Facebook’s Need for a Sympathy button

There is an awkwardness to some Facebook posts about people or pets dying or other really bad news. Sometimes I see people post about the death of their grandmother, for instance, and 15 people LIKE the post. Is that appropriate? I don’t know whether to LIKE or UNLIKE. Hey Sam, I like that your grandmother just died. Maybe there needs to be a SYMPATHY button to cut down on people LIKING death and destruction. Maybe they really didn’t care much for the grandmother?

Check out this awesome in-depth review of “Desert Son”

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2014/08/desert-son-by-glenn-maynard-fascinating.html

Evolution of a Writing Schedule

I never really had a writing schedule like other writer’s speak about. I wrote when I felt like writing. I worked on a book, then began another as I tried to find a publisher for the first one. I finally got my first publishing contract for “Strapped Into An American Dream” in 2009. By then I had two manuscripts. After editing and the publishing process was complete, the marketing phase took over and consumed my life. After a couple of years I revisited my second manuscript, which was much shorter than the first. I found out that I had to add to it to turn it into a fiction book as far as page numbers or number of words. I tried to bring it to 70,000 words, but made it to 60,000 words. I successfully sold it to a different publisher than the first, and it was considered a short novel. I published it in February of 2014, and so the marketing phase kicked in once again. “Desert Son” is a horror-type story being marketed as a paranormal romance.

I decided to write a third book, and it would be a sequel to “Desert Son.” I played around with a writing schedule in order to undertake such a task of writing a larger novel. I am shooting for 100,000 words to get to the NOVEL size. Apparently, that’s the way of the world. I did get very positive reviews about my characterization and plot twists and turns in “Desert Son”, but I wanted to expand the length for the sequel. I decided to write 1,000 words a day, but since some days are impossible to write, I tweaked it to 5,000 words a week. That quota fit me perfectly, and to this day I am at 65,000 words after 13 weeks…right on schedule.

I have pretty much made it through the outline for the sequel, but I am adding a major scene into the book which, as it turns out, will be one of the most intense chapter of the book. That’s the way it goes when writing. Sometimes things spiral out of control and it turns out pretty damn good. It’s another world, but it’s fun to pull people in to what i’ve created. Gotta go…I’m smellin’ 70k sumpin’ fierce!

Barnes and Noble Booksigning – Glastonbury, CT

On Sunday, August 31st, 2014, I will be part of a group of four or five authors signing books at Barnes & Noble in Glastonbury, CT. I will be speaking about my books, “Strapped Into An American Dream” and “Desert Son.” When my publisher created the press release for this event, they inadvertently put an extra S in the fiction book, which made the title “Dessert Son.” They asked me to proof it. I did, and then told them that it sounded like the story of a son who liked delicious after-dinner treats. It was corrected, and should be ready for the press by Wednesday of this week. This event will be covered in the Calendar section of the Hartford Courant on the day of the event, and Wethersfield and Glastonbury Life, which comes out on the last days of the month. Be there, or be Summerset Square.

http://www.glennmaynard.weebly.com/