Monday, December 17, 2018

Book Review: Date Like a Woman by Kai Nicole

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Book Title: Date Like a Woman
Author: Kai Nicole
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Date Like a Woman highlights Kai Nicole's often "unconventional dating beliefs' to make a date a more pleasurable experience for women. What intrigued me the most about this book is that Kai Nicole was not focused on teaching a woman how to date for the goal of getting married, which is often the focus of dating books for women. Kai Nicole's approach centered on making sure that women understood how to date as a means of enjoying the dating experience.

Each chapter of the book highlighted an important aspect of dating, which often has conflicting viewpoints. For example, Chapter 2, entitled Managing Expectations, provided steps for women to channel their expectations when it comes to dating. I personally found Chapter 7 to be the most intriguing. The title of Chapter 7 was "What You Can Learn from Strippers and Groupies." I liked this chapter because Kai Nicole emphasized how it is essential to understand details about an individual to fully know how to deal with him, which is what strippers and groupies are skilled at doing.

Kai Nicole's writing style helps to convey her ideology in a friendly non-threatening manner. She isn't preaching to the reader and forcing on the reader that her dating approach should be law. She writes as if she is your friend, whom you are chatting with at a Girl's Night Out Sleepover party. She shares her dating approach based on how she dates.

I believe Date Like a Woman provides a fresh approach to dating. Some of the techniques shared aren't feasible for several reasons, but many are practical that can be implemented today. For women, who are returning to dating science, this book is a great tool to encourage the enjoyment of dating rather than the chore of dating.

For more information about the author and the book, visit the website: http://www.datelikeawoman.com 

 

About the Author

Image retrieved from Author's Website
Kai Nicole holds degrees from Harvard University and Howard University School of Law.
She has worked in law, entertainment, technology (Silicon Valley), and has done business development consulting for multiple entrepreneurs.
A native Washingtonian, she has also lived in Boston and Atlanta. Kai is currently residing with her family in the suburbs of San Francisco.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Book Review: Beneath the Same Stars by Phyllis Cole-Dai

Rating 5 out of 5 Stars


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Beneath the Same Stars: A Novel of the 1862 U.S. – Dakota War by Phyllis Cole-Dai is a well-written historical fiction account of The Dakota War of 1862 from the viewpoint of Sarah Wakefield. Cole-Dai’s depiction of such a tragic historical event highlights the strained and often horrendous relationship with Native Americans, the superiority complexes that encouraged violence and other vices, and how a woman questioned the actions and motives of those involved.

Because of Cole-Dai’s ability to change a historical event into such a brilliant tale, I became fascinated with understanding the historical context of The Dakota War of 1862. Cole-Dai combines storytelling with history using authentic language and engaging descriptions. Before reading Beneath the Same Stars, my knowledge of The Dakota War was minimal, but this book prompted me to research what I could find about this heartbreaking event.

Through the point of view of Sarah Wakefield, Cole Dai’s presents an intriguing tale that makes one question ideologies that shaped and transformed the evolution of the United States. I like how Sarah is not your typical woman during the era of the 1800s. She’s like a rebel that attempts to “live her best life” regardless of what is occurring around her. What do I like about Sarah this most? I don’t think that I can pinpoint one significant thing. She dressed like a man to escape. She challenges flawed ideology about race and gender. She makes you examine your own understanding of the role of class. Sarah demonstrates how selflessness can transform the lives of people around you.




Even though this is a fictional account of The Dakota War, Cole-Dai engages you in the text as if it genuinely happened just the way she wrote it. The beginning of the book starts off a little slow, but I encourage you to stick around until the end to truly discover Cole-Dai’s talent as a writer. Despite being set in 1862, the reoccurring themes of courage and challenging self-serving ideologies are applicable in the present day, especially with the discussion of current events. Within this text, there is a quality of characters, unlike anything you have ever read.

With the Thanksgiving Holiday quickly approaching, I believe that you will enjoy reading Beneath the Same Stars and gain a very thought-provoking view to analyze the history of the United States. I love that Cole Dai seems to silently invoke in the reader a desire to be open to differences that people possess and to appreciate the complexity of history to make effective change. I am glad that I was able to read this text, and I hope that you take the time to read it as well. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed. 



