R.J. Palmer's Blog, page 11

I Can't be the Only One Who Thought of it.

Does anyone besides me feel kind of silly or stupid calling something an oxymoron? Isn't the word oxymoron by it's very definition kind of oxymoronic? I don't know but perhaps it has something to do with the word "moron" in oxymoron.Related articlesI Am An Oxymoron. I Am a Christian Psychiatrist. (friendtoyourself.com)
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From a Completely Different Perspective

Wouldn't it be completely disgusting if gut busting laughter actually made a person bust a gut laughing? That just brings to mind an absolutely absurd image.Related articlesNFL Hall of Fame: Why Deion Sanders' Bust Is Biggest Ever (bleacherreport.com)
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I'm Celebrating!!!

It's been close to a year since I, with the help of my darling and supportive husband Albert, decided to break into the world of independent authorship and I must say that it's been quite a wild ride with many ups and downs. Learning how to market my work and figuring out that an ebook copy of a novel should be formatted differently are just the beginning. We've almost gotten through the "virgin year" and we've taken our lumps with dignity and rejoiced at our triumphs and I'm no less than proud of the progress we've made, both as a couple and independent of each other. We've come a long way, baby!



Looking back on this last year, I could concentrate on the bad reviews I've gotten and turn them all into an acknowledgement of a negative experience, but then I'd have to crawl into a hole and hide and I'm just not the type. I choose to look at it this way, out of the 2,500 plus books that I've sold and given away (yes, I've given away several hundred copies of Birthright and whether people like to believe it or not, it works like a charm when it comes to getting my name and work out there) I've received about five bad reviews. Some of the reviews I have to discount because they were more what I would have to consider a personal attack which completely belies the concept of professionalism. Not that I'm whining about it or anything for in truth I count it as a positive that my work inspired such emotion in someone, even if that emotion was negative, that they took the time out of their day to go and write out a review, even if it was less than sterling. But I digress. I choose instead to consider that out of all the copies of my book Birthright out there, less than one percent of the people who read it didn't like it. That's the power of positive thinking, everyone.



Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be honest with you. It's enormously difficult to get a good review because you have to look at it this way, out of all the people that read your material if you're an aspiring author, approximately 10-15% of those people will be floored and add your name to their list of beloved authors. Similarly, about 10-15% of those people will absolutely not like your work for one reason or another and last but not least, that leaves about 70-80% of people that will be nothing if not ambivalent about it. The 10-15% that absolutely love your work straight from the start will be compelled to tell their family, friends and acquaintances about it, as well as anyone within hearing distance as a point of fact. What they won't be compelled to do is write a review because they, like I before I started writing and publishing my work independently, figure that if they like the work then it can naturally stand on its own merit therefore they will leave the public opinion to the public. Sadly, this means that it's left up to those who so deeply disliked the book that they feel compelled to warn everybody and their grandparents that this is material on which they wouldn't waste their time as well as the collective opinion that no one else should as well and they'll be very vocal about it in a type-written kind of way. Does that make sense to anyone but me?



He and I have put in almost a year of hard work and we've learned much (which will make it so much easier to market the next work titled Sins of the Father) and we've had the moments when we've wanted to give up and we've had to give each other pep talks and positive reinforcement, but now it's all water under the bridge. We've cut our teeth and learned how to take those first tentative steps and said our first words. Watch out world, it only gets better!



I guess what I'm saying is simple, bad reviews and negative opinions aside, I absolutely don't regret mine and my husbands' mutual decision to accept the stigma of independent authorship for me and we're celebrating ladies and gents...We turn ONE YEAR OLD SOON!!! Happy Birthday to us!!Related articlesTaking the Plunge! Indie Authorship (everydayintensity.com)
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I Love Kids

I have to say honestly, I love my kids but I love back to school, too!



It reminds me of the things my parents used to say. Something like, "Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids."



Just some food for thought.

Uncaged by Paul McKellips

Review written by RJ Palmer for Free Book Reviews and posted here with their permission.







I have to say honestly that I truly enjoyed this story and would've finished it far more quickly if I weren't a mother during summer vacation because I found it quite easy to become completely involved in the storyline, and I can appreciate that. Uncaged is a fictional blending of medical type thriller and "what if" scenario that successfully turns "black ops" or "classified" into something evocative and exciting. Well done, Mr. McKellips, you have my vote for excellent storytelling.



