Douglas Rugambwa's Blog

I’m going to be rolling in some changes here, especially after the release of the Revolutionship.

I’ll most likely be posting less on my blog and keep my emails with you more private from the Web. Only special things will fly on the blog.

I’m looking into a new author website but then I’ve got lots of thinking for the concept I want to build that site on. And how it all matches up to the ideas In the Revolutionship book.

I am deleting my Facebook page because I’m doing nothing sensible with it. I’ll probably start a new one if there’s a real need for it. And a purpose on my part as well.

In line with that I’ve got big changes in my life as well.

Today I’m traveling to Canada. It’s been 14 years since I was there last time. I was about 5 and a half.

I’m excited about the move. But more excited about the things I plan to do.

I’m rolling in what I call a Horizon Madness Event to promote Horizon and my author brand-which is basically me.

When I make things come together (because I don’t expect them to for themselves, I gotta get out there) I’ll be able to tell you more about this great event.

This event will be more suitable to you if you’re a new subscriber and haven’t read Horizon yet.

However, it’ll be super fun for loyal fans like you to follow through.

Anyway, that later. I’ve been writing LOSS (2nd part of Play With My hair) and I’ve had to take frequent breaks to finish this and that project. So I haven’t been able to have a consistent writing habit this time.

I’m happy for one thing: the last chapters I wrote were amazing and so much fun, I have more than enough steam to get back to it when I settle down later this week.

That’s what’s happening for me. Any big changes in your life? Let me know. We can also talk about the small changes too. ;-)

Just know I won’t be able to reply in time because I’ll be in transit. But I will reply ASAP.

Ayt, much love!

Duggy

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for.

YEAAAAAA!

It’s 30th August. That means today you get to download and read the Revolutionship book as well as find the link to the Atlas Series first episode within the book.

I’m excited about this launch because as you will come to read in the book, the Revolutionship is an idea that will reshape what Stories with Douglas R means.

And by the way…

Inside this book I invite new people to Stories with Douglas R under the idea of them being Activists. And you can help by sharing it with whoever you like.

An Activist  here is anyone who embraces the idea behind the book.

You don’t need to sign up again to be an Activist because you’re already here, reading this email (or on my blog).

If you’re here to stay and love the Revolutionship then you’re an “Activist“.

And that by the way is quite a special term.

As it says in the picture, the Revolutionship is an ongoing thing.

In the coming days I’ll show you. You’ll see what this dream looks like.

And the most exciting part is that you get to be a part of it.

“Stories with Douglas R” is how I keep in touch and let you know, while also giving you the best I can.

Thank you for following this journey with me. I love having you on board.

If you haven’t received the Revolutionship book yet, just click the link below:

https://gumroad.com/l/Ndac

Got it?

Great then.

Now allow me to step aside and let Ivey say hi…

Hey!

I guess we’re finally here! The Revolutionship is out and it’s gonna be great.

I’m actually more excited because the Atlas series is also live right now!

How cool is that!?

Remember the game though. You get the Revolutionship book and then you’ll be rewarded with the first episode of the Atlas Series.

It’s called Blue-eyed Boy ! And it ends with a blood-rushing cliffhanger! Asante’s storytelling is honest and great and sometimes makes me jealous that I didn’t get an audio narration of my story.

But anyway, you can’t have everything I guess. And I’m quite satisfied that my story is at least a complete novel!

And oh, a little update that should not make much sense to you but I just wanna tell you because I just like to talk is… Horizon’s selling price is flying from $2.99 to $7.99.

That’s 5 more bucks!

It’s actually leveling the bar of value for value. Some artists undermine themselves by underpricing their work because they feel that being a new fish in the pond and new to the game, they have to attract new readers by setting prices ranging from free to $0.99, $1.99 and $2.99.

And that’s actually okay when in the process of promoting the book and casting a wider net in terms of number of sales (or readers reached).

But it’s wrong to keep things that way when the value system is not balanced. It’s wrong for anyone to undercut themselves. That’s an expression of… I’m trying to get by so lower prices will attract more sales for me.

