Paperback Writer Chats with Duane Harden, author of 5 Easy Steps to Financial Freedom

Duane Harden just doesn’t teach you theory but rather you learn through his very own life hands-on experiences that come along with building a strong portfolio of successful businesses, including residential and commercial real estate, a restaurant, a music company, and many more. He began with no financial education, but he was determined and inspired. Today he leads a Cash Flow Club where he mentors entrepreneurs on how to start and grow their business so they, too, can become financially free.

His latest book is 5 Easy Steps to Financial Freedom: Do What You Love & Get Rich Doing It.

Visit Duane Harden’s website at http://www.duaneharden.com/.

To get your paperback copy of  5 EASY STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Duane Harden at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Steps-Financial-Freedom-Doing/dp/0984822704/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335047035&sr=8-1?books0df4-20

To get your ebook copy of 5 EASY STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Duane Harden for your Kindle:

To purchase a copy of 5 EASY STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Duane Harden at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/5-easy-steps-to-financial-freedom-duane-harden/1110871992?ean=9780984822706

Pick up your copy of 5 EASY STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Duane Harden on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/5-easy-steps-to-financial/id519796307?mt=11

Like Duane Harden on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/5EasyStepsToFinancialFreedom

Follow Duane Harden on Twitter:https://twitter.com/#!/CEOeBooks

 

Welcome to Paperback Writer, Duane. Why was writing 5 Easy Steps to Financial Freedom: Do What You Love & Get Rich Doing It so important to you?

 

“Give and it shall be given unto you!” is one of the “Keys To Life” I teach and is the inspiration for writing “5 Easy Steps To Financial Freedom: Do What You Love & Get Rich Doing It.”

 

In 2003, I formed a Rich Dad, Poor Dad Cash Flow Club in Manhattan.  I must be honest I formed this group purely for selfish reasons.  I reached a point in my real estate investing career where I began to doubt my talents.  I wanted to surround myself with positive like-minded people that would be a sounding board for my ideas.  Today, that group has grown to over 600 registered members.  We meet once a month to reenergize ourselves to go back out into the world to pursue our dreams.  I volunteer as the leader of this group.  Our mission is to learn and share techniques we can use in business, real estate investing and the market.  These are the core concepts you learn from reading the Rich Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki.  It’s free to be a member of the group and all that we ask is that what you learn you share with someone else. Pay it forward.

 

I realized early on the wealth principle of giving back.  As the leader of the cash flow club, I’ve experienced the impact that our group has had on its members and our community.  We’re changing the World one bank account at a time.  I then thought what if there was a way that our teachings could impact more than just my neighborhood.  During one of my summer vacations in Ibiza, Spain I completed writing my book with the intention that everyone can chose to have financial freedom in his or her life.  Again, another key I teach is “live in the world of abundance and not scarcity”.  I know there is plenty of wealth to go around and I’m not afraid of spreading it.  My book assists the reader in unlocking God given talents and figuring out how to turn passions into profits.  I would leave this earth a happy man knowing I was part of the catalyst that rids our society of poverty.

 

How will this book change my life? This book will show you how to turn passions into profits.

 

Can you tell me about this Cash Flow Club?

 

At our monthly meetings, the members review where they are in the 5 Easy Steps and we assist them with getting through that step.

 

Let’s say I run a successful business but people say I’m cheap.  In other words, my prices are low but we have a steady inflow of customers but we’re still not getting rich doing it.

 

What do you suggest?

 

We have to first quantify what “getting rich” means and we do that in “Easy Step #3: Finding Your ‘I’ in Passion“.  The “Life Assignment” exercises in this step get you to really look at and refine your living expenses so you know what’s the dollar amount you need to become financially free.  You will also discover that you may create multiple streams of income or PIGs (Passive Income Generator’s) as I call them as perhaps it will take 2 or 3 businesses to create the income you need to achieve financial freedom. Also,  “Chapter 19: Blueprint Point 3 – Manage Your PIG” is where you would refine your current management team in your business to bring aboard someone talented in evaluating market conditions and devising a strategy to set your price points that maximizes your profits.

 

What advice would you give the newbie business person when they start a new business?

 

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them.  The most successful people are successful because they are really good at failing.

 

You started out with no financial background.  How did you learn the ropes?

 

I wasn’t afraid to step out on faith and take a chance.  I did my own “on the job” training except I wasn’t working at a company I was working for myself.  I constantly attend webinars, seminars, networking group meetings, etc. to learn as much as I can.  However, it is from life lessons where I’ve learned the most and placed them in my book.  My book is not not based on theory it is a reflection of what I’ve actually experienced during my investing endeavors.

 

Can you give us an excerpt from your book?

 

Keys To Life

–       All you need to know … is that you will never know … everything there is to know… and once you know that … you can move on!

–       Live in the world of abundance and not scarcity!

–       Give and it shall be given unto you!

–       Whatever you do in life, do it for love and not for money!

–       You are what you think and will become what you dream.

–       Embrace your fear!!!

–       Your network determines your net worth.

–       Taking the first leap of faith makes you successful!

 

Now that 5 Easy Steps to Financial Freedom: Do What You Love & Get Rich Doing It has been published, what’s your next project?

 

Right now, I’m working on a book that dispels the myths behind debt.  So many people fall victim to “get out of debt quick” schemes from debt management companies that they don’t realize the serious financial implications of their decisions.  This book will provide them with the right education to make the right decision.  It will be published after my summer vacation in Ibiza, Spain.

 

Thanks for this wonderful interview, Duane. Do you have anything you’d like to tell our readers that haven’t been discussed?

 

Let what you do be for others. When they get it … you get it and the planet shifts in the right direction.

 

 

Celtic Run Chapter One Excerpt by Sean Vogel

Celtic Run Chapter One

© Sean Vogel

Jake clenched his fists. Zach was sauntering down the airplane aisle as if he were the best thing since the iPod. Everyone has an archenemy, Jake thought. Luke Skywalker has Darth Vader. Harry Potter has Voldemort. Me? I have Zach.
Zach plopped into the seat in front of Jake and poked his head around to talk.
“Hey, twerp, having a good flight?”
Just my luck. Five and a half hours to Ireland behind the goon of the eighth grade. “I’d be having a better flight if you’d test the emergency exit.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, Spanky, you’ll pay for that with your leg room.” He stuffed his duffle under his own seat until it infringed on Jake’s space. “Oh, wait, you’re only three feet tall, so my bag won’t bother you.” Zach chuckled and turned back around to watch a movie on his LCD television screen.
Instinctively, Jake stretched his legs to see if he could reach the duffle with his feet. Shorter than the average student, he felt like a dwarf compared to Zach’s football-player physique. He glanced at Zach’s seatmate, Julie. Why doesn’t she ever see this?
Jake’s heart pinched as Julie adjusted her position to rest her head on Zach’s shoulder. Her blonde hair lay draped between the seats, its strong berry scent sending a slight tingle through Jake’s body.
Jake and Julie had grown up together. They’d been friends from hide-and-seek to Guitar Hero, which made it the ultimate blow when she started going out with Zach. Why can’t she see him for the jerk he is? Jake kicked Zach’s bag out of anger. Good thing no one’s sitting next to me. Then, grinning, he bent forward and slowly opened the zipper.
The first thing he found was a stack of papers. A cover sheet said “The Visitors, by Zachary Maguire.” Laughing inwardly at his good fortune, Jake tucked the manuscript into the seat pocket in front of him for future retrieval. Never pass up good blackmail material.

