The Divide Extra Material

   In every book there are unused things. I wanted to share one passage with you guys today. I couldn’t find a place to fit this in, but it gives you a different perspective on Sarah’s uncle. This backstory will help you understand why he is the man he is. I don’t normally let people see lost chapters or cut material because most of it is crap, but I really loved this. I thought it would enhance the book. I just couldn’t find a place for it. Anyway, it goes without saying that if you haven’t read The Divide you shouldn’t read this. It will be kind of spoilerish.

   On that same night, Jim Leland was sitting in his office and thinking about a memory that had shaped him into the man he was today. He hadn’t always been so heartless toward the outsiders. Sure, some people needed to live outside of the city. There simply wasn’t a way to keep everyone inside, but his motivation grew much more devious thanks to one action.

   It happened roughly four years ago. He and his wife, Judy, were going through their everyday routine. He would take care of everything at the palace. A lot of things required his attention, so he couldn’t be bothered to leave the palace. Judy, on the other hand, made it a point to leave the walls every day to mingle among the people. She had made it her mission in life to get to know the people they were ruling, and more than that, help them in any way she could. She was the head of several organizations to help make life easier for everyone, whether they were on the inside or outside. Sure, she couldn’t do much on the outside, considering that her husband didn’t want her to leave the city walls, but she pleaded with the rich of their city to give credits for relief for the outsiders. Most of her pleas fell on deaf ears, but she had at least done some good. On this particular day, everything would change, however. As she left the palace and made her way onto the street, a man was watching her. This particular person didn’t have good intentions either.

   When Judy stepped into a local restaurant to get some breakfast, the man followed her. At this point in his life, he didn’t feel like he had anything to lose, and this would make a statement like no other. He walked into the restaurant and grabbed a knife off of a vacant table. Then he walked straight up to his target.

   “Can I help you?" Judy asked as she stared at the man in front of her.

   “Can you help me? Are you crazy? Do you know what you and your husband have done to an entire people?”

   “I don’t know who you are, but I assure you that I haven’t done anything to anyone. I . . .” she managed to say before the man lunged at her.

   At that point, the two of them fell to the floor, and the man began to stab her over and over again. It didn’t take long for some of the staff there to pull him off of her, but the damage had been done. Judy Leland was dying. The police imprisoned the man, and Judy was taken to the hospital, but before Jim could even get there, she was gone. Jim was in complete disbelief. His wife was dead, and for what? What could have possibly made someone want to take her life? She had never done anything but help people. Jim needed answers, and he didn’t care about justice. He wanted pure revenge. He grabbed his phone and called the police department.

   “This is Jim Leland, and I need to speak with Josh Golac.”

   “Please hold for one second, sir.”

   After a second, the chief of police came on the line.

   “What can I help you with, Mr. Leland?”

   “I need to talk to the man who killed my wife. You will deliver him to me at the palace gates in fifteen minutes.”

   “Sir, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. This man just took the most important person to you. I don’t think you need to see him right now.”

   “I don’t care what you think. Get him here, or I’ll tear your entire department apart,” Jim said and hung the phone up. Then he started rushing back home.

   After gathering some guards together and walking down to the gate, Jim saw just the person he was looking for. Josh was escorting his wife’s murderer up to the gate. The guards took him off of Josh’s hands, and then Jim had them take him to a room upstairs and tie him up. At that point, he made the guards leave the room.

   “Jim Leland, murderer in chief. I knew I would get your attention this way. How does it feel when the shoe’s on the other foot and you have to see your loved ones suffer or die?” The man asked.

   “First of all, you will tell me exactly what I want to hear, or you’ll suffer in ways that you can’t even imagine. I promise you that. Also, don’t pretend like I don’t know what hardship is,” Jim said as he pulled a knife out of his pocket.

   “What do you want to know?”

   “Who are you, and why did you do this?”

   “My name is Charlie Allen, and I managed to lift a city ID off of some idiot who went slumming. From there, I altered a few things and walked right inside. I had one mission when I came here. That was to kill you. Eventually, I learned something, however. You never leave your palace. I heard that your wife did, though. She was the next best target. Now you know what loss is. You know what we’ve been going through on the outside. I had to bury my son last month. Do you know what he died of? A simple infection that you people could have easily cured. How do you live with yourselves in this paradise when we’re all suffering? You know the pain of loss now. Does it not change something in you? Won’t you hear what the people on the outside are pleading for?”

   “I’ve heard enough from your kind. Now, I’m going to let you experience something that you’ve never known.”

