format or another and begin their reading. The following Tuesday I will post another with my own commentary and we’ll take the next couple of days to discuss the book and our opinions as well as give suggestions for the next selection.
I look really forward to diving into this wholeheartedly. I hope you will all take part in it with me and make this a great way for bibliophiles to join in something meaningful that isn’t just social media browsing. If any of you know someone else who would be interested in this I ask you to share this post or the channel itself (which I will link below) with them and encourage them to take part. If we really get this thing going it could be a worldwide way for people to connect with the awesomeness of literature! If we can get some good commentary and a running discussion on YouTube with the book club I may even try to make posts here to continue the conversations and take them to a deeper level. Here is the link to the page;
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC57mZlzf3sIL_rayJsxbFZQ
For everyone interested, the first book we are reading in the book club is “The Scarlet Gospels” by Clive Barker. It is the long awaited end of the infamous Pinhead character from Barker’s Hellraiser series, the Cenobite who made his first appearance in “The Hellbound Heart”.
Another thing I’ve got coming up that I encourage all of you to keep your eyes on is UpLive. UpLive is another blog site that I am going to be working with that is meant to inspire and encourage others, much like this one. The site is launching this Sunday (5/24/15) and will feature posts from myself and at least 8 other writers. We all will be discussing a huge variety of things and will each be putting our own unique spin on the topics at hand. I can’t say much more about the page yet, since it hasn’t really gotten started, but once we get going and get the bugs worked out I’ll make sure you all hear more. I will be referencing both blogs from now on and will be encouraging people from each one to visit the other and interact in the best ways possible. Here is the link to UpLive;
http://www.uplivedaily.com/
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. How about you all? What sort of things have been taking place in your lives? I love hearing from you guys and I hope you’ll all start being more vocal! Enjoy the post, the book club and UpLive and I WILL be back soon!
Times are changing!
Hey everyone. I know I have been absent again, but hopefully that will be changing soon. As some of you know, I’m finishing up my final year of Undergraduate education. I graduate from my good school in May, meaning I’ll no longer be a college author! This means I need a name change here for one, but it also means that I should have more time to post again, bringing the blog back to what I meant it to be! Anyway, just a heads up, friends and fans. If you have any suggestions for a new name let me know, and as always if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see here, feel free to comment below or message me directly!!!
New Works, Benefits
Hey there friends and fans! What’s happening in your world this year? So far things have been going well for me. As you all already know I have started vlogging and writing a few new ideas. Those things are going pretty well, although I’m getting almost no views on my vlogs. It’s a good way to keep my head straight though. It helps me organize ideas and rant and vent. In a way I suppose the benefits are almost the same as those of writing in a diary or journal. I have put the links to the vlog in previous posts, so if you want to check it out, I welcome you to. Also, I have begun working on Wattpad in order to find myself in a new genre and gaining a new audience. I am working on a Fanfiction piece there. It’s a sequel to the film “Near Dark”, which is an absolutely fantastic movie. I feel it really deserves a sequel, so I took it upon myself to work on one that I hope will do the original storyline justice while giving it a modern touch.
In my experience so far, I feel like both of these are very good ways for authors and artists of just about any kind to work on their craft. It’s good to be able to vlog and share some things on Youtube, because there are obviously millions of viewers out there leaping for new things. It’s similar with Wattpad. It’s a good way to work on branching out and trying your hand at new types of work or putting a couple of chapters out there for people to read for free so you can see how well it is liked. This all being said, you have to be very careful with exactly what you share, of course. You don’t want to publish an entire novel on Wattpad and then try to get it published. People won’t want to pay for what they don’t have to. After all “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” Also, you don’t want to give to many plot ideas or any huge details of any works you may talk about in a vlog. All of that, of course, is up to you. But both are helpful. I feel that, just in the last few weeks, the use of these two things has helped me to branch out more as an author, which is what you want to do. You want to gain as much of an audience as possible, which can be very hard in a world where literature and literacy are falling deep into the recesses of technological advancement. But that’s a rant I’ve had more than once, and -spoiler alert- will certainly do again in the future. Everyone, have a great night, a great week, and I’ll post my Wattpad link below. Please read, subscribe and rate. Also, remember that anyone who gives me a review online between now and April will win a free copy of my next published work!
Free Stuff!!!!
Don’t forget to get your copy of “The Reaper and Other Tales” absolutely free through Tuesday morning! And remember, anyone who gives me a review will receive my next work free as well!!
