ARMA DEL DIABLO- THE COLT OF DESTINY ~ MANUELA SCHNEIDER

 I enjoyed reading this book. It has a great storyline and was easy to follow the timelines, which are different stories based on an “evil” handgun, the Colt .45 pistol. Originally manufactured for the Army in the late 1880s by Samuel Colt. The Colt .45 pistol once owned by Johnny Ringo, (affiliated with the Cochise County Cowboy Gang) was involved in the assignation of Marshall Earp in Tombstone, Arizona. The stories of the handgun’s curse all tie in together creating a string of murders throughout time.

Johnny Ringo a notorious outlaw purchases a six-shooter, a Colt .45 from a soldier who needed money. Johnny is the ringleader of The Cowboys and is now hiding out from the law. In hiding Johnny reflects on his father's suicide that he witnessed when he was only 15. It has been noted that Johnny committed suicide by his own hand.

The story goes three years later when in New Mexico a young couple's lives are interrupted when Elizabeth Carson, is kidnapped by her husband's brother who only wants to tell his side of the story of how he becomes estranged from his family, betrayed by his own brother. Much to Elizabeth's dismay, she learns the truth about her husband.

The main character, Michael Kent, an expert on antique weapons is hired by a wealthy collector who wants Kent to find the elusive item. Once he starts to track down the handgun, he begins to understand that this is no ordinary pistol and questions the collector, Gorgo Conway, intentions.

Each character real and fictitious, was done well; easy to connect with, they were fleshed out just enough to give the reader what they needed to make a connection. Based on how well the author was able to portray each event or situation, I could tell the research done for this book was in-depth. I also appreciated the section at the back of the book which offered a little more insight into actual events depicted in the book.

LET'S SEE......

 Hello, dead air space! It's been a few weeks since I posted anything on my progress and based on the lack of comments and views I don't think it really matters except to me. I took a step back after I lost my newly edited version of "Silos". I tried everything to get it back and to no avail, it was gone. I contacted tech support in the word processing program "Libre Office" and got a lot of help there and learned what not to do. Microsoft was helpful too, but retrieving the manuscript was unsuccessful. What makes me mad about that is there is always someone who has to be a smartass, so let's just add more salt to the wound. We live on a fixed income and therefore I'm unable to do a lot of what I'd like to do as far as all the latest writing gadgets floating around out there nowadays. 

Everyone has a free-bee platform but they come with many limits, and if you want to have the best you have to pay. That's not an option for me so I do what I can with what I have. Fortunately, I had an earlier revision of the manuscript, but all the work I put into the one I lost is making me mad. Mad at myself because I didn't back it up like I should have even though I had several copies in different formats, it didn't matter because they were all gone. I've since restarted a new revision but every time I try to work on it, I can't. It took a hard hit and now I wonder if I should just put it back on the "shelf" and finish my short story collection. Even that is going slow. 

Unless you are a writer it's hard for a person to understand the time and effort it took, a lot of agonizing and restructuring the plot and the polishing phase before submitting it to publication. This was set to publish at the end of June, but it will more than likely be the last of July or mid-August. I want to finish this book; so my sister gave me some great advice: Just put it up for a little while then go back. It's been over a week since I've looked at it, maybe I'll have a better frame of mind today. Some people may think I'm being unrealistic but it is what it is. You try to write a book and lose it, then come talk to me.

REVIEW: THE CONFESSIONS OF GABRIEL ASH~ LEE PLOEVOI

 I enjoyed reading “The Confessions of Gabriel Ash”, by Lee Polevoi. A great thriller novel! It takes place during the cold war with Russia and is set in 1982. Gabriel Ash is an Ambassador to Keshnev a small country with strong Russian ties. Through many faults of his doing, including alienating his daughter, Ash is now confined in a castle turned prison somewhere in Eastern Europe.

It’s not something I would read on a normal basis, but the title sounded interesting. The opening line was intriguing and the setting was perfect, cold and gray. Mr. Polevoi knows how to paint the background so well it’s easy to imagine the stench of garbage and exhaust fumes in New York City to the bone-chilling air in the mountains of Keshnev’s Lesser Alps. The tension builds nicely as the story moves on and has a satisfying ending. Great book for those who enjoy reading political thrillers, historical-based novels, and the underbelly of world society’s power-hungry mongrels.  

