What success is to me

 

  With Book 2 just around the corner I thought a lot about success means in terms of the books and my writing? 

  Way back I never thought my writing would even be what it is now, that’s already a success and it isn’t lost on me. From an unemployed, depressed, homebody to close to having released 3 books released.  

  Is success millions of dollars? Movie deals and Hollywood? Or is it doing press tours and book signings? Could it be none of that? 

  At the very least I just want my writing to reach people. The story I’ve told in the HWR series is one that is more than a zombie apocalypse. I have my thoughts about it but the thing that everyone who has read it tell me it’s about way more than zombies and they find themselves lost in the story and connected to a character. 

  To me that’s success! I want to build on that. The best thing (in my opinion) a writer can hear is that you connected to the story and a particular character. That is the biggest compliment you can give. Every time I talk to a reader about the book I ask “who’s your favorite character?” To watch them light up is the best feeling. 

  Sure would it be cool to be on the way to a movie set where they are shooting HWR? Heck yeah! However I just want people to give me and my writing a chance. To me that’s the success I want right now, if the story is good the rest will take care if itself but without people taking the chance on reading it I don’t stand a chance. 

  Pride and imagination tell you as a kid “one day I’m gonna be famous.” That may happen for some of us but I’ve always dreamed of just getting a chance to make it doing whatever I felt I was good at. -MH 

See My World

   I hope those who have been following along have learned something about the process or myself. Thank you for continuing to come back! 

   Art? Why did I decide to add art throughout the books? Why did I choose these scenes to become art? How do I pick an artist? 

   First thing I knew I wanted to do after I decided to turn my writing in to a real book was it had to have art throughout. When I was in school reading and staying focused on reading was hard. I have dyslexia and it would take longer to read and feeling different and sometimes stupid made reading a dread. I’d use a blank paper to underline the line I was reading to make it easier to keep my place in the sea of letters and words. It helped so much (I still do this when I’m having trouble). My favorite thing was books that would have pictures randomly through the book, seeing them when first thumbing through was exciting. The wondering what they meant to the story, or how they play a roll in what’s to come. I knew that I wanted to incorporate that into my book(s). 

   Why did I choose the scenes to become the art? This was probably both the easiest and hardest thing about getting this book done. As the writer I see the world as clear as one can, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I can paint that picture in words the best way possible. I know, I know I’m the writer that’s my job, but there is a fine line between too much and not enough detail. In my opinion it is my job to give you enough to build the world but leave enough room for you to use your imagination to finish it out. My hope was that if I was to read this story back I’d see the world differently than I had writing it and these pictures would create a cohesion between the writing and my imagination. The scenes that made it into art are ones that had a power to them. They had to speak to me on a deeper level where I had almost no question what I was seeing. As a reader you should hopefully have the same feeling, telling your imagination “Yes, you see the world clearly.” Reinforcing you are inside this world. 

   The last puzzle piece is getting someone who I can get to see the world the way I do. The artist has to be willing to be told how things look not take what they feel the way the world looks. I like to grab an inspiration image to help them have a starting place. Form there we work out the details, and when we both saw the same thing you end up with pictures like the hospital in HWR or the Zeek face. Those are probably my two favorite because they had that perfect balance of the important moment in the story and well executed art. That brings this story to life in a way that hopefully pulls the reader even deeper into the book. 

  BONUS! 

   A tidbit of information about this next book and artist. Jess Reese is putting in a ton of work to bring All That Comes After to life. When I was searching for an artist I didn’t connect with the other artists the way I felt would best serve the book(s) and that’s not a good way to start. I’ve known Jess for a while and that beings a trust before we ever got to the point of asking her to work on this project. Learning she had a background in art having gone to school for it, I always kept it in the back of my mind. When I first floated the idea to her I had to kind of convince her to read book one. Flash forward and she liked the story, the world and the characters, that sealed it. Asking her to show me what she could do in the style I needed I was blown away by what she was able to do with no real direction. I asked her to say something about the next book, 

  “ This series has redefined what I thought zombie books were. Through the action and zombies you will find a lot humanity. The challenges our characters face in ‘All That Comes After’ are very relatable, and it makes it hard to put the book down.” 