Next, he found Zach’s security-compliant bag of liquids. Jackpot! All that bragging about being the only eighth grader to shave is going to haunt him. He pulled out the travel-sized can of shaving cream and some dental floss and then pried the tab off his empty soda can.
He knew Julie wouldn’t approve of what he was about to do. Like a referee who flags the guy returning a punch, she had a knack for seeing only Jake’s retaliations and not Zach’s instigating offenses.
After jamming the metal tab into the tight gap behind the button, he gingerly pulled forward on the makeshift lever. Mint-scented goo dribbled out. Perfect. Next, he strategically placed a couple of airline blankets inside the duffle to hold the shaving cream can up toward the opening of the bag. He zipped it closed as far as he could, leaving just a little access for his fingers. Using a fisherman’s knot, he tied the floss to the metal tab, pulled the slack out, and tied the other end to the zipper.
He bit his lower lip as he pulled the knot tight. Probably the last time I’ll tie that knot since we no longer have a boat. The feeling of loss that he experienced on the day his dad sold their sailboat to pay the medical bills had been monumental. He slid the duffle back under the seat and glanced up at the movie. Seen it. With his dad laid up, watching movies was about all they could do together now.
* * *
Hours later, the pilot announced their descent into Ireland. Jake finished scanning the “Trace Your Heritage” homework instructions and folded them into his backpack. He hadn’t wanted to leave New York for the entire summer, but his dad had urged him to go on this school trip, saying it would be good for him to see where their family came from.
Jake tossed his backpack onto the empty seat next to him and peered between the seats as Zach wrapped up the cords of his expensive headphones. Showtime. Pretending to sleep, Jake watched through slits in his eyes as Zach pulled out his bag.
Zach tugged at the zipper. It didn’t budge. He grunted, tightened his grip, and yanked again. A greenish geyser of minty foam erupted from the bag, lathering Zach from head to waist.
“Argh!” Zach’s arms flailed as he struggled to wipe the slime from his face. He stopped and blinked several times. Then he stood up, turned, and fixated on Jake.
Uh-oh. At ten thousand feet, options for escape were slim.
An attendant spoke into the intercom. “Sir, please sit down. We’re making our descent.”
Temporarily thwarted, Zach pointed at Jake before making a fist and smacking it into his other palm.
“Zach!” Julie scolded.
“But look at what he did!” Zach removed the cream from his face with the last dry part of his shirt.
“Well, what did you think he’d do if you put your bag there? You know he can’t resist a practical joke!”
Jake’s heart pounded. She noticed. There is hope.
“And Jake, you’ve got to stop with the pranks.” Jake looked down, not wanting to gaze into her disapproving blue eyes. She’d once confided to Jake that Zach had some insecurities and issues with his dad, but Jake didn’t think that gave him the right to be a bully.
Once the plane landed in Shannon, the group of ten students made their way through customs and baggage claim. They purchased some cookies and drinks at the café and then walked outside into the mid-morning sun to eagerly await their sponsors. Although most of the students would be going to different villages, such as Ballyferriter and Castlegregory, Jake knew that Zach, Julie, and he would be staying in the town of Dingle.
He remembered the glint in Julie’s eyes when she talked about her dad pulling strings to keep them all close to each other. She wants me to be friends with her boyfriend? No way.
Jake’s name was called. He turned to see a man in faded pants and a colorful sweater
bounding toward him. The powerful energy in his trim frame was clearly evident.
“Dia daoibh, Jake. Mo ainm Gerald O’Connell,” he said, warmly extending his hand.
Zach stopped dabbing the shaving cream from his clothes. “Whoa, I thought they spoke English here.”
“We do.” A girl with long red curls and a china-white complexion stepped out from behind the man. “Hello. My name is Maggie O’Connell, and this is my ‘da,’” she said with a charming brogue.
Jake recognized her from the photo she’d sent when they exchanged introductory e-mails. He remembered she was fifteen, only a year older than he was.
Mr. O’Connell inclined his head. “Welcome to Ireland.”
Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to upstage Zach, Jake said to Maggie, “That was Irish that your dad—uh, da—was speaking, right?”
Maggie beamed. “That’s impressive. Most Americans would have called it Gaelic.”
“My dad drilled me on Irish knowledge. He didn’t want me to bring shame on the McGreevy name.”
Maggie smiled in appreciation. “Speaking of names, remember you wrote to ask if there were any McGreevys listed in our area? Well, I was able to find a few near Killorglin—just about an hour away.”
“Go raibh mile maith agat.” Jake hoped he’d pronounced the Irish translation for “thank you” correctly.
“Nice.”
“’Fraid that’s all I’ve learned so far,” Jake grinned.
When Julie’s and Zach’s names were called, two well-dressed couples approached them. Jake noticed that as each person shook Zach’s hand, his or her nose twitched, probably trying to figure out where the minty smell was coming from. Jake snickered and Zach mouthed a threat at him.
In the parking lot, the O’Connells led Jake to a beat-up hatchback. Mr. O’Connell pounded on the latch to open it and began loading Jake’s bags. As Zach’s and Julie’s sponsors packed their luggage into their respective luxury cars, Zach called to Jake, “Hey, twerp. Want me to upgrade you to a donkey cart?”
Maggie squinted at Zach, as if to better understand what he’d just said.
Jake turned to her. “What’s Irish for caveman?”
She giggled, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “Try fear pluaise.”
“Catch you later, fear pluaise!”
All the sponsors laughed. And when Zach’s face deepened to a dark shade of red, Jake could barely conceal his pleasure. I am definitely going to like it here.
The car’s exterior may have been dilapidated, but its engine fired right up. Jake struggled to keep his stomach steady as Mr. O’Connell sped along the highway for the two-and-a-half-hour trip south. Their lively conversation made the time fly. It didn’t take long for Jake to get used to their accents, but much to his embarrassment, a few times he found himself unconsciously mimicking their inflections.
“When we get home, you can call your mum and da and tell them you’re here,” Maggie said.
Jake stared out the passenger window. “Just my dad. My mom died when I was young.”
Maggie twisted in her seat to reach out and touch his arm, hesitated, and then put her hand back by her side. “Tá brón orainn. I mean, I’m so sorry.”
“So this is your first time in Ireland, right, Jake?” Mr. O’Connell said, gently changing the subject.
“Yes. My dad and I have sailed to a few places on our schooner, but we’ve never made it this far.”
“Where have you been?” Maggie asked.
“Caribbean mostly. The sea down there is amazing.”
“I’ll bet. Well, my da and the other sponsors thought you might enjoy seeing a bit of scenery before settling in. We’re now on Slea Head Drive. Very soon you’ll be able to get your first glimpse of Blasket Sound, okay?”
“Of course.” Jake inched forward in his seat for a better view.
As they rounded the next corner, Maggie stretched her arm out the window and said, “Welcome to Dingle.”
Jake’s jaw dropped as the infinite ocean unfolded before him. Soaring cliffs hugged the coastline to stand guard over white-capped waves racing toward the shore like wild horses.
“It’s awesome,” Jake said, hoping he didn’t sound too corny.
“The National Geographic Traveller guidebook proclaimed it ‘the most beautiful place on earth,’” Maggie added with pride.
“I can see why.”
Thankfully, Mr. O’Connell slowed down a bit to make the curvy ride more enjoyable. Jake glanced back and saw that Zach’s and Julie’s sponsors were managing to keep pace with Mr. O’Connell. After twenty minutes, everyone pulled into a small parking lot on the western tip of the peninsula.
Several families were gathered at the overlook, all taking pictures of the breathtaking view. The sight of the water overwhelmed Jake, and he swallowed hard, suppressing memories of his father’s sailboat and better days. Maggie guided the group to the best vantage point. Unlike some of the spectacular cliffs they had passed on the way, this section of the peninsula was only fifteen feet above the ocean. The water appeared calm, but Jake recalled his dad’s many lectures on strong currents and sudden waves.
He looked around at the other tourists and caught sight of a toddler dressed in a thick pink sweater and matching pants. She tottered after a butterfly, swinging her arms in an attempt to catch it. The insect fluttered away from the throngs of people, toward the edge of the cliff, with the child still in pursuit.
Jake swiveled his head around. Nobody is paying attention to her. He took off toward the girl, screaming for somebody to stop her, but before anyone could move, the child vanished over the edge. At full speed, Jake shed his shoes and plunged off the cliff.

