“Seeking power is for the weak. Seeking wealth for the uninspired. What I want is far more elusive and considerably more substantial.” - Lord Decay.

Meet my main antagonist, Lord Decay, an evil mastermind willing to do whatever it takes to reach his goals. His costume, white and gold armour with a Victorian flair, hints at his God complex.

Art and design by Eric Mineault

Tales of the Cerberus Initiative (Book 1): Chronicles of the Chaos Traveler.

Available on Amazon on February 28th, 2023.

#canadianauthor #writer #books #superheroes #supervillain #tikbook #booktok #selfpublished #canadianheroes #urbanfantasy #MyFirstBook

 Hello everyone, I'm back! 

            Shocking isn't it? I can't believe it's been almost five years since my last post already. Time sure does fly by. So here is a quick break down of what I have been up to.

            Staying true to what I said previously, I gave up trying to keep up with my blog in order to focus all my attention on my book. In the end it paid off, because I finally completed my first novel. The final work is twenty-nine chapters, three-hundred and twenty-five pages and over one-hundred-thousands words. Not to forget some sweat, tears and a lot of sleepless nights.

            With the story done, I am now looking into cover art, ISBNs and publishing details. For my first book, I will be self-publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing. It's a learning experience and, to be perfectly honest, a little stressful. But I'm hoping to get all of this done in time for my scheduled release date. Speaking of which, my book (Tales of the Cerberus Initiative: Chronicles of the Chaos Traveler), first installment of a series, will be available in February 2023.

            Thank you all for still being here, your support is truly appreciated.

            Cheers!

             

Interview - Richard G. Lowe Jr.

Welcome back,

            For this month's interview, we have the pleasure of meeting published author, Richard G. Lowe Junior. Richard and I met on one of the many Facebook writing pages after I posted that I was looking for published writers to interview.

            So on to the interview!

Short Bio:

Richard Lowe is a professional ghostwriter, Senior LinkedIn Branding Expert, and blogger. His passion is to help businesses and individuals strengthen their brand, establish their credibility and prove their expertise. Richard has written and published 63 books on a variety of subjects (including 2 bestsellers), ghostwritten 16 books, and authored over a thousand articles for blogs and social media. Previous to his writing career, he was the Director of Computer Operations for Trader Joe’s Company for 20 years, and before that the Vice President of Consulting for two computer firms. Some of his works include Focus on LinkedIn (an Amazon bestseller), Cyberheist (for KnowBe4), and Digitize or Die (as Copy Editor and Coach).

Published Works:

Focus on LinkedIn

How to sell on eBay

Real World Survival

How to Operate a Freelance Writing Business

Make a Living as a Professional Self-Published Author

Safe Computing is Like Safe Sex

How to be a Good Manager and Supervisor

How to Throw Parties like a Professional

How to Publish on KIndle

Help! My Debt is Making Me Miserable

How to Manage a Consulting Project

Make Money Using the Internet

Make Money by Decluttering Your Home

Belly Dancers Coloring Books (four volumes)

Human Rights Coloring Books

Dragons Coloring Book

Steampunk Dragons Coloring Book

How to be Friends with Women

Network Your Business to Prosperity

Turn off the TV, Get off Your Ass and do Something

Unlikely Hero

How to Create your Own Zombie Apocalypse

Current Projects: (if any)

Peacekeeper Vol 1: The Beginning of the End

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity (working title)

Website: https://www.thewritingking.com

When did you begin writing?

I began writing when I was 6 years old with a short story about dragons. I wrote on and off throughout my life, and wanted to be a writer "when I grew up". Life got in the way, so I kept postponing it. I wrote a huge number of technical books for work. in 2013, I decided to retire from my job and become a professional writer. Since that time, I've written over 60 books for me (some under pen names), and ghostwritten 16 books.

Did you receive any special training or attend a school?

Nope

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I walk around, looking at things, and inspiration comes to me. I'll look at a garden, and think about a fantasy novel, or a rock and wonder about the history of that rock. From there, stories result.

Do you use any special resources when writing? (other books, computer programs, etc)

I always keep a couple of good dictionaries, a grammar book and a style guide (Chicago Manual of Style) handy. Plus, for fiction, the whole set of books in the Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman.

What is (in your opinion) the most important thing to remember when writing, and why is it so important?

That you must sit down, get rid of the distractions and write. It doesn't matter how bad you feel, how many problems need to be resolved, or whatever. Just write. The solution for writers is to write.

What is (in your opinion) the most challenging part of writing, and how do you overcome it?

Filtering out the bad advice from others. Nothing works for everyone. What works for one writer doesn't work for another. A writer has to come up with their own voice and style. I had to learn that lesson and it's a tough one.

Did you use an agent? (why or why not?)

No. I'm entirely self-published at this time. Peacekeeper, one of my current projects, may be the first that I find an agent for.

Did you use an Editor? If not, what process did you use to edit your work?

First, I write the whole book using dictation directly into Word. Then I review it from top to bottom, changing it up and making sure it all makes sense. I read it out loud all the way through, then review it back to front.

How did you get your book published? (self-published, Vanity publishing, Mainstream publisher).

Self-publishing as an Indie publisher. I also publish books as a ghostwriter for others.

Do you handle your own marketing?

Yes. I've found I do a better job than anyone else marketing my books.

What is your best marketing tip?

