Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 50

WHY DO ROAD TRIPS MAKE FOR ABSORBING READS?

 

Travel changes us. 

Often, a road trip teaches us something about ourselves. 

In a good novel, your character learns something or changes along the way.

From The Odyssey to Titanic to 1999's The Mummy to this year's DEATH ON THE NILE


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NRJT9CC
Alternate History meets with Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and star-fallen gods
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYRFTML
Steampunk meets Alternate History again with Mark Twain.11 year old Nikola Teslaand vampire kingdoms warring with star-fallen aliens.

John Steinbeck declares in Travels With Charley 

that Americans descended from those who moved: those who left Europe, 

those who were forced to leave Africa, 

and those who came in search of a better life. 

It makes sense that we would be travelers.

 “Every American hungers to move,” he writes. 

But most of us can’t just pack up and leave, so here are 4 Road Trips  novels:

2 Not So Innocent Sagas

and 2 Victorian Egyptian thrillers

for those of you who want to avoid 

the  travails of travel

and just enjoy others' misadventures!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NRKWZTZ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYSKT4W

Music to enjoy my Road Trips Steampunk fantasies

By

Enjoy Steampunk?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 "Did the shepherds ever hum the song 

the angels sang that night?"  

- Father Darael

May whatever the future holds for us be the better for the knowledge of Who holds that future. 

Merry Christmas, Roland

Has CHRISTMAS Lost the Magic for You?

 

IT HAS BEEN A TOUGH TWO YEARS FOR SO MANY
IF YOU FIND IT HARD TO GLIMPSE THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT ...

LET THERE BE LIGHT
The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may cause winter-onset SAD . This decrease in sunlight may disrupt your body's internal clock and lead to feelings of depression. 
A drop in serotonin, a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that affects mood, might play a role in SAD .
Light up your room, apartment, or house. It will make a difference.

Before two hurricanes destroyed my old apartment complex, 
a few of us tenants would pool together our money to hire a horse-drawn carriage to ooh and ahh at our city's Christmas Lights.
It was safer than driving our cars and perhaps getting into a wreck by being distracted drivers.
After a tornado ripped our city apart this year there are no horse-drawn carriages ... but I have the memories to light my heart.

KEEP MOVING

Benefits Of Cold Weather Running

1 ) Extra calories burned, during and after. ...

2 ) Feel happier, train harder. ...

3 ) Get a sweat on. ...

4 ) Free up the fat stores. ...

5 ) Boost glucose uptake. ...

6 ) Get one up on Summer. ...

7 ) Create some headspace. ...

Morning runs: try doing your outdoor running in the morning.

ORPHANS IN THE STORM PARTIES

"No, I will not abandon you nor leave you as orphans in the storm."  John 14:18

Being alone during the holidays can exacerbate existing feelings of depression or even cause them, 

so if you’re facing the prospect of a lonely Christmas, gather up your single friends and anyone you know whose family is far away and have a party ... even if it is only by Skype.

A Skype Party is fun:

 No need to dress up, nor eat goodies made by those who mean well but can't cook to save their lives, and no one yucky trying to hustle you under the mistletoe!

You’ll be doing yourself and them a favor.

FIND THE SMILE HIDING UNDER THE SNOW

Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.

Activate and relieve your stress response. 

A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. 

The result? A good, relaxed feeling.

Soothe tension. 

Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

LONG TERM EFFECTS

Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up, though. It's also good for you over the long term. 

Laughter may:

 

Improve your immune system. 

Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. 

By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.

Relieve pain. 

Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.

EASY FOR ME TO SAY?

When two hurricanes had me homeless for 7 months, Lifeshare graciously let me sleep on a cot in a corner of their T-Shirt storeroom.

I would joke to the blood techs coming in at 5 A.M. that at least I had no excuse for being late for work 

and when a 4 A.M. blood drive would show up to prepare for the day, they would find me in the freezing storeroom with my Bah, Humbug! Santa Hat on.

ALL THIS IS JUST FRIENDLY ADVISE, MIND YOU

NEVER IN PAPERBACK; NOW IN HARDBACK

 "If you have to face unbeatable odds, 

thank the cowards for the compliment, 

laugh at this farce of life, 

and charge straight into them, taking as many with you as you can." 

- Victor Standish

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NGS52V7?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Alice Wentworth could not die with her love, Victor Standish, 

SO she means to avenge him though it cost her the life which means less than nothing to her now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYWXYLM?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Even that scamp, Victor Standish, could not contend with gods and monsters forever. 

In 1834, he makes his last stand (in affordable hardback.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NR7GR25?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

The UPDATED Book Zero in the 

SAGA OF VICTOR STANDISH 

now in affordable Hardback.

I'll be doing blood runs

this Christmas -

think of giving me a smile

by buying one of my books, would you?

DANGLING IN THE DARK

The paths forced upon us by outside forces these past months 

have certainly been improbable, almost impossible to guess before they happened.

