California here I come…
I will be in LA for the rest of the week attending the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) 40th Anniversary Summer Conference. It’s my first trip to the West Coast and I couldn’t be more excited.
I’ll be posting pictures throughout the weekend to my Facebook Fan Page. “Like” me and tell your friends to “Like” me, too. You can see what sort of silliness I get into over the next few days.
Also, follow me on Twitter (@LRGiles) and keep an eye on the official conference hashtag for a lot of cool stuff from the numerous writers in attendance: #LA11SCBWI
I may blog a bit while I’m there, otherwise I’ll catch you when I’m back in my timezone…
Type A Lamar and the Business Card Debacle…
It’s rare that a post can be random and relevant, but that’s kind of what this is. The relevant part involves the trip I’ll be taking later this week to attend the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) 40th Anniversary conference in Los Angeles. I’ll get to rub elbows with some industry folks and attend cool and informative workshops, which is always a plus. But, more importantly, I’ll get to meet my very good writer friend Jennifer Bosworth and my Super Agent Jamie Weiss Chilton in person for the very first time (this alone is worth the price of the plane ticket).
Confession: I rarely get excited. It’s like my brain secrets Prozac, I’m so even keel. However, this trip excites me. It’ll be my first time on the west coast, and I can’t wait to see LA for myself. I’m from Virginia and the farthest west I’ve been is Texas…all I know about LA comes from ENTOURAGE and KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS. My only regret is that my wife can’t make this trip with me, but she’s demanded that I bring her back something “decidedly LA”. I’m thinking a jar of smog.
That was your dose for relevant, time for the random…
I’m a Type A all the way, an obsessive PLANNER. So, uncharacteristically, I made a misstep in my conference prep. See, it’s good protocol to have business cards with you when you attend these things because you meet so many people there’s no way to keep everyone straight in your head. And I have A METRIC TON of business cards already. The problem: the cards are specific to my Indie Pubbed adult paranormal novel LIVE AGAIN, which maybe doesn’t matter too much, but it’s not the impression I necessarily want to make at conference centered around books for children and young adults. This didn’t occur to me until Thursday night, exactly 1 week before I get on a westbound plane.
The Type A in me panicked. While all of my relevant contact info was on the LIVE AGAIN business cards, I’d simply be MORTIFIED to hand those out at SCBWI…it’d be like, I don’t know, wearing white after Labor Day. I needed something representative of my young adult work. Since graphic design is a hobby I’ve dabbled in for the last two years, I got the bright idea that I would DESIGN A NEW BUSINESS CARD IN ONE HOUR, so I could make a rush order with Vista Print and get new cards before I leave.
If you’re a planner, too, you probably already see what’s wrong here…
It was close to midnight when I started my ambitious design project. I’d been up since 5 AM. I discovered SLEEP-DEPRIVED DESIGNING is kind of like DRUNK DIALING YOUR EX…you wake up the next day with one thing and one thing only on your mind, “What the hell did I do?”
I completed my design, all with a snazzy, unique color palette (not the problem), and this cool little ink-in-water accent along the bottom left to highlight all my social media logos (not the problem). I even added a custom logo (problem).
The logo I’d been working on was meant to represent a character I’d created for a YA project. It’s essentially the silhouette of a guy wearing these big ’80’s style headphones because the character was really into music. I got the basic logo from istockphoto and planned to tweak it (which I never got around to) so I could throw it on some promotional stuff. Really, there’s nothing wrong with the idea on paper. The problem comes in when you consider the following (something my sleep addled mind was not able to do…at the time it seemed like the best idea ever, freaking award-worthy):
1) The character changed, and music isn’t as big a part of his makeup as it used to be. The headphones are insignificant now.
2) I can’t say too much about this project yet. And I can’t say WHY I can’t say much about this project yet.
3) Since the character changed, and I’m not supposed to discuss him too much, the logo is meaningless. It’s like painting a Pepsi logo on a prehistoric rock for the dinosaurs to stare out.
4) This is the worst part – It’s a kid wearing BIG ASS HEADPHONES. That doesn’t exactly scream WRITER. It screams DJ!!!!!
And I paid fifty bucks to get my new DJ business cards in time for my WRITER’S conference. <Insert Joke Here>.
So if you happen to be at SCBWI next week and you’re looking for me, I’ll be the guy saying, “Hi, I’m Lamar. I’m a writer…but I also do weddings.”
