BOOK BLURB:Driven to despair by a shared loss, Americans John Webster and Tyler Montgomery try to self-medicate by embarking on a mission of goodwill to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The reconstruction of an orphanage transforms into a nightmarish hunt after a young girl is kidnapped.
Unequipped, culturally illiterate, and alone, the pair are forced into alliances with shifty characters, as they delve deeper into the treacherous underbelly of the human trafficking world. Can they survive long enough to keep their promise to the child’s mother?
AUTHOR BIO: Mark combines his unique experiences and imagination to create his stories and characters. Raised on a farm, Mark Bierman enjoys the great outdoors. He began writing a bit later in life, relying on his unique experiences as a Private Investigator and Correctional Officer to create tales of adventure.
Thank you for dropping in to support this author today along the 4WillsPub “THANK YOU, HOSTS” Blog Tour! To follow along with the rest of the tour as we show appreciation of these bloggers for all their support in supporting our books, please visit the main tour page for this event! There’s another book and author on tour today, so do get by to support them, as well! Remember, you could win a (5) Day Blog Tour of your own to promote any of your books by simply leaving a comment below!
GIVEAWAY: (2) Complete sets of the Billy Battles trilogy. For your chance to win one, please leave a comment below!
I am thrilled to welcome talented author and journalist, Ron Yates, to my blog today where he’ll share some hard-earned wisdom with you.
The Lost and Found Billy Battles Tour
Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing: Annotated
At least once every year I find it useful to take a look at the late Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. It is sage advice from a master. Every writer should read these rules and remember them. I’m doing my part by posting them here at the beginning of 2019 for your edification and enjoyment.
I began reading Elmore Leonard’s books before I knew anything about writing or even that I wanted to be a writer. Back then, a lot of his books were westerns filled with gritty characters, compelling stories, and robust, convincing dialogue.
I remember reading Last Stand at Sabre River and Hombre, both of which became successful movies. Later, after Leonard had moved from westerns to crime and suspense stories, I read Mr. Majestyk, The Big Bounce, and the Moonshine War.
From 2010 to 2015 I watched with great pleasure the TV series “Justified,” based on Leonard’s book “Raylan” and partly written by Leonard. It has run its course, but I encourage you to take a look at the series. I am sure it is available on Netflix. Timothy Oliphant plays Raylan to a “T.”
Elmore Leonard was a writer’s writer. Not only could he spin a great story, but he could also create characters you loved to hate or hated to love and some you simply learned to tolerate because they made the other characters interesting.
If you like reading William Faulkner or Thomas Wolfe, you probably will not like reading Elmore Leonard. As brilliant as those two writers were, their stream-of-conscious narration probably drove Leonard nuts.
Leonard believed the writer should never get in the way of the story. (NOTE: See “Hooptedoodle″ at the end of Leonard’s rules)
I am not sure when Leonard wrote his 10 Rules of Writing, but I found them a few years ago and filed them away.
Some of you may already know those ten rules, but I am betting a lot of you don’t. So let me share them with you today. Read them, consider them and most of all, and try to follow them when you write your books. I think you will be glad you did.
Here they are in Elmore Leonard’s own words:
These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.
1. Neveropen a book with weather.
If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.
2.Avoid prologues.
They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily found in nonfiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.
There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, but it’s O.K. because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about. He says: “I like a lot of talk in a book and I don’t like to have nobody tell me what the guy that’s talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks . . . Figure out what the guy’s thinking from what he says. I like some description but not too much of that. . . Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle. Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That’s nice. But I wish it was set aside, so I don’t have to read it. I don’t want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story.” (NOTE: I already violated that rule in my Finding Billy Battles trilogy. Sorry, Elmore. I won’t do it again.)
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary. (NOTE: I learned this important rule in journalism school at the University of Kansas. It has served me well.)
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” …
…he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost anyway) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances “full of rape and adverbs.”
5. Keep your exclamation points under control.
You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
This rule doesn’t require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won’t be able to stop. Notice the way Annie Proulx captures the flavor of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, what do the “American and the girl with him” look like? “She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” That’s the only reference to a physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice, with not one adverb in sight.
9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
Unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language or write landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison, but even if you’re good at it, you don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.
And finally:
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. I attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. (Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)
If I write in scenes and always from the point of view of a particular character — the one whose view best brings the scene to life — I’m able to concentrate on the voices of the characters telling you who they are and how they feel about what they see and what’s going on, and I’m nowhere in sight.
What Steinbeck did in Sweet Thursday was title his chapters as an indication, though obscure, of what they cover. “Whom the Gods Love They Drive Nuts” is one, “Lousy Wednesday” another.
The third chapter is titled “Hooptedoodle 1″ and the 38th chapter “Hooptedoodle 2″ as warnings to the reader as if Steinbeck is saying: “Here’s where you’ll see me taking flights of fancy with my writing, and it won’t get in the way of the story. Skip them if you want.”
Sweet Thursday came out in 1954 when I was just beginning to be published, and I’ve never forgotten that prologue.
Did I read the hooptedoodle chapters? Every word.
And there you have it: Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. They are well worth remembering and following. Of course, there are some who believe there are no rules when it comes to writing. I don’t believe Leonard himself felt his ten rules were inviolable. To me, they seem like common sense–especially when it comes to avoiding the dissemination of hooptedoodle.
BOOK BLURB:
The Finding Billy Battles trilogy tells the story of a remarkable man who is born in 1860 and who dies in 1960. For decades Billy lives an improbable and staggering life of adventure, peril, transgression and redemption. Then Billy mysteriously disappears. For several decades his family has no idea where he is or what he is doing.
Finally, with his life coming to an end, Billy resurfaces in an old soldiers’ home in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is there, when he is 98 that he meets his 12-year-old great-grandson and bequeaths his journals and his other property to him — though he is not to receive them until he is much older.
Years later, the great-grandson finally reads the journals and fashions a three volume trilogy that tells of his great-grandfather’s audacious life in the old west, as well as his journeys to the Far East of the 1890s—including French Indochina and The Philippines—and finally, in the early 20th century, to Europe and Latin America where his adventures and predicaments continue. One thing readers can be sure of, wherever Billy Battles goes trouble is not far behind.
AUTHOR BIO:
Ronald E. Yates is a multi-award winning author of historical fiction and action/adventure novels, including the popular and highly-acclaimed Finding Billy Battles trilogy. His extraordinarily accurate books have captivated fans around the world who applaud his ability to blend fact and fiction.
Ron is a former foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the University of Illinois where he was also the Dean of the College of Media.
As a professional journalist, Ron lived and worked in Japan, Southeast Asia, and both Central and South America where he covered several history-making events including the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia; the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing; and wars and revolutions in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, among other places. His work as a foreign correspondent earned him several awards including three Pulitzer Prize nominations.
Ron is a frequent speaker about the media, international affairs, and writing. He is a Vietnam era veteran of the U.S. Army Security Agency and lives just north of San Diego in Southern California’s wine country.
I hope you enjoyed Ron’s post today. Please remember to leave a comment to be entered in the GIVEAWAY!
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to schedule your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting this author and his work!
I am SO excited to host this author, Sarah Angleton, here on my blog! She is a new author to me and I have this book on my Kindle. I am anxious to read it. In the meantime, let me share with you some really cool stuff about Sarah and her new book!
I’ll turn it over to Sarah!
Thank you, Jan, for hosting me today!
Lately I’ve come across a question of etiquette I’ve been unable to answer. I’m not always the perfect lady, but I more or less stand up straight and understand basic table manners. I say please and thank you and try to treat everyone I meet with respect, to learn their names and use sir and ma’am when appropriate. I hold open doors, try not to tailgate, and offer sincere compliments when the opportunity presents itself.
But for the life of me I do not know how to respond to the following statement: “I didn’t know you are an author. How cool!”
I hear a version of this exact statement at least once a day, especially anytime there’s a little extra buzz because I’m launching a new book, which I have recently done.
Like most writers, I’m a bit of an introvert. Though I could write you a brilliant essay about what I do, when we meet in person, I will most likely shy away from the center of attention and won’t have much to say about myself.
Of course, if I’m asked a direct question, like “What is it that you do?” I’ll gladly answer. If that leads to follow-up questions, I’ll answer those too. And heaven forbid you ask me about my latest book, because that’s when I will launch into an elevator-worthy pitch about a lost manuscript, a 19th century conspiracy theory, dangerous religious fanaticism, and a dashing conman. That question, my friend, you may come to regret asking.
But the most frequently reoccurring comment I get is not a question. And this poor introvert doesn’t know how she is supposed to respond. I mean, I’m not likely to go to my next dental appointment and say, “Oh wow, you’re a hygienist. That’s cool!”
So, I’ve decided on a few options. I could simply say, “Why, yes, you’re right, it is pretty cool.” I imagine this is accompanied by a point and wink.
Probably not my style.
I could also respond with complete honesty: “Sometimes it’s cool, but mostly it means I spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer in my basement, typing and then deleting and then typing again while battling a crushing sense of self-doubt with every rejection I receive. You know, on the good days.”
I’m guessing no one wants to hear this.
