FREE BOOK

   I just wanted to post something real quick to tell everyone that Wrong Place is going to be free for the next couple of days. Everyone please spread the word, and if you haven't checked it out, I hope you will while it's free!

   www.amazon.com/dp/B00DE6GP24  

Trailer

    I just wanted to update everyone on a few things that I’m doing today. I have made a video promoting The Wrong Series, and I’m going to post a link to it for all of you to see. It was the first video I’ve ever made for anything, so it’s probably not perfect, but I spent a considerable amount of time on it, and I really like the way it came out. Hopefully, you guys will, too. I’m also going to be making a video for the Strange Visions Series very soon.

   Outside of making videos, I’ve been doing a lot of writing and editing. I’ve finished with an edit of two brand new books. One of them is dystopian, and the other is a spy novel. The dystopian book is a stand alone novel, but the spy book will be a series. (probably 3 to 4 books) I’ve been writing some different things, too. Sometimes it’s nice to just write for your own enjoyment, and I’ve been writing some short stories like I used to when I was fourteen. Some of them actually feature the Wrong and Strange Visions characters. (No, they will not continue the series. They truly are just so I can keep connecting with Nathan, Sam, Trent, and Ally. J) That’s the thing that I’m discovering more about myself. I don’t know if I can ever quit being a writer. Sure, one day I could get sick of writing books for money, but I know I would still write. It’s become an addiction to me, and I find myself writing new chapters, stories, and thoughts daily. In some ways, I’ve probably been able to be more creative than ever now that I’m through with the Wrong and Strange Visions series because I can write about anything. 

   Anyway, I hope you all love what I do in the future, and I hope you’ll check out my new trailer for the Wrong Series. Thanks to everyone who has already checked out my work, and to everyone who hasn’t, maybe my trailer will persuade you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JQr-HbCbdg  

Wrong End Release Day

   It’s finally that day. Wrong End was released today, and this marks the end of a project that started back in January of 2013. It’s odd to say it, but the Wrong series is finished. It has been my greatest joy to write in this series and tell these characters’ stories. Truthfully, I don’t really know how I feel today. It’s a happy day because a lot of hard work is finally over, and I get to rest for a while. At the same time, it’s kind of sad. I had grown so attached to the Wrong series that it was probably a little unhealthy, but no more. Nathan and Sam’s story has a definite ending in this final installment. I don’t know what everyone will think of the ending, but I can say with confidence that the series ended exactly how it should have. This was my favorite installment, and it was easily the one I was most invested in. In fact, I left a lot of pieces of myself in this final book. Let’s talk about happier things now, though.

    I have some more books I’m working on. I don’t exactly think either of them will be coming out anytime soon, and when I have one of them perfect, I’m going to submit it to a publisher. The other one will serve as something for all the people who support me. It can take months to even hear back from publishers, and sometimes you have to approach dozens of them to find the right fit, so I’m going to put one foot in the door in the publishing world and keep one out. You see, I kind of like publishing things on my own. In that situation, I get to be the boss. What I think should stay in the books, stays in, and what I want to cut, gets cut. It won’t be able to be that way with a publisher, so I’m keeping at least one more project for myself and all of the people out there who enjoy eBooks. Still, even if I love the freedom of self-publishing, I want to take a shot on trying to get at least one out there to a bigger market.

   All right, now that I’ve let you guys know what’s going on, I want to say something else. Wrong Place is the first book in the series. If you haven’t checked the series out, you should start now. There are seven wonderful books out there for you to enjoy back to back. I’m so proud of this series for exactly what it is. It isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t follow any certain style. It’s simply an original idea that if given the chance can make you connect with characters unlike any that you’ve ever seen in a book, or at least that’s what they did for me. I hope you all like Wrong End.

Wrong End http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JAU57WC

Wrong Place http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DE6GP24

True Greatness

   I’ve been thinking about something lately. People judge greatness in a lot of different ways, but in today’s times, it’s getting increasingly more common to call someone great or even the greatest at their craft. We see it all the time. Young college athletes are hailed as the next Michael Jordan or Joe Montana before they’ve actually accomplished anything. Then there are current athletes who have accomplished a lot but aren’t even close to the end of their journey. We already try to make comparisons. LeBron James is always compared to Jordan, and a constant debate of who is the better player will probably rage on for years to come. In the writing world, it’s not all that different. We’re always saying who the next big thing is. Relationships are the same. We can have one amazing night with someone, and we dare to call it great and pretend that it can always stay that way. Sure, it was perfect for a moment, but is that what true greatness is about? Is it just a moment in time that fades away to nothingness? I don’t think so, and I want to tell everyone how I define greatness and even the people who are the greatest at their crafts and relationships.

