Where've you been?

I've been chasing my past.
My memories, certainly rose colored, have been invading my time lately. How many of us chase a memory, a feeling, an experience, only to find that the result falls flat. That our body's need to feel a certain way again goes unsatisfied.
I think often about marching band. I think often about road trips. I think often about bonfires, sunsets, football games, starry nights, kind words, and fast cars.
But those things are in the past.
And I'm ok with that. I have a wonderful wife. I have four beautiful, if challenging, daughters. I have a good job.
I especially have a loving, generous, and forgiving Father in Heaven.
Without Him, my past might have killed me. My present would mean nothing. My future would frightening.
I'll take what I have now; with all of the feelings, stress, worry and pleasure that are included, I'll take it.
And I'll be thankful.

So I must ask. Where are you? Are you struggling with your past? Are you hiding from your future? Or are you enjoying the present and all of the things God is doing for you right now? Because you must face the fact that whatever your situation, you're still alive. And nothing is too big or too late for God to take control and lead you through.
Let go and let God. It's His plan. Let Him take control.

Occasional Validation

Every now and then, this life gives us a bolstering that recharges us and validates the time that we have invested in our endeavors.  The tedium of daily work can be wearing and depressing.  Many of us have familiar ruts that we traverse daily in our work, school, and home.

I put in my notice with the State of Florida on Monday.  I served my notice not just to my local institution, but to the region supervisors as well because of the nature of my job.  What follows is the response I received from the regional construction/maintenance manager:

Mr. Godejohn, I wish you the best in your new endeavor.  I would like to thank you for all you have done during the past five years.  Everyone has a lot of respect for you for all the times you have helped everybody in the region.  Whenever you were called, you showed up and repaired whatever needed to be repaired.  It didn't matter what time of day or night, you still showed up.  I wanted to thank you for all of your support over the years.  Good luck in the future.

Now, this was from a man that I have had limited interaction with in my time with the state.  I have no personal ties to the man, but everyone that I have spoken to has had similar things to say.  It is satisfying to me that I am leaving with a good reputation.  It makes me feel like I was doing more than collecting a paycheck, but really improving my work ethic, professional profile, and technical skill.

I know who I am.  I know how I am.  To get this sort of feedback from professional colleagues is a solid indicator that I have done something right.

Author Interview for Time in Eternity

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2011

Author Interview: Rick Godejohn author of Time In Eternity

About your book: Time in Eternity

Adrian has been around for a long time. He has been a member of the Garver Corporation for centuries. His new assignment is to act as a liaison to Marie Graves, a bright young master's student with very important research. But when Adrian discovers the real reasons for the Corporation's interest in Marie's work, he makes a decision that will change the world of the immortals. That decision places Marie in a situation more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. The new couple must work together to try and bring down the Corporation before the force and power of the Corporation takes away their future together forever.

Free Book Reviews
What do you think readers will find most notable about this book?

Rick Godejohn
The Relationships between the characters is real and relatable. Readers have told me that the relationships are the jewel of the story and drew them in.

Free Book Reviews
Have you acquired any good anecdotes surrounding this book? If so, could you share one?

Rick Godejohn
The science behind the plot line is pretty deep. I had to remind myself of the different levels of understanding of my readers. When I tried to explain the concept of a Nuclear Powered Reactor to my mother, I couldn't get past the "Hot rock, make steam, go roundy-roundy" stage. It reminded me to keep the theory behind DNA simple and as much of a background as possible. The story was in the characters more than the science.

Free Book Reviews
Did researching and writing this book teach you anything or influence your thinking in any way?

Rick Godejohn
This book made me realize how important communication and relationships were in contrast to the accumulation of knowledge and the search for one's place in the world.

Free Book Reviews
What would you most like readers to tell others about this book?

Rick Godejohn
Any good book satisfies and yet, leaves the reader wanting more. I love hearing people tell me that they couldn't put my book down, that they identified with the characters, and that they can't wait for the next book.

