tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65045530341055075402024-02-06T22:26:07.924-08:00McDonnell WritingWrite SmartAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-30740273913065423662016-05-05T15:44:00.001-07:002016-05-05T15:44:18.842-07:00I Made The Southern StarI'm not one of those authors who spends every waking moment on promotion, shilling my ebooks like a carnival barker. I prefer to write my stories and plays first, and do the promotion and marketing in whatever time is left over after that.<br />
I'll admit that long periods go by when I do no marketing or promotion at all. I need to get better at that, because it's critical when you self-publish to get the word out to your audience. So, lately I've been on a promotional binge, and I've been contacting newspapers in the U.S. and Ireland to publicize my ebooks. Ireland is a natural, of course, since my <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rose-Skibbereen-John-McDonnell-ebook/dp/B00C9JV2RA?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a> series starts out in that beautiful country.<br />
I'm happy to announce that I have a story in today's edition of the <a href="http://www.southernstar.ie/news/roundup/articles/2016/05/05/4118911-skibbereen-familys-story-immortalised-in-novels/" target="_blank">Southern Star</a>, a newspaper in West Cork, near Skibbereen, the town some of my ancestors came from, and where my novel begins. You can read the story <a href="http://www.southernstar.ie/news/roundup/articles/2016/05/05/4118911-skibbereen-familys-story-immortalised-in-novels/" target="_blank">here</a>. It's even got a picture of me, taken when I visited my great-grandmother's house several years ago!<br />
I'm very happy that this newspaper, which was established in 1889, only a few years after my great-grandmother left Skibbereen to come to Philadelphia, has a story about my book.<br />
It feels like things have come full circle, in a way.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-35645965349778503082016-03-14T16:06:00.000-07:002016-03-14T16:06:18.492-07:00Immigrant Thoughts<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have watched the current anti-immigration talk from candidates like Donald Trump and it has disturbed me. I understand that some American workers may be angry if they think immigrants are taking their jobs, but we are a nation of immigrants and we should not close the door on people who are trying to do the same thing our ancestors did. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Here’s what I learned about Irish immigration in my research for my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">“Rose Of Skibbereen”</a> books. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ireland in the 19th century could not support its population. The potato famine made the situation desperate, forcing poor families to send their children away. None of them really wanted to go. They would hold “American Wakes”, like the one I portray in the first "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>" book, and these gatherings were called wakes for a sad reason -- the families felt they were burying their sons and daughters because they knew they would never see them again. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And it was true. My great-grandmother came to America when she was just a teenager, and although she lived until her eighties she never saw her parents or her homeland again. It was not an easy thing for these immigrants to leave a place where their families had roots stretching back hundreds of years. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">They left their families and came to this country, starting at the bottom rung of the ladder and enduring much hardship and even persecution. They did it because they were seeking a better life than what they had in their homeland. The first generations usually didn't see much improvement over the life they left behind, but their sons and daughters achieved a better life. That's certainly what happened in my family</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I know there are some different issues today than there were 150 years ago but there are also similarities, even to the cry of, “They’re taking our jobs!”. People are still coming here for the same reasons they always did, it hasn’t been easy for them or us, but in the end it’s made America stronger and given a better life to millions. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">We should remember that when politicians talk about shutting the door. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-52083131737571160652016-02-03T17:28:00.000-08:002016-02-03T17:28:02.988-08:00Thought for today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From my <a href="http://johnmcdonnell.weebly.com/my-inspirational-quotes.html" target="_blank">Website</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-29887644296249579972016-01-14T14:32:00.000-08:002016-01-14T14:32:17.168-08:00My Latest Ebook Is Out!<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have a new ebook out! It’s the latest in my “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AKQ0CXI" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>” novels about an Irish immigrant named Rose Sullivan Morley and her many descendants. This is a historical novel series done in my own unique style, and at this point I’ve written about 300,000 words of it. The latest book brings the saga up to the present, so the story has covered 135 years now. Several dozen characters have come and gone, and I’ve had a great time getting to know them. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AKQ0CXI" target="_blank">Book Six</a> is told through the eyes of Rosalie Morley, who is the great-great granddaughter of Rose Sullivan Morley. Rosalie has a unique way of looking at the world. She’s socially awkward but funny, blunt but witty, a thinker who’s also a dreamer. She shares the psychic streak that all the women in the family have to some degree. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This book is different than the others in one big way: it’s a thriller. There is danger in the air in Rosalie’s world, and she has to find a way out of a scary situation with a stalker.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I don’t want to spoil the story so I won’t say any more. I hope you <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AKQ0CXI" target="_blank">download the book</a> and that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Tell me what you think about it -- send me an email. Or, if you want to post a review on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AKQ0CXI" target="_blank">Amazon</a> or <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/607507" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>, that would be great also. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Happy reading!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-50783061281494539142016-01-05T13:33:00.000-08:002016-01-05T13:33:04.802-08:00Get Your Red Hot Quotes Here!It's a new year and one thing I always do at the start of a new year is make resolutions and try to make improvements in my life. It always feels like the right time to make a fresh start, when the year is young and there are so many possibilities. So, this year one of the things I decided to do is post a quote every day on social media. It's been a habit of mine to read inspirational quotes, and all of a sudden I thought, Why not write some of my own? I have lots of ideas for quotes -- some funny, some starry-eyed, and some with a bit of an edge to them. Some will be pearls of wisdom, and some will probably be pearls of understatement. Some will hit you right between the eyes, and some will probably take a little while to sink in. Some may sound like they came from a Zen master or ancient sage, while others will probably make you smack your head and say, "What makes him think there's anything special about THAT?"<br />
