Category: Current events

News on the subject on the book

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I am Tired of Feeling Down; send in the Clowns!

Win a National best Selling Book with an Autograph in it!

 

Before I share the next post, I want to remind you that I have 10 copies of The Shack, written by William Paul Young.  He autographed all of them, and even added a personal note. The book has been # 1 on the New York Times top ten books list for over 40 weeks.

 

You have a chance to win one!! It is very simple: Just go over to the icon on the right sidebar that says, “Sign up for my free newsletter,” click on it and put in your email address. Everyone who subscribes will have a chance to win an autographed book by one the hottest authors on the planet right now.

 

That is not all!! For every person you get to subscribe to the newsletter, you will receive another chance to win. So if you get 20 people to subscribe, you will have 21 chances to win.

The way I will know that you had people subscribe is for you to send me all the email addresses of the people you had sign up.  I will check my list, and if they are there you will get credit. So get out there and find as many people as you can. The book with the author’s autograph in it will be a real collector’s item.

Now for my thoughts of the day…..

The times we live in are hard at best:

  1. There are adult married couples moving back in with their parents.
  2. People with a PH-D’s work in a place that you wear name tags for the customers to see.
  3. Many small businesses are going under.
  4. Our economy is on the edge of a depression.
  5. People are losing their homes.

I could go on, but I think that is enough negative thoughts for now. What can we do to make it through the muck and mire?

We can put everything into perspective. Yes, we are in hard times, but there are nations where the people do not even know where their next meal will come from. There are people in other countries that make our homeless numbers look like a drop in the famous bucket. There are people in other countries, that do not any freedoms at all. They can’t even own a Bible let alone read it.

I know….so what!!! I have to agree with you 100%. SO WHAT???

Because we need to put everything into perspective. My favorite word starting with “p” is not peanuts. ( I love peanut butter!!)  It is persevere.  Webster’s Dictionary says persevere means: “To persist in pursuing something in spite of obstacles or opposition.” Pretty strong word right?

We persevered through the “Great Depression,” and prospered again. We later persevered, through a recession, and prospered again.

This may not be a good time to be optimistic, but….. Webster’s dictionary says optimism means: “A tendacy to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions.” We have events and conditions that are tough right now, but we need to face the storm, and keep walking forward. We are a strong nation, and we can weather any storm that comes our way. It seems like times like this always brings out the best in  each of us.

Let it start with you!

* Again, I want to thank Randy Ingermanson for his support, and advice. Much of the looks and ideas of this site are through his suggestions. I highly recommend you go to his site and see some of his “gorilla marketing” ideas if you have a website. He has to be the marketing guru of this planet. Just go to: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog and you will see not only ideas for marketing, but formulas for writing very good fiction. He will also knock you over with some very funny comments. Randy has won several Christy Awards for his books. The Christy Award is given to the top Christian book of the year in each catagory.

Doug 

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My New Book Is Ready to go to the Publisher!

Excitement is getting high around here! The book Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind: Life Beyond Bumper Stickers, (Title may change a little) is ready to go!! It has been professionally edited by Sue Miholer of Picky, Picky, Ink. The book proposal has been evaluated by another professional editor/evaluator, Sally Stuart. Now it is in my pea picken hands wanting to be presented to publishers!!

It has been a long eight years to get this book where it is today.

I have stopped working on it several times because of doubt. I have thought I wasn’t good enough to write it. I got tired of the hours it took each day. The people that did some proof reading for me weren’t too excited about my first attempts.

BUT! I never gave up!! I kept at it a little at a time. I went to writing conferences. Joined a writing group. Started submitting articles to magazines, etc.

It is fitting that I will hopefully have the book in a publishers hands by the end of March. That just happens to be the month I was at the lowest time in my life back in 2001. It now can be the highest point in my life. (To this point.)

Please join me in reading some of the excerpts from the book. You can do this by clicking the icon on the right side bar that says “Join my free newsletter.” After you have done that, all you have to do is put in your email address. You will then start receiving my online newsletter that will have actual excerpts from the book, Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind: Life Beyond Bumper Stickers.

Take time to start getting the book excerpts free. It will give you a good feel of the book. If you don’t like it or the online newsletter I am sending you, put it in your round file called, “trash.”

There are many other things in the newsletter like:

  • Reports on my travels. Many of the people that have read this page before have really enjoyed it. That is because I have so many mishaps, and interesting things happen to me.
  • There is a sports page that talks mostly about Oregon State University Sports. It may have some other sports coming in from time to time.
  • There also is a resource page that has newspapers from all over the world giving information about afflictions we face like: self doubt, anxiety, fear, low self esteem, and depression.
  • The front page will be about the book, and have the free excerpts.

So help me in my excitement by signing up for the newsletter. Help the subscription numbers grow fast. That way when the book is ready for the market, as many people as possible will have an idea of what the book is about. They, of course, will want to buy at least one, or maybe many more books for friends and family.

OUT!

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You Have Asked Many Questions about the Newsletter

 You Have Asked many Questions about the Newsletter

 

It seems that many of you are still on edge about the topic of the book, or what can you do if you do not like the newsletter.  Let me repeat some of the questions I am receiving, and answer them the best I can.

 

1.     Why should I have to read the excerpts from your book?

 

·        You do not have to! This is an online newsletter. That means that I have links on the newsletter which you can click on immediately if you want to by-pass any page.

2.      What are on your other pages?

 

·        There are three other pages. I am still in the planning stage for a couple of the pages, but one is written in cement. There is one page that will be nothing but sports. Mostly OSU sports, but I will also discuss any sport that I think should be discussed.

·        Another page will be a log of all of my travels. I have been on many trips. I have shared some of them with you already, but I haven’t even touched on my four or five trips to Asia.

·        The last page is my question mark. I am leaning on a resource page where I post actual newspaper articles from all over the world on subjects pertaining to having a better outlook on life.

·        Somewhere in those pages I hope to share some pictures of my travels, sporting events, and just plain beautiful shots of the environment.

 

3.     What is the book about?

 

·        It is about my own personal struggles with self doubt, fear of failure, anxiety, depression, battling many illnesses, and even hopelessness. It starts out a little dark, because I have to share why I had all those afflictions. But it progresses into a very happy ending. (I love happy endings.)

·        Yes, it uses the Bible as a reference on to how to battle those afflictions, and I do share how God has helped me.

·        If this bothers you, click on another link. However, I really hope you will read it because, I can’t think of too many people that hasn’t faced some of those afflictions.

 

4.     Does it cost anything to subscribe?

 

·        Nope!

 

5.     How often will I be getting newsletters in my email box?

 

·        They will come about once a week, or three times a month.

·        The front page may not always be about the book. I may add one of my famous, The top Five Ways to….., that are on how to stop feeling sorry for yourself; ways to get up after you fall, or ways to turn that frown upside down into a smile, etc.  It may be an article that I have had published in a magazine like, The Christian Journal, which they published an article called, Stop the World and let me off, I am Tired of Going Round and Round.

6.     What if I no longer want to get your newsletter?

 

·        There is an opt out clause at the bottom of each newsletter. However, I hope you won’t choose that route.

 

I hope this helps you. If you have some friends that walked away because they had too may questions unanswered, have them come back just one more time, so that they can see the answers that may help them understand.

 

As a matter of fact….this site will only be a success if you tell others about it. I have run out of email addresses to invite people. I have been pretty successful with the addresses I have. Out of the first 47 days of existence, there have been 210 people subscribed. My goal is still 1,000 by the first of the year. I have a lot of work to do to make that goal. You can help me!

 

OUT!