   First of all, I have to say this. I don’t think we can truly judge how great someone or a situation is until everything is done. Otherwise, it’s like looking at an unfinished picture. We always like to look at the best part of a picture or situation and remember how great it is, but that’s not what makes our journeys special. Imagine that your career or love life are the same as a gigantic painting that you’re going to need to continually paint on every day of your life to finish. Now, realize one thing. When you first start painting, you’re not going to have any idea what you’re doing. Sooner or later, you’ll learn, though, and before it’s over, you might even be one of the best at it. Who knows? You might be the very best at what you do, but in time, our skills will decline. It’ll be harder to stay sitting in one place to paint all day. Your mind will also lose the edge that it had when you were younger. You’ll have the experience that you’ve gained from years of painting this picture, but somehow, you won’t be who you used to be. You’re probably wondering why I’m using this example, and it’s because it’s a good one. Compare it to a sports star. They start out having to learn, and then they prime. A few years after that, they begin to decline until it becomes painfully obvious that they aren’t the player they used to be. Writers aren’t so different. After so long, we start to run out of original ideas, and then all of our books start to look the same unless something sparks a change in that area. When the sports star declines, many analysts will say that they need to retire. In most people’s opinions, anything they do once they’re no longer the player they used to be is only going to damage whatever legacy they could leave. People seem to take the same approach when it comes to relationships, too. We spend a great night with someone, but then things get complicated, and most of the time, we end up going our separate ways. It’s for the best, or so they say. After all, we can always remember that one great night. If we had stuck things out in a relationship that was a shell of what we expected it to be, then we wouldn’t even have that. The man or woman that we remember in our memories would be replaced by a totally different person. We think that we need those memories, and we look up to people who leave their profession on top. It’s more respectable for them to leave in top form, and it’s good that our last memories of them playing or writing are fond ones. It makes us think they were great. I’m here to tell you that sportscasters and most people are completely wrong about what makes a great person or situation.

   You might ask how can I say that everyone else is wrong about what makes greatness, and the truth is I can’t. This is simply my opinion, but I believe it with all my heart. When Michael Jordan came back to the NBA and played for the Wizards, all of my friends saw a man who wasn’t the same player. He was damaging his legacy. Some people still think that without that comeback, we wouldn’t even be debating if anyone was in the same league with him. I didn’t see it that way, though. I saw a man who had a little more to give to a game that he had already given plenty to. He wasn’t the same player, but he was still better than most in the NBA. He loved his profession, and he gave all he had to it until there was no more desire left in him. In the same way, writers who have blown through every creative bone in their body and still continue to try to push more out of them are respectable, too. They’re doing something they love, and even though it doesn’t come as easy as it used to and people don’t perceive them the same way, they’ll do what they love and give what they can to a community of readers until there’s truly nothing left. You see, to me . . . that’s greatness. When you give everything you have to your craft, both mentally and physically, there’s truly something to be admired in it. I don’t care about career points or book sales; what I care about is one simple thing. Did someone reach a peak that made them stand out, and when they fell down from there, did they continue to give everything they could to it? Three things make greatness when it comes to work. The first is commitment. When you’re young and inexperienced, committing to do whatever it takes to be the best at what you do will carry you further than anything in this world. The second is individuality. Truly great people make their own way no matter what business they’re in. They don’t look to others to see how things are done. They come up with original ideas and then work every day to make those ideas the best they can be. The third is simple. It’s love. They love what they do so much that they can’t let go of it, even when people say they should. They literally give until there’s nothing left. I’ve often heard that an older person who has been doing their job for a long time needs to retire because they’re only half of what they used to be. Truly great people love their craft enough to want to give that fifty percent that they have left. As a matter of fact, they want to give everything they can to the thing that’s given them purpose. The fact that they can’t give what they used to isn’t a subtraction from what they’ve done in the past. Instead, everything they give when someone else would have given up is like icing on the cake.

