At Ease Disease, there is a Fungus Among Us.

Years ago, I wrote a book called The Saga of the Starduster. I don’t want to give too much away as it is one of my best sellers.

While a refresh of the book would probably be a good idea, the story works, and it is on point.

Aliens use modified viruses to cure cancer. Much like the mRNA vaccine was designed to find and kill cancer cells, they used a virus.

You all know that fiction writers like myself often create science facts. We think outside the box.

Last year I lost eleven friends to cancer. To me, that was an astounding number. I have lost ten to cancer this year, and it is only August.

When I speak with friends and family, I am told that their congregates are dropping like flies, usually because of cancer.

I know many people, but these numbers are out of this world. Why? How is this happening?

If you were creating the ultimate doomsday device, it would be a virus that attacks certain DNA types. Maybe you would make a virus that went after the LGBTQ crowd if you were just evil. If you were a racist, you might create a virus that attacked people with a different skin color than yours.

In the world of the doomsday clock, which many young people know nothing about, we were worried about nukes. If one idiot touches off a nuke, every country that has invested its fortunes in nukes will want to get into the game. Since the US has been set apart as evil, those nukes would be inbound worldwide. We are not evil, we still have the best country around, and people want to come here.

Some people think you can have winners and losers with nukes. Yes, they are that damned stupid.

You would have to be willfully blind to believe that the Corona Virus as we know it was not created by man. Yes, some coronaviruses are not that sophisticated in nature, but nothing compares to one like this.

Why create a virus instead of nukes?

Biological warfare leaves the infrastructure intact. It leaves the roads, bridges, buildings, and so forth, so an invasionary force will have no problems taking over when the current residents are gone.

I am not a doctor, and I don’t play one on TV. I think I understand our current situation today, and I want to share them with you. Comment if you like, and share if you think I am correct.

Firstly, I think the vaccine hurts more people than we know. Perfectly healthy people suddenly have heart issues (like myself) and other problems with specific organs, including male and female fertility issues.

My guess is this. When we are born, our immune system, such as it is, comes from our mother. We venture out into the world and expose ourselves to diseases, bacteria, etc. If you catch the flu, your immune system goes to work creating antibodies to fight off the flu virus.

They found antibodies in an older lady for the 1918 Spanish flu. Think about that. She was exposed and survived; many years later, she was still protected if it ever appeared.

We all have cells that are not perfect. We might think of them as cancer cells. Your immune system goes about looking for them and destroying them. If you become overwhelmed with them, we see cancer rear its ugly head; well, you know the rest.

What happens when you take the vaccine for covid? What happens if you take the second shot, the third, or even the fourth or fifth?

Other than big pharma getting rich, what about you, your body?

If you imagine a snow globe and the snow as cancer cells, I think the vaccine is like shaking the hell out of the globe and spreading the cancer cells that were dormant or in remission back to life.

The vaccine possibly focuses our immune system so intently on covid that it allows all the other diseases and such to do what they do best.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that I have lost many folks to cancer in the last two years. I don’t believe that we have seen the last of this. I fear that other scientists are in other countries attempting gain of function research on even more deadly viruses.

Monkeypox is not new, but suddenly, it is in the news more than Trump.

Who funds these labs, and what madman thinks financing them is a good idea? Why invent yet another type of doomsday scenario? What fool would use it and why?

No, I don’t think that Ebola or Aids or many of the viruses that attack folks are made in nature. When the covid 19 virus, a second strain would attack cells and switch off the cell’s ability to call for help; that is genius. Only the Minions could appreciate the madness of it all.

When much of the media is owned by just a few companies, you cannot trust what you read, hear, or see on TV. You must examine the facts for yourself.

The book I wrote is a page-turner. The Saga of the Starduster takes you on one of your fantasies to go back in time knowing what you know now. You get a do-over but with aliens. Think about it.

I love feedback. If you like the book, please leave me a review.

-Best

GeoThermalNuclearWar,

Would you like to play a game?

Only in the annals of fiction do we see something so idiotic.  Let’s play a game, shall we?  Um, I will send a thousand or so nuclear-tipped missiles at your country while you send a thousand or so at ours.  The rest of the nuclear world will get involved because, why not? It’s the only game in town.

China just lobbed a threat of Nuclear War against the US.  Why?  The Biden administration is being forced to ask the tough questions?  Where did the covid virus come from?

With emails from Fauci to the scientists at the lab recently surfaced, we now know that the likely source was the lab in Wuhan. 

Let’s put that into perspective.

3.69 million people have died because of this virus.  We need to have Nuremberg-style trials, and Fauci should be among the people to testify.  

It’s not just the US that wants answers; the rest of the civilized world wants to know where it came from, who authorized it, and how do we stop it from happening again.

This virus, unlike those viruses that target certain ethnicities knows no boundaries.  The folks that created it are just as vulnerable as those farmers in parts of the world that don’t even have electricity. 

Megalomaniacs need to be held to account. That is what a tribunal is for.  We don’t threaten our adversaries with nukes for asking questions. 

The game is high-stakes poker with no winners, should you make one mistake. 

Maybe some scientist like AOC could tell us how many nuclear explosions it would take to change the climate.  The squad seems to know everything about climate change but, perhaps they should bring in the other expert from England, Greta, you know, the girl with the deadly scowl. 

