Tuesday, December 31, 2019

End of the Year 2019



2019 has been a very good year for me. The days have gone by quite swiftly, though, and at my age one hopes they might dally awhile. Alas, Father Time seems to be swift of foot these days. Nevertheless, swift passing or not, the days were good. I have no complaints.

My Good Days As A Writer

Wearing my writer hat, the highlight of the year was being named One of the Top 25 Mystery Writers You Need to be Reading by international bestselling authors Caleb and Linda Pirtle. Being mystery and thriller writers themselves, I’m honored to have made their list.

And the award was in addition to the fabulous reviews that came in all year for my books. The most recent being one for my new novel Death Makes A House Call.

I’ll be honest here: I don’t sell a lot of books. My earnings this year are looking to be less than $300. And there are some days I wonder if it’s worth it. However, it’s satisfying to know that there are people out there who appreciate my work. It does help me to keep going. I’m not writing into the dark. I’m writing for them.

My Good Days As A Reader

This year was a good one for reading. I discovered many new to me authors, both indie and traditionally published. Of course there were many old friends who I met in previous years. All told, I read fiction from 62 different writers.

For those who are into numbers, here’s the breakdown:

Novels/Novellas: 46
Short Story Collections: 4
Short Stories/Novelettes: 45
Non-Fiction: 9 (7 books, 1 essay, 1 True-Crime Story)

The genres my reading tended to focus on were horror and mysteries, but a little bit of everything showed up on the list — including romance. :)

Amongst those 62 writers were old favorites such as Ben Willoughby, RH Hale, Rex Stout, Richard Schwindt, Joe CongelAndy Graham, and Matthew Cormack.


I don’t particularly like making “Best of” lists. They’re highly subjective, and, for me, only reflect my opinion at the moment — which could very easily change next week.

Nevertheless, I do want to give a special shoutout for new-to-me authors Brian Fatah Steele and John F Leonard. They made a big impression on me with the power and imagination of their writing.

If cosmic horror is your thing, or just plain excellent writing, give these guys a try. Particularly Steele’s Your Arms Around Entropy and other stories, and Leonard’s Congeal.

My Good Days As A Person

2019 was good to me as a person. I’m still taking in air and sustenance. My health is reasonably good. At 67, every day I wake up breathing air instead of dirt is a very good one indeed!

Simple pleasures become a source of immense peace and comfort. Simple things such as a good meal, a cup of hot tea, a good book, a good laugh, playing with the cat, seeing the sunset, and gazing at the moon. These things can enrich your life to no end, and they cost little or nothing.

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, wrote that “Life is opinion.” In other words, life is what we think it is. And if we choose to think it’s good — it will be.

Good and bad are relative. And because good and bad are relative, they have no absolute meaning. Which in turn means, life simply is. The good and bad of life are in our minds.

Tomorrow begins the new year. May it be a good one for you — and if you think it is, it will be.


Comments are always welcome, and until next time — happy living!

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Christmas 2019

Bea asked, “Anything in particular you want for Christmas, Harry?”
“Tina asked me the same thing. I can always use stamps. Otherwise, I’m open. I have you and I’m very satisfied.”
“Thanks, Harry. That means a lot to me.”
“What about you?”
There was a pause, long enough for me to wonder what was going on inside Bea’s head. Finally she said, “Harry, I love you and I’m glad we’re together. You are everything to me. The only thing I want for Christmas is a piece of paper that tells me I’m Mrs. Harry Gill Wright. I want to marry you, Harry. On Christmas Day would be wonderful, but any time will do.”


The above snippet comes from the novelette Bottom Line, which can be found in Trio in Death-Sharp Minor (Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries, Book 2).

It’s all about love. And where would we be without it? Love for our mates. Love for our parents and siblings. Love for our children. Love for our friends. And love for self. We mustn’t forget that. In fact, it all starts there. If we don’t love ourselves, how can we truly love others?

The Christmas story is one of love. And whether or not you believe the story doesn’t matter. Because the story is universal. The story expresses our deepest longings. That this world has meaning and our hope that things will get better until peace ultimately triumphs, along with human dignity.

Harry and Bea are two people with messed up love lives. Each is despairing of ever finding the one to spend their lives with. Then they find each other. Right in the middle of a murder investigation where Bea is a suspect. And their meeting is very nearly love at first sight. 

