A Word Please

May is Get Caught Reading Month!

Let the world know how much you love to read. Get caught with a book in your hands!

Just this morning, I caught Sid reading one of my books…

I caught my Mom reading all the way back in 1975 and I still have the evidence:

I caught my Dad reading the newspaper in 1979. (I also caught him paying homage to the disco era):

In 1985, I caught my grandmother reading to Anthony, my oldest son:

I caught my husband reading on the beach in 2002:

Later that year, my husband caught me reading in my parents’ backyard. I was reading to Sid. He’s quite the educated dog:

This is the month to proudly show off your reading material! Go ahead and get caught. Sneak around and catch someone else. Just remember, the evidence will be preserved forever, so you might want to lose the disco shirt.

I was recently asked a question that made me pause and really consider my answer. The question, and my answer, made me wonder – What do you get out of fiction?

What would you like your readers to take away from your books?

This is a difficult question for me to answer. I could list a dozen things I’d love readers to take away from any one of my books. Each has underlying themes, sometimes intentional, sometimes not. While important aspects of the various plots, I hope these issues never come across as preachy or overpowering. The best themes are always subtle.

The reason this is a difficult question for me is because fiction is a personal venture. Each reader approaches a book from a different vantage point. Their own experiences in life give different shades of color to all they see, hear, and read. Telling someone what I’d like him/her to get from a book takes away their crayons. I want them to color the pictures along with me.

People who know me won’t be surprised to learn I’m interested in social justice – or the lack thereof. These issues pop up in much of my writing. For instance, with Beyond Salvation a reader might rethink the homeless situation here in the U.S. With Enemies and Playmates, a reader might get a different perspective on domestic abuse.

Into The Light might be less subtle in its themes because they are woven into Max’s character and his journey. To follow Max’s story means taking in and examining the things he learns about himself. In part, this book is about loss, regret, and what happens when we allow other people to shape our opinions of ourselves. I would love for readers to learn from Max and maybe shed a bit of the baggage we all carry with us.

That being said, the primary goal of fiction should always be entertainment. Ultimately, my answer is simple: I hope my readers take away a smile and a feeling of time well spent.

A month or so ago, I did a blog tour for my book Into The Light. For one of the stops, I was asked to answer a specific question. For reasons unknown to me, that person didn’t participate in the tour. (Maybe she hated my answer! ) Since I spent so much time figuring out and writing the answer, I thought I’d share it here today.

The question is:

Who was your biggest supporter while writing your book? Please tell us why.

I have to admit, this one stumped me. I spent an entire day mulling it over. The phrasing is what caught me off guard. Who supports me while I’m writing? Writing, for me, is a solitary endeavor. There isn’t a lot of support going on as I’m typing the words. Or so I thought. Finally, the answer clicked. Here it is:

My parents and my husband have always been my biggest supporters for my writing in general. As far as supporting me while I’m writing, my biggest supporters are my dogs. I know, you’re rolling your eyes and thinking I’m either crazy or pathetic. You might be right on both counts. But I’ll do my best to explain my reasoning for this answer.

I have late-stage, chronic Lyme disease. I’m pretty much housebound and have been for many years. My husband works full-time, my sons are grown up. I spend a lot of time alone – with my dogs. I always do my writing on my laptop, usually sitting on the couch, surrounded by my canine kids.

Writing Into The Light was an emotionally intense experience. The writing process requires me to step into the character’s life. I have to feel the emotions in order to express them with enough depth and believability to suck in a reader. This book brought me to difficult places. Some scenes had me in tears, others had me laughing. After writing a particularly poignant scene, I’d cuddle with my dogs. Kaylee, my Chihuahua, is a squishy little love. If I cry, she’ll lick the tears from my cheeks. Oliver will climb in my lap and stare at me with curious eyes, while Sid nestles close. Often the two boys find distracting me with their antics is the perfect way to lift my spirits. Together, the three of them never fail to make me smile.

When I get in a good writing groove, I will sit for hours, tuning the world out and ignoring my body’s cramped protests. Oliver, my youngest, is like a hyper toddler. He is patient with me until mid afternoon. Then he insists on a play break. Sometimes I get irritated with him because I want to continue writing. He doesn’t care. He keeps bringing me toys, running to the door, his eyes telling me, “Look! It’s sunny outside! Let’s play!” I always give in. And, when I do, I realize he was right. The break is rejuvenating. Writing requires balance. I have to step back, get a little distance, in order to see where the path is taking me.

