RISEN Blog Tour 2017 from WoW

Special thanks to Crystal J. Otto over at Bring on Lemons & WoW (Women on Writing) for organizing yet another wonderful blog tour for my latest release, RISEN, from WiDo Publishing.

Another huge thanks for everyone willing to participate, and especially to those offering professional reads and reviews of RISEN.

Below are the blog stops for the hop. I'll be cross-posting each day and stopping in, so take a look at some of the topics, then drop by and join us.

Monday September 4th (today) @ WOW! Women on Writing

Interview & Giveaway

http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

Tuesday, September 5th @ Choices with Madeline Sharples

Eric Trant writes today's guest post at Choice "Is a Career in the Arts (writing) Realistic?". Readers can find out more about Trant and his latest book RISEN.

http://madelinesharples.com/

Wednesday, September 6th @ Mari McCarthy’s Create Write Now

"Say YES: Why Taking Chances is Imperative" is today's topic at Mari McCarthy's Create Write Now. Hear from author Eric Trant as he examines this important topic and shares more about his latest novel RISEN.

http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-writing-blog/

Thursday, September 7th @ Writer’s Pay it Forward

Eric Trant pens today's guest post at Writer's Pay It Forward. Today's post is titled: "Breaking In vs. Breaking Out: The Writer's Career Arc". Readers and Writers alike won't want to miss this opportunity to hear from Trant as well as finding out more about his latest novel RISEN.

https://writerspayitforward.com/

Friday, September 8th @ BookWorm

Hear from Anjanette Potter of BookWorm as she reviews Eric Trant's latest novel RISEN- this historical supernatural work of fiction is sure to please readers!

https://bookworm66.wordpress.com/

Friday, September 8th @ Lisa Haselton

Lisa Haselton interviews Eric Trant about his latest novel RISEN. You'll want to learn more about this supernatural tale of fiction as well as the mastermind behind the dynamic writing.

http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandinterviews.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 8th @ Hott Books

"Life Gets Better: An Angel Dad Reports Five Years Later" is today's post title at Hott Books. This touching true life tale is told by guest blogger Eric Trant as part of his WOW! Women on Writing book blog tour of his latest thriller RISEN.

http://www.hottbooks.com/

Monday, September 11th @ Tara Forst at Digging with the Worms

Crunchy Wisconsin Mama and Entrepreneur Tara Forst reviews RISEN by Eric Trant. Don't miss this review and giveaway of Trant's latest thriller!

http://diggingwiththeworms.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, September 12th @ Bring on Lemons with Tess Fallier

Tess Fallier is today's guest blogger with a review and her thoughts on Eric Trant's RISEN. Don't miss this blog stop!

http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/Tess
http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/Cathy

Wednesday, September 13th @ Book Santa Fe with Crystal Otto

Reader and book blogger Crystal Otto reviews Eric Trant's RISEN and shares her thoughts with readers at Book Santa Fe.

http://www.booksantafe.info/

Thursday, September 14th @ Memoir Writer’s Journey

Eric Trant visits Memoir Writer's Journey and shares his thoughts with readers of Kathleen Pooler's engaging blog. Today's post title is: "Setting: Its Role in Storytelling". Don't miss this chance to hear from the talented Eric Trant and find out more about his latest book RISEN.

https://krpooler.com/

Friday, September 15th @ Building Bookshelves
Eric Trant interviews the 5 Ws at Building Bookshelves, promoting his new supernatural, historical thriller RISEN.

http://blogs.republicanherald.com/bookshelves/

Friday, September 29th @ Coming Down the Mountain

Eric Trant is today's guest author at Karen Jones Gowen's blog Coming Down the Mountain. Read Eric's guest post titled "Luck: Its Role in Success" and find out more about his latest thriller RISEN.

http://karenjonesgowen.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-part-does-luck-play-in-success.html

Wednesday, October 18 @ Shannon Muir

Don't miss today's author interview at the blog of Author Shannon Muir. Shannon will be interviewing Eric Trant about his latest thriller RISEN.

http://www.shannon-muir.com

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels WINK, STEPS and RISEN from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Haunted by visions of a demonic angel and sold into servitude by his father, young Alberto battles to survive the horrors of a nineteenth century Sicilian sulfur mine. Suffering merciless brutality, Alberto must save not only himself but his deformed older brother, both pawns in their father's mad plan to overthrow a group of wealthy landowners.Bound by a death-debt to his hunchback master, Alberto discovers a door the miners call Porta dell'Inferno, the Door to Hell, deep within the sulfur mines. When he learns the demon-angel of his dreams stalks the caverns beyond the door, Alberto realizes a strange fate has lured him and his brother to the gates leading to the underworld.Now Alberto must face the creature from his visions and rise to become the man his father demands him to be, or remain forever trapped in a hellish world where none escape.

