Yes, it’s Spring 2023 for everyone above the equator. Those south of the equator, you are sliding into Autumn, and that’s also a wonderful time of year. Horny birds outside are singing loudly, the air smells fresh and clean. I can walk outside in a T-shirt and shorts, and enjoy the budding of spring flowers. Yes, Spring 2023 is a delightful time of year, and welcome after dealing with snow and ice everywhere.
more “Welcome to Spring 2023”
Last week, my girlfriend gave me a refrigerator magnet with the definition for Coffeegasm written on it. I had never heard the word before, nor the meaning. Still, I loved the gift. Without a doubt, it’s me.
The definition reads.
Coffeegasm {noun}: that little rush you feel after the first sip of good, strong coffee.
It’s not a real word but so what. It’s an accurate depiction of what I feel when I take that first sip of coffee.
The problem is, it wasn’t the police who picked her up. She was kidnapped, snatched off the streets of NYC, as she was walking home from work. Only a block away from her apartment building, tired after a long, hard day, someone pushes her from behind into the open door of a taxi stopped by the sidewalk.
Flailing, she is caught in the waiting arms of a man who puts a foul-smelling cloth over her mouth and nose. Moments later, she is unconscious as the taxi joins the vast sea of other cabs navigating the seemingly friendly chasms of the city. Did anyone notice her abduction? Did anyone call the police? A couple of hours later and still unconscious, she is on a plane and well beyond the borders of her native country.
Yes, that’s right. I refer of course to my latest book, The Trafficking Consortium.
It’s a brutal erotic suspense thriller about Avril Gillios, a young woman in her mid-twenties, who get’s caught up in an international organized crime ring specializing in human trafficking. The thousand-year old organization call themselves ‘The Consortium.’ Their affluent and influential members can order or acquire anyone, men and women alike, to satisfy their unique needs and desires. From organ acquisition; to perverse sexual satisfaction; or feasting upon their prey, they seemingly operate above the law all across the globe.
Told from Avril’s point of view, the story describes how this criminal organization targets her, kidnaps her right off the streets of NYC and sells her to the highest bidder; marking the beginning of a new life, forever barred from returning to the only life she ever knew.
Copyright (c) Richard Verry 2016
She must navigate the perilous events that threaten her life to survive her ordeal and attempt escape. Sold to a sadistic monster, her captivity is relatively comfortable. Locked in a luxurious suite with all the trimmings included in the most elegant high-end apartments enjoyed by the upper one-percenters, a cage is still a cage.
She endures brutal beatings and violent ravishments as her new owner trains her to be compliant to his demands and needs. Along the way, she discovers that her sadistic owner, in his own way, loves her.
Confused and bewildered, she must figure out how to navigate the ever narrowing serpentine path to escape the growing threat to her life. Her captor eventually gives her an impossible choice, one that takes away all doubt of what he intends to do with her. However, he requires that she select the path that her life will take. Failing to choose is the same as choosing a horrific, slow, and painful death.
Will she choose life or death? I encourage you to find out for yourself.
Give it a go and let me know what you thought about the book. Then ask yourself. Could this happen to you or one of your loved ones; a son or a daughter, a niece or a nephew?
I hate to think so but, yes it could. My advice? Be vigilant with whom you share your personal information with. You might not like what the do with it.
That’s right, too much of a good thing is often too much.
If you love ice cream, eating a cone every so often is a savory treat that coats your tongue with exploding flavors as its cooling succulence slips down your throat. Even eating it once a day, in small portions, is manageable. Force fed it continuously, hour after hour, every day, well I know that I will soon hate the stuff.
That’s how I feel about some bloggers I follow. Many I eagerly look forward to, soaking in their insights on the world around them. I enjoy reading about their inner struggles and their ways in coping with life.
What I don’t like are posts done six to ten times a day, touting this or that, or promoting their wares. I want to support them. I really do. However, I am finding that I simply delete the unread post from my inbox. I am treating the posts as junk mail. Yes, I know it’s not fair. However, is it fair to be inundated with a dozen posts or more every day? Nope. Perhaps you feel the same way?
Just over a year ago, I was working with a publicist that wanted me to post something of 300 to 600 words at least daily, more if I could manage it. The idea was that the more I post, the more people would find me, and follow. At the time, I knew nothing. I trusted what I thought of as an expert. So, I tried. Six months later, we parted ways, but I still decided to follow the recommendations.
What did it get me? I started hating the idea of posting an article, especially daily articles. It took a lot of time away from my novels, stories, and painting. I also started to feel like it was too much ice cream.
Fortunately, I suffered a severe concussion last summer that I am still dealing with the aftereffects today. What it did for me in posting articles was first, a well-needed break. Then, I had a whole new topic to write about and share.
In the writings, I knew that I had to give you, my readers, something they wished to read. I did not want to fill them with fluff about marketing my books. I wanted to give you want you liked. I also had trouble with cognitive and creative thought, so I landed upon the idea of posting the ‘Word of the Day.’ Using M-W, I used them to add my personal two cents to their daily word.
Easy I thought. The trouble was, I was really getting into researching the word, finding images to support the word and then adding my two cents. Towards the end of last year, I was spending upwards of two hours a day, fascinated by the word, and digging deeper into it. As the holidays rolled around, I found that I was, once again, getting tired of the daily grind of blogging.
As you may have noticed, I have since cut down my posts to once or twice a week. I can manage that, I think. Since my cognitive and creative streams of thought are slowly returning, I am writing once again, focusing on the final tweaks to my new book, ‘The Trafficking Consortium.’ I’m even thinking about a sequel to the story, but that’s down the road.
Limiting my posts gives me the time to work on why you follow me. Many of you are looking forward to my next release, and have written me asking when, et.all. How cool is that? Anyway, with summer approaching, I must decide between blogging and writing. I think writing is going to win every time.
Happiness, is it fleeting or can it be real and sustainable? Over the past week or so, I wrote a series of articles on happiness. When I started on the project, I wanted to refer to more generalities. Yet, as I started writing my first article I discovered that I could not write about happiness in general terms but as it referred to me. I didn’t know how else to say it.
Earlier in the week, someone wrote me, asking the question, “What is Love without Color?” Perhaps you received a similar question from this person. I answered back, “Color attracts but distorts, lack of color reveals one’s true self and is sustainable.” I could ask the same question regarding happiness.
“What is happiness without color?” What do you think?
Upon reflection, color, as it applies to love or happiness, could have many good answers. My answer was just one. I had given my answer much thought before I replied. Answers I could have sent were “Color reveals and attenuates love,” or “Color shouts love to the world to see and share.” Several other answers come to mind.
Substitute happiness for love, and I dare say, the answers remain the same or at least similar.
But my articles go deeper than that. I really believe in the difference between short-term and long-term happiness. I think that everyone needs and yearns for both. Single night encounters with someone that gets your rocks off is beautiful and delicious. However, it’s not the same as sharing years with someone who knows you inside and out and feeds your needs in bed and in everyday life.
A child is thrilled when he or she opens a present on his birthday or at a holiday. They squeal with joy in finding a treasure in the form of a doll or toy truck. It’s a short-term happiness for sure. Their real happiness, long and sustaining happiness comes from the love and care of their parents, mentor, caregiver or siblings. An adult does the same thing. Flipping a property for profit versus the years satisfying a desire or need to succeed in their chosen career as a building contractor are examples of short-term and long-term happiness.
“Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.” Bob Marley
How astute is Bob’s quote. I think he captured some of what I feel in just nine words. To me, happiness come from enjoying life, participating in life, interacting with all life, and appreciating all life. If you haven’t guessed, when I use the word life, I refer not to just all people, but life in general. From the worm in the ground to the plants we walk on or appreciate from afar, to the pets and wildlife who enrich our lives, and to people around the world, who help us with our car registrations to the ones that we come home to, everyday. They all have something to enhance our individual lives. Acceptance is crucial or we can never be happy either in the short-term or the long-term.
Some people find happiness in loving others, caring for others, or abusing others. I don’t understand the last, but I accept that it is real. We all know that there are monsters out there. I even write about them in some of my novels. I just can’t relate to them.
I firmly believe in the concept of ‘doing whatever makes you happy.’ What I would like to wish for this world we live in is ‘Doing whatever makes you happy as long as it does not hurt or harm another.’
I dare say, there are some out there, perhaps even some who read this article, who won’t agree with my clarification.
So, I ask you. Do you feel the rain or do you just get wet? What do you think? Do you agree? Write me and let me know. I welcome your thoughts. In the meantime, I trust you’ll have a good day and a better tomorrow.
Consider this.
During your annual physical, a well-paid receptionist forwards your chart to an international human trafficking ring. A clear violation of the HIPAA Laws, but who cares? Money is a great incentive.
Consider what happens after they take you, ship you off, and sell you at auction? Can you imagine your new life? Can you imagine a life as owned property?
Avril Gillios doesn’t have to imagine it; she has to live it.
The question is, can she survive it?
After you read this novel, you will forever worry for yourself and your loved ones. Could it happen to you?
The Trafficking Consortium, the new novel by writer, author Richard Verry, available right now at RichardVerry.com
Consider.
During your annual physical, a well-paid receptionist forwards your chart to an international human trafficking ring. A clear violation of the Hipaa Laws, but who cares? Money is a great incentive.
Consider what happens after they take you, ship you off, and sell you at auction?