These are just the thoughts of an ordinary guy making his way through the world, and they'll be the essence of what I've learned (and what I'm still learning, mostly through making the same mistakes over and over). Just a momentary thing, offered for your reflection.<br />
If you like any of my quotes, feel free to share them on whatever social media world you inhabit. It would be nice if you'd give me credit, somehow, by just mentioning my name. If you don't like my quotes, you can feel free to forget about them the minute you finish reading them.<br />
And here's one of my first ones:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-2670881055952031462015-12-20T14:56:00.000-08:002015-12-20T15:17:20.717-08:00The Gift -- A Christmas EssayThis is a Christmas essay I wrote, and I offer it for your reading pleasure. I told it as part of an evening of storytelling that was recently put on by the Bucks County Playhouse.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">THE GIFT</span><span style="background-color: #666666;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">By John McDonnell</span><span style="background-color: #666666;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">Until seventh grade
there was still a part of me that believed in Santa Claus. Oh, I would never
have admitted that to my schoolmates, but there was still a secret part of my
heart that wouldn’t give up the belief in a jolly, red-suited man who brought
presents every year at Christmas. If you asked, I would have said it was
because I had younger siblings, and I had to keep up appearances for their
sake. And it was still fun to dream about what would be waiting for me under the
Christmas tree each year, so I had a vested interest in not looking at Santa
Claus and his gifts too cynically.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">In 1964, though, it
all changed. I had discovered girls, and the fact that just because you liked a
girl, it didn’t mean she liked you back. Actually, it was more likely that she
would ignore you, which made you doubt your very existence.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">As that Christmas
approached I had received my first heartbreak, when a girl I liked made it
clear that I was the last person on Earth she was interested in. On top of
that, I was developing acne, I was in the middle of a growth spurt that made me
feel like my body had been taken over by a lurching monster from a B grade
horror movie, and I was hopelessly lost in Math class. All in all, it was not a
good time.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">So, I was already in
a depressed state when Christmas morning arrived. When I went downstairs and
saw what was under the tree, it left me cold.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">There was a pile of
new clothes, some books, and a bike. It was a three speed bike with skinny
tires, hand brakes, and those curved racing handlebars like European bikes. It
was everything my old Schwinn was not -- sleek, lightweight, fast.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">But I hated it.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">It wasn’t that I
didn’t appreciate getting a bike from my parents, it was that I didn’t want a
bike in the first place. The reason I didn’t ride my clunky old Schwinn bicycle
anymore was that I had realized something: nobody my age rode bikes. Well, none
of the cool guys did. The girls had stopped riding bikes the year before, and
the cool guys had stopped with them. The only boys who still rode bikes were
the ones who wore big round glasses, and accidentally spit when they talked,
and had scrapes on their knees from falling off their bikes.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">Things had changed
overnight, and in the ruthless world of seventh grade you had to adapt or you
would permanently be tagged as a loser.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">So, I gave a weak
smile, mumbled “Thanks,” to my parents, and went upstairs to my room, where I
laid on my bed listening to my transistor radio and thinking about the cruel
march of Time. I heard the excited babbling of my little brothers downstairs
and I realized I would never have that kind of youthful enthusiasm again.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">I was old, there was
no doubt. My childhood was forever gone.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">It didn’t take long
for my father to come upstairs and ask me what was wrong. I told him I just
didn’t feel much like Christmas this year.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">He figured out pretty
quickly that I didn’t like the bike. “You ungrateful child,” he said. “That’s a
great bike, and it cost me a lot” (he whispered this so the kids downstairs
wouldn’t hear). “Spoiled, that’s what you are, spoiled! When I was your age it
was the Depression, and we didn’t have Christmases like this! My father was
only working ten hours a week at his job, and that year we only got one present
each. You don’t appreciate what you have here. You probably wanted some bigger,
fancier bike, right? Well, the hell with it, I’m taking that bike back to the
store tomorrow!” He slammed the door and went downstairs and ranted to my
mother for awhile about how ungrateful I was.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">He never took the
bike back. My little brothers begged to be allowed to use it, and my father let
them ride it after much pleading, mostly because he hated to not get his
money’s worth out of something he’d bought. There were times when I actually
rode it, too, although that was not till years later, when being cool didn’t
matter to me anymore.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">I should have known
better, but I did the same thing when I was a parent. When my son was in
seventh grade he was a great soccer player. I used to love to watch him race
down the field and shoot the ball from any angle, and see it go rocketing into
the goal. I lived for those soccer games, and that year at Christmas I bought a
full-size professional soccer goal from a Web site. It had a metal frame and a
mesh net, and although I didn’t put it together on Christmas Eve I had the box
and a picture of it under the tree for him.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">He seemed excited,
but not as much as I thought he’d be.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">“It’s great, Dad,” he
said. “Really great.”<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">The weather was warm
that year, and I was able to assemble the goal and put it up in the backyard on
Christmas afternoon. My son put his soccer cleats on and I played goalkeeper
and he took shots for an hour while I dove every which way trying to deflect
them. He rocketed one ball after another past me into the net, and I was
gleeful at his skill.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">But that was the only
time we did that. The cold and snowy weather came, and he wasn’t able to use
the goal for several months. When Spring came he didn’t seem as interested in
soccer, and he hardly ever practiced in the backyard. By the next year he had
quit soccer to concentrate on basketball. Basketball was the game the cool guys
in his school played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">I had to take that
goal down five years later when we moved to another house. By then the net was
torn and the metal frame was rusted. It had been a long time since anybody shot
a soccer ball at it. I spent an afternoon taking it apart, and then I threw the
pieces into a big dumpster we had rented for cleaning out our house.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">“Damn spoiled kids,”
I said to myself. “All the money I paid for that thing, and he didn’t
appreciate it.”<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">Then I thought of my
Dad buying me that bike, and how I always felt bad about not showing enough
appreciation for it. I realized he’d probably done the same thing to his Dad.