Or I could turn it back on the speaker and say, “Yep. You should give it a try.”
Actually, I have said that.
But most of the time I shrug and just say, “I enjoy it.”
No one knows how to respond to that, either, but I figure if I speak last, then I won the conversation. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. Unless I want to tell someone about my book. Really, all he or she has to do is ask.
Book Blurb:
New York, 1872.
Diviner Ada Moses is a finder of hidden things and a keeper of secrets. In her possession is a lost manuscript with the power to destroy the faith of tens of thousands of believers.
When a man seeking the truth knocks at her door with a conspiracy theory on his lips and assassins at his heels, she must make a choice.
Spurred by news of a ritualistic murder and the arrival of a package containing the victim’s bloody shirt, Ada must either attempt to vanish with the truth or return the burden she has long borne to the prophet responsible for one of the most successful deceptions in US history.
Protecting someone else’s secret may save Ada’s life, but is that worth forcing her own demons into the light?
Author Bio:
SARAH ANGLETON is the author of the historical novels Gentleman of Misfortune and Smoke Rose to Heaven as well as the humor collection Launching Sheep & Other Stories from the Intersection of History and Nonsense. She lives with her husband, two sons, and one loyal dog near St. Louis, where she loves rooting for the Cardinals but doesn’t care for the pizza.
Sarah is giving away 5 e-book copies of SMOKE ROSE TO HEAVEN and all you have to do for a chance to win a copy is to leave a comment below. To follow along with the rest of her tour, please drop in on her 4WillsPub tour page.
It is my pleasure today to host Balroop Singh and her newest book of poetry!
Moments of fragrant love that stand frozen in
time, of dreams that dare not unfold, of passion that fleets by, of erratic joy
that we meet at the crossroads of life, butterflies of time that add color to
our dark moments to scare the demons away – I have gathered all of them in this
book. Some of them whisper softly to create a magical aura while spring of life
sings with them, trying to wipe silent tears. Mother Nature steps in with all
her grandeur to breath quiet messages of tranquility.
Each poem would soothe your emotions with élan
and add a dash of color to your life. Life – that doesn’t halt for your sad
moments; that just floats by. You just need to dive in to soak in myriads of
moments to discover how it could ignite positive tones. All the poems in this
collection are imaginary but inspired from people around me, some of whom chose
to share their frustrations and tremors with me. Sometimes I could read between
the lines to pen my thoughts down.
Balroop Singh, a
former teacher and an educationalist always had a passion for writing.
She is a poet, a creative non-fiction writer, a relaxed blogger and a
doting grandma. She writes about people, emotions and relationships. Her poetry highlights the fact that happiness is not
a destination but a chasm to bury agony, anguish, grief, distress and move on!
No sea of solitude is so deep that it can drown us. Sometimes aspirations are
trampled upon, the boulders of exploitation and discrimination may block your
path but those who tread on undeterred are always successful.
When
turbulences hit, when shadows of life darken, when they come like unseen
robbers, with muffled exterior, when they threaten to shatter your dreams, it
is better to break free rather than get sucked by the vortex of emotions.
Balroop Singh has
always lived through her heart. She is a great nature lover; she loves to watch
birds flying home. The sunsets allure her with their varied hues that they lend
to the sky. She can spend endless hours listening to the rustling leaves and
the sound of waterfalls. The moonlight streaming through her garden, the
flowers, the meadows, the butterflies cast a spell on her. She lives in San
Ramon, California.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.
It is my pleasure to host Harriet Hodgson and her new book on my blog site!
Homemade
Granola with Apples and Cinnamon: Fresher, Healthier, Cheaper
Grocery stores carry many kinds of granola. All are tempting. When you read the ingredients label, you may discover the granola is high in fat, sugar, and salt. Some consumers find store-bought granola hard to chew because it’s not fresh. What’s a shopper to do? Making your own granola is the answer.
I came across this recipe years ago and modified it to
suit my tastes and health needs. It has no salt and is lightly sweetened with
honey. You make your own by adding dried fruit you like. Homemade Granola with
Apples and Cinnamon tastes great on yogurt and surprisingly good on frozen
yogurt.
INGREDIENTS
6
cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1 ½
teaspoons ground cinnamon
½
cup sliced almonds
¼ cup
honey
2
tablespoons extra light olive oil
2
tablespoons apple juice
1 ½ teaspoons
pure vanilla extract
1
cup dried fruit of choice: chopped apples, chopped apricots, chopped cherries, currants,
raisins, blueberries, or reduced sugar cranberries
METHOD
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Coat two cookie sheets with baking spray.
In a large bowl, combine oatmeal, cinnamon, and almonds.
