1/3/15 #2, Guest DJ, Tomorrow!

Hi, have we ever met?

My friends call me Els or Mark; I’m a writer. Since we don’t know each other, yet, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d call me . . . Els or Mark. After all, I once heard, a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met, yet.

I’ve had a few different titles through the years. Most notably, I’m a former school teacher, basketball coach, baseball coach, college professor, professional tutor, and sports writer. Oh yeah—I almost forgot—my first two summer jobs were just as glamorous. I was a bagger/stock boy at a market as a 16-year old the summer before I was a tuxedo salesman at a rental shop; great, demanding times. (That’s sarcasm, Sheldon!)

Fast forward three or four years (ok, I can’t lie, it’s a few more than that) from the Cleanup-in-Aisle-Five days, and I’m now a full-time writer. . . . a novelist . . . an author! Well, that’s what my one friend called what I do. He said because I attempt to put the contents of a dictionary into a semi-logical, un-alphabetic, dramatic order, I’m an author.

I’ll take that!

As an independent author, I just released my second novel, Book #2 of the Vows Trilogy, Vows of Vengeance: a Father’s Revenge. Before going the indie route, I had my first book, Padman: a Dad’s Guide to Buying … Those and other tails, released by Modern History Press. Between Padman and Vows, I published a couple of novellas and a couple more short stories, which are all available online. Finally, even my ulterior ego has published two novellas.

But, that’s enough about my background. My writing career seems to be gaining more and more momentum. In fact, it’s time for a(nother) huge step; time to shake things up with a takeover.

Starting tomorrow, January 4^th, you are all invited to attend Els’ first-ever takeover. (Man, that sounds intimidating, doesn’t it?) From 9:30 am est until 4:30 pm est, I’ll be the supreme dictator—HEY! If you read that, I did say –tator after the first syllable!

Anyhow, I’ll be the guest DJ (disc…ussion jockey). For seven hours, I’ll be guiding a fun-filled, educational, laugh-out-loud discussion about reading, writing, my books, other books, your favorite authors, and other topics.

PLEASE share . . .  there will be several free giv-a-ways during the session.

I don’t know if you could tell, but that was read by the voice that played The Wall in Amityville Horror—remember: “GET OUT, GET OUT!”

Each hour, there will be prizes won, mostly books, totalling 10-20 for the day. They’ll range from comedy, suspense, romance, drama, erotica, to horror.

The hostesses with the mostesses at Hooked on Books are allowing me to Frank Sinatra the day. All I’m asking you, authors and readers, is to keep it clean, well, relatively clean. I want you to come, chat, contribute, bring it hard, and let’s rock the page like H o B hasn’t seen.

12/30/14 What’s in Your Fist?

What do you do every day?

Dream job?

You’d die for your job?

Me neither! That was until just over a year ago when I reached my personal low.

At that point, I boarded a Greyhound with my laptop and some clothes. South-bound and down, not loaded up and bussin, I’s gonna do what they say can’t be done. The world’s next bestseller was at my fingertips.

Wearing my sunglasses–because my future’s so bright–don’t ya know–I hadta wear shades–I carried my suitcase into the bus depot; I’d never even traveled by bus and didn’t know what to expect, so I was a tad intimidated. However, it’s something I’d always wanted to do–write and ride. I was en route to write that breakout novel, expecting to make me millions. That novel was going to pay for a house in the Bahamas, and . . . 

Well, 15 months later, I’m still broke and still in the tropical paradise known as Michigan.

They always say the first million is always the hardest; boy, is that ever true. Alas, my friends. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

In 1 1/3 year as a “full-time” writer, I spent nearly half that time without writing, editing, marketing, or promoting a single word. Instead, I spent about seven months umpiring baseball, daily–living the . . . “dream?” (That’s sarcasm, Sheldon! I love to umpire.)

During the dedicated “writer months,” I kinda kicked butt. I wrote 2/3 of the Vows Trilogy, (two novels, Violent Vows and Vows of Vengeance) three novellas, (two under a pen name) and a couple of short stories. (The Note & Faith) Just looking at my writing today shows how archaic I was as a writer, editor, marketer, researcher, etc, merely months ago. When we humans buckle down and take steps to what we really want in life, we can surprise ourselves—I know I have!

The next time you reach for a glass or keys or anything, remember something. What you’re doing is all it takes to turn your dreams into reality. To grab that soda can, that remote, whatever, you first had to open your fist. Reaching with a closed fist proves useless–impossible, even. Without even thinking about it, you separated one finger at a time, exposing your palm and freeing your fingers to retrieve.

Closed-fist rationale carries most of us through the repetitiveness of everyday life. We’re completely content with only thinking we could have more. Fear of falling off of our perch of contentment prevents most of us from opening our fists.

There’s nothing wrong with being content. However, if contentment isn’t your goal, STOP b*tching about life!

Toss away that fear of failure, and grab what’s yours. Expect nightmarish bumps during your dream pursuit, but until you cast your fears aside, your lifetime dreams are forever closed. . . . much like a fist.

The choice is yours.

Open your fist!