Joel Arnold's Blog, page 21

It Goes to 11,111

At 9:20 tonight, I took a look at my Amazon Kindle ranking of Bait & Other Stories, and it was at #11,111 in the Kindle Store.  So it's eleventy! Or something like that...

My parents called tonight saying I got a nice little mention in the Rochester Post Bulletin.

I'm currently reading a wonderful middle grade/YA novel called Rules, by Cynthia Lord. It's about a 12-year old girl living with her 8-year old autistic brother, David. So many of the personality traits of David hit home with me, as t...

Taking Care of Katrina

I wrote a mystery/crime story for an anthology called Murder on a Stick a couple years ago that didn't quite make it off the ground. The premise of the antho was stories that took place at the Minnesota State Fair. Since the anthology didn't happen, I decided to publish my story - Taking Care of Katrina - in ebook form. And to differentiate this from my longer works available in that form, my wife and I thought it would be kinda funny to subtitle this and any other short stories released this...

Shooting Star Scenic Byway

Just found out that my article on the Shooting Star Scenic Byway, which is in southern Minnesota, is appearing in the Summer issue of American Road Magazine. This is my second of three articles for American Road this year! It should be available at your local B&N or other place that sells magazines soon.

Getting Your Name Out There

Marketing, marketing, marketing. It can drive a person insane. The last few nights after getting home from work and making dinner, I’ve been trying to give my name/books more visibility on the good ol’ www. Created author profiles and/or introduced myself/made updates on Amazon, Goodreads, Authors Den, Smashwords, Mobile Read, Shelfari, KindleBoards, and, and, and…

Does it help? I think over time it does. If you wheedle yourself into the public consciousness a bit at a time like an...

Evelyn's Drum now on Smashwords

My psychological suspense/horror novel, Evelyn's Drum, is now available on Smashwords, as well as for the Kindle.

You can see its Smashwords page here (and download a free sample - the first 50% of the novel!)

Evelyn's Drum

Thanks for checking it out!

63 Crosses on a Winding Road

One part of my recent trip to Yellowstone that really struck me was the number of white crosses along Highway 191 between Gallatin Gateway and the first 'Entering Yellowstone' sign I came across. The white crosses are placed there by the Montana Chapter of the American Legion, and as you might imagine, they signify the site of highway fatalities.

I made an effort to count the crosses, and in that forty-mile stretch of winding 2-lane highway I mentioned above, I counted 63 white crosses. I'm s...