Free Book Reviews
Can you suggest one question readers might find interesting to discuss,
concerning you, your writing in general, or this book?

Rick Godejohn
What does this book reveal about our society and the way that people interact?

Free Book Reviews
How can readers help you promote this book?

Rick Godejohn
I'm sorry, but the cliche fits. Tell a friend. Write a review. Giving your opinion, good or bad, is still valuable lip service.

About You: Rick Godejohn

Rick Godejohn grew up in Columbus, Nebraska among a large family with three siblings. He had an average childhood, where he learned responsibility and attentiveness from his stay-at-home mother.
Rick tried his hand at college but lacked the discipline to succeed. This gap was mended with his time in the U.S. Navy. The navy taught him motivation and discipline. It also gave him the job skills to get a decent job as an electronics technician and to finish his college degree.
Rick now is married and lives in Okeechobee, Florida with his wife. He is currently working on the next book in The Immortal Struggles series.

Free Book Reviews
Why do you write?

Rick Godejohn
I write for the story. I had an idea that would not go away. I had to write it down. That idea became Time in Eternity, and the sequel is spilling into my laptop as we speak.

Free Book Reviews
What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Rick Godejohn
I have a great habit of getting to the point. I'm not going to describe a dot on a wall that isn't vitally important to the story. There's conversations to have and action to describe. A person's imagination is the best ally of a good writer, because it can fill in the intentional voids of the author's pen.

Free Book Reviews
What quality do you most value in yourself?

Rick Godejohn
I am a realist. While science fiction is fantastic and unreal, my writing is just outside of reality. Believability and reality help draw the reader into the story.

Free Book Reviews
In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?

Rick Godejohn
I love classic automobiles. I am a classic Mustang fanatic.

Free Book Reviews
What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?

Rick Godejohn
Finishing Navy recruit training (Boot Camp for non-military types) and Naval Nuclear Power School were the two most gratifying accomplishments of my life.

Free Book Reviews
Is there any new or established author whom you feel deserves more attention, and what is it that strikes you about his or her work?

Rick Godejohn
Douglas Adams is my favorite author. Regardless of philosophy or religion, his writing is both intellectual and hilarious.

Special thanks to Albert Robbins III for his interview.  Check out his blog on http://freebookreviews.blogspot.com

Ripples and Waves

Many of us never actually think about the global consequences of our everyday actions.  A cruel word, for example, can change a person's philosophy and mind set forever.  The prime example is the nature versus nurture argument.  The environment in which we mature determines, to a great extent, what our futures hold.  I am only talking about this because the ripples we make now may have tidal wave implications ten years from now.  The decisions we make shape more than just our own lives.  We affect, for better or worse, everyone around us.

Whether we serve as a cautionary example or an aspirational model, our actions and words can stay with someone long after we leave the world.  In conversations that I've had with my pastor, I have quoted my father often.  Words that were wise and practical continue to be useful to me thirteen years after his passing.  His example continues to influence me to this day, and I will thank God for my father's practical wisdom for the rest of my life.

I do touch upon this subject in my upcoming book, Stolen Eternity.  I lay the point that even the end of a situation is not the end of its effect on all those involved.  Here is an excerpt of the book.  In it, Adrian is speaking to his new charge, Levi, about what he knows of pain, loss, and the consequences of our actions.

I smiled wanly.  “That just about sums it up.  Don’t worry about me, Levi.  I’m used to the pain.”

“How to you mean?” Levi asked as he pulled up the chair from the far wall and sat across from me by the foot of Marie’s bed. 

“I have seen a lot of pain in my life, and I’ve watched a lot of loved ones die.”

“Maybe you can tell me a little about that.  We’d just be in the way while the brains do their work anyway.”