In a small bowl, combine honey, olive oil, apple juice, and vanilla extract.
Add wet mixture to oatmeal mixture and mix well.
Pour granola into baking pans, spreading out evenly.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring several times, until granola starts to brown.
Remove from oven and add dried fruit. Cool completely. Store in tightly sealed containers. Makes about 7 cups
That sounds YUMMY to me! Thank you for sharing, Harriet!
Author Bio: Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance writer for 38 years, is the author of thousands of print/online articles, and 37 books. Hodgson is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Alliance of Independent Authors. She has appeared on more than 185 radio talk shows, including CBS Radio, and dozens of television stations, including CNN. A popular speaker, she has given presentations at public health, Alzheimer’s, bereavement, and caregiving conferences. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband, John. Please visit www.harriethodgson.com for more information about this busy wife, mother, grandmother, caregiver, speaker, and author
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting this author and her work!
Writers create stories within a context. They establish time
and place, but this is not done in the abstract. A writer’s personal world
provides the unspoken but overarching backdrop to the narrative. I became quite
aware of this fact when writing THE
CHOICE.
I was dealing with a degenerative neurological problem which
ultimately required surgery. During my writing days, every decision was a
struggle; I had choices but often they scared me.
In this sequel, the characters from THE CONTRACT reappear and lead the story. They face one difficult decision
after another, life and death decisions. Two protagonists emerge and come to
the realization that some things are worth more than the physical life and this
awareness gives them the peace they need to proceed.
THE CHOICE bears no similarity to my life, but it spoke to the drama I was living. In an unexpected way, the characters helped me with my ordeal, though I was unaware of this fact until I finished the book and looked back through the chapters. I wonder, have you had a similar experience?
Growing up in Southern California, Gwen Plano loved learning. She earned four degrees and taught and served in universities and colleges across the country and in Japan. Now retired, she is focused on writing. Gwen’s first book, Letting Go into Perfect Love, is a memoir. Her second book, The Contract, is a thriller co-authored by John W. Howell. Gwen lives in the Midwest with her husband, and when she is not writing, she is traveling, usually to see one of her four children and many grandchildren.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Lastly, Gwen is a member of the best book club ever – RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB {#RRBC}! If you’re looking for amazing support as an author, or if you simply love books,
It is with great pleasure I introduce a new collection of short stories from author, Joy Nwosu Lo-Bamijoko!
Day 10:
This is the tenth day of my ten days tour.
The Clue:
Below are the titles of the stories. If you have read the snippets, try and match them to the titles. Beside each title write the number of the snippet. At the bottom write your name and submit.
*You Will Die If You Scream!
*Is This Love or What?!
*Florence
*The Silent Thief
*Lost in Soho
*Simple Things of Life
*The Break-In
*Wedged-In
*Girls’ Talk
The Rules:
I have randomly chosen a short snippet from a story in my book for you to read each day of my tour. Today, I have listed the titles of the stories from where the snippets were taken. Match the snippets to the titles. Once again, I will choose only three winners from the correct matches. The winner with nine correct matches will be gifted with a $15 Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of your choice from any of my books. The second with eight correct matches will be gifted with a $10 Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of your choice from my books. The third winner with seven correct matches will be with gifted a $5. Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of your choice from my books.
Now the catch! If you follow the tour and read the snippets, you may want to read the complete stories and leave a review of the book after the tour.
This tour is supported by another of my books; Pregnant Future. If you want to read that one too, that will be great. However, the focus will be on Vagaries of Life: And Girls’ Talk. Good reading!
About the Author Joy Nwosu Lo-Bamijoko
Joy has written and published extensively on national and international scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers.
Her first short story I Come from Utopia was published in African Voices, Spring/ Summer, 2007, pg. 18. Since then, she has published numerous others in RAVE SOUP FOR THE WRITER’S SOUL Anthology, Vols. 1 & 2.
Mirror of Our Lives: Voices of Four Igbo Women was published in 2011 and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Contest in 2012. She has also two books published in the Italian language. The First titled: Io Odio, Tu Odi, & Cinema E Africa Nera, are both by Edizione, Tindalo.
In Pregnant Future: No One Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring, her latest Novel, Justina is the story of every young woman who found herself alone in the world to fend for herself. It is the story of the pitfalls that await such a woman. It is the story of survival
Justina was a fighter. And, although it seemed the world was against her and her future was destined for failure …she persevered in the face of it all.
The future that was being thrown in her face, was not the one she had dreams of …and if she wanted to get her feet on the right path, she was going to have to show the world her strength. But, does she?
Will she have the will to make it to the end, unscarred?
What would you do if you knew what the future had in store for you?
