Rickshaw, New Mexico Review (and Sequel?)

This started as an entry on my Facebook author page and quickly became too long to post there. Now I can go into more detail.

Yesterday, I was reading through and reviewing the first draft of a novel I'm thinking about finishing next month, titled Return To Origin. If I choose to write it for next month's JuNoWriMo challenge (July Camp National Novel Writing Month), there are a few changes that will be made. One of my bad habits when writing is to fool around on the internet (and yes, on Facebook, too). You know, how are sales? How are my books' rankings? Are there any new reviews? While expecting the usual answer of nothing, somebody posted a 5-star review of my ebook, Rickshaw, New Mexico. The reviewer's name is TXBkLvr and thank you for your review. Here is what TXBkLvr wrote:

Maybe I shouldn't have given this 5 stars. It was, after all, rather tidy the way it wrapped up. But it was so much fun to read! Time Travel is one of my favorite genres but it's gotten old in a lot of books lately. The same old story with a different cover. The way it happened here was fresh and interesting.

The writing was very well done. I didn't see any typos or misspellings. If there were any I was reading too fast to notice them.

If you like time travel, old westerns, and thrillers, this is a book for you. I hope there's a sequel. 

Hmm...this is the second consecutive review of Rickshaw that talks about a sequel. George Foster's story has been told, but there are a couple of other characters whose stories are nowhere near done. Actually, one of the two characters first appeared in my short story, A Flash In Time, which is in my ebook, The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories. So in a way, Rickshaw is a sequel to A Flash In Time. Maybe it's time to publish A Flash In Time by itself.

To be honest, since AndyB's review of Rickshaw, I've been toying with the idea of writing a sequel. In fact, over the past couple of weeks, I've even written scenes, including one addressing "the George Foster incident." The current scene I'm working on is mentioned in the final scene of Rickshaw. No spoilers here. In the scenes I've written so far, two characters from Rickshaw and two more from A Flash In Time appear.

When I decide to write a story, there is usually have a beginning and end, laced with a few specific outcomes in the story. For this one, which the working title will be Timewatch, all I have is a few scenes. Then again, all I had when I wrote my Camp NaNoWriMo novel in April (titled Justice) was a beginning and an end. There was nothing in between.

So here's the point. Which book do I write next month? Do I finish the one I started in 2011 immediately after finishing the first draft of The Curse (Return To Origin) or do I write the sequel to A Flash In Time and Rickshaw, New Mexico (Timewatch)? That's the burning question right now and the answer at the moment is, I don't know. There is a little more than a week left to decide. I may post a little bit about each book and let you decide. Again, thank you, TXBkLvr, for posting your review of Rickshaw!!

In the meantime, be sure to click the links on this post and please visit and put a like on my Facebook author page and my Amazon author page.

Have a great day!!!

A Possible Story Change, a Sweep, and a Belated Spanking

So much for not making an entry for the next month. This began as an entry on my Facebook author page, but it was going to be too long. So what happened?

All of this started from Andy B's review of my ebook, Rickshaw, New Mexico. Andy wanted to know more about certain characters in the story and if there's going to be a sequel. The answer is yes and no. In a way, Rickshaw is a sequel to a short story I wrote in The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories, titled, A Flash In Time. It's not a true sequel, but the stories are somewhat related.

As I said yesterday, I wrote out a scene involving a couple of characters from A Flash In Time. They were walking down a trail in what would later be Chalmette, Louisiana. The year is 1753. Again, the scene isn't long, but it's pretty good, at least for a first draft. Yes, I know. All first drafts suck, but the story is pretty good.

Last night, three more scenes popped into my head. I can't go into detail because of spoilers. However, one of the scenes is much like one late in A Flash In Time. Here's the point of this part of my blog entry: If scenes continue to pop up like this, my July Camp NaNoWriMo project may change from Return To Origin to this. Now you see why the post is here instead of my Facebook author page.

Since we are here, it's time for some trivia...