Can you imagine your new life? Can you imagine a life as owned property?
Avril Gillios doesn’t have to imagine it; she has to live it. The question is, can she survive it?
After you read this novel, you will forever worry for yourself and the lives of your loved ones. Available now on my website: richardverry.com.
If you liked my books, your friends and relatives may like them too. All of them are available on my website, richardverry.com, Amazon.com, or from your favorite eBook store.
Most are available to read for free with Amazon Unlimited.
Several are also available in paperback; perfect for under the tree.
Thank you for your support.
To read the reviews by readers like you,
click on any of the book covers for more information.
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Without a doubt, after you read ‘The Taste of Honey’, you will know where your next meal comes from. Discover how the human race survives. Envision genuinely enjoying an office meeting. Appreciate & enjoy community sanctioned recreational sex.
Find out what others are saying about this book. Read the reviews on Amazon and on this site. For example, this is what one reader recently wrote, giving the book four stars.
Once I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down. I don’t typically read sci-fi but this author keeps you reading from one steamy chapter to the next. I like reading a book where I can follow the storyline easily and this is one of those books. Perhaps another Stephen King in the making?
Do you agree with the review? Write your own. I would love to read it.
Feel free to comment and agree or dispute my opinions. I love a challenge. Till next time, have a great day!
That’s right. The weekend is here. Two whole days of not having to go to work. Two whole days of skipping the grind that pays the bills and keeps food in my belly and a roof over my head. It’s a beautiful day here in Rochester, NY. Blue sky without a cloud in sight. Moderate temperatures and low humidity, I think I’ll spend the bulk of it out on my patio, soaking it all in.
So for me, the day is starting off well. I got almost nine full hours of sleep. I can’t remember the last time that happened. Certainly well before my knock on the noggin. more “Happy Saturday”
What is gratitude? The way I see it, it is being thankful for someone or something that enriched a person’s life. The way I feel when I see people buying my books. Thank you. You are all awesome. A special thank you to those that recently purchased ‘The Taste of Honey‘ and ‘Broken Steele‘. I really appreciate it. Be sure to look for the third book in the series, ‘Lucky Bitch‘, coming soon.
I would be especially grateful if after reading my books, you would post a review. Reviews are the lifeblood of a book. I appreciate each and every one of them.
Plus, sales aside, reviews lift my spirits and soothe my soul. Thank you for your kindness and your review.
A new fantastic review of ‘The Taste of Honey’ appeared on Amazon the other day. Thank you Reenie K for your comments. I do appreciate them. BTW, I hope your prophecy comes true. Wouldn’t that be something. Gotta keep writing, that’s all there is to it.
I also want to thank all of my readers out there who continue to buy my books. It’s really nice to see the sales charts documenting all of the hits. What’s really cool is to see the numbers not just from Amazon but the other eBook retailers out there, including Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo to name a few. Thank you to each and everyone of you.
Thanks too to my loving girlfriend and partner in crime. She puts up with a lot to help me get these posts and stories out. I have two projects going at once and sometimes, I hole up in my office writing, leaving her to wander the rest of the house doing who knows what.
After months of little rain, we finally experienced significant rain as well as a few thunderstorms over the last couple of days. It is a welcome relief. I love my thunderstorms. Every chance I get, I sit in the safety of my garage and watch the light show around me as the wind drives bullet sized rain onto the ground. Weather wise, I love living in the northeast U.S. Our weather is mild compared to the rest of the country yet diverse enough that I am never bored.
Finally, a quick report. A month ago tomorrow, as many of you know, I suffered a severe concussion. I saw a galaxy of stars in that moment. While I am progressing, I am still not past it yet. Constant headaches, fatigue and short term memory loss are still an issue. I am back to work, though on half days. That’s good. I need the job to support my writing. I see Doc again this week and I can’t help wonder what will come out the other side. Crossing my fingers.
It’s been a good week overall and I am looking forward to the coming weeks ahead. How about you? Are you in a good space? Either way, feel free to comment. I look forward to reading them. I am Richard Verry, reporting to you from my home office, drinking my first cup of coffee. Delish.
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Over the last four segments, I wrote about the roots of the plague and the causal effects on Mona’s community. In this segment, I cover the cultural effects which resulted.
It should be noted that while the plague was halted, it was not eradicated. Over centuries, people made many attempts to revive the extinct species. Huge stores of seeds were set aside on the chance that one day, they could be replanted. Attempts to germinate these seeds failed. A millennium later, survivors made little progress finding an alternate source of high protein food stores.
In the early days, societal controls fell apart as starving people sought ways to find the nutrition they needed. Populations started to diminish once more. On the verge of succumbing to extinction, the survivors banded together to deal with the stresses of trying to live. Through trial and error, often violent, they eventually settled on a systemized process to select candidates for conversion through random selection. Over centuries, everyone accepted that one day, they would help feed the future generations.
In summary, due to the inability to satisfy basic nutritional needs, they turned to each other. To manage the conversion process, a complex society arose to fairly deal with the new reality. No one was immune from this fate but a culture developed to de-horrify the practice. In time, the stigma of consuming themselves disappeared. It became a simple fact and accepted as a part of life.
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Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored dealt with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be. This is the final installment in a five-part series published over the past several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.
Besides high male mortality rates and a shift in a woman’s difficulty in carrying children, there were other changes to human physiology. The last-ditch gene splicing efforts manifested itself in significant physical changes to the human body.
Woman tended to have longer legs, shorter torso, wider hips and fuller breasts. Fertile women were constantly pregnant, averaging several dozen multiple birth deliveries. Besides feeding their young, they also became the world’s milk and dairy producer. Expressed milk was turned into yogurt, cheese, and other dairy products.
Emotionally, all women became extremely submissive, exchanging power for security. At the same time, most lost their maternal instincts. They were easily sexually aroused, eager to find opportunities to enjoy frequent sexual relations.
Men tended to grow taller and stronger, especially in the shoulders and legs. They picked up the nurturing gene that women lost. They cared for the women and progeny within in their homes. Like women, men were eager for sexual release. Testicles grew larger, tripling daily semen production. Prostates grew in size and strength, producing larger volumes of seminal fluid and stronger ejaculations. As a result, men were more easily able to attain and maintain an erection, capable of delivering vast quantities of viable semen on a daily basis.
For both men and women, lack of regular sexual orgasms resulted in a diminished quality of life. As a consequence, lack of sex lead to irritability, discomfort, anguish, and physical suffering. For men and women, sexual releases several times a day became the norm. Quite literally, life became painful without regular sexual contact among all members of the community.
I will summarize the changes to the human race as a result of the ‘Purge Plague’.
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Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored has to do with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be. This is the fourth installment in a five-part series that I will publish over the next several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.
Solving the human extinction event wasn’t without its consequences. Besides finding an alternate food source, other changes occurred. The new genome made significant changes to human physiology. Sickness had been wiped out. The common cold, cancer, infections, and the various maladies associated in pre-plague days were nonexistent. Within one hundred years, no one ever got sick.
Life expectancy shortened. Three out of four women were born sterile. The rest became prolific baby factories, capable of delivering multiple babies in each pregnancy. As such, the terms ‘bitches’, ‘litters’, and ‘sows’ came into common everyday language. Cycles shortened from 28 days to 23 days. Gestation periods dropped to under 30 weeks. Over time, those that could bear children were highly sought after. Those that could not bear offspring, eventually contribute their meat.
Over time, sterility became defined as either not being able to conceive or conception was difficult and rarely came to term. For example, despite having been pregnant, since her offspring weren’t viable, Mona is considered sterile. Over time, population censuses implied that women of this class were evolving into a third sex. However, in Mona’s time, this was not yet the case. Women in this class became the workers and playmates to their masters. They were also the primary livestock for the community.
The single most significant physiological change occurred in men. Mortality rates for men skyrocketed, resulting in near 100% mortality by age 1. Of those that did survive past age 1, matured slowly, enfeebled and frail. With 30% dying each subsequent year, not until nearing the age of 20, did surviving males began to thrive, grow and mature. By 25, they were virtually assured of a long and prolific life, one among 10,000 women.
Within a century, a man’s primary role was to impregnate as many women as possible. Women became the producers of all other necessities of life. In short, women had all the power in their society but due to their submissive nature, exchanged it to satisfy their own needs.
In my next post, I will explore further physical and psychological changes as a result of the “fix” to the ‘Purge Plague’.
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Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored has to do with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be. This is the third installment in a five-part series that I will publish over the next several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.
Resolving the runaway genome infection among human populations was not without its perils. The plague had already caused the extinction of almost all life on the planet. While it was too late to save the other species, scientists at the time saved what they could. It became a race to find an answer before the total extinction of human race.
Desperate to find a solution, scientists took chances and spliced genes they might not have otherwise done. With human population under a million and declining rapidly, they tried one more daring and dangerous splice. Unsure of what would happen, they tested it directly on human subjects and crossed their fingers.
Surprisingly, they found success. Test subjects recovered and began to recover. Buoyed with success, they deployed the new genome on a massive scale. Within a generation, they had turned the tide.
Unfortunately, it was too late for other species on the planet. Every high protein plant had already died out. Every animal, fish, and insect perished. Wiped out forever, were dolphins and whales, halibut and flounder, trout and bass, crab and lobster, and fish of all kinds. Extinct were dogs and cats, horses and mules, cattle and sheep, insects including beetles, bees, and mosquitos (no loss there). Gone too were soybean, legumes and beans, broccoli, lentils, and asparagus. The list went on and on.