Even as our military seems focused on the correct clothing for pregnant officers and political correctness, I would not want to test them when it comes to who is offended by some woke bullshit.

There are no winners in this game.  Only losers.

Stoking the flames of racism as a distraction for what is happening in this world only goes so far. People are watching actions and not the news; they know it is propaganda for the woke bullshit.

They see that their paycheck does not go as far, and Gas is right back to pre covid prices even though many are still not driving. Why did someone kill our energy independence and give it to Russia and the Emirates again?  Why Joe?  Why weaken the US at the expense of strengthening our adversaries?

Do you think that the American people are that stupid as not to notice, or are more race wars your answers to the distractions?  There are many useful idiots out there that can occupy any city you like for a price.

Speaking of Race, did you know that the Tulsa Race Massacre was perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan, democratic society for the advancement of whites. Yes, the Democrats were behind the massacre, and yet Biden foolishly shined a light on it, I would guess in hopes that nobody would figure it out.  

Many believe the Civil War was between the north and the south, but not so.  Democrats loved their slaves and did not like Lincoln and his ilk trying to say that the Black man was equal to the White man, which he is.  Can you imagine being so full of yourself that you think your skin color makes you better than anyone else? I cannot.

The Civil war was between the ideals of Democrats vs. Republicans. 

It took a war to sort out the facts from fiction, costing Lincoln his life in the process.

As recent as LBJ (Democrat) who famously said, I’ll have those N**** voting Democrat for the next 200 years.  Care to bet if he knew any KKK members?

Biden admired Byrd a famous KKK leader.  True story.

Snopes and others try to downplay it, saying there is little evidence of it but, there is a video of him saying it.  Nice Try Snopes.  BTW Snopes is run by democrats, biased much?

Why racism?

Our emotions control us, and everyone that is in power knows this.  That is why just about every news blip you see on your phone has an emotional hook in it. 

If we wanted to stop racism, we would stop talking about it. I know of nobody that judges someone by how much melanin they have in their skin.

Knowledge is power, and education is the key to a successful life.  Hate will shorten your life.  Hate only hurts you.  BTW, I would go to the library for your knowledge as the internet is constantly scrubbed of things that liberal-leaning folks don’t like.   Much like Facebook, google, youtube and Twitter, it will never see the light of day if it does not fit the narrative.  

When they shut down Parlor, anyone who is the least bit fair-minded should have gone ape shit bonkers. Much like the Robin Hood app pulling the plug when the GameStop fiasco began.  Those that were bidding were playing by their rules, and someone in control stopped them.  IS the stock market fair? Not for thee, only for them.

Paper books from the time are more reliable than anything you read on the internet.

As far as nuclear war… Well, that would take care of all of the hate in the world as the cockroaches would be the only creatures to survive it. Radioactive fallout, much like the coronavirus, knows no boundaries either.  Your best bet would be to learn where the targets would be and go there before the first blinding light occurs.  Better to go out quickly than die a miserable lingering death of radiation sickness. No, there are no safe places on this planet if anyone is that stupid, demented, or just crazy.

I was speaking with a friend of mine about current events when we touched on the UFO stuff that is supposed to be released.  I said, “I hope there are aliens, it would be nice to have some intelligent life to speak with.”

Obviously, I was overstating things but the point is, if you read the news blips and dare, I say it, watch the news you too might conclude that we have gone bonkers as a people.  Who in their right mind pulls a gun on cops?

If China created this virus, which it looks like they did, someone needs to be held to account.

It’s not the people, it’s the government who gave their blessings.

If Fauci was involved, he too needs to be held to account.

Those are my thoughts for today, I hope you all are well.

Assuming China was saber rattling to clatter the bones of a rather geriatric basement dwelling executive who often is not sure what day it is, I will continue writing my latest thriller.

Told from the eyes of an unreliable narrator, with some paranormal activities, it should be a good read.

Much Love -TW

A Few Thoughts on life, climate change and You

I pray that you all have been keeping safe and well.  The world is upside down at the moment. 

An impromptu trip to Hospital reminded me of just how fleeting life can be.  What could have been Covid was something else.  Fever and two weeks in bed I am still recovering.  Either the tests are flawed, or the staff are students, and unsure of which end of the stethoscope goes where.  

From the looks of my body, after they finished attempting their ritual bloodletting, I am thinking someone relaxed the rules on what it takes to be a medical professional.  Sorry if that offends, had you been me, you would understand.

I spent a large part of April with a fever and medicated. Medical facilities were such that I was not in dire enough straights to garner a room, so I suffered at home.

Fever can be an interesting trigger for horrible nightmares, visions, and close personal chats with those that have passed years, if not decades prior. Yes, I am talking about spooky stuff.

There is a paradigm shift in the world.  The pandemic might be the cause, or the tool.  I suspect the latter. I don’t think we have seen the other shoe drop where this pandemic is concerned.  My research into vaccines and what they are doing with them vary.  Either it takes me to sites that tell you everything else is fake news, take the shot, yada yada or, you read on genomics, happen to have more than a passing understanding of the subject and realize that there is a real danger in messing with RNA.  That is how we got here in the first place.

