Drum Roll Please!

And now, after nearly a decade of blood, sweat, tears and pestering... Ryan P. Freeman is proud to announce...

THE OFFICIAL COVER FOR RIENSPEL!!

I would like to especially thank Laura Faraci, whom I had the wonderful pleasure of working with via 99Designs. It was a hard choice which came right on down to a three-way tie, but her persistence, vision and charm helped prove her design the best, in my opinion. 

Even now, she's hard at work designing the cover for my next work, an e-novelette called 

The Grey Isle Tale! - If you'd like to help donate toward my next work's cover, you can check out https://www.gofundme.com/TheGreyIsleTale 

Thank you everyone who helped weigh in on the recent design process and who helped encourage me for nearly a decade to keep on dreaming and writing- this one is for you!

-Ryan

WE STAND WITH PARIS.

Rienspel, a playlist!

Here's a playlist which leads your imagination into the world of Rienspel, my debut fantasy novel - Enjoy!

You can find out more about Rienspel and its author, Ryan P Freeman at:
http://www.facebook.com/rienspel

You've been ooh so patient!

Presenting... Rienspel's tentative back cover print description...

The Phoenix of Redd, Volume I: Rienspel

What Rien discovers about his past will change his future…

Rien Sucat wiles his days away, bored-stiff in his small backwoods village. But soon gets more than he bargained for after he befriends a magical Phoenix, accidentally witnesses a secret necromantic ritual, and comes face to face with a league of racist, knife-wielding assassins out for his blood. Travel with Rien as he and the Phoenix journey from the unassuming Rillian village of Nyrgen through the enchanting depths of the Great Wood where the unquiet dead lurk, to the high north country of Firehall - elusive sanctuary of the Elves. Launch into an epic quest with consequences farther reaching than Rien could ever possibly imagine.

…

Rienspel is about heart. It is about family and about how the power of love played out in everyday life often carries lasting consequences. Rien’s tale transcends the dim shadows of our own world by revealing the lingering power we all carry through how we live and treat others. It is a tale about the Story we all reside in which readers both young and young-at-heart will find compelling. As C.S. Lewis once penned for his colleague and friend J.R.R. Tolkien, so it is with Rienspel, ‘here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a story which will break your heart”… and re-forge it anew in Phoenix-fire.

About the Author:

Ryan P. Freeman is a fellow adventurer. After miraculously surviving childhood cancer and several near-death experiences, he launched into the world of AM talk radio, hosting his own live program out of Albuquerque. Ryan is a former International Red Cross guest speaker, Pastor, and medieval-enthusiast; loves sampling craft-beers, and is an unapologetically proud kilt-wearer. In his down time, his interests range from exploring real-world pan-mythology, survivalist camping, and copious video gaming. He and his wife live in Hannibal, MO along with their two dogs Maci and Lazarus; as well as their two cats Lira and Baldur.

Praise for Rienspel:

“Rienspel is a libation to the human soul. It is fantasy at its purest: a celebration of the myth, of the beauty of nature, of friends and family and forgotten goodness. The world and characters the author has created are simply unforgettable. Best of all Rienspel is an unrivaled example of how fiction can indeed be true.”

- R.E. Dean, Blood for Glory

Telling the Story

As I've been getting more into the habit of writing on a regular basis, 

I've found that I really love when my stories begin churning out organic twists and turns. I'm an admitted pantser - I don't really plan all that much whats going to happen exactly - I just begin with an idea or a feel - and start. I think what I really appreciate about organic story developments are how they appear like little instances where I know I have a live one on the hook. I drop my line and bate into the writing waters each day (or just about), and wait. 

By dedicating about an hour each day for my 1,000 words of story writing, I find it's my way to tell the magical story muses that while I understand they're supremely busy visiting everybody else, I will be in the same spot (my wife and I call it our 'spare 'oom'), at about the same time, doing the same thing. Last night a few little micro-bursts pleasant appeared on the screen as I typed. I wasn't trying to write anything in particular - merely continuing where I had left off the previous night, telling the story.

Telling the Story, I think, is the main crux of writing. You can be aware of how good writing looks like (IE Grammar), but what a good story is has mostly to do with your ability to tell the story. Tell it. Don't describe it or talk about it - tell it. Stories have a natural rhythm and progression. They want to be told. You just have to tell them, to the best of your ability. And don't be afraid to let your tale take you where it wants to go, either. 9 times out of 10, I've discovered the most exciting nooks and crannies when my story is leading me - not the other way round. As you're doing this, I think it helps to promote your heart. All the best stories revolve around an author's heart, or the story the author is relating. When you've got that, the rest falls into place because no matter how many other books or tales you've read or heard, this gleaming theme you've felt all along is allowed to rise triumphantly to the surface, displayed at last for all the world to see.

So tell your story!
Let it flow out of you with all the strength your heart, soul - mind and strength can muster.
Let your tale lead you.
"It's a dangerous business stepping outside your door - you step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to..."


~ Ryan

1,000

In lieu of the kind comments from yesterday's Facebook post, I'll go a little more into what I've been making myself do each day (whether I want to or not).

One-Thousand.

1,000 words. A day. 

For a little over two weeks I've been taking up Stephen King's inspiring advice for authors: write 1,000 words a day.