Would you run towards it with open arms, or would you run away and never look back?
Justina must make a choice …before life chooses for her.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.
Lastly, Joy is a member of the best book club ever – RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB {#RRBC}! If you’re looking for amazing support as an author, or if you simply love books, JOIN US! We’d love to have you!
I am thrilled to introduce you to an award-winning author and his trilogy, The Billy Battles books!
Dealing With the Dreaded Rejection Letter
If there is one thing most authors have in common, besides the sheer agony
that sometimes accompanies the writing process, it is the dreaded Rejection
Letter from an agent or publisher.
I don’t know who got this one from Harlequin, but it had to be devastating
to the person receiving it.
I have received a few rejection letters–though none like the one from
Harlequin.
Most authors–even wildly successful authors–have also received their share
of rejection missives.
Don’t believe me?
Just take a look at this list of rejection letters that were sent by
publishers and agents to world-renowned, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning
authors. It is simply part of the creative process, and you need to keep moving
ahead–just as these authors did.
—“The American public is not interested in China,” a publisher
wrote Pearl S. Buck. Her book The Good Earth becomes
the best-selling US novel two years running in 1931/32, and wins The Pulitzer Prize in the
process.
—Alex Haley writes
for eight years and receives 200 consecutive rejections from publishers and
agents. His novel Roots becomes a publishing
sensation, selling 1.5 million copies in its first seven months of release, and
going on to sell 8 million.
—“He hasn’t got a future as a writer,”a
publisher opines. Publication of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold leads
to its author, John le Carré,
having one of the most distinguished careers in literary history.
—“Hopelessly bogged down and unreadable,” a publisher tells
Ursula K. Le Guin in a 1968 rejection letter. She was not deterred, and her
book The Left Hand of Darkness goes on to become just the
first of her many best-sellers and is now regularly voted as the second best
fantasy novel of all time, next to The Lord of the Rings.
—The Christopher Little
Literary Agency receives 12 publishing rejections in a row for their
new client, until the eight-year-old daughter of a Bloomsbury editor demands to read
the rest of the book. The editor agrees to publish but advises the writer to
get a day job since she has little chance of making money in children’s books. Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone byJ.K. Rowlingspawns
a series where the last four novels consecutively set records as the
fastest-selling books in history, on both sides of the Atlantic, with combined
sales of 450 million.
—“It is so badly written,” a publisher tells this author.
Dan Brown is not discouraged, however, and tries Doubleday where his book makes
an impression. The Da Vinci Code eventually sells 80
million copies.
—“Too different from other juvenile (books) on the market to warrant
its selling,” says a rejection letter sent to Dr. Seuss. His books
have racked up $300 million in sales, and he is now the 9th best-selling
fiction author of all time.
See what I mean?
Editors, agents, first readers who dig through the publisher’s slush
pile–all are quite capable of making bone-headed decisions about other
people’s work. And they do it all the time.
So if you have a stack of rejection letters sitting on your desk or stuffed
into a file cabinet, don’t despair. You are not alone.
What you should do, instead of becoming despondent and inconsolable, is read
those rejection letters carefully and look for the constructive criticism in
them.
In most cases, you will find some–though as one publisher told an author
many years ago: “This manuscript should be buried under a pile of
rocks and forgotten for the next thousand years.” (That book
went to become a bestseller and was even made into a movie. Its name: Lolita.)
Phrases like that can be a bit disheartening–even to
the most thick-skinned scribbler. So far I have not received anything
quite so venomous…though I have had my go-rounds with a few agents and
editors who couldn’t see the value of what I was working on.
Now that I am writing fiction rather than nonfiction, I am finding that I no
longer care what an agent or publisher may think of my work. I find that
especially satisfying when I can see that customers on Amazon, Barnes &
Noble and Goodreads like my book and are giving it mostly 5-stars with a
handful of 4-star ratings.
That tells me that I must be doing something right.
The key is believing in yourself and the story you are telling. You will
NEVER please everybody. There will always be those who don’t understand or just
don’t like your book or books. That’s life.
But it is critical that you DO NOT stop believing in what you are writing.
Does that mean you should ignore valid and constructive criticism?
No, it does not. If somebody has taken the time to tell you what is wrong
with your book or why he or she didn’t like it, you should also take the time
to consider that criticism and learn from it.
It doesn’t mean you should give up, stop writing and walk away from your
computer. Writing is a skill that cannot be taught–at least not in the same
way one learns calculus or biology.
It must be learned. And we learn to recognize good writing by reading.
Then we learn how to write by writing, writing, writing–even if the writing
we do is terrible, with way too many adjectives in place of strong action verbs
or way too many compound-complex sentences that give readers migraines as they
slog through page-long paragraphs.
