Tag: reading

This One’s For The Boys

· Leave a comment ·

I’ve been working on a few different ideas for stories for my male readers, to give them a break from my female-centric writing. My strongest idea involves one of my characters from the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series: Aidan. Much like Erin, Dee and Jon, Aidan is getting a solo book. The working title is I Probably Should Have Kept That To Myself  Here’s a sample from the first chapter. I hope to have the book ready for publication by the end of May. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Chapter One

There’s a tiny bag of weed in the back of one of my dresser drawers, and nobody knows this but me. I shouldn’t be thinking about it right now, but I am. I’m thinking about opening that drawer, grabbing that little bag and hiding it in my suitcase. Nah—it would be my luck to have some drug-sniffing dog at the airport rat me out. Besides, I promised my wife I’d quit smoking.

But that was before I agreed to go with my brothers to Las Vegas. It’s only for the weekend, still, I’m rethinking it now. Rethinking and rethinking…

“You have your ticket, right?”

Dee was talking to me from the bathroom. She had just changed the bath towels: fresh dark gray ones to match our black and white color scheme. 

“Yep,” I replied. “It’s with my suitcase.” I looked over at the drawer where I keep the weed, one last time. Nope. I’ll leave it here. Better safe than sorry.

Dee emerged from the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of camouflage yoga pants and a black tank top. I’m only going to be away from her for the weekend and I already miss her. Is that stupid? I mean, I haven’t even left the damn house yet. “What are you going to do all weekend with me out of the house?”

Dee shrugged, casually. “I’ll probably go harass Amy. Or I might kick around Urban Collective for a few hours. You’re not worried about me, are you?”

“No, it’s not you I’m worried about,” I said. 

“Are you planning on getting into a fight with your brothers?” Dee asked. She walked up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I took one of her hands in mine. Her brown complexion is a stark contrast to mine: I’m whiter than a ghost. Some days I feel like I’m haunting my own house. 

“I never plan it,” I said. “But sometimes it just happens.”

“Promise me you’ll try to get along with them.”

“I promise, Frisky. Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a boy scout.”

I smiled. I never would have lasted as a boy scout. 

 

 

 

I Probably Should Have Kept That To Myself is coming soon!

Woolaston Entertainment 

Free Ebook Weekends, Part 2

· Leave a comment ·

Here we go, folks! More free ebooks. Stay home! Stay safe! 

Here are this weekend’s choices, 4/11-4/12:

A Rose Left Behind

Fortune’s Wing (all 3 books!)

Your Fame Will Destroy You

Rowdy

Righteous

Young Kelly McCormick

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

Lucia and the Saints, Volumes 1-3

A Rose Left Behind
Fortune’s Wing
Fortune’s Wing: Second Flight
Fortune’s Wing: Flies Again
Young Kelly McCormick
Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

 

Woolaston Entertainment

Free Ebook Weekends!

· Leave a comment ·

Introducing Free Ebook Weekends! Since most of us are stuck at home, why not download some books to enjoy? Every weekend in April, you can download free select W.E. ebooks. Here are this weekend’s choices, 4/4-4/5:

 
The Kindness of Strangers
Our Lady of Righteous Rage (both versions)
Punk & Whiskers
Allan and Mac
Her Name is Lola Vencent
Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen
Please visit the Woolaston Entertainment Website for direct links!
The Kindness of Strangers
Punk & Whiskers
Allan and Mac
Her Name is Lola Vencent
Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen

Things I’ve Learned While Working During the Coronavirus

· Leave a comment ·

I’m fortunate to still have a job..for now. So, I’m very grateful for that. I have learned a few interesting things while remaining at work during this tragedy, and I’d like to share. I work in a public library. Right now, we’re sanitizing EVERYTHING. The books, CD and DVD cases, shelves, computers, tables, chairs—everything. I’m in charge of sanitizing the fiction books, and let me tell you, there are A LOT OF THEM. But, this humble little activity has helped me discover a few things.

 

1. Many of the movies I love were based on books. Just Cause, starring Sean Connery and Blair Underwood was based on a book by the same name. Plus, I came across Forest Gump and Rosemary’s Baby. Both books have sequels, to my surprise.

