Carly Compass's Blog, page 6

Write a Review and the Luck of the Irish will always be with you!

Good Reads, Smashwords, Amazon reviews.

Independent authors rely heavily on reviews.
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I love getting messages on Facebook from my readers stating how  they love my books. It would really help if they wrote the review too. I wish I could just cut and paste the things my readers said in private messages, from choosing sides of team Brad or team Vlad to how both mothers and daughters are enjoying the books together.

As a writer, I just appreciate that people read my books and it gives me such a thrill to know that they enjoy my creation. It is painful to chase after people and shamelessly ask them to write a review, especially when I just appreciate that they have read my work and love it.

Writing reviews may seem intimidating, so I will examine the process of writing reviews on the various social media sites.

It only takes a few minutes to join Goodreads. It is a fun  web site where you can get in touch with readers and authors. A reader can also become a fan,  write and read reviews for their favorite authors.

You do not have to write an essay to get your point across in a review. An overall impression is all that is needed. All of the reviews I  wrote on Goodreads can be found on my good reads review tab on this web site.

Sometimes a reader might be impressed with a particular line in the story and by all mean include quotes if you wish.

On Goodreads, you do not have to prove that you bought the book, since it is not a site that sells books. It is a site for readers and authors to meet and share their love of books.

On Amazon, reviews are verified and if you did not purchase the book from Amazon, then they will mark the review as unverified or verified if the book was purchased at the Amazon website.

Electric, The Beginning, Book 1 is now available for a free download, get it now, on Amazon.

If the reader did not purchase the book on Amazon they will write that they received a free copy for an honest review.

I like it when you purchase or download a free version on Amazon, that Amazon will follow up with you via email and ask you to write a review. This hopefully will motivate readers to write reviews.

On Smashwords, it only takes a few minutes to sign up, but they will not allow you to write a reviews unless you have purchased the book through their website. Now that Electric, The Beginning, Book 1 is available for free download, all are welcome to write a review for Book 1. If you  have either purchased from Smash words or have downloaded a free version, you can sign up in just minutes and write a review.

It is impossible for a writer to meet each reader and talk to them. That is why writers rely on book reviews. A reader can decide from the book reviews if they want to read the book.

M LeMont writes how a readers can write a review in  2 minute and 2 seconds here.  Definitely worth a read.

Here are a few teasers excerpts from Electric, The Consummation, Book II for you to enjoy.

Thank you for your time and attention. I appreciate every minute of it. Have a great day. And remember Electric, The Aftermath, Book IV is due to come out in eight weeks, so if you have not read all three yet, hurry and catch up!

Electric, The Aftermath, Book IV, due out on April 30th! Help spread the word!
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Electric, The Beginning, Book I, Free Download

I am very excited to announce that Electric, The Beginning, Book I, is available for free download on Smashwords and will soon be available on Amazon for free download too.

Please feel free to spread the word and if you haven’t read it yet, get going as Book IV in the series will be out this spring.

I was going to write a post about marketing on Facebook, but decided to share an interview with Graham Watkins about my book release party back in November. It about sums up all the problems you can have on Facebook and definitely worth a read.

I have also added an interview that was conducted earlier this year by author Gabe Schillman for you to peruse.

I am working feverishly on book IV and can’t wait to share it with all of you.

Until next time…

I know it is really early but, I like anything to get me through the doom and gloom of winter. Every night I check the time when I turn on the porch lights and it is getting later and later everyday, indicating spring is on its way….

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... Free download now!
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Extolling The Virtues of Pinterest!

I love Pinterest for so many reasons. You can use Pinterest as an Illustrated Discover Journal, or some people call them vision boards. You can use it as a learning tool to discover our vast universe, our deep oceans or for crystals and rocks found deep within our earth’s core, travel the world and visit lands you have never seen before, from beautiful landscapes in nature to everything under the sun. Pinterest is also great as a marketing tool to guide people to your blog, book, or merchandise. The possibilities are endless.

Learn to use Pinterest for marketing!
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This post is two fold, as there is an interest for purely pleasure and also one for marketing. If you want to skip to marketing then scroll down to the heading clearly marked MARKETING. 

If you are not comfortable having the public view your pictures that you collect on Pinterest you can create a private board for your eyes only or you can invite a select few to see your collection.