He who cares less wins…
Sorry for the long delay folks, been a busy month but I hope to share some huge news with you soon….
In the meantime, I depart from my typical writing/movies/pop-culture spiel to share a little lesson that may serve you well in all endeavors going forward, particularly where money is involved.
Some backstory
In a former profession that relied heavily on negotiation and sales, I had an incredibly talented boss who taught me one of the most valuable lessons I EVER learned.
“When it comes to negotiation,” she said, “he who cares less wins.”
Basically, in any deal, you have to remove emotions from the equation and simply make yourself not care about the outcome. Whether you’re talking about 100 dollars or 100,000 dollars. I learned the lesson firsthand when I worked for the company and was dealing with a seller who had a subpar product. My company still wanted the product, but needed some improvements made, improvements that would’ve cost less than 5 thousand dollars. The seller fought tooth and nail to not make the changes we requested, but we held strong and got what we wanted. When we finally completed the transaction and saw all of the balance sheets we learned the seller STILL MADE 90 THOUSAND DOLLARS!!
My point…all that moaning about a five thousand dollar change and they still walked away with 90K. So, it didn’t hurt them to make the change, but they were trying to see how much we cared. If we’d been emotional and felt we really needed to accept their terms because we just LOVED their product so much that we were willing to look past the flaws, then we would’ve essentially paid more for less. But, by stating what we wanted, and being willing to walk away if we didn’t get it, we actually got the exact thing we needed/loved/had to have, and the seller STILL made money. Everybody wins.
FAST FORWARD
My wife and I have been car shopping, a miserable experience that I rank just above Moving. Thanks to all the various online tools and mobile apps available today it’s easy to do all the necessary research before you walk onto a car lot (something car salesmen probably loathe) and make informed decisions. Using said tools, my wife and I were able to narrow our car choices down to a Top 3. Not only that, we were able to determine what sort of interest rate we should be eligible for, the price we should expect to pay for the car, and the value of our trade in.
Of course the dealer had other ideas.
It was no shock that the salesman tried to low ball us in every conceivable category because that’s his job. Part of the technique involves making you miserable while you haggle back and forth over figures. The longer you spend in a dealership trying to get 500 dollars here, and a percentage point there, you get worn down. You don’t want to keep going through this, and you don’t want to start over at another dealer. They mean to wear you down so you take a garbage deal.
But that only works if you care…
I don’t. So this is how my deal went.
I test drove my top choice vehicle. Sat down to talk numbers. The minute they started in with the lowball figures I told them exactly what I expected in every category (sales price, trade in value, loan APR). They tried their hardest NOT to meet my terms.
If you’ve been through this, you know how it goes…typically you’ll do 2 or 3 iterations of haggling with the salesman. Each time you refuse to accept his offer, he makes a show of “going to speak to his manager to see what he can do”. He’s really getting coffee or taking his turn in an ongoing Scrabble game while you sit for 20 minutes. If you’re able to hang on that long without going into a Wolverine Beserker Rage, they’ll eventually bring out some guy who’s dressed slightly better than your salesman. He’s supposed to be the mysterious manager your guy’s been fighting with to get you the “best deal”, he’s probably just the best Scrabble player. This guy is meant to represent the Final Offer, he’s the “Okay folks, i’m doing all I can for you here and this is what I’ve got…” guy. He’s still giving you a s****y deal, though.
When I reached the “talking to the manager” point of the negotiation, I did what few people are willing to do. I sprang from my seat and walked out. Because I don’t care, and because I know something else…
Homecourt advantage is hard to beat.
You can’t win on their court and on their terms. As long as you’re sitting in that uncomfortable chair, and you keep playing the haggle game, they KNOW you want the car. When you suddenly storm out, seemingly unprovoked, hell, they think you might be on your way to get your Uzi. Let them think that.
That was a Saturday.
On Sunday, when the dealership was closed, I sent an email directly to my salesman. See, email is writing, and that’s MY homecourt. I told him the exact terms I was willing to accept, and if he (or his manager) couldn’t meet them, then I’d take my business elsewhere. However, I would not return to the dealership until I had confirmation that I’d get what I want.
By Monday I had a message on my answering machine stating that each and every one of my terms would be met.
Here’s the thing, my terms were fair, and I’m sure they’ll still make more money that I should’ve allowed, but I’m not interested in nickel and diming THEM. I just want a reasonable price…and boy did I get one.
