Author

It is official. I am now an author. Amazon says so.  Http://www.amazon.com/author/dougball is on the air.

All three if my current books are listed in kindle format and one in print.  The other two will be listed in print as soon as tomorrow.

It is a great thrill to see your name in lights. Now the idea is to sell a few and get some reviews.  Obviously I would love for you to buy my books and give me great five star reviews,  but I would rather you read them and gave me honest reviews so I can grow in my writing. 

Stay tuned as I share the tips I learn for marketing.  I live in a very rural area and do not have the normal avenues available to me with out hundreds of miles of travel. So, from scratch we go. 

The first tip is www.createspace.com.  That was my starting point.

Dreams

Take a dream or goal in life you would die for. Write the story. That's what I did.  My dream came true for me, but way later in life than I had hoped. My book "GENTLE REBELLION" is that book. It is a fluffed up, never happened memoir.  It is the original dream. There is little reality in this story, but all the excitement that feeds a young man's ego.

The buzz phrase of writing is WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. What do you know better than your dreams.

Try it. This works for articles and shorts, as well as novels.

Coming Soon

How long does it take to write a book? Great question.  It takes as long as it takes. From first word in 1981 until the middle of February 2014 my first book was in the mill.  With the crash of the western market it was rejected and otherwise abused 45 times, with over 75% of those being the old familiar,  "Does not meet our needs at this time. Try us again."  20 of them said, "Liked it. No market, sorry." or something similar. 

It is now in the proofing stage with createspace.com.

Never give up.

Today

Today is the day to write. Not tomorrow,  cuz tomorrow never comes. Not yesterday,  cuz it's over and done with. TODAY IS THE DAY TO WRITE.

I setca goal for every day when I get up. The is set based on the activities scheduled. I fill the holes with WRITING TIME and the try to sneak some extra in when the day provides.

Today has three stints of writing, the longest if which is over an hour.

WRITE. NOW.

Life

How do you sit bottom in chair and keep on writing?  Do the ideas roll or do you have struggle with them like you were trying to roll one ton building blocks?  

'What if' questions get me moving.  What if this scene got violent, or didn't go the way I had been thinking, or two women walked in on it, or maybe just the good guy dropped his cell phone?   How would each of those change the outcome of the scene?

Currently working on a western.  Got the white hat into a situation where he was supposed to find a clue to the black hat and the treasure.  Instead, he left the plot arc and gound the bad guy dead and the treasure.  Now what.

Go write.

Okay, the first book is published

My new book, first published book, is out.

Puzzling Theology: https://smashwords.com/b/384312

Picture yourself a masterpiece hanging on the wall of Almighty God's Mansion. Picture now that masterpiece made into a jigsaw puzzle in a box. Picture a few billion puzzles just like yours dumped into a pile and tossed around by the winds of a hurricane.

NOW, PUT YOUR PUZZLE TOGETHER.

This book will tell you how.

For only $2.49 for the directions, the work is up to you.

Coming out in softcover before Christmas, I hope. 

If you read it, or even the free sample portion, please leave a review. Good or bad, I desire to learn and be better.

Nano and MY NEW BOOK

Okay, Saturday morning the 30th I had completed 50000+ words after a marathon run of 6,400 words on Friday.   Thank you for the applause.  

Now the better news is - ta da - my first book is out in ebook all formats.

PUZZLING THEOLOGY

Available at Smashwords.com for only $2.49.

PUZZLING THEOLOGY - Picture yourself as a masterpiece hanging on the wall of Almighty God's Mansion. Picture now that masterpiece made into a jigsaw puzzle in a box. Picture a few billion puzzles just like yours dumped in a pile and tossed around by the winds of a hurricane. 

NOW PUT YOUR PUZZLE TOGETHER.

This book will tell you how.