Ed Mitchell's Blog, page 3

On Stage Again

Yes! I returned to the author stage on Mothers Day. I answered questions from avid readers and offered advice to writers working on their first novel. It was engaging, enthusiastic and… poignant.

I thank hostess Lisa Haselton for inviting me to be interviewed online in her writer’s chat room (www.writerschatroom.com). It’s humbling to be invited as a celebrity onto an interactive site that Writer’s Digest rated as one of the 101 best websites on the Internet for writers.

As an aside, when I decided to write my first thriller I faithfully read Writer’s Digest and applied and extended excellent advice that I found in that magazine. Apparently, some of it worked well. My first thriller won an award for best new fiction.

Back to the Q&A session: it was really fun even though I couldn’t see the attendees like during a bookstore event. I wanted to quickly answer each question from the many online members. That forced me to focus, think, type a short succinct answer, and where possible tie it into an earlier one. Typing fast led to misspellings. I apologized but some may have walked away thinking I am dyslexic or the only reason my stories are entertaining is because I have a really good editor.

However, I did well enough to be invited back by the hostess when my 4th thriller is released in December ( preview it here ). Plus, I made some sales.

Yippee, I can sell books!

So why was it poignant? During the Q&A an attendee shared that she was also a foster child, as I am, as mentioned in my biography. That led to some questions about families and their impact on children and on writers. So I took the opportunity to share the dedication I have in my first thriller, Gold Lust. Here it is:

This book is dedicated to my two mothers.

My birth mother, Elizabeth Delight Mitchell, was mentally ill and institutionalized for most of my childhood. Nevertheless, she proved to be a far better mother than some women who did not suffer the limitations that she fought each day. My mom taught me to read and to love to learn, which gave me the skills to eventually leave poverty behind and become a contributor to society. My foster mother, Hilda E. Hoseney, nurtured me through high school, helping me to heal from a difficult time in my life.

I will never be able to repay these two women for all that they did for me.

If you’d like to read the first chapter of one or more of my thrillers, click a cover below.

Autographed award-winning thrillers and ebooks available at my website

Encourage your social media friends to sign up for one or more of my blogs

All Titles are available as an  autographed physical copy or in your favorite ebook format (Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc) and if you wish an autographed book click the cover below, then select “Add to Cart”.

Book-6 Preview It

From: Author Ed Mitchell

Click to contact me direct

(Also on GoodReads)

Please Share This with your social media friends.

Share This On – Facebook

Tweet This On – Twitter OR Messenger This On  – Facebook Messenger

I was seduced

Grasping for help easily happens to authors pushing to get their work globally discovered by readers.

This time the smooth voices of representatives from companies that convert manuscripts into eBooks kept luring me to use their converter. “It’s nearly magic. Just provide your manuscript and in an hour or two you will have a beautiful ebook layout. A little easy editing and it will pop out ready to be enjoyed on any electronic-book reader anywhere in the world. Trust us. Our no-problems-converter will solve your conversion needs so you can quickly get back to writing. People will think Michelangelo helped you.”

Even though I had heard complaints from across the industry that people were struggling with converters I pressed on. It was the pitch from one rep that sealed my fate. “Hi big boy. Come on in. We love authors.”

It really became interesting a few hours later. In the dark of night we were alone, my converter and me. It was quiet, even the conversion company had closed its phone-support office. By then I was satisfied with my attractive design and layout of Gold Lust’s front and back matter. I even included hyperlinks to carry the reader to my website and to purchase sites. I was doing so well that I knew that in one night I was going to convert three thrillers into eBooks. Lesser men would only try a one book conversion, but not me. Then the invisible converter controls sensed my tiredness, vulnerability, and uneducated bravado.

I confidently pushed the convert button. When the spinning wheel appeared on my computer screen, signaling the first conversion had started, I heard an evil soft cackle. I thought, I’m just tired.

Wrong! When the wheel stopped spinning all the blank lines on every page in my front and back matter had disappeared. Now, I’m looking at pages of mashed together crap! WHAT? Since Gutenberg invented the first printing press authors have been inserting blank lines in their text. What sick, evil, low-life would do this to a struggling author?

I’ve got you now my little pretty!

Demon converter monkeys — that’s who!

Over the next hour I tried modifying the manuscript in different ways, followed by performing all the convert steps, and then repeatedly failing. Desperate, I typed a period where I wanted a blank line. It worked! But little ugly black droppings stood out in each blank line. Now my pages actually look like crap was deposited over them. Think black measles.

I moved on and found within my 272-page book other weird formatting changes inserted by the demon converter monkeys. Soon it turned into a battle of wits. I waived my fist at the screen and began hacking my own manuscript conversion to get the layout that I’ve had in my physical books for years. Sometimes I won. Other times the DCM’s gave me the international single-finger signal.

Two days later twilight started filling my office. After another strong cup of coffee, I dialed the support office and casually asked the rep about the blank line problem. “Oh, yes,” a sweet female voice answered. “We’re working to eliminate that issue.” Seconds later she gave me the simple workaround. So I contained my urge to say why didn’t the company alert first-time users about tiny conversion issues that might EAT HOURS OF  THEIR LIFE.”

But with the help of a caring support group, joy returned. I overcame the last few converter glitches and stepped into the eBook world. As you read this blog, my award-winning adventure-thrillers are in eight major online bookstores in North America, Europe, Spain, Germany and Japan.

