Featured Author - Pat Ritter

Our next featured author, Pat Ritter, comes from the beautiful country of Australia. To be specific, he lives in the Mary Valley on Queensland, the setting for his adventure novel, The Drover.

The Drover Synopsis

Harry Williams from the age of ten years wanted to become a drover, like his father and grandfather before him. This is his life story of leaving school at ten years old, operating his first droving plant at thirteen years and fully operational at twenty-one years old. Droving is now a craft past its used by date. Harry Williams didn't think so.

Motivation for Writing

His inspiration for The Drover came from his late father-in-law, who was a drover. Pat would sit around the campfire with his father-in-law while he ‘spun the best yarns’ of his droving days. Thirty years later, Pat decided to put his history into print.

Pat Ritter has many motivations to keep him writing, and life events to reflect upon. He has been writing since 1986, and at present, has ten novels published. 'Closing The Gap' being his first novel selling 8000 copies. It was traditionally published by The Australian Lions Awareness Foundation to help parents improve communication with their teenage children.

Ten years ago, after writing and self-publishing his third novel, he made a decision to retire and write full time. Pat is passionate and wanted to be a writer no matter what the journey. At the time his wife made a statement, “How are we going to eat?” She wasn't kidding. They purchased their property at Brooloo - set in plans to build a house and retire in a bush setting. The dream of his writing world began to take shape, but then it was suddenly shattered.

Within twelve months he lost the love of his life to cancer. His angel was gone. To keep her alive, Pat wrote a tribute about his wife’s life and posted it on his website www.patritter.com.au - In Remembrance of Bub. Her story is free to download.

One morning, he thought, “What would Bub want me to do?” He could hear her say, “You wanted to retire and write - so write”. She always wanted Pat to write stories he told her about his life as a police officer, detective and his demon - alcoholism.

Finally he wrote and published, Confessions of an Alcoholic, where he introduces readers to a character Bundy Quicksilver, which in reality is Pat. The book is about Pat’s life as an alcoholic and how he overcame his demons to understand what caused him to become an alcoholic in the first place.

Pat Ritter’s reason to Self-Publish

In 2009, at the time he was self-publishing and selling the books via his website, Smashwords and Amazon decided to accept e-books from Indie Authors—Pat jumped on the bandwagon. He loves it. Not only does he have total control of what he does, he can promote his writing via social media and blogs.

Stop on by Pat’s website to check out his books.

Pat Ritter’s Website: www.patritter.com.au

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pat-Tex-Ritter-Author/107256392723750

Buy on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95766

Buy on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Drover-ebook/dp/B005YTGUOM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343363977&sr=1-1

Thank you, Pat for introducing us to your works and taking part in the Pay It Forward. I wish you the best with your writing endeavors. 

Spread the word about Pat Ritter - http://bit.ly/T377mM

History and Adventure,

Bea

Featured Author – Kaamil Garyson

Today I’m excited to introduce to you, Kaamil Garyson. He’s from Atlanta, Georgia and is a self-published paranormal and dark drama author. So for all you paranormal and dark drama fans out there, stick around with the rest of us and learn about Kaamil.

Kaamil Garyson is a self-proclaimed workaholic. He normally puts in 16 to 18-hour days writing, studying, and networking. You can tell by looking at his picture that he’s all about getting the job done. He is a student of the game who offers a plethora of free short stories, poems, and screenplays on his blog http://sinistreproseonline.biz. This is a great site, so please stop on by and find out more about Kaamil. He is also forming an author services website called Authors of the Free World that will be launching soon http://freeworldauthors.com.

Kaamil’s Motivation for writing Nemesis

Nemesis is a paranormal story of the feminist movement, demonic influence, and a selfless Soldier's love and perseverance. As a Wounded Warrior, Kaamil initially wanted to write a memoir of his experiences in Iraq after serving two tours. However, his PTSD made it too difficult to write of his most harrowing moments, particularly the night an IED blast changed his life and military career forever. After dabbling with short stories, Kaamil decided to create a character that is loosely based on his military life, both in garrison and in theater. Soon after, Kaamil learned of the religious reasons he suffers from sleep paralysis. Supposedly, it is a succubus named Lilith who targets sexually weak men. He learned of this from a self-empowered woman in his hometown. Nemesis was born...

I would like to take a moment to personally say how honored I am to have a military man as our first featured author. Thank you, Kaamil for your service and sacrifice in protecting our Freedom. It is truly appreciated.

Motivation to Self-Publish

I believe in the notion of controlling my own destiny. Before becoming a writer, I spent the better part of 12 years as a music producer, running my own indie label. I have always believed in entrepreneurship. Simply put, there is little a publisher can do for me that I can't do for myself while keeping all of my rights. The self-publishing industry is still in its infancy, and I'm stoked to be a part of a booming industry before it even reaches its fullest potential!

Nemesis is still a WIP and will be available soon as an ebook at all the major outlets (Amazon, B & N, etc.). Depending on demand, I might print-on-demand a few hard copies. 

Nemesis Synopsis

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN A WORLD OF FEMALE DOMINANCE?