Entire towns no longer exist in Kentucky after Friday's swarm of tornadoes.

Uncertainty is the price for life. We long for it to be different, but reality simply is.

Integrity and compassion are the only compasses for our walk into the dark.

"No one can build you the bridge that you,  and only you, must cross the river of life."  - Carl Jung

In my world-view, laughter and friendship makes each step across that bridge easier 
and leads to a place where He who shaped us waits to give us a hug and to lead us to our next great adventure.

MAY THE DAYS OF YOUR CHRISTMAS SEASON BE HAPPY AND BRIGHT

HOW ARE YOU THIS HOLIDAY SEASON?

 

These past months were enough to make a hard man humble ... 

or at least overwhelmed.

How have you managed to cope?

Keeping the child alive inside helps me.

What helps you?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYSS3T5Only $7.99 in paperback$14.99 in hardcover$17.46 in audio book
Victor Standish's Last Stand

IT'S ALL ABOUT A FEEL

 

 

Sam Cooke once told Herb Albert:

"Man, it’s all about a feel. 

There’s nothing else. 

People are just listening to a cold piece of wax, man, and it either makes it or it don’t."

Herb Albert and Jerry Moss started the A & M record label on a handshake.

Nothing was ever put in writing. All they had was honesty to bind them together.

Integrity never gets outdated. 
“We were putting out records for the right reasons — putting out records that we would have bought ourselves,” Alpert says.

The same is true for what we write:

It either rings true for us or it does not. 

We must stay the course. 

If no one discovers us, we have at least not labored in vain to craft a selling lie.

The same is true for the Magic of Christmas.

The pandemic, the political scene, the inflation, the flurry of dueling agendas ...

When all seems so dark ...

You must work to draw the magic of Christmas to you.
It is all about looking up.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LGTN9GY
Now in Hardcover:
During the 1st Christmas Eveafter WWII,
Darkness wars with Lovein the French Quarter.

Why You Should Print a HARDCOVER of Your Book_ISWG Post

 

1. EARN 60% Royalties on your HARDBACK! (Less Cost of Printing)

    Yes, KDP offers  the same on paperbacks, but you set the price for both formats, and folks will pay more for a book that feels substantial in their hands.

2. You reach NEW readers

    Some readers feel that Kindle books, even paperbacks, are not REAL books, not quality ...

 just toss-offs with no true effort put behind their creation.

3. PAPERBACKS are a glut in the marketplace.

    KDP has just recently offered the ability to put out a hardcover of your book. 

Don't you wish you had been on the ground floor of the Kindle craze?

4. Your COVER looks AWESOME in glossy Hardcover.

    I received Proof copies of two of my hardcovers at work and received orders for the Hardcover from my co-workers just by their seeing how great they looked in that format.

5. Hardcovers' spines look GREAT on your readers' bookshelves. 

    I have had long-time readers ask for HARDCOVER copies of paperbacks they have already bought for that reason.

ALL of my DARK HOLLYWOOD SAGA is now in Hardcover!

BOOK 0 Death Accepts No Stunt Doubleshttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M577X7P$12.99

BOOK ONE What would have a Dexter-like Personality done in the O.S.S. & Post-War Hollywood?https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LGJZ842$12.99

BOOK TWO https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LGTN9GY$12.97

(Just in time for Christmas, my French Quarter homage to Charles Dickens is out!)

BOOK THREE Mardi Gras & Valentine's Was Never So Deadlyhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M59ZYG4$12.99

BOOK FOUR Sometimes all the light we have is what we nourish in our hearts.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L56FL6N$13.59


Whatever your choice of path to writing success,I wish you a strong wind at your back.

And May Holiday Magic Pay You A Wondrous Visit This Month!

It's Not What You Have; It's What Has You This Thanksgiving

 

“Not what we feel about what we have, but how we use it, 

is what brings happiness or unhappiness to our lives.” 

- Mark Twain

“Without gratitude, the heart slowly becomes sour and the soul turns dark. 

And if we permit these to go their full course, we will find ourselves in an eternal night.”

 - Samuel McCord

I do not know where each of you finds yourself. 

It has been a grim year for so many 

around the world.

But I do know that ...

To be thankful for one thing is infinitely more healing 

than to be bitter about a hundred others.

May Laughter be yours sometime

this Thanksgiving Day.

Always your friend, Roland

LIFE BEGINS IN MYSTERY

 And ends in mystery ... but what a eye-opening journey lies between.

Struggling with the consequences of Covid-19, deep freezes, floods, 7 homeless months, and tornadoes ...

Midnight got to stay in vet prison.

Writing has sure proved challenging!

I have just started my 6th Dark Hollywood novel.
The other 5 have just been released in Hardback.
Wish me some sales so I don't feel so silly continuing! 

I've noticed that when I talk about my books,my visitors dry up like the desert.
HOW ABOUT YOU?