And artists around the world have this issue.

What do you think about ebook prices? They also shouldn’t be too high either because there’s no shipping cost here. It’s all electronic.

My stand is value for value. Whatever it’s worth. Feel free to talk to me about this if you like and also don’t forget to make sure you get the Atlas Series too!!

It’s all awesome.

Again, love talking to you! I love hearing back from you so just holla at me or my author and we’ll always get back to you.

Nuddles,

Ivey xoxo.

As an author who was just beginning to get the hang of this email list stuff since last October, I’ve learned a lot.

From you. And because of you.

In the beginning I had no idea how to communicate to readers, or realize what they desire most. So I was mostly experimenting with this and that. Seeing what works and what doesn’t.

I want to say thank you for baring with me all these months. And for allowing me to talk to you and share with you.

Your attention is something I never take lightly and always value. They simple act of opening my emails and reading and downloading anything I have, watching the videos I make… it’s mighty precious to me and always leaves me smiling and happy knowing that I’m adding a little something to somebody’s life.

As a fiction author, my job is to entertain you with awesome stories and cool stuff.

There were times when I was boring. Deadwood boring. I’m sorry.

I’ve learned that I’ve got to keep the ball rolling and that’s what I intend to do this month onward.

That’s why I’ve been creating more videos and sharing more work with you.

But the most important thing I will share with you is the Revolutionship. It will be released tomorrow, 30th August.

Now this book is so important if you still want to be part of Stories with Douglas R.

There’s going to be a huge shift in this relationship. It will redefine what I am and who you are and if you won’t be ready for that or don’t like what you’ll find in the Revolutionship book, feel free to unsubscribe.

Don’t waste your time. We all know those relationships we get ourselves into but end up regretting.

This book speaks more about the author + reader relationship.

It’s more than a discussion. It’s an art, a movement. A new perspective in a new direction.

It’s about engaging you in more fun activities. Reader to reader and reader to author.

To learn more here’s the trailer: https://www.goodreads.com/videos/70478-the-revolutionship-trailer

Thank you for your attention. Means a lot to me.

And don’t forget, the Atlas Series first episode is hidden within the book in one of the illustrations embedded with a secret link.

Have fun,

Douglas.

Here’s a quick update on the Revolutionship book.

I just released the trailer and I’d love for you to see it.

Click here to watch it.

Plus don’t forget to leave your comments.

In case you missed the recent messages and don’t know what’s going on then I suggest you:

Click here to learn about the Author + Reader Revolutionship book.

Also click here to learn about the new, upcoming Atlas Series.

They will both be released on 30th August 2014 so we got 3 days to gooo!

You can also pre-order my Revolutionship book here for free. Just enter 0 “zero” in the price box.

So excited about this. I’ve actually been all over the place, working it out while Ivey was covering for me.

Hope you loved her. She’ll be back around for the launch.

As for now check out the book trailer here, get excited and have a great day.

Would also love to hear from you too as well. What you love about the trailer, the topic or the Atlas Series.

Let me know.

Peace :-)

It’s Ivey again. (From Horizon). I’m covering up for my author again while he’s busy putting this and that together for the 30th!

He’s currently at some girl’s birthday party…

Doesn’t look so busy, huh?

:D

Don’t tell him I just blew his cover. Wouldn’t want him to get upset and then cut the space I use to talk to you. So let’s keep stuff like this between you and me.

Fine with that?

;-)

Great!

Now fist pump me :-)

Literally.

Just don’t break your screen.

Because aside from you and I being best buddies, (or almost best buddies because you know Harina and Sara and I are the tightest BFFs and I can’t forget Ivonne for mentoring me back there in Amazonia. We still keep in touch by the way.)

Sorry, back to the point… where was I…?

Oh yeah!

So besides you and I being- Uhh!  I just said that.

Okay, here’s the thing. We’re 6 days away to the release of the Revolutionship and the Atlas Series!!

Yippee!

I just can’t wait for the Atlas Series!

It features Asante, my fellow Zartan, narrating his story. More like his version of how the Secret Circle found him and all that.