I nodded in agreement and sat up straighter.  “Levi, I have seen things; horrible things, terrible things, awesome things, and wonderful things.  I have felt elation at success, and crushing disappointment at failure.”  I looked steadily at Levi and continued.  “I have lived through the primary moral development of our modern society.  I lived and worked through the morally ambiguous days when no one cared if you killed someone, when an ideal was enough to commit horrible acts of violence on innocent people.  I have dirtied my soul over and over again simply for the advancement of my idiom and my affiliations.”  I slumped forward in my chair and put my head in my hands.

“There’s something that you don’t seem to understand, Mr. Martin,” Levi stated plainly.  “The fact that you see these things as being wrong means that your soul is still intact.  Who we are is not just what we do, but how we handle the repercussions of what we have done.”

“You are wise beyond your years, Levi,” I said sliding back into my chair and smiling at him. 

“Nah, I just have a pretty strong feel for right and wrong, and I know that those two things are not often black and white, but simply varying shades of gray.  The right thing changes according to geography, social climate, and personal opinion.”

“Well, that’s the problem.  When society says it’s wrong and I was mandated to do it anyway, then the guilt for that act lies squarely on my shoulders.”

“Don’t give me that crap, Adrian.  If that were true, then every soldier and sailor in the military would be sent to prison the second they retired from service.  What are they doing if not serving to perpetuate the idiom of the people they represent?  The fact is that some things in this world are so horrible that action must be taken against those things.”

“But that doesn’t solve the problem, Levi,” I said with passion.  I felt my emotions flaring.  “Taking lives is not an answer to a problem.  Saving a person’s life by taking other lives is never a right answer.”

“So, what is the right answer?  Prison?  Exile?  Prison and exile just creates more and other problems.”

I looked directly into Levi’s eyes.  “Have you ever taken a life Levi?”

Without flinching, he answered me.  “I have, sir.”

“Can you justify that taking of life in your heart?”

“I have, sir.”

“Was it vengeance?  Was it idealism?  Or was it to fill a basic human need?”

“I killed my parents’ murderers,” Levi stated in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.

“And how do you justify that?”

Levi thought for a moment and smiled.  “Justice was served according to the mores of our society.”

“What do you mean?”

“I died in the resulting shootout.”

I smiled widely at that.  “You look pretty good for a dead guy.”

“The point is that I took my vengeance, and I paid the price required by our society,” he said with a looming satisfaction.

“Then think about this, Levi,” I retorted.  “What kind of guilt do you think the officer that shot you feels over your death?  Where is the justice for him?  What gives you the right to put that guilt and remorse on him?”

This took Levi aback.  He was quiet for a long time, and I let him sit and think about it.  


What lives have we changed with a flip response to someone's quiet call for help?  What situations have we exasperated by choosing not to take action?  Distancing and avoidance are courses of action too, and often have just as damaging results.  

Perspective

My father always told me that the real me was the man I was when nobody was looking.  The problem is that there is always someone looking.  Whether you call it conscience or the omnipotence of deity, there is always a standard that we hold ourselves to.  We have that line that we will refuse to cross.

The concept of language has always been a sticking point for me.  Placing weight on words as bad or powerful is another way of shifting responsibility to inanimate concepts.  A word is not bad by itself.  It's the insensitive idiot that has to use it because of a non-existent vocabulary that makes it bad.  The key to the propriety of language is in the environment and the company.  If I say something specific, it is because it is the best word for the situation and the audience.

Using words does not dictate who I am.  The actions and decisions that shape my life have shaped me as a person, a husband, an intellectual, and as a writer.

What flows from me into my books is the result of travel, experience, relationships, personal wishes, and imagination.  In fiction, the world can be as innocent or as jaded as I want it to be.  The problem, of course, is that too innocent or too jaded makes the story unbelievable.

That's kind of the point.

Reality is not what I see, or what you see.  Reality is the combination of perspectives at any given moment of every person involved in that moment.  Reality is the culmination of a shared experience.  Missing pieces give imagination and opinion a chance to thrive.  A good thought on this is to ponder the color blue... Seriously...

How do you know that blue is blue?

How do you know that I will see the same shade of blue or even describe it the same way?

That is perspective.

Reality Check

Thinking on the perspective of my book's content and subject matter, I was thinking about the applicable ramifications of an aging and expanding population.

The ugly truth is that the reason our economy stinks is because our system was never designed to accommodate our current population.  Not only was there a boom of people that are now reaching the medicare and social security years, but the welfare system cannot handle the extensive strain of destitute new mothers.

We live longer.  We reproduce more and later in life.  The population figures alone will break our system long before the baby boomers die off.  None of this was anyone's fault that is still alive.  The seeds for this catastrophe were sown in the years during and shortly after WWI.  Welfare came later, but was a flawed system from the start.

Now, the actions of our government are indicative of our upbringing.  We, as a nation, are too scared of failure to strike out and create something new.  Therefore the right answer has to be putting a band aid on the fracturing systems currently in place.

The truth is that the system is broken, and the generation in charge is too frightened to take the necessary risks to fix it.  Starting from scratch is the only way to address the demands of our current life span capability and population growth rate.  Until this happens, the travesties occurring to our senior citizens will continue and will only worsen.  Our welfare system will continue to be abused and overused.

Continuity, Creativity, and Confusion

Well, major editing must be done.  I have made the same error not once, but twice.  I've used a name that was another character in the first book, and it has confused my proof readers.  Now I must go through the manuscript and change the names of these two characters to avoid confusion!  I didn't even notice, but that's why I have people read for me.  I just hope that I can develop names that maintain a flow and dynamic that prevents interruption of the story.

I also hope that I can find all the occurrences of the name, so I don't have an errand reference to a departed character in my new manuscript!

A final straw

I've been quiet for a long time, but something has happened that I feel I cannot let stand.

My publisher, AuthorHouse, is what can be considered a vanity publisher.  I chose them based on the ability I would have to have decisive input on the design and production of the book.  I was able to design the cover, set the interior font, and determine the size of the book.  I was also in charge of the editing of the manuscript, which means that I controlled what the final product contained.  No one told me to take out or add anything.

This part of the process was absolutely stellar, and I couldn't have been happier.

Then the book came up for sale.

Amazon had the paperback available within two days of the live date.  It only took Amazon two days more to start selling the kindle version.  The other sites, Books-A-Million, Borders, and Barnes-and-Noble took almost three weeks to make the book available for sale.  More than that, those sites needed another submittal of the cover artwork by the publisher before it would appear on their sites.

The book went live in October.  In January, I had to contact the publisher and have them resubmit the ebook for sale on the three sites mentioned above.  Once the publisher 'resubmitted' it the sites had the ebook for sale within two days.  I suspect that the publisher didn't bother to submit it in the first place, but I cannot prove it.  A minor hiccup, right?  I mean how many ebook sales did I lose from those three months of unavailability?

I also purchased a couple of marketing campaigns from the publisher.  I purchased an email campaign and a press release.  The email went out to 200,000 people.  The press release went out to 528 news and media outlets.  How many follow ups did we receive?  0.  Say again?  ZERO.  The publisher does no secondary follow ups on press releases, and does not give me the ability to call the recipients of the press release and follow up.  By contrast, I put the exact same press release on Newszap, ( http://fl.newszapforums.com/forum183/103813.html )  I've had 260 hits on that local forum since January.  Yet, the same release to 528 outlets got ZERO hits.  I find it more likely that this release never left the AuthorHouse development desk.

Moving on, we come to royalties.

Quarter 4 ran from October when the book went live to January first.  I had to call and nag them to research my ebook sales.  Now, I know for a fact that three people purchased the kindle version of my book.  Not only did I receive royalties for TWO total ebook sales, but they chose to amend my royalty price agreement from receiving $4 a sale to $2.90 per sale.