Who, what sane person takes a virus that in and of itself is dangerous and thinks, ‘now, how could I make this more transmissible and increase the damage that it does to the host?’

If we knew the truth, we would probably convene trials reminiscent of Nurnberg.

Reported on several sites, the lab in Wuhan had sloppy controls, funding from other countries, and supposedly, Fauci was involved.  Let that one sink in.  If true, anything he said would be very suspect.

Just because you can, does not mean that you should.

We have enough nukes pointed at each other around the world to turn the planet into dust.  Why?  Are we that insecure as a race?

Over three and a half million have fallen to this virus. Is the plan to weed out the old, sickly and so on much like in the wilds of the animal Kingdome?  Is this tied to Climate Change and some magic number of humans to resources?  Are we revisiting Hitler’s Eugenics on Steroids?

As for Climate Change, It is bullshit.  Here is why.

When a 12-year-old girl becomes the lightning rod for a cause championed by non-other than a privileged girl, ex bartender who couldn’t spell Celestial Mechanics, you know there is an issue.

There is power and big money in cow farts and controlling your lives. 

This winter was unseasonably colder for us in the south.  This July, August it will be warmer than last year, and it is predictable.

Celestial mechanics, the movement of the heavenly bodies, plays a part in the majestic dance we are in with the other planets, moons, etc. 

Gravity is the key driving force that regulates this dance.

Our sun goes through a cycle much like everything else in nature, including us humans.  Where the sun is concerned every 11.5 or so years, it has a period.  Crude, but to the point.  The sun’s face gets some acne, a zit or two appear, and at times those pimples erupt.  We call them solar storms.  Sluffing off large amounts of solar stuff into the cosmos, if you are in the direction of the flair, much like your mirror if you squeeze your zits, there are now spots to contend with.

We get pretty dancing lights in the different extreme north or south hemispheres, and we are also at heightened risk of skin cancer from cosmic radiation.

The Thunberg’s and the AOC’s of the world will find some cause to rally around calling it exhaust from your immaculate burning car, but that is what stupid people do; they become shepherds, leading the sheep, even more foolish people, off cliffs.

In reality, the menstrual cycle of the sun is regulated by our protector and wandering star, Jupiter.

Much like the three wise men followed the Eastern star to find Jesus, we should be thankful it is there.  Its gravity is so dense that it plays minesweeper, capturing many wayward fast-moving rocks that might end our puny lives in a heartbeat, much like the dinosaurs before us.

Jupiter has such an immense gravitational field that it drags the sun’s core over a half-million miles closer to it, as it traverses its orbit ever oh say, 11.5 years. 

Wait, doesn’t the sun have its menses every 11.5 years? Could it be that there is no internal mystery of the cyclical nature of the sunspot cycle?

As it happens, this winter, not only was Jupiter tugging on the sun dragging it a half-million miles further away from our lovely little planet but, Saturn is also in conjunction with Jupiter.

Saturn is also a gas giant. I would surmise it does a fair amount of changing the core dimensions of the sun, shifting its center of gravity, and so on all on its own.  With both gas giants dragging on the sun in one direction, how much further will the core be nudged?

Well, kids, this July August guess where the earth will be positioned?

Yep, between the sun and those two gas giants.  If you could stand on the sun and look into the ‘night sky, you would see the earth, Jupiter, and Saturn all lined up within a few arcseconds of each other.  With each body exacting some attraction on the sun, this summer will be warmer than others.

The climate change people will beat their chest and demand more money from you to use less efficient forms of energy to save the planet. Now you have fodder to push back.  Knowledge is power.  Critical thinking is part of the process. Greta and her ilk are used as pawns by the rich and the powerful to control the masses.  Her Glower and adulation by Time Magazine, who also praised the likes of Hitler and Stalin, should be your first clue that you are reading the wrong rags. We are controlled and manipulated by multimedia conglomerates who own the politicians.

I am all about a clean environment.  I also know there are no free lunches and no perpetual motion machines.

Visionaries like Musk are who we should be looking for.

As for the virus, the more I learn, the more upset I am that this might not be the first such contagion released on the world. 

Back in our history, Smallpox was released on the indigenous population. If ever we needed that Thunberg scowl, that would be such a place

Here is some more glower material for those of you who study such things.

Radioactive dust in the form of Zinc Cadmium Sulfide was dropped on cities coast to coast by your very own military, exposing millions to toxic radioactive substances. They did this as part of cold war feasibility studies on attacking cities or countries with airborne agents.  Little did they know, years later we would have a virus that was .001 nm in size, more virulent and deadly than Hitler’s mustard gas, and would be transported by people.

While I admire the tenacity of the Hog’s, Thunberg’s, and even the AOC’s of the world, I wish to god you would educate yourselves.

You three and your ilk are like No Toes McGrew… Ready Fire Aim.  You want the facts; follow the damned money.

Guns are not the issue; sick people with severe mental anomalies are the problem.  With the pandemic, it is worse, not better.

Climate change is all about greed.  Yes, this inexpensive way of doing things works, but how can we nudge you into paying much more for less?  

