The Watch

I read this story on Instagram, fell in love with it, and wanted to pass it on to each of you who take the time to read my blog. It comes from Mindset Therapy. It goes like this …

Before he died, a father said to his son, “Here is a watch your grandfather gave me. It’s almost 200 years old. Before I give it to you, go to the jewelry store downtown. Tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you.”

The son went to the jewelry store, came back to his father, and said, “They offered $150 because it’s too old.” The father said, “Go to the pawn shop.”

The son went to the pawn shop, came back to his father, and said, “The pawn shop offered $10 because it looks too worn out.” The father asked his son to go to the museum and show them the watch.

He went to the museum, came back, and said to his father, “The curator offered $500,000 for this very rare piece to be included in their precious antique collections.”

The father said, “I wanted to let you know that the right place values you in the right way. Don’t find yourself in the wrong place and get angry if you are not valued. Those that know your value are those who appreciate you. Don’t stay in a place where nobody sees your value.”

The Moral of the Story …

Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth. 

I’ve worked in some positions where I didn’t feel valued. I’ve also been involved in relationships where I didn’t feel valued. In each case, I thought something might be wrong with me. I felt I was to blame, and I suppose to some degree, I probably was to blame. But perhaps I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in a relationship I didn’t belong. That might apply to many of us. Sometimes it happens to ourselves, while other times, it is someone else’s doing. 

I had a professor in my counseling program who followed most of the tenets of Alfred Adler, a psychotherapist. His was a philosophy I adhered to more times than not. My professor had a saying, “Don’t wear the shirt if it doesn’t fit.”

We’ve all done this before and still do from time to time, but wearing the wrong shirt doesn’t feel right. If it’s too large, we drown in it, or if it’s too small, we feel constricted. But if we put on the right shirt, a comfortable shirt that’s right for the occasion, well, it’s just right. Think of Goldilocks. One chair was too big, while another was too small. But one was just right. 

Each of us, no matter how old or young you are, whether you have money to burn or are just scraping by, whether we’re famous or if we blend in anonymously, have value. We have value because, as humans, we are deserving of it. Don’t allow yourself to be in any place that doesn’t value you, and don’t allow yourself to be with anyone who doesn’t value you. You, each of you, have value. Please don’t think otherwise. Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Connect with me on Social Media:

Author Website at: https://www.jrlewisauthor.blog 

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Instagram at: https://www.Instagram.com/joseph.lewis.author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI / 

My Publisher, Black Rose Writing, has a special deal for you! From 6/4 through 6/7, my book, Spiral Into Darkness is only $.99 for Amazon Kindle! The book blurb and the link to the book is below for your convenience.

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!

Would you recognize a serial killer if one spoke to you? Vincent and Shirley didn’t, and now they’re dead!

He blends in, is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern, no clues, and no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets, and neither does their family or local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm 

Fan Mail: New Release! A Maxy Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Award Nominee, and a Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!  

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad. 

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.   

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he? https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS 

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Blaze In, Blaze Out is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://www.audible.com/acx-promo\

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann.

The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP 

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS 

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. 

Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5  

Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ   

Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:

The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:

Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives   

Photos courtesy of Max Simonov and Unsplash

 

$20, a Leaky Bucket, and a Lesson

 A professor sat on the corner of his desk, facing a class of about a dozen or so students. He lifted his wallet from his back pocket and from it, took out a twenty-dollar bill. He held it out in front of the students and said, “Anyone want this?” Most of the students smiled, raised a hand, or said, “I do.”

The professor said, “What if I do this?” and he wadded the bill up in a little ball. “Anyone still want this?” The students said yes, and one said, “It’s still a twenty-dollar bill.” 

The professor nodded, and then he straightened out the bill as best he could and said, “What if I do this?” He put the bill on the floor, stepped on it, and ground it into the linoleum. He then picked it up. It was dirty, wrinkly, and had a small tear in it. The professor asked, “Anyone want it now?” Most of the students raised their hand, but a few didn’t, wondering where this was heading …

There is a story about a farmer who, each morning, walked to the small river at the edge of his farm with two buckets. One was still shiny and almost brand new. The other was old, rusted, and had a hole or two. He’d fill them with water and carry them up to a small garden he had planted and watered the flowers and vegetables in it. He repeated this each morning. 

One morning, the leaky bucket said to him, “Excuse me, but perhaps you shouldn’t use me any longer. I leak water out and there is hardly any left for you to water your garden.” 