Perhaps it’s a bit unrealistic to think two people with wrecked marriages and broken love lives can find each other and live happily ever after, but that’s why we read fiction. Isn’t it? Besides, isn’t that the point of the Christmas story? There’s hope for those of us who’ve messed up our lives. There’s always the possibility of a fresh start and to live happily ever after.

This holiday season finds us with wars and rumors of wars. Horrible atrocities being committed in the name of God and everything else people can think of. 

Nothing is safe. Disney Plus was hacked and info from many, many accounts was stolen. Russian hackers can infiltrate a computer system in 18 minutes, the North Koreans in 2 1/2 hours, and the Chinese in 4 hours. That, my friends, is scary stuff.

Dissatisfaction with the 2016 US presidential election, on who won and who lost, is still in the news. In all of my 67 years, I’ve never seen the like. Which tells me people are growing more and more intolerant and abusive.

And in spite of the fact we are in very good economic times, with very low unemployment and a high GDP growth rate — there is fear and uncertainty everywhere. 

However, the Christmas story tells us there is a very real possibility for there to be peace on earth to people of goodwill. The story tells us there is hope all of our concerns and fears will vanish in a new age that will dawn bright and glorious.

The Christmas story is at its very base a story about how we see ourselves. The dreams we dream, and the aspirations we hold out for ourselves.

We have a choice: we can see the glass half empty or half full. Hope is what helps us see it as half full.

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, wrote: Life is opinion. Or in other words, life is what you make it to be. If we all practiced the Golden Rule; if we all treated our neighbors as we ourselves want them to treat us — then there truly would be peace on earth. That’s something to think about. Maybe that’s how we need to live in 2020.

Thank you for being with me this past year on my writing journey and letting me share a little of my life and interests with you.

May your holiday season be filled with joy and may you find peace, prosperity, and tranquility in the new year.


Comments are always welcome! And until next time, may peace and joy fill your days!

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

The World of Justinia Wright — Part 3




Why do we read fiction? Before we answer that question, let’s back up a bit. Let’s go deep into our past. Let’s journey back 300,000 years.

There we find a group of early homo sapiens sitting around the campfire, having just eaten their fill of ancient gazelle, with perhaps some snake on the side, and what are they doing aside from digesting supper? My money is on them telling stories. Probably exciting stories of the hunt, or of the time they had to chase off another group of hominids that were trying to steal the lush hunting ground.

I’m also willing to wager there was a lot of acting that accompanied these stories. And what purpose did the stories serve? Why to entertain, of course. They also provided a vicarious experience for the non-hunters, and formed part of the group culture.

So back to our initial question. Why do we read fiction? We do so for the same reasons our early ancestors told stories: entertainment, vicarious experiences, and to celebrate our culture.

Very soon I’ll be publishing Book 7 in the Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mystery series: Death Makes a House Call.

My purpose in telling you the latest adventure of Tina and Harry is primarily to entertain you. If you have a vicarious experience along the way and celebrate American culture as found in the Land of 10,000 Lakes — so much the better.

In fact, the above is my purpose in all of the Justinia Wright books and stories. You can find more about them here.

Readers do in fact find the Justinia Wright series highly entertaining, with plenty of vicarious experiences to boot! And that makes me very happy. Because at the heart of the matter, fictioneers are entertainers.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

The World of Justinia Wright — Part 2

Raymond Chandler, the creator of Philip Marlowe, perhaps the king of the hardboiled PIs, was not interested overly much in plot.

For Chandler, atmosphere and characterization were more important than the plot of the story. Which may be why we remember Marlowe more than we remember Chandler himself.

As a reader, atmosphere and characterization have always been of greater interest to me than the plot of a story. Mostly, I suppose, because I find the entertainment value of a story in the characters and the atmosphere.

As a reader of whodunits, I never read them to solve the puzzle. I read them for the atmosphere and the interaction of the characters with each other. I suppose I’ve been spoiled by Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe.

Plot is simple. William Wallace Cook defined plot as

Purpose, expressed or implied, opposing Obstacle, expressed or implied, yields Conflict.

All plots are nothing more than stories of conflict. No conflict, no story.

But what makes the story, the conflict, of interest to the reader is what the writer does with it. That is, how does the writer make it interesting to the reader? How does he get the reader interested in the conflict? The writer does that through atmosphere and interesting (to the reader) characters.

For my Justinia Wright novels, when I read comments such as

The action builds slowly, relying more on relationship and character development rather than on violent, gruesome murders. … Justinia (Tina) and Harry are well thought out, interesting characters that are complemented by an equally interesting supporting cast.

