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Thursday Morning Ramblings

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I’m feeling a little nostalgic this morning.  Six and a half years ago, Third Axe Media was born in response to my frustrations with the publishing industry.  In my heart, I knew Brotherhood was a good book, but no one would even look at it seriously.  My friend and former colleague, Cameron Judd, agreed with me and supported my choice to self-publish.  For those who don’t know, Cameron writes Westerns and Historical Fiction and has over two million books in print.  His support and encouragement gave me the confidence to walk out on the limb and pursue this dream.  My aunt financed the original print run, and I’ll always be grateful to her for believing in me and the book enough to back me.

My first organized event was at Mountain Empire Comics on Free Comics Day.  John Stone has always supported me as much as anyone, and I owe him a huge debt for inviting an unknown, unproven fledgling author into his shop.  That day, I met a lifelong friend, Tilman Goins, who has been as good of friend as a man could hope for.  My first major convention was at AdventureCon in Knoxville.  Marcus Wollack was gracious enough to offer me a free table and even gave me probably the best location in the show.  There, I met John Rhys-Davies, who provided me with promotional photos that probably sold as many books for me as anything else.  I also had my first experience of having a stranger tell me how much she enjoyed Brotherhood.  I’ll hold that memory forever.

Over the last six years, I’ve met some of the most amazing people and have been given more support than a person deserves.  Kat Hibpshman, Carlin Stuart, Fred Grimm, Todd from Connooga (I can’t remember his last name), and Christopher Gabaldon have welcomed me into Fandom and have made me feel like part of the family.  Stephen Zimmer, David Blalock, Jackie Gamber, Elizabeth Donald, Kimberly Richardson, Andy Deane, Ed Crandell, Jim Gavin, Joel Gates, Joy Ward, Laura Underwood, Lee Martindale, Michael D’Ambrosio, Sean Taylor, Selina Rosen, and Bill Snodgrass are just a few of the authors who’ve treated me as one of their own.  If I’ve left anyone out, please forgive me.

My readers have been the best.  I owe you all more than you can know.  Without your feedback and love, I would’ve given up years ago.  I don’t want to single out any one of you for fear of leaving out too many, but if you’ve offered me a kind word or complimented the books, please accept my heartfelt thanks and eternal gratitude.  Running Third Axe Media has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of my life, and as I close this chapter of my life this weekend and move forward with Seventh Star Press, I will always remember those of you who took a chance on an unknown author from rural Tennessee and made me feel like a real writer.

Third Axe Media – Bringing the “story” back into storytelling.  Thank you for your support.

General Posts

Thursday Morning Ramblings

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Three and a half years ago, I was a broken man.  The turmoils of the economy spiraling out of control had sapped me as I worked two full-time jobs just to tread water.  The unrealistic expectations of Tusculum College working me like a dog and treating me like a second-class citizen had exhausted my body.  The struggles to launch my writing career had dampened my spirit.  And the neediness of a lazy, selfish, lying, cheating wife had crushed my soul as I felt used and discarded like a bag of garbage.  Three and a half years ago, I had nothing left to fight with.

For two and a half years, I languished in hell, missing my children, feeling like a failure, believing myself at fault for everything, but still, I struggled to get to my feet.  Many nights, I cried myself to sleep.  Many mornings, I forced myself out of bed and put one foot in front of the other.  I wrote on book three, traveled to conventions, started this blog, taught my classes at Walters State and slowly, ever so slowly, lifted myself from the depths.

Today, I am not broken.  Today, my will has been reforged in the fires of hell and is stronger than ever before.  Today, my body is hale and virile.  My spirit is refreshed.  My soul is renewed.  Today, I am decent man, working as an instructor of English, writing my fourth book, and building an organic farm.  If you knew me three and a half years ago and believe I am weak and shattered, you will be surprised, for while I admit that back then all my fight was gone, today, I’m a new man.  Today, I’ve got the green light; I’ve got a little fight.  I’m gonna turn this thing around.  Can you read my mind?

General Posts

Wednesday Morning Ramblings

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I had a great time with my sons.  We had so much fun and got to have a wonderful time for the Fourth.  There were plenty of funny little moments that I would like to share, but I’m a little pressed for time, so I’ll have to write those another day.  They are growing up so fast.  My oldest wanted to stay longer, but we couldn’t work it out this trip.  I am going to make every effort to get them again at the end of the month for one more week.

I gave Collin an old cell phone so we can talk more often.  He figured out on his own how to text using the T9 predictive system, which just amazes me.  He can read and write pretty well for a seven year old, and he also can take pictures and send them.  He’s so happy with the phone, carrying it around like his most prized possession.  It’s a Casio Boulder, too, so he can be as hard on it as he likes and not destroy it.

Yesterday, I went to the farm and worked some more on the building.  I’ll go back today after lunch.  There’s a lot to do and very little time to get it done, so I’m going to have to kick it into overdrive for the next few weeks.  I may not get to write too many blogs for the rest of the summer, but I’ll try to provide a few updates to how things are going with the farm.  That’s all for now.