Joshua Graham's Blog, page 14

Interview with James Rollins

A while back, I had the distinct pleasure and honor of chatting with New York Times bestselling author James Rollins.  We had a great time discussing his writing and his latest novel The Blood Gospel.  Give it a listen and check out his books!

Scroll to the bottom of this post to listen and look for the play button to listen:

Dealing with Fear

Terrorism

ter·ror·ism
 [ter-uh-riz-uhm] 




noun


1.
the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce,
especially for political purposes.



2.
the state of fear
and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.



 

Just a few hours before I heard the news about the Boston Marathon bombings today, my son and I were having a discussion about terrorism, what it meant, fighting it militarily, and as civilians.  What it boiled down to was this:  Terrorists seek to win by changing our lives, robbing us of our peace and security, by striking with all cowardice at the very places we feel safe.  To some--perhaps a great--extent, they have succeeded since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.  This became clear as I realized that my children never knew the time before 9/11.  They never knew a time you didn't have to take your shoes off at the airport security scans, they never knew what life was like before suicide terrorists could strike at American people on our own homeland.

And yet, there is nothing new under the sun.

Terrorists have existed in many forms since the beginning of time, because with all humans, so has evil.

The biggest fear is losing a sense of safety and control over our lives.  It's during these times I find it important to cling to your faith.  Here is a passage that always gives me comfort and strength, during frightening times:

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”


3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.




7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.




9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

 

What gives you comfort and strength during uncertain times?

Clean Your ROOM! (A Parent’s Cry for Help)

So, a good friend of mine who is a bestselling author, brilliant entrepreneur, and publishing/marketing genius named Aaron Patterson posted the following today on facebook:

 

I know asking advice on Facebook is asking for trouble but I am not sure what to do so maybe some of you have something to say that I can use. My problem is with my 7 year old daughter. She is a slob and almost a hoarder. She keeps everything and packs it away in her room. I have fought with her from birth it seems to keep her room clean, we did charts, rewards and so on. Nothing is working. I have even thrown away all her stuff so her room was a bed, nothing else just her bed and in a week it would look like a salvation army bomb went off. From making sure she cleaned it right when she got home from school, before bed and so on... it can go from clean to a pig pen in about half an hour. I am at the point that I want to make her sleep in the couch and take away her room but that only addresses the problem not changing her behavior.

What I would like to know is how can I get her to care? To want a clean room, to like her stuff enough to keep it in good order? It is not about her room being clean but how she views her things and herself. I have had the respect talk and like I said I have tried just about everything I can think of. At a loss...

Here was my reply:

There must be more than a few parents who feel your pain, bro. Hang in there.

A couple of thing my wife (kind of an expert with kids) shared with me that I found helpful:

1. At this age, especially if the child is very active, or interested in many things, it's hard for them to see the need to be neat, tidy, and organized. They live for the moment, and why should they clean, unless Mom and Dad are going to get mad? If they aren't getting mad,then it's a lot more fun to do just about everything and anything else. It's not right, it's just the way a lot of kids are wired. They'll learn, but for some kids, it will take longer.

2. It can be overwhelming for a kid to simply be told to clean up their messy room. So we can strategize all we want with them, but unless we help them, it will not happen on its own. So, I've been encouraged to just clean with my kids, side-by-side, showing them that it's not such a big deal to do it. Also, that gives them confidence that this monster of a mess can be tamed. Daddy (or Mommy) is here and you know what? We can defeat this monster every time. At the end it like: "See? That was easy!"

It's going to take some kids longer than others to adopt organization and cleanliness as a habit, even character. But we as parents have to lead by example, then by our very presence, and partnering with them (I know, it's not fair, they should clean their own mess!), we will instill confidence that no matter how big a mess they've made, it can be handled, it can be conquered. We are the only tangible evidence they have of this truth.

So, one thing we can do is not to get stressed out about the big messes, or even the little ones. That transfers to the kids and soon they see that a mess=stress, and will avoid it as long as they can.