Social media does not work for promotion, but it works for marketing. You have to build yourself as a brand. Engage with your readers and get them excited about your works.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

My main advice is that to be a writer you must write. I set my goal at 5,000 words per day, minimum, ready to publish. If you are not writing every day, you're not really a writer. Also, if you are not published, you are not a writer. I know several writers who delay publishing to "get the perfect title" or "to give their book one more polish". Wrong. Publish the darn thing. In the modern self-publishing world, you can change almost anything. So publish away, knowing that your first couple of books may not be as good as you'd like. But you'll get better and you can always fix the earlier books

Hopefully everyone found this interview as informative as I did. I would like to thank Richard for taking the time to take this interview. Your knowledge, experience and participation was very much appreciated.

Until Next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Progress part 38

Welcome back,

It has been a long time since I hadn’t written an article this late. For the past two years, I have had my blog articles prepared at least a month in advance. However, as I am writing this, it is now March fifth, and I have virtually nothing ready in terms of content.

That being said, I still managed making some progress over the last month.

   

           Because of my decision to focus more on my writing rather than my blogging, I managed to get some progres done on my story. I made some new additions to my story tree, and chipped away at my second chapter. Describing the setting proved to be a bit of a challenge for the second chapter, as I had never really put that much thought into it. It is still a work in progress, and I feel it is coming along nicely.

Unfortunately, my progress was cut short due to an increased workload and having to fill in for my manager at work. But I’m confident this new focus will allow me to see actual progress on my story.

   

Though I am no longer working actively on this project, I am still supporting it, as I did contribute a lot of time and material. Later in February, the writers from the project approached me for details on some of the material I had contributed. I feel this is encouraging, as it means the material is that much closer to being included in the games lore. Missing Worlds Media has released two new update in the past month. You can read the full article on their kickstarter page:

Lore: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2098956

Staff: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2109797

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. I am also open to suggestions for future articles, if there is anything you would like further explanations on. I can be reached via the following social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: @OzmosisCoH

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis

Sorry for the short update, as that is all I have for this month. Thank you all for dropping by, your continued support is always appreciated. I hope to see you all at next month's progress update.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

By the Book - Protection Detail

Welcome back!

            This month’s book review is another foray into the romance genre. I was never a big fan of love stories, so I decided to make the experience less jarring by finding a novel that had something I could relate to. Being a dog owner, I was attracted to the following novel; Protection Detail by Shirley McCoy.

This book actually came into my possession after returning a bunch of old novels to the local used bookstore. Nothing interesting was standing out for me, so I decided to pick something thematic for my next February book review.

           The story follows an investigation into the murder of a senator's son conducted by Gavin McCord, a K-9 unit Captain. Cassie Danver, a woman who works in a foster home, is in charge of a dozen children. One of the foster kids end up being key witnesses in the murder, forcing Gavin and Cassie to join forces to protect the children while the killer is apprehended.  True to any romance novel, the two protagonists develop feelings for each other despite being in constant danger.

Back of the Book:

After a prominent senator's son is murdered, Capitol K-9 Unit captain Gavin McCord wants answers. The senator was a mentor to Gavin and he'll stop at nothing to bring the killer to justice. With his team of elite K-9 cops and his loyal dog, Glory, at his side, Gavin discovers that a child of Cassie Danvers's nearby foster home may have witnessed the murder. He's drawn to the determined and beautiful woman but she doesn't want him interviewing her traumatized charges. Yet trusting Gavin is the only way to stay one step ahead of the deadly gunman when Cassie become a target.

From the book: Protection Detail

By: Shirlee McCoy

Imprint and Series: Steeple Hill

Publication Date: 03/2015

ISBN-13: 9780373446544

Copyright © 2015

By: Shirlee McCoy

® and TM trademarks of the publisher.

The edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

For more romance information surf to: http://www.eHarlequin.com

What I learned from this book

• The Build up/Payout ratio: This book made me realise that if you build up to an event, you need to deliver on the pay out. Throughout the entire story, multiple attempts are made to progress the investigation, but sadly the book ends and the culprit is left unfound. After commiting to a story for 200 plus pages, I can tell you this left me feeling cheated.
• Chekhov's gun: “Chekhov’s gun” is a dramatic principle that states every element mentioned in a story must be necessary and serve a purpose, and that extraneous details must be removed. Giving an object attention should be considered a signal to the readers that it has some importance to the story. This story made mention of several key elements however, that played no real role in the story. The victims wife, for example, is mentioned several times for being a potential witness, but is never found throughout the story. So we don't know if she was the killer, a witness, or dead. I found this lack of information annoying.
• Romance: How the author built the relationship between Gavin and Cassie was rather interesting. Both had troubled backgrounds, but we saw how their emotional barriers came down little by little, using a combination of simple, causal actions (such as longing stares, honest conversation, etc) and a dramatic situation (in this case, being pursued by killers).

Shirlee McCoy is a New York Times best-selling author, whose first book was published in 2004. She's written more than 45 novels, which have appeared on the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, and USA Today bestsellers lists.

When she's not writing, she's homeschooling her two youngest children and spending time with loved ones. Her books are a reflection of her passion for relationships and community  that explore the dynamics between siblings, parents, children, and friends.  

For those interested in reading more books from Shirlee McCoy, please check out these websites:

• 
  
• http://www.shirleemccoy.com/
• http://shirleemccoy.blogspot.ca/

In closing, I would like to thank you all for dropping by and following my blog. Your patronage and encouragement is truly appreciated.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne