Thursday, October 27, 2011

A Christmas Tale

After a learning curve that resulted in a false start A Tree for America is now available in both print and Kindle editions. The link above is for the Createspace store where the print edition is for sale now. They have assured me that by November 7th it will be on Amazon and linked with the Kindle Edition  which is up for sale now. This story was published in 2005 by a publishing company. While they lived up to their part of the contract I felt there was a lot more they could have done to promote it. I also was not impressed with the price tag they put on it. I am grateful to them for giving me the start, but I am much happier to be in control of my story now. There is also a place to Preview the book and comment on a portion of it. I have posted a good part of chapter one to wet your appetite. It is a story of two men who travel across the country in a semitruck hauling a large Douglas Fir to be displayed in front of the White House.
So now that the weather is getting colder and the snow will soon be falling, climb up in the cab of Ken Rainey's big red Freightliner. Settle in for the journey of a lifetime and just enjoy the ride.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Down time

Well once more I am sitting at my dining room table writing this before the sun is even peeking over the horizon. It is just getting light in the east and the day will soon begin in earnest. It will be a day of insulation, paint, drywall and light fixtures. By the end of the week we will start the move from the main house into the cabin. It is all part of a long term plan, to replace the main house. With all the leaks and opportunities for the rodent population to invade the main house we decided that we had to do something. What exactly we are not sure yet. Over time we will save the money we need to make the next move, isn't that supposed to be the American way? Work hard save your money and follow your dreams. I may not have all the time I wish to pursue my dreams of writing full time, but I do have the tools to work at them one step at a time. It was 2005 when my first effort at writing was picked up by a publisher. While the experience with the publisher wasn't bad, it wasn't all that great either. Thankfully it was the catalyst  that got me started. Since that time I have participated in a few short story projects and have published them all in a single volume Rambling.  Now the rights to my first book have reverted to me so I am in the process of getting it up as a Kindle product and figuring out the process for reissuing it in paperback. Along with that the novella "The Last Raid" is in the final editing stage and the cover design is set and approved. I hope to have my first work "A Tree for America" back up and available well before Christmas, because it is a good Christmas tale.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Revisiting old friends

When I wrote Apache Tears the idea was just something that intrigued me. After it was published I got to thinking about it and realized that there was much more to the story than I had written. As many authors will tell you sometimes characters take on their own persona. Pablito, and Sgt O'Connell had more to tell along with a few new characters like Eyes Turn Red. So in the tradition of Louis L'Amour's turning a short story called "The Gift of Cochise" into his break out novel Hondo I decided to revisit the whole legend and give it another try. While it is still only novella length I am in the process of publishing it under the title "The Last Raid".
Another character, Tommy Loving, has been poking me to tell more about him and his family. Christmas on the Mesa is one story that seems to sell year round and s few people have mentioned that they would like to revisit the ranch and know more about the life there. I would like to tie it in with a charity in that area that has captured my attention but I haven't heard back from the owners of the charity. All of the characters will return and some of the questions that have been asked about the original tale will be answered. Patch has been stamping his feet ready to go see what lies beyond his stall. The original idea for this story was headed one way and had to take a turn when I couldn't get any answers from the copyright holder of a song that inspired it, so who knows where it will go this time.