Freon is the perfect example of how chemical companies lobbied the US to outlaw a perfectly efficient gas for air conditioners for a less efficient form that wears out equipment four times as fast and is much more expensive. This cheap gas is still used in other countries, not in the US, because our lawmakers sold out to the chemical giants.

These last few months have been tough.

If you know someone who, or perhaps you suffered a personal loss, you have my heartfelt sympathies.

As you might suspect, I know many people from what I do.  I would need both hands and feet to tally the close personal acquaintances that have passed in these last few months. I am waiting for Zoom to capitalize on Virtual funerals.

Mental illness is by far one of the most significant issues we face as a race.  Violence around the globe is on the uptick. Domestic disturbances are off the charts, and personal attacks on people they didn’t even know are reported more often.

Here in the states, shootings are frequent with the spark, often as simple as cutting someone off on the motorway, even by accident.  

Young girls, teenagers murder a peer for reasons as of yet unknown.  Part of me thinks it was to video it and get her five minutes of fame.  Plunging a knife into the chest of a classmate and former friend over an argument, video it, and brag about it.  On her own phone video, she tells her friends ‘I stabbed the bitch in the heart.’ Sure, Guns are the problem.   NOT.

If your emotions are triggered, you’re being manipulated. Preachers have been using this method for years, holding out your eternal salvation as a way to get part of your wealth, and worse, your time.  Business execs are more upfront, dollars for hours worked.  Yes, we are all whores.

Then there is the lowest of the low, politicians who enslave vast populations by paying them not to work.  Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.  If you are paid not to work, how likely are you to get into trouble with all that spare time?

They know this, and they don’t care.  Vote the right way, and what happens to you, your family, and so on is none of their concern.

Live on the streets in run-down, crime-ridden cities and vote when it is time.  Pitiful.

If you stomach the news, you might be tempted to believe it is a race thing.  That is what the talking heads all say, it must be true. That would be a lie.

Melanin has nothing to do with what kind of life you have.  If the desire to learn new skills and develop talents has been removed, our natural tendency is to take the path of least resistance.  Those of us who have had to scratch at the dirt, claw our way up from the ground to eat, appreciate opportunities.  That my friends is the real difference between privilege, and non. Flipping burgers as a child while going to school was a privilege.  That entry level job taught me the value of work.  The friends I grew up with, who were handed everything in life did not do so well.

What am I doing?

I am working on a thriller that is modeled after my Kelly McGuire novel.  This Story has a paranormal feel to it and is written from the 1rst POV.  This is an unusual style for me so stay tuned when it will be ready for pre-release.

Yes, all of the ideas and opinions in this blog are mine.  No, I have not borrowed anything from anyone in scientific circles. Much like my argument that meteors can have their own mini moons orbiting them, the concept of the sun’s cycles are mine.

Every so often I get an e-mail about the variety of stuff that I write.  People are rather bemused by the fact that I have written books on how to be successful in the adult entertainment industry.

When E.L. James wrote 50 shades, she did not want people to know who she was until she became rich.   

I am not ashamed of trying to assist those that are attempting to make a go of it, modeling on web cam.  I am not ashamed of any of my over 25 million published words. I am still scratching at the dirt, the walls and yes, the glass ceiling, because that is who I am.

As my craft continues to improve, I might go back and ‘fix’ some of my earlier works.  I try to look forward, and not backward.  Those two how to manuals took me less than a day to write each and they have assisted many.  If that is your version of scratching, God Speed.

If you are a regular to my blog, thanks so much. It has been a while since I had anything of value to contribute.  

Much Love -TW

Diamond Joe

Who is Diamond Joe?

Diamond Joe

Buried in her work as a professor, Donna creates a ‘new normal’ after her husband dies unexpectedly. Hiring a horse trainer, Donna’s world turns upside down when Samantha plays to one of her wildest fantasies. Forbidden love captivates both of them. Accepting Sam’s love was only the beginning of the social disaster confronting them.

Here we have the classic story of Cinderella, well, no, we don’t.  This book is nothing like that fairy tale.

You know, speaking one on one, I must tell you, I was thrilled when Hallmark mentioned they would start making movies including a more diverse culture.

When you read this novel, you will get why that is important.  I know there are so many who only judge a lifestyle by some outrageous performance in the street.  Some judge a race solely by the actions they see on the late news.

Not all black people loot, kick white people when they are down, or push white folks in front of an oncoming subway train.

This, these actions are what many see in their living room.

They hear about the shootings in Chicago every weekend, and it is black on black. They don’t see the good that they do, and that is a problem we need to fix.

Conversely, not all white folks think black folks are ignorant.

This novel is not so much about race as it is forbidden, love.

Not all that long ago, interracial romances were not something tolerated by society.  When Sidney Portiere played John Prentice, a black doctor who came to dinner; the movie was groundbreaking.  This was 1967. 

I was a child of the sixties, and I never had an issue with race anything, and I was raised in the south.

Gay, that was a tough one because of my exposure to Levitical teaching.

It wasn’t until I had a deep dive into biology and science that I understood where man screwed things up.

While I never had an issue with the person, it took this ‘enlightenment’ to be ok with their actions.

I won’t belabor the points here because I go into detail in the novel. 

It took me writing about it, developing the characters, and having them interact did I become ok with who they are.

Who is Diamond Joe?

In short, for our story, he is a horse.  Not just any horse.  The story takes on a wild journey through the trials and tribulations of training a racehorse.

I think Diamond Joe is probably one of my favorite books that I have written.  I haven’t read it in a while I might have to reread it.

If Hallmark wanted to make a movie with female lovers, this would be one to consider.  My writing style was more dialogue so, it would be easy to make into a film.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Diamond Joe.  If you like it consider leaving me a review. 

I would love to hear what you thought of it either way.  Use the web portal on the contact page to contact me directly.  www.authortwscott.com

I respond to emails that are not about getting more traffic or auto insurance.

Much Love -TW

The Write Stuff

Yes, I know, I love clever.

Nano went off well for me. How about you?  Did you partake in NANO this year?

People ask me how I have managed to crank out so many novels. I don’t watch TV, and I don’t play video games.

Years ago, I complained I didn’t have time enough in the day to do those things that made me happy.  From the time we get up in the morning, we rush here and there to get ready for work. It doesn’t start at daybreak and end with the proverbial Fred Flintstone whistle in my work. Time clock jobs are meant for entry-level employment or factory work of some kind. Personally ‘in my opinion’ those folks will live longer.

My job doesn’t end at five or six or sometimes much later. Since I left the corporate world, where I put in an average of 70 hours a week on salary, now it is for me.  I am a bitch to work for…J

Nobody drives me harder than I do.  I thrive on it. On the rare occasion that the TV is on and I manage to see it, my attention span is there for just a few seconds when I know why I gave it up.

We write because we lack something. I don’t write to sell books, I wish they would sell more than what they do, but that is not why I write. I write because I escape that world or this realm and sneak into mine.

In my world, I can be a button-down person, or I can be a whore.  Think about it. In your novel or your short story, you can be something you are not. What is it like to be a serial killer?  What about a madam?

Picture yourself in the role of a madam. You are holding a crop, and your boss is now your bitch. The fool wanted to be punished for his abuse of women, and he found you.  What would his or her ass look like when you finish?

Maybe you are the naughty boss and require a little over the lap action to set you straight. It is your world; you can be what you want.

In one of my novels, I took a childhood fantasy and wrote it as part of the plot.  I have always wanted to go back in time and have a do-over. While I doubt I will use the phrase hindsight is 2020 much longer, I would do many things differently.

For one, I would value time much more highly than I did.

In my novel Saga of the Starduster, I find myself in the body of a fifty-year-old man.  An astronaut on the ISS.  Out of the blue (or black), a mammoth-sized space ship hovers over them. Sucking the whole thing up into a cargo bay.

Don, my main character, gets probed so to speak but more importantly, through a series of events, he gets to go back to his third-grade class and have a do-over.  Don, unlike what would probably occur, has all of his memories and his education.  He gets to see his mother again after she had passed from cancer. Does he change history?  Does the timeline change?

The novel is a roller coaster of emotions and time travel and aliens, yes, aliens.  

The Saga of the Starduster has the Right Stuff.  It is my best seller.

Nano has seen the birth of another TWScott original.  This novel is 108K words, and unlike anything, I have written to date.  Magic and Mayhem is a young adult coming of age story. Of course, it involves magic and witches and goddesses, and even Fae.

I have parts of it with Beta Readers, and I will be sending it off to the editor soon enough.

Covid Update.

I am still pretending it is Groundhog Day.  My nights and days are screwed up. I am on a first-name basis with UPS, FedX, the Mail delivery person, and even the Amazon guy.  A salesperson happened by the other day, and instead of pretending I was not home, I stepped out and chatted with them for over an hour. Hey, door to door salespeople’s lives matter… I think I did brighten their day. We are friends on social media now.  How strange is that?

The recycle is full of little boxes with smiles on them, as I am making Jeff Bezos even more money than he currently has.

I do have a mystery for you to puzzle.  If I stick a box on the floor, at least one cat will jump into it.  What is the deal with cats and boxes? Even if the package is too small, they will attempt it.

I love to hear your thoughts, what you are working on, and how you are coping.  I am sick of zoom or the virtual world, but I guess it will have to do in lew of hugs and kisses.

Much Love -TW  

Why do customers put your book down?

Hello fellow readers, writers, and humans…  If you are none of the above and reading this, um, is your planet more evolved than this one? 

I will assume that only humans are reading this, so on with the reason for the blog.

Firstly let me tell you folks in the states, Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope that you had an excellent quiet time with your bird of choice.  Yeah, it was different this year.  Crazy uncle, whoever was not at the table poking his fingers in the air telling us how stupid we were for voting a certain way.  That might be a COVID blessing.

I read a lot.  I write a lot.  I spend more time in front of the keyboard than I care to admit.  One question that comes up often regards marketing their book.  They have the best novel ever written.  After years of trying to get an agent, they stopped wasting time on query letters and just published on Amazon, where Jeff and company make more money than the author if it sells.

The problems are many.

Firstly because of programs like KDP, people don’t value books like we used to.  I could have lived in a bookstore.  When half-price books came into vogue, I came close to living there.  Spending $20 on a book was nothing, especially when you are used to spending a lot more on college textbooks that were hardly ever used.

