KEVIN CRAIG

How Many Kind Words Does it Take to Cancel a Negative Word?

Well, this has been a WEEK.

On Tuesday my latest novel, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, released. This was met with little fanfare, which is exactly what I was expecting. Having gone through the process of having an EXCELLENT publisher behind a title, I knew my two previous releases were executed amazingly well. There was a team of promoters behind them. They soared into the atmosphere. Especially The Camino Club. Book of Dreams did not do as well. I realize why this is. It was a mixed genre title that was hard to place…like a square peg in a round hole. But it still did well. It had a team behind it.

This week, I self-published a title. The only person behind it is ME. I am not good at self-promotion. I love this book, but I’m only one person. It’s not going to get out there into the public eye the way my previous two titles did. That’s okay with me. It is what it is (I hate that saying and yet I keep using it). I just needed to get this book out of my system. Now I can move on to the 3 works in progress I’ve been struggling with knowing this book was sitting in a drawer.

I expected silence. I expected a few core supporters to congratulate me and, possibly even share the news. This happened. I had a lot of support from friends and family. It sold quite a few copies for a book that was advertised exactly nowhere outside of my own social media presence. I want to thank each and every one of you who bought a copy and/or shared the news of the publication. I appreciate you SO MUCH! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

What I did not expect was an email from a “FRIEND” who wrote me to specifically tell me they wouldn’t be buying a copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT.

Let me suggest something here.

If you decide–FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER–to NOT support a friend and the release of their new novel, please for the love of the universe (I won’t say the G word here, because I don’t believe), DO NOT EMAIL THAT FRIEND AND TELL THEM YOU WON’T BE SUPPORTING THEM. Your silence in this matter is by far the best decision. Crickets from you is better than vitriol.

I promise you, I will remember this slight far longer than I will remember the kindnesses I experienced from all the others who reached out to congratulate and celebrate the release. There is no mathematical equation for figuring out how many kind words will cancel out a negative one, but I can tell you that ALL the support I received from family and friends fell out from under me when I received this email.

Don’t be that person. If you have a grudge against a fellow writer/friend…there is no need in the world to reach out to them at such a time simply to rain on their parade. Silence, in these cases, goes a hell of a long way. DON’T BE THAT PERSON.

If you’re still here, still reading…it’s STILL JUST ME PUSHING THIS NEW TITLE. Feel free to share its existence with your contacts. Feel free to pick up a copy. If you have a problem with me or with the book…keep it to yourself. No need to reach out and let me know.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE SUPPORTED ME WITH THIS OR ANY OF MY CREATIVE ENDEAVORS. I love that you believe in me and my writing. I appreciate you. Thank you!

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT is available in all Amazon countries.

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT AMAZON USA

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT AMAZON CANADA

Please…don’t email me to let me know you won’t be purchasing a copy. I’ve already experienced that phenomenon and it ain’t pretty.

I thought about not posting this, but I had to.

How Long is Now?

We all know how soon is now. But how long is it?

Now. What an insane concept. Now. It’s a word that’s over before it exits your mouth and you stumble onto a new now.

Why am I thinking of now now?

It started with a few perfectly placed words in a novel by Christopher Isherwood. I reread his novel A Single Man this week because it was the anniversary of his January 4th death. He died 39 years ago, back in 1986. Yes, you read that right…1986 was 39 years ago.

I’ve been obsessed, ever since reading those words, about the concept of NOW. Is that a writer thing? Hearing a certain word that you’ve heard possibly a hundred thousand times over the course of your life…but suddenly it smacks you differently and you just can’t seem to let it go? Does this happen to non-writers? This obsession with simple everyday words?

A photo to break up the monotony of my ranty post, because I haven’t shared any of our November trip to Thailand…we had many nows on this fabulous trip.

I started thinking, at first, about the way he described NOW being over…and how each now has an exact moment in time before it vanishes…or some such thing. I’m completely paraphrasing, but only because my mind left the page the very second I began to obsess about the concept of NOW and its relationship to time and how it is impossible to pin down because the moment it arrives it has already left.

See…I can’t stop.

Anyway, when Isherwood wrote those thoughts about NOW…he was in one. A now. He was right there, right then. And then that moment was gone. He witnessed a lot of NOWs but then he was gone, never again to be a part of a now.

