First Word

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             January 1, 2018                                                                         Contact: Michelle Gamble                                                                         Mobile: 916-300-8012   ...

If you're struggling with getting your novel out of your head or even finishing it, here are some tips to get your fingers tapping on that keyboard again. Just do it - sounds like a Nike commercial. Just do this... well, just putting something into action helps create what? A verb called doing! Even if you don't know what you're going to write, grab your cup of Joe, plant your bum in the chair, prepare your hands, and start typing. Just write whatever comes to mind. Let your imagination run wild. You will be surprised if all of a sudden all of that so-called random rambling turns into a real story! Eight pages a day keeps your novel on its way - yes! Give yourself a page count goal. Stephen King has one - eight pages. He writes eight whole pages and then goes to do what he wants for the day. I'm sure he writes more if he's so inclined, but setting a goal is always good. So, set up your daily page count and make the goal before you move on. I personally write an en...

Today for the do-it-yourself-ers, I thought I would give you a brief tutorial on press release writing. My bachelor's degree is in Public Relations. I remember taking the media class and learning the basic rules of press release writing. Any class at that time that indulged my love of writing was always a winner - whether press releases or essays. So, I'm going to take you through each part.   Press releases require a standard format. It's the same every time and it looks like this (just replace with your info) for the HEADER:   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        Date:                                                             Contact:     ...

So when the day arrived that Kevin pulled up in an Uber car to be dropped off for treatment, no one realized that her ex-husband had become a new patient. Merry stood at the window on the top floor and pulled back the Venetian blinds to watch Kevin exit the cab to Ms. Fisher’s care. Looking down on her pitiful ex-husband made her feel almost smug. She felt a surge of electrical energy pulse through her body. She couldn’t help but chuckle a little as she watched him trudge in. She wondered if Judge Wilson, who had sentenced Kevin after he got busted in a drug raid with Jude, realized where he had sent Kevin. “Probably not,” she whispered and laughed aloud.

Three months later Frank had become a complete drug addict. OxyoNtin was but one of his drugs du jour. After enjoying the incredible numbing effect of OxyoNtin, Frank easily moved to heroine after they busted a runner coming up Highway 5 to make a delivery. Frank initially swiped just a little and found he loved the instant high and the sensation of caring about nothing. At first, he thought he could handle it. He would only inject the junk at night or on weekends, but a casual dalliance soon got out of control.

An epic struggle erupts! The time for revenge draws near. Who will survive as the very fate of humanity is at stake? Children of the Guardians is an incredible, intergalactic tale about the classic struggle of good vs. evil. Nearly 150 years have passed since Arturo mysteriously murdered two Guardians and stole their Crystal Skulls. The year is now 2027, and the G`Alad has strategically positioned themselves politically and physically to take control of the Earth, but they must first find and destroy the last Pyraportal that protects the peaceful Balsarius. Meanwhile, Guardian Ana must prepare to fight back against her estranged grandson, Arturo. Ana has fled to keep her new charges from falling to the temptations of the evil-tainted weapons that now control the G`Alad and Arturo. Will Ana have enough time to train this new generation of Guardians, or will Ares and Arturo destroy them before they begin? Can Ana and her charges fight this alone – or will she need hel...

What would you have if you took some of the country’s greatest minds, infused some of the most amazing speakers and placed it in the backdrop of paradise? Habits and Attitudes in Cabo! This five-day four-night trip takes place at one of Cabo’s newest and hottest Resorts, BREATHLESS. Watch the video ( click here ).

Overall, I really liked this book. I am really glad I got the chance to read it. Not many books unnerve me with their words, but this one did. I look forward to reading more of Ferry-Perata’s books in the future. ~ Jessyca Garcia, Reader's Choice It will tug at your heart strings, and keep pulling you back in. A great read. Wonderfully, beautifully written story. ~ Amy's Bookshelf This is a beautifully written book about the bounds of friendship ... Great story, great characters and an unbelievable twist at the end. Read this book ! ~ Imaskeptic  Available on Amazon ( click here ). Grains of Truth takes readers into the lives of two best friends, Sarah and Zoe. Each woman has experienced heartbreak and betrayal in their quests for love. Their lives center on the happenings at the local feed store where each woman works. The store is managed by the affable and caring, Tom who is the only male heir to the chain owned by patriarch Otis. Otis, a larger-than-life ...

I haven't been blogging much on the personal side of my life. Maybe as I transformed my life for just this once I decided it didn't need to be on public display. Now that I'm on the other side of the transformation and floating nicely in the current of my life, I'm going to open up. When I share my personal life, it's an endeavor to help enlighten others. If I can give back to the world through the lessons of life experience hopefully you'll either avoid the same pitfalls or nod and laugh, thinking, "Yes!" Something important happened in the last year. Something quite literally "mind altering". After falling into the depth of depression and suffering some major life changes and losses, I woke up. I looked at my life and I wondered, "How did I get here?" I was broke, heart broken, and depressed. I had allowed negativity to take over my positive outlook. I had allowed the negative to cloud the positive. I was living in perpetu...