2. I had no idea Amish Fiction was a genre. I have cleaned a ton of Beverly Lewis’s books. 

3. James Patterson basically needs his own private bookshelf in the library. His place in fiction takes up five shelves. 

4. Actors Hugh Laurie and Ethan Hawke have published fiction. Laurie’s book is The Gun Seller, released in 1996, while Hawke’s book is Ash Wednesday, 2002. 

5. Those 1980’s/1990’s Avon romance novels all seem to have similar, awful plots. 

6. Incest is the name of the game in most of V.C. Andrews’ books. 

7. David Lagercrantz continued Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc).  Because of their last names, their books aren’t too far away from one another on the shelves.

8. After Ian Fleming’s death, 6 other authors inherited James Bond as a character.

9. Spic and Span is good at cleaning the plastic that was used to preserve the covers of the books.

10. My “want to read” list may be getting out of control. 

 

I’m sure there will be more in the days to come. 

 

 

 

I Just Wanna Shelter In Place Like A Good Introvert

· Leave a comment ·

I live in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, where new cases of the Coronavirus are developing. I work for the city of Hampton, at the public library. While we will be closed to the public until the end of the month, all of the employees still need to report to work. We’re cleaning, shifting books, and pulling books that are on request, so we can be ready when it’s time for us to re-open. Still, everyday I watch the news and hear the President and the Governor of VA tell people they need to stay home. When I learned the library would be closed, I thought we employees would get to stay home. But, we’re still going into the library. I’m hauling myself into work, when all I want to do is just stay home.

Sheltering in place is easy to do if you’re an introvert. I have plenty to keep me busy at home: I’m working on two manuscripts, my website needs constant updating, I’m reviewing content for other writers and then of course, there’s this blog! I would LOVE to just stay home. I don’t know. Maybe things will changes within the next few days.

Stay safe, people. 

First Lines and First Impressions

· 2 Comments ·

Ah, the opening line of a book or short story. The attention-getter. It’s the line that sets the tone. It can draw you in, or leave you feeling completely uninterested. Every first line I have ever written, have terrified me. Why? Because I know they will either be good, or awful. I mean, who can top It was the best of times, it was the worst of times? Sheesh.

As a writer, you want your first line to have enough impact so your reader will not only be drawn into the story, but have an idea of what kind of story they’re about to get into. But you don’t want to give away too much. It’s like watching a movie you’ve never seen before, and being able to guess what’s going to happen from the very beginning. It’s not easy to do, but sometimes, you get it right. Below are the first lines of some of my books.

 

Was it a dream or was it reality?

Fortune’s Wing begins with a reoccurring dream it’s protagonist Fortune Oyama has been haunted by. He has visions of a ruined world; a world he couldn’t save. The heart of the story concerns the fate of the world: will it be destroyed or will it be saved? Will things carry on the way they always have or will there be dramatic changes? All of these questions can only be answered by the one who possesses The Wings. 

 

It was early; around six in the morning.

Not my strongest line. But the rest of the paragraph makes up for it: Veronica Entienne watches her cousin Val pack a few last minute items into her bag. This much is clear: she’s going somewhere. And that’s the most important factor in Valentine: Va’s road trip to L.A. to save her father.

 

When I was twelve years old, I fell in love with rock n roll. 

There are a few things you can take away from the first line in Our Lady of Righteous Rage. One, this is going to be a story with musical elements. Two, it’s a coming-of-age tale (the narrator makes a statement about something that happened when she was twelve, giving the impression she’s older now). Three, music is very important to this person, especially rock n roll. 

 

“If you take this much, you’ll feel better, but if you take this much, you’ll see God.”

This is the opening line to a book I’m working on, titled Barrin Heights. I’m not one hundred percent sure of where this story is headed, but I can tell you it’s going to be supernatural. 

 

First lines: as writers, we don’t always nail them. But you can’t expect success every time. You can’t learn from success; you can only learn from failure. 

