Browsing Tag

Extra Innings

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With A Little Help From My Friends

What what you do if I wrote out of tune … would you pull my book off your shelf on me?

Recently, my caddy-cornered neighbor read the first installment in the Extra Innings Trilogy (“The Diamond Thieves”). My neighbor’s name is Allison and for 21 years she was the Librarian at the Temple Israel Library in Akron, Ohio. Allison has read over 1,000 books in her days and through recent conversations I’ve shared with her, I’ve gathered that she prides herself on being a fast reader. So when I asked her: “Did my book read fast?” I was delighted to hear a “Yes!” Together, we sat on her front porch and talked, at length, about her impressions of twin brothers Jimmy and Billy McGee, their friends, the book’s setting and its plot. Perhaps the most poignant feedback I received was that, although, the books’ main characters are young adults, Allison suggested that I market the book as an ADULT Fiction. She said “I would go all the way with marketing to an adult audience” considering the mature topics discussed throughout the story. This was great feedback and I agreed with her, especially considering the issues tackled in books 2 and 3. Thank you Allison for your time and experienced guidance. Both are greatly appreciated!

June 9, 2013 by
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Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes …

Lots of changes going on in my life … probably the most significant being that I’ve relocated to a new work assignment.  The benefits are that it’s 40 minutes closer to home and houses a greater potential for career growth.  I’ve been there 2 weeks now and things are going well.  Now that I’ve had the chance to settle in, I can continue applying some of my energies towards getting Extra Innings published.  I’ve found an editor for book 2 (Race of the Gemini) which I’m really excited about.  He’s my brother-in-law’s nephew.  Very intelligent guy and very much up in tune with what’s “hot” in today’s entertainment world.  As I’ve mentioned before, I feel this trilogy would make kick-ass movies.  We’ll see if he agrees (fingers crossed).  Stay tuned and, in the meantime, I appreciate all my friends and family who’ve picked up an e-copy and provided their feedback.  So far, the general consensus is that Book 1 (The Diamond Thieves) is a fast read, easy to follow, and everyone loves the characters and the plot.

May 27, 2013 by
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Exceed Expectations

For years I have preached to my sales teams a mantra that I truly believe is a needle-mover in the sale arena. It’s called “exceed expectations” in terms of exceeding the customer’s expectations. We can dive more into what this means later, but I wanted to share with my blog readers how great it feels to be on the receiving end of this idea. My partner Aaron, not only built this website you’re clicking through, but also set up my Paypal account for my book sales and the email that’s dispatched when there’s a sale!  The email is how people receive my new book: Extra Innings: The Diamond Thieves. The email Aaron put together was far beyond what I ever imagined. It’s complete with “click here” instructions for downloading to different mediums (Kindle, Nook, iPad) PLUS a legal warning on copyright infringements. If it were up to me, I would have just sent a simple “Thank You for ordering” message with an attachment – lol. So I wanted to say THANK YOU Aaron for all the time, hard work, and attention spent on helping to facilitate such ease in the launching of my website and first book.

April 8, 2013 by
Publishing

The Naked Brain

Whoever has taken the journey through the climbs and tumbles of storytelling can attest that the creator is NOT the only writer of that story.  What I’m about to share may qualify me to some as a bizarre. mental case, but it would only be fair to give a portion of the writing credit of Extra Innings to the fictional characters themselves.  Certainly, I created identical twins Jimmy & Billy McGee and all their family, friends and enemies, however, I’m sure that any writer would agree that after a while, the characters begin to tell the story themselves.  After some initial personality and circumstance development has been established, a characters’ behaviors and reactions to incidents flow far to easily for my naked brain to deserve all the credit.  At times, I do recall moments of writer’s cramp in terms of plot direction and development, but once each incident was etched into words, the reaction of each character involved was told by them specifically.  This is particularly illustrated in Book 3 (“A Hero Among Thieves”) which includes poetry and music written by Billy while he was away at USAF Boot Camp and stationed overseas in Korea.  I’d love to consider myself a gifted writer, but I must give a great deal of credit to the fascinating characters who live and lived through the pages of the Extra Innings Trilogy.

March 30, 2013 by
Publishing

Patience

Where do we get patience? Is it a gift from above or do we develop it internally through moments and stages of suffering? I’m sure Job has his opinion on where patience comes from. Me? I’m feeling challenged with remaining patient as I await the publishing of my first book of the Extra Innings trilogy. I first finger to keyboard at the age of nineteen. Now, granted, I took a ten year hiatus but now I am thirty-seven years-old and still trying to find a literary agent and/or publisher. Ugh! Please Lord … give me MORE patience. How long does it take to find a reputable agent?? Damn!!
I was recently going to take the route of self-publishing, but I feel the story of identical twin brothers Jimmy and Billy McGee is too special to not have the potential of reaching a mass audience. The result of this near twenty-year writing period is an engaging milieu that I feel privileged to have been an instrumental part. Many of the sub plots were derived from real life stories I heard growing up from my parents and aunts and uncles. Additionally, the amount of research that went into authenticate Billy’s experience in Boot Camp and Korea during the early 1950’s was personally rewarding to me. I really enjoyed telling the teenage stories of these unique individuals although I must say, there were many moments the stories seemed to tell themselves. I think many writers can identify with that once they begin to truly get engrossed in the behaviors and personalities of their creations. So … stick with me folks. I’ll be making the book available to friends and family but as far as the self-publishing route, I’m reading too many negative reviews online from those who have chosen that route and not been satisfied. Maybe, as this journey, continues I will learn more about where patience comes from.

March 24, 2013 by