Reading should be fun–not a chore. And only you, the writer, can dictate
that.
So if a rejection letter says your prose is ponderous and pretentious, or
your story is tedious and byzantine, you might want to take a hard, critical
look at what you have written.
And after doing that if you still disagree with the author of that rejection
letter, then by all means, plow ahead. You may be right and that agent or
editor may be wide of the mark.
Time and book sales will tell.D
Ronald E. Yates is
an award winning author of historical fiction and action/adventure novels,
including the popular and highly-acclaimed Finding Billy Battles trilogy.
His extraordinarily accurate books have captivated fans around the world who
applaud his ability to blend fact and fiction.
Ron is a former foreign correspondent
for the Chicago Tribune and Professor Emeritus of Journalism
at the University of Illinois where he was also the Dean of the College of
Media. His award-winning book, “The Improbable Journeys of Billy
Battles,” is the second in his Finding Billy Battles trilogy
of novels and was published in June 2016. The first book in the trilogy, “Finding
Billy Battles,” was published in 2014. Book #3 of the trilogy (The
Lost Years of Billy Battles) was published in June 2018.
As a professional journalist, Ron lived
and worked in Japan, Southeast Asia, and both Central and South America where
he covered several history-making events including the fall of South Vietnam
and Cambodia; the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing; and wars and
revolutions in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador and
Guatemala, among other places. His work resulted in multiple journalism awards,
including three Pulitzer nominations and awards from the Society of
Professional Journalists and the Inter-American Press Association, to name a
few.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.
Lastly, Ron is a member of the best book club ever – RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB {#RRBC}! If you’re looking for amazing support as an author, or if you simply love books, JOIN US! We’d love to have you!
It is with great pleasure I introduce to you Author, Guy Worthey, and his series of Ace Carroway books!
Greetings one and all, and a hearty thank-you to my kind host
and 4 Wills Publishing!
In this fifth blog tour stop we meet the second of Ace’s five
associates. Our fictitious interviewer, Mr. Bigg Faquir, is unable to make
bail, and so he will not be joining us. As I watch my guest coming in, I must
say it’s quite a sight. He removed his Stetson and ducked his head to get
through the doorway. I hope his boots and spurs don’t mark my floor up. His
checkered shirt and leather vest are cheery enough. He has dark hair, beard
stubble and he’s borderline emaciated. His walk is a rolling amble, made
necessary by a genuine case of bowleggedness.
GW: Greetings, Tombstone.
Tombstone: Howdy, pardner. Nice digs ya got.
GW: Thank you. Tell me, what’s your full name?
Tombstone: Ah’m Gregory Jamison, born an’ raised in th’
vicinity of El Paso, Texas.
GW: I would have guessed Tombstone, Arizona.
Tombstone: Because o’ the nick? Ah picked it up on the French
front durin’ the Great War. Tell ya what, to them Limeys, it’s all the same. El
Paso an’ Austin an’ Tulsa an’ Tombstone might as well be the same town instead
o’ hundreds o’ miles from each other.
GW: Mostly true, I suppose. On the other hand, can you put
Devonshire or Stratford on a map?
Tombstone: Nope! Good point, pardner.
GW: What was your role in the war?
Tombstone: Communications engineer. Meanin’ radio
communications, o’ course. Radio’s quite the amazin’ thing, y’know. Ah got a
feelin’ we’ve only scratched the surface o’ what radio can do.
GW: What year is it?
Tombstone: You feelin’ all right, there, son? It’s 1921.
GW: I’d say we’ve only scratched the surface of what radio
can do. What do you think of Gooper?
Tombstone: That overstuffed egocentric top-heavy ginger
walrus? Oh, he’s a nice feller. Mostly nice. Well, nice after ya get used t’
the smell.
GW: Heh. So, what about the rest of the associates?
Tombstone: Tell you what. Sam’s the one you’d buddy up to
after hours, but they’re all good workin’ pardners. Diff’rent strengths an’
weaknesses, you know. I got somethin’ else to say, too. Ev’ry one of ‘em, even
that lard butt Gooper, would take a bullet meant fer you. I mean me. I mean any
one of us. Heck, you, too, ya four-eyed li’l squirt.
GW: I’m honored. I think. What is your relationship to Ace?
Tombstone: She’s the glue, son. She’s the gas in the engine,
an’ the oil, too. She brung five headstrong varmints goin’ five diff’rent ways
and made ‘em into a team.
GW: And what’s the goal of the team?
Tombstone: Ah ain’t gonna answer that straight. We got a
detective agency an’ we take cases. Let’s let it ride right there.
