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Michael Ritter's Discussions
contract question
Replied May. 23, 2007
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Replied May. 10, 2007
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Michael Ritter's Page
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Profile Information
- Are you an Author, Reader, Publisher, Editor, Agent or Other?
- Author - The Brat Chronicles
- Do You Have A Website?
- www.literaryroad.com
- About Me:
- Michael Ritter has been involved in the arts for most of his adult life. He studied Art and Creative Writing at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where he was editor of the student newspaper. He went on to become the editorial cartoonist for The Daily Texan at the University of Texas.
Upon leaving college, Michael achieved critical acclaim for his series of full-color, cartoon, political posters, one of which was placed in the political memorabilia archives at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library.
During the 1990’s, Michael’s cartoon strip, The New West, was published by Country City Music News magazine out of Nashville, Tennessee.
He is co-author of a play entitled Tarot Terror for an independent filmmaker, and wrote and illustrated a comic book for the Texas Coalition for the Prevention of Child Abuse.
His latest endeavor, The Brat Chronicles, is a comical novel about a military family, living in Germany during the early 1970’s.
Michael works as a Rehab Technology Specialist for the State of Texas, where he assists people with disabilities. He has been married to the “same wonderful, supportive woman” for twenty-eight years, and makes his home in Austin, Texas.
- Favorite Books:
- The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
My Life by Bill Clinton
Conservatize Me: How I Tried to Become a Righty with the Help of Richard Nixon, Sean Hannity, Toby Keith, and Beef Jerky by John Moe
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins
- Favorite Bookstores on land or cyberspace
- Literaryroad
Borders
Barnes and Noble
CyberRead
Amazon
Your BOOK PLACE Box
Michael Ritter's Photos
Michael Ritter's Blog
Military Brat Reunion in Dallas
Posted on July 2, 2007 at 3:08pm —
Fun with Audio
Here's a link to the audio of a presentation I did at St. Edward's University to 300 Military Brats in March. From my perspective, it's better than a video (you can't see my stomach or the bright yellow shirt my wife made me wear). Enjoy ...
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 4:32pm —
Getting past "online ordering"
Here's the dilemma, my book - The Brat Chronicles - is available through the some of the leading book distributors -Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon and yes, (shudder) even Wal-Mart - but only by ordering from the internet. A few smaller bookstores have it on the shelf, which is a wonderful ego boost, but doesn’t help the bottom line - exposure. Anyone out there running into the
… ContinuePosted on May 8, 2007 at 3:48pm — 2 Comments
A little unsolicited advice to help get you through the day – an excerpt from The Brat Chronicles …
… we live in a world that tells us how we should act, think, love. And, driven by an overwhelming need to be accepted, we all too often lose that which is most precious to each of us … our souls. We follow others’ leads, we conform, we do the “right thing” and smile through the sadness that screams fro
… ContinuePosted on May 1, 2007 at 2:10pm — 2 Comments
Excerpt from The Brat Chronicles
... I woke up about six-thirty the next morning to the sound of heavy engines. The smell of stale vomit hung in the air, and cigarette butts spotted the trampled grass. A lone figure stood over me, his outline enveloped by the breaking sunlight. Oh, God! It was Jesus. I’d overdosed on stagnant malt liquor, and Jesus had come to carry me to Heaven! The figure raised his arms, and I waited for the soothi
… ContinuePosted on April 27, 2007 at 2:09pm — 1 Comment
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Slides, Anyone?
I added a few slides of my books to my blogspot. I'm not sure yet if they should stay on or not.Do you have more trouble loading my blogspot with the slides up? Do you like them or are they too distracting?
A Christmas Tree Already
On the way home from work yesterday, I passed a house that already had a lighted and decorated Christmas tree up and showing by the window.Is it not too soon for that? In my mind, the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas Season starts. That's when it's fair game to put up a tree and decorations and start shopping. The way things are going this year, I'll be lucky if I get organized enough to decorate a few days before Christmas.
With our dog, Rascal, who lives up to her name, we'll probably go with a fiber optic small tree on top of an end table. One of these days I may pull put the larger tree from the box in the basement and set it up, but not until our doggy is a little more sedate. I don't feel like chasing her to get ornaments out of her mouth. I will be putting up knick knacks, lights inside and decorations on the walls, so it will still look Christmasy. No lights outside because for some reason we have no outlets outside.
While we're on the subject of Christmas trees and such, be sure to add holidays in your books. You can mention decorations and lights or Easter eggs and baskets, or even mattress sales in your descriptions to ground the reader as to the season.
Now, back to that tree I saw. What about you? When do you decorate for Christmas? What do you put up?
Winners and Losers at the CMAs and Life
I love country music and almost every country performer. While watching the CMAs, I enjoyed seeing the winners accept their awards. On the other hand, it was hard for me to see the losers do their best to appear gracious and for the most part succeeding.For every winner, there's a loser. In life and in books, it's the same way. How people react to their good and bad fortune shows what their characters are made of. You don't have to tell a reader who the good guy or bad guy is. Let their actions speak for themselves. The readers are smart enough to figure it out.
PS Can't finish this blog without saying - You Rock, Taylor Swift! You are one smart, talented teenager! Congrats on all your awards, especially, Entertainer of the Year!!!
CMA Awards Tonight and Twitter
One of my favorite shows is on tonight - the CMA Awards. If you're a country music fan, you're probably like me and will be glued to the TV 8pm EST, or in my case 7pm, in the flatlands of Illinois.Almost all my favorite performers will be there, except I hear that Rascal Flatts can't make it.
I'll be on Twitter during the show also. That's part of the fun of it - discussing and dissecting outfits, performers, songs and even commercials, kind of like I'm at a giant party with people who all go for the same thing and want to share.
What about you? What kind of music do you like? Do you tweet during a favorite show or event?
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My name is Chris Tusa, and I'm a writer from New Orleans. My debut novel, Dirty Little Angels, is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com, and I am writing because I was hoping you might be willing to read it and post your thoughts on Amazon.com (or some of the other book review sites). If you're interested, I'd be more than willing to send you an e-book version by e-mail. Just let me know. I've included a summary of the novel below:
Dirty Little Angels
Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses's lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses's twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.
If you'd like to read the first chapter before you commit, feel free to visit my web site:
http://christophertusa.com/blog/?page_id=894
Thanks so much,
Chris
___________________________
Christopher Tusa
Department of English
Louisiana State University
Editor, Poetry Southeast
http://www.christophertusa.com
mail@christophertusa.com
Have a great day and a successful year,
Lynda
Many thanks for adding me as a friend.
Stop by then, so we'll be sure to find each other. And hey, here's an idea -- write to Joe Condrell and ask if you can sell your book there? That's all I did. I'm also working with my bank to set myself up as a merchant so I can accept credit cards. Most of the brats there will be spending with their credit cards, I expect...
Keep in touch.
My hands have recovered. I'll be mailing out follow up postcards in about ten days...at least there won't be any stapling involved.
Nice to meet you.
Deadly
Mel
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