Review: The Digital Rabbit Hole by Larry Kilham

Amazon Link

So I read The Digital Rabbit Hole by Mr. Larry Kilham regarding our future as it applies to technology, and I don't write many reviews (check my blog if you disbelieve me), but I wanted to write one for this book.

Because it deserves a review. And I kinda actually dug on the book.

See, Rabbit Hole is atypically interesting. He frames the yawnish topic of modern techno-consumerism into a Wonderland of truthful lies and fictional fact, a place where everyone is mad and rabbits dash down holes chasing useless misinformation, skittering in haste over tufts of trampled truth in search of whatever Google's sponsors insist we chase and consume.

All hail Google!

Anyway, Mr. Kilham stirs the balderdash hash of the modern world into his hookah, puffs a wise cloud and describes how we can spur intellectual growth in this mockery of ad-driven insanity, rather than simply melt down our life candle with blinking lights and calloused thumbs.

Because technology is a Wonderland of Wonders -- but only if we ~think~ about it.

He's sort of an authority on the topic of technology. I won't go into details, because you can figure it out if you read his profile, but I will say it is refreshing to discover an authoritative opinion on what the future might hold, embedded in a well-written, novelesque and easy-to-chow book.

"You should always think critically and search for the truth."

That's a quote from his book. It is a sky-is-blue obvious statement, but this is an ongoing theme throughout his work. That's why I bring up that he is genuinely an authority on the topic. His expertise shines in the details as he addresses such concerns as immediate gratification and our endless appetite for the next useless gadget. We sell our souls for shiny beads, but the silver lining is that there is a silver lining.

See, the techno-flood plains are littered with golden nuggets, if you are patient enough to pan out the mud and pebbles, and the intellectual plate is piled high with whole-grain goodness, if you are wise enough to winnow out the chaff.

He mentions a lot of interesting topics, such as fear of loss, why we socialize online, how virtual lifestyles affect us and our children, and he dubs the Internet of Things The Knowosphere and so on. I won't steal his thunder, but he will leave you with a wizened vocabulary of interesting catch phrases, and a slick sideways manner of debating the present-future world in which we exist through avatars and an impatient cursor.

I enjoyed the book and its take on technology, but I did find one question begging as I read. So I asked his publisher if she would mind asking him if I could beg him a question, and she asked, and he said he would answer, and so here it goes.

My begging question for Mr. Kilham

You nailed the useful-less-ness of the Knowosphere, as you describe it, pointing out the dichotomy of fact and fiction and suggesting how the thinking class might expand (or is it expound?) their knowledge, while still allowing the consumer class to enjoy what has become our most precious distraction this side of television and booze.

But I was hoping you would explore a point you touched on in this quote:

As Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee point out in Race Against the Machine, “How can so much value creation and so much economic misfortune coexist? How can technologies accelerate while incomes stagnate? These apparent paradoxes can be resolved by combining some well-understood economic principles with the observation that there is a growing mismatch between rapidly advancing digital technologies and slow-changing humans.”

While we will continue to witness a flurry of interesting technological advances, I wonder at what point the economy of technology will balance out the replacement of humans by machines, and I wonder if it already began, perhaps with the bust in the early 2000s and China's usurpation of American labor.

So I ask: What is the tipping point of too many economic dead-ends before the remaining workers can no longer sustain the consumerism that companies require to spawn new tech?

Mr. Kilham's Outstanding Response

I don’t know when your tipping point will happen although it probably happens in phases, creeping up almost unnoticed.

Partially reacting to the economic dead-ends you refer to, the Millennials are increasingly convinced that cheaper, simpler, eco-friendly living is the way to go. Tiny houses are no longer a novelty. Automobile ownership is no longer taken for granted. Now it’s okay to wear second-hand clothes and to buy rebuilt appliances.

The capital required to invest in new tech is not scarce, at least not by large, inventive companies. Apple and Google have more cash than they know what to do with. What they seem to lack are significant new product ideas. For small companies, access to venture capital probably has never been easier.

A new economic system catching attention is the move away from consumerism and towards economic subsistence for the less fortunate. This is called Universal Basic Income. It is being promoted by such apparently conservative visionaries as Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. The economic support for such a program would, of course, come from taxes. Economists calculate that taxes can provide enough funding. It is being tried now experimentally in Finland and in Ontario, Canada.

I discuss these concepts in detail in my book, Winter of the Genomes. It is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook.  http://amzn.to/2cGsPjF

The Digital Rabbit Hole 

Will digital media sweep us into a new era of prosperity? What new advances in entertainment, culture, education, and knowledge can we expect? Will we get stuck in Cyberland only to be saved by digital detox?