The beginning sent the reader bouncing all over the continental forty-eight states and made me feel kind of dizzy from time to time just trying to keep track of where the story was taking place at that particular point in time but calmed down fairly quickly and tended to stay in one spot consecutively afterwards. I was kind of happy there was a glossary at the end otherwise I might've gotten completely put off with all the acronyms because it seems like the government has an acronym for everything and I thought most of them were referenced in the story. I also felt like laughing at several points because the by-play between characters, especially military is hilarious and Mr. McKellips did a remarkably good job of illustrating the working relationship between career military personnel.



While some of the aspects of the ending were kind of typecast for lack of a better description because they could've been guessed from the first third of the story, there were other aspects that I genuinely didn't see coming and I love to be surprised. Granted, I also thought the ending could've been more detailed because it was almost as if Mr. McKellips got to a certain point in a rather interesting storyline and then got cautious and decided to tie up a few of the loose ends and stop before the story got too in-depth which left me slightly disappointed. I wanted to read more.



All in all, I'd have to give Uncaged four stars because the story is interesting and believable and ties together nicely even though the ending seems kind of quick and I'd highly recommend it for anyone who loves to curl up with a Tom Clancy type political/medical thriller without all the exhaustive detail.

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My Interview on Kindle Author

DAVID WISEHART: What can you tell us about Birthright?



RJ PALMER: Birthright is the written culmination of a youth spent with my nose in a book increasing my word power and my somewhat neurotic imagination we well as a journey of self-discovery. I found that I'm passionate about the written word and can't even write out the answers to these interview questions without giving it some kind of pop. That and honestly, I have an over active imagination and most often must rely on my husband to keep me firmly grounded with a modicum of realism though at the time that I wrote Birthright he wasn't in the picture yet. He nevertheless insisted on supporting me in my interest in pursuing a career in novelism which was something difficult for me to fathom considering that he hadn't really gotten a glimpse into my imagination running full speed ahead and he was prepared to support me on a "pig in a poke" basis knowing only that he loved me and that writing was what I wanted to do for a living. Imagine his surprise when I insisted that to be able to advocate my work, he must first read my work and imagine my surprise when he not only read it in record time (which only happens with novels or works in which he is helplessly engrossed) but began to look at me with a new kind of respect. To be perfectly blunt, I was utterly floored though all in all, I loved finding out that I had a talent for storytelling as well as the patience to see it through.



DAVID WISEHART: How do you develop and differentiate your characters?



RJ PALMER: I have to step into their shoes in a manner of speaking and write from what I can only surmise would be their point of view, how they felt and what they saw which is more difficult than one might believe given that these characters are fictional. However, development and differentiation come more by themselves when I resolutely do everything I conceivably can to set myself aside and BE each character about whom I'm writing because I'm just the storyteller, they are the story.



DAVID WISEHART: Who do you imagine is your ideal reader?



RJ PALMER: My ideal reader is the person who likes my material. Okay, anyone who enjoys a somewhat technical science fiction novel with an edge of the surreal will tend to enjoy Birthright while with my newer works in progress, genre preferences will have to be different though the writing style will be largely the same and yes, that's about as close to teaser or spoiler as I get. I can honestly say that science fiction writers tend to acquire a cult following and I don't want to be any different so I want for my ideal reader to be rabidly in love with my work though not to the point that I get stalkers, in all things there is a delicate balance.



DAVID WISEHART: What was your journey as a writer?



RJ PALMER: The over active imagination had to have creative outlet sooner or later. In truth, I was broke and bored out of my mind and one day just started writing and it kind of snowballed from there. Soon I was sleeping better (because I wasn't kept awake at night with a racing mind) and believe it or not I became more functional so all in all my journey as a writer realistically straightened my life out in a way that I would never have been able to anticipate.





Read more at Kindle Author

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Author Interview: Steven W. Johnson author of Not Much of a Crime

Steven W. Johnson is a three-tour veteran of Viet Nam. Among others he has worked as a mailroom clerk, teletype operator, computer programmer, as well as a magazine editor and publisher. Reading has always been a part of his life and he finds it strange that he should be a writer when the nuns who taught him in grade school couldn't get him to do his written homework.



Author Name: Steven W. Johnson

Name of Book: Not Much of a Crime



Description of Book:



Allison King finds herself embroiled in a fight for her life when she decides to run for a vacant seat on the town council of Charleston, Nevada. Does she have what it takes to overcome the political corruption, intrigue, and murder that permeates the town and still save the adult video empire she has created in Los Angeles?



