Guilty as charged.

My friend Robert Bidinotto also known as the Vigilante Author posted a link on his facebook page to an article titled But I Want Success Now! 
While I really didn't want to read the piece I knew that I should. So I reached down deep and found the courage. It definitely wasn't what I wanted to hear. All I really wanted was someone to tell me how I could become an overnight success next week. What I actually got from reading it was the honest truth. A simple fact that can be summed up in just two simple little words "Keep writing". The author of the piece Boyd Morrison talked about a number of very famous writers who had written numerous works before they actually hit the big time and became the names we know today. It also brought to mind a comment my wife told me about. A friend had mentioned how much my writing had improved since my first book. As I go back and read some of my early work I can see that my work has gotten better with practice. So while I see why Robert posted the article, it doesn't mean that I have to like their advice, but if I want to succeed I really need to follow it. Just as there have been times in my life that I wanted to just quit, it was the times that I refused to that paid off with the biggest rewards. So even though quick rewards would be great, they wouldn't taste as sweet as the ones I have had to work diligently to achieve. While somethings have come easily, the ones I am most proud of, took a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Thanks to Robert, for posting this and for always giving me a nudge in the right direction when I need it.

Changes

Well, last week I ran free promotions for "Shade on the Run" and the western novella, "The Last Raid" neither of which generated any sales afterwards. So that is a technique I think I will avoid from here on. If this seems like complaining it isn't. It is however a statement of the facts. This whole marketing thing baffles me. I will keep writing but not sure exactly where I will be taking it. The next Shade novel is started and well on its way. All outward signs tell me that I should be working on a western because those have been my best sellers, but the characters in Shade keep luring me back into the dystopian future. Not sure exactly why that is but, I am following where they lead.

I have some ideas for westerns that I would like to follow up on, but I haven't had the time to do the research needed. While most of my work is fiction, I do want to make sure that it is as close to fact as possible. Authors who fail to do their homework drive me nuts. A note to budding authors, do your own research. Nothing spoils a good read like running across something that just doesn't fit. Even with my science fiction, I ask people who should know, if something is possible. One of the many real characters who lived in the old west that fascinates me is the man they called Hi Jolly. He came to America with a load of camels. They were part of an experiment to see how viable it would be to use them in the Southwest. The Civil War put an end to the project, but not Hi Jolly. He made such a name for himself that when they buried him in the tiny town of Quartzsite Arizona, they built a monument over the grave along with a plaque telling the story of his life. To do the story right though I need a couple of days at least to spend in Quartzsite during the week, so that I can get to city hall and the public library. I am also working on a story about what might have happened to some of the horses the Nez Perce were forced to sell off after Chief Joseph surrendered. Only time will tell, in the mean time I will continue to move forward hoping to figure out the whole marketing issue along the way.

New Year 2013

It is hard to believe that it has been this long since I posted here. The last two months of 2012 were spent running from Portland OR. to Edmonton Alberta. With Internet connections sketchy in Canada it was hard to keep up with a lot of things. That is all behind me now, at least for a while. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time working on the next Shade book. I thought that I was finished with that character for the moment, but he had other ideas. Since the story takes place in a dystopian future where a large Government is in total control, the present political scene is offering a lot of ideas as to how it all happens.

 I have often said that we would not be destroyed by an outside enemy, rather we would give our freedoms away. I am also looking at a way to explain where the Subs (characters who live below the grid in the Shade stories) came from. If you are not familiar with this storyline please check out the short story Shade that started the whole concept. After that you can check out the follow up novel Shade on the Run which takes the short story to a new level. So far I haven't even figured out a working title for the next one.

As with any large unaccountable government there will be those in the upper echelons who will think that they are free to do as they want without repercussions. The new novel starts with one of those officials finding out differently. Here I hope to be able to show that there will always be those who will cherish the ideas of freedom and liberty that our country was founded on. It may be that someday it will only be found in the remote wilderness areas, but it will always find a way to survive. This will be a little darker than most of my work, but as with all of what I write, I hope that it also offers a ray of hope.

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.