A Moment of Weakness

 "Build up your weaknesses until they become your strengths." Knute Rockne.

I love to write. No kidding, huh? I often write just for the pure joy of creating scenes, characters, situations. I like nothing better than to take a long bike ride, think about a writing project (often with the help of my cycling friends) and then sit in front of a laptop for several hours.

I suck at marketing. 

It isn't that my writing sucks - it doesn't (I say that in all humility). It's just that when it comes to telling other people that they should buy one of my books, read it, and enjoy the ride, finding the words is a chore.

I took a class. It helped - a little.

I've had other people write things. It helped - a little.

I've "boosted" things on line. It helped - a little.

I thought maybe I'd look around, see who I could copy. I discovered a guy who plays guitar. Maybe...him?

His name is Joe Bonamassa. He's a blues guitarist of some repute, a guys who's won awards, played with some people I've actually heard of (as though that's the gold standard?) and appears at Red Rocks during years the 'Rona hasn't kept us all inside. He does brief videos, has voiceovers from that drag race guy ("Sunnnnddaaaayyy...") and generally makes a big deal out of his own music. Fine.

Torn from today's headlines, police procedural titan James A Greer's pithy new novel "A Guardian's Promise" combines grit, determination and sacrifice into a stunning web of fast-paced action and mystery. Enter the searing world of a policewoman whose femininity is often masked by the hardened, street-smart beat cop she has had to become. 

I dunno... Too much?

I actually think you'd like it, especially if you've ever wondered what really goes on inside a police department. I guess I'm something of an authority on that.

A little.

Letting Go

“If we can just let go and trust that things will work out they way they're supposed to, without trying to control the outcome, then we can begin to enjoy the moment more fully. The joy of the freedom it brings becomes more pleasurable than the experience itself.”
― Goldie Hawn

Release Day for "A Guardian's Promise."

My first release day was in the fall of 2007. A small-imprint publisher had agreed to market a short story called "A Parasol in a Hurricane." Pat and I were in Mexico, at a resort near Playa del Carmen. We excitedly got onto the computer in their clubhouse - it being pre-readily available Wi-Fi - and awaited the announcement. And... There it was, my first published fiction work.

Release day means a lot of things. It means income. It means seeing a book cover with my name on it. And, it means - gasp - that it no longer truly belongs to me. I've let it go, given it to those who open the cover and begin to read. The book is now about wherever the reader's mind takes them.

Since then, I've seen the release of five full-length novels featuring three distinct characters - Sergeant Amy Painter, Detective Karen Sorenson and Deputy Cecilia (Cici) Onofrio. Each release day has been filled with feelings of accomplishment, anticipation and joy.

I don't write because I think it will make us rich - good thing. I don't write because I think I'm making a contribution to great literature - police novels are stories.

I write because I had an interesting job, and I think others would love to see what some of it entailed. "Guardian" is more of a classic police procedural - cops doing law enforcement like cops. But, it is also a cautionary tale, something being born out in headlines, in nightly news and via online video links from streets across the country.

Policing is a noble profession, and anyone who works as an officer has made a solemn pledge - that they will deal with the needs of their community, come what may. They have pledged to uphold the law, to risk their own lives to save others, and to do it day in-day out, for years. In spite of the stress, the ambiguities and the drama - day in-day out.

No human endeavor is perfect. What "Guardian" also represents is how imperfect people can sometimes forget who they serve, and why they are invested with the awesome power to deprive another citizen of their rights to life, liberty and property.

In that case, who stands up and says "No more?"

A Guardian's Promise

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

― Toni Morrison

 

I’ve written several blogs about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the immediate aftermath of unrest and political opportunism. That’s not why we’re here, today.

In about two weeks, I’ll be announcing the release of a book that sat dormant for almost a decade, as others took shape and were published. 

I’ve had the benefit of a number of great editors, and a writing instructor who has read thousands of rough draft pages. Friends have helped shape characters, suggested plots and helped smooth out ragged writing. Family members – my wife especially – have supported what is, in essence, a solitary pursuit.

I loved being a police officer. It was a difficult job. I was surrounded by some of the best people, anywhere, individuals committed to risking their lives to save others. My experiences have given me all the material a writer could ever ask for, while I was serving in a manner that was richly rewarding in and of itself.

This book began as an examination of how a policewoman’s life can take abrupt, unfortunate turns. The plot’s undercurrent of law enforcement work was secondary.

That secondary plot involved misconduct of the most insidious and yet modest, almost innocuous sort, something all police departments wrestle with on an ongoing basis. There are small, seemingly insignificant indicia of trouble, often ignored. Then, something public occurs and everyone looks around in amazement, wondering how that would occur here.

A variety of causes are generally bandied about. Bad people, ineffective leadership, weak supervisors (especially from the outside looking in). There is rarely the observation, made in the comic strip Pogo, that “We have met the enemy, and He is Us.”

Massive police reform (or, even more massive police defunding or disbanding) is all the rage in some circles today. I’m not here to weigh in on what would be massive mistakes running contrary to what the actual citizens of a jurisdiction actually want. Maybe another day.

I didn’t write this book to suggest specific reforms. The department from which I retired has successfully employed a “co-response” initiative. There are other things departments should look at. My bias is education and training, but that’s not this book's objective.

I wanted to call it Preserve, Protect, and Defend based on the oath each law enforcement officer takes. It didn’t seem to fit the overall message of the book, how each individual doesn’t just take a formal oath, but makes a series of promises – to family, to co-workers, to lovers. They make a promise to themselves, one that is often the most difficult to keep.

Constructing the cover was a struggle – thanks to all who contributed observations. At some point, it is about letting go, getting the book out, doing my best and taking ownership. You’ll get the idea when you read the acknowledgments section.

A Guardian’s Promise. I hope you like it.

Covering Amy

"What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ear and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key.
I get by with a little help from my friends." With A Little Help From My Friends, The Beatles, (Lennon and McCartney), 1967

Writing is, for the most part, a solitary pursuit. Quality alone time and immersion into the story produces hundreds, sometimes thousands of words. Rarely does a good working environment include multiple interruptions. Sometimes (as now) the wrong music - even LeAnn Rimes doing the glorious How Do I Live - is intrusive.

That's where the "I, me, mine" of writing ends. It is especially true of aspiring, small-market authors. Even those lucky enough to attract the attention of a publisher do a lot of the work themselves. Layer on self-publishing and.... I get by with a little help from my friends. Friends who offer suggestions, help develop characters, preview dialogue. Friends who read raw text (God love them!), friends who endure countless questions.... Friends who can take pictures of friends wearing uncomfortable cop gear.

A Little Help from My Friends

'It's a kind of zen question: if you write a book and no one reads it, is it really a book?' Lee Child

An inevitable and terrifying step in getting other people to read a book I've written is to foist it off on my publisher. Not because she's evil incarnate - Marci's supportive, upbeat and genuinely wants to give new writers a shot in the business. Not because the process beyond the contract is a fire-breathing, sharp-eyed editor.


It's because....somebody might read it.


Yesterday, I sent out a manuscript to Wild Child Publishing, beginning the process of acceptance (never guaranteed), editing and eventual release. This one is tentatively called a Miracle of Zeros and Ones, the story of a police woman and a stalker.