Dear Maude book review

 When I first started reading “Dear Maude”, I wasn’t sure what I was reading. At best, I thought it was something about college life. Boy, was I wrong! This is a splendid book with a lot of twists and turns. It definitely had many well-kept secrets and kept me guessing all the way to the end. The main character, Emily Stanton, is on a scholarship that gives her more than she bargained for. The catch of the scholarship was to work for the granter of the scholarship, Evergreen Research, for four years after graduating from college. Little did Emily realize it would change her whole life.

It’s a story that borders “The Twilight Zone”, with a twist of espionage and toss in a little Agatha Christie for good measure.

The story has a great flow and kept me wanting to find out more about Emily’s bizarre situation and how she was going to handle it. The characters were memorable and believable. I didn’t have a connection to what she was going through, but by the time I finished the book, I was hoping she would win. Her self-esteem I could relate to and she goes through a transition of finding out what she can do even when she didn’t think she could. I highly recommend reading “Dear Maude” and I definitely have plans to read the next book in the series.  

You can find Denise Liebig's "Dear Maude" as well as the two books in the trilogy at Amazon.com and on Goodreads.

REVIEW OF "THE LAWYER'S LEGACY" (THE WITCHFINDERS WELL) JOHNATHON POSNER

Loved it! From the opening when young Miss Ophelia Williams falls victim to robbers and meets Robert Wychewood, a young boy who dreams of becoming a lawyer, the storyline never falls stagnant. I thought both main characters were strong and memorable. The other characters in the story as well were vivid and came alive. It’s hard to make all of your characters in a novel be memorable, but in this book, (for me) they all came alive. It was a page-turner, with a lot of non-stop action. There were places throughout the story I found myself holding my breath as Ophelia and Robert went from one harrowing ride to another. I also thought Mr. Posner’s usage of metaphors was crafted in an expert fashion. I also liked how the dialogue reflected the time period without overdoing it which helped ignite my imagination further. I am now a fan of Johnathon Posner and will need to read more of his work!

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

 It's been a while as you can see by the timeline. It's also been a busy one. Writing, critiquing, reading books to review, and maintaining all of my sites and home life leaves little time for myself. I recently signed up for people to read "A Day of Reckoning" on "Voracious Readers Only" and on "Booksprout". Both of these websites have books you can read and also put your novel in for review.  I hope those who read it will like it. I've sold more books and so far, I still have just two reviews on Amazon. I keep taking it one day at a time, but man, I feel like I'm being drug through the mud! 

"Silos", is kicking my ass. Plain and simple. What started out as a fun "let's see if I can make this work" project is turning into a headache! But it will not leave me alone. I know I can make it work and will do so. 

BOOK REVIEW OF "CAMPFIRE IN THE BASEMENT" BY DARRELL PEDERSEN

 I really enjoyed this memoir. Mr. Pedersen is a great storyteller and I loved the warm tributes to his relatives. It is well written; it strikes strong emotions; his words are written in such a way that made this reader laugh and cry. The first line of the first story “Campfire in the basement”, is a great hook and I could picture the scene quite easily. I also found this book ran parallel to the television series, “The Waltons” and “Little House on the Prarie”; meaning that life was hard and people had to work hard. Their lives did not center on entitlement. You fell on hard times you made it work, you had times of plenty, you gave to those who didn’t. Material gain came from hard work but what made these people rich was love for family and helping others who needed help. Each story had vivid scenes and it was easy to put myself into those stories. It was easy to read and relatable like having to walk home in the dark down a long dirt road. And, in each of the stories he told there was something to take away from each one. Each person Mr. Pedersen wrote about was filled with love for that indiviual, it is easy to see he wrote from his heart. We all want a place by the lake, we all long for tranquility and should view life being about love. We should all be surprised at even the smallest of things such as Wintergreen lifesavers sparking. If “Campfire in the Basement” were to ever become a television series, I’d watch it.

A WEEK IN REVIEW

 This past week had me in a seven day writing challenge through The Write Practice. 