About the Book


August 18, 1862. On the Sioux reservation in southwestern Minnesota, Indians desperate for food and freedom rise up against whites in the region. Sarah Wakefield, the wife of a physician, is taken captive with her two babies. Their fate falls into the hands of the warrior Ćaske, with whom she has slim acquaintance. As war rages, little does she know how entwined their lives will become.
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Beneath the Same Stars is the gripping story of two people, caught between worlds, who are willing to do almost anything to defend those they care about—including each other. But the drama is bigger than themselves. Tragic forces have been set in motion.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Stay Tuned


I haven’t posted on my blog or here lately. Changes are being made to my blog posting schedule and reading schedule. I will be updating reviews, book suggestions, and so much more. Stay tuned for posting in November. See you soon! 


Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Exclusive Blog Tour and Guest Post: The Other Thief by Frank McKinney

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Today, Frank McKinney's book, The Other Thief, was released on Amazon and in bookstores. So, this blog post is in perfect timing for you to purchase the book and cozy up with it this weekend. The Other Thief can be considered a spiritually daring romance. I am excited about reading my copy and cannot wait to share the book review with you. Frank McKinney even provided a guest post about his book, The Other Thief.


Guest Post by Frank McKinney

On the first night when I arrived in Florida from Indiana as an 18-year-old without the hope of education beyond graduating high school with a 1.8 GPA, I slept under a pier because I didn’t have a place to stay. I chose the soft sand under the pier over the hard concrete of sleeping under a bridge.
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The next day I began work as a golf course maintenance worker, waking at 4am to take a taxi from the pier to meet my coworkers. I was scared to death, and when I arrived, I realized I was the only white person who would be working on that Deerfield Beach golf course. I worked amongst Haitians and quickly earned the nickname “the white Haitian” because of my strong work ethic. I may believe in the welfare system, but I don’t believe in an entitlement mentality. I’ve never been afraid to work hard. 
Fast forward to today, where, through our Caring House Project Foundation (CHPF.org), we’ve built 28 self-sufficient villages in 25 Haitian cities over the last 16 years. We’ve provided a self-sustaining existence to 12,000+ children and their families who were living in mud or tin shacks covered in palm fronds for a roof with rodents the size of cats running across their dirt floors. 
Our Haiti villages contain 40-50 brightly pastel colored concrete homes for families of eight, a community center that houses a school, church and clinic, clean drinking water, renewable food and some form of free enterprise so the village can be self-reliant. In addition, we provide meals in our schools and orphanages (2 part protein, 1 part carbohydrate).
Knowing that for each copy of The Other Thief we sell we’ll be able to provide nearly 200 meals to the hungry children in our Haiti villages and orphanages made me anticipate the 70,000 words I would write with joy and purpose. As I was writing, I often thought back to my Haitian coworkers on that golf course, and the deep love I still have for them and the place they came from. 

About the Book

Quote from The Other Thief
Francis Rose, a lead singer for a meteorically popular Christian rock band, has it all—fame, fortune, family, and deep faith. With the support of his loving wife, young daughter, and Down-syndrome blessed son, he’s gone from performing for an audience of 20 at his tiny Lutheran church in Keeler, Indiana to selling out 20,000-seat arenas. His impact is global, soulful, and seemingly unstoppable. 

The seven deadly sins don’t stand a chance against a man of Francis’ character, morality, and faith. Or do they? Their alluring assault is relentless as Francis encounters each of them along with his ascending path to superstardom.

Check out the official book trailer. 

About the Author

Frank McKinney is a true Renaissance man: a five-time bestselling author (in 4 genres), real estate “artist” (creates multi-million dollar oceanfront homes on speculation on the sun-drenched canvas of the Atlantic), actor, ultramarathoner, aspirational speaker. 

The mediagenic author has been featured in countless TV & print articles, including Oprah (twice), 20/20, and the cover of USA Today. Frank’s other books include: The Tap, Dead Fred, Flying Lunchboxes, and the Good Luck Circle, Burst This! Frank McKinney’s Bubble-Proof Real Estate Strategies, Frank McKinney’s Maverick Approach to Real Estate and Make it Big! 49 Secrets for Building a Life of Extreme Success.

