Wonder Woman: a love letter to my childhood

DISCLAIMER: I just found this post in my draft folder. It's a little out of date, but I think it's worth sharing.

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I just got out of the theater, where I saw Wonder Woman for the first time. On the big screen that is, as the star of her own movie, I mean.

I'm a little drained, emotionally, as I usually am after a big movie. But I have some thoughts I need to share.

I'm a fan of anything super hero related. When I was young and first got into comics, I imagined movies bringing my favorite characters to life, and I couldn't wait.

As those movies started appearing, I hit the theater with an open mind and my heart on my sleeve. I loved them, almost every one. I'll admit I had to forgive things here and there—little things, in some movies, entire plot lines in others—but I always found the good in them and felt grateful that my heroes were coming to life in some way. I even found positive things to say to say about Batman V Superman because I want so desperately to love these movies. I'll forgive a lot to see the characters who meant so much to my childhood, and who mean so much more now that I'm an adult and fighting the lack of belief that can weigh us down, thanks to the weight of age and years of reality.

Then along came Wonder Wonder.

This movie should have been made many, many years ago. Wonder Woman was one of the originals, an anchor of DC's lineup of stars, one of the oldest of a long and loved pantheon of heroes. Batman and Superman, the other most recognizable DC heroes, have each had several different versions of their own movies, as the studios tried time and again to get it just right. Sometimes they hit pretty close to the mark, sometimes not so much, but every time they made money, so they kept trying.

If I'm being honest with myself, I know that the reason they never gave Wonder Woman a shot had more than a little to do with her gender. Big-budget Hollywood can be sexist at times. I know, shocking. But I'd rather believe the reason they waited until now was because they wanted to make sure they'd made all the mistakes and gotten all the trial and error out of the way on the DC boys. They wanted to make sure that when they finally brought Wonder Woman to the big screen, she'd be everything her her fans wanted, and more.

I can honestly say, wholeheartedly, that it was worth the wait.

For the first time, I don't have to forgive anything, not a cheesy line, not a strange costume, not a single blessed thing. This movie is everything I've ever wanted from a super hero movie. It is perfect.

If you don't know a lot about Wonder Woman, go see this movie and fall in love for the first time. If you're a diehard fan, go try your best to hold back your tears of joy. For a minute. Then let go and let them flow. You've been waiting all these years, after all. For a couple hours, let the kid you used to be watch a wish come true. Witness the wonder of a hero who sees the best in all of us, a hero who loves the world no matter how dark and ugly it gets. A hero who brings hope when we need it most.

We could all use hope right now. And we could all stand to remember what it felt like to be a kid.

Learning from the masters

I hit the turbo button on my imagination a few days ago, and I'm holding it down, despite Dr. Lazarus's advice to the contrary.

What got me fired up? I'm glad I asked. I'll tell you all about it.

I'm sure you've seen those ads for Master Class courses floating around. You know, the ones where you pay a nominal fee and get access video courses by a celebrity in some field. As you probably also know, there's one where James Patterson teaches writing. Yep, the James Patterson who's sold more copies than the bible. Well, not really, but he's up there.

I'd been suffering a motivation slump for a few months, and work on book three of the Gateway Series had all but stalled. Then I decided to part with a little hard-earned cash and take the JP course.

Best thing I could have done.

Just watching the intro video sent my motivation and imagination into overdrive, and not just on my current book. For the course, you come up with some new book ideas, and it being a JP course, you're encouraged to work up a mystery or thriller concept.

Like a good little student, I did just that. I never thought I'd write mystery or thriller books, but a couple of the ideas I worked up got me so fired up, I not only started fleshing those out, but I also decided to go back and rework the outline for Children of Destiny.

Best possible outcome.

What does all this mean? Well, it means Children of Destiny is back on track thanks to a new schedule that has me writing every day around my full-time gig. And it means that some day in the not too distant future, I'll be pitching some more mainstream fiction to agents publishers.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even earn a spot at Richard Castle's poker table some day. A kid can dream.

If you haven't already picked up on my feelings about the course, let me say outright that I highly recommend it. In the JP writing course, you won't learn anything you haven't already heard if you've studied creative writing. But instead of hearing a litany of concepts and methods that should work, you'll hear exactly what does work for the world's top selling author. To me that's priceless.

Distraction...but a worthwhile one

Bad news and good news.

I'll give you the bad news first because...well, that's what I prefer. I like to finish strong, and on a positive note.

The bad news:
I had a bit of a hiatus from work on book three. For a few weeks, I had my mind focused elsewhere. My imagination was fixed on a time long ago, and a galaxy far, far away.

Thanks to a lovely friend, I got an opportunity for which I'll forever be grateful. I got a chance to work with a franchise that's been inspiring me my whole life. Yep, I'm talking about Star Wars. Believe it or not, I got a chance to adapt Episode VII into a personalized children's book.

This great company called Ortega Publishing makes these personalized books, and they got into a bit of a bind and needed a writer who knew Star Wars to adapt The Force Awakens in a hurry. I had to work quickly, the full manuscript in just a couple of days, but I felt like a kid on Christmas morning the whole time. Bouncing manuscripts back and forth with Lucasfilm was a dream come true.

The good news:
You can order a personalized copy for the kids in your life very soon. Just follow the link above. You can order regular size, large, or large hardback, and put a kid you love right into the story.

Also, I'm working on Children of Destiny again, and I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Stay tuned.

Paperback fans

Some people can't get behind the ebook trend. They like to see their books on real shelves, hold them in their hands, smell real ink on real paper.

I can't fault those people. I make sure to buy paper copies of my favorites too. There's nothing like picking up a book that touched you years ago and feeling that tingle of emotion start up again.

Speaking of which, you can order this one through Createspace right now, and on Amazon in a few days. Enjoy.

Children of Evolution is live!

OK, so maybe a day earlier than advertised. The ebook of Children of Evolution is available now on Amazon.

Release date

Thank you, everyone, for your patience. This week, we reward it. 

By Thursday, Children of Evolution will be live on Amazon for you to download and read like there's no tomorrow. So clear your calendars. 

The paperback version is in the works and will follow shortly. I'll keep you posted.

A little eye candy

Itching for book two to hit the shelves? Me too. Hang in there. Children of Evolution is currently in edit, and we're targeting an October release.

Need something to tide you over? Here's a peek at the cover, newly arrived from Indie Designz.

Stay tuned. More to come.