GW: Now I want to know more.
Tombstone: Ask somebody else. I’ve got t’ ride.
GW: You mean, you have to go?
Tombstone: I mean I got t’ go, and I got t’ ride. Ride away
on mah horse, Sparky. Good luck, there, pardner.
GW: Good luck to you, too, Tombstone. Happy trails.
Here are some choice quotes from Tombstone, taken from the
Ace Carroway books.
Gooper abuse 1: “Oh, who invited you, Gooper? Ding-nab it!
Out o’ th’ fryin’ pan and into th’ fire! I ain’t sure I kin stand bein’ cooped
up with this here blubbery Brit!”
Gooper abuse 3: “Aww, keep your
hat on. You’re not bulletproof, you knuckleheaded Limey.”
An expression of surprise: “Well, rope my ankles and call me
a dogie!”
Soothing the resident genius: “Don’
get a burr under yer saddle, Ace! You’re a cyclone an’ ain’t none of us Pecos
Bill enough to lasso you!”
On hunter-gatherer society: “Shewt. We think we got it tough.
Jes’ think about them cave people. Even if they hunted a critter, next thing
you know they’d be fightin’ t’ keep it against sabretooth cats or giant bears!”
When a plan is hatched: “Ma’am? Let me offer a translation on
behalf o’ my cohorts. All of that means: We’re in, and when do we start?”
I have two limericks today because they’re both awful, and
I’m hoping that, somehow, by presenting twice as many, it will be their meager
virtues that double, not their considerable demerits.
Tombstone’s a tall drink of water.
He’s six feet from boot toes to
snotter.
He can’t play the harp.
With a rifle, he’s sharp.
With ‘lectrical gear? Slick as an
otter.
Tombstone’s a tall drink of water.
He charts AM waves on a plotter
Transceiver or Stetson
He’s ready to fetch some
Varmints for Carroway’s daughter
Join Ace Carroway and her motley gang of associates as they
travel the world, solving mysteries and fighting crime.
In ACE CARROWAY and the GREAT WAR, sixteen-year-old Cecilia Carroway lies about her age and joins the war effort as a pilot. She earns her Ace nickname over France, but is forced down behind enemy lines. Escape plans are imperiled when Ace catches the attention of imperial minister Darko Dor.
Three years later, in ACE CARROWAY AROUND THE WORLD, Ace’s father dies in a hail of bullets in quiet Hyannis, Cape Cod. Lieutenant Drew Lucy is on the case, but it’s Ace Carroway at the top of his list of suspects.
In ACE CARROWAY and the HANDSOME DEVIL, Ace barely survives an assassination attempt at the hands of her old nemesis Darko Dor. Figuring the best defense is offense, she starts a detective agency in New York. Before the paint on the door dries, a new web of deception ensnares the rookie sleuths. Sudden romantic attention from a pair of handsome strangers is good, right?
The Adventures of Ace Carroway are available at many fine
stores around the world.
Wyoming native Guy Worthey traded spurs and lassos for telescopes and computers when he decided on astrophysics for a day job. Whenever he temporarily escapes the gravitational pull of stars and galaxies, he writes fiction. He lives in Washington state with his violinist wife Diane. He likes cats and dogs and plays keyboards and bass guitar. His favorite food is called creamed eggs on toast, but once in a while, he heeds the siren song of chocolate.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.
Lastly, Guy is a member of the best book club ever – RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB #RRBC! If you’re looking for amazing support as an author, or if you simply love books, JOIN US! We’d love to have you! Thanks for supporting this author and his work!
It is my pleasure today to introduce you to an author who has just released a brand new book, Karl J. Morgan. I’ll let him tell you about it in his own words as he interviews one of his characters.
Character Interview- Aida Whitehall
KM: Aida is an interesting name. Tell us a
little about your background.
AW: Well, there’s not a lot to tell
actually. I have no recollection of my birth mother or father. I was told that
I was abandoned as a baby. Of course, I was put into foster care. When I was
three, the dean of students at Thorndike adopted me and brought me to the
school. Her name is Clarisse Whitehall. Since then, this place has been my home
and life. Once I was old enough for school, I started my education here. I’m
sixteen now. Sometimes I wonder what I’ll do when I finish my education here.
KM: How did you meet Carl Prescott?
AW: The Thorndike Academic Institution is
an old and large school where the students live in dormitories. Since the students
are so far from home and family, the headmaster assigns older students to look
after the new arrivals and make certain they get settled into the routines.
Headmaster Dorchester assigned me to watch over Grace, Burt, and Carl. Most of
the dorms are broken into two-bedroom suites, so Carl and Burt are in the room
across the hall from Grace and me.
