Apple Blossoms in Spring

Yes, the Apple Blossom book is live at Amazon.  I'll eventually get around to putting it in Select and then having a free weekend.  12 images of apple blossoms.

Wouldn't this be a good gift book for someone's birthday?  It costs less than a greeting card and there's more to it.

I know it had to be someone who comes here--I even think I know her name--bought a copy of Unheard.  You have no idea how touched I am by your enthusiasm and support.   Thank you.

I'm a little bit stalled in my planning for Parked.  I know you want bulletins--maybe I should be tweeting but I don't have a twitter account.  I'm trying to think how to compress what was supposed to be 3 books into 1.  It's a question of their timeline.  

Yes, I uploaded Unheard to Amazon this morning so with luck it'll be available tomorrow sometime.

Unheard

Yes, it's done.  As done as it's going to be for a while.  I expect there is a space missing somewhere even though I instituted a thorough search for it!

I didn't upload it to Amazon yet, but will do that tomorrow.  It should be live at BN tomorrow as they're pretty quick about it.

Here's the blurb

Renie Lake is the product of a broken home and of the streets.  She learned to be tough.  After a drug bust, Renie’s taken from her mother and goes to live with her father.  Life is just as dangerous but in unexpected ways.  Then she meets Jan who is deaf.  He communicates easily even though he can't hear.  Renie can't communicate at all even though she can. 

Victor Vasnetsov

left to right--Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich

Very famous Russian painting.  Why would I show it to you? 

(I feel a little like Gilderoy Lockhart but it's not about launching my own hair care products and my favorite color is not lavender.)

Correct answer in comments wins...a copy of Unheard.

Apple Blossoms

Last month the apple blossoms were in bloom so I was out there taking photos of them.  When open they're quite white but when in bud, they're quite pink, so that was eye-catching.

I decided to gather 12 of those together and do another essay.

Photography is a lot like writing for me.  It's about what seems right to me rather than what's correct.  As with writing, I like to have a focal point.  What is the importance of what's in front of you?  What should you be paying attention to?

It's a little like reverse stage magic where the intention is to distract you, to pull you away from what you should be looking at---the magic at work.  I want to push the viewer/audience/reader to what I want them to see.

Whether they see it or not, I'll probably never know.  And the great part is they may see something I don't.

So next month I'll put that up for a freebie weekend and you can enjoy photos of the apple blossoms if you're interested.

The Buttercup Book

There are so many lovely buttercups in the area now, I couldn't resist taking portraits of them.  There are 12 and no text, not a even a poem.  It will be free this weekend and I encourage everyone who wants to look at some flowers to download it.

I made the images as large as possible, still it's a confining size. 

I call this one the Buttercup Overlord but it's not in the book.

It would be nice to have photographic essays available as ebooks.  There's a guy whose work I've seen on Flickr and he's terrific.  I'd pay (a little) to have 12 of his photos on my reader.  Maybe I'll start a trend!

Yes, Unheard is almost done.  Yes I'm thinking about Parked.  Yes, I read the new reviews for BA and they were lovely, I was very touched,  so thank you.

Unbelievable Offer

The first person to leave me a comment can have the villain in Unheard named after them.

Limited time offer since the book is almost done.

Bad Apple #4--Parked

No, I did not start the writing but I have been thinking.  And I know some of you are really sticking with me and believe that I will do this.  Hang with me so I can satisfy us all  with the final installment and that will take time.

Just remember--if you can--that only a few short years ago readers had to wait for years for a series to be completed.  Hey, I'm still waiting for Book #2 in the I Am Number Four series.  And that doesn't come out until Aug.  We waited more than a decade for Harry Potter.  Digital gives you the illusion that good writing can happen fast.  It can't.  Good storytelling takes time.  I apologize for the wait, but I can't do this unless I'm going to do the best job I can for both of us.

Patience is a virtue so please be virtuous. ;-)

I can give you some hints.  Truly and Neal will make an album.  It will be called Parked By The Side Of The Road and that's for a reason.  Tru will feel he has competition for Neal while he's working in LA.  Tru will make a stunning announcement.  And Joe will continue to be a very loose and dangerous cannon.

That's it.  Now you really have to wait.  This is not the cover but a test. 

By Force of Will

I'm sorry I haven't be around much in the last month, I've been working on the chain gang!
I finished a short project that I didn't mention here for a couple reasons.  I'm working on a new series but I went back to an old book thinking I could just reformat it and I'd be good to go.  I suppose that marks me as a real optimist.  That's good to know about me!

Here's the hot off the computer book du jour.  By Force of Will.

Blurb:

She was given drugs before she was born.  So was her brother.  It killed him.  Delaney Fairchild wishes it had killed her when she arrives in her real now, 30 years in the future.  She’s supposed to become a hyperop because everything is all about the long war, a thousand years long with no damn end in sight.

Delaney doesn’t know what the freak hyperop is except she feels like a freak in a freakish, backward world.

This is the story of the resistance.  Some people still believe life has value and freedom is worth fighting for.  And some people believe those people should be dead.

Yes, that is in fact Blue Raja.  I loved that title but someone said to me something like "I didn't have any interest in reading that because there's some comic book that mentions those two words together..."  I'm not sure, still, what that's all about.  But okay.  Rename it, give it a new cover that hopefully has nothing to do with another comic book that I've never heard of.  I just know Batman, Superman, Archie.  I haven't read comic books since I was about 9.  I understand they're popular but they're not written for me, I'm pretty sure about that.

Maybe this will interest some readers who weren't interested before.