The Future!

~ CV Whitfield ~ Leave a comment

“Always in motion, the future is.” – Yoda, Empire Strikes Back.

We can sit and do nothing. We can sit and worry about it. Or we can get up, plant our feet on the ground, and take advantage of it.

This is my attitude about publishing. The future is rapidly approaching. The fate of storytelling as we know it could flip in on itself. Not only for novelists, prose writers, short fiction writers but also the comic writer and the comic artist.

Technology is now so advanced; anyone can write and publish a book with little or no fuss (and/or budget). Tools like Amazon or Lulu allow you to place your story online and sell it digitally to millions of Kindle readers or tablet users. WordPress is a brilliant platform for sharing creative content absolutely free!

Then there’s crowdfunding sites to “pre-sale” your product so you absolutely know the demand of your market (and reader)! Sorry big presses; this is the future. One needs to adapt or get out of the way. The time of worrying if a major publisher will accept your work (or story) is over. With the right enthusiasm and motivation, a storyteller can sell his work and bypass them altogether. And actually make a full-time career out of it; paying the bills and paying their taxes.

Right now, you can get lost in a very big sea of content and creators. But soon, millions of people will know where to look for it besides the local Barnes and Noble or Walmart. Comic book stores will become digital stores selling both digital and physical items. And publishers like DC and Marvel need to learn quickly how to stay relevant. Or by 2024, these guys will be only selling reprints of archive stuff or hoping another billion dollar movie can be made. I see Marvel (or DC) being a one room office with a staff of little just trying to protect their copyrights.

I am inspired by the future. And honestly, I still want a big publishing deal. Yet, I know it’s not the only option anymore. I challenge all of you to go to IndieGoGo or Amazon to look for independent stories. Support the next generation of writers and creators! Or be the next generation writer and put you stuff out there, any way you can!

Meet those that Inspire You

~ CV Whitfield ~ 1 Comment

So I’ve been reading books from this author for nearly 20 years. My first book of his I read in only a few days while working a tedious office job. I consumed it as it made my imagination go into over drive. Mainly because the topic was fantastical and wondrous – and in some ways, very possibly true.

It was Fingerprints of the Gods.

And the author is Graham Hancock!

Although he has dabbled in fiction, his books are mostly hypothetical pre-history investigations.

I find this stuff incredible fascinating and I like it as it questions orthodox understandings of our recorded history. I’ve always questioned many of today’s understood facts – say like the Big Bang theory. Like how do scientists even know this- they took some readings and guessed. Yeah, they don’t really know. Maybe Thanos snapped his fingers!?

Personally, I think it’s a bit of truth to something normally believed to be myth and fantasy. It’s a bit of science fiction but done in reverse. The superior tech was in the past not the future.

Mr. Hancock inspires my own creativity and fiction writing. And as a writer, one should meet and talk to those that inspire you. Let them know as it builds our small community and it scan truly be motivational to continue what we do. So go. Do it. Enjoy.

Here’s Graham Hancock signing my copy of America Before and like his other books will definitely be interesting and entertaining!

He works in mysterious ways….

~ CV Whitfield ~ Leave a comment

A beloved treasure of history and religion suffered major damage due to a fire on Monday. It was a heartbreaking day. I couldn’t function. I was stunned. I wrote about this yesterday.

As I watched the news and found other articles, I learned the current state of Notre Dame. It had entered a restoration process, the first major restoration in over a 100 years, to fix and repair the structure, ceiling and outside facades. The original restoration cost was going to be 100s of millions of euros/dollars. The church sought to get at least €20M – roughly $23M (thats million, folks) to start the process and begin work on restoring the Spire which was causing water damage to the timber roof. (This is the work that we see happening now) The cathedral struggled to find funding. In the end, the cathedral landed with roughly €6M (6.8M dollars). Nearly all of these coming from the Ministry of Culture. Since the French government owns the building, allowing the church to use it for free, I’m assuming this is why the Vatican wasn’t providing the money. The cathedral started a crowd funding program to raise the rest. The archdiocese launched Friends of Notre Dame to raise another €100M over the next ten years.

THEN! FIRE erupted from the Spire and the roof on Monday! We watched in horror as flames reached toward the sky. And as I wrote yesterday, I was amazed to see that most of the church survived. Some of the priceless windows and statues had survived. Yes, the roof was gone. Yes, there is massive water damage to furniture and floors. Amazingly, most of the vaulted ceiling survived as well. Now my point:

Remember when Norte Dame couldn’t find the money it needed to do the restoration? The price tag to fix it was maybe €150M? They were lucky to get €6M! Well, in the last 2 days, French Billionaires, Video Game Developers, French Government and citizens of the world have pledged over €500M! To rebuild! The generosity is amazing. Yet, it took a tragic and devastating fire to bring attention to a marvel of architecture and religious art in need of repairs. One of the donors, the French Government has pledged €20M – this was the original request yet settled on 6M! Yet now the government finds the funding. The new funding also begs questions of why did we let the building get this state? Why didn’t the Billionaires of the country support it prior to the fire? Was it done on purpose? Was it an accident?

Regardless…. one has to wonder, was it a message from God. Was this Devine intervention? I honestly have to place this in the category of:

HE works in mysterious ways….