KM: Thorndike is all about the students
special talents. How are your talents doing?
AW: That is a sore subject for me, I’m
afraid.
KM: Would you prefer to discuss something
else?
AW: No, that’s okay. Mom always says it’s
better to say how you feel than to hold it inside. Frankly, Mom has never
really supported my abilities. She says my talents are middling at best.
Perhaps she’s right, but it still is a mean thing to say. The only talent I
know I have is the Succubus Talent.
KM: What exactly is that?
AW: The name comes from the mythological
creatures known as an incubus or succubus. An incubus is male and a succubus is
female. In those myths, the creature has sex with a person while they think
they’re sleeping. The talent is a bit different though. It’s more like a love
potion. With just a wink, smile, or touch, men become attracted to me. Whew!
Perhaps you should ask Barbie about this. I’m a bit uncomfortable talking about
it. I’m pretty shy, so I try not to use it. It is said that an expert succubus
can enslave a man with a sensual kiss and even block parts of their memory.
Let’s change the subject. I’m blushing already.
KM: Have you ever thought about finding your
birth parents?
AW: I can’t say a whole lot about that
because it is a key element of the book. One thing I did learn at the beginning
of the story is that Burt Jackson is my brother by birth, and Professor
Thorndike VII is my great grandfather.
KM: Interesting. What about that other
Professor Thorndike?
AW: Eight? He’s a real jerk. He’s mean,
arrogant, violent, and disrespectful. I don’t know if that was from his
upbringing or because he’s just a bad seed.
KM: I think we might learn more about that
in book three.
AW: Good, but don’t spoil it for our
readers. There’s also the ongoing animosity between the two schools, you know,
Thorndike and Masterson. Did you know some of the teachers think the two
schools are training us to fight the ultimate battle between good and evil?
KM: Do you mean like Armageddon?
AW: That’s what I hear. I hope it isn’t
true, especially since my talents are so mediocre.
KM: I agree one hundred percent. Barbie
told me you found that hidden storage room in the Gratia Dei Hall.
AW: Yes I did. Until Carl, Burt, and Grace
showed up, I didn’t have a lot of friends. Also, as dean of students, Mom is
always working or teaching. That leaves me a lot of free time. Maybe it’s
another talent, but I could just sense there was something on the opposite side
of that wall. It took me a long time to figure out how to get inside. Sometimes
when I’m alone or feeling vulnerable, I go there to be by myself. There are
some amazing things in that room. I can tell you that!
KM: Would you like to offer any specifics?
AW: I’d love to, but that’s another big
part of the plot.
KM: Thank you for your time, Aida.
AW: You’re quite welcome. What can you
tell me about books two and three?
KM: Carl Prescott and the Demon Queen is out for editing. I can say that is one of my favorite stories yet. It really exposes my view of reality and faith. Carl Prescott and the False Universe is still in rewrite mode. I have just started a fourth book, but it’s too early to know if I’ll finish it and what the title will be. Thank you for asking.
Karl Morgan Bio
With a long career in finance and as
author of almost twenty books, I like to say that words and numbers are my
life.
I have had a lifelong fascination with
stories in the science fiction and fantasy genres, whether it was the Tom Swift
novels by Victor Appleton I read as a young boy, or television like Lost in
Space and Star Trek. More recently, I have devoured film series like Star Wars,
Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings. That fascination is combined with a keen
interest in cosmology, astrophysics, quantum physics, and spirituality.
That quirky combination along with the
fantasy genre allows me to craft stories that reinforce the importance of
family, friendship, and love. The protagonists must overcome incredible danger
and challenges to survive their journeys, but eventually end up on top. It goes
without saying that as a finance guy, my life has been less action-packed than
my characters (thank goodness).
With Carl
Prescott and The Sleeping One, I ventured back to comfortable territory.
Many of my stories reinforce our direct connection to the Divine. While that is
an element of this story, the sequels feature that relationship to a much
greater extent. That element in my stories is an homage to what I believe
really matters in this life.
I am the son of an Air Force pilot and as
such, I have lived in many places, never for more than four years at a time.
Thankfully, as an adult, I have lived in Chula Vista, CA for the past
thirty-seven years. I met and married Aida, the love of my life, thirty years
ago. Our grown children have made us grandparents four times over. It is a
blessing to be around such wonderful parents and children.
My new goal is life is my stories. I hope you can follow me on this new adventure.
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.
Lastly, Karl is a member of the best book club ever – RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB #RRBC! If you’re looking for amazing support as an author, or if you simply love books, JOIN US! We’d love to have you! Thanks for supporting this author and his work!
Writing and Music 
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