TAG

   

Before I proceed to my ‘TAG” business, I would like to pay my special respect and say a big ‘Thank You’ to A. K. Andrew (@artyyah on Twitter) for nominating me for the “Beautiful Blogger Award.’ This delightful person put no responsibility to the nomination. Readers are invited to visit A.K. at http://akandrew.com and view her lovely art work ‘Tuscany,’ oil on canvas. Also preview her WIP “Under The Bed” while at the site.

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You know the game of ‘Tag?’

Well, leave it to the fertile minds of writers to create amusing new venues for a game kids still play. My new Twitter buddy, Paul Anthony just tagged me after he was tagged by Clive Eaton (@CliveEaton on Twitter). Of course you know what this means! Another ‘chain event’ is now underway. I’ve been tagged and it is now my honor to do likewise. Here are the rules of our TAG game…

Give credit (including URL/link) to the person or Blog that caught you and who made you “IT.” As my Brit pal puts it, “I was tagged fair and square whilst running away.” No running for me – too lazy! too old! Paul caught me napping with his tag and left me in a slightly bewildered state.

While in this dubious mindset let me quickly give credit to the culprit, umm, the British bloke who TAGGED me in this little game called, ‘TAG.’ In actuality it is a fun way to do some networking, to spread ourselves out to hopefully a wider and global audience. To repeat, the scoundrel’s name is Paul Anthony, better known on Twitter as @paulanthonyspen,  and his URL/link is: http://paulanthonys.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/critic... Thank you, Paul, I THINK!

The rules are: 1) You must give credit to the person who tagged you with her/his URL/link  (this, I have done in the preceding paragraph); 2) you must answer ten questions relative to your WIP (Work In Progress); 3) you must name five other authors and their URL/links who can merrily jump through these same hoops…and who will likely never wish to hear anymore from you or about you. Yes, they, too, will be chased down and a similar TAG will be put on them. (Does all of this sound vaguely familiar? If it does, don’t expect an award necessarily – just ‘blog exposure.’)

Before the alienation of my once five twitter friends are revealed, here are the ten questions which I will answer, then pass on to ‘the fabulous five.’

Question One: What is the title (or, working title) of your next book?

My Answer: “The Reluctant Savage”

Question Two: What genre(s) does/do your book fall under? (Or, land really near!)

My Answer: Fiction – Mystery – Crime – Murder (There’s even ‘Love.’)

Question Three: What actors would you choose to play the characters in the film version of your book? (Really! This could ever happen?)

My Answer: This would require my knowing the names of the current stars of the silver screen. Coming to mind are: Matt Damon, Robert Downey, Jr., Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Stone, Christian Bale, Liam Neesen — Hey, what can I tell you! It’s an epic!

Question Four: What is the main outline of your book? (Call it a ‘pitch’ as a synopsis includes ‘spoilers.’)

My Answer: An outline? Are you serious? I’ve got a general idea of where the book is going, but the characters do all the moving of the plot and sub-plots: two high school kids, a timid football hero and a lovely vivacious cheerleader fall in love, get separated after graduation by military service, meet again years later, and get mixed up with a lot of nasty business. The ending will be colossal…That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. (Na-ni-na-ni-na-ni!)

Question Five: Will your book be Indie published, self-published, or represented by an agency and sold to a traditional publisher?

My Answer: It will most likely be published by ‘Create Space’ (Amazon) as have my other nine books. But, let the record show that I’m easily ‘for sale to the highest bidder, low bid starting at $500,000!’ (Okay, I’ll stop with the attempts at humor!)

Question Six: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

My Answer: Hey, these questions need some editing! From where are all these terms coming from: outline? manuscript? draft? I’m between one hundred and two hundred pages into my first laptop boogie with this book. Some months from now, assuming I finish, I’ll go back in, read, re-write, edit, re-edit, on and on for another few months until I’m so sick of the damned book, I push ‘publish’ on Create Space, mistakes and all… (Have I been doing something wrong here?) (Okay, still trying for a ‘yuck, yuck.’)

Question Seven: What other books in this genre (or genres) would you compare yours to?