Woolaston Entertainment

My Review of “Year of the Monkey”

· 3 Comments ·

Let me start by saying, if Punk Rock was a religion, Patti Smith would be it’s Pope.
Patti has a way with words. Her writing style is so descriptive its easy to visualize the places she’s describing as you read her work. Of all of her memoirs I’ve read (Just Kids, M Train), Year of the Monkey is my favorite. In this book she chronicles a year of traveling, dreaming in different hotels, close friends and random yet memorable encounters. And of course, there are still shots in black and white, to help illustrate the journey. I appreciate the simplicity of her journey: she travels light, only packing what she needs,(t-shirts, socks, and her camera),freeing her to enjoy the journey itself without being weighed down by unnecessary things. There are no meals at fancy high-end restaurants and flights in the first-class section of planes: she hitches rides and eats modestly at the little cafes she finds along the way. 

This was a nice transition from the Patti Smith of Just Kids. She has grown from artist to musician to a wise traveler. She handles the trials and triumphs of the year gracefully, including the election of Trump. It’s a fun and fantastic read, from beginning to end. 

Reading Your Book Out Loud

· 2 Comments ·

Remember kindergarten, when it was story time and your teacher would read a book out loud to your class? Or perhaps, for some of you, it was first grade. Maybe you had a parent read a book out loud to you. Either way, at some point, you were able to experience having a book read to you. If this never happened during your childhood, well, two things:

1) How sad.

2) Consider the audio book. It can be a wondrous thing.

speaking+out+loud

Reading something out loud can give the text itself a whole new meaning. It’s a combination of the material and the person reading. I mean, I couldn’t sit and just read Miriam Webster’s Dictionary, but I could listen to Tom Hiddleston read it out loud (there’s something about his voice, dude. It’s like ear-porn). Material sounds more interesting when its read out loud. If you’re writing a book, and you’re not sure how it will “sound” to your readers, try reading it out loud to yourself or to someone else.

I was on the fence about Our Lady of Righteous Rage, until I read it to myself, out loud. The material took on a different flow, and I actually came to appreciate it more. The same can be said for Novocaine. In fact, I have posted videos of myself on the Woolaston Entertainment Facebook page, reading samples from some of my books. 

Reading your material out loud can give you a better sense of how the words themselves flow. Maybe your main character’s speech about freedom isn’t as strong as it could be. Maybe that conversation that takes place between the husband and wife sounds a little too crude. Aside from learning how the material will “sound” to your readers, reading out loud is also a great editing tool.

Woolaston Entertainment

Snippet of “Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored”

What I’m Reading Now

· Leave a comment ·

Every year I participate in the Reading Challenge on Goodreads. I’d like to read 100 new books each year, but that’s just too unrealistic! So I start out with a goal of 25. If I’ve read at least 22 or 23 by September-October, then I consider raising the goal to 30. I’ve been doing this since 2011, and so far I’ve managed to meet my challenge each year. This year I’m starting out a bit smaller: 20 books. I still have a lot of other projects I need to work on, and I may not have as much time for reading as I would like. So, 20 it is.

I’m currently reading 3 books right now (because I can’t seem to focus on only one thing at a time. Two of these books have been on my mind for a while, and the third literally fell into my lap. Literally. I was at my desk at work, putting stickers on new books, and it just slid off the desk and into my lap! It’s a Chuck Palahniuk book, so I couldn’t say no.

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

I must confess, I purchased a copy of this book last year when it came out, and I’m finally reading it. I’ve read some of Patti Smith’s other books, such as Just Kids, Auguries of Innocence, The Coral Sea and M Train. She’s one of the reasons I got into punk rock. Her writing style is a reflection of her musical style: visual and poetic, and profound. She’s very descriptive, even when it comes to the simplest of things, such as walking to a restaurant. I’m nearly finished reading it, and I will post a review here and on Goodreads.

The 50th Law by 50 Cent and Robert Greene

When I worked in a bookstore, I had a lot of people asking for Robert Greene’s books. My store was forced to keep copies of Mastery and The 48 Laws of Power behind the register, because they were high theft items. I came across The 50th Law and decided to give a try, since I am a fan of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Plus, I wanted to see what was so special about Robert Greene’s writing. From what I’ve read so far, it takes fearlessness to get things done. This can be applied to so many different areas of our lives: succeeding in business, achieving higher grades in school, asking for a raise, etc. I’m about half-way through.

Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk

I’m only on the first page, but I can already tell I’m going to like it. The first two books I read by Palahniuk were Fight Club and Haunted. I’ll let you know how this one goes.