Maybe that year in the Depression when they didn’t have hardly anything for
Christmas? Maybe the one thing he got he didn’t appreciate, and he made that
fact clear to his Dad. Maybe he always felt bad about that, and it was the real
reason he bought that expensive bike for me.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">Because maybe we buy
these gifts not for our children, but for our parents. As a way of saying we’re
sorry for never telling you we appreciated what you did for us.<br /> </span><span style="background-color: #666666;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">THE END</span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="mailto:mcdonnellwrite@gmail.com" target="_blank">mcdonnellwrite@gmail.com</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-66535104144612719382015-11-13T14:08:00.000-08:002015-11-13T14:08:16.960-08:00My Christmas Classic<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’ve always loved Christmas. I have happy memories from the Christmases of my youth, and it’s a time when for at least a short while many people seem to be filled with the spirit of joy and love and giving. Wherever you are in your journey, I think those are good values to celebrate. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Six years ago I wrote a story, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM5BF8" target="_blank">The Christmas Gift</a>, that I put into ebook form. It’s a story about a little girl in the Great Depression, and a special doll named Constance that she steals. It’s just a story that came to me one day, and I enjoyed writing it. Back then ebooks were a brand new thing, and not many people knew how to buy one, let alone read it. I didn’t expect much, but I liked the story and I wanted to share it with people. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It’s the only Christmas story I’ve ever written, and it’s still listed on my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/John-McDonnell/e/B004AXGYHQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a>, with all my other ebooks in various genres. Each year at this time I am pleasantly surprised to see that people still buy it, and I’m glad that it has become part of some family Christmas celebrations. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM5BF8" target="_blank">The Christmas Gift</a> is just a simple story that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. It’s also available in printed form <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Gift-John-McDonnell/dp/1466435585/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">here</a> if you don’t have an e-reader. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It’s a great story to read at this time of year.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-89564653790311192382015-10-23T15:56:00.000-07:002015-10-23T15:57:25.989-07:00Down With The Internal Critic!<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in English, and sometimes I think they did me more harm than good. Why? Because the one thing I was taught in English Lit class is that great writers agonize over every word. They pull their hair out trying to find the exact right word, the right phrase, and they will revise dozens, even hundreds of times in order to get the words right. There are writers who brag about rewriting parts of their books over and over, and they wear it as a badge of honor, like, “Look how serious I am, I revised my book’s ending 150 times.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">That kind of thinking damaged me for many years. It’s bred the Internal Critic, who sits in his chair with his lips pursed, and as soon as I write a sentence, he says, “No, sorry, that won’t do. Delete it now, before you embarrass yourself, and then start over.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The Internal Critic has ruined more writers than alcohol, drugs, depression, economic hardship, and all the other obstacles to writing combined. We all have that critic inside us, carping at every sentence we write, telling us we haven’t used the right words, the right spelling, the right grammar, that we haven’t said anything original or clever, that it’s all been said before and why would any reader waste their time reading THIS dreck?</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">There is a time and place for the critic, but it most certainly is not at the first draft stage. The Internal Critic should be nowhere in site at that stage. In fact, if he shows his prissy face you should tell him to leave immediately or you will do bodily harm to him. When you’re trying to get a first draft of anything written, you should let the words and thoughts spill out as fast as possible, not even caring if any of it makes sense. You should let your fingers fly over the keyboard and just let the words flow. Don’t worry about logic, facts, style, grammar -- don’t worry about anything but getting the words out as fast as possible. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The time to let the Internal Critic back in the room is when you begin editing your work. However, even then you should keep a tight leash on him. An out of control Internal Critic can make the editing process a nightmare, leading to those horror stories of authors rewriting a single sentence hundreds of times. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’m trying to control the Internal Critic, but it’s an ongoing process. He still sneaks back into the room at times when I’m trying to write. However, I’ve made it clear that he’s not wanted, and I’m trying to banish him entirely. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Down with the Internal Critic!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-20233411215372736962015-09-15T14:17:00.000-07:002015-09-15T14:17:05.874-07:00Finally, I'm on the Web<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">My kids think I’m cool (well, as much as a Dad can be considered cool, anyway) because I’ve had a blog, <a href="https://twitter.com/mcdonnellwrite" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://google.com/+JohnMcDonnell" target="_blank">Google Plus</a> for years, as well as a bunch of other social networking profiles. However, it’s hard to be an early adopter of every new thing in the digital universe and still keep up with my writing projects. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I confess I’m late to having a Web site, but finally, at long last, I’ve got one. It’s called simply <a href="http://johnmcdonnell.weebly.com/" target="_blank">“My Writing”</a>, and I’m very proud of it. I’ve been fiddling around with it for months, and it’s finally in good enough shape to publish. It’s got links to my books, some information about my freelance services, and excerpts from my novels. Well, right now there’s only one excerpt, from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Book One of “Rose Of Skibbereen”</a>, but I have plans to upload more. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I invite you to check it out! <a href="http://johnmcdonnell.weebly.com/" target="_blank">My Writing</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-13052045265281134522015-07-28T12:49:00.000-07:002015-07-28T12:51:35.753-07:00What Would Hemingway Have To Say About The Kardashians?