The Digital Rabbit Hole reveals that we are becoming captive in the digital universe. The portals are smartphones and the world is the Internet. We immerse ourselves in social media; we learn through packaged feel-good information; and we will leave the hard work to robots and AI. The book details digital media and discusses smartphone addiction problems. It proposes solutions to stimulate creativity and education and to recapture our humanity.

Paperback: 144 Pages
Genre: Social Science/Non Fiction
Publisher: FutureBooks.info; 1 edition (January 1, 2016)
ASIN: B01A3MTVBS

The Digital Rabbit Hole is available in print on Amazon.

About the Author:

Larry Kilham has traveled extensively overseas for over twenty years. He worked in several large international companies and started and sold two high-tech ventures. He received a B.S. in engineering from the University of Colorado and an M.S. in management from MIT. Larry has written books about creativity and invention, artificial intelligence and digital media, travel overseas, and three novels with an AI theme. Currently, he is writing a novel about free will.


Larry can be found online at:

Website: www.larrykilham.net 
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Larry-Kilham/e/B003UPNVNK/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4352387.Larry_Kilham

 - Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Wink and Steps from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Haunted by visions of a demonic angel and sold into servitude by his father, young Alberto battles to survive the horrors of a nineteenth century Sicilian sulfur mine. Suffering merciless brutality, Alberto must save not only himself but his deformed older brother, both pawns in their father's mad plan to overthrow a group of wealthy landowners.Bound by a death-debt to his hunchback master, Alberto discovers a door the miners call Porta dell'Inferno, the Door to Hell, deep within the sulfur mines. When he learns the demon-angel of his dreams stalks the caverns beyond the door, Alberto realizes a strange fate has lured him and his brother to the gates leading to the underworld.Now Alberto must face the creature from his visions and rise to become the man his father demands him to be, or remain forever trapped in a hellish world where none escape.

What is your ~Why~?

I want you to ask yourself this question: Why am I doing this?

Pick your "this".

For me, I will pick writing. Why do I write? Most writers, when addressed with this question, reach in their back pocket and pull out the Stock Writer's Response to All Questions:

1) What are you writing?
Answer: It's top secret. I'm not allowed to speak of it.

2) Wow, you're a writer. Are you published?
Answer: (Lie) Why yes, yes I am.

3) Where can I get your books?
Answer: Amazon

4) Where do you find the time to write?
Answer: I don't. I make it up as I go.

5) Why do you write, anyway?
Answer: Because I have to.

Now this last one is super-common among writers, but I want you to stop yourself and do me a favor: smack yourself in the forehead. That's right. Smack it good. Make it sting.

Because that's a stupid answer.

You don't "have" to write. You don't have to do anything. Jesus, you make it sound like it's some burden to write, sort of like sex after marriage. "Well, I have to. It's just part of the job."

No, it isn't. It's not part of the job. You don't write because you have to. You write because you ~want~ to.

Figure out what you ~want~ from writing, and maybe you'll be a better writer. Is it money? Is it a career? Is it a little bit of fame, or is this just a hobby for you that will spin and spin and never go anywhere but up and down?

All of those things are fine, but understand ~why~ you are doing whatever it is you are doing. I tell my kids:

Smart people know how to do something. Geniuses understands why. That's the difference.

So try not to just know ~how~ to write, but understand ~why~ you're writing in the first place.

Me, I want to make a career of this. I want to write full-time, and support my family on a sic-six-figure income, maybe seven, and I'll do it not through savvy marketing, but by writing something truly phenomenal that even my writer friends will gawk and and say, Damn, I actually read one of his books, and Eric Trant doesn't suck. Go figure.

That's my goal. That is my ~why~.

What is your why?

 - Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing, Wink and  Steps from WiDo Publishing.See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Overcoming Odds

So over the past couple of years, I've been researching heroes. Not the fictional kind -- the actual kind. I re-read Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and finally got around to The Things They Carried. Now, both of those are written by pacifists, so I had to balance that out with some hardcore fighter types, and I read Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor (and watched the movie), and Audie Murphy's To Hell and Back. I even read Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken, about a WWII bomber-sprinter (good book) who was sort of in-between warrior and pacifist. He simply did what needed doing. Hillenbrand wrote Seabiscuit, by the way, and she made a point to mention that in this other book, in a very nice cross-over. I read James Clavell's King Rat (he's the Shogun guy, which I also read). He was a POW in Japan, and Rat is pretty amazing.

And so on.

But of all these books I read, the one that's stuck with me the deepest is Mark Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. He considered it his crowning achievement, and his most significant work. It is an amazing book, if you're into that sort of thing, and is shamelessly researched and cross-referenced and accurate. Jeanne D'Arc, as is her proper name. Pronounced in French, it sounds like Shown Dark, which is appropriate for that poor beautiful creature. She fought her fellow countrymen, the church to whom she dedicated her life, and the invading English. She fought her troops, her family, her friends, and the king she crowned. They all watched her burn alive, and even afterward she fought on, death being no match for her, until the Catholic church finally repented and elevated her to Sainthood. God, what a story that girl is. Of all the stories in our verifiable and recent history, there is no other as magnificent as that of Jeanne D'Arc. She never faltered, never wavered, never gave up. Heck, she never even questioned her heroism.