Ok ok... I can hear all the mental complaints moaning through the internet right now... (I know, it's a neat trick, isn't it?) Me? Write a thousand words a day? Why yes. Yes you. To entirely honest I was a little intimidated, myself. Near the end of writing Rienspel, I forced myself to sit and do 5 pages a day... but I was then unemployed and it deter me from simply playing so much Skyrim I transformed into Talos. But anyways... 1,000 words a day is already helping me write... and not just on my literary stuff, either. 

I'm also a pastor at Payson Christian Church in Payson, IL... and more often than not, I find myself cramming for sermon ideas... staring at a blank screen. But now, after a few weeks of intentional writing, I don't have to cajole the writing fairies into sprinkling their magical idea dust just so I can turn something out. 

Don't get me wrong. I love inspiration. I prefer it, really. But like Stephen King said, dedicate yourself to be in your own writing nook each day around a certain time (a nook in room preferably with a door you can shut). And come what may, those pesky writing fairies will soon learn that you will be in your writing nook, at such and such o'clock each day. They'll know where to find you.

To be quite honest, writing a thousand words, assuming you're in 12pt Times New Roman, means you're getting about 3-4 pages worth. I mean, come on here people... it's not that much. It usually takes me about an hour to do that. And when you write, just write. Save all that soul-crushing editing for later... Begin with a vision in your mind and a smattering of desire to see your story told - then go for it. However you need to tell your story, tell it. Like Niel Gaimon once said, "Make. Good. Art."

If you write your 1,000 a day, and give yourself one day off a week, and you'll have a novel in 3 months. (3 months!). How long have you bemoaned never 'writing that book'? Well, there you go. Just sit down in your nook, shut the door and turn off the social media... light some candles... heck, I don't know- pour yourself an ale, turn the mood music on. Romance yourself. And then write.

Tweet your own tips and tricks at #whatgetsyouwriting

... and WRITE ON!

The Written Art

Due to popular demand from several unconnected corners, I picked up a copy of Stephen King's On Writing. It's perfect. Exactly what I was looking for, in the exact tone I enjoy. Maybe it's normal for Mr. King to write this way... However it works out, I want to pass along knowledge learned as well as to dispel some common myths about writing and being a writer. Honestly, I don't know nearly as much as I feel I ought to, but I've been writing for a decade now, so I think I've earned a little bit of muscle from the experience.

What is a writer?
A writer is one who writes. And no, I'm not being cheeky. Seriously. Right now, as I'm pecking away I am a writer because I am writing. And yes, I can hear you hecklers in the back shouting, "but how about when you're NOT writing? Are you STILL a writer then?" The answer is Yes. I think being a writer is a path. So long as you've dedicated yourself to the written art, you are a writer. Period. Artists can't help but create (or subcreate... but that's a whole 'nother post). Sooner or later, you'll find yourself scribbling on Panera napkins or henpekcing away on a borrowed laptop. The craft calls to us - we hear and obey (besides, it's just plain fun).

How do you even write, bro?
I could wax poetic on this, but I won't. I don't need to anymore... I tip my hat (which yes, as a matter of fact, I AM wearing), to the brevity of author C.S. Lewis who once explained he beings with an image in his head and Desire in his heart, when it comes to writing. I personally think it's spot on. Some people like to think writers are some other sub-species of human, inhabiting coffee shops, dive-bars and lonely mountain retreats... and perhaps we do... but we also work 9-5 jobs and put our pants on one leg at a time like everybody else, as well. I think I would also like to add, in addition to Lewis' image, song as well. One of the biggest motivators for writing my first work, Rienspel, was traditional Celtic music like The Maid Who Sold Her Barely, The Butterfly, and especially Suil a Ruin. I heard them and instantly, I felt the pull - the call- to write. And so one day, I did. Don't think it's some misty, magical, timey-whimy, spacey-wacey, only-writers-have-this-experience. It's not. It may be special, but that only widens the blessing. We've all heard the art's call at one time or another. Pay attention to it, then simply find a place with a door that can close, sit down, and write. Just focus on getting it out. Don't worry if it's perfect or if everything's even spelled right... As Mr. King describes in his book, excavate the fossil that is your story. There's something there - get to it.

Pantser or Plotter?
Huh? Did he just say Panzer, Panther? Pants-er? No. Pantser. Apparently the way I just dive right into writing is not unique to me. And this is also the reason why my lovely wife and I tend to butt heads when it comes to Story creation. Whereas I just start writing- ready-fire-aim-style, and allow the Story to take me where it will, along with it's characters, Steph is a plotter. She plots. She likes to lay the whole thing out like a graphic designer - layering and layering until more or less satisfied. It's all grid-work and blue-prints for her. And while the eternal Pantser-Plotter war for the fate of the soul of Writer-kind may wage on through time and space, I want to let you know that it's ok to be either type. I can say this because I'm fairly sure Steph will never read this post, too... (And YES, you naysayers huddling next to those hecklers... I can hear you quite well... YES there are hybrid Pantser-Plotters, too.)

In Memorium
Write. Just DO it. Write your best. Read as much as you can, too. Reading well eventually translates to writing well, you know. Feed your imagination. Know who you're writing for and why. Be able to write that down as well. For example, My name is Ryan P. Freeman. I am a writer. I am writing, ideally (and in no particular order), for myself, Steph, Logan, Jennie, Josiah, Robert, and Jon Jon (just to name a few). I am writing because I believe good Story is the backdoor to the soul, and because I genuinely enjoy doing it.

I am Ryan P. Freeman, and I am a writer.

How about you?