One of the most common questions I get regarding Timely Persuasion is about the cover artwork. Where did it come from? How does it relate to the plot? Is that you in the picture? I was surprised to realize I haven’t told that story on this blog before now. Way back in June of 2005…
Category: Behind the Scenes
Huey Lewis & The Anachronisms
Stumbled onto a neat section of the HLN.org Huey Lewis Wiki today that features a full “gigography” of every show he’s ever done. However, this also led me to the entry for 1986. Which means that this… Walking over to retrieve the golf ball, I stopped when I saw the signature on it. Huey Lewis. …
The Story Behind The Story
As I’ve said before, I’m a better writer than I am a marketer. That’s not to say I’m necessarily a brilliant writer, just that one skill outshines the other. On the Timely Persuasion website, I periodically play around with “The Story” section at the top in an attempt to get the best mix of marketing…
The Quantum Leap Connection
I pointed out a few times in the commentary posts that Quantum Leap was a big influence of mine. It’s even specifically referred to in the book more than once. What I haven’t talked about in depth is how Quantum Leap (and more specifically, Al the holographic observer) served as the genesis for the time…
Buddha Blessed?
Some astute readers have pointed out that the narrator’s journey has an uncanny similarity to the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. To learn more about this concept, visit Wikipedia or read The Way to End Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi. For an analysis of how this fits into the story of Timely Persuasion, read on. 1….
Commentary: Prologue (Reprise)
There’s a little epilogue to my tale of sadness. Originally I used the typical Prologue/Epilogue pairing. Later I changed them both to Prologue to emphasize that they were sort of the same chapter as told before and after the events of the book. I didn’t really like losing the song titles as chapter titles theme…
Commentary 26: Across 26 Winters
And we’ve almost come to the end. Generally speaking, endings are tough. You need to tie up as many dangling threads as possible, leave the reader satisfied that reading the book was worthwhile, and try to go out on a memorable high note without it feeling abrupt or forced. Let’s see how I did… So,…
Commentary 25: 25 Minutes To Go
One last blink to set things right, and our hero finally learns enough to know what has to be done. I sort of knew from the beginning that the story would more or less start and end at the bowling alley, and that comes to fruition here. Other tidbits: My wife’s favorite excerpt is the…
Commentary 24: 24 Hour Party People
We get a little time travel heavy at the start of this chapter as far as “rules” go, but later move into some hands-on fun as Local Boy revisits his origins with an eye on trying to undo them. Other tidbits: I admit the cliffhanger in the previous chapter was a bit of a tease…
Adventures in Customer Service
Yesterday morning I woke up to an email from Coverville’s Brian Ibbott pointing me to a blog post that referenced Timely Persuasion: Customer Service – Compare and Contrast (Most of the relevant content is crossed out – a good thing I’ll get to in a minute…) The owner of the blog had heard about the…