Where Did My Hour Go?

Ah, Daylight Savings Time (DST), further proof that society is a slave to the clock. It’s remarkable to think that nearly 100% of the nation moves their entire lives forward one hour. It’s quite an accomplishment considering that billions of dollars, countless person-hours and tons of research have only reduced the number of smokers in our country by 15%.

But, I digress. 

Review: Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Loved it. A great continuation from the original story. Stephen King was back in his wheelhouse.

The story is about as good as a sequel can get. Within the first few chapters, you felt as if you just put down The Shining and picked up this book. A re-introduction of a couple of your favorite characters followed by a couple of great scenes will put you right back into the world of Danny Torrance. We all remember Danny, riding his tricycle around the resort and of course his "red rum."

You won't be disappointed with his story, decades later. While bringing the past into the present, King introduces a fresh take with new characters you can root for and villains that will scare your socks off.

Not sure how he pulled off a sequel so long after the original, but he did. Without falling into the trap of a cookie-cutter horror novel, Doctor Sleep is more robust, with deeper meaning than the original. Awesome.




View all my reviews

Six Things to Avoid if You Want Success

Throughout my life, I’ve been lucky enough to hang around million-dollar athletes, history-making attorneys, world-famous musicians, and friends that you never heard of who change people’s lives for the better every day. The common bond between all of these people is the ability to live life to its fullest on their own terms.

While there is no secret to success, I’ve tried to learn from other successful people who have entered my life, even if only for a minute or two. Today, I’m sharing a few of those lessons. The universe offers boundless rewards and only your own thinking and behaviors can determine how much of it you reap. I’m not saying that I’ve perfected all of these, but I have witnessed the result of both positive and negative influences.


As individuals, each of us has a different definition of success. It isn’t necessarily monetary or fame—the process itself may define success. Whatever your goals, here are a few things to avoid that less-successful individuals typically let guide their life. Once we recognize them, we can make changes that will propel our lives to a different place.

Author Earnings Expands Data Set to Top 54,000 Titles

Hugh Howey has released his latest report to go with last weeks inaugural report. The data remains solid and continues to show the value of self publishing over traditional publishing. Great information and a must read for anyone considering or involved in the writing world.

You can find the breakdown and raw data at Author Earnings The 50K Report.


Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card and So This is Christmas. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!

Author Earnings - A Report by Hugh Howey

I know that many of you have seen this report on other forums, but I felt that it was important enough to reblog it here. Hugh Howey's Author Earnings Report has rattled the publishing industry. Posted on his new site, Author Earnings, his report breaks down the self publishing and traditional publishing industry by the numbers. 

Sure, it might have a few flaws, but with the inability to extract exact numbers, this is as close as one could get. I'll be looking for more as they continue to expand the sample size.

Please visit his blog to see the full report ...  http://authorearnings.com/the-report/

Publisher's Weekly Names Top Blogs

As many of you know, I am a weekly contributor on Indies Unlimited, a blog for indie authors and readers. It's chock full of how-to posts, sneak peaks, tutorials, contests, and tons more. 

All of us at Indies Unlimited are stoked by this weeks announcement at Publisher's Weekly. Indies Unlimited was picked among the top six great blogs for indie authors. This is a great honor, considering IU has only been around for a couple of years. You can read the announcement from Publisher's Weekly here.

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to visit and comment over on IU. You have helped us make it a fantastic resource for indie authors, publishers and readers.

Four Reasons I Watch More Football Than Baseball

On the Road With the M's

The Super Bowl is right around the corner. I’ll enjoy it much more this year because my beloved Seattle Seahawks made it to the big game. I’m an avid Seahawks fan and these days, I watch far more football than baseball. How can that be if my roots are in baseball? I spent eight years working with the Seattle Mariners, on the field and in the clubhouse. I road-tripped with the Mariners and even served as the batboy for the National League during the Major LeagueBaseball All-Star game.

A shift has occurred over the last decade. Does it have anything to do with the lack of success of the current Mariner teams? After all, they haven’t been to the playoffs since 2001. I don’t think that is it, I still follow the Mariners and get excited each spring. As a comparison, the Seahawks had some awful teams during the past decade as well and I continued to watch.