The Write Practice: Helping Writers Get Better Since 2011

The idea behind it is to write 1,000 words each day for seven days. I didn't meet the goals each day but I did get work done on some of the short stories I plan to publish in the near future. They've been in their folders for years and now they are seeing the light of day and getting a "facelift". Maybe "wordlift" is better? I spend a lot of time looking through websites for information about writing but also camaraderie with fellow writers and authors. I find gold nuggets and this site is one of them. 

"Silos" is now going through a critique session even though I've only gone through most of it once. I'm almost done with that but I think I'm going to move some character's stories I tell in the book. That's one thing about the format I'm using by dating sections and incidents (it's important to the forward motion of the story). I've already changed the dates once and had to go through my characters list and fix dates there. I knew this would be a big project and even though it's technically finished, filling in gaps is the other thing necessary to telling a story.

I also added more social platforms to market my books. Yes, there will be more books! The more I expose them online the more I hope they will get noticed. That's supposed to be a component of marketing. Now I have to figure out how to keep track of it all!😁

It won't be long before spring hits. We've seen daffodils blooming by the roads and in people's yards. I want to get some crocus bulbs since they are just as hardy and plant them next fall so they bloom in the spring. We've had a few days with warm temperatures and the need to step outside and dig in the dirt is calling to my inner being! We plan to put out a small garden and most of it in containers. Each year we'll add more containers and make some raised beds. The soil here is rocky and having gone through growing rocks as a kid when my parents had gardens, Containers are the way to go. This will be a work in progress as we continue to get acclimated to our surroundings.

 Last night was a fun time. It wasn't very cold, a bit chilly but we had a fire as we grilled pork chops for supper and had a drink called a highball. We used Ginger Ale and tequila with lemon juice. A nice light, and refreshing drink. It was nice to sit outside and not fight off mosquitoes or hornets. I do hope those things don't come back this summer! It's also fun to drive around and check out our "still new" home stomping grounds....

          

ANOTHER FIRST!

 I don't know if the two reviews are from the same person, but it humbles me to see someone appreciate the work I put into the book. 

This the first review. It's only in stars but it's a review and I'm excited! 

                                                Alicia Callahan

"I just finished that book and loved it! Congrats!" ~Facebook~

LEAVING REVIEWS

 

I learned something today…...I found out why reviews aren’t showing up in Amazon. I’ve been telling people to leave a review after reading the book. It turns out that if you are my friend or family, it will not let you leave a review. Since this sucks to the nth degree, I would like to suggest to my friends and family to please leave your review on my sites. However, if you don’t want to say anything, you can give a star rating (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/author/cdclarkbooks.com

I get it, biased opinion. Whatever. If you loved “A Day of Reckoning”, thank you! Please say so! But…..if you didn’t care for it, please don’t cut me up into little pieces. I want honesty in your review.

I appreciate the support and will fill you in on details of my upcoming novel “Silos”, projected publish date 6-30-23,give or take a month.

MY FIRST BOOK SIGNING

 Hello! Last week was filled with personal milestones. The journey of self-publishing is both challenging and exhilarating, as I enjoy creating and sharing my work to bring joy to others. This post is not about that, however. I had the opportunity to sign my first book, "A Day of Reckoning", which I recently published on Amazon on December 13, 2022.

I reached out to the Green Forest Library in Green Forest, Arkansas, and was welcomed by Tiffany to promote my book. I arrived at the library, where I had spent many hours researching and was delighted to set up a small display of books with two pens. Although it wasn't a formal book signing, with a talk about my novel, I plan to do that at some point in the future, if I can muster the courage to stand in front of an audience. Speaking in public isn't my favorite activity, but I feel that "A Day of Reckoning" deserves attention due to its theme of domestic abuse.

 I have wip projects taking place in Carroll County, so I'll be making a trip or two to the Green Forest Library. 

It was great to reconnect with friends and sell a few books at the same time. I didn't expect a huge crowd, but I took all I had just in case! Needless to say, I brought some back home with me. That's okay. it was fun and exciting. 

 Christmas is gone, the New Year is growing old and I'm ready for Spring! The book is published! However, my sales are not what I expected them to be. It's understandable, there are millions of novels floating around, and people are struggling to make ends meet. I find great ways to promote this book, they too all want money. Living on a fixed income sort of has me between a rock and a hard place so to speak. I just do what I can and don't worry about it. I'd like to have it out there in people's faces, and set up book signings, but you need inventory. Thirty books is not inventory. I just take things one day at a time and keep pounding out the words and try not to let frustration get in my head. 

