I haven't posted to my blog for some time because I've been busy, concentrating on the writing, editing and publication of my new book in the Shadow series, Shadow Spies.
I look back at the very first book, Shadow Games, and I reflect upon the person who naively wrote that book, a person who used limited writing skills, but who nevertheless, managed to create a large book that many people found enjoyable. I'll likely go back to it and revise it someday, but I've got a lot more books to write and Shadow Twins, the next book in the series is my next project.
Shadow Games has done well on Barns and Noble and Apple, however, the crowd on Amazon is a tough, but mostly fair, audience. I'll have to do better to please them.
I reread Shadow Spies again looking for those small errors that the editor may have missed, and I had the strangest feeling that I was reading a novel written by someone else. I finally realized that I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't care who wrote it, I was having fun reading it. It was hard to connect the person who had written the previous book (a year ago) to the person who had written what I was reading.
The reason I started this whole career was because I wanted something to read. Cereal boxes and an occasional book borrowed from the library (when I could find one) just wasn't doing it. I found that when I was writing, I was reading, allowing the story to unfold in my mind and guiding (or sometimes following) the story to where I wanted it to go.
Now, I actually dream story-lines in my sleep, mentally back spacing over the dialogue or narrative to correct the flow. I know it sounds bizarre, but it's the truth.
Anyway, I finally had to quit tinkering with the book and publish it. I first published it on November, 11, Veteran’s Day on Smashwords. It will be available on B&N and Apple, when Smashwords releases it, sometime later in November, or early December. I'll cross my fingers and publish it on Amazon, November 25. I've a standing offer to provide a free copy to anyone who leaves a comment on my website. It's good until November 20. Here's the link to Smashwords. Shadow Spies
