Not Looking So Good

Once again I've let my blogging duties go by the wayside.  I apologize.  I'm working on it.  Really, I am.

You will notice that the blog looks different.  This is not the final product.  I'm just tinkering right now.  And just like any renovation, things are going to look a bit messy.  But just for a bit.

So, why the change? you might ask.

Well, it all has to do with Kristen Lamb.  She has been posting great advise on how to improve your blog.  You can read the specific posts that inspired me here and here.  So, right now I'm searching for a better look and a new banner.

In the mean time, I've added quite a few links over in the Promote Your Work section.  If you are in need of a place to showcase your work, any one of the links are yours to use.  All are easy to contact, prompt to answer, and in most cases cheap or even free.

Now, for a bit of "Me News".  According to Kristen Lamb it's not good to always talk about yourself, but since I've been an absentee blogger, perhaps you won't hold it against me.

I entered Guarding the Healer into Smashwords' Summer/Winter sale.  It's free and will continue to be until the end of July.  To date 128 people have "purchased" the book.  I've been exhaustively promoting, sending free copies and interviews to whomever will listen.

What are the results?

Other than the 128 from Smashwords, I think I've sold two books.  Yeah, it's that bad.  I'm hoping that all this promoting and free giveaways will gain me some fans and a few reviews.  I know it's a marathon not a sprint.  If only I could get rid of that nagging stitch in my side.

I'm working on another novel, tentatively titled HUNTERS.  I'm only about 6,000 words in.  I'm hoping to up my daily word count (I'm only able to get about 1,000 a day) so that I can get it out before I lose steam.  I'm still wanting to release a collection of short stories as well, but unless someone wants to loan me some of the hours from their day then it's going to have to wait.

So, go check out the links and watch for the changes.

Independence

Freedom Isn't Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze
A young soldier saluted it, and then
He stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No Freedom isn't free

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the
bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.....
No -- Freedom isn't free!!

...Cadet Major Kelly Strong
Air Force Junior ROTC

Happy 235th Birthday America.  Though I don't always agree with what you do; though I sometimes fear where our future lies; I am blessed beyond measure to be counted one of your children.  Sometimes I forget myself and bemoan the conditions in which I live, but then I look about at foreign lands that truly know what heartache and sorrow are, and when I come to myself I feel such humility.  I have a car that runs.  I have a home that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  When I hunger, my biggest troubles are where will I eat not how will I eat.  Compared to so many across the globe I live as a King.  I am proud and thankful to be an American.  I am forever indebted to the every soldier that donned the uniform, signed his/her life over willingly, and paid for something I could never earn nor deserve.

Freedom.