First Word

She looked down at her usual clipboard and when Derek stepped forward to shake her hand she ignored it. “Cocaine, huh, booze … what else?” Derek noticed the rebuff but forced a smile, hoping to charm her for future purposes. After seeing she would be unmoved, he responded with hesitation: “Sex addiction.” Ms. Fisher nodded, “And…” “Nothing.” “Says here you’re also a pathological liar.” “Huh?” “Your first evaluation,” she flatly responded. “Oh.” “Go on in. Your bags will be in your room. How are you as far as detox?” “Huh?” “Detox,” she repeated with irritation in her voice. “Oh, um, fine.” “Hmm,” she studied him. “We’ll wait and see about that. After you detox, expect orientation to begin.” “No, I’m clean,” refuted Derek. “Uh-huh,” she wrote something down. “What did you write?” She looked up and went to the door, opened it, and waited for Derek to enter. Derek still wanted to know what she wrote. He dropped it and looked up at th...

The following excerpt is taken from the forthcoming Thriller titled The Abused by Michelle Gamble. Release coming in Spring 2020. For more information, visit 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com).   17 Stanley Lentwood stared down at the rose garden. He noticed the crazy lawyer Finley Sullivan walked all around the hedges in a nervous pace. Stanley wondered if Finley’s drug use had damaged his brain. Just then a knock came to the door. “Come in.” Robert Scoffer opened the door with his usual bravado and strolled into the room with his cool confidence. Stanley turned and took a seat in front of the sofa. Robert just dropped down to the sofa. He appeared bored and put out that he had to do therapy. “So you going to give me some of that God crap?” asked Robert. “Pray for me … all that?” Stanley looked at Robert puzzled by his sudden comment. “Why would I do that?” “Eh, I went to this therapist once with Lynn—” “The woman you conned.” “Yeah, t...

Foreword This book called to me for personal reasons. A publisher asked me to write it. I felt some resistance because of ego reasons. I had this inner battle because I did change. I went from a goal-oriented person to someone who today has learned to just let life flow. It is possible to change unwanted or what I call “expired thought” and action patterns. I needed to change for reasons we’ll get into later in this book—and it was the right time to make that change. Did it hurt? Yes. Did it really take two years? Yes. Would I do it again? Hell yes! Giving up control or stopping being a control freak turned out to be the most liberating experience I have ever had. It was also one of the hardest things I have ever done. Why would I learn to just let go and see what happens? Simple, the universe and everyone around me told me that I did not need to hyper-control everything. I just needed to listen and get my ego out of the way of organic change and progress. ...

Today's topic: how do I price my book ? The question of price doesn't always come up until the end of the publishing process. It's an important question. If your goal is to make money, then price becomes an even greater imperative. I do know many authors whose goal isn't even about money. They want as many readers to be exposed to their books as possible. When an author isn't concerned about how much money he/she is going to make then price becomes less important. However, here are some important facts to know when it comes to pricing.   Suggested retail price is your profit margin no matter what Amazon does to mark down or put the book on sale . Authors sometimes get confused. Amazon will put their books on sale, and they will protest. They believe the sale price will affect their profits. The sale price on Amazon will not matter (this is for print books only). Amazon pays out based on suggested retail price.   Print books get undercut by resel...

IF AN ULTRA-COMPETITIVE, TYPE A PERSONALTY CAN CHANGE – ANYONE CAN In his new book And It Took Two Years, Scott Spiess shares his journey to completely change his life. LINCOLN, Calif .—Given the right resources changing one’s physical appearance is relatively easy—new hairstyle, new hair color, plastic surgery to change parts of the body, etc. While physical changes are easier, it’s life and personality changes that present the most challenge. Did you know that over a million people Google the question around changing one’s life? While the mystery invites the question, answers do exist. When new author Scott Spiess discovered he had a life-threatening heart condition, his old life began to crumble—and through that crumbling Spiess gave himself two years to make serious changes in his life. His new book And It Took Two Years chronicles how Spiess went from a type A, control freak to a peaceful Reiki Master, Buddhist, and Massage Therapist. “I got ...