The best compliment any professional or artist can receive is praise from another within your discipline. I am a novice writer and do not recognize myself as a professional writer/author. When someone who is a recognized professional author compliments my work, I know I have taken that step towards acceptance. Today well-known author and blogger D.G. Kaye (aka, Debby Gies) has graciously promoted and reviewed my writing and my book What Did I Do?
For the last three years, I have followed Debby’s blogs,Live, Laugh, Love — And Don’t Forget To Breath!I have also read three of her books. In my opinion, we have a commonality in our writing. We write memoirs or stories based on our life struggles. We share our conflicts and triumphs so others may learn from our experiences. We open our hearts and share our weaknesses. We do this not for recognition or fame, but to help others.
I thank Debby for the review and the honor of being selected for her Sunday Book Review.
When I posted the conclusion of my book What Did I Do?I stated I would take down the post. If an author is posting his book on his website, it conflicts with Amazon’s seller agreement. Otherwise, the author is offering the book for free while Amazon is attempting to sell it. You are allowed to temporarily post excerpts, but not permanently.
If you haven’t finished reading all the fourteen post, you have until October 30. On October 31 I will remove those post from my site.
Good News
I’ve decided I will do the same thing with my book Guilt – My Companion. I plan to start the first week in November a weekly post of chapters or partial chapters. I received from the previous post a good response, additional followers and some book sales. I’m following the example of other authors who have previously tried it. These are all positive responses to demonstrate that sharing your book does work. Why not try it?
Review: “I firmly believe in sharing life experiences. Not only is it cathartic for the writer but someone struggling with the same thing will discover they are not alone. Guilt — My Companion: A Journey of Healing is based on Chuck Jackson’s own life. It’s gripping, moving and I highly recommend.” — N. N. Light’s Book Heaven
Book Description:
Chuck Jackson’s Guilt—My Companion is a passionate and true story of personal struggle when faced with society’s ignorance and prejudice. As a young adult, we follow his personal struggles for self-identity and acceptance. The narrative is the chapters of his life that led to an unintended destination. For him, Guilt was his companion who lay in waiting to rob him of personal pleasure.
When tragedy strikes, he turns to his dysfunctional family for support only to find confrontation. Their hostility creates a battle to survive grief and depression. With each episode, he finds the inner strength to conquer his companion Guilt. Through it all, it is a Journey of Healing.
Feature Image:
Spirit Lake and Mount Saint Helens captured by Donald Nelson
Over the last thirteen weeks, I shared my book What Did I Do? As the weeks progressed, I received more comments. I even picked up several new followers. I felt it was a risk/reward project and in hindsight, I don’t regret the challenge nor the weekly efforts.
My blog-site got more exposure and also increased traffic on my Amazon’s product page. What also escalated were the sales of the book. All positive results.
“How does Machete work? Machete is Google Chrome plugin, which is embedded in your browser and runs when you visit https://ams.amazon.com. When you visit AMS, Machete takes a snapshot of your data and stores it on our servers. In the background, it continues to snapshot your data at regular intervals to get a complete history of your campaigns.”
“How does Machete secure my campaign data? Only your account is allowed to view the data we gather about your campaigns. All data is transferred with HTTPS to prevent snooping, and user-specific information is never shared with other users or companies.”
On Oct. 15, 2018, Dan Alatorre’s book Dark Vision – an anthology of thirty-four horror stories from twenty-seven authors, was released. I am announcing this with pride because the short story I wrote is one of the thirty-four featured.
danalatorre.com
“The second installment of the Box Under the Bed series, Dark Visions, is filled with strange and creepy stories sure to keep your heart racing. Enter into a dark world of the macabre, the mystical and the malevolent, featuring 33 spine-tingling tales that just may keep you up at night. Edited and compiled by Amazon bestselling author Dan Alatorre, this anthology of horror stories brings together the minds and pens of twenty authors.”
On August 25, 2018, I posted on my site the short story, Who Am I?. This was my first attempt of writing a short story, not alone writing for a contest. I didn’t win, but Dan thought my piece was of sufficient quality to be included with the ones that did. Amazon has stated that if the short stories are available on the author’s website, it is equivalent to the marketing of freely available content. For this reason, I have taken down the August 25 post. Perhaps it will entice you to follow the Amazon link below and purchase a copy for yourself.
I’ve read some but not all of the short stories and I look forward to getting my own copy. If you enjoy horror stories, I urge you to get a copy. Some of the ones I read are not only shocking but also disturbing and fantastical imaginations.
Here is the list of the stories and the contributing authors:
Dan Alatorre will release his anthology Dark Visionson October 15. My first attempt of writing a horror short story was selected to be included. Thanks, Dan.
Angela walks slowly down the dark, cold corridor. The hallway is so dark that she uses her hand to guide her.
“Where are the lights?” she asks herself. “I can’t understand why it’s so cold.”
She feels the familiar pattern of the closet doorknob, and she opens it. She pats the wall for the light switch, but she’s unable to locate it.
“Forget it!” she tells herself. “Just get the blanket and get back under warm covers.”
Now she pats around for a blanket deep inside the dark closet. She is so tired and sleepy she’s finding it difficult to keep her eyes open. As she reaches up toward the highest shelf, something falls into her arms and startles her. She jumps back into the room and sees the form on the floor near her feet. It’s so dark she can’t see what it is, but it’s not moving. She bends and tries to open her eyes wide to see.
Each week Hugh Roberts takes a date from his diary in 1988. After sharing the entry, he features a fellow author and blogger. Today (Sept. 25) he graciously featured me. Thanks, Hugh.
Take a minute to read the post and leave a comment.
Generations of Jillian Cley’s family have been tasked with a strange duty—tending the burial plot of Gabriel Vane, whose body was the first to be interred in the Hode’s Hill cemetery. Jillian faithfully continues the long-standing tradition—until one October night, Vane’s body is stolen from its resting place. Is it a Halloween prank? Or something more sinister?
As the descendants of those buried in the church yard begin to experience bizarre “accidents,” Jillian tries to uncover the cause. Deeply empathic, she does not make friends easily, or lightly. But to fend off the terror taking over her town, she must join forces with artist Dante DeLuca, whose sensitivity to the spirit world has been both a blessing and a curse. The two soon realize Jillian’s murky family history is entwined in a tragic legacy tracing back to the founding of Hode’s Hill. In order to set matters right, an ancient wrong must be avenged…or Jillian, Dante, and everyone in town will forever be at the mercy of a vengeful spirit.
End of Day can be read as a stand alone novel or as a follow-up to book one of the Hode’s Hill series, Cusp of Night.
End of Day is available for pre-order through this link
and available to add to your Goodreads to-be-read list here.
Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:
As the Vampire Civil War of Windemere rages on in the shadows, a mysterious girl appears to deliver mayhem to both sides.
Rumors of old-world vampires disappearing and mortals being attacked by an army of humanoid monsters have reached Clyde’s ears. Still learning how to rule the city of Nytefall as a strong, but fair leader instead of a vicious warlord, the former thief assumes he has rogue agents on his hands. Instead, his people stumble upon Lost, a teenage Dawn Fang looking for her father and aided by a decrepit bunny that might be an animated corpse. Bounding from one side of the Vampire Civil War to another, this carefree girl will turn out to be more trouble than she looks as all of the demons of her past emerge to get what they have been promised. Yet, her chaotic actions are nothing compared to the secret of her creation, which will change the very fabric of the Dawn Fangs’ world.
