Juvenilia — by Akje Majdanek

Buy my book! Buy my book! Buy my book!

That’s what you’re doing on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else they’ll let you, isn’t it? Sure. It’s what they tell you to do. Write your book during NaNoWriMo in November, edit it in December, publish it in January. Then comes the blog tour, the book signing at the library, the review circle at Goodreads, and then you hammer your followers on social media with book trailers, retweets of 5-star reviews, and anything else you can think of that puts your book in everyone’s face. Again. And again. And again.

Um, you might want to rethink this strategy, for a couple of reasons. First of all, why are you marketing your book to other writers? There are probably few readers in your social networks. Readers generally avoid indie writers for the obvious reason: indies are annoying. They’re always in your face with the Buy my book! Buy my book! Buy my book! (უ‸ლ)

The proper way to promote is by building your reader tribe with an email list. You do that by giving the reader something in exchange for their email address. For fiction writers, that usually means an exclusive prequel or sequel to your most popular book, but you can offer whatever you please. While Amazon forbids asking readers for email addresses in your books, there’s no reason you can’t link to your website, where you can ask them.

You do have an author website, don’t you? Or at least a blog? Your readers need a central location to find out more about you and your work. As I understand it, Mail Chimp has a free version that helps you collect email addresses. I just use a simple textbox form myself, but you might want to make your site look more fancy and professional.

But never mind that now. We were talking about why you shouldn’t hammer people with your book. What happens if that book starts selling and you become famous? You’re going to have a devil of a time hiding it from the world later. And you’re probably going to want to.

You’ve written four or five books. Wasn’t it Stephen King who said your first million words are crap? Well, someone did. A million words is about a dozen books, so you need to keep writing. The more books you have, the more visible you become on Amazon because of their algorithms. And the more you write, the better you become.

Which is why you shouldn’t be so eager to put your early works on everyone’s bookshelves, especially if you’ve published paperbacks or hardcovers. Paperbacks have a surprising lifespan, and someday you’re going to be embarrassed by your early works. The books you’re so proud of today will be tomorrow’s juvenilia.

Nobel prize contender Haruki Murakami considers his early works “immature” and “flimsy” and regrets that they’ve been translated into English. If he’s ashamed of his early work, then my gawd, what does that mean for the rest of us? (♯ᴖ.ლ)

One of the good things about being an unnoticed author is that you can tweak your books, upload improved versions and no one will ever know. Then in ten years when you become an overnight success, the readers will think you were an unappreciated genius all along, and they’ll slap their heads that they didn’t discover you sooner. Now isn’t that better than dreading that upcoming interview with Oprah because she might ask you about those embarrassing first few books in your oeuvre? ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯

OMP Admin Note: Akje Majdanek is a writer and OMP Network member. Akje is a guest blogger for the One Million Project website whose creativity is evidenced in her work. Akje’s books–Der Reiter and Adeline–are available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Akje_Majdanek/e/B00UZSTW74

Our short story anthologies written by over 100 writers have been recently published (links below) with all proceeds being donated to the charity organizations our group supports.

If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read the complete anthology for FREE, and KU proceeds are donated along with the proceeds from the sale of our anthologies.

Our volunteer authors love to see reviews, and every review helps to make the One Million Project’s books more visible to Amazon customers, assisting us in our mission to raise One Million Pounds / Dollars for EMMAUS Homeless Programs and Cancer Research UK.

LINKS

myBook.to/OMPThriller

myBook.to/OMPFantasy

myBook.to/OMPFiction

myBook.to/OMPVarietyAnthology

The Vigil ~~ by Kate McGinn

It didn’t begin with the inevitable phone call, but months before, after a visit to a physician. We all knew at some point this time would come, but somehow when the doctor’s predicted timeline was surpassed, we began to push the thought into those deep, dark recesses of our brain. Never quite forgotten, but not in the forefront of our daily ponderings.

Then, last week on a Thursday morning, it came followed by the mindless packing of clothing into a suitcase (without caring if anything matched), calling our sons, stopping the mail and the newspaper, and watering the plants. Hours of driving were filled with the quiet of reflection, grief, and disbelief. Each action seemed to be only possible because of our bodies’ repetition over the years of those same maneuvers.