  I think this is probably the most interesting thing I’ve heard about the HWR series. She isn’t the first to say this and even though I set out to write my take on a zombie apocalypse I think maybe I created something more...-MH

Why a zombie virus?

 

  So we’ve talked about why I write, what got me passionate about writing, how I name and create a character, and what I hope readers get out of my writing. So why a Zombie Apocalypse?

  Was it because at the time Zombies were so in? Or maybe because I just love them so much? What about AMC’s The Walking Dead? Those may have played a part into why I considered it. In reality it was my nightmares. 

  That’s right my nightmares. Wake up, can’t go back to sleep, turn the tv on to something funny, NIGHTMARES! 

   By now you can probably tell my mind is a crazy place. We all deal with our own battles, some fight demons some fight habits. My nightmares... the ones that terrify me often revolve around a zombie outbreak. 

  

  I can feel an intense heat on my back and I know it’s coming and I can’t stop it. My sleep has a hold of me and this dream is about to pull me so deep I’m not sure if it is real or not. I have really bad dreams and often don’t sleep more than 3-5 hours a night on a regular basis. Yeah my mostly high energy self only sleeps 4 hours. Back to the dreams, back when HWR was just an idea I was having at least 3 nightmares a week always the same. My friends and/or family and I were running for our lives for the zombies. 

  In these dreams just like a zombie apocalypse I’d lose people and in super graphic ways sometimes even the smell at times. I’d lose everyone till it was just me and hundreds of zombies around me. I know what your thinking “here is my badass moment” nope I’d fight and lose every time. I could feel them grabbing me and then...

BLACKNESS....

I’d wake up. My back on fire my mind jacked. That world was so real. I’d feel bad because I thought I’d have woken up my sleeping wife. These dreams were so intense I could remember them in vivid detail the next day.

  So how does that turn into a book that doesn’t reflect my reality? What I learned after trying to figure out what my dreams meant, I have a savior complex. Rooted so deep that I didn’t even realize it, I learned that the zombies represented the problems I try and save everyone from. I had to face that I couldn’t save them, and trying to would result in getting killed myself. So I decided to do something for me to help keep me engaged in something other than my thoughts. What better way to fight dream zombies than with a group of people I create to battle them? 

  It sounds so silly but writing kind of saved my life in a time when even my dreams were out to kill me. Now here we are. So I’d say don’t keep those nightmares in, let them out and see what they really mean so you can find a way to battle them when you’re awake and rest a bit easier. -MH

Note: the picture at the top of this blog is work from the artist working on Book 2. Hope you are just as excited to see Miss Jess Reese bring the next book to life! 

Thank you

  This is the 10th blog post! So far I’ve had 150 views. That may not seem like a big number in today’s world of millions of followers and influencers... but to me that’s 150 times my words may have reached someone. For that I want to say thank you! 

  When I started this whole writing thing (what seems like a billion years ago) I set out to just write and pass the time. Never thinking people would actually see or like my work. Now that I see how it’s grown I’m trying to really take in how it feels to have your support. 

  I truly appreciate everyone of you who read this, that share or comment on posts. I don’t know if you realize just how important that is to a creator. I’ll tell you it’s such a good feeling, just sharing or liking a post is as close as a creative person gets to accepting their worth. 

  I love seeing my friends succeed and I love supporting them. I’ve been just where they are, the nerves, the doubt, the fear of failure. To overcome all of that and put yourself out there and show your craft is truly amazing. 

  Passionate people can make dreams come true but it takes help from the people around them and their support. I can’t stress that part enough. I want to show how much I care by actually showing people how much I care. To the people that do the same your friends are lucky to have you.

  I love everyone who has been there to help me or read something that I wrote, you truly make my dreams come true. My success if any is because of you. Keep it up. Thank you so much! -MH