http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/06/9a/c6/069ac66504a031cd744d92bd5e021217.jpg
Spring is coming; and when it arrives, I want to be ready to start writing my next book, which would be Book #9 in my Bell Mountain series.
One of my ways of getting ready is to immerse myself in the world of Obann by reading, in order, the seven books already in print. Actually, this is very necessary: I find it very easy to forget certain details, and to unwittingly contradict things I said in earlier books. Between books 3 and 4, for instance, I managed to lose 18 Temple staff without a word of explanation. Eighteen of ’em–pffft! It was a job, putting it right, and I don’t want anything like that to happen again. And so I revisit the earlier books and refresh my memory.
Last night I finished reading the first book, Bell Mountain.
How do I say this without sounding like a ninny? I read my own book and said, “Wow!” I know it sounds asinine. But there are subtleties in it that I’m sure I never put there on purpose, not to mention a story whose like I was never able to write before. I mean, even my mother wound up liking this book, and she was just about impossible to impress.
Well, I’m old enough to look at this book and know right well it didn’t come from me: I only wrote down the story that God gave me. Even that, I know, sounds kind of pretentious and self-important; but it’s not meant to be. I just know that the day the Lord stops giving me the story, it dries up: there is no well of inspiration in me for it to draw upon.
Look, folks, the real purpose of this blog is to try to generate interest in my books, in hope of selling some. They’re all good, and the kindle versions are dirt cheap. The paperbacks feature gorgeous covers by Kirk DouPonce, and one of them costs generally less than a ticket to some lousy movie, even if you don’t buy popcorn.
If this blog has entertained you, or gotten you thinking, please give my books a try. You’ll probably like them. And don’t be put off by my saying so. Believe me, very often it’s not much fun for the author to read his own work. In fact, it can be kind of painful, or even embarrassing.
And if you’ve already read them: well, thank you very much, and ;please pardon this long commercial. I promise not to do another one anytime soon.