Work your fingers to the bone, and what do you get?

 

Boney fingers, of course. I do admire Jethro Tull. What a great American Philosopher (for a British Band, of course).

So that’s what I’ve been doing, lately, and why I have not posted recently. Very busy in a non-profitable sort of way, I mean.

The Florida heritage Book Festival was a great place to be, if you enjoy the company of other authors, and I do. But it was no place to be if your goal was to add to your bottom line. There was an absolute dearth (dearth, I say!) of buyers this year.

But there are other events coming up, and I am ever the optimist. It’s either be an optimist or go live under a bridge in a cardboard box.

I have spent a bit of time in my soon-to-be workshop, tuning up equipment, building jigs and figuring out how to build very nice stuff with little in the way of equipment capable of working to standards well beyond their design specs. But one does what one can with what one has, or one don’t do much at all, do one?

And that is all too true of Life in general. You can sit around and complain about how little you have to work with, or do the best you can with what you do have, and take some measure of pride in your accomplishments. Or just go live under that bridge and listen to your new neighbors complain about how rotten their lives are.

Me, I’d rather keep writing, and building stuff in my shop, and meet my readers and sell my books and know without a doubt that I am doing the best job I can with what I do have.

You see, I have at times been faced with living under that bridge; I have been homeless. But I have never quit on myself, nor will I ever.

I am a writer because I choose to be, and I am a builder because I choose to be. And I am not a quitter, because I choose not to be.

“Twisted Key”, my third novel, is out now in paperback, and despite the poor showing at the FHBF, it is selling well in paperback, Kindle and Nook formats.

A vengeful ex-wife, a psychopathic ex-husband with a murderous crew happy to do his bidding, a missing daughter off on a treasure hunt, and Florida. What more could you ask from a novel? Hamas? They’re involved, and so is the State Department. And Terry Rankin, the poor guy. And Spike, the six-toed cat with an attitude.

I am working on “Lonesome Cove”, my fourth novel, and hope to have the first draught completed by the end of December. The first three chapters are already available as a PDF on my web site, www.garyshowalter.com . Click on the Free Downloads button on the left side of the page and scroll down to the bottom. The PDF file will download and  automatically open for you. You can then SAVE it to your computer for later reading.

“Twisted Key” is now available

 

My third novel, “Twisted Key”, is now available for purchase. What follows is a brief description:

Terry Rankin has a new client; Fatima al Natsche, a Muslim woman living under a sentence of death for her work on behalf of women suffering under Islamic law. Terry’s a businessman – he’ll protect just about anyone who can pay the freight. In fact, he admires Ms. Al Natsche and the sacrifices she’s made to get her message out.

But then her daughter flies over from Norway and gets snatched off the street in front of her mother’s home, and all of the masks come off and all of the dirty little secrets come out to play in the Florida sun.

“Twisted Key” is a story about a clash of cultures and family values gone wrong. It’s about buried treasure and what happens when the allure of big bucks meets honor and self respect.

You can find it on line now at: www.TwistedKeynovel.com. It should also be available through the Amazon and Barnes and Noble web sites but that will take another month or so.

In the meantime I am hard at work on “Lonesome Cove”, and spending my spare time (like I have any) setting up a shop to build harps.

I have some events scheduled for the Fall and Winter seasons, and will be adding a few book signings at bookstores in the  North Florida area in the near future:

24 September - Florida Heritage Book Festival, #50 Sevilla Street, Flagler College Ringhaver Student Bldg, 2nd Floor, St. Augustine, Fl. 9:00 - 5:00

15 - 16 October - Orange Park Winter Festival, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, corner of Kingsley Rd. and Park Ave.  Orange Park, Fl

22 October - Calvary United Methodist Church Harvest Festival, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm, 112 Blanding Blvd, Orange Park, Fl.

5 November - Middleburg Historic Festival, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, 2102 Palmetto St, Middleburg, Fl

Please drop me a line at: gary@garyshowalter.com and let me know what you think of my story.

Sometimes, Life hands you lemons, and even makes you wear shoes

And sometimes, Life hands you lemon meringue pie. But in this case, it was lemons – maybe. I had hoped to launch my third novel, “Twisted Key”, at the Florida Heritage Book Festival in St. Augustine on the 24 th of September. That might still happen, but the publisher refuses to promise or even hint at the possibility of the books arriving on time, or even a week later.

