N.C. Reed's Blog

A crazy fast turnaround by Creative Texts gang, and now HOT SPOTS is available for pre-order and will ‘drop’ on Amazon September 27th. Link below!

Hey Gang! Yes, it’s me. Sorry I’ve not updated, but there was nothing going on, and I have severely limited my participation is social media of late. I will still, though, up date here when I have new books, and try to answer posts here when I can.

Meanwhile, Hot Spots is on it’s way! What a tough book! I hope you like it and it was worth the wait!

For those worried over me, thank you so much! I sincerely appreciate that. I am as well as a semi-old fat man can be, lol. Semi-old and completely fat I should clarify

Anyway, things are good, and I am finally on to other projects, and yes, that does include an Odd Billy Todd sequel, Lord willing I live so long.

Love you all and thanks so much for your patronage, support and encouragement !!!!!

NCR

Hey guys and gals! Long time in updating I know. We have been in a bit of a problem since before Christmas involving friends of ours that has on several occasions risen to emergency status. Even as I write this I can’t believe how long this has stretched out. While it hasn’t ended, others have arrived to assist so we’re not so tied down. Not that we considered it a hardship. We should never describe helping family and close friends as a hardship. Instead I thank God that we were there for them because they didn’t have anyone else close.

So here I am now, back at work and tapping the keys. I had time about a week or two ago to sit in on a podcast call ‘Lowballing’, along with my publisher. When I know the air date I’ll pass it along.

Speaking of passing information along, the audio book for “Embers” is ready, and here’s a link to it;

https://www.amazon.com/Embers-Fire-Sky-Book-12/dp/B09RCPSLGK/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1632116333&sr=8-1

I hope that link works. It was unusually difficult to embed. I think WordPress has updated some stuff, which of course means it will require me to relearn how to use it

Embers is the first book I’ve written to surpass the 1,000 reviews mark. I am beyond humbled at that kind of attention, and offer my thanks to all of you for that.

Things are a bit tense right now, I know, which makes books and stuff so much more important to us, as it gives us a bit of a break from what we have to deal with on a daily basis. For those of you using my stories to get a break from the real world, I hope they are good for you in those roles. Always remember that I write for your entertainment, so if you aren’t entertained, well, I didn’t do my job very well.

I always want to do well. My readers deserve the best I can give, because without them, I’m not a storyteller.

Love to all, and please be safe,

NCR

Christmas this week and New Year’s next week! There will be a lot of partying going on I’m sure, so let me urge all of you, if you imbibe other than at home, have a sober driver or call an Uber or something. Don’t take the chance that you’re ‘mostly okay’.

The world seems tilted on it’s ear I know, but let’s all try and remember whatever good things we have encountered this year and be thankful for them. Sometimes it’s hard to see good things in times like these. You may have to squint sometimes.

Try not to let others get you down or steal your Christmas or New Year’s spirit. Be happy, be safe, be well, all of you.

From my house to yourse

N.C. Reed

There was an old Walgreens commercial once about living in ‘Perfect’, an imaginary place where everything was, well, perfect. Since we didn’t live there, however, we had the giant retailer for those last minute needs, etc. and so forth.

Anyone watching what is happening to our nation is well aware that we live nowhere near the zip code for Perfect. We can’t even get them on the phone. There is so much hate and vitriol in the air we could almost walk on it, or so it seems, and yet no one seems to be able, or at least willing, to do anything about it.

Politicians promise to fix it, of course, at least until they’re in office, after which they usually promptly forget all that in favor of sampling the good life in D.C. Great for them, but not so much for us, huh?

Why am I talking about this? Well, because I’m tired of seeing nothing but hate walking the street, with people being ‘offended’ by the least thing, needing a ‘safe space’ because of ‘painful words’ and other crap like that. Enough. Enough from all of them.

This Christmas season, this Holiday season if you prefer, be the one working to change things. Be nice to someone who doesn’t deserve it. Be merciful to someone who hasn’t earned it. Be forgiving of those who asked because God forgives us when we ask, provided we are forgiving to others.

We can’t reach Perfect, but maybe, if we work hard enough, we can at least get to Decent. Compared to how we’re living now, I’ll take it.

