Singular. According to Thesaurus.com, synonyms include bizarre, outlandish, eccentric, unordinary, and atypical. Anyone who has ever gone to high school has had days when they felt singular – out of fashion, not part of the herd, marching to their own drummer. It is a good thing some days and a curse on other days, but it’s never boring. It’s a great word to be applied to creative artists, especially writers.

The presets on my car radio reveal that I alternate between the contemporary Christian station, the country music station, the golden oldies (from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s), and the classical. I do enjoy soft rock or folk rock, but I seldom am listening to whatever the rest of the world is buzzing about or performing on The Voice. I am a music lover and nearly always have a song to go with whatever I’m doing at any given moment.

I flit between several genres, but what I appreciate in a book is originality, style, insight, positive tone, enthralling story, and likeable characters with whom I can identify. It could be a werewolf story (or one of the myriad variations thereof), a historical romance, an action adventure, a mystery/thriller, or a science fiction/fantasy. I try to read the classics because I believe one is not fully educated until one has read the books that shaped our culture. But I read for fun mostly, and anything that is well crafted and original (singular, again) will entertain me.

One of my favorite scenes from SCHIFFLEBEIN’S FOLLY is the one quoted here, because I think it has humor, fantasy, romance, pathos, and reveals a sweetness in the characters – without giving away the ending.

Teapot’s shriek jolted both of them. Lloyd leapt from his chair and swooped the Teapot off the stove. Silence again.

Lloyd cleared his throat. “Oolong or Earl Gray,” he said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Charley answered. “Earl Grey, I guess.”

“No, I mean, it’s either Oolong or Earl Gray. I don’t know which.”

“Oh. Well. Like I said. Doesn’t matter. Long as it’s hot.” Charley fidgeted with the napkin in her lap, so she didn’t notice that it was not Lloyd who responded.

“Oh, yeah, he’s hot!” Teapot said.

“What?” said Charley.

“Oh, yeah, Viennese torte!” Lloyd blurted. “I made Viennese torte for dessert. Too much sugar for the children at this hour, but you and I could—”

“I’m engaged.”

Slowly Lloyd replaced Teapot on the stove, put his hands in his pockets, and leaned back against the kitchen counter.

Charley continued to fidget with her cloth napkin. She didn’t look at him. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“So, you and I couldn’t,” he said. “Uh, I mean, you, uh, you don’t care for, ahmpfh, uh, dessert.”

Charley set aside her napkin and turned sideways in her chair. With one elbow resting on the back of her chair, she looked into his face bravely.

“I’ve had such a good time,” she said. “That was such a great dinner. They’re such great kids. You’re such a great guy. It just seemed like it was all getting.... It was too good. And I’m, uh, I’m engaged.”

Lloyd roused himself, stepped to the table, and began stacking dishes to remove them for washing. She still watched him, but he kept his eyes on his task.

“Well, then,” he said, “I’ll wash and you dry, and you can tell me all about him.”

My favorite facet of the Smashwords.com experience is the encouragement and information continually provided by Mark Coker and the Smashwords team. Anything an author wants to know about writing, publishing, marketing, or vendors, for example, Smashwords has a blog article, an interview, an instructional video, or a downloadable book with answers and instructions. And Smashwords is the only organization I've come across that is rooting for the authors and doing everything possible to give authors the support and resources they need,

Writing is often a lonely task, and even an introverted writer needs fellowship and encouragement from others who understand and approve of the weirdness that comes with the territory. We may hope to earn money with our writing, but we don’t write for money. What an author wants more than anything is to be read. Smashwords has made that dream come true for hundreds of indie authors who otherwise might still be unpublished and unread.

My fifth novel is about a Department of Homeland Security undercover agent who barely survives an assassination attempt, but loses his identity entirely due to a brain injury. The DHS reports him dead and hides him in the home of a spinster doctor who was instrumental in saving his life. Soon, the doctor feels like the single mother of a 250-pound preschooler, who is learning to read, write, and count and at the same time learning some tricky concepts involving life, love, and family.
Just when the two seem to have formed a nearly normal relationship, she is kidnapped by his former enemies, and he must somehow find within himself the skills to save her.
It's called DUBY'S DOCTOR, and it's a story with humor, pathos, action, and romance. Look for it in March 2016.