Lilith, a she-demon hell-bent on a new world of feminine rulership, seeks to devour not only US Army Soldier Dustin Chase and his infant son, but also all sexually weak human males. The selfless Dustin can protect himself and his son from Lilith, but she is not working alone.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KaamilGaryson

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kgaryson
Blog: http://sinistreproseonline.biz
Website: http://freeworldauthors.com

I want to thank Kaamil for his time and participation in the Pay It Forward. Keep your eyes and ears open for Kaamil Garyson’s dark paranormal, Nemesis.

Self-Published and Paranormal,

Bea

Hot Diggity Dog…New Digs!

Well...do ya love it? It was time for me to redecorate my blog. Like we do with homes, I knocked down a few walls and applied a new coat of paint, still keeping with the main color scheme. The left side bar has information about me and my books, and the right side bar has lists and a new thing I’d like to start—Pay It Forward.

I self-published my book and it’s difficult for self-published/indie authors to promote their books. “Pay It Forward” will help all involved. The more the word gets out, the more you profit…or at least receive comments that your book sounds interesting. It might even be added to someone’s TBR list.

Here’s how it will work…if anyone is interested. Send an email to denise@authordenisebaer.com with “Feature” in the subject line requesting to be featured on my blog and then I’ll request the following:

- Book cover (jpg)
- Author Photo (jpg-optional)
- Author Bio (no attachment- in the body of the email)
- Book Genre
- Synopsis
- Paragraph (no more than 150 words) about how you came to write the book, such as where the idea came from or why you wrote it (no attachment-in the body of the email)
- Paragraph (no more than 150 words) about why you decided to Self-Publish or about the Indie Publisher (no attachment-in the body of the email).
- Links to where the book can be purchased
- Links to author website, book trailer, etc.

After the author’s book is featured on my blog, they will be asked to feature an author on their blog with a link to my blog at the bottom of the post or write a review, and then send an email with a direct link to their blog post or review. I will then add it to the “Pay It Forward” list on the right side of my blog…And if the author wants to add the “Pay It Forward” list to their blog and continue on, I’ll send them the list links. We’ll see how this idea pans out.

I hope you enjoy the new digs and make sure to stop on by to read about some new and upcoming writers.

Redecorate and Feature,

Bea

Sat is fact—Shun!

Past Customer Service = “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”

Present Day Customer Service = Customer service is a series of activities designed to ignore and aggravate the customer – that is, if the customer requests assistance at a time deemed inappropriate such as personal conversations, lunch, lazy time or they just don’t feel like working.  

Over the past few years, I’ve come across this so-called thing called ‘customer service’ and I’m not really feeling it. ‘Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed”. Are they guaranteeing the customer’s satisfaction or their employee’s satisfaction in dissing the customer? The lack of caring exudes from these individuals, and it seems they traded in their smile for an un-lubricated butt plug because, let’s face it, that would make anyone disregard the needs of others.

I’ll admit that I worked in customer service and I wasn’t always the most…understanding individual. Maybe it’s payback time. But in my defense, I worked in technology and they refused to provide V² –valium and vodka. When it comes to technology, there are certain things IT employees expect of people who work on computers every day of the year to know, like:

1)  Where the power button is located

2)  If you print something and it doesn’t print, don’t print 20 more times hoping one of them will get passed the black hole.

3)  If you receive a black screen that says keyboard failure, check the keyboard to make sure there aren’t any muffin crumbs, nail clippings or sunflower seeds stuck between the keys.

4)  Copy and paste—two things we learned in kindergarten—same idea, different technique.

5)  When tech support comes to your desk, be there to explain the problem and enter in your logon and password.

http://pinterest.com/pin/87257311499783531/ 

I understand that working in customer service is frustrating, but it’s amazing how indifferent and acceptable it is to outright act as if the customer isn’t even there. At least I gave employees a moment to explain their problem before directly or indirectly pointing out their faux pas. Like when one employee I worked with insisted her CD-ROM drive was broken—it wouldn’t play her CD. I popped open the CD player, flipped the CD right side up and the CD worked without a problem. Or when we were working in Windows 95 and an employee asked for assistance. I stood behind her and told her to go to my computer and she got up and started walking away. Dumbfounded, I asked her where she was going, and she said, “To your computer.” I had to point out the “My Computer” icon on her desktop. So you see, I understand the kind of frustration that comes along with helping some people.

But I don’t understand the girl, who saw me standing at the counter but turned her back and continued a personal conversation about her license being taking away. And then when I told her my sunglasses were right on the counter and I’d like to know what I owe so I could leave, shuffled over, shrugged and said, “I don’t know.” My response was, “Well, how about asking someone who does know.” She didn’t even notice the sarcasm…or maybe she did and ignored it. Either way, she took her sweet time walking the sunglasses over to another woman and asking.

For now on, when I come across anyone at a place of business who has an attitude or just doesn't care, I’m going to smile and say, “I can tell you really like your job” just to see their reaction. I might have to tweak it as time goes on.

Anyone else have witty responses to poor customer service?

Service and Attitude,

Bea