A “philanthro-capitalist,” Frank has made an enormous humanitarian impact in Haiti through his Caring House Project, where he has created 27 self-sufficient villages in 24 cities in the last 16 years, impacting the lives of 11,000+ children and their families. Frank, his wife, Nilsa, and their daughter, Laura make their home in Delray Beach, Florida, where Frank wrote The Other Thief in his oceanfront treehouse office.


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Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Book Review: The Strong Mind by Ryuho Okawa

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Author: Ryuho Okawa
Format: eBook
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars


Since September is Self-Improvement Month, I am sharing a review of The Strong Mind. This book is ideal for people who are dealing with challenges in life and would like to identify some strategies based on another person's personal opinion. This book is not based on research, so readers, like myself, who enjoy research-based approaches, may not enjoy this book as much.

The author, Ryuho Okawa, is the founder of Happy Science Group. Through this endeavor, he trains people on how to continue living despite being in a bottomless pit of sorrow.

Okawa appeals to the reader by using anecdotes and his life to illustrate how to maneuver through life's challenges. Regardless of the crisis, Okawa believes that you can transform your life by maintaining your mental strength.  The stories that Okawa share are very personal, but he does an ideal job of tying the lessons that should be learned from the stories to his recommended strategies. I wouldn't say that this book is a self-help book, but I would share that it's very inspirational and motivational.


Monday, September 10, 2018

Exclusive Blog Tour: Excess Baggage by Tracey Carisch

Excess Baggage by Tracey Carish is quite an interesting book. Since September is Self-Improvement Month. I wanted to share this book with my readers. Tracey and I share similarities. I love traveling with my family, and she loves traveling with her family. I am a former K-12 special education teacher and a professor/researcher. Tracey has a background in the facilitation of K-12 strategies. 

This book is ideal for people who are interested in experiencing the world with their family.  I have listened to numerous podcasts, which involved the speaker explaining how they participate in extended travel with their children.  My international travel has been limited. I have only been to Canada. However, my children and I have traveled extensively throughout the United States. My goal is to visit all of the states during my lifetime. 

The numerous life lessons that Tracey shares can be used in so many ways. I have included a sample excerpt from the book for your reading pleasure. 

Excess Baggage Excerpt 

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A highlight of our time in Norway was our trek up to Preikestolen, a flat, pillared cliff rising almost half a mile above the waters of the magnificent Lysefjord canyon. The three-hour hike up to the top was a testament to our girls’ physical endurance as well as Brian’s paternal motivational skills, which basically involved ignoring all the whining and walking thirty yards ahead of the rest of us. Despite the arduous morning required to reach it, our time on Preikestolen proved to be a breathtaking experience. Of course, for me, this was due to both the gorgeous view and the fact that air was forcefully ripped from my lungs each time one of the girls made what I considered to be a careless move that could result in her fall to a watery death. Such moves included: Running, hopping, walking, reaching for a sandwich, and turning one’s head quickly. 

Somewhere around my tenth dramatic gasp, it finally occurred to me that my children aren’t lemmings and actually do possess a self-preservation instinct. I was able to put the 2000-foot sheer drop out of my mind (sort of) and enjoy the calm beauty of the experience. A warm breeze floated up the cliff’s face as I stood looking out over the deep gorge cutting through to the ocean. The sky and the water mirrored the same shade of brilliant topaz blue, and between them ran the rich, warm marbled browns of the canyon walls. I tried to imagine what the land looked like millions of years ago, before a sheet of slow-moving ice irreversibly transformed the landscape, turning it from a gentle green slope into a majestic sculpture of stone and water. Slight changes, imperceptible from one day to the next, had accumulated over time to create something extraordinary. 

I took a deep breath of fresh, clean air and felt a wish form inside me—the wish that this journey would be the colossal force changing our family forever. 

