The Cat Factor: The Next Step

The Cat Factor: The Next Step: Great day yesterday! ...Except for the fact that my Chrome didn't let me use the Facebook chat, post or comment... But that problem's fix...

Read what Andrei has to say and follow our adventure!

A quest into the digital art world and a message from my writer

Message from my writer

 

So! We made some great contacts today: very talented local young men and women who are offering their services in regards to our need for a book cover. We'll be receiving their sketches and get back to you, and them - of course! - sometime next week. I wish I could hire all of them because they are original, gifted and deserve to shine and be rewarded, but sadly we have a limited low budget...

I hope nobody will hold a grudge; by the time the next book will be ready for print, we should be well prepared to purchase their services at a decent price and not ask for freebies. I also hope that we made friends today and not just business associates, and I intend to promote you guys in the future. All of you!

Deea and I have been thinking about a couple of side projects and meeting these wonderful artists gave me an idea. We'll reveal them soon enough, but until then, let's pick a cover!

On a personal level, I want to thank them for their prompt response and professional attitude, and hope that I can meet them all for a drink and a chat when I get back. Special thanks to our friends, Malice Bathory and Scufitza Rosie, for advertising for us and getting us in touch with these wonderful folks!

 

Andrei

 

And may I add a short PS: more news to come and a choice to be made! I can't wait!

 

Don't forget to check our page for details! The Angellove Society will soon disclose the artists' names who made it to the shortlist for the cover design of Crux!

 

Andreea

 

 

Pass me a note!

What? If last week we didn't play, it means we won't get to play at all? No way!

Creative Writing Exercise on the loose! And this one's easy...

We're in class together in highschool. Pass me a funny, short, secret note about how hot is the new Math teacher!

Winner gets promotion and lots of fun! Note me away!

 

Go to The Angellove Society Facebook Page and leave your note in a comment under the photo

 

 

 

Your post will be seen by more than 1000 people and fans so get creative and win!

Poets of the world, unite!

So what, you think you got away with it? No way! This week's Creative Writing Exercise is about... Poetry! Yes, you've heard me. So since the book blurb scheme wasn't so much on your taste, let's try less serious and go for funny.

So the challenge is: write a short poem (4 to 6 verses), with or without rhyme, your personal choice, that can turn easily into a tune or at least can be hummed around the house. 

Go to the Angellove Society's Facebook Page here and leave your poem in a comment below the photo! It should be fun and the winner gets his / her name by over 2000 writers, editors and readers! Don't be shy!

What say you? Sing me away!

No pain no gain

So what I’ve been up to lately?

Blurb-ing. Writing the synopsis for Crux. The third or fourth time. Cover letter-ing. It’s my job and I love it.

Queryshark has been my Bible for the last few days. Read that site top to bottom.

I am submitting the manuscript, that’s what I do. Or at least I am gathering a list of publishing houses that seem open to my kind of approach and Andrei’s writing style. And publish Fantasy, which a dear friend of mine called “the hardest genre to sell in the world”. Thanks, J, I will shake your hand after I send you a copy signed by the author! Seriously now, J thinks I am a rockstar in agent-ing. We’ll see about that.

So I actually found a few interesting guys. Independent and not among the dinosaurs that make you wait between 6 and 9 month for an answer, if ever. Four to six weeks seems like a vacation. Publishing Perspectives is a great place to dwell. You can find almost anything there. Pred Ed too and of course, Facebook. My very best playground. Oh, and LinkedIn. My other favorite happy place.