Just partner with them, show them exactly how to do it. Then be with them as they start to do it. After some years, it will become easier, and hopefully "not such a big deal" to them, nothing to fear, nothing to avoid. They'll hopefully feel: "Daddy and I have defeated the Mess Monster thousands of times." An added bonus is that this can be some additional bonding time to spend with your child, while showing them the importance of order and cleanliness. They'll associate keeping clean as a positive thing. So will we.

That said, I'm not sure for a 7 year old, the state of her room is attached to how she sees herself. It is for us, as mature adults, and it will become so for any child in the future.

It might be, I don't know the personal life specifics and/or history.

But in most cases, I think they just need us to remain calm (something I'm learning, because I have been stressed out big time by this too), and help them overcome this, not to associate this with fear, and possible disapproval by their parents.

Have you struggled with this issue before?  What has helped?  Please discuss in the comments below.

Facing Critics and Naysayers

I was trying to encourage a fellow writer today who was feeling down because of mean-spirited Amazon customer reviewers. We've all read a few doozies that made us shake our heads, haven't we?   The struggle is not unique to writers, as Stephen King states.  It applies to just about anything you do publicly, or that becomes public knowledge.  We will always have detractors, critics, and naysayers.   It's a sign that you're doing something that matters.

Anyway, I came upon some sage advice from some fairly well-known writers on the topic:

“I have spent a good many years since--too many, I think--being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all.” ― Stephen King, On Writing

“Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit—Will Travel

“Critics are to authors what dogs are to lamp-posts.”
― Jeffrey Robinson

“When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn't.”
― Jodi Picoult, Change of Heart

What kind of critics, detractors and naysayers have you faced?  How did you deal with it?  I'd love to know.  Please discuss in the comments section below.

 

Joshua Graham, author of Terminus Featured in This Month’s Issue of Suspense Magazine

 

I'm thrilled tell you about my feature spot in the April 2013 issue of Suspense Magazine.  It's a great journal for those who love the genre.  Forget about my name (not really, just kidding), take a look at all the other authors they're featuring.

In this issue, Suspense Magazine interviewed me, and reviewed my book TERMINUS of which they said:

"In "Terminus", Joshua Graham has written a fast paced, adrenaline pumping, spiritual epic...
..."Terminus" will have you gasping for air, yelling at the characters, and questioning everything you thought you knew about angels..."

TERMINUS is available for Kindle and Paperback at Amazon.com here: http://amzn.to/178qkvn

And on Barnes & Noble for Nook and paperback here: http://bit.ly/14TdKAN

And for Kobo here: http://bit.ly/16xa6sF

 

httpv://youtu.be/ZcrSD3v5Eo0

Search and Rescue Mission

So this morning, I hear the panicked cry of my daughter (whose hamster Diana just passed away a month ago), "Daddy, Gracie's not in her cage."
Gracie joined the family a week after Diana passed away and as she's so new to the home, we've been super careful with her. Or so I thought.

"She's probably in the lower level (of her cute little triplex apartment.)

"No, she's not."

My daughter is pretty accurate at things like this, so I rushed over and found that Gracie was indeed gone. Lo and behold, the habitat was empty. No Gracie.
I checked the lock on the little "petting zone" at the top of the cage. It was not locked. The little critter had just pushed the door and walked out.

Oh no, I thought. We can't lose another hamster. The door had been shut, so there was no way she'd gotten out of the room, but I searched around nonetheless.

"All right," I said to my daughter, "You're going to be late for school and I still have to pack your lunch. Get yourself ready, and I'll be back to search. Nobody open this door!"

Off we went to our duties. I did the quickest lunch packing ever, then rushed up to the room with my flashlight.

My wife, who was going to drive my daughter to school even came into the room to help.

Tempting Gracie with the sound of food in her bowl, she finally came out of hiding--behind a huge bookshelf that I could not move without risking killing her. After a few failed attempts, I grabbed Gracie in my hand, and this time she didn't squirm and run off. She recognized my grip and relaxed, allowing me to carry her back to her cage.

Mission accomplished.

I was even able to tell my daughter that we got Gracie back before she left for school.

