PG13 or R Rating for "Da Nang Damned!"

When I began writing "Da Nang Damned!" I made a decision that I wanted a book that my Mom, Grandchildren, Friends could read without me feeling embarrassed. So I decided not to include foul language, steamy sex scenes and over the top violence. I reasoned there was enough of this on the market as it was and I didn't need to write this way. I believe that it is possible to write a "modern" action/adventure book without resorting to including language that quite frankly I find terribly offensive.

I just finished a book by another veteran. I won't mention the title or author, but it's a fictional account of soldiers in Iraq. The book is laced with some of the worst language I have ever heard. I will give the author credit, he used four letter words in some very creative ways. The book has gotten good reviews and the author several rewards.

Now I don't consider myself a prude. I can swear in at least three languages and after six years in the military and several years working construction I've heard it all. Some may criticize my book for eliminating cussing, swearing, but that's okay. I don't think including it would add to the book.

There's just to much foul language out there. We are exposed to it everyday. What use to be limited to the locker room, or the military is common everyway. By making it so everyday, swearing loses it's shock value. In my opinion swearing is a sign of ignorance. A friend responded after I rebuke him for swearing in front of a lady by saying "She's a grown woman, she's heard it all before." I answered "That maybe, but it doesn't mean she wants to hear it again.

Our society has become increasingly crass. At the same time we're suppose to be politically correct and tolerant of different cultures, religions, lifestyles, we have become sloppy in dress, language and manners. So if you're looking for a book with a lot of gratuitous sex, violence and foul language, you won't find it in my books.

Presentation of the Check!

Here I am presenting the first check for $300.00 to Ed Crammer, Chairperson of the Veterans Independence Project.

Great feeling to be able to donate $300.00 to the Carroll County Veterans Independence Project yesterday at the Veterans Advisory's November Mtg. Hopefully, it's the first of many. The VAC is a group of dedicated - amazing people dedicated to help veterans in Carroll County.

First Donation!

On Tuesday November 21 st, I will make my first donation to Carroll Counties Veterans Independence Project or VIP. This project is working to renovate an old army reserve building into a shelter and training facility for veterans.

My wife and I are excited to be part of this great project and look forward to make many more donations from the sale of mu book "Da Nang Damned!". A special thanks to all you have supported me by purchasing the book, writing reviews and spreading the word. Last week was a busy week with two book signings. In the coming months we plan to do more promotions and signings. The book is currently trending on Amazon @ 4.7 Stars! If you have purchased and eBook or paperback from Amazon, PLEASE remember to write a review!

Scheduled Events: Book Signings

So now that I've gotten the final revisions done on "Da Nang Damned!" It's time to sell some books! Depending on Amazon to sell your books is crazy! unles you're a well known author ie: Stephen King for example ecpecting people to go to Amazon, find and buy your book is a little like looking for that old needle in a haystack. If your a first time author and Indie publishef the cold hard facts are you have to get off your butt and get out there with your book.

This mean finding ways to self promote. I wrote about press releases before, so I won't spend time with them, except to say that anytime you are doing something, ie: speaking, signing books, etc a press release announcing the event should be sent to every media outlet in your area.

However, for this post lets concentrate on book signings & speaking engagements. The best way to get these are to ask if you can hold a book signing and/or speak before a group about your book. Here are some ideas:

Local Libraries

Civic Groups

Book Clubs

All these groups are always looking for interesting speaker.

This month I have three such events:

Nov 13th Lions Club

Nov 17th Senior Center

Nov 21st Veterans Group

I would like to do at least two a month.

Final Revison, I hope of Da Nang Damned!

Well I just finished the final revision of "Da Nang Damned!" One advantage of publishing on Amazon is that you can make revisions . After going over the manuscript countless times and having it edited there were still typos! Which Amazon displays as a question mark inside a little box. It was driving me nuts!

Finally I figured out what 99% of these marks meant. Most were spacing errors at end of sentences or paragraphs where instead of a single space I had a double space. I had to go page by page and correct the spacing and other errors. I can't blame the people who did the editing originally, the spacing doesn't show up until you down load onto Amazon's format. Or hit the click on the paragraph icon in word. Anyway I'm learning and hopefully the next book in the series will be better.

Press Releases Work!

A few days ago I sent out a press release about my newest book, "Da Nang Damned!" The release was sent to local media, newspapers & radio stations. One a free paper put my release on the front paper!

