Riley Amos Westbrook's Blog, page 48
March 23, 2016
Day 45 of 90: Selfishness #IARTG #ASMSG #IAN1 #SupportIndieAuthors
I’m sometimes amazed at the selfishness of people. They act like the world owes them something, and they shouldn’t have to work for it. I don’t understand this line of thinking.
I help manage a board on Goodreads for independent authors. There are constantly people on there asking for reviews, edits, beta reads, just anything and everything. Yet these same people don’t do anything to help their fellow independent authors. They want you to read their books, yet put down others seeking reviews.
I don’t know how they can have such a double standard. If you say all independent authors suck, their plots are the same, there’s no character growth, and they all tell the same tale, you’re lumping your own works in there.
Unless you are King, Rowling, Koontz, any of these huge name authors, you’re talking about yourself. (Mid-level and small press authors go through the exact same struggles!)
We as independent authors need to quit putting down others attempting to publish with us. We should be focusing on uplifting each other as a whole, rather than putting each other down as individuals. Collectively, we have the potential to become more powerful than the Big Five publishers, but not if we keep holding each other down.
If you are an independent author, I issue you a challenge. Read more independent authors, or small press authors, than you read of the big publishing houses. We need to quit thinking of ourselves as lesser, and take our place as equals.
Filed under: Musings, My books, Resource, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Author, Book, musings, Resources, Riley Amos Westbrook, Support, Support Indie Authors, SupportIndieAuthors
March 22, 2016
Day 44 of 90: Only live life for you #ASMSG #IARTG #IAN1 #SupportIndieAuthors #Inspiration
I had another person contact me today. They wanted to know how I can continue to pump out works, while taking the time to support others as much as I do. It’s easy, I make time. I break away and take time for myself. I have to, if I don’t I go insane.
Now a days everyone treats being alone like it’s a bad thing. I don’t know about you, but most of my best ideas come to me when I have the ability to concentrate. I find it easier to keep focus when I’m not surrounded by people.
Some people find it hard to be alone,they get anxious or fearful. They constantly surround themselves with people so they can feel complete. You can see they have something missing in their lives. They don’t know what it is, but they know it’s missing.
Learning to be alone, with no one but yourself, is good for you. If you can be happy by yourself, you can be happy anywhere.
As I love my own company, I’m not as bothered when people show distaste towards me. I don’t care if they think I look unattractive. I don’t care what they think about my life choices. I don’t care if they think I don’t deserve what I’ve earned. It doesn’t affect me, what they think, their opinion isn’t going to change who I am, or what I do.
You can only live your life for you. Trying to live it for anyone else will only lead you to misery.
Filed under: Musings, My books, Resource, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Author, Book, musings, Resources, Riley Amos Westbrook, Support, Support Indie Authors, SupportIndieAuthors
March 21, 2016
Day 43 of 90: G.O.D. #Iartg #Asmsg #SupportIndieAuthors #Ian1 #Inspiration
I’m up to 43 days. I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep up this steady pace, but I’m happy I have. Hopefully I’ve helped you to start a habit of writing just a bit everyday.
I started going over my first book again, attempting to edit and clean it up more, as an independent author’s job is never done. It’s interesting to see how much I’ve grown as a writer, and in all honesty, I’m happy I tackled that job first.
I don’t know if I would be able to write the story I did, the way I did, again. I really wrote that by the seat of the pants, and ended up writing a book that’s about the length of the first Lord of the Rings book. Every step of that journey was taken one day at a time, wondering where I should go, what I should do, really treating it like an open world tabletop role playing game. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to run an epic campaign, but there is a lot of planning that goes into your game before you even start.
Where you’re going, what obstacles you’ll have to overcome, every little detail down to what the leader of the city you’re in. All of these could prove important all on the roll of a dice. And I treated that book exactly like that. A complete gardener on that book, it was a ton of fun to write.
With each book I write, it’s becoming just a bit more organized. My outlines would by no means be accepted as an outline from anyone else. Mostly it’s an incoherent rambling of sticky notes. Just like in my D&D days.
As a G.O.D. (Games Operational Director) your job is to keep your free willed characters on track, without dropping the hand of G.O.D. upon them. Sometimes you’re more successful than others. A roll of the dice can change it all, but remember how rare it really is.
Filed under: Musings, My books, Resource, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Author, Book, musings, Resources, Riley Amos Westbrook, Support, Support Indie Authors, SupportIndieAuthors
March 20, 2016
Day 42 of 90: Ignorant of the future #ASMSG #IARTG #IAN1 #SupportIndieAuthors #Inspiration
Maybe this will just become a long term thing that I do every day, extended well beyond the ninety day period I originally intended. Who knows where this will lead to? Of course, it also might become something much more sporadic, and just be something that I keep notebooks full of. No one knows what will be.
I don’t know about you, but I like not knowing the future.
I think about how my books are written, where I always know what the end will be. It works, because I’m the God of my world, the one who controls all the chess pieces. If it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t move one single spot on the board, let alone conquer the worlds that they do.
You need to live everyday as if it were the last one on Earth. I don’t mean be stupid. Car surfing, while a fun past time, is not safe. I would advise you to at least wear proper protection.
I’m on a weight loss journey, a hard uphill battle that I fight everyday. But I have a goal. If I can lose two hundred more pounds, my wife says she’ll skydive with me. It was quite the discussion, when I first brought up that as my plan.
It’s how I know she loves me though. At first, she tried to dance around the subject. My wife is afraid of heights, you see. We went up in the Space Needle and she couldn’t stand at the elevator as we went up. And yet, this woman loves me so much, she’s willing to jump out of a perfectly good plane with me.
That’s the kind of love you need to look for in your life. Someone that’s willing to conquer any fear in order to be with you. Someone with as much dedication and integrity as you bring to the relationship. Be the change you want to see, and together you can be a bigger change for each other.
Filed under: Musings, My books, Resource, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Author, Book, musings, Resources, Riley Amos Westbrook, Support, Support Indie Authors, SupportIndieAuthors
March 19, 2016
Day 41 of 90: You reap what you sow #ASMSG #IARTG #IAN1 #SupportIndieAuthors #Inspiration
You reap what you sow. I really believe this. It’s part of why I started a book review blog, I figured if I as an author was searching for reviews, others must be too. I’ve managed to meet a ton of great book bloggers, and help a book monster find a home to post her reviews.
All I’ve really done is throw myself out there. I’ve been willing to help where I can, and truthful when I can’t. I make time for others, and they see that. It helps me along my own journey, making it easier to find the people who want to help me.
Taking the time to help other people has led to more people helping me. I have yet to spend a dime on a single bit of my author career. My covers, my editing, my reviews, all of it has come from helping others.
The greatest thing I ever did for my career was quit worrying about it. When I quit worrying about how many books I sold, I started to sell. Not as many as I wanted, but it picked up. When I started helping others get reviews, my own reviews increased. With the help of my book monster, I think my blog put out close to 100 reviews last year. By the way Alysia, you’re awesome!
I want all of us to succeed. I’m a firm believer that we can all be happy and successful at what we want to do. It’s all in how we choose to perceive where we are. I don’t know about you, but I’ve decided to push away hate, and embrace the precepts of love. Let your light shine through, and share it with the world.
Filed under: Musings, My books, Resource, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Author, Book, musings, Resources, Riley Amos Westbrook, Support, Support Indie Authors, SupportIndieAuthors
Cruisin’ through books cause books make life worth living with Aly 3/19/2016 part 3
The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza
I was captivated by this book. This book caught me in the very beginning. Finding a dead girl in the ice, scary for sure! I loved the mystery and the characters were exciting so well. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time with this book. Great stuff! I would read the next one! * I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review* 4/5
Filed under: Musings, Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Book Review
Cruisin’ through books cause books make life worth living with Aly 3/19/2016 part 2
Daimby City: Night Dragon by Maymunah Azad
What a fun story. I love to read about dragons. I think kids would love this book. I was very excited to read it and I enjoyed it too. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review* 4/5
Filed under: Musings, Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Book Review
Cruisin’ through books cause books make life worth living with Aly 3/19/2016 part 1
Murder In Absentia by Assaph Mehr
This was an interesting mystery for me! The world for Egretia was very good and detailed in this book. I enjoyed trying to guess the ending. A little magic in any book is a great find for me when I least expect it!. This book was another fun one to read. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review* 4/5
Filed under: Musings, Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Book Review
March 18, 2016
Cruisin’ through books cause books make life worth living with Aly 3/18/2016 part 4
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if John Lennon not been killed in December of 1980? I have not wondered myself but now this author has helped me to think of something different. I think I would love to read a book about what it would be like if Marilyn Monroe had lived her life here on earth but that is just me! lol I think the book was very creative and worth my time reading it. I think it was a fun read for me! * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review* 4/5
Filed under: Musings, Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Book Review
Cruisin’ through books cause books make life worth living with Aly 3/18/2016 part 3
Boy, what can happen in a year! This book is about how life can take us for a ride. It is about things that can happen in just one year. I think it was a good book. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review* 4/5
Filed under: Musings, Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Book Review