Pressing a button and waiting impassively for the voice on the intercom to allow us entry into the facility. A deep breath is taken to steel my emotions and then I’m ready to walk down the hall to begin the vigil.

Soft-voiced greetings and tight hugs accompanied by silent tears as each family member and friend is welcomed. Hours, and then, days filled with endless cups of coffee, prayers, thank-you’s to staff members and visiting friends, and sleepless nights wondering if tonight the call will come announcing a change in condition.

Family members show the physical signs from the toll the vigil has taken on them with the presence of dark circles under their eyes and the weariness apparent in their every movement and expression. Even their smiles are muted by fatigue and the dam of unleashed sorrow.

On a Sunday morning at 3:24 am, the cell phone’s ringtone causes our muscles to tense up ready to spring into action. The silence is heavy with anguish as mechanically and efficiently we pull our clothes on, brush our teeth and walk out the door knowing, but dreading…

The vigil’s conclusion brought peace to a wonderful man who had lived a full and productive life and died surrounded by family in his final hours. And for his family, its end gave us a chance to say good-bye and to show our love for a father, grandfather, and friend. The suffering of our loved one had come to an end.

Rest in peace, Papa John.

It Is Not Widely Known ~~ by Raymond St. Elmo

It is not widely known that Napoleon Bonaparte wrote a romantic novel: “Clisson et Eugénie”. A young man’s classic dream of love, war, and death. Publishers were skeptical; ‘Not exactly world shaking’, said one. “Needs more ‘umph’. Give the hero more pain, adventure, suffering.” Bonaparte nodded in Gaelic politesse. Later as Emperor, he had the entire publishing staff drafted into the infantry, sent to Egypt where at last they found the adventure, pain, and suffering that eluded them in the submissions pile, merely reading about life.

Had ‘Clisson et Eugenie’ been seen for the work of potential genius that characterized Bonaparte’s military campaigns, the Sphinx would still have his nose. Louisiana would still be speaking French. Probably America would still be speaking English, instead of American.

A fact even less widely known is that Jason Greenfield is a Napoleonic scholar, for all that short Corsicans are a constant hidden theme in his writings; a theme Greenfield himself is shy to admit, or perhaps has simply never noticed. But to the initiate it is no surprise that the ‘One Million Project’ began with the Short Corsican himself, when the newly crowned emperor called for the uprising of the commons, Bonaparte said to Josephine, “Consider, mon chere, if just one million miserable, dirty worms of the earth will commit to the Revolution, we shall be in Moscow by Christmas, and celebrate Emperor’s Day in London.” A moving speech, dans la Francais.

The million never arrived, the war ended, the worms of the earth turned to other things. And yet the ideal lives on. For OMP is a brave march through the cold wasteland of formulaic fiction. This Grand Army is divided into three forces: Fantasy, Thriller, and Fiction. Their goal: a far-away, just over-the-horizon victory for research into cancer. For those who have lost loved ones to lumps, lymphomas, and Leukemia, this goal suffices. For they whose eye has become trained to search for ‘oncology’ when entering a hospital, the enemy is a foe to face with sword drawn, teeth barred, no quarter given.

But for us the writers and readers, it is the bugle-call itself that thrills the heart. L’emperor Greenfield has gathered forces that are, in fact, revolutionary; and the fight is sheer fun, fear, and fantasy. The stories in this year’s OMP collections defy all easy commercial pattern, all the tradition of pre-digested packaging of plastic fantasticality. Here are wonders of mystery, of horror, of comedy and tragedy; without a cliché to shame the front ranks.

Strange, that our cliché of madness is to fantasize about being Napoleon. Not a nice person; but imaginative and energetic. A dreamer with a sword; and definitely, the hero in what he wrote. ‘Everyone is a hero in their own story’, goes the cliché. Perhaps. But better to be a hero in another’s story. The OMP is a march of storytellers and readers alike, to be heroes to the sick, and those fearing for the sick.

How easy to fantasize the victory march; how easy to turn fantasy to practical effort. A bit of out-of-the-box writing; a few clicks on the ‘purchase’ button. Even a review; Sacre-nom de Dieu, it’s enough to pose on a park bench with an OMP copy, eyes wide with just appreciation. Read, write, review, purchase thrice and start anew. Rise up, millions! Think big!

