What Would I Tell a New Author? by Hawk MacKinney – Spotlight and Giveaway

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Seems like it was about the same time Moses was leaving Kemet-Egypt that this writer was ‘new’. We writers are solitary modified nerds. We change the world – we handle the spotlight as part of our marketing, but all said and done, we like our solitude; i.e., peace of mind. Without it the creative juices are sidelined and crippled.

MAIN STUFF

 Write it. Edit it and edit it again. There’s no such thing as being done, but there is a caveat – one can over-edit and change good to pitiful.

 Don’t say NO to the person in the mirror.

 When words and actions don’t match…don’t sign any contract with anyone like that. Don’t be professionally associated with them – the marketing-publishing world is small – everyone talks.

 Don’t publish excerpts of your unpublished works on the Internet. That’s public domain, and most publishers usually won’t consider it after your manuscript has been published in any form.

PITFALLS

 Don’t throw anything away, including any scribbles/ideas/deletions, AND keep your backups current.

 Trust editors you know. Those you trust, listen to them. That doesn’t mean do what they say…but consider it. I shy away from editing others’ works—their work comes from their structuring of tales and characters, etc. etc. I’ve no access to those juices. I like editing my own work – sometimes as much as 12-20 times with each title.

 Watch out for quickie critiques from those who just talk instead of actually sitting down and doing the work of writing.

 Use rejections as personal opportunities to learn – especially from editors/publishers you trust. They’re rare as oak trees on the moon. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it—quality has always been rare.

 Ignore putdowns about “Have you published?” It’s jealousy and ego trouble. Are you an author? If you’ve written something you’re an author!

 Have a marketing budget. You’ve done the work. You’ve edited it; made it shine. Crow about yourself BUT DO NOT put others down. If you achieve success as a writer, you have an obligation to help other new authors.

 In presentations and Q&A audience participation panels, I-I-I-I and me-me-me are ego sputter and self-serving parades. Answer questions from the audience when asked, but if you are fortunate enough to be invited to participate on a panel, don’t use it to simply talk about yourself. For example, I often get asked about where I’ve taught/faculties/multiple postdoctoral degrees/commission officer military services, Dead Gold being Book 4 in a Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series and how I did so-and-so which I am happy to answer but only if asked. As writers, it is not our talents and gifts that make us what we are BUT how we use them. Runaway ego-putdowns ain’t cuttin’ it.

 Love your work. Never quit writing. An author is a loner in a room full of paper – ain’t it fun!

The dazzling lure of Olympic gold fame is a spotlight glare hotter than any fifteen minutes of fame.

During plans for a cross-country ski vacation, Aspen Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Detective David “Spinner” Krespinak and SEAL-bud Craige Ingram are ensnared by glamour, upmarket glitz and bling, and greed in the deadly champagne powder world of a money-gets-you-anything high-country ski-mecca. Body parts start turning up in the most unlikely places. As the two friends start their investigation, A hornets nest of the local elite do not want the publicity. For good reason it seems, they may be part of the mystery of bodies and body parts piling up at the morgue.

The closer they get to the killer the more confused they become. Who is behind the murders and mutilation? The list of suspects grows as they close the net on the killer.

The tender underbelly of Aspen is not what it seems. It is a raw open sore that oozes blood, drugs, and murder.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Spinner staggered the clutch and gear-shift. Kept his foot off the brakes as his vehicle slewed in the razor-edged chunky refreeze of the deep off-road ruts until coming to a stop. Killed the motor, and set the hand brake. Gusts of wind sliced at a square jaw on his devil-may-care rugged face as he climbed out and turned up the collar on his sheepskin coat. Big thick champagne-powder snowflakes clung for a moment to dust his dark hair, and just as quick blew-gone in the capricious strong up-slope drafts. He ducked under the fluttering yellow plastic ribbon with its black letters: POLICE LINE—DO NOT CROSS.

The charred black remains of the older model sedan slumped in a sooted blotched circle surrounded by undulating pristine white and candlestick-caked trees. It spoke loud and clear to Spinner—the burn had continued for some time after the storm. Wheel rims, frame, heat-crazed windows were still smoldering from hood to trunk.

As he walked toward her, salt-and-pepper-haired Pitkin County Medical Examiner-Coroner Candelaria Lopez didn’t have to look up. She knew the cadence of Spinner’s footsteps. “Looks like we have us a bungled hurried torch job.”

About the Author: Hawk MacKinney served in the US Navy for over 20 years. While serving as a Navy Commander, he also had a career as a full-time faculty member at several major state medical facilities. He earned two postgraduate degrees with studies in languages and history. He has taught postgraduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem, Israel.

In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction—historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers. His titles are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series—murder and mayhem with a touch of romance. Hidden Chamber of Death, the first book in the mystery series, was followed by Book 2, Westobou Gold and his latest, Book 3, Curse of the Ancients. All have received national attention. The Bleikovat Event was Vol I in The Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series followed by Vol II, The Missing Planets. Vol III, Inanna Phantom is in final galleys.

Buy the book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

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