I'm Back! (Once more!)

I haven't posted in almost a month for a number of reasons:

1) I've been battling that Spring-time scourge...allergies! (I'm better now...Thanks!)

2) I REALLY wanted to focus on writing the sequel to the Arizona State Guard! (It's coming along nicely...Thank you for asking!)

3) I had a quick photo/video shoot to attend to in San Angelo, TX. (Mega-thanks to the troops at the DoD Fire Academy!)

4) I'm currently working on four projects at work (and making progress on each!!!).

5) I wanted to give all of you a break from my barrage of updates and advertising! (I have to thank each of you who have been spreading the word about my e-novels without me nudging your elbows!)

All that being said, things are moving along! Medications are taking care of the allergies. I've made significant progress on the new e-novel. The photo/video shoot went very well! At work, I have one project about done, another well under way, another in good shape to start up, and will be able to complete the other project quickly. And, I think you appreciated the break in updates/advertising.

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Finished a major scene in the new e-novel and am in the process of setting up the big confrontation. This is going to be FUN, FUN, FUN! Guns and rockets firing, explosions, aerial battles, etc... BOOM! I've got a great big smile just thinking about writing the big confrontation!

I'm also looking forward to working with Sean on the cover for this one (and the new covers for Chaos on Terra-Prime, Foothold on Terra-Bravo, and Crisis on Terra-Bravo)! The fellow is quite talented!

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I want to talk for a moment about the trip to San Angelo and Goodfellow AFB. When driving to (and from) San Angelo, Nathan and I drove past a unique set of mesas on the west side of Highway 277. Those mesas (and a certain test track) gave me a major idea that became part of Foothold on Terra-Bravo.

Upon reaching Goodfellow, Nathan and I were sponsored onto the base by Bryn Crandell, my longtime friend. Going to the DoD Fire Academy (more formally...the Louis F. Garland Fire Training Academy) is always special for me as I get to see so many of my brothers in the Fire Service, some I trained years ago and others I served as an instructor with. Folks like my Big Brother, Scott Hebert; Ron Hoelle, Rod Born, Danny Hebert, Leonard Finley, Steve Seghers, and many others. 

The highlight of this trip was seeing Chief Master Sergeant Jesse Longoria. He greeted us as we walked up to the front of the academy and after a bear hug, I noticed the Chief stripes. When I asked what duty he was performing, he said, Fire Academy Superintendent. I have to admit that my eyes teared up a bit!

You see, 27 years ago, Jesse was one of my young students. Bright, smiling, and outgoing, he raced through the Fire Protection Specialist course with ease. Years later, when I returned to instructing as a civilian at Goodfellow, Jesse returned as a Staff Sergeant to serve as an instructor. And now, he's the Superintendent...older, wiser, but still Jesse.

I told him that he was filling some mighty big boots, worn by men such as Don McGee, Paul Menches, and others...and that he was wearing those boots well. Jesse is one of my troops and I'm damn proud to be his brother, his friend, and his instructor!

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So here it is...Easter Sunday! 

I've heard two sad tales this morning. A friend reported that his father passed away this morning following a long illness. Another friend told of a bad vehicle accident in front of his house that claimed three lives.

Let's all take some time today and in the days to come to appreciate all of those in our lives! There will come a time when they pass from our lives and all we'll be left with are the memories.

All my best!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2015

An Awesome Night of Writing!

Wow! Last night was an awesome night for writing!

I really didn't get started until about 9:00 p.m. but once I did the Muse was kind. I wrote for about 2 hours, then came back for about an additional 1/2 hour later. All told, I wrote almost...(insert drum roll here)...7 pages!

Okay, okay...it wasn't half a book but I was working on two scenes that are critical to laying out a major clue and then taking advantage of the clue. It was more important to capture those two points correctly than to have an unworkable mess later.

Soooo...tonight I'll do some online advertising before sitting down to write. I don't anticipate being as prolific as last night, but one can never tell.

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On another note, my Kickstarter project has done anything BUT kick start crowd funding for new book covers and advertising. Less than 48 hours to go and thus far the amount raised equates to...(ah, never mind the drum roll)...$0.00. Yep! That's right...NADA!

But that's alright. I will not be down about this. There are other options out there and one of them will work. (The power of Positive Thinking!) I'll spend some time this week doing some research on some of the other options!

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Don't forget that my current e-books are available through Amazon.com (for Kindles), Smashwords.com (for other e-reader formats), at Barnes&Noble (bn.com), and Apple's iBooks Store (for iPad or iPhone). 

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The weather is starting to shift (in many locations) toward Springtime, so be cautious out there!

Jeffrey 

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2015

March Roars in Like a Lion!

Greetings Everybody!