I’ve actually been on the phone with Asante, talking to him about the Atlas Series and he’s really excited about letting you know his side of the story.

It’s obviously very different from mine and really enjoyable.

But don’t forget, to get the Atlas Series’ first episode you have to download the Revolutionship book first.

And then you click on some image inside the book that will fly you in a private jet half way across the world to a sever in some part of America and voilà! You just got your Atlas Series episode!

Again, I’m so excited about all this. As much as my author is excited about girls’s birthdays.

LOL! Please don’t let him I said that. Couldn’t help it. :D

Yes, I pick on my author. It’s fun.

And ooh, in case you missed last time’s message then just click here and you’ll learn all about the Revolutionship and the Atlas series.

I know this message is basically all about the Atlas series, I simply assumed you already know about the Revolutionship.

It’s something entirely different so click, click, click.

Okay, that’s all for the update.

Love talking to you. Douglas will swing around soon so stay tuned and get ready!

Amazing stuff is coming your way.

Nuddles,

Ivey, xoxo

It’s Ivey! (From Horizon).

Gosh, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Ever since Douglas asked people about what an author and reader relationship should be there have been loads of mixed views.

So he decided to shut up and write a book on it. A very important book, actually.

It’s titled…

*drum roll please*

The Author + Reader Revolutionship.

It’s about his perspective of what that relationship actually is, and how it needs more fun, more engagement with readers and more… more.

And you’ll definitely be seeing more of that in the coming days.

Not to mention it’s a beautiful handwritten book, complete with eye-popping illustrations.

Since this book is just so important and such a letter from the heart, typing it out would simply be too easy.

Too cold.

Too quick.

So he did the work, stayed up nights for hours and hours and even paused writing his next novel,  Play With My Hair to get this done on time.

It’s a book that’s meant to unite lovers of books under the same worldview.

And it goes live on 30th this month!

But that’s not the coolest thing…

Just when I thought this new character (Myla) was going to steal my spotlight because my author has been writing about her so much, he’s also started working on an audio narration for Asante’s story, based on Horizon!

How awesome is that!?

It’s called the Atlas series and it will be available on the same date!

That’s the Revolutionship + the Atlas series release, BOTH on 30th August 2014!

But hold your horses…

Here’s the catch.

You have to download the Revolutionship to get the Atlas series.

Why?

Because my sneaky author added an illustration in the book that contains a secret link.

If you can find the right image and give it a nice click, it will take you to your reward: The first story  off the Atlas series.

That’s how it goes down.

You’ll be notified when this all happens so get ready and let your friends know about the Revolutionship and the special reward too!

As I am writing this my author is still putting a couple of things together for you and by the way things are looking up, I could be covering for him in the coming days.

Hope you’re excited!

I am.

And it’s nice talking to you again!

And oh, if you’re new to Stories With Douglas R and have not read Horizon yet, don’t worry, you’ll still enjoy listening to the Atlas series. 

Plus, you’ll get a chance to read Horizon in an upcoming Horizon Madness Event, but more of that fun stuff later. I’m not supposed to tell you that stuff right now. Douglas will get mad at me for blurting out his plans.

Anyway, have a awesome day and don’t forget to mark 30th August on your calendar!

It will be great!

Noodles,

Ivey, xoxo

I’m in the bus, on my way to meet my friend. It’s a 2 hour drive if there’s traffic. And there’s lots of it!

At least I can talk to you.

In fact, I wanted to talk to you about talking to you!

I am preparing a little book-well let’s just call it a PDF-about How an Authors + Readers relationship should be?

I believe it should be fun, engaging and even inspiring for both. It should be a way to connect, share more and keep in touch.

Especially today when  readers are the most crucial aspect of any author’s success.

There’s a discussion on this topic on goodreads.

You can go ahead and share what you think, just click here to join the discussion.

Your comments may also be added to this little book too!

You can also email your comments to me instead or comment on my blog, whichever meets your convenience.

Can’t wait to hear what you have to say about this!

And before I go, here’s a note from Ivey, the protagonist from Horizon.

*************

Hey, *|FNAME|*!

Nice to be talking to you again. It’s been a while, I know. My dumb author is working on a new book right now and he’s been talking to himself about this weird, ugly new character he calls Myla.

Do you think he could actually like her? As in like-like somebody?

Now now, I know what you are thinking. I’m not jealous! Me? Nah-uh! I could never be. I’m just saying.

Anyway, why bother talking about this Myla who IMHO has  monstrously overgrown hair when I got YOU! Besides, she doesn’t even have an actual book out yet but I do ;-)

Kudos to her, thumbs up for me. :-)

Okay okay, enough blah-blah. You know me. I get carried away all the time. I guess it’s because I get super-excited about talking to you every time we meet.

I wanted to share this video about Chapter 26 of Horizon, Fade. It’s about when we dropped into the jungle from the Beetle copters as the last battle began.

You can watch it right here, just click.

If you’ve already read Horizon way back then take it as a flashback.

Hope you enjoy it!

And don’t forget to share your views on the topic How Should An Author + Readers relationship be?

Don’t mind any stingy comments, the Secret Circle takes care of people like that ;-)

Okay my time is up and you probably need to get back to those dishes and soap operas.

We love talking to you! Thanks for your priceless love & attention.

Nuddles!

Ivey, xoxo

I’ve been reading through the 40 chapters of Love that make up the first part of Play With My Hair and I found myself shocked because it turned out to be way better than I thought at first.

What I love about the beginning of this story is that it sets the ball rolling and the momentum never slows down. And it’s just so easy to read through.

I also found four lovely quotes that I’d love to share with you from this part of the book.

I know it doesn’t tell exactly what’s happening (and it shouldn’t because that would just be a spoiler, right?) but I thought these  are really interesting and worth a share.

So here we go:

From Love 7:




And the beats that come bashing in steal me away into a world where only feelings exist. An avalanche of joy, a hurricane of desire and a river of truth streaming out of my eyes in tears. I’ve never heard music before but I don’t care. All I know now is that I’ll never stop.



This is how Myla feels the first time she listens to music.

We’ve all become so accustomed to music I wonder if we even remember the first time we listened to it?

I can’t. But at least I recall when music began to interest me. I was doing my homework on the table one day and Beyoncé’s hit song To the Left was playing on TV. And I guess from then on music and I have been super close.

From Love 13:




This could be more than just a dream

This could be more than you and me

Never thought that I’d believe

A love so good it’s crazy

I sway to the whistles in the song, the oh-oh-oh , the clapping beats, the drums that hammer like they want to tell me a story. Perhaps one of a very cool boy who fell in love with a girl who was not so cool. 

 

Star-crossed lovers

Do you hear the song on the radio?

There’s a map on the cover

How would we know

How we’d find each other?

Here’s Myla listening to the song More Than Just A Dream. It’s actually inspired by the song by Fitz And the Tantrums and goes under the same title.

From Love 10:

I know I am important. My life and all I do is very crucial. But isn’t there more to life, than following what I’m told to do? Isn’t there a place where I can stop focusing on being special and start to feel

 special?

Rhiannon is trying to remind Myla how important she is but she’s got her own battles to deal with that no one really knows about as much as she wishes they do.

And finally Love 40:




I don’t want to be perfect. All my life I’ve been chasing that horrible, ugly disease.

This is the last part of Love and I can’t tell you what happens here. That would just be too much to give away. ;-)

But it’s really clear there’s a theme on perfectionism right there. Demanded by a situation in which Myla  cannot make any mistakes. At the same time it’s limiting her freedom in every way.

I’m writing LOSS now and it’s the heart of the action in the book. There’s also another action scene in the end but this one is seriously fighting for the spotlight because it’s crazy and it’s thrilling and I take the job of blowing your mind away very seriously. I’m putting a lot of thinking and meditation (and even dreaming) into this one. :-)

I don’t just plan to make things blow up and crash. I want to make it aesthetic and flaunting with real motherfudging art. :-)

However, one thing that will be consistent throughout this book is music.

