More Aptly Titled: The Blog That Only Two People Read.
This year, I have chosen to focus my New Year’s resolution for 2026 on personal growth by striving to become a kinder person. While I do not consider myself to be especially rude, I recognize that there is always room for improvement. Like many people, I have moments when I could be more thoughtful or considerate, and this year I am committed to working on those aspects of myself.
You are obviously in control of your own path, but I welcome you to also choose kindness this year.
As 2025 comes to a close and we welcome 2026, I hope that this year brings you an abundance of joy and good fortune. May you experience good health and happiness in all aspects of your life, and may the coming months be filled with memorable moments and achievements.
I also hope that 2026 offers you the chance to enjoy many amazing books. Whether you discover new authors or revisit some old favorites, I hope that reading continues to bring you pleasure and inspiration throughout the year.
God Bless and Happy Reading,
Michael H. David
I haven't done one of these writing tip posts in a while, so here's one I've been using a lot on my current WIP.
Disclaimer first: I do not consider myself a professional anything, so my suggestions and tips should be taken as just one more person on the internet sharing his personal opinion based on his own experiences. These tips and ideas may work for you too, but they may not. Just saying.
Writing Tip #011
Writer's block can be a major obstacle when you're trying to get words onto the page. You may have already started your story. Your characters are beginning to develop, and perhaps you've crafted the first big reveal. Then, suddenly, you lose momentum and can't figure out how to move your characters to the next stage of the plot.
Writing the scenes you already envision can be highly motivating. I might not know how my character arrived in that particular room, but I know they're going to get there—and I know what I want to happen to them there. Plus, let's face it, these are probably some of the most exciting parts of the book. By simply writing out the scene and letting it unfold, many of the story's unanswered questions, the one's I've been struggling with, often become clearer. At the very least, I've made progress: a part of the story now exists on the page.
It's true that this method could result in a nightmarish editing process when the story is finished. However, editing is always a challenging task, and it's something every writer must confront eventually. The important thing is that by getting words down, you create material to work with and improve through editing. And, to be completely honest, in my experience, it has never been as bad as I feared it would be.
Keep writing!
MHD
The removal was simply a test. I've been happy with KU since I started this writing journey, and I really didn't have any intentions to leave the platform for good, unless the sales on other platforms out-performed. Long story short, the evidence I had read a few months ago was hardly correct in my case. Sure, I only gave it a few months, but I also spent a moderate amount on promotion, and saw very little in return. Based on past performance, it is possible I could have had the same results by keeping it in the KU. Besides the poor return on investment, I also had more than one comment to my social media posts asking if The Blue Hole was available on KU, to which I would have to reply, "No." While The Blue Hole was still available for purchase on the Kindle, not being available in the KU program appeared to have hindered all Amazon sales for that book during that short two month period.
Now, the results I saw from this little experiment may not be the same for everyone else, and it's possible that I went about it the wrong way which produced poor results. I'd be happy to hear if you or anyone else you know has had different or similar results. The bottom line for me is: The Blue Hole is now back to being exclusive to Kindle Unlimited, just like my other books! So if you're a subscriber, you can read it right now, for FREE!
JUST CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD!
Rest, re-group, and reset. Life might seem like a race sometimes, but in my experience, playing the long game has always been more satisfying.
Have a great day, everyone.
I feel I need to get this off my chest...
Just yesterday, I witnessed a mutual creative make a post on Facebook in which he bragged about writing his first movie script in only two weeks. Upon reading these first few lines, I was impressed. I was further impressed by his next claim that after doing thirteen drafts (I’m assuming he meant editing pass-throughs), he submitted it to a film festival and it was, within a few days, announced as a selection. I’m not sure what “selection” means in this particular festival, but I would assume it’s a favorable accomplishment. To be honest, after reading the post as a whole, my impressed feeling of his accomplishment quickly turned to a mid-level envy. As a writer, how could I not feel at least the tiniest bit, right? Envy aside, I sincerely congratulated him on his accomplishment.
Among the many comments of congratulations, one commentor asked, “What’s the script about?” The reply from the original poster is a long-winded AI generated description of the story, followed by an admission from the original poster that he used Chat GPT to write the description in his reply. Immediately, I’m feeling awry about the whole thing now and want to rescind my congratulations. I want to ask him why he couldn’t just describe his story in his own words, and why he needed AI to do it for him. Or maybe go a bit deeper with a snide accusation—If you need AI to generate a description of the script you wrote, I find it hard to believe you actually wrote the script yourself--perhaps AI helped with that too.