Networking is Key
Greetings people! It has been a while since I made an honest to goodness blog post that wasn’t just an update on myself. This one, long overdo, is going to be moderately short unless I run into a rant, which many of you know is very possible for me. I want to talk a little bit about networking, though.
Networking is incredibly important for any author, from the newcomer that was just published an hour ago to the man who has had 50 books published over 20 years. Without networking hundreds, if not thousands, of books (and authors) can go unnoticed, fall through the cracks and be left by the wayside. This is the last thing any of us want to happen to ourselves- and the last thing I want for any of you, faithful friends and fans! So what do we do to combat it? Network. Network. Network.
What is networking,some of you may ask. It is, quite simply, spreading your name and work as far and wide as you can, especially to those people whom you know are interested in your particular style or genre.Networking might sound like an easy thing to do, but believe me, that isn’t always the case. There are 7 billion some odd people in the world, and while the chances of anyone else writing your exact same piece are fairly slim, there are countless others who are writing in a genre or style comparable to yours, don’t kid yourself for a second to think otherwise. That’s not to say your work isn’t important, don’t get me wrong. Like I’ve said before; if there is a work inside you that wants out, it is for a reason and you owe it to yourself, the world and the work itself to get it out there to the best of your ability.
Networking can help with that. One way to do this, of course, is to blog about your work to others who may be interested. Another, and very important way, is social media. Social Media can be a huge help, or a huge dud for authors. There are hundreds and hundreds of pages of people trying to promote their own work, or the work of someone else (and I’m a part of a number of them for this very reason) but there are going to be people on there who will want to hear what you have to say. This is one thing that can be your saving grace. If you can find the right circle of people to market to on social media, a good portion of your networking is kind of done for you.
LinkedIn and other sites of the like are sometimes helpful, particularly if you can find other authors who are in your boat. Building relationships with other authors and readers is another way that you can be exceedingly successful. If your audience knows you on even the most superficial of personal levels, they’ll be more interested in hearing what you have to say and reading your work. One way to build this relationship and allow others in for interaction is by making a website. It gives you a way to show everything you do and allows others to comment directly to you in any way they’d like. Being a part of chats, symposiums and anything that allows authors and readers to interact can be hugely helpful. Really, anything that allows your potential audience to see the human side of you and make you more than just a name on a piece of paper. This is what is going to help.
I’m preparing to begin taking the symposium route this summer, as I have been asked to present at the Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Symposium at Southwest Virginia Community College in June. I made a post about that late last year, but as a recap I’m doing a presentation on a topic that, right now, is roughly titled; “Zombies and the Undead in Appalachian Literature”. All of the information about the symposium can be found here; https://appheritagewritersym.wordpress.com/ The site will be updated with specifics on each presenter and their workshops soon, so check back on it often. Hopefully some of you will attend, because I’d love for you all to have the experience- because I can attest to how enriching it truly is- and because I’d LOVE to meet you all.
In addition to this, I have created a vlog channel in order to attempt to let you all and fans of my other work see a bit into my life and see who I really am. The vlog channel will also include advice and talks of my works, and will see much more regular entries than this site does. That’s not because I favor it or anything, but because it’s much easier to pull out my phone and film a few minutes of me talking than it is for me to rush to a computer (or just an area with good phone signal) and pull up a website or an app and type everything out. The link to that channel is here; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2EU_YW9qBDfFWAB01Nc6wA It’s very new, but I hope you’ll all watch and subscribe.
Anyway, I’ll cut this off for tonight. Anyone with comments, questions or any concerns is always welcome to contact me in any way possible. I look very forward to hearing from everyone! Good luck, Good year, and Happy Writing!!
Big Things!
Greetings friends and fans! I know, I know, absences of late have been dreadful, but what can I say? School and work have been taking a great deal of my free time, and what they haven’t consumed I’ve been spending working on a number of things ranging from my three jobs, NaNoWriMo, and life in general.
Number two in the list of awesome things I have to tell you guys is the most recent and the one that may not excite any of you (although I sincerely hope you’ll all check it out). I have started my very own vlog series, to give everyone a glimpse inside the life of a college author (don’t you just love it when they use the title in the work itself…) and to show my friends and fans who I really am. Too long have I remained just a voice in the black and white, a light in the darkness (at least to me), now I want people to really see me for me!! So here’s your chance;
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2EU_YW9qBDfFWAB01Nc6wA
Finally, the very exciting and next to oldest news; I have been asked to be a presenter at the 2015 Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Symposium at SWCC! The Appalachian Heritage Writers Guild reached out to me and asked me to do a presentation relating zombie, the undead and horror fiction to the Appalachian region. They literally told me that they feel I am successful enough in my genre that I am fully ready and capable to teach it to others! The feelings that gave me! I couldn’t describe if I tried! I was elated and honored and touched and moved and excited and scared…and so many other things! Anyway, more information on all of these things is to come, but in the meantime you have the link to my Youtube channel so please subscribe and view and interact all you wish! In case anyone might be interested in attending the symposium this summer, here is the link to that information; https://appheritagewritersym.wordpress.com/
Thanks for reading and being a part of this, guys. I really hope you all participate and stay in touch!