About Sean Vogel

Growing up in a small town in Michigan during the 1980s, Sean was provided with an excellent garden for cultivating his writing career. With only a few simplistic video games and three television channels, he became an accomplished daydreamer and a creative outside adventurer.
A son of a garbage truck driver, Sean often received “gently used” items from his father’s route. With a bit of imagination and a little tinkering, these items were reborn as tools for battles against backyard bandits. These childhood experiences would later serve as the foundation and inspiration for Jake McGreevy’s gadgetry expertise.
Seeking his own adventures, Sean joined the Army via an ROTC scholarship at Colorado State University. Living in Germany for several years gave him the opportunity to travel extensively in Europe. During his time in the Army, he served in the Field Artillery and Signal Corp, rising to the rank of Captain and receiving the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.
Sean started drafting novels out of boredom during long deployments in the military; a pen is easier to carry than a guitar. But he soon fell in love with the frustrating, yet satisfying science called writing and has been hard at work ever since.
When he’s not helping his main character Jake get out of tangles, Sean is a department manager for a large aerospace company. He lives in Denver with his wife and their two dachshunds.
Purchase Celtic Run in kindle or book format at Amazon

Watch the trailer here

About Celtic Run

Jake, a 14-year-old gadget whiz, didn’t plan on a summer full of treasure, thieves, and danger. He just got lucky.
While in Ireland on a class trip, Jake stumbles upon the first clue to a treasure missing from the Spanish Armada. Jake sees the riches as his chance to buy back the family sailboat and restore a piece of the life he enjoyed before his father was critically injured in an accident. Desperate to find the treasure, Jake teams up with Zach, his nemesis and class bully, and two girls in a clue-hunting chase across the Dingle Peninsula.
Dodging would-be thieves, exchanging wisecracks with Zach, and concocting ingenious devices to get them out of scrapes, Jake leads the team as they connect piece after piece to the 400-year-old mystery.

Character Birthday Party Giveaway – Win A Copy of the Historical Fiction Novel, Thwarted Queen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CECYLEE

Today we are starting the month with a birthday party for the main character in Thwarted Queen and hosting a book giveaway. Cecylee is the apple of her mother’s eye. The seventh daughter, she is the only one left unmarried by 1424, the year she turns nine on May 3, 1424.  Our guest is Cynthia Haggard, author of Thwarted Queen. We will be giving away a copy of Thwarted Queen on May 25.

Happy Birthday

To become eligible to win, all you have to do is ask a question or leave a comment. One lucky reader who comments with their email address is put in a pot to win the book.

• To recap:

•   ask a question or leave a comment
• leave your email address

• optional to subscribe for email updates

• A winner will be picked on May 25, and be notified by email

• The winner of the contest will be announced on this blog

• You will receive a copy of Thwarted Queen, 1 – 2 weeks after the winner is announced

Thwarted Queen Book Tour

About Thwarted Queen

Cecylee is the apple of her mother’s eye. The seventh daughter, she is the only one left unmarried by 1424, the year she turns nine. In her father’s eyes, however, she is merely a valuable pawn in the game of marriage. The Earl of Westmorland plans to marry his youngest daughter to 13-year-old Richard, Duke of York, who is close to the throne. He wants this splendid match to take place so badly, he locks his daughter up.

The event that fuels the narrative is Cecylee’s encounter with Blaybourne, a handsome archer, when she is twenty-six years old. This love affair produces a child (the “One Seed” of Book II), who becomes King Edward IV. But how does a public figure like Cecylee, whose position depends upon the goodwill of her husband, carry off such an affair? The duke could have locked her up, or disposed of this illegitimate son.

But Richard does neither, keeping her firmly by his side as he tries to make his voice heard in the tumultuous years that encompass the end of the Hundred Years War – during which England loses all of her possessions in France – and the opening phase of the Wars of the Roses. He inherits the political mantle of his mentor Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, and become’s the people’s champion. The rambunctious Londoners are unhappy that their country has become mired in misrule due to the ineptitude of a King prone to fits of madness. Nor are they better pleased by the attempts of the King’s French wife to maneuver herself into power, especially as she was responsible for England’s losses in France. But can Richard and Cecylee prevail? Everywhere, their enemies lurk in the shadows.

This book is filled with many voices, not least those of the Londoners, who forged their political destiny by engaging in public debate with the powerful aristocrats of the time. By their courageous acts, these fifteenth-century Londoners set the stage for American Democracy.

Purchase your copy of Thwarted Queen.

Follow the tour at Pump Up Your Book.

