Image
  • Writing
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • About my Novels & Writing
    • All Writing Posts
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Scrivener – Writer’s Word Processor
    • iPad for Writers
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Books
    • Book Review Index
    • Favorite Fantasy Novels
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Short Story: Harvard Divinity
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • About the Book
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Games
    • My Video Game Career
    • Post Archive by Series
    • All Games Posts Inline
    • Making Crash Bandicoot
    • Crash 15th Anniversary Memories
    • World of Warcraft Endgames
    • Getting a Job Designing Video Games
    • Getting a Job Programming Video Games
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Movies
    • Movie Review Index
  • Television
    • TV Review Index
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • A Game of Thrones
  • Food
    • Food Review Index
    • Foodie Club
    • Hedonists
    • LA Sushi Index
    • Chinese Food Index
    • LA Peking Duck Guide
    • Eating Italy
    • Eating France
    • Eating Spain
    • Eating Croatia
    • Eating Vietnam
    • Eating Australia
    • Eating Israel
    • Ultimate Pizza
    • ThanksGavin
    • Margarita Mix
    • Foodie Photography
    • Burgundy Vintage Chart
  • Other
    • All Posts, Magazine Style
    • Archive of all Posts
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • History
    • Anything Else
  • Gallery
  • Bio
  • About
    • About me
    • About my Writing
    • About my Video Games
    • Ask Me Anything
  • Contact

Archive for Business

Untimed – Out on Submission!

Apr13

Young Ben Franklin at the printing press

Exciting times! My brand spanking new literary agent is already out there earning his keep. Eddie (the aforementioned agent of awesome) sent out  Untimed Thursday on submission to New York and worldwide. It’s not only great to have such enthusiasm — we only signed two weeks ago — but an appropriate juncture given that the historical changes in Untimed (a time travel novel) pivot around Ben Franklin, who was one of America’s earliest important printers. People tend to remember him for the whole “founding father” bit but he was first and foremost a printer, political essayist, and satirist (not to be confused with my favorite mythological beings, satyrs).

But rest assured, Untimed is anything but old fashioned. Below and left is another awesome illustration by Dave Phillips to underscore the prose (one of approximately 21 that will be in the book). And that’s just a rough draft! Dave, like many artists, does two passes. The first (like this one) is to establish the composition, mood, and layout. Then, once we get that out of the way, he does a final with more detail. Truth is, this is little different than writing. The initial illustration is like a scene outline. Or video games, where we would rough out a level without all the visual details to see if the game play worked as intended.

The mysterious Tick-Tock gloats over a dying Ben Franklin - in 1725! — rough draft illustration by Dave Phillips

Who are the Tick-Tocks? And what do they want?

Nothing good, as far as protagonist Charlie is concerned. Their policy on time travelers is to stab, shoot, or crush first — ask questions later.

But it’s more complicated than that, as I’m working out now while making detailed outlines for book 2 and 3. Ah, plotting. I have a love/hate relationship with this phase of novel writing. Scratch that, more hate. I love the actual writing best.

This time around I’m trying to plot the entire book in detail before digging into the text, which being a pantser is against my nature. But it needs doing as time travel is complicated and I must research the periods I intend to visit. I’ve already pounded through four or five history books in the last two weeks. Hint: Buckle on your sandals, this time I’m headed way back!

Related posts:

  1. Untimed – Meet the Tocks
  2. Untimed – The Second Cover
  3. Untimed – Two Novels, Two Drafts!
  4. Untimed – Two Novels, Check!
  5. Untimed – The Last Draft?
By: agavin
Comments (8)
Posted in: Untimed
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Business, Dave Phillips, Eddie, EDDIE SCHNEIDER, Jabberwocky, Literary agent, New York, Publishing, Publishing and Printing, Tick-Tock, Time travel, Untimed

Going Indie

Mar09

A nice post on one author’s journey toward Indie Publishing.

My experience in 2009 was a lot worse than I originally expected. From what I can tell, a literary agent is a great job for a person who lacks social skills. If you’re an agent who’s any good (good enough that people have heard of you) then you get way more queries than you can handle. Most of them you probably wish would just go away. Some of them, certainly, break the rules. And there are lots of rules. Don’t send anything unsolicited. Don’t send an attachment. Don’t send me anything in the mail. Don’t call me. If I do decide to represent you, I will do it how I want and when I want. And my personal favorite: Don’t waste my time.

