A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS Blog Tour + Giveaway

Ah, yes, so today Lee Thompson stops by on his A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS Blog Tour with some encouraging words for aspiring writers and published authors alike. Good stuff. Check it out...

Welcome to Lee Thompson’s A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS blog tour! This blog, and the others participating, will receive a paperback copy to give to a random reader who leaves a comment and shares this post.

Throughout the book tour, I’ll be sharing fun facts about my first Mystery/Thriller, and also offering dubious advice to novice writers because I’ve had writers and editors farther along the path than myself give me tips that have helped me tremendously. If you want to up your game, pay attention and pass what you find useful on to those in your critique groups.

If you’re here as a reader, thanks so much. You’re every author’s life source. You’re the yin to our yang. The stories we set down on paper don’t seem to exist until someone else has read them, and the more the merrier.

A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY

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A Texas Senator and his wife go missing… On the same day, their son is slaughtered by an enigmatic killer on the lawn of ex-Governor Edward Wood's residence. Sammy, Wood's drug dealing son, suspects his father of the crime. After all, his old man snapped once before and crippled his wife with a lead pipe. But there's something more to these events…something deeper and festering just beneath the surface…

In direct opposition to Homicide Detective Jim Thompson, Sammy begins an investigation of his own, searching for the truth in a labyrinth of lies, deception, depravity and violence that drags him deeper into darkness and mayhem with each step. And in doing so, brings them all into the sights of an elusive and horrifying killer who may not be what he seems.

A brutal killer on a rampage of carnage…a hardened detective on the brink…an antihero from the shadows…a terrifying mystery that could destroy them all…

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Your Publishing Path: Expectation vs. Reality

When I first began writing it was mostly for fun. But as I started reading and writing more I knew what I wanted to do.

I expected to stand on the same ground as my heroes: What a better gift than moving another stranger the same way that Stephen King or James Lee Burke or Joyce Carol Oates or John Green moved you. I think early in our careers, and miles deep into our careers, we need something like this, a massive goal, one that seems beyond our reach, because it will push us to grow and hone our craft and focus on why those authors and those books move us and others do not.

Reality: Our heroes usually have ten published books or more under their belts by the time we discover them, and sometimes it hurts us to look that far down the road because it can keep us from writing our first publishable book. I think it might be a truism that what we really want could take us ten times longer to achieve than we expect.

At least for me. I’m on my third year of being a published author and…

I expected it to happen with my first novel: Which is so rare that it’s laughable. Instant success doesn’t teach us much and if we’re fortunate enough, or cursed enough, to encounter it, the following fame or silence can nearly crush us. With my first novel, Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children, I knew I had something special. It was a solid introduction into the Dark Fantasy canon and I’m still extremely proud of it, but it created barely a whisper in terms of moving my career forward and building an audience.

Reality: Books and careers are built one minute, one sentence, and one honest interaction at a time. Give yourself the time. There’s no massive rush unless you’re afraid of dying young like I am.

I expected to make a living the first year as a published novelist: This is many, many, many writers’ goal and I wasn’t any different. I could not foresee a better future than sleeping in, going for long walks, banging out a couple thousand words in the middle of the night, watching movies all the time, answering fan mail, and reading all the time.

Reality: You can make a living from writing, but to do so—especially if you’re not incredibly warm, personable and outgoing—you have to be prolific. I’m fortunate that I’ve always had a jump-in-neck-deep work habit, girlfriend habit, drinking habit, because the ideas and the motivation to get them on paper have helped me become prolific.

For many writers there is such a thing as having too much time on your hands. You can’t count on some mystical creature to motivate you when your rent is three months late and the only thing in your cupboards are roaches. You have to write to survive, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. You have to produce, meet deadlines, be a businessman or businesswoman, all without a safety net. It won’t be easy. Many days you’ll want to give up. Many days you will give up, if only for a minute, or an hour, or twelve.

But you go back, don’t you, because you have to get the words out, the stories crafted, otherwise you’ll drown inside, it’ll be like water in your lungs, and that type of slow, helpless death is a miserable and lonely one.

So write the book, make it the best you can make it, get feedback, learn and grow, and don’t give up. Expect setbacks and disappointments and deals to fall through (because they’re waiting in the wings) but know that I, and many others like me, wrote for years (eight for me) before ever selling that first novel and earning the trust of a total stranger.

Looking at your life, and what you want to achieve in your allotted time, what lessons have you learned only through braving the trenches?

Buy A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS on Amazon Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Madness-Lee-Thompson-ebook/dp/B00K36ITGS/

Buy A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/A-Beautiful-Madness-Lee-Thompson/dp/1940544297/

Author bio: Lee Thompson is the author of the Suspense novels A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS (August 2014), IT’S ONLY DEATH (January 2015), and WITH FURY IN HAND (May 2015). The dominating threads weaved throughout his work are love, loss, and learning how to live again. A firm believer in the enduring power of the human spirit, Lee believes that stories, no matter their format, set us on the path of transformation. He is represented by the extraordinary Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary. Visit Lee’s website to discover more: www.leethompsonfiction.com

A BEAUTIFUL MADNESS main page (http://www.leethompsonfiction.com/?page_id=2423)

Enter to win a paperback copy! There will also be a grand prize at the end of the tour where one winner will receive my novel, and four other DarkFuse novels in Kindle format!

Simply leave a comment on this blog and share the link.

Thanks to those who participate.

Happy reading~ Lee

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