My shocking discovery in the first weeks of this trip (besides the $17 chicken breast at a Norwegian grocery store) was the realization that our family didn’t get along very well. At all. Our new mode of 24-7 togetherness revealed how little of it we’d had back home, where most of our waking hours had been spent separated from one another at work, school, or one of those many kid activities we rushed around to. For the first time, the girls weren’t spending their days in their own classrooms, and Brian and I weren’t heading off to our respective offices. There were no playdates or sports practices or parties with friends. It was just the five of us. Together. All. The. Time. As a result, we were getting precipitously close to strangling one another…



Carisch Family after 18 Months of Travel 

About the Book

Excess Baggage: One Family's Around the World Search for Balance


Tracey Carisch thought she had it all. As a wife, mother, and successful executive, she seemed to be living the modern American dream. But one night, a panic attack sent her tumbling into a midlife crisis and questioning everything. That’s when she and her husband made a decision that shocked their family and friends: they sold everything they owned, pulled their three young daughters out of school, and became a family of wandering globetrotters.


Loaded with hilarious mishaps as well as deeply meaningful revelations, Excess Baggagechronicles the Carisch family’s extraordinary eighteen-month adventure across six continents, bringing to mind the spiritual journey of EatPray Love and the comical mishaps ofNational Lampoon’s Vacation.


Through Tracey’s insightful, funny, and poignant narrative, the reader will discover the life lessons of an around-the-world journey without leaving home.

About the Author

Tracey Carisch is a leadership consultant, professional speaker, and author of the book Excess Baggage: One Family’s Around the World Search for Balance. In 2014, her travel blog, www.100WaysToChangeTheWorld.com, chronicled her family’s around-the-world, nomadic journey and gained wide international following. Since returning to the United States, Tracey has given talks across the country about the lessons her family gained through their adventure. Drawing on her career in organizational effectiveness and leadership development, she speaks on a wide variety of topics, ranging from work culture to family dynamics.

Tracey graduated from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and began her career as a consultant with an international consulting firm, where she advanced to a leadership position within the organization’s professional education team. She received her MBA from the University of Utah in 2002 and soon began her own independent consulting business, specializing in organizational effectiveness and project management.

Her facilitation work with business-education partnerships led to a prominent position in the STEM education initiative. Tracey served as the Managing Director of the STEM Innovation Hub, collaborating with stakeholders from school systems, nonprofits, businesses, universities and government agencies to pioneer ground-breaking workforce development programs. This role engaged Tracey in the areas of education research and early learning neurology as she worked alongside pedagogical and andragogical experts to develop successful K-12 teaching strategies and adult learning initiatives.

In 2014, Tracey took a dramatic leap into the unknown when she temporarily left her career and embarked on a trip around the world with her husband and their three young daughters. The family traveled through 24 countries on 6 continents over the course of 18 months. Her blog chronicled their adventures and highlighted the lessons learned through international travel.

Since returning to the United States, Tracey has expanded her leadership development career to include motivational speaking. Her presentations blend the breathtaking imagery of travel photography with important themes for parents, children, educators, and business leaders. By incorporating leadership best practices and conflict management concepts, Tracey’s talks inspire audiences while also leaving them equipped with successful practices for setting intentions and improving relationships.




Friday, August 31, 2018

Book Review: The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey

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Book Title: The Gilded King
Author: Josie Jaffrey
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

From the very beginning of the book to the end, I was captivating by the world that Josie Jaffrey creates in The Gilded King, which happens to be Book I in the Sovereign Series. I am not sure exactly what I was expecting from reading this novel, but I was not disappointed. Initially, the plot reminded me of the movie, “I Am Legend.”  

In this book, there are two distinct worlds: Blue and Red. Blue is where Julia resides, but Red is where she desires to go. However, Julia is paralyzed by fear of the unknown beyond the border that separated the Blue and Red worlds. Because of Jaffrey’s writing style, I was extremely curious about what was in the Red. As I read the book, I quickly understood.

The Blue is the remaining city after catastrophic destruction within the world. This city is guarded by a wall that separates it from The Red, where sudden death is imminent. Two young girls, Claudia and Julia, are servants within the Blue, and they are being groomed to provide the necessary nutrients of blood to their assigned superiors, The Noble. Jaffrey made it easy for the reader to understand the apparent caste system that was created when the world was transformed into what controlled the lives of Claudia and Julia. I admired the character, Julia. I loved how she does not fit into the sterotypical female role of submission. Even though she is a servant, she is very much aware of her thoughts and intuition. I love that about her character. 

