Author of A
Story Almost Told
1. What
is A Story Almost Told about? A Story Almost Told is about two
years of my life. It starts out innocently with me writing a movie script while
living in Philadelphia. Everything was going well. Legendary comic Dick Martin
(Laugh-In) wanted to direct it. I was in heaven. Then the bottom started
falling out. I unknowingly became the bait in an IRA/FBI sting. Then I moved to
California and my life spiraled out of control. Trying to get Standoff made
took me across three continents and many harrowing experiences. I was conned
out of everything I owned, lost friends and family, saw the horrors of
apartheid up close and personal and much, much more. I got to see
everything from Philly to Beverly Hills to Soweto during apartheid, Monte
Carlo, Vegas, a New Orleans jail. There were politicians, cops, a baby faced
conman and several entertainers. It was the 80s, so Rick James had to be one of
them.
2. Why
are you telling it now? It took over twenty years for the pain to subside. Also
dozens, maybe even over a hundred people had heard bits and pieces of the story
and pressured me into telling the whole thing.
3. What
are several takeaways you hope the reader is left with after reading your book?
Dreams can become nightmares quite easily. You should chase your dreams while
remembering you might wake up. Most times coincidences are just that.
Even if they mount up and keep happening, they are just coincidences. This one
is really tough. The worst people can have wonderful families. Never
thought this possible. Sometimes you can be too logical. If you are dealing a
bad person, logic doesn't necessarily exist for them.
4. What
challenges did you overcome to pen it? The story was so raw and painful.
Thinking about it was too painful to get started. I had written scripts, songs,
poems and other things, but I had never written a book. I was writing by the
seat of my pants. I wanted to tell the story as if you were living it with me
or sitting with bottle of tequila and listening to it.
5. What
do you find rewarding about being a published author? This freed me up to start
writing again. I've turned Standoff in a book recently and
have other projects starting up.
6. Any
advice to struggling writers? Write you know and what you believe. If you are
writing just to make money, you are more likely to fail. It's really hard to
get a break. If you are only fighting for a buck, you may not fight as hard as
when you have your heart and soul into it. There's a lot of competition. I
also used my own trials and tribulations to start an ebook for new authors to
help them get a leg up. It's called Noveltunity(r) (www.noveltunity.com ). Feel free to
contact me rick@novelunity.com.
DON'T MISS THESE POSTS
10 Things Writers Are Doing To Achieve Success
The 7 Tenets of Author Branding
Why Does Guinness Book of World Records Ignore Books?
Why would Wordnik wants made-up words to be in a dictionary?
Promote your book to the selfie culture of today
Bestselling writer links freedom with fiction
How to make a blog post go viral – or at least get opened
Explore a guided tour through the English language
Get The Writer’s Legal Guide – Very Helpful
Don’t say this to the media when promoting your book
Free newswires can help promote books and author brands
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.