When I stumbled upon one of the articles on Newspapers.com, I knew I had to write a book about him. A life-size talking deer made of iron who was wise, funny, and sometimes sarcastic–I loved it. This deer was a big celebrity in his early days and is still a prominent figure in his hometown. … More The talking Court House Deer of Wilkes-Barre
I’ve now written two nonfiction books about the coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania. The first, “Coal Country Connections” is based on the over 70 signatures in an autograph album from the 1880s owned by a woman from the region, and the book is about the lives of the signers of the album. The second book, … More “Coal Country Connections” & “You Dream Every Night That I am Home” are now available in bookshops
The ability to self-publish on Amazon is an amazing thing. I’m proof that it can be done—I just published my second book, You Dream Every Night That I am Home. It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to pull up your own book on your Kindle, or to open a package from Amazon to find a … More Self-publishing means self-promotion
I’m just full of announcements. Back around the holidays I announced that I would be imminently unpublishing my book This, Their Friendship’s Monument (TTFM) on Amazon and publishing a new and improved version of it called Coal Country Connections (C3). A quick recap—I had decided that I wanted to change the black and white images … More Writing prognostiphobia–yes, it’s a thing
It should have been easy. All I wanted to do was change the photos in my book on Amazon from black and white (B&W) to color. Simple, right? Nope. This cautionary tale is being told for two reasons–to let my readers know that my old book will soon become a new book (sort of), and … More My book will soon be unpublished & republished with a new name on Amazon–read on to discover why
I’m writing a book. My second one, actually (the first one This, Their Friendship’s Monument can be found on Amazon). Writing my first book taught me how hard writing a first book can be. And because I self-published using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), I know how complicated that is too. In some of my previous … More From Procrastination Station to Conjunction Junction: writing is hard
I never thought I’d write about history. I’ve always liked to write, sure, and I tried my hand at writing novels years ago. But when my grandmother died a few years ago and we found a little autograph album in her records, I unexpectedly found my reason to write. The autograph/friendship album was filled with … More When the present blocks you from the past: one of the challenges of writing about the past
When I published “This, Their Friendship’s Monument” in September 2020 on Amazon, I didn’t think an index for it was necessary. Probably because I’d spent literally years writing it and could locate anything in it in a matter of seconds. It’s been a few months since the writing dust settled, and I recently went back … More “This, Their Friendship’s Monument” now has an index
A few years ago, I began writing a book. It’s about the lives of the people who signed my great-times-three Aunt Mary’s autograph/friendship album. Aunt Mary was the daughter of Scots-Irish immigrants and lived in a coal town in northeastern Pennsylvania. The Civil War, massive coal mine strikes and disasters, and the 1918 flu pandemic … More If You Self-Publish on Amazon, Are you Considered a “real” Author?
I wrote a book and recently published it on Amazon. And trust me, if I can do it, you can too. Seriously. See my previous posts about formatting my manuscript for the Kindle version and the paperback (print-on-demand). Here are some things I’ve figured out since I hit “publish”. First of all, it’s exhilarating to … More Self Publication Anxieties…Who Knew?
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