Sex, Drugs, Murder!   "As Pete walked into the door's shadows, he paused. He thought he was either walking through the doors of hell or entering the next phase of his life."   Welcome to rehab, a place where addicts come to get clean and sober, or in this case ... die! The Abused is a psychological thriller about nine addicts whose poisonous drug use has destroyed lives, including their own. One after another, each addict arrives to face their demons. One after another, each addict is getting killed.   The Abused invites readers into the world of rehab where everyone, including the therapists, have issues. What happens when someone's "issues" become murderous?    Nine go in ... who comes out?     Let's do the anatomy of what I did to create this effective back-cover copy.   Tip 1 - It's a marketing piece not a part of the book and not necessarily a summary. Your no. #1 goal without question is to sell bo...

Sex, Drugs, Murder! "As Pete walked into the door’s shadows, he paused. He thought he was either walking through the doors of hell or entering the next phase of his life." Welcome to rehab, a place where addicts come to get clean and sober, or in this case ... die! The Abused is a psychological thriller about nine addicts whose poisonous drug use has destroyed lives, including their own. One after another, each addict arrives to face their demons. One after another, each addict is getting killed. The Abused invites readers into the world of rehab where everyone, including the therapists, have issues. What happens when someone's "issues" become murderous?    Nine go in ... Nine don't come out!   The Abused -- Coming Soon!

Q: What is Grains of Truth about? A: The lives, friendship and lovers of two best friends, Sarah and Zoe. The women work for a local feed store owned by a blustering Texan named Otis. When the “feed-store girl” Sarah falls for Otis’ only male heir, scandal and heartbreak erupt. Q: What makes this contemporary romance unique from others in the genre? A: The story of love and friendship is timeless. While it might on the surface seem simple: girl meets boy; family doesn’t approve of the lovers; and girl loses boy – it’s the subtext that offers the fresh ideas. Much more is going on in this story than what appears to be obvious. The book calls for readers to really pay attention and dig a little deeper as the story unfolds. Q: What is the sub-plot in the story? A: While we have the romance between Tom and Sarah, the secondary story is about her best friend Zoe and her struggles. She’s a single mom whose ex-husband has betrayed and left her to raise thei...

So you're pitching your book or you've hired someone (hopefully me) to do it. I recently had a client say, he tried many times to get into Experience Life magazine (for his first book). I said, "Did you follow up after you pitched it?" He said, "No." I replied, "Fortune is in the Follow-Up," which is a great older book by Heidi Sloss we published several years ago. Follow-up is critical. Do you give up after one try? Don't give up if you want success and here's why...   How many times have you had an in-box full of email? Do you answer all of them right on the spot? Well, I do but I am the exception to the rule. I follow a strict customer service policy of being available and responsive. The only time I'm not responsive is after hours. Now, I have exceptions depending on the client. I have many casual and friendly relationships with clients where I respond regardless. We have that kind of rapport. Clients that I don...

Let's get right to the announcements section. Going on press is the second book in the "Insider's Guide" series titled The Insider's Guide for the Invisilign Patient by Dr. Barry Glaser. Meanwhile his first book The Insider's Guide to Invisilign Treatment continues to steadily sell. He's almost out of all of the print copies from the first print run right as the book is about to go from pre-sale to sale. His success is a fabulous case study in social media marketing tactics. Dr. Glaser has come up with his own methods of attracting interest in his book. I wanted to share some of them so you're inspired to try them out.   Social Media professional groups - Dr. Glaser is a member of several orthodontist-related social media professional groups where he regularly participants. Key point: participation .   Don't join groups, stay dormant, and then do what I call "hit-and-run" advertising . Social media failure point ...

  The Lies We Tell Ourselves to Stay Sane In the world of a Texas feed store, the line between reality and truth blurs when love and friendship are at stake. Meet Sarah and Zoe, two best friends who work in a family-owned feed store. Their lives begin to unravel when love sparks between Sarah and the feed store owner’s only heir, Tom. Patriarch Otis quickly makes it known that his only son’s future won’t include the feed store “girl”. The clash over Tom’s love life erupts in a family feud where business is expected to trump love. In the meantime, a romance also ignites between Zoe and the local town physician whom she nicknames “Dr. Sex on Two Legs”. The women are quickly caught up in a family feud that leads to unexpected consequences, loss and tragedy. Grains of Truth is an intense, emotional and passion-filled story about two best friends looking for that one thing everyone wants — love. It’s a story about friendship and accepting what you can’t change. Grains of Truth w...

The final episode of my favorite show this season, Little Big Lies delivered a great ending. ( Spoiler alert: don't read if you want the big surprise ending ).  I hadn't quite figured out why the five women involved in the end were so closely tied in story line except that they were feuding. How the show actually connects the dots at the end was absolutely perfect. Now it makes sense why the police interviews focused on all five. The stories leading up to the murder left open many possibilities. What I hadn't considered was that Perry could be Jane's assailant. As Perry's abuse toward Celeste escalated, it became obvious that he was probably the one to get the proverbial ax. Other reviewers presented numerous scenarios, but I kept thinking it was going to involve Perry. Additionally, the abuse of Ambella started to point toward the twins whom Celeste was convinced had not been witness to their father's abuse. As I connected the themes behind the stories, ...