Now consider Audie Murphy. He was refused by the Marines and the Paratroopers. If you saw Captain America, the recent movie, Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in WWII, was the size of the Captain BEFORE they juiced him up on steroids. Murph didn't need that extra Marvel / Stan Lee meat -- all he needed was a target and Garand. Well, the Army finally took pity on this poor scrawny wimp and enlisted him. They tried to make him a cook and a clerk. He had none of it, and snuck out on patrol until they gave up trying to stop him and said, Fuck it. Murph, we're going to send you into battle until you're sick of it.

He got plenty sick of it, but he fought all the way through Italy, France, and Germany, leveling up as he went. I challenge you to read his book, and note how cold and determined he was, and compare it to the baby-face little boy he seemed to be. It's frightening.

The dude was frightening.

And he was 135lbs, 5' 6" tall. And a Texan from right here in North Dallas. I had dinner at one of his old houses, before it shut down. And he killed a hell of a lot of men.

Now don't get me started on Luttrell. He's from just north of Houston, where my son and I go hunting and camping. I know those woods, and although I've never wrestled gators, I've water-skied over plenty of them in the brackish waters of the Galveston Bay.

In all these stories, the hero never gives up. They never falter. They never feel sorry for themselves. There is no pity for themselves or for others. They never question their motives, because inside exists an indestructible sense of right-and-wrong, the very core of life-and-death, and to live is win, to die is to win. A true hero (or heroine) can never be beaten. Defeated and killed, yes, but never beaten. Re-read what I said about Jeanne. She kept fighting even after they burned her. She won. Look at Christ. He did the same thing.

Read Luttrell. Read Murphy. Read Unbroken. Read Things and Slaughterhouse, about guys who had no heart for war, but went anyway because it was their duty. Heroes. Write heroes like that.

Write people who do it because it needs doing, even though they ask the cup to be taken from them.

- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

They don't know anything

Nobody in this industry knows anything. They all tell you they're experts in this or that, they know what works, what doesn't work, what will be a hit and what won't, but they're all just living their own movie. Once you realize nobody knows anything, you can focus on your art and maybe make a difference.

That is a horribly paraphrased quote from Matt Nathanson, a singer-songwriter, that I heard on the radio yesterday and got to thinking, Yeah, that's what writing is like, too.

You have all these publishers, and agents, and writers and bloggers and experts, all of them telling you what does and does not work. Yet I find exception after exception to every last one of these assumptions.

I look at my own process and apply this to myself. I don't know anything. Make that statement about your process and see what happens. Try it with your diet, your job, your writing, your marriage, and see what happens.

Good things, I bet. Good advice. Thanks, Matt!



- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Who (author) would you meet, if you could?

So I had this great interview today on Words by Webb: http://jodiwebb.com/interviews/5ws-with-eric-trant/, in which Jodi asked me her 5Ws.

Here is the first:

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WHO
If you could meet any author, who would you like to meet? Why them and what would you say?

I would meet Ray Bradbury. We would meet not in life but in some other dimension on the planet Mars, in his bionical and maniacal House of Usher II remix with the robots serving us and the great ape destroying our guests while everyone laughs. Something Wicked would Come our Way, and we would ponder how the Martians used to look and whether the Earth would blow up and if anyone would even notice, and if they did notice, would they care. I would walk with him on the wettest, driest, farthest planets, and we would launch into space while we Sang the Body Electric and drew the Illustrated Man on the inside of our visors. I cannot claim to have read or even discovered all of his works, but we would discuss every one, and he might ask me about mine and not laugh.

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Just wanted to share that, in case anyone was wondering. WHO WOULD YOU MEET? If it's Vonnegut or Heinlein or Azimov or Clarke or one of similar status, let me know so I can go with you.


- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Some of my other blog stops

So I really have been busy a-blogging lately, just not around here. Look below for some articles I wrote thanks to WoW (Women on Writing), email: blogtour@wow-womenonwriting.com.