Research is a bitch.  Be there 100 houses, each and every one has different rules: you’re an author, query us! Riiiiight! So here it goes: some want TNR, 12, 1.5 lines, a query no longer than a page. Others ask for half page at 2 lines. Other font, other page format. It’s either doc. or rtf.  for the manuscript. It’s either the entire manuscript, or the first three chapters, or the first 50 pages. Ok, NUMBERED, I got it! Header containing info about the author. Or not. It’s either with or without author biography. It’s either with or without detailed marketing strategy from the author. Tell us the approximate number of words in the book. Give the exact number of words. And so on. I don’t actually mind doing this. It has a perverted sense of fun in it. Wonder if Hemingway had to go through all this, though…

Smart as I am, I asked the opinion of several published writers about the query. The answers don’t match. At all. My query is good. Of course it is, I wrote it. “But then… I think you should add more of… “ Or…”You know… it needs more feeling”. Great, load the query with feelings! But don’t load the synopsis with anything. No. That is forbidden. The synopsis is a cold statement of facts.

Why can’t publishers agree already? What’s with all these guidelines that make an author dizzy? I mean, and this is a legit question: say an author struggled for a year or two or five to finish a novel. After all his / her pain and work and sweat and soul breaking, he / she actually have to go through this mind blowing process? And market the book alone? And stumble upon vanity press? And publishers who ask money just because he / she wrote a book? When do the writers write anymore?

Self-publishing you say? Over my dead body!

Oh holy ghosts of Shakespeare and Dostoievsky! Nowadays they’ll never get published! Queryshark would just ravish them!

So I’m following my hunches. I’ll have one or two reviews more before actually sending the cover letters and queries and bits of the manuscript to the selected houses.  I’m not taking any chances. This book will get published. Traditionally. In good taste. With royalties. With a contract. Old fashioned!

In the mean time, I made public this week’s Creative Exercise. *Huge grin on my face. Check the Page. Win the contest!

Who is Scott Kuhn?

The Angellove Creative Writing Exercise Winner, of course!

Scott gave us the best cliff-hanger in the competition. Here it is:

"BING-BONG" I hear someone ringing my doorbell. I get up and dust the cheetos, I ate while watching Twilight Zone,off my hand and onto my Levi Jeans. The show's theme song plays and the credits start to roll as I rise to my feet , making su...re to pick-up my pistol. "BING-BONG" The doorbell rings once more. "Hold your horses!" I yell. I reach my orange, dusty right hand out and grab the doorknob. Again, The doorbell rings. "BING-BONG" I open the door, holding my Glock 9mm firmly in my left, undusted hand, hidden behind the door. I slowly turn the brass knob. The door flies opens and then, suddenly ..."

Scott is a self-employed entrepreneur from Pennsylvania and if you want to know more about him, go check his Facebook Page, he does share lovely quotes!

Scott's name and info was mentioned in 15 Facebook groups of writers and he himself took some pride in being the winner.

So if you want to have fun with us, get creative and be promoted, just tune in on Thursday's Competition! It's getting more challenging by the minute so get your pens and papers and be ready for a new literary adventure!

 

Cliff - hanger

Feel like getting a little creative? Well then! You all know the rules: answers in a comment below the photo on the Page! Best contestant gets a round of applause and finds his/her name on our Page, blog and other networks!

Today's exercise is:

Write a cliff-hanger for a story, no matter what genre. No more than a paragraph. It must end with the line "and then, suddenly..."
We don't want to know what comes after "suddenly" but we do want an intriguing, thrilling and mind blowing cliff-hanger for a story.

So get your beautiful minds up and running and let the games begin!

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

Remember I told you we were waiting for the book review? Well, this morning we got it! And on a personal note, I didn’t think I would actually cry of happiness after reading it, but I did. It tells us Andrei is a brilliant writer, the book is awesome and my confidence in him and his talent were worth everything.

The review was done by Morgan Hufstader who is Managing Editor for Allwrite Publishing (Atlanta, Georgia) and according to her, “one of the major strengths of this novel is the writer’s ability to create full, detailed worlds. The world that Crux lives in is vast and well imagined, populated by characters that fit into the hellish landscape with ease.”