God Bless,

NCR

I can hardly comprehend that it is almost Thanksgiving. Especially with Christmas decorations and music already flying which makes me think that Thanksgiving has come and gone already, sometimes.

“Embers” is still doing well and seems to have been popular, despite a few who felt there was too much ‘filler’. I suppose that argument might be made, but this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten that, and the fact is it likely won’t be the last. I usually refer to that as a ‘transition’ narrative, harkening back to the third book in the Parno series, where there was much change and jockeying of position without a great deal of forward movement.

The fact is that life itself has that kind of ‘filler’ once in a while. Though I could skip it, I guess, if I did then the reader would be looking at drastic changes in characters and situations with no idea how they came about. That isn’t fair to the reader, which is why I don’t do it. Almost every decision I make as far as creative content is done with the reader being the primary or first consideration, because that’s who I’m writing for. I have always said that I’m more of a storyteller than an author, and a story can’t be a good story if people are lost when changes occur.

My writing is generally what people usually refer to as ‘character driven’, meaning that the characters drive the story more than the overall plot. I don’t have a reason for that other than it seems to be what works best for the stories I tell. To me, writing in a solely plot driven manner seems more like a documentary or a movie trailer, and that tends to make for boring reading that does not really allow the reader to immerse themselves into a story.

And that ‘immersion’ is one of the things I work for the hardest. I write to entertain, and occasionally to inform. Character dialogue and problem solving are a huge part of that, including when the character doesn’t manage to solve the problem, at least initially. Life is full of twists and turns that we can’t always figure out. I write for realism, so my characters are flawed and sometimes stubborn, opinionated, overbearing, pretty much anything that we would encounter in real lift.

That includes what some call ‘filler’. Our lives are full of it, and yet, looking back, we sometimes see where an otherwise boring day becomes the turning point for an issue in our own lives. The characters I try to create are no different. I do my best to avoid one-dimensional characters because, honestly, they’re boring. Since I want above all else to entertain the people who spend their money, and more importantly their TIME, on my books, the last thing I want is for them to be bored.

I am currently working on multiple projects, including “FIRE” #13, STORMCROW #3, and a couple of other projects that I’m keeping close the vest for the moment. Hopefully all will be enjoyable reading, and worth the wait while I work through issues with them.

I hope all of you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. Please remember our service members, law enforcement officers, fire and EMS personnel as they work through the holiday trying to keep us safe. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

NCR

Embers will go ‘live’ on Oct 4, but is available now for pre-orders!

Good grief! I had no idea so much time had passed! I have really struggled with my current book and have all but ignored, well, everything.

Anyway, good news is that Embers is all but done. I still have to do some tweaking to iron out my mistakes and then it is off to the publishers! Yay me!

I hope you all had a fabulous Labor Day weekend and returned home safe and sound. Protect yourselves and be ready for anything.

Study and train, folks. Without knowledge, there can be no survival.

NCR

It’s almost the 4th of July! It seems to be falling out of ‘fad’ to celebrate America, but not with me. Do we have problems? Course we do. Anywhere you have more than one person, you are going to have differences, and sometimes they will be difficult. Opinions will become heated and arguments may turn mean or even violent.

And that’s a shame. Perhaps it’s because we don’t have enough respect for one another, I don’t know.

But this is still the best nation on the planet. Problems and all.

So celebrate this Independence Day by remembering that we celebrate the birth of a tremendous nation that has had a great impact on world history. We can do that even while acknowledging that there are things we need to change, or perhaps improve is a better word.

Be safe, celebrate responsibly, and be proud you were born here!

NCR

Memorial Day.

A long weekend, some called it as we approached the holiday.

Good day for BBQ, others said.

Nice day to fish.

It is a three day weekend for some, though not for all, that is true. And there’s no wrong in celebrating with friends by cooking or enjoying recreation.

But don’t ever allow those around you to forget what Memorial Day is really for. It’s not for a long weekend, it’s not for cooking, fishing or anything else in that box. Memorial Day is about one thing: Remembrance of those who have paid for our freedom with their lives and their service. Without them, there’s no long weekend, no grilling, no fishing, and not much of anything else.

Remember, today, who made the day possible.

God Bless America,

NCR