Back in the Saddle Again…

The creative mind. What a wonderful beast. Unfortunately, this same mind can perform quite similar to a regular mind. Take situps for example. I determined I would do 50 situps and 25 pushups each day. Time requirement? 5 to 10 minutes. Consistency of performance? Sporadic.

As writers, we fall into this often. In some respects, failing to write causes more problems than skirting the exercise regimen. (Yes, it can be called a regimen even if the numbers are as tiny as mentioned above…)

The Rogues worked hard on pulling off a large book launch. Good things came of the effort. We did get some unexpected exposure, we learned some lessons, and we sold some books. Then we stumbled a bit on our writing exercise. I for one fell into a pattern of not writing my blog posts.

Did you realize the Rogues Gallery Writers have produced four Kindles and two books? Fictitious Fiction, More Writing is Easy, Writing is Easy, andThe Method Writers. When I look at those numbers on the screen, I marvel at our productivity. We all write. We all are involved with other projects. Yet we still produce. To see a slight lull in our productivity does not seem to set well with us though.

Our meeting tonight addressed the fact that we (I am royally one of the “we’s”) allowed our blog posts to slip like my situps and pushups. The great thing about being a member of a focus writers group is accountability. When we meet and talk and discuss and plan, we inspire each other to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and get back to it again.

We are proud of our book, The Method Writers. We feel if people would pick it up, they’d find themselves a good read. The only way anyone will know for sure is to get a copy. So I’ll make it easy for you. Here’s the link to the Kindle version of The Method Writers, and here’s the link to our fully autographed hardcover copies of The Method Writers.

Pick one up. Give us a shot. We’re betting you will be glad you did! We’re also bringing our blogging back to full capacity. Read on!

Thanksgiving, You Kidding Me?

Ok. I know writers have it tough. Hell, I play a writer in the new novel The Method Writers. But isn’t it carrying things a bit far by making me, Marty Pitchford, a character in a book, write this blog?

I should have known. Michael Ray King, my MASTER, my CREATOR, decided to spend time with his family and left me to do the writing again. Like I’ve said before, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.

I’m getting more exposure than he is these days. I even wrote a kick-ass short story for our new book. Yeah, the one all the characters from The Method Writers are writing. I’m enjoying loads of fun on this one.

Mr. King wrote an award winning short story titled Why Me? last year. Click on that link to buy the book the story appears in. Hey,  come on! The book’s only $2.99. I know you can afford that!It is in Kindle format. Remember, you can get a free Kindle App out there!

Anyway, what I did was take that story, which was written from the guy’s perspective, and I turned it around from the woman’s perspective. What a great exercise in writing skills! I loved the story too, as it was pretty hot and steamy.

My fellow characters are pretty close to being done with their stories. Our plan is to get our book out before the Rogues Gallery Writers can get The Method Writers novel out. We figure, if we show people what we can do, maybe we’ll make a name for ourselves before the Rogues.

Of course, there is the problem that we call ourselves the Rogues Gallery Writers too. What’s up with that? I think our creators didn’t entirely trust us. I mean, why else would they do that?

Now, if we get our book out, people might think we’re the real Rogues. I mean, we are the real Rogues, but I mean the real, real Rogues. Ok, the Rogues that exist in your world. We’re damn good writers in our own right (and world), so we need some love too, you know.

We have a trick up our sleeve, though. When we release our book on ebook, guess what we’re going to do. Ninety-nine cents. Yep. We’re going to undercut our creators. We’re going for volume, baby! We have some great stuff in this book too.

I think I’m just going to reconcile myself to writing this blog every week. Like the babe I slipped into the blog? Hey, like I said, I just wrote a steamy short story based on Mr. King‘s award winning story. I needed some inspiration, you know?

Until next week…

Post Festival Report: Contest Winners, Link to Free Rogues’ eBook

If you missed the Rogues at yesterday’s 2011 Florida Heritage Book Festival, you had missed an opportunity to win a free autographed copy of our group novel, The Method Writers, which will be released this November. Congratulations to our five winners: Rance, Cookie, Gary, Chris, and Lorraine. You’ll be notified by email shortly. Thanks to all who participated.

Yesterday, we were also handing out cards with a QR code that contained a link to a free copy of the Rogues Gallery Writers’ ebook, More Writing is Easy. Today we’re going to share that link with everyone, so please download your free PDF ebook here: FREE BOOK!!! 

More contains 9 additional Rogues stories that were not ready in time to make our collection, Writing is Easy. The stories include the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Award winner, Why Me?, Prelude and The Sunshine Bus Company (both ranked top ten in the Florida Writers Association collection Slices of Life, and Beware of Riptides (finalist for the 2011 RPLAs.)

At the Festival, the Rogues also premiered their mockumentary, Behind the Prose, which will soon be viewable on Kickstarter once our project has been posted. More information on our kickstarter project will soon be provided!