SEVEN MURDERS IN SUSSEX is available at www.smashwords.com

Yes my fans, it is finally out. You can get it at http://www.smashwords.com/ or at http://www.createspace.com/ (hard copy). I've put together a little promo film to give you the look and feel of what's in the provacative and haunting new book by yours truly. enjoy!


SEVEN MURDERS In SUSSEX FLICK by rsmiraldi

The novel is an EBOOK. I put it up this morning! SEVEN MURDERS IN SUSSEX

So my friends, I did it. After hours and hours of laboring over the already error ridden mystery novel I did go to Smashwords and put up the mystery novel. Yes, this is the book I'd written about 6 years ago! I wrote it, gave it to a church lady to read. She said that is was "abominable" or something like that and then it sat in the closet for about five years until this past fall when I joined a writer's group. The writers all though that what I read from the book was "brilliant." But we only editing about 3 pages a week (in addition to my having to read and comment on their works). For a few months no one showed to writer's group - or writer's anonymous as I like to call it. So on those cold and lonely wintry nights I worked feverishly on the first draft to get it publisher ready. Then dutifully I sent out about two dozen queries to agents.
But then, like most writers, I felt that I should DO something. So I published the book through Create space as per some writer recommendations on one of the many sites I read. And then..to add more to my journey, I published the book  up on smashwords yesterday. I had to change the format so that it could be read on ipods, kindle and the like! It was a labor of love. But I wanted to get the word out. And now we wait. I'm hoping that a few people will read the book and be moved, as I have hoped to have done with this book. And then I hope word of mouth will bring this book to the surface. I wish for alot of things. But I believe that there are messages in the novel that this universe and planet need to hear. They didn't come from me, but rather that higher power and muse that follow. It'a provacative and cautionary tale and I do hope that if you've found your way here, you might find the five dollars to purchase the ebook, or at the very least read the 20% I've given the reader for free. It's a remarkable tale that sort of wrote itself and I do think that not only will the reader enjoy it, but hate me at the end of it for its twists and turns. I plan on writing two more parts to this trilogy..but that all depends on you, the reader. The book may be found at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/53538. So give it a gander and give me a holler and let me know if you liked it or hated it...if it spoke to you.

How to Reinvent yourself and change your identity

Everyday and in every way society is constantly giving us new ways to look, act and be. What we thought was hip or cool is now deck. Many of us may say, "what's the purpose to all of this and why bother?"

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

 

Things You'll Need:

·         a notebook

·         a plan

·         a pencil

·         some cash

·         magazines/books/resources

·         a public library

·         a good cemetary

·         If you like my writing, buy my mystery novel, "Seven Murders In Sussex."

We all have scary bridges to cross in our futures, but we can't begin unless we start

STEP ONE

 

Step One: Determination. The very first step is to determine who you want to be. Think of yourself as your own protagonist in a fiction novel. What we need first to do is to determine what your ideal person does for a living. Unless you are independantly wealthy, you're going to need a livelihood. Does your ideal person work in a movie house? Or do you see your new image as one who is the head of surgery at the local Heart Clinic? This is a crucial decision. If you intend to reinvent yourself as a surgeon and at the present time you are working as a Frie chef at the local burger and brew, the mountain of the probability of you becoming this surgeon has become increasingly steep. But do not be discouraged, I had a friend at school who'd been a "d" student throughout his high school career, but he got himself into college and worked very very very hard to change who he had been and he is now the chief of staff surgeons at a mid-western hospital. It isn't easy, but it is possible, of course if you decide to become a surgeon, you should have the smarts to go with it.

Sometimes it may feel like we're stuck in the mud and can't get out.

STEP TWO

 

This world is a sea of opportunity. Seize it!

But, for intents and purposes, let's say that at present you are working as a secretary for a law firm. You wear cardigan sweaters and sensible shoes. Your idea of a night on the town is bingo with the girls/guys at the local grange hall. Let's say that you have decided to become a rock star. Start small. You obviously know what it takes to maintain your ticky tacky lifestyle. So find a job that pays you the equivalent in a field closer to what you want. Perhaps you could get a job as a secretary working at a music company. Then you would have exposure to that industry and could find the other ways to that place as well. The main thing is that you have enough money to get by on what you want or need to be.

Of course if you decided to become a street musician and leave your Executive Vice President position, that is do-able too.

The point is, decide who the new person is..what they do for a living.

STEP THREE

 

Decide where the person lives. Obviously if you want to go to the extreme, you may decide that the person lives on the East Coast as Opposed to the West Coast or vice versa. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you have a plan. You can begin looking at places online. You can go to a roommate service and find a month to month place to live and then work it out from there. Or go one further and actually move in with a rocker, if you're to become a rocker, or an anthropologist, if that is your desire.