Long story short, I relented from posting any further comments, because I didn’t feel it would lead to anything good. Besides, I’m clearly making assumptions about this person’s creative process, and instead, I decided to write about it here, in this blog that only the two of you read. I know—so noble of me, right? I’m not perfect.
Using AI to generate a book, a script, or artwork, and pawning it off as something you created is just a middle finger to people who do actually write, or draw, and have spent a lifetime perfecting their craft. All the while, AI gathers the information it uses to create these “new works” from various places on the internet, included from other people’s (real creative people’s) hard work. It manipulates and blends several pieces into something just slightly different. In my mind, this is skirting the line of copyright infringement. Maybe I’m wrong though. This is just the simple man knowledge I currently possess of AI and how it operates, but I can’t find any information that refutes what I’ve learned.
Which brings me to another point: AI does not know how to distinguish valid information and incorrect information. For instance, I couldn’t count how many people I know who use Google to ask simple questions about recipes, locations, science, and even history. Nowadays, Google has been using AI to scour multiple sites at once to develop an answer for its users. This is usually shown as the top result, by the way. As I understand, when there is a discrepancy between the information sources, AI finds an answer that it determines is mathematically correct, because it is the answer it has found most often. If we are going to start believing something to be true based on how many times it is talked about on the internet, we are all in for a hard ride. Okay, before you ask; No, I haven't been under a rock for the last two decades, I just know this trend is getting worse, and AI can not be helping.
What can we do? It’s not realistic to avoid AI completely. You might be astounded at how many of your day-to-day activities, bookings, and what you see on the web is already dictated by some sort of AI. I hate to say it, but short of a mass world-wide server meltdown, AI is here to stay. The only thing we can do is make sure we do our research, especially when it comes to researching important facts like history, and health. Don’t throw away old physical copies of books because you have them available in digital format. I don’t know what safeguards are in place to keep AI from manipulating or hiding those documents in the future.
Don’t be lazy. Do the work. Be creative. And for the simple sake of decency, don’t take a product from AI and try to pass it off as something you created. If you have an idea, create it on your own. If you don’t know how, Learn! Don’t let the robots take everything from us, including our ability to create.
Okay, I feel I’ve gone off the rails a bit here, but I think I’m making a point. I hope so, anyway. I’m obviously not the first to throw fits about AI, and I know I won’t be the last. I guess I just wanted to put my two cents out there on how I feel about it. In my opinion, AI isn’t just theft from real creatives, it’s potentially dangerous for our future. Be kind, and be careful out there.
B Fox's books challenge me beyond my usual reading, stirring deep
emotions and thoughts. After loving Paper Castles, I couldn't miss The Way Out.
You can order your copy of The Way Out right HERE!
Happy Reading!
The second installment of this series did not disappoint! Gabe is back and still running from his perilous ties to mob families and grappling with his mental disorder. I was most captivated by the authentic characters and the way they took on their struggles—it made for a lot of tension building. It’s also always satisfying when characters with disorders or taken on and used so naturally and realistically in the story. Great work! I love the fast-paced writing, too. It keeps you hooked and doesn’t let up. If you’re looking to have your emotions tested with thrills and a romance that you can’t help but root for, check out this series!
I'm extremely pleased to announce that my third book, Lie Ever So Quietly, will be released on April 20, 2025, and it is available to Pre-Order now! As with my other books, this one will be available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, and available to read with your Kindle Unlimited subscription if you have one.
As usual, I could use some help spreading the word about the release, so if you wouldn't mind kindly tapping the share button's below, I would be forever grateful!
Also, I will be sharing some preview chapters in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that.
Charlie Dalton finds himself haunted by memories he thought he had long resolved. Thirty-four years after a traumatic childhood event, Charlie's life is once again thrown into turmoil when his best friend and business partner is murdered.
Charlie is immediately
considered a suspect, and when lines between past and present blur, a web of
connections is revealed which link Charlie to another missing person—someone
he’d hoped the world had forgotten about.
As he grapples with anger,
anxiety, and fear, Charlie must navigate a series of trials that test his
resilience and determination. To protect
his loved ones from public scrutiny, Charlie is forced to revisit the night
that changed everything. He refuses to
let his family be thrust into the spotlight as he was when he was eight. He won’t be transported back into that box in
the barn.
We've all seen these familiar posts on X, Insta, and FB. I've even posted a few with the hopes it would raise some kind of awareness to my work. If you're not familiar, this is a screenshot of a KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) sales dashboard, and it currently reads zero sales. A social media post with this image is usually accompanied by: "How's your month going?" or "After all my hard work, this is what I have to show for it." Or my personal favorite: "Who will save me from this ugly set of ovals?"
