Hello and Happy Friday,

I know I do a lot of talking about writing, I say I write but who knows if I do? I do; so here's a short story, flash fiction I think and I hope you like it:



ICE CREAM AND CHRISTMAS TREES


Gerald shivered beside the rows of spruces, firs and pines, smelling their sharp tang as they glowed dark green under the string of Christmas lights. It was twenty degrees but felt colder, maybe because it was Colorado in December or because he’d been standing there for four hours watching people dressed in parkas, snow boots and ski hats eating all manner of ice cream; single, double and triple scooped cones, banana splits, sundaes, parfaits and frosty milkshakes as he tried to sell Christmas trees and watch for Sherry.

He stamped his feet and rubbed together his gloved hands as he watched car headlights come off the highway ramp and down the street toward him either to pass by or stop at Romeo’s Ice Cream Emporium where he sold the trees. He’d always thought it funny-strange how the place did a brisk business in winter where you would think the idea of having ice cream would be horrible. But Marvin Pile, the old man who owned the ice cream stand along with half the commercial strip, said folks seemed to love it even more in winter than in summer so that was one reason he kept it open year round.

“Some of my best business done in the winter,” said Marvin, a pock marked, skinny man who looked like he never ate a thing let alone ice cream. “People love the frozen cow’s milk whatever the time of year.”

Romeo’s was little more than a stand with a neon ice-cream cone tilted helter-skelter on its roof and was only large enough for two people to work inside at one time. A drive-through sized window was cut out its front with a lip attached; customer’s walked up, ordered and the order was pushed out on to the lip for pick up. A couple of picnic tables sat on the tarmac off to the side for anyone brave enough to risk a frozen rear for their frozen treat. Marvin, partial to entrepreneurs, had for the last three years kindly let him sell holiday trees on the small lot next to the stand for two percent of the take and it had worked out pretty well too; it seemed eating ice cream put a lot of people in a good mood to buy Christmas trees. There was a line even now at the stand though it was close to eight


Where was she? Did something happen? He looked at the cars coming toward him all passing by. A guy wearing a black down-filled coat and an orange hunting cap and eating two large scoops of what looked like to Gerald Rocky Road ice cream, walked over. Pointing to a balsam fir over seven feet tall, full from top to bottom and the silvery blue of a deep, clean lake asked, “How much is that one?”

“Its forty dollars,” Gerald glanced over the man’s shoulder at the passing cars.

The man looked at the tree, licked his ice cream, shrugged, “Its nice enough and a good size; I’ll take it.” He fished around in his coat pocket, told Gerald, “Hold this,” handed him the cone, took out a wad of bills and pulled off two twenties.

Gerald took the money and handed the guy back his ice cream. He cut a half-inch off the tree’s trunk, hauled it to the guy’s Ford pick-up and laid it carefully in the truck’s bed.

“Merry Christmas,” he called out to the guy just as Sherry’s red Corolla came off the ramp, down the street and pulled up beside him. Gerald felt the knots of fear in his stomach loosen a little at the sight of her.

She got quickly out the car looking at once beautiful, terrified and eager but mostly beautiful; they stared at each other, then met holding on to each other next to a set of decorative wreaths with red bows.

“I thought he wouldn’t let you get away.”

She stuck a strand of soft black hair underneath her cap, the plume of her cold breath smelled like fresh peppermint, “I didn’t think he’d buy my story but he didn’t give me any trouble this time; he usually has a fit if I got out without him.” The violet eyes in her slim face took hold of mines, “Do you have the money?”

“Cleaned out my bank account,” he said. I’ll never complain again about working day construction. You?”

She opened her purse, took out a white envelope and opened to the to the bills packed inside, “That’s everything. You think it’ll be enough to get us started?” Her glorious eyes looked again into mine and I nodded.

If we’d had ten dollars between us I would’ve still nodded; the money didn’t matter only that they were together and could get away together was his only concern and had been the first time he’d laid eyes on her; to have her, to make her his any way he had to.

“Have you sold a lot of trees?” she looked around.

“Not many, my mind hasn’t been on it tonight. You ready to go? There’s nothing else keeping us here is it?”

She shook her head and smiled, “I’m scared but ready. I love you.” She took his hand, “Can we have a last one to go?”

“Anything. I love you.”

They started for Romeo’s as her husband Jimmy came off the ramp, down the street in his green Cadillac STS, hitting a Fraser fir and tumbling it over to knock down six other firs before he stopped and jumped out of the car pointing a pistol at them; he was crying.

“I thought it was me you loved,” he waved the gun at them. The people buying ice cream had frozen as they stared at the three of them.

“Not anymore,” Sherry’s right hand went to my chest. “I’m Gerald’s now.”

“She loves me,” I said, “It can’t be helped, Jimmy.” My eyes went from his wet face to the gun, “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Jimmy’s face sucked in as if he’d been forced fed a sack of lemons;, his eyes closing “You sure; that damn sure?” He pulled back the trigger.

Sherry and Gerald glanced at each other and nodded; their eyes only for each other. Jimmy opened his and saw it under the hanging Christmas tree lights and neon helter-skelter ice cream cone. He released the trigger, his arm sinking down from the weight of the gun and lost love. “I can’t leave here with nothing?” he said.

Sherry moved toward him, took the gun and tossed it into the front seat of the car, “How about an ice cream and a Christmas tree.”

The End

Send me a story if you want; the reading is almost as important as the writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing

Lori

Hello,

I’m writing my second Owen Story novel as you know; I’m finishing the first draft to move into the long—but not too long—rewrite process which is the REAL process. My first step though is not to pick up the pen and get to it, I have to organize first. I don’t mean create an outline so I know where I’m going; I already know this for the most part, I mean putting all my notes, my snatches of information, my short story lines, my scribbled passages all together in front of me like a person opening a large box of chocolates a la Forest Gump and choosing the ones that best fit the story, the novel.

When I’m collecting these pieces written down on the backs of store receipts, in one of the small notebooks I carry around or on a stickem, I of course don’t know exactly where they may fit; only that they might. So when I gather them I try and fit most into the books storyline like working a puzzle where sometimes the pieces are large and give you an idea of the picture you’re creating and at other times, small and are needed just to help the picture develop while some you don’t need.

I enjoy this part of working my book because I find once I’m here, the book is alive and all I’m there to do is keep it breathing and healthy by feeding it the right words and taking out the useless, unnecessary ones; keeping it moving by throwing in a fast paced storyline ; filling it with excitement and adventure and with characters you want to know and love. It’s a pleasure to get to this phase though I have a ways to go until I’m done, but the fact I have gotten there lets me know I have a story worth finishing, that I enjoy and look forward to adding to it until it’s the way I want it to be and hope the end result will be a novel loved not only by me but my readers too.

Keep writing your novels, movie scripts, short stories, poems, because you love it.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

As writers we write for our selves and for other reasons of course; from hoping for a successful career—whatever you define as success; a prolific career, able to write a book or two a year a la James Patterson or because you feel you have something really important to convey; the list is long. One of the reasons I write is because of my sons; they’re happy when they see my book in the world. The other day my son thought he saw a woman carrying it in a store and he told me about it, smiling all the time. I don’t believe she had my book yet was happy he thought someone was reading it. My sons help me defy that blank page because they see in the book, the results of working hard, not giving up and bypassing roadblocks to create something positive. I feel it helps them understand they can do what they choose to do and pursue their life goals no matter what they are and as long as it’s a good—a great—choice.

I write for my self but my sons help me keep at it and write better.

Keep writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday,

I was reading the other day, an article about the writer Stephanie Meyer who wrote the popular novel, Twilight. The story was of course filled with all the great things happening to her: she’s the new J.K. Rowling, a terrific three book deal, an eagerly anticipated book tour and so many other wonderful details, I of course had a flash of envy, who wouldn’t? I mean she is where I want to be some day. I said-flash of envy-because I kind of got over it quickly because I thought, I’ll be where she is some day or close and I don’t doubt it. Why should I be so sure? I don’t know, because I feel it? Lame but true, yet more importantly I believe I’m working toward it though not in the usual way because I can’t; I don’t have an agent, or even a one-book-deal, I don’t have a huge audience anticipating my next novel (though a few people are; which is a great thing) I don’t have a tour scheduled; my best is a trip to New York to do a signing at the New York City Police Museum which has yet to be confirmed and I’m not a full time writer; I write when I can.