Excerpt

Richard urged his palfrey into a gallop so that he could catch up with Gloucester, riding east to the city. What is he going to do now, thought Richard, following Gloucester along the Strand towards Saint Paul’s Cathedral. As soon as they got to the churchyard, Gloucester vaulted off his horse, threw his reins to a groom, and mounted the steps of Saint Paul’s Cross.
Richard followed.
The Londoners were enjoying themselves in the spring sunshine, it being that time of day after the main meal when people come out to pay visits, shop, and enjoy a fine afternoon stroll. In one corner of Saint Paul’s churchyard, a number of well-dressed citizens fingered the leather covers and the crisp pages of those new-fangled printed books. There were goldsmiths and silversmiths. There was a woman selling spring flowers. There was even a horse merchant, whose restless charges stamped their feet, tossed their heads, and added a pungent odor to the scene.
Just outside the door of the church stood a group of London merchants. The soft leather of their boots and gloves displayed their wealth, as did the exotic and colorful material of their robes, their jewel-encrusted collars, and the many rings on their fingers. They were outdone only by their wives, who wore as many necklaces, rings, and brooches as possible crammed onto their costumes. Richard bowed to one beldame passing by. She had so much cloth in her headdress, her husband must belong to the clothier’s guild.
As Gloucester arrived at Saint Paul’s Cross, the people immediately began to gather, separating Richard from his mentor. “Good Duke Humphrey!” they shouted. “‘Tis Good Duke Humphrey!”
Gloucester bowed. A tapster from a nearby alehouse ran up to hand him a mug of ale.
He looks years younger, thought Richard, glancing at his friend basking in the approval of the crowd. How ironic that it is the people of England who respect him, not his aristocratic peers.
The crowd gathered around Saint Paul’s Cross, buzzing with excited anticipation as the horses neighed.
“I wonder what he’s got to say,” said the bookseller.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the flower seller. “Most of them fancy people never bother with the likes of us.”
“Duke Humphrey, he’s good,” said the horse merchant. “He talks to us. Tells us what’s going on.”
“He’s become a champion of good governance,” said a well-dressed gentleman.
Duke Humphrey held up a hand, and the crowd fell silent.
“My friends, I have come here today to tell you about a piece of treachery. Nay, I can scarce believe it myself, and if any of you had told me this, I would think I had had a bad hangover from the night before.”
Some youngsters in the crowd erupted into laughter. Their elders grew watchful and silent.
Richard accepted a tankard of beer and stood by Gloucester. He looked at the faces tilted up before him. They don’t seem overawed, he thought, sipping his beer. This country is not like France, where the common people grovel before the aristocrats. These people seem to know that their voices count for something.
Gloucester raised his hand again. “Would you believe it, but in return for Margaret of Anjou, the Earl of Suffolk negotiated a marriage settlement in which we give away Maine and Anjou to the French.”
The crowd recoiled. “No!” they shouted.
Richard grew uneasy.
“Yes, good people. Yes: I am sorry to tell you so, but there it is.”
“What does this mean for trade, sir?” asked a man, a fashionably dressed woman on his arm.
“You lose the revenues from the counties of Maine and Anjou,” replied Duke Humphrey. “You lose revenues from wine.”
“Is our wine trade going to dry up?” asked one merchant with a red nose.
“Not unless we lose Bordeaux. So far, we are just talking about Maine and Anjou.”
The crowd responded with a harsh bark of laughter.
“But I can tell you,” continued Gloucester, “that the loss of Maine and Anjou means the loss of goodly fruit.”
“No more pears!” exclaimed a young girl with golden hair hanging out from an upstairs window. “But that’s my favorite fruit.” Her high voice sailed over the noise of the crowd.
“No more Anjou pears, madam,” said Gloucester sweeping her a low bow.
“Jacinda, do not shout out of the window. It is not ladylike.” A woman with an elaborate horned headdress appeared and gently pulled the child away. “Please accept my apologies, my lord Duke,” she called down. “She is very free.”
“Do not worry, madam,” said Gloucester bowing again with a flourish. “You have a charming daughter.”
Applause and cheers greeted this remark.
“What about the landowners of Maine and Anjou, my lord?” asked a merchant dressed in fine crimson silk, rubies winking from the collar around his neck. “What about their lands and holdings?”
“A good question.” Gloucester held up his hand to still the whispers and murmurings of the crowd. “They will be obliged to give up their lands. They will be forced to come home with nothing and start afresh.”
The crowd erupted into boos and murmurs, which grew louder. Richard looked at his friend.
“I see you look puzzled, good people,” remarked Gloucester, as the restless crowd grew silent. “Let me spell out the terms of the Treaty of Tours by which our king gained a wife. By this treaty, we give up Maine and Anjou. In return, we get exactly—nothing. That’s right. Nothing. The queen did not even bring a dowry with her. Can you believe it? Can you believe that Suffolk would be so stupid, so asinine, so treacherous, as to throw away something that we gained in a fair fight for nothing in return?”
“No!”
Their roar threw Richard backward. He moved closer to Gloucester. “They’re getting upset,” he hissed.
Gloucester ignored him. “And all for a queen worth not ten marks,” he remarked, holding up his tankard of ale. “I feel personally betrayed.”
“We are betrayed!” roared the crowd. “A queen worth not ten marks!” They turned and hurried down Ludgate Hill in the direction of Westminster, shouting as they went.
“What are they going to do?” asked Richard.
Gloucester chuckled. “They are going to Westminster Palace, to shout insults at the queen.”

Author Cynthia Haggard

About Cynthia Haggard

Born and raised in Surrey, England, CYNTHIA SALLY HAGGARD has lived in the United States for twenty-nine years. She has had four careers: violinist, cognitive scientist, medical writer and novelist. Yes, she is related to H. Rider Haggard, the author of SHE and KING SOLOMONS’S MINES. (H. Rider Haggard was a younger brother of the author’s great-grandfather.) Cynthia Sally Haggard is a member of the Historical Novel Society. You can visit her website at: http://www. spunstories.com/

A Boy Called Duct Tape Virtual Book Tour Chats Spotlighted at Blog-A-Press

Chris Cloud, author of the young adult book, A Boy Called Duct Tape is on Day Three of his virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book. Today, he is spotlighted at Blog-A-Press. Visit his tour page during the month of April to follow along his tour.

About A Boy Called Duct Tape

Pablo Perez is a 12-year-old poor kid without much going for him. His classmates have dubbed him “Duct Tape” because his tattered discount-store sneakers are held together with…you guessed it, duct tape. He can’t escape the bullying.

Pablo’s luck, however, changes after he finds a $20 gold coin while swimming in a river near his home. Pablo later buys a $1 treasure map at the county fair. The map shows the route to the “lost treasure” of Jesse James. Pablo can’t help but wonder: Is there a link between the map and the gold coin? He is determined to find out, and he, his 9-year-old sister and 13-year-old cousin hire an ill-natured cave guide, and begin a treacherous underground adventure in search of treasure.

Purchase in kindle or book form at Amazon

If you would like information about a book tour, please visit my blog, Writing Daze or email Rebecca at Rebecca.camarena@yahoo.com

A Boy Called Duct Tape Virtual Book Tour Chats with As the Pages Turn

A Boy Called Duct Tape Book Tour

Chris Cloud, author of the young adult book, A Boy Called Duct Tape is on Day Two of his virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book. Today, he chats with As the Pages Turn. Visit his tour page during the month of April to follow along his tour.

About A Boy Called Duct Tape

Pablo Perez is a 12-year-old poor kid without much going for him. His classmates have dubbed him “Duct Tape” because his tattered discount-store sneakers are held together with…you guessed it, duct tape. He can’t escape the bullying.