What is your first instinct when you see a post like this?
Do you feel sorry for the author? Does it make you feel inclined to buy a copy
of the author's book, as if your one purchase will make the author feel validated?
Or do you make a snap judgment about the book, or the author's ability to write
based on the number of sales? Maybe you just ignore the post. Maybe a
completely different thought?
To be clear, Yes, I will take all the pity sales anyone
wants to give me. But in my heart, I'd really rather someone bought my book
because it was something they're interested in. I sometimes wonder how many
"pity patrons" actually read the book they purchased, or if the book
just sits in the back of their kindle queue to be forgotten about. I'm certain
I am making a lot of unfair judgements here, but if you read between the lines,
you'll realize I'm writing this post out of my own experience. Yes, I have purchased
books out of pity for an author, hoping to raise their spirits. Also, yes, I
have let the book sit in the back of my kindle queue with nearly zero
intentions to read it. And if you really want me to be honest, the pity purchases
I've attempted to read unfortunately don't hold my interest and they end up on
another dreadful list: My "Did Not Finish" list.
These are just my first thoughts on "pity
patrons", we haven't even touched on what these types of sales do to the
amazon algorithm. If a "pity patron" buys a copy of one of my mystery
novels books but the patron is traditionally a romance reader, suddenly the
Amazon algorithm gets the idea that my mystery novel fits in with the romance
genre. Okay, this may not happen after one purchase, but if something like this
happens enough, my book could be shown in the suggestion window to romance
readers, which are not my target audience. Finding an audience for your writing
can be extremely challenging. I don't need something like a confused algorithm
slowing me down on top of everything else.
I'm probably dousing the flames of the supportive writing
community right now (or maybe I'm throwing gas on it). I realize I'm making some
assumptions that other people's buying habits are similar to mine. Or perhaps
I'm way off, and some of these sales are from people who had been meaning to
buy a book for some time but just forgot about it. Maybe the patron's interests
do align with the author's writing, and they want to take a chance on the book.
Either way, I stand by my point: what good are we doing if we buy books from
authors who simply beg for the sale. It kind of feels like we're just dropping
a few bucks into a hat. At the very least, maybe we’re increasing their Amazon
sales rank for a few days. As an author, I would rather have true organic
readers/patrons. I want patrons who buy my book because something about the tag
line caught their attention—or maybe there was something about the cover.
Better yet, I'd love a patron who buys my book because they had previously enjoyed
something else I wrote. These are the best kind of patrons because they're no
longer just patrons, they're fans! My main goal as an author is not to sell the
most copies of my book, it’s to find my audience. Once I do that, sales are likely
to follow.
As I'm writing this, I realize this might be something I
will want to delete later. I have this nagging feeling that someone is going to
read this and think I'm calling them or out, or that I'm stepping on their
supportive toes. I hope not, because that’s not my intention, and I apologize
if I’ve upset you. If you are a "pity patron," I want you to know you
are still very much appreciated. I'm sure your intentions are good, and I don't
know for certain that your efforts are not worth the action. These are just my
own thoughts I'm firing away with. I welcome any of your thoughts on this as
well so we can have a respectable discussion on this. I don't think I have all
the answers, and I'm certainly not perfect, because as I said at the beginning
of this post, I will take all the pity sales anyone wants to give me!
Keep Reading!
So, I don't know how long I'll run this little promotion, but I figured what the heck, it's Christmas! Let's start 2025 with some FREE BOOKS!
Starting today, I will be giving away digital copies of my debut novel, THE GOUGE, to everyone who signs up to my mailing list.
I want to say up front, I will not blow up your inboxes with a bunch of nonsense junk mail. Literally, over the past three years, I have only sent out two emails to my subscribers, and both were simple announcements for the release of my books. I also promise to never I share your information with anyone for any reason.
I've created a Landing Page HERE where you can sign up. Once I see your signup, I will send you a copy of the book in the format of your preference. Please be patient with me as I am being a bit cheap, and I'm not paying for the Mailchimp premium plan which will send notifications to me on signups. I will be checking the signups manually. If you don't receive a copy of The Gouge after a few days, please feel free to contact me in the comments here. I may have just overlooked the signup.
Remember, this is only for a limited time. I don't know when I'll end this promotion, so get it while you can!
Thank you all for a fantastic 2024. Have a great 2025, and Happy Reading!