<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Can you imagine Ernest Hemingway with a blog? I was thinking that today, when I realized I hadn't updated this blog in awhile. I grew up in an era when writers weren't expected to post daily updates on what they ate for breakfast, who they saw in the supermarket checkout line, and what they really think about Kim Kardashian's latest outfit, so I forget to keep up with all my online responsibilities. I have accounts with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JohnMcDonnellsWriting" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/mcdonnellwrite" target="_blank">Twitter,</a> <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JohnMcDonnell/posts" target="_blank">Google Plus,</a> <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/johnfmcdonnell/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>, and of course, this blog, so there's no excuse for me to be so anti-social, right? I should be posting updates every hour, with lots of pictures, video clips, and funny captions, and instead I go weeks -- months, even! -- without posting. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It's just that I always thought a writer was supposed to be busy creating other worlds, other characters besides Himself. I would rather socialize with the characters from my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen </a>books than spend time creating a John McDonnell character who is Internet ready and appropriately controversial. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Most writers are not that interesting in person, but in terms of building a following in this social networking age, that's the kiss of death. You have to be interesting at all costs, able to gain legions of followers because of your comments, pictures, and the "events" that you can stage. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But, like I said, that has never been the way most writers operate. Some of the greatest writers in the world of literature have been the kind of people you'd never even notice at a party. P.G. Wodehouse, who wrote almost a hundred classic books (most of which are still in print 50 years after his death), said many times that he led a boring, uneventful life. He spent his days sitting at a desk, immersed in the radiant world he created, writing down all the adventures of his unforgettable characters, and he went months without doing anything that was worthy of a Tweet or a Facebook post. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And what about Ernest Hemingway? Oh, he could probably fill up a lot of Facebook with pictures and posts about all his macho adventures -- marlin fishing, big game hunting, boxing, fly fishing -- but you wouldn't see a peep about anything to do with his writing. Hemingway, like a lot of writers, didn't want to spoil the creative mood by posting daily updates about what his characters said or did. He was notoriously close-mouthed about his works in progress, and I doubt he would have posted any of his writing on social media for his fans to read. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">These are just two examples, but the list is endless. Most writers in the past would not have adapted well to social media. I realize there are writers today who embrace it, and good for them. If they can keep up with all the demands of having a public persona and interacting with their fans on social media, while still managing to write beautiful, imaginative literature, well, God bless them. I'm not one of them, it seems, and there's nothing I can do about that. So, I'll just keep writing my stories every day, and once in a while I'll pop my head out of my burrow, blink a few times like a mole who's found his way to the surface, and post an update or two. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And if Kim Kardashian is still in the news, I'll offer an opinion on her latest outfit. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-87254869362347940402015-06-29T16:03:00.000-07:002015-06-29T16:06:36.102-07:0048 Really Useful SitesHave you heard of <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264229" target="_blank">48 Really Useful Web Sites?</a> I haven't talked about it much in this blog, but it's an ebook I wrote about some of the most useful free sites on the Internet. Back in the early days of the Internet I wrote an email newsletter called "Really Useful Web Sites", and in it I reviewed free sites I found in my Web surfing, sites that I thought were amazing and worth a visit because of the information they made available. My newsletter had 100,000 subscribers at one point, and people loved it. I closed the newsletter down a while ago, mostly because it was getting harder to find free sites that had valuable information, but I still like to find useful sites in my Web wanderings. So, a year or two ago when I wanted to take a break from my fiction writing I put together <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264229" target="_blank">48 Really Useful Web Sites </a>and published it as an ebook. It has my reviews of all these nifty sites, plus links to them so you can go right to the site from your computer, tablet, or ebook reader.<br />
<div>
The reason I'm telling you this today is that I'm feeling happy because someone left a glowing review of my book on <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264229" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>. Here's a quote: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Incredible book this one is. It has helped me save a good amount of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">money and time."</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />Isn't that great? I'm glad someone found my book useful, and I'm pleased he took the time to post such a positive review. <br />If you're looking for some Web sites that are definitely worth a visit, check out <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264229">48 Really Useful Web Sites!</a><br />It's not bad, if I do say so myself!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-36095069403131831172015-05-24T12:15:00.000-07:002015-05-24T12:15:17.035-07:00Here's What I'm Writing<div class="p1">
Just a quick update.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I know I haven’t posted here in awhile, but I’ve been keeping busy with my various writing projects nonetheless. Here’s a quick update, to let you know what I’ve been doing. </span></div>
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<li><a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a> -- I’ve been getting swamped with work on <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a>, where I am available for brainstorming ideas and writing blog posts. I wake up every morning and find my inbox crowded with jobs from people who need help with things like: slogans for products, plots for novels, marketing input, branding ideas, and blog posts about dozens of subjects. I’m happy to help, and if you read the reviews, my clients are very happy with my work.</li>
<li>Fiction -- I’m working up some ideas for a new horror novel that will be out before August, and also the last novel in my “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>” Irish romance series. The “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>” novel will be out by the Fall. I’ll keep you posted about my progress on that. </li>