The farmer smiled and shook his head. The next morning, the farmer took the two buckets to the river just like he did each morning, and filled them to the brim. As the farmer began his slow walk up to the garden, the leaky bucket protested, “Sir, I’m sorry. I am much more trouble than I am a help. By the time you get to the garden, there is hardly any water left for you to use.”

The farmer smiled and walked slowly along the path and said, “Yes, you leak a little, but look at what you did along this path. Look at all the flowers and bushes you watered along the way. They wouldn’t have grown if you had not watered them each morning.” 

And indeed, along the path were beautiful wild flowers of different colors. Bees nestled among them, a rabbit scurried out of a lush bush as the farmer neared it. Even a bird or two flew out of them to a nearby tree. “You see, not only did you water the flowers, you brought life to this little path as we walked this path each morning.”

The lesson … 

Even though the twenty-dollar bill was crumpled and torn, it still maintained its value. It was worth $20, no matter how much the professor damaged it.

The leaky bucket, old and rusty, still had value because it served a purpose in creating beauty to an otherwise normal path to a river. In so doing, the bucket gave beauty and life to an otherwise ordinary path to the river. 

The moral …

Even though the world tells us otherwise; even though the world crumbles us up, steps on us, grinds us down and even though we feel worn out, tattered and torn, we still have value and purpose. No matter what anyone tells you or what message they send- spoken or silent- we matter. We matter to others, known and unknown. We matter because we are human and were created and given life. We matter because we love.

Even though we feel old and run-down; even though our body aches as we get up out of bed or out of a chair; even though our hair turns gray and our sight dims, and we get spotted with old age, we matter. We are still valuable to those who truly know us, love us, and care about us. There are those who, in our younger days and even in our older days, we cared about and cared for, and no matter how old we get, no matter if we walk with a cane or ride in a wheelchair, and no matter how hunched over we are, they love us and care about us, because we love and care about them.

Time and age won’t change that. Our appearance won’t change that. Memories of love and caring don’t fade away. They last long after we cease to exist. Like the leaky bucket, we brought beauty and life to this, their, and our world. We will always, always have value. Always! Something to think about … 

Live Your life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Connect with me on Social Media:

Author Website at: https://www.jrlewisauthor.blog 

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Instagram at: https://www.Instagram.com/joseph.lewis.author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI / 

My Publisher, Black Rose Writing, and I sponsored a giveaway for Fan Mail that began on Tuesday, April 25 and ended Wednesday, May 24th. We gave away 5 copies to Goodreads members in U.S. I want to thank the 4,458 people who signed up for it, and the 4,177 people who tagged it as “want to read.” I sincerely appreciate each of you! 

Fan Mail: New Release! A Maxy Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Award Nominee, and a Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!  

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.  

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he? https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS 

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann.

The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP 

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery! 

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS 

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!

He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm 

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. 

Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5  

Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  

Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:

The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:

Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives    

Photos courtesy of Lucas Van Oort and Annie Spratt and Unsplash

Mother's Day

 Moms deserve more than one day, don’t you think? For all they do and put up with, for the big and little worries that fill up their hearts, yet still have room for love, patience, kindness, and understanding. I mean, Kim puts up with me- that says something right there! She deserves an upgrade and a raise, for sure!

Kim and I lived in three different states, in five different cities, and an equal number of houses, if not more. Two big moves from California to Wisconsin and then Wisconsin to Virginia. The toughest was from Wisconsin to Virginia. 

I had moved to Virginia in January 2008, while she packed up the house in Wisconsin, shuttled Hannah and Emily to swim and soccer practices, and took classes at the same time. All while traveling about 45 minutes to and from a middle school where she taught health and physical education five days a week. During a tough Wisconsin winter, I should add. It wasn’t easy, but if anyone could do it, it would be Kim. 

Three wonderful children, one of whom is deceased- tough on any mom. Watching them grow into successful and happy adults with lives and futures of their own, along with a son- and daughter-in-law, and a soon-to-be son-in-law. Always within reach of the phone in case one or the other has a question or needs advice, always ready for a car ride in case they need more than a talk on the phone.

And now, we expect our first grandchild. What a wonderful grandma she will be! 

Who knows what our future holds, but I can say, honestly and sincerely, say she has made my life happier. I can only hope she can say the same about me- sometimes I doubt it.

With much love, Happy Mother’s Day, Kim! Hopefully, with many, many more to come!

The Right Bus

 I listened to a brief interview with retired Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski, and he said, (paraphrasing) ‘My mom sat me down just before I started high school on the first day. She said, Mike, make sure you get on the right bus. I said, mom, I know Chicago and I know how to get around. And she said, I’m not talking about that bus. I want you to get on the right bus with good people, and make sure the driver is a good person, too.’