In her book, Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, Sarah Ban Breathnach, discusses creating an Illustrated Discovery Journal, on January 28th. Since the book was first published in 1995 a lot has changed.  She suggested that you  buy a large scrap book and hoard magazines so that you can  cut out  the pictures and use rubber cement to past them in your Illustrated Discover Journal. The idea is that you collect the pictures that you are most attracted to so that you can get back in touch with who you are or your authentic self. This is a great tool for self discovery.

Other authors suggest creating vision boards of all the things you want to acquire to reach your goals, to make dreams come true.

With Pinterest there is no need for all that cutting and glue, now all you need do is create a board and start collecting whatever you desire, whether you are trying to get in touch with your authentic self or you are looking to set goals for your future. I find Pinterest is a great stress reliever. It is fun to run through the pictures and learn new things and get in touch with other people that have the same tastes or hobbies.

I created 39 boards in the past year and never knew how much I loved Art Nouveau and Art Deco. I have discovered some awesome recipes and placed them on my food board.

I can’t forget to mention gardening, flowers, and fashion. The thing to remember here is that there are no rules. So you can just have fun. I have even come up with a tag line:

When I'm stressed, I Pinterest!
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But enough about the fun and creative side. Let’s get down to business and the business of marketing with Pinterest.

MARKETING

We are visual creatures and are attracted to visual art form. I try to create and include nice pictures on all of my blog posts so that I can pin them on Pinterest. You might notice that many pictures on Pinterest are connected to blogs. If you are on a desk top and look to the top right of this blog you will see social media buttons. These buttons take people out to all of my social media pages. At the bottom of each post you will see social share buttons. If you click on the Pinterest social share, it will give you options of which picture you would like to post.

My best blog post entitled, Living In The Attitude Of Gratitude was my best Pinterest share, my readers shared the pin 100 times!   Pinterest gets you more exposure and new readers or customers depending on your goal.

Pinterest is another avenue to have your blog, books or merchandise seen, thereby driving more traffic to your site and increasing your sales.

Of the 39 boards that I have created, I have one for my novel, writing, and emotions. I created these boards to collect quotes and then post pictures from my blogs on them, so that my followers can link to my blog.

Recently, a friend, Graham Watkins,  asked me about Pinterest and mentioned in one of his posts that he didn’t have time to pin pictures. He is the inspiration for this post. As I thought of trying to explain all of this to him, I thought, better to blog about it so that if I am faced with this question again, I can send them to my post, rather than explain it all.

I just finished reading Graham’s book, Welsh Legends and Myths: 80 Myths and Legends from across Wales [Kindle Edition] and it reminded me of my love of Castles. Of course I have a board on Pinterest for Castles and I thought this is the perfect place to post his book, because anyone who loves Castles would also enjoy his book. See if you can find his book on my board entitled Castles?

You will notice that Amazon uses a Pinterest social share button on their site as well. If you like a book cover, you can add it to your boards. I hope you have found this post informative and useful. I would love it, if you can show your love, by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and of course Pinterest using the buttons below.

May your days be filled with love and laughter.

May your nights be filled with warmth and joy.

Keep warm until we meet again!

To purchase the Electric Series for Kindle www.amazon.com/author/carlycompass for nook and desktop versions…
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I would love to hear from you so feel fee to leave a comment in the comment box provided below. Make it a great day everyone!

Making the Most of Social Media!

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram Oh My!

This post will deal solely with Twitter!
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#writerplatform, #amwriting, #ccwriter, @MisterSalesman #MRetweetTrain, #FF, @Mondayblogs, #MondayBlog, #IARTG, @IARTG, @SNRTG, #SNRTG #LikeAnAuthorPage

Find the above aforementioned confusing? Read further, all will be explained!

Twitter, doesn’t work if you are not paying attention to your followers and retweeting their tweets. If your followers do not share your enthusiasm, find followers that will. Stay engaged with those that know how to reciprocate and RECIPROCATE!

If you just keep retweeting your own work without tweeting others’ work, you will not get anywhere.

Be engaged, read the tweets before you retweet and keep your content strong, consistent and cohesive to your brand.

Use #’s:

I have created three hashtags so far. I created them so people that want to engage in the topic can search the # and use the #.

First I created #LikeAnAuthorPage to steer people to my author page. If it catches on and people use the hashtag, then the hashtag will be used to get people to your author page on Facebook creating more traffic to you and your books! Use #LikeAnAuthorPage and I will retweet and like it of course! I check it daily!