I put a deposit on a brand new 2012 vehicle that’s coming straight from the factory and I’m paying less than I did for the last Used Car I bought. All because I cared less. Really, I cared more about not cheating myself. Funny how alike those two things are.
I tell you the story because there will come a time in your life where you’ll have to negotiate, and you should really consider that getting whatever that deal offers is not worth selling yourself short. Ask for a little more than what you want (because you’ll likely have to negotiate down to what you REALLY want), know what the other side of the deal can feasibly offer and what they’ll gain by dealing with you, and understand that within the parameters of FAIR VALUE, you should never agree to less than what’s right. You’ll regret it later if you do, and I guarantee that you’ll care much more about that…
Go On Girl! Book of the Month – LIVE AGAIN
The Go On Girl! Book Club has selected LIVE AGAIN as their Book of the Month selection for July.
I spent time with the ladies of GoG! in May at their annual conference and it was incredible. Not only did they give me total red carpet treatment, but they honored and humbled me by showing so much love for my book.
Thanks Go On Girl! I hope you all enjoy reading Live Again as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If anyone out there cares to read along with the ladies of GoG! this month, you can purchase paperback copies of Live Again from Mahogany Books (GoG’s official bookseller), or you can get digital copies for you preferred eReader by following the links on this site.
Winter is Coming
I passed the huge displays in my local Barnes and Noble. Skipped the ads in magazines. Zoned out when friends raved about this episode or that episode. Ultimately, I shrugged the whole thing off. Game of Thrones was like NASCAR to me. Popular for reasons I just didn’t understand. Plus, I didn’t have HBO anyway.
Shrug.
Due to automobile trouble, I found myself stuck in the house this past weekend. On a lark, I called up my local cable provider and had Home Box Office added to my package (really, just to catch up on Entourage…I still wasn’t sold on GoT).
What a difference 10 hours and OnDemand can make.
I can probably count on one hand the number of times a TV viewing experience has felt transcendent to me. After this weekend, another digit just popped up. I can’t stop thinking about it, and I’m really about to buy each of George R.R. Martin’s novels because I don’t think I can wait until spring to know what happens next.
That’s it. No anaylsis. No clever observations. I just feel like a kid again, back in the days when watching The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Darkside was just as important as getting three meals in. Hell, those shows were the meal.
I think I just added another helping.
What book are you chasing?
First, I’m not going to give you suggestions on the best ways to follow a shot of top-shelf whiskey. For those who feel mislead, I’m sorry to disappoint. Moving on…
The title of this post is actually a reference to the 1997 film Chasing Amy written and directed by Kevin Smith. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a pretty funny indie film currently available through Netflix Instant Streaming. And you might want to view it before I reveal this little tidbit that explains the origin of the title when no one in the film is named Amy.
*spoiler alert*
Towards the end of the movie the Silent Bob character, who is played by the director himself, gives a poignant monologue about how he messed up a good relationship with a woman named Amy over something that, in the scheme of things, was stupid. Now, he spends his days trying to find the same level of fulfillment he experienced with her. He’s constantly “Chasing Amy”.
I can’t relate to Silent Bob’s relationship woes because I’m happily married, but I’m a bit of a book whore. It occurred to me that I spend a lot of time trying to find a book that gives me the same level of fulfillment as certain other titles I’ve read over the years. I’m not the only one, and publishers know this, which is why when a book or series is successful, you immediately see a thousand clones (painfully obvious in YA right now with every other book aiming to be this week’s Hunger Games). Thing is, the clones almost never live up to the original*, so, sadly, the longing is never fulfilled.
That’s neither here nor there. See, for me personally, I think there is ONE book (MAYBE two) that moved me so much that I’m always trying to find a book that gives me the same level of enjoyment and satisfaction while disappointing me because I know it has to end. For me, it’s NIGHTWORLD by F. Paul Wilson (BLOOD BROTHERS by Steven Barnes is a close runner-up).
I read both books when I was 19 years old, and they CHANGED me, influencing my reading and writing habits ever since. Now, I spend everyday chasing Nightworld.
What about you? Any particular book that you can’t seem to get out of your system, no matter how many books you read? Please, let me know in the comments.
*If you know of a book that was an obvious clone of another, but somehow surpassed the original, please share. I’d be interested to check them out.