Now getting published in a small local free paper, certainly isn't the same as the NY Sunday Times, but that's not the point. The point is that press releases work! Especially for an Indie Writer with limited dollars to spend.

Press releases are free! Years ago you had to assembly a press kit. Print it & mail it. No More! Every newspaper, radio, TV station has a web page w/contact info. You put together a press release & zap off it goes.

Press Release are a fast way to publicize your book. Again with emails and blogs getting the word out has never been easier.

Press Releases are a great way to keep your public informed. Win an award, schedule a book sale, get a good review? Send out a press release.

Press Releases can help you develop a relationship with a paper, radio or TV station/personality. The truth is you'll be lucky if you get one or two papers to run your release. But the ones that do need to be cultivated. Send a thank you email. Offer to do an interview. Mail them a book to review,staying in touch with them will pay dividends.

Selling Your Writing.

If you're serious about being a professional writer, ie. you want to earn money by writing. Then you have to become a salesperson. The chances of someone discovering you and selling/promoting you are slim and none.

Remember the old saying: "If you build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door"?
What the author should of said was: "If you build a better mouse trap and market the hell out of it the world will beat a path to your door."!

Before I retired, I spent more than 40 years in sales & marketing from going door to door  to vice president of sales & marketing for several companies. Now as a writer selling and marketing should be a piece of cake. But the reality is that it's a lot harder to sell yourself than somebody's product or services. Putting yourself out there is scary! But, putting yourself out there is exactly what you must do!

The reason most artist and writers are starving is because they refuse/can't/won't sell themselves! Again they hope they'll be discovered. Good luck with that!

Of course the main reason people don't sell themselves is the fear of rejection. Well get over it! Realize you will face rejection and criticism and lots of Nos. But you must push on. Take the constructive criticisms to heart. Improve, refine, revise, but keep moving forward.

Consider this, most people lack the courage to do what you do. If you have passion, talent and a willingness to take go over, through or around any wall then you will be successful.

First Milestone Achieved!

Big news! Well at least for me. I reach my first goal or milestone in the release of "Da Nang Damned!. I have now sold enough books to be able to donate $100.00 to VIP! VIP or Veterans Independent Project is renovating an old army reserve bldg. in Westminster, MD. The bldg. will serve as a shelter & training facility for returning veterans. The next goal is to hit $1000.00!

Thanks to all who have bought the book! Please help me reach my next goal, by promoting my book on your facebook page, writing a review on Amazon and of course buying more books! Here's a link to my Author Page where you can buy a book.   http://amazon.com/author/peterturner

Public Relation Blitz

As a Indie Author, I am not only the writer of  "Da Nang Damned!", but also the publisher, head of shipping and sales & marketing. Most writers dread this part of being an independent author. Unless you're willing to put yourself out there, no one outside of your family & friends will ever hear or buy your books!

So yesterday I sent a press release to twelve media outlets: radio stations - newspapers. Hopefully I'll get a response for an interview or two and some articles.

Additionally, I've also started Tweeting and of course this blog. One thing I learned from my years in sales & marketing is that beginning any sales campaign takes a lot of time & money, but if your persistence momentum gradually builds, kind of like pushing a snowball up a hill.

50% of Profits From The Sale of "Da Nang Damned!" Will Be Donated.

I've decided instead of donating a dollar from the sale of "Da Nang Damned!" to Carroll County, MD Veterans Independence Project to donate 50% of all profits to "V.I.P". Veterans Independence Project is in the process of renovating an old army reserve building into a shelter and training facility for veterans. Their goal is to provide returning veterans with a way to adjust to civilian with counseling, shelter and job skills training.

As a Vietnam Veteran, I'm all to aware of the way returning 'Nam' Vets were treated. It's taken fifty years for us to get the thanks, support and appreciation we deserved. A promise, some of us made is that never again will a generation of veterans be treated as we were.

Revised: Da Nang Damned!

Finally finished with my revised edition of Da Nang Damned! Lots of typos that I should of caught before publishing. My bad! Next time I'll be a little more diligent. But some of the typos are cause by Amazon's format not recognizing some of the codes in the PDF file. Apparently Amazon does eBooks really well but still have some work to do with their paperbacks.

Now I need to concentrate on marketing my book and finishing my second Rick & Ted book "Death I Never Pretty".