I created #ccrelease for 32 authors around the world that hosted my book release party and 7,000 attendees of my book release party held in November, 2014. If you search the #ccrelease you will see the tweets generated from the book release party.

I just created #ccwriter: This hash tag will be used for all my content in the future. You can also use it if you want me to Retweet your content too. I check it daily.

There are groups that if you use their hashtag, they will retweet your tweets. Just follow them and include their hash tag. @SNRTG #SNRTG Retweeted all of my book release party tweets to their  22,000 followers. They now have 34,700 followers and are growing.

Recently I met, @MisterSalesman who uses the #MRetweetTrain. Bobbie Dixon has created a retweet train with 28 cars. She had 70K followers when I met her three weeks ago and now has 80.7K. Bobbie includes you when you engage and retweet her tweets and I have gained many new followers as a result. You can learn more about her and her books here.

@IARTG, #IARTG is another Tweeter that will retweet your tweets if you include them in your posts.

I have found the best way to work with twitter is to pay attention to my notifications. I follow back all followers unless they are selling followers, are pornographic or seemed to have some sort of political agenda.

If someone retweets my posts then I look over their tweets and post tweets that fit into my agenda, which is reading and writing with a slight dusting of environmental concerns. I don’t just retweet the first thing I see.

To keep you books at the top, create a tweet, then click on the three little dots located at the lower right hand side of your tweet, click pin to top and your most important tweet can be found easily for all your followers to retweet!

@MondayBlogs #MondayBlogs will also retweet your blog if you include them in your tweet about your blog.

Using #amwriting, and #writerplatform will alert people searching those hash tags, just keep it relevant to the content, i.e. use #writerplatform when discussing your writer platform and use #amwriting when discussing writing.

Lastly #FF you can create a post for your most valued twitter followers. You can use this post to introduce your followers to each other as well. Here is an example, I want to help people that helped me the most as of this week that would include:

#FF to all my great followers @mistersalesman, @Devika_Author @woodlingbook, @Nicholas_Rossis, @sparky_town, @cigar150,  @2UFarm, @KaratoliosK…the list goes on.

So it is smart to follow these people, who will follow you back and Retweet your content.

If you have too many for one tweet then make two or three, and as @MrSalesman would say, why wait for Friday, do it everyday! 

It has been a busy year, I have been interviewed and nominated and have received three new reviews for  Electric, The Resolution, Book III, but I can always use more, so keep them coming and thank you so much for your time!

I have to get back to work on, Electric, The Aftermath, Book IV. I hope this helps you understand twitter a little better. If you think I missed something, please feel free to comment.

Wherever you are, and whatever you do, make it a great day!

Carly Compass  #ccwriter #amwriting

Purchase my books at: www.amazon.com/author/carlycompass or www.smashwords.com/profile/view/carly...
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Very Inspiring Blog Award

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

1/10/2015

Thank you so much, Devika Fernando, Author, for nominating me for The Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

Readers, do me a favour and check out Devika’s  wonderful blog here. She’s a successful romance author with three book out and great plans for the future.

Now let’s move on to “business”. There are a few things connected to the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Here are the rules. Read them carefully and follow them if I have tagged you to carry on with this nice tradition.

• Display the award on your blog

• Link back to the person who nominated you

• State 7 things about yourself

• Nominate  you favorite bloggers, link to them, and notify them about their nominations

So here we go, I’m sharing 7 facts about myself:

1) I love helping people! It is my single most reason for living.

2) I am an avid reader and love writing.

3) I want to make the world a better place.

4) My hobbies are gardening, house plants, caring for fish and cats, decorating, fashion and psychology.

5) I am finding it difficult to find time to work on my next project, Electric, Book IV, The Aftermath!

6) I have to be creating something new all the time.

7) My favorite book is, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by: Milan Kudera

Now it’s time to choose your favorite bloggers to pay it forward.

Each blogger below has helped me in immeasurable ways! You can check out their blogs by clicking on their name.

My nominees are:

1. Graham Watkins

2. Nicholas Rossis

3. Dan Blank 

4. Chad Clark

5. Kristen Lamb 

6. Kim Garst

7. Kimberly Grabas

8. Justine Musk

9. M Lemont

 

I can’t wait to see your posts! Until then, make it a great day!

 

Happy New Year! Resolve…

As the New Year approaches we all make resolutions. I thought I would share mine here with you. Think about the things you want to change in your life. Think of ways to make it better, so that you are more productive, organized and at peace with yourself in the coming year.