Except for humans, nothing survived. Everything high in consumible protein became extinct. What survived could barely be considered a viable food source. Attempts to repopulate species from seed stock failed.
Humans were effectively … alone … rulers of a decimated planet.
Plus, they were hungry. Without significant sources of food high in protein, humans had little choice. They could either wither or turn to the only source available to them … themselves.
I will explore the changes to human physiology that occurred as a result of the “fix” to the Purge Plague.
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Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored has to do with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be and how it survived a near-extinction event. This is the second installment in a five-part series that I will publish over the next several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.
The Purge Plague is a speculation that I came up with to justify the culture of Mona’s world. However, it is a speculation that I firmly believe is possible, if not likely, to occur. Most of all, it is The Purge Plague that causes the near extinction of the human race.
Let’s compare the post plague era with today’s world as we know it today. For centuries, we’ve been cross-breeding plants and animals to create new subspecies. Most fail and the subspecies dies out. Some, however, become a new species and reproduce, creating copies of themselves.
Over the last sixty years, scientists and corporations are doing more than that. They are slicing genes at the genetic level. Sometimes, they do it to see if they can. More often than not, there is a specific goal they are trying to attain.
Be it crops or animal stock, gene splicing is happening today. Farmers, big and small, are trying to develop hardier crops, resistant to insect and disease. Another goal is to produce more usable product per acre, regardless of the species. More product for less cost means higher profits.
The Purge Plague speculates what would happen to life should a gene splice replicate on a massive scale with undesirable results. As a result, the resultant genome is so hardy, so resistant to eradication, that it spreads across the planet, modifying the DNA of every living plant, animal, and insect. The genome rapidly invades every organism on the planet, humans included.
Consequently, species fail to reproduce or are without critical biological systems to process nutrients from the foods they ingest. Specifically, consumable proteins that are nutritional in nature and necessary for life. Without being able to ingest consumable proteins; plants, animals, and people wither and die. Even today, vegans ingest proteins in the form of legumes, beans, nuts, and similar plant sources.
Think what would happen if all of these species died out suddenly, all at once. Mass extinction.
I will explore the extraordinary lengths taken to halt the plague.
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Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored has to do with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be. It is a five-part series that I will publish over the next several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.
I am looking to update my branding. I’m starting with a new banner and I’d like your opinion.
Please click the option that appeals to you? “#1: Magic Book” or “#2: Fire Wormhole”. Thanks.
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The last couple of days, I have been writing about how different my books are. I also wrote that I intentionally wanted to write books that were different from others. I wanted them to stand out from the rest out there.
To me, this is a good thing. I didn’t want to write something that stood out. That’s the thing about me. I don’t consider me as being ‘vanilla’. There are aspects to me that don’t fit the mold that society likes to fit each of us into.
The same goes for my books. As best as I can tell, they don’t fit into the nice and neat classifications that the publishing industry established.
And that’s a problem.
What do I classify my books so that you, the reader, can find them.
Certainly, they are fiction. After that, what?
I can tag them as erotica but are they really? I tag the Mona Bendarova books as mystery/suspense. They are … and yet not, at least in the traditional sense. Some people have told me that they think they are SciFi. I never thought of them that way but I can see how they do think of them they way. I sometimes think of them as a utopia but it could also be a dystopia.
My other books reflect stories of criminal acts but are they really crime novels? Since they also include sexual acts are they erotica? I don’t think so and from everyone I’ve contacted, they agree. Maybe ‘Dark Erotica’ but not everyone allows that classification.
So, what are they?
Any help would be appreciated. Write me and tell me your opinion. I appreciate your opinion.
I am looking to update my branding and I’m starting with a new banner. I’d like your opinion. Please click the option that appeals to you? “#1: Magic Book” or “#2: Fire Wormhole”.
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Are they different? I certainly hope so. I spent a long time trying to find storylines that others hadn’t already written about. So, yes, they are.
First, a little background. I am an avid reader. I’ve been reading since I can remember, somewhere about the age of six. By the time I was in 4th grade, I had read every ‘Hardy Boys’ books, every ‘Nancy Drew’, ‘Tom Swift’ and hundreds of others. I’ll never remember them all. I just remember having a voracious appetite for books.
I lived in worlds that others had envisioned. Worlds that either exists or could exist. I found ‘Star Trek’ when it first aired. I was reading all sorts of Science Fiction by then. ‘Star Wars’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’, ‘Firefly’, ‘Dr. Who’ and a host of others was easy to love. SciFi isn’t the only genre I like to read. I like to read historical dramas, erotica … well … let’s just say, fiction of all sorts.
Why am I telling you this? It’s because when I decided I wanted to write a novel, I didn’t want to redo what others had done. I knew I could write something in those worlds that was plagiarizing someone else’s work. I just didn’t want to write something remotely similar to everything I’ve ever read. I wanted something new, fresh and even controversial.
I came up with at least two different genres. One is brutal, graphically depicting the depravity of the human race. The other is a world where people respect, honor and support each other … well, most of the time. What’s a story without conflict? Both are paranormal fantasies.
I particularly like Mona Bendarova’s world. There is no war, no religion, no self-righteous do-gooders who push their agenda on others. People live in harmony, enjoying life to the fullest and sacrificing when necessary to ensure the continuation of the species.
What makes them different? I try to tell it real. I don’t like dancing around a scene. I’ve read a lot where the author paints a grand scene leading up to ‘the’ moment, only to fast-forward to the next scene. I hate that. I am left wanting and unfulfilled. I can be angry that the author chose to dance over the real action.
As in my paintings, I try to depict realistic scenes; be it sex, violence, love, or simple conversation. My scenes can be raw. They can be soft and sweet. What makes them different is that they are complete, uncensored depictions of human nature. It’s the real deal.
If you like realism, if you like the complete story, if you like the uncensored version, you’ll like my books. Enjoy and let me know what you think. I’m always interested in hearing what you, the reader, has to say.
My girlfriend and I had chinese food for dinner the other night. I’d like to share with you what my fortune cookie had hidden inside.
“Good books are friends who are always ready to talk to us.”
For the readers out there, I think you will agree. Good or bad, they talk to us, reach into our souls and stimulate emotions. I don’t know about you, but I have conversations with my books. Yes, the books themselves. I talk to them and they respond.
I also have conversations with other readers about books, either mine or someone else’s. We can debate whether it was a good read or a bad read. We can argue about the elements of the characters, the plot or the outcome.
My favorite books are those that I cannot predict where the story is taking me. Not just the ending either. I want to be surprised and jolted all along the way. Just when I think I figured out ‘who done it’ or whether the couple will final get together, the best stories for me those that change direction. By the time the last page is turned, I want the story wrapped up. I want all of the pieces to fit, like a jigsaw puzzle.
So far, from what people tell me, my books fit that criteria. However, I would be interested in what you, the reader of this blog, thinks. Write me. Fill out the comment field below and lay it on me. Tell me whether your favorite books talk to you and what it is about them that makes the book one of your favorites.
Till next time, have a great day and a better tomorrow.
Your’s in reading and writing, Rich.
I know it’s been a week since I’ve last posted a note. Sorry about that. I took the time to revise my website, RichardVerry.com, getting it to load faster, and remove some of the bloat that time inevitably creates. If you haven’t been to the site lately, please stop by.
One reason to stop by is that I am running a sale on some of my books. Check out the webpage for details. I can say this, some of the books are either free or 50% off.
I want to thank everyone who has been buying my ‘Her Client’ books. I did an analysis of sales for the past month. It appears that I am selling a decent quantity of these books each day. However, I did note some interesting facts.
Fact 1: Book 1, ‘Her Client’ sells twice as many as Books 2 & 3, and Book 2 ‘Her Overseer’ sells twice as many as Book 3 ‘Her Essentia’.
Fact 2: Sales on Books 2 & 3 follow that same curve as book 1, only a day or two later. That tells me this. If I captured your interest in Book 1, you are sure to buy books 2 & 3 a day or two later.
Fact3: Sales are the best reviews. I heartily believe that. However, I would love to hear from the readers on what you thought about the books. Write me, I welcome your comments. In the long run, your comments will help me write better and better books.
Be on the lookout for other books in the ‘Her Client’ genre. I have one already published on my site called ‘The Breakup’. It is also available on many other sites. I hope to get it available soon on Amazon. Frankly, I’ve been holding off on publishing it to Amazon as I am running an experiment. I’ll tell you more about the experiment in the future, but for now, the best place to get the book, ‘The Breakup’ is from my site.
Stop by and check out the site and read the reviews by readers like you. You might be surprised at mind boggling and enthralling the stories are.
Till next time, I hope you are have a great day and a better tomorrow.
All my life I have strived to do better, improve myself, help the community, love my family, and cherish my significant other. It’s hard work but it’s easy work as well. Seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it? I don’t see it that way. Take for example, the quote I just found.
“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
When I read this, I didn’t need to study it. My mind instantly went to points in my life where I felt each of these emotions. I’ve had my stresses in my life but once I’m past them, I tend to forget about them. The feelings remain but the facts fade. I guess I do that as a way of protecting myself and staying healthy.
Most poignantly are the passions in my life. Building a shelf, lashing a complicated structure to protect life and limb, painting a portrait to get it just right, writing and rewriting a piece of dialog for a story; these are all passions I love.
