BRAIN TSUNAMI

My latest project is one I’m pretty proud of… it’s called Brain Tsunami. What I like so much about this project is the fact it’s  a collaboration with three other authors: Jenna Brownson, Amanda Hoppes & Samm Lim.

The idea started after my brother-in-law had an accident while biking. He ended up fully recovering from the incident but never did remember what happened to him that fateful night. His explanation was always so simple… “I had an accident” and I always thought it should be so much more. I mean technically he didn’t know what happened. What if aliens took him? What if he saved the free world that night? What if he had an evil twin that came along and tried to kill him and then jump into his idyllic suburban life?

I mean these aren’t likely scenarios, I will admit that, but they might have happened? I mean the one guy there doesn’t know so maybe it did.

That was the concept for the book… take my brother-in-law’s injury and write the “rest” of the story via a series of stories that started and ended the same way.

I chose the collaboration route because I surmised a group would bring fresh perspectives. I might be locked in on a style, but others could bring a totally different feel to the other stories in the book.

My best buddy for discussions like whether this will work or not is Jenna Brownson. She’s a writer, she’s intelligent, she thinks things through… all-in-all, she’s just a great sounding board for these types of things.

What I like so much about Jenna is she holds the same ideals I do. She’s written all of these novels…we’re talking like a car trunk full of novels and she doesn’t do anything with them… because she wants to land a contract and do things her own way.

I love that. We’re going down different paths in that I self-publish and she’s holding out to go the traditional route… but to not seek out some small time publisher that will get it out there but not support it, or publish it herself to get it out there and just let them sit.

That’s pretty cool. I mean she’s talented… it’s going to happen. It just won’t happen, though, until Jenna has found what she’s been looking for.

Anyway, Jenna liked the idea and jumped in right away.

With Jenna’s stamp of approval, I knew it would work so I approached others. Amanda Hoppes is another writer I know. In fact, she write a column in my Bourbon Zeppelin project called The Bourbon Virgin. Her column is proving to be one of the favorites in that publication because I posed the idea of participating with her as a means of personal growth. Amanda, still in her 20s is holding onto the drinks she had in college as her favorite… Bud Light for beer and Cherry Bombs if she wants a mixed drink.

I send her samples… she tries all of them. Writes up a whole column about preparation to try them…and then…she hates everything. Seriously. She’s a columnist in a very popular online magazine for bourbon aficionados and in her column…she basically hates everything about bourbon. It wouldn’t work for 99% of the people… but Amanda pulls it off because she’s honestly is trying. I think she wants to like bourbon… it’s just not for her, but for her love of writing, she’ll try again the next month… then end up spitting it down the kitchen sink admonishing the readers for like that stuff. It’s gold.

Finally, there’s Samm Lim. Samm is one of my longest friendships on social media and she’s usually up for anything (she was the first person I interviewed in my O.P.U.S. interview series on Tumblr).

So the four of us wrote five stories (Samm wrote two) and we published it in a book I titled Brain Tsunami.

100% of the proceeds of this project get donated to Love A Cat Charity in Honolulu, Hawaii. I’ve worked with them since my books started to really taking off in Hawaii (when they really weren’t selling anywhere else).

It would be uber cool if you would pick up a copy yourself and check it out. It’s only a $1.99 on Amazon.

Buy your copy by clicking right here!

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Write Steve Write! is a weekly blog by author Steve Akley. Typically it is posted on (most) Sundays and features insight about his writing… though there is an occasional movie review or random thought post. It should be noted it’s posted as a live feed… no editing, no planning beforehand, it’s typed out on Sunday morning and the “publish” button is immediately hit. Apologies for any errors but you get this just as Steve thinks it!

Coming Sunday: More random thoughts on my writing career.

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SMALL BRAND AMERICA IV – SPECIAL BEER EDITION: A LOOK AT 26 CRAFT BREWERIES

In writing Small Brand America IV I have to say I literally had everything come together for me. It’s so great to have some of the most highly respected companies represented from the craft beer industry. Who would think I would be able to secure Brooklyn Brewery, Odell Brewing Company, Full Sail Brewing Company, Heavy Seas Beer, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Lakefront Brewery, Smuttynose Brewing Company and Yards Brewing Company and so many more all in one book. The chapter page reads like a who’s who of craft brewing.

I also couldn’t be any more pleased with the up-and-comers in the mix, as well. Foothills Brewing, Red Brick and Mad River and several others are poised to really be major players very soon.

There are also many others like Spider Bite, Dale Bros., Lucid Brewing and Rock Bridge which are really just getting started. You can just tell that they have what it takes to keep progressing to where the aforementioned big players in craft beer are.

No matter the size of the company, the stories of all 26 featured companies are fascinating. I’m proud to be able to tell the histories of the organizations and the people behind them. On a personal note, I regard all of the individuals behind the brands as friends. When you consider I started this book as I do all of my writing projects, simply as a fan of the brands, it’s a pretty cool scenario to now know all of these great people.

I encourage you to check out my Small Brand America IV in paperback or on Kindle today!

•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•8• Ȣ •∞•EIGHT•

And then there were eight…

Down to my last 8 interviews for the book (completed 6 this week). Difficult week coming up with work and other commitments so I’m not thinking I’m going to make great progress this coming week, but I’m guessing I will get a strong solid push the week of Feb 10. If things go right for me…or perhaps “write” might be a better way to state it, that should be my last week of writing the book.

I would say I have a month of editing, and tying up loose ends and then it’s 2 weeks of going through the steps to get it published. If all of this stays on track, I’m still good for going to print by the end of March.

Biggest news of the week: I have all of the chapters for Small Brand America III layed out. I need to complete 2 more interviews, but I know the companies and I have everything set in the book. Once you identify all brands in the book I can put in chapter numbers which makes it seem so official. Since chapters are sorted by category (like Fresh Juice, Hot Sauce or Distilled Spirits), I needed to know what companies were participating before I could actually number the chapters. It may seem like something hardly worthy of mentioning, but for me, it’s huge. It makes the book, look like a book! Before this step, everything is “Chapter ?.” This just really gives the feeling of the end is near. It’s awesome writing my books, but finishing one off is truly a sense of accomplishment and I am getting very close to completing two books at the same time. 

Still plenty of work ahead, but it’s looking like my hard work is paying off.

 

Looks for Small Brand America II and Small Brand America III, Special Hawaii Edition to come to Amazon and a retailer near you the last week of March! Check out steveakley.com for more details