Where to Find:



Steven Johnson's Website

Self Publisher Store

Amazon Kindle



Author's Website: http://www.stevenwjohnson.com



And now for the in depth questions :)



RJ Palmer

Is there a work of your own of which you are particularly fond? Why?



Steven W. Johnson

I am most fond, a the moment, of The Curious Misadventures of Tubby Wexler, Private Investigator. Tubby believes he is the personification of the pulp magazine detectives of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. He has all the trappings, a two room office in a dilapidated downtown office building, a faithful, if untrained, canine, a beautiful voluptuous Cajun secretary, and a host of bizzare clients. The only thing Tubby doesn't have - is a clue!



I am most fond of Tubby because it is difficult to write a character who cannot do anything of any social significance. Even though he is a private detective, he cannot solve a murder, find a kidnap victim, or win the heart of the lust of his life, Julia Pettigrew, his private secretary.



RJ Palmer

What is your favorite part of the writing process? Your least favorite?



Steven W. Johnson

My favorite part of the writing process is listening to the voices in my head. While the Ancient Greeks believed in a Muse for each aspect of the creative process, I firmly believe they are still alive and fighting among themselves to be heard. It is a regular slug fest at times as each of them tries to dominate the scene I am writing.



What I hate the most is the idea of outlining a story. I would much rather have the characters talk to me and tell me their story rather than attempt to force them into a scenario I want them to participate in. I have found that if I try to force the characters into any form, the stop talking to me and it may take months for them to get over their huff.



RJ Palmer

Describe in your own words (for there can be no other way) what direction it is to which you aspire when it comes to your work. Where do you want your work to take you?



Steven W. Johnson

While I have never taken a creative writing course (I seriously think they stifle creativity as the instructors try to mold the wannabe authors into their own mold) I devise new "assignments" of my own to improve my writing skills. One of these tasks was to write a complete 3 act story line with no speaking attributions (no he said/she said). Another I just finished was to eliminate the word "was" from an entire story. Both short stories are available in my forthcoming book Long Tales & Short Shorts that will come out before Christmas. I am waiting on the cover artwork.



I am now learning the ins and outs of screenplays. Another assignment I am forcing upon myself as we all know the "big money" is in Hollywood.



RJ Palmer

Most writers have a favorite genre when it comes to reading that is not necessarily the genre in which they write, do you write in your favorite genre? If so, why? If not, why not?



Steven W. Johnson

While I write mysteries, farces, and short stories of all genre, I love to read mysteries, westerns, and non-fiction history books. I recently finished a book that dealt with the Werwolf, the attempted Nazi guerrilla efforts from 1944 through 1946. Most people don't realize that even though the European Theater war ended in May of 1944, the die-hard Nazis fought on until 1946 and in some isolated instances within Russian held territory into 1948 before they were fully crushed.



RJ Palmer

Do you have a favorite quote from a writer that you use for inspiration? What is it and why?



Steven W. Johnson

My favorite quote comes from Thomas B. Sawyer in his book Fiction Writing Demystified. And it is "Face it - We're Entertainers." His point is that if you cannot entertain your readers you are in the wrong profession. [For those of you unfamiliar with Tom, he was the head writer and showrunner for Murder She Wrote and 15 other TV shows during his career.]



Of course I also like the quote from Alfred Hitchcock: "Drama is real life with the boring parts removed."



RJ Palmer

Some writers tend to have a unique step in their writing process that has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual writing but has everything to do with inspiration or balance. Most people would call it a little bit OCD. Do you have such a step? Would you care to share what it is?



Steven W. Johnson

I keep the computer close to my bed so when the Muses start bickering I can lay down and let them sort it out. At times, I also do a load of laundry and hang it on the line to dry. But I much prefer the lie down on the bed routine, although it does tend to irritate my wife at times. She thinks I am taking a nap...



I would like to thank Steven for participating and encourage readers and viewers alike to please check Steven out, his story may be just what you were looking for.

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Just Because I Thought Of It

When I'm curious, I often begin a question with the line, "Just out of sheer morbid curiosity..."



I've frequently had people ask me, "Why does it have to be morbid? Why can't you just be curious?"



