There is Still Time Before Christmas

Order any of my e-books by Christmas Day and give yourself some nice stories to curl up to when the house gets quiet! Do yourself a favor and unwind to these contemporary Native American stories. Go to http://www.champagnebooks.com/store in the fiction section and look for Gary Eddings.

Finally Home. Another Bullet Dodged

I just spent five weeks getting healed and rehabilitated. Something funny happened on the way to pick up my Dad from the hospital. I couldn’t breathe very well after taking about 50 steps. I sounded like an old steam locomotive by the time I made it to his room.

Parents can get pretty demanding, which I figured would be the other way around with his newly-installed pacer and defibrillator. He told me to go get checked out in the ER. He’d find another way home. I thought it might be my heart pitchin’ a fit, but after all sorts of tests, pictures and the usual things that determine whether your heart is still functioning, the doc finally came into the room and said I had bilateral pulmonary emboli-blood clots in both lungs. He was impressed that I was still able to speak, not to mention still alive. Apparently the mortality rate for something like that is iffy at best. The following week was spent getting me over the hump with blood thinners and oxygen. I was the consummate blood donor twice a day.

I was finally told that I should go to a rehab facility and I asked if I could drive. Their laughing was uncalled for, but I was transported in a wheelchair van to my next stop. I felt fairly good that several of the hospital nursing staff expressed interest in reading my books. The next four weeks were spent learning how to pace myself and hopefully avoid future clots. The good thing was that these people were even more interested in reading what I had when they weren’t putting me through my paces. One of them read all of my books during my time there.

I had a whole new market to sell to, but I don’t know if I’d repeat how it came about. Suffice it to say that there are many silver linings in hard times. The credit goes to God and the medical staffs of the places that guided me back to my own digs.

What A Storm!

Saturday the 26th was a doozer! 60+ mph winds, downed trees and power lost for a day was not conducive to hefty sales, I don’t think. It was the first wind storm we’ve had around here in 2-3 years and the earliest I can remember ever! October and November are the usual time frames we cringe at.

The one plus was that I could get some reading done on my Kindle without the battery dying, although it was close. the rest of the time was spent consuming cold sandwiches; mimicking the authors of old. I had no desire to get squished by a sizeable fir tree.

This will be an adventure for another time.

Priorities

I am excited about the release of “Sheep Eater,” yet I’ve come to realize the many people are being impacted by the fires happening in the western U.S. I’d like to take a moment and encourage you to send financial help to the American Red Cross. They are best capable of determining local needs.

Meanwhile, keep your prayers coming for all who need them, including the firefighters. The task is monumental and will likely go on well into October. Thank You!

Forever Is Officially Over!

You can’t say I didn’t warn you. After all this time, “Sheep Eater” is now available for purchase on Kindle and all of the other major e-reader formats. Now you can discover for yourself what all the hype has been about and I don’t think it will disappoint  you. Happy reading!

It’s Not May Anymore? Dang!

Some things have changed since I last fired up Ol’ Bessy! Lo and behold, “Sheep Eater” will be released the first part of August for a variety of reasons. Even the  publisher’s world has the occasional glitch.Since then it’s been a series of edits and some family travel time to Alaska and Idaho. The summer has been a whirlwind of activity that I’m getting too old for. Come to find out, I don’t do so well in 100+ degree heat anymore. Has anyone else ever been grounded by their doc from any more summer vacations? It’s a first for me!

Meanwhile, it’s me and my electrolyte enhancers awaiting the new book’s release. I hope you enjoy “Sheep Eater” when it makes its debut in a couple of weeks!

It’s Been A Long Time

I’ve been trying to get caught up, but my evil twin keeps trippin’ me up! I figure it’s from lack of perseverance or a strong desire to slack off. The last edit I just finished proved to be a bit more daunting than I expected. Research and writing the story is a heckuva lot more fun than editing, but into every keyboard a little editor must sprout I guess.

Now it’s a waiting game to see how close the publisher comes to the anticipated release date of early July. I will just be getting back from a couple of trips with my Dad and family. I’m looking forward to a nice jaunt around the countryside and Alaska. It’d be nice to see a whale or two an assortment of other critters including a few of the grandkids.

Some day I might even talk myself into retiring if I play my cards right. I guess I better hurry up and get the next novel written!

It’s Been A Fine Month For Foibles

Didja read my last invisible post? I hope you enjoyed it. I did! Actually, I tot I ta a puddy tat and got distracted. Oops!

This time around I can tell you that I just submitted my 3rd edit of The Sheep Eater to my editor this morning. The release date is beginning to loom out there and looking a bit intimidating to the untrained rookie writer. Wait, I’ve done this before! No pressure here!

The edit must be going OK cuz the story is beginning to look like something I didn’t write. That must be normal because it’s happened in most of the other books I’ve written. My high school English teachers would be so proud! I have been assured that when we’re done, the story should be much easier to read.

Now to sit back and wait for another round to violate my inbox. Maybe I should start on that next book. I can’t wait to see what they’re gonna do to that one!

Editing Among the Brambles of Life

After a long spell of distractions and significant family events, the first major edit for The Sheep Eater through Champagne Book Group was completed and submitted today on schedule. I’m sure there will be more to come, but today I consider a success. It’s a time a writer just plain gets through to advance to the next step…nothing more visionary than that.

I’m guessing there are plenty of authors who have experienced creative doldrums long before I have. Life has a way of spawning fiction and I’m hoping this experience will spawn a doozie when I write about the Picuni Nation.

A Piece Here, A Piece There…

Sometimes the writing community can drive you nuts. Many of the different sites and groups want a writer to take a survey, read a blog, Help another writer get started and assume you are intelligent and won’t lead them down a rosy path.

“Here are some great articles on how to sell your book,” or “You’ve got to enter this contest and win someone else’s book.” I think someone missed the point. As for me, I tend to write ‘cuz that’s what I started out doing. I’m not much of a reader because I’m usually writing and don’t have enough hours in a day to do both very often.

When I read, it is generally research surrounding stories I am working on. When I write I try to use that research to make a fictional scenario believable, especially to a tribe I highlight. That doesn’t leave much time for recreational ventures into the book world. It’s not unusual to take me a month or two to make it through a whole book.

God bless the Storytellers that used to sit at the campfire. I think they had it right for centuries while we modern types slave over sentence structure, point of view consistency and marketing. My friends who listen to audio books might agree!