Today in 1989, the bad boy Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers  114-110 in the NBA Finals. The win put the Pistons up 3-0 in the series. Detroit's Joe Dumars led all scorers with 31 points. James Worthy led the Lakers with 26. The Pistons would go on to sweep the series 4-0 and win the NBA Championship.

Today in 1997, Michael Jordan scored 38 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 90-88 win over the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals. The Bulls now led the series 3-2. Karl Malone led the Jazz with 19 points. Chicago would go on to win the series 4-2 and become NBA Champions.

Today in 1974, an RBI by Bake McBride was all the St. Louis Cardinals needed to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0. WP Lynn McGlothen allowed seven hits and threw six strikeouts. Al Hrabosky got his second save of the season. In a respectable effort, LP Andy Messersmith allowed four hits and struck out four batters. McGlothen improved to 8-3 and Messersmith fell to 6-2.

Today in 1991, Nolan Ryan pitched a complete game shutout as the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0. Ryan allowed six hits and struck out 10 batters. He improved to 4-4 with the win.

Forgot one: Yesterday in 1943, the St. Louis Cardinals spanked the Cincinnati Reds 18-0. Stan Musial went 3-4 and hit 3 RBI's. What was surprising about this game was that with all the runs scored, nobody hit a homerun. Also, WP Mort Cooper pitched a complete game shutout, he allowed five hits and struck out only two batters. Fifteen year old Joe Nuxhall made his major league debut and pitched 2/3 of an inning for the Reds.

If you want to explore and learn more trivia from these games, go to Basketball-Reference.com and Baseball-Reference.com. Note: I am not part of or have any financial interest in either of these websites. I'm just a fan who likes trivia and appreciates the efforts of the people on these websites who make the information available to us.

If you are interested in any of the stories covered in today's entry, click the links above or you could go to my Amazon author page to view all of my ebooks.

Have a great day!!!

Updates, Trivia, and Musings

Boy, has it been busy. I keep wondering if I can come back to posting something here every day, but the demands of writing and editing my stories are taking too much time. I even thought about starting another blog to cover the writing and keep this one just for sports trivia. The final decision is still pending.

So what's been going on?

My upcoming ebook, Second Chance, is near completion. After the final edits, all that's left are a blurb and cover. Once the book is complete, it will be available for the Kindle and Print On Demand via Createspace. Second Chance is about a man, Gus Harrison, who is 46 years old and obsesses about and lives in the past. He would give anything to go back and save the life of the woman he loved, Penny Neal. On a fateful night in 1987, after breaking up with Gus, Penny's date with her new boyfriend goes horribly wrong and she died in a dormitory stairwell. To make matters worse, Gus's best friend became an alcoholic and later died. Since Penny's death, Gus thought of nothing but his life before Penny's death. One fateful evening, he got his chance to go back in time. What happened next? Once it's published, buy the book and find out.

July's Camp NaNoWriMo is almost upon us. Instead of writing something new, I decided to finish a novel I started after finishing the first draft of The Curse in 2011. The story is titled, Return To Origin. It's a science fiction story inspired by episodes of Ancient Aliens, which I'm a fan. The word count will be a cheat in the beginning and although my goal is 50,000 words, the story may end up being much longer than that. The pre-camp prep work has already begun. Now before you shake your head about the word count, I have an obligation that will take me away from writing during the first week. Besides, I'm tired of this incomplete story being in the pipeline, waiting to be done. It's way past time to finish the first draft.

Last night, a scene went through my head. It involved characters from my short story, A Flash In Time, a story published in The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories. The scene takes place in 1753. I wrote it out and it's not bad. It's short enough to be a flash fiction story right now, but could grow into more.

Now lets get down to some sports trivia, specifically the Last Place Update. When I last posted, the Houston Astros were on pace to three-peat, but since then they did something unfamiliar to them in recent years: winning. In fact, the Astros are nowhere near the Update's radar. So who are the Kings of the Cellar? It's the 24-41 Tampa Bay Devil Rays! They're 1-9 in their last ten games and 1-13 since May 26. However, they are ahead of the 1962 Mets, who were 18-47 after 65 games and already past the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who won only 20 games that year. The Mets lead the 25-36 Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies by three games. The 33-27 Detroit Tigers get the honorable mention. The Tigers are 3-7 in their last ten games and 6-15 since May 19.