And there you have it. My three biggest supporters – Sidney, Kaylee and Oliver. Yes, they are dogs. They are also my best friends.

Unfinished projects drive me crazy. Yet, I have drawers and folders full of them. I’m referring to writing projects – novels in the making. I’m on a mission to clean out my desk, to finish the unfinished. But, now I’m wondering, is that always a good idea? Maybe it’s collecting dust in a drawer for a reason.

I typically tell people that Enemies and Playmates is the first book I wrote. That’s technically not true. It’s the first book I published, but not the first book I wrote. The first one is called Secrets. I wrote it at about the same time as the first draft of Enemies and Playmates. In fact, at one point I was working on them both together. I don’t even remember which one I finished first. But Secrets is the first one I started.

The original manuscript has been sitting in a box for roughly 18 years. A few weeks ago, in my mission to clear the clutter and unfinished from my life, I pulled it out of its hiding spot in my desk. In one of my spontaneous moments, I decided to give it a final edit and publish it. After all, the manuscript is complete. It only needs a little fine-tuning.

Now I’m about 60 pages in and I’m remembering why it remained sitting in my desk all these years. No, the story isn’t bad. And, while I can see where my writing has grown (thankfully!), it’s far from awful and doesn’t require massive editing. The problem? Content. This story is dark. Yes, most of my writing ventures into the dark side of life. This one, though, tackles an issue some people will find offensive. I know that without question. You see, Enemies and Playmates is about domestic abuse and I occasionally get hammered for that. I don’t flinch from writing the truth. Readers need to see it in order to feel it. And I won’t apologize for writing about an issue that needs to be addressed.

If domestic abuse is such a hot topic, I know Secrets will have more than a few people screaming at me. Why? Well, again, this book addresses abuse. (And, no, I don’t care to examine why abuse is at the core of my first two books.) You’re probably thinking, Spill it already. So here we go. Secrets is about a woman raised by parents who cannot love her properly. Her mother doesn’t love her enough, her father loves her too much. His love turns to the physical. Yes, okay, I’ll spell it out. This book touches on incest.

Are those horrified gasps I hear?

I’ve been taming it down, editing the content. But not completely. I won’t remove it all. I can’t. That’s the story and I can’t flinch from the truth of it.

As I’m editing, I continue through a back and forth yo-yo feeling. I should stuff it back in the drawer. This is too dark to share. I should continue on, because the story is valid. Worthy. Back and forth I go.

In the end, I’m choosing to ignore that nagging voice telling me not to create waves. If I’d listened to that voice, most of my choices in life would have been different. I’ve always lived my life on the outside edge. Why stop now?

Yes, Secrets is dark. The content might make readers flinch. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a story of hope, endurance, love, vengeance, trust. It’s a story that, for reasons I might never understand, needed to be told. This story was born on its own. I didn’t decide to write it. This one spoke to me and, in many ways, wrote itself. So, to hell with the noise it will make. I’ll dust it off, shape it up, and send it off to the world. Whether it’s read or not will then be up to you.

When did it become an embarrassment – a sin – for a writer to be paid for his/her words?

And if you dare promote your writing with the expectation of someone paying for it, you’ve committed the worst crime imaginable.

I’m confused, and a little irritated, by the indie bashers out in the reading world. I’ve never been one to tolerate double standards of any sort. And double standards abound in the publishing world.

Mainstream authors are promoted by their high-end PR experts. Their books are advertised in magazines, newspapers, and all over the Internet. The publishers pay for big, front-of-the-room displays in bookstores. The authors appear on talk shows and morning news shows. All this is done with the obvious intent of getting you, the reader, to purchase the book. They aren’t giving you anything free. In fact, they are charging top dollar. And few people are complaining.

Now we turn to the indie publishing world – small presses and independent publishing. We have no PR experts. We are shunned by magazines and newspapers. Most can’t afford Internet ads. Brick-and-mortar bookstores, for the most part, refuse to carry our books. If, on the off chance we get one to stock a few, we could no way afford the eye-catching display. Morning news and talk shows couldn’t care less who we are or what we’ve written.

How do we reach readers?