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Seditious Statements

I've wondered from time to time whether it's really acceptable for "We the People" to really call ourselves such anymore and in point of fact, I'm quite sure that some of the statements I'm about to make could be considered seditious but I guess that's just a chance I'm going to have to take. I love America, please don't misunderstand me. This is my home and has always been my home though some of the things that I've begun to realize make me question the validity and the viability of our governing body, namely us. Did we forget that one little fact? That we are in truth, the makers of our own collective destiny as applies to our government?

Have we forgotten the Declaration of Independence in our preoccupation or more specifically, lines in the Declaration that not only give "the governed" the RIGHT to consent to the laws written and enacted by "the governing" because they have in truth been placed in a position of authority by our own consent? Aside from the idea that the governing party placed in the position of authority is supposed to be for no other purpose than to secure the rights of the governed. Read the second paragraph if you don't believe me where it says verbatim, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," and while you're at it take a look at the rest of the second paragraph because I'm going to reference it frequently. Does anyone think that that was a pretty turn of phrase or that it was added on a whim? Or could it have been more to the point that it was a statement made at a time when American Colonists were unhappy with the distant and unresponsive monarchy and sought a voice for their best interests?

Does anyone truly believe that it was an easy decision to make for the colonists to declare independence from the monarchy? The colonists had to have known that in the declaring that they were independent they would then have caused a call to military action from the monarchy but in the end, liberty was more important to them than even their very lives. Being a whole group of wealthy white men (for lack of a better description) that were ultimately trying not to pay taxes, they had to have understood what the consequences of their actions would be and yet they persisted. Why does anyone think that is? Would it not have been just easier to pay the outrageous taxes and suffer in silence, as it were? Perhaps to them was it more worth it to make the necessary sacrifices for the sake of their malcontent and suffer and sacrifice they did. Children were called to arms and young men died and all for the sake of a vision of a better life. Does anyone think that the colonists did not understand that should they have lost the Revolutionary War that the consequences of their actions would likely be of a brutal and oppressive nature? I have to say that I believe that our forefathers knew what they were doing when they drafted the Declaration of Independence and they also knew what the possible consequences of their actions could be should the colonists have found themselves the losers in the ensuing bloody conflict and they were prepared to take that gamble. Keeping all this in mind, I have to assume that "the governed" no longer gave their consent to BE governed and stated as such.

They then chose to abolish their current government as is also written as a RIGHT in the Declaration: "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Is it not the opinion of many Americans now that we have a problem with a bastardization of the principles on which this very country was founded? Are words written a few centuries ago any less applicable now than they were then?

Don't get me wrong, that one paragraph cautions against imprudent action for "light or transient causes" though it also cautions against becoming complacent with something with which people are familiar. Hence the line, "and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." However, it also states in the very next sentence that it is the right and DUTY of the people to abolish that Government should it become abusive and intolerable to quote, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

These quotes are all the words of the founding fathers of the United States, ladies and gentlemen and I have every confidence that they were neither penned lightly nor taken lightly by the recipient, hence the Revolutionary War.

If there are a few underlying themes I've noticed under all the dissatisfaction of the loudly protesting American people, they are these; misspent taxes and the cavalier attitude of our governing body. There are so many taxes to pay, insane amounts of taxes for frivolous things for example a "death tax" or a "gift tax." I really don't even think that the taxes themselves are what upset people the most because I honestly think it's the percentage that's taken. Don't get me wrong, I really think that should anyone have seen examples of these "tax dollars hard at work" they would not be nearly so inclined to be angry or suspicious but the infrastructure of America is crumbling and costs are exorbitant while the government faces little or no accountability for its spending. Why is it okay for the governing body to consistently vote to raise their own pay while the millions of American people face a day to day struggle to pay the bills and put food on the table? Why is it okay for congressmen and women and senators and even the president to take multimillion dollar vacations to exotic locations on the tab of the American people while the people are suffering through a fiscally painful economic recession in which food, housing, energy and transportation costs have soared?