Hardest Part Of Writing A Novel

For me the hardest part of writing a novel is the editing. Before I start on a book I have the main characters and plot mapped out. Sure I'll change things as I write, but I rarely suffer from writers block. I like writing and seeing my characters come alive.

Editing is a different story! I'm not a very patient person, neither am I a very detailed one. With my current book "Da Nang Damned" I've lost count of how many times it's been edited. I even bought a software program to further check, grammar, spelling, style, etc. I also had a fellow author proofread the book. So I figured, good enough time to publish.

Well after publishing & sending the book out to a few friends/family for their comments I realized it still needed work. There were typos, misspellings, incorrect word use, etc. and strange makings that Amazon had inserted in my book.

The long & short of it is I had to go back to the original manuscript and make corrections. So the lesson learned is to edit and pay for a good professional proofreader. Also make sure when you download your manuscript to Amazon that the file is compatible with Amazon's format and carefully review your book before pressing the publish button.

Cliches, Typos, Etc

I rec'd the paperback version of my book "Da Nang Damned!"and it was exciting to up the package and see my book in print! I immediately opened it up and began flipping pages. One of the things I noticed was usually at the end of one or two sentences there would be a question mark inside a box. At first I had no idea what it meant and was upset. I had edited the book many times & had it reviewed by a proofreader. I probably could of had it edited or proofread again, but decided if I strived for perfection, the book would never get published.

With all the steps to getting a book from Word to Amazon's format. It's possible something in the file got corrupted. But more likely Amazon is questioning my use of a word or my grammar. So I'm going to go back to the original manuscript and make corrections and download a new document. Hopefully that will take care of the problem.

PG or R Rating?

When I decided to finally write my novel, I had to make many decisions regarding style and substance. I spent a lot of time mulling over the tone of the novel, characters, setting, etc. But one area I didn't have to think about was do I give my book a PG or R rating?

In my humble opinion, profanity, sex and violence is so prevalent in our culture that unfortunately we have become immune to it. It's everywhere! TV, print, everyday speech and of course the internet. When I was young I rarely heard any swearing or cursing, even among my friends. In fact it wasn't until I went in the service that I was really expose to profanity, but even there it was understood that you spoke two languages Navy & English. I remember an old crusty Master Chief warning us that when we were home on leave or on a weekend pass to town that we cleanup or **##! language.

In writing my book Da Nang Damned I decide to model myself after Clive Cussler's style of writing. Cussler is one of the most prolific and successful writers of fiction today. He's the author of the Dirk Pitt series and other great books. His books are filled with great heroes and villains, but no where in his books will you find any profanity, in your face sex scenes or violence for the sake of violence.

Now I'm not stupid. I know sex and violence sells. But I also believe I should stay true to who I am. Sure I can swear in at least four languages and truth be told do on occasion let fly with one or two four letter words. But I want to write books that I would be ashamed to have my Mom or my grandchildren read. So call me old fashion but that's just the way I prefer to write.

Write About What you Know

Writing a novel is hard work! First you have to come up with a good idea, the a plot, characters, setting and then the real work begins. Most works of fiction have to be a minimum of 50,000 to 60,000 words. Believe me that's a lot of words. Remember when you were in school and the teacher assigned a 250 word essay? I hated those essay. Usually my first question was doe "The End" count towards the 250 word minimum?

I envy those writers who can write about strange beast and distance planets. I pretty sure they never visited any of these faraway worlds. I found writing about something I know and/or experience makes the job of writing a lot easier.

My book "Da Nang Damned!" is about a group of Seabees deployed to Vietnam. I did serve with a Seabee Battalion MCB 53 and I was deployed to 'Nam' from January 1968 to September 1968. I also live four years in Conway, NH, the setting of the second half of my book. So writing from my own experiences helped me create a book that I hope is authentic. I can still close my eyes and see the camp outside of Da Nang. I can smell the air, taste the girt and feel the heat and humidity.

I hope I was able to create a book that will help my readers experience in some small way what it was like being deployed to 'Nam'. As important growing up in New England, living at the base of Mount Washington in Conway, NH I now winter all to well. I've fished the Saco River and hiked the mountains. I've crossed country skied when the temperatures were well below zero. My very special friend Bill Pike has a cabin in a remote part of Vermont and I used it for the final showdown. So in many ways writing this book was easy.

WHY I WRITE WHAT I WRITE

As I mentioned before "Da Nang Damned!" is my first book. Why did I write a book about Vietnam and the effects the war had on guys who fought in 'Nam'. Well the answer is simple. I write about things I know something about and experienced, at least to some degree.

