Fast Away the Old Year Passes

 

Fast away the old year passes,

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses:

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

—Thomas Oliphant

Fast way, indeed, the year has passed. This is my last post for 2023. Next week is 2024. And I decided to write this post while smoking Sutliff Ready Rubbed (a simulacrum of the old Edgeworth Ready Rubbed) in my BBB Own Make Pot.

Fifty years ago I took up pipe smoking and have been a pipe smoker ever since. A pipe is a boon companion, a faithful friend. The pipe and tobacco are there for “when I feller needs a friend.” And who doesn’t need a friend every day in these troublesome times?

Earlier this year I once again took up my pipe after a lengthy hiatus. And I’m glad I did. It is indeed a boon companion with which to enjoy peaceful contemplation.

I also gave up my adherence to stoicism; largely adapting Epicureanism and its place.

And further, I decided marketing gurus can go to perdition. 

I’m sick and tired of them trying to sell me the latest marketing gee-gaw. Very little of their crap works. The tried and true marketing techniques are freely available on the internet. 

The problem is that the tried and true techniques require work. And because of that, the gurus promise the suckers magic wands which require no work. And many are they who quickly part with their money to get a magic wand.

Well, I’m done with that. I be a sucker no more.

Oh, I’m still writing. I have just stopped giving a fig about how much or how little I sell.

At 71, with about 14 years left to my life (given the averages), I’ve come to the conclusion that there are more important things than selling books. Writing them, for one. Contentment, for another.

His the new year, all you lads and lasses. Time is precious. Fifty years ago I didn’t think of death. Today, death is constantly on my mind. I don’t fear it. Death, after all, is part of living. It’s just that the old fellow is a lot closer to me than he was 50 years ago.

Isaac Asimov, when asked what he’d do if he knew he had only one more day to live, said, “I’d write a little faster.” I’m with Isaac.

So in the new year, I’m going to do my best to write a little faster. Ill health has slowed my production down quite a bit. But things are looking brighter. I hope that brightness allows my pen to move faster.

Books and stories are the legacy we writers leave behind us when we pass on. Even so, most of us, the vast majority of us, will be quickly forgotten. Nevertheless, it is my hope that my heirs and maybe their heirs will keep my memory alive and make a few coins for themselves in the process.

So my friends, do whatever it is that makes you truly happy. Don’t waste time at Vanity Fair buying the gee-gaws and trivial ephemera. Because those things don’t bring true happiness, they just provide a fleeting high.

And if you don’t know what makes you truly happy and content, then do your darndest to find out. Because death awaits, and you don’t want to find yourself old and not ever having truly lived.

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

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Stepping Up To The Plate

 

It is a well-known old saw that the home run kings in baseball also tend to be the strike out kings.

Sometimes we writers are like the proverbial home run king. We step up to the plate and expect our latest piece of writing to be that blast out of the park that wins the game.

And when it isn’t, we get all depressed that we struck out.

It doesn’t matter what we’re writing: poems, short stories, blog posts, plays, or the grocery list. If we don’t hit it out of the park, we become depressed at our “failure.”

The difference between we writers and baseball’s home run kings, is that writers too often give up. The home run kings don’t.

However, let me propose a different approach. We writers would be better off to picture ourselves as the initial lineup.

The purpose of our first work, doesn’t matter what it is, is to get on base. To get some name recognition. The money, scoring a run, will come later.

The job of the second batter in the line up is to move the runner into scoring position. And that is the purpose of our second piece of writing. It furthers name recognition. And builds reader attention.

Our third work is the one that may score the run. If not, perhaps the fourth one will.

In any event, we keep trying that tried and true plan of getting on base, moving the runner over, then bringing him home.

Michael Anderle did much the same thing I’ve written above.

Using the minimum viable product approach, because he didn’t want to spend a lot of money or time on his books if they weren’t going to get on base, Anderle published 3 books in one month and then a fourth the following month.

As it turned out, they were a hit and he went on to build a giant publishing empire.

Now most of us won’t become millionaires from our writing. But we can gain name recognition and maybe a few bucks if we work it right.

The formula is simple: get on base, move the runner over, then bring him home.

If we try for a home run every time we publish something — we’re going to have a lot of strikeouts and probably lots of disappointment.

And who wants that?

Baseball and writing. Yeah. It works.

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

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Lone Star Blog Tour

 

We’re in the final days of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles Lone Star Blog Tour.

Take a visit of the Lone Star Literary Life Tour page for links to all of the reviews and to enter the giveaway. That’s free stuff, folks. And who doesn’t like free stuff? Especially when it’s good free stuff.

Ruthie Jones wrote a great review of Death Wears a Crimson Hat. Read it on her blog, Reading by Moonlight.

Karen Siddall wrote a marvelous review of Ten Million Ways to Die. Read it on her blog, Boys’ Mom Reads!

It’s so very satisfying when readers pick up my book and get lost in the story and fall in love with the characters.

To bring someone happiness and pleasure is a very great joy.

So head on over to the blog tour page, read the reviews of all the books, enter the giveaway, and most of all — read the books!

The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series features some absolutely amazing writing. So get moving to Magnolia Bluff today.

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

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Nine Years and a Blog Tour

 

Nine years ago this month I published my first four books. And the subsequent adventure has been very interesting to say the least.

That I’m still writing and publishing is a testimony to perseverance and perhaps just doggone stubbornness. 

In the past 9 years I’ve witnessed many authors come and go. And some of them were super writers. Which makes me sad to think of all that talent going unused. But that is the way it goes, unfortunately.

I haven’t gotten rich. In fact, I’ve yet to rich $5000 in royalties from my books. Nevertheless, I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve written stories that have provided entertainment for the folks who read them.

And when the dark days come, and they do, the days when you wonder is it worth it, I read a few of the reviews I’ve gathered over the years and tell myself — yes, it’s worth it. Telling the stories that collect in my head is worth the work to make them available to others to also enjoy.

We writers have a tendency to work alone and for indie authors, at least most of us, I don’t think that’s a good thing.

After 9 years, I think working with an active group of likeminded writers is the key to success. You probably won’t get rich, but you will have the support to keep on going and the advantage of working together to promote each other — and that is a definite key to success.

Lone Star Blog Tour

I am very fortunate to be one of the charter members of the Underground Authors.

The group was started by the late Caleb Pirtle III. His initial vision was to get together a group of writers who were actively writing and publishing to cross promote each other’s work.

Now, we not only promote each other’s books, but we also write a multi-author crime series: the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles.

Going on right now is a blog tour of the series hosted by Lone Star Literary Life. Here’s the link for you to check out the tour: https://www.lonestarliterary.com/content/magnolia-bluff-crime-chronicles-underground-authors

Going Forward

Next year, my intention is to launch a Kickstarter campaign, write the next Justinia Wright mystery, start a new series, and write some short stories.

Whether I do the above, or decide to do something else — I do know I’ll be writing.

Because as Harlan Ellison said, “Writers write.” It’s as simple as that. And I’m a writer.

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

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!