Tim’s
Comments
(group member since Oct 06, 2011)
Tim’s
comments
from the Author Interviews at Tim Greaton Forum... group.
Showing 41-60 of 195
Thanks for all the sales support, everyone. 38,000 Santa Shop downloads this week, and I've seen sales like...well, more sales most days than in most previous weeks :-)
Hi, Patricia. Thank you so much...and you are shaming me. I owe you a review but this week has been such an explosion of sales and "must do" items that I just didn't get to it. I will get your review up today...promise :-)
Tee, I've had intermitent problems opening the site from here as well, Tee. I'm forwarding your note to my brother, who built it with a web designer, because he's having no problem from where he is.
This has been an amazing week to be an author. 38,000 free copies of Santa Shop were downloaded (still free!) and I broke my personal best sales records almost on a daily basis. Thanks for all the support! http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Shop-Con...
Thanks, Lynn. Glad to see you got some sleep. We all need to do that occasionally, though in this business it can be easy to forget. I'm trying to unravel a Santa Conspiracy 2 scene I wrote in two parts, and now I'm discovering that the pieces aren't merged well :-( I'll keep on making adjustments till the solution comes to me :-)
My sister emailed this morning and asked if I could win a writing contest for her so she can win a colorful craft bird. I just sent her this story to enter :-) Dou Dou Did It
“Allison Wentworth, get in here this minute!”
Alli glanced up from her drawing. She had colored pencils scattered across the dining room table, and beneath the point of a gray pencil, which had been sharpened down to barely a stub, lay a half-finished drawing of a seagull. The image was part of a complete bird portfolio she needed to submit to Full Sail University, an art college, by the end of the week.
“What is it, Grandma?”
“Birdseed, that’s what!”
Alli closed her sketchpad and made her way out to the kitchen, where her grandmother stood pointing at hundreds of berry seeds strewn like tiny pebbles across the top of the kitchen counter. Alli had used a honey and flour paste to glue those same seeds to a cardboard cone just two days earlier. No way could they just have fallen off.
“Did we leave any windows open, Grandma? Maybe a bird got in and tried to eat my art project?”
A sour look on her face, her grandmother crossed her arms.
“You and I both know Dou Dou is responsible for this.”
Alli rubbed her eyes and wondered how to handle this. Obviously, old age was beginning to affect her grandmother. Maybe she should go to her next doctor’s appointment…but then what? Say her grandmother was losing her mind? Somehow she didn’t think hearing that from a teenager would go over well with either the doctor or the woman who had raised her from the time she was four years old.
“So what are you going to do about that creature?” her grandmother asked, adjusting her glasses and staring up at the nearly seedless cardboard cone and the bird Alli had handcrafted just a week earlier from colorfully dyed chicken feathers.
“If it will make you feel better,” Grandma, “I’ll put it in my room until I can finish taking all the pictures.“
Her grandmother nodded.
“I think that would be best.”
Alli had intended to spend a few minutes reattaching all the seeds to the cone, this time with real glue not food paste, but most of the seeds on the counter were actually broken with the insides missing. Something must have eaten them. But what?
Fortunately, she still had half a bag of bird feed under the sink, so was able to get her “Dou Dou Feeding” sculpture back into shape before hanging it from a hook on the back of her bedroom door.
She smiled at the lifelike little bird with wire legs and feet.
“And you need to be good this time, Dou Dou.”
A painted dark eye stared back at her.
Happy to be on Christmas break, Alli spent the next day at the mall with three friends. Though none of them had a lot of money, each somehow managed to finish their Christmas shopping. Alli felt certain her Grandmother would like both the pink sweater and the floral blouse she’d found on sale. It was already dark by the time Kerra dropped her off.
She was smiling happily and had two shopping bags in hand when she stepped into the warm living room to find her grandmother standing on one of the top rungs of a stepladder in the middle of the room. She dropped her bags and raced over to steady the ladder or catch her grandmother, whichever might be needed.
“What are you doing, Grandma!”
“This is your fault,” her grandmother said, reaching up into the glass, bowl-shaped light fixture. Her hand came down with a long strand of shimmering white pearls. “If you had left your door closed, that bird wouldn’t have gotten out and stolen my necklace.”
Alli held her tongue until her grandmother was safely back down on the floor, but then she spoke her mind.
“I think you need to see someone, Grandma. You’re blaming fallen seeds and stolen jewelry on a pretend bird!”
Suddenly, Alli heard a squawk from down the hallway. It was coming from somewhere near her room. Her grandmother raised an eyebrow and gave her an I-told-you-so expression. Alli ignored her and crept toward her room. When she heard the squawk again, she felt like a character out of a science-fiction movie. Bird sculptures didn’t come alive. It wasn’t possible.
She shivered. The hallway was cold. She could see her breath.
Slowly, she pushed her door further open and flipped on the light…just in time to see a small crow fly out through the open window.
She burst into laughter and peered around the door to see Dou Dou clinging to the cardboard cone, right where she’d left him.
