A Plea on Behalf of Classic Literature (and other ramblings)

So... I haven’t blogged in a long ass time. Not without reason... but still. I have been ultra busy with writing and publishing erotica shorts, outlining a few books I want to write (two fantasy series and an action/adventure novel) and school.

I have 9 weeks of school to go before graduation. There are days when I piss and moan about it and wish I could just write all day, but I know some of what I learn has merit and will help me moving forward.

Anyway, the real reason for my blog was to write down and express some of my thoughts on reading. I have been adding books to my Goodreads profile (My Goodreads Profile) and it made me so sad to see the ratings of some of the books I cherish. Do I seriously live in a world where A Farewell To Arms gets a 3.74, The Hunger Games gets a 4.46 and The Twilight Saga is rated 3.89?

Ugh. Well, I thought about books I read when I was younger, books that I was made to read and I realized that when I read them again in the last few years they became some of my favorite books (I’m look at you Great Gatsby, 3.77 on Goodreads).

This is a plea that anyone who hated a book when they were in school, try to give it another go. You never know. Either that or people just don’t like good prose. I don’t claim to be able to write like Hemingway or Fitzgerald, not yet at least, but I think they deserve more than what people are giving them.

Selling Out: The Choice to Write What Sells

I posted a blog post a while back talking about the craziness that is the E.L. James and 50 Shades phenomenon. Since then I have written, not as much as would have liked, but still have been writing. I came to the realization that I want people to read my writing and I want to make money. Well… after some research, I came to the realization that erotica and romance sell like hotcakes as well as selling for more per word than any other type of writing. I have no previous expertise in writing either, so I figured I’d give erotica a shot, how hard could it be?

I did some research, watched some videos and read blogs. My next step was to read some erotica so I bought a few popular shorts and sat down with my kindle. Most of what I read was hot, but at the same time the writing distracted me. There was nothing there that I couldn't do. I was going to have to draw off of some personal experience  if I was going to make it hot and enjoyable for people to read. I sat down last week and started writing.

The result was an almost 4k word short that will end up leading to a series of 5 or 6 stories. I think I did a good job, not amazing but I think a valiant first effort. I have confidence that as time goes it will be easier. I also sold copies of it quicker than I ever did with my other work and. I’m excited to say the least. Not ready to throw my pen name into the world, not that proud of myself.

What does it all mean? Don’t limit yourself by writing only one thing or only what you know. Trying something new, try something fun, you might just surprise yourself.

Getting back into the swing of things

I miss it. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, let alone a blog post. The only thing I have actually written in the last month in a half or so was about 1k words of a short I’m working on. Hopefully I can finish this week *fingers crossed*. Other than that, most of my time is spent on school or other writing related activities. I have been working with a writer to edit, develop cover art and publish her erotic shorts the past few weeks. So good so far. We managed to get two done in a week that were already written and she is hard at work writing the third and should be done in a few more days. It’s actually quite fun to help someone else get their books ready for sale and then see copies start to move on Amazon. It makes me really want to get back to writing. Midterms this week and I’m in the midst of writing a couple of magazine articles for a class, so yeah, it could be a few days or maybe a week before that happens, but I sure do miss it.

I really look forward to writing soon, but I’m also a little worried. Right now, I’m about halfway done with a novel that was supposed to be the first book in a planned five book series and I feel no connection to the main character right now. I think my plan will be to get a couple of shorts done, maybe 5-10k words each and then give the novel a fresh shot and see how I feel about it. I think most of my fear is that in order to get back to where I was in the story, I will need to read the whole thing and I feel like it might be utter shit. Then what? I guess only time will tell. 

Back to writing magazine articles (for school, one about food (boo) and one about publishing (yay!)).

The First Time I Kissed A Woman

This is the title of my first book, well a novella really, which I released this week on Amazon as part of the Kindle Direct Publishing program and also chose for it to be included in Prime so that readers can use their Prime subscription to borrow my work!

It was very exciting honestly to get it done and out there in the world! So far the sales have be about what I expected, but the people who have read it and left reviews seem to really love it! That's the best part for me. I just wanted people to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here's the book blurb from Amazon:
This coming of age story tells the tale of Ryan, a conservative young guy on a mission to get to his mother's giant birthday bash on time. As he navigates the slippery slope of a typical crush on a girl, he finds himself in an adventure that helps him to see how immediate circumstances can help change his perception of the world and his place in it. This post-modern story, set mostly at a bar and eventually a hotel room, reminds the reader of the rite of passage a boy makes when he becomes a man.