Well, read that over the morning coffee and try to imagine my heartbeats, my blood rushing through my veins and my constant need to yell “we did it!” as Morgan was going through every last detail of the book. So I invite you to walk with me through the review and feel, hear and enjoy my states of mind and my emotions while reading Morgan’s text.

Grammar

“The first note is concerning the mechanics of Crux. As the author knows from the writing analysis, the spelling and grammar is very solid. It’s clear the writer has a good grasp of writing mechanics”.

Indeed he does and he’s not even a native English speaker! More points for us! Yay!

Morgan also recommends Andrei to work a little on punctuation, but in her own words, “the edits are easy to make, and a quick sweep through the novel should clear them up.”

World-Building

“One of the major strengths of this novel is the writer’s ability to create full, detailed worlds”.

But I said that already. Then I started to frown in my chair.

“As the novel goes on, the author seems to get comfortable in the world and plants the reader’s feet solidly down on foreign ground. However, the hard part of building an entirely new world is the initial step of introducing it to the readers. Crux solves this problem in the way that most writers do: Kara, a mortal human and stranger to this world, literally falls into this new, foreign space. This is a great technique that is used by many talented authors to bring the readers “up to speed” with this new world”.

And I remember Andrei telling me a while ago that if I make him read the first line again, he’ll burst into tears!

Morgan continues with a phrase that made my heart jump. I can still feel it pumping like an engine.

“With that said, the author’s descriptions of the world (and in general) are fantastic. The story displays a clear ability to capture images with very spot-on and vivid details. For example, this quote is beautiful: “The firefly souls descended upon his lifeless mass, covering him in mourning as the mechanical creature found final death. Not only is the writing brilliantly drawn, but the image of the “firefly souls” keeps the readers entrenched in the supernatural feel of the world”.

I burst into tears. Seriously.

First Act

“I’ve created a separate section for the “first act” of the novel (pertaining to the three-act structure) because it seems to be the major weak-link in an otherwise really strong story. (...) The strength of Crux is its fun characters, banter, and humor. I would suggest rewriting the first twenty or so pages entirely.”

Only 20 pages… only 20 pages… Man, that’s awesome! There are writers out there who had to re-write the entire novel three times before it got published and we have only 20 first pages to re-work? Damn, he’s good!

Characters

“While Kara might need a little improvement in solidifying her character (as noted above), the angels and demons in this novel are spot on. Palisera, for example, is an excellent character and exactly what she needs to be. (…) Maar, likewise, is a great character. He, like Kara, is defiant, but we get the impression he has a good reason to be so. Plus, he defies others within the rules of his own world, and he respects certain authorities (specifically, Palisera). (…) As for the other characters, Dominic is a great one. He’s got a nice down to earth attitude that balance out the high-and-lofty personalities of the demons in the novel. Thomas and Alexis are also great and, like Dominic, maintain that balance with a variety of different character types”.

What about Akaba?!, my soul screamed in panic. Nothing about him? He’s my all time favorite! Well, I didn’t have to suffer much, because what came next, made me happy and shiny again.

“One thing this novel is really good at is creating obstacles for its characters. Nothing ever comes easy for any of the characters, and just when the readers think the characters are in “the clear,” something else comes up to get in their way. This constant, consistent action makes for excellent tension and keeps the reader’s interest.(...) The tension keeps the reader on edge and the author makes a brilliant use of it.”

I knew it! I just knew it! Dancing inside. Almost spilled the coffee over the laptop.

Dialogue

“If this were a campy action movie, the dialogue would be perfect. And there are moments when the banter—specifically, between Maar and Kara—is humorous and amusing.”

Note to writer: to reshape a little the relationship between them. Fair enough!

“With that said, as the story picks up the pace, the dialogue becomes much more natural. While all the characters retain a very sarcastic back-and-forth with one another, their relationships develop in ways that allow that sort of banter.”

You should hear Drew and Thomas talk to each other. Masterpiece!

I don’t know if anybody thought I was serious when I said I’m gonna see this book turned into a movie, but I was.