I won’t give away the plot or provide any spoilers. Let’s just say that if you love books that transport you into another world then this is the book for you. I must admit that I was captivated by the way that Jaffrey allows the plot to unfold. Even though I was in the comfort of my bedroom as I read the book, I felt like I was right there with Julia when she first met Lucas for the first time. I could see Felix and Cam climbing the trees. Every scene that I read felt so real to me.

About the book

In the Blue, the world’s last city, all is not well.
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Julia is stuck within its walls. She serves the nobility from a distance until she meets Lucas, a boy who believes in fairytales that Julia’s world can’t accommodate. The Blue is her prison, not her castle, and she’d escape into the trees if she didn’t know that contamination and death awaited humanity outside.
But not everyone in the Blue is human, and not everyone can be contained.
Beyond the city’s boundaries, in the wild forests of the Red, Cameron has precious little humanity left to lose. As he searches for a lost queen, he finds an enemy rising that he thought long dead. An enemy that the humans have forgotten how to fight.
One way or another, the walls of the Blue are going to come down. The only question is what side you’ll be on when they do.

About the Author


Josie lives in Oxford, England, with her husband and two cats. When she’s not writing, she works as a lawyer, specialising in intellectual property and commercial law. She also runs a video book review club, The Gin Book Club, through her website. The Solis Invicti series (a prequel series to the Sovereign series) is available now. For additional information, contact: josiejaffrey@gmail.com

Friday, August 17, 2018

EXCLUSIVE Blog Tour: Mississippi Writer, Robert Donohue at Mississippi Book Festival

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Tomorrow is the Mississippi Book Festival, and if you attend, you will find Robert Donohue, the author of an epic fantasy called Child of Creation.  I cannot wait to share my book review about this science fiction book. Stay tuned for my review.

If you see him at the Mississippi Book Festival tomorrow, tell Robert that you learned about his book via my blog. Be sure to take a picture with him and tag me in the photo on Instagram and Twitter. I would love to learn about your interaction with him. 

About the Book

Alone and terrified, the only son of the village’s hunter is on the run from a threat he doesn’t even understand. Marauders, who destroyed his village and murdered his parents, are chasing him to silence the only voice left able to bear witness to their atrocities. His parents ominously warned him to trust no one as they sent him away while they fought courageously to give their young teenage son a chance to live. Thus, begins the adventures of Lark. Follow Lark as he joins a group who teaches him that the world isn’t as simple as he was raised to believe. Lark soon learns that the fantastic stories he and his friends grew up hearing of a much bigger world where not just Elves and Dwarves, but Gnomes and Trolls, even magical Sprites could exist, are true. Even more disturbing, he begins to learn that his own heritage includes stunning secrets. Secrets that cause Lark to question not only who he can trust, now that he is on his own, but why his parents kept so many truths from him. Lark is forced to grow up quickly as he ventures into the incredibly dangerous world outside the sleepy little village of his youth and must learn and adapt, or die. Without any other real options, he begins a personal quest to make those who destroyed the only world he had ever known pay for their crimes. All the while, learning what it means to be the Child of Creation.

About the Author

Born in Chicago and raised in Syracuse, New York, Robert Donohue moved in his mid-teens to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he has been ever since except for a few years of college. He spent most of his career in law enforcement and some retail management. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in Organizational Management and is currently working on his Master's Degree in Homeland Security at Mississippi College. Robert has been an avid reader since about two and his favorite authors are Terry Brooks, Louis L'Amour, David Eddings, and the master, George RR Martin.

Robert Donohue Q&A - Child of Creation

What genre do you write and why? I write to relax.  I enjoy reading Epic Fantasy novels and so, my first published book is in that genre.  I grew up reading Louis L’Amour and Clive Cussler though, so I have a desire to try that genre at some point, and I have started about half a dozen times a book about my adventures in Baghdad, Iraq in 2004 when I was there serving as a police advisor helping to stand up a democratic policing presence in a country that had none.  Basically, I just like to write, and the fantasy genre is the most open, allowing me to be the most creative with character development and what I can do to create conflicts that drive character interaction.
Tell us about your latest book.  Child of Creation is an epic fantasy novel about a young man, Lark, who is suddenly, and violently, torn from the only world he has ever known when the small village he has never been more than a few miles away from is attacked and everyone in it, including his parents, killed. As the only witness to that atrocity, Lark is sent away by his mother who strangely tells him to keep who he is a secret just before sending him away.  Lark then has to figure it all out, how to survive in a world he doesn’t even really understand and wanders into a variety of challenges along the way, forcing him to grow up faster than he ever thought he could, and face the fact that somehow, his tragedy is tied up in a much greater series of events than he ever imagined he could be a part of.
What did you edit out of this book?  I started this book when I was a young police officer, and as such, I saw quite a bit of the seedier side of life. As I got older, and my children started growing up, I started to wonder if what I wrote was appropriate for them to read.  With a book about a 14-year-old, I wanted kids around that age to be able to enjoy it as well so much of the more descriptive depravity of the world Lark finds himself in was edited out to make the book more acceptable to me as a parent.
How was this book published? (traditional, small press, self-pub, etc.)  Why did you choose that particular publishing route?  I tried for years, possibly decades, to find an agent or a major publisher who was interested in working with me to get the book published.  I sent out dozens of queries all over this country and England as well and, to this day, don’t even know if any of those people took the time to review what I sent them.  Eventually, I took the bull by the horns and decided to self-publish.  I searched the internet and found out there are more ways to publish a book than there are books to publish so I spent some time gathering and comparing offers and found Page Publishing’s offer to be the fairest, and most likely to produce a finished product that would be successful in showing my talents to the best advantage.
How do you select the names of your characters?  The most popular question I have received since people started reading my book.  I basically didn’t want to accidentally step on any toes, so whenever I ran into the need for a new character name, I would start putting vowels and consonants together until they sounded like the character I was creating. I wanted an entirely new world that broke stereotypes from other worlds while at the same time, creating an entirely new set for this new world’s inhabitants.  There are patterns in the names that I try to follow.  I will leave the identification of those patterns to the imaginations of my readers.
What marketing methods are you using to promote your book? A part of my choosing Page Publishing was their offer of sending out a press release about the book’s release and setting up a web page. I was also moved to work with a terrific group of publicists out of Austin, Texas called PR by the Book who helped me make contact with you.  It is an uphill battle for any self-published author to convince people to give your work a chance, but I have been pleasantly surprised at the acceptance the book has received and hopes that the more people read it, the stronger word of mouth advertising will work in my favor.  It is about the characters and the world they live in, and if they drive people’s imaginations strongly enough, I will reach a point where the book can and should sell itself.  All I have to do is keep finding people to convince to read it until I reach that point.
Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with the bad or good ones?  I haven’t had an official book review come out, but I imagine it will depend on how they are trending.  I tend to want to know what people think because that drives the next book and the next after that, however, a series of bad reviews might create a negativity that I wouldn’t want to affect my writing so I might be inclined to ignore those in favor of providing a more positive outlook for those fans who enjoy what I am doing.  While I have always written as a way to relax, if I am going to sell these books and make it a career, I will need to be able to shrug off the clunkers and drive forward with the knowledge that there are people who enjoy what I am doing, and I write for them.
Do you Google yourself?  Not much to find about me in Google.  I am just a quiet, family oriented, guy who writes because he enjoys writing and spends the rest of his free time enjoying family and friends.
What formats is the book available in? The book is available in paperback and ebook versions.  It is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, I-Tunes, Google Play, and Kobo along with a host of other sites.  It is also available through Ingram wholesalers for any bookstore looking to carry it. 
Who are your favorite authors? Terry Brooks and his Shannara books got me into the whole fantasy genre as a teen, and Star Wars and George Lucas was the only real science fiction I ever got into. However, Louis L’Amour and Clive Cussler were big influences and currently, George RR Martin is a genius with how he creates characters that are so real you can believe in them.  Last but not least, David Eddings was a tremendous influence on my writing.  I have read everything he wrote for decades over and over.   I would say my favorite writer today though, is Robert Donohue.
What advice do you have for other writers?  If it matters more what other people believe that what you feel about your writing in your heart, then you are writing for the wrong reasons.  Writing is a personal thing for me, and I think that helps me create stronger characters and delve more deeply into their interactions with each other.  Don’t write to sell books, write to make strong stories. 
What's your favorite quote about writing/for writers? I read somewhere that "If it's good, I won't have to sell it, it will sell itself, and if it isn't, well then it is a good thing I have friends to tell me so."  I don’t know who said it, but I believe it.
What's the best thing about being a writer?  For me, it is being able to come up with problems and then finding ways to solve them.  We all face challenges in our life that seem so momentous at the time, but then, as the years pass fade into obscurity.  For the people in the books I write, those challenges will live on just as strong today as they were the day I wrote them.
Where can people find out more about you and your writing? Hopefully, there will be plenty of opportunities to read a variety of reviews over time, but I currently have a page on the Page Publishing Websitehttps://www.pagepublishing.com/books/?book=child-of-creation, as well as a Facebook author’s pagehttps://www.facebook.com/booksbyrobertdonohue/, and an another Facebook page dedicated to the book series that will continue after Child of Creation,https://www.facebook.com/thencameaking.  
Who is your favorite character in your book and why? I tend to be like a parent who prefers not to declare one of his kids, (characters), the favorite.  They all have their positive and negative traits but in the end, it is their humanity and their way of dealing with each other that will define them.  I truly would rather each reader find their own favorite for their own reasons. Imagination is a wonderful thing and, at least inside this world we live in, each person has their own experience and environment to rely on to help them choose who might become the one they most want to know what is going to happen to as the series develops.