I pour my heart and soul into my passions. My girlfriend and significant other is the most important passion in my life. I tend to put aside other passions in order to do for her. Helping others, even the little things, is also important to me. Whether it’s offering a drink to a house guest, helping someone find their lost keys, or helping someone in distress, I do with the love of passion.
When I put aside time to work on my creative works, my passions really come alive. I recall and relive those feelings. I get lost in the creative process. Even now, as I write this entry, my body and soul are coming alive as these feelings flood every nook and cranny.
Time seems to slow or even stop. Adrenaline floods my body, my mind focuses on the work and everything else disappears. It’s a wonderful feeling. In my mind, I go somewhere else. Just ask anyone who has observed me in this state. I’m gone from this world and I’m in another world. I’m so far gone, that it frustrates my girlfriend to no end. Whether she wants to make dinner, spend time with me, or just ask my opinion, she finds it hard to break in. When I finally acknowledge the interruption, I can get upset, even angry. I lose my train of thought. I lose my mojo.
I don’t mean it. I would prefer to not snap and get upset. She doesn’t deserve the response and she tries to be patient but at times, not. Sorry honey. Together, we work it out, make adjustments and move forward.
Yet, I can’t get away from this alternate reality I go to in my mind when I’m creating, painting or writing. It’s fun. It’s addicting. It’s a far better alternative to prefering alcohol, drugs or just being a dickwad.
I can’t wait to re-enter the zone of my passions. What about you? What are your passions that you love.
Good morning all you readers out there. I had a long and tiring weekend but today I’m refreshed and happy. I spent Friday night with friends who cooked us a fine meal and engaged me with spirited conversation well into the night. Saturday, I went to a wedding at the ball park. After the wedding, the reception was held in one of the ball park suites where a battle raged on the field. After the game, I were treated to fireworks. I’ll bet that there aren’t too many people who can honestly say that they had fireworks on their wedding night.
Not that kind! Well, that too but I am referring to the kind where gun powder is fired into the air which explodes into a multitude of light and sonic boomers. I had a wonderful time. Sunday was recovery day. I was wiped out and I needed to rest and recover.
But I digress. I read a cool quote this morning which I’d like to share with you.
“Do no go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Reading this quote, I was hit with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, following the path is easy. It’s what is expected. Fall in line, conform, and do as your told. I know that my girlfriend would welcome this from me, at least, some of the time. Yet, one of the reasons she loves me is that I do blaze my own trail. I go my own way. I forage ahead and damn the consequences.
Admittedly, I’ve gotten into trouble on a number of occasions and paid a price for my independence. Yet, it is who I am. One thing I’ve learned in life is that to be happy with myself, I have to be who I am. If I’m not happy with me and who I am, how the f**k can I make someone else happy.
So, I walk where there is no path. I am enjoying this period of discovery. It’s filled with wonder and joy. True, I make a wrong turn now and then and I need to back track a bit. So what. It’s a learning experience. What I still need to figure out is how to leave a trail. I do so in my professional life. Yet, I need to figure out how to leave a more lasting trail in my personal life.
I have talent for doing things. Whether it is hanging a TV on the wall so it won’t fall off or grilling a steak to perfection, I manage to do things in creative ways that people appreciate, or so they tell me. Yet, it is not enough. I want to more. I want to blaze a trail for others to enjoy.
Which is why I write and paint. I can express myself in ways that is impossible to do in real life. Perhaps some of my creative works will survive my life. Wouldn’t that be cool? Can you imagine? What if a hundred years from now, some picks up one of my books and reads it, or stumbles across one of my paintings and says, “Wow!”
What would Mona think? Would she enjoy someone reading her story well after her author moved on? I think she would. There is a lot of me in Mona.
What about you? What do you think?
Yesterday, I wrote about goals without a plan is nothing more than a wish. In fact, I believe it’s more than that. It’s wishful thinking.
However, once you have the plan, you are already on the road to meeting your goals. For me, that’s the fun part. Taking the first step, then the next and then, the next one again. I’ve always believed that to reach the summit, you must put one foot in front of the other. Step over over the pebbles and eventually you’ll step over the stone, and eventually the mountain.
Earlier, I stumbled upon this followup quote.
“There’s no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.”
Makes sense to me, despite that I wish that it were possible to jump ahead of the line and go right to the top.
The image I’ve displayed shows the quote surrounded by a spiraling stair case. I can’t imagine how many steps it would take to climb that stair case and reach the top. Hundreds? Thousands?
However many there are, in real life, it takes much more to achieve our goals. My goals. I’ve spent decades learning, experiencing, and experimentation before deciding upon my goals. Some of my goals have fallen to the wayside in favor of newer, more interesting goals.
Do you know what I find if fun? Working on my goals, figuring them out and taking the steps to achieve them. For me, it’s sitting down in front of my computer and transcribing the dialog running through my head. It’s picking up a pencil or paint brush and putting it to paper or canvas. Adrenaline begins racing throughout my body. I’m excited and the imagery in my mind feeds off the adrenaline and suddenly, my fingers can’t move fast enough. Whether it’s typing on a keyboard or stroke after stroke of my pencil or brush, I pour my heart and soul into each creative work.
Years later, I can look at a painting I did, notice one of my books on the shelves and the excitement returns in an immeasurable instant. Every so often, I review Honey’s story in my book, ‘The Taste of Honey‘, and I’m filled with joy, wonderment and concern. I want her to be saved. I want her to thrive. I know that she has a goal in mind and that goal will survive death. She’ll make it happen. She has a plan. You’ll see as you delve into her world along with her best friend, Mona Bendarova.
Damn, I love what I do. I hope you do and if you don’t, well that’s okay too. You’re welcome to your opinion. Who am I to tell you what to think. So, to conclude, I hope I can instill this one thought and it’s a motto I’ve lived with my entire life. As far as I can tell, no one else has said this and I’ve repeated the mantra in my head every day of my adult life, and I’ve been around a while. I would be interested in your comments and responses. Please send me a note. I’ll be happy to read them.
My personal motto is this.
“Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible. It’s all in the attitude.” – Richard Verry
Instead of writing, I have been studying. My research includes a plethora of books, websites I’ve found, webinars, and social media threads. What am I studying?
By now, you know that I am an author, independently publishing my books on Amazon and all of various eBook outlets and distributors. I also have some of my books available as paperbacks. I created a website to promote my creative works. Yes, I am also an artist. I paint and draw for fun. I don’t actively sell my art.
I focus my attentions on my writings. I write creative fiction. My stories revolve around mystery and suspense stories of an erotic nature. Some tell me that one series of my books are akin to science fiction. Frankly, I was surprised by that comment. I never thought of them that way. They are set thousands of years in our future but does that make them sci-fi?My other series of books tend to focus on criminal acts of assault, torment, and murder. These books are not science fiction.
What I am not, is a marketer. In all of my education, I have never studied marketing. I don’t know how to market myself, my products nor even my career. I have a master’s degree in Information Technology. I never took even a single course on how to market myself. How is that even possible?
Today, I am studying marketing. More specifically, I am studying how to market myself and my books. Frankly, it’s a daunting task. I’ve encountered setbacks, mistakes, and minor successes. I’ve spent thousands of dollars hiring marketing people, test adverts, rebuilding my websites, and learning.
I’ll be the first to admit. I don’t know what I’m doing. I make mistakes, lots of mistakes. I am slowly learning. It’s frustrating. I listen to experts. I work hard to implement the lessons I’ve learned. I am intelligent. I know my mission. I found good people. I found people who don’t get me or my vision.
I found people who tried to tell me to sell to a target audience that I instinctively knew was wrong. In one such lesson, I was advised to target the LGBT community because they were simply a smaller target group but big enough to make progress in new sales. Was this wrong?
No, I don’t think so. The problem? Since my stories include women kissing and having sex together, made the stories perfect in targeting the LGBT community.
The trouble was, these characters are heterosexual. In the universe I created, they simply don’t have any stigmas against same-sex intercourse. They don’t share today’s morality related to sex and relationships. This person didn’t get it. Fine. Move on. Lesson learned.
Today, I am studying. I am researching. I am learning. In short, I’m trying. I am determined. I’m opening a new chapter in my training. Come what may, it will work or not. I’ll keep on trying, working, and figuring it out. Wish me luck.
What is your favorite Peanuts character?
I don’t know why, but I’ve been pondering this question for a couple of days. I compared each one to what I think is important in my life and decided that Snoopy was the best fit.
A dog you might ask. Look at it this way and take the species aspect out of it.
Snoopy has a very active imagination. He’s a fighter pilot flying in an open cockpit bi-wing fighter plane. He plays baseball. He knows enough to get enough sleep. He decorates his house for the holidays. He is a writer, a good friend, and a party animal. He tells it like it is and makes no bones about it. He questions idiocy and doesn’t take shit from anybody. Most importantly, he unconditionally loves his friends and family.
He is an independent soul and won’t be forced to conform. He believes what he believes and lives his life accordingly. You either take him as he is or you don’t. It’s not so much that he doesn’t care. Rather, it’s more akin to not being aware that some people may not appreciate him.
Snoopy and I are very much alike. That is why he is my favorite ‘Peanuts’ character. Who is yours and why? We could get into a very interesting dialog.