Friday, July 26 @ All Things Audry

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Don’t miss today’s win/win stop for Eric Trant and his new thriller Wink (#WINK)! Not only is it your chance to win your own copy of Wink, but join Eric to find out “How Writing Heals”.
http://allthingsaudry.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 30 @ A Writer’s Life

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Talk about interesting! Join Eric Trant as he discusses “How Small Town Living Made Me a More Interesting Writer” and Win a copy of Eric’s new thriller, Wink (#WINK)!
http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 1 @ Writing is Easy

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Find out why Eric says caution should be taken when branding yourself, and win your own copy of his fabulous new thriller Wink (#WINK).
http://c-c-hall.com/

Friday August 2 @ CMash Reads

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Eric Trant talks about being your authentic self with today's guest post "Why You Should Be Yourself in Writing and Marketing" stop by CMash Reads for this exciting discussion and your chance to win a copy of Wink (#WINK) Print-US/Canada residents OR EBook-open to all.
www.cmashlovestoread.com

Saturday, August 3 @ Book Worm

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Today is your chance to win a copy of Wink by Eric Trant (#WINK) and read his fascinating guest post: "Can a Faith-Based Person Write Supernatural Fantasy?"
http://bookworm66.wordpress.com/

Monday, August 5 @ Books I Think You Should Read

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Don't miss your chance to win a copy of this great thriller and read Elizabeth Parker's review of Wink (#WINK) by Eric W. Trant.
http://booksithinkyoushouldread.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 6 @ Renee's Pages

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Win a copy of the new thriller, Wink (#WINK) by Eric Trant and hear his thoughts on “Author Intrusion: Good or Bad?”
http://www.reneespages.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 7 @ World of My Imagination

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Win your very own copy of Wink (#WINK) by Eric W. Trant and see what Nicole thought after reading this fabulous thriller set in a rural Gulf Coast town.
http://theworldofmyimagination.blogspot.com/



- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Breaking the Mold for Men and Women in Writing

So the blog tour kicked off Wednesday with an interview at The Muffin. Thursday I head over to Book Flame to discuss breaking the molds for men and women in literature.

Wednesday, July 24 @ The Muffin

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Don’t miss the exciting thriller Wink by Eric W. Trant. Wink’s WOW! Blog Tour begins with an author interview and a give-away!
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

Thursday, July 25 @ Book Flame

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Break the mold and win with today’s stop at Book Flame where you’ll have a chance to win a copy of the new thriller, Wink (#WINK) and hear from Eric Trant with his guest post: “Breaking the Molds for Men and Women in Literature”.
http://bookflame.blogspot.com/


- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

After Acceptance: A Guest Post on Spunky!

If you want to know more about that gray area between acceptance and publication, see my post over at L. Diane Wolfe's page Spunk on a Stick!.

I think I disturbed her with Wink, which she was gracious to read even though it is not her usual fare. I hope she found it time well-spent. I thank her for the read along with the guest post, and for a special blogger award she gave me over the past year that keeps me encouraged.

Thank you all for being such good friends.

- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

~Being Honest~ Guest Post at Donna Hole's Site

So today is a guest post over at Donna Hole's site: http://donnahole.blogspot.com/2013/05/guest-author-eric-trant-and-wink-review.html.

I discussed why you should always be HONEST when discussing your work.

Special thanks to Donna for allowing me to post on her site.


- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

I am ~FEARLESS~ (Are you?)

Are you FEARLESS? I am.

What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear?

Consider that question, my friends and word-lovers.

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What do I have to fear?

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There is only one answer, and it is the same regardless of the cause of the question. It is the same answer for every person, for every living creature, since the dawn of time until the dusk of time, for this time and all other eternities that come to rise.

We have only one fear. It is deeply rooted in the deepest part of our deepest self, something so innate that even the basest of life forms possess this fear.

It is this: we fear failure.

Simple. We fear that we are about to fail. Corner a wild animal, and it will fear for its life. Why? Because it fears it is about to fail to protect itself, or its young, and its life will end with that failure.

Nobody is afraid of heights. We are afraid we will fail to remain at that height and fall. Ask a jumper if they fear the fall, and the answer is No. They fear the parachute will fail to open.

Do you see? Do you really, really see? We fear failure, and failure alone.

We fear asking a girl to dance, because we fear we will fail. We fear submitting our writing to publishers, because we fear we will fail. We fear spiders, because, well, I can't explain that one. Spiders are a category unto themselves.

But for everything else, we fear failure. I say often that successful people are too stupid to realize they could fail. They are FEARLESS.

I have nothing to fear. If you know my story, you know I lost my son last year at 18mos old. My worst fear, that I would fail to protect my children, was realized. For nine months now, my courage has gestated, until this month it was borne unto a greater cause, and I plunge fearlessly into a new phase of my life. I embrace my fear. I embrace the huge changes coming. I embrace the fact that I could fail, because I could fail, and that failure, no matter how catastrophic, is a tiny drop compared to the fear I have already faced with the loss of a child.

Perhaps that is a small part of God's will in this, and his words as I read them are these:

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Hope is the better part of fear. Your success depends on which is greater.

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Are you fearless? Do you embrace the fact that you could fail? Do you equally embrace hope that you could ~succeed~?


- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing, coming in 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications

** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **

Duotrope now a pay-site!

