It has taken a little getting used to… the request by readers to sign a copy of my book. And even more than that, folks requesting to buy signed copies on line. I’ve had to come to grips with something I knew, intellectually. This is a business, and I need to look at these requests not only as support from my wider community, but also customers/readers/fans who genuinely want to support me in my storytelling world. To that end, I’ve stood up a SquareSpace store for direct selling and fulfillment. If you click on the shopping cart, up in the…
Rick Shaw Posts
I had the pleasure to spend a little time with Marla Miller discussing my experience with personal imprint publishing. Conversation ranged through my academic background, the origins of my first novel The Tunguska Deception, and my experience with the indie publishing world. Thank you Marla. Great Conversation Folks, Give it a listen.
To borrow a phrase – Oh My! I am in Santa Barbara this week. Renewing old friendships at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. It is the 50th Anniversary of the conference, and a renewal after four years post pandemic. There’s a comfort in being among your tribe. So many faces I’ve only seen in Brady Bunch squares, or on Facebook, for far too long. If you saw my previous post, you know my first novel, The Tunguska Deception was published by 2FBooks earlier this month, and I’m now discovering the law of unanticipated consequences. Friends I haven’t seen for four…
I did a thing that I’ve been working toward, despite a few life interruptions, since 2005. My first novel, The Tunguska Deception, is available on Amazon in both print and kindle versions. And I’m at a loss for words. There are four other novels, in various states, sitting in folders, unfinished. You learn from each effort. A couple of them may find their way back to life. All will need a page one rewrite. I want to thank my writers group for their support all these years, friends and family as well, and Bonnie and her daughter who connected dots…
– a guest posting to SBWC’s Blog There is something magical in validation from peers. For most of us, our lives are a quest, in some form, for exactly that. Validation that our efforts, beliefs, values, talents, friendships, are not in vain. If we’re lucky we find our tribe, and within that larger group, a select collection of lunatics that will invest in us for that journey. Here’s the result of one such quest: I have attended the Santa Barbara Writers Conference off and on since 2005. The how and why I ended up there involves being dragged by my…
The following was a guest blog posting for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference (sbwriters.com) Writers come in all shapes and sizes, physically and metaphorically. Weaving simple words into verse of such striking beauty to bring a tear, or dark imagery leaving you unable to sleep without a light on for weeks at a time. For some, stringing words and conjuring images comes easy, like breathing. For others each word, phrase, sentence, paragraph is a struggle of epic proportion. But we as writers are all bound by a single objective – we must tell stories. Though writers are often introverts, and…
Just a brief post. Looking for an update on The Lost Fedora? The Santa Barbara Literary Journal’s anthology The Fifth Fedora dropped on September 14th. You can find it at the SB Literary Journal’s online Bookstore, or on Amazon. I’m truly humbled to be included among this community of authors to honor our friend, Stephen T. Vessels. Life provides us two families, the one you’re born into, and the one you gather along the way. We lost my brother Stephen all too soon to cancer last year. The Lost Fedora was inspired by Stephen, and was a lot of fun…
It is one of those things… you know the things that fall into that what authors do list of expectations. In this case that thing was a public speaking event, coupled with a question & answer, and reading of an excerpt from a recent work. You know… pimping your work! As a professional geek, and chief information officer, I’m frequently in front of a room full of folks doing a Q&A, or exploring some issue. I do this all the time – MEH! Tuesday was different, this was about me as an author, my journey, and exposing my work in…
It’s that time of year again – NaNoWriMo. And I find myself, tush in seat, fingers to the keyboard, wracking my brain for a story. My adoring wife wants me to build one to a worst-first sentence I once crafted. That’s not fair, it actually won that particular competition. But it was a throw away line. One intended to illicit a giggle and little more. But now, almost fifteen years later, I find myself trying to find the story in twenty-eight words and a crushed lawn flamingo. Worse yet, procrastinating here, throwing up a blog post, because I haven’t done…
I had the coolest thing happen to me a couple of days ago, and I’m still buzzing from it. Back in June, I had a short story accepted for an anthology; my first short story sale. At the time I thought cool. I found a home for Fiddler (the story’s title). I did a little happy dance, and then moved on. Earlier this week, the publisher of the anthology, Bayonet Books, published the collection of shorts on Amazon for pre-sale. One of those also ‘cool things’. And I did my part, posted links, let folks know, etc. Now the cool…