I read a blog post this morning by author Delilah S. Dawson. I found it quite interesting and I think you will too. I encourage you to read it. Here’s the link to the post.
http://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2015/4/13/please-shut-up-why-self-promotion-as-an-author-doesnt-work
She writes about the difference in pushing a book upon the audience and pulling them to the book. She makes a lot of sense. It’s a lesson I am slowly learning. In reading her commentary, I couldn’t help but smile and agree. My social media feeds are full of book covers, promotions and statements that boil down to one message. BUY ME. Sorry, but like Delilah, I skip right over them as I scroll across my feeds. About the only time I stop and look is to study the message and see if there is something in it to pull me in. I’m usually disappointed and move on.
For me, the single most important line in Delilah’s post is:
“The recipe seems to be GREAT BOOK + HARD WORK + TIME + LUCK.”
I can control three out of four of them and I hope I am lucky enough to rise enough to be truly noticed.
I will be the first to admit, that I’m not very good budgeting my time with my writing. I spend way too much time screwing around trying to make a name for myself, promoting my stories and I am not spending enough time writing the stories that I really love. I have outlines for more than a dozen waiting to be written. Argggghhhhh.
I must do something about that. I need to get back to creative writing.
Case in point.
Until recently, I promoted my ‘Mona Bendarova Adventures’ much in the way Delilah hates. They didn’t sell. Watching their performance, I found that my efforts were wasted and might have even pushed my audience away from me. I pulled the promotions altogether.
Another series of books I wrote, ‘Her Client Trilogy’, sell well enough to make me smile. Sales are not fantastic, in fact, they are mediocre when compared to my favorite authors. Yet, to me, they make me happy. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t seen multiple sales of the books. Whoo hoo!
The funny thing is, which surprises me to no end, I do no promotion of the books. They sell on many platforms, all over the world. What I know is that they are a product of ‘Hard Work’, a ‘Good Story’, and lots of ‘Time’ writing and polishing the stories.
I am still trying to figure out the formula. I suspect that as soon as I do, the formula will have already changed.
So, I’m going back to writing, creatively and writing what I love.
Let’s go back to Webster’s Dictionary definition of the word.
Deviant def: ‘different from what is considered to be normal or morally correct.’
Now mind you, I say that I am sometimes a deviant from the side of my mouth, in jest. Yet, I do feel that at times. I was raised in a traditional home with liberal thinking parents and a house full of female siblings. I instinctively know that I think differently from so many people around me. Most of my community, including family and friends, are more traditional in their thinking than I. They are more conservative and middle of the road in their thinking. They aren’t open-minded and appear to be set in their ways.
Normality, as in the American dream, was what I ever known. Religious, hard working, earning a living and eating dinner at 6 pm with the family was my norm.
You get the picture.
Me, I don’t subscribe to this view of life. It’s way too ‘vanilla’ for me. I rebelled from this mindset when I became an adult. I believe in whatever makes you happy so long as it doesn’t hurt someone else.
I believe in the right to love who you want, sleep with whomever, one on one or more. I believe in monogamy, polygamy and group marriage even though I don’t believe I could deal with the stress of multiple spouses. One is quite enough, thank you very much.
I believe in sharing and loving without reservation. With that, I do have expectations in those whom I love. I believe in polyamorous family units. I believe in same-sex marriage. I believe in being single as well, if it suits you.
I believe in power exchange in adult play among consenting partners.
I believe in doing what’s best for myself, my family and my friends. I believe in giving of myself. I believe that it is okay to have expectations from those you love. They say ‘you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends’. I say you can choose both. If family or friends don’t live up to your expectations and can’t offer you what you need, then I choose to find a new family and new friends.
Not that I live outside society’s norms. I will, however, try to rise above society’s expectations and pull the rest of you along with me, if I can. If I see that you have something to offer to help me rise to greater heights, I will accept whatever gifts you offer in attaining growth and enlightenment.
So to that extent, I consider myself a deviant … also normal.
Do you consider yourself ‘Normal’?
Of course I do. I feel that I am the most normal guy one could meet.
Sometimes, my girlfriend has a different opinion. From reading, editing to discussing my books and novellas, she thinks I’m something different. I suppose and hope that is why she likes me. Just to remind everyone, we’ve been together for over twelve years.
Having said all that, let’s get back to the question. I spoke recently about the imagery that flies around in my head all day. I suppose that makes me different, since I am convinced that most others don’t have those experiences yet abnormal? No way!
Webster’s Dictionary defines normal as:
When I compare myself to Webster, if there is any question, then by definition, I am normal. While I am unique, I also personally know hundreds of people and by extrapolation, millions who think like me and enjoy similar interests as I do and follow the same shows, hobbies and genres. In so many ways I conform to standards and patterns that society expects of me. I work for a living, pay my taxes, maintain my own home, take the garbage out and enjoy a daily shower. That last is really important.
My mother carried and delivered me naturally, though she told me later that I almost killed her as I wanted to come out sideways. She tells me that they had to push me back in, turn me around before delivering me. Does that make me abnormal? No, I don’t believe so. Breech births do happen. Of what I know now, if I was born more than a hundred years ago, neither me, mom or my sisters might not be around. Medicine back then wouldn’t be equipped to handle the difference from a normal birth.
Am I categorized as of having average intelligence? I think so. I definitely know that there are people smarter than myself and others who are not. That makes me normal.
That leaves ‘free of mental disorder’. That’s a subjective term in so … many ways. While I know that there is scientific, medical definitions of various mental disorders, no one has ever accused or diagnosed me of having one.
I can only conclude I am normal. What about you? Do you consider yourself normal? If so, why? If not, really? I want to hear from you. Perhaps I can turn your story into a book. We should chat. You can use the comment section below to get started. I would so enjoy hearing your story.
Yesterday, I wrote about my month-long cold/whatever it is/was. However, since I wrote about my ills over the last month, I feel the need to write a followup.
Most important of all is … thank you for all of the kind words sent to me wishing me get well soon. I really appreciate them. It means a lot to me. I don’t normally like to write or talk about health related issues. Normally, it’s no ones business. To demonstrate how I feel about that, when I broke my leg a 15 years ago, I didn’t tell a soul. Even though I was living alone at the time, I kept that private. That’s life and I dealt with it.
As I wrote yesterday, I did go see the doctor and go through several tests. Doc tells me that I am presenting a very strange case, one that doesn’t seem to fit normal progressions of winter colds and flu. Yes, I did get my flu shot this year. The tests came back either negative or within normal ranges. So, no help there other than discount the norms.
So, what’s going on?
No one knows. She suspects that I am the victim of serial multiple cold or other viral infections. She suspects that this is the case as each one, taken along presents differently and is treated differently.
Today, I am feeling much better. She’s put me on a new stronger regime of antibiotics, which seems to be doing the trick. And while I’ve heard this before, I am crossing my fingers. I plan on returning to work tomorrow. And after that, get back to writing. Whoo hoo!
I have a long way to go to finish up my next novel, ‘Lucky Bitch’, the third book in the Mona Bendarova Adventures. Time to buckle down and get writing.
Wow! I’m a serial victim? Sounds interesting. It could even an idea for a book or story. I’ll have to give it some thought.
4
Yesterday, I wrote about my month-long cold/whatever it is/was. However, since I wrote about my ills over the last month, I feel the need to write a followup.
Most important of all is … thank you for all of the kind words sent to me wishing me get well soon. I really appreciate them. It means a lot to me. I don’t normally like to write or talk about health related issues. Normally, it’s no ones business. To demonstrate how I feel about that, when I broke my leg a 15 years ago, I didn’t tell a soul. Even though I was living alone at the time, I kept that private. That’s life and I dealt with it.
As I wrote yesterday, I did go see the doctor and go through several tests. Doc tells me that I am presenting a very strange case, one that doesn’t seem to fit normal progressions of winter colds and flu. Yes, I did get my flu shot this year. The tests came back either negative or within normal ranges. So, no help there other than discount the norms.
So, what’s going on?
No one knows. She suspects that I am the victim of serial multiple cold or other viral infections. She suspects that this is the case as each one, taken along presents differently and is treated differently.
Today, I am feeling much better. She’s put me on a new stronger regime of antibiotics, which seems to be doing the trick. And while I’ve heard this before, I am crossing my fingers. I plan on returning to work tomorrow. And after that, get back to writing. Whoo hoo!
I have a long way to go to finish up my next novel, ‘Lucky Bitch’, the third book in the Mona Bendarova Adventures. Time to buckle down and get writing.
Wow! I’m a serial victim? Sounds interesting. It could even an idea for a book or story. I’ll have to give it some thought.
3
Yesterday, I wrote about my month-long cold/whatever it is/was. However, since I wrote about my ills over the last month, I feel the need to write a followup.
Most important of all is … thank you for all of the kind words sent to me wishing me get well soon. I really appreciate them. It means a lot to me. I don’t normally like to write or talk about health related issues. Normally, it’s no ones business. To demonstrate how I feel about that, when I broke my leg a 15 years ago, I didn’t tell a soul. Even though I was living alone at the time, I kept that private. That’s life and I dealt with it.
As I wrote yesterday, I did go see the doctor and go through several tests. Doc tells me that I am presenting a very strange case, one that doesn’t seem to fit normal progressions of winter colds and flu. Yes, I did get my flu shot this year. The tests came back either negative or within normal ranges. So, no help there other than discount the norms.
So, what’s going on?