Many of us give some of our writing away free, in the hopes readers will enjoy it and return to purchase our other work. This can be our most effective method of promoting and advertising. We aren’t bombarding you with ads. We certainly aren’t forcing you to download and read our free stuff.

Yet…

With the indie haters, the disdain is palpable.

I have two novels so far in my Michael Sykora series – No Justice and Beyond Salvation. Sean Riley started as a minor character in these two novels, but he grew to mean much more to me. Consequently, his character kept speaking to me, telling me his story. I wanted to share that with readers, allowing them to see how he became the person he is. So I wrote The First Kill, a short story starring Sean.

I uploaded the story to Amazon and went through the hoop-jumping to get Amazon to list it free. (As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, Indie authors are not able to list our own books free for Kindle.) I made it clear in the description that the story uses a minor character in two of my novels. This was never a secret ploy to suck readers in. No one was forced to download it, read it, or care one way or another. Indeed, I’d intended it as a gift to those who read No Justice and/or Beyond Salvation.

The indie haters disagree and, apparently, have secret abilities allowing them access to my private thoughts and intents. Immediately, the negative reviews popped up. Here is a line from one:

Be aware that this is just designed to sell other books in the series…

Well.

As I stated, this was not my intent. It is, however, a pleasant side effect. Why is that such a bad thing?

A while back, Amazon started its Kindle Singles, which is a method for mainstream authors to publish shorter work. The technique I’m being accused of using with The First Kill is now used by many mainstream authors using Singles. These aren’t free. They run from 99 cents to $2.99. And many of them are specifically intended to promote and sell associated full-length novels.

So? Are the haters rushing to call those authors out?

Not that I’ve seen.

An example: Lee Child, a long-time favorite of mine, used the Singles option to publish a shortie using Jack Reacher from his Jack Reacher suspense series. This short story is 99 cents and has a wide mixture of reviews from 5 stars to 1 star. I’ve been scanning the 1 star reviews for some sign there are equal opportunity haters in regards to the issue of daring to use a short story to promote a series. I have found no sign of a crossover from indie to mainstream.

Many of the negative reviews are complaining of content. They didn’t like the story, found it disappointing, far-fetched, and not up to Child’s normal standards. A slightly lesser amount of the negatives were disgusted with and/or disappointed by the short length. (Despite the description being fairly clear that it’s not a novel – and its availability through the Kindle’s Singles section rather than Kindle’s eBooks section.)

I did not see one single complaint about this story being used as a marketing ploy. Yet, it obviously is. Why is no one accusing Lee Child of wanting to sell more books? Or of wanting to make money?

This disparity is ridiculous. Certain people seem to believe we need to be wealthy bestselling authors before we earn the same promotional rights – the same expectations of being paid for our work – the same respect. Us and them. Keep the dividing line in place.

I’ve never been a fan of dividing lines.

Mainstream or indie, we are all authors. You can hate my writing, hate my stories, hate my characters. You don’t have to read a single thing I write. But please don’t assume you know what I’m thinking. Don’t claim you know my intentions. And don’t tell me I don’t have the same rights, simply because my name isn’t on a NY Times Bestsellers list.

Pirating is a polite way to say stealing. While pirating ebooks isn’t nearly as widespread as pirating music, it happens. And it’s a problem for many authors. Or is it?

Eons ago, back in my youth, we’d record each other’s records on cassette tapes. We called it copying. In essence, what we did was an early form of pirating. The difference was the Internet didn’t exist. We weren’t sending our albums out for millions to copy, only a few chosen friends.

In those days, we also shared our books. No, we didn’t use photocopiers to make new ones. We simply lent them out.

Now, in our modern society, the Internet allows us to instantly connect with people around the world. Someone can buy a CD or an ebook, upload it to a file sharing site, and soon that one purchase is being shared with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. This process is different, but the same, as what I was doing as a teenager.

Can we stop it? Should we?

For musicians, there is an upside to having their music pirated. Most make the brunt of their money touring. If one of their CDs is pirated and makes the rounds to a million people, chances are many of those people will then go to see the band perform. They will buy t-shirts, perhaps autographed CDs. The band will make money. I’m not advocating for pirated music. My point is only that it isn’t all negative.