Boy, doesn’t it sound like I have reason to be envious and not so sure I’m going to get even close to where Ms. Meyer’s career has taken her. Yet, I do feel I’ll get close because despite all what I don’t have; I know—know—I have great story lines for my trilogy, a terrific character in Owen Story and I don’t stint on writing as well as I possibly can with relevant details and interesting, well-developed characters; making sure I give the reader the best possible story, one that rolls along at top speed, is exciting and not a waste of a minute of their time. I do what I can to promote my novels and try to do so every day and in all the ways available to me.

As writers and as people, we want a slice of the “good life”—the book tours, the newspaper and magazine articles, the book deals, which I’ve always defined as being a successful writer. But as time has gone by I’ve learned to define success, not by the trappings of the so called good life, but by working hard on my novel and getting it to the point I can breathe because I feel I’ve made it the best it can be, I’m done and can present it to the world pleased with it.

Just write, the rest will take care of itself.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hi,

I told you how much I enjoyed my editing class; I’m using a few of the techniques she taught. Anyway, one of the things she mentioned is that how she had to learn to break some of the rules of writing that were ground into her from childhood, for example: a comma should be used before a conjunction introducing an independent clause—those long winded rules. We adhere to that rule because its ground into us as well, but for some writers they know and incorporate the rules so well, have done it all their writing career that they know how to superbly break them to give us knew and wonderful stories. My best example of who does this so well is Cormac Mccarthy; he breaks rules into splinters and takes your breath away. He can do this so effortlessly because of a few things: his writing skill, deep knowledge of the world and the people he writes about and because he’s fearless at the challenge and doesn’t care if we like it or not, he writes for himself.


Will I ever get to the point to be able to write so well or to be so fearless at it? Honestly, I don’t think so but I don’t toss it out but see is as a possible goal along with my other writing goals: doing it well and loving it.

Enjoy what you’re writing even when you sometimes can’t enjoy the writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello,

It’s funny how writers are always trying to improve their writing—at least I do—and by all means at my disposal. I believe I do it out of part fear I don’t know enough as a writer and I’m missing something and part I can always—always do better for my sake and most importantly for my readers. I took an editing class at my local university yesterday and it was good, I learned a number of useful tools and I’m grateful for it because they will help improve my writing no doubt. I have an issue with my editing prowess anyway, I’m not good at it and the chance to improve is welcome.

As we all know, it’s a long-winding-improving road for a writer, no matter how long his career, the object is to get better each novel and along with courage and hard-work it takes knowledge to do so and l take advantage of this fact. The professor is teaching a grammar class and I will be taking it, a brush up now and again is a plus, every little bit helps and I will take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself to make my stories, my novels better and better.

Grab a book like The Everyday Writer by Andrea Lunsford, I’d bet you pick up something that’ll help your writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday,

Working on the second book, a lot of reading and research; yet doing it no matter what—with a little writing thrown it--and its going well because its part of the writing process isn’t it? A large cog in the machinery of writing. I’m reading about the Iranian revolution and about the CIA; and a piece of the story I was missing for the second novel—how to work out how Owen comes by an important piece of information central to the story—presents itself, the answer I needed to keep the story rolling and it made my day.

I’m not the kind of writer who can plot my novel step-by-step before the writing, who knows what happens before it happens; I of course have an idea of the plot of the story, how it should go, it’s the how to get there that’s my mystery… until I start to read, research, write and think.
Writing is involved, tedious, time consuming, but such a joy and a wonder, I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else. So you write too, it’s worth it everyday.

Write,

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy July 4th to all who celebrate,

Writing is such a funny thing, you never realize until you think about it how important it is, how much you do it and the big difference it makes to your life if you do it right. I’m popular at my kids school, why? It’s not because I’m the president of the PTA—I’m not--but because I write great e-mails and notes to their teachers in my request for information about my sons or to thank them for what they do for my children. I make sure to put my best words in there to convey I believe them to be great for my children and taught them well and it’s easier for me to write than to do the face to face; I believe my writing helped me have a better relationship with them and helped my children have a good one with them too.

Today I needed a lawyer, to ask some questions and provide some information but instead of talking to him, I wrote a letter instead, well an e-mail as an introduction and to pass along some details. I did the writing because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get my point across, the facts, exactly the way I needed to if I had to speak with him off the cuff, so writing was what I did and it worked. In my note my information was succinct and clear and received the response I needed; verbally, I couldn't of gotten my point across nearly as well as I can using a pen and a piece of paper.

Writing smooths my life out more than I could imagine and that's a tremendous blessing.

Write well and all the time,

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello, hitting you Wednesday instead of Friday,

How much do you know about book publishing? I don’t know much I admit and there seems so much information out there especially for self-publishers though some of it does repeat itself. I just learned today what to do with the foreign rights of your novel and releasing those rights to publishers around the world and how to do it.

It would be great to have one definitive book that would tell you everything you should know; the best direction you should take for your novel—stop dreaming right; there is no such thing. It’s like your being the only one who has to find the light switch in an unfamiliar ball room in the encompassing dark: you have to do it by yourself, you have to keep trying, getting around the obstacles the best way you can, working at it hit or miss until you find the best ways to work your book or turn on the light.

Write,

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and hope you’re doing well,

A few minutes ago I got a phone call from someone who read You Don’t Know Me and she let me know she really enjoyed it and gave it to her friend who enjoyed it as well and asked when the next would come out; her phone call I can tell you, made my week and it does help with the writing.

I’m writing and listening to books on tape, the book is The Terror by Dan Simmons, very, very good and its twenty-two disks, yet I've listened to each one and I’m now re-listening to the first disks to put in context everything I’ve read—listened to. One of the interesting things about the novel is its serious detail. The Terror is the fictional story of a ship called The Terror who in 1845 as part of the Franklin Expedition, gets stuck in the Arctic Circle which is bad enough but added to this misery the crew and those of its sister ship are being slaughtered by a beast. The novel is filled with details about how the ship works and looks, how a working ship faces ice, how the ship is piloted and so on, all interesting because the writer doesn’t pommel you with the details yet its full of them, even minute ones.

Details in a novel are necessary and tricky for any writer I believe, no matter how much experience you have; if you put in too much you over shadow the story and if you don’t enter the detail just right the story becomes boring and too tedious to plow through; if you don’t put in enough the story doesn’t sound real enough or reads amateurish, so the key is to put in just enough, the right kind, to make sure the story is solid so the details run so seamlessly through it the reader doesn’t notice and if they do its complimentary; so like I said, detailing a story is a tricky business. For me to get around this “trickiness” I read some of my favorite writers and I've found that though they detail very well, they sacrifice most of it for great story and I work on doing the same.


Write and keep at it,

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday to you,

Do you do all you have to do for your writing or to get it recognized? It could be a lot of work involved when you’re already writing all and when you can. I’m talking about submitting your work to relevant contests, applying for artistic grants, sending out press kits and information to get your work known, talking to people about your novel, holding book signings—a host of things to get people talking about your book and characters; it’s a job in itself. I try to promote my book a little each day in some form, today I’m sending a copy out to my brother-in-law, a soldier in the United States Army stationed in Afghanistan, he requested a signed book so along with it I’m also sending post cards I hope he'll give to his fellow soldiers who will want to read the book; I’m offering a free copy to anyone of them along with the free download available at Lulu.com. My local newspaper, The Plain Dealer, is doing an occasional story on local artists, writers and their Muse, I submitted an e-mail offering the story of my novel and Muse and also had friends submit for me, I’m hoping my story is chosen, it would be great publicity for the book.
Whether any of my efforts pan out who knows, yet I keep trying to get the word out every day, it's part of this book thing and the fact you want to give your novel and characters every chance to be heard. Yet, what really makes all your efforts worth while is the knowledge you do have a book out there you love and feel is worth promoting no matter what you have to do and while you’re doing all this; you’re writing the next.