Fast forward to late January to find that a major purchase posted to the AuthorHouse site for my book, in which a Canadian book dealer purchased 150 copies of my book.  This is in quarter 1, which ended April 1st.  Now it's June, and guess how many books I got paid for:  Not 150!  ONE.  When I call to find out how I got gypped this time, they tell me that the purchaser's credit card never went through.  I don't know how that's my problem, but lucky me!  I get to reap the benefits of the publisher's poor business practices.

I have filed two complaints with the Indiana Better Business Bureau, which have received an answer which picked apart the complaint and answered whatever the publisher wished to answer.

I do not regret self publishing.  I am proud of the finished product.  I only wish that AuthorHouse cared about more than leeching money from the authors that they publish.  Their whole business is geared toward taking money from the writers instead of making good on purchased services and helping the writer succeed.

This is a large pill for me to swallow, but I hope that writers like me can learn from my experiences.

Footprints

Imagine being on the earth long enough to see the effects of a life's work.  Many of us never get the It's a Wonderful Life point of view.  We never get to see the effects of touching other peoples' lives.  Those of us that wander through this life hoping to leave a positive influence on others constantly weigh the consequences of our actions.

Of course we live our own lives, but any time we cross someone else's path we have the opportunity to help; to improve someone's situation.  Now, is this narcissism?  Is this egomania?  No.  It's a personal choice to have a servant's heart.

Unfortunately, one has to strike a balance in order to prevent being taken advantage of and being labelled as naive.  A true servant's heart, however, gets nothing out of helping people other than the satisfaction of a job well done.  Not many of us can claim success in maintaining that purity.  Even if we manage to pull it off, the cynic will analyze someone else's giving heart, trying to find an ulterior motive.

Back to my point, imagine being an immortal.  Imagine being alive when the fruits of your labor come to the front.  This is one of the things that my main character, Adrian, is able to see.  Beyond the first book, Time in Eternity, where we learn about Adrian's role in the discovery of America and Puerto Rico, we learn more about the personal experiences and the lives touched by a 555 year old man.  We learn about narrow escapes, and permanent scars.  We learn about the treachery of family and the motivation of revenge.

Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Stolen Eternity.

I awoke to impossible heat!  I opened my eyes to the color of the world, but it was not my world of today.  I let out a scream of agony, realizing that I knew where I was.  I also knew when I was.  It was 1640.  I was in what is now Germany.  It was during the Thirty Years War.

And I was being burned at the stake.

I took in a sharp breath of air, feeling the flames burn my throat and lungs.  I looked out to my accusers.  As I had seen three times before, my accusers could not look at me.  They could not bear to see the outcome of their decisions.  I scanned the crowd, trying to take my mind away from the flames. 

Then I saw them.  They were the only eyes watching me.  Even through the smoke, they were a brilliant and bright blue color.  The narrow angular face that housed those eyes was smiling a cruel and satisfied smile.  I continued to stare at the man, who seemed so very familiar.  His body was similar to mine in height and form.  I realized that he may have been the one to accuse me of the heresy for which I was being burned this time. 

Without having to look, I felt the ropes tying me to the post give way from being weakened by the flames.  I was free.  I moved swiftly, finally taking my eyes off the man that was clearly enjoying himself, and jumped out of the pyre.  The gasps and screams of the crowd pounded at my ears as I broke into a sprint to make my escape.  I could still feel his eyes on me as I ran.  I made it to a barn a mile away and stopped to catch my breath.  I was heaving and coughing in my attempt to spit out the remaining smoke in my lungs.  My skin was tender and pink, but it was already whole.  I had my hands on my knees and my back to the entrance of the barn.

“That was quite a spectacle, Adrienne.”

I whirled around to face who I knew was the immortal from the crowd.  “What do you want?”

“I’ve been looking for you.”  His voice was low and menacing, but he stood there with a guarded expression and waited for me to catch my breath.

“Do I know you, sir?”  He seemed so familiar, but I could not place him.

“I think you do, Adrienne.  I have been looking for you since my parents were killed.  I must say that now I find myself at a loss of how to kill you.”