But is that true when you create works and leave them behind? Did I breathe life back into the man when I began to reread his novel. Was he alive in my nows as I read? Certainly he was alive as he wrote the words I was reading. Did his essence spring momentarily back to life as I read those words?

A coworker whom I worked with for over 36 years passed away yesterday (or rather through the night the day before—unless of course it was after midnight). He was a little troll of a man…a nuisance and a weirdo. But a strong unstoppable troll…like the kind that could snap your neck without breaking a sweat.

The relationship with coworkers is so bizarre, isn’t it? There were times over the years when I had stopped listening to the words coming out of his mouth and I simply wished he would stop talking and walk away. Literally…a mantra would run through my thoughts drowning out his words. Please go away, please go away…STOP TALKING.

He was a bit of a redneck. He was loud and uneducated. Just a pain in the ass.

But he was also there every day. We talked all the time. Every day. I saw him more than I’ve seen many many people I would have cared to see more often. The thing about annoyances is that they grow on you. You build a history together. You carry these moments, these nows that nobody else but the two of you have.

And then a now comes when they are gone. Forever. And it’s a moment, this now…this now where you realize that all of humanity will share this now…this moment of HERE NOT HERE. It doesn’t matter if we’re rich or paupers, if we’re famous or obscure, if we’re liked or hated. We will all have our final NOW. And at that instant when we leave, we will never again have another now. Now will cease to exist, even as a concept.

I miss him already, this coworker who drove me batty. Everything is weird, isn’t it?

Thank you, Christoper Isherwood, for making me obsess about a stupid meaningless word.

Morrissey drawled, “When you say, “It’s gonna happen now” well, when exactly do you mean?”

I don’t think he ever asks the question HOW SOON IS NOW in the song???? Does he? I can no longer recall. Anyway…now is now. And now it’s over.

We beat on…

Stay tuned tomorrow, when I obsess over the word trinket. What exactly does it mean?

Meanwhile, please consider keeping me alive in the now(s) in which you read my new novel:

Pick up your copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT today! KINDLE or PAPERBACK!

Happy Book Birthday to Novel #9!

Today is the day!

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT is now out in the world. It’s my 9th novel, and my first self-published novel. It’s available only on Amazon…in all countries that Amazon operates. KINDLE or PAPERBACK! You decide…

Synopsis: Finn Barker escaped his family in Miramichi, New Brunswick, decades ago for the anonymity of Toronto. When he learns of his mother’s impending demise, he decides to make the trip back home to say goodbye. But going back will awaken all the sleeping ghosts Finn’s not quite sure he’s willing to stir. With no time to decide, his split-second decision to jump back in has him driving across the country, with his boyfriend Steven behind the wheel. Along the way, Finn begins to unpack the mess he left behind. There’s the grandmother, MyImogene, he adored, and the twin brother who died of cancer when his own parents would have preferred to lose the other twin. There’s also the huge scandal Finn orchestrated with a teacher that gave him the Dutch courage he needed to flee. It was almost all bad.

Finn makes it in time for goodbyes, but then there’s the still very active strife between him and his father, the funeral, the family, and the secrets that shed new light on the cause of the rift between his parents and his beloved MyImogene. Every family carries secrets. Finn discovers they’re the one thing you can’t escape, no matter how far away you run. Secrets always catch up. Often, it’s death that has a way of bringing them back into the light of day. He was able to make peace with his dying mother, but can Finn make peace with all the rest…or is it time to run away for another thirty years?

You can pick up your copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT in your country’s Amazon!

It’s available in PAPERBACK and KINDLE.

PAPERBACK LINKS:

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON USA $11.99

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON CANADA $17.21

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON UK £9.70

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON FRANCE €11.52

KINDLE LINKS:

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON USA $3.99

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON CANADA $5.73

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON UK £3.18

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON INDIA ₹342.00

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at AMAZON FRANCE €3.83

If your country is not listed above, you can search “I WILL TELL THE NIGHT” to find the link! If you have Amazon, it’s available.

Sharing this post with readers would be most appreciated. If you download your copy, I hope you enjoy it!