This doesn’t work for authors. Taking our books on tour means, at best, sitting in the front of a bookstore with a pile of our books, hoping someone will buy a copy so we can sign it for him/her. The bookstore doesn’t pay us to sit there. In fact, most of them don’t even want us there, unless, of course, we’re Stephen King of James Patterson.

Indie authors don’t make much from each sale. Pirating ebooks can make it impossible for an indie author to succeed. Yet, many of us are giving our work away free. So why be upset about pirating?

I think, for a lot of us, it comes down to control.

My print books are carried in some libraries. I’d love for them to be carried in all libraries. I purposely make them available for libraries to order. I don’t get paid each time someone borrows one of my books. The only money I make is in the initial sale, when the library purchases the book(s). Each person who subsequently borrows my book is reading for free. That is not much different from pirating.

My first book, Enemies and Playmates, has been a free download since last October. I made it free – intentionally. In fact, I had to play games with Amazon to get them to drop the price. You see, Indie authors can’t opt to list our books free permanently. Instead, we have to list them free elsewhere (typically Smashwords, which then feeds stores like Sony’s Reader store and Barnes and Noble.) Then we have to report our own books as being cheaper elsewhere, so Amazon will ‘match the price’.

I went through a lot of aggravation to make Enemies and Playmates free – on purpose. Why would I complain about it being pirated?

Because it’s my property and I should have control over where, when and how it is distributed. Having something of yours taken from you, whether you are freely giving it elsewhere or not, hurts.

Then there are the ebooks that are not free, but are being pirated and downloaded free all over the Internet. The authors aren’t making a cent. But are they losing money? Would those people have downloaded and read those books had they not been free on a file sharing site? Maybe. Maybe not. In the end, does it matter? Getting something for nothing, when that something isn’t being offered by the owner, isn’t right. Whether you went out looking for it or stumbled upon it and took it because it was free shouldn’t matter.

Back in the pre-Internet dark ages, I didn’t think anything of my form of pirating. In fact, this sharing process introduced me to many new bands and authors. Often I would purchase the album to replace a cassette tape. I’d buy more music by the bands I copied and books by the authors I borrowed. In essence, the copying and borrowing generated sales.

To some degree, this works the same in our modern world. I don’t have a problem with people reading my books free. If you have a friend who has a copy, borrow it. If you want a print copy and your friends don’t have one, ask your library to order it for you. Enter my contests. I give them away all the time. Use the lending feature on Kindle. Send your friends the PDF you received from me. If you’re willing to leave a review on Amazon, ask me for a review copy.

It’s not that I don’t love it when people actually purchase my books. Like everyone else, I need money to pay the bills, so of course I’d love to be selling hundreds of thousands of books rather than giving them away. But that’s not really the issue. I don’t have a problem with people reading my books without paying for them. What I resent is the lack of control.

Please don’t take another person’s property – ebooks or music – and distribute it to file sharing sites. Trust me, you wouldn’t want someone to walk into your home, take your TV set, and share it for one night each with everyone in your town or city. That would be stealing. Piracy is different – but the same.

If you gave me the choice between spending an afternoon at a party with 25 people or a park with 25 dogs, I’d choose the park with the dogs. It’s not that I don’t like people, I just prefer them in small doses. I’m an introvert and crowds overwhelm my senses. Dogs, on the other hand, are fantastic company. They require little, and give so much.

I have three dogs and two cats. Technically, I’m breaking the law. The city government limits the total number of dogs and cats I can have in my home to three. I don’t license my cats, so no one is knocking at my door requiring me to toss two of my five out the door. And I have to wonder, what gives any city/town government the right to do so?

In my short story Marietta’s Cats, Marietta faces this type of dilemma. Marietta has 27 cats. Yes, that’s excessive for most of us. But why is it illegal? Marietta has this to say on the topic:

“Ain’t that something? You can crowd as many little humans into a home as you like. You can feed them nothing but sugary cereal and let them play violent video games all day long. You can ask the state for money because you can’t afford them all. And no one calls the police; no one says the parents have to get rid of all but three of their kids. Yet, I’m here minding my own business, using my own money to take good care of my cats, all of which are rescues, I might add, and my neighbors and the police seem to think I’m committing a major crime here.”

I don’t always share my characters’ opinions. These words, though, could easily be me speaking from my soapbox.

Why is it better to allow dogs and cats to sit in overcrowded, understaffed, under-funded animal shelters, rather than a safe, warm, loving home? Why can I have eight children but not eight dogs?