“I suppose so.  You should know that it is no easy feat to dispense people like us.”

“Yet, we shall certainly try,” the stranger said, making a move toward me.  His breathing was calm, but his aura showed anger beyond rage surrounded by sorrow.  I also noted the solid black border around the outside of his aura.  This man was poisoned by his flaring hatred.  He was the personification of evil.

“I invite you to do so,” I answered, standing up straight and squaring my shoulders to him.  “I appreciate that you are at least allowing me to catch my breath first.”

His action was fluid and like lightning.  He had concealed a throwing dart in his palm and had launched it at me.  It hit its intended mark, stabbing into my left eye.  I realized the subterfuge immediately.  He knew exactly how to kill me.  My hand flew up late, gripping and pulling at the dart that was lodged in my socket.  My adversary was on me at once.  He had pulled out a knife and was going to make short work of me.  I spun at the last second, dodging his strike and launching him past me and into the bales of hay.  I felt a sting in my side as I straightened back up to face him.  I was still working to dislodge the dart with one hand, and checked my side with the other.  The man had not actually missed with his knife strike.

I pulled my hand up from my side and saw that I was bleeding black.  He had sliced deep enough to lacerate my liver.  I needed to get this cursed dart out of my eye before I bled out. 

“Getting a sense of your mortality, Adrienne?” I heard him gloat from behind me.  He had gotten to his feet, and was appraising his work on me.  “You have mere minutes to live.  Your eye damage will take longer to heal at this point than your liver will allow you to live.  It is over, Adrienne.”  He turned to the door.

“Who are you?  Why have you done this to me?” I gasped through the pain.

“You are the reason why our parents are dead, Adrienne.  You were who those men were after that night in the vineyard!”

Through his rage, I could hear the timbre of my brother’s voice through the past, standing in front of me.  “Why am I to blame?” I shuddered as the pain shot through me.

“They saw you fall off your horse and get trampled.  They saw you get up unharmed.  They believed that our mother bewitched you.  They are dead because of your clumsiness!!!”

“But brother, why kill me?  Why have you kept yourself hidden from me?”

“I was captured the day of the fire.  I was made to do their bidding.  I was their play thing and test subject.  I was only able to escape through my superior intelligence.  My life has been ruined by you.  I am simply returning the favor.”  His voice had returned to the cold and menacing tone that began our conversation.

I fell to my knees from the pain.  My body was quickly growing weak from the loss of blood.

“I must take my leave of you now, Adrienne.  I cannot be here when the mob finally finds you.”  With that, the man made a formal Spanish bow to me, and turned on his heel.  In a moment he was gone, and I was left to bleed out on the floor of a stranger’s barn.

Events like this change our lives and change our fundamental nature.  Things beyond our control can make the biggest impressions on our futures.

Is there a point to any of this?

The moral of the story...
The rest of the story...
What's the point?..

I heard news the other day that Time in Eternity is being considered for the reading list at my local high school. I was immediately psyched, as that would undoubtedly mean significant sales.

That enthusiasm was immediately tempered by the comparison of my book to other books on the list.  Now, I know that I'm not a literary genius.  I know that my first novel is not a statement of falling mores or an eroding society.  My book is entertaining, a pleasant read, and a glimpse of social relationships in today's culture.  There are no hidden statements, no ulterior motives or agendas, and no deep seeded cries for help.

What Time in Eternity does have is an abundance of action, adventure, banter, and good-natured fun.

Another good indication about the caliber of my book is that four people in the past two weeks have told me that they are reading Time in Eternity again, and cannot wait for the sequel.

So, with that in mind, here is the moral of the story for those of you that, like my niece Courtney did earlier this year, may have to write an 11th grade paper on it.  The book is about having integrity, fighting for what is right, and defending your beliefs against those that would seek to take away your freedoms.  It is about the life changing experience of love, the power of friendship, and the inherent worth of the people we care about.

So there it is.  Happy reading, and happy writing!