No one knows. She suspects that I am the victim of serial multiple cold or other viral infections. She suspects that this is the case as each one, taken along presents differently and is treated differently.
Today, I am feeling much better. She’s put me on a new stronger regime of antibiotics, which seems to be doing the trick. And while I’ve heard this before, I am crossing my fingers. I plan on returning to work tomorrow. And after that, get back to writing. Whoo hoo!
I have a long way to go to finish up my next novel, ‘Lucky Bitch’, the third book in the Mona Bendarova Adventures. Time to buckle down and get writing.
Wow! I’m a serial victim? Sounds interesting. It could even an idea for a book or story. I’ll have to give it some thought.
Yesterday, I wrote about my month-long cold/whatever it is/was. However, since I wrote about my ills over the last month, I feel the need to write a followup.
Most important of all is … thank you for all of the kind words sent to me wishing me get well soon. I really appreciate them. It means a lot to me. I don’t normally like to write or talk about health related issues. Normally, it’s no ones business. To demonstrate how I feel about that, when I broke my leg a 15 years ago, I didn’t tell a soul. Even though I was living alone at the time, I kept that private. That’s life and I dealt with it.
As I wrote yesterday, I did go see the doctor and go through several tests. Doc tells me that I am presenting a very strange case, one that doesn’t seem to fit normal progressions of winter colds and flu. Yes, I did get my flu shot this year. The tests came back either negative or within normal ranges. So, no help there other than discount the norms.
So, what’s going on?
No one knows. She suspects that I am the victim of serial multiple cold or other viral infections. She suspects that this is the case as each one, taken along presents differently and is treated differently.
Today, I am feeling much better. She’s put me on a new stronger regime of antibiotics, which seems to be doing the trick. And while I’ve heard this before, I am crossing my fingers. I plan on returning to work tomorrow. And after that, get back to writing. Whoo hoo!
I have a long way to go to finish up my next novel, ‘Lucky Bitch’, the third book in the Mona Bendarova Adventures. Time to buckle down and get writing.
Wow! I’m a serial victim? Sounds interesting. It could even an idea for a book or story. I’ll have to give it some thought.
Most of you don’t know this but I’ve been under the weather much of the past month. I’ve used up a bunch of my banked sick days and I hate that. What started as a cold took a downturn after five days. After eight days, I decided to see my doctor. I love my doctor. She, that’s right she’s a woman, works with me to keep me healthy and strong. Before this $%^& cold, I hadn’t had a cold or flu for years. I guess it’s payback time.
Anyway, I digress. So I went to see Doctor Nancy and get fixed up. She tells me that more than half of her patients are experiencing what I am experiencing. I don’t know why but it made me feel better. Dumb eh? Feeling better because so many others are suffering the way I am. Sorry everyone who has what I have.
Doc puts me on a regime including antibiotics. Within two days, I’m feeling better. Whoo hoo! Over the next week, I know I’m not completely well yet but I’m progressing. I’m good with that.
Then, it hits me again this past weekend and I spend much of Sunday and Monday back in bed, coughing up my lungs and not getting much rest. WTF? Am I ever going to get better? I’m going back to see her yet again today but this time, before I meet with her, she’s scheduled me for various tests. Anything to get past this, I’m in.
Do you know what’s worse?
Those images floating in my head that I wrote about the other day, well they’re still there but it’s chaotic. I can’t make sense of them. Add to that, I can’t seem to keep creative thoughts long enough to write them down so I’ve done very little writing these past couple of weeks.
If it’s brainless and monotonous, I can do that. At least for short periods of time. If it’s more than that, I’m totally fucked. My head hurts, my throat hurts, and dare I say it, my chest feels like there is a rock in it? I hope not.
Wish me luck.
2016 A great one to come?You’ll note that the image I’ve used for this post is one where the year is scratched into the sand.
It’s beach sand and I wonder, will it be washed away from the surf, scraped away by some angry foot or harden and turn to stone for all eternity.
I wish that 2016 will be a superb year, filled with promise and hope for the future of our species. If anything, the past several years makes me wonder whether we as a species will be around a millennium from now. I wonder. There seems to be so much hate in the world, closed-minded people who insist that everyone believe and act as they do, whether we as a species can surmount these challenges and boldly move forward into the 21st century.
Even if we do survive to the 22nd and 23rd centuries, what will they say about our current period on this planet. I can’t help wonder that they would say “Just how the hell did the species survive?”
Mona and Honey live sometime in the next millennium, 35th century perhaps, and somehow, their community has figured out a way to accept each other for whom they are. They are opened minded enough to realize that all members of our species have something to contribute to society as a whole.
Let’s see if we can emulate their example and accept that each of us, have something to contribute to the global community.
If you have a greeting or a wish you wish to extend to someone, please feel free to share it here. I’ll be happy to repost it to all of my followers. In the meantime, may 2016 be a great one for you.
As 2015 gives way to 2016As the year 2015 winds down and as we prepare to welcome 2016, I plan on remembering both the good and the bad that happened in my life this past year.
If there is any one thing I’ve learned this past year, it’s that our failures as well as our successes that make me the person I am today. Those experiences will also shape the person I will become tomorrow.
As we celebrate this new year, it is my sincerest wish that our celebrations are done with love, compassion and fellowship with our neighbors, both near and far. Even if they live on the other side of the globe, we all deserve the respect of being who we are.
If you are looking for a New Year’s Resolution, I would offer you this one.
Find a way to accept your neighbor into your heart, regardless of their race, sex, nationality or religious belief.
Warm wishesAs we close 2015, I am thankful for many things. I have shared many of them with you already.
If you wish to share a warm wish, a greeting to a loved one or simply give thanks, leave a reply below.
I will repost all warm wishes to all of my followers. I look forward to reading them.
Have a happy new year.
Holidays are completely different in Mona Bendarova’s world. Introduced in ‘The Taste of Honey’, Mona’s community comes together for monthly and quarterly celebrations. There are no holidays per se commemorating people, specific events or beliefs.
Monthly celebrations are more of a community gathering where people come together and enjoy each other’s company. It’s a time for revelry, entertainment, eating, drinking, and enjoying sex. Seed is spilled and deposited into willing recipients frequently at these celebrations. Most fertile women wake up the following morning happy and pregnant after a night of pleasure. For the rest, they are simply happy and most certainly satiated.
Quarterly celebrations on the other hand are bigger and more involved events. Generally, they follow the seasons, roughly scheduled around the Summer and Winter Solstices plus the Fall and Spring Equinoxes.
The Spring Equinox hails the coming growing season where the community plans to produce the bulk of their non-protein based food. The Summer Solstice salutes the height of the warm sun, long pleasant days and short warm nights. The Fall Equinox celebrates the harvest gathering, giving thanks for what the land has given them despite the atrocities it suffered in the past.
The biggest celebration of the year is the Winter Solstice. This festivity focuses upon hope and joyful reunions for the coming year. It is denoted by enjoying the rich milky way of stars lighting the night skies, providing a backdrop for a magical time of year. The longest night of the year is celebrated by staying warm, enjoying each other’s bodies and conceiving the greatest diversity within the gene pool. Even conceptions in the breeding farms don’t distribute the gene pool as much as what happens at this celebration.
Therefore, celebrations are a holiday in a sense. They provide an opportunity to ensure the survival of the human species. It is a way to enjoy life yet most importantly, to preserve it.
Now, as I reflect upon these celebrations, I can’t help wish that our own holidays follow a similar scenario. Fun and revelry among friends and strangers where sharing joy, pleasure and seed is expected, world-wide? What’s not to like? Not that I expect to see it come to pass in my lifetime but I wonder what our lives might be like sharing similar celebrations. I firmly believe that we would be better off if we divorce ourselves from out petty differences, slice away the personal agendas and welcome our differences as opportunities to grow.
As I write this, I am reminded of the concept ‘IDIC’ introduced by Gene Roddenberry in his original TV series, ‘Star Trek’. ‘IDIC’ stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. I embrace this view of the world. I firmly believe we are better with our differences than without. Rather than homogenizing our species, it’s our differences that allow us to grow stronger.
What do you think? Can we all embrace our differences, enjoy our humanities and love our fellow-man? I do.
Please, share your thoughts with me. I welcome constructive view points, whether I agree with them or not. Perhaps one day, world-wide, we can celebrate a holiday of love, joy and pleasure.
Merry ChristmasOn this day, around the world people are celebrating the holiday as is their custom in their native lands. I hope you remember the ones you are not with you on this special day. Whether they be protecting your country, on assignment helping to support their families or simply living afar, please send them your love. It’s the most precious gift one can give.
If you wish to share a holiday memory or send a message to a loved one, I welcome your comments. I’d be happy to share them with my followers.
Season’s GreetingsWishing you and yours the very best time in this holiday season.
I welcome your comments regarding your season’s memories or if you simply wish to share a season greetings to a loved one. I’ll be happy to share them with all of my followers.
Happy HolidaysAs I write another chapter for my next book, I am reminded just why we are all here on this planet. Contemplating just how Mona and Honey would approach this holiday, I can’t help wonder that ultimately, they would gather their respective families together, share fellowship, various stories of the past year of their dearly departed and they would welcome their newest members of their households.
They would also sit down together, share a meal, engage in conversation, seek out those they barely know and even enjoy each other, be it in fellowship, their bodies or simply, their common experiences.
We are a community. We are a global community. We all live together for the common goal and support of one another. I trust everyone on this planet feels the same way. I would love to hear your stories, your holiday memories and your wishes for the new year. I’d be happy to publish them here on this blog and share them with all my followers.
I hope that our own future is akin to their experiences. It is also my hope that our entire global community will celebrate the coming holiday with love and compassion for our fellow neighbor.
I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, have a very Happy Holiday.
What inspired you to write?Hmmmm … I suppose I’ve been writing in one form or another all my life. I remember writing short stories as a kid. I remember one story I wrote that later became a motion picture but that is another story in of itself.
Later, as an adult, I chose a career where I would write code for programs. I even got recruited by a company because I reverse engineered their software and began writing programs against their platform. They were so impressed, I got an upgraded job.
Writing programs exercised my creativity as well as the logical sides of my brain for decades. It was enough to figure out what to write and deliver a product that many people used each and every day. I got paid to do it yet there was never a question or an interest in receiving residuals for the work!
Jump ahead to the later part of my life and I was becoming increasingly anxious to create something other than computer code. I picked up pencil and paper and rediscovered drawing. Picking up paint and brushes, I rediscovered painting. For a while, I thought about trying to market my creative works. I was quickly frustrated by the process and abandoned my feeble marketing efforts. I still draw and paint but I do it for the love of the craft.
Frustrated by not being able to capture the imagery in my head fast enough, I dabbled with writing. Eventually, I stumbled upon an idea that really excited me. So, I wrote and wrote. Over time I must admit but I was determined to finish the story.
When I shared the finished product with friends, I was astounded by the response. They demanded that I publish it and continue writing.
So, now I’m working on a new career. One in which I do part-time now and will devote full-time after I retire from business. I enjoy writing and if I make money doing something I love, wow! Who is to say that someone might even like it enough to sign me to a movie deal? Wouldn’t that be cool?
What inspires you to do what you love?
What was YOUR favorite part of the book?
There are many favorite parts. They include among many, Mona’s dungeon play with Master Charles, the execution scene of Honey’s perpetrator, Mona’s investigation into Honey’s disappearance, Mona’s budding relationship with Renée and Honey’s final scene as she is preparing for her live roasting.
As I look back at each scene and how I felt when I wrote them, I realized that it was Honey’s roasting scene that was my favorite part. While the sex and her spitting is graphic, it was the love story that developed out of it that really captured my interest.
I wrote it from the first person perspective so that the reader would connect with Honey and accept her decision for a live roasting.
What I really liked about the scene is that you’re inside her head, experiencing what she experiences. You feel her final hours as she has her final sex with her Master, loving him as he discovers that he, in fact, loves her also. You, as the reader, experience the spit pushing into her sex, traveling through her body and exiting out her mouth. Ewe! You are right there with Honey as they gut her insides. You see what she sees as she is carried over to the fire pit and begins to roast. Through her eyes, you see her family and friends looking on, before she succumbs to the heat of the fire.
What I really liked about this scene is how I felt as I wrote it. When I started the writing the scene, my mind seemed to divorce itself from my body. My fingers flew over the keyboard. As the scene developed, I got wrapped up in her character. I felt for her. For awhile, I became her.
Ultimately, the scene defines the love relationship between Honey, her Master, her family and her closest friends, including Mona. Her spirituality is so strong that no one can divert her from this course. Even her own Master has told her over and over again that she did not need to do this. In this moment, he realizes that he loves and needs her. He needs her in his life and doesn’t want her to roast.
Honey, however, believes that she has a higher calling. Honey believes that her actions will help save them. She believes that her decision will allow her to live forever in him and her loved ones. As a result, they will live healthier and happier lives.
So, for those and for many other reasons, that is my favorite part of the book. What’s yours?
How did you come up with the Mona character?
When I finally figured out the title of the story ‘The Taste of Honey’, I knew how I wanted the story to end. Honey was a main character who wanted to live forever in her family and close friends. In her mind, for whatever reason, she firmly believed that her spirit could only continue on through a live roasting on a barbecue spit. Gruesome, I know, but in Honey’s universe, it’s a common practice among the community.
Knowing how the story was to end, I needed to create characters with whom Honey would share her meat. As I thought about how Honey would meet her end, I needed an avenue to get there. So, I hit upon the idea that she goes missing and someone hired to go find her.
Introduce the investigator, Mona. Since my universe incorporated pervasive bdsm play, I decided that this character would be a masochist who enjoyed extreme play. So, her first name became Mona. Mona would be a play on the sound ‘moan’, which she would do a lot during her play.
To come up with her surname, I wanted her name to reflect her sexuality. Eventually, I came to the concept of ‘bend her over’.With a hidden message decided, I contracted it to Bendarova. To date, only one person I know has made this relate and called me on it. She smiled as she told me.
That’s how Mona Bendarova came into existence. She’s a smart, masochistic investigator who loves sex. Who’s your favorite character?
How did you come up with the title? Did the title come first or did the story?
For months, I had a concept of what I wanted to write. I had developed the idea of a future history of the human race dependent upon consuming themselves to survive. Originally, I had thought at it would be the result of a devastating war that put the species on the brink of extinction. It wasn’t until later, that I came up with the GMO angle running wild, systematically wiping out all protein based biologically life on the planet.
Yet that didn’t help me decide on a specific story line. I wanted a story in which I would highlight a main character who would by the end, decide to be live roasted and her meat consumed by her family and close friends. I wanted the live roasting to be the character’s choice and not forced upon the character. Further, I wanted the other main characters to feel comfortable with consuming the meat of one who had been one of their own. I struggled over months to find a way to carry out that goal.
In that time, I wrote draft after draft but none of them spoke to me. Then one day, while sitting on my deck, enjoying roasting under the summer afternoon sun, the phrase ‘The Taste of Honey’ hit me. It was a eureka moment. As I reflected upon the phrase, I decided immediately that it would be the title of the story.
Now, at that time, I wasn’t even thinking about publishing the story. I just wanted to write it. Now that I had a title, the rest of the story came together in a flash. Within minutes, I was furiously writing notes, capturing thoughts and ideas before they flashed out of existence. For me, it was a race to document the ideas, never mind whether I would use them all.
A couple of hours later, I had a clear concept of what I wanted to write and I began writing anew. Honey was not only to be the subject of the title but she would be a main character in the story.
It was a journey of self discovery, of retrospection and of desire. Desire in the sense of curiosity of seeing the story come to its conclusion. I knew what I wanted to write but I wanted to see it written on paper. The story took on a life of its own and before I knew it, it was no longer a short story but a full length novel.
An Editor’s Viewpoint
by Janet Maggio
I just completed editing the novellas included in ‘The Client Series’. I look forward to editing Richard Verry’s writings since I see first hand what a great author he is becoming, especially with character development. As in any book, I like to define myself with one of the characters. ‘The Client Series’ was difficult for me. It identifies with one of my greatest fears against the female gender and it is so timely with what is happening in the world today, Human Trafficking.
I like reading and editing with Rich. Those sessions have created heated discussions and since Richard knows I am impatient, he keeps telling me to hang on and “you will feel better” after reading ‘Her Essentia’. I hate to admit it yet he was right! I do feel better.
I hope you enjoy the series too. Please read all three and I implore all women to get through them all.
It will soon be available on his site, www.richardverry.com.
Inspirational Authors
I woke up this morning with thinking about my early days of reading. They started out when I was about seven years old. I read lots of YA books in those days, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew (yep her too), Tom Swift are some of my more memorable books. I grew from those quickly and looked for more interesting stories. I soon discovered authors Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov.
It was when I discovered Robert A. Heinlein that I found my favorite author of all time. My very first book of his that I read was ‘Methuselah’s Children’. I was immediately hooked. I still have that particular 1958 edition in my library. It’s been republished over and over since it was first written in 1941.
‘Methuselah’s Children’ was Heinlein’s early stories into what became his ‘Future Histories’ books. Over the decades, this author managed to weave many of his other books into the ‘Future Histories’ line.
It was his character, Lazarus Long and his many incarnations, that really captured my interest. He was a ruthless yet caring character who could live, love and protect his family and friends. His story lines are filled with polyamorous love and sex of various flavors and experiences. Lazarus Long was a loaner and a family man. He was a father, a son, a husband, a widower, a soldier, a tradesman, a lover and a sinner. Deep down, he was a pacifist but would ruthlessly act to protect the worthy and the needy. He loved life and abhorred violence for violence sake.
As I read everything I could find, I was enamored with his books. I couldn’t get enough of Robert A. Heinlein. I was saddened when he died.
As I think about those days, reading his stories, I now realize that Heinlein helped shape me to be the person I am today. Instinctively, I’ve always known that about him. Now I understand it.
Who is the person that most influenced you in becoming who you are? I would enjoy reading your comments on my site www.richardverry.com.
Renée is through and through a submissive. She has little drive to direct the course of her own life and would rather live the path others have set for her. However, when assigned a task, she is relentless in doing her best work. She allows nothing to stand in her way with achieving her goal. I know many people, men and women alike, who are very much like her. You may know someone too.
As a submissive, she looks to her Master and his delegates for direction in all things. She firmly believes in that authority that includes all aspects of her life, even if it includes her conversion. Ready, willing and able to serve, she does so with enthusiasm and wonderment. She tends to see the good in life though she knows that not everything is perfect. She just chooses not to deal with the bad things.