Duotrope is now a PAID SUBSCRIBER ONLY site.

For those of you who did not use Duotrope, it is a site where publishers and agents advertise for submissions. For those who used Duotrope when it was free, you know it is a great source for writers.

I wonder if they will improve. I wonder if they will survive. I wonder if I will still use Duotrope.

I wonder what other resources are out there.

To my writer-friends, were you aware of this, and are you still going to use Duotrope services? What other FREE resources writers can use?

- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing, coming in 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications

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How many licks does it take?

Remember that Tootsie Pop commercial with the owl: Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get the center of a Tootsie Pop.

One.

Two.

Three.

Crunch.

Three!

That same question can be asked of writing, and in fact, of most goal-oriented things in general. I will stick with writing, but take your pick with sculpting, acting, directing, painting, weight-loss, scholastics, and so on.

How many edits does it take to write a book?

My answer, based on experience: A LOT.

First you suffer through an early draft, maybe peck out a few scenes. Then you get 10k or 25k into it, and throw it all away and start over.

Then you get 50kw into it and realize how thin it is, and that you need to add in a plot-line, or a story-point, or hash out a character.

And so you rewrite, get to 75k, and start submitting to agents and publishers!

Wrong. Now you need to let it simmer. I hate that part, but do it. I let mine simmer for a week or a month. Then go back and brutalize yourself and rip and cut and tear at that story until it is a manageable manuscript.

Now you might be ready to submit. Maybe. Depends on how you feel about it. Some may require more work, but for God's sake, at some point you need to QUIT and SUBMIT! And move on to the next project.

If it's accepted, which good stories can find good homes these days, you'll hit the editor-wall, and that will take five or six more edits. Then you get the copy-editor. Then layout. Then, well, maybe, hopefully, then you hit ctrl-P (Print) and off it goes to the world.

I lose count, but I figure I read the stories ten or fifteen times, altogether. That's a lot of reading! Put back-to-back, I bet it's equivalent to eight or ten full 40-hour workweeks, done part-time, since I still have a day job.

Anyway, that's how many licks it takes me to get the center of my Tootsie Pop. Don't rush it like Mr. Owl, or you'll ruin the surprise.

What about you? How far away is the center of your Tootsie Pop?

- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing. See more of Eric's work here: Publications ** ARE YOU AN ORGAN DONOR? ERIC IS! **

When you edify everyone, the all become dim

When you edify everyone, the all become dim.

Do you fully understand what I mean by edify? Let's use a bakery example, and a girl named Mary Jane.

Why Mary Jane? Because I'm listening to this song right now, off the Judgment Night soundtrack.

Anyway, Mary Jane works in a bakery, and she decides to sample each item in the cabinet and write a review on her blog.

She samples a cheesecake and writes on her blog that this is the most fantabuliscious cheesecake she has EVER HAD! OMG, it is orgasmic.

She next samples a yellow sponge cake, and posts it is so good she wants to smear it on her boyfriend and eat it off, LOL.

MJ then tries a chocolate mousse, of which she writes, and I quote: OMG, this is so good I want to make a man out of it, marry that man, and have his chocolate children. I would so eat my kids! LMAO.

Anyway, maybe you're getting the picture. She edifies ~everything~ to the point that her five-star rating becomes meaningless.

The people I trust the most are the ones who are willing to give a bad review. This is especially true for us as authors, and as edifiers, and as publicists.

So hold onto your five-star rating. Praise the effort, and don't be mean or cruel, but be honest when you appraise the result. Sometimes a one-star rating is what it takes to set someone on the right path! Nothing will sober you up like a bad grade, if you get me.

- Eric

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing. See more of Eric's work here: Publications ** ARE YOU AN ORGAN DONOR? ERIC IS! **

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How to get started

A friend's daughter (junior high) recently asked me this via FB: I am writing a book in third person and wondering what are the best ways to start.

My answer is below. Take it or leave it, but I think I did a bang-up job of summarizing some very large topics.

How to get started writing your book

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Wow, that's a big question. I like 3rd person POV (Point-of-View) the best. It gives you a lot of options you don't have in 1st person.

Next you need to decide on TENSE. Will you use past or present? For instance, past tense is like this: "He walked to the store."

Present tense is this: "He walks to the store."

I use past, but lots of young adult (YA) books use the present tense. I think the Hunger Games series uses present tense, I could be wrong.

After tense, you need to decide on TONE. Will it be a fun tone, serious, or something in-between? Think about tv shows, how some are comedies, some are dramas, some are action, and so on. That's the tone, and you need to decide what tone to use. Pick one, and STICK TO IT for the whole book.

Now that you have the POV (Point-of-View, 3rd person), TENSE, and TONE, you need to develop a quick one or two sentence TOPIC of the book. What is it about? Hunger Games could be like this: "In a futuristic world governed by wealthy aristocrats, young citizens are forced to fight to the death."

