As you have perhaps noticed, my official website now has a new design and layout; shorter header, wider content, etc. The main new stuff is the front page, which I’m still working on a bit to get out some of the bizarre busyness, though I suppose it could also serve as a good comparison to my life at the moment. I can’t wait until summer break, and those glorious months of time to actually get caught up on things. My to-do list has been monstrous and disorganized lately, as displayed in this nifty little illustration:

Don’t ask  me why summer causes my life to turn into something resembling modern art, but at least it’s more organized than the beastly thing to the left.

The redesign of the site is part of my new self-help program to get me to blog here more often than in recent months. Of course, to blog here something interesting and epic has to happen: after March 6, I have a feeling there’s going to be lots more of those types of things going on, since stuff will really get moving for the book. On March 14, I’m officially getting my author photos done by a professional, and I’ll be posting the results of that soon after as well!

FYI to all, I’ve got a live BlogTV show coming up this Saturday (Feb. 28) at 7PM CST on my channel. These shows are always loads of fun — they’re mostly centered around my TwilightGuy readers, which is why I haven’t announced them here, though as the slow transition goes into getting ready for the book, there will be loads of shows focusing on the release and news (perhaps one on the fateful and upcoming March 3, which will be exactly 6 years after I first started the book!).

Planning ahead for this Fall, I had an idea for a possible release party for The Farfield Curse as a live BlogTV show (one of those things I’ll be discussing at the publisher’s meeting in Chicago next week) which would mean anyone from any country could attend. Plus, having it online would mean I get to avoid the inevitable event of showing up at a bookstore with a table of my books, a smile, and a signing Sharpie; only to have no one but the store manager and my great-aunt Tootsie show up, my Sharpie go dry and unused, and my smile to slowly melt into a morbid frown, as I stare blankly ahead at what I suddenly envision as the long and tortuous future of the New Author In Town.

Not My Aunt Tootsie

Nightmarish happenings aside, I can confirm certain going-ons with The Farfield Curse, namely that I have received a number of pencil sketches from the illustrator, one of which will become the cover of the book in nary a few months (done in full color, of course, as our secret illustrator has won awards for I might add). Also, I have gotten word that pre-orders of the book could start as early as May/June. Exciting? MUCH.

Other exciting news: TwilightGuy.com just passed 3 million hits last week, around the same time my Youtube videos passed 2 million combined views. I love the word million, especially when referring to such things as web hits/views/copies sold, etc 

And, if you haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, you should do it before something awful happens and you miss your chance. Honestly one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

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Posted in Bran Hambric, College, TwilightGuy
Tags: Aunt Tootsie, The Farfield Curse, Writing

This morning, I awoke to my horror to find this:

My dear, dear friend. Dearest filing cabinet. The one that stuck with me through years of writing, and hundreds of pages stuffed in its drawers. The one with at least a dozen nails holding together its frame left weak from my years of abuse. The one who finally collapsed due to being overstuffed with writing.

One might ask: how could you be such a monster, Kaleb? How, when this dear cabinet has done nothing but serve you through three homes, from Austin to Dallas, traversing the distance to be at your service. How could you just let it sit there in shambles, its own insides spilling out?

BECAUSE THIS FILING CABINET IS A BLOODY MENACE.

Do not fall for its tricks of innocence. The moment I approached this fiendish piece of furniture with my hammer and nails and intentions of repairing its broken parts, it turned on me in the most vicious of manners. Suddenly, this seemingly inanimate filing cabinet became a monstrous beast, dropping its heaviest pieces right upon my uncovered toes.

Keep in mind this is early in the morning, in the dark, whilst I am still groggy from lack of sleep. Ignoring my intention of helping mend the cabinets back together, this beastly thing fell to pieces, the metal parts of which bruised my feet and caused me to howl. Yes, howl. And kick. Yes kick. And as kicking goes, when you are in close proximity to an unmovable object (say, a filing cabinet) your toes collide with said object, and cause much pain.

My reaction following said injuries

Still, this filing cabinet has served me well for the past two years; but as the slogan goes, it is time for a change! I have been shopping Amazon.com this week for a new one, as is my custom; only to discover that shipping a filing cabinet is not cheap. Besides, I am an overly sentimental person. I have kept everything from pencils I used to draft my book to rejection letters in which my title is spelled wrong. So, don’t be surprised if I keep this old thing’s pieces in a box somewhere.

Despite now having no cabinet in which to file it in, I just completed my first-ever Publicity Questionnaire! Ever since I first wanted to be an author, this has been one of the steps I’ve anticipated the most. It’s one of those forms that nearly every author has to fill out when they are signed for their first novel, which details basic information like their date of birth and phone number, all the way to questions which might resemble:

How will your book benefit its readers/affect their lives?

Is there anything in this book that might be CONTROVERSIAL or make people UNCOMFORTABLE?

What are three hooks or ideas that might help to publicize your book?

If for some unearthly reason you were in a den of alligators, would a pen or a pencil be a more useful method of escape?

Does the chondrocyte synthesize cartilage or form the fiber found in connective tissues?

or similar. Mine was a lofty 14 pages of questions, each of which were a joy to complete.

As for new stuff that’s been happening, we finally signed on a wonderful illustrator to do the cover for The Farfield Curse. I can’t quite say who it is yet, but the signing of an illustrator means that things are really picking up pace now (plus, he just won a huge award for his last book cover, which is a good sign!). Next month I’m heading to Chicago to meet with the publishers over a day’s worth of meetings, where we’ll talk marketing and publicity and fine cheese.

Main Topic Of Conversation

Also, I just passed 20,000 subscribers on the Youtubes, which was double my goal for this entire year! This was a total shock, to say the least, but honestly vlogging is so much more enjoyable when you have people who watch. I remember when my videos used to get 12 views, all from people I personally knew. Now, I’ll certainly be putting up things on the book…and perhaps, a special book trailer I’ve been working on!

I’ve been doing lots of regular updates on what I’m doing via Twitter. If you want to know all the latest stuff before I get a chance to blog it, you can get everything if you follow me on Twitter! I also let you know about my live BlogTV shows before anyone else as well as my videos and any other big news… lots of which I’m sure will be happening in the coming months. According to my calculations, we only have about 7 more months until the book is out — but before that, we’ll have covers and pre-orders open and all sorts of great stuff.

Along that same line, here’s something new I recently put up on my Youtube channel: it’s the latest song from the soundtrack for The Farfield Curse that I’ve released for free download! Watch the video to listen, and click here if you want to download the song for free!

Can’t see it? Click here.

I’d love to know what you think of the song in the comments, or any suggestions for which song I should put up next!

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Posted in About Me, Bran Hambric, My Music, Videos, Writing
Tags: Cheese, Filing Cabinets, music, publishers

Apologies for not posting! This is due to me having three biology tests, an English paper, an English poetry assignment, a critique, two chapters in psychology, an 85-page book to read, an interview for a website in Belgium, a 14-page publicity questionnaire from my publisher, edits on my book, and a haircut… all due by this weekend.

Seriously, I would skip posting for no less!

Along the same lines, to the people who have sent mail to my PO Box in January/February, I will be getting back to you ASAP. This month has just been an overload of things to do, but I’ve got all your letters and packages and photos sitting next to me on my desk and I promise to answer them all.

(cross-posted here)

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Posted in College