Why do you think readers are going to enjoy your book? So far, I have been pleasantly surprised by the reactions.  The Fantasy genre is one that only has a certain group of fans, so it was important to me to appeal to those people who enjoy regularly letting their imaginations carry them outside a normal world. At the same time, I wanted to create a story that even those who aren’t normally fans of sliding slightly past reality wouldn’t be able to resist.  From what I am hearing up to now, I succeeded on both counts.

How long did it take you to write your book?  I started writing this book in the early 1990’s shortly after I started working on the Police Department.  Between edits and struggles finding the perfect venue from which to let the story out to be seen by the public, it took close to 25 years to get it published.

Who designed the cover? Page Publishing hired the artist to handle that with input from me on what I wanted to see there. 

Did you learn anything from writing your book that was unexpected? I did figure out how complicated and expensive the process of getting a book noticed is.  The most difficult thing in the world is to be a member of a group 8 million stories big and trying to get people to pick your story out from among the masses without the help of one of those big five publishing organizations or an agent.  I plan on becoming the exception though, not the rule.

Where can a reader purchase your book?  My book is available online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, I-Tunes, and Google Play as well as on request from most any book retailer upon request.  I would really love to see sales pick up in the local bookstores as I am a small-town guy and that would generate interest that would allow me to make some appearances in many of these smaller venues where the events would be more personal.
                                                     
What are you doing to market the book?  I have hired PR by the Book to help kick things off, and I am working with many local stores and regional organizations to try to get some traction for building a brand that people will recognize.  I am always open to suggestions, though, and ready, willing, and able to step up and do whatever it takes to get people to open the front cover.

Who inspires you? Inspiration is funny, there are so many things that can drive it.  I am inspired by the gifts God gave me to use words, I am inspired by making my children proud, and I am inspired to do whatever it takes to make my beautiful wife of 28 years comfortable and happy.  Most of all I am inspired by having the ability to get up out of bed every day and be relatively free from pain and worry.  All of these gifts that God gives me are humbling and unique. 

When and where do you write?  The great thing about this new technological age we live in is that I can keep my laptop with me and write just about wherever and whenever the passion strikes.  When I started this book, I wrote 900 pages in pencil, because that way I could erase things I didn’t like, but now I keep a laptop in a backpack nearby, and whenever the mood hits, away I go.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? I honestly had to look this one up.  I generally have a direction that I think the story should go and then I start to type and go where the story leads me.  I guess that makes me a pantser if I understand things correctly. The greatest thing about being a writer for me, especially in this genre, is that I can take the story literally anywhere so long as the storylines remain seamless and the writing is such that I am not ashamed to show it to my kids.

