Another birthday has come and gone—this process only seems to accelerate with each passing year. Farewell roaring twenties, hello [blank to be filled in] thirties. I can’t say that passing into another decade has been all that dramatic. Limited pyrotechnics. Nothing jumped out of a cake. Although, I’ve jumped into about 9.8 thousand cakes since the 1st of the Month….But, I’m big on the symbolic and the nostalgic (I’m a straight up sap) so I do certainly appreciate the event and those (close friends and family) that were there to share it and those that could not be around—I appreciate their cheer and digital, phoned-in, and smoke-signaled sentiments a whole lot, too.

I’m amazed and satisfied to be where I am at this point in my life. I’ve got an incredible family and amazing friends. I have stumbled into an unlikely and satisfying career. I have evolved. I can say that with conviction. I’m actively engaged in all the things I have ever been passionate about and I’m discovering new passions. The more I experience in this lifetime, the more I want to experience—certainly, not a bad way to live. I have learned to relax and enjoy life.

I have made a solemn promise to myself to get back out on the stage again. The Bad Habit will be resurrecting in one for or another and I will make my music a real priority. I feel this is an opportunity to start fresh but seasoned.

I have a book (Crescent) coming into print this year. I have written my first screenplay. I’ve got more podcasts planned—a novel, a novella, and who knows what else. I’ve got books to write. Songs to record.

And above all—I get to watch my beautiful daughter grow and experience the world. I get to share her firsts and see things as entirely new and novel through her eyes. There is nothing better than this and, truly, she frames my existence and fills it with wonder and light.

I’m a lucky man.

I’ve been doing some tinkering here PhilRossi.net and on ReverbNation today. It’s got me thinking. It’s a challenge to maintain a “web presence” and I wholly salute those who put forth Herculean efforts (JC Hutchins and Scott Sigler, in particular). From a personal stand point, I want to give you, the listeners, a reason to keep coming back—for that I need to be constantly working on new material. I want to reach out to new people—that requires a different sort of effort. Part of that effort is continually getting my name out there. In a nutshell that involves interviews, emails, advertising, and keeping that word-of-mouth machine on fire. I’m fortunate to have some really incredible listeners who do one hell of a job spreading the word. Another part of that effort is creating a “dynamic web space.” I’ll be perfectly honest—from a technical standpoint–it can be a struggle dealing with the whole web-monster. Uploading, downloading, formatting, web-i-fying. Editing podcasts. Tagging mp3s. I’m often floored by the amount of time I spend on the nuts-and-bolts end of things. It’s not that I don’t think that spending that time is worthwhile—it’s how I deliver this content. Sometimes, I just wish these tasks did themselves.

That’s right, folks–best selling author, Scott “Soup Bone” Sigler invited me to his ‘hood to have a little fun.  You can hear the result here:

 Scott Sigler.com

You’ve waited a long time for this…well…at long last….you can now have one more piece of mail in your box.

I had a bad case of I thought I had written and posted a post only to discover that there wasn’t any post written by me. Or anyone else for that matter. What an empty feeling—I’m trying to remedy that by rambling a little bit this Friday morning. I’m gonna fill that void. I put the finishing touches on the Eden manuscript this past week. I had the joy of working through some insightful and fantastic suggestions from my first (and first-time) reader (thank you Lindsay!). The feedback I received enabled me to breathe a lot more life into the characters of Eden and story itself . I’d hazard to say that Eden is ready for the microphone.

Editing—the process can be a bitch. There’s no kissing on the first date. It can seem endless. Thank god you like the movie—or at least, you did the first two passes. But, seriously, editing is a privilege and with some (a mother load) patience, it can be rewarding as hell. I find an easy parallel to editing process and in music recording setting. I start with a coupe raw tracks (acoustic guitar and vocals, for example)—the essence of the arrangement that’s been rattling around your head. I begin to add parts. Maybe, in the process of adding parts, I hear things I hadn’t heard the first go around. The song grows before my eyes and hears. I’m into this. Now, let’s say I’ve got a track that is about 85% finished—teasing out the extra 15% to really make things shine—to get it right, or as close to being right as you can—is a real feel good sort of thing. I usually will step away at that point and come back with some fresh ears.