Write always and always keep the faith,

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello, it’s Thursday instead of Friday, like you didn’t know it,

I have solicited—doesn’t that sound awful though funny--another book review from a reviewer on Amazon.com for You Don’t Know Me. Shouldn’t I be done with getting book reviews or recommendations for that novel? I would like to say yes, but I know I never will. The one thing I’ve found about having a book in the world, you’re always building it up, getting it a stellar c.v. and will do it for the rest of your life and especially for it’s immediate future because you want millions to read it and to get them to do so, others have to have read it and pronounced it good—or bad; I’ve heard a bad review isn’t sometimes bad—prompting others to want to check it out.

I of course want a good review to add to the one I have from Mr. Lecard because as we all know, a good review is just that and I believe it does help. You have to go after them and as self-published writers; we have to go after them much harder than someone who published traditionally because self-published doesn’t have an entire publishing house helping and backing their work which is not at all a bad thing; working hard gets the writing done to your own satisfaction and you have to work just as hard on all other aspects of having a self-published novel out because for the most part; it’s you and you alone driving it toward success.

Are you reading anything while you’re writing? I just picked up a historical novel titled The Terror by Dan Simmons and it’s not bad, rather good; interesting details mixed with an intriguing storyline.

I love writing; you probably got that by now.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello,

It’s a busy Friday as usual but I wanted to get my blog out; it’s important to me to be as consistent as possible on getting it out each week. Consistency is important to me and especially in my writing life. Now, that the book is out I have been told “you published a book, that’s great” or “you should be so proud to have a book out”. I’m thankful for all my well wishes but I think every time, “…a book or the book”, one book, my goal is five, ten or fifteen books though it has to start at one but oh, I can’t wait to get past “the one” and have two, three, etc out in the world; this I have to consistently work on day-by-day, it’s the only way and it will accept no less from myself. I’m working on the second novel and getting it done--I have to--prolific I don’t believe I’ll be, yet steady, CONSISTENT, and putting out my best work in the world yearly, I’ll do it because it makes me happy and it’s a blessing to do it and I’m glad to be so blessed.

Write always.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and I hope you have a fun weekend,

For a number of people—me included—this will be a holiday with time off, but for me it doesn’t mean I will not write, I hope to write more because I’ll have a little extra time to do so though it's so easy to procrastinate at writing isn't it? I know you understand; sometimes it’s as easy as breathing. I can come up with a thousand chores, excuses and reasons not to write even when the time is there, yet it’s takes a huge effort on my part to sit down in front of the blank page--even a half-filled page—and do it.

Fear, is the reason I mostly procrastinate and why fear? Of not getting my ideas across, of writing too slowly, of not knowing what I’m writing about and other issues that are not true issues just my imagination coming up with any kind of reason not to write. Though in the end, none of it matters because I do manage to overcome procrastination; move my mountain of excuses aside and write, its not easy and sometimes I have to grit my teeth to do it but I do it for a number of reasons: I can’t help myself, I love to write; the story has to be told and I need to tell it and my writing is one of the ways I define myself and to not do it is not an option. I’ll be writing during my holiday and deep, deep down, enjoying it immensely; you do the same.

Keep writing and see you next week.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

***************************************************************************************************

Excerpt from
Begin at the End
The Second in the Owen Story Trilogy


Chapter 1

It was a beautiful New York City day for the Eighty-First Annual Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade, an event that had become a tradition for people around the world. The temperature was a balmy thirty-five degrees, the sky a clear winter wash blue with a touch of sun. All along the route from Seventy-Seventh Street to Seventh Avenue people dressed in their winter warms laughed and shouted as they enjoyed the sheer camaraderie of watching a parade.
The crowd hadn’t really come to see the B list celebrity entertainers, the spunky dance numbers, the high school marching bands or even the spectacular floats that sailed overhead, they’d come as strangers to stand together in the cold early morning light to catch a glimpse of the true star of the show; the man who’s recognized as the ultimate ubiquitous symbol of commercial getting and giving, the one and only Santa Claus who’s arrival would not only signify the end of this year’s parade but the official beginning of the race to the finish line of the holiday shopping season.
Thousands watched the show on the street while millions watched it from their homes in front of their television sets or on their computer screens while they listened to the mildly interesting commentary tossed off by the NBC hosts Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer who, in their warm enclosed booth at Herald Square were trying valiantly to ratchet up the excitement for the arrival of the main attraction.
“We’ve been so lucky the promised rain has held off,” said Ms. Vieira who smiled with perfect teeth at the viewers. “An icy cold shower would’ve just ruined the parade.”
“Yes, we’ve been lucky so far and luckier still because this is the largest crowd since ninety-seventy-five so there’s hundreds of officers out there to keep everyone safe; a phenomenal effort,” said Mr. Lauer who flashed his own set of capped pearly whites to the world. “But I predict no matter what happens no one would miss the arrival of the man himself.”
“Folks, here he comes approaching Herald Square. Oh, my goodness doesn’t he look wonderful,” Ms. Vieira bounced in her seat. “He looks exactly like the jolly happy Santa I remember from my childhood.”
“He’s just stopped in front of the decorated windows of Macy’s department store officially ending the parade folks,” added Mr. Lauer. “The red nose, the red plush coat fronted by white fur—”
“I hope that’s not real fur?” Ms. Vieira cut in her smile losing a couple of wattages as her eyes narrowed on Father Christmas.
“If it is, he’s not going to be sliding down any PETA chimneys this year,” answered her co-host with a plastic chuckle.
Television screens all over the world were presented with the real time image of a huge red Christmas sleigh filled with wrapped presents and seated among the bounty children of all ages waving at the crowd. High above them on a throne sat Santa Claus, with one hand he held on to white reigns attached to imaginary flying reindeer while he waved with the other. The crowd shouted and waved back as if he were the Second Coming.
He was dressed in the traditional Santa suit complete with jaunty red hat, wide black belt with large gold buckle and black knee-high boots but what hit home to all the viewers in television land as well as those gazing at him from the streets was that he did look like everyone’s ideal fairy-tale image of Father Christmas, a white man with a long white beard, rosy cheeks, a round fleshiness to his stout body and wearing a smile of what looked like innocent joy.
He stood atop the magnificent sleigh handing down packages to eager hands. As he picked up a gold wrapped present and straightened, his grin suddenly broke and disappeared. The package dropped from his fingers as the fur lining the front of his coat went from cloud white to crimson red to match the rest of his suit. He fell back onto the throne, shocked surprise on his face as the huge shouting laughing crowd around him went silent.
“What was that?” Mr. Lauer’s alarmed voice came over as the image of the slumped Santa was frozen to screens. “What happened? Anyone see what happened?”
“You see that?” Ms. Vieira’s voice was heard loud and afraid.
Before the stunned world-wide audience Santa lay slumped until the top of the throne and his head disintegrated in blood and wood that sent him over the side of the sleigh.
“Gun,” someone yelled.
Pandemonium in the streets.

Hello and early post,

I had my first book signing last Saturday at my local Barnes and Noble and though I worked myself up to a fit of nervousness, I have to tell you it was all for nothing, it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life, I had Fun with a capital: F-U-N.

Why was it fun and not as traumatic as I knew it would be? It wasn’t because of me, I was still nervous, a few minutes late and forgot my cards and handouts, what made all this not important, was the folks who showed up to support me and the novel; friends I hadn’t seen in years, new friends, folks who had heard about the novel or seen me on the television interview, folks I work with—it was wonderful to see everyone and to have their good wishes. I sold books in between —always a plus right—but having such fun and enjoying my first book signing with good vibes all around was a revelation and I hope it’s the template for my future book signings. I have to make sure of it; that they are a great experience not just for me but for those who make the time to come and buy my novel, it’s the least I can do and it would be a thank you to them for their faith in my work which I hope they read and enjoy.

Talk to you soon and keep on writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday,

I told you at our last visit I was reading the novel No Country for Old Men by Cormac Mccarthy http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/s, it’s a terrific tale and I mean tale in the sense of the spell binding, long lost lore telling fashion that has kept generations of writers w—I believe Mr. Cormac is a master of story telling because he is only spare on the not-necessaries: over punctuation, he doesn’t use quotations around characters words, he just lets them speak; character description, Mr. Cormac lets the characters paint the pictures of themselves in your mind by what they say and how they say it, so each one stands out and you know which one you’re reading about immediately. And his description of the world, the land, these folks are from and live in, you not only read about it but its as if you feel it, smell it; the cold river Llewelyn jumps into to save his life, the water stinging his bullet wounds or feel yourself reaching for the mountains the sheriff looks toward that seem a million miles away as they stand in silent judgment of you and all before—finding us wanting in every way--as he ponders what kind of human monsters he’s up against.

Mr. Cormac takes liberty with structure, he has earned the right to do so, he’s brave to do and it works beautifully and he does it for story alone which is a gift. He is a storyteller in its most meaningful term and its few like him still around to our detriment. There is such much to think about, love and rejoice in when reading a novel like No Country for Old Men and it helps me with my writing in the sense, I want to reach my special place in writing where story is king, a handsome, kind, sad and riveting king, but king nevertheless; Mr. Cormac has reached his special place.

Talk to you soon.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello,

Remember when I told you I was reading non-fiction as well as fiction? I'm still doing so but I've halted my non-fiction reading for a day or two because I've been overtaken by a fiction work I just cannot put down, it's No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mccarthy. I know the movie has been out for a long while, but I just happened to pick up the book and fell right into it. In this novel do I find no truer term than "the book is always better than the movie". The novel is outstanding and I'll tell you why next week.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and Happy Friday--again,

I’m writing—I have to—but I’m also doing a lot of reading and not just fiction, non-fiction as well, and it’s wonderful. I usually don’t read much non-fiction because I believed (or once believed) most especially the scientific works would be above my head—too intellectual—or worst; boring. But I’ve found it not to be true by seeking out books I find deeply interesting and are written on a level that’s down to earth and understandable and if a good story is throw in them I’m sold.

For example, I read this great book titled: Superthief: A Master Burglar, the Mafia and the Biggest Bank Heist in US History. Now, with a title like that I couldn’t keep away from it and I found to my delight it was a terrific narrative for a number of reasons, one; it was written with Phil Christopher, the main character of the story telling about his life in his own words, the author of the novel, Rick Porello, jumped in now and again but he let Mr. Christopher tell his own tale and it made for easy and enticing reading learning about Mr. Christopher and his criminal adventures. Two, Mr. Christopher was from my hometown and named many places I knew which kept me turning the pages because of the familiarity as if he were a neighbor--a crooked neighbor--but a neighbor just telling me his story, an absolute great read.

Another title: Satan’s Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption and New York’s Trial of the Century, it sounds so great I hope it lives up to my expectations. Bottom line, it’s all non-fiction and what it has in common that makes me so eager to read them is that the topic of each novel is intriguing, they are written in a concise and not overwhelming manner and are about topics I find interesting,this combination makes me look forward to devouring the next and the next knowing I’ll learn in the bargain as well as be delighted by the larger than life stories.

Talk to you soon and keep on writing.


If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Hello and Happy Friday,

I promised two posts today because I forgot to publish last weeks, I created it but forgot to click publish the post; sometimes my mind just gets away from me. Well anyway, here's the first of today's posts and I promise to make them brief since you get double the post and double the fun.

I of course know very little about the things I love to write about so need help on many occasions. A few weeks ago I found D.P. Lyle, a physician, who's also an award winning writer, a consultant to crime and medical shows and who hosts a site called The Writers Forensic Community -- D.P. Lyle, MD The Writers Medical and Forensic Lab http://www.dplylemd.com , you have to review his site because the assistance he provides is outstanding. I sent a question to him about Owen who lands in a terrible situation in the second novel and if he could die in this situation and Dr. Lyle not only answered my question in the same day, what really put the icing on the cake was that he thinks both as a doctor and as a writer; he was able to give me a few points on why this or that couldn't work in the story plus answer my medical questions.

Having someone willing to help and is as informative as Dr. Lyle is invaluable to us writers; especially writers who want to make sure what we put out there to our readers-- though fiction is close to fact making the experience of our stories as real to the readers as we can get.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello happy Monday instead of Friday,

I had written a blog for Friday and did not save it, so I wil be sending two this week. I hope you look for them.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and Happy Friday,

I just sent an e-mail to Ms. Karen Long; he book editor for my city’s main newspaper, The Plain Dealer. Ms. Long and I have written a few e-mails back and forth because I’m asking if she'd consider reviewing, You Don’t Know Me. I sent the book to her (along with my press kit) a few months ago but didn’t hear a thing. A couple of weeks ago I got up the nerve to send her an e-mail and she responded. Ms. Long let me know she receives three to four hundred books—published by traditional press mostly—weekly, can you believe it? So, if any self-published show up in the count they are out of luck for that reason and for another, she does not normally review self-published novels. Yet, Ms. Long let me know if I sent her the book again she would give it a second look; I wonder if she’d given it a first and didn't like what she saw?

Anyway, I sent the book last week and of course haven’t heard a word. I let Ms. Long know I would accept a good or bad review; the bad, because I believe Stephen King (I could be wrong) said, " A review is a review—someone’s paying attention--and you can learn from them all." Between you and me, I’m on the glass-is-half-empty side when it comes to the review; I don’t expect a good one for a number of reasons, some not based on fact, most on feelings. On the fact side, a number of people go to self-published work with the already established belief it will not be good, though I don’t know if Ms. Long falls into this category as a well-renowned book editor, I can’t imagine she does, though you never know. I don’t want to expect a good review because the chances I will get a good one are not very good—too many goods; but its how I’m feeling. And oh my God, if I get a bad review and every one sees it, terrible. Oh well, it’s what I asked for and I’ll have to get over it. Lastly, Ms. Long may not want to review it at all, making all my angst for not.

I did a cable tv interview for the book on Wednesday and wasn’t frozen nervous while doing it, I was able to talk about the book so folks could understand what I was saying and surprisingly for my first television interview, it was fun. I will be hosting a book signing next month at my local Barnes and Nobles and I’m looking forward to it and not trying to worry too much that only my family and friends will show, I’m going to try to make it the best signing I’ll ever have (I mentioned this last week) I mean it. About the review, if it’s done (a possible big if) I know for sure it’ll be good or bad so it's best I concentrate on what I can control, that those readers who see the interview or come to the book signing; know I’ve written the best book I could and that they should take a chance on it because it will be worth their time.

Keep at the writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello,
I’m apprehensive today because of something I have to do next month, my first book signing. I’m nervous which is understandable; it’ll be my first but what makes me wring my hands is that I’m not going to be doing the signing alone, but with another writer named Kimberly Mckenzie (http://www.booksbykim.com). I checked out her site which is pretty nice and read about her first novel and the announcement that she has four more ready for future publication. She appears to be a very smart person, a seasoned and ambitious writer; so, I’ve been picturing the session and the picture has not been perfect.

I see Ms. McKenzie having people lined up at the door to sign her novel and she's so poised and confident as she works her crowd while I’m the opposite, near paralyzed with out a reader in sight. Okay, my imagination is working over time as usual; the only things that quell my nervousness-turning-to-sick-nervousness are a couple of points: she and I write different types of novels; I write crime/mystery/thriller fiction and she appears to write more African-American romance novels; I may pull in the mystery readers and she the romance; the day of the signing will be a day before Mother’s Day and people might take a chance on picking up something new and fresh to read to give as presents to their moms and give my novel go and lastly, I will be getting the word out as much as I can about my book before the session to bring in people (I hope) who are eager to read about Owen and his trials and tribulations.

So should I still feel nervous about my first signing? Of course; I can’t help it; I’ll feel this way until its over, but what I must do is make this the first of the best book signings I'll ever have, push the nervousness out, smile, and act as if I hadn’t a worry in the world all in the name of selling novels and more importantly, finding readers who will love the novel and the future ones.

Talk to you soon and keep on writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday,

I’m working on publicity for You Don’t Know Me and I've committed to a book signing at my local Barnes and Noble in July or August, I have to secure the date because it’ll be along with another local writer. This will be my first signing at a book store and I of course don’t have much experience on what is needed to make a book signing a great one, though I’m sure the book store will advise me and I will “research” it of course.

As a matter of fact, I was going through some back issues of Writer’s Digest Magazine and found exactly what I needed, an article on how to work a book signing; it was right on time with some great pointers; but what really surprised me, was reading an article I really could use. It’s not that I haven’t gotten some wonderful and useful information from articles and stories I’ve read over the years in Writer’s Digest and The Writer Magazine: pieces on grammar, structure and plotting; advice from famous writers or lists of places to send my writing, its just this was the first time I needed advice on what to do when you've got an actual novel out in the world. Usually I’m devouring the stories on how to write, not those on what to do after you’ve written and published; I’m moving forward and I’m thrilled by it.

