A Quick Google “Search Story”

This is kinda cool . . . and best of all free! It’s called a Google Search Story and you can build your own in a few minutes. I’m not entirely certain of its value as a marketing tool but it’s one more arrow in a writers quiver.

At :35 long you can take the time to check it out and still catch your favorite reality show!

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Indulge Me Thrice, Please!

So today winds up another fun and interesting virtual blog tour. Doing the writing for the guest posts and interviews is work, assuredly, but it’s also enjoyable. But the stops I really look forward to are the book reviews. They are a source of minor anxiety for any author, but the whole reason we share our stories is because we’re curious as to how they make someone feel or think.

In that regard, I got a three-fold return today. In no particular order, I’d be very pleased indeed if you would take a few moments and read each of the reviews below:

• At Cafe of Dreams, by a woman who has guest-posted for me before, April Pohren.

• At Books, Books, The Magical Fruit—(interesting blog title, eh?)

• And a review from Ms. Dorothy Thompson, the woman who has helped steer me through two blog tours and get my name all over the search engines. Her thoughts on The Light, The Dark, and Ember Between can be read at Pump Up Your Book.

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“Magically Brought Real Love To Life”

Quite literally, a book review condensed to six words. Not my words, I assure you, but they do refer to The Light, The Dark, and Ember Between. Wow, huh?

After a few days off I’m back on the tour trail for the last leg of this journey.

The review above came from Ms. Tara Stone Gill at 25 Hour Books. One of my favorite lines from her review is:

I found myself rereading whole paragraphs to just soak in the imagery again and again.

Guess I did something right ;^)

Also today is a quick seven question interview with me at All Voices. Take a few moments to check it out, won’t you?

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Tour II; Day 7 Review and Guest Post

Only three days left . . . not for shopping, but for my second tour. Today has two stops:

• A brand new review of The Light, The Dark, and Ember Between at Reading at the Beach. Two words come to mind: stocking stuffer.

• A guest post I wrote for Market My Novel about one of the ways I write when I’m not actually writing. Bewildered? Check out the post!

Stocking Stuffer, Stocking Stuffer, Stocking Stuffer, Stocking Stuffer . . . ;^)

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Tour II; Day 6 – Chocolate and Baseball

Today I bring you another guest post! Yeah, I know, you’re beside yourself with excitement. But first, a little aside about my small purchase this weekend.

As of this writing Arizona is in the midst of what has been termed a “winter storm.” It’s not your picturesque, Saturday Evening Post kind of storm, I assure you. Temperatures aren’t expected to get much above 60, if that. Around these parts (three feet from Hell) if the temperature dips below 60 then folks are breaking out their heavy coats and whining because “it’s so cold outside.” Yeah, I can see all you east coast and midwest types sneering. You folks think nothing of walking around naked in 60 degree weather.

So what does that have to do with a purchase I made? Well, my writing friend, Unabridged Girl made mention of something called the Cocomotion on her blog. When it’s cold (yes, even wimpy Arizona cold) a tasty mug of hot chocolate sometimes hits the spot. So I picked one up and gave it a go. If you even like hot chocolate, try it. I made some with soymilk and it came out great!

Okay, now once you have that mug of hot chocolate, or coffee, or tea—or whatever—I’d ask you to sit down for a few minutes and have a look at my guest post for today:

• Over at Blogging Authors I relate a story about how a baseball fan and his daughter exhibit a little Christmas spirit of their own during the regular baseball season.

And as always, if you drop by, leave a comment!

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TourII; Day 5 Into The Last Week

Hope you will make a little time to check out my two stops for today. This one is slightly different, because they are interviews in two different formats: The blog interview is hosted by a transplanted American in Australia named Jaime at The Hot Author Report. These were some fun questions!

Next will be a return to Blog Talk Radio with Barry Eva at A Book and a Chat. Show should air live at 9:00pm EST, 8:00pm Central, and 6:00pm MST. Listen in, even call-in and ask a question or two if you’d like!
UPDATE! – The host has had an urgent family matter arise, so the interview is postponed for now. I’ll certainly let you all know when we get a chance to do it again!