Pablo’s luck, however, changes after he finds a $20 gold coin while swimming in a river near his home. Pablo later buys a $1 treasure map at the county fair. The map shows the route to the “lost treasure” of Jesse James. Pablo can’t help but wonder: Is there a link between the map and the gold coin? He is determined to find out, and he, his 9-year-old sister and 13-year-old cousin hire an ill-natured cave guide, and begin a treacherous underground adventure in search of treasure.

Purchase in kindle or book form at Amazon

If you would like information about a book tour, please visit my blog, Writing Daze or email Rebecca at Rebecca.camarena@yahoo.com

The Adventures of Baby Jaimie Book Review at Maureens Musings

Baby Jaimie Book Tour

Jaimie Hope, author of the children’s book, The Adventures of Baby Jaimie: Baby Jaimie gets Stage Fright is on Day Two of her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book  this month of April, 2012 to talk about her book, the writing life and her future projects. Today she will be visiting Maureen’s Musings.

About The Adventures of Baby Jaimie

Baby Jaimie is in her first year of school. She has made many new friends and learned lots of things. Now she will learn what it means to be a team player when she is in her very first play. Follow Baby Jaimie as she learns the lesson, there are no small parts, only small actors.

Purchase the book at Amazon

If you would like information about a book tour, please visit my blog, Writing Daze or email Rebecca at Rebecca.camarena@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

Winds of Change – Guest Post – Carole Eglash-Kosoff

About Winds of Change

The racially charged love and conflict of the critically acclaimed When Stars Align become more entrenched after the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Amy had taken her daughter, nephew, and a son she’d had never been able to acknowledge, born from her love with Thaddeus, her colored lover, to San Francisco, as a refuge from the intense racial scrutiny of the South.

They are forced to return to their old home, Moss Grove, a successful Mississippi River cotton plantation, as young adults.  They discover facts about themselves that refute everything they believed regarding both their parents and their racial background.  It changes the lives of each of them.  Bess and Stephen’s love is thwarted.  Josiah struggles with echoes of his past.

It is a tumultuous time in American history that includes the inventions of airplanes, automobiles, telephones and movies midst decades of lynchings and economic turmoil.  It is the Spanish-American War and World War I.  Racial biases complicate lives and relationships as newly arrived immigrants vie with white and Negro workers all trying to gain a piece of the American dream.  Winds of Change is a soaring historic fiction novel that stands alone but follows the next generation from those we came to know in When Stars Align into the 20^th century. It is a socially relevant, historically accurate, saga of decades often overlooked in American history.

 

Winds of Change Guest Post

 

My earlier novel, When Stars Align, dealt with the love between a young colored boy and a white girl, set before the Civil War and after on a cotton plantation in Louisiana.  The story carried through Reconstruction.  Children were born from various relationships established in the book.  The new book carries those children through the tumultuous decades that ended the 19^th century and began the 20^th…decades that saw the inventions of automobiles, airplanes, electric lights and movies…decades that saw the Spanish American War and WW I…decades that saw the San Francisco earthquake and the Panics of 1873 and 1893.  Because most of the characters are mixed race the story carries extra weight.  Here is the prologue:

 

There is a dance that accompanies the rhythm of our lives.  It has a logic…a pattern…a beat.  Different sections of the orchestra blending into a single melody that defines who we are.  I’m a man; you’re a woman.  I’m white.  I’m tall.  I’m a Christian.  And then…wait a minute.  It seems I’m not white.  I have some Negro blood coursing through my veins that I’d never known about.  The beat of the music suddenly changes as one section, maybe the woodwinds, puts their instruments away.   The new rhythm is discordant…a rhythm with which I’m unfamiliar.  It’s a different tune, a genre I don’t know how to play.  I’ve lost the beat.   The other orchestra members are staring at me in a different way.

 

I’m not sure what it all means.  This isn’t the South.  It’s already 1883.  Slavery’s been gone for nearly twenty years and the country has moved forward.  I had a baby sister who was born colored.  I’d never known and it’s interesting, but it happened too long ago for me to feel sad.  She died, my parents are both dead, and I’m still me.  But that’s the problem.  In my head I suddenly feel like a different me.

 

My name is Josiah Rogers.  My father and two generations before him grew cotton and got quite wealthy off the back-breaking work of the slaves they owned.  Apparently my grandmother, my father’s mother, had a black parent and no one knew it until a sister of mine, who I’d never been told about, was born chocolate brown.   Amy, my aunt, and the woman who raised me after my parents died, understood that I could spawn such a child and I deserved to know that I had black blood in me.  I had so many questions that evening she told me and yet there was nothing I could ask.  I kissed her on the cheek, grabbed my jacket and my trumpet, and walked out of the apartment.  Nothing was very clear those next hours.  I remember sitting on the wharf and watching the last of the sun fall into the Pacific and a few remaining fishing boats pull into San Francisco’s harbor.  I remember walking through a cloak of evening fog, seeing buildings and people come into view like unearthly spirits and then vanish again.  I found an array of tiny North Beach bars, picked one at random, and took a seat with a few tired musicians still blowing their horns.  I pulled out my trumpet.  I have no idea what I played or where I was.

 

We were a family of four.  Amy held us together.   Her daughter, Bess, was a few years younger than me.  She had her mother’s beautiful red hair and a face full of freckles set atop two deep dimples.  Bess’ father had been a career Union Army officer until he was killed in some battle with rebellious Indians.  She had her father’s height and gentle nature, which was good, because Amy was definitely not a laid back soul.

 

The last of our quartet was Stephen, my sort-of brother.  He was the son of Amy’s closest friends, the Carmodys, from when she lived near Baton Rouge.  They had been slaughtered by Klan members in the same race riot that killed my father.   Stephen and I are the same age.  He’s colored…really light-skinned, handsome, with blue-green eyes that always sparkle, but definitely colored.  Girls, white and black, hover around him like lemmings.   His color never made any difference to us but he occasionally felt the sting of some ignorant bigot and I know their slurs hurt him.  He and Bess are in love.  We all know it.  Amy knows it as well and while she never speaks against it, it’s clear that the intensity of their feelings make her very nervous.  She does everything reasonable, and sometimes unreasonable, to keep them apart.  Her efforts have only succeeded in bringing them closer together.  Their young raging hormones have not only connected, they’ve intertwined.

 

We received a phone call from San Francisco General, the hospital where Amy worked as a nurse.  She was dead.  She had caught an infection from one of her patients and before anyone even knew she was ill, she was gone.

 

Our anchor, the glue that held us together, had died.

 

Carole Eglash-Kosoff lives and writes in Valley Village, California.   She graduated from UCLA and spent her career in business, teaching, and traveling.  She has visited more than seventy countries.   An avid student of history, she researched the decades preceding and following the Civil War for nearly three years, including time in Louisiana, the setting for Winds of Change and her earlier novel, When Stars Align.  It is a story of bi-racial love.  It is a story of war, reconstruction, and racism, but primarily, it is a story of hope.