The Humane Society estimates that between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats are dropped at shelters each year. Of these, an estimated 4 million are euthanized (a nice way to say killed). Yet, my city government has decided I can have no more than 3 in my home. Why is it better to kill these animals, rather than allow a person to adopt 4, 5, or even 10?

I know not everyone is capable of caring for 27 cats, as Marietta does. I also know lots of people who shouldn’t be parents to even one child, much less a half dozen. Obviously, our government cannot regulate the amount of children we have. Not here in the U.S., anyway. Does that mean they take the care of a human child less seriously than the care of a dog or cat? Or is it simply that dogs and cats are more easily disposed of? We cannot, after all, euthanize children when a parent goes over a 3-child per household limit.

Another thing I find odd is that only dogs and cats are regulated, not smaller animals like guinea pigs, hamsters, birds and rabbits. I could have 75 lovebirds and 600 hamsters, and no cops would be knocking on my door claiming I’d broken a law. Add another dog to my mix and they will be telling me I have to get rid of one. Seriously, how does this make sense?

Some people, like Sharon Osbourne, get around this by applying for a breeding license which then negates the restrictions. You don’t actually have to breed anything, ever. This is another oddity I don’t understand. I can’t adopt 6 dogs, but I can have 6 if I plan to breed them. Then I can provide dozens more to an already overcrowded population.

Marietta found her own way of dealing with this nonsensical restriction. You can read about her ordeal in my book Quiet Fury: An Anthology of Suspense.

As for me, I’ll remain an outlaw rebel with my 3 dogs and 2 cats. This works for now, since I am not legally required to license my cats. (Another odd loophole in the mess of local government.) But if I find myself able to rescue another dog, I might be turning to Marietta for advice.

I’m often asked why I write, what got me started. Until now, I didn’t have a clear answer. I’ve always had an active imagination and a passion for words. I wrote my first book in kindergarten – a ghost story complete with my trademark terrible artwork. All through grade school, I loved doing the phonics workbooks which were then sold in every supermarket. They went by grade levels and I was always at least one ahead. Later, I wrote the tormented poetry of adolescence. I also wrote a few short stories and essays.

Then came a full-time job, moving out on my own, marriage, and two children. My busy new life took over and the silly pen-and-paper ramblings of my youth were put aside. But I never truly stopped creating. I would lie in bed for hours, creating elaborate fictional worlds in my mind. (Even then, it was always some form of suspense, often with murder mysteries involved.) It simply never occurred to me that I should turn these all night sessions into a novel.

My turning point came the day my big brother issued a challenge. He’d choose a topic I had to write about. I could pick the form – poetry, essays, or short stories. Then, after I’d completed my challenge, I’d send it to him along with my own challenge for him. This was in 1993, before the Internet and email took over the universe. He’d moved to Ohio years before and neither of us is particularly good about phone calls. (Me especially!) We share a love of words and writing. I needed no persuading.

These challenges reminded me how much I love to write. Eventually, my brother’s job grew more demanding and he stopped responding to the challenges. But he’d reawakened my desire to create and that is what launched my writing career. Not long afterward, I sat down and unintentionally wrote the beginning of what became my first novel.

Incidentally, my big brother’s name is Joe Cornwall and he’s quite brilliant. He’s a writer, as well, though he puts his words together to form nonfiction. He has written a book called Fly Fishing Warm Water Rivers. If you like to fish, or know someone who does, you really should check it out. You can find it on his website: http://flyfishohio.com/Fly_Fishing_Warm_Water_Rivers.htm

Thanks for reading.

It’s Read an E-Book Week! This event is a celebration of ebooks, designed to promote the advantages of electronic reading. You can find thousands of deals, from cheap to free! For information and links, go to the Read an E-Book Week website: www.ebookweek.com

Another site celebrating Read an E-Book Week is Smashwords. You can search for all the deals and download as many freebies as you like! To get you started, here’s a list of some great, free ebooks by BestsellerBound authors:

In a flooded world only small peaks dot the seas, with civilization confined to waterborne cities. Society is ruled by tyrannous bosses, enforcing their will with an army of thugs and Stoneweavers, those able to use the remnants of magic. Resources are conserved by selling the poor into slavery. With such a cleansing due, what danger do an escaped slave and thief pose to this fragile society?
www.smashwords.com/books/view/32209

