I finished writing about 2 weeks ago.
The heavy lifting is done, and now my book is in the hands of a small army of beta readers. Ok, maybe around 7 or 8 people. 10 tops. I honestly don't remember how many I sent it out to exactly. A handful of author friends, an old friend/English major/freelance editor, a couple personal friends, and a family member. As I can't afford professional editing services, their opinions and reviews will help me polish (or spit-shine, your preference) this thing into something hopefully awesome.
I'm patiently waiting to hear back now. So far, I've had two brief and very similar responses:
"I loved it. I'll send you a detailed review later today."
"I'm almost done! I have notes but I'm loving it so far!"
So that's cool. :)
www.daxharrison.com
Friday, April 29, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
People keep adding me on LinkedIn lately. I practically forgot my account existed (much like Google+). So to properly present myself to the masses, I ask...
Is there any professional way to state the following:
"Despite my resume, including the tech job, education, and proven skills based on said job and education, I'm really only in this industry to pay the bills. In fact, what I really give a damn about is writing stories, making music and occasionally acting when the opportunity presents"
If anyone can come up with some professional jargon to convey that, I'll happily update my profile. :)
Off the top of my head, this following is probably a much more accurate snapshot of who I am, though I don't think much of it applies to a profile, let alone a LinkedIn profile:
Name: Antonio, but my friends call me Tony
Address: Where I put my stuff
Phone/Contact: I get enough spam callers, thank you
Education/Experience: Mostly self-educated
"What do you mean by that?"
Well, officially I spent 4 years in high school, a couple years after that in community college figuring out how to make a living (but mostly trying and failing to date women), and about 8 months at a tech school where I earned an Associate's degree in Computer Networking, graduating Cum Laude with a 3.8 GPA. I would've graduated with a perfect 4.0, but I became severely bored with some busy work assignments (never had the patience for those) and didn't turn them in.
Beyond that, I've been watching and analyzing movies since I was 5 years old, leading me to pursue acting, filmmaking and the art of storytelling in general. Became somewhat of a high school musical theater star along the way, taught myself some photo/video basics, filmed and edited home movies and sketches with friends, taught myself Adobe Premiere and Photoshop, taught myself to play guitar and piano (planning on starting violin this year, because why not?), wrote songs and performed in coffee shops for awhile, wrote a rock opera (which remains about 90% completed and yet to be recorded), made some money for awhile doing wedding photography and videography, acted in a few small student short films, wrote a full-length feature screenplay, decided to turn it into a novel, secured funding to publish it as a novel, and am currently finishing the manuscript so it can be edited, marketed, and finally published as a novel. Planning to get back to acting and music eventually (at the very least, complete the unfinished music projects before they drive me insane), but now that I already have ideas for novel #2, it may be awhile. Basically, I've made an unofficial career out of creativity, which has landed me little to no profit. However, with the amount of experience under my belt, I consider "creativity" more of my professional industry rather than my real day job.
Career Goals:
Officially, continuing in the technical field and exploring opportunities for advancement
Unofficially, being whatever monkey pushing buttons I need to be to continue making a living, so I can pursue my real passions on my off-time, survive in modern society and not spend life on the street begging for food. Don't get me wrong, I take pride in being the best monkey pushing buttons I can be. But, not because I care one iota about TPS reports. I will continue working in said button-pushing occupations until one day (hopefully) I can transition into earning a livable income on my creative pursuits alone.
There. That's a much more accurate resume of my professional experience, goals and skill sets.
Something tells me I'm not fit to be LinkedIn.
Is there any professional way to state the following:
"Despite my resume, including the tech job, education, and proven skills based on said job and education, I'm really only in this industry to pay the bills. In fact, what I really give a damn about is writing stories, making music and occasionally acting when the opportunity presents"
If anyone can come up with some professional jargon to convey that, I'll happily update my profile. :)
Off the top of my head, this following is probably a much more accurate snapshot of who I am, though I don't think much of it applies to a profile, let alone a LinkedIn profile:
Name: Antonio, but my friends call me Tony
Address: Where I put my stuff
Phone/Contact: I get enough spam callers, thank you
Education/Experience: Mostly self-educated
"What do you mean by that?"
Well, officially I spent 4 years in high school, a couple years after that in community college figuring out how to make a living (but mostly trying and failing to date women), and about 8 months at a tech school where I earned an Associate's degree in Computer Networking, graduating Cum Laude with a 3.8 GPA. I would've graduated with a perfect 4.0, but I became severely bored with some busy work assignments (never had the patience for those) and didn't turn them in.
Beyond that, I've been watching and analyzing movies since I was 5 years old, leading me to pursue acting, filmmaking and the art of storytelling in general. Became somewhat of a high school musical theater star along the way, taught myself some photo/video basics, filmed and edited home movies and sketches with friends, taught myself Adobe Premiere and Photoshop, taught myself to play guitar and piano (planning on starting violin this year, because why not?), wrote songs and performed in coffee shops for awhile, wrote a rock opera (which remains about 90% completed and yet to be recorded), made some money for awhile doing wedding photography and videography, acted in a few small student short films, wrote a full-length feature screenplay, decided to turn it into a novel, secured funding to publish it as a novel, and am currently finishing the manuscript so it can be edited, marketed, and finally published as a novel. Planning to get back to acting and music eventually (at the very least, complete the unfinished music projects before they drive me insane), but now that I already have ideas for novel #2, it may be awhile. Basically, I've made an unofficial career out of creativity, which has landed me little to no profit. However, with the amount of experience under my belt, I consider "creativity" more of my professional industry rather than my real day job.