M.H. David
I want to say right now, this wasn’t my plan when I wrote the first line of The Gouge. The Gouge was meant to be a stand-alone story, and that is all. I’m not a big fan of books in a series, mostly because it seems like a gimmick to sell the next book. Okay, it’s cool, but it really wasn’t what I was aiming for. When sat down to write The Blue Hole, (again it was meant to also be a stand-alone story) I decided to do something just for fun—I decided to make a character from The Gouge, Detective Jason Burns, make what was supposed to be just a cameo appearance in The Blue Hole. I chose to do this for two reasons: One, because I needed a detective for the story in The Blue Hole, and two, I lazily didn’t feel like creating a backstory for a new detective. Afterall, the work had already been done with Burns’ character and his backstory fit the bill close enough for what I wanted.
Along the course of writing and finishing The Blue Hole, the book as a whole kind of morphed into a two separate stories—Story 1: My original idea for The Blue Hole, and Story 2: What Burns was going through. Burns’ story actually took on a life of its own—it wasn’t supposed to be so focused on him, but more on the case which related to the original story. Turns out, I really liked the way the two stories collided with one another.
However, early on, after the initial release of The Blue Hole, it was pointed out to me that there was some confusion about the end result of Burns’ story in The Blue Hole—it felt incomplete. The story is all there in the final pages of The Blue Hole—some of it more deductive and assumptive than the rest, but it’s there. Could I have done a better job showing this? I’m sure I could have, and I’m sorry I didn’t. I’m not perfect, but I’m going to work on getting better with that. To be honest though, there were some aspects of Burns’ story which were far too complicated to wrap up in detail in just one book, and include the rest of the original story in The Blue Hole. So, naturally, guess what I’ve decided to do.
The story will be continued in my next book!
That’s right, I’m going to ride that gimmick train! Again, this was not the plan at the beginning of this story telling journey, but it’s what I’m faced with now. I’m very excited about this next installment, and I have to say I am more thrilled about the idea of the connecting stories than I probably should be. So far it’s been fun to write, and I can’t wait to share it with you both!
So, if one of the two of you reading this are wondering when you can read this next installment, I will have some exciting news very soon! If you don’t want to miss any news about the next book, it wouldn’t hurt to sign up for my email list on the left sidebar of your screen. Don’t worry, I don’t send out pointless emails or spam. It’s not monthly, weekly, or anything regular—to date I’ve sent out two emails to the group. But if you want to be one of the first to get news on the new book, sign up! But I might ask you to stay “quiet” about it for a little bit. Hint? What hint?
Keep reading!
MHD
Sure, from time to time there are going to be a few bad reviews too. There has to be. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of a book. Whenever these critical reviews pop up, I try to look on the bright side of this; someone still took the time to buy the book and read it. (Hopefully, anyway.) If I didn't meet their standards, I guess that's on me. If I could please everyone with my writing, I wouldn't have a day job. Right!
If you've recently bought a book, or read a book, please take the time to post a review. Even if it's short and sweet like, "Hey, this book wasn't all that bad." Shorter reviews are better for future sales anyway. Shoppers may not spend a lot of time reading over wordy reviews with potential spoilers. Keep it simple. Maybe mention a popular book or author the book is similar to.
If you're not great at putting your opinion into words, selecting a star rating is also a fantastic way to show support. Five stars is preferred, by the way, but if you feel you need to select a lower rating like two stars, or even one star, please be a champ and explain why you gave that rating. Sometimes these lower star ratings can confuse prospective buyers if they don't know why it was rated that way. Example: If a book was a genre, you don't normally read, and you were giving it a shot, say just that. It will tell other viewers that the rating isn't so much a grade on the quality of the book, but rather not matching your tastes. There's nothing wrong with that.
No matter what, I stand by the title of this post: If you have rated or reviewed a book ever, I think you are an awesome individual! Thank you to all that have reviewed my books, and others! You are making the dreams of so many authors come true! These Five Stars are for You!
I want to thank Raymond Holdridge II for lending his voice to my story. When he auditioned for the reading, I knew right away he was perfect for the job. I have a feeling you will all agree! You can find more about Raymond and his directorial and voice over work on his Instagram page right HERE! Also, check out Smoking Polar Bear Productions
The Gouge is my debut novel, and for it to final be available in such a fun format is a real dream come true.
If you already own the Kindle edition of The Gouge, that means you can download the audio book version at a huge discount! Just visit the book's Amazon page here: THE GOUGE on AMAZON
ABOUT THE GOUGE:
Carson ran away from Cypress Creek to escape his dark past; his father was the serial killer dubbed, "The Man in the Woods." Twenty-two years have passed, and a simple text message threatens to bring all of Carson's secrets out into the open.