Rax Darkthorn was the greatest Knowhound in Nexi, the thief-city, and one of the few to ever escape it. When a friend dies, he returns to learn what can kill a god, even one reduced to selling miracles on the Street of Lost Gods. A 7000 word fantasy short story.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/100727

BE inspired- by other people’s tragedies turned victories with HIS help- shared in this collection! This book shares miracle encounters, Christian near death experiences (NDE), and other Heavenly revelations. Meet some angels as well as real life people as they take you through this book on their inspirational journeys!
www.smashwords.com/books/view/69525

This project becomes a vehicle to publicize the plight of some USA kids that need free or reduced breakfasts as well as lunches and dinners. *** My students at SHS call their efforts The GNAW Project, which stands for Granola bars, Nuts, Apple sauce, and Water to be purchased and given to their peers in need.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/109473

A collection of seven short stories, each one based on a different colour of the rainbow. The stories are diverse in style, and the characters, although fictional, are true-to-life. There is something for everyone in this inspired collection.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/113118

James has a top job, dream house, two healthy children, and a wife who always stands by him. These things, James can rely on, until one day, when everything changes, and he realises that he has spent so long looking towards the future, that he has neglected the present. Pamela has taken their two children and left him, leaving nothing but a brief note. How far will James go to save his marriage?
www.smashwords.com/books/view/89923

A seventy-five year old secret waits in a lovely old portrait studio, at the end of a street in New York City’s Lower East Side. It is a secret that drove to madness a renowned photographer, ‘Papa’ Menashe Reisman – and left him to waste and die in his own studio – haunted by every photograph he tries to take. A young Dutch girls haunts those photos. A girl who should not have died.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/24533

While the Earth wonders at the spectacular aurora that suddenly appears, a single physicist struggles to understand why every satellite in orbit has just moved. Only after exhausting work does he realize; he has witnessed a wandering black hole, it could undo the very structure of the Solar System itself. But when? What damage will it do before it meets its own end?
www.smashwords.com/books/view/25033

Eighteenth century priest, Furio Novia, hates sculptor, Antonio Lisi. But, he secretly desires Lisi’s daughter, Anoria. She may be the last great Italian Renaissance master sculptor – she can feel figures in untouched marble, but has never carved. When she learns what she can do, she also learns of Novia’s desires; he will do anything to possess her – she will nearly kill him to remain free.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/24636

They came from cities, farms, and towns all across the country. They had long hair, beards, and bad attitudes. They dropped everything in January of 1991 and reported as the president ordered. They were not happy about it one bit. In this true story, the author relates his experiences as one of 20,000 people recalled to active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm. This is exactly how it was.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/80793

A band’s demo tape is intended to introduce listeners to their music. Likewise, this collection of short pieces allows readers into the fictional world of Trevor Wolff and his band, ShapeShifter. From the day Trevor and Mitchell meet to the pinnacle of success, these loosely linked stories will let you hang with a rock band. Vive la Trevolution!
www.smashwords.com/books/view/3815

The Demo Tapes: Year 1 introduced the reading public to ShapeShifter and the two men behind this fictional band: Trevor Wolff and Mitchell Voss. The Demo Tapes: Year 2 brings you more of the short fiction that brings these people to vivid life. Year 2 delves more deeply into love, friendships, and the inside workings of ShapeShifter. Vive la Trevolution!
www.smashwords.com/books/view/3909

Lynne’s dad often takes her shopping with him at a high-end men’s boutique. Lynne likes to sit at the feet of the mannequin in the window and dream of what he’d be like if he were real. One day, a stranger walks in. For Lynne, nothing will be the same ever again.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/52422

Stranded on a primitive world, betrayed by her crew, facing death at the hands of the natives, hunted by drug smugglers, Captain Dace has one hope of survival – convince the Patrol agent trying to kill her that she’s innocent. But on Dadilan, no one is innocent.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/10672

Author Sharon E. Cathcart presents ten short stories of various genres, each taking place in a different location. With subject matter ranging from paranormal to historical fiction, urban fantasy to literary fiction, there is something in this sampler for everyone.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/88235

Author Sharon E. Cathcart started 2010 with two resolutions: take more exercise and learn French cookery. Instead, she found herself on a journey of personal growth as she rose to unanticipated challenges.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/39199