Structure

“This novel has two issues that can be solved with a more organized structure.”

*Sigh... We need chapters. Nothing to comment. Morgan is right. And we need to better guide the reader through the story. Noted and will do! I thought about Andrei at this point and how he’s gonna take the news. He’ll be fine. For him, putting chapters and sub-titles in the story would be something to have fun with over his coffee and cigarette break.

Target Audience

“When marketing this book, the author should gear their efforts towards readers of supernatural action/drama or high-fantasy novels. Even though the content of the book is more biblical than fantasy, the way the characters interact with one another and the immense detail to world building would appeal greatly to a high-fantasy audience.”

Remained silent for a few moments. Then it hit me. The greatness of all this.

Wanted to call him at 9 a.m. in the morning, but his phone is out of service. Wanted to chat him online but he’s seven hours behind me. Instead, I cried a little and jumped around. HE IS A WRITER! I AM AN AGENT! I was right all along!

I managed to talk to Andrei later. And if he feels what I feel, just let me introduce you the happiest day of our adventure so far!

Now, we’re waiting for the next step. Holding our breath. Crossing our fingers. Maybe praying. But we’re definitely more confident and more eager to have the book in the open to make other people just as happy as we are!

Brace yourselves! Huge news are coming! Stay tuned!

IT IS FINALLY HERE.


CHECK IN LATER, I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!


JUST SO YOU KNOW, IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME SINCE I CRIED OF HAPPINESS...

Time to get creative!

Time to get creative folks!

This week's exercise is:

WRITE A BREAK-UP NOTE (NO MORE THAN 12 WORDS BUT NO LESS THAN 6), WHICH IS SO FUNNY, THE RECEIVER OF THE NOTE CAN'T GET UPSET WITH YOU!


If you're taking up the challenge, visit the The Angellove Society Page on Facebook and leave your good-bye note in a comment below the photo!

The funniest note-writer will get promoted on our blog, FB page and all the other delicious networks we are members of.


So? Are you ready?

Do you even dare?

Hello everybody! It's time to have fun and get creative!

In 2004, French author Michel Thaler wrote a 233-page novel WITHOUT ANY VERB IN IT! Pretty amazing, huh? The book is called "The train from nowhere" and it is Thaler's proof to the ...world that (in his own words) "the verb is like a weed in a field of flowers" and we all should get rid of it. So today's exercise is:

WRITE IN A COMMENT TO THE POST ON MY PAGE A VERY SHORT PARAGRAPH (3 TO 6 PHRASES), DESCRIBING THE BEGINNING OF A PLANE VOYAGE WITHOUT USING ANY VERB AT ALL!

The paragraph should be to the point, clear, logic, understandable and funny! A commitee will select the best paragraph according to the number of "wow"s and "LOL"s gathered and the winner will be announced and publicly praised this week-end!

So put your brain wheels into motion and write away!

We've got our first Book Analysis!

I REPEAT: WE’VE GOT OUR FIRST BOOK ANALYSIS!

It all started some days back, when a company called Allwrite Advertising & Publishing (who’s a Facebook friend of ours), launched a Following Contest on the above-mentioned social network, on YouTube and on Twitter, the winner being promised a free book analysis. They’re from Atlanta, Georgia, and have a pretty impressive portfolio in the publishing business.

So, like the panther I am, I jumped my accounts within seconds and finished the contest first!

Then, I let All Writers know I participated and they congratulated me for being the winner. Sent the book (with my heart pumping in my chest) to them and we got back the results in no time!

So things look like this

On a scale from 1 (which is very bad I guess) to 5 (very good) CRUX was rated as follows:

<>  <> <>  <>

Commonly confused words	4.6
Parts of speech	4.9
Fluency	3.5
Clear writing	4.0
Consistent writing	4.4
Concise writing	3.5
Writing process	3.0
Composition	4.1
Interest and appeal	4.0
Style	4.0

I’d say EXCELLENT considering this is a first novel written by an author who doesn’t have English as native language (but who owns in nonetheless: D).  

Next in line, All Writers offered us a very affordable fee for stepping to the second stage of the process, the book review. I wrote them telling that we agree and now we’re just waiting for their feed-back regarding the money transaction (seeing that Andrei is currently in Tampa Bay, Florida)

As I said, I’m so proud of him and the book, you’d think I was the one who wrote it!

Hope to come back soon with even more good news!

PS. I'd like to thank a very special friend named Oly Saldinger, the drummer of Raizing Hell Band, (Bucharest, Romania), who offered me some moments of his time to calculate the means for every sub-chapter analyze and to give me back the overall results. He did that because I was too tired and busy to calculate, but mostly because he’s a great, great pal!

Not too late, I hope

Remember last Thursday's question? The answer is...

"He now works for Microsoft, writing error messages"

Nobody guessed that, but everybody had some fun! So, a big round of applause for our guests:
 
D. b. Harrop
Vladimir Belciug
Andrea Heltai
Oly Saldinger
and
Kim McPherson
And now, for this week's Angellove Society Exercise, we have another riddle!

TODAY WE HAVE A FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHOR. LOVELY CHILDHOOD PICTURE. CAN YOU GUESS WHO HE IS?

To answer, just go the Page and leave us a comment!


Have fun everybody!

If it's Thursday, it's the EXERCISE!

Riddle us this! Go to The Angellove Society and leave your answer in a comment! Share the riddle with your friends!

RIDDLE US THIS:


There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer.


... When asked to define "Great" he said, "I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!"

He got his wish.

QUESTION (and we expect you Cruxians to give the answer in a comment on the Page):

WHAT DOES HE WRITE NOW?

And now, the results!

Hello darlings!

Just wanted to keep you updated with The Angellove Exercise

The winner is... Renee! Closely followed by our new friend LA Jones, who told us that Harry Potter was rejected "only" 20 times!

Yes, Stephen King's "Carrie" was rejected 30 times before it was published!

And now the bonus:

"If it hadn't been for Stephen King's wife, Tabitha, the iconic image of a young girl in a prom dress covered in pig's blood would not exist. King received 30 rejections for his story of a tormented girl with telekinetic powers, and then he threw it in the trash. Tabitha fished it out. King sent his story around again and, eventually, Carrie was published. The novel became a classic in the horror genre and has enjoyed film and TV adaptations as well. Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement from someone who believes in you."

Isn't that a lovely moral?

Thank you and good Sunday! Next week we'll raise the stakes a little, so stay tuned!

The second Angellove literary exercise

Don't forget about the exercise!

Hello dear Cruxians! You didn't forget about the weekly exercise, did you?

Check our Facebook page

The Angellove Society

The question is

"How many times did Stephen King's novel Carrie has been rejected by publishers before it was finally accepted and sent to print?"

Please leave the correct answer in your comments! The first 10 who get it right will receive (as an extra bonus) a short story about how "Carrie" got to see the light of day :)

The first Angellove Exercise Finale

With no further introduction, this week’s winners are (in order of appearance)

Andrea Heltai

Andrea is a young and dedicated PR specialist, gifted with wits, creativity and a lot of humor. Great friend and one of my personal supporters (and a professional whom I love to work with), she has always been one of my favorite humans in the world.

Cristian "Sickbrush" Chihaia

Well, in this case, words become useless when you get to see Sickbrush’s art work. I didn’t meet him personally yet, but I can tell you that besides being a great artist, he is a great and essential part of the “Crux” Project. I won’t disclose anything else until the time is right.

So that’s it, ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be waiting for you to join the Exercises next Thursday!

*Taking a bow

Yours, Deea

Work review 1.0

Dearly beloved,

It’s been a weird week, but it turned out ok eventually.

Thanks to LinkedIn, which slowly becomes my new favorite network, I had the opportunity to connect to great people, make some new friends and get some good information. Thank you all!

Reading stuff over the net, I particularly enjoyed this guy.

Samuel Bonner.

And this looks like a great resource, recommended to me by another writer.

www.writersmarket.com

Very good reviews and they say it’s the Holy Grail for anybody in the writing business. Too bad I don’t have the budget to actually pay for my subscription. Just a bump in the road. Until I get in there, can any of you lovely people tell me if you used this resource or actually got some benefits from it? I need multiple-source checking.

So this week was about sending e-mails, receiving e-mails, sorting through information, put aside what’s interesting, make a list of priorities and try to keep up with the reviewing of “Crux”. Nothing spectacular, just plain routine office work. Well, waking up in the morning with over 100 e-mails was kind of challenging… That, and the fact that I proudly offered myself a notebook to write down everything I must not forget to do, see, check, answer to or at least read.

At some point, following trails and digging the Internet, like the nice pit-bull that I am, I stumbled upon this:

Fiction500

And then I got sad. They keep a monthly writing contest, apparently with money prizes included. So I was two seconds away from sending the link to Andrei, with a very short and clear message: “Start writing!” when the words ONLY FOR US RESIDENTS  stroke me and made me abandon this route. But I want him to write there! He’d rock that place!

Oh well, there will be another contests…

But to finish in a positive note, the big announcement!

Starting tomorrow, as a token of appreciation to our friends, fans and followers, we’ll let the dice roll and introduce you to

THE ANGELLOVE EXERCISES!

For rules and awards, check our Facebook page! We’re waiting for you there!

The Angellove Society

That’s all folks! Sweet dreams and don’t forget, In Angellove We Trust!

I have a confession to make

Sorry I didn’t post anything in quite a while. Too busy chasing unicorns. Andrei is right though. Again. I do expand on so many levels and I do get myself involved in so many tasks at once, I finally end up lost in the woods. In the past days, I just left behind the stardust trails of my surreal passing through priorities, ideas and actions. In a less metaphorical sense, I actually left some details behind for him to deal with. Happened with the Facebook page.

Yes! We have THE FACEBOOK PAGE! I repeat: WE HAVE THE FACEBOOK PAGE!

Check it out:

The Angellove Society

And yes, we would love you guys to be our friends and fans. Like us, share us, talk to us, introduce us to your friends! We answer back, we share back, we comment and digress on any subject related to literature, good writing and great fun!

The Page is new born. After only 24 hours of life, it already has 65 likes and counting. Thank you all beautiful people out there!

Oh, and I have to tell you about a new friend we have

Bill Blume

He’s a very talented artist and a lovely human being.

But I started making a confession here so let’s NOT get distracted again. As I was saying, I started to build the page. Then I suddenly fled to another dimension following a lead, in the obsessive manner of my dear Sherlock and I ended up ignoring a simple fact: the looks of the page.

So Andrei is behind the great cover photo, the profile picture and the many many other cool stuff you can find on the page. I’m still ashamed of myself but to be honest, I could have chosen a thousand photos and I still couldn't have done a better job than he did.

This being said, my dear fans and followers, I am back. My mind still looks like mixed – up puzzle pieces but each and every one of them will fall into place eventually.

*Taking a bow: Good night to you all!

By my powers combined...

No, I’m not Captain Planet, but I just as well may be. Kidding.

I just did what the French would say a “tour de force” and finished up reviewing / correcting / making suggestions and sided comments to the book, while still enjoying reading it. TWICE! Well, not all at once. The first marathon took a week, and the last one, 14 hours, give or take lunch and a quick run to the store for provisions. Impressive amounts of coffee and chocolate needed. Easy job, they said… Entertaining job, they said…

Well, I’m waiting for Andrei to have the final word on his novel, pun intended. Meaning he has to mouse-browse every red-word he finds and accept the changes. Or not.

But if you ask me, the book is ready to receive its blessed copyright. Then, the fun part starts!

FYI. If you, by any chance, happen to suddenly wake up  in the middle of the night with a voice screaming in your head “Somebody get me a publisher!”, it’s not you. It will probably be me. Just in case, check the blog. If it’s written there, you’re safe.  

But to be fair, the fun already started, but it skipped me. Tortured by shame, I must admit that, even if I knew since this morning that Andrei finished the other web-site page and already posted a back-story for one of the characters in Crux, I didn’t have time to read it. Nor promote it as I should. Bad, bad agent!

Well, I’ll make my amends now. Here we go! Let’s see what this genius of mine prepared for all of us!

The Angellove Society

All being said and done, I wish you a great week-end. I personally had a great Saturday! And Sunday looks pretty bad-ass too…

Beautiful words about beautiful people

Andrei received today a great review of his writing from Dana Dorian, Romanian composer, music critic and published author, who closely followed his work over the years.

"Some write down memories, others what they imagine. Some put their pain into every word, while others put in just words. Andrei is part of that preciously rare brand of writers who imagine memories. He doesn’t speak to his readers with words, but images. He doesn’t just describe a moment, but lives it passionately by your side, as you follow his story. He takes you by the hand, but doesn’t lead you to a quiet spot in the library; instead, you suddenly find yourself transported inside a live cinema, where the movie projector is powered by his imagination. In truth, Andrei is more of an avant-garde director who makes use of words instead of a camera, capturing shapes and colors, details and feelings, thoughts and shades. Andrei burns intensely, passionately, with suicidal honesty. That’s probably why I love him."

For our Romanian followers, I'll also post the original text.

"Unii scriu amintiri, altii ce-si imagineaza. Unii scriu dureri, altii doar cuvinte. Andrei face parte din categoria aceea rarisima de scriitori care isi imagineaza amintiri. Poate suna rau, daca nu ai apucat sa-i citesti scrierile. El nu scrie cuvinte, ci imagini. El nu descrie o actiune, ci o traieste, o data cu tine, cititorul. Te ia de mana si, in loc sa te instaleze comod pentru lectura, te trezesti aruncat in mijlocul unei sali de cinema, unde imaginatia este aparatul de proiectie. De fapt, Andrei e mai degraba un regizor avangardist care, in loc de camera, surprinde prin cuvinte imagini si culori, detalii si stari, ganduri si nuante. Andrei arde mult, puternic si sinucigas de sincer. Probabil ca de aceea il si iubesc."

There's really nothing more to add. We feel honored by Dana's words and now, more than ever, we're confident in our success. Thank you!

The Diary of a freelance agent. The Diary stroke back

Dear Diary,

While I wrote and sent a book-presentation to a good friend in the USA, Andrei gathered all the strength he has left to offer the world another on-line project related to Crux.

What do you mean “What’s gonna have in it?” Basically, short teasing stories regarding each character you will find in the novel, duuuuh!

Yes, I know he’s smart. Although… He says this was somehow my idea, but I’ll give him the credit for the whole concept since he’s the one who’s actually building the web-page. Can’t wait for it!

Yes, Diary, of course people can find more info about this on his blog!

What? The link? Seriously? Ok, ok, here you go… FYI, his blog updates are quite visible on my page, but have it your way!

Andrei Mazilu

What happened next? As in today? Are you kidding me? What do you expect from me, perform miracles? But just because you asked, my hyperactive friend, today happened that I wrote a book-presentation also in Romanian that’s eager to see the light of Internet… Aaaand! I joined other interesting groups on LinkedIn. Brilliant network! I’ll start making noise there too.

Still correcting the novel. I think I’m falling a little for one of the characters. Should keep my objectivity, should keep my objectivity…

Well, enough for now. Hope you’re happy. Oh, don’t crumple your pages looking at me all offended! I shall fulfill your desire to be covered in news, I promise J