   Now, there’s one more thing I want to touch on because I didn’t before. All of that applies to relationships. Truly great relationships don’t exist because of one great night. They exist because we realize that every night won’t be like that one. In some ways, the beginning stages of love can feel like the peak of a relationship. That sounds odd, but life has a way of getting complicated the longer you’re with someone. Greatness in a relationship starts at the beginning in the same way as it does with a professional athlete. You decide that you’re going to commit to making your relationship the best it can be. Then you make sure to be original. You don’t compare your relationship to some love story or look to a magazine to get ideas to “spice things up.” You find a new and original way every single day to show your partner that you love them. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be you, and more importantly, it’ll be both of you together. Finally, at the end of it all, you’ll find that you know everything about the man or woman that you love. You’ll be old, and honestly, things might get boring. You’ll have used up all of your original daily ideas, but that’s when the truly great part begins. Just like a fading athlete, you’re relationship and your health will start to look different. You’ll probably look back on the past and miss who the two of you used to be, but it’ll be too late for you to even think about changing one thing about the present. You’ll love her too much to ever think about what your life would have been like without her, and that’s when it happens. Even though the excitement in your relationship and your body aren’t what they used to be, you’ll be thankful for one more day that you can give everything you have left to someone truly worth loving.

   As lame as it probably sounds, this blog is really about love. Loving something or someone is the greatest thing we do, and if you want to define greatness, you’ll never go wrong by defining it this way. True greatness is putting everything you have into something or someone, continually finding creative ways to make your love and talent grow, and finally, realizing that you can’t leave your situation until you’ve given everything in you for the thing or person that you love. There’s no such thing as a great person if they don’t find passion and love in what they’re doing and who they’re with, and the greatest people of our time gave everything they had to the things that meant the most to them.

   Thanks for reading, guys. I hope you all find your greatness - not through momentary gain, but through a lifetime of constant growth and love.

Writing and Approval

   I wanted to share something with everyone about writing. Back when I wrote Wrong Place, Wrong Time, and Wrong Life, I didn’t pay any attention to what other authors were doing or what readers wanted out of a book. It was such a freeing experience to pour all of my thoughts and beliefs into a project. As a matter of fact, I felt like I would write that way forever. It felt so good, so why wouldn’t I? Then something happened. A familiar seed of doubt started to be planted. “That’s not how John Grisham does it.” "JD Robb does it in this style.” “My friend said that you should do this.” “Don’t you think it would be better if you did it this way?” “That’s not what people want to hear.” I started to listen to people, and my writing changed. In some ways, it changed for the good, but a lot of the joy was gone from it. It felt more like I was working to live up to people’s expectations and no longer expressing myself or concentrating on being original. You see, I never wanted to be like another author. I don’t look up to other authors or in general, other people. I’ve always been the type who wants to do something different instead of following a set formula or business model. Because of the need to write like someone else, act like someone else on things like blogs, and practically censor every thought in my work, I started to feel like writing was just work. It was no longer fun or original. It was like I was working at any other job.

   Then something changed. When I started writing Wrong End, I decided to take a different approach. I wrote whatever I wanted and didn’t cut one scene or change any dialogue based on anyone’s expectations. I simply wrote about the characters that I knew better than anyone else. They said what they should have said, got into crazy situations, and most importantly, there were so many details in the story. That’s the thing that I don’t understand about a lot of people. I’ve been told that you can put too many details in, and I can’t comprehend that. It’s those love scenes and comedic scenes that give characters life, not the action scenes. Sure, there’s a place for those scenes, but to me, the special parts of Wrong End were when nothing at all was going on. I loved seeing these characters interact with each other in the same ways that we all do in real life. Maybe that’s the reason I had to start writing for me and my characters again. I think a lot of people want to fast forward to the climax in books and in life, but when you do, you miss the best parts that connect you to people and characters for the rest of your life.