Find the full original article here.

Or posts by me on writing and publishing.

Related posts:

  1. Follow The Money
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Writing
Tagged as: Business, Literary agent, New York, Publishing, Publishing and Printing, Query letter, Writer

The Bourbon Caramel Bacon Sundae

Jan22

Restaurant: Sweet Rose Creamery [1, 2]

Location:  225 26th Ave, suite 51, Santa Monica, 90402  310-260-CONE

Date: January 21, 2012

Cuisine: Homemade Ice Cream

Rating: Very REAL ice cream. And they have bacon!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

A local favorite of ours at the Brentwood Country Mart is Sweet Rose Creamery. They make real homemade ice cream using only the traditional and natural ingredients. None of those emulsifiers and artificial flavors.


The board of flavors.


My brother with his normal ice cream. Fresh mint and coffee on the left, caramel on the right.


But I’ve never been normal, check out the fourth sundae down.


The bacon sundae! Yes, it’s true. A scoop of caramel ice cream and a scoop of verve coffee ice cream with bourbon carmel sauce, candied bacon, pecan crumble and whipped cream.


The side view. This was a seriously decadent sundae. The caramel tasted pretty strongly of bourbon too, but it was the whole bacon and carmel thing that really made it. Bacon is so good with gooey sweet stuff. 10/10.

Check out the more ice cream oriented review of sweet rose.

Related posts:

  1. Ice Cream & Coffee
  2. Palisades Yogurt Shoppe
  3. Chili Addiction – The Heartstopper
  4. Ford’s Filling Station
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bacon, Bacon Sundae, Business, Dairy, Frozen, Ice cream, Santa Monica California, Sundae, whipped cream

Palisades Yogurt Shoppe

May14

Restaurant: Yogurt Shoppe

Location: 873 Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. 310-459-0088

Date: Friday May 13, 2011!

Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt

Rating: Yummy & Popular.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Recently a new frozen yogurt place opened in the heart of the Pacific Palisades Village. This is a popular and welcome addition to our little community, which has suffered a bit of a drought of unoccupied storefronts since the recent recession began (much of this is due to the apparently asinine landlord on Swathmore who refuses to rent out half the storefronts).


The frontage. You should have seen this 10 minutes before as school let out and the place was swamped with kids.


The have a great little format. You choose a cup, and then fill it up yourself from any combination of the ten soft-serve machines.


Then self load up from the extensive topping bar. Here are various fruit, cool “mango poppers” mochi balls, chocolate chips, snowcaps, bits of various candy bars etc.


Even more toppings. Lots of common candy types (including my favorite, skittles), nuts, sprinkles, and more.


Then an extensive wet topping selection, including hot fudge, caramel, and marshmallow sauce.


My son went simple. With tasty fat-free vanilla (which didn’t taste fat-free), strawberries, bannas, snowcaps, and sprinkles (aka jimmies to use East Coasters).


I jazzed mine up a bit more, with cookies and cream and dulce de leche yogurt, various candles, mochi, and caramel sauce. The mango poppers were cool, little Ikura (salmon roe sushi) look-alike orange balls that exploded mango in the mouth. I also discovered that Skittles when frozen and VERY hard on the teeth. But they’re still my favorite standard packaged candy.

For more high quality Westside dessert, check out Sweet Rose Creamery.

Related posts:

  1. January in Paradise Cove
  2. La Cachette Bistro part deux et trois
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Business, Cooking, Dessert, Frozen yogurt, Ice cream, Pacific Palisades Los Angeles, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Snacks, Yogurt Shoppe
Watch the Trailer or

Buy it Online!

Buy it Online!

96 of 100 tickets!

