New Book
Kindle Vella Primer, Plus Free Access to The Judas Goat
Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to explain how Kindle Vella works, and to announce that there are now eleven episodes of my new adventure/fantasy novel, The Judas Goat, available on the platform for your reading pleasure. Here is the story description from Amazon: "Dave Gillespie's quest for redemption goes sideways when a box of hallucinogenic mushrooms sends him tripping into a deal with the devil. To win a second chance at life, Dave must prove that destiny is not all powerful by avoiding his predestined deaths in a series of future lives. An irreverent romp through the afterlife, the [...]
New Direction, New Website
My Uncle Tim gave me some great advice when I got out of the Marine Corps: "You don't have to know what you're going to do forever. You only have to know what you're going to do next." I followed his advice, going from military to civilian pilot for a few years before staying home with the kids. That switch gave me the opportunity to discover something I might never have otherwise: I truly love writing. After two non-fiction books about the human costs of war, though, I was in the mood for a change. So, I've applied his advice [...]
Continuing Actions Is Now Available On Amazon
I'm very pleased to announce that my second book, Continuing Actions: A Warrior's Guide to Coming Home is available for purchase at the following link: Continuing Actions: A Warrior's Guide to Coming Home I have written several posts explaining what this book is about, how it is different from my first one, and why I chose to write it. I won't rehash any of that here and will just close with this: Continuing Actions is the book I wish I'd read before going into combat. It wouldn't have changed what I did in Iraq, but it would have better prepared me to [...]
What’s In A Cover?
As the release of Continuing Actions: A Warrior's Guide to Coming Home draws near, I thought I'd share a little bit about the cover design that the team from Ascent created for it. I might be able to write, but that is where my creative talents end--I am not a visual arts kind of guy. For both of my books, I have outsourced the creation of the cover design with little-to-no guidance about what I wanted them to look like. Usually my instructions to the design team went something along the lines of, "I don't want this, or that. I want [...]
New Interview in Encinitas Magazine
My apologies if this post is too small to read clearly. Here is a link to the online issue of Encinitas Magazine where you'll find this article on pages 16 and 18: Encinitas Magazine
Dr. Jonathan Shay Has Written The Foreword For Continuing Actions
I intended to have Continuing Actions completed and available for sale by last May--thank god I blew that deadline. If I hadn't, I would have missed out on an opportunity that felt so remote I hardly allowed myself to consider it a real possibility. But I delayed publication, took a chance, and Dr. Jonathan Shay agreed to write the Foreword for my second book. For those who don't know Dr. Shay, here's a short list of his credentials and accomplishments: He's a clinical psychiatrist (MD) with 20 years working with Vietnam veterans at the Boston VA, a classical scholar (PhD), the best-selling [...]
Clay Hunt Act–A Good Start
Thanks in no small part to the lobbying efforts of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act is heading to the President's desk. This bill is designed to, among other things, increase accessibility of mental health treatment for veterans. This bill only passed because the pressure applied by various veterans groups kept it on politicians' "to do" lists. That's no small feat when you remember they also had to squeeze in another vote to repeal ObamaCare (56th and counting). But they did vote on it, and pass it, and now the Clay [...]
Feedback for “Continuing Action: Completing the Warrior’s Journey.”
Just before Thanksgiving I sent copies of the book I've been working on, Continuing Action: Completing the Warrior's Journey, to a few people for some "test reads." I'd gotten the manuscript to the point where I needed some fresh eyes to tell me if it made any sense. I kept the number of readers small but spread them out across several key demographics. While my target audience is centered on veterans and their families, I needed to get feedback from classical scholars, leaders of non-profits, mental-health professionals, and active-duty military personnel as well. This is because Continuing Action addresses shortcomings in the way modern [...]
Title Time
Of all the aspects of writing a book, selecting a title is the one I least enjoy. The pressure to try and encapsulate everything the book is, exclude everything it isn't, and make the title memorable with some little twist or play on words is exhausting. And annoying. But that doesn't mean I can get out of doing it. Even if I don't self-publish this second book, I need to select a working title to use while shopping it around to agents and publishers. Nobody will consider a proposal titled "Book 2", as it is currently labeled on my computer. [...]
How Not To Promote A Book
So, I've been doing a fair amount of research into the right way to promote an upcoming book. Turns out that my strategy of neglecting to write blog posts in favor of focusing solely on the manuscript is recommended by no one. Anywhere. Ever. As I am likely going to self-publish this second book, it falls squarely on my shoulders to promote and market it as well as to write it. While those things can take place in sequence it is generally considered best to do them all at the same time. To that end, I will begin sharing more [...]
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