STEP FOUR

 

how do you want others to perceive you? It's all in the clothes you wear.

Dress. This is could be the most fun. You can decide the way in which you want to dress. Is a new hair color in the making? Maybe go platinum blond from a mousy brunette, or perhaps red? Are there piercings involved?

STEP FIVE

 

Attitude. This is probably the most important part of reinvention, attitude. You have to begin to think like the person you are reinventing yourself into. If you want to be a mod/beatnik/hippie then start by reading Kerouac, or Ginsberg or any of the beatniks. If you want to be a fashion diva, then perhaps Edith Head is the way to go, or even Paris Hilton. The idea here is that you saturate your market. Learn everything that there is to possibly know about the you that you want to become.

STEP SIX

 

As for identity..it is a commonly known fact that you can change your name by using another name and writing it out and making it your own. You can also go to an attorney and have it changed that way, or you can marry, if you're female, or in most states even if you're male.

STEP SEVEN

As for credit...this one's tricky. Many people in the past used to change their identity by going to grave yards and finding the names of people who were about their age, but dead, and then assuming their identity and then applying for a social security card in their name and becoming them. This is illegal.

If you are changing you identity and state and the whole new person thing because you are in imminent danger, you can apply for a new social security card from the Social Security Office here in the U.S.A. and then go from there. They will, under exteme circumstances, help you in this regard.

That being said, the main idea is that you put all of your thoughts together, about who you want to be. There is no reason in this world that we live in that you should feel the need to be stuck in your present self. You can change.

STEP EIGHT

 

Make index cards and put them on the mirror of what the new you is, or thinks or does. If you roller blade, then do the research. Get into physical shape (doctor's help might be necessary in this one).

But be realistic with yourself. If you are seventy years old, no matter how much surgery your have or what color you die your hair, you will never look 18 again. And there's nothing worse than a seventy year old dude dressing like an 18 year old. But then again, if you're filthy rich, it's amazing what people out there in our bric a brac world won't tell you.

STEP NINE

 

It's easier if you start small. If you want to be an astronaut, start by maybe getting some books out of the library, or reading the autobiographies of astronauts. See where they live and how they live.

STEP TEN

But here is the biggest challenge going: find out who you truly are, deep down, if all the pre-conceived notions that maybe you were filled with during your youthful years in choir practice (just an illustration folks), and be that. As Shakespeare has so eloquently taught us, "to thine own self, be true."

 

the author

I think that for many of us, we've been living a lie put on us, these ideas that we have to be the good, fill in the blank, or the bad, fill in the blank...but all you ever have to do in this life is die and pay taxes.

I personally believe that you should develop yourself over time, through music, art, literature and culture, but that's my own belief. Afterall, in this crazy world, we have to find happiness where we can.

I wish you well world. Good luck. I hope you find out what you're looking for, be it as a multi-pierced rocking babe in some subversive rock cellar band in Eastern Europe, or as a staid cardigan clad librarian in the stack rooms of life. The choice is yours. It's your life, go live it!

Tips & Warnings

• So you feel ugly or unwanted. So you feel like maybe you should give up and just become the slothful slog you've always imagined yourself to be. Or maybe you are knee deep in student loans and have put on a few hundred extra pounds since college or since the day you threw those high school text books into the trash receptacle and took on that beauty  school career only to find yourself working at some dead end minimum wage job with your boyfriend Larry. But I'm here to tell you how you can change your image, identity and life.
• Remember, with change and re-invention can come great sacrifice. True change comes from within - inside out. Change how you think, and you will be able to change who your are.
• Take baby steps, remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Start with little things, like changing how you get to work, or how you dress for week.
• Do it gradually if you can.
• If you must make a break - do it quick, and never never never look back.

If you like my writing, check out my newest mystery novel, "Seven Murders In Sussex."

What This New Blog is All About

Dear Readers,
I started the new blog because I found that out of the many blogs and articles that I've written over the years, my interested are sooooooo varied and terrific that just one topic, such as Art, or Money, or house hunting, or any of the many interests that fill up my days and nights - just can't fall into a box..much like yours truly. I have too many things going on and too many fingers in too many proverbial pots. And so my dears, I've created this place where I can tell it all, whatever it is, whatever I'm thinking or whatever my current scheme is, or thoughts or music or philospophy. I am a writer. I am a creative. I am an artist. And to ask me to be a real estate maven one week, and then an artsnipe the next and then a finance guru or a dating/relationship confidante, just isn't me. I've too much to share. And so, this may not be the best but. let's just say it's like a Salmagundi stew. I'm bringing it all here, good bad or what have you. And I hope, in my own small way, I'm able to give you back, and hopefully you'll give too. What is art if it doesn't help us to grow and change and be our truer selves. And so I give it now to you. Thanks for traveling with me. -Richard