The current project I'm working on is called "Silos". I started this one in 2009. It started as a simple idea and is now a complex work in progress. The premise to the story is about a decorated Air Force Colonel who is called on a special task to find an Arkansas Senator's missing daughter. The reason his team is selected is of the work they do. Investigate "unusual circumstances". What causes him to accept the mission is where the girl disappeared. Over the past forty or so years there have been many disappearances of young people in a six county radius, and none of them have been found. 

So I think I'll make the book blurb like this: 

Air Force Colonel Tommy Jones and his team are sent to his home state to search for Arkansas Senator "Buck" Stevens missing daughter. The reason he is selected is that they investigate "unusual circumstances" and the girl's disappearance only sparked a desire he's had in his heart for many years and that was to solve the forty plus years of cases of missing children in a six county area. He thinks the missile base located near Damascus, Arkansas has something to do with it. Tommy Jones must find the Senator's daughter. He believes that if he finds her, he will find answers for the other missing children. 

I'll probably make some changes before I publish the book. I have a lot to get figured out before that happens. I'm not happy with it right now. The good thing is I have the rough draft finished and can now slow it down a bit and make it better.

WHY I WROTE "A DAY OF RECKONING"

 I wrote “A Day of Reckoning", for two reasons: 

I got the idea for the novel when one of my family members was involved in a tumultuous relationship. They had two children together. After she had her second child she suffered from “Post Postpartum Depression”, more commonly known as “Baby Blues” or Melancholy Blues”. She found out her boyfriend at the time was trying to get back with his ex-wife which sent her into a long dark vortex of anger and self-loathing. They tried several times to make the relationship work but, they couldn’t trust each other. She was also in a love triangle, going back and forth between the ex-boyfriend and the other boyfriend. Then the other boyfriend ended up sleeping around on her as well. Both relationships were violent and even caused her to lose her job.

The second reason was another family member went through a nasty one-sided divorce. Long story short, her now ex-husband was having an affair with another woman. Instead of working out the relationship in an adult manner, he went behind her back and filed a divorce petition; claiming she was mentally unstable and unfit to care for their three children. He then drained their joint bank account leaving her with no money. She came home from work and found her oldest daughter sitting on the front porch. He was verbally abusive; mostly about their weight issues. He did some shady things and for nearly fifteen years she did not see her children who then lived with their father and new stepmother. She had no visitations, and when she and her daughter did get to see the other three children it was supervised.

There are actually three reasons for the book. My own story. Almost my whole life has been filled with abusive situations. I won’t go into them because not only have I moved past them, I had to forgive them to move on. I’ve been on both sides of abuse. However, my side was usually a result of too much alcohol. In my late teens and early twenties, I thought I was some kind of badass, and I had a bit of a temper. I didn’t actually go out of my way to hurt anyone. I was in a relationship at that period of my life and the person I was with liked to say things that made me feel like I was crap. I didn’t look right, I didn’t dress right, and if we were drinking (which was most of the time) he would say something about a woman that would set me off.

But then my first marriage made me realize I was in a bad situation and needed to get out before I was murdered, or in prison for murder. At first, he was sweet, complementary and I couldn’t understand why his ex-girlfriend came at him with a knife. I found out soon enough. I hated that man so much I was actually thinking of ways to kill him. The one time I pressed charges it took law enforcement six months to act on it and that was because we were at the Sheriff’s dept pressing charges against a landlord for pulling a pistol on us.

I was taken into a room and asked if I wanted to have the now ex-husband put in jail. As terrified as I was of him I told them no. I told them that if that happened he would hunt me down and kill me. I believed that. However, not too long after that, and through the power of prayer, I was able to break free from that monster. In the years since that time I’ve had to forgive this man. He did some terrible things to me and said some things that made me feel like I was shit on the bottom of someone’s shoe. I admit, I left him a couple of times but went back because I forgave him and I did love him at the time. He had some bad luck come his way, but it didn’t give him an excuse to beat other people, or me for that matter. That is another story. I also thought the drinking was what caused him to turn into an ogre, but I realized as our relationship went along he was an asshole through and through.

