Writing

For the first time since my first books were published, I have slowed down my writing after cranking out thirteen books over a three year period. Some of them I wrote long ago but never published so I didn't really write them in that time period, just went through and updated them setting them in the present or close to it. Now, like most writers I am spending a lot of time on social media trying to get the word out about them.
Reviews have been mixed and a lot of them have never been reviewed so now I'm switching to trying to get some book clubs to take a look at them. A Need for Lightning received a five star rating on Shelfari.com. That was nice, the reviewers only negative was the main character had too many wives for her liking. Brandi's Nightmare received a four star rating on Goodreads and Amazon. Since I don't push for reviews, most people that have read my books don't give one. It is hard to get the works of an unknown out there I have found so that is why I am slowing down on publishing and writing. My dystopian series Lightning in the Tunnel is finally done with the rewrites. I quietly launched the rewrite of the second book in the series so now that is updated still only missing the final book, Lightning Rages it will be out in 2014.
It is hard to concentrate on pushing one book but I have decided to concentrate on three books getting them known on the social media if possible. T.T. Gristman my time travel book, A Stranger comes Crawling, my first science fiction and my other science fiction series, Chronicles of the Marauder. Book One.
I think it is easier to have only one book out there published and to get the word out but I might be wrong! You single book published authors can disagree with me but I think having only one book, you can put all your efforts into it. Each book takes a different approach at least for me it has. Chronicles I blog about the characters and very little of the story. This seems to have the best results, they are selling. T.T Gristman and A Stranger Comes Crawling, I blog about the story and haven't had that much interest so I am going to change my blogging on them to be like Chronicles of the Marauder. Which type of blog interests you more? Talk back, I'm listening. To see all my books go http://www.amazon.com/author/agmoye or on http://Shelfaire.com look on my bookshelf. Also on my shelf on Goodreads. Just remember, I'm listening to you!

Tying up loose ends!

As the title suggests, I have been tying up loose ends. The editing of the rewrite of my replacement book Lightning in the Tunnel-Rescue has been completed and published on Amazon and Createspace.. Originally the book was just the second half of my book "Lightning in the Tunnel; In the Beginning" but I chose to rewrite it dropping out the explicit sex scenes and adding more detail to the story. The first half of the book was published under the title of Lightning in the Tunnel Begins" now I have published the gap between Begins and Zigzagging Home called Lightning in the Tunnel- Rescue. All that remains is the publishing of the last book in the series called "Lightning Rages" and I will have finished the entire ten book series, thank goodness! What started out as three books some how got out of hand and turned into ten books. I won't publish the final book until 2014 to give readers time to wade through the series to that point. Even though I know a lot started reading the series at book "A Need for Lightning " They will just have to wait until then to read the conclusion so those starting at the beginning can catch up. Incidentally, A Need for Lightning received a five star rating on Shelfari from one of the readers there. After the bashing Lightning in the Tunnel Begins received, I didn't think anyone liked the series. Lightning in the Tunnel series is my first and last dystopian series I will ever right, thank goodness. I am sticking to my science fiction books at least all of this year, I still have to finish my lone western book called "Saddle Spur" it is my one attempt to write a fictional western set in real time in the west and with real places but I need to do a lot more research before I can go on with the story. I touched on the real west a little in part of my time travel story called "T.T. Gristman" but it is only a small part of the time travel story of Tee.
If my lone venture out to write a mystery is any indication of my going out of my genre to write, I might never publish the western.  Even though the book, "Brandi's Nightmare" did get a four star rating with some criticism people are not flocking to buy it. I changed the ending and republished it because of several comments that it just fizzled out at the end meaning they didn't like the ending. My science fiction book Chronicles of the Marauder  on the other hand has been warmly received. So I will stick with Science fiction in the future! Talk back, I'm Listening!
If you are interested in any of my books go to http://www.amazon.com/author/agmoye

To blog or not?

Every morning I get up, some times late and think should I blog today or not. Do I have anything to say that anyone wants to read? With everything that is going on in the news, the Boston bombing, gun control and other eye catching events, what could I say that is of interest to anyone? Tragedies capture the headlines in America and events like this capture the headlines around the world. Some countries are happy to see this occur others feel sad the events took some one's life. I see a slow change occurring in America as we give up more of our freedoms in the effort to feel more secure that events like this can never happen. I think if events like this and others are not televised around the world. The ones doing it would have no reason to do so, they just want attention. If we took away their attention, they will be less inclined to kill innocent people to get it. The shooting in the school, in the theater, bombing in the marathon, and other events are occurring more frequent because those doing it know they will be remembered even for a short time. Every time one of these events occur, people are forced to change their lifestyles in an effort to feel safe but are we really becoming safer? There is no way to stop those wishing to grab our attention and be front page news unless we stop making it possible for them to do so. There is no easy answer for this because people have the right to know what is going on. Do you have a solution to this problem, I know I don't!
Everyday around the world, people are killed by someone for religious  differences, political differences of their families, or because someone does not like the color of their skin or eyes. Has the planet become so populated that one life means nothing? I ponder these questions and many more when I get up each morning.
We see on TV, movies and read in books where people have accepted each other even having different views on the world, why can't we do that in real life. I am especially sadden when innocent children are killed during the attention grabbing episode of someone or ones. We ended the life of a child that might be a future leader of the world that would bring peace and harmony to this planet before it even has a chance to become!
Talk back to me, I'm Listening! 

