Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You

I have been working furiously on a new novel, The Breaker, which I hope to publish later this year.  Writing is an interesting, solitary career choice.  You can bounce story ideas off of others, but most of the work is done inside your own head, in which you question your character actions and the way the tale will progress.  Since the book is located in a place I have vacationed twice, I am paying attention to the geography of the area even though I already changed the location of one location, in a move to add more detail to the chapter in which the event occurs.  It is interesting to write about things empathetically when you have never experienced them in your own life.

Full Circle

After two or three years of struggling, I finally completed my novel, "Full Circle", as a novella.  The story kind of petered out around 31,000 words and writing the last few chapters to get past 40,000 took some effort on my part as I wanted the characters to find their way back to one another.  I am all about happy endings.  In the process I found a way into a new novel that will be released later this year (hopefully).  I would like to thank my friends who encouraged me as I wrote--Amanda, Marilyn, and April, who will someday be an author in her own right.  I will include the link to the eBook for now, and the paperback once it is completely revised.  I am attaching the cover as well.




https://www.amazon.com/Full-Circle-Tommie-Conrad-ebook/dp/B07WXJX7ND/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=full+circle+tommie&qid=1567180180&s=books&sr=1-1

Two Years Later

It has been two years now since I first experienced the symptoms that would later be diagnosed as a brain tumor.  And while I wouldn’t say that my life is markedly better now—indeed, sometimes it seems much worse—I met a lot of wonderful people during the process, made new friends, and reconnected with old ones.  If anyone asks, I know exactly which medications will help with nausea during chemotherapy, and I have been in the MRI machine so many times that I am now an old pro at having scans.  I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, or the best-looking, or the wealthiest person you’ll ever meet, but I am skilled at one thing:  surviving.

Run

I won't lie to you--for the past to years or so, my ability to write, and to create, has been severely diminished.  That's the primary reason blog posts, as well as new novels, have become so infrequent.  I even have another novel I began at least as far back as 2014 that remains uncompleted; I plan to finish it eventually, but lately I just can't find the inspiration.  The good news, however, is that I have managed to complete a shorter novel, entitled Run, which is available now in paperback, and will be available next week as an eBook.  It details the relationship between Sienna Thorpe, a successful architect who loves her job but has spent her entire life running from love, intimacy, and the potential for lasting happiness.  Her life is changed forever when she meets Harmon Brent, a transplant from Alabama who has come to Kentucky to put down roots.  Harm is a man with a great head for business--his sporting goods stores have spread across the country and even to foreign countries, but he's never had much luck in his personal life.  I attempted to write a longer novel than my last one, but only succeeded in reaching 50,000 words.  The purchase link as well as the cover are featured below.  As always, I welcome comments, feedback, and suggestions.


Run

Publicity

Kentucky Summer will turn three years old next spring/summer, but the book is experiencing a bit of a second life thanks to a feature article done in Kentucky Living, AKA the Electric Book.  The book is not selling like hotcakes or anything, but to go from selling nothing to selling a few copies is always nice.  I also worked on a plan in which the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea now stocks a few of my books along with those of other local authors and artisans.

Just Look at Me

Even though I’ve been slacking in the writing department lately, I decided to take the plunge and start my own Facebook fan page.  The link is at the top of the blog, but I’ll also include it here for anyone reading this individual post or perhaps viewing it in mobile.

http://www.facebook.com/tommieconradauthor

I find myself wondering about the importance of social networking, and whether or not it truly works when it comes to selling yourself as an artist, author, or performer.  I also understand, however, that I sold several books via my personal Facebook page that I might never have otherwise, and maybe I have done the same via this blog.

Busy

I finally had the foresight to begin leaving my dictionary and thesaurus on the desk while I write.  And I have been writing many, many words lately.  Anyway, while the built in features of Microsoft Word usually work well, there are plenty of exhaustive synonyms and meanings provided on the pages of those reference works.  As a librarian, I likely should have realized that from the start.  It's always a delicate balance in writing, figuring out the words you should use versus those words you simply want to use.

Author Central

It's still a work in progress, but I finally set up my author page on Amazon today.  Someday I'll figure out how to just share links on my blog without making them posts, but for now...


https://www.amazon.com/author/tommieconrad

Books for Sale

The good news is I finally completed my third book, Windswept Hearts.  The sequel to my first book, Windswept, is quite different from the others I’ve written—the story comes together in a roundabout rather than straightforward way.  Of course, I still believe in happy endings.  I had to read-through it at least three times so any remaining errors are there for the duration, I suppose.  As always, if anyone wants to provide feedback, I’m here to listen.  I’m nearly finished with my fourth novel, which likely will be the final one for this year.  I really am worn out from writing, but it’s been a great experience bringing my ideas to life.

http://www.amazon.com/Windswept-Hearts-ebook/dp/B009AV0MXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1349187774&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Windswept-Hearts-Mr-Tommie-Conrad/dp/1479254479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349187814&sr=1-1

Editing to the Third Power

Editing my book, as of last night.  So far it's going well, because I started in the middle rather than the beginning.  It's interesting to note that, once again, the final chapters seem to be much longer and more detailed as the story reaches its climax.  Gotta work more in the future on spreading out the story.  Still thinking about the book cover as well, and wondering if I should paint something or use a photo.



Currently listening to "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain