Four Writers to Follow

Posted on May 10, 2012 by William G.

I’ll admit it. When I wrote and published Driving to BelAir last August, I had no idea how hard it would be to sell an ebook. The greatest thing about the last nine months hasn’t been any kind of sales figures or financial reward, it’s been the great people I’ve met who have been so willing to help teach me a thing or two about promotion, and those who have really liked—dare I say loved—my little novella.

People like Lia Fairchild ( @LiaFairchild ), proprietor of Quickie Book Reviews, whose novel, In Search of Lucy, has been a perennial bestseller in the Kindle Store ever since its recent relaunch.

People like Tonya Kappes ( @TonyaKappes11 ), co-author of the marketing how-too book Tricked Out Toolbox, whose fiction recently earned her a finalist’s position in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

People like Donna Brown ( @_mrs_b ), author of Double Take Tales, who organized Adopt An Indie Month and runs the Indie Exchange.

People like the gracious Elizabeth Kaye ( @ElizKaye ), who’s Kindle Single Lifeboat No. 8 should be on every Titaniac’s to-read list.

I could go on and on. All I can really say about these women is that they’re all fantastic writers, but more than that, every one of them in engaged in the fan community and with other authors, helping promote, encourage, and educate fledgling authors like myself.

In a world full of people shouting, “Buy my book!”, there’s something powerful about a spirit of community.  It sounds so cliche, but nothing can quite match the impact of like-minded people working together for a common good.

Categories: Miscelaneous, Social Networking, Twitter, Writing | Leave a comment

Why the Titanic Still Matters

Posted on April 15, 2012 by William G.

Today marks 100 years since the R.M.S. Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, taking over fifteen hundred people to a watery—and icy—grave.

I’ve found there’s two kinds of people when it comes to Titanic. Those who are fascinated by the great ship, and those who aren’t.

Count me in the fascinated camp.

For me, Titanic’s story is this grand Shakespearean tragedy that actually happened. Yet, it’s more than that; the story itself is so very multi-faceted. Read more »

Categories: Uncategorized | 1 Comment

It’s Been a Year Since I Got My Life Back

Posted on April 14, 2012 by William G.

April 13, 2011, I had back surgery.  I don’t remember much about that day, other than how terrified I was going into the surgery and how good the drugs they give you for surgery really work.

I can’t believe it’s been a year.

My back first went out in April, 1999. For twelve years, I fought a severe pain. For long stretches of time during those twelve years, I had to use a cane to walk. Sometimes my left leg would just stop working.

And I’ve been pain free for a year.

2011 will not go down in my personal history as one of the better years of my life. But it was, perhaps, one of the most profound because that was the year I got my life back.

I wish I had something profound to write to mark this occasion. Alas, I don’t. As the world commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, I just realized that I have my own commemoration to mark.

They say after back surgery your back has no strength at all, and gains one percent of its strength back every week after surgery. I’ve just barely crossed the halfway point. I’m stronger than I can ever remember being before. Next year, I can’t even imagine how strong I could be.

Thank God for simple miracles like a good back surgeon.

Categories: About Me, Real Life (Or Something Like It) | 2 Comments

The 2012 Daytona 500: Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

Posted on February 28, 2012 by William G.

For the first time ever, the Daytona 500 was run under the lights in primetime on Monday night, with the sudden potential for attracting new fans and showcasing some of the best racing in the world in the sport’s biggest event.

Instead, NASCAR’s prime time debut will forever be remembered as the night the jet drier exploded after getting slammed by a race car.

I love NASCAR racing, I really do. But last night set the sport back in the wrong direction on so many levels it’s mind-boggling. Who can blame anyone for considering NASCAR to be a backwoods, redneck phenomenon with nothing interesting beyond the crash highlights on SportsCenter when the most memorable moments of the biggest race of the year involved a gigantic fireball, a forklift, and a garden tractor trying to blow away kitty litter and tide detergent as officials desperately tried to clean the track up during a two-hour delay for a freak accident that, in all honesty, should never have happened.

Worse than that, the on-track action barely managed to live up to any standard of good racing. For the most part, the 2012 rules created follow-the-leader racing where drivers never really tried to pass, preferring instead to ride around until the end. As the race neared its end and the racers actually started racing each other, the results invariably ended with a wad of wrecked cars. Very little passing, very little entertainment. And the majority of the blame falls squarely on a rules package that created highly unstable cars, with vestigial regulations dating back twelve years designed for a different car and a different style of racing altogether.

Read more »

Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

And So It Went: The 168 Film Project for 2012

Posted on February 27, 2012 by William G.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been engrossed—obsessed may be a better word—in completing my entry for the 168 Film Project. The story of how it got made is filled with as much drama as the movie itself.