   After I got finished with Wrong End, I started writing a new book, and I took the same approach. I found my joy again. I guess I’ve learned something through this process. It doesn’t matter how many people like what you write if it’s engineered. You’ll never feel like you’ve accomplished something great in that situation, and it will simply be work. When just one person connects with something that is real and nothing short of your heart, it gives you a feeling like nothing else. That’s what I’m going for in the future. I want stronger character interaction, better romances, and yes, goofy scenes in books. I’ve been told that some people can interpret those scenes as immature or that they can be put off by characters who aren’t put together, but so what? I want people to read my books who have a sense of humor and who want to connect with characters and not just a story. I’ve always said that if I love your characters it doesn’t really matter what’s happening in the story. I’m hooked. Those are the type of people I want to connect with, and those are the types of stories I want to write.

   I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve found happiness in writing again. I also wanted everyone to know that my stories in the future are probably going to be a little different, but I think it’s in the best way possible. I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of Wrong End. It’s a book that I truly put everything I wanted to do into, and honestly, I put my heart into ending that series. I hope you’ll all love it, but even more importantly, that book helped me remember why I write. It’s not for money or approval. It’s to express something that I couldn’t otherwise.

Stability

   Today I wanted to talk about something that most people desire. People love stability, whether it’s financial stability or just an even keel person who is always stable for them. We work for our entire lives to be financially secure, make marriages and relationships that are stable, and become consistent as people. We think those qualities are the most important things in life. After all, if we’re stable and the people in our lives are predictable, then we can always rest easy. I view things a little differently, though. People’s normal stable lives just aren’t realistic, and honestly, I find it all a little boring. Now, I’m going to tell you why.

   First of all, we try to be more stable as people. We want to find a career that we can stick with for 30+ years, pay for a mortgage on the same house for 30 years, drive a secure family car, and always be the person who is consistent for our boss and coworkers. That’s all great if you can find the perfect career, and if you never change. Here’s the thing, though. We all change whether we realize it or not. It’s just a fact of life. You change chemically as you get older, and those chemicals affect everything from your thoughts to your perceptions and interests. You might have dreamed of being a lawyer when you were younger. As you get older, your law career may grow boring, however. What if you find that after practicing law for a decade that you’re burned out and tired? What if all you want to do now is something that’s the exact opposite of law? I say go for it. We’re taught to stick with a career - to not change, but I think that not exploring new options in your work life is what makes it work. Too often we do the stable thing instead of what we’re passionate about. Life is too short to spend thirty years, or even one year, doing something that you hate.

   Secondly, being financially stable is a great thing. I’m stable, and I want to keep it that way. The problem I see in this area is when people become obsessed with being stable. I’ve known several people who have a certain number in their mind of what should be in their bank account at all times, and any time they fall below that number, it’s like they lose their minds. They spend countless hours trying to figure out how to save enough money to meet their own expectations, which most of the time is much higher than what they need to actually be stable. I thought that the purpose of being financially stable was so you didn’t have to worry, but unfortunately, people still find a way to worry even when they have more money than they need. I guess what I’m saying is this. Realize that no matter what at some point in your life you’re not going to be where you want to be financially. As long as you have a roof over your head and food in your stomach, don’t sweat it, though. It’s not worth worrying about every day of your life.

   Finally, we all want relationships that are stable. In some ways, that’s understandable. You don’t want the person you’re with to be all over the place, but some people take the word stable to the extremes. They will perceive any little change in their relationship as bad. I’ve never understood this, though. I think that relationships lose their purpose when they stop changing. We form relationships to experience life with someone else. When you become that couple that goes to the same places, does the same things, and has the same conversations, you’re no longer living life together. You’re repeating an endless loop. Instead of wanting consistency in our relationships, I think we should want constant growth and change. That sounds odd, but when you’re constantly growing and changing with the person that you love beside you, it’s truly exhilarating. You won’t always change in the same ways, but you’ll grow to love the person that your loved one is becoming, and in turn, they’ll grow to love whatever it is that you’re changing into.

   You see, I actually hate repetition or stability in most areas of life. Whoever said change is bad was an idiot. Change brings growth and new experiences. The effort that it takes to be stable in every area of your life takes more effort than it’s worth. Sometimes it’s nice to just let life and your heart take you where they want to go. When you do, you’re much happier. Nothing’s sure in that scenario, but once you’re okay with that fact, it’s truly extraordinary to be surprised by who you may become tomorrow.