I’ve gotta admit, music is a HUGE part of Play With My Hair. If you extract all the sci-fi, all the action and thrill and young adult romance you will have only one thing left: music.

It’s played a gigantic role in my life and how I see things. And I’m really glad to incorporate the world of music into my work.

Like the song says:

Play With My Hair feels way bigger than me. I think that’s the signal that this is the right story to be writing. I’ve had other ideas and attemps at creating another story after Horizon. All of which failed. I guess that led me to come across the right story that really resonates  with some intimate things I’ve gone through in my life.

I am going to  write a story for us that is larger than us. That’s the only way we can fit and get lost in its universe.

And thank you so much for sharing this journey with me. Love the attention you give all the time and I always appreciate it.

I’ve got more goodies for you to download and share next time so stay tuned. ;-)

And by the way, what’s your favorite quote from LOVE, Play With My Hair? I’d love to know. You can also share any quotes you like as well.

Have a great time!

P&L

I finished writing the first part of Play With My Hair: [LOVE].

Next up is LOSS, PAIN and DESIRE.

But before I move onto writing LOSS I celebrated my milestone with a little treat.

And because you are my audience and I value all the attention you give me, all the emails you open and the awesome support, I decided to make a treat for you too!

Awesome, right.? ;-)

I composed a video for the prologue to Play With My Hair. It’s called Wild Purple.

Before I give you the download link you must be wondering what the heck Play With My Hair is all about??

Well you don’t need to wait anymore, *|FNAME|*. Here’s the synopsis to Play With My Hair:

If the GIF above doesn’t play then click here to view the synopsis to Play With My Hair on Evernote. (And if you use Evernote too you can save it).

Now that you’ve seen the synopsis then you’re in an awesome position to enjoy the gift I have for you…

WILD PURPLE ALL THE WAYYY!!

The Wild Purple video features what happens in the opening of the book. It’s pretty much a sneak peek and covers a lot. Most of the text in the video is based exactly on the novel.

Anyway, enough chit chat. Download your Wild Purple video…

Just Click here.

Hope you have a great time watching it. I can’t thank you enough for your support. The best I can do is keep sharing awesome stuff with you along the way.

If you like the GIF synopsis and the video feel free to share them with your loved ones and friends.

Here are links you can share easily:

Play With My Hair GIF synopsis (On Giphy).

Wild Purple Video for PWMH (On YouTube).

Well, have a great weekend!

I’ll talk more about the book next week.

And oh, if you got any questions or comments about anything including today’s gift just hit me up on email or in the comments on my blog. I reply to every message and love to hear from you. :-)

Till next time,

Duggy.

I came across this picture on Facebook this week. In my case it sounds more like:

You’ll get this soundtrack done if you forget about all the setbacks.

Right now my artist and I are done composing. The next step is getting into a studio for the final recording. We’re in this traffic jam, waiting on this studio guy to call us in.

Luckily, it’s not a matter of if he will, it’s when he will. We’re in the right direction so far and its just a matter of time before things pull through.

But for the meantime…

Today is the best time to be the best version of yourself. I’ve learned that reality is not a fixed experience, it’s a chance to make a choice and decide which way you’re going to go.

And because I’m making today and each and every day the best, (and you should too!) writing Play With My Hair is becoming a priority.

But there are a few challenges…

For example, I’ve got World Cup Fever! I barely miss a game. I’ll be like…

After this game I swear I’ll write!

And then the game goes to extra time and my butt is glued to the couch. So my writing hours have shifted to early morning. 

Anyway, I hope you have faith in this too. I really can’t wait to bring you the Horizon Soundtrack. It’ll be great!

In my own little head it looks something like…

I’m asking you to take this leap of faith with me as we wait in this traffic jam. Getting this far is already a story worth telling and I hope the end of this chapter will be all we dreamed of.

And I hope you’ll still be there, believing in this as much as I do.

Thanks for all your love and support. Means a lot to me.

And I’d like to leave you with this hilarious photo that you can share:

Have a great week!

-Much love-