Along came Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.  Before we knew it, people who still read would not dream of spending $20 on a book when they can find something for free that is close.

KDP and others have programmed the reading community to value the written word as nothing.

Do you remember when Napster and similar music streaming services were online?  Musicians much like authors, should be paid for what you enjoy or consume. I won’t confuse you with too much more of the music industry. I will say that price is one reason your novels do not sell.

Statistically speaking, a new independent author earns $10 the first year. If you knew that going into a book project, would you still do it?

The numbers are sobering, but they put things into perspective.  Writing is hard.  Anyone can tell a story, but can you write the story as a real novel? 

Confusion on the reader’s part is one reason many books get placed back on the shelf. They are standing at the bookshelf in a major book store, and they see the spine of your book.  What is on the spine?

Your pen name, and the Title.  There might also be some color in the artwork.

Let’s assume that by magic, you picked the right fonts, colors, and Title intrigued them.  I am not going to lie and tell you the size and feel of the book doesn’t matter; it does.  Not very much but in the physical bookstore, everything matters. Suppose you could incorporate a certain scent in the pages that would be cool.

When the cover is opened, what do they see?

Her breath was haggard from the nightmare.  The tangled sheets must have been why she felt as if the trees in the forest had captured her—falling to the floor, pulling herself from the fabric, Priscilla headed to the bathroom.  Had she looked behind her, she would have seen the muddy footprints on the carpet from the forest floor in her dream.

Meh, never start a story with a dream scene but, I kind of like it.  Would that cause you to read further?

How about this one:

Silence filled the cabin of the craft as the engines ceased to function.  The gauges warning low fuel were still flashing an amber warning.  Steve knew they would be cutting it close, but, he never dreamed he would be tens of thousands of miles from his rendezvous with the space station, and no fuel. 

The asteroid that pulled them off course was not detected by the agency. Laden with supplies for the station, the one thing they did not have was fuel.  They had a week to figure out if they were still on course. Then they had to figure out how the space station stops them from heading out into the void between galaxies.

Hmm, I like that hook too.

Yes, the hook, as in fishing, is essential.  The hook is your bait.  Once you know who your audience is, you write for them. 

In our critique group, we have several different authors who write in other genres.  The second hook would not be well received by many of them as science fiction is not their thing.  In the first hook, we can guess that magic of some kind is involved.

A strong hook and a non-confusing story is only a small part of the process.

From POV to story structure, we are only scratching the surface of writing a novel that will sell.  My advice to writers is this.

Sit and write your story. Don’t worry about any of the ‘stuff’ that must be part of your novel to be any good.  Just tell the damned story.  Too many overthink it and never get the first story published.

Once you get the story on paper, stuff it into a drawer and start something else. Come back at it with fresh eyes months later and edit it. I always have what I call a manifest right after the title page. It includes all the pertinent information about the characters, places and so on.

I am close to 40 novels published, and I keep going.  Why?  Practice.  The story is the easy part.  Think of something that excites you, put yourself as the MC, and write the blooming story. Vomit it out until you wretch, and nothing more comes out.  Store that manuscript in a safe place and then write another. Don’t think about publishing an unvarnished attempt at a story.  Let it age.

When the next novel is finished, put it in that drawer and then read it as if you are seeing it for the first time with a fresh look at it.  Yes, have your red pen handy and make notes, lots of notes.

Wait, her eyes are green in this scene and blue in this one…  The list of issues will be mind-boggling.

Tackle them one at a time.  You will learn that you have to flesh out other characters and scenes that were very clear in your head.  Now a few months later, you have no idea what you wrote.  That is a good thing.

I had no one to assist me when I started this journey.  I made all the mistakes, and yet I am still here, still writing.  I am attempting to lift others on the same road as I travel. Why?

Why not?  I know many who are so competitive that they would not lift a finger to assist another writer.  That is sad. When you draw that last breath, what will others say about you? 

Some will say…’ it matters not.’

With as many novels and works of art that I have out there, I hope to be more than a footnote in history. Would I change anything that I am doing now if I knew nobody would care?  No, I care.

When I write you my lovelies, and I am not just spitting niceties into the wind. If I can lift you up in some small way either by my words, works, or actions, then that is a life well-lived.

One of my characters in one of my novels said. “When I slide into the grave, I want to have left it all out there on the field of life.” 

That was one of my early novels I need to go back and re-write.  I loved it, but I know I can do better.

I hope you got something out of this blog.  Take care, and have a great weekend.

Much love -TW

Do you fall in love with your characters?

Greetings, my fellow writers, authors, and friends.

I find it exhilarating when a character becomes more than a Skelton.  We, you and I start with an idea, and before you know it, we have become Gods.  Yes, we have created the Sahara or perhaps a moon with an atmosphere the Earth’s size that happens to orbit a failed star.

The tension, of course, is, what is the stability of the failed star? How close must the orbit be to a gaseous giant that is only working at twenty percent?

Our Captain ‘Dirk’ is either a lovable single syllable kind of guy, or perhaps it is a fierce redhead who her subordinates refer to as sir.

Somewhere in the pages, our characters become real to us.  We see them.  We can hear their soft sexy voice or perhaps the shrillness of her commands as she orders the helmsman to face the enemy five times their might.