I can't wait to see how other readers respond. Here are a few samples from the reviews so far:

"An endearing coming-of-age tale from a male's perspective as he navigates the oftentimes daunting world of girls and women. The author's writing style shows great movement; offering the reader easy, yet descriptive prose. I couldn't put it down!"

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novella. It was a fun and easy read that I definitely could not put down. It kept me entertained and I am looking forward to many more novels and/or novellas from Orion."

Support Indie Authors by going to Amazon and buying your copy today!

Setting A Goal To Stay Motivated

I find I tend to get lazy, not write as much as I would like or am capable of. I finally figured out a way to cure this. I made a goal and am going to reward my self with a wonderful treat if I am amble to meet the goal. Most people are aware of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where participants write a novel in a month (50k words). Well I feel like this could be too easy and I really wanted to challenge myself.

Enter NaNoWriMo X13. I'm attempting to not only do 13 months in a row (Aug 1, 2012-Aug 312013) of NaNoWriMo, but I'm stipulating that every one of the 650k words not only has to be written by the end date, but also published. It's a ridiculously crazy goal. I feel like I'm out of my mind considering I'm entering my last year of college and time will be tight. I'm going to keep my progress updated via Twitter as each book hits the digital realm, so feel free to follow along. @EnzoGaudio

Here goes nothing. The first ~22k words are in the process of final edits and will be up shortly...only 628k to go.

Take A Break From Writing By Writing

Writing can be very taxing on the brain. I was writing earlier this week, working on my novel, and I was feeling burned out. It wasn't the writing or the sitting in front of the computer, but what I was writing. It is important to take a break and give your mind something else to focus on. For people like myself who are trying to make a living from writing, or do already, it is hard to take a break from how you earn your living. It is a beautiful thing being a writer, the more you write the more money you can make but when you get in a rut it becomes scary. I decided I needed a break from my story, from my characters.

I was trying to think what would be a good break and realized that I would like to be writing but something else instead. I had an idea for a short story, something based on an actual crazy night of my life, and I decided to write that. I started writing and I got on a roll. The story that I thought was going to be a few thousand words has now turned into more of a novella length and will be 22-25k words when I finish tomorrow. The break from my novel has been good and I think by the time I get back to it on Wednesday or Thursday this week I will feel refreshed and ready to write. It is a slippery slope though, if you take a break to write something else, make sure you finish the new project.

Keep writing.

We Published Our First Book Today

  So this is from Outfox Digital Publishing (I am the CEO). We published our first eBook today. A cookbook that focuses on Northern Italian cuisine that can be made from scratch in just minutes. It's a great book for beginners or for seasoned cooks. There are 50+ recipes to choose from that are categorized as: Bruschetta, Antipasti, Insalate, Primi, Secondi and Dolce. The eBook is called Fast and Fresh: Recipes from Northern Italy and the author is Giovanni Gaudio.


  Overall the process at times was frustrating and the hours were much longer than I could have imagined but it is so worth it. I feel like I have accomplished something wonderful and there is something out there now that will be around for a long time. I can't even comprehend right now what it will be like when I finish writing and  publish my novel. Here is an excerpt from the introduction of the cookbook.

I understand how fast we live in our American culture and the challenges our home cooks face- attempting to prepare healthy and interesting meals for their families and friends that are also nutritious and non-processed, usually with limited amounts of available time. My latest inspiration is to offer a simple cookbook that is fast and fresh, with recipes that lend themselves to a quick snack, a bigSunday meal or a great dinner party. I hope you enjoy my recipes and find they’re approachable mid-week or fabulous and satisfying for entertaining.

Some of these recipes have been made in a particular region in Italy for centuries; other recipes were developed by me and are a creative spin-off from an Italian recipe. And some recipes are completely inspired by a combination of local farmers’ crops in Northern California, my travels and certainly my imagination. Have fun, enjoy the process and the outcome, e buon appetito!

To find out more about the cookbook, get a sample or buy your own copy Click Here! or search 'Giovanni Gaudio' on Amazon.