The blaze died down to mere embers glowing in the evening's darkness with small wisps of smoke dancing from the coals. By morning only ash remained. No foundation, not a fitting, bracket, nor support beam, nothing to rebuild from; merely a long stretch of ash, knee deep if one were to walk through it. That is all that remained of the bridges that she burned.
The flames rose into the sky as she left the only stable home she had ever known. Orange tendrils climbed higher and higher, reaching as if to ignite the robes of God. And He sat, visibly crying, tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched her leave. Such a safe place for her, yet she ignored what He had given her and she walked away from it all . As the flames consumed the structures an acrid black smoke rose into the bluest of sky blue days, it's acidic smell burning the nostrils, and throats, but mostly incinerating the hearts of all who had been her family, the flames and smoke fueled by the pitch and creosote of the timbers.
The blaze died down to mere embers glowing in the evening's darkness with small wisps of smoke dancing from the coals. By morning only ash remained. No foundation, not a fitting, bracket, nor support beam, nothing to rebuild from; merely a long stretch of ash, knee deep if one were to walk through it. That is all that remained of the bridges that she burned.
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Excerpt 2
There are the patients who are fully functional physically, but Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia has taken their minds, minds once so vibrant and creative, inventive and inspiring, now lost to scattered thought, atrophied by brain wasting, from a disease that by far and away out-competes anything else they might have wrong with them. This disease steals their memories of loved ones, of days gone by, of tender moments, and in its place leaves anger and rage, combativeness and sometimes a broken record; making them repeat the same thing over and over and over again. As time passes it narrows the span of the repeated topic from a story they would repeat again and again, to just a phrase that their mind reruns and reruns, and as the gap of thought process closes it is then just a word. Just one word they repeat. In a word, they are the mentally dead. -o0o- Do you want to sample the works of more authors? Read more Boomer Lit authors at http://boomerlitfriday.blogspot.com. The following is a brief snippet of a boomer facing the death of her father.
-o0o- I can’t resist showing each hospice worker who they are caring for; the young couple in their 20s, so in love, so full of life. The pictures look like two movie stars. Everyone says so. They can’t believe the pictures are of my parents. Every time we have had to put Dad in a nursing home I’ve taken the pictures to show the nurses, the caregivers, the janitors, the administrators, anyone who will look, for whom they are really caring. The elderly man with contracted legs and hands gnarled with arthritis lying in their bed, so often is treated as just a living bag of temperamental bones. They have too many patients in the same condition, with a twist here and there. Some are bed bound Christmas trees; ornaments adorn their bodies in the form of tubes and bags, IVs and bandages, still alive because of their decorative affair, but abandoned in a nursing home by family too overwhelmed to care for their beloved parent who would require more care and attention than they could give. Do you want to sample the works of more authors? Read more Boomer Lit authors at http://boomerlitfriday.blogspot.com. "A Deadly Suggestion" Sample Section 01/01/2013
0 Comments Prologue That’s all! I’ve had it! Get out and take your cheating and your twisted mind with you!” From the level of extreme rage Kathryn suddenly clenched her teeth and lowered her voice to a hissing whisper. Her final words oozed ominous. He froze. If he moved, a rustling of his windbreaker might wipe out her parting comment. “Stay on this train and hell is your next stop.” Besides his cheating, she knew he was attempting to do something terribly wrong. His questions all the time, they were dark in their intent. He was using her. He knew. It was over! He remembered her rage the first time she caught him cheating. The sparkle of their early years slowly washed away. It was like a broken vase, glued back together but the cracks always showed. But this time! This time she raged at more than just his cheating. The shattering of their marriage was with such force its pieces were now nothing but small shards of dust; nothing left to glue. He turned and headed out the door taking nothing with him but his computer. To him the rest was unimportant. His only frustration was her unwillingness to feed him any further information for his research, his groundbreaking research! He was sure she didn’t know what he was up to. As he made a beeline to his car he told himself she wasn’t necessary. His work was almost complete. He could figure out the rest by himself. And if she did suddenly realize his goal, he assured himself she knew not to get in his way! As she heard his car door slam and the engine start, she ran to the bathroom and threw up. Her head was spinning. My God! What kind of monster had he become? (If you wish to read more click on the tab above, "A Deadly Suggestion" Sample Section 01/01/2013 Do you want to sample the works of more authors? Read more Boomer Lit authors at http://boomerlitfriday.blogspot.com. 0 Comments eBook sales are something that never take a dip. They increase every year. What has taken a dip is the sale of physical books. The reason is convenience, eyesight, storage, and the fast pace of life in general. Anyone who has ever lost his book marker in his paperback knows the frustration and waste of time spent trying to find where he left off. eBooks, on the other hand, remember the last page you viewed when you shut down.
My ability to read a paperback isn't what it used to be. I found I was reading less and less, unless it was on the computer screen. And as you know, the computer screen can fatigue the eyes and give a lovely headache at times. But the new eReaders with their special screens have opened a whole new world for me. Imagine that! An author who has returned to reading! I personally use a Sony Tablet with its incredible backlit screen. Apple has the new Retina screen, Kindle, Nook, and a myriad of other eReaders have advanced their technology so much that reading has become a joy again to many many folks. My mother-in-law can't read a book easily. She is treated for glacoma regularly and has macular degeneration which is kept in check with laser treatments. But imagine her joy at seeing the increased, adjustable sizing of the words which comes along with an eReader. Here I am writing on this topic and just discovered the Huffington Post published an article just today on Amazon ebook sales, which in part states: "The online retailer said that since April 1, it has sold 105 e-books for every 100 printed books, including printed books for which there is no electronic edition. The comparison excludes free e-books, which would tip the scales further if they were included." They also point out that "analysts estimate that Amazon accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. e-book sales." You can read the entire article here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/19/amazon-ebook-sales-surpas_n_864387.html This tells us two things. eBooks are here to stay, and if you know Amazon's politics when it comes to writers, you as an author either jump on their bandwagon and join their KDP Select group, which means for 90 days you cannot be published anywhere else, for which you receive a very large financial percentage of the sale price, or you'll be relegated to publishing through their straight KDP and get a pittance for each sale. If you don't join their KDP Select, it does, however, allow you to be retailed through the rest of the big eRetailers; Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, etc. You can also do KDP Select for 90 days and then be published elsewhere. Kind of a tough choice. It's guerilla warfare by the 10 ton gorilla against the other eRetailers. Am I badmouthing Amazon? Not at all. Business is business and as Mark Coker states in one of his books Amazon is one smart cookie. He just wishes Amazon wouldn't view the rest of the ebook retail world as enemy number one. In mid July 2012 Mashable published an article stating that ebook sales had surpassed hardcover sales for the first time in U.S. history. http://mashable.com/2012/06/17/ebook-hardcover-sales/ This indicates that the trend is continuing with great upward momentum. Now let's view the drawbacks. If a collapse of the internet infrastructure ever occurred, sales of ebooks and the eRetail industry in general would also falter and collapse unless an immediate fix was in the offing. However, if such a collapse occurred, you and I would be looking to just survive rather than spending money on an ebook. And what of electrons? No outlet, no charging your ebook. Grrr! All that entertainment trapped inside that magic box. Another drawback is keeping your "how-to" book available in case of an emergency. It isn't likely you'll be somewhere with a first aid kit and have your eReader along just in case. So there are definitely books that necessitate the possession of hard copies. And let's face it. When you see a book sitting on a table, isn't there just something . . . just that something that you feel when you pick up the book because of the cover and/or name, and you flip the pages to the back, the front, the pitch, and just pick a page inside to read, just to see if it catches your interest? For me there will always be that desire to touch, even if I choose to purchase it in eReader format. Because the pages of a book are like an old friend, a favorite teddy bear, the family dog. If but for a moment, you just have to feel the paper and smell the book to get the full enjoyment that comes with reading. -o0o- R.W. Williams is author of "A Deadly Suggestion." A description of this and her other writings can be found at http//:readrwwilliams.com and may be purchased at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Amazon, and Apple iBookstore. When it's your first book, as it is for me, and probably any book, you have those great reviews that come in from friends and family. The scariest part of publishing your long pored over thriller is waiting for that r-e-a-l review. It is the one thing that will rip your heart out, cause you to throw up your hands and never write again if it's a terrible review. And believe me, they are out there. I'll have one as sure as the sun rises in the morning (behind the clouds in Washington State where I live.)
There are two types of general reviewers. There are those who really are sincere and those who got out on the wrong side of the bed, missed their first cup of coffee and decided to blast someone they don't know because they can't get away with it with a loved one. Voila'! You, my dear flangernoggens, are their victims. You've poured your soul into your works and had excellent reviews from other readers, and one jerk feeling the need to issue cruel and unusual punishment, dumps it on you. Some of these lovely people have selected a book thinking it will be one type but finding out it's another. My Christian writing friends see this too often. Others look through the book reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or any of the other retailers and see a book with some great reviews and decide this is the author they want to destroy. It happens again and again and again. Now, here are my pearls of wisdom to all of you who wish to put pen to paper and write your heart out. Those who decide you are public enemy number one on any given day, those who write the worst review any of us have ever seen, will start seeing the "No" clicked in the section that says, "Did you find this review helpful?" People who are reading great reviews on a book and then come across the review written by Dumb-Dumb and his brothers Dumber and Dumbest, can see through the teeth in this nasty review and don't give it any credence. It makes no sense to anyone when there is a vicious comment when all the others are reasonable. So when the time comes and you hit the "Publish" button, gird your loins, get out a fresh bottle of Tequilla just to keep on hand, and when that lousy review comes through, drink a toast to the guy who tried to ruin your day. Oh, and drink two toasts to all those who made your day with their own take on your book. You'll feel positively giddy! As a new writer it's human nature to want your book disseminated on as many platforms and eBook retail sites as possible. After all, if someone sees your book on one site, then again on another and another, it gives the impression that it's all over the place and therefore a good read. But beware! Not all publishers have your best interest in mind.
Take for example one particular publisher who just happened to ask to be linked to my LinkedIn account. I read his bio and it turned out he is "supposedly" a publisher in England, and for no charge you can upload your manuscript, your articles, your blogs, and he will convert them into all possible formats, just like Smashwords does. I repeat, there is no charge. Sounds good so far. Then in order to publish your book you have to give him certain information to register. The usual drivel; user name, password, email . . . . . ah, yes. The obligatory terms and conditions check box must be checked before you can enter the site to continue on. He has also mentioned in his presentation that they make direct deposits to your bank account. Well, ladies and gents, don't go there, don't check the "I agree to the terms and conditions" box without reading the terms and conditions. There are none. I clicked on the terms and conditions line and it went nowhere. I looked at the bottom of the page, and there was another link to the terms and conditions. But, my learning flangernoggins, those terms and conditions went to the dreaded 404 page which stated, "The requested URL /termsAndConditions.php was not found on this server." Being the ever so concerned possible customer of this company I thought I'd let them know the terms and conditions link was broken, so I clicked on the "contact" button. You guessed it. The same 404 page. And as a bonus the Help, Site Map, Testimonials, and FAQ page also have a 404 link. Looking at the page showing the books they sell in English pounds, it became apparent that something more was amiss. All the books and magazines offered had a price of zero. Hmm! So I'm supposed to give this guy my bank account number so he can directly deposit all proceeds to my account, there are no proceeds. Even "50 Shades of Gray" is free. By now I'm sure red flags are rocketing up all around you and you are getting the picture here. Do your due diligence before even thinking about uploading your book to a company you have never heard of. Check all links to make sure they work. And above all else, read word for word the terms and conditions before you hit that button. You have to admit, it's a very come hither cover. People tell me the thing that grabs them right off the bat is the darkness it suggests. But what good is a fantasmigoric cover if no one sees it? So the plight of any author becomes the marketing, the education of the public about your book, literally its very existence. Sure, splatter it on social media. But don't smother your friends in your fantastic accomplishment. They'll weary of seeing it, hearing about it, and listening to the broken record, A Deadly Suggestion - R.W. Williams. You must seek out new undiscovered support. Somewhere out there there must be a multitude of unknown murder mystery readers. You just have to find them. You also have to let them see and read about your book more than once. You want to let your newly minted potential clients know that not only does your book exist, but it is popping up everywhere. Now I am going to give you a gift, my keyboard flangernoggins. http://freebookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/07/promote-your-book-indie-author.html Just this one page alone will keep you busy for hours . . . no! Days! There is so much information in this one page of this website, http://freebookreviews.blogspot.com/ that I can promise you the need for Dramamine by the time you are finished looking at it. Where to begin will be your first thought. Hint: Start at the top of the page, first suggestion, and accomplish just that one thing. Then move on. Just by reviewing the first suggested link and first implementing the items you know how to do will put you on your way to a broader base of possible readers. Hopefully you are not like me, a technological dunce. But if you are a kindred spirit, by first doing the things you understand you are taking steady steps forward. Then go back through the list and find things that you aren't so certain about implementing, and ask someone how to accomplish the next listed goal. Remember the old saying, "Ask and ye shall receive." I think of a written but unpublished book as someone laying in bed. When it's published, it's like someone finally sitting up on the edge of the bed and putting their slippers on. What do you want? You want your book to be like that incredible go getter guy who jumps out of bed, into the shower, throws on his clothes, grabs a mug of the stiffest coffee he can find, and roars down the freeway to the job he just can't get enough of, so much so that the board of directors promotes him to CEO and the world knows who he is. So get started and get your book out the door! It feels like it's been a lifetime, waiting for each ebook retailer to make my book available. But just like lights in a city in the early hours of breaking dawn, one turning on and twinkling here, then another there, until houses up and down the streets are lit brightly as people ready themselves for their early morning commute to work, so is the appearance of my book on each ebook shelf.
Barnes & Noble I had expected to see by last week at the latest, but even when the distributor says it will appear within days of "shipment" (hmmm, an ebook being shipped) sometimes glitches happen, and that, my dear followers, can make a writer crazy. But you can't do anything about it except ask the distributor is there a hiccup in the system. Then they "reship." (Hmmm, an ebook being reshipped.) Apple's iBookstore is another matter. Once it receives the electronic file, staff manually review the product to make sure it's 100% perfect. I haven't seen in print anywhere what they are checking for. Are they looking for formatting glitches that haven't translated well in the Smashwords formatting process? Are they checking for my i's to be dotted and t's crossed? Heaven help me if I missed something like that while typing my manuscript. I'm tempted to ask Smashwords what it is Apple's iBook store is looking for. But it's been long enough now I should hear in the next week whether they found thread loose in the ebook binding. So stick with me on this adventure and we'll all find out . . . maybe. Publishing is this huge dream you have when you are writing your masterpiece, your thriller, your memoirs. You just KNOW everyone is going to want to read what you have penned. It's ready. You've read it a dozen-plus times, you've had a few friends read your page turner, and now, ta-da! You are going to be published.
So where do you start? Well, in the "old days," at least five years ago, you were out looking for an agent, or going to a writers' convention hoping to meet Mr. Right. No, the publisher, not the guy with a wedding ring! You were standing in line to deliver your pitch to an agent, a publisher, a . . . anyone sitting at a table set up for your genre. That person represents one of many publishers. But this type of publishing is time costly and money eating. Everyone dreams of being discovered, becoming the next Stephen King. It only makes sense. After all, your manuscript is a masterpiece. Maybe you are a Steve Martini. Along with book signings and touring with your opus (after all, its quality is like drinking fine wine, listening to Bach) you envision a seven-figure contract attached to movie rights for your number one best seller. Somebody slap this guy. He's dreaming. Okay. Now that I have your full attention, it's a new world out there. Self-publishing, once a dirty little secret, is now becoming the norm, and that elusive publisher is becoming, well, a has been. However, believe me when I tell you that you will put just as much effort into self-publishing and marketing your own book as you would have put into seeking out a publisher and hoping your written treasure is snatched up. With today's social media outlets your marketing sky is the limit. You can now upload your manuscript in its final form and properly edited format to Smashwords.com, have them convert it into all the different formats necessary for Nook, Kindle, iPads, Sony eReaders, etc., and they in turn will push it out to the likes of Barnes & Noble, Apple Book Store, Sony eBooks, and on and on worldwide. Yes, I did say worldwide! And YOU will market your book on the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube and . . . pant, pant, pant. I'm out of breath. And have you seen trailers for your favorite movie on YouTube? Well, baby, that's where it's at. Have you ever noticed how a movie trailer gets you pumped up and ready to plunk down your $10 at the movie theater because you can't wait for the movie to be released in Blue Ray? It works just the same for books. You also need a great book cover. But the good news is you can do all of this yourself. I did tell you it would be a lot off work; right? That's okay. Creative control is something you wouldn't have with a yesteryear publisher. Yes, yes, they still do exist. But for the most part they are sewn up by the incredible authors they've already signed. And it's a tough match pitting your new book up against the next Sidney Sheldon novel. Yes, there will be authors who make the grade, but with all the new material available, it is impossible for traditional publishers to read every novel that comes out and pick a gem every time. If they can't read them all, how are you ever going to get published? You are going to do it yourself! And you can, too! Amazon Kindle has a go-to, click-here, select-this, hit-apply, click-okay instruction manual for how to format your Microsoft Word document. Smashwords has an instruction manual telling you how to format your manual for their conversion software. There are many ways to instruct the cat on skinning a manuscript, and as with everything in life, there is an instruction method out there that you'll understand. Take it from me, if I can do it so can you. Marketing your book is a challenge, but trust me when I say to you, it's not the dire death ray coming at you promising you will fail. It's really quite simple, yet challenging, quite intuitive with social media, yet something that won't just happen. You have to MAKE it happen. There is so much material available for free through online articles and blogs, if you are a research hound like me, you'll find everything you need to get rolling. So rejoice! Think about what a relief it is to know you CAN and WILL be published because YOU ARE IN CHARGE NOW! And if your manuscript is ready to properly format, you can crank that out in a day, make your cover in a day, and upload that puppy. Now mush! |
AuthorI remember my mother writing poetry. Such wonderful short stories told in poetic fashion, I marveled at her skill. I also remember when I started writing poetry. I think that's really where putting pen to paper started. Hearing my mother recite her own tomes it was like she had passed on her abilities and I just scooped them up and made them my own. Then came my short stories. But a novel! Now that was always a dream but never a reality, until now! Archives
June 2013
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