Having written over 34 novels and then some, I find that my characters come to life in other stories.  They call that crossover, but, to me, I think it might be a little deeper.

What if we are creating the perfect lover?  When we play god, what if our needs and desires leak out from our axiomatic ink wells and land on our proverbial parchment paper?

Guess what my lovelies, they do.  If you want to know someone in an even more intimate way than perhaps their spouse knows them, read what they write.

Even on these blogs, I read many blogs that you all write.  You see, pets, if you are following me, the odds of me ever getting a hug or even a handshake are distant.  There are a few of you who I wish I could hug; I feel your pain in your words.

I peruse your musings.  Some of you keep it very much business and use your blogs to eke out a living. 

The truth is I have a company, a job that occupies much of my time.  I should be writing murder mysteries inventing a new Sherlock Holmes.  We could use a Digital aware investigator, with the charm of an English gentleman, don’t you think?

I write because it removes me from this world.  My characters, for better or worse, are all parts of me. My god, I think I know where they came up with the story for Cybil.

Some poor bastard fell off his trolley, and they left him or her with a pen and paper.

I have read many of your posts. Some made me laugh, some cringe, and others cry.  The world we currently live in sucks in so many ways.  I would count those ways, but that is counterproductive to who I am as a person.  To me, the glass is half full.  It must be.

How do we not fall off our trolley?

If you are young and healthy, I think you go about your life.  I believe that living in fear will create toxicity within you, much like harboring hate will. Those of you who have written such blogs, you know I am speaking with you.  Notice I did not say at you.  From me to you, this is a gesture of friendship and love from a stranger. I share what I do, so you know that you are not alone.

Like so many others, these words are much more revealing than if I were walking down Main Street anywhere, naked.  Our Body is but a house for our soul.

My relatives come from the other side of the pond.  Winston Churchill is in my family tree. I’m not too fond of cigars, but brandy, now we both could agree on that. I can picture him and I sitting in a library sipping brandy while discussing what must happen to save the country.

My characters are all parts of my soul, from my cheeky redhead in Presidential Assassins to Don in The Saga of the Starduster.

My god; what fun that was to be abducted by aliens!  To trek across the voids of space to wake up in a space station in another Galaxy.  Don, part of me, was kidnapped by a ship full of nudists.  Can you imagine nude aliens?

Kelly, she is part of me too.  She is the part that takes no shit from anyone.  Trust me; I have that side.  Unlike many of my writer friends, I love to shoot guns.  From skeet to competitive target shooting, a bad guy does not stand a chance in hell should he or she trespass.  That is one reason I can never return to where my cousin did so much, for so many, to have it all taken away by so few.

To be stripped of my right to bear arms is unconscionable.

Presidential Assassins is a thriller and a half, with sex and action.  Much more action but damn, Kelly is …mmmm.  It is too bloody bad Kelly could not get turned loose today.

There are other novels, some very naughty and some nicer.  My point is, all of those characters are parts of my Cybil. 

When I am at conferences, I don’t wear a badge that says TWScott.  I rather like that incognito mode.  You see, some might only read the naughty novels and think I am less of a person than they are.

That is why we use pen names, so the judgmental assholes of the world don’t piss in our cheerios. Yes, we walk among you mere mortals, so beware.  The truth of it is we all have our bedroom face and thoughts.  Those who would look at you or I, and think less of us should look into the mirror.

I hope this epistle brings you some comfort, some joy, and some laughs.  I meant what I said about not being alone.  There is much more that ties us together than tears us apart.  Those who preach hate on the cable channels are the assholes you should gird your loins to avoid. Someone is paying them to spread lies, misinformation, and well, propaganda.

Much love -TW

The Business of Writing

Oh Crap, tell me this isn’t a blog about business…please??

It’s true; we are writers, we want to write.  It is tough enough to conjugate words and have them make sense.  Writing is equivalent to weaving a ten thousand piece puzzle together when half of the pieces are blank.   The dog might have eaten some of the pieces, but yet we press on.

Do you want to make money with what you write?

If the answer is yes, then you must accept that writing is a business.  If it is, you need a business plan.

It is not enough to have ideas for stories.

From marketing to paying for your parts of the process you are not strong in, you must be willing to make sacrifices.

I am asked how much time should I spend marketing, and when should I start?

Do you know the answers?

In this very blog, I started a story about the Three Hundred.  Few of you took the time to read it, so guess what, it is a failure.  If I cannot entice someone to read a story for free, what hope do I have of getting someone to pay for it?

That is the first lesson; failure is part of the business plan.  Failure is a good thing as it gives us feedback.

I would tell you to keep tossing shit at the wall and see what sticks but, shit is probably not the best adjective I could find.

Cast your pearls out into the winds and see what seeds land on fertile ground and take root.

Either way, the lesson is, don’t stop.

If you have a passion for writing, write.  As for advice from me to you, write what you love or are passionate about.  If the Three Hundred stirs your juices (speaking to myself), write the damned story.

If this were to be a novel, when do you suppose I should begin to market it?

“The Three Hundred, a story of the last few humans to survive before mankind destroys the planet.”