Speaking of trivia, today in 1962, the New York Mets split a double-header with the Chicago Cubs. They played a five game series that weekend, and believe it or not, the hapless Mets won that weekend series 3-2.

Finally, here's some seriously old school baseball trivia. Today in 1918, in a defensive struggle, Bullet Joe Bush pitched the Boston Red Sox to victory over manager Pants Rowland's Chicago White Sox, 1-0. Both starting pitchers pitched complete games and their performances would have been dominating today. Bush struck out six and only allowed three hits. LP Frank Shellenback struck out four and only allowed two hits. The game also featured players with unique names, such as Bullet Joe, Stuffy McInnis, and a young player by the name of Babe Ruth, for the Red Sox, and Chick Gandil (from the Black Sox scandal the next year), Nemo Liebold, and Happy Felsch, for the White Sox. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series that year and wouldn't win another until 2004. For more about this game visit Baseball-Reference.com or the box score here.

Have a great day!!

Last Place Update - July 29

Welcome to this week's Last Place Update and congrats to the American League All-Stars for their shutout victory over the National League All-Stars. Now let's get started.

   The 35-69 Houston Astros are dominating the competition in their quest to repeat as Kings of the Cellar. They lead the early season leader, the 40-63 Miami Marlins by 5.5 games and they are a full six games ahead of the third place 40-62 Chicago White Sox. The Astros are 5-20 since June 28 and haven't won two games in a row since June 15-16. The Marlins continue to improve, going 5-5 in their last ten games and 5-2 since July 22. Miami is 8-6 since July 10. The White Sox are 3-7 in their last ten games and 1-6 since July 22.

   This week's honorable mention goes to the 56-49 Texas Rangers. The Rangers are 2-8 in their last ten games, losers of their last four. Texas is also 3-12 since July 10. They begin the week at home with a three game series against the Los Angeles Angels. Then they host the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday and finish the week on the road to take on the Oakland A's. Unless their play improves, expect more of the same this week.

  So how are the Astros doing against the 1962 Mets and 2003 Tigers? The '62 Mets were 26-78 after 104 games. The '03 Tigers were 28-76 after the same number of games, so it appears the Astros are no threat to either of these records at this time, unless they have an epic collapse.

Other Stuff...

   The Cursed Days of Summer free download promotion for my ebook, The Curse, was a great success. It almost doubled the downloads from when The Acts of 1 was on a free promotion. Both titles are links to their respective Amazon pages.

   As the drum and bugle corps season winds down, it is a dogfight between the Blue Devils, Carolina Crown, and The Cadets. My former corps, the Phantom Regiment is in a fight for fourth place with the Santa Clara Vanguard.


Have a great day!!!

Random Thoughts

I took a gander at this blog today and realized that it has had nothing but Last Place Update entries for the past month. It's way past time for other stuff, so here are some random thoughts.

• I haven't filled out my NCAA Tournament brackets yet. However, I have decided how they will be covered here.
• What happened to the "Today in..." entries? Writing them took time away from finishing The Acts of 1 and The Curse. Hopefully I'll be able to write more this year, now that one book is already published and the other is almost there.
• Okay, can't resist. Here's a "Today in..." entry. Today in 1966, Texas Western (now UTEP) pulled off one of the greatest upsets ever by beating top ranked Kentucky in the NCAA national championship game 72-65. Bobby Joe Hill led all scorers with 20. Future NBA head coach Pat Riley led Kentucky with 19 points.
• The Denver Nuggets go to Oklahoma City to play the Thunder tonight to try to extend their 12 game win streak. If Denver wins, then their next real challenge will be the San Antonio Spurs next Wednesday.
• The New Orleans Saints made a pitch to DB Nnamdi Asomugha. Was it that long ago when Drew Brees torched the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary, ESPECIALLY Nnamdi Asomugha?
• Bobcats win!!! Bobcats win!!! Bobcats win!! Yup, the Charlotte Bobcats beat the Washington Wizards last night, 119-114. Since January 18, when the Bobcats score over 100 points, they win.
• Just a little more trivia, 30 years ago this month, the USFL started its inaugural season.
• Speaking of the USFL, here's a trivia question: Who was the last USFL player to play in the NFL? It's one of those snakebite questions. The answer? Doug Flutie, who ended his playing career in 2005.
• Still working on the blurb to The Curse. At least it's closer to being done.
• My ebook, The Acts of 1 is now available for the NOOK at Barnes & Noble. Click the link and check it out.