One book down. Now for the second one and the rest!

Write, write, write.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello,

I don’t talk very much about research though it’s important and it’s been on my mind because I’ve been asked, “How did you know about this or that? Or, “Where did you come by that information?” I always give the same answer, “Reading” meaning; research and though I don’t love it, I just realized I don’t mine it either because it’s a total necessity for me. I am not a rocket scientist and the subjects I love writing about I know almost nothing about, actually less than nothing so I have no choice but to learn all I can about my topic, yet the great thing about this is that what I need to know about I am one-hundred percent interested in which makes the learning, the research not a problem.

For the second novel in the Owen Story trilogy I had to learn about Gulag and found this was the name of the state system that developed the harsh prison system, not the name of the prison camps, it just eventually came to be that the camps themselves became known as the Gulag or Gulags, and reading about the history of the system kept me glued to the pages until I read numerous articles on the subject, it was riveting—at least to me. I’m blessed to write stories with very surprising plot points, twists and turns and steady prose I find interesting, wonderful and feel the reader will find just as terrific.

The research, the reading, the learning is just part of the deal and it makes my stories all the more real, believable and true which is exactly what I look for in the stories I choose to take my time—which is so precious to us all—to experience and hopefully, love.

Write.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and happy Friday!!!

Happy to make it to this day to write to you; I just love writing in mostly all its forms. I have signed up to take editing and grammar classes in July at Cleveland State University; both are one day classes and I’m looking forward to them. I can always use a brush up. While writing I sometimes come across a piece in my work whose idea I need to get across perfectly but can’t find the words to convey what I mean because my vocabulary isn’t that large or my understanding of certain words and how to use them isn’t that great, so taking a grammar class at anytime is a plus for me.

And editing, it’s extremely hard for me to self-edit which is the case for most writers I believe. I am so bad at self-editing my work, I take it to the extreme by getting rid of things that are useful and possible crucial to the story because I’m afraid of being too wordy or using three words when one could do or paragraphs that have more than eight sentences, I cut most everything which is not the way to edit. So by taking a course on editing (and grammar) every chance I get, I can brush up on what I know and learn what I don’t so that when I approach the editing process it will be with less trepidation.

And its never too late to learn something new, a better way to do something especially when it comes to writing because for me; I always want to improve so that my writing is so seamless to the reader he is joyfully amazed at the story as a whole and only by knowing what I’m doing grammatically or learn what to keep in or take out can I leave my readers with that great experience.

Write well.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello, how are you this Friday?

I listened to an interview yesterday with Dennis Lehane, the writer of Mystic River, http://www.dennislehanebooks.com. It was a good one, informative for two reasons: first, Mr. Lehane had a hard time talking about his work, his writing process and at first you would’ve thought it was because he was nervous—he was and it came through (most writers have trouble talking about themselves)—but I believe it was more, its hard to talk about writing, your writing and how you do it because most times writers don’t have a clue how its done. The mechanics, yes; you sit down in front of the blank page and get on with it; the getting on with it is the mystery.

I have been asked the questions: “How did you know what would happen next? How did you come up with that character and what he should be doing?” The true answers to those questions are involved, my fist answer is: “I haven’t a clue” the next “it’s complicated, so complicated I can’t define it.” The closes I can get to my writing is that it’s a process of layers; ups and downs, starts and restarts, mistakes and upsets, breakthroughs and drawbacks that go on for a very long time until I “think” I’m finished with it, have tied up all loose ends and filled in all the holes to something I want to believe is very readable and enjoyable.

As writers we all have our individual “process” but to put words to how it works is hard to do, so I suggest if you don’t have to—don’t, it’s not as important as making it work for you whatever it is, to get the work done, creating the story no matter how you have to do it; this is what its all about: writing.

Keep at it, its absolutely worth it.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello,
Yesterday, I received one of the best compliments I could’ve received for my book. A reader first told me reading You Don’t Know Me made her anxious, she couldn’t put it down because she had to know what was going to happen and had no idea what would happen next so was surprised; a good compliment but better was that she said and I quote “I didn’t find you anywhere in the story”. That was a wonderful compliment, exactly what I was looking for. A reader finding any part of me in the story would have been tragic, and I know you as a writer, understands this.

“If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.”; this is one of Elmore Leonard’s rules and it means: get (the me) out the way of the writing, the story, or you’ll have a bad novel and I of course can’t have that. Having the reader fall into the hole of the story is the ultimate, enjoying the novel so much she wants to get it read in one sitting, is the goal, the pleasure for me as a writer and I can’t ask for anything less.

Write.

If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know, my e-mail address is: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday,
I know I’m blogging today instead of Friday but something was on my mind: I’ve decided to enter You Don’t Know Me in a writing contest. Boo—right? I dislike entering contests, well book contest for one-- I don’t like short story contest either-- I never win and for another I hate paying to enter the contest and never win. I have won a few screenplay contests though with a prize or two along with it but it’s different from winning a contest for a novel. I’m entering the Writer’s Digest Self-Publishing Contest ( http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/self_published) that’s calling for entries through the end of April. The contest is open to all kinds of self-published novels including genre fiction. Do I think it’s worth it? The prizes for the grand prize winner will be three thousand dollars, promotion in Writers Digest and Publisher’s Weekly, your novel to major newspapers, distribution to Baker and Taylor, a guaranteed review in Midwest Book Review, a workshop and one or two other things. There will also be 9 first place winners who will get one thousand dollars and a few other prizes—sounds great.
Do I think I’ll win at the one-hundred dollar entry fee? Well, possibly not the grand prize because my novel is genre, its crime and mystery, not pretty and my kind of novels don’t win grand prizes; at least I don’t believe they do. Do I have a chance at being one of the nine first place winners? Maybe, again the people who read the novels probably go by a formula that would not fit my novel so my hopes aren’t high. Honorable mention possibly? Yes, I think I could fit here. So if I’m going for Honorable Mention possibly, why even send the novel and the money; don’t forget the money, at all? Well, it’s kind of like the lottery I’ll say. Though I don’t play the actual lottery I can pick up at the gas station, everybody plays some kind of lottery don’t they? Even if our chances are nine million to one and we’re the one. So entering this book contest is my lottery. And let me say like that one—heck like everyone of the nine-million--I always have hope it’ll be me this time and because I believe in my novel, I believe it’s a terrific story and has a chance like all the other novels submitted so its up to me to give it that one chance and all the other chances that comes its way.
So I’m saying good-bye to my book and the hundred books. We’ll see in October 2008 how it did though no matter what, prize or no prize, it’s a terrific story and novel that makes me proud, very, very proud.
Keep writing too.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday to you,

I am in the mist of writing, running with it right now, a good thing; its adrenaline isn’t it? I am determined to try and remain on schedule with the newest Owen Story novel and get it done by Christmas though it’s not easy. I’ve never put myself on a deadline with my writing but had to this time for reasons I listed in my last blog; so there is a lot of writing to do, a lot, but I’m determined until the book is done--and good; great. I’m going back to it now to get it done for the day, I love it as you know--bottom line--so I’m going to get back to it. Talk to you.

You keep writing too.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Hello and Happy Friday,

I was sick this week but I feel much better now, so that I'm revved to write. I've finished most of my research and will get to what I call serious writing which will mean trying to get a chapter in--that much. I'm eager now to see where the story takes me. I'm still working the first Owen Story novel, getting people to read it, its a very slow process and I have no problem with it. I believe its going to take a very long time for people--readers--to become aware of You Don't Know Me but I'm going to do all I can to make it happen.

So writing the next Owen Story Novel and getting the word out on the first Owen Story novel are this years projects so that makes for me--at least so far--a very good year.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at: mathewsla@hotmail.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I’ve finished most of the research on my next book (at least until I need to do more on some area in the story I know very little about) it’s a good thing because I’ve set a target date to have the book ready. Was this a smart thing to do? Probably not, but it was necessary. First, because people have asked when the next book in the trilogy would be ready so I have to give a date. I don’t want to keep telling folks: “I don’t know”; “I have no idea” or “I’m not sure”, they all sound lame and—to me—unprofessional; not to let those who have read the first story know when to expect the next when they know a second novel has to come in a trilogy. Secondly, I like having an idea when to have the book ready because it’ll make me do the thing.

Though I am so into writing the new book, can’t wait to write everyday, it still can be hard getting to it for a thousand reasons—we writers have a thousand reasons—to keep pen from paper so by having this date its easier to get around those reasons and just do it. Lastly, I can’t wait to get the entire story told as fast as I can because it’s a wonderful story, fast, rich, surprising, exciting and I can’t wait to get all those pieces together to solidify the novel. I can’t really hurry my writing—its not in me—but by having the date I have a path, even a beacon I’m heading toward which makes it a little easier—even exciting--to write knowing where I’m headed: toward that date.

So, I’m writing, enjoying it and keeping at it headed for that special time, not day because that’s impossible, a specific month in a specific year that’s all and for me its more than enough.

Please, keep writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello and Happy Monday!!!

I know I usually blog each Friday but didn't get the chance to, so I wanted to get a note in today.

I have been feeling under the weather for the last few days, cold and cough, flu like symptoms but I've been self-medicating and feel tolerable today. Though I haven't felt one-hundred percent it of course hasn't stopped me from doing the things I have to and need to do: taking care of my sons, working (I'm swamped at work) and of course writing. Someone could say 'You don't need to write, put it off until you feel yourself again.' That's a thought, but a passing one for me, whether or not I feel like writing doesn't enter into the occasion, I write anyway, its what I do.

Yesterday, I'm lying on the couch, my fever is blooming, I'm watching I Love Lucy on DVD and hear a name that fills my brain (Yes, it could have just been the fever making talking). I think about the name, change it a little--fine tune it--and reach for my notebook. I write a page filling out this character whom I have pages on but no name; the name adds that something and truly gives this character his flesh and blood.

I write no matter how I'm feeling or what I'm doing because all it all, it makes me feel good. And though I was feverish, I was smiling too as the- character-with-the- new-name filled in my blank page.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello and happy Friday,

Are you writing? I am; here and there and it’s coming out like puzzle pieces, a small section here, a longer section there, sometimes one line. This works best for me, every writer has their way of doing things, of writing,I’m no different though probably slower. I need to write lines, then gather them together in front of me and make something out of it and the good thing about this for me is that I do have a good idea of what that something should be. I guess it’s my writing process. What’s your process?

Not to change the subject but I have to say this, today I listened to two books on tape: one was “When the Women Come Out to Dance by Elmore Leonard; the other “A Killing Night by Jonathon King, man what a difference. I know it’s the author’s unique style that makes the difference so obvious. Listening to Mr. Leonard is like listening to Pavarotti at his prime, on the most beautiful summer night of your life, with the person you love the most in the world sitting beside you holding your hand. Listening to Mr. King is like reading a three hundred page book on tax law, at three in the morning, alone, in an office cubicle with terrible lighting while scratching the bad case of poison ivy crawling all over your body; yes, that bad.

I have a number of goals I want to reach when writing—so do you--and at the top of my list is to someday settle into my own natural style, rhythm and flow that is so easy for readers to recognize, feel comfortable with and most importantly, enjoy, so that when they hear or are reading one of my novels it will always be like listening to Pavarotti on a summer day with the one you love. Getting to this place in my writing takes practice, time and could possibly never happen, yet it’s a goal I’m striving to reach; that sense of professional uniqueness that is on the money every time and stands my writing out from the rest. I want readers to get that same wonderful feeling about by novels I get when I pick up an Elmore Leonard, knowing without a bit of doubt I’m getting something special, funny, surprising, riveting and worthy of my time every time. Who doesn’t want their writing to be in Elmore Leonard’s league? In his league, you are there and it’s not an impossible dream; work at it; I do everyday.

You do it everyday too.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello good morning and good Friday,

Okay, I’ve mentioned this what probably seems like a thousand times and now I’m doing it again, my novel You Don’t Know Me is out in the world, great and so…? So I have to get more folks to realize it and to buy the book; a traumatically hard thing to do—at least for me. I’m following the general guidelines for promotion of the book or self-promotion depending on the way you want to look at it, so I have press kits I’m sending out, encouraging people who have read the book to write a review—good or bad, sending out copies of the book to people with influence in the media to get the word out and still there is more to do and one of those “mores” ( because it smells of self-promotion) I am leery of doing.

Well, my kid’s school is having a PTA sponsored cabaret with a raffle and some of the ways you can help make it successful is to work the cabaret, provide food or even donate an item to the raffle. My first thought was donate a copy of my book; my second thought---that’s self-promotion---but now as I write this, is it self-promotion or selling books? Okay, I’m donating something—they asked for donations—it just happens to be my novel. I would of course let the PTA representative know it’s an adult mystery crime thriller and it’s so entertaining and fast paced the reader won’t be able to put it down and if they can, I’ll give them a sweet treat of their choice. Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad, as a matter of fact its great promotion for the book so I'm doing it.

I've made the call to the PTA rep and offered my book as a raffle prize along with a sweet treat and I feel great about it for a few good reasons: I think I built the novel up pretty well, it’s a way to promote the book to garner more interest in it and I may get more sells a.ka. readers out of it; alright all the way around, yeah.

In the books I’ve read on promoting your book, you’re told to try any means at hand, to be innovative when coming up with ideas, to take chances, don’t let any opportunity to promote your novel pass you by and to keep at it; I figure I’m doing better than I thought or at least I’m keeping at it. I don’t expect my book to catch on overnight, it takes time even years plus other novels following for that to happen ( if it happens at all) but I’m patient and won't worry about it because its something beyond my control, all I can do is take every opportunity to promote my novels, to keep at it, not give up, do the best I can and most important than any of it: keep writing the books I love. You do the same.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello and how are you this Friday?

You Don’t Know Me is out in the world (please go get it at Lulu.com) and now is the challenge. You would think the writing is the largest challenge, it is; but I place getting the word out about the novel and getting people to read it runs neck-and-neck with the writing and often times surpasses it. I recently realized how much brainstorming and research must be done to try and figure out how to get the word out about the book; it’s a job in itself and with no guarantee of success.

Despite going in knowing your efforts to get people to buy your book may be a losing battle before you start, it’s not all bad. How can I say this when I lay it on so thick how hard selling your book can be? I say it for three reasons: one, the book's as done as its going to get so that worry is over and you can feel good about it. Two, I’m writing the next book in the trilogy and it feels great to dig into the characters and the new story taking my mind off for a while the business side of writing.

And third, there seems to be a template on how to try and sell your book; it doesn’t guarantee sells of course, but there are certain routes you can follow—most all writers follow I think—that can capture sells, for example: creating press kits introducing your book and yourself that may garner an interview about the book in print media, radio or television and can interest bookstores and libraries. You can do signings or have your novel read by a local book club where you can make an appearance to discuss it if they like. You can give talks about the writing process where your book can be featured; there is an endless number of resources that can help you create the best plan to get your book out to the public. Though I've said there is no guarantee you’ll sell one book (maybe to your mother if she likes you) I believe you can count on your novel selling if it has the right stuff: seamless writing, a great story readers feel they have not come across before and characters that stay with them long after the book is done and who they want to meet again.

Does my novel have this? I think so, but only the readers—I hope millions of readers—can tell me so.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello,

I hope you had a great holiday and will have a wonderful New Year to come. If you get a chance read this blog: http://www.gspitsit.blogspot.com/ its wonderful. Its written beautifully and has a great message regarding priorities, making yourself a priority and not being someone else's
option, its a terrific post and really hits home about the human condition and its failings that usually end up hurting others. The premise of the post is priorities and how our priorities differ from one another and what you may think should be a priority, someone else might not. There are people out in the world who don't think writing is a priority--or should be--for most writers, but is more like a self-indulgence that can be done or not and it's definitely not something should be at the top of anyone's priority list. I of course believe it's wrong, I do list my writing at the top and although it doesn't come near where my children and family stand; its still up there and I pay attention to it, to its details, baby it, agonize over it, rejoice in it and make it work for me when I can by putting in the time and effort just like you would do for anything or anyone you truly love.