She is young but has managed to rise in the ranks to 5th year standing within her house. She is smart and knows how to manage assets and categorize data. She is a whiz with a data terminal and can usually look up the answer to virtually any question that is stored somewhere in one of the voluminous databases available to her.
She is a 46.7kg (103 lb) with a small petite frame. She has short black hair and medium-sized breasts with well-rounded ‘C’ cups and perky dark nipples. Due to her small frame, she appears to have a narrower waist and larger hips than one would expect.
She likes to wear high heel stiletto shoes. She can never have too many. Having worn them since a younglings, her feet have evolved to take the shape of wearing heels, even when she is barefoot. She tends to walk on the balls of her feet and her heels automatically elevate off the floor.
Since meeting Mona, she has discovered an ability to research data and draw conclusions from her research. She is also an excellent administrator, capable of overseeing the running of a house. Her duties as a House Hostess give her access to knowing at all times what might be going on within her house. This enables her to deal with issues or problems as they arise. These talents will prove useful to her in the future.
If you are curious and want to learn more about Renee, I invite you to read the book, ‘The Taste of Honey’. I look forward to reading your comments.
With a title, I had a really rough idea of how I wanted the story to go. At the time, I wasn’t thinking I would publish it but I want to write a fresh and new story. As I researched the story idea, I found little that someone else hadn’t already written about my idea. Great! Time to get writing in earnest.
So, with a title and a rough, and I mean really rough, concept, I began writing. No outline, no framework that existed except in my head. As the stories developed, I wrote draft after draft refining it as I went along. I wrote a future history and an encyclopedia of the rules and concepts of the universe I was creating. Over the years, the drafts and the supporting material got more and more refined.
This process went on for two years. During that time, I didn’t tell anyone that I was writing a full length novel. As the months went by, I would pick it up and work on it. At other times, weeks would go by without even thinking about it. Six months before I finished it, I resolved myself to work harder at it. Diligently, I would write a chapter a day or so. Then, a funny thing happened.
I started waking up at four in the morning with awesome dialog running through my head of this scene or that one. Like the imagery that invades my thoughts, the dialog my half asleep mind developed was perfect. Instead of trying to fall back asleep, I would get up and write for a couple of hours. On weekends, I would write well into mid-morning.
My lady-love would wake up and begin talking to me and I’d ask her to hang on until I finished my thought. At times she’d be okay and at other times, not. Oops! Not good. But the unwritten dialog was just too good to interrupt. I had to capture it and I beg forgiveness and kept on writing.
Then, while on a trip to Florida, I did a final push and finished the book. That’s when I involved my girlfriend and other friends, editing it again and again. They all told me, “Rich, you need to publish this. It’s too good not to.”
So, I published it and immediately began writing in earnest, driving myself to continue Mona and Honey’s story. Four months later, I released the sequel ‘Broken Steele’. I’ll tell you about how that came to be written in a future blog.
I wrote ‘The Taste of Honey’ at a time in my life when I was bored with painting and was taking a break. That’s about the time I stepped up my reading, voraciously consuming book after book.
At the same time, my brain kept intruding my thoughts with imagery and scenarios that I captured with my drawings and paintings. I couldn’t capture them fast enough and so many slipped away.
Taking a break from drawing and painting, I started browsing the net for anything that might interest me. I was reviewing the things I used to do as a young man and realized that I used to write stories. Keeping that in mind as I browsed the net, I stumbled upon a series of adult graphic stories that I absolutely loved. As I devoured them, I thought, I can write this, too. I began by keeping a running dialog in my mind of possible topics.
Whenever I thought of a fresh story idea, I would research the subject and usually found that many people had already written and published a story that was too similar to my idea. So … I went back and kept looking.
Somewhere along the way, the title ‘The Taste of Honey’ jumped into my head. I had the title, now I just needed the story! As I thought more about the title, the story started to materialize. I don’t know how other authors do this, but this is how I did it. I would enjoy reading about various methods used so feel free to share.
More to come tomorrow. Please join me then.
Please check out ‘The Taste of Honey’. The first chapter is available for free on this site as well as on Amazon and other e-book retailers. ‘The Taste of Honey’ is available right now on this website as well as Amazon and other book online retailers.
Yesterday, BFF’s Mona and Honey spent the day together, sharing memories and creating new ones. Since Honey is carrying, Mona took it upon herself to go visit her friend. A lot has happened since they first met six months ago.
They talk about everything, from the smallest little details of their daily life to the big ones involving their respective Masters. The one thing they do not talk about is how they came to meet. Honey was stalked, attacked, kidnapped and almost killed. Everyone else thought that she had simply run away from home, shirking her duties to her family and community.
Mona found her, rescued her and saved her from almost certain death. She discovered who the perpetrator, who was later punished. As a result of the events, the traumatized Honey and Mona became best friends. Neither would have it any other way.
In sharing time together yesterday, they relished the opportunity to be thankful for finding each other and their respective lives, their housemates and their Masters. Sharing a superb meal together, they talked, laughed and even cried long into the evening.
Not to be left out, they also included many of Honey’s housemates into their circle of fellowship. Till now, most of them would usually leave them alone, knowing that they needed their time together alone. Besides, most of them were in awe with a bit of hero-worship towards Mona. Their honor restored through Mona’s relentless search to discover the truth of Honey’s disappearance, they believed they owed a debt to Mona. Mona didn’t think so. She was just doing what she does what she does.
So, yesterday, the two women invited them into their circle, answered questions, posed some their own and enjoyed each others company well into the night.
As Mona drove home afterwards, she reflected upon the warm feelings, emotions and fellowship offered her that day. She couldn’t help but feel grateful by their attentions. After all, in her mind, what she did for that family was a very small thing indeed. She would have done it for anyone.
But one thing could be said for the day. She was very thankful that Honey was forever, a part of her life.
Don’t know what to give someone for the holidays?
Give the gift of reading by giving ‘The Taste of Honey’. Available on Amazon or right here on this site. You’ll be able to share many hours together comparing your favorite scenes.
Also available is the sequel, ‘Broken Steele’ also available at Amazon or right here on this site.
Mona just found out about a catastrophe in a neighboring community. Turns out it’s the same community that her bed-mate Renee has been getting those terrific custom-made heels that both she and Mona love. The question on their minds are whether her shoe maker who creates these wonderful shoes that everyone raves about survived the catastrophe. Information on just what happened is sketchy but apparently lots of people were involved with an unsanctioned killing spree. Up-to-date Information is sketchy at best but what they do have is that a small group of people crashed a community celebration systematically went around killing the celebrants.
Her housemates in shock, Mona puts aside her disbelieve and organizes the house in a show of support for the survivors. The tragedy they suffered ripples throughout the land and everyone vows to find and put down the perpetrators. Gathering her housemates together, just as she would do to honor one of their own recently departed, she calls them into action. Before long, a memorial is planned, a house colors are temporarily transformed to the those of the stricken community and moments of silence are scheduled for repeating days at the hour of the tragedy.
Enlisting the aid of her investigative team, she re-prioritizes her staff to stop whatever they were doing and focus on determining whether their own communities vulnerability to a similar attack. Additionally, she charges several of her key investigators to find the perpetrators and report back to her. Uncharacteristically, she warns them that they must find them, even to risk their own lives. They agree knowing that there must not be a repeat occurrence of this tragedy.
After sending them on their way, she meets with Master Charles and together, they put together a plan to take out the perpetrators. Their ire inflamed, they both feel that this is something they must do in order to protect entire community. Not something either of comfortable with, they both believe it must be done.
I would like to thank everyone who in one way or another, contributed to supporting me over the past several weeks. For some, they have been stressed. For others, they have been supportive and offered many suggestions. All have my deepest gratitude. Please have a cup of coffee (or your favorite relaxation beverage on me.)
My thanks extend to those who have recently purchased a book. You lift me up in ways that you’ll never realize.
Thanks for to my mentors and advisers who help me work out plot lines, design elements and similar concepts. I want to particularly thank Helena, Tammy, Pegelee, Peter and Dan. You support me in ways I hope you’ll one day fully appreciate.
I big thank you to Leah Hart (www.creativwriter.com), who worked hard, put up with my zillion of questions and delivered a professional product I am very proud of. You can’t go wrong in hiring her expertise.
Finally, the biggest thank you to the love of my life, who put up with my schedule, the long nights and the hours when I disappeared from her life, even though we were in the same room together. I love you sweetie and will make it all worthwhile. Hugs.
Now, I hope that if you have read this far, you’ll take the extra moment to check out one of my books. There are free samples available for instant download right here on this site. What’s more, I have plenty more in the works. Let me know how you like them.
So, I need help. I’m hoping you can help.
As a relatively new indie book author/publisher, I struggle every time trying to find the best photos to use as the basis for a cover. As I am also an artist, I like to do my own digital design .
In the past, I’ve licensed photos from iStock and 123RF. As I get deeper into book authoring and publishing, I am astounded by the covers I’ve seen from other indie authors.
I’d love to hear from all you indie authors as to where and how you develop your covers. Are there better sites for selecting and licensing photos for covers? Googling helps but I consistently get sucked in to sites that sell these services. I’d rather license the photo and do the rest of the work myself.
Oh, I need to keep the licensing costs down. One photo I found, the owner wanted hundreds of dollars to give me a minimal license. Suffice to say, I didn’t buy it.
I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Thanks for sharing.