Have a great day!!!

The Blurb: A Work In Frustration

This is one of those Other Musings entries. Today's topic is writing a blurb for your book. This isn't a "How To" kind of entry, but an observation of the process and the frustrations I've encountered.

   I started writing the first draft of my soon to be published first novel The Curse in 2010. Since then, it's undergone several rewrites and even an overhaul. I even wrote all but one of the stories in The Acts of 1 while working on the first draft of The Curse. Today, the final draft the novel is in my ideal reader's hands. If it passes muster, I can finally publish it. In the meantime, I've been working on the blurb.

  The blurb. This is the teaser on the back of the book or on the webpage you hope will entice readers to buy your books. So far, I've had an easier time with the overhaul. It's a work in frustration. What do you include? You don't want to tell the story, but you also don't want to mislead the reader with too few details. What should you put and how long should it be?

   I began my journey by reading blurbs from the books at home to get an idea of what to do. Then I went online and read a bunch of blurbs from books available on Amazon. They varied in size and detail. Some were enticing stories unto themselves and others were a few sentences that proved less was more.

   I went to multiple websites that featured entries about how to write blurbs. In some cases, I've had more informational sales meetings featuring ice chests. Make it eye-popping, they say. Use it to sell your product, they say (well, duh!). There are other useless generalizations, but we won't go into them.

  I finally found a couple of blog entries that do a good job with how to write blurbs. One is 5 Tips for Writing a Compelling Book Blurb by Amy Wilkins. Another good one is by Joanna Penn. She gives examples in her blog entry on blurbs called  How To Write Back Blurb For Your Book. In both cases, their examples come from actual blurbs.

   So I begin writing my blurb...then made a second attempt...and then a third. It's now several pages of attempts and none of them work. They all leave out some enticing part of the story. So why not write a combination of the best entries? Been there, done that. Same result. None of them work.

   Okay, hire a professional. It's a good point. Authors can be their own worst blurb writers, at last that's what they say. However, if I could afford to hire a professional, that would have been one of the first things I'd have done. Once the sales numbers enable me to afford professionals, that's exactly what will happen. But until then...

   My plan for this blurb is to do a "less is more" type of entry. An advantage I have is that the fictional university where the story takes place is also featured in the short story The Immortals in The Acts of 1. There is a lot to the novel, but the blurb shouldn't give everything away. Hence, my quandary.

   So what should I do? The novel will be ready soon. At least the cover is further along than the blurb. As easy as it is to get frustrated about writing the blurb and stay there, the answer is to relax and keep trying. Sooner or later, I'll write that magical entry that will be the blurb for The Curse. The last two attempts, though not acceptable, are the best so far. If you're having the same problems, outside of hiring a professional, there is no magic pill or bullet. Just keep trying and sooner or later, hopefully you'll write that terrific blurb for your book.

Good luck and have a great day!!!

The Acts of 1 - Update

For the past two months, my book The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories has been available only for the Kindle. Now it's available in paperback format on Createspace and Amazon. Each link takes you directly to the book's page. The price for the paperback copy is $9.99. It is still available for the Kindle at $2.99 and also available for now in the Kindle Owners Lending Library. It will also be available for the Nook next month.