So, we all choose our top priorities and writing is one of mine and one of yours too I know, and its a great thing especially when love of it--of doing it--is one of the reasons why and that's a blessing.

Write, keep at it no matter what, keep it at the top.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

Lori

Hello and Happy Christmas,

The holidays are upon us—sometimes literally--they can be a heavy burden incorporating trying to make sure everyone gets what they've asked for, fighting traffic and pushing through crowds to get to that crowded shopping mall, concerned about overspending or under spending on those you love and worrying if you’d get everything done before the day arrives; it can be way too much.

As a writer, my saving grace is to write through all this and I hope it’s yours too. It may not be true for all writers, but when I can catch a break from all the hoopla and pressure to focus my mind, concentrate on any aspect of my writing; fleshing out a character or a situation the character’s in, doing research to move the story along, working on the story itself and getting a page done or even half a page written, its like taking a mini-vacation in the midst of a storm. I feel good then, as if I’m actually doing something instead of running and getting nowhere like everyone else during this time of year.

So, I’m writing when I can and fortunately it’s pretty often and I feel very blessed this year to be able to do so. I feel blessed for a number of reasons this year ( not just for the writing) the list seems endless and it’s a good one: my sons, my family, my friends, my health, a job I like, publishing my first book, a number of things and I’m going to keep at all of them to make sure next year is not just as good, but great.

Write all you can, it’ll make the season merrier.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello and Happy Friday,

You get anything written today? I hope so because every word helps doesn't it? At least I think so, because sometimes it can be hard to get a few sentences out let alone a page, so the few words you produce that eventually become a sentence, then a paragraph until an entire book is created, its wonderful.

I had my first interview today about the book. The interview was for the Sun Press News Paper and was conducted by this beautiful young woman named Holly and to my surprise I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be, part of it was because the interviewer was easy going, she asked thoughful questions and the interview didn't take to long though the main reason I didn't faint from nerves at the prospect, let alone doing the interview, was because I told myself 'don't you flub up your first (it could be your last) interview so get over the nervousness.' And I got over it because I know, the only way to get my book out there is to promote it as gracefully, as positively, as succintly and as professionally as I could and babbling nervously, not being able to tell the readers about my book and encourage them to go out and read it emphasizing it would be more than worth their while, is not my objective, getting readers for You Don't Know me, is.

I know I'm not the most out going, vivacious person out there; able to sell igloos to eskimos, but one thing I do know, my novel deserves a champion to rally for it positively every chance I get, to be its number one cheerleader, so if I get a chance at another interview I'm going to work hard and put out my best effort so that my novel can have the chance to be found by great readers.

Keeping writing; there are really no excuses not to is it.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

************************************************************************************************************

Hello and very Happy Friday to you,

I’m very happy this Friday because finally, finally, my novel You Don’t Know Me has faced the challenges of being self-published and won; its out there now, available on Lulu.com and also on Amazon and soon other places.

I urge you (you knew I would) to get the book, as a paperback copy or download it and let me know what you think. I’m asking for your review, your suggestions, your critique, your comments, whatever you want to give me because I would love to know how readers feel about the characters, the story line and what improvements I can consider for the second book in the Owen Story trilogy.

So, give it a look and let me know by e-mail or with a comment. I would greatly appreciate your feedback and above all else I hope it's a story you'll enjoy.

Keeping writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing.

************************************************************************************************************

Hello,

Are you writing today? I am a few lines here and there that are coming together into a great novel though slowly and surely which is the best way for me. Like you I’m sure; I do a lot of research because I’m not terribly smart( though you probably are) and I need to get what I’m writing, right: I research hard, it’s the blood flowing through my body of work. I was going to write more on this topic; then I read an article about the book and movie, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby.

I realized how being able to write is such a gift, no matter how you do it and that there are no obstacles to the determination to write as beautifully exampled by Mr. Bauby who suffered a stroke that left him with a condition called “locked in syndrome”. He was paralyzed except for one eye motion and a few other minor movements. Mr. Bauby’s mind was untouched and was filled with so many things to say, to write, that he; dictating by blinking his left-eye lid, created in fourteen months his novel. What is there to say about the awe-inspiring determination to be heard, to write? We’ll find a way to do it no matter how we are physically or mentally.

I’m proud to be—at least in my mind—a writer like Mr. Bauby who will try and write despite any obstacles though I can’t (wouldn’t want to) come even close to the challenges he had to overcome. I’m just as proud to be a member of the club of writers who had a member like Mr. Bauby who died seventeen months after his new writing life began.

Keeping writing; there are really no excuses not to is it.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving,

I just wanted to wish you a happy turkey day for those who celebrate and just a happy day for those who don't.

I will have four days away from my day job, so I'm going to get in as much research for the second Owen Story as I can with some added writing which would be great because I feel I'm getting into the heart of the new novel so I want to keep the momentum going.

I hope first you get a break from your working life and next that you can spend most of it with the people you love as I will, and of course the rest of the time, writing. Talk to you next Friday.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello, how are you this Monday morning?

I'm posting today instead of this past Friday because I had a problem logging on.

I’m reading a book called Fangland and I won’t give you the author’s name because to me the book is not good, not good at all and I was surprised by this though you may wonder why. There are supposedly more bad books out there than good ones and every one knows this, but when you run across a bad book you are nevertheless surprised and I think that’s our fault. You pick up a book, read the storyline, think its going to be really special, you have high hopes for it so you buy it, start reading and is utterly disappointed it turns out not to be anywhere near as great as you wanted it to be. But the question is: why not? Why wasn’t Fangland better?

First, the main characters were not people you cared about, there didn’t seem to be any attribute that adhered me to the characters or their situations, they were not so much plastic but were boring and almost unbelievable. Second, though the story line sounded interesting the crafting of the story was terrible, it jumped so jarringly from one character to another and their thoughts, you could literally hear the transition and that made it worst because I didn't like any of the characters in the first place. And third, the writing got in the way, wordy speed bumps all the way through with some of the descriptions so out of place and strangely florid or ridiculous it made me roll my eyes—I clearly read the trying too hard.

So I didn’t finish the book—couldn’t—it took to much out of me and it made me wonder, could my book be the same? Then I thought, no way, I couldn’t do such a disservice to he folks I want to read my novel. First, I worked to make it readable from page one, no jarring lines that the reader tripped over, using only the words necessary to move the story fast forward, to keep the reader turning the pages. Second, I tried to make each character original and outstanding but human with all the foibles, failings and freshness of anyone. And lastly, storyline, it had to be great with every twist and turn able to catch the reader with glee making them unable to put it down until the story was told.

I had wanted to enjoy Fangland, the name itself led me to believe it would be great, but no such luck, but it did do one thing for me, make me aware of how I don’t want to write, of characters I wouldn’t want to create, of what not to do. I believe those who chose to read any of my work deserve to read something great for taking their chances with me. Keep writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello,

If you check out my blog today I have changed its color, added a note or two and brightened it up a bit with new color, it’s the least I can do and I literally mean it, it’s the least amount of computer work I can do, I have no outstanding computer skills or talents. I look at my friend GiGi’s blog with its pictures and links and know it would take me forever to figure out how to add those touches to my own blog and these aren’t big additions. Those are small examples of my lack of skill, a larger one--that has caused me restless nights of late--was trying to format You Don’t Know Me to submit to Lulu for publishing. Though I read the instructions carefully regarding what I needed to do, I could not manage to format my novel in the exact way needed for it to be uploaded to Lulu; I had to contract the formatting out and at a pretty penny, thinking all along, if I had better skills I could have done it myself. I also wasn’t sure about my ability to successfully complete the uploading of the book to Lulu and not wanting to make a mistake that would set the novel’s debut back further, I contracted this out too.

It’s funny how, as writers, we want to control every aspect of the writing experience and most writers might, I just can’t, specifically regarding the self-publishing route where all the best companies are of course technologically based where the process has been streamlined to hitting a few computer keys though the key is knowing which are the right keys, I just don’t know it and have to seek help.

To be honest, the process is not all that cut and dried like I thought it would be, there are a number of elements that must be in place, must be just right if you want to be successful at submitting a novel to the best self-publishing companies and the least of it is if you have a good story. You want your book cover to be great to capture attention but it has to be formatted correctly (again) or you’ll have trouble submitting it, you need to make sure the novel has the right elements and not story elements but to be written in an acceptable font, some of the pages have to be in a certain order and those pages have requirements such as making sure you have proper gutters—it took me a minute with this one.

