Those Who Remember done, Giant Robot Short, WWII novel, Storm Kids Book, and website update

Yes, it's been a very busy week.

First, I completed the first draft of my new short story, "Those Who Remember."  It came in at 20 pages and 5,512 words.  I'll put it away for about a week, re-read it, and go over my re-write notes and begin on the next draft.  Overall I think it works, but it's been a long time since I read any short fiction, so I'm going to try and make some time this week to read a few stories.

Second, I went over my short film, "Giant Robot."  Another draft is done.  There were some tweaks and minor changes at this point, and I think it's still a funny read.  I'll be giving it out to the rest of the One-Eyed Pictures crew and get their thoughts on it.  I wrote it so it would be relatively easy to film and I hope we might be able to actually get this new short film done this year.  Fingers crossed.

Third, I'm getting geared up to ask for some readers for feedback on my "WWII Novel."  I worked on getting my initial pitch ready.  I had my wife go over it since she's been through all this before on her first novel, "Moonfall."  (Working Title)  It's about ready to go.

Fourth, I worked some more on my, "Storm Kids Book" while waiting to re-write my new short story.

Fifth, I've been working with Lannie on creating a new website that focuses on his art.  As I've been helping, I've come across a few things I didn't know you could do before, so I'm making some changes to my website.  It won't be anything too drastic, just some better visibility using page tabs to direct to external websites and adding some more information about us.

That wraps up this full writing week, what will the next week bring?

Tri-Fold Brochure for Deby's Gluten Free Completed

On Sunday, I handed over my finished copy of their brochure.  They chose the color they wanted for the background and they had some minor changes.  But they changed the main focus of it.  They started with focusing on the Saturday fresh fare items exclusively.  Then they decided to think past the gluten free food fair and wanted less a focus on Saturday, and put more of their other products in.

I took a lot of copy off about Saturday and made room for their entree info on the left inside panel.  I made the bagel basket picture smaller on the center panel to make room for restaurant info.  Then I took everything off of the right panel and put on information about their breads and flour mixes.

I sent it back and they decided on a few more changes.  Today I handed over the final copy.  You can see how it turned out on my portfolio page.  It was a great learning experience and a big challenge, but I think it looks good.  The client is happy and that's the best news of all.

Update on Those Who Remember and Brochure writing

I'm on page 18 now with my short story.  I think I'm pretty close to the end, but it will definitely need another draft.  I've been taking down notes for places the story could be improved, I didn't want to go back too much and do some big changes until I have the first draft done.  It will need some more conflict and tenser moments, but the good part is I know what and where I'm going to add them in.

Work continues to progress nicely on the brochure.  I mentioned before how I read that printers suggest using the CMYK color option in Photoshop since it more accurately represents what they can print out.  I've been working on several options for two different colors.  I researched food and colors and found out that red and yellow are the most appetizing colors (hence why McDonald's uses them).  Also, green has a more organic vibe to it.  I used variations of yellow for one and green for another.  I think the yellow one looks better, but I always like to give options.  I spoke to a couple of printers and got some feedback on what they would need to print it out.  I think it's about done and I'll be e-mailing them the options and see what they think.

Continued Those Who Remember story and Brochure work

The story is coming along nicely now and I have 11 pages written.  One scene that I thought would be a few sentences ended up being a couple of pages.  It's funny sometimes when your writing takes off in a way you hadn't expected.

While I was waiting to see what design idea they liked for the business card sized ad, I worked a little more on the brochure.  I tweaked one of the images more, added some new copy, and began working a little on some background color ideas.

They chose the style they liked and picked out what information they wanted to have on it from the five different copy designs.  They wanted a cursive font to make it stand out more.  I thought cursive made it harder to read, but I gave them several options, including a couple that had a 'cursive feel' to it, but was more legible like block text.  They decided on the one that had a 'cursive feel' to it, modified the copy a little more, and I finished it yesterday.  You can find the final designs on my portfolio page.

New short story 'Those Who Remember' and Brochure work

I did a little work on my storm kid's book idea until I decided on what I was going to work on next.

The 'next' is a short story which I had the idea for many years ago.  I did a lot of work on the plot last year so I worked on the story structure, characters, and now I've begun writing it.  It's been a long time since I wrote a short story, and this is a special one to me since I thought it was a great idea from so long ago.  The first page was brutal, and took a couple of days to write, but I'm getting about a page a day now.

The brochure has been put on hold, they get to have a business card sized ad in a flyer, and it's due sooner.  I came up with five different variations focusing on different products and pictures.  I'm just waiting to hear back from them to see what design they liked and which products to focus on.  This will be added to my portfolio as well.