Write a letter to yourself that entails all your hopes and dreams for the coming year as if they already happened. Seal the envelope and pack it away with the holiday decorations to be opened next year. If you don’t have decorations to pack, then put it somewhere, where you will remember to find it next year so you can open it up and read it. I hope all you hopes and dreams come true in the following year!

Resolve:

Upon awakening think of ten things that I am grateful for. (see previous post on Living in The Attitude of Gratitude)

Reread Simple Abundance!

Start the day with a deep breathing exercise that lowers blood pressure, meditating on only positive things that I wish to happen to me, my family, my community and the world. Send out positive and loving vibrations. (see previous post on The Importance of Daily Meditation)

Do something kind for someone at least once a day, and at least ten times a week.

Spend one hour each day on house chores so that the weekends are not spent cleaning the house. Multitask the house chores with Cardiovascular so that you are achieving two goals at one time.

Treat every meal like a ritual, being ever present and mindful of what I am eating. Create delightful settings, savor every mouthful, knowing that I shopped locally, organically and avoided processed foods, remembering that my body is a temple and deserves the very best.

Set aside a quiet time everyday. Two private hours where I will avoid, television, phone and internet with the goal of reading 52 books this year, one per week!

Read  and write a minimum of 2,000 words a day!

Blog monthly.

Finish the fourth book in my Electric Series by April 30th!

Drink mainly water, avoiding, caffeine, sugar, and alcoholic beverages.

Make a soothing ritual of going to bed. Sleep 8 hours every night, so that I am rested, revitalized and ready to take on the goals for the next day.

I wish all of you a happy, healthy, prosperous new year!
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Sincerely,

Carly Compass

The Setting Is As Important as the Characters In Your Novel

Many of my readers have asked me how closely related the character Gina, in my novel series Electric, is to me and my own experience?

That is a complicated question as many authors tend to use their own life experience in their work to give it a strong sense of believability. If a writer is not using something they know well, it requires a great amount of research in order to give a true sense of any environment.

In my short story Huffing found on Wattpad, I researched the setting as I had never been to Canada or to the Kashechewan Nation Reservation in Ontario. I had to research the area to give it a sense of realism.

One way Gina and I are the same is that we are both mothers of four children. The reason I gave Gina four children is because I missed my own children, now all grown.  A mother’s life is so busy and chaotic that despite any type of planning, when the children are grown there is a strong sense of loss and a feeling of “now what am I going to do?” In using my experience as a mother of four I was able to relive those moments and document the hustle and bustle of raising a family.

Another way Gina and I are the same is our love of the holidays and creating warm and inviting atmospheres. The home is a haven, a sanctuary where one comes to rest from the outside world. About a year ago I experienced a garage fire that had destroyed 30 years of decorations, collections, family heirlooms that I was hoping one day to pass down to my children. Also lost were the children’s many trophies, awards, newspaper clippings and memorabilia that I was planning on making into scrap books. While I listed the items for the insurance company, I had everything fresh in my mind to create the setting for my novel.

The setting in a story is very important. It gives the reader a sense of where they are.  The setting needs to be as strong as your characters in order for your reader to have a real experience that takes them out of their reality and into another world.

I used my love of staging and creating atmospheres in my novel. The holiday season is the perfect time to create a warm and cozy environment. In my novel Electric, I focused on holiday decorations and gave ideas on how to create those holiday environments to have a festive atmosphere.

The winter season is very bleak and cold in the Midwest.

Midwesterners are forced to spruce up their surroundings to help offset the cold and dreary atmosphere outside. One way to do that is to add sparkly trees with shining lights to interior decor.

Last year I had to recreate all that I had lost in the garage fire and although it is not the same, I’ve come to realize that I put too much emphasis on sentimentally.

The warm and inviting setting inside, offsets the cold and disparaging outer world. Creating warm and inviting atmospheres helps to alleviate seasonal depression. It is difficult to get through 4-6 months of cold and gloom, so creating warm environments is a must.

Adding candle light and sparkle ignites a feeling of warmth that rejuvenates the soul.

In the past I have written my novel three times, but never really felt like it was right. The themes of child abuse and neglect as well as a woman’s sexuality in America had always been a very strong issue throughout the story, but I never quite got it right until I combined the two and decided to give Gina some of my character traits. Beyond creating a crafty cook book, I added a stalker and real life experiences of abuse and neglect and how we as a community tend to, and perhaps without dlliberate intention, snub and hurt each other. That is where the similarities end and the story begins.