   As I stated in October, there are a total of seven stories. Four of them are listed in the description: The Prayer, The Note, A Flash In Time, and The Librarian. There other three stories are A Wish For Sarah, Waiting Room, and The Immortals. There was a recent movie called The Immortals, but this story has absolutely nothing to do with that movie. My story takes place in a drama class in the present at a fictional university. It involves a silent movie once considered lost, but was recently found and restored. There's more to the silent movie than meets the drama professor's eye.

   Sales have been modest, but the book is selling better than anticipated. The only disappointing numbers come from the Kindle Owners Lending Library. Thankfully, the feedback on The Acts of 1 has been positive. No one has posted any reviews yet, but that's okay.

   So what about this upcoming novel? It's in, what I hope is, the last draft. The name of the novel is The Curse. It takes place in 2010 at the same fictional university as in the short story, The Immortals. In fact, there is a reference in one of the other stories from The Acts of 1 to the two main characters in The Curse. Hopefully the novel will be ready by either the end of this month or sometime next month. Right now, all that's left, other than editing, is the get the cover art and the blurb right. Both still need work.

   When it comes time to publish The Curse, I learned to do it in Createspace first and Amazon second. In the publishing process for the paperback copy, there's a link to publish for the Kindle, so the transition will be smooth. I'll post an update when it's done.

   Hope you enjoy my stories.

Reading vs E-Reading

Today is one of those Other Musings kind of days.

   This entry was originally a response to a post my friend Tim made on Facebook. He refers to an article in Slate Magazine written by Andrew Piper called Out of Touch: E-Reading isn't reading. In his Facebook post, Tim asks the questions, does anyone want to share their own experience of switching to digital? Is the experience different? Don't you miss holding the book and turning the page?

Here is my answer, plus a few other points.

I read and like both. For me, it's more an addition of digital than a switch to digital. It's about the story, not the vessel where it resides.

   About the article, Piper makes a nice descriptive argument and proves that he's well read, but as well written as the article is, his argument doesn't hold water. He also doesn't face the fact that e-books are here to stay. Besides, the kind of Kindle reader he describes, where you have to press buttons to turn a page, matches my mom's early generation Kindle, which is now obsolete.

   More authors are going the e-book route, including Stephen King, John Grisham, and James Patterson, among others. I wrote and published my e-book of short stories The Acts of 1 and other soon to be published work, specifically targeting those readers. On the business end, it takes the middleman out of the picture and puts the writer in control.

   Tapping a screen to turn a page and actually turning a page, although enjoyable, don't make the experience worthwhile. However, one point where I agree with Piper is that sometimes it's preferable to turn an actual page than to press a button or tap the screen. On a Kindle, sometimes you can tap the screen to go to the next page and get the previous page by accident. It doesn't always happen, but it's annoying when it does. As far as missing the experience of turning a page while e-reading, it's the same when missing the experience of tapping a screen while reading a regular book. The answer is no, since I do both now.

   The point is, there is no reading vs e-reading, because e-reading IS reading. So what makes the experience of reading a story great? It's not the paper or the machine. It's a team effort. It's the author's ability to write a good story and the reader's ability to take ownership of it and the characters, and live in that world for a while. That's the magic of reading.

Thank you, Tim, for coming up with a great topic of discussion!

The Acts of 1

It's taken a while, but there is a reason that there have been few "On this day in" trivia entries. I've been working on writing a book. In fact, there are three; one published and two on deck. My first book is The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories. 

    The Acts of 1 is my first published literary work. This is actually a surprise, because I figured the novel I've been working on would have gone first. I wrote the short stories when I got stuck on parts of the novel. Except for the last three, the stories are in the order they were written.

   There are a total of seven stories and four are listed in the book description on Amazon, The Prayer, The Note, A Flash In Time, and The Librarian. Click the link below to see. The other three short stories are A Wish For Sarah, Waiting Room, and The Immortals. There is a movie called The Immortals, but this story has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. My story of the same title takes place in the present in a  drama class at a fictional college. It involves a silent movie once considered lost, but recently found and restored. There's more to the silent movie than meets the drama professor's eye.

   At this time, The Acts of 1 is only available for the Kindle. The book is $2.99 and is available in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Hope you enjoy it.

The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories