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How Much Can One Woman Take?

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Question: Why do you give your heroines so much trouble? Just how much can you reasonably expect one person to endure and still manage to do their job?

Answer: No more than anyone else. I know many who’ve managed to survive much worse. They may be a little battle damaged from life but they’re still in there swinging.

Apparently, some people are bothered by the number of issues that I heap upon some of my heroines. I’m a little bothered by it myself because, in some cases, I didn’t give them enough trouble to be realistic.

The idea that more than one or two problems at a time is too many suggests that you’ve been watching too many old Kung Fu movies. You know the ones. Twenty bad guys in black surround our hero dressed in white, and they attack one at a time or in pairs. The rest stand around like honorable and polite little thugs and await their turn at the hero.

Life isn’t like that. When bad things happen, there’s no referee to blow the whistle and signify the end of the play. The hits keep coming and all you can do is act like a good running back by keeping your legs churning as you try to drive forward to the goal line. In the real world, the goals are surviving and thriving.

Let’s look at a couple of my heroines and their problems:

Parker Cotton in Protecting Parker – A chain of events puts her in the wrong place at the wrong time, she’s wounded, two of her team die, and she returns home to a dangerous soon to be ex.

How many military members have wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Dozens of Army and Marine units have been on patrol in “reasonably secure” environments only to find themselves in pitched battles where team members were killed and wounded. Jessica Lynch’s supply unit took a wrong turn from the “reasonably secure” route near Nasiriyah, Iraq, and was almost wiped out in 2003. Air Force Security Forces in “reasonably secure” environments have repelled heavy attacks of their airfields and had team members killed and wounded.

How many of them came home to failed marriages? I once knew of a troop who returned from a six-month deployment to an empty house and a set of divorce papers on the kitchen counter. When he finally tracked his wife down and went to see his kids, her new boyfriend assaulted him and the troop wound up in the hospital for a week. While the numbers for divorce aren’t as high as some would have you believe, deployment issues are one of the leading factors in the divorce rate among military members.

Jenna Robinson in Vapor Point – Her fiancé died and she had to move back home, her buddy died on the deployment, she’s a trooper who holds it together by day but drinks when not working, and she’s got the mother from hell.

Maybe I could have let her be divorced instead of having the fiancé die, but hey, it happens. Your life goes to hell and you have to move back home. Take a look around. How many of your friends, or if you’re older, your friend’s kids, have had to move back home? Out of the seven houses surrounding me, three have adult children who are employed full-time but are at home due to divorce or money issues. How many military members whose units saw combat, lost a soldier? How many of those returning troops have some form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that keeps them from functioning to their fullest potential?

And, if you don’t think a mother like Karen exists, then just go look at the narcissistic, spoiled, and obnoxious “it’s all about me” people on Facebook. I recently saw a post from a soccer mom that read, “We suffered through two hours of brutal heat just to watch XXXX score a goal. And now I have to figure out what to have for dinner.” And she was mild compared to many others.

Do the types of things I write about happen often? Of course not. But they’re a hell of a lot more plausible than a lot of the stories I’ve seen selling. Tell the truth now. When was the last time a spy washed up on the beach by your house? When was the last time you saw a bomb squad guy save a hot chick? When was the last time your neighbor in small town USA turned out to be an escapee from the Russian Mob? When was the last time you heard of a rich billionaire who actually wandered into a library, much less swept a librarian off her feet and took her to Monte Carlo? Oh, yeah. Those are plausible. Go ahead and wait for any of them to happen. Feel free to call me and gloat when it does.

Now forget my characters for a minute and look at your own life and the people you know. My characters aren’t burdened at all compared to the woman in your church who lost her mother last year to breast cancer, has a father with Alzheimer’s, and is raising her ADHD grandson because her drug-addicted daughter has been declared unfit and is serving time. Or perhaps you know the nice cop down the street who’s just back from his fifth deployment in thirteen years and has to go to work on midnight shift tonight, but he’s not going to get a lot of sleep today between the teething baby and the neighbor’s barking dog. And how was your day? Did you have to get up and figure out how to get the kids fed and out the door while hoping your old car would get you to work, only to have to deal with a micro-managing boss, over-sharing Susie, and Henry the perpetual sneezer and snorter who sounds like he’s hacking up a lung in the next cubicle? Did you come home to find out that the dog left you a present on the carpet, one kid has a note for head lice, and the other kid has a project worth half his grade due tomorrow and you forgot to stop at the store and buy whatever it was he needed to complete that project? Have you figured out how to pay for little Angela’s allergy shots, Sammy’s soccer equipment, and get the dentist to carry you for a month so you can take care of the crown you need?

How many people have you met who suffered multiple tragedies, or lost their jobs, or just couldn’t catch a damn break from the universe when they needed it? Didn’t it leave you wondering how they simply managed to go on?

If you’re reading a book where the character only has a single issue to resolve—you’re reading a fantasy. It’s as fake as those bad Kung Fu movies and the romance novels where the billionaire knows where the library is. I’m not faulting that type of escapism. I like a quick little flight of fantasy myself. But I don’t write that stuff. I’ve spent my life surrounded by the survivors and fighters and those are the people I write about. Real people, facing real issues and moving forward in their lives. If that’s not your thing, feel free to move along and read something else. No harm—no foul.

A Q&A about Saving Emily

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In keeping with The Spontaneous Reader Book Blog highlighting Saving Emily, I’m posting the answers to some of the questions I’ve been asked about one of my most popular books.

Q – Where did the story come from?

The basic concept for the story came from an overheard snippet of conversation. Two of my friends were discussing the problems of trying to date while being single dads with daughters. One told the other to just wait until his daughter turned thirteen. He stated that thirteen year-old girls were the most judgmental people on Earth. His daughter said everyone was either too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, and picked apart everything from their makeup and hair to their clothing choices. I immediately wondered what would happen if he brought home someone five to seven years older and the kid said something rude and he yelled at her. What would happen if the kid then got into some kind of trouble and the only person who could save her was this woman? And what if the woman wasn’t exactly the kind and nurturing type? I knew within thirty seconds that this would make it to paper.

Q – How did you create Janice Bracken?

A – The same evening I heard the conversation, I turned on the television after returning to my room and Lethal Weapon 3 was on. Rene Russo plays an absolutely kick-ass cop in that movie. I figured if she could beat up five guys in a garage than Janice Bracken could be just as tough and cool. I wanted to write about a woman who lived her life to the beat of her own drummer. She’s very “male” in her attitude about work and sex. If this was a James Bond book, he’d have gone ahead and had sex with the gym owner at lunch and still gone home with the love interest that night. All the male readers would have cheered. But my female characters can’t do that. There’s a fine line between free-spirited and sluttish. However, I did make sure to let Janice at least think about it.

Q – If Janice was created based on a Rene Russo character, was Mac created based on an actor or character? Do you normally write with actor’s in mind?

A – I don’t normally write with an actor in mind. I have friends that pin pictures of an actor/actress to a board and write to their appearance and style, but I write to fit the story. Most of the characters that I create begin as personalities and then I simply choose the look and style of the individual. In Saving Emily, Mac needed to be all man, but out of his depth when Emily is taken. I needed him to be lost and dependent without being emasculated. I “felt” like he had a Gary Sinise “look.” How’s that for helpful?

Q – Isn’t Janice a little older than your average heroine?

A – She and Evie Duncan from A Shared Fear are both past their fortieth birthday. The older I get, the more I see forty as young. I don’t know that many twenty-two year olds that have it all together. I prefer that my characters have had some life experiences and made some mistakes. Realism matters. Plus, women and men with a few years and some mileage are much more interesting to me than all that new and innocent stuff. My people have real problems to overcome and the brains and skills to do it.

Q – This is one of your shorter books. Do you plan for a specific length with your novels?

A – I don’t generally think about length. My goal is simply to tell a story. Some are shorter than others. In this case, I wrote the book during National Novel Writing Month (NaNo Write), November 2011, and I was shooting to get past 50,000 words in thirty days. I ended around 63,000 on the first draft by 29 November. I set the book aside and worked on something else for two months before going back to it. Saving Emily was pretty rough and contained things like. “Janice walked into the gym. Describe the gym in detail.” And, “Janice and Mac have sex here.” By the time I finished the rewrites and edits, the book finished out at 72,500 words, which is just under 200 pages.

Q – Did you know who the killer was prior to writing the story?

A – Not a clue. And thank you for not giving anything away. All I’ll say at this point is that once I wrote the ending, I then had to go back and make sure I included enough clues so it wasn’t implausible. I hate reading those murder mysteries that end in a gotcha without any clues along the way. If I did this right, you should be in suspense until the reveal, but not pissed off afterward. I’d tried my hand at this with A Shared Fear, but this book took it a step further. I learn something each time I try.

Q – You’ve said that this book was fairly well plotted in advance since you did it for NaNo Write. Were there any surprises for you when you wrote this book?

A – The character of Oscar Islas and his role in the story were completely unexpected. I never planned on Janice feeling a connection or being interested in Oscar. He was simply a plot mover – the guy she could address her age and conditioning with. But in writing the section, Oscar took on a life of his own and things changed. He became important to Janice and thus important to the story arc. He provides an interesting bit of speculation about what her future will be.

Q – I see at least one person in the reviews asking for more from Janice Bracken. Any thoughts of writing additional stories with this character?

A –If there was one of my characters to take forward in a series, it would be Janice, but she hasn’t spoken to me since Saving Emily. Series writing is not as easy as it sounds, so I’m okay with where I left her for now. I have other stories to tell, but who knows, she could come back someday if the right circumstances presented themselves.

Q & A From A Shared Fear

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In response to a Q & A with The Spontaneous Reader Book Blog, these are some of the questions I’ve been asked since the publication of A Shared Fear in 2011. A Shared Fear was my second novel and brought together two of my favorite characters in one of my favorite places. Evie Davis is a former combat arms instructor (I’ve always liked those darn red hats) and Joe Graves, an ATF agent. The coast of Oregon provided a perfect backdrop for most of the book.

Q – I loved the opening for A Shared Fear. Was this taken from a real experience?

A – Yes to the airplane. No to the ATF Agent. I was on a flight from Salt Lake City to Bellingham, Washington, when part of this happened. We ran into turbulence as we crossed the Cascades and when we came into Bellingham, we encountered some wind shear and dropped like a rock. I was sitting alone and wasn’t really scared until that drop. The pilot took the plane out over the Pacific and announced we were going to make a second attempt at landing. He did and the results were just as bad. You know it’s ugly when the flight attendant screams. We diverted to Seattle. The conversation between Joe and the pilot was almost word-for-word what the pilot of my flight and I said to each other in Seattle. Unlike my character Joe, I still fly, but I’m not as big of a fan of air travel as I used to be.

Q – Is it true that you were told that having your main characters meet on an airplane was one of the worst openings an author could choose?

A – Yes. Several years ago, I was sitting in on a free online chat with a senior editor from a major romance publisher when she was asked what openings she hated to see. She responded that she rarely read past the first chapter if the main characters met on an airplane or met by spilling a drink on each other. In her words, authors who used those openings “generally lacked imagination.” I’d already written the opening to A Shared Fear and decided that my opening lacked nothing. Her comments were added confirmation that I didn’t fit in anyone’s mold and traditional publishing might not be for me.

Q – Where did the primary story line come from?

A – Ideas come at the strangest time and places. I was preparing to give a genealogy lecture, so early that morning I was testing my small laser pointer. When I turned it on, I immediately thought it looked like a laser targeting dot from a high-powered weapon. In a flight of fantasy, I thought about someone in a hidden position using the laser pointer to distract a bad guy who was holding a gun on a federal agent. It would be enough to make them think that another agent with a rifle had them in their sights and would force them to lower their weapon. I didn’t use it in the book, but that’s where the story was born. A genealogist with a weapons background and an ATF agent – how fun and different would that be?

Q – Tell me about June the waitress?

A – It’s always the old guys teasing the young waitresses. I thought it would be fun to turn the tables. June began as a means to lighten the moment and play with Senior Agent Terry Beamish as well as share a little information about Evie, but ended up taking over the chapter. This is one of the sections in the book that people most comment on.

Q – You seem to have a love affair going with Colt model 1911 handguns. Is this your weapon of choice?

A – I love the old 1911s. I’d been shooting revolvers since I was a kid, but when I shot my first Colt 1911, my whole world changed. It was truly love at first shot. The feel, the weight, the muzzle control, the smell, the sound… Everything about that weapon made me very, very happy. The next thing I knew, I owned a Colt Gold Cup, one of the finest semi-automatics in the world. I spent a lot of time shooting, and I spent a lot of money on that weapon and having it customized for a better fit. Beaver tail, ambidextrous safeties, Parkerized grips, better sights, throating and porting… I put a lot of rounds through that weapon over the years. There’s just something about those guns that I love. My friend Dave Dingley is the gun guru in my life now, and he provided most of the history for the weapon found in the book.

Q – You have an obvious love for the Oregon coast. Is this where you’d most like to live?

A –One of my retirement goals is being able to spend at least a week in both the spring and fall at the coast. If we’re talking “lottery dreams” than I’ve got a few spots that I could go for. I love both the Oregon coast and the Columbia River Gorge pretty much anytime of the year, western Pennsylvania in the fall, and Charleston, South Carolina, in April. After months of perpetual sunshine in Tucson, I’m always excited to go out and stand in the rain when I get to the Pacific Northwest, to inhale that crisp morning air back east that signifies it’s football season, and to see the blooming of the dogwoods and azaleas down south.

Q – Do you consider this Contemporary Fiction or Romantic Suspense?

A – I hate trying to figure out genre. I’m a little afraid of the Romantic Suspense title because I definitely don’t write romance, and most of the men I know are turned off by anything with that term in it. I market under Contemporary Fiction and Suspense and Thriller. There’s a good love story involved in all my books, so I suppose it fits Romantic Suspense as well.

This is Scary Stuff

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The Spontaneous Reader book blog has taken it upon themselves to feature me this month in what they are calling Scott-Tober. There was undoubtedly a vast amount of alcohol involved in this decision. Fortunately, more level heads prevailed at some point later in the evening because even though the bar bill tripled there is no evidence that anyone wandered into a tattoo parlor to commemorate this tomfoolery.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity The Spontaneous Reader is providing me and appreciate all their efforts in planning this craziness. Special thanks to Rachel Verdi for suggesting this and to Abbie Machie for running with it. These two ladies put in a ton of work to make this happen.

There’s a lot going on during Scott-Tober. The promotion kicked off last month with The Lynne Scott Kick-Ass Read-a-Thon in the A Million More Pages group on Goodreads. Each participants reading list had to include at least one of my books. Those who read with us will get to mark off an extra block on the Bingo game we’ll be playing and the winner receives a Lynne Scott eBook of their choice.

*drum roll here* The winner of the Lynne Scott Kick-Ass Read-A-Thon is Erin/Ginger. Congratulations!

What exactly is happening this month? Wednesday, October 1st, I was introduced on The Spontaneous Reader book blog where Abbie told her followers what they could look forward to. Yesterday, the Scott-Tober Bingo card made its first appearance.

LS Bingo - Copy

Getting a Bingo enters you in the grand-prize round. The one with the most squares filled in at the end of the month wins. If there’s more than one person who fills in the card, we’ll put the names in a hat and let Mr. Scott (he’s so impartial it’s frightening) draw the three winners.

Bingo Prizes are:
1st Prize: A $25 Amazon Gift Card
2nd Prize: A full set of the Blood Link series eBooks
3rd Prize: 3 Lynne Scott eBooks of your choice
(If you are one of my 10 faithful fans and have all my books already – we’ll figure out something of equal value. No I can’t ship you booze or bullets – quit asking.)
Winners will be announced October 31st.

At least twice each week, The Spontaneous Reader will be featuring one of my books. There will also be a wild and crazy Mad-Libs interview (one of the strangest things I’ve ever done but a lot of fun), Q&A sessions, and opportunities to win my books. I’ll keep you informed both here and on my Lynne Scott Facebook page.

How do you, my ten faithful readers, participate?
First – Print a Bingo card so you can keep track. I wish I could play – I’d use one of those giant wide-tipped black markers to blot out the squares – no dainty daubers for me.

Second – Go to Goodreads and establish an account if you don’t already have one. This is where a lot of this action will take place. You won’t be spammed and they won’t sell your contact information. This is a site for readers to share information about the books they love.

Third – select the Groups tab and skim through the groups until you find A Million More Pages and join the group.

Last step – Look for the Scott-Tober thread within that group and join the fun.

I lied. There’s another step in there. Put Lynne Scott in the search box and become my friend and my fan – it’s on your Bingo card to do and will only take a minute. You can rate my books and cut and paste your reviews from Amazon into the review block – also on the Bingo card list. Your ratings and reviews are especially appreciated.

That’s all there is to it right now.

Truth time. You guys know this is new territory for me and as excited as I am, I’m also nervous. My natural fear and self-doubts are galloping madly, and I’m working at controlling my trepidation through deep breathing and dreams of alcohol and chocolate malts. This feels an awful lot like the first day of school. My biggest fear is that Abbie will have done all this work to throw a party for me and no one will show up. But the fact is that someone is trying to do something good for me, and I’m going to do my best to make it good for them too. So, I’m snapping my cap, stuffing my fears into the corner, and I’m going to smile and have fun no matter what. And when it’s over, I’m going to crack open the bottle of Jack Daniels I’ve got squirreled away and call this Scott-Over-Fest.

Thanks for your support on this crazy ride.

Am I Capable of Blatant Self-promotion?

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One of my favorite authors is an Indie named Russell Blake. He writes what some lovingly call “Men’s Fiction.” It’s action/adventure/suspense/thriller. It’s fast-paced, timely, and topical. I’ve read a good number of his books and enjoyed them. Russell has made it big. So big that he just co-authored a book with Clive Cussler and is on the NY Times Bestseller List. He’s living every Indie author’s dream.

Russell also takes the time to give back and he shares his experiences in marketing and offers us his views. He reminds us that we have to put ourselves out there and take chances if we want to be successful. He constantly reminds us that writing is only one part of the job – the other part is marketing. And no matter how distasteful it is or how hard it seems – to not do the hard part is to condemn yourself to being unknown in your chosen field.

One of the more interesting and unusual things Russell does is interrupt his blog posts with a paragraph smack in the middle of a conversation that he labels “Blatant Self-Promotion” or “Breaking News” in which he points out a new interview, review, or his latest literary conquest. It’s not something that I could ever really see myself doing. It’s arrogant, self-serving, presumptuous, unapologetic, and bloody freaking brilliant! I love that he is so damn blatant about it. And the tactic absolutely fits Russell’s persona and his books. I really wish I had even half as much guts as he does. But putting something smack in the middle of a post as he does is way, way, WAY out of my comfort zone.

At the same time, I want to let you (my ten faithful readers) know when something exciting has happened, or when someone (without being bribed or threatened) is saying good things about me. I want you to be able to enjoy them with me as well as point them out to your friends. It’s your opportunity to smile knowingly and say, “I was reading her books from the beginning. I knew they were good!”

So how do you think I should handle this? Should I just post them all on the Lynne Scott Facebook page and share the links there? Should I put something at the bottom of the blog post that’s not so blatant, but still reasonably self-serving? I’d very much like to provide a link to the page of the person who was kind enough to do the interview or review – see below for an example of how this might look. Or should I do both, since there are some who only look at Facebook but never read the blog and others who don’t do Facebook?

New Reviews and Interviews

A new review of Vapor Point by Thomas Everson

An interview by Justin Bienvenue on Book Blogs

Please feel free to let me know what you think either by comment on my Lynne Scott Facebook page (which you all should have liked by now), by commenting below, or by sending me an email using the Contact Me tab at the top of the page.

No Butt Kissing and No Sock Puppets – Reviews Part II

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Let’s talk honestly about the review process and who’s doing what. We all know the average reader doesn’t bother giving a review. They speak with their wallets and buy again if they like you. Some will even tell a friend. I love those people. I also love the people who write a short, sweet four or five star review on Amazon and then post the link on their Facebook page. “I read the book, wrote the review, buy the book!” They make any day better!

The truth is that good reviews help sell books. Knowing that, most authors are out there trying to find someone besides their mom to write a review for them. Most of us are doing it the old-fashioned way and begging reviewers and book bloggers to look at us. I can’t help but feel sorry for them in some ways – there’s a lot of craziness and desperation out there and sometimes it lands on your doorstep. Paige from Page by Paige cut loose not long ago and nailed the rudest of the bunch – the spamming authors. She was much nicer than I would have been. There wasn’t a single expletive in there.

But spamming is only one of the ugly problems with that small group of desperate crazies seeking reviews. Some authors and publishers definitely overstep the bounds of what I might consider ethical. There is a dark side to the review cycle.

There are some publishers that require their authors (as part of their contract) to review other authors from their stable. Reviews, blogs, twitter posts, etc. are part of the social media blitz directed by the publisher via their authors. As a result, everyone is saying really nice things about everyone else because they are not only supposed to, but they need everyone else to say nice things about them in return. This is based on the simple premise of your ten fans will love me and my ten fans will love you. Are these reviews and comments all BS – of course not. Most of these folks actually like each other’s stuff. But that doesn’t mean you love everyone the publisher represents or that you think their book is worth five stars – unless you’re contractually obligated to and then all bets are off. I’m not knocking this (your 10 fans can be my 10 fans) marketing method, but I can’t and won’t lie. I simply won’t tell you the sow’s ear is a silk purse or that your terrible author is a great writer. I can keep my mouth shut and say nothing. Most of the time…

Now you know part of the reason why I’m an Indie. Apparently, my ethics would get in the way of some people’s business ventures.

But it’s not just the publishers who are doing this. Realistically, some self-publishers or Indies often do the same type of thing. In their case it’s by choice. They agree to review each other’s books and post positive reviews on the various sites and blogs. The problem here is the word positive instead of the word honest. It’s a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” operation. Where’s the honesty when you’re just blowing happy smoke so someone else does it for you?

I’m all in favor of soliciting reviews from other authors, bloggers, and websites that specialize in those things. I recently did it when I requested a review from Kindle Book Reviews. “Here’s a free copy of Stuck in Korea Time in exchange for a fair and honest review.” There is no expectation of reciprocation from another author and no pressure on that person to provide anything other than an honest review.

There are no ethical worries involved in requesting a review without reciprocation. That’s how I’ll be playing the game. As you might have guessed, I flunked Happy Butt Kissing 101 in the military and I’m still flunking it.

But not every author is happy with being ethical. Some of them have no ethical or moral codes and are trying to cheat the system.

The first way is by purchasing a positive review. We aren’t talking about a paid professional review by a respected company with integrity such as Kirkus Reviews. With Kirkus there are no guarantees of a positive review. You pay your money, you get an honest and fair review by a professional reviewer. You have the option to publish the review if it’s good, or to not publish the review if it’s bad. Honest work for honest pay. The ones that I’m talking about here are the sites (and there are more than a few) who will purchase your book and provide a positive review for a fee – even if your novel is a steaming pile of cow manure. Pay your cash and they’ll create X number of reviews and post them everywhere and anywhere you want.

The second way is by far the most disgusting thing that I’ve seen happen. It’s called “sock puppeting.” This is self-reviewing under another name/account. This is how the truly pathetic and unethical authors do it. All you need to open an account on Amazon is an email address and a credit card. One credit card can be tied to multiple accounts. Purchase one book for $0.99 or more and you can review an unlimited number of books.

What kind of a f***ing Asshat fakes positive reviews?

I use a name other than my own on Amazon when I read and review. This way I can be completely honest without any fear of retaliation. (There really is a thing called vendetta reviewing out there – how sad is that?) The point is, that if I think the book deserved a one or two star then “Sue from Des Moines” (not the name I use so don’t bother looking) will be the one to tell you that the book blew cookies. Is that fair? Yes. I as a reader have an opinion that I’m entitled to share. I bought the book, I read the book, and Sue from Des Moines can say whatever she wants. I rarely do so, but there are books that the public needs to be warned about.

What you will NEVER see is “Sue from Des Moines” reviewing a Lynne Scott or L. Scott book. It’s just not f***ing ethical, and I’m disgusted by those who do it!

I know it’s hard to believe that someone actually does this, but it’s happened. I personally know one author and his/her best friend who wrote five out of his/her 25+ five star reviews. Amazingly, the author saw nothing wrong with this practice. I read the book and it was good enough to have gathered the 20+ positive ratings without the unethical behavior, but the author just couldn’t wait. Frankly, I don’t care if his/her next book wins a Pulitzer, I’ll never spend another nickel on that author again. The only things I felt I could do was advise Amazon (big shock, they don’t care – someone spent their $0.99, so they get to say their piece just like I do), and I severed all ties with that person both personally and professionally. They still don’t understand what my problem is. I’m just not interested in being associated with someone who doesn’t get it.

So there’s the good and the bad. We want reviews and we need reviews. I believe that how I go about getting those reviews matters. I’ll take my books off sale and quit publishing before I compromise my integrity for a damn review.

Here endeth my current rant.