No one should ever have to go through what I went through. But, many do, and far worse than what I suffered through. Domestic abuse, physical, sexual, or verbal, it doesn’t matter is a sickness. Yes, sticks and stones do break bones and words do hurt. Even if the offender has begged for forgiveness, chances are they will do it again. It can start out “innocently” enough. A few words of degrading their loved one can turn into yelling, throwing things, and eventually hitting, pushing, a black eye, or a bruise. Then the excuses start.

What I think is the scariest thing is not being able to find a safe haven if one does get the courage to take flight, having children to take care of and what is called the obsessive ex syndrome. There are reports of men (and women) who stalk their ex-partners only to end up killing them and sadly sometimes their children. Most of those who are abusive are cowards. 

Another scary thing I think is the way some people look for those who are vulnerable so they can control them. Vulnerable by having low self-esteem issues or even being abused in their childhood. These people try their hardest to please their loved ones only to have them be torn down by words that can cut deeper than any knife.

Each day, this world seems to get a little uglier. Generations have gone through domestic abuse hidden behind closed doors. Thankfully, it’s not like that any longer. Many programs deal with domestic violence and can help if the affected person(s) will just take their hand and don’t look back, don’t go back, and learn self-defense. Take a stand.  

In the back of the book, I have a list of websites dealing with domestic abuse.  I think it's important to list them here as well. Please find some help if you are in a violent relationship. If not for you for your children (if there are children involved). 

Hotlines - Arkansas Department of Human Services

24 Hour Hotline Numbers - Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (DVCC) - State of Delaware

Domestic Violence Support | The National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org)

National Domestic Violence Hotline | The Administration for Children and Families (hhs.gov)

Domestic Violence Treatment Services - Child Welfare Information Gateway

Court Ordered Classes - Online WebCasted Court Program Provider

The 3 Stages of a Dangerously Obsessive Ex | Psychology Today

THE BOOK IS OUT, BUT WAIT FOR THE PAPERBACK

 December 12, 2022, my book "A Day of Reckoning" was published on Amazon. As excited as I am about that, I'll be far more excited when it comes out in paperback sometime near the end of January. I for one, am not that gung-ho on electronic books (e-books). I like having the book in my hands. I like the feel and the smell of a book. I guess that's because I've grown up reading paper/hardback books than reading from a tablet or ugh, my phone. I know it's the wave of the future, save the trees, but in a world where we recycle nearly everything recycling paper for books is now the way to go. There is just something about staring at a glaring computer screen, it's cold and impersonal? Plus if you drop it in the water your device is toast, whereas, you might be able to salvage a papered book. 

I also don't like the ebook version, I know I should have found an editor, but I can't or don't have 1k sitting around the house. But, the story is good and there aren't that many issues, but if you know what to look for you'll see the mistakes. However, the second edition I feel is so much better, I'm debating on whether or not I should put the second edition in e-book form or not. You can click on the link below and it will take you to the page. 

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

 Hello all! An FYI: I attached my old blog "Stuff From The Attic" to this one. On the sidebar, you can see where it says "Stuff From The Attic (Original)". I left it sitting for so long that I can't get into it so, I decided to stick it with this blog site. I wrote too many articles in it for me to just let it slip into cyberspace. 

Well, today I uploaded my manuscript to Amazon! It will be a few days before it's online but I can't believe after all of these years it's finally happening. I thought about going through a traditional publisher but there is too much to go through. I know self-publishing has its own share of hardships but I think it's the best route for me, at least for now. Even if I don't ever publish another novel, I can say that I did publish one. I wish my parents and grandparents could have witnessed it. Especially my dad. 

Does it seem like a cop out? No. If you have ever had to go through the process of writing inquiry letters, cover letters, synopsizes, and searching for the right agent, right publisher, right audience, everything has to be just so, so or it's nothing. I've done this for a long time; I even came to a point where I thought it wasn't worth the effort, rejections, harsh criticism, and snobby remarks just do not cut it with me.  But, I couldn't leave the pen and paper alone. I had so many ideas swimming inside me with nowhere to go. I have notebooks loaded down with ideas and boxes full of articles and research material, How could I just quit? Well, I can't not now. 