And

I don’t read a lot of mysteries, but when I do, I appreciate interesting characters and atmosphere. Festival of Death has both…

And

…characters are well-developed and intriguing…

I know I have succeeded in producing a novel that is more than plot, more than a mere portrayal of a conflict, but rather a novel that is alive with people who have captured the reader’s attention, interest, and perhaps his or her heart.

The new Justinia Wright novel, Death Makes a House Call, is coming soon to a virtual bookstore near you.



The story is one of death, this is a murder mystery, after all, and justice. A tale in which the one who defies human decency is apprehended and made to pay for the crime.

However, Death Makes a House Call is first and foremost a story about people: a story of life, love, and devotion.

Stay tuned! Death Makes a House Call is coming and will be here soon!

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

The World of Justinia Wright



About a month ago, I wrote a post announcing I’d been given an award by international bestselling authors Caleb and Linda Pirtle. You can read that post here. I’m still excited at being named One of the Top 25 Mystery Writers You Need to be Reading.

There are currently 7 books in the Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mystery Series. Vampire House and Other Early Cases of Justinia Wright, PI, which I’ve numbered Book 0, doesn’t get included on the Amazon series page due to Amazon’s quirky rules.

I’m in the middle of doing line editing and proofreading on Book 7 (actually the 8th book in the series) and hope to publish it by Christmas. More on this book in a future post!

So what is it about the Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mystery Series that makes it worth reading? I thought I’d let some of the reviewers tell you what makes the series so fun to read (and for me, to write!).

Richard Schwindt, who has an excellent amateur sleuth trilogy — The Death in Sioux Lookout Trilogy — and an equally excellent occult detective trilogy — Tony Price: Confidential — wrote this about the world of Tina and Harry Wright:

Some fictional universes are just places you want to be, and I have been so moved by the world CW Hawes has created for private detective Justinia Wright and her brother Harry. Although Hawes has a demonstrated penchant for the scary and grotesque, and can frequently be found (at least in his fiction) underground, he has shown a remarkably light and airy touch in Trio in Death-Sharp Minor. Tina and Harry’s world comes complete with music, art, excellent food and drink. I would drop by their house any time, if only for a glass of Madeira. The three mysteries are deftly written and include an adorable and sexy love affair between Harry and Bea, one of the bereaved from the first story. If you want to check out a good cozy mystery, without the annoyingly twee failings of the genre, you could do much worse than this series. Highly recommended for mystery lovers and anyone looking for an escape with a light touch.

And that is exactly how I feel when I write these mysteries: Tina and Harry’s world is where I want to be.

Another mystery writer, Joe Congel, who writes the superb Tony Razzolito PI Mysteries, wrote this about Tina and Harry:

[But Jesus Never Wept] is the third book in the Justinia Wright Private Investigator series, and it is a top-notch addition to a top-notch series, written by a top-notch author. If you've been following the brother/sister PI team, you already know this series is rich in storyline and character development. If you are discovering the Wrights for the first time in this book, you will not be disappointed. However, treat yourself, and go back and read the first two books in this wonderful series.

In this installment, the author mixes religion, the Japanese mob, and high-end prostitution, and wraps it all up in a very engaging murder mystery. But what truly drives this story is the relationship between the main characters - Justinia, Harry, Bea, and Cal. The subplot of their lives is intertwined masterfully with the main plotline of the book, which is the mystery that needs to be solved. And although the idea of an intriguing mystery may have brought you here, the well thought-out, fun, realistic, characters are what will bring you back for more. A great murder mystery will make a great book, but a deeply developed cast of reoccurring characters is what makes a great series... and this is a great series.

I loved the first two books, and this one is no different. It's why I bought the whole series. I look forward to seeing what the Wright's get themselves into between the pages of the next book. But don't take my word for it, try them for yourself - just don't be surprised if you become addicted.

For me, the story is all about the characters. The plot, or storyline, is simply the characters doing their thing in a particular situation.

I find it very satisfying when my fellow mystery writers have such a glowing opinion of Tina and Harry. They are telling me I have accomplished what I set out to do: to create a world that is as cozy and enjoyable as the one Rex Stout created with Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

I love Tina and Harry. They were my first children, as it were. In fact, they are older than my daughter! I love the world that Tina and Harry inhabit: a Minneapolis that is akin to the real city, and yet is its own world.


If you desire to travel anywhere in the world right from the comfort of your favorite chair, if you want to entertain yourself at your own pace, if you want to put your worries and problems on a shelf for awhile and lose yourself in someone else’s world — then I encourage you to explore the world of Tina and Harry Wright. It’s a world filled with comfort, good food, and lots of adventure. Live a little from the comfort of your favorite chair, at your own pace.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Thoughts other than about Turkey



Thanksgiving is quite possibly my favorite holiday. A secular feast day on the theme of giving thanks for all the good things we have.

Being thankful is an important quality in a person’s makeup. We’ve all known people who were ungrateful, who lacked the humility that a spirit of thankfulness gives one.

When I look back over my 67 years, I am struck by the abundance of good things in my life. There were bad things, too, to be sure. But the good things? Well, they were very, very good. And I’d rather dwell on them. I’d rather express my gratitude, my thankfulness, for having those good things in my life.

For that is the kind of person I want to be. One filled with gratitude for the gifts and good things that have been given to me.

When one looks at Nature, one does not see an entitlement mentality anywhere. Nature, while beautiful, is often uncaring and cruel. Nothing in Nature is entitled to anything. It must all be earned.

Therefore, if I get something — I’m thankful. Thankfulness enables me to appreciate what I have. Which leads to a life of contentment. And being contented is a good thing.

So on this coming Thanksgiving Day in 2019, I encourage you to take time to ponder and wonder at all of the good things that are in your life. No matter how few or small they may be.

Express your thanks for them and be grateful that you have or had those good things.

Life is what you make it, because the quality of our existence is in our minds. So make life good, and be a person of thankfulness and gratitude.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time — happy living!

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Men’s Fiction Revisited



A knowledge and understanding of history gives a person a depth of perception that is noticeably missing from those who are only savvy with current events.

There was a time when men had fiction that catered to them, catered to the things that men find interesting. Today, though, this isn’t so much the case. Yes, a man can find contemporary novels and stories written with a male audience in mind. However, in my experience, they are few and far between.

Some time ago I outlined what Men’s Fiction might contain. I’d like to revisit the concept of Men’s Fiction and why I think it is of vital importance that a BISAC category for Men’s Fiction is created — and soon.

A cursory search of the internet will reveal the concern in the publishing industry over the statistics showing a decline in book buying and reading in the States.

Personally, I’m not convinced the stats portray an accurate picture. As the now defunct Author Earnings website repeatedly demonstrated, book buying is quite healthy. 

The reason for the discrepancy lies in the fact that most indie authors don’t use ISBNs, which is how the book industry keeps track of inventory. Thus all those books with no ISBNs are never counted. They are invisible to the bean counters sitting in the treasure rooms of the corporate publishing houses.

What the stats actually reveal is a decline in purchases of traditionally published books.

As for those surveys showing a decline in reading and that men aren’t reading fiction, I’ve previously discussed male reading habits. One of which is that men tend not to be social and demonstrative in their reading. Which means men simply may not be accurately represented in the survey results.

I know men who read, and men who don’t. I know women who read, and women who don’t. I know men and women who never touch fiction. And those who only read fiction.

The simple fact of the matter is that the surveys may not be accurate.

Another factor which is likely to throw a spanner into those stats on book buying are the folks who basically buy used books and only used books. As a case in point, I rarely buy a new book from a corporate publishing house. Yet, I do buy a lot of traditionally published books — virtually all used. New books are just too dang expensive.

In addition, today the frugal book buyer is having a field day with all the free books that are now available on the internet — and I’m talking about the freely available public domain books one can find on Project Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg Australia, Faded Page, and archive.org. As a further case in point, I have downloaded books and magazines by the hundreds from these sites. All for free. After all, I’m retired and living on a fixed income.

Personally, I think reading is alive and well — and I think the male reader is nowhere near needing life support.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. Which is why I think the book industry and indie authors need to be careful not to exclude the male half of the population. The book industry and indie authors need to make sure that there is fiction boys and men will actually read, not stuff the industry hopes they’ll read.

Male readers prefer, for the most part, the genres of adventure, humor, horror, and science fiction. They also tend to shy away from books that are focused on relationships (such as romance).

The male reader also has a strong preference for main characters who are men, men he can relate to, and for male writers. This may be due in part to the current stereotype that reading fiction is something only women do. And thus boys especially need the male writer and male main character to avoid being seen as a “sissy”.

