Dedication comes into play in our meetings as we go over news and insights about writing and publishing that we can all use in our individual endeavors. We each stay connected to the writing world and bring what we’ve learned to each other as topics allow. We each absorb so much information each week about writing and publishing, we could never exchange it all. But when a topic comes up or a question gets thrown out to the group, invariably someone has an answer.

The Rogues commit to meeting weekly. Sure we’re tired. Sure we each have our own set of familial issues, work issues, life issues, but we always find a way to get to our meetings. Sometimes someone gets sick. Thanks to Bridget, we’re in the habit of taking minutes of our meetings, so the person who could not attend at least gets caught up on important happenings within the group.

While we’ve completed two books together as a group now, we each maintain our individual writing tasks. I believe we all benefit from our collective undertakings in our private writing pursuits. We’ve built a camaraderie like the Musketeers, all for one and one for all. As diverse as our writing styles are, the precepts of writing apply to most all genres. I always come away from a Rogues meeting pumped up.

Our personalities gelled over a year ago, and we feel we’ve produced a helluva book in The Method Writers. The book has just been sent off for final edit, so we’re particularly excited at this point. Writing is a passion, a pursuit one does not go after unless infected by the writing bug. Writing is something an author MUST do. I must say, writing with these authors is nothing short of an honor.

Cheers fellow Rogues!

One reason is that we recently reduced the price of the book to ninety-nine cents on Kindle. Why in the world would someone return a book they only paid ninety-nine cents for? Are they so cheap that they read the book then return it so they get it for free? As a writer, this is very disturbing. Financially, writers get the short end of the money stick. Don’t go “J.K. Rowlings” on me. For every author who hits it big, there are millions struggling to make it on their day job money. Very few writers strike it rich.

Another reason I find this disturbing is the value of the content. This book is loaded with incredible writing. The story, Beware of Rip Tides is alone, worth far more than the price of admission into this book. One of the stories, Why Me? took First Place in the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Awards for unpublished short fiction. This award-winning story, again, makes this book worth FAR more than the price of admission.

I could go on and on about the great fiction short stories in this book. The bottom line is, at ninety-nine cents, this book is an outright steal. I know, I’m biased being a member of the Rogues Gallery Writers. But I’m telling you, this book is WAY under-priced. When someone pays for it, reads it, then returns it, they make that previously mentioned ‘steal’ reference a reality.

We published More Writing is Easy as a teaser to the main book, Writing is Easy, which is a full-length anthology of short fiction written by the Rogues. The larger book is an absolute gem of short story writing. We felt the nine stories left over from the larger book were too good not to put out to the public. This fact was proven by Why Me?‘s First Place selection in the Florida Writer’s Associations annual contest.

Readers today have access to writing at prices that should be outlawed and with delivery that is instantaneous (Kindle, Nook, PDF, Sony eReader, etc). In this time of inexpensive and instant gratification reading, the authors suffer. Did you know that a book priced at ninety-nine cents, greedy Amazon takes 65% of the sale? That is internet robbery. Please take care of your authors. They do not make much money on their products. They spend countless hours crafting their work. At least allow them to procure the pittance allowed them by the omnipotent corporations.

Take advantage of good reading at low prices. I encourage readers to get Kindle and Nook apps on their smartphones, tablets, iPads, laptops and desktops. You DID know you can buy and read Kindle books without purchasing an actual Kindle, right? Same with the Nook. Get your apps and sort through the huge bargains of reading available to you, the reader.

And make sure you keep the author in mind. If you desire a ‘hard copy’ of their book, search out the author’s website and buy direct from them. This accomplished a couple important tasks – it lifts the author’s spirit to know someone cares enough about their work to buy direct, and it also places more money in the author’s pocket and no money in the greedy corporation’s pocket.

Take care of your authors and the authors will reward you with more great stories!

PS. I’ve never written a PS to a blog before, but I got to thinking after I posted this – through March 31, 2012, anyone who orders a paperback copy of Writing is Easy, the Rogues will email a FREE PDF version of More Writing is Easy! That way, you’ll get ALL the Rogues published short stories in one purchase. How cool is that? Just click on this link: Writing is Easy, purchase the book from the ClearView Press Inc site, supply your email address, and we will email a copy of More Writing is Easy direct to your email!

