Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to welcome the extremely interesting Robert K Swisher to the blog. Robert has had a fascinating writing journey and I think when you read his guest post you will agree. Thanks to Robert for taking the time to write the post.........
I started writing in 1967 after discharging from the army. I served in Vietnam as a radio operator in the 23rd Infantry. Lost and with no set direction I started writing poetry. Over several years I placed hundreds of poems to literary journals and a book of my poetry - Touch ME IF YOU LOVE ME - was published. It is no longer in print. I then started writing short stories and placed many in literary journals. During this time to feed myself I worked on ranches in New Mexico - literary journals pay in copies - if you are lucky you also get a dollar - still true to this day. After short stories I started writing a novel and did freelance articles for outdoor fishing magazines. It took me several years to finish the novel - titled - THE LAND - it is the story of a certain section of land in the west and a story of four groups of people that lived on it - Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans, to the cowboys. While sending it out to publishers I started working on another one.
THE LAND was rejected 400 times, during which I wrote three other novels, also rejected. A small press picked up THE LAND and it was reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Best Sellers, Library Journal, and many others. It was also turned into a audio book for the blind. With the success of THE LAND fourteen of my novels have been traditionally published - eight of these are still in print and three have been turned into e books. All of my novels revolve around people's need for love. Over the past several years I have turned indie and released a four book mystery series - Bob Roosevelt and his Snide Guardian Angel - Roosevelt is trying to find the love of his life and his center while all his Guardian Angel wants is to have a good time.
He thinks Roosevelt is boring and is trying his best to become the guardian angel for a rock star. There are four books in the series - A BUCKET FULL OF LIES, TROUT FISHING FOR BODIES, DOUBLE BOGEY MURDER, and, FROGS DON'T CROAK IN THE WINTER - they are funny, snide, and a little off center. So far A BUCKET FULL OF LIES has received many good reviews. I also released a funny golf book - CONVERSATIONS WITH THE GOLF GOD.
All of my earlier work is serious and I changed directions for awhile. Over the past several years I have written three novels - HOPE - the story of an old folks home and how the residents learn how to fly. THE LONELY COWBOY - the story of an old cowboy riding around a ranch and telling his life story to his horse, and, HOW BRIDGE MCCOY LEARNED HOW TO SAY I LOVE YOU - the story of a man that walks two steps forward and then one backward, hates change, vows he will never fall in love, but when he does whenever he tries to tell the lady he loves her he starts to choke and can't get the words out. I plan on releasing these this year. HOPE has recently been edited and the other two are off to the editor. I am also working on a novel titled Vent that is a reader participation book. I did not go to college but I have taught a college class called THE REALITIES OF WRITING. With all my years in the game I have seen it all, bad contracts, good contracts, thieves, and on and on. You may think tell don't show is new, sorry, but I have seen books both ways. Getting published has never been easy but indie publishing has opened many doors. I can say I made a lot of mistakes when I went indie but I am slowly learning the process. I have only done my books through KDP, no paper copies. Amazon has the biggest market share and if one hits I can sign a book deal. I have also never written for the market and only written what comes into my head - it is a choice a writer has to make.
During my writing career I have held over 200 jobs, normally working long enough to have enough money to write until I need another job. If I have any advice to young writers it is simply do it, don't be afraid, any review is a good review, when you are done with one book go on to another, and schedule your time where you write more than you promote - remember it all ends up the same, the grave is always only one step away. Here is the link to my author page if you would like to check out my novels. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-K-Swisher-Jr/296768763702474?ref=hl
I am also on author central and Goodreads. I wish you all the best with your writing. If you want to contact me with a question merely message me I will get back to you. Once again, the best.
Robert K. Swisher Jr.
You can find Robert's books HERE
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