The freshly slain bodies of two teenage girls have been discovered in the woods of Cypress Creek, and the methos of which the girls were killed are identical to those found nearly twenty-two years earlier on his father's victims. The now retired detective who worked the first case has long suspected that Carson knew more than what he revealed during interrogations; now is his chance to prove it.
Carson returns to Cypress Creek to finally face his past, but it is soon clear that he isn't the only person in that small-town harboring dark secrets about that fateful night in the woods.
The story is told from many different points of view, and
this really helped pronounce the empathy for some of the characters. I felt like there was a lot of dialogue, but that’s
not a bad thing. In fact, all the
dialogue felt passionate, and their voices were authentic in tone. It was easy to hear the voices saying the
words written, and that of course assisted in drawing me into the story.
This was a fun first installment to what I’m assuming will be a continuing series. Recommended to people who enjoy mob style stories like The Sopranos . Looking forward to the next installment!
The Manic Mission can be purchase on Amazon HERE!
This definitely is not the healthiest of posts, but I’m going to level with the both of you on how I keep my focus. When I sit down to write, I tend to have a package of a certain sweet snack by my side. I call them, “Thinking Cookies.” Don’t laugh. We all have that snack that we really believe helps up think and work, mine just happens to be a cookie. Why is this I wonder? Why do we tend to think better while we are nibbling (or sometimes scarfing) away on a treat? Maybe it’s a comfort thing. Luckily, science has shown us that it’s really just the sugars and fats increasing the dopamine levels in my brain, thus making it easier for me to focus on the characters in my stories, and all of their secrets. So, do I really like cookies, or do I just like the dopamine? It’s probably not worth thinking about—Nah, I like cookies, and they make me happy. I function better, and I write better, when I’m happy. Simple as that!
And by
the way, it really doesn’t matter what kind cookie. My go-to is usually the Oreo, but I can get
by with just about any kind of cookie—chocolate chip, no-bake, peanut butter,
sugar, or those butter cookies that come in the tin can—the list goes on and
on. As I’m writing this post, the thinking
cookie of choice happens to be my wife’s homemade oatmeal cookie.
So, as I said at the beginning, I know this isn't the healthiest of tips, so please save any shame you might want to throw my way. I know this is not a great habit, and I promise it is not a regular habit either. Either way, I face the consequences of it often and have to work hard to burn off all the extra calories I put into my body, and even then it still doesn't feel like enough.
Do you have a favorite snack when you’re trying to concentrate? I’d love to hear all about it, as well as
what you do to cut yourself off when you know you’re about to over do it.
Keep
Reading!
It’s been a challenging year. And judging by the number of posts I’ve made to this blog this year (only 11), it doesn’t look like I’ve been very productive either. Well, I promise you, I’ve been doing my best. The year started off very positive. The Blue Hole had been out for a month or so, and it was gaining traction. The promotions I had chosen to run were working well, and the few reviews that were trickling in were just the kind of positive reinforcement I needed to push forward on my third book. All was looking very good. Then I got the urge to throw the book away my work in progress and start over, and about mid-year, that’s exactly what I did. Trying to sort out if this book was even worth taking a second stab distracted me from continuing to promote The Blue Hole and The Gouge. It also kept me from checking in on my social media accounts, and so they too seemed to lose relevance too—add to that the fact that social media went through a few changes this year too. Nevertheless, slowly, and surely, I am trying to regain my footing and training myself to post daily just like I did when I started this writing venture.
2023 has
not been bad but I am really looking forward to 2024 as yet another page in my
journey! I hope that your 2024 will be
amazing as well! See you there!
Vicky Ball’s second book, much like her first, tackles some challenging and unfortunate situations that we tend to overlook, or ignore.
I really enjoyed the way the story moved fast and the way that the characters spoke with one another in a very real way. I did have some trouble resonating with the characters at the beginning, but I attribute that mostly to the fact that the target audience is more teen/young adult, which I am not. However, once the majority of introductions were completed, I was completely drawn in and could not put it down. Well done!
Abandoned is available in paperback and ebook format, and it is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, so if you are a subscriber, you can download it for Free right HERE!
I'll share more information about the progression, and availability of this product as I have it! Just wanted to share the news! Have a great day! Keep reading...and listening!
There's so much going on this world that we cannot control. Sometimes, we are led to believe that systems like democracy, certain privil...
