2011: The Year That Was (Part Three)

The middle of the year was one of quiet transition.  I was uncertain of just about everything.  The novel took a backseat to my health, and the release date of Stage One was only a minor concern.  It was at this point that I began to doubt my need to get Monarch published.  I had been writing it for over a year, but who would miss the story if I were to stop writing it?

No one but myself.

Thankfully, by August the horizon came back into view.  The world became tolerable once more.  I was ready to begin the final push of Egg out into the world.  First, I had to deal with the pesky November writer's conference.  

My experience with the November conference can best be described as a helpful distraction.  I had to change the release date of  Egg.  I should have done so earlier when I was in the midst of physical therapy, but I was distracted.  It was changed from 11/11/11 to 12/22/11.  I didn't change the date until October and felt horrible for having to do so.  The last thing I wanted to do was get people's hopes up and dash them.  I heard some grumbling but I made the change out of respect to the agents I was to meet at the conference.

Once the conference was over, I was actually feeling pretty good.  Healthier than I had been in almost a year. I had just finished a massive rewrite and was geared up for the homestretch.  In truth, the story benefited from  running the gauntlet in the lead up to the conference.  It had been a shinning beacon for months and my preparation for it had me ready for anything.  Hearing the news from eight respected agents that self-publishing eBooks is a viable way to break into publishing was validation for the last year and a half of work.  I was ready to roll.

After one last polish, I was ready to begin the roll out of Monarch: Egg.  First was the Chapter Preview, which was an opportunity for me to not only say thank you  to those who purchased during the pre-sale, but also to get feedback and test the Amazon KDP system for the December release.

Thanksgiving was a nervous time for me in Savannah.  The KDP system was slow to update because of the holidays, yet ultimately did update a week later.  Lesson learned as December came into sight.

I must thank SaraBeth Huntley and Scott Padgett for their efforts.  It is with their help, and Amazon, that the rest of the year has unfolded beautifully.

The release of Monarch: Egg went as smoothly as I could have hoped.  Except for having to give technical advice to people trying to get the Kindle App on their electronic device.  If it was perfect it wouldn't be real, right?  Nothing has been perfect this year, so why end it that way.  I can joke about it today on the last day of the year, but I wasn't laughing in May.  Time is slipping away and I am aware how fragile we all are.  I am thankful for the lessons learned this year and look forward to next year.  Long live 2011!

Tomorrow is the first day of 2012.  This should be interesting.  Let's see what it brings.

Happy New Year!!

-Aaron Pitters

2011: The Year That Was (Part Two)

January 2011 arrived with snow and ice.  It was downright frigid.  January seems to be the time of year I go into assessment and betterment mode.  I take account of what is going on around me and then make adjustments where I see fit. It's like righting the course by the North Star while at sea .  I take classes, do extensive research and read, read , read.  This past January began like others until I sustained an injury.

It happened in late January.  A pinch in my neck.  Numbness in my fingers.  It was painful but I pushed on without treatment.  Stupid!

For the next few months, I labored through typing as I made gradual progress on the rewrite.  Periods of Ice and Heat became my daily routine.  Ibuprofen my fiendish friend.  The pace was slow but I was making progress.  My confidence was coming back and I set a release date for Stage One:  July 1st.

February became March, which quickly became April, and then May arrived.  It was in May that I suffered another setback.  I woke up in agony as thunderbolts of pain shot through the back of my neck.  I couldn't work to support myself and the rewrite ground to a halt.

To be continued tomorrow... 

2011: The Year That Was (Part One)

Hard to believe 2012 is almost here.  I have mixed feelings looking back over the year of 2011.  As I get older, I try and stay optimistic because people have always seemed to think I'm a pessimist or a cynic.

I prefer to call myself a realist.  Just like an avid football enthusiast might question the effective return of Peyton Manning, I question the durasticity (duration of elasticity) of the "norm" in society and personal human interactions due to a myriad of possible opposing influences that can drastically affect the life of an individual, their family, as well as a society.  Some things shake but can not destroy our normal way of living.  Other times things are changed so dramatically that a new "norm" is created and the way things were is cast to memory.

What does that all have to do with 2011?  

Everything!

At the start of 2011 I was just beginning the rewrite of my four-staged novel Monarch.  I was feeling good.  I had finished the first draft in November 2010, four months after I began in early July.  My pride was showing and my confidence was high.  With how easy it had been to finish the 1st draft, I figured the rewrite would go just as smoothly.

I was wrong.

To be continued tomorrow...

The Two-Day Load up your Electronic Device for Free Sale

Beginning tomorrow, I would like to give everyone with an interest a chance to take part in the Four Stage procession of Monarch through out 2012.  For two days, 12/27 and 12/28, anyone who wants to ride the fright train with Ginger Reed and her family as 12/21/2012 quickly draws near can do so for FREE.

This will be all four stages of the novel!

Stage One is available now and Stage Two is due for release in Spring.  You will receive an e-mail from Amazon at the time of Stage Two, Three and Four's release.

The story of survival in literature is tried and true, but the uncertain foreboding of 12/21/2012 and how it relates to us on a human level, with our deficiencies and strengths, is what makes Monarch unique.  Ginger has her ways of dealing with an uncertain future.  How will you? 

This is a unique offer only through Amazon and can not be found anywhere else.

Load your new Kindle Fire with this Apocalyptic Butterfly.

Monarch available for Free on Amazon!

Read the Preview  

Happy Holidays!


-Aaron Pitters

Monarch: Egg is now Available

The wait is over.  It's zero hour for Monarch: Egg.  For those of you who were waiting for it's release, your wait is over.  You may purchase the story now.

