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We’ve been having some chilly weather here in Brooklyn, so I went on-line to check Iowa weather. On 13 WHOTV in Des Moines the current temp was 35. I then noticed an upcoming prediction for the 13th – high 38 and low 23 with rain and snow.
It got me to thinking about how much Iowa corn and soybean farmers have had to deal with this year. 2019 has been one of the worst years for farmers that I can remember – and it doesn’t seem to be giving them any relief.
Putting aside the Trump Tariff/trade war issues, a major problem has been nature itself. Farmers have been affected by bad weather a good deal of the time. Definitely more rain than usual, and of course, the resulting flooding.
The flooding has caused a late planting. In one case, a farmer friend had planted most of his seed for

In the journey of writing an publishing The Northeast Quarter it was a privilege to work with Marie Incontrera. As part of the social media team Marie was of tremendous help in getting my novel out and on the market. Marie has just written a book called Social Media Your Book Launch which is available March 27th on Amazon. She has put all of her knowledge and social media expertise into an informative and worthwhile read. I highly recommend it.

The journey of a self-published author is full of sacrifices, surprises and unexpected rewards. The major reward is finishing your project and getting it out in the market place. Once done, you can always look back at your book and the labors it took to get there with a definite pride. What other people dream about (and can certainly do if they put their minds to it) we have actually accomplished. There is no taking that away from us.

Of course, one of the less pleasant surprises along the way is to discover that our efforts can rattle the cages of certain individuals. Those who resent the efforts of self-published authors – even though the self-published route does not threaten or hurt them in any way.

An example of this is a woman I will call Shackleford, who for the sake of brevity, I will nickname The Shack. The Shack

The journey I began with the writing and publishing of The Northeast Quarter has been both an adventure and a tremendous learning experience.  It’s true that you soon learn who your friends are, but just as some fade into the past, you will just as certainly make some new ones. You also also discover that there are differing interpretations and reactions to what is essentially the same activity.  I’m talking about producing your own play vs. self-publishing your novel.

A writing friend whom  I will call Dick Ryan wrote a play  and, with his own money, he entered it in The Fringe Festival.  The play received some acclaim and so Dick continued its trajectory by financing a short run for it in a theatrical space here in New York.  In all, Dick spent 18 to 20 thousand dollars and he didn’t regret a penny

For me writing The Northeast Quarter and self-publishing it has been an adventure I would not trade for anything.  As mentioned before, I began the journey when I was of retirement age.  I learned very quickly that when you finish writing a novel, one form of work is finished, but another is just beginning.

For a writer the journey offers a variety of revelations of the quirks of human character – some sad, some positive – but always enlightening if you keep an open mind.

One of these revelations came from a person I will call Bahootsa. Bahootsa is a fellow writer I had known for some years in writer’s labs here in New York City. She also runs a successful voice-over studio in Hackensack, New Jersey.  Before I wrote The Northeast Quarter,  I had always assumed that Bahootsa was a friend, or at least a

For awhile my blog has dealt with the Iowa background of my novel The Northeast Quarter. As time went on, I felt that some of the experiences I encountered in writing, publishing and selling the book were something I wanted to explore as well. I have decided to pitch these next few articles to other self-published authors as well as anyone who considers writing a novel and going the self-publishing route.

I wrote The Northeast Quarter over a six year period. I had been a playwright for several years and this was my first novel.  Since I am of retirement age, one could say I got off to a late start.  I had considered the traditional route – submitting a manuscript to an agent who, depending on his/her acceptance of me as a client, would then begin to submit the manuscript to a publisher, etc etc etc. This