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Tour II; Day III

The titles are pretty dull, but I find there’s something about looking at Roman numerals. They’re distinctive, kind of classy. It’s probably just me.

Here’s a quick aside (unrelated to the tour; I can’t help myself):
Some scholars date the beginning of civilization at around 3,000 B.C. The key term there is civilization, and I don’t really have a beef with that. However, some say that the ancient Egyptians were the first to establish a method of written communication — hieroglyphs, of course. Pharaoh needed a way to record the tributes being offered from the many lands in his kingdom, so the hieroglyphs were developed.

Okay, I buy that. But that completely discounts petroglyphs archeologists have discovered all over earth, left by early man, who happened to have been around well before the ancient Egyptians.

Alright, before I get too far off, I’d like to leave you with a more recent piece of written communication: my interview at Working Writers. This time I’m focused more on my perspective on writing — rituals, writers block, books, favorite author, and more.

Drop by and leave a comment!

Friday will be my first guest post for the tour. Hope you stick around for that!

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Tour II; Day II

An Interview plus

Today’s interview was done by the woman who has not only been my tour coordinator both times, but has, in the process, become a good friend and mentor. I had enjoyed the interview itself, but was very much surprised (pleasantly so) to see what she had to say in her introduction.

She has published this interview at the Virginia Beach Examiner and Broowaha.com. If you haven’t seen it yet, the book trailer is at the end of the interview.

I am most pleased to be introduced by, and to introduce to you, Ms. Dorothy Thompson.

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Tour II; Day I

Only 24 more shopping days, my fellow capitalists!

I hope you’re here to begin my second blog tour with me! One of the fun things about doing these is I get to be surprised along with other readers. For instance, I don’t see the book reviews until they’re posted, so it’s something of a mild anxiety thing to know there’s one coming up, and this tour has seven of them.

Today’s activity includes two stops:

• An interview to start things off at Pump Up Your Book!. New questions and fresh answers.

Be sure to comment and leave your e-maill address if you’d like a chance to win a copy of my book. It’s a one-day-only affair, so comments must be posted by 11pm EST on Dec. 1 to qualify.

• A guest post I wrote about my memories of Christmas past, at As The Pages Turn.

Hope I see you there :^)

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‘Tis The Season

Yes indeed. It’s been in the air since October, that feeling of anticipation. The days and weeks have slipped by as they always do, and now the wait is over.

Oh, you thought I was talking about Christmas, didn’t you?

Everyone knows about Christmas, but until this moment I was one of only a handful in the world who knew that I was embarking on one more virtual blog tour this year. What with Christmas being a time of sharing I wanted to share the news with you! I ask for no gifts — really. But I would be delighted if you’d take a few moments each day for the next two weeks and follow me as I trip the bytes fantastic.

This tour is shorter than the last — call it a mini-tour, abbreviated, reduced, or perhaps digested. It will run from December 1 – 16. This time around the interviews are new so you may learn a few new things about me. There are also new reviews of The Light, The Dark, and Ember Between, and a healthy sprinkling of guest posts written by yours truly.

My goal is to have the link for each stop posted here and on my website so you can easily jump over and participate. I know each of us feels a little tighter pinch time-wise during the holiday season, but each post shouldn’t take much longer to peruse than any other would. Most bloggers I know who follow other blogs always read through, and some comment as well (a habit I need to work on, Joy, I know ;^) ).

I very much hope you’ll join me for the next two weeks. You’ll have a little fun along the way, I promise.

Last but not least, I wouldn’t be a true American opportunist if I didn’t mention that my book would make a great gift or stocking stuffer for the avid reader on your list! Get a copy from my website and I’ll even autograph it!

Wishing you and yours a peaceful and healthy holiday season . . .

Sincerely,
J.W. Nicklaus

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