What DON’T you have to think about today?
I happened to stumble across this amazing post from one John Scalzi and decided to link to it here. Perhaps it’s lazy posting on my part (I know I’m behind), but it doesn’t make John’s words any less fantastic. Check him out: Things I don’t have to think about.
Mr. Giles Goes To Washington
I’ll be attending the Go On Girl! Book Club’s Annual Awards Weekend in Washington, D.C. this weekend. The ladies of GoG have selected LIVE AGAIN as there July-December Sci-Fi/Fantasy pick and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait to meet them in person.
For those who can’t make it to the capital city, I’ll do my best to make you feel like you’re there by posting pics and tweeting throughout the conference as time permits. In honor of the club’s 20th anniversary, I’ll be using the hashtag: #GoG20
So, follow me on Twitter (@LRGiles) and feel free to join the 140 character conversation.
I’m out. I’ll tell Barack hi for you. 🙂
Diversify vs. Diversity, Part I: TV
The Preamble
This will not be a popular post. Neither will the three that follow. I plan to write similar posts on films, books, and finally, proposed solutions to what I see as problems.
Those who read this and choose to negatively criticize (as opposed to constructively criticizing) my statements will do at least two things to make their case. They will attack my motives (he wants more people to come to his blog so he decides to be all controversial), or my logic (he’s stating unproven facts, here’s 5 points refuting his claims).
As a bonus, when I get to my third post on books, because it’s the publishing industry I choose to work in, the points of attack will be my personal bitterness, work ethic, and skill. In other words, my motivation for writing such things has to do with the fact that I’ve yet to get a book deal. The real reason that I don’t have a book deal is because I don’t work hard enough, and even if I did work hard, I just don’t have the skills to turn a profit for a publisher so instead of facing THOSE facts, I’ve fallen back on the old Blame-The-Man crutch.
And it’s fine if you think that. It’s a free country, which is why I can say what I’m about to say…
If there’s been an effort to step up diversity (and for the sake of this post I’m defining diversity as the fair representation and humane depiction of America’s many non-white racial groups) across the landscape of television, films, and books, it is a weak and superficial effort at best. Here’s how I see it…
The Diversify Approach
There are several ways to define diversify, and you can easily look them up for yourself. Here, I’ll focus on one definition that I feel is most appropriate:
(v) to add different types of manufactured products, crops, etc., especially to a business.
I find this fitting for a couple of reasons. One, it refers specifically to a business, and entertainment (tv, films, books, music and even sports) is most certainly that. Two, I like the “manufactured products” part. My interest in those two words is going to be more allegorical than etymological . My argument is the corporate approach to the representation of racial groups across various media has been a Diversify Approach as opposed to a Diversity Approach. As defined here, by me, those approaches are very different, and that’s a problem.
Here’s what I admit flat out: many racial groups ARE represented in a number of televisions show. You can easily turn on your television during Primetime and see a number races/ethnicities present and accounted for. I am not denying that.
At this point, someone with an opposing view might say, “Hey, what’s your problem? If you are admitting that races/ethnicities are accounted for, what more do you want? Isn’t that good enough?”
No. It’s not good enough. If you had a child who brought home a report card full of Fs, but then worked hard and made gradual improvements to pull those Fs up to Cs, you recognize that it’s a start, but Cs still shouldn’t be good enough. Cs mean you’re doing just enough to stay in the middle of the road, not failing, but not excelling either. In 2011 I say with all the conviction that I can muster that it is not good enough, not on the report card and certainly not on our TV screens.
That’s where the problem with the Diversify Approach comes in. It’s not about excelling, it’s about being good enough. It’s about adding a product to a business for no other reason than to hedge bets and cover bases. In the realm of entertainment, criticism of diversity issues have been loud and consistent. So, to quiet critics you can count on most new shows being cast with several characters of different races in the mix. But, based on character arcs when compared with their White counterparts, it’s not unreasonable to see the Diversified Roles as the “manufactured product” mentioned above, something to add to the businesses portfolio, but no necessarily the main line of business or even a very high priority.
The Diversity Approach
As mentioned above, I’m looking at Diversity as the fair representation and humane depiction of America’s many non-white racial groups across the landscape of television, films, and books. To be clear, I understand that this is an abstract aspiration. What is fair? Certainly not life itself, so how can I expect a money machine like the entertainment industry to shoot for such a lofty ideal?