Ok, I need to get this on social media and wet appetites.  Yes, when the title and the concept are in your mind, blog about it, tweet about it, and invite your readers to peek behind the scenes as the story develops.

With this action, you build a base of followers, who when the story hits the book stores will be the first to buy it.  They might also be the first to leave you reviews.  Reviews are a good thing.

Keep all your receipts because this is a business.  Trust me on this; when you make over $600 from Amazon, the government will be looking for their share.  They will know about it as you will be issued  a 1099.  Just claim it and move on. The federal prison on tax evasion is no place to write your next novel.

When the story takes form in the way of the first few pages, begin exciting your followers on Social media.

Dedicate time each day to marketing.

From Social media to web site design and content, it is all necessary.

One problem with social media is your eggs are in a basket that you don’t control.  The @twscott823 twitter account was suspended for no apparent reason.  I went to tweet about something, and it did not work.  I have many followers who were not easy to come by, and Twitter just suspended it because God only knows why.

Yes, I have appealed to the robot in charge.

Knowing that social media can be fickle and unpredictable, what can you do?

First, you must put your eggs into a basket that you control.  Web sites are a good one.

I am looking at paying for advertising on Amazon, which kills me.  I pay them to market my books that they keep a good chunk of—cost per click.  You could spend upwards of a $1 a click for a three dollar book that there is no guarantee that the “clicker” will purchase.

In business, we call this a loss.

I am currently exploring all the angles. What is the least expensive way to get my novels in the hands of those who would read them?  As I learn more, I will share it with you here.

#amwriting is not just a hashtag; it is who I am.

Much Love -TW

Where are they are Mars?

Are you all reading the first two acts of The Three Hundred ?

With story structure, we have many different things to consider.  In a short story, you have limited words to work with, which translates to limited plot devices, characters as well as the structure itself.  If we write a novel of 60 to 100 thousand words, then what?

More characters, more twists, and turns, and the structure changes.

The Three Hundred currently is 10K words and, there are more in the pipeline.    Sitting on Mars, we have a small crew investigating the infamous face on Mars.

What is it?

Back in the dark ages…1976, Viking 1 snapped a picture of a fantastic sight.  There on the surface in an area of Mars known as Cydonia was proof positive that there was life on Mars! 

Maybe not.

Taking a picture of a rock formation that appeared to have two eyes, nose and mouth, NASA released the image to the public to drum up interests in NASA and Mars.  It worked.  It worked a little too well as the rags that live on the shelves by the checkouts in stores, showed the face and tantalizing teases.

Writers like yours truly, use it as fodder for stories, and why not?

If you were standing on mars close to the two-mile-long structure, dare I say it, you would not recognize it as anything other than rocks.

For the purpose of this story, there is a rectangular opening. What are the odds of a perfectly rectangular opening on and edifice that looks like a large human face?

If and when we ever do get to Mars, I am confident that someone will snap a picture of it from ground level. Until then we can enjoy The Three hundred and other sci-fi fantasies

One of the craziest scams I saw recently was someone selling an acre of Mars for $12.  Much like the star registry, someone came up with selling land on another planet.

Can you just imagine some rich Texas oil tycoon buys Mars in total, finds a way to go there to discover that life is on Mars, and they are all larger than life spiders?

I am giving away a much better product, a fantasy of Mars, and all you have to do is to hit that follow button and read on when the next act drops.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

As always, I welcome your feedback, comments, and a friendly Hello.  We are all in this COVID Pandemic together. Why not find something bad like this virus to bring us together as a people, instead of divide us like so many in the media want to do?

Much Love -TW

Happy ‘Hump Day’

As a writer of naughtiness on occasion, I have mixed feelings about the words ‘hump day.’

In the spirit of total transparency, I have issues with the appropriation of many words and colloquiums. 

I rather like the term gay as happy.  Now, if you were to say ‘I feel so gay,’  people would look at you strangely and might say, good for you for coming out.  

Imagine you are at a social event, and you are feeling rather ‘gay.’  You see your man friend drinking a girly drink with that skewer of pineapple and maraschino cherry.  Not wanting your friends to think him effeminate, you go and steal it playfully.  You then look at him with a cat-like grin, tell him ‘ha, I got your cherry.’

How might that conversation go?

While hump day is the reaching of the precipice of the week, and then the egress down the other side, how many of us think something very different?  That is one reason I think Wednesday night church service is a bad idea.  At the end of hump day, I don’t want to be thinking about Jesus on the cross.

***

If you are a regular, you no doubt have read the second act of The Three Hundred.

I was reading it over last night and found more typos than I usually allow but, I left them for this reason.

When you write something, don’t be so hard on yourself.  My mistakes occur because I think much faster than I can get the ideas down on paper.  In one sentence, there is ‘door something and door’ again. One tip I usually use is to read it aloud.  Printing is also an excellent way to catch errors.

I will go back and correct it soon.

I started ACT III, and I hit a stumbling block.

Here is a question for you who follow me.  Should I have them find living Martians or …should I have them find evidence of Martians?

I told you when I started, I was offering you the chance to have input, there It is.

Say something in the comments below.

Until then, my lovelies, stay safe, sane, and remember it is Hump day.  Make sure your loved ones know you are thinking of them.

Much Love -TW