Welcome to March, a wonderful month with many great portents. Let's start with birthdays. Today is my little sister's birthday and for the next 22 days, thanks to impeccable timing by our parents, Linda and I shall be the same age! Happy Birthday, Linda Sue!

The 22nd of March will bring us the 84th birthday of that great Captain of the Starship Enterprise, William Shatner. And the 26th would have been the 84th birthday of his Science Office, Mr. Spock, known and loved as Leonard Nimoy, who sadly left us just days ago. 

Wedged in between the birthdays of those two acting greats is the 55th birthday of your lowly blogger...me! Wow! Where have the years gone? 

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In other news, work is proceeding well on The Arizona State Guard: Target Terror! I've just about wrapped up a major battle at a major Phoenix airport. Time to finish that this evening and spend a little time writing about the bad guys, setting out some more clues as to the drama that will follow. This should wrap the first draft of Chapter 5 and we're at page 53 already! I need to pick up the pace to stay on track to complete my first draft, do my edits, then get it ready for release by the end of June.

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Sales of the existing books have been slow in February. I hope March is better! Will be doing my advertising tomorrow evening and hope the word goes out far and wide!

Once again I'm asking you to reach out to your family, your friends, your acquaintances, your second cousins twice removed, and your arch enemy (in other words, everyone you know!)!

My e-books are fun and exciting and make excellent gifts for the readers in your family or circle of friends.

Chaos on Terra-Prime ($2.99)
Foothold on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
Crisis on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
The Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border ($3.99)

Each e-novel is available at the following online stores:
- Amazon.com
- Smashwords.com
- Barnes&Noble (bn.com)
- Apple iBooks Store (via iPad or iPhone)

Smashwords.com offers each of the e-novels in a variety of formats!

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On a side note, movement on the Kickstarter Project has been slow as well. How slow you ask? 

Dead slow, no movement, no go. (Cue the heavy *sigh*)

Well, if it doesn't generate sufficient activity to be fully funded with the current approach, I'll just have to try another. I won't give up on it!

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Another round of Winter Weather has come and gone through much of the U.S. Based on the many storm related videos involving multi-vehicle pile-ups, I believe the number one danger on the road is drivers who won't slow down enough for the road conditions. As ol' Chief Master Sergeant "Hurricane" Hugh Pike would say, "MERCY!"

Folks, let's be careful out there! We all have someone or someones who love and depend on us. If the weather's really bad and you don't really need to be out and about, stay home. 

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2015

My Kickstarter Project is Active!

Well folks, my Kickstarter project is active here! I know many of you would love to help make this project a success!

My goal is to raise $3,000.00 dollars to accomplish the following:

1) To have new covers drawn for the Terra-Bravo Saga e-novels.

2) To purchase online and print advertising for all of my e-novels.

I want to hire my son, Sean, to give the covers a more professional and stylish appearance. He's an outstanding artist who already has two e-novel covers to his credit (Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border is one of them!). He's already coming up with some really snazzy ideas!

Once Sean starts the new covers, I'll go back through each of the e-novels and do some minor tweaking to correct some typos, add internal advertising to my other projects, add a glossary to each e-novel, and add author bios and photos. 

Then I plan to purchase advertising with those online businesses that advertise e-novels and find advertising space in print magazines, as well. (Any ideas for such places are welcome!)

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Work on the new Arizona State Guard e-novel is going great. I wrote several pages this past week, 4 pages yesterday, and think I'll probably get a few more done today! I've introduced some new characters and am really generating some suspense and action. 

I've got to set myself a publication date, giving myself some deadlines to get it ready. Oh, let's say... May 15, 2015 to wrap up the first draft and June 30, 2015 for publication. Oh, darn! Now, I've done it! Nothing to it, but to do it!

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Once again I'm asking you to reach out to your family, your friends, your acquaintances, your veterinarian, and your arch enemy (in other words, everyone you know!)!

My e-books are fun and exciting and make excellent gifts for the readers in your family or circle of friends.

Chaos on Terra-Prime ($2.99)
Foothold on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
Crisis on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
The Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border ($3.99)

Each e-novel is available at the following online stores:
- Amazon.com
- Smashwords.com
- Barnes&Noble (bn.com)
- Apple iBooks Store (via iPad or iPhone)

Smashwords.com offers each of the e-novels in a variety of formats!

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Once again, it's snowing here in North Central Oklahoma and elsewhere across the U.S. Be careful out there, folks!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2015

Very Cool!!!

Even though I've been battling a cold this weekend, I sat down and finished Chapter 3 of The Arizona State Guard: Target Terror! I love writing action scenes...creating the danger, dropping the characters into the mix, and seeing what they do to survive and come out on top!