Frankly, I don’t. It would be nice if we could ever define fair in quantifiable terms, then institute fairness into as many areas as possible. I’m not foolish, though. So, I’ll shoot for awareness. I’ll make my points, give my examples, and hope that if I, and others like me, continue to bring this up then more and more industry gatekeepers will become aware (or stop claiming false unawareness) and greenlight more projects that showcase faces, cultures, and lifestyles that represent the many faces of America and not just the faces that have been most dominant.
With that in mind, I present the Diversity Approach. This is the approach that is used when various characters of differing race exist as (rough) EQUALS within a shared fictional universe. Let me restate, this is the fair and humane part of my Diversity Approach definition. The non-white characters don’t exist to provide comic relief, add street cred, advance negative stereotypes, or be stepping stones that help the white characters reach their all important goals. This is not a new idea. Spike Lee was vocal about this when he coined the term “Super Duper Magical Negro” and author Steven Barnes writes often about the de-humanization of black males in films. (For the record, I agree with both of their observations, but I’m choosing to write in terms of general non-white representation because this blog post is too condensed to get into micro-specifics.)
I hope I’ve done an acceptable job in setting up the framework in which my next few posts on this subject will exist. Now, I’ll give some examples of both approaches in practice.
The Portfolio
Disclaimer: I have not seen every TV show in the world. Therefore, the shows I mention below should not be considered as any kind of scientific sample. I KNOW they don’t represent the whole of television. However, they are shows that I’m familiar with, therefore I can observe and comment based on first-hand impressions.
Grey’s Anatomy* (ABC)
Obviously, the show’s namesake is the Meredith Gray character, who is a white female. The show is an ensemble (meaning that every character has their own story arc and can be the focus of any given episode), but I would not expect any character to ever become MORE important, or even totally equal to, Meredith. I can’t say I’ve followed the show extensively since the first few seasons (my wife is a fan and I watched with her, she has since released me from that obligation) so maybe that’s an incorrect assumption. Even if it is, that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve always considered this show to be one of the most positive examples of diversity on television. A number of races are represented, and they are written as human beings (meaning they all have real goals, and realistic emotional and sexual relationships) instead of caricatures. Within my framework, this show is a shining example of the Diversity Approach.
*It’s important to note that the show’s creator and executive producer (for us folks in the real world, that means ‘boss’) is Shonda Rimes, an African-American female. I’ll speak more about her when I write my Solutions post.
Undercovers* (NBC)
Married couple Steven and Samantha Bloom run a catering company while assisting the CIA on covert operations. This was super producer JJ Abrams attempt at reversing the formula we’ve grown so accustomed to as Americans (God bless him). Here, two non white characters were the leads while white characters existed in support roles. Strictly speaking, this fell into the Diversify Approach because the White characters were really caricatures (or cliches, really). Grumpy Boss, Goofy Sidekick, and so on…
However, the series should be applauded as an effort to showcase uncharacteristic faces in dramatic roles that we RARELY see in America. It was cancelled after airing only 11 episodes, and rightfully so since it was dull beyond belief.
*Here’s the problem with the cancellation of Undercovers…it is my belief that the assumption will be that the show didn’t catch on because of the Non-White actors as leads. Not that the show had the SAME FATE AS MOST SHOWS. Most television shows DO NOT MAKE IT, even good ones. And, in the case of Undercovers, it just wasn’t good. It wouldn’t have been good if the leads were White. Sadly, losing the show is a blow to Diversity efforts. Because it will be marked in the Non-White Leads Don’t Work column instead of Non-White Actors Can’t Get Cast In The Good Roles column.
Glee (Fox)
When I saw the premier of Glee I couldn’t help but smile. From episode 1 I saw what this show was supposed to be, a showcase for the outcasts. If nothing else, this show would do what so many others fail at, or don’t even try. It would be a true representation of Diversity. Race, Sexuality, Social Status all depicted as varying and acceptable because America is varied, and those variances should be accepted. And, for the most part, I think it’s tried to live up to those expectations.
Except when it comes to African-Americans…
Confession, I’ve probably missed the last 4 to 5 episodes of Glee. So, please correct me if what I’m about to say is wrong, or if the evidence I present has changed.