Since it is the holiday season I did want to focus on settings in writing.

An example of describing a setting hit me while shopping in one of my favorite places, Geneva, Illinois. Third Street in Geneva is full of old Victorian homes from the turn of the century, circa 1900’s. Rather then bull dose the place in the name of progress, this little town found a way to make it work. Now all the old prestigious homes house unique businesses.

There is one shop in particular that creates a setting that is warm, inviting, romantic and unique. I love to shop small business throughout the year.  I decided to feature one of my favorite stores to give you an idea of how settings are important.  Denise’s Adornments is located at 221 S. Third Street, in Geneva, Illinois. Denise knows how to create a setting that is as unique as she is. You can tell a lot about her personality when you peruse these pictures. Denise also knows how to take advantage of space and fit so much in a small area.

Denise with her granddaughter manning the front counter.

Denise has a distinctive eye and a collection of clothing and adornments to delight any person, hearth or home.

From hats, scarves, boot socks to a wide variety of accessories, you can create a look that is all your own.

I am not sure these pictures do the store justice, so you will just have to travel over to see it for yourself. In the meantime, and thankfully for the internet you can also shop her store via her website. For all my readers across the country and the globe you can find all these items and more at Denise’s Adornments Website!

I am curious, what can you tell me about Denise from the pictures displayed above? What do you sense as you look through the store? Is there a character emerging from the selves, hooks and hangers? What type of personality do you see?

Denise’s Adornments is a perfect example of how settings create an environment that is either pleasing or desmissive. All you have to do is compare the pictures above to all of the big box stores to get a sense of what a warm and tender environment can do for your mood and your outlook. Denise’s store is so charming that I find myself returning again and again. She turns shopping from a chore to a desire.

I would like to take this time to wish all my readers a safe and happy holiday season, full of romantic settings and festive atmospheres to delight your heart and home.

And please remember your independent authors this season, they are small business too.

For more about my series Electric, The Beginning, Book I, The Consummation. Book II and The Resolution, Book III check out:  For Kindle Users and for Nook and other users!

I look forward to hearing from you and reading your reviews!

Have a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

Carly Compass

Living in the Attitude of Gratitude! Happy Thanksgiving!

Living in the attitude of gratitude isn’t always easy since we have both the negative and positive existing side by side.

Everyday we have a choice which to illuminate and which to ignore.

For some reason and this could be from conditioning in our early childhood, we tend to naturally gravitate toward the negative in our lives.

It helps to think of the law of attraction or that which we dwell upon we attract.

Keeping a gratitude journal is the first step to living fully in the attitude of gratitude. Dwelling only on the good attracts more good into your life.

Start everyday thinking of ten things you are grateful for and your day will be that much better.

Whenever negative thoughts enter your mind simply replace them by reminding yourself of the ten things that you started your day with.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner it is a good time to start.

When gathered around your table this Thursday proclaim all that you are grateful for with your loved ones.

If you have been having  some issues with a particular family member, this is a perfect time to find that one thing you appreciate about that person. Make an issue of proclaiming it–bring your appreciation to the forefront and you will bring out the best in that person.

Today I am grateful for all of my readers.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and now my books that are available on both  Amazon and Smashwords.

I have decided to bring my blog writing down to once a month during the next six months as I continue to write and finish, The Electric Series.

I am grateful to all the readers who took the time to write reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and Smashwords. Reviews are what keeps a writer relevant and the more review written the better the chances for a writer to gain a number 1 status on both Amazon and Smashwords. So please keep those reviews coming for all three books in the series.

I would also like to thank Graham Watkins who interviewed me the day after, The Electric, Series, Book Release Party, with authors from around the world. It was a huge undertaking and a great learning experience for all that participated.

To all of my American friends, I would like to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving and to all my readers, I am truly thankful for knowing you and wish everyone a blest holiday season.

Electric, The Series, Release Party

I am so excited that all three books, Electric, The Beginning, Book I, Electric, The Consummation, Book II and Electric, The Resolution, Book III  are now live and available on Amazon and  Smash words too, for nook and other users! Click on links above for books available for purchase.

I am announcing my book release party that will be held on November, 3, 4 and 5th.  Next week! You can connect to the party here! Authors from around the world are participating and helping me celebrate the event by hosting at one hour intervals. Come and join us, to learn about and be entertained by all these great authors!