Facing the weekend

Before I retired, Friday morning going to work used to have me planning on what I would do this weekend especially when the children were young and at home. As they got older, they preferred friends on doing things with them than with the family. I now see they have come a full circle doing things with their children while I observed the pictures taken of the fun times they are having. I live too far away from my grandchildren to be able to spend time with them on the weekends but when I get the chance, I try to go see them to spend a little more time with them. The closeness we once shared living down the road from them or them staying at our place is no longer there. I know they still love me but the problem is not seeing us very much we become a distant memory to them. I just hope that all their memories are good ones so as the grandchildren have children they can pass on the stories about good times with Grandpa and Grandma. The Internet has somewhat kept is in contact and able to see into their lives but is not the same as holding them in your arms. Spending time with them and seeing them grow. Now that the majority of grandchildren are growing up becoming men and woman of the world, I like seeing them spread their wings and flying from the nest but know how empty my children feel when their children leave home.
So, if you have children or grandchildren under the age of eighteen, try to spend as much time as you can with them before they spread their wings and fly away. Time with them is so precious and will fill your heart with happiness.
Talk back to me, I'm listening! Leave a comment or tweet me at http://twitter.com/Agmoye or email me at

Seditary price!

Last winter I sat around the keyboard too much. I am paying for it today with blisters on my hands, aching legs and sore back from doing things in the yard. My wife who did the same thing is a hurting machine as well. We had most of our trees trimmed back and I have been procrastinating on getting the lawnmower in operation. You know what that meant, the grass was thick and tall. Hence, it was a fight to cut it. The callouses that were on my hands when I used to work all the time were gone, now replaced by blisters. I have made a vow not to sit around all next winter and just write books but do something everyday so I am not in this condition come next spring. My wife made the same vow instead of reading or watching movies, she plans on working on arts and crafts in the barn after I close it up so it is not so cold in there.
Since I plan on writing only one book this year, Chronicles of the Marauder, Book two, I should spend a lot of time outside repairing things around our place and traveling to promote the books I have already written. I should stay active this summer and slowly get back into work shape. I might toward the end of the year finish the finale book of the Lightning in the Tunnel series called "Lightning Rages". That will conclude my dystopian series. For those that have read the series, I apologize for taking so long. I spoke in my last blog about different paths, I guess I just went a different direction sticking to my science fiction path right now. At least today my hands have somewhat healed and allowed me to post this blog. My fingers didn't want to touch the keyboard last night so I stayed off the computer.
It is suppose to storm tonight, hopefully there is no Tornadoes in this storm. It is the time of the year for them around here. A couple of years ago, one came through and just about destroyed our house. I have it almost all repaired but the barn damage has not been fully repaired. I don't want to start all over again. That was the reason we trimmed back the trees so they wouldn't take out the house or trap us in the storm cellar.   
Talk back to me, I'm listening! While you are at it, check out my books at my author site at http://www.amazon.com/author/agmoye or at http://www.amazon.co.uk/author/agmoye just drop by and say "Hello" Have a great day!

Life is imperfect!

