The Multi-Faceted World of Today's Creative

This past week on The Creative's Cauldron, in our latest episode, Holly and I explored how today's independent creative is a "renaissance person", in terms of being active in different spheres of creativity. I relate to that dynamic myself in the areas of writing, filmmaking, music, martial arts, and broadcasting. I've found that engaging in multiple areas of creative activity, I bring myself lots of experiences and new perspectives that expand my horizons in each of the various spheres. My adventures in filmmaking, training in martial arts, exploring music, and broadcasting both in radio and visually have helped me grow further as a writer, for example. Every sphere of activity involves different experiences, disciplines, interactions, and so much more, which all lend to growing the pool of ideas, knowledge, and references that I draw from when engaging in a writing project. This results in more realism, better-developed characters, and many other things that help me develop my writing further. The different spheres also serve to inspire, in their own way. They involve different kinds of goals and milestones, the development of different skill sets, and each of these paths brings different kinds of inspiration. This is not a small area of contribution, as it is incredibly difficult to pursue the independent creative road and inspiration can make all the difference in the world when enduring some of the tougher stretches of the indie road. The multiple spheres of activity also introduce me to new audiences, who in turn discover the other things that I do. Reading audiences become aware of my independent film work, fans of independent film become aware of my novels, and all kinds of other examples of cross-pollination derive from my activity in several areas. It really is a good thing that today's climate for independent creatives fosters an openness to being active in different kinds of artistic expressions and pursuits. It has both practical and creative benefits, and I also think it helps contribute to attaining a more well-rounded approach to living life.

Tonight, Revealing New Horror Genre Project!

7pm Eastern Standard Time tonight, live on Nightmares with Malice Cooper, I will be talking about my newest writing project...The Hellscapes.  Yes, I now have tales in the horror genre, and they are  coming very, very soon!  Get ready to turn up the heat and venture into realms where angels fear to tread!

There are several sites that carry Malice's show, including
www.wflmradio.com
www.metalkultureradio.com
www.trebleradiorocks.com
www.radioentata.com
www.liveparanormal.com  

So if you have trouble accessing through one site, here are several options.  I will have some giveaways too for those who listen in!

Storms, Business, and Schedule Shifts!

A very interesting day, just like the past few days. On Tuesday, Lexington got hit with a deluge, though Lousville got hit even worse. They recorded over 10,000 lightning strikes in the Louisville area and had more water fall in a 3 hour period than any time in Louisville history. We are definitely having an unusually cool July/August period.

This week has had its share of adventures. I got an invitation to attend as an author to the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort, KY on November 7th. I am really excited that the selection board extended this invitation and I will be there for both The Exodus Gate and the new book that I have coming out around October.

On the film side, it has been frustrating in terms of scheduling. I am a producer on a new comedy short film from the very talented Scott Sullivan, and am also primed to direct a new fantasy short from a published fantasy author. Both projects were originally primed for the fall, but it looks as if we will be shooting the comedy short the first week of December and the fantasy project has been pushed back to early 2010. I am working on the development of a horror feature that I've been asked to produce...a very high concept, very sharp project from a very talented individual that I have alot of respect for, and I hope to be talking more about this one pretty shortly.

Other than that, mired in pages, pages, and pages of the final run on the new medieval fantasy novel. The work is going very smoothly.

I did manage to get the first Indie Movie Masters podast up last Friday, and this Friday it looks as if we are on target for the first podcast on Seventh Star Press's blog site (seventhstarpress.blogspot.com ). I am really enjoying doing the blog/interviews and the podcasts, and I've got a number of excellent guests that I want to have on them.

Hitting stride!

Last couple of days have seen a ton of progress on the manuscript of the new book. I've gotten to spend a load of hours working on the changes and corrections, and I am pleased to say that alot has been done. It is always great to get into the "zone", though time does tend to fly. We've still got a couple decisions to make at the end of the book, in terms of the exact thread sections to end it on.

I do think that we are going to look to have one section from the second book tagged at the end as a preview for book 2, which will contain one heckuva teaser for the sequel.

On another note, I'm getting ready to interview Stephen and Suzie Lackey tonight for Indie Movie Master's new podcast. Should be a great one, and I'm stoked to kick it off with Nashville's Dynamic Duo!

InConJunction, Bowling Green Signing, Upcoming Blog series, IMM Blogs, and more!

Whew, the title to this post says it all. Not enough hours in the day!

I'm getting ready for a trip to InConJunction in Indianapolis this weekend. I'm glad that the drive won't be too far, and I am really looking forward to participating in the convention. One of my favorite writers, E.E. Knight (Vampire Earth series) is attending, and I have the good fortune of being a co-panelist with him. I will be sure to give a report here, along with some pictures.

I just realized that I didn't put up a post on my Bowling Green signing at Waldenbooks! I did a signing there back on June 13th for The Exodus Gate, which turned out to be a very positive experience. I ended up getting to meet alot of new folks, some of who picked up the book and had it signed. I had a few individuals show up that had seen promotional material in the store leading up to the event, and there were others who just happened to visit the store. Everyone was very, very friendly and the staff and management at Waldenbooks made me feel right at home.

Also exciting was the fact that I found my book on the shelf right under Tolkien again! This happened at Park Road Books in Charlotte NC. Having a last name that begins with a Z, I do not think that this will be a common occurrence, so I can't help myself taking pictures of it!

It is not an easy thing being a brand new small press author in a bookstore appearance, but the people who visited with me at my table made it entirely enjoyable. I hope to hear back from the ones that picked up the book, so if you read this, be sure to email me from my website (www.stephenzimmer.com) or find me on Facebook or MySpace.



Here are a couple of other images from the signing...both featuring me with the store's general manager, Sheila Burden





Waldenbooks in Bowling Green Kentucky is definitely high on my list! I can't wait to go back and visit, hopefully in the fall when the first book in the medieval series comes out.


In regards to blogs, my interview/article series for Indie Movie Masters is well underway over at indiemoviemasters.blogspot.com

There will soon be an interview/review series focusing on authors and small press publishers that will be posted at seventhstarpress.blogspot.com, so get ready for that one.

As if all that wasn't enough, I am getting ready to do a podcast series in each area. Probably won't tackle more than 1 or 2 a month as we get underway, but topically they will be similar to the blogs in spotlighting indie filmakers and others in the indie film world on one podcast, and then authors/small press publishers on the other. These should be alot of fun once we get the kinks worked out. The first few episodes should be adventures at the least!