<li>Playwriting -- I have now submitted my short plays to 16 theaters and festivals, and I’m going to continue submitting till I have 20, 30, 40 or more plays out there. It’s not easy to get a play produced these days, but I believe in my talent, and I am determined to see my theatrical writing performed. I’ll keep you posted about that also!</li>
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<span class="s1">That’s it for now, but I’ll post more updates as I have news to report.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-45682569225068455452015-04-18T20:30:00.000-07:002015-04-18T20:30:27.410-07:00On Stage AgainIf you've been reading my blog in the last year you know that I have developed an interest in theater. I still love writing fiction, and publishing "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>" has been a high point for me, but I have realized that I really get a kick from writing for the stage. I love writing dialogue, just hearing the rhythm of voices and trying to get it right on the page. Then, seeing it translated to a stage with real actors saying the lines -- what a high that is! There's nothing better than working with talented people to bring your vision to life.<br />
So, I want to let you know that one of my ten-minute plays will be featured on April 30 and May 1 at the New Voices Festival, put on by the Bucks County Playhouse. Both evenings feature the same plays, so you can come either night and see some great short plays. Here is the <a href="http://www.bcptheater.org/young-artists-festival/" target="_blank">link</a>, if you want to order tickets.<br />
Also, on May 2 I'll be appearing at the Playhouse in "Talk/Story In Love and War: The World of Rodin", a performance based on sculptures of Auguste Rodin which are being featured in a show at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown. I am part of a group that has written the show, and we will be performing our work. You can buy tickets for that performance <a href="http://www.bcptheater.org/buy-tickets/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
I don't know where this will all lead, but I do know I enjoy it immensely, and I want to pursue it. I've met some creative, talented people in the last year, and I want to continue working with them. So, come out, if you're in the area! I promise that you'll enjoy the show, no matter which performance you come to.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-14654852968043019312015-03-14T16:01:00.000-07:002015-03-14T16:02:51.769-07:00A Video Interview With MeI was recently interviewed in the Doylestown Intelligencer newspaper about my "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>" ebook series. They posted an excerpt of the interview at their Web site. In this clip I'm talking about the genealogy research that gave me the idea to write the novel. You can find it <a href="http://www.theintell.com/videos/local/video-plumstead-man-writes-irish-historical-fiction/html_95a81e36-7a64-5ce7-a112-b4c5f6717b4a.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-54683525753418963412015-03-03T16:02:00.000-08:002015-03-03T16:02:11.253-08:00A Toast To The Immigrants<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">St. Patrick's Day is coming, and every year around this time I start to think about the people I based my "Rose Of Skibbereen" series on. They are people from my family, my ancestors, and I learned about them through the meticulous genealogy research my mother did. She told me often about her old Irish grandmother, who died in the 1940s, and how she came over to Philadelphia as a young girl and worked as a servant in the houses of rich families. She had three sisters who moved here also, but she left a brother and a sister back in Ireland with her parents, and she never saw any of them again.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was a hard thing the Irish did, the same as all immigrants do. They left their native land because of poverty, and they traveled thousands of miles to a new country, and often had to start out at the bottom rung of society, scrabbling to make a living the best they could. Many of them never had the money to buy a steamship ticket back to their homeland even for a brief visit, so they never saw their parents or the world they grew up in again. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I think of that often when I think of my great grandmother, who is the person Rose is based on. She grew up in a rural part of Ireland in the 19th century, a place where there was no electricity, and none of the modern conveniences. I'm sure the first city she ever saw was Cobh, which was the town in Ireland where she boarded the ship to take her to America. Philadelphia, where she disembarked in the 1880s, must have seemed overwhelming, with all its traffic and people and sights and sounds. To make that transition, not only from one country to another, rural to urban, but also to live, like she did, for 60 more years and see all the changes that the 20th century brought, must have been a bewildering experience. When she died the world had been through two world wars, cars and airplanes had been invented, the telephone was a part of daily life, and there were a thousand other changes that must have made the world of her childhood seem like a dream. It's something I can hardly imagine, to see all that change in one lifetime, and even though I've seen some wonderful things in my life I haven't seen that rate of change. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">So, this year on St. Patrick's Day I'll lift a glass and toast my grandmother, and all the other immigrants who lived through so much. Because, through it all, they endured. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I hope they found peace at their journey's end. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-12026459506335172632015-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:002015-01-18T14:35:23.489-08:00Fiverr And Swimming With The Current<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This is going to be a controversial post, I think. The reason is that for people like me, who’ve been in the creative fields for a lot of years, the Internet has not always been a good thing. There was a time before the Internet when freelance writers could make a princely sum for their work. You gained experience, put your articles (called clips) in a portfolio and showed them to clients, and the clients gave you work commensurate with your ability and experience. It was a great system, right?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And then the Internet came along. The Internet allowed clients to vastly expand their pool of freelancers. Anyone with a computer and a modem could call themselves a writer, and the clients could make all these millions of freelance “writers” compete against each other to offer the lowest bid for the job. That’s why you have writers making $5 or less for a blog post. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">For awhile, I held my nose up like a lot of other experienced writers, and I said, “There’s no way I’m going to stoop to those kind of rates. I’m too good for that!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">But, you know what? I’ve seen the light. I’ve realized that the Internet is like a mighty river, and it’s better to swim with the current than against it. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I joined <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a>. <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a> is a site where people advertise that they’ll do all sorts of odd jobs for five bucks. Really, you can find someone there who’ll do just about anything. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">It’s outrageous, right? Why would a person who’s got decades of experience writing for companies and publications, who has a Master’s in English and is a published novelist, why would he sell his services for five bucks?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Here are five reasons why I’ve done it.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>. If you price the job right you can make decent money.</b> People aren’t giving away the store for five bucks. You can structure your offer so that your time invested is equal to the payment you receive. The ones I’ve posted, “I’ll brainstorm 12 ideas for $5,” and “I’ll write a 250 word blog post for $5” are things I’ve decided I can do profitably. Sure, it’s not top dollar, but it can lead to bigger and better things (see below for more about that). </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>. You get paid without a hassle. </b>In my career I’ve had to wait months to get paid, and sometimes I got stiffed for my fee, when a magazine or business went bankrupt. With <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a>, you get paid within a matter of days after completing the job. Every time. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>. You get lots of work.</b> If you have a good offer, you’ll get work. Tons of it. Your email inbox will be filled every day with people buying your gig.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>. You get bigger jobs in time.</b> When you move up the ranks of <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a> sellers, you can multiply your income. If someone wants a thousand word article, I can tell them to order more gigs, so that I’m not writing all those words for five bucks. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>. You do something different every day.</b> I like the thrill of tackling different jobs every day. I’ve done brainstorming gigs for videographers, game designers, novelists, business owners, and much more. I never know what to expect when I log on each day, and I love it. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I’m not going to get rich working for <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a>, and I know that. My main gig will still be writing fiction, and that’s the way I want it. But <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/jaymack" target="_blank">Fiverr</a> has added some variety to my writing life, and it’s stimulated my brain cells in ways you wouldn’t imagine. Also, it’s a nice way to pick up some extra cash. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I guess I’m a traitor to the venerable freelance writing profession. Oh, well, it’s better to adapt than to become a dinosaur. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-73796328386301497822014-12-22T14:37:00.000-08:002014-12-22T14:37:54.375-08:00My Christmas Tradition<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I love Christmas, and I always have. It’s a happy time of year, no matter what your religious beliefs are. I love the bright holiday lights, the comforting sameness of the music, the smiles on everyone’s faces, the smells (pine needles, hot chocolate), and the tastes (fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, roast turkey, pumpkin pies). </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The other thing that makes this holiday special is that it’s the time when I published my first ebook. I published “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM5BF8" target="_blank">The Christmas Gift</a>” in 2009, a year when the experts said ebooks were just a passing fad, and that people would never pay to read something on a screen. “Ebooks are meant to be free,” I remember one expert said. “Authors can use them as giveaways to promote their print books, but no author is going to make money by selling ebooks.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How things have changed, in only five years! Ebooks now account for over $5 billion in revenues in the U.S. alone. When I wrote my little book about a doll named Constance in Depression era America, I had no idea what types of ebooks I’d be publishing five years hence, let alone that “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM5BF8" target="_blank">The Christmas Gift</a>” would still be on the market. There are many traditionally published books that came out in 2009 and have long since disappeared from the shelves, but “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM5BF8" target="_blank">The Christmas Gift</a>” is still out there in cyberspace, ready to be downloaded. Each year I get a spike in sales around Christmas, and I am happy that my story continues to live on. I don’t really know how to categorize it -- “a children’s story for all ages”, is the best I can come up with. But it gladdens my heart at this time of year to realize that this little ebook is still around to spread its message. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-86883696690441038242014-12-04T14:16:00.000-08:002014-12-04T14:16:13.954-08:00Tales Told In Winter Is Here<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’m doing a storytelling performance again at <a href="http://www.bcptheater.org/for-adults-talk-stor/" target="_blank">Bucks County Playhouse</a>. This one is called “Tales Told In Winter” and it’s in the tradition of storytelling around the Christmas holiday. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">In the British Isles and certain parts of Europe people used to get together and tell scary stories at Christmastime. Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is just such a story, with a visit from some scary ghosts on Christmas Eve to rattle poor Scrooge and convince him to mend his ways.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I did my first storytelling performance last May, and I enjoyed it so much I signed up to do another. It’s great fun for the storytellers and the audience, and I’m looking forward to it. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">These aren’t all scary stories, actually. There are funny stories, heart-wrenching ones, and stories that will amaze you with their twists and turns. I am in awe once again at the rich trove of stories everyday people have to tell. We all have our own unique dramas, it seems, and everyone has a tapestry of memories to turn into stories.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">If you’re in the area, come out December 10 for a great evening of stories! For more information, click <a href="http://www.bcptheater.org/for-adults-talk-stor/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-29663450296551525162014-11-25T08:41:00.000-08:002014-11-25T08:47:58.404-08:00Book Five of Rose Of Skibbereen Is Out!<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Just in time for Thanksgiving, I have published the latest in my “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Of-Skibbereen-Series-ebook/dp/B00C9JV2RA/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_1" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>” family saga. This is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Skibbereen-Book-Five-Rosie-ebook/dp/B00Q0NK9IY/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1416933846&sr=1-4&keywords=Rose+of+Skibbereen" target="_blank">Book Five</a> in the series, and it takes the story through the 1980s and 90s right up to the dawn of the new millennium. The main character is Rosie Morley, granddaughter of Rose Sullivan Morley, the heroine of the first three books in the series. In this book Rosie moves to New Hope, Pennsylvania, and opens a bar and restaurant where she sings her beloved Big Band numbers. She also meets Jack Caldwell, a futurist, who captures her fancy with his optimism and his rugged good looks. Rosie’s son Pete gets into trouble in Northern Ireland, and for good measure there are some psychic overtones, some echoes of the spiritual music Rosie hears in her dreams. </span></div>