The schedule is as follows:

November 3rd,

9-10 a.m Adite Banerjie, India

10-11 a.m. Kerry Frith, England

11-12 p.m Aarti Venkatraman, India

12-1 p.m. Shilpa Suraj , India

1-2 p.m Graham Watkins, England

2-3 p.m Christine Steendam, Canada

3-4 p.m. Geoff Wakeling, England

4-5 p.m Alina Popescu , Romania

5-6 p.m

6-7 p.m Robert Preston, USA

7-8 p.m. Khul Waters , Australia

8-9 p.m. Predominance Novels USA 
9-10 p.m.

November 4th

9-10 a.m.  Devika Fernando , Sri Lanka

10-11a.m.  Aleya Michelle , Australia

11-12 p.m. Reet Singh , India

12-1 p.m. Russell Madajewski USA

1-2

2-3 p.m. Casey Harvell , USA

3-4 p.m. Graham Watkins , England

4-5 p.m. LE Fitzpatrick, Wales

5-6 p.m. Simon Okill, Wales

6-7 p.m. Cathy Jackson , USA

7-8 p.m. Nina Mason , USA

8-9  p.m. Tea Cooper, Australia

9-10 p.m. Simon Barry Palmer Thailand

November 5th

9-10 a.m.  Nicholas Rossis, Greece

10-11a.m.

11-12 p.m. Deepti Menon, India

12-1 p.m. Gary Starta, USA

1-2

2-3  p.m. Moe Anthony, USA

3-4 p.m. Chad Clark , USA

4-5 p.m. Roni O’Connell USA

5-6 p.m. Neeny Boucher Switzerland

6-7 p.m. Melissa Keir, USA

7-8 p.m. Ann B Harrison Australia

8-9 p.m. Carly Compass, USA

9-10p.m.  Carly Compass

Please follow along on twitter #ccrelease for updates to the event!

There is a contest for a $20.00 Amazon gift card for the most invited guests. I hope to see you all there and please spread the word.

I want to thank all my subscribers too for your patience this last month as I scurried to get all of this accomplished. Be sure to Check out the reviews by clicking this link, reviews on Amazon. And thank you all for sharing in this event. It has been a long time coming and a life long dream come true! I hope you all enjoy the Electric Series!

Sincerely,

Carly Compass

25th Anniversary for Back to The Future II

25th Anniversary of Back to the Future II

The other day while taking a break and flicking through channels, I came upon the movie, Back To The Future II, airing on Movieplex. I clicked info to discover that the movie was released in 1989, that’s 25 years ago. The movie takes place on, 10/26/85, Marty and Dr. Emmett Brown were traveling to 10/21/2015. That date is coming up and I started to watch to see if Robert Zemicki’s and Bob Gale had any accurate prediction for the future in their screenplay.

The clock shows the date, 10/21/2015. This clock on the link will tell you just how far away the date is. At the time of writing this blog it was 1 year, 100 days etc…

Imagine, 1989 was at the inception of the World Wide Web, before email, google, facebook, linkedin, instagram, pinterest and twitter, before cell phones were in everyone’s hands, every minute of the day. Before you could use your phone to surf the web, take pictures, video and listen to music all in one hand held device.

Marty, Dr. Emmett Brown and Jennifer land in an alley of the Hill Valley Town Square on 10/21/2015, thirty years into their future. When they try to exit the DeLorean, it’s pouring rain, Dr. Brown looks at his dashboard and says, “Wait five seconds…” and it stopped raining and sure enough the sun came out.

Then Dr. Brown says, and I’m paraphrasing, I wish the post office were as accurate as the weather [channel]. Now considering that Lombard’s post office has made the five o’clock news in the past few weeks for not delivering the mail, I’d say that prediction was spot on, because back in the day you never heard of the post office going days without deliveries. Remember the postal service creed, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Dr. Brown hands Marty a newspaper with tomorrow’s date 10/22/2015 in which it shows a picture of Marty’s son, as Marty reads, “Within two hours of his arrest, Martin McFly was tried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in the State penitentiary.” Marty questions Dr. Brown, saying, “Two Hours? … In just two hours?…” Dr. Emmett Brown replies, “The justice system works swiftly now that they have abolished all the lawyers.” I think this might have been wishful thinking on the part of the writers as this is certainly not the case in our current judicial system, but there is still time, remember we have 15 months to go.

Marty McFly’s assignment is to go to an 80’s Café and tell Biff, “No,” so that his son will not get arrested.

Dr. Brown gives Marty $50.00 for a Pepsi and some modern clothes to put on and sadly we do not have self fitting and drying jackets or self lacing shoes, nor unfortunately the hoover boards or cars that enter into the picture in the next scene. And gratefully is doesn’t cost $50.00 for a Pepsi. But we do have this here hover board, which I think it pretty awesome nonetheless.

What we do have though, are the self-ordering restaurants as Pizza Hut’s new prototype seen here, where you simply sit at a table and place your order via the screen and play games on the screen while you wait.

Sure it doesn’t have a Max Headroom type Michael Jackson or President Reagan and the Iatola Komani fighting over what you should order, but it’s close and let’s not forget about the new drone prototypes setting up to deliver our amazon and pizza orders as seen here.

We also have screen billboards and screens at the gas stations that talk, and they are currently working on a full service gas station, as seen here, developing robotic gas pumps, so you don’t have to leave the comfort of your car.

Texaco has been bought out by Chevron in 1999, and I don’t know who owns Chevron, but you won’t see any Texaco gas station anymore.

As Marty walks through the square just before going to the 80’s café where Michael Jackson’s, Beat It, streams through the speakers, he is attacked by a hologram Shark via Jaw’s 19 which never happened either, Jaws 5 was the last movie to be made in 1995. In 1989 there had already been four Jaw’s movies made.

Once Marty’s assignment is accomplished they find that the police have found Jennifer where they had left her in the alley. The Police were able to find out who she was via her thumbprint. We are not currently required to have our thumbs printed, but we do have computers filled with data that the police have access to as well as GPS chips installed into many of our pets and citizens.

Now Marty and Dr. Brown have to recover Jennifer so that they can get back to 1985 and they go to the family home. Many home security systems have keypad entry with touch screen controllers, although, it isn’t thumb print technology and doorknobs still exist. Once in the home, Jennifer wakes up and hides in the closet to see her future son turn on the television to watch six channels simultaneously. We do offer picture in picture technology but the average home does not have six pictures in picture screens.

I loved the broken scene screen in the front window that could give you your favorite views. Unfortunately we do not have that technology either.

What I really wish for, is that contraption that the grandpa came in on because of his bad back! He entered the humble abode upside down in some sort of hoover apparatus. There are many a day when I could use that.

Grandma came in holding a small bag with a dehydrated pizza saying, “I brought Pizza for everyone?”

When the family sits down to eat their rehydrated pizza, Marty junior calls for fruit and a contraption comes down from the ceiling looking like a hydroponic garden with all matter of produce, another invention that would be nice, but we don’t have yet.

Just then the phone rings and his daughter also played by Michael J. Fox answers it with her glasses, which isn’t far off, we do have eyeglass computers, as seen here.

The call was for Marty Sr. and he decides to take the call in the den where he has a videoconference through his television screen. Taking a telephone call through your television was close, for we now have Skype and videoconference apps where you can videoconference from your hand held wireless phone so not through the television, but we do have very slick computer screens and you have to remember we didn’t have computers in 1989, like we do today.

Marty get’s busted scanning his card for some dubious reason, which brings us to today’s NSA, that now monitors our email, phone calls, texts and google searches. When Marty get’s fired for his activity, he is alerted with a confirmation fax. Now fax machines are still in use, but almost outdated by scanning documents and sending them via emails, which you can read from your phone.

That about sums up their trip to the future, they recover Jennifer and they’re off to 1985 where they find that everything has changed through some butterfly effect brought about by a sport’s almanac and the story continues…

The point is, that writing is like that…You can create worlds, characters and events, life as it should be, life as it could be, using your imagination can bring about all types of solutions and creations that haven’t been thought of yet.

And for you sports fans, keep in mind that in the movie, the Cubs won the world series against Miami in 2015! It could happen!

If you haven’t yet RSVP to, An Electric Night, With Carly Compass please do so here! My cover reveal party is on October 1st, from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. central time, a virtual extravaganza that you can attend on your phone or computer! Watch for contests and enter to win prizes announced later this week.

I am tying up all the loose ends to get Electric finished and ready for self publication later this week. Look for me on Amazon and I will make a special post when the book goes live.

Many thanks to all my loyal fans. October should prove to be an exciting month!