Do you believe in writer's block?  I do think there are times it is easy and times it is harder to take the story where you want it to go.  The fact that I started this book in the early 90’s is probably the best evidence of that. However, the benefit of fiction is that there is literally no direction you can’t take it so if one way isn’t working you can drive the story somewhere else and come back to the hard part.

If you could tell your younger writing self-anything, what would it be?  Believe in the passion that builds the desire to sit down and write.  Never be afraid to put yourself into your stories, and drive harder for longer than you believed you could if you ever want to be successful. 

How do you research your books?  Another benefit of fiction is if you can’t build a convincing story with factual information, you can make some stuff up that is plausible and drive the story that way.  It is about the suspension of disbelief in my mind.  There has to be a certain amount of ability to create plausibility in people’s minds to get them to buy into the story, but once they buy in, you are ready to take their minds places they never considered it possible to get to.

What is your work in progress? Tell us about it.  Book two of the Then Came a King series, Coming of Age is complete…for the most part.  I am editing it for contextual disagreements with book 1and trying to make sure I haven’t taken the characters to places they really don’t need to go.  I am afraid of the sequel syndrome where everything after the first one is disappointing, and so I want to use each book in the series to build a stronger connection between the readers and their favorite characters. The hardest part of that for me is keeping each character in their lane so to speak.  The amount of time it has taken to get this published has made that effort considerably harder than it should have been.  Imagine trying to remember what your motives were for a particular idea, 25 years ago.

What are your thoughts on self-publishing versus traditional publishing?  While self-publishing created my opportunity to actually be published instead of just a guy pecking away on his laptop, I really believe it has opened the market so wide that it has made it much more difficult to get noticed and therefore much less likely to be successful.  In the end, a well-written story with strong characters will remain the standard for success in literary pursuits, but there are so many great stories out there who just need that notice from that one influential writer to break out of the pack and become something special.  I hope we aren’t hurting ourselves by overloading the market with humdrum at the expense of the spectacular.

Who or what inspired you to become a writer? Honestly, I just have always enjoyed writing.  I was a writer long before I was an author.  I can say for sure that I was awful at writing in high school.  I didn’t have the patience for all the research that was necessary for the type of writing we were doing, but then when I hit college and got into the mandatory composition classes, I found out that fiction was so much easier to come up with and I went from D’s and F’s on papers to consistent A’s.  I would say that was when it became fun for me and that was where I started to enjoy just making up the stories.

Does your family support you in your writing career? How? My wife would much rather I will be up helping out around the house I am sure, but, for the most part, my wife and both of my kids are supportive of what I am trying to do.  They offer encouraging words when I feel like I might be wasting my time and help to suggest storylines when I get stuck and am not sure where to take the story.


What are some of your all-time favorite books?  The Sword of Shannara was the first Fantasy novel I ever read.  The Belgariad series by David Eddings was an important part of my teen years, as was Louis L’Amour and Clive Cussler.  I stumbled into the Song of Ice and Fire long before it was a fad to do so and really really liked it.  There are so many historical books that I have really enjoyed that I can’t even name a single author other than Winston Groom who wrote an interesting historical non-fictional account on the Battle of Vicksburg about the town I live in.

What is your favorite book you've read this year so far? By far Child of Creation by…Me.  I had to read it so many times during editing that I really have had to struggle to finish everything else.  Between writing, (I am deep off into the third book of Then Came a King), and working two jobs, and taking Grad school, it has been a difficult year for reading.  However, I hope to find an author who grabs my attention and takes me away from all of my daily detail nonsense soon, and then I will be off to the races again breezing through books like they were only a page or two long.

What books or authors have most influenced your life?  I would say I take something from each of the books and authors who have caught my attention as I describe in previous answers.  As for influencing the way I live my life, I like to find those characters who have a strong moral compass and who are able to avoid the pitfalls and temptations of the easier path.  Like many of the Sackett characters that Louis L’Amour wrote about.

When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?  My wife would tell you I am a professional sleeper, but in reality, I work about 60 hours a week between all of the jobs I work and then I am a part-time graduate student as well.  Soon I will be teaching at the college level also and hopefully still be writing and doing press and book signing events.

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