It needs to be quick and dirty, and you need to put it at the top of your first page. Read that sentence every time you sit down to write.

Repeat: Read that sentence EVERY TIME you sit to write. It is all you focus on.

It may just be a title. For instance, "Hunger Games" says a lot about the book, and would be a great hook to reference.

The hook, or TOPIC, gives you as the author something to hook into each time you sit to write, and it keeps you consistent. Anything that is ~not~ related to the TOPIC gets deleted.

That's how you start. Some people will draft an outline, others will just start writing. Me, I just start writing. You may like to plot, and then write.

So long as you honor your POV, TENSE, TONE, and TOPIC, and stay consistent on every paragraph of every page, you'll produce something spectacular.

You may choose a target length for the book. 100pp is a good start, which would put you at about 25,000 words (there should be about 250 words per page on your draft). Set up your Word document for double-space text, 12pt Courier New. Use one space to separate sentences, and use a paragraph format that automatically indents the first line of each paragraph. Do not double-space between paragraphs like you do in emails (and like I do here). That is standard format for a manuscript.

A target daily word count goal is ONE page no matter what, and as many as you can get after that. Finish the book first, and then edit it afterwards. What I mean is this: After you write a page, go onto the next page. Don't get too hung up on fixing problems, because you will get that during revision and edit later.

Wishing you luck, and let me know if you need anything else. Always glad to help.

- Eric

What did I miss?

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently represented by Debrin Case at Open Heart Publishing. See more of Eric's work here: Publications

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Do you feel LUCKY?

This is a post on LUCK and how it applies to writing.

Let me start with the famous quote from Mr. Eastwood:

I know what you’re thinking: "Did he fire six shots, or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well do ya, Punk?

Ask yourself that question: Do you feel LUCKY?

As a writer, much of our success is determined by luck. I don't have the numbers, but I bet luck makes up better than 70% of whether we are published at all, and the number goes up from there as you chase larger and larger publishers.

If you don't believe luck plays a huge role, then you have not been paying attention. King is famous for his ~wife~ submitting his breakout novel Carrie, in a unique manner, to someone who just happened to read it and appreciate it. How lucky is that!

Well, this post is about creating your own luck.

HOW TO GENERATE YOUR OWN LUCK

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There are two ingredients to luck. The first is Persistence. Every time you try, you play the odds that you might get lucky (and land that publisher!). As you try less and less, your luck approaches zero, until at last you quit, and the chance of you being lucky is now an absolute zilch.

So Persist! Keep trying! My goal with writing is not to get published. My goal is to write until I die, or no longer have the mental and physical capacity to write. I hope at some point I will be picked up by a large publishing house, but I cannot control that event. All I can do is keep trying, keep trying, keep trying.

Which I will.

The second ingredient to luck is Intelligence! If all you do is Persist in the same way, over and over, you will never increase your luck chances. Instead, Persist in a SMARTER way each time.

If your book is not getting picked up, write another book. Make it better. Invest in some How-To books on writing, publishing, editing, and so forth. You are an expert on any topic if you read at least 5 books on that topic.

Are you an expert on writing? I am, a couple times over. Most published authors are.

Persist with Intelligence.

If you question that these are the two ingredients of luck, I want you to watch The World Series of Poker sometime.

These gamblers Persist by coming back to the table over and over, win or lose. They also are Intelligent about their craft.

Nobody argues that Poker requires luck, but as every Poker player will tell you: It isn't "gambling" if you know what you're doing.

The point is this: If you Persist Intelligently, luck will find you! You ~can~ beat the odds.

For my current novel, which I am querying, I plan to collect 30 rejections. Maybe one or two will result in a full-read, and maybe one will land a contract. This is Persistence.

I am also researching not only agents and publishers, but also studying for my next novel, and polishing up my editing skills (as always, keep the axe sharp!). This is Intelligence.

If you Persist Intelligently, if you are Intelligently Persistent, you ~will~ eventually find that luck that so many have missed.

Keep the faith.

Do you Persist Intelligently? Name a success of yours, a time when you earned a Blue Ribbon 1st Place, and tell me you didn't get there with Persistent Intelligence. I dare ya, Punk.

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently represented by Debrin Case at Open Heart Publishing. See more of Eric's work here: Publications

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Please say Hello to Author DL Hammons!

Please say Hello to first-time Author DL Hammons! His debut short story, "Itinerary", will be published in Open Heart Publishing's An Honest Lie Volume 4: Petulant Parables. He comes to us through, well, let me let him tell you how he found Open Heart Publishing.

Donna Hole [a blogging friend], who is one of the authors included in this anthology, had one of her stories included in a previous volume of An Honest Lie and when she was spreading the news about that book she suggested that [writers] who were looking for ways to get their writing out there, submit to Open Heart. I took her up on the suggestion and here I am.

