Confusion and control

There has been a lot going on lately. Some of it has been confusing and some has taken control of my time. It seems like the trucking side has been really busy of late. One major event that has recurred, is that I have reached a major milestone in my trucking career. In September I was notified that I had successfully passed the one million mile mark with this company. It isn't the first million miles that I have behind me but it is the first time I have done it with the same company. Any time a driver achieves that milestone it is an accomplishment that they will always be proud of. The majority of drivers do it pulling loads that are pretty much the same width, height, length and within the normal weight range. Some of us take a little more difficult route to that mark. The majority of the loads I hauled to reach the million mile point were wider, taller, longer and heavier than what the normal truck hauls. So if I puff out my chest a little when I say that I have a million miles behind me maybe you will understand..... Just to make a point see the image below.

Not all of my loads are this big, but they are larger than the average truck which is parked next to me here.

While all this trucking was going on I also managed to get my next book out. It opened with a three day weekend free promotion for Amazon Kindle. While it did alright it wasn't the major hit that my western novella The Last Raid was. The book did respectably but not as well as I had hoped. This whole marketing portion of writing is the part that has me confused. It was also in the Science Fiction category which is new for me. However the reviews that I have received for it have been excellent. The new book Shade on the Run is a look at how the future could be. It deals with a Government that controls every aspect of your life through technology and drugs. There are those who also use technology to try and restore freedom and liberty. The main character is called Shade and his job is to help those who wish to escape the Government and find the ones who live free. Give it a look and if you read it and like it please post a review. I can use all the help I can get to get the word out.

Shade is coming

If you follow me on Twitter you may be wondering what the heck I am doing with the tweets on Government, liberty, and freedom followed by the phrase "Shade is coming." It is part of a marketing strategy for my next book Shade on the Run which should be available by September 21 2012. I have decided to also start putting these blurbs on my Face Book page too. It is in the final editing process at the time of this writing. The cover is done and once the editing process is finished it will be a simple matter of getting it formatted properly for Kindle and Createspace. Here is the cover.

What lies beyond.

Humans are a strange bunch, we come in all shapes and sizes, and with so many different personalities. There are those who love the safety of hearth and home, while others can't sit still. Some of us just have to see what is over that next hill. If it turns out to be an ocean then we will find a way to cross it. Our ancestors left the known world on the European Continent to explore the New World. When we had the East Coast settled we moved ever westward. Then came a time when we ran out of places to explore so we looked to the skies. Men like Verne, Welles, Heinlein and others stoked our imagination as to what the skies held for us. We watched the TV shows and movies that inspired us to reach higher than before. A few of us were lucky enough to actually "Slip the bounds of Earth" we called them astronauts. They were heroes who did what few could. They ventured into the unknown we call space.  Well we just lost one of them. He was the first human to set foot on the moon. How many children have lain on their backs looking up at the stars and thought "I want to go there?" Neil Armstrong not only went there he took many of my generation there with him. We watched entranced by the images on our TVs. These weren't scripted moments from the mind of some screenwriter, these were the REAL thing. Who can forget the thrill of seeing him take that final step off the ladder and onto the surface of the moon. What new frontiers will future generations face? Will they stop at the foot of the mountain, or the ocean shore? Or will they reach down inside themselves and find the urge to see what lies beyond?  

Drudge work.

I have been getting feed back from some of the beta readers who have been working on the new book. While the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, along with some very helpful recommendations. It has shown me that there is still some work to be done before publishing it. A couple of those suggestions have planted the seeds of another Shade book possibly. That will come later first I have to get this one out and moving. I have decided on the title for it. Shade on the Run should be up and available by the beginning of October, possibly sooner. For those who haven't read the short story Shade in the collection Rambling I will put it up on Amazon in Kindle format. As part of the marketing strategy I plan on a couple of free promotions on Amazon.

It is funny how people think the hard part is writing the book to begin with. The really hard part is the polishing story afterward. Learning how to rethink that passage that you are in love with, but just doesn't work. How to take criticism and be honest when they are right. Using beta readers has been an eye opening experience and one that I will repeat. I have had editors that have made some really uninformed comments about the subject matter I am writing about, so far I haven't run into that with my readers. Here is the tag line for the short story at least.
In a time when Liberty and Freedom have been lost, there is one man who can help you. His name is Shade.

Here is a look at the cover for the short story.

Let me know what you think.

Christmas in July.

Since I usually end up selling one or tow copies of the short story Christmas on the Mesa I have scheduled it for free promotion this weekend starting at midnight Friday night July 27 and running till midnight Monday July 31. If you download a free copy and like it please take the time to give it a short review.

Rough Draft finished

What a week, I finished the first draft of my book which is now using the working title Shade on the Run, plus took care of the day job. I have a few beta readers pouring over the rough draft now and will take the time to work on it when I get their feedback. Until then it is time to go home to the ranch. Friends are coming up from Wyoming and it should be a great time, dogs, kids, food, and a lot of noise. Just before I release the book I will release the short story Shade as a single. That way everyone can read the story that inspired the book. They are separate stories but the short story sets the tone for the rest and explains how some of the characters met in more detail than the book does.
I am finding this discussion going on in the public square about the individual vs the community especially intriguing since it similar to the theme of my book. There are those who live on the Government grid and those who choose not to. While everyone gets help from others it is what the individual does with that help that matters. Yes it is about how smart you are and how hard you work. There are a lot of smart people and a lot of hard working people, but there are also those who don't work smart. Anyone could have taken the Government technology and created Microsoft or Apple, but it was Bill Gates and Steve Jobs that actually did it. I could try to publish all my books using a typewriter and xerox machine, but that isn't working smart. Using the tools available doesn't make anyone's achievements less or does it make them indebted to those who built the tools. If you paid for the use of the tools then what you did with them is your own creation and something to be proud of.

Crazy days of summer.

Well in the trucking side of my life summer is the busy time. Longer hours of daylight means more hours to run and less sitting time. Right now it is even crazier since we have made special plans for my vacation this year. Friends are coming up to the ranch from Wyoming and it promises to be a time of good food, shooting and who knows what else. Just by a stroke of luck it seems that I am on the way to finishing my next book too. So a lot is happening and that is part of the reason my posts here have been so infrequent.
The book is taking on a life of it's own and there are some ideas floating around for the one after that. While this one is a sci-fi dealing with a dystopian future the next one will be a modern day western. It will bring back characters from the short story Christmas on the Mesa and pair them with a veteran suffering with PTSD. It could get interesting and hopefully it will help in some little way. I am hoping to also include some real life options for dealing with the problems being faced by many vets today. Only time will tell.