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This series was based on some genealogical research I did, but at this point I’ve strayed far from that path. The characters are all fictional, of course, and their stories have developed in new and surprising directions. I think you’ll enjoy it!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-17388504870285374712014-10-29T19:57:00.000-07:002014-10-29T19:57:24.731-07:00A Freebie For Halloween<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Okay, so Halloween is almost here, and I decided I’d do a two day spooky giveaway of my “<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/460506" target="_blank">13 Horror Bundle</a>” ebook of scary stories. I don’t usually do free giveaways like this, but, what the heck, it’s Halloween and I’m feeling a bit crazy today. Here’s how it works. Go to <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/460506" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>, where you can click on “Buy” and when you get to the checkout screen, put in this code: </span><span class="s2"><b>JF82U</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">When you do that, you’ll be able to download the book for free. That’s a great deal, huh? Well, in return, you have to do something for me. Just write a review on Amazon, Smashwords, or Goodreads, and tell everyone what you thought of the book. I don’t care if you give me a one star or a five star rating, or if you love or hate the book, the review is the important thing. Reviews are very important in the ebook world, so I would appreciate one in return for giving you a free copy of my book. Okay? Good. By the way, the coupon is only good for 48 hours, so use it right away!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-21077480978137886822014-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:002014-10-12T14:00:54.342-07:00The David Bowie Shift<div class="p1">
I am not a huge fan of David Bowie’s music, but I’ve always admired his sheer chutzpah. I mean, this is a rocker who abandoned the Ziggy Stardust persona he’d created at the peak of his fame in 1973 and then created a more sophisticated persona for his Diamond Dogs tour in 1974. It was the most expensive rock tour in history at that time, featuring a towering set with a catwalk and a cherry picker that lifted Bowie high in the air, and the sets alone cost $1.3 million in today’s dollars. Then, smack in the middle of that tour, Bowie took time off and completely stripped down the set, doing a 180 degree turn as an R&B singer for the rest of the tour.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I love performers like him (Neil Young is another who comes to mind) who refuse to be put in boxes. They don’t want to spend their entire careers churning out the same style of music, and they look for variety, new vistas, new challenges all the time.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I’d like to think I’m that way myself. From the beginning of my writing career I always wanted to expand my horizons. When I did commercial work I couldn’t stand being categorized as a “medical writer” or an “automotive writer” or “a business writer”. As soon as I started to hear editors and agencies label me like that, I wanted to move on to some other kind of writing. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">It’s the same thing now that I write fiction. You may have noticed that I write romance, horror, humor, poetry, and literary stories. I’m all over the block. Currently I’m almost finished another installment of my “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>” romance series, but after that, who knows? I might want to write a mystery novel. I know that some readers would prefer that I stick to one category, one genre, but I can’t. It would bore me to tears to do that. I didn’t get into this writing game to keep writing the same things over and over. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">So, I ask that you have patience with me, and maybe broaden your reading options a bit, and explore something I’ve written that’s out of your usual taste. If you’ve read my romances, try a horror book. Or, if you like horror, dip into one of my humor collections. After all, it’s the same guy writing all these ebooks, so you’ll probably recognize my style no matter what the content is. </span></div>
Don’t worry, I won’t shift gears in the middle of a book the way Bowie did during that 1974 tour. Well, actually, I can’t promise anything. Who knows, maybe if I do I’ll invent a new genre along the way. Anybody for a horror-humor-romance?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-15919699199931089642014-09-16T14:52:00.000-07:002014-09-16T14:58:32.895-07:00What Genealogy Research Has Given Me<div class="p1">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a> would never have been written if it weren’t that I got interested in my family’s history. Growing up, I always liked to listen to my mother’s stories about her Irish grandmother, but I never really got bitten by the genealogy bug till my mother passed away and left me her folders of research, and some old photo albums. <span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">My mother did her research in the days before the Internet, when she had to take a bus downtown and pore through the Philadelphia City Archives. She spent hours at various government offices, she badgered bored city employees for help, she searched miles of microfilm and made copies on those clunky old machines that smelled like chemicals and took long minutes to make a shoddy, blurred copy. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">When I got involved it was much easier. I was able to search online databases and find records in a matter of seconds that my mother had to wait weeks for. I could connect with other people who had information about my family, and exchange photos and stories with them by email.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And it really got to me. Because what happened is I began to realize there were stories about these people, my ancestors, and some of them were quite tragic. There were men who abandoned their wives with small children, there was alcoholism and insanity, there was poverty, there was abortion, there were unwed mothers, there were immigrants who left Ireland as teenagers who never saw their parents or family again for the rest of their lives.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">What I found was the gritty truth about my past. I grew up in the cocoon of suburbia, and I never thought anything dramatic happened in my family. I was wrong, though, because the generations before mine had lots of drama, although it was kept a secret from my generation. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I got lots of material for my novel, although I used my imagination to embellish the facts in many cases. I got a new respect for the hardships faced by the people who came before me. And I got a new love -- genealogy -- that I’m thinking of turning into a second career. I love family history. Every family has its own secrets, its triumphs and tragedies, and every family is worth researching, I am convinced. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">It’s a project worth undertaking, and I highly recommend it. You may be surprised at what you find out when you do genealogical research, but I can guarantee you’ll get a deeper understanding of your family’s roots. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">If you want advice on how to proceed, contact me at <a href="mailto:mcdonnellwrite@gmail.com"><span class="s2">mcdonnellwrite@gmail.com</span></a> and if I can help you, I will. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-29435560982106365662014-08-23T13:44:00.000-07:002014-08-23T13:44:36.899-07:00The Lesson Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters Taught Us<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The recent death of Robin Williams has me thinking about one thing: the joy of improvisation. Robin Williams made a career out of ad-libbed comedy, and it was a wonderful thing to behold. He was known for his manic, wild, improvisational routines, and you can see it on display in dozens of YouTube clips. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Improvisation is a good thing to celebrate these days, because it’s unfettered creativity. The improviser uses anything at his disposal to create comedy, and the results can be hilarious. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Or not. When you make things up on the spot they can fall flat. You’re performing without a safety net, and you can crash and burn just as easily as soar to the clouds. The number one rule is that you can’t be afraid to make a mistake.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">What a good lesson that is for the uptight world we live in. Nobody wants to take a chance on making a mistake anymore, it seems to me. Why? Because the all-seeing media captures every false move and broadcasts it to the world. When an actor who’s had one too many drinks at a party spouts an obscenity it appears on a YouTube video before the day is out. When a football player drops a pass it’s analyzed on sports talk radio for hours. The “news” that a politician fixed a traffic ticket 25 years ago gets broadcast all over the Internet, and that person’s career is ruined. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The result is that people are afraid to take chances these days. Students take easy courses in college so they can maintain a good grade point average. Companies are afraid to innovate, for fear that their profits might go down if the new product fails. Creative people in every field use well-tested templates rather than breaking new ground. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Robin Williams made a career out of breaking new ground, and he wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. If he told a joke that bombed, he just moved on to the next one. He said he learned a lot from Jonathan Winters, a master of comedy improvisation himself. In the YouTube clip below, Robin says the most important thing Jonathan Winters taught him was that “the world is open for play”. That’s a great philosophy, and one I wish we could all follow more. Play is something children do, and they don’t worry about making mistakes. They simply follow the creative impulse wherever it takes them, and they don’t care about who’s watching or what they think. They let the ideas flow. You can’t create something without making mistakes, lots of them, so we should never be afraid to make a mistake. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Watch how joyful Robin and Jonathan are in this video clip, and how they follow the creative ideas wherever they lead.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-3852930672356320532014-07-26T14:49:00.001-07:002014-07-26T14:49:24.734-07:0013 Horror Story Bundle Is PublishedThanks to everyone who voted in my recent cover poll. As you can see below, I chose Cover #2. Not only did it get more votes, but I liked that it had a certain "Aztec" look to it. There's a story in this ebook that has a definite Aztec connection, so the cover art seemed very appropriate.<br />
"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M1ZBGIW" target="_blank">13 Horror Story Bundle</a>" is larger than my previous horror collections, and I think horror fans will definitely enjoy it. Some of these tales are on the long side, but that just gave me more room to sink my teeth (or should I say fangs?) into the story.<br />
I know some of my fans think it's weird that I can write historical fiction like "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>" and then switch gears and write about ghosts and vampires. That's just how my mind works, I guess. I just like creating stories, and some of them are romantic and sentimental, but others happen to be on the scary side. As long as it's a good story, I'm happy.<br />
A long time ago, on the "American Bandstand" program, when the host would ask the teenagers to vote on the latest rock 'n roll songs, many of them would say, "I like it, because it's got a good beat." Well, I feel that way about literature. The story is what counts, like the beat in a good rock song. If you tell a good story, it doesn't matter if it's about two Irish lovers in 19th century Philadelphia or a monster in a coffee shop in present day New York -- most people will respond to it.<br />
I hope you like this collection. And for the people who would like me to get back to "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>", don't worry -- I'm going to work on the next book in the series now.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504553034105507540.post-16487998988841885102014-07-20T16:35:00.002-07:002014-07-20T16:51:59.762-07:00I Need Your Help AgainHello readers:<br />
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I'd like your help in picking a cover for my next ebook. I did this a few months ago with one of my "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C9JV2RA" target="_blank">Rose Of Skibbereen</a>" books and it helped me to decide between two well-designed covers. This time I need help with cover designs for a new horror ebook. It's going to be called "13 Horror Story Bundle" and it's going to have a combination of new and old horror stories by me. I had a great time putting this collection together, and I want to publish it soon. The cover is important, of course, and I'd like to pick one that really grabs potential readers.<br />
I'm going to run a poll, where you can tell me which cover you like best. It will be in the right column of this page. Please weigh in, let me know which one you like.<br />
The one that gets the most votes is the design I'll use.<br />
Cover 1:<br />
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Cover 2:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08236529774839136879noreply@blogger.com0