Bad reviews suck

I try.

I try not to look at them.

The reviews.

And for the most part I've succeeded in avoiding the reviews.

But the Internet is the devil's playground. One minute you're doing some innocent research on Wikipedia and the next minute you're reading a particularly painful review of your book.

And I get upset. I stomp around. I curse the reviewer's name and wonder why she or he didn't "get it."

But then I cool down and remind myself that books are like people.

Some people you like and some you don't.

As a writer, I want my book to be liked, though I know not everyone will "get it."

And that's fine. Many people don't "get" me.

But bad reviews still suck.

Fortunately, some people do "get" me. Like this reviewer.

Okay, no more reading reviews! Time to starting writing again.

PS: If you've read either Out of Breath or The Ghost Runner -- and liked it -- please consider writing a review. We authors may say publicly that reviews don't matter -- but they do.

My last free book of 2012

It must be the holidays.

Or my generous spirit.

Or maybe I've just got too many books taking up space on my desk.

Nah, it's my generous spirit.

Which is why I'm giving away one more free copy of The Ghost Runner on Goodreads.

The deadline is Dec. 31, so signup now!

Happy Holidays...

Here's to anonymity

I am the anonymous writer.

Blair Richmond is my pen name, or alias. It is my ticket to freedom. And, true, I shouldn't care what people think, but I do. I can't help it. And, under the veil of Blair Richmond, I don't worry about my neighbor secretly judging me because of what I wrote about the cute but slightly creepy town of Lithia.

I just write.

I realize I can't exactly go on a book tour or do a radio interview, and this may get in the way of the book's success.

But I think the tradeoffs are worth it.

And it was nice to see in this article that I'm far from alone in the pen name department.

Here are some other pen names you may recognize (and their real names):

• Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
• George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)
• Pablo Neruda (Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto)
• Lewis Caroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
• George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin)

Maybe someday I'll come clean. But given such good company, why the rush?

They Lighted the Way

A second chance at a free copy of The Ghost Runner

I'm giving away another copy of The Ghost Runner on Goodreads.

Here's the link.

Just five days to go people.

And for those of you who purchased a copy so far -- thank you!

I'm hard at work on book three.

Read the first chapter of The Ghost Runner

The first chapter of The Ghost Runner has been posted at Bookingly Yours.

BEFORE YOU CLICK, be aware that you'll get a heavy dose of how Out of Breath ended.

So consider yourself warned!

Shameless Screen Grab

Actually, I'm not ashamed. This is my blog darnit and I'm excited. Here's the review.

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.”
— William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

This is the quote I use to begin The Ghost Runner.

I saw Measure for Measure two years ago at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and I couldn't get that play out of my head.

Actually, I have trouble getting any Shakespeare play out of my head.

In each book, well, in each of my first two books, I focus on one Shakespeare play in particular.

In Out of Breath it was Hamlet. I saw a lot of Hamlet in my character Roman, and that's one reason I wanted to work this play into the book. So I had Roman actually play the role of Hamlet for his job at the theater, letting readers connect these two troubled souls. They're troubled for very different reasons, of course, but in my mind they were very similar.


And in The Ghost Runner, it's Kat herself who finds herself in a spot like Shakespeare's Isabella -- caught between her own beliefs and a family situation that may cause her to give up what she believes in the very most. Again, they're in totally different situations, but I definitely saw the parallels. This is probably why I can never get Shakespeare out of my head -- all his characters deal with the same things we still do every day: love, loyalty, family, duty, and on and on. I'm adding animal rights to the mix, but I think even Shakespeare might have touched on that. I discovered this quote, from Twelfth Night:

Sir Andrew: "I am a great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit."
Sir Toby: "No question."

(William Shakespeare,Twelfth Night, Act I, Scene III)

Just one more reason to love Shakespeare.

Now, I have to decide which play to work into Book Three.

Another nice review!

This one in Our Hen House.

Vampire invasion of Ashland

The Ashland Daily Tidings gave a nice review of The Ghost Runner.

The reviewer wonders who Blair Richmond is:

I, of course, found myself looking for "mistakes" — signs that the author doesn't really know Ashland and might just be a visiting tourist. The trilogy is written under the pen name Blair Richmond, and the only clue its publisher — our very own Ashland Creek Press — will give about the identity of the author is that she (or he) lives in the Pacific Northwest.

I do live in the area and will in fact be in Ashland for the Halloween parade.

And of course, I'll be in costume.

Win a free copy of The Ghost Runner

If you're on Goodreads -- and if you're a reader you should be -- sign up to win a free copy of my new book.

Now, you've probably already purchased a copy for yourself (or so I hope), but this additional copy will make a nice gift.

Tell your friends, neighbors, people standing in line at the bank...

Here's the link.

Kirkus says the The Ghost Runner is "thoroughly entertaining"

Kirkus Reviews is one of those publications I had never heard of before I became a writer.

But it's an important publication, if you're a writer.

Librarians read it cover to cover, or so I'm told.

Just getting a book reviewed by Kirkus is an accomplishment.

So I'm a little giddy to see this review for The Ghost Runner.

Here's an excerpt:

"Vegan vampires, Shakespearean actors, food–co-op aficionados and serious runners face off against old-school bloodsuckers and rapacious, forest-devouring builders in this follow-up to Out of Breath (2011) set in—where else?—Lithia…Spunky Kat is good company; Alex and Roman are better defined this time around, but most vivid character honors go to the setting, whose tall evergreens and babbling brooks, shadowed by brooding mountains, enhance the sturdy plot. Thoroughly entertaining."

I particularly appreciate those last two words: Thoroughly entertaining.

And, like the movies do, I'm going to use these two words everywhere I go.

I'll get bumper stickers made. Posters. T-shirts.

Or, maybe I'll simply post a thoroughly self-absorbed blog post.

Check.