The Author Guy Blog

  26th January 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. When I first began writing fiction ten years ago, a dream deferred for almost fifty years, I intended to follow in the footsteps of Eric Segal and Robert James Waller, authors of “Love Story ” and “Bridges of Madison County ” respectively.  As measured against the traditional model for a novel in terms of word count, these were remarkably sparse. But so are these books I highly recommend that can easily be read in one sitting: John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men ;” Hemingway’s “ The Old Man and the Sea;” “The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann; “ Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer” by Fredrik Backman; “The Prophet ” by Kahil Gibran; “Star Bright ” by Andrew Greeley. It might take two sittings, but these four are remarkable: ” Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom and “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch, and from my childhood, “Where the Red Fern Grows ” by Wilson Rawls and “Old Yeller” by Fred Gipson. Th...

19th January 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. One of my resolutions for the new year was to read even more than I’ve endeavored in the past. Since I write fiction, I read novels almost exclusively – for two reasons. The obvious one is the pleasure that comes from escaping into the imaginary world created by another author. A perhaps less obvious reason to those who are not writers or authors (and there is a difference) is to learn from those more skilled than I am. I look forward to each new offering from John Grisham, though I confess disappointment in his latest “The Exchange. ” The amount of his descriptive violence was a new experience for me, and the prose didn’t seem as robust and flowing as I remember. But that might just be me. I highly recommend these three books that received awards and/or stunning reviews in 2023 – “Resurrection Walk” the much-anticipated sequel to his bestseller “ Lincoln Lawyer” by Michael Connelly; “Tom Lake ” by one of my absolute favorite authors A...

  12th January 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. Last week, I spoke of my 10-year journey from the world of self-published “indie” authors to being accepted for distribution by one of the Big Five largest and most prestigious publishing houses. But that timeframe pales in comparison to others about whom I’ve read. In the Forward to Terry Whalin’s “10 Publishing Myths, ” author Jerry Jenkins wrote that he published 124 books before his Left Behind novel series took hold, selling 60 million copies. James Patterson, the world’s most successful author as measured by book sales, experienced his first book being turned down by 31 publishers.  James Lee Burke’s book “The Lost Get-Back Boogie” was rejected 111 times over nine years before LSU Press published it – and it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Publishing industry phenomenon “Chicken Soup ” was rejected 144 times before it was finally published, and has now sold over 500 million copies in over 20 variations. Author Rod M...

  5th January 2024 Hello out there, and Happy New Year Welcome back. I hope you and your family enjoyed a wonderful holiday season, and that the new year dawns brightly for you as one filled with health, happiness and prosperity – however those three words are defined in your life and in the lives of your loved ones. Well, things have changed remarkably for me regarding my author journey. I just signed a two-book deal with an affiliate imprint of one of the world’s five largest and most respected publishing houses. The agreement also gives them the right-of-first-refusal on all my future books. One of the two books will be from the just-completed manuscript of my fifth novel entitled For the Love of Charley Chaplain . But the greatest joy for me in this new relationship comes from the fact that my award-winning fourth novel, Blue by You , will be republished and re-released as my first book with my new publisher. Both manuscripts will undergo intense review and analysis by worldcla...