I introduced a character who will become a major thorn in the side of ASGuard Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Aurelius Roman. This character was created for the original incarnation of the the ASGuard...Roman's Legion. Marcus Roman and Agent Phillip Caldwell with constantly get on each other's nerves when their agencies work together to protect the NEW United States. Each time they are brought together will be one more step to an ultimate fight between the two characters! When and how this fight will occur, I don't know yet. Another book, someday down the road.

I've also spent some time writing what the villains of Target Terror are doing behind the scenes. I think I'm putting together a pretty good cast for this e-novel. 

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On the work front, photography/videography on Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting 6th is moving along nicely. Had a great shoot at Tulsa International Airport with Tulsa FD's Station 51 personnel. Knocked out another skill sheet and shot all but one photo for the chapters. I hope to be able to do another shoot in Ponca City this week for two more skill sheets.

Should be able to finalize Chapters 8 to 10 of Essentials 7th and turn them over to the project manager for the committee to comment upon. Next, I'll rough out Chapters 11 through 17!

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Okay, folks! Once again I'm asking you to reach out to your family, your friends, your acquaintances, your veterinarian, and your arch enemy (in other words, everyone you know!)!

My e-books are fun and exciting and make excellent gifts for the readers in your family or circle of friends.

Chaos on Terra-Prime ($2.99)
Foothold on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
Crisis on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
The Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border ($3.99)

Each e-novel is available at the following online stores:
- Amazon.com
- Smashwords.com
- Barnes&Noble (bn.com)
- Apple iBooks Store (via iPad or iPhone)

Smashwords.com offers each of the e-novels in a variety of formats!

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Alrighty then...

Here's hoping I kick this cold before it kicks me! And let's remember to be safe out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2015

This and That...Again!

The writing of Book 2 of the Arizona State Guard is coming along nicley. I've started Chapter 2 and hope to finish it this week. Introduced some new characters (always a slow process because I'm not familiar enough with who they are to write them quickly). Added some depth to some of the older characters. Now, I'm working on setting the stage for the action in this one! Addressing events across the continent then focusing in on Arizona!

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Sales have slowed a bit. Need to do more advertising, more often! So...

I'd like to remind everyone that books (to include e-books) make excellent gifts for the readers in your family or circle of friends.

I recommend my four e-novels as potential gifts:

Chaos on Terra-Prime ($2.99)
Foothold on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
Crisis on Terra-Bravo ($2.99)
The Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border ($3.99)

Each e-novel is available at the following online stores:
- Amazon.com
- Smashwords.com
- Barnes&Noble (bn.com)
- Apple iBooks Store (via iPad or iPhone)

Smashwords.com offers each of the e-novels in a variety of formats!

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Should receive a check from Amazon this week! Not much but enough to set up an account for my writing projects. Then I'll kick off the Kickstarter project. 

I've begun a list of tweaks for the earlier e-novels that will be included with the 2nd editions: new covers, fixing typos, glossaries of terms, advertising of existing e-novels, etc... A little work on those e-novels to make them better!

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Looks like Winter is going to dump some more snow across parts of the U.S. of A. To my family and friends in those areas, I ask you to take it slow and stay safe! 

Remember, everybody, let's be safe out there!
Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2015

Mr. Stine Said There'd Be Stories Like This...

As I've mentioned previously, I once met one of my favorite authors, G. Harry Stine. During our conversation, Mr. Stine talked about stories that sometimes reach a point where they end up on the shelf...set aside for one reason or another. These reasons can include:
- Being unable to make the story work.
- Having trouble with the characters.
- Another, more exciting, idea has come along.
- Life interfering with work.

My murder mystery in space story is on the shelf. Set aside for the time being...in this case, because another, more exciting idea keeps distracting me. 

I haven't given up on the murder mystery. Not at all! It's just going to spend some time on the shelf while I work on this other idea.

What's that, you ask? Oh, the other idea. OK, OK...I'll let you in on it.

The whole time I've been working on the murder mystery, the story line for the sequel to the Arizona State Guard has been brewing in the back of my mind. (Damned multi-track mind! Seldom gives me a moment's rest.) As that story line has come together, it has taken up more and more of my creative processes. Sooooo...

I've begun outlining The Arizona State Guard: Target Terror (Book 2 of the ASGuard). Today, I expect to finish my chapter outline and start writing the first chapter! 

I haven't felt this enthused about a writing project in quite a while! 

Jimmy, sorry the murder mystery is going to have to wait. I promise I will finish it...someday.

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Keep telling your family and friends about my e-novels! It's certainly helping! 

Crisis on Terra-Prime, Foothold on Terra-Bravo, and Crisis on Terra-Bravo sell for $2.99 each. Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border sells for $3.99. All of my e-novels are available at:

Amazon.com

Smashwords.com

b&n.com

Apple iBooks Store (from iPads or iPhones)

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That's enough for today. Time for to wrap up my advertising work and get some work started on a new e-novel!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014