During her teenage years, author Sharon E. Cathcart dreamed of working in the music business. She lived that dream for seven years, beginning at age 18. Unfortunately, she learned that sometimes dreams turn quickly to nightmares.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/29513

Author Sharon E. Cathcart (“In The Eye of The Beholder,” “Les Pensees Dangereuses”) presents a sampler of essays and short fiction. The collection features “Heart of Stone,” a short story never previously published.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/15991

Part autobiography and part inspiration, “Les Pensees Dangereuses” (French for “dangerous thoughts”) is a series of essays on friendship, spirituality, education, bullying, animals, clinical depression and more. Author Sharon E. Cathcart (“In The Eye of The Beholder”) shares her thoughts, including an unfinished autobiography, “Unmasking My Phantoms: My Dance With Madness,” in this new book.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/4319

When French equestrian Claire Delacroix loses her fiance in a tragic accident, she comes to live at the Paris Opera during its 1890s heyday. Whilst working at the opera, she meets a mysterious, masked stranger: Erik. Is it possible that the two of them will heal the pain of each other’s past?
www.smashwords.com/books/view/2163

Our 3 BestsellerBound Anthologies, which are always free:

www.smashwords.com/books/view/62029

www.smashwords.com/books/view/78449

www.smashwords.com/books/view/107763

And finally, a couple of my own:

Quiet Fury is a state of being that we’ve all experienced; calm on the surface, rage bubbling underneath. These stories explore each individual’s breaking point. Which will win, the Quiet or the Fury?
www.smashwords.com/books/view/100003

When the abused decide to fight back, the abuser’s world might just shatter. Lauren Covington’s family maintains a grand facade that hides the private abuse they suffer at the hands of her father. Jesse Ryder, a private detective, steps into that world and, in the process, falls in love with Lauren. Together, Lauren and Jesse dodge death and expose the truth behind the facade.
www.smashwords.com/books/view/3957

Thanks for reading.

It’s Random Acts of Kindness Week! What better time to do something nice for someone? Your random acts don’t have to cost money. Smile at a stranger, open a door for an older person, bake cookies for a neighbor or friend who’s having a rough time. Create a ripple effect. One moment of your time could do more good than you’ll ever know.

In my novels No Justice and Beyond Salvation, Michael Sykora is a hit man with a heart. He only kills the bad guys, and he does all he can to help those in need.

In this scene from Beyond Salvation, Michael is looking for a lost teenage girl. They are in a park and a homeless man named Charlie has just given him helpful information:

“It’s going to storm,” Michael said. “Do you want us to take you to a shelter? Or I’d gladly set you up in a motel room for the night.”

“And you didn’t need to help us out,” Michael said. “We all do what we can for each other.”

Most of us don’t have a hundred dollars to hand out, but we’re all capable of small kindnesses. A hot cup of coffee or a cold bottle of water can mean a lot to someone living on the streets. Often, even a smile and a greeting can give hope to a person who spends most of his/her day being ignored by the rest of us.

In this scene, Michael’s best friend since childhood is getting married and they’re at the engagement party. Michael’s father John wanted to give Isaac something special. He doesn’t have a lot of money or a lot of time. He’s dying. His choice of gifts is personal and, for Isaac, profound:

Ten minutes later, Isaac and Nadine were seated in the middle of the room, surrounded by gifts. Isaac was the one to rip open the gift from Michael’s father. He stared into the box, not touching the glove. Finally Nadine pulled it from the box and her face actually did light up. She examined the signature and gave a little shriek. “I can’t believe it! This is signed by Carlton Fisk!” She nudged Isaac. “Did you see this signature?”

“Thank you, John,” Isaac said. “I’d say that you don’t know what this means to me. But you do.” His voice cracked and he looked away.

We often hold on to our possessions as if we can take them with us into whatever awaits us after death. If you have something that means a lot to you, and you know it will mean as much, if not more, to someone you love, why wait for family and friends to divide things after your death? Isn’t it better to see their faces, to share while you’re alive? I’m not suggesting you rid yourself of all your possessions. But maybe you can find a way, while you’re alive, to share a profound moment with the special people in your life.

Be sure to check out the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation’s webpage. Learn how you can get involved, and see how others are celebrating the week!

www.randomactsofkindness.org/RAK-Week