This was the second recent scare with losing a pet. Last year we thought we lost our beloved Kangadog. Thank God they were both found before too long.  When I was a child, my cat had been lost and never seen again.  I remember how heartbroken I'd felt as a kid in elementary school, so I have a soft spot for kids and their pets.

Have you ever lost a pet, and had them returned? What were those hours/days before they were found like for you? Please share in the comments section below.

TERMINUS BOOK LAUNCH: The Day After

Well, it's the day after a really great book launch and life seems to have returned to normal.  Before diving into the completion of the next book, I took some time off from writing to work with my son on the new hobby he's roped me into.  I actually love that he is into this, because I can live out my childhood dreams vicariously through him.

He's gotten into RC planes, and has a dad who is willing to spend the time (and $$$) to invest into it.

Our first few attempts were not successful, and I think we might have chewed off a bit more than we could chew with EDF fighter jets, which are much faster and less forgiving.

So we've decided to try a propeller plane (the P-51)

He crashed this several times, but because it's light, the damage wasn't irreparable.  Eventually, with some coaching from Dear Old Dad and adjusting for pilot error, he learned how to fly, and even do some aerobatics.

Here is a video of today's successful flight.  The landing at the end happened only because the battery ran out.  But you can see that he's gained some mastery.

(Pardon the noise, it was a windy day.)

What was your childhood hobby? Did you ever have to wait until you grew up to do it? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CbtJ_GM2cg

TERMINUS ARC Giveaway Winner Announced!

Thanks to everyone who signed up for the TERMINUS, signed Advance Reader Copy giveaway.  We have a winner!

Random.org generated the name of Laura Freeman!  Congratulations, Laura.  You'll be receiving a rare advance reader copy which is only sent to reviewers and publications before the official launch of the book.

Be sure to sign up for the Official Newsletter to be automatically entered for future giveaways.  If you're not sure you're on the subscriber list, sign up again.  If you've already subscribed, it will tell you so.

Interview on “Literarily Speaking”

 

To kick off the two month TERMINUS Virtual Book Tour, I'm doing an interview today at Literarily Speaking.  I'll be addressing my writing, my new book TERMINUS, and answering some personal questions.  Hope you'll check it out here:  http://networkedblogs.com/JPD81

And don't forget to sign up for my official newsletter to be automatically entered into all future drawings.  Last month, we gave away signed copies of DARKROOM.

TERMINUS Official Release Day

Today is the official release day of TERMINUS.  I couldn't be more excited because this book has been in the making since 2009 and has finally been published. It's now available for NOOK on Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/XmcxzB and for Kindle at Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/178qkvn

Also available in paperback: http://amzn.to/X8JhKp

For free Sample Chapters (see link below)

For the next two months, I'll be doing a virtual book tour that includes internet interviews, reviews, and guest blogging.  I hope you'll follow my stops from time to time as I share the links here and on my social networks.

A special thanks to everyone who helped make this book a reality, and to all those who've encouraged and supported me.
Here is the back cover copy

HOW FAR MUST AN ANGEL FALL TO FIND HIS DESTINY?

Having witnessed one too many senseless deaths, Nikolai, a disillusioned Reaper 3rd Class, resigns his commission with the Angel Forces after a tedious century of gathering souls.

Immediately, another division recruits him with the promise of a more rewarding career, and issues his initial assignments: To bring down a few very dangerous threats to the human race. In the process, Nikolai falls in love with one of his targets—Hope Matheson, a woman who will lead thousands astray.

Caught between conflicting agendas, Nikolai chooses to “fall” from his celestial state and become mortal in order to circumvent angel law and be with her. But for angels and humans alike, things are not always as they appear. Still a target, the threat against Hope’s life intensifies.

Now, in order to save her, Nikolai must rally the last remnants of his failing supernatural abilities to prevent her assassination, as well as the destruction of an entire city by a nuclear terrorist strike.

But his time and power are running out…

Terminus is a perspective-altering saga that delves into ageless themes of redemption, destiny, and the eternal power of love.

Download free sample chapters here:
http://joshua-graham.com/terminuschapters