Jeff stays swamped these days with his work. I am amazed at the quantity of writing he manages to produce. Top notch writing at that. The Rogues currently swim in the ocean of editing. Our book, The Method Writers, nears completion. Each of us struggle to make time for our writing, and Jeff brings energy, ideas and commitment to finishing the project.

Nancy happens to be the most swamped person I know. She amazes me that she can even muster the energy to attack her days, much less be as productive as she is. Between her work, her writing business, her writing in general and The Method Writers, this lady shows me what work ethic and determination are all about. Nancy is an excellent editor, and the Rogues are truly blessed with her dedication to our group.

Bridget currently resides in Michigan until February. All we ‘southern’ Rogues miss her sorely and look forward to her return. Don’t think for a moment we are disconnected by distance. We Oovoo (meet online in video chat) each week. We use technology to keep our group and projects moving forward. Can you believe, busy as we all are, that we’re writing two, yes two books together, editing, and meeting weekly online. Bridget keeps us on track by taking meeting minutes. She just started doing this out of the blue, which has been a HUGE benefit to the group.

The Rogues are writing. We’re editing. We’ll soon be publishing. This all in addition to owning hectic lives. I write all this as encouragement to all writers who say they “don’t have time to write”. None of the Rogues have time to write – yet we do. We make time to write. So can you. Sacrifice something. TV time. Sleep. A couple games of Spider Solitaire. You can do it. I know you can, because the Rogues do.

I know, experience and repetition. But there are shortcuts to better writing getting published (and better sex for that matter, but not on this blog…) available to us today. We have a populace that is interconnected like no generation in the history of mankind. I can talk, face to face, with anyone in any country that has an internet connection – for free.

Ok, so the ‘for free’ statement is not totally accurate. There’s the cost of electricity, internet service, the computer and camera with which to connect, and probably a host of other insidious expenses. But from our perspective today, the call is free. We can speak as long as we like. Heck, my daughter talks with her friends, one from England and one in Las Vegas, at the same time on ooVoo (similar to Skype, only better in my opinion…).

Ok, so we can string a good story together, make it into a novel – then what? Yes, a plethora of publishing options that make even those of us in the industry shake our heads and go, “Huh?” Who teaches the novelist what to do with their craft?

No one. Who taught Don Juan or Cassanova (or their real life counterparts) how to make love? Many women that came before the notoriety, that’s who. For the writer, their first books teach what to do and what not to do and what can be done better.

Still, this is a very crazy way for people to learn, is it not? In this age where everything is available to everyone with internet connection, you would think there would be definitive teaching institutions who regale students with the proper steps in writing, publishing, marketing and promoting their books.

I see workshops all over the Master of Arts landscape. I also hear quite a bit about MFA grads struggling to make it in the writing world because of ego or too technical of a writing style.

One of the reasons publishing marketing and promoting is not well organized and taught in my humble opinion is that the creative muse flees rigid order in our most creative folk. Creativity needs to live and breathe in freedom and non-restriction. To create this environment, the writer must be able to reach a ‘peace’ in solitude where he or she can connect with their muse. Thus, writers often do not make good business decisions. Publishing, marketing and promotion are all business concepts.

Do you begin to see the difficulty in teaching this? To run the sex analogy again, some people like a soft touch, others a more assertive touch. The varying personalities of men and women deliver a range of sexual experience that can cover incredible differences and nuances. This means what works for one, won’t necessarily work for another. Finding that mate where everything works together well is important to us – and there is no way of ‘knowing’ this.

When we get our book to a finished product, we know it. Real scientific, eh? Your best writing comes when you let go – fear, critic, judge, peer pressure, bias, etc. But what happens once the mate has been selected (the book is written)? Most writers bumble their way through the publishing landscape, many getting fleeced along the way.

The suggestion here is that you consider forming a small focus writing group. That’s what the Rogues Gallery Writers are. We banded together and learn collectively. Writers should educate themselves. One of the best ways to do this is with three or four other people of like mind who need to learn as well. You accelerate your learning curve. We each look at the publishing process from slightly different angles. We share knowledge collected from our unique perspectives. We each then, have a baseline for making publishing, marketing and promotion decisions.