For those who have already purchased their copy I have good and not so good news.  The not so good news is that Amazon has yet to send out email notifications to those who have purchased prior to today.

Those who have purchased since I last did an update will have to wait for Amazon to contact you.  My apologies.  Hopefully those e-mails will be forthcoming over the next 24 hours.

The Good news is that if you (my loyal readers) received an update from Amazon for the preview back at the first of the month, you should be able to read Egg within minutes.  Simply reply "yes" once again to the same email message you received in early December and all one hundred plus pages of Egg should soon be on your Kindle or Kindle application. I tried this today just to see if it worked.  Sure enough, it did.  It felt like I was hacking my own book, but it replaced it almost instantaneously.

What I did was log on to Amazon and then go to my Kindle Application on my computer.  I "right-clicked" on my copy of Monarch in my Kindle Library and then clicked on "Remove From Device."  By doing this it removes the current version.  At the same time, at the bottom of the page a transparent version of the book reappears.  Only this time it has the symbol of an "arrow descending from a cloud."  This is the version stored online.  If things have been updated, once you click on the transparent book cover you should then have Stage One in your Kindle.

Hopefully by the release of Stage Two the bugs will be worked out of the system. Again my apologies if you have to wait.

Regardless of the kinks in this process, Monarch: Egg is ready for consumption just in time for Christmas.   I hope you enjoy it.  There are only 365 days left until 12/21/2012.

Thanks for reading.

-aap

 Monarch: Egg (Only $0.99)
Monarch  (Also available for $0.99 only through the Holidays)

One Week Until The Release Of Monarch: Egg

Seven days and counting until the first of four stages in my novel Monarch is released upon the world.  Holy Christmas! am I excited about this.  This is hardly a finish line, but it is a first step.

For those of you who read this and have not purchased either Monarch: Egg or Monarch (all four stages, which will be updated upon the release of each subsequent stage), no sweat.  Amazon is running them both at discounted prices.  Egg is available for FREE through tomorrow, and all four stages are available for only $0.99 for a limited time.

Believe it or not I have had my fair share of doubts along the way. As an actor out in Los Angeles that "choice" role eluded me.  As a screenwriter I wrote stories that contained the type of roles I had always dreamed of portraying, and finally had the opportunity to do so in the handful of short films I wrote, produced, directed, edited and starred in.  Talk about stress, try wearing all those hats.  That was all GREAT experience, but proved too time consuming and fruitless to continue.

The dawn of the eBook opened my eyes, and the inevitable next step was writing Fiction. All of my previous experience has helped shape the way I work in crafting short stories and now with Monarch.  But it was undoubtedly the writing of screenplays with multiple stories around a central story that best prepared me for writing this novel.

Last night, over a cup of coffee, I was taking account of all my written work over the past twenty years.  I realized that over half of the screenplays that I have written are multi-storied like Pulp Fiction or Crash.  Ironically enough, it was the writing of all those stories that best prepared me for releasing Monarch in four stages.  While there are those who are diehard paper-bound book readers, I love eBooks.   It is because of the eBook format that I wrote Monarch.

My next book will also start off as an eBook.  I don't want to talk about it too much before Monarch is even out, but I will say that it is my favorite screenplay I have ever written and it has multiple stories that will be released in several parts.  But first things first.  In seven days you can start the journey with Ginger Reed and the rest of humanity as we count down the hours to 12/21/2012.

-aap

A Holiday Gift

Happy Holidays Everyone!

To help you get into the spirit of the season, I am giving away
Monarch: Egg for FREE.  That's right, for absolutely no money.  In addition, I have also lowered the price on all four stages to just $0.99.  Though hurry over to Amazon, because these deals will only last until Friday.

Merry Christmas!

-Aaron Pitters

A Year's Worth of Entertainment

Two weeks until the release of Monarch.  Huzzah!

Yes, this is me pimping my book... again.  Hey, if I don't, who will?  No one.  So if you’re curious to know more, I’ll try and make this shameless self-promotion as brief and painless as possible.

Who else is going to offer you a year's worth of Entertainment for $2.99?  Well, what about $.99?  

True, there may be others.  But, how many of them will scare you out of your wits and tug on your heartstrings? 

A few, you say.  I suppose that may be true as well. 

Will any other story parallel what you, me and 7 billion others will be going through as we all countdown to 12/21/2012 not knowing what, if anything might happen? 

Maybe.

Will any of them release in four stages over the next twelve months, and will each stage be patterned after the lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly? 

Not likely.        

Will you be transformed by the end?

Anything is possible. 

Will all of the aforementioned happen in one story—other than Monarch—over the next twelve months?

No.

However, it will if you decide to take the journey with Ginger Reed and her family. 

For $2.99 (no, make that$.99), you will have all four stages delivered to your Kindle or Kindle Application on the release dates listed below.   

  

December 22, 2011 – Stage One

March 20, 2012 (Tentative Date) – Stage Two

June 20, 2012 (Tentative Date) – Stage Three

September 22, 2012 (Tentative Date) – Stage Four   

Interested or want to know more?

-aap

Finally!

Finally!  All those who purchased a copy of Monarch before Thanksgiving should have now received an email from Amazon.  Just respond "yes" and within two hours all of your Kindle devices or applications should have the "Chapter Preview" update.  Sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy it.

For those of you who are curious to read the "Chapter Preview," but unsure whether or not you want to shell out any cheese to do so, I got your back.  Click the link below and get a sneak peak at Monarch:Egg.    Only three more weeks until its release.  If you like what you read, I hope you'll consider purchasing a year’s worth of entertainment for just $2.99 and join Ginger Reed in anticipation of December 21, 2012.

-aap