I did spend nine lovely months is the heat, rain, mud & blood on that wonderful tropical paradise from January 1968 to September 1968. I was a member of a U.S. Navy Seabee (Mobile Construction Battalion). Lastly I was born and raised in New England and lived for four years in Conway, NH.

I'm always amazed at writers who can create a whole world of fantasy, strange worlds, beings and super powers. I write and hopefully will continue to write about things I'm familiar with and hopefully my readers will enjoy the authenticity it brings to my novels.

Also as a reader of novels I personally like reading about characters and events that have a little realism. Characters who have similar problems, challenges and issues that most of us have and putting them in situations that could happen to me makes for a great read.

That doesn't mean I don't enjoy and appreciate fantasy. I do! It just the direction I want to go in my writing is towards realistic everyday people dealing with realistic situations. As a student of history I try to weave historic events into my novels.

My next pots will look into my characters. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Here's a link to my book: Da Nang Damned!

If you purchase a book please leave a review.

By the way a dollar of each sale of Da Nang Damned! goes to the Carroll County Veterans Independence Project. VIP currently is negotiating the purchase of an old Army Reserve Bldg. Plans are to turn it into a homeless shelter and training facilities for veterans.

INTRODUCING "DA NANG DAMNED!"

Finally, after 50 Years I've completed and published my first book, "Da Nang Damned". It's a story about Rick O'Neil and Ted Troutman. Here's a quick preview:

Buried in a Vietnamese river is a dark secret. A secret that if discovered will topple a rich and powerful crime boss.

Rick O’Neil, finds himself fighting two wars, Vietnam and his own private war. While on deployment to Vietnam, Rick along with two friends become involved with Tony Marchesi a streetwise punk from Brooklyn.  After witnessing Tony murder a Vietnamese the men take a vow promising to never tell anyone of the murder.

Forty years later Marchesi has built a  legitimate business using monies gain from a life of crime and is busy planning his son’s run for congress.  Jimmy who has worked for Marchesi since returning from Vietnam commits suicide. But before he dies he sends his sister information detailing Marchesi’s criminal activities telling her to send them to Rick upon his death.

Rick’s carefully constructed life comes crashing down when he receives the information. Rick must to decide if he wants to tear open old war wounds and face his demons or keep silent. With the help of his friends he wrestles with his conscience all the while trying to stay one step ahead of Marchesi and his hired gun.

Drawing on his own Vietnam experiences author Pete Turner crafts a novel dealing with one man’s conflicting emotions and the high cost of war.

This is the first in a series of books about Rick and Ted. I have two more books in the works, plus a western novel. Sio I have a lot of writing ahead for me. After getting my first book written is like the dam has broke and ideas, plots and characters seem to flow out like water.

The book is available on Kindle as an ebook and hopefully I'll have it also as a paperback. I'm planning to donate a dollar from each sale to the renovation of an old Army Reserve bldg into a Veterans Homeless Shelter and training facility.

The price of the ebook is $2.99. I'll price the paperback at as low a price as possible so everyone can enjoy reading them. I should point out that you don't need a Kindle Reader anymore to read these books. When you go on to the website simple click on the Kindle App and down load onto your device.

Here's a link to my book. If you order and read one please leave a comment and thanks! 

Da Nang Damned!

WELCOME!

Welcome to my blog "Writer and Raconteur" I chose that title because it more closely identifies with my style of writing and my personality. You see I think of myself more as a story teller (Raconteur) than a writer. Let me tell you writing is hard work! Being a Raconteur is easy, at least for me. Now being a good Raconteur is an art and skill that if you're serious about story telling & writing takes practice and dedication.

For example, I'm known as some one with a quick, sometimes biting and a great sense of humor. Quick with a joke or story. But writing! Man it has taking me nearly 50 yrs to write my book "Da Nang Damned!"  About 47 years thinking about it and three to finally get it down on paper and then to publish on Amazon Kindle. Okay maybe it was laziness, something I'm known for or just being unsure of my ability to write. I guess you'll be the judge. Below I have provided a link to my Kindle page and I'd love to hear your comments.

So the point/goal of this blog is to offer my experiences writing and to share some insights into my characters and the process of creating a book. I'll also preview new books that I'm working on and no I don't think I have another 50 yrs to write another book!

Finally I hope I'll inspire in some small way your own desire to write. So stay tune!