   “What’s that?”

   “Pain.”

   “Oh, I know what pain is. I’ve had plenty of it over my lifetime.”

   “No, you only think you know what pain is,” Jim said and banged on the door.

   Two guards came into the room and started walking toward Charlie. All that could be heard from outside of the room was screams as they tortured him. Before the day was over, Jim would take out all the pent up rage in him on this man. Unfortunately, nothing he did brought his wife back, and by the end of the night, Jim walked into his room and collapsed down to the bed. He needed to shower and wash the blood off of his hands, but in that moment, he couldn’t move. His mind was consumed with grief. Somehow, he thought that he would feel better if he killed that man, but he actually felt worse. As tears started to collect in the corners of his eyes, he heard a knock at the door.

   “I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but there’s trouble at the city gates. A mob of outsiders have started rioting, and they’ve grown violent. These things normally take care of themselves, but we wanted to check with you to see how we should deal with things,” the guard said.

   “Kill every person at that gate. I rule this place alone, and if these people have forgotten that, then we need to remind them.”

   “Sir, are you sure?”

   “I’m positive. From this day forward those savages will get no mercy. My wife tried to show them kindness, and look where that landed us. Kill every person who would dare stand against me.”

   “Yes, sir,” the guard said and walked out. 

   From that day forward, Jim was never the same man. He had never been called kind, but after that, he was never anything more than ruthless.

           

   I hope you enjoyed my extra content. I might share more for my faithful readers in the future. Thanks to everyone who bought The Divide, and to everyone else, what are you waiting on? This is a great book! 

The Divide Is Live

   I’m very proud to announce that The Divide is LIVE. It was a long journey writing this book. I’ve been thinking about what this book might be like since August of last year. I wanted to write a book that was different from other things I’ve done but that still concentrated on characters above all else. I think I’ve succeeded in that. This is a very character driven story that sucks you into a world that’s far different than the one we live in today, and I’m proud to say that it can now be added to the list of things I’ve done. Here’s the link to The Divide. I hope you’ll all pick it up. I think you’ll enjoy it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KKVC8VI

   Now, there are a few more things I want to talk to everyone about. At 5 tomorrow evening, we’re going to be doing a special event for the book on Facebook. I hope you can all join us. There will be prizes and teasers. Also, if you want to ask me any questions about the book, it would be the perfect time to do it. (Not that you can’t ask anytime.) Anyway, here’s the link to the event. I hope to see you there.

https://www.facebook.com/events/296952560470567/?fref=ts

   Finally, the focus of today is going to be on The Divide, but this isn’t the end of the line for me just yet. I’m working on another project that’s going to be a three book series. I’ve already written two of them, and I’m currently trying to edit both of them. I’m looking forward to sharing them with you and writing the final one over the next few months. There’s one more major announcement coming up, too. The anniversary of the Wrong series is coming up on June 14^th. I’ll be giving away some prizes that day and announcing one major thing about the future. I hope you’ll all check out The Divide and my release party today. Look forward to a lot of announcements in the future. I still have a few more traditional things to announce and at least one big surprise up my sleeve. I can’t wait to see how everyone likes The Divide and let all of you in on the future direction of my books and life.

Perseverance

   This probably won’t be the happiest blog. We all have things we have to go through to get to the good stuff, and this is what’s happening in my life. These are the things that are making it hard for me to see the rainbow at the end of it all.

   Let’s start with a few days ago. I found a house I really liked. Things didn’t work out, though. The people who owned it wouldn’t work with me on the price very much. When I looked at comparable houses in the area, I found out that it wasn’t worth what they were asking either, so there was no way I could pay them what they wanted, even if I did like it. That was disappointing, but I got over it. I found a new house to look at. I’ll be checking it out this weekend, and I’m really hopeful.

   Here’s another thing. I’m sick. I wanted to enjoy the week leading up to the release of The Divide. I can barely sleep at night now, though. I can’t breathe, I can’t sleep, and maybe worst of all, I have this dull pain in my ears at all times. I rolled with the punches, though. After all, everyone gets sick. Sure, I had a good two year run where I didn’t get sick at all. Since then, I’ve been sick twice in a few months, but I was due, right? I had all but decided to approach life with a good attitude over the next week when I woke up today. Then I discovered something else.