You still have to find the right audience and you have to do a lot of the marketing, but it's still a better way to go. I'm sure I've made some grammatical errors, but finding an editor is another cost. I read that some editors charge as much as a thousand dollars! Yeah, got that in my pocket right now. 

It's an exciting time in the technology world. I know self-publication has been around for quite a while but I didn't understand it. I still don't but I do have the basic workings of how it works understood. There are many helpful programs and apps out there that can help with writing processes. Some are free and don't do as much as premium programs offered but what is offered is a huge help for my endeavors.

For those of you who have something you want to write about, then you should get it written down. Take a class at your local community college like creative writing. I'm sure there are Youtube videos and Masterclasses that can teach a person just about everything too. Get out a pen and a notebook and just start writing down your ideas. And read, read, read! If you don't like to read, then the writing process may be a hard road for you. 

A DAY OF RECKONING COMING SOON

 In the near future, I will have my first novel published! It's an exciting time for me and has taken a very long time to reach this point in my writing career.  It's also been a lot of work getting "A Day Of Reckoning" ready for publication.  Soon it will be ready for the first step; an e-book. Then sometime after the first of the year, I want to put it in print form. I'm not sure what kind of emotions will come when I first hold that book in my hands. Right now, it's just still a gauzy dream but it's a reachable one. I have to decide which cover I want for the book and it's a tough decision!

                                        
                                        

                                                   

. I still have a few things to do before I turn it over to Amazon but each day brings the reality closer!

UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!

 I started writing when I was in elementary school (5th grade) writing poems for the school paper. It was a few years later I tried writing short stories, albeit, they were crude but I was looking for a way to be creative and writing seemed to be the niche I was looking for. My dad was trying his hand at writing and I wanted to do what he was doing. 

For a long time though, I let writing slide into the background forgotten as I tried making my way into the world, graduating high school, then going to college.  I had assignments that need to be written, but it didn't really stoke the fire until I was in my thirties….I had forgotten what a rush it was to write a piece and flesh it out.     

Marriage the first time around allowed me no time to explore writing but it definitely gave me a few life experiences.  The second one (marriage) was not much help either, but at this time, was where I picked up writing short stories by taking a course through Long Ridge Writer's Group. I was able to publish a few articles in the company newspaper, but it seemed I was not going to get far. Time after time, I was shot down, with rejections galore.  I have a sensitive nature about me, so I just decided that maybe, after all, it wasn't what I was supposed to do if I couldn't take rejection.  

Well, a few years later, I found out that Long Ridge Writer's Group and Writer's Digest both had courses in writing novels. I had a lot of material written, but just didn't know where to get started putting the pieces together. I tried both courses, I stuck with Long Ridge Writer's Group because they were helpful and courteous. The instructor I had from Writer's Digest was in my opinion not helpful and cold. I put that behind me and began the arduous task of putting a story together. The job I had at the time allowed me to explore not only the library but the Internet as well which was still in its infant stages. I became involved in several online writing groups and attended writer's conferences.  

The one time I attended a writer's conference in physical form was great until one of the speakers asked us why we were at the conference instead of at home writing. I'm not a snobbish person, I don't try to make it like I'm super smart because I'm not. I think what turned me off from the whole conference thing is most of the attendees were more concerned about copyrights, which is important, but not the most important. The opportunities came but still, nothing opened up. I think that's my bad because I was intimated by the whole process of marketing, and publishing. I'm not a salesperson and I have different genres of material because that's how I read novels. I don't really care what type of novel it is as long as it keeps my attention. So again, I was stuck and as time went by I slipped out of writing, not completely but it again took a back seat. I had a new job that demanded more of my time, my husband (no.3, a keeper) is a musician and he was busy doing gigs and I wanted to put my time and efforts in that direction.  

Over the course of the years, I've gained a few things under my belt like growing a thick skin and just stay the course. It helps that I've retired from my job of 35 years, so not having time is no excuse!  

I'm a fiction writer, but I like writing articles about things that are of interest not only to me but to anyone who will read them. And now with self-publishing, I don't have to search high and low to find the right publishing company that may like my material. Haven't gotten that far yet, but I'm working on it. :)