Jim Devitt

Monday, November 18, 2013

Refresh - The Addiction of the Indie Author

I had to share this. Anyone who has published a book and distributed it on Amazon or Smashwords can relate to this.

Thanks to my Dad for finding this and passing it along!

Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card. 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!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

New 5 and 4 Star Reviews of The Card

It's been over two years since I published THE CARD . Even though its been awhile, reviews continue to post on Amazon. Most recently, there has been two five star and one four star review posted to Amazon. Here's a glimpse at what others are saying:

The good news? The sequel to The Card is in the final stages of editing and revisions! The new Van Stone adventure, The Scorecard, is optimistically scheduled for publication just after the first of the year. We'll keep you up to date on the progress as it happens. Thanks for all your support!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Review of Deadly Faux by Larry Brooks

I have been a fan of Larry Brooks since I began my dream of writing professionally. His concepts on Story Engineering have helped me tremendously in my process as a novelist. His website, Storyfix.com is a wealth of information for any seasoned or beginning writer. You might have seen me mention Larry and Storyfix in the past, having posted about his site several times, the first being more than two years ago. If you want to get it right, check out Larry’s take on the Six Core Competencies, Plot Points and Story Structure. You can find it all on his website or, pick up a copy of his Story Engineeringand more recently, Story Physics: Harnessing the Underlying Forces of Storytelling.

This is not a case of, “If you can’t do—teach” as Larry has published six novels. His most recent, Deadly Faux, is the second with protagonist Wolfgang Schmitt. After a ten-year break, Brooks returned with a sequel to Bait and Switch, and his reluctant undercover FBI agent in this new thriller. The following is my review posted on Amazon.

Focus

It gets crazy with all the events, work, social media, family commitments, and pure clutter that crop up every day. Not that some of these things aren’t important; they are. However, to be successful in writing, you need focus.

With focus, you become more efficient and the process becomes repeatable. Focus allows you to concentrate on what your abilities can do, and where they can take you. We have many excuses—time, money, insecurity—the list goes on.

Godspeed, Scott Carpenter

Yesterday, Scott Carpenter, an icon in the early days of space exploration passed. He was one of only two of the original seven astronauts. The Original 7 as they were known, were the Mercury astronauts that would be the first Americans to go into the heavens.

In the early days of spaceflight, the Original 7 were a competitive group of test pilots and elite armed forces pilots. This group thrived on competition, whether it was drag racing their Corvettes on a deserted road in Florida or in the hotspots and nightclubs of Cocoa Beach. Scott Carpenter was one of them. The Original 7 enjoyed rock star status in the 1960's.

Is Success Just Around the Corner?

How close are you to success? Do you see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

We never really know, do we? We don’t know what is around the next corner. Just ask someone like Hugh Howey of Wool series fame. In his interview with IU he mentioned that he attributes a lot of his success to “… dumb luck. Things just take off sometimes.”

How do we know if success is just around the corner for ourselves?

We don’t.