   Apparently, one of my books has been pirated. I didn’t freak out at first. We’re in the electronic age now. These things are normal. Here’s the thing, though. This book’s sales have nearly ceased. I thought maybe this could explain it, and boy did it! In the past 12 days, over 1,500 people have downloaded my book. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot to some people, but I make over 2 dollars off of every book I sell. That’s 3,000 + dollars worth of MY work that has been pirated, and that’s just what I know about. To say the least, I’m mad. I don’t see how people can be so evil. Here’s the thing, authors spend hours writing, editing, and then reediting. I’ve spent at least 400 hours of my life working on this book. That’s a conservative figure, too. When I finished with it, I thought, this book should be affordable to people. I put a 3.99 price tag on it, and later I decided that was too much. I priced it at 2.99. Who doesn’t have 2.99? We do all of this work, and all we want is 2.99! You can’t even buy a meal for that. I’m giving you hours of entertainment, and you’re getting it for the price of a sausage and biscuit. I don’t get it. I’ve always paid my way. If I wanted entertainment, I bought it, and if I needed necessities, I got them. I never expected a hand out or stole from someone. That’s what this is. I don’t make a ton of money. As a matter of fact, I probably don’t make as much as most of the people reading this blog. 3,000 dollars would go a long way for someone like me. I think we can all agree that it would go a long way for most of us. After all, who wants 3 grand taken out of their salary? You know what? I’m not going to let this destroy me, though. I don’t hate the people who have stolen my work. Truthfully, the only people I blame are the ones who put it up. Pirating sites are destroying our music, movie, and book industries. Personally, I think it’s time that some people started getting put in jail for taking money out of artist’s hands. That’s neither here nor there, though. What I really want to say on here is this. I’m hurting, and truthfully, I’m doing a lot more than hurting right now. I’m down and depressed. I’m not out, though. I’m going to keep looking for my house, write until I die, and maybe most importantly, I’ll find a way not to hate the people who have wronged me. After all, a lot of people I know are going through far worse than I am. I hope we all find forgiveness and peace with the people who have betrayed us. That doesn’t mean we should trust them again, but at some point you have to realize something. When the universe and a lot of people in it seem to be against you, say GAME ON. I don’t know about you, but if anyone thinks that sickness, betrayal, thievery, or disappointment can stop me from reaching my destination, then they’re crazy. I’m going to reach my rainbow. Don’t give up on yours. We can find the perfect job or house only to find that others stomp on our situation. We can even find what we think is the perfect person, only to find that we never really knew them. Don’t give up on your idea of perfection, though. Those people, things, and passions are still waiting on you. Sometimes it just takes half a lifetime to find the people and things that lift you up above everything the universe throws at you. It will happen. It just takes time and effort. Today is terrible, but tomorrow is still a question mark, and I’m optimistic. I hope you are, too.

Offer

   If you’ve been following me over the last few months, you know that I’ve been house hunting and thinking about building a home. I have an update on that front. I found a house I liked yesterday. It’s not perfect, but it has everything I want in it. I can see myself living there for a long time, if not my whole life. It’s the type of house that if I have a family in the future, there will be plenty of room for everyone. It’s a three bedroom, and there is some unfinished space upstairs that I would immediately start on.

   Here’s the real news. I didn’t just see a house. I put an offer in. Now, an offer doesn’t mean anything. They might not accept, or they might counter offer with something I simply can’t do, but I’m hopeful that this is all going to end up good. I don’t know if anyone else can relate to this, but it’s my whole reason for buying this house. Most men in their mid-twenties who are single would live in an apartment or have a small place, but I’m ready for the life that most people have. I want a house, a wife, and kids. I want it all soon, too. Life doesn’t always give us what we want, though, so I started thinking - what can I do to get myself one step closer to the life I want? I came up with a house. Most people find the girl, get a starter home, have a baby, realize that they need a bigger home, and then live in their family sized home. I’ve always done everything backward. I write differently and learn different. That hasn’t worked out too bad for me either. I guess I just thought that it might be a good idea to do this in the reverse order, too. I mean, wouldn’t it be great to have that family ready home in the beginning? I think it might make the future easier. I know what I’m doing with my life - no matter how things turn out with this house. I’m going to have a great home eventually, and I’m determined to find someone who wants to share a really amazing life with me. That’s what I feel like I’m building, and no, a house doesn’t give you that. Doing what you love and only surrounding yourself with people who lift you up gives you that peace. That’s what I’m doing now, and pretty soon I’m going to have a place for myself that anyone should be proud of. That feels good, but more than that, it makes me know I can achieve my goals. I made a new year’s resolution to write a book in 2013. I’ve written thirteen so far. At the beginning of 2014 I made a promise that I would have a house of my own by the end of the year. I will, too. After that, there’s only one more thing I want, and it’s simple. I want to share a life with someone who is still as passionate about life as I am. So here’s to 2016. If 2013 was the year of books for me, and 2014 is all about houses, then it stands to reason that I’m going to be finding someone to share my life with in 2015. I think we’ll know each other by 2016. I don’t know why I think that, but sometimes you just know things. Books were a way to let emotions out of me. A quiet man who never shared anything with the world had to let everything out, and the Wrong and Strange Visions series allowed me to share so many things with people from all over the world. I still share with people as often as I can. This house is about investing in my future and the idea of a future family. It just seems to me that if I can write thirteen books and find the home I want to be in for the rest of my life in such a short amount of time that finding someone shouldn’t be any harder.