Gender issues aside for the moment, if we want boys to read — we writers have to give them something they will actually read. They aren’t going to read books about androgynous main characters. Or books where the main characters are female. They just aren’t. If we want to capture those young male readers, we need to give them boys and men they will respect and we need to give them storylines boys are interested in. It’s as simple as that.

This year I’ve been exploring and reading the fiction of the old pulp magazines. I’ve discovered writers such as H. Bedford-Jones, Talbot Mundy, Erle Stanley Gardner, Max Brand, Seabury Quinn, Alison V. Harding (almost certainly the pen name for Lamont Buchanan), and Hugh B. Cave. I’ve gotten reacquainted with Carl Jacobi, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Frank Belknap Long, and E. Hoffman Price.

The above writers (save for Harding) all made their living from writing fiction — and writing fiction for men. In fact, Blue Book magazine at one point proudly declared that their stories were “for men, by men”. Pretty doggone clear who their audience was!

So what have I gleaned from my reading of pulp era fiction?

The main character is always a man. He’s strong, smart, and very capable. He is a man of good morals, and is polite and considerate, unless unduly provoked. Then he is liable to deck his antagonist. Or he may deal him a witty barb that figuratively knocks him out. The pulp fiction hero is what every man would probably like to be. There are no angst driven heroes in pulp fiction. There are no heroes who are physically or mentally challenged. We’re thinking Jack Reacher types here.

There’s frequently a love interest. The woman is, surprisingly, given all the stereotypes, a strong personality who can go toe to toe with the hero. She is a woman who is strong and capable. A woman the hero can and does admire — that’s why he falls in love with her.

However, men have a need to be a knight in shining armor; a protector of those who are not as physically strong as they are. And they also have a need to pursue their love interest. If the woman is easy to get, then she really isn’t of interest as a mate. 

So even though the woman with whom the hero is in love can drink, swear, and dispatch a dozen bad guys, she will need to be pursued and at some point she will need rescuing. And rescue her he will. The rescue is the ultimate display of his love for her and also proves to her she wasn’t wrong in her choice of him for her mate.

Pulp fiction is often laced with humor. Men love a good laugh, and pulp fiction provided it. Laughter helped to ease the tensions of a hard day at the office or on the assembly line.

Action. Almost all of the stories are filled with action. Pulp fiction heroes are men of action. They aren’t navel gazers.

Adventure. Pulp fiction stories and novels are mostly tales of adventure — regardless of the genre. Men live for adventure. There’s a bit of the wandering spirit in all of us guys.

What I found in reading pulp fiction surprisingly corroborates the research Kate Summers presented in her article “Adult Reading Habits and Preferences in Relation to Gender Differences”.

Which to my mind means the pulp writers and magazine editors knew their readership and gave them what they wanted. Strong men. Strong women. Humor. And plenty of action and adventure.

The corporate publishing industry is dominated by women. And evidence shows they have little interest in catering to the reading preferences of men. Which is a shame, as they are leaving a huge revenue source untapped.

Which leaves us with the men writers who are independent author-publishers. What does pulp fiction teach us men who are indie authors? I think it means, if we want to tap into an audience that is starving for good stuff to read, that we write Men’s Fiction. 

Fiction with strong, intelligent, and wholesome male leads. Fiction with women who are the equal of the hero, but are also all woman. Not the kickass heroine who is too often a man in drag. Fiction with plenty of action and adventure.

Pulp fiction was commercial fiction. It was written and published to make a buck. It was meant to be disposable, casual reading. It was pure entertainment. Pulp fiction was not meant to be great literature, but then Shakespeare wasn’t intentionally writing great literature either.

We men who are indie authors, could also do a world of good by writing fiction for boys. Because if boys learn to love reading, then we writers have them for life. 

Kate Summers concluded her essay noting that while gender equality is important, when it comes to reading, and especially reading for leisure, it might be better if we just gave men and women what they want to read. I’m sure glad a woman wrote that.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Five Years



November 2014. Five years ago. I published my first 4 books on Amazon. They were:


The following month, December, I published 2 more books:


And I was on my way.

Going the independent author/publisher route is a tough road to travel, because I’m it. I’m a one-man shop. A one-man band. I’m both the writer and the publisher — and have the headaches of both.

However, were I to make the choice today, knowing what I know now, I’d make the same decision. I’d be an independent operator.

Why be independent when being indie means more work? Because it’s all about the freedom. I am the captain of my ship. As Captain Jack Sparrow said, his love for the Black Pearl wasn’t about the ship — it was about freedom.