My Answer: First off, I remember some sweet gray-haired English Teacher telling me never to end a sentence with a preposition! (Sound of me clearing my throat!) Actually, “The Reluctant Savage” is told in the narrative form while my five ‘Bailey Crane Mysteries’ are written in the first person. With that said, “TRS” is entirely fictional, not inspired by an actual crime, and perhaps would be compared generally with the third book in the ‘Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ entitled “The Brutus Gate – A Bailey Crane Mystery,” a book that has drugs, murder, political corruption, rape, and love. However, I’m going to be working toward an ending that will equal the endings of ‘Bailey Crane’ books one, two, four, and five…

Question Eight: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My answer: The constant sun and the beautiful Sea of Cortez inspired me. I was sitting on my deck, watching the boats, jet skis, people on the beach, and began thinking about my school days, the shyness that I carried in those days. This character, Billy Campbell, came to me. Then I thought about the pretty cheerleaders we had back in those days and decided to take a couple of those kids on a novel ride through this book that I was already calling “The Reluctant Savage.” While thinking, a few lines came to me along with a wide-angle view of a story, and I went inside and started typing on my laptop… To repeat myself, I’m between one and two hundred pages…

Question Nine: What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

My Answer: The excellent and gritty descriptive sections of the book, of course, and the incredible, stupendous ending.

Question Ten: Teaser! There is no question ten…

My Answer: This is where I get to say, ‘Thank Goodness.” That’s how the aforementioned British brute put question ten. I shall simply echo his ‘Thank Goodness’ and use the question ten space to insert a few links relative to me and my book titles. If you really want to know a bio-bit about me, go to: http://www.about.me/brchitwood . If you want to preview my nine books, please go to my main website, http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com , read more about my Appalachian roots, and scroll further down the home page and preview my books. There is also a blog button on the home page that will take you to current and archived posts. My books are also on the ‘Independent Author Network’ at http://www.goo.gl/fuxUA . JUST ONE MORE PLUG! I repeat my blog posts on https://thefinalcurtain1.wordpress.com , on Goodreads, and on the IAN social network. (Okay, I’m finished!)

It’s time to name the five other authors to be chased down, my fabulous five. Whatever the readers’ moods of this post, do not miss the great entertainment value these five wonderful people have to offer… Please, follow them on Twitter, tweet them regularly, buy their great books, and I promise you will not be sorry. With these TAGS, I’ve very likely put myself on their ‘WNH?’ lists (WHN? =’Who Needs Him?’). You can consider this a ‘BEG’ that goes with the ‘TAG.”

Here are my Tagees:

http://johndolanwriter.blogspot.com (@JohnDolanAuthor on Twitter)

http://seumasgallacher.wordpress.com (@seumasgallacher on Twitter)

http://camerondgarriepy.com (@camerongarriepy on Twitter)

http://edenbaylee.com (@edenbaylee on Twitter)

http://dianestrong.wordpress.com (@DianeIStrong on Twitter)

TO THE TAGEES: Play by the rules — try for no cursing, no ranting, no raving, and no tantrums. PLEASE DO NOT take this diversion out on your loved ones. You can cry, kick empty space, spit, and even say a rhyming word that fits with spit. You must also post the rules, in your own inimitable styles. As stated earlier, there are no awards handed out here, but you will know that the tagger holds you in the highest esteem. Oh, what the heck! Here is my own personal award: “Billy Ray’s Fab Five” — feel free to create your own individual designs for this award, submit them to me for approval, and, please, NO VULGAR ICONs in the designs…

You must answer those ten (10) questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress), no matter the genre, because the world might possibly like to know ‘you all’ a little better. (To be honest there are only nine questions because the 10th question was put in because it is an even number — my tagger, Paul Anthony, has a thing for even numbers! What can I say?) Use the tenth question slot for your own shameless book promotions!

Again, list five (5) other authors or Bloggers (Tagees) with their hiding places (URL/Links) so that they can be chased down and made “IT” so we can all go home and be amused and enlightened by their sassy comments and answers. now we’ve finished playing.

Here again are the ten questions the tagged ones need to answer (in case you haven’t been paying attention):

Q 1) What is the title (or working title) of your next book?

Q 2) What genre(s) does your book fall under? (or land near really!)

Q 3) What actors would you choose to play the characters in the film version of your book? (should you ever, ever get that honour really)

Q 4) What is the main outline for your book? (Call it a pitch as a synopsis includes spoilers)

Q 5) Will your book be Indie published, self published or represented by an agency and sold to a traditional publisher?

Q 6) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Q 7) What other books in this genre would you compare yours to?

Q 8) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Q 9) What else about the book might pique the readers’ attention?

Q 10) Thank goodness!! 

Much thanks to my five victims, friends, for their good calmness and patience. In all seriousness, these people are some of the most talented authors/writers on the planet. It is my sincere hope that the readers of this blog will explore their works – if you have not already.

Best wishes to all.

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