When a man and woman mix their genes together, the end result is kind of like mystery stew. No One knows what the end results will be until the child arrives. That same imperfection is what makes us all unique as humans yet we are all just that. Human beings. With no road map through life as we grow and develop. Hopefully we acquire the knowledge and the right set of values to build our own road map. As I go through this life, I look at the various paths I went down and some I had to make a U-turn and go back to start over. Some just branched off going in a slightly different direction, I'm sure everyone out there has had to do the same thing. I was one of those children that aspired to be in politics, John Kennedy was my hero while I was delivering newspapers. He death followed by my mother remarrying led me to a new life in California after growing up in Arkansas (a small city).
Living, working and marrying then having children took me away from what I thought I would do in life. New goals and aspirations took root. I spent just over thirty years on the metals industry while writing on the side as a stress reliever.
Between jobs, I with my daughter Teresa walked to the route that my characters in the Lightning in the Tunnel series went after fleeing LA. Talking with people along the way made me appreciate writing even more. Everyone had a local story to tell and was very friendly. After the walk, I returned to LA and went back to work but had in my head all the necessary details for that trek.
Being an avid reader of Heinlein, Bradbury and other science fiction writers, I quickly jumped from dystopia to science fiction. Even ended my series Lightning in the Tunnel in space. While writing the eighth book of the series, the thought of writing about an Alien coming to Earth crossed my mind. That led to my book called "A Stranger comes Crawling" after publishing it, I finished "A Need for Lightning" the next to the last of the Lightning in the Tunnel series". The last book of that series is more than half written, I just don't know yet how I will end the series, a blaze of glory or just fade away? I don't plan on publishing it until 2014 to allow people plenty of time to read the series.
My book "T.T. Gristman" a time travel book was written before I wrote book eight of the series and sort of lied their until after I published "A Stranger Comes Crawling" then I decided to put it out there as well. Right now, I am busy on writing the sequel to my SiFi series called "Chronicles of the Marauder" about a man that wins the lottery and uses the money to go into space following his dreams. Meeting up with Aliens, his life is forever changed.
As you can see, my writing keeps taking different paths but each one leads back to my favorite genre, science fiction. That is where most of my books will be set in even though I have on the back burner a western book partially written. "Chronicles of the Marauder" will be a three book series. Book II is half written. Book one is out for your reading pleasure, check my author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/author/agmoye  it is also available in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy!
My books can also be found on Shelfari.com and the World Literary Café among other places. On Good reads on my bookshelf. Drop by and say hello!
Talk back, I'm listening at agmoye.moye406@gmail.com or on twitter at http://twitter.com/Agmoye or just post a comment on this post! Have a great day!

Old friends lost=new friends

Traveling through life, how many still have contact with those they knew in high school. I have observed that most people that stay in one location all their lives keep the contacts. But those like me that have moved around a little lose those contacts. We make new contacts and new friends as time goes on. In my life I have had to start over three times making new friends. We lose contact with the old ones because we get so wrapped up in our new lives that these people don't understand the new life and are so busy in their own that they just lose touch. One of the nice things about the growth of the Internet and cell phones is that we can stay in touch more frequently than ever before with snail mail and plain phone service. As I changed friends so to speak with my moving around the country, I wonder how my old friends are doing. Not having email address or facebook connections, I find them hard to locate. Still, I miss them and think of them once in a while. They were once so much of your life that you never thought you would lose contact with them. Seeing their children grow up with yours, they seemed so much like your family that it is hard to imagine those children now having children of their own and lives of their own.
A couple of days ago, my grandson, Jesse got married while on leave from the service. In my mind, I still see him as a child not as an adult. I wonder if others have the same picture of someone they loved but is all grown up now but you still see them as a child playing with toys? Being in their lives sparingly you don't see them grow day to day. I haven't seen him in three years and then only briefly as we passed through his hometown.  
One of my best friends, Rhonda had a daughter, Jasmine. We spent so much time together, her family and mine that I felt her daughter was my daughter. I haven't seen or heard from them for thirteen years, Jasmine was eight at the time, I'm sure she is grown up and has children of her own by now.
Sometimes, memories of our old friends flash through our minds and we wonder what happened to them. I know it is my fault that we lost contact with me working all the time and not bothering to write even with snail mail. Such is life!
The nice thing about making new friends, they go a long way in filling the void left by not having old friends around. Now that I retired and can spend more time on staying in touch, I hope to re-establish contact with some of my old friends if by chance I stumble upon them on the net. Meanwhile, I have made new friends on the Internet even though I may not be as close as those that I see everyday, they are becoming close friends. Talk back to me, I'm listening! 

Rough water getting smoother!

The rough water that became turbulent when my wife said "You no longer talk to me!" has calmed down as we work this out. A compromise was reached when I made it a point to turn away from the computer and sit talking with her like we used to do all the time. I even shut it off sometimes. At first I thought she didn't want me to write my books anymore but then learned she just wanted me to set aside time to talk to her. Usually two or three times a day, so I do it. Being a very sociable person, she needs to talk more than I do to be happy. Me, I can go hours without saying something especially if I am writing. She will see me look out in space and knows now that I am writing my book in my head. She now knows that during that time, it is not a good time to talk because I'm usually uncommunicative speaking in non syllables meaning I'm not really listening. Being together 24/7 has been a big adjustment for both of us. When I told her I would stop writing, she replied, "I don't want you to stop writing your books, blogging or whatever. Just stop when I come into the computer room and talk." For the past week or so, I have and see she is a lot happier now! At least I think so!
I work on my books when she is reading or watching some movie on TV. That has been an adjustment for me, not spending so much time on the computer but I am willing to adjust to keep our marriage happy. She is my best friend along with being my wife and I want to keep it that way.
For the past three days, I have avoided getting on the computer except for the hour or two I have before she gets up in the morning. That is the reason most don't see blogs from me recently. I am working on closing up the barn making it into a workshop so we can work out there during the winter instead of spending most of our time sitting around reading, talking and watching movies getting lazy. We have lost so much muscle tone sitting around during the winter. Even the exercise machine doesn't help that much. We have to get more active! I think she is frustrated with sitting around that is another reason she became angry when we didn't talk. One thing I learned about women is that if they are unhappy about their bodies, they find things to get upset about usually taking it out on the one available to do so. I don't know how many times she has said she wants to get her hair and every time she does so, she is unhappy complaining about it being too short. This year I talked her out of cutting it knowing she would become upset in a week or two about doing it. She loves her long hair and so do I. These are just a few of the little things that I find talking to her that make her upset. Right now, the loss of muscle tone is her biggest complaint after we worked out the talking thing.
Needing a little reading material? Check out my books at http://www.amazon.com/author/agmoye
Talk back to me, I'm Listening! Have a great day!
 

Working things out!

I am beginning to understand why my wife was so upset with me and have tried to make a point of changing, dedicating more time to talking with her. She is understanding that I am not just ignoring her, but one of the things I like to do is write and that is on my mind a lot. But over the last few days, I have been shutting down my computer and making more an effort to talk with her. This seems to have a positive effect on her and she is willing to talk about my books some but I try not to make it the center point of any discussions anymore. I think this path will allow her to no longer feel I'm ignoring her, I hope.
I have written less, blogged less and that appears to have calmed her frustrations down. It is not easy being with someone 24/7 because you soon find you run out of things to talk about. Having me home means she has to cook three meals a day seven days a week and that also bothers her. I guess I should start cooking more but she is so picky that I don't know what to make for her. She is on a low fat diet and doesn't like sweets. I have no idea how to cook keeping the fat out of food. I should learn so when she has her bad days with chronic vertigo, I can cook for us.
Now, let's talk about my books. You knew that was coming. Chronicles of the Marauder has struck a cord with the science fiction readers and I am proud of that. That was why I was focused on writing Book two of the Chronicles of the Marauder!  I am up to ninety pages written and that is close to halfway finished of writing of that story. When I finish writing it, I will go back and complete Planet of the Midnight Mists before I start the conclusion of the Chronicles of the Marauder, book three!

All my books can be found at http://www.amazon.com/author/agmoye take a look and see if you can find anything that you would like to read. Talk back to me, I'm Listening!

You are driving me crazy!

Saturday night my wife sat down while I was on the computer and said, "You don't talk to me like you used to! It is driving me crazy!" I turned my attention away from the the computer and looked at her. She then went on, "All we ever talk about any more is your books, books, books or your latest comment some reviewer said or your latest blog or tweet. You just ignore me and that upsets me. We used to talk all the time about other things than your blasted books! It is making me crazy.
So I shut down the computer when she made the remark, "Every time we start talking, you turn to that keyboard during the conversation, answering some email or scanning something. You don't even look at me while we talk anymore!"
We talked about not talking and her feeling of being ignored. I thought back and yes we did talk more a few years back but we had children and grandchildren to discuss. Lately, I feel we have ran out of subjects to discuss since none of the children live close enough anymore to spend the weekends or something. Then I thought about the other subjects we used to talk about. My work and her work.  Not one to gossip, I don't have much to say about what is going on in the city we live in. Her health issues, especially her Chronic Vertigo some times makes it impossible for her to walk. I took early retirement to be with her and help her on those days when she can't stand up without falling. I decided to retire when she let it slip that some days while I'm at work she had to crawl on her hands and knees to the bathroom, unable to stand up. I am here to help her on those days, taking her to the bathroom, sometimes holding her up so she can cook or doing what she wants while she supervises.
With neither of us working now, that is one less thing to talk about. I didn't realize that she was feeling ignored and it was making her just wanting to explode. She tried to hide her health issues from everyone so we almost became recluses staying to ourselves. But she has finally faced the fact she cannot hide her problem because she is such a sociable person, she needs to see other people on a regular basis and talk. I thought my taking her out once in a while would give her others to speak with and make her happy but since we are together 24/7 she wants me to talk to her constantly. This issue I don't know what to do, should I abandon my books? I have always wrote when I had a chance, now with being retired, I spend more time writing. I guess to make her happy but her happiness is the most important thing to me in my life, I will cut way down on my writing, blogging and tweeting.
Talk back to me, I'm not sure what to do. I'm at a crossroads and need some advice especially female advice or other hushands that have gone through this problem. I'm Listening!