“Grandma,” she called cheerfully, “it was just a crow. Why’d you unlock my window?”
“I didn’t,” her grandmother said from the hallway behind her. “Heating fuel is expensive.”
When Alli went to close her window, the smile slid from her face. There, caught in the lock mechanism was a single dyed blue chicken feather.
The End
Thanks, Tee. I received that one by email but it hasn't appeared on Amazon yet. I hope they post it :-)
Hi, Lynn. Yes, ravens and stars equate. 'Hope you have a great Saturday :-)
Hi, Everyone. I just received this email regarding [[ASIN:B005F9YF20 Zachary Pill, The Dragon at Station End (YA Young Adult Epic Magic Fantasy) (The Zachary Pill Series)]].Book Title: Zachary Pill And The Dragon At Stations End
Author: Tim Greaton
Published By: Focus House Publishing
Recommended Age: 14+
Reviewed By: Maegan Morin
Blog Reviewed For: Great Minds Think Aloud
Rating: 5 Ravens
Zachary Pill is a nerd with no friends who gets picked on daily by the school bully. On the very day that Zachary wishes magic really existed he finds out it really does. He is thrown into a world of enchantment and wonder hidden among ours where he learns you should really be careful what you wish for.
Zachary Pill and the Dragon At Stations End was written by Tim Greaton and is the first book in the series. Its a fantasy set in our modern time on earth. With elements of action, adventure and hilarity Tim Greaton weaves a story that anyone can enjoy.
This book just has so much going for it. Written in a style that anyone including young readers can follow it is a fast read that you really dont want to put down... EVER. This was one of those books that when your reading it and you have something to do you convince yourself that its ok to read just one more chapter. It was so easy to get lost in the book and lose track of time. I have to say that my favorite parts of the book included the scenes of discovery when Zachary and his friend Bret decide to look through his fathers magical belongings to see if there is anything they can use. Tim Greaton has quite the imagination and I loved his creativity when coming up with the items within the box. Speaking of creativity there are also alot of characters I liked as well. No two characters are the same and you really want to know why they are the way they are. Some of them are pretty kooky and that added alot to the story.
I give this book 5 ravens and recommend it for anyone 14+. I would even recommend it for a mature 12-13 year old it is a "longer" book but it has alot of elements and surprises that you keep you laughing, guessing and turning the page.
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
Same here, Tee, Christmas next. But capitalism requires holidays that promote spending...so we have a bunch of them :-)
'Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful day-after-Thanksgiving Day! :-)
'Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I apologize for not popping in this past week, but I released "The Santa Shop" free on Smashwords. Once Amazon picked it up, it hit #4 on the free ranking and more than 30,000 free editions were downloaded. Also, my paid sales started going crazy. I've sold more books in the last week than in the previous three months combined. I hit #303 on B&N paid bestseller ranking with "The Santa Shop" at the same time. 'Couldn't be more pleased. Working like crazy to release Santa Conspiracy 2 :-)
Hi, Nel. I have another one going up tonight. I'll let you know as soon as I look at the list :-)
Teresa wrote: "I couldn't decide how to put the image on here so perhaps you wouldn't mind looking at it here....http://tgeering.blogspot.com
"
I like the first two covers. I think you need to make the art image of the eye more like a photograph to match your other two covers :-)
Authors post anything you like as often as you like about your 99-cent books here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/201374...Tell everyone! Another site for higher priced books coming shortly :-)
Here's my latest post to Paragraph Planet:Things Change.
She adjusted the noose and tugged it as snug as her favorite turtleneck. Her feet shuffled back and forth across the queen-sized bed her stepfather had bought her two weeks after her mother died, the day after his first midnight visit to her room. She could still remember the pain, the blood…but mostly the shame. Tears streaked her cheeks.
She double-checked the rope. Secure.
“Have another sleeping pill, Bob!”
She kicked him off her bed.
Thanks, everyone. I've always known I had to be a writer...but it's nice when others think so, as well :-)
5.0 out of 5 stars A STUPENDOUS, FANTASTIC READ!, September 9, 2011 By Diana M. Hockley "lacock2" (Australia)
(REAL NAME) Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Under-Heaven (Kindle Edition)
I can't believe this book is only .99c. Having read it, I know it is worth so much more in emotional investment; a story of such power, written so beautifully has my vote every time. I wish I could give it more than five stars.
Tim Greaton became one of my favoured authors with his Santa Story and he has gained my respect and further admiration with this novel about a young boy, murdered and taken to Under Heaven, where he has to make a "life changing" decision.
I was wondering how Mr Greaton would tackle the ending, so was amazed and delighted with his solution.
This novel is the stuff of which QUALITY films are made and for which boxes of tissues were invented.
I highly recommend Under Heaven.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05VBz...
Great to have you join the fun, Jeff. Our discussions range all over the place, but I try to keep nudging us along all things marketing and networking. The more we can learn about selling books and increasing our circles, the more successful we will be as a group :-)