I truly hate my publisher, and dream of doing dastardly things to all and sundry who work there. But I am a realist, so those dreams will remain just that. But one always has options, don’t one? This one do, for sure.

With that said, I will be at the Festival with “The Big Bend” and “Hog Valley”, and with a great deal of good fortune (Life does owe me a bit of that), “Twisted Key” will be there as well. If not, I do have several other engagements arranged for the fall and early winter, and will be setting up a few book signings to fill out the pre- holiday season.

Now I have to get a haircut and beard trim, and root around in my closet for my shoes. I hate wearing shoes almost as much as I hate my publisher, and that’s saying quite a lot about my feelings toward shoes.

You will be hearing some details later on about this particular publisher, but for right now, ‘nough said on that subject.

“Twisted Key” and “Lonesome Cove” updates

All in all, this was a very good week to be me. I didn’t win the lottery – I understand you have to buy a Lotto ticket first, and I don’t throw money away on stuff like that. But I did get some actual work done in my shop, and I am now officially back to work on “Lonesome Cove”, my fourth novel.

In fact, I have just this morning uploaded a PDF file of the first 3 chapters of “Lonesome Cove” to my web site and created a link to it on the Free Downloads page. By the way, there is also a link to the first three chapters of “Twisted Key” on that same page, if you want to see what all the fuss is about.

“Twisted Key”, along with my other novels, is available in Kindle and Nook formats now. It is due to be released in paperback around the end of September. “Lonesome Cove” is going to take a bit longer, since I haven’t finished writing it yet…

Just click the link below and it will take you to the page. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see the links to the teaser chapters:

http://garyshowalter.com/FreeDownloads.aspx

I just finished editing the manuscript and now have 207 good pages written in “Lonesome Cove”.  It is beginning to shape up into a heck of a story. It has the Italian Mob and Latino gangs in Miami, a gold heist and Sanibel Island, and Terry and Cathy's wedding and just enough blood and guts to keep the story moving at a fast clip. And Spike, of course.

So please feel free to downloads the sample chapters, and pleasepleaseplease drop me a line at gary@garyshowalter.com and let me know what you think about “Twisted Key” and “Lonesome Cove”.

Have a great Labor Day weekend.

An Abject Apology to my Readers

I have been busy with stuff outside of writing.

I love harps, and harpists, and have played and supported harpists for many years. By ‘supporting harpists’ I mean that I helped to set up and run the Jerusalem Harp Circle in Israel. I studied the harp for a few years (just long enough to learn that I will never, ever, find work as a concert harpist or even a very poor performance player.

But I do love harps, and harp music. And right now I do not own a harp. While I was caring for my mother in her last few years of life I found myself unable to work; I was spending much of my time caring for her and driving her to clinics and hospitals and no employer can put up with much of that, no matter how good an employee you might be. So one month the mortgage came due and with nothing in the bank to cover the bills and I was forced to sell my harp for far less than it was worth to cover the debts.

That was back in 2008. Now I have a 2-car garage and am slowly building workbenches and moving equipment in to build harps. In my spare time, of course.

I am a writer, for better or worse. But I spent much of my life as a woodworker, restorer and finisher. Should you be curious about this, please visit the Photo Gallery at my web site for samples of the kind of work I have done. I hope soon to post some photos of my new workshop.

“Lonesome Cove” is back in the works, though it won’t be in final manuscript form until early next year. But I can tell you that I am very excited about what is happening in the story.

“Twisted Key” is due for release at the end of September. I’ve gotten queries from bookstores asking when they can expect to receive copies, and I am telling them that will be some time in early October. I hopehopehope to finagle an earlier release date, but that really isn’t up to me at this point.

Unfortunately, this means that I will probably be at the Florida Heritage Book Festival in St. Augustine on the 24th of September without copies of “Twisted Key” to sell. That is a very depressing thought, indeed.

On the plus side of the ledger, however, is that all of the events I have scheduled during October should see me with plenty of copies of “The Big Bend”, “Hog Valley” and “Twisted Key”.  At these appearances I will be selling a ‘Gift Set’ of all three copies for a reduced price ( to be announced later).