Currently, the salary of the President of the United States is $400,000 including an expense allowance of $50,000 which is utterly ridiculous. I wish I could get an expense allowance though I think that that's out of the question though it does beg the question; when did the people approve a 100% pay raise for the president as it was changed from $200,000 in 2001. Truthfully, I've estimated almost $99 million American tax dollars get spent annually on the salaries of the most basic part of the governing body which would be the President and his Cabinet, Representatives in the House and Senators as well as the Supreme Court Justices. Why is that fair or right when the current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour fully effective in 2009 and didn't budge before that for somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty years? Pardon me for being perfectly blunt but I happen to think that the American governing body could realistically do the governing that they're supposed to be doing by the CONSENT of the American people with less than half of what they're paid now and I consider the greed of the American government nothing less than a breach of trust. The American people TRUST the government to govern "We the People" with integrity, discipline, understanding and above all a desire to do what's RIGHT for the people as a whole and I believe that the utter lack of action among the government constitutes laziness and a violation of the trust of the people. Then again, I also believe that even though the people are aware of the violation of their trust about the expenditures of the government, they are also somewhat ambivalent and don't really do anything about it. More the fools we are.

I had also mentioned earlier the cavalier attitude of the governing body so I ask you this now; when was the consent of the American people obtained when the Patriot Act made it not only possible but also completely legal for law enforcement to brand a person a terrorist for virtually any reason and then subsequently take away all of their rights and arrest and detain them indefinitely without charging them or giving them a trial? This is something that I would call an arbitrary and unilateral control play and I can tell you right now, I think it's also a vulgar show of power and I ask this; did it really take President Obama this long (about a decade) to let most of that hateful and paranoid bill go? Why? I remember getting the sketchiest of details in regards to the actual wording of the Patriot Act and before I knew it, it was law despite the protests of the people. If that's not unilateral or arbitrary decision making, I don't know what is. I would think that the overwhelming opposition of the people would have dissuaded such drastic measures, but the government lived down to the expectations of the people. And while we're at it, how many people were terribly happy about the "Internet Kill Switch"? Last I knew, it wasn't well received among any but the government and I have to say honestly, it somewhat reminds me of the numerous examples through out history of hopelessly insane monarchs or emperors who were terribly paranoid about what their subjects thought of them and history bears the bloody details. Something like that never ended well, if memory serves me correctly.

The long and short of it? Do I believe that the United States government should be abolished? No, I believe it needs to be altered because we are standing on the precipice of the end of the patience of the American people. After repeated mistreating and abuse and violations of trust, I believe that "We the People" have become disenchanted and disillusioned with the course of the current system of government and increasingly discontented with the direction our governing body seems to be headed. To alter the currently established system would be vastly preferable no matter the circumstances because quite frankly, to abolish the current system would mean exactly the same thing that it's always meant: revolution. Revolution is never quick or painless, the details are written in blood across history and for those people out there who talk about revolution, consider this; are you prepared and willing to fight and die for your revolution? Are you prepared to sacrifice your children, your sons and daughters and husbands and wives? Because in the end that's what will happen and those who support revolution are likely not thinking of the ramifications of the invariably bloody ensuing conflict, anger tends to be blind and never does think of what can go wrong. I believe that the American governing body, under the insistence of "We the People" should have to undergo an extensive and probably exhausting overhaul or alteration to change the current state of affairs.

And while I'm at it, I'd like to issue a challenge of sorts to all Americans regardless of race or creed. We as a people agreed to be governed by those to whom we gave our CONSENT which means we made the CHOICE to be governed by those that govern us now. Just like a parent can give or revoke consent with or without reason based upon what's best for a child, does that not also mean that those who choose to be governed also give their leave to be governed? The American people have made some poor choices about whom we allow to hold public office and should we truly decide that that needs to change, then "We the People" need to take that initiative or stop whining about political corruption and despotism. If we're going to make noise and be angry or disapproving about the way our tax dollars are spent or the cavalier attitude of the governing body or even any part of the government that's causing civil unrest or discontent, then we need to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! In my opinion, anything less constitutes the same cavalier laziness which angers us when it comes from the politicians and I don't believe that it's fair or right to condemn one specific group of people for things of which we are all guilty. If it's permissible for the people to be ambivalent then the attitudes of the governing body will reflect that ambivalence and they will behave accordingly. In truth, "We the People" need to put up or shut up.

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A the days are numbered

Birthright is only Available Free on Smashwords until 07/31/2011 so get it while you can and hopefully post a review:)



Birthright on Smashwords free until 07/31 with SSWSF

Birthright on Smashwords



In the bitter cold of an unseasonable Colorado winter, Raine Donnelly's life is turned hopelessly upside down. The things that begin to happen couldn't possibly be real. Machines malfunction and electricity goes haywire, and that's just the beginning. The doctors think it's a brain tumor and that he's having blackouts and hallucinations and insist on further testing and more memories.

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