Exhibit A: The lone African-American Male of the Glee Club (you might remember him as the Other Dancing Guy) is conspicuously absent at the start of season 2. Maybe he left by choice…I don’t know. But I immediately noticed that the Black Guy was gone. I don’t know if they even explained the character’s absence. It was like he never existed.
Exhibit B: At the time of my last viewing, EVERY MEMBER OF THE CLUB had had a significant relationship arc. They’d dated, found love, gotten their heart broken, pined for someone who didn’t notice them, etc. That is, every member except Mercedes (the African-American female with an Aretha Franklin voice). I’ve seen this character have 2 concerns during the life of the show…getting a solo (fair, it is a show about singing and the girl can sing) and having the cafeteria bring back tater tots (WTF?). This translates into caricature, unflattering stereotypes about overweight people, and pretty much a dehumanization of a single character on a show that’s supposed to be about acceptance and self-expression.
So, I have to say that, for the most part, Glee falls under the Diversity approach, but with one glaring Diversify example that I sincerely hope they correct.
The Vampire Diaries (CW)*
I’ve watched this show for a few reasons. The first being that it’s the fledgling network’s most watched show…I like to stay up on trends. The second being I love twisty stories of the supernatural, and when it comes to the writing on this show, they knock it out of the park. The third, it’s set in Virginia (though it’s really shot in Georgia) and it’s kind of neat to see what Hollywood does with my home state (mostly, they get it wrong…but whatever). That being said, I hate myself for liking those aspects of this show because when it comes to Diversity grading, this show deserves an ‘F’…and I mean a huge gasoline soaked ‘F’ drawn in the dirt so large that when you strike a match and set it on fire, it’s visible from space. But, in light of the framework, I’ll just say it subscribes to the Diversify Approach.
Let me explain. First, the protagonist is the lovelorn Elena, stuck between 2 sexy vampires. All three are White (note: someone already pointed out that Nina Dobrev, the lead actress is of Bulgarian descent. True. So let me expound on what I mean by White…she looks White. If that’s not good enough, the US Census defines the White check box as being of European, Middle Eastern, or North African descent. Bulgaria is in Europe, moving on) . This is perfectly fine. I NEVER said any show SHOULD have Non White leads, it would just be cool if more did. Where the show goes heavy into the Diversify Approach is the depiction of All Non White characters. I believe there is only one Non White regular, the Bonnie character played by actress Kat Graham. A couple of things about this character…strictly speaking, Spike Lee might say she falls into the Super Duper Magical Negro category because she’s an all-powerful witch on the series. I’m willing to give her a pass on that part because almost everyone on the show has a supernatural ability. HOWEVER, her motivations (such as a WILLINGNESS TO DIE so the Elena character lives, doesn’t make a lot of sense, which sort of puts her back in the SDMN category). So, I’ll concede and call draw on her. However, EVERY TIME I’ve seen an African-American male with a speaking role or any kind of interaction with the main cast on the show, he’s DIED HORRIBLY. EVERY. TIME. The same can be said about the lone Asian Female I recall from the show’s 2 season run.
Counterpoint: It’s a show about murderous supernatural creatures. A lot of people die.
Counter-Counterpoint: This could be excused if the perpetual victims had representation on the survivorss side of things. As it stands, when you see someone from another race pop up on this show, don’t count on them becoming a new regular.
*As a whole, the CW is terrible when it comes to diversity in their 8-10 EST primetime schedule. If you take away America’s Next Top Model, which we shouldn’t count because it’s not a scripted show, I’m willing to bet that Non-White characters/actors are outnumbered by their White counterparts by margins as high as 5-1 (if not higher). HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE IN 2011? Particularly with a network that is targeted towards the young?
To Be Continued…
There’s something to start a discussion. Think about what I’ve written, and gauge your own reaction. Have you ever noticed any of this? If you have, did it bother you? Do you think I’m off base? Please respond. I’d love to hear different views on the matter.
When I broach this subject again, I plan to talk about the film industry. There are some very telling things there, too.
Until then, later gang. And Happy Mother’s Day to all who meet the criteria.
By popular demand: PAPERBACKS
You asked and I provided…
Due to the popularity of my eBooks and numerous requests from those who don’t utilize eReader technology, I’ve made two of my books, LIVE AGAIN and THE SHADOWS GALLERY, available as trade paperbacks. As of today, you can click on the links below or on the links available throughout the site to purchase your copy. Be sure to spread the word. Happy Reading.
THE SHADOWS GALLERY in paperback