Crazy Times

I think it was Henry Ford who once said "Never complain and never explain."  I'm not sure if those are real words to live by but every once in a while, they seem to make sense.  But for the most part, when things tend to get a little crazy and I am remiss about something like posting, an explanation seems in order.

Lately my time to write has been very limited. I work a full time 45 hour a week job and I also teach one night a week. That part sounds easy, since I have office hours at school for about an hour then spend on average 2 1/2 hours in the classroom. Sounds simple, right?  But that doesn't take into consideration the numerous hours of preparation needed to make it happen. I also received the final revisions for my approval on my next book and had to race through them to meet the deadline. Then there are occasions when I want to be writing but I need to do some form of promotion to help raise awareness of my books and generate sales. Hey, as my protagonist in WHY 319? would say, 'sleep is vastly overrated'.

So today was mostly spent doing promos, exchanging emails with potential fans and taking care of a few business things. Now it's a chance to write a little blurb about 'Fleeing Beauty'.  This is the third book in the Jamie Richmond series.  I like to think each one is a little better, a little snappier, where a bit more of the characters are developed. What continues to be a challenge for me is that these are written from Jamie's perspective and as a guy, it's not easy to think like a woman.  But somehow, it seems to work.

Here's a little snippet from the book, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday, October 21.

I don’t want to die.

I’m not ready for it. There are too many things I haven’t experienced yet. Places to go, people to meet, adventures waiting to be discovered. I want to gaze at the stars over the Mediterranean Sea while making love with Malone. I want to fly in a sailplane. I want to stand on a beach in Key West and dip my toes in the ocean and the gulf. I want to travel to exotic lands, dine on their cuisine and dance my little ass off to the local music. I want all of that and much more.

But I don’t think any of that is going to happen.

We’re all going to die.

Once this gang gets what they’re after, there is no reason to leave us behind. They’re not going to lock us in a closet and make a run for it. We’ve all seen their faces. We know their names. We can identify them. There is no way they will let us live. Their leader has a violent streak and it’s only a matter of time before he lashes out again.

My mind is flashing on ways out of this. But nothing makes sense, nothing that will allow me to stop them, to guide us out of here safely.

I don’t want to die.

But there is nothing I can do to prevent it.