How many times do I go over a manuscript? I’ll put it this way—I’ll rewrite as many times as I feel are needed, *not* exceeding three times prior to delivery to a first reader. At some point, you’ve got to step away and let it go. First-reader delivery is a great time do to that. Hand that sucker off and write some short stories, play with a little riff-writing, up your time spent reading. When that draft comes back, it’s your final go at making things really shine. Surely, everyone does things differently—but, I think the contanst can be read as a little patience goes a long way to making each revision count. Don’t fall into the trap of making each potential revised draft a safety net. As in saying, “Oh, well, I’ll get it perfect in rewrite numero dos. I can take it easy on this first rewrite.” Approach each rewrite like it were your last chance to get things right.

This post is not intended to be a creative writing lesson. Take it with a grain of salt. If you’re doing something that works for you, that sends you to bed satisfied and a little rubbery, well, keep it up, muchacho.

If you don’t write and don’t care about the process…at least you must like to read.

Happy Friday.

Comments? Forums can be found: http://www.thephilrossiexperience.com/smf

Well. I find it hard to believe that we’re in the second week of October. Pretty, wholly, and totally astounding. 2008 has been rattling by like a freight train through open country. I have been considering firing up this blog in some way shape or form for a long time. I really want to keep better connected to all of you. To that end–stories aside, novels aside, Crescent sequels aside–what would, as a reader, listener, and friend like to see as content? I’ve got some rough ideas myself as to what I’d like to put up here. But, really, I want to meet *your* needs–as far as I can. Word press offers a nice interface and I think it wouldn’t murder anyone if I took 10 minutes a week to babble.

So–that being said. How about a quick run down of everything I’ve got going in the mix and what you can look forward to in 08/09 and beyond.

What’s left in 08?
Eden: A Novella is now in the final stages of manuscript prep. First reader comments are going in (I’ve thrown a new first reader into the mix and she’s provided some fantastic, new insights on my writing)

Notes from the Vault: Will continue rolling on There are, or will be as of Thursday, six stories left to tell.

Flood: This is musica, a new single, and will be released in the next couple of weeks as a free download.
2009 and beyond
Harvey–A Novel: Currently, prepping this thick stack of pages for my first readers. Hoping it will hit the air waves when it’s cold out and you’re all cooped up.

Crescent in Print from Dragon Moon Press: Date is set yet, but this will be happening in 2009

I’ve got a lot else going in the mix, too. I’m about halfway through writing a new novel–this one is more thriller/suspense than straight up horror or sci fi. It’s good to try new things. I’ve got two more manuscripts collecting dust and waiting a rewrite. The Crescent sequel is just about ready to commence and will likely be the next writing project.

2009 will undoubtedly bring more new music, too.

So, that’s the state of things. I’m leaving a lot out, but I’ve exceeded my 10 minute time limit. Inter alia, I’ll be playing live music in the real world and in Second Life. Friends of mine–by now you’ve come to expect me falling off the face of the planet for weeks and months at the time. It’s not for lack of love. Wrestling with the muses and the demons is a full time job.

In closing, don’t expect literary brilliance from these blogs. Entries will be stream of mind. You can expect at least something once a week. Oh, and I’m disabling WP comments because of spam attacks and no desire for comment curation. **I have set up a thread in the forums if you want to discuss anything I toss up here. And that’s it.

**Forums can be found: http://www.thephilrossiexperience.com/smf

i talk about…absolutely nothign.

 

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Online and for sale (via SNOCAP). Coming soon to iTunes and CDBaby (for a hardcopy). There is a substantial and lengthy process to get musica into iTunes, but that process has begun (and is now outta my hands).

Get SPENT here:  Music Page 

The first time–it can be painful, yes, but rewarding. No, the video doesn’t end short. Well, technically it does. But you get a nice freeze of an awkard face. Wakka wakka!

Go worship on Matt Wallace. Buy his book or he’ll do terrible things to you.

Subscribe to this awesome video journal.

 

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