Find Andy at:

Follow Me on Pinterest

Subscribe by email:

More posts on:



Complete Archives

Categories

  • Contests (7)
  • Fiction (404)
    • Books (113)
    • Movies (77)
    • Television (123)
    • Writing (115)
      • Darkening Dream (62)
      • Untimed (37)
  • Food (1,481)
  • Games (100)
  • History (13)
  • Technology (21)
  • Uncategorized (16)

Recent Posts

  • OOToro Double
  • Robo Eats – Anarbagh
  • Fred loves N/Naka
  • Major Major Major
  • Far East – Beijing Tasty House
  • Home Sweet Spicy Home
  • Quick Eats – Bafang
  • Quick Eats – Peking Restaurant
  • Quick Eats – MK BBQ
  • Wolfing it Down

Favorite Posts

  • I, Author
  • My Novels
  • The Darkening Dream
  • Sample Chapters
  • Untimed
  • Making Crash Bandicoot
  • My Gaming Career
  • Getting a job designing video games
  • Getting a job programming video games
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • A Game of Thrones
  • 27 Courses of Truffles
  • Ultimate Pizza
  • Eating Italy
  • LA Sushi
  • Foodie Club

Recent Comments

Archives

  • March 2023 (9)
  • February 2023 (11)
  • January 2023 (14)
  • December 2022 (11)
  • November 2022 (13)
  • October 2022 (14)
  • September 2022 (14)
  • August 2022 (12)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (6)
  • May 2022 (8)
  • April 2022 (5)
  • March 2022 (4)
  • February 2022 (2)
  • January 2022 (8)
  • December 2021 (6)
  • November 2021 (6)
  • October 2021 (8)
  • September 2021 (4)
  • August 2021 (5)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (3)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (11)
  • March 2020 (15)
  • February 2020 (13)
  • January 2020 (14)
  • December 2019 (13)
  • November 2019 (12)
  • October 2019 (14)
  • September 2019 (14)
  • August 2019 (13)
  • July 2019 (13)
  • June 2019 (14)
  • May 2019 (13)
  • April 2019 (10)
  • March 2019 (10)
  • February 2019 (11)
  • January 2019 (13)
  • December 2018 (14)
  • November 2018 (11)
  • October 2018 (15)
  • September 2018 (15)
  • August 2018 (15)
  • July 2018 (11)
  • June 2018 (14)
  • May 2018 (13)
  • April 2018 (13)
  • March 2018 (17)
  • February 2018 (12)
  • January 2018 (15)
  • December 2017 (15)
  • November 2017 (13)
  • October 2017 (16)
  • September 2017 (16)
  • August 2017 (16)
  • July 2017 (11)
  • June 2017 (13)
  • May 2017 (6)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (7)
  • December 2016 (14)
  • November 2016 (11)
  • October 2016 (11)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (15)
  • July 2016 (13)
  • June 2016 (13)
  • May 2016 (13)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (13)
  • February 2016 (12)
  • January 2016 (13)
  • December 2015 (14)
  • November 2015 (14)
  • October 2015 (13)
  • September 2015 (13)
  • August 2015 (18)
  • July 2015 (16)
  • June 2015 (13)
  • May 2015 (13)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (15)
  • February 2015 (13)
  • January 2015 (13)
  • December 2014 (14)
  • November 2014 (13)
  • October 2014 (13)
  • September 2014 (12)
  • August 2014 (15)
  • July 2014 (13)
  • June 2014 (13)
  • May 2014 (14)
  • April 2014 (14)
  • March 2014 (10)
  • February 2014 (11)
  • January 2014 (13)
  • December 2013 (14)
  • November 2013 (13)
  • October 2013 (14)
  • September 2013 (12)
  • August 2013 (14)
  • July 2013 (10)
  • June 2013 (14)
  • May 2013 (14)
  • April 2013 (14)
  • March 2013 (15)
  • February 2013 (14)
  • January 2013 (13)
  • December 2012 (14)
  • November 2012 (16)
  • October 2012 (13)
  • September 2012 (14)
  • August 2012 (16)
  • July 2012 (12)
  • June 2012 (16)
  • May 2012 (21)
  • April 2012 (18)
  • March 2012 (20)
  • February 2012 (23)
  • January 2012 (31)
  • December 2011 (35)
  • November 2011 (33)
  • October 2011 (32)
  • September 2011 (29)
  • August 2011 (35)
  • July 2011 (33)
  • June 2011 (25)
  • May 2011 (31)
  • April 2011 (30)
  • March 2011 (34)
  • February 2011 (31)
  • January 2011 (33)
  • December 2010 (33)
  • November 2010 (39)
  • October 2010 (26)
All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin