Author, Editor, Publisher, Coach
Author, Co-Founder and CEO of Evolved Publishing LLC
I’ve decided to participate in the Amazon KDP Select program, making my following titles available to Amazon Prime members through their lending library.
I think this offers a terrific opportunity to my readers. I hope you’ll agree, and that you’ll take advantage, and that you’ll tell the world, and we’ll have peace on Earth, rainbows on the moon and—-
Err… okay, got a little carried away there.
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Yep, because I love working 24 hours per day, I’m once again making room for a select few clients for my freelance editing service. Now that our initial blast of releases is complete for Evolved Publishing, my shingle, which has been down for several months, will hang once again.
My primary interest is in authors still needing some developmental assistance to bring their books to a level at which they are marketable. Frankly, I find this the most rewarding process – good for my heart and soul. There’s just no better feeling than helping writers get to that point where they can legitimately pursue their dreams of becoming published authors.
For more, just click on my EDITING SERVICE page.
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However, we offered to sweeten the pot for the lucky winner: If you win the raffle, and if you subsequently post a review of Forgive Me, Alex online, at the site from which you downloaded the book, we will provide you with a second free eBook – any book published by Evolved Publishing.
Check it all out at Tim’s website. But hurry! It runs for a week.
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I love books that give me rich, real characters. They must appear as breathing, walking, talking people who live on the page. Do not give me plastic, shallow clichés, please.
Yes. To all of those, yes. He is a rich, deep character for which we as readers can peel back layer after layer.
Here are some more of my favorite characters:
These are just a few, but each of them offers a rich emotional and intellectual depth that brings them to life. What do they look like? I don’t know. I don’t care. How they look is not something that grabs most readers by the throat and compels them to learn more about the characters. We want to know what really makes them tick.
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I can barely stand it, so I’ll just point you to the crazy news: Get “Forgive Me, Alex” FREE
Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.”
Preparation. I like that, but here’s my question: How could one even get started were it not for coffee?
Or am I just a lousy-morning person? Probably. I’ve always been a night owl, since my wee days as an aspiring author, back when pacifiers were an amazing distraction. (I gave those up years ago.)
I swear, sometimes I want to skip the whole brewing thing and go right to chewing on the beans.
I awoke this morning, as Arlo Guthrie once sang, “…hung down, brung down, hung up, and all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things!”
Then I had a cup of coffee. Then I had a second cup of coffee. And I thought, “You know, I’m just about ready to dig into work and ge—” Then I had a third cup of coffee.
Aaaaahhhhhhhhh………… Yes, now I’m ready to get down to some serious work. Now I’ve sharpened my axe… err… brain.
Do you have a guilty pleasure that functions also as grease for your mental wheels?
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One of the tools that authors have always relied on, indeed that many have lived or died on (metaphorically speaking), is the priceless Reader Review.
In this new eBook environment we live in, this is easier than ever, and arguably more important than ever. Let’s face it, when you go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords, what’s one of the key indicators to help you decide if a book is worth your hard-earned entertainment dollar?
Yes, you can sample the book online, reading the first several pages, or even chapters, of the book. I always do this now. Indeed, I wouldn’t think of buying a book from an unknown author without doing so. The next thing I look at are the reviews. If there are only a couple of them, I assume—fairly or not—that those are from the author’s brother, or girlfriend, or husband, or favored pet. If there are several of them, I read them and get a better sense of whether I want to try the book.
And so, if you purchase (or pick up free) an indie author’s eBook, and you don’t leave a review, you’re making it harder for that author to succeed. Why should you care? Well, Dear Reader, if you like the author’s work, but that author fails and decides to just stick with the day job, you’ll lose a source of pleasant entertainment.
Thus, if you’d like to help out this poor starving author, or any other, please take a moment to post ratings and/or reviews. In my case, you can do so at:
For Forgive Me, Alex: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
For Paradox: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
For Devane’s Reality: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
For Wind Tunnel: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
For Well-Suited Sentry: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
For Evolution: Vol. 1: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
For Evolution: Vol. 2: Amazon ; Barnes and Noble ; Smashwords ; Goodreads.
So rate and review to your heart’s desire, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
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Yes, there is a method to my madness. Let’s face it: when we think serial killers and places like… oh, New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles—any big city—we think, “Yeah, that’s just how it is.”
Yet when we think of human monsters assaulting small-town America, some out-of-the-way, comfortable little bedroom community or rural farm country, a certain sense of shock and dismay assaults us. Such locations are the “good” places, the quiet places where everyone knows his neighbors, the idyllic settings where bad things don’t happen—at least, where bad unnatural things don’t happen.
It’s silly, of course, since senseless murder is a horrifying event no matter where it occurs. Yet we feel differently about it when it happens someplace… safe. It upsets our fragile psychology, our sense of security, our comfort in letting the kids walk several blocks to school. Surely, no monsters hide in places like this.
Ah, but evil can lurk even where we least expect it. All the cruel beasts need is a supply of unwary subjects, a source of fuel to drive their sick, twisted, psychopathic engine.
Thus, I chose Algonquin, Illinois, my hometown, as the setting for Forgive Me, Alex, because it is just such a place. I felt comfortable helping the reader feel that sense of angst because, after all, I grew up there. I know it. I don’t spend too much time building up the setting, because I think that, beyond the aforementioned small-town qualities, the story would be effective in any small town. I do hope, however, that you get a sense of the simple, quiet nature of the place.
Don’t forget: You still have a few days to save $2.00 on the book at Smashwords. Just use Coupon Code BC83B. Don’t forget to post your review when done.
Thank you, and happy New Year.
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Once again, a Merry Christmas to one and all—be safe, be healthy, be happy. The second of those three—be healthy—is the source of quite a bit of personal reflection these days.
Bob Ashley, R.I.P.
A couple weeks ago, my brother, Bob Ashley, succumbed to cancer. Technically, Bob was my half brother on my father’s side—a father I barely knew. I’ll not go into the dysfunctional details; I’ll just say that I got to know Bob later in life—me in my early 40s, he in his mid-50s. We hit it off nicely, being of like mind in everything from humor (humor was a biggie) to family to politics to just plain living life. I liked Bob instantly. We never thought of each other as “half” brothers, just brothers who discovered each other later than we would have liked.
Despite the fact that Bob and I didn’t see a lot of each other in recent years, living some 1,000 miles apart, keeping in touch primarily through email and social media sites, my appreciation of him did not diminish. Indeed, before he got sick, we were trying to sort out plans for a long overdue visit. Thus, his passing hit home with a thump. Cancer has been such a scourge on my family over the years, as it has been for so many.
I’ve been battling my own health issue these past few years, a condition call Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS). Again, I’ll spare you the details, except to say that it threw my life into a state of turmoil back in 2006. Since then, I’ve been battling my way back, sorting out a new, productive path to a brighter future, building hope and optimism back into my life. It’s been a tough slog, but the light at the end of the tunnel grows nearer, larger—I can almost reach out and touch it.
And so, through it all, and as I reflect on life during this holiday season, I can’t help but be reminded that nothing—absolutely nothing—is more important than your health, and the health and wellbeing of family and friends.
I hope you and yours are enjoying the blessings not just of the season, but of life without excessive worry or loss.
This one’s for you, Bob. Go gently into that good night, brother, and rest easy.
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