Welcome

And so we begin a new plan. I am putting all my works up on the internet, on a web page for all the world to see. There is no cost.

Along with the books, I shall be posting a weekly column, or what is now called a blog. This posting will be about the books, about what I am going to do next, and what is currently in the works.

Readers who have questions or comments are invited to send them to me. I will do my best to carry out my side of the dialogue.

We begin with four of my books, The Life and Times of Ace Mathews, Korea, the Last Memoir, The Sword of Loran, and The French Drum.

The Sword of Loran and The French Drum are new books. The French Drum is the first of a trilogy. In about a month or so, I will put up the second book. The third will follow shortly after that. All three are finished, but I may need to make some adjustments for the second and third books.

In the pipeline are several books that are past the first draft stage, but need intensive work. By the time I post the third French Drum book, I should have a new book about ready to display.

I am considering a book that is a continuing work. It will be titled, Bits and Pieces. There will be shorter works, maybe up to a novella in length, essays, and maybe a snippet of poetry.

Why have I chosen this trail? I am at a crossroad, I think. I tried the self-publishing path, and with little enough success. My vanity was stroked, but not my pocketbook. The books were printed in fine fashion, but the cost left little room for me to make any money. The firm I dealt with did nothing, of course, to market my books. I tried hawking them myself, but I hated every minute of that business. I was in great danger of spending more time marketing than writing.

I considered going with Amazon, the great god of hopeful writers, but I really did not look forward to all the hassles I would have to endure. For example, there is always the problem of art for covers. Even E-Books have to have cover art.

Maybe lighting would strike, and maybe my books would sell on Amazon. And then, again, maybe not. Worse yet, maybe a few would sell now and then. I am aware that there are great numbers of books for sale on Amazon. In fact, one of my books is currently being offered on that venue. The seller is asking for $155 for a copy of Korea, the Last Memoir. I would really like to know why the seller thinks it’s worth that much money.

Against all of this, we must apply the rough-grained sand paper called age. At about the same time I get this new plan in operation, I shall have a birthday. I will be 84 years old. Over the past seven years, I have had a quadruple by-pass procedure and five strokes. Thanks to fine medical attention and advances in medical science, I was able to maintain a reasonable level of production during that period. I completed four books and laid down the first draft on four more. There are at this time, yet another four or five projects I am thinking about.

Clearly, I am tap-dancing on banana peels. I am a writer, even if a mostly unsuccessful one. I do not wish to use up my time left sitting in a booth and hoping someone buys a book.

Well, it is hard to see how I shall make a profit going this route. I shall put forth the idea that people who like my work could send a donation. That is an idea that will probably have a very meager return. On the other hand, I do remember a time when people were eager to pay five dollars for a pet rock. I do not know if my writing will ever produce a monetary profit, but if people find my work of value, something might come of that, and that something is yet to be discovered. And, so, the door opens and I saunter through.