Career Goals:
Officially, continuing in the technical field and exploring opportunities for advancement
Unofficially, being whatever monkey pushing buttons I need to be to continue making a living, so I can pursue my real passions on my off-time, survive in modern society and not spend life on the street begging for food. Don't get me wrong, I take pride in being the best monkey pushing buttons I can be. But, not because I care one iota about TPS reports. I will continue working in said button-pushing occupations until one day (hopefully) I can transition into earning a livable income on my creative pursuits alone.
 |
| Sidenote: I can't tell you how many times I've been told that I not only resemble but also have similar mannerisms as Ron Livingston. |
Something tells me I'm not fit to be LinkedIn.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Regarding this rocky start to 2016...
Wrote this on Facebook this morning. It proved somewhat popular, so here it is:
As our heroes pass, it reminds us to live. Don't waste a day, folks. Embrace what you have. Find your happiness. We are all temporary.
Today I woke up next to my amazing wife, healthy and happy. And stinky, because morning breath on both our parts. The movies never show you that, do they? Any movie that features passionate makeouts immediately after waking up is absolute bullshit. Sorry, pet peeve. I digress.
While I lament the fact I have to leave her for most of the day and go make a living in an office, I rejoice because I have awesome coworkers who guarantee laughs and good times everyday.
And before that, I'm going to jam out to Bowie while doing laundry, and think of Rickman as I write some epic bad guy scenes for my book. Thank you, Hans Gruber. Your impossible charisma taught me that a hero is only as interesting as his/her villain.
This concludes my warm and fuzzy postings for 2016. Back to business as usual. Balls! Ass! Fart! Bad pun! Geek geek geek...
Also, regarding Bowie, this was pretty powerful for me the other day. Why we grieve artists we've never met:
Nail on the head. All right, enough procrastinating. Time to honor artists the proper way: keep making art. Time to art hard with a vengeance. (...That means work on my book)
-Tony
As our heroes pass, it reminds us to live. Don't waste a day, folks. Embrace what you have. Find your happiness. We are all temporary.
Today I woke up next to my amazing wife, healthy and happy. And stinky, because morning breath on both our parts. The movies never show you that, do they? Any movie that features passionate makeouts immediately after waking up is absolute bullshit. Sorry, pet peeve. I digress.
While I lament the fact I have to leave her for most of the day and go make a living in an office, I rejoice because I have awesome coworkers who guarantee laughs and good times everyday.
And before that, I'm going to jam out to Bowie while doing laundry, and think of Rickman as I write some epic bad guy scenes for my book. Thank you, Hans Gruber. Your impossible charisma taught me that a hero is only as interesting as his/her villain.
This concludes my warm and fuzzy postings for 2016. Back to business as usual. Balls! Ass! Fart! Bad pun! Geek geek geek...
Also, regarding Bowie, this was pretty powerful for me the other day. Why we grieve artists we've never met:
Thinking about how we mourn artists we've never met. We don't cry because we knew them, we cry because they helped us know ourselves.
— Juliette (@ElusiveJ) January 11, 2016
Nail on the head. All right, enough procrastinating. Time to honor artists the proper way: keep making art. Time to art hard with a vengeance. (...That means work on my book)
-Tony
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
I make with the blogging now, because why not?
*I hope you read that title in a Zoidberg voice, because that's how I heard it in my head
I suppose now that I'm officially calling myself an author, I should have some sort of official author blog, yes?
Slowly but surely, I'll be dusting this old thing off and hopefully providing some entertaining blobs of thought. Basically, all the nonsense clogging my brain that doesn't fall under novely novel writing for my novel, or podcasty podcast news for my podcast, will go here.
It might be author related.
It might be bollocks.
No, I'm not British. Bollocks just felt right to use just now. What a great word. Bollocks.
If you aren't already familiar with my aforementioned creative-things-that-take-up-most-of-my-time, here's the skinny, the low down Brown, the scoop Betty Boop:
Dax Harrison
A fast-paced, action-packed, swashbuckling sci-fi adventure comedy. My first novel. Thanks to friends, family, and a bunch of kind strangers, this book has been funded for a limited publishing via Inkshares. The good folks at Inkshares are currently waiting patiently for my lazy ass to finish the damn manuscript and hand it over to begin the editing process.
Want to pre-order? Of course you do! Head to DaxHarrison.com to learn more!
Getting Off Topic
My weekly geek-centric podcast, featuring rambling discussions on movies, TV, gaming, comics and more! Head to GettingOffTopic.com to listen & subscribe!
That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading.
-Tony V.
I suppose now that I'm officially calling myself an author, I should have some sort of official author blog, yes?
Slowly but surely, I'll be dusting this old thing off and hopefully providing some entertaining blobs of thought. Basically, all the nonsense clogging my brain that doesn't fall under novely novel writing for my novel, or podcasty podcast news for my podcast, will go here.
It might be author related.
It might be bollocks.
No, I'm not British. Bollocks just felt right to use just now. What a great word. Bollocks.
If you aren't already familiar with my aforementioned creative-things-that-take-up-most-of-my-time, here's the skinny, the low down Brown, the scoop Betty Boop:
Dax Harrison
A fast-paced, action-packed, swashbuckling sci-fi adventure comedy. My first novel. Thanks to friends, family, and a bunch of kind strangers, this book has been funded for a limited publishing via Inkshares. The good folks at Inkshares are currently waiting patiently for my lazy ass to finish the damn manuscript and hand it over to begin the editing process.
Want to pre-order? Of course you do! Head to DaxHarrison.com to learn more!
Getting Off Topic
My weekly geek-centric podcast, featuring rambling discussions on movies, TV, gaming, comics and more! Head to GettingOffTopic.com to listen & subscribe!
That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading.
-Tony V.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)