Autographed award-winning thrillers and ebooks available at my website

Encourage your social media friends to sign up for one or more of my blogs

All Titles are available as an  autographed physical copy or in your favorite ebook format (Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc) and if you wish an autographed book click the cover below, then select “Add to Cart”.

Book-6 Preview It

From: Author Ed Mitchell

Click to contact me direct

(Also on GoodReads)

Please Share This with your social media friends.

Share This On – Facebook

Tweet This On – Twitter OR Messenger This On  – Facebook Messenger

Ed Mitchell vs nuclear proliferation in North Korea

Because I might appear in written or broadcast interviews later this year, I want to share with you why I think I have something to add about North Korea becoming a nuclear-missile power.

Reason 1:  I had a military and R&D career before becoming a fiction author. That career included serving two tours of duty in South Korea where I did guard the DMZ. Later I worked in the U.S. Army’s Strategic Defense Command helping prototype today’s launch command center in Alaska; followed by being a Space-Ground Combat analyst in Joint Space Command. After becoming a civilian I paid my mortgage by worked two decades on National Missile Defense. Part of that time included hands-on and live-fire testing of prototype kill vehicles when I was a payload integration manager in Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Division.

Reason 2:  It’s common for fiction authors to write about future events that initially seem farfetched but later turn out to be very close to reality. That’s exactly what I did by writing Gold Fire released as a physical book a few years ago and released this month as an ebook. The story is about terrorists, trained as well as U.S generals, who threaten to attack America with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. That scenario forces our military to scramble to deploy advanced anti-missile units to cover weaknesses in our defense. Recent news headlines seem to prove the fiction scenario is becoming a real one.

Book-3 Synopsis. Read Chapter 1 Here Free. Reader Reviews.

Reason 3:  Mainly, I’m stepping up because during the last year print, radio, and TV debate on the issue has not served the American people well. The chatter has been mostly focused on the attack or defense missiles. It has NOT been about why would or should the U.S. be willing to fight over preventing North Korea from having small warheads on ballistic missiles. The debate has NOT surfaced the long-range national security implications of having an adversary who might sell ballistic missile technology to Iran and lightweight nuclear packages to terrorists. Nor has the debate revealed that nuclear proliferation has moved from proliferating missiles to proliferation lightweight nuclear packages. Another way of saying this is… Would you like to live in a world where terrorists have lightweight nuclear bombs? Or… Do you like living in a world where U.S. military operations might trigger the North Koreans to launch a ballistic missile at the U.S.?

So before I get grilled on late-night radio, please share your thoughts with me here by leaving a reply or on my Social Media.

Autographed award-winning thrillers and ebooks available at my website

Encourage your social media friends to sign up for one or more of my blogs

All Titles are available as an  autographed physical copy or in your favorite ebook format (Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc) and if you wish an autographed book click the cover below, then select “Add to Cart”.

Book-6 Preview It

From: Author Ed Mitchell

Click to contact me direct

(Also on GoodReads)

Please Share This with your social media friends.

Share This On – Facebook

Tweet This On – Twitter OR Messenger This On  – Facebook Messenger

Why Birth a Book

THE LONG AND SHORT OF BIRTHING A BOOK

My first adventure thriller took 14 years from concept, through learning how to write well as I typed each chapter, until I conducted my first book launch inside the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California. Now, it takes me 18 months to birth a book from initial concept until delivering it to the publisher or printing house.

First book launch at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas CA

However, during a book-signing event that I did with a well-known female mystery writer, she revealed to me that her birthing schedule takes two years. During that time she is simultaneously writing one book, editing another, and on tour with her latest release. When I asked how she got started she explained she was newly divorced and had to find some way to earn money while staying at home, caring for three young children.

Speaking of family, I know an author of over two hundred cowboy-western stories. He churns out a new story every three to four months. Nine months later that book arrives at the bookstores. Not only is he a very fast writer he is incredibly motivated because he’s been divorced four times and must pay for the huge monthly payments he sends to his former wives who all have children.

So birthing lengths vary by author, motivation, skill levels, circumstance, and how established the writer is in the marketplace.

This blog shares insights into:

… How an intriguing story is conceived or inspired,

…… Techniques for going beyond, Gee-that-could-be-an-interesting-story!

……… Motivation that overcome the hurdles that arise

………… First and later partners,

…………… Impacts on relationships,

………………… Is it worth all the time, hard work, and money expended?

I’ve conceived several times. The first time was on a beach. The second was while watching TV. The third was at a rock and roll concert. Some of you may relate. For the first birth, I was clueless about a number of writing techniques needed to move from concept to actual words, then to chapters that smoothly led to the last page. So I learned by writing, re-writing, self-training, joining writer/publisher associations, and gathering feedback from people I forced to read my draft chapters.

Luckily, I had a supportive wife and I am motivated to avoid the insanity that is sprinkled across generations in my family. Like my mother, who taught me to read at her knee before she became institutionalized.

And yes, my 14-year effort was worth it, as has been the subsequent presentation of my babies to the public and watching how well they’ve done after being released into the world.

So if you are an avid reader or considering birthing a book, or a new visitor to my blog, please comment.

Autographed award-winning thrillers and ebooks available at my website

Encourage your social media friends to sign up for one or more of my blogs

All Titles are available as an  autographed physical copy or in your favorite ebook format (Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc) and if you wish an autographed book click the cover below, then select “Add to Cart”.

Book-6 Preview It

From: Author Ed Mitchell

Click to contact me direct

(Also on GoodReads)

Please Share This with your social media friends.

Share This On – Facebook

Tweet This On – Twitter OR Messenger This On  – Facebook Messenger