It was a lot to take in for me, again maybe not for most writers who are better at computer tasks than I am, for me though I tried, but was not successful at the tasks. I felt badly for about a minute at not being more computer gifted until I realized it didn’t matter because I’ll have the same thing a writer with more computer skills will have: a complete, touchable novel anyone can read and enjoy; this can’t be beat.


Keep writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello, how are you?

My truly good friend, Gigi has started her blog it’s: http://gspitsit.blogspot.com/ and its great and I’m not saying this because she’s a great friend but because it’s a terrific blog for the same reasons a really good book or story is good, because it gives you everything you’re looking for and more and gives it to you in a clean, down to earth form and rhythm that glues your attention. I compare the way she writes her blog to the way one of my favorite writers, John Sandford writes his novels, specifically the Prey series. I recently finished Mr. Sandford’s latest, Dark of the Moon, it was wonderful for a number of reasons, most important, the novel’s voice—as I call it-- was original, realistic, compelling and funny, so easy to follow and be drawn into you feel you understand the world these characters live in whether you like it or not.

Gigi’s blog is the same, easy to get into, you understand exactly where she is coming from with the issues she presents—one of the blogs is on Breast Cancer--because she presents them in a non-flowery, no-nonsense real way so the truth of them can’t be ignored. Mr. Sandford’s novels and Gigi’s blog also have in common an ease in which they seem to be able to write words of substance –I envy this—and to be able to get to the point of their story in a minimalist fashion by choosing only the best words, the ones that count and putting them in the perfect order to get their idea across, the story across, it makes what they do seem so easy and like magic when it's not.

Both the blog and the novels are informative too, one of the things I love about reading good work. I always get helpful pieces of information when I read a Sandford novel, in the last one I learned that DEA agents whom don't get much press, do a tough job and are not to be underestimated. From Gigi’s blog I realized how hard hitting breast cancer is to women of color though the face of breast cancer seems to belong to others.

Like I said, both writing forms give me everything a great read should and it’s how I want my writing to affect readers. I know it takes talent, learned or natural, to reach this level but I have faith in myself that if I keep working on it, keep trying, never giving up, I’ll get there and I hope you’ll enjoy my writing enough to come along for the ride. .

Keep writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Hello,

You Don’t Know Me, is still in process of getting out there. I wanted it ready for it’s debut on October 19, 2007 but it wasn’t to be and for those looking for it, it will be out soon but the problem was with me, I didn’t format the novel correctly for the upload to Lulu so I have to have their specialist prepare the manuscript to be converted into the pdf then to be uploaded to Lulu and it will take them a few days to get to it. I was disappointed it wasn’t easier for me to follow Lulu’s instructions in formatting the novel, then creating the pdf and finally uploading it; it just wasn’t easy for me, I needed outside expertise, I found it but it still takes time.

I’m shooting for the end of next week to have the novel uploaded to Lulu but it’s really up to the company preparing the manuscript—Integrative Ink--when they’ll have it ready for me. I’m working on patience as I patiently wait and what’s helping is that I’m concentrating on writing the second novel in the Owen Story trilogy and working on ways to get the word out about the first novel, You Don’t Know Me: creating press kits, placing postcards I had made up and researching other avenues of promotion.

Since this is the first time I’m publishing my novel with all its ins and outs I’m putting the experience down to one of learning, a good thing, so that I’ll be more prepared for publishing the next one and will know exactly what to do and can look forward to smoother run when I publish the next novel. Another good thing about this experience: my novel is completed, its done and all is left is to get it out for those to read; that’s more than good, it’s great.

Keep writing, let me know if you have any books out to read and enjoy.

Write well.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and Happy Friday,

Today was suppose to be the day of the launch of You Don't Know Me and I'm ready for it, eager and I hope you were too but unfortunately there is a delay. The writing is complete but my book cover hasn't arrived yet; one of the most important pieces of the novel. I had to have the cover made up as you know by someone else and there was a delay. I will have it in my hand by the end of business today and get the book out for its presentation on Monday. I can't wait until its complete and you're able to order it from Lulu.com and I tell you it'll be worth it, you'll love the story, if you don't (though I can't imagaine why not--it has everything) let me know, if you do love it still let me know.

Keep writing, I will, the next in the Owen Story trilogy. Go get the book on Monday.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I received a very nice e-mail this morning from the Public Relations officer Ms. Soppel at my local library. I wanted to put some of my postcards at the library announcing, You Don’t Know Me but because the library has limited space it has room for mostly educational and non-profit information, good to know, yet she did extend the invitation that as things progress and I move to doing public book talks to contact her because it might fit under educational opportunities. It was nice of her wasn’t it?

I know I’ll get to the point where I must speak in a public forum—to sell books you have to be seen whether you want to or not---its just one of the scariest aspects of getting my book out there. Public speaking is a hard one for a lot of people and especially writers as you know, we like to write the books and not necessarily talk about them in public; think J.K. Rowling, one of the most popular writers ever but is uncomfortable reading and speaking in public.

It’s funny, on the one hand if anyone asks me to come speak about my book I will jump at the opportunity while on the other hand, I will be terrified to do so (I read recently that most people would rather die than speak in public) nevertheless I’ll do it because it’ll mean more people will learn about my novel. So, I’m going to get some books on public speaking that may give me some techniques I can use to tamp down my fear a little or I may even take a public speaking class, I’ll do whatever I need to do to get out there an promote my book because I feel it’s a great story and it'll take me to get out there and let people know it.

Write well.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I hope you’re doing well this Friday,

I’ve been listening to a number of books on tape lately some good, some not so good and I was thinking how I would love to have my book done in audio form. My friend Gigi said it’s not hugely expensive and I could probably find someone with a great voice at a good price; I'd love to do so I'm working on it; as a matter of fact, to hear or see my book anywhere is something I'm always working on.

I believe—and I know you do to—getting your book out in as many good or positive forms as you can is a win: books—on—tape, excerpts in magazines and news papers, excerpts on line in websites and blogs, video excerpts, short readings at libraries, readings at book clubs, e-books; any and all the great venues you can come up with to get your work known and loved is the key to success even if only five people become enamored with your work.

I dream about having a book signing at one of the major book stores and only the five show, they’re five strangers of course—not my mother or best friends—who love my novel, love Owen, who have a thousand questions about him and his story lines, who just can’t wait for the next Owen Story novel to become available. We sit around at a table and chat about the book and writing. Would my dream be better if hundreds showed up wanting the latest Owen Story novel? Maybe, but the thought of having five enthusiastic readers—even one--who can’t get enough of Owen Story --to me--that’s what its all about.

Write well.

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and Happy Monday,

I know I usually blog on Friday but didn't get the chance to so I wanted to make sure I at least dropped a note to you today.

I hope you've been writing, I have but not as much as I would like to so I'm going to treat myself to a writing day. I'm on the right track with my second Owen Story novel and to keep that momentum going I want to take a day off--far to little time really--to get into the nitty gritty of the story and get all the storylines down on paper as my blue print. I want to put more speed behind the writing of the next book for a number of reasons: one, I believe I have a better handle on how the scenes in this novel will play out so that I can write it faster; two, I have learned to write better--Yeah!!!--which gives me more confidence as I write so that I don't agonize over every line, every word which has made me a hesitant writer meaning it takes me twice as long to get my book done; third, the first Owen Story novel will be available in approximately two weeks and because I believe in it, believe readers will enjoy it I know they'll be looking for the second in the trilogy and I want to be able to give it to them sooner rather than later.

In light of all this I will soon be taking my writing day to get fully into the second Owen Story novel and I'm looking forward to it because those kinds of days make me feel such a writer and its the day I can concentrate on making my story the best it can be, where I can read passages over again to delight in them, where I get rid of the bad writing, find the holes in my story, flesh out the characters and move the novel to the next level; so many wonderful things to do that my writing day can't come soon enough and I wish it could be days instead of only one. I hope you get a chance to find a writing day, two, three or more if you're lucky.

Until next time God willing,

If you have any comments or suggestions I have a new e-mail address at: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Lori