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Frame this one: Rejection Letters

Frame this one: Rejection Letters

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“Did you keep your first rejection letter?”

That’s an awkward question. My answer usually begins with the caveat: “Okay, please keep in mind, I was only thirteen at the time …”

(Spoiler alert — I didn’t.)

I vaguely recall wandering around the schoolyard at recess, feeling sorry for myself and lamenting the untimely demise of an otherwise promising writing career. (Ah, the self-centered melodrama of the adolescent mind.)

Fast-forward to 2020. A fresh rejection letter arrives, and really makes my day.

A statement like that deserves some explanation.

…

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New Year’s Hat-Tip: a tribute to influencers & encouragers

New Year’s Hat-Tip: a tribute to influencers & encouragers

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The beginning of a new calendar year — let alone a new decade — is an excellent opportunity to stop and reflect.

It’s a chance to honor some of the significant people who have shaped us by their encouragement and belief in us.

As a young writer, I spent a great deal of time by myself, as most writers do. My high school provided exactly zero (0) classes in Creative Writing. If there were other aspiring writers in my vicinity, we shared a common anonymity.

…

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Write/Query/Pitch: Setting Goals for 2020

Write/Query/Pitch: Setting Goals for 2020

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When it comes to writing, I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions. Most resolutions in my world have more to do with becoming a better humanoid.

If — on the other hand — the topic is “setting writing goals for a new year,” count me in.

Creative writing goals range between a no-brainer (Write. Edit. Revise. Repeat.) and the steely-eyed demands of setting Measurable Productivity Goals.

My learning curve on queries and pitching “live” over the past couple of years has been informative. I’m still scratching the surface—probably more than I realize—but what I’ve learned will impact my goals for 2020. More on that later.

…

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Tracker (T1) Book Launch

Tracker (T1) Book Launch

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“An imaginative world, an array of well-rounded characters, and a pleasantly unpredictable plot.”
“Nightmares — I loved this book!”

from the back cover

A generation ago, Earth’s wealthiest citizens—the Hoarders—seized control of the planet’s resources, retreated into their fortified Enclaves, and left the rest of the population to fend for itself.

Now, Hoarders have begun randomly Implanting people with a new kind of microtechnology, capable of converting their unsuspecting hosts into violent and deadly automatons.

They also created Trackers, a stealth unit of mechanically and chemically enhanced creatures, fanatically devoted to hunting down and killing anyone unlucky enough to have an Implant.

Amos Morgan and Aubrey Carter, together with a small band of fellow Runners, must unravel the mystery, racing against time before the Trackers locate them. And before their own Implants change them into … something else.

available at:

All links via Books2Read

Diagnosis: Implant

Diagnosis: Implant

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(Tracker flash fiction #2)

Aubrey reels from the news. Her heart pounds and dizziness threatens to overwhelm her. This can’t be happening. Why me?

It’s easy to feel resentful.

She’s doing the best she can, carving out a life for herself after the Hoarders completed construction on their walled Enclave.

Two years after what should’ve been her high school graduation — an event she’d only heard stories of — she moved north to a small village in search of work.

She doesn’t mind her job at the ramshackle café. Her boss is gruff but fair, and Aubrey managed to rent a tiny, but affordable, house in town. And when Thomas and Sarah moved in next door, Aubrey knew they’d become good friends. Things were looking up.

Her sense of well-being is short-lived.

Tonight, Aubrey sits in Thomas and Sarah’s kitchen, listening with stunned horror as they explain what a Tracker is, what it’s capable of, and the sinister meaning of “Harvest.” Their description of the soul-less creature is daunting enough, but Aubrey can’t fathom why it should matter to her, living so far from the Enclave.

Until a somber-faced Thomas pulls out a scanner, and Sarah gently turns the conversation to Implants.

Available at:

All links via Books2Read

More Flash Fiction Previews


the Runner
Fear the Harvest
Tracker (Behind the Scenes): Death in the Alley

Tracker (Behind the Scenes): Death in the Alley

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The “Death in the Alley” scene represents a turning point (neither the first nor the last) in the fast-paced story of Tracker.

The first meeting of the two main POV characters, Amos Morgan and Aubrey Carter, isn’t your typical “Good afternoon, charmed to make your acquaintance introduction.”

Amos arms himself with a combat hunting knife, wishing for something deadlier. Aubrey’s life flashes before her eyes, and she almost forgets to breathe.

Everyone’s nerves are on edge, to say the least. Amos and Aubrey’s companions — Don, Sheila, Stephen, and the acerbic Jane “Snake Lady” Avery — share the same jittery trepidation. Narrowly averting disaster, the new acquaintances dare to relax, breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Then a third POV character — a Tracker — shows up.

And the body count starts to rise.

Trackers may be considered “soul-less,” but they are grimly efficient in their obsession with the “Harvest.” That Runners must die in order for the Trackers to collect their Implants is of no concern.

Amos is right — a combat knife is a mediocre defense against the brutality of an enhanced killing machine.

the Runner

the Runner

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(Tracker flash fiction #1)

Amos was running long before he knew he was a Runner. The trauma from his twelfth year drove him, stalking his dreams, corroding his waking hours.

He did his best to control it, to put a clamp on the accusing inner voice, to block out the recurring nightmares.

Over time, he’d learned how to cope, to carve out a semblance of normalcy in the chaotic world they’d inherited after the Hoarders abandoned them.

Until the day it was confirmed by Doc Simon: the hated Hoarders had buried an Implant in his body — somewhere. And now he was fully a Runner, a human time bomb, and a threat to anyone close to him if his Implant activated.

And he was also a target for the subhuman Trackers. The blood-thirsty creatures would stop at nothing until they’d gutted him for the microtechnology hidden in his body.

So Amos did what any Runner would do. He ran …

Available at:

All links via Books2Read

More Flash Fiction Previews


Diagnosis: Implant
Fear the Harvest
Why YOU should attend a writing conference

Why YOU should attend a writing conference

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I’m a big fan — and shameless advocate for — writing conferences. It doesn’t matter where you’re at in your writing journey. It’s in your best interests to attend a writing conference as often as you can.

At the very least, you’ll find yourself surrounded by other people as book-nerdy as you. Creative souls who can encourage, challenge, sharpen and cheer you on.

…

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Foreshadowing the New Release: Tracker

Foreshadowing the New Release: Tracker

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Two generations ago, Earth’s richest citizens — the Hoarders — seized control of the planet’s resources, retreated into their heavily guarded Enclaves, and left the rest of the population to fend for itself.

Until recently, when the Hoarders began to randomly implant people with a new kind of micro-technology, capable of converting their unsuspecting hosts into violent and deadly automatons.

They also created the Trackers, chemically and mechanically enhanced creatures fanatically devoted to hunting down and killing anyone unlucky enough to have an Implant.

Amos Morgan and Aubrey Carter, together with a small band of fellow Runners, must unravel the mystery, racing against time before the Trackers discover them.

And before their own Implants change them into …

Something else.

Before the Trackers, survival was easy.

November 6, 2019