Do not go into writing thinking all you’re going to do is write. Realize this is a business. Hedge your bet with trusted writing partners who will walk through the crazy writing-life-landscape with you. You must be careful to select people who are of like mind, ie, focused on getting published. Stay away from people who are looking for a social hour or just in it for fun. Those folk should join their own respective groups of people. If you’re serious about getting published, find a few good people who feel the same and work together.The rewards are great!

For those of you wishing to continue the sex analogy, I stop here. I would not advocate where some of your minds are going…

Guardian Angel

When the time comes, pull the cord.

Freefall exhilarates.  Frightens.  Freefall delivers beauty and danger.  Jake licked his lips.  Skydiving dominated his heart like a medieval lord jealous for his lover.  Jake strangled the parachute cord in his right hand.

A roaring sea-rush of air surrounded him.  He plummeted, a vertical freight train, headed for mother Terra in an unplanned and certainly unorthodox flight.  A city dotted with rooftops and church steeples approached at an alarming pace.  Wouldn’t it be a hoot to be impaled by one of those suckers? he thought as he admired the heaven-pointed church-fingers.

Lights popped on like kernels of corn at critical mass as dusk handed off its remaining diffuse light to the night.  Faint smells wafted up from a thousand houses – apple pies, wood fires and lover’s scents mingled as one.  He flattened out, the resistance of air acting as invisible hands on his shoulders, abdomen, legs and feet, lifting him from the earth.  He glided and soared, his nose dividing air to his cheeks so that it flowed past his ears and roared its approval.  The knowledge that eagles feared him wrenched a maniacal laugh from his soul.

He ripped at the cord and the chute yanked him heavenward.  The world slowed down to a single moment in time – his descent, the movement of the early evening moon and his mind.  Nothing to do now but float back into oblivion and obscurity.  Unless he could maneuver over the lake and drown . . .

Everyone called Jake a junkie, but he had a secret that none of them could imagine – he could fly.

I made that mistake once. About a year ago, I freed myself of the sand-laden scratchy clothes I wore. He took this as an invitation to tackle me in the surf.

When I saw what had become of him, I fought with every ounce of energy I possessed. I didn’t want that thing in me. It was a lumpy stick that bent at an odd angle at the end. He must have been hiding it from me since the wreck. We hadn’t messed around for months. He always explained that he was still hurting from the injuries he suffered during the crash. I guess he had been. It looked like it would be painful. It was.

My reaction angered him so he bruised my face. It felt like an apple that had been bounced around and left to sit for a week. He avoided me for a couple weeks after that, but then the real trouble began. He wanted to convince me that nothing had changed, that even though it looked deformed, it still performed the same.

I tried. I tried to let him have me like he used to back home. But the sand, the heat, the deformity and my healing face all screamed that life was unfair – that he was to blame. At first, I pretended, but I knew he knew. Then I just didn’t care.

…

~ Michael Ray King, from his short story, Lavender Hour. Published in the Rogues Gallery Writers’ collection, Writing is Easy.

Shit.

I froze, beer in one hand, booby Koozie in the other.

“Babe, can you get that?” Tommy called. “I just sat my ass down.”

“Sure.” I hurried from the kitchen and across the living room, my heart roosting in my throat like a big, overstuffed hen.

Through the peephole I saw the lawnmower man, shirtless and slick with rain.

…

~ Rebekah Hunter Scott from her short story – Five Easy Minutes – published in the Rogues Gallery Writers collection, Writing is Easy.

~ Jeff Swesky, from his short story, Mr. .22 Caliber. Published in the Rogues Gallery Writers’ collection, Writing is Easy.

Below is a quote from Writing is Easy:

“Overhead the sky quickens to a roiling cauldron of slicing moonlight and piercing darkness.” ~ Michael Ray King, from his short story, Witch Moon.

Updates should begin popping up with more regularity as we throw ourselves behind the marketing and promoting bus (not under it, mind you), and press forward. The Rogues could use as much support as we can get. Novel-land remains a very competitive arena where books get overlooked by the thousands by the public consciousness. Our job becomes placing the Rogues along with The Method Writers into the minds of potential readers – like you!

Please let us know you support us. Emails, comments, phone calls – anything will ratchet up motivation. Not that we need a lot, just that you can never get too much, right?