Well, I for one am very happy you found us. Donna came through us the same way, via me, so there is definitely something to be said for networking as an upcoming author. Can you tell us about your blogs?

I've maintained a writers blog since 2009 and its addrress is: http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/

My Twitter account is: DL_H

I've held off establishing a Facebook Author page until I was actually published, so that is on the horizon shortly.

Outstanding. You have over a thousand followers on your blog, which is a lot of support from your online community. How about at home? Do your friends and family support your writing?

Everyone in my family, including my extended family, is totally behind all of my writing pursuits. I bounce plot idea's off my wife before I write word one, then she's my number one critique partner while I'm writing. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law, both avid readers, are next in line for critiques. The entire family has devoted long car rides taking turns reading my novel out loud to catch needed edits. I've developed and practiced my elevator pitch for hours with my daughter. My family is behind me 110%!

Wow. You're a lucky man to have so many devoted family members. Two questions: 1) Can you give us your elevator pitch for said novel? 2) What have you learned most about hearing someone else read your story aloud?

1) Elevator pitch: I like to compare my novel - FALLEN KNIGHT - to a hybrid between David Baldacci’s The Camel Club and a adult version of The Goonies. It revolves around small group of tight-knit friend’s quest to find the person responsible for beating one of their own into a coma. Teaming up with a female private investigator they are soon drawn into a murderous plan involving a copy-cat Columbine attack and a bio-terrorist threat targeting our nation’s capital. In over their heads they come to doubt themselves, their purpose, and most importantly, their safety, but there is one thing they will never doubt...each other.

2) Having someone else read your writing aloud to you really helps spot those area's that are clunky, needing more work to smooth out the flow. Even though you've gone over your manuscript a hundred times, they stick out like a sore thumb when read aloud. It's also great way to pick up on plot details that need more context.

Love the pitch for Fallen Knight! How about you personally? Tell us about how you grew up.

I was raised a military brat. Sandwiched between an older and younger brother with one other younger sister, both of our parents were in the Navy. Mom became stay-at-home when us kids started coming along, and we all found our own ways to deal with the constant moves and adapting to new environments that life in the military demands. Space was always an issue with military housing, but whenever the possibility arose I always had my own room because I kept my space the neatest. My wife now wonders whatever happened to that trait!

Sounds like you traveled quite a bit as a child. Where was your favorite place to live (as a child), and why?

This was a tough choice. We lived in Sheboygan Wisconsin to be near my Mom's family when my dad was in Vietnam, and I have very special memories from our time there. But I'm going to choose Havelock, North Carolina, for a couple reasons. First, we were stationed there for my entire four years of high school, so it has a special place in my heart. The second reason is that I just really loved the diversity of North Carolina. In thirty minutes and I could be laying on the beach catching rays, or a couple of hours in the other direction I could be hiking in the mountains.

Sounds like quite an adventurous and noble childhood. Let's talk about your writing style, now. Which is more important: That you make the reader see your viewpoint, or that you make the reader see theirs?

A combination of both. I hope that my writing elicits feelings within the reader that mirror the ones in me when I wrote it, but I'm constantly amazed at the depths some readers can see. The sub-conscious evels at play I wasn't even aware of when I write that their unique life experiences allow them access to.

That's an acute observation. I find that readers often see things in my writing that I never consciously intended. Part of being a writer is self-discovery. Which is more important: Writing without constraint, or within the confines of a publisher's guidelines?

They are equally important. We cannot grow as writers and improve our craft if we're constrained by whatever borders that exists. However, a publisher knows their market, their targeted readers, and what bodies of work will serve them best. Not staying within a publisher's guidelines is detrimental to them both, and ultimately the writer.

Well, I'll conclude on that remark -- which every writer should make note of -- and say THANK YOU to DL Hammons for taking the time to answer my questions. I have known him for quites some time in the blogosphere, and now through OHP. I know readers are as anxious as I am to read his debut story "Itinerary", in An Honest Lie Volume 4: Petulant Parables.

BIO: D.L. enjoys taking a break from writing technical journals and procedure manuals for his regular job and crafting an occasional short story or novel. Son of a military family, he grew up across the southeast and ultimately graduated with a Business degree from Louisiana State University. After a stint working in the big city (Atlanta), he packed up his family and settled in central Arkansas to be closer to family. His love for writing was seeded in high school where he wrote both news and feature articles for the school paper, but it wasn’t until his children began heading off to college that he found the time to resurrect his passion for prose. Although his novels fall mostly into the Mystery/Suspense vein, his short stories run the entire gamut of genres. Itinerary is his first published work.

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Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently represented by Debrin Case at Open Heart Publishing. See more of Eric's work here: Publications