This is her third book.  In 2006, following the death of her husband, she volunteered to teach in South Africa.  Her first book, The Human Spirit – Apartheid’s Unheralded Heroes, tells the true life stories of an amazing array of men and women who have devoted their lives during the worst years of apartheid to help the children, the elderly, and the disabled of the townships.  These people cared when no one else did and their efforts continue to this day.

Her second book, When Stars Align, chronicles the Civil War and Reconstruction through the love affair of Amy, a white girl, and Thaddeus, a colored man born of the rape of an eleven year old slave girl and the teen heir to Moss Grove.

You can visit her website at www.windsofchange-thebook.com or connect with her at Facebook at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=553077163.

 

 

Secret Lives – author interview and book excerpt

Secret Lives Book Tour

 

About Secret Lives

Secret Lives is a big novel about big issues—aging and death, the way our society treats its senior citizens, women’s friendships, the powers of love, the theory and practice of magic, the rebirth of the Goddess and Her ancient religion. It’s about the untidy mysteries of human life. As the baby boom generation ages, the issues in Secret Lives become more significant to readers and also more recognizable. Issues that used to matter only to their parents are now starting to pop up in the boomers’ own lives. This novel will thus appeal not only to the large audience that reads pagan fiction, but also to mainstream readers who love a good, complicated story and may have heard about pagans and gods and goddesses. As they read, they will learn a great deal.

Each chapter is a standalone story, although there are two arcs that comprise two stories and three stories. The bulleted notes that follow the barebones outlines and show how the stories are braided together and explain many of the allusions. An event may be foreshadowed in early chapters, for example, be the major plot of another chapter, and be resolved or echoed in later chapters. Likewise, people who appear as minor characters in some chapters become major actors in other chapters.

You can read more about Secret Lives at www.barbaraardinger.com

Follow Secret Lives on Facebook

Check out the FREE READER’S GUIDE

Purchase the book at Amazon

 

 

Dr. Barbara Ardinger

Interview

 

Q:  Will you share with us how you came up with the idea for this book? 

 

Back in the late 1980s I took a class with Long Beach WomanSpirit (which is mentioned in Secret Lives and in the FREE READER’S GUIDE). The class was about crones. A crone is an old, honorable name for an elderly woman. She is hopefully a wise woman, someone who has lived long enough to have learned a few things about life and about people. Crones are well into menopause. Well … there were half a dozen women in the crone class who were in their early thirties. “Oh,” they all said, “crone is a state of mind.” But it’s not a state of mind! I got so frustrated trying to explain that fact to these girls that I decided to write a book about very active elderly women. And that was the start. From a sort of essay, the book turned into stories, and as I wrote I added more stories.

Q:  Do you plan your stories first with an outline or does it come to you as write it?

 

No, I didn’t start with an outline. As I think back, I remember observing elderly women—remember, this was twenty years ago—and hearing stories about my friends’ mothers and paying attention to how older women are treated in our youth-oriented society.

 

Then these women started appearing in my dreams! What happened, basically, is that I went into a sort of alternate reality while I was awake and sitting at my typewriter. I watched and listened and starting writing. No, I wasn’t their secretary, but to this day I am convinced that the people in Secret Lives are real. Not real in this reality, but real wherever they are. As a writer, I’m in charge of the craft of writing, so while I watched and listened to them, I was also in charge of spelling, punctuation, syntax, etc. I also did real library research as I wrote the book, especially on the dialect and customs of the Ozarks, the home of two major characters and their very complex family history.

 

Q: Do you know the end of the story at the beginning?

 

Because this novel consists of 27 separate stories that are all braided together, I was never quite sure where anything was going until I got there. The prologue is set in 4400 BCE in the area of Europe near the Black Sea called Old Europe by archeo-mythologist Marija Gimbutas (an authority on Goddess culture) and ends in a diaspora as the people leave their home to escape an invasion. The rest of the novel is set in Long Beach, California (where I live), in 1989-90. There’s another diaspora in the first story, which tells how one of the major characters escaped from the Nazis and came to southern California, and the book ends with a third diaspora as the women move out into the world, perhaps to organize new Goddess circles and tell more people about the Goddess.

 

Q: Do you have a process for developing your characters?

 

I pretty much let them develop themselves, though I often give a nudge here and a bit of a push there. The women of Secret Lives are very strong-willed. You don’t want to mess around with them. Some punks try it in the first chapter, and the women do magic and create a dragon to protect the neighborhood.

 

Q: It is said that authors write themselves into their characters. Is there any part of you in your characters and what they would be?

 

There are little bits of me and half the people I’ve ever known in these women. They are rounded and opinionated and not necessarily politically correct. But they are majorly entertaining. One purpose of this novel is to help introduce a mainstream audience to spiritual feminism, so there are a lot of conversations among the women and their friends. There are a professor of history and a novelist in Secret Lives, but they’re not me (well, not quite), and some of the characters went to the same college in southeast Missouri that I went to. I’ve been to mainstream metaphysical churches like the one I parody in three chapters. I’m also extremely sympathetic with the mischief-making crone and the talking cat, but if you ask if they’re like me, I’ll deny it!

 

Q: What is your most favorite part about this book?

 

Two parts that were the most fun to write were the interior monologues and conversations of residence manager of the retirement residence where many of the characters live. She is and talks like the compleat bureaucrat, with hilarious redundancies. At one point she proclaims that she has no imagination and never has had one. Another part that was fun to write was Chapter 8, in which a very minor goddess arrives in Long Beach. The chapter is a sort of rewrite of Little Red Riding Hood. The goddess meets two very wolf-like, horny old men. And—well, I gotta confess—writing the sex scenes was fun. One is two people in their eighties. Yes, as the talking cat says, he can still get it up. The scenes with the Green Man—a very sexy fellow who is fully human at the same time that he manifests an archetypal figure—nearly took over the book for awhile as I fell under his spell.

 

Q: What struggles have you had on the road to being published?

 

I first wrote Secret Lives—with the first of the five titles its had–on an IBM Selectric typewriter. When I got my first computer, I had to retype it (thank goodness it was shorter than it is now) in WordPerfect 5.1. Then I bought a new computer and had to retype it in Word. I have had copies of the book on paper (from the typewriter), 8-inch floppies, 5-inch floppies, 3-inch disks, and now on a CD. Through the years, I also added a few stories. One character, for example, was too virtuous and kinda boring, so I gave her midlife crisis.

 

The big NYC mainstream publishers to whom my first literary agent sent the manuscript said they loved it and loved my writing ….. but no one would ever want to read a book about old women, no matter how interesting they were. (I still have a couple of those rejection letters.) The biggest publishers of pagan books said they didn’t publish fiction. (They lied.) Nowadays, with the baby boomers aging and ads for menopause “cures” and Viagra and Cialis all over the TV, people are beginning to see that older people are still lively and active and interesting. Jessica Tandy won her Oscar in 1990 at age 89, and “Golden Girls” was a popular TV show, so we know that there’s interest in characters like mine. In addition, the mainstream has now heard of paganism and there’s more tolerance in some areas. (Extreme fundamentalists are not my target audience.)