   Anyway, I didn’t mean to get too long-winded there, but here’s what you need to know. My dreams are slowly coming together. Once I stopped dreaming about millions of dollars or the perfect person, I was able to concentrate on what was really important to me. I want three things in my life. They’re expression, security, and most importantly, love. After that, everything else is icing on the cake. I would advise everyone who’s struggling like I was back in 2012 to take a step back. Examine what you really want out of life, and then pick the easiest one to do. Slowly check each goal off as you go. By the end of it, you might just find that life is a lot more bearable than it used to be. I’m about half way to the end of my goals. I know I’ll set many more in the future, but I think I’ll always look back at these years as the ones that defined me. A purpose, a place, and a great love. That’s all I want out of life. I’ve found one, I’m closing in on the second, and after that, someone is going to be very lucky to be with a person who will love every part of them. So here’s me saying it. I like 2014 Mitch. No version of me has ever been able to say that, but I like who I am today. I think I’m going to like 2016 Mitch that much more, though. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. When I started this blog, I named it Finding My Niche. I’m still finding it. I’ve found where I belong in some areas, and I can’t wait to see what I’ve been able to blog about books, houses, and the love of my life. Every day can be better than the last, if you just take a peek at what could be just around the corner.

Mothers

   Mother’s Day is tomorrow, so naturally I’ve been thinking about my own mother and all of the women who have made me who I am today. I wanted to express some thoughts about Mother’s Day and hopefully leave everyone with a new perspective.

   What makes a mother? Is it as simple as giving birth? Well, technically yes, but do we refer to the most special people in our lives by the name mother? No, they’re mom or mommy. You see, I think people have Mother’s Day all wrong. Anyone can be a mother. All it takes is sex and nine months to do that, but we all have a mom, even if we don’t call her that. We all have that woman or women in our lives who taught us right from wrong, guided us in the hard times, kept us humble in the good ones, and became our best friends. Maybe that’s your mother, or maybe it’s your grandmother, but whoever it is, that’s the most special woman in your life, and that’s the woman you should be thanking on a day like Mother’s Day.

   Now, what is Mother’s Day? Well, the answer to that is complicated. It has become a day where we are required to go out and buy some gift, as if that actually shows our appreciation to the women who have mentored us. Sure, giving gifts is nice, and I’m certainly not condemning it, but this year, tell her what a card can’t. Tell the woman who made you exactly what she did for you. Let her know that you might not be the person you are today without her. Then thank her for all of it. That’s the part we always forget. We hand someone a gift and say thanks without ever realizing what this person has truly done for us. For many people, they don’t have a special relationship with their mother, so they feel they have nothing to be thankful for. If your mother wasn’t around when you were a kid or something like that, then I certainly understand why you wouldn’t be thankful, but almost all of us have a Mom, even if she’s not our mother. What I’m trying to say is this. Sunday afternoon, take some time to find the special person in your life who made you the person you are, and tell her how much you owe her. She won’t expect anything in return, but she might not realize how much her sacrifice and love has meant to your well-being. Everyone deserves credit where it’s due. Don’t short the most important woman in your life. If your mom made you who you are, let her know, or if your grandmother filled that role, tell her that she’s as much of a mom as you ever needed. Maybe most importantly, never forget the mother of your children because she gives love and guidance to the people in this world who should be most important to you.

   I want to personally say thank you to Kelly Grace for giving me a desire to create. She taught me to use my imagination, get lost in stories, and maybe most of all, to never doubt where something as simple as an idea could take me. My mother is truly a mom, friend, and the perfect person to look up to. Thank you for giving me life, but more than that, thank you for showing me the right way to live life through your shining example. Happy Mother’s Day, and remember that you don’t just have my appreciation for one day a year. I’m thankful on all of them.