Again, please accept my apologies for not writing sooner.

An Abject Apology to my Readers

I have been busy with stuff outside of writing.

I love harps, and harpists, and have played and supported harpists for many years. By ‘supporting harpists’ I mean that I helped to set up and run the Jerusalem Harp Circle in Israel. I studied the harp for a few years (just long enough to learn that I will never, ever, find work as a concert harpist or even a very poor performance player.

But I do love harps, and harp music. And right now I do not own a harp. While I was caring for my mother in her last few years of life I found myself unable to work; I was spending much of my time caring for her and driving her to clinics and hospitals and no employer can put up with much of that, no matter how good an employee you might be. So one month the mortgage came due and with nothing in the bank to cover the bills and I was forced to sell my harp for far less than it was worth to cover the debts.

That was back in 2008. Now I have a 2-car garage and am slowly building workbenches and moving equipment in to build harps. In my spare time, of course.

I am a writer, for better or worse. But I spent much of my life as a woodworker, restorer and finisher. Should you be curious about this, please visit the Photo Gallery at my web site for samples of the kind of work I have done. I hope soon to post some photos of my new workshop.

“Lonesome Cove” is back in the works, though it won’t be in final manuscript form until early next year. But I can tell you that I am very excited about what is happening in the story.

“Twisted Key” is due for release at the end of September. I’ve gotten queries from bookstores asking when they can expect to receive copies, and I am telling them that will be some time in early October. I hopehopehope to finagle an earlier release date, but that really isn’t up to me at this point.

Unfortunately, I will be at the Florida Heritage Book Festival in St. Augustine on the 24th of September, probably with copies of “Twisted Key” to sell. That is a very depressing thought, indeed.

On the plus side of the ledger, however, is that all of the events I have scheduled during October should see me with plenty of copies of “The Big Bend”, “Hog Valley” and “Twisted Key”.  At these appearances I will be selling a ‘Gift Set’ of all three copies for a reduced price ( to be announced later).

Again, please accept my apologies for not writing sooner.

Way too hot and way too tired

But nobody cares, since most everyone else is in the same boat, except, of course, for folks who work in air conditioned offices. I used to, and at the time I had no pity in my heart for all those folks sweating away in the heat and humidity. I guess it’s karma, because I’m right back to sweating. And it’s really hot. And humid.

I wonder if it’s any better in Caspar, Wyoming? I know it’s far worse in Leaky, Texas.

Last weekend we rented a U-Haul truck and made two trips from the old apartment to the new house.  I was so wiped out from that that I blew off two scheduled meetings during the week so I could recover.

Today we filled up a van and two cars with more stuff. I have no idea where all of this stuff is supposed to go; this house is more than twice the square footage of the old apartment, but every nook and cranny is filled with boxes of stuff. We are gonna have a really big yard sale, some time real soon now.

On 09 August, the New York Times carried an article by Julie Bosman titled, “Publishing Gives Hints of Revival, Data Show”.  Without differentiating between eBooks and printed books, recent statistics developed by Book Stats show that in 2010 the publishing industry ended up the year with a net revenue of $27.9 billion dollars. That’s an increase of 5.6% over 2008. 2.57 billion books in all formats were sold in 2010; a 4.1% increase over 2008.

Good news for writers, huh? Here’s a reality check for those nice folks who boost eBooks over paper. In 2008, eBooks made up 0.6% of the total trade market. By 2010, that percentage grew to 6.4%. That is a growth of 1274% in three years.

Traditional publishers don’t seem to be all that worried, though. Or maybe they’re drinking their own koolade again.

In May of this year, Amazon stated that eBook sales passed print books for the first time.

I’ve got two events in this week:

16 August - "One Book, One Putnam" Putnam County, Fl, Woman's Club of Palatka, Inc., 605 South 13th Street (on the corner of Crill Ave. and 13th St.), Palatka, FL 32178, 5:30 - 7:30 PM. Multiple authors will be present

17 August – member of 3 - person panel  (with Lydia C. Filzen, and Susan D. Brandenburg) at the meeting of the Clay County Writer’s Group to discuss writing as a second career. The event will be at the Fleming Island Library Meeting Room and starts at 6:15 pm.

Stop by if you’re in the area. And have a good week.