As an indie, I get to write the stories I want to write. Whether they end up selling or not. 

I can publish whenever I want. There’s no publisher telling me how often I can publish. I’m my own boss. 

There’s no publisher telling me what to do — or they won’t publish my book. Or they’ll stop publishing my books.

And I keep all of my rights and options and most of the money.

The writing life’s for me, and because I’m retired I have no competition from family, or the day job — and no pressure to produce so I can ditch that crappy day job.

And what’s more, after 5 years I finally have a teeny-tiny, eensy-weensy band of fans. Imagine that! Me, a balding, overweight, old guy with fans! How cool is that!

It’s my dream to some day make enough money from writing so I can buy a Rolls Royce. Although I’ll “settle” for a Bentley or an Alfa Romeo. :) That’s the dream.

The reality is that I drive a new Ford Fiesta and have a 1989 Ford Crown Victoria. I live in a small townhouse with my wife and cat, which is just the right size for us. My health is reasonably good, and I fly first class when I visit my sister. Life-Is-Good.

Oh, and I actually do make some money selling books! Life-Is-Very-Good.

It is my intention to write books until I die. And if I discovered I only had a month or two to live, with Isaac Asimov, I’d just have to write a little faster.

Marcus Aurelius wrote “Life is opinion.” Life is what you think it is. It’s all in your ‘tude. Don’t sweat the small stuff — because it’s all small stuff.

For many, many years I was not a happy camper. Then I took old Marc’s advice to heart. I swept out the crap, and got down to enjoying what I have. And being thankful for what I have.

I believe I’ve been gifted with the ability to write. That doesn’t mean I’m the best storyteller out there, because I’m not. There are plenty of my fellow indie writers who I admire, and, yes, envy. Because they are so good.

But as noted above, I do have fans. And that is such a good feeling. To know that someone out there is actually waiting for my next book to come out, well, that’s a doggone good feeling. And I’m going to give him or her the best I can give.

Now it’s on to year six. I’m excited to see what the future will bring — and even if it’s just more of the same, I don’t care. Because, life is good.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

In the Top 25

The older I get, the more I enjoy mysteries. Not thrillers. I actually don’t care much for them. I like the traditional whodunit, where the focus is on solving a murder, and the pacing is gentler.

The first novel I wrote was a mystery. The title? Festival of Death. Although the Festival of Death you can buy today on Amazon, is not at all the same book I wrote back in the late ‘80s. It’s amazing how a couple, three decades can change things.

In the last five years, I’ve written five novels, two novellas, three novelettes, and seven short stories in the Justinia Wright Private Investigator series; and there are an additional two novels in the works. I love every minute I spend with Tina and Harry. The series is also my all-time second highest seller.

Now it’s one thing to write something simply because you love doing it. But it’s a whole different ballgame when you get recognized for doing so — which recently happened to me.

International bestselling authors Caleb and Linda Pirtle are known for their promotion of indie authors. It’s a wonderful thing they are doing for their fellow writers.

Recently they named me as One of the Top 25 Mystery Writers You Need to be Reading.

I am thrilled and honored they chose me to be on their list.

Support from one’s peers is always awesome, and I feel very blessed that my fellow writers appreciate and enjoy my work.

Being an Independent Author/Publisher, means you’re it: you are the writer and you are the publisher and you are the marketer. You are responsible for everything: writing the book, editing the book, formatting the book, producing the ebook and print masters, and marketing the book.

All of which is a lot of work, and some days it is more work than I care to handle. I’d rather just be writing. And then along come people like the Pirtles, who have done all that you’ve done, and know how tough this writing business is. There is nothing like a little recognition and appreciation to put gas in your tank.

Here’s a link to Caleb and Linda Pirtle’s website: https://calebandlindapirtle.com/c-w-hawes-one-top-25-mystery-writers-need-reading/

Recognition is nice. It is a signpost to readers: hey, check this out! Because at the end of the day it all boils down to readers. And we writers want readers to know we exist. After all, they buy the books. 

So all you readers who are reading this, buy and review the books of indie authors. They don’t have massive marketing budgets, but they do have you — and your support is crucial for their encouragement and success. Go ahead and make an author’s day.

To my fellow writers, I encourage you to buy and review the books of your peers. Such an act will not only make their day, but you might gain a friend in the process. And who doesn’t need friends? Remember, it’s who you know that counts.

I’m very thankful for the Pirtles and will continue to support my fellow writers. Good karma is, well, good!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!