Mark Cameron's Blog, page 4

Welcome toMark of Words! My blog is now my homepage.All o...

Welcome toMark of Words!

My blog is now my homepage.All of the information about my debut novel, Goodnight Sunshine, has been moved to the site of our new independent publishing company, Catch Our Drift Productions.

InJune & July 2016, follow me and my familyas weembark on aBC book tourentitled 30 Days of Sunshine! You can followour adventures by checking outmy social media links on the right side of this page.

Thanks for visiting!

30 Days of Sunshine!

It’s official! The Cameron family is embarking on another camper van journeyin June. This could be our last big adventure in our 19 feet of paradise on wheels — if we can bring ourselves to let go of the van that has been our “second home”for almost one-third of our lives since 2010. Yes, that’s FOUR PEOPLEliving in a camper van for TWO FULL YEARS!

Despite my daily bouts of cabin fever, I have to admit that the van has been incredibly good to us. If we do sell Morrison (as I like to call him,...

There’s Always a Flip Side

I am quite certain that I have Tourette’s Syndrome.

As a child, I frequently exhibited odd little tics: excessive blinking; strange breathing patterns; unnecessary throat clearing; and various other twitches, grunts and squeaks. Watching my son exhibit similar tics,which tend to last from a few days to a few weeks, I see a reflection of my younger self. I also see that they are a part of his development, as they were a part of mine.

Wikipedia defines Tourette’s Syndrome as follows:

“Tourette’...

A Marathon, not a Sprint

Feedback is rolling in for Goodnight Sunshine. I’m tryingto absorb it as a whole without focusing too much on the details. Trying to givemy writer’s mind the time and space required to sort throughthe dozens of messages it isreceiving, to reconcile conflicting views and recognize consistent patterns.

Once we release a work of fiction, there is no taking back what we’ve said. No factory recalls or upgrades, no bringingour creation back into the shop for repairs. Minor corrections aside, there...

Connecting the Dots … and Reclaiming Democracy

Walking to work recently, I had every reason to be happy. The weather was calm and clear — a nice reprieve from the downpours we had been receiving of late.I was on my way to work in a great little community work hub, surrounded by pleasant and supportive people. My family was healthy, and the bugI’d been fightingfor weekswas finally leavingmy system. Yet, as I walked toward a scene straight out of National Geographic — the sun rising over snow-capped mountains that dip down to meet the peace...

Letters between friends

I received an e-mail from my cousin the other day — a wonderfully long, heartfelt response to my debut novel. It confirmed what I had already begunto recognize: that the greatest partof writing a book is the dialogue it creates between author and reader— between a writer and his friends.

One passage of my cousin’s message keeps revisiting me — on a walk, in the shower, lying in bed. It is poetic and authenticand beautiful … and it provides a frame for so many seemingly random thoughts that I...

Book Review: A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the best books I have read. John Irving’s gift for prose — for meandering left and right, up and down, all around and back again — is nothing short of incredible. Seemingly meaningless details are subtly combined into a layered plot that spans decades and covers a broad range of topics. And Irving’s characters — especially Owen Meany, who is one of the most unique creations I’ve met in fact or fiction — are quirky, complex, fully developed.

This book is not f...

Book Review: Saving Capitalism by Robert B. Reich

I really like Robert Reich, and as far as economists go he offers a breath of fresh air. Saving Capitalismis an easy and informative read, and it deepened my understanding of many of the challenges we face today — particularly the causes behind our ever-widening disparity between rich and poor, and the self-perpetuating link between economic and political power of “the few” at the expense of “the many”.

I couldn’t decide how to rate this — as 3 or 4 stars. I’m getting a little tougher with my...

Goodreads Giveaway for Goodnight Sunshine

(now that’s a mouthful!)

For anyone who’s interested in a freecopy of Goodnight Sunshine (postage included to any location worldwide), Istarted a Goodreads Giveaway that expires on Dec 28th. Check out some of the othergood readsthat are also available for giveaway — it’s a neat program, and a great way to learn about some new books.There are a lot of books in the giveaway list, and a lot of entries for each one … but youcan’t win if you don’t enter!

In my case, I’m starting with one book to s...

A Strange and Familiar Beat

I launched my first novel today.It feels strange, and yetfamiliar.

In my past life I ran a small software company. Product launches were the rhythm section for the whole company. Launch, upgrade, update, update … Launch, upgrade, update, update … that was the sound of software being released into the wild. Major launches were significant events that took a great deal of planning and teamwork.But each release was as much a beginning as it was an end — the start of a new cycle that involved mai...