End of the Summer Sale
Hey there friends and fans, just wanted to give you all an update and an exclusive look at my end of the summer bargain. “The Reaper and Other Tales” is going to be over 50% off from August 1st to the 3rd! Don’t miss your chance to get the discounted price!! Please give reviews and comments and share the opportunity with as many people as possible!! Here is the link, and keep your eyes open for more posts to come soon (I’ve been on hiatus for writing, all to be explained soon).
Keeping Yourself Motivated
Everyone has that one (or more) thing that motivates them like no other. It might be something as complex as running for 5 miles in the morning, or it might be little more than a breath of wind through the leaves of a tree, but no matter what it is, it’s yours. This motivation is something that God instilled in you for a reason, remember that first. Secondly the thing that is really crucial is to figure out exactly what gives you that undying motivation that will allow you to write the next great masterpiece or paint the Sistine Chapel. It might be easy to find at times, but at others it might seem like you’ll never find it, and in these times the urge to give up may be great. Don’t. No matter what, if writing is really your passion you absolutely can NOT give up. Honestly that’s the case with any passion. Particularly one that others might not understand and ones that may not always just spill out effortlessly. However, it would be helpful in times of hardships to remember the times when it does pour out like water, but that’s another story altogether. You have to just sit down and get that motivation- even if it’s just from a memory of the thing that gives you that great inspiration. Not meaning to sound like a preacher here, but it really is the inspiration that moves us all. Yes, you’ll hear people say that if you’re a real writer you’ll write no matter what, and I’m not saying that isn’t true. That isn’t to say, however, that everyone doesn’t have that thing or those things that places the inspiration in your head and heart, it merely means that you can’t use a lack of inspiration as an excuse. Because some people do. There are those out there who use that as a crutch, saying that “I would write, but the motivation and inspiration aren’t there”. That’s shit. If you’re really passionate about something you’ll do it, plain and simple. Yes, it might be hard if you’re not feeling particularly motivated or inspired, but I find that, honestly if you push yourself just a little and get the ball rolling your own work can become the motivation you need to continue. You might look at that statement in regards to the rest of this post and say “well then what’s the point of all this”. The point is that yes, the path we as authors have chosen can be very hard, but it doesn’t mean we can give up. Inspiration can come at the drop of a hat one day and take hours to find on another, but the point is that we have work to do. Our voices deserve to be heard, do they not? We have a story inside of us that wants to be told so why should we place such a simplistic excuse on letting it out? You may also notice that I’ve used the words Inspiration and Motivation here somewhat fluidly and interchangeably despite their technical differences. That’s because, in my case at least, once I’m inspired I’m motivated and vice versa, therefore I think of the two as fairly synonymous. Inspiration or Motivation, whatever you prefer to call it, can leave a serious hole in your intentions when they aren’t there, I won’t pretend that they don’t. But you can’t let that control you or your work. It’s about you and what you want, what you know is best. You have to set out and take the initiative, and very often you’ll find that it leads to a determination that is just as helpful. We all have our little things that help us get started, and they can be very diverse even within ourselves. For instance, one thing that helps me get going- and actually helped me set the real path for my Maverip series- is a good powerful thunderstorm. Anything powerful and God given can give me that feeling at times. Another thing you might find is that your inspiration might change. This is completely natural. The work within you has a mind of its own, your characters often have very real voices, and just as much as our tastes change, so do theirs. What made them present themselves today might not tomorrow. It’s completely normal and actually very interesting in my opinion. So don’t fret if that is the case. That’s about it for this post. The main things to remember are that inspiration and motivation are very important to a writer, but you can’t use them as a crutch or an excuse. When they are there, it’s important not to waste them, and when you have an idea that is nagging to get out it’s important to listen. That might be the subject of my next post. As always, if anyone has any thoughts or comments, feel free to leave them, and if you have any suggestions feel free to contact me with them.
Damean Mathews 