You may have heard the story of the Man trapped in a coma for 23 years. Apparently it was not a coma, it just appeared to be one. As science progresses, it occasionally catches up with fiction. Case in point;
Excerpt from ‘The Little Insanity’
KYLE
— ‘Where the hell was he?’ He tried to look around, but he couldn’t move his head. ‘Oh Boy, he’d really done it this time.’
Kyle remembered feeling like this once before – when he’d first hurt his back. He’d been lifting a slab of granite, when, ‘Bam!’ It hit like a Mack truck. And that’s exactly how he’d felt; like he’d been hit by a truck. The pain was blinding, debilitating, heart stopping. Then, there was nothing.
It was as if every nerve in his body went to sleep. If someone had told him he had suddenly gone incorporeal, Kyle would have believed them. He had absolutely no sensation anywhere in his body, which seemed like a fair trade at the time. Anything that would stop the raging pain would be worth it.
This was different though. Kyle could still feel things now. Maybe he felt too much.
When he first became conscious, he tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. It was as if they were taped shut. All Kyle could see was a peach colored light filtering through his eyelids.
There was a lot of commotion. He heard it and felt it. People were bustling around him in a flurry of activity. Kyle tried to raise an arm to let someone know he was awake. Nothing happened. He heard someone yell, “BP 80/60, respiration weak, pulse thready.”
Suddenly, he felt his jaw being pried open. They were shoving something down his throat. Kyle panicked: trying to turn his head, move his hand to push them away, close his mouth. He couldn’t do anything but feel. His body had stopped listening to him…
Striving For Balance
Tags: adult commercial fiction, nightsweats in bigelow hollow, Publishing, the little insanity, ya fiction
Wow, I just realized that the last post may have sounded a tad bit negative – just a tad bit. Let’s add a little balance. This year has been very exciting and we have accomplished a lot. I’ll recap – two books (one adult fiction, one YA fiction) were written, edited, designed, formatted, proofed and published. The groundwork has been established and we will never have to be called ‘novice’ publishers again. The flipbook for both titles will be fully edited and laid out (if not ready for sale) by the end of the month. Editing has begun on our next titles ‘Rain’ and ‘Bigelow Hollow Revisited’ – both are YA titles. Our books have broad online distribution channels, including the two biggies – Amazon and B&N. We have had some talks and some books signings resulting in enough sales for us to give back to some favorite causes.
So far, in our holiday book promotion http://marchbooks.ning.com/profiles/blogs/holiday-book-promotion, we have been able to donate copies of ‘The Little Insanity’ to our soldiers overseas and copies of ‘Nightsweats in Bigelow Hollow’ to the WE ARE THE CHILDREN Christmas party in Hartford, CT. We have also had book signings for animal advocacy groups that have allowed us to contribute a portion of our sales back to the groups.
Whew, and we’re not done yet. With at least two more titles slotted for publication in 2010, we still have much on our plate. Marketing will be ongoing but as one author said (I wish I could remember the source) ‘marketing is front-loaded. It is like pushing a snow ball up a mountainside. It is tough going in the beginning. But, eventually, if you are persistent, you will reach the peak and the snowball will have a momentum all its own.’ Understand, this was not verbatim. I paraphrase, because, heck I can’t even remember who said it. Perhaps when our marketing takes on its own momentum I can go back and reread all of the great resources I have used and credit the authors properly.
I hope everyone’s holidays were safe and happy,
elizabeth
www.marchbooks.com
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Little-Insanity/Janus-Kane/e/9781935367291/?itm=1&USRI=the+little+insanity
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=nightsweats+in+bigelow+hollow&box=nightsweat&pos=0