First, the backstory. I first became enamored with the 168 Project during my visit to Los Angeles in January, 2011. I went to an organizational meeting at Media City Church and sat through a Q&A with Ralph Winter. I’m not sure what I expected to find at this meeting, but what I did find was a group of people who were passionate about their faith AND passionate about the craft of storytelling.

It’s a stark contrast to all the stereotypes one hears in middle America about how evil Hollywood is. Read more »

Categories: About Me, Real Life (Or Something Like It), Writing | Leave a comment

Found on YouTube

Posted on February 3, 2012 by William G.

I’m in a Dark Knight mood today, so here’s some of my favorite YouTube vidoes of The Dark Knight. Hit the jump for some YouTube goodness: Read more »

Categories: Found on YouTube, Fun Friday | Leave a comment

Buy My Book! Or, Yanno, Don’t.

Posted on February 1, 2012 by William G.

Dallas had been acting strange all morning, so I poured a handful of Cheerios into my hand and laid them on the my for him. After receiving this vaguely bored, mostly questioning look from Dallas, and not wanting the Cheerios to go to waste, I started picking off one at a time and eating them myself. I got about three down my gullet when Dallas pranced over, stuck out his freakishly long tongue, and licked the pile until all the slobber-covered little O’s were scattered across the edge of my bed. Then Dallas looked at me, snorted, and walked away without eating a single Cheerio.

Dallas is my dog, by the way, not a child.

Ins’t it funny how this instinct works? Just a few days ago, I’d watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Barney—the scamp of the group—bought out all the chicken wings in the bar and was licking them one by one until his friends picked his side in an argument they were having. And a not long before that, I’d watched the John Hamm episode of Saturday Night Live where there’s a brilliant take on Mad Men involving two idiotic, arrogant clients who lick every sandwich on the complimentary platter so that nobody else will eat one before pitching their product—a hula hoop with suspender straps for lazy people who want all the fun of a hula hoop without doing any actual work. Read more »

Categories: About Me, Self Publishing, Social Networking, Writing | Leave a comment

My Journey as a Writer

Posted on February 1, 2012 by William G.

For about ten years, I pursued writing with a zeal. But being a Christian, and being involved in a charismatic church where reality wasn’t always as valued as perception, I started feeling like I should be writing Christian fiction. Now, I know Christian fiction gets banged on for being sub-par, much like Christian music. It’s a reputation that got earned in the late ’90s through the early parts the ’00s. I know, because I read a bunch of it. I became a fixture at my local Christian bookstore, and when they weren’t stocking enough new titles, I’d drive an hour away to visit a big-box Christian bookstore (which, ironically, had less books than kitsch). I wanted my writing to reflect Christian values, I wanted people to read my books and realize what a good Christian I was.

I wanted my own glory, not God’s. Read more »

Categories: About Me, Storytelling, Writing | 4 Comments

Dude! You’re Hatin’ on a COW!

Posted on January 31, 2012 by William G.

 

Kat Williams

Among the many things I first became acquainted with in college was Kat Williams, a
pro-marijuana (among other things) comedian whose Pimp Chronicles DVD is equal parts silliness, social commentary, and a scathing, profanity-laced analysis of the human condition. Williams’ humor works so well because so much of it rings so true regardless of who you are and where you grew up, and he can say things in his stand-up routine that most people wouldn’t dare say in everyday life

During the show, he jokes about one of his friends being so angry that he “hates on bacon.” Now, anyone who’s read my blog in the last week knows by now, I road rage. So even though the whole bit about hating on bacon stepped on my toes, I found it hilarious. Read more »

Categories: About Me, Real Life (Or Something Like It) | 2 Comments

Everyone Needs a Coach

Posted on January 30, 2012 by William G.

Coach Eric Taylor and Tim Riggins - Friday Night Lights (NBC Universal)It’s a balmy night in Texas, one of those nights that’s so hot the falling rain evaporates on your clothes. Bugs congregate around any light they can find. A football team, embittered and disgraced, stands on a neglected field in front of a bonfire. Their coach, just one disastrous game in to his fourth job in three years, dumps a shopping bag full of VHS tapes of old games into the fire and declares that the past is gone. The team then burns their tattered, blood-soaked uniforms. As the smoke rises from the team’s symbolic rebirth, the team cheers as the coach declares, “This is your fight. Let’s finish it, let’s finish it.” Read more »

Categories: Character, Leadership, Plotting, Real Life (Or Something Like It), Storytelling, Writing | Leave a comment