There is room for all beneath the Victory Arch.

OMP Admin Note: Raymond St. Elmo is a computer programmer living in Texas. A degree in Spanish Literature gave him a love of magic realism. A fascination with artificial intelligence gave him a job. His books tend to be first-person fantastical accounts with frequent references to William Blake, Borges and PKD.

Our short story anthologies written by over 100 writers have been recently published (links below) with all proceeds being donated to the charity organizations our group supports.

If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read the complete anthology for FREE, and KU proceeds are donated along with the proceeds from the sale of our anthologies.

LINKS

myBook.to/OMPThriller

myBook.to/OMPFantasy

myBook.to/OMPFiction

myBook.to/OMPVarietyAnthology

Labor Day Thoughts

In the United States, Labor Day is a special day to honor the workers. Before the formation of labor unions in the early twentieth century, some employers took advantage of their blue-collar employees with long hours, no days off, poor working conditions and wages too meager to support a family.

Today, Labor Day is associated with a three-day holiday weekend and a multitude of “Labor Day” sales at the stores. While all of the celebrations were happening, I was caring for my mom, a cancer survivor. Her cancer is gone, but age and failing health require someone to attend to her basic needs. On the four-hour drive back to Wisconsin, I thought about a news story I watched about former President Jimmy Carter.

President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, continue to work with Habitat for Humanity helping to build homes for low-income families. This has been one of the ways the Carters have volunteered to help their fellow citizens. President Carter is in his nineties, and also a cancer survivor.

How is this connected to a blog about Labor Day?

Let me explain. Carter had melanoma which metastasized to his liver and brain. He underwent surgery and was treated with radiation and immunotherapy in 2015. He was cancer free after his therapy was completed in 2016. Amazing, isn’t it? I recently wrote a blog about immunotherapy and the research Cancer Research UK had done in the development of this treatment which uses the body’s immune system to fight specific cancer cells limiting the damage to healthy tissues. Immunotherapy was presented for the first time for treatment use in 2010, and there hadn’t been new treatments developed for melanoma since the 1970’s.

The Carters embody the two causes the One Million Project supports through the sale of our short story anthologies– cancer research and homelessness. It seemed fitting for another reason.

I was reminded of the scientists who devote their lives to finding cures for the many different types of cancer that millions of people worldwide will be diagnosed with this year. Did they sit at the barbeque pondering in their heads another aspect of the research they are involved in? Or did they spend the weekend working tirelessly on a new development?

I thought about the families who provide care for their loved ones, day and night. Their commitment is a labor of love to be sure. It is hard work caring for someone who is sick and in pain, and I wanted to recognize the sacrifice of the families and the countless healthcare workers and volunteers who work diligently to help those in need.

So, on this Labor Day, I wish to thank those who give of themselves–whether they are paid or volunteer or a loved one. You help to ease the pain, to give hope, to provide a meal for the hungry, a bed for the homeless, a listening ear, a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry upon. You make a difference.

OMP Admin Note: Kate McGinn is a writer and OMP Network member – one of a group of networkers who will be blogging on a regular basis on various causes and issues. Kate hopes to spread awareness of the issue of American Veterans returning home to less help than they deserve. EMMAUS is one of the two main charities we are supporting.

Kate McGinn’s fiction can be found on Amazon in the flash fiction series BITE SIZE STORIES (Volume Two) along with five other guest writers, and in the One Million Project Fiction Anthology. Her books EXODUS and WINTER’S ICY CARESS are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01KUKTYFQ

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kate-McGinn/e/B01KUKTYFQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1473258097&sr=1-2-ent

https://www.katemcginn.com/

Our short story anthologies written by over 100 writers have been recently published (links below) with all proceeds being donated to the charity organizations our group supports.

If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read the complete anthology for FREE, and KU proceeds are donated along with the proceeds from the sale of our anthologies.

LINKS

myBook.to/OMPThriller

myBook.to/OMPFantasy

myBook.to/OMPFiction

myBook.to/OMPVarietyAnthology