 

Q: What has been the best part about being published?

 

I’m thrilled when someone says, “I know someone just like so-and-so,” or “Sarah’s story brought tears to my eyes,” or “Could all that dancing furniture and other magic really happen at a psychic fair.”

 

Q: What do you want readers to remember and carry with them after reading your novel?

 

Let’s all be kind to each other and appreciate people with different ideas about reality and the world. I want readers to remember these old women and look around them with more love of all older women.

 

I also want to invite readers to visit the FREE READER’S GUIDE on my website. http://www.barbaraardinger.com/secret-lives It’s like a DVD commentary track, with explanations of the literary allusions (some of the chapter titles), annotations, and references (to old movies, TV shows, history of the mid-20^th century, real people mentioned in the book, etc.). Also comments.

 

Q: Do you have plans to write another book?

 

I have the covers of all eight of my books lined up on one of the walls in my office. They’re in plastic box frames. My first book, Seeing Solutions (which was published by Signet in 1989) is about six inches above the floor. The book covers go up like a column. The cover of Secret Lives is about three inches under the ceiling. I take that as a sign that I don’t have to write another book. However ……… I still have one more book in a three-ring binder. I’m not sure I have the energy to retype it right now.

 

 

Book Excerpt

 

From Chapter 3 of Secret Lives:

 

Sarah’s son has cooked up a big real estate deal in Yorba Linda and moved her out of her home and into the Center Towers Retirement Residence in Long Beach.

 

Herta looked Sarah straight in the eye for a long moment. Neither woman blinked.

“Your daughter and granddaughter are very concerned,” Herta finally said. “They tell us your other children are also very concerned because you’ve been ‘depressed.’ Well, that’s understandable, since almost all your treasures were packed up and put away when you moved. … But, frankly, there seems to be nowhere else you can go. Your children are willing to take you in, but none of them really have the room. Or the time.”

“I lived that way before I came to the Towers,” Sophie said. “A couple months with Doris, and her at work all day long, then pack everything up and move down to Sissie’s, then a couple months and, wham, back with Doris. It’s no way to live. I can tell you that. Never a room to call your own. Never your own friends. Watching daytime TV because there’s nothing else to do. Practically everything you own in a suitcase all the time. Waiting for your kids to find time to do for you. I never knew where to call home. That’s why I let the social services find me a place here.”

“I lived with my nephew and his wife,” Bertha said, petting the feather boa as she spoke. “I did their cleaning—well, I helped Lupe, the maid. Taught her some English while I was at it so she’d know what’s what. And I had to put up with their tight-ass Republican friends.”

“So,” Herta resumed, “you don’t have much of a choice. Your son is willing to support you as long as you live. And you do have friends here. But I guess you know that by now.”

“Why, I guess I do.” Sarah looked at these strangers who were spending time with her and actually listening to what she had to say. She was being cared about and cared for as if she really mattered. “I think you are my friends. Even though I don’t hardly know all your names.”

“Sarah, what do you want?”

She took another sip of her tea and looked down at herself in the wheelchair. She considered the days and weeks and months and years ahead, knowing that she was getting older, weaker, knowing she’d always be afraid she’d fall down again. She thought about her children, living and dead, and her Jake, whom she missed every night of her life, and every morning. She was grateful that her children and grandchildren (and even the greats) came to visit, phoned, sent her pretty cards, but she realized that they all had lives of their own. She saw that some of these women lived in this old folks home and seemed to be happy here. But maybe they’d never lived the way she had, out in the country (back then) with clean air and clean land.

How could she ever learn to be happy in that bare little room with no kitchen in this old folks home with a hospital pressing down on top of it? How could she be happy with endless days of nothing useful to do?

“What do I want?” She looked around at her circle of new friends. “I want to die.”

 

 

 

 

The Queen’s Gamble – author interview- Barbara Kyle

Quenn's Gamble Book Tour

Join Barbara Kyle, author of the historical novel, The Queen’s Gamble (Kensington Books, August 30, 2011) as she virtually tours the blogosphere in September on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Barbara Kyle

Barbara Kyle is the author of the Tudor-era “Thornleigh” series of novels, which have been published internationally: The Queen’s Captive, The Queen’s Lady, and The King’s Daughter, praised by Publishers Weekly as “a complex and fast-paced plot, mixing history with vibrant characters.” Her new novel, The Queen’s Gamble, will be released on 30 August 2011.

Barbara previously won acclaim for her contemporary novels under pen name ‘Stephen Kyle’, including Beyond Recall (a Literary Guild Selection), After Shock and The Experiment. Over 400,000 copies of her books have been sold.

Barbara has taught courses for writers at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, and is known for her dynamic workshops for many writers organizations. Her popular series of video workshops “Writing Fiction That Sells” is available through her website. Before becoming an author, Barbara enjoyed a twenty-year acting career in television, film, and stage productions in Canada and the U.S.

Visit www.BarbaraKyle.com.

About The Queen’s Gamble

Young Queen Elizabeth I’s path to the throne has been a perilous one, and already she faces a dangerous crisis. French troops have landed in Scotland to quell a rebel Protestant army, and Elizabeth fears that once they are entrenched on the border, they will invade England.

Isabel Thornleigh has returned to London from the New World with her Spanish husband, Carlos Valverde, and their young son. Ever the queen’s loyal servant, Isabel is recruited to smuggle money to the Scottish rebels. Yet Elizabeth’s trust only goes so far—Isabel’s son will be the queen’s pampered hostage until she completes her mission. Matters grow worse when Isabel’s husband is engaged as military advisor to the French, putting the couple on opposite sides in a deadly cold war.

Set against a lush, vibrant backdrop peopled with unforgettable characters and historical figures, The Queen’s Gamble is a story of courage, greed, passion, and the high price of loyalty…

 

Author Barbara Kyle

 

Interview

 

Q:  Give us an example of a typical writing day.

 

Early morning, around 7:00, is for answering emails. It’s a joy to hear how my books have touched readers, and hear what they’re up to. I happily reply to each note. This is also the time when I post updates on my Facebook Author Page and post on Twitter. I love Twitter, love checking out the fascinating links that other authors and book-business people post, so I have to cut myself off at 9:00 a.m.

 

The rest of the morning I spend on “fixing” – re-writing — whatever scene I wrote the day before. I enjoy this process and could fix all day, so again I have to cut myself off at noon.

 

The afternoon is the challenging part of the day: it’s for creating the next “bit”. I need that morning of re-writing to build up momentum for the afternoon creating. I strive to write 4 to 5 new pages a day, but I rarely accomplish that. Usually it’s 3 to 3 1/2.

 

Q:  Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

 

Computer, always. I couldn’t read my own handwriting! But I do constantly jot down notes about anything and everything, big and small: from a change of word in a dialogue exchange I’ve written, to a change of the turning point in a whole scene. I keep these hand-written notes in a folder on my desk and continually re-read them, discarding each one as I’ve incorporated the note into the draft.

 

Q:  Do you work from an outline?

Always. I can’t imagine working any other way – it would be like building a house without a blueprint. In fact, the most helpful tip I can offer any emerging writer is: take the time to write an outline. Take a long time. The outline is where the heavy lifting of creation takes place: the invention of your characters and plot. I spend four or five months writing my outlines, while concurrently doing research. (John Grisham says he works for up to six months on his.) I call the outline a Storyline, because as writers we must never forget that we’re telling a story. In the workshops for writers that I give, I love to teach the principles of outlining. I did a video on this subject in my series of online workshops called “Writing Fiction That Sells.” Anyone interested can watch a clip on my website: www.barbarakyle.com.

 

Q:  What’s next for you?

 

I’m working on Book #5 in my Tudor-era “Thornleigh” series. (The Queen’s Gamble is Book #4.) I have a contract with my wonderful publisher, Kensington Books, for three more in this series, so I’m deep into the next one. It features Mary Queen of Scots, at the moment she escapes captivity in Scotland and takes sanctuary in England, naively expecting Queen Elizabeth, who was her cousin, to help her. Little did she know what a crisis her presence would cause Elizabeth.

 

 

Q:  What are a few of your favorite genres and why?

 

I enjoy many genres, from Joanna Trollope’s wonderful domestic dramas to big adventure sagas (last month I re-read James Clavell’s “Shogun”) to historical fiction like David Mitchell’s brilliant “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.”

 

I also enjoy biographies; recently I read a door-stopper bio of Charles Dickens. And I read a lot of non-fiction. I just finished Adam Hochschild’s “To End All Wars,” a stunning and heartbreaking book about the insanity of World War I and the brave Brits who refused to fight and went to jail for it. Hochschild is such a fine writer I’ve just started his “Bury the Chains” about the anti-slavery movement in the 18^th century.

 

 

 

Q:  Time Frame: From start to finish

 

I’m under contract to produce a book a year, so I have to carefully manage my writing time. When I start a new book I work for 4 or 5 months on the outline, while concurrently doing research. As Hemingway famously said, “The first draft of anything is sh*t” so I try to write my first draft as quickly as possible, to just get it done. That takes about 4 more months. Then, the really pleasurable work begins: the second draft. (As I said, I love to fix.)  I spend a month or so on that. Then, the last few weeks before my deadline is for an intense, quick polish. Then I send the manuscript to my superb editor, Audrey LaFehr. After she gives me her notes, I do another draft that incorporates her suggestions – another month or so. The book then goes into production, which takes about 9 months. Then, voila, it’s in the stores – and by that time I’m deep into writing the next book!

 

 

Paperback Writer Chats with Nemo James author of Just a Few Seconds, A Story From the Hidden World of Music and Beyond

Just a Few Seconds Book Synopsis

Nemo James dreamt of becoming a professional musician from the first time he picked up a guitar following a talent content disaster. Thought of by his friends as being the person most likely to make the big time he turned professional but was continually side tracked by the need to earn a living from music.

His journey takes him all over the world from private gigs for the rich and famous to the roughest pubs. Starting in the late sixties when heavy rock was born, through to the 1980’s and 90’s when discos and electronics decimated live music dance halls.

Just a Few Seconds is an amusing and heartrending story of perseverance showing how the road to success can lead us down the strangest of paths.

Find Nemo James at his website

Purchase the book on Amazon in kindle and book edition

Q:  Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

On a computer. I have used computers so much over the last 15 years I no longer have any control over a pen. On the rare occasion I do have to use a pen and paper my wife has to translate for me otherwise I have no idea what I have written. As far as I am concerned the greatest invention of the 20^th century is the undo command followed closely by the delete key.

Q:  Worst rejection you’ve ever received?

That would be for the background music for the smash hit TV series “Great Train Journeys of the world.” I was commissioned to do it by EMI who accepted it with great enthusiasm. It was approved by the big knobs at the BBC who said it was exactly what they were looking for but the final say went to the producer who rejected it because he had already chosen the music from a well known band that he liked. It would have been my big break but in the words of an obscure country and western song “when my boat finally came in I was waiting for a train.”

These days I can honestly say rejection doesn’t bother me any more. I claim to have one of the greatest collections of rejection letters of any person living for just about anything you can be rejected for. I also have a huge collection of letters from highly respected professionals highly praising my work and telling me my day will come although, some of those are 35 years old. When my next book is rejected I will just tell myself that the person who rejected it is sitting in a stuffy office working for a boss they hate while I am sitting on a beach in paradise.

 

Q:  What’s next for you?

I have just finished the first draft of Croatian Diaries which takes over from where Just a few seconds ended.  It is about my life in a sleepy Croatian seaside village near Dubrovnik and has lots of amusing stories and interesting characters. I should probably have written that book first as it is a lot more commercial but when I started writing it I felt an overwhelming urge to start at the beginning with my memoirs.

Part of promoting Just A Few Seconds  is to cross promote it with my music and after creating a Youtube channel of my music I was taken aback but the encouraging comments people have posted. So I would like to start playing concerts again but only if I was guaranteed the audience would outnumber my fingers. You can find some of my music at www.youtube.com/dereknewark

Q:  Who is your favourite author, and why?

I have a hopelessly fussy taste in books and abandon more than I finish however my favourite author has always been Emile Zola. I love characterisation above all else and I have never found any writer than can make such awful people sound so colourful and likeable.  I always wanted to go through the 20 books in his Rougon-Macquart series which thanks to the availability of books on the internet these days I recently started collecting and reading. The most amazing thing is how everything he writes about that happened 150 years ago is still happening today. The greed of bankers and corporate business and the dishonesty of politicians in his second book “The Kill” is like picking up my morning paper.

I also love Louis de Bernieres and thought his “Birds without Wings” was a masterpiece.

Author Nemo James

Q:  Do you have a writer’s studio? Describe it for us and what is the view you see from the window?

No. I write on a computer in the living room. Most of the time I have no problem with that although when my wife is watching the television it can be a bit difficult but usually it is just a matter of typing out what has been in my head all day. The only time I need solitude is in the final draughts. My dear old dad used to read a book and watch television at the same time. It used to really annoy my brother and I  when we wanted to watch another channel so we would test him to make sure he was paying attention to the television but he never failed to provide the correct answers as he turned over the next page.

From my window I have a view of the an old aqueduct which forms the wall to the front of our house. Behind that there is a huge bougainvillea and then 100 meters away is the a large Adriatic bay with three islands in the distance where I often take the boat to fish. It is summer in the middle of the tourist season and there is the sound of an amazing Croatian folk group singing Klapa in the distance with the gentle sound of the sea in the background. I suppose I can’t complain.

Q:  Advice for the audience, first time authors, those choosing the writing life.

Don’t try and write a book. Get an idea and let the book write itself. I am not sure you can choose the writing life can you? Isn’t it more the case that the writing life has to choose you ?