Memorial Day

Freedom isn't free. It is bought with blood and the lives of those who are willing to sacrifice for those they have never met. On this Memorial Day, visit a cemetery... remember a relative or friend... or say a prayer, thanking God for men and women who have the guts, the fortitude and the patriotism to lay down their lives so that we can enjoy everything we have.

God Bless America

Two Book Recommendations

I'm recommending two books today written by good friends of mine. Both are in the Mystery/Thriller/Suspense category.

First up is Ties That Bind: A Madison Knight Novel by Carolyn Arnold. "When a woman is found strangled in her home, Detective Madison Knight and her partner Terry Grant rule it an isolated incident. But when another woman is murdered by the same line of neckties, they know it isn’t a coincidence. Now they must figure out the connection so they can stop a potential serial killer before he gets to his third victim."

Carolyn is a great writer, a better friend and one of the smartest people I know when it comes to the craft of writing. I read her blog all the time for tips on how to be better. I highly recommend her book.

Next is Storm Rising: A Kelli Storm Novel by Kenneth Hoss. "When a murder investigation turns Detective Kelli Storm’s attention to a drug kingpin, the last thing she expected was to find a link to her father’s killer from twenty years earlier. "

Ken is a guy who is not only a friend, but an inspiration to anyone who thinks they can't do something. He is one of the most persistant, dedicated guys I know and I am not ashamed to say I admire him greatly. He is also a great writer. Highly recommend this one as well.

A Great Review

Here is another review of RICK FROST & THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE.

New Review and Interview

I had the joy of being interviewed by the website "Have Coffee... Will Write." It was a great experience and I hope it's the first of many! Read it here.

The same site also just put up a review by one of their tremendous writers.

I have other reviews coming out and will let you guys know about them, good or bad.

The Time Is Here

After years of writing, editing, querying, rejections and decisions... the time is here. My first novel is available.

RICK FROST & THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE is officially out and available on Amazon.com and BN.com as an e-book. Here's the synopsis:

It was supposed to be an adventure in the wilds of Alaska, a test of manhood for all the boys signed up on the school trip. Instead it was nothing more than a long hike through some pretty trees. That is until Rick Frost and his friend Ben Nakni see a plane crash into the forest. A real adventure has just found them.

The only survivors of the crash are Robert Blair and his daughter Alexis, who just happens to be the hottest teen actress in Hollywood. She was on her way to make a movie in the Katmai National Forest when the unthinkable happened. Rick and Ben pull them out of the wreckage as a team of assassins arrive to finish the job.

The crash was no accident. Someone wants Alexis Blair dead and that puts Rick Frost in the cross hairs. He wanted an adventure; he got a wild ride through the unforgiving wilderness of America's last frontier.

If you are interested in purchasing a print copy, be patient for me. It will be available in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to everyone for your help, your support and I hope you enjoy RICK FROST & THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE!!

T-minus One Week

If I were an astronaut, you'd have me and my book sequestered at NASA, just going over the mission plan a few hundred more times, completely a few more tests and then getting ready for lift off. If my book and I were a football team, we'd been in the town where the Super Bowl was being held, with two or three more practices scheduled, as well as media day and the last two nights spent away from everyone before the big game.

But I'm just a self-published writer and my book is a simple YA adventure novel. We don't get to be sequestered (thank God, I could be on the Casey Anthony jury!) or go to a media day (which would damn sure help with sales). We only get to work on the edits for the second novel, and start writing the third.

RICK FROST & THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE comes out May 15, exactly one week from today. The print copy will be coming out very soon thereafter. I am still a little shocked that this is happening. But it is, and soon you'll have a new hero in your midst, one who has a lot of adventures to go and hopefully a long time to get there.

I look forward to talking with you guys soon, and I hope you'll pick up a copy (on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, etc. for e-books; Amazon for the print version) of RICK FROST & THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mom's out there, who gave birth to us, who nurtured us, who taught us, who coached us, who cared for us, who supported us, who worried about us, who cried with us, who smiled as we walked down the aisle, who stood waiting outside the hospital room door even with the nurse said not to, who spoils our kids, and who is the angel God created especially for us...

THANK YOU!!! We love you, Mom!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

I Write Alone

"A writer and nothing else: a man alone in a room with the English language, trying to get human feelings right." ~John K. Hutchens, New York Herald Tribune, 10 September 1961

When Mr. Hutchens wrote that, he might have directed the quote to the enormity of the task set before every writer as he or she sits down at the keyboard to try and create a new world out of thin air. But he touched on something so fundamental, so essential, and so powerfully sad that it might be missed as you read the words. To write is to be alone.

I love The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And yes, I realize it is actually a saga (no, Stephanie Meyer didn't invent that word) because of The Hobbit. I love the books, and I love the movies. The imagery, the drama, the thrills, the characters... I love everything about it. Remember the scene in the movies when Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry are back at the The Green Dragon (the pub in Hobbiton) after their adventure to destroy the Ring of Power. They each have a mug of ale in front of them, and as the party goes on all around them, the four friends simply look at each other with small, almost strained smiles on their faces. They are silent, then clink their mugs together in an unseen salute to the victory only they will fully understand or appreciate.

That's what it's like to be a writer. You and you alone know the immense amount of thought and planning it took to build the story. Only you know understand every little nuance of the character's lives. And even though many have, or will, read the book, only you know what happened between the lines and behind the scenes.

But beyond those things, there is the craft itself. Why the word "but" is better in once instance instead of "however;" when you read through the first draft for the first time months after writing the first words and discover a thread of theme loosely tied in the story arc; or how minor characters from your story are literary descendants of the greats like Gatsby, Othello or Bob Cratchit. No one who isn't a writer cares about these things. They don't want to hear about them. When you even mention writing, if the first few words out of your mouth aren't "royalties" or "advance" or "sales" then people aren't interested. Their eyes glaze over and if they were honest, they'd listen to you ramble forever, then when you ask them for a comment on something, they'd say "I'm sorry I quit listening ten minutes ago; I'm thinking about what I'm having for dinner tonight."

A writer sits at his keyboard, stares at the blinking cursor, and to paraphrase someone a lot smarter than I am, waits for blood to drip from their forehead. We agonize over things, pour over details and sweat each paragraph, sentence and word. Then after each painful battle has been fought, when the climb up the insurmountable mountain has been made and we stand on the peak of our own writing-centered Everest, we have to endure that most horrific and gut-wrenching of blows: to be rejected, however benignly, by those whose interest and praise we want the most.

It is a terrible fall and for some writers, famously it sent them into tailspins. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, they both drank themselves into an early grave. The list of writers who have destroyed themselves through addiction, depression or some combination of both is as long as some of our novels. How to avoid being one of them? I don't have the answer. Only a knowing nod, a small strained smile and a raised mug of Green Dragon ale. Drink hearty, my friends.