Friday, July 1, 2005
Book History

I guess I should provide a little background on how this venture came to be. I first got the idea for Storms about five years ago, but back then, the whole idea was pretty vague. I was working at the VLA then, a rotating schedule that changed every week. So one week it would be day shift, next week second shift, next week graveyard, and then back to days again. Needless to say, it was a stressful time.

One day while I'm trying to go to sleep, I get this mental image of a sailboat on the ocean at sunset (or sunrise), and a tornado comes up out of nowhere and sweeps up the boat. It was a pretty spectacular image, sunlight shining under clouds, the tornado on the water kicking up all these waves and foam. And out of the mist rising from the water I saw all these other, shadowy thingsjumping out at the people on the boat. Didn't quite know what they were, and it was, in all, a pretty freaky dream. The image stuck with me, and over the next several weeks and months I started to develop a story around it, and eventually I realized I was getting an idea for a book. I typed out about fifty pages of manuscript and was really starting to get into it, when there was a power outtage while I was in the middle of writing. The computer survived, but the disk I was saving the manuscript to did not. It was completely fried, and everything I had written was lost. Let this be a lesson, boys and girls, always make a second copy.

The book didn't go away, obviously. As a matter of fact, the ideas just wouldn't stop coming, and the second draft of the novel came out even quicker and easier (and better, too) than the first. Some parts I wrote longhand, when I didn't have a computer handy. And before I knew it, it was done. In my next entry I'll go into why it took so long to get it published and why I eventually chose to go POD with it, but I think this entry is long enough for now. Cheers.

Posted by Robert Williams 2005-07-01 18:51:58

Thursday, June 30, 2005
The Storms of Eternity

Hello everyone! My name is Robert Williams and I am a struggling young author trying find readers somewhere in this fast-paced cynical world. So I'll start by telling you all a little bit about myself. I am 29 years old, I have a bachelor's degree in astrophysics, and I have in the past worked at the Very Large Array Radio Telescope (which you may remember for its prominent role in the Jodie Foster film, Contact).Right now I am living in Kansas City, scribbling away my days and working a regular job to pay the bills. I have one old dog and one crazy cat. More to the topic here, I have self-published two novels through theprint-on-demand publisher, iUniverse. My first book, The Remembrance, came out in March 2002 without, alas, attracting too much attention. So I'm giving it another try with my new book, The Storms of Eternity. A much better title, don't you think?I will record my progress with this blog, so everyone can watch mybook take off... or flop, as the case may be.

I have put a link to TSOE's website in my Blog Links, so I hope everyone can find my page and take a look at the book. The prologue is up, as are several short stories, which I may move here so that people can provide feedback on them. Haven't really decided yet. Regardless, any feedback or random ramblings youmight have are welcome and appreciated. Cheers.

Posted by Robert Williams 2005-06-30 18:07:31