As a former coach, teacher, counselor and administrator, I’ve seen this played out in real time. I remember, as a coach, I selected my team carefully, with a great deal of consideration. At one stop in my coaching career, I cut almost all the seniors because I didn’t like what they brought to the court in terms of behavior and attitude. It was controversial, because one kid was perhaps the best player in the school. But while he could shoot, dribble, and play defense, he was also a known drinker and partier, and at times, would be dishonest. If I was going to drive that bus, I didn’t want him on it. My first year at that school, we were competitive, but not outstanding. However, for me and the coaching staff and the players, it was a good and fun year.

I had a stint as a graduate assistant at the collegiate level where I was recruited to coach guards, but ended up recruiting and scouting. As the coach said, “Joe, I need you to find me some players.” So for two years, that’s what I did.

My first year there, we had a kid on our bus that didn’t belong and who, it is safe to say, destroyed the team from the inside. Talented? Yes. Could he play? Absolutely. But he also couldn’t get along with the other members of the team. Sort of an I-Me-Mine kind of guy. That attitude wasn’t and isn’t beneficial to any team sport. 

When I began, I would sit away from the crowd as much as possible, and evaluate athleticism, court awareness and game sense. That was the easy part. I would talk to the coach where and when the NCAA allowed it, and gathered as much information on the young man as I could. But I found it wasn’t enough.

As I became wiser, I would sit in the student section, but towards the back. As I watched the player or players I was interested in play the game, I would ask the player’s classmates and schoolmates about the kid. What was he like in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in the classroom? Who did he hang out with? Did he spend any time in the library? 

Kids were, at times, brutally honest- not only in the things they said but also in what they didn’t say. I put this information with what he could or couldn’t do and make my recommendations to the head coach. Most of the time, he accepted it. At other times, he didn’t. 

But I took this with me as I coached high school ball and AAU ball later after that college stint. I wanted to surround myself and place on the bus I drove the good kids. The kids who were not only smart and could play, but who were good kids.

To a great extent, I took it with me as an administrator. I selected teachers and my assistant principals (where I could) with good people- people I wanted on my bus. Beyond the art and craft of teaching, were they the teachers and administrative team members I wanted my own children to be with? Could I trust them? Were they kid-centered? Did they have a good heart? Those were the teachers and administrators I wanted on my bus!

I think the right bus analogy can be used in most every aspect of life. I think it’s an analogy we can teach to our children from little on. I think being on the right bus is sometimes a missed concept, maybe a missed opportunity for the larger questions and influences in our lives: politics, religion, our married lives. It’s something I can point to in my life as I get ready for my real retirement: to drive a bus of good people in my life, and ride the busses of other good drivers- a bus filled with good people. Thanks Mike and Mrs. Krzyzewski for the lesson for today and for every day! Something to think about …

To My Readers:

Connect with me on Social Media:

Author Website at https://www.jrlewisauthor.blog A New Post: Fan Mail- An Award, A Snippet, and an Interview

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author

Instagram at: https://www.Instagram.com/joseph.lewis.author

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI / 

My Publisher, Black Rose Writing, and I are sponsoring a giveaway for Fan Mail that began on Tuesday, April 25 and will finish at 11:59 PM PT on Wednesday, May 24th. Not much time left!

We are giving away 5 copies to Goodreads members in U.S.

When the giveaway ends, winners will be randomly selected, and I will mail out a signed copy of Fan Mail.

Copy and Paste the Giveaway URL:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/365972?utm_medium=api&utm_source=giveaway_widget Book Giveaway

Fan Mail: New Release! A Maxy Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Award Nominee, and a Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!  

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.  

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he? https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS 

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann.

The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP 

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!  

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS 

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!

He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm 

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. 

Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5 

Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  

Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:

The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:

Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives    

Photo courtesy of Elijah Ekdahl and Unsplash

A Little to the Left

Can you imagine going to a surgeon and while in recovery, he states, “Sorry, but I was a little too far to the left when I repaired your knee.” Not very comforting, right? You wonder what else is missing? Or you go to the eye doc and the measurements are, “Oh, somewhere here and there.” Hmmm …

You need certain occupations to be absolutely precise in what they do. Someone fixing your brakes decides, “Well, that’s close enough.” Kind of scary, right? Or if NASA decides that the coordinates for landing back on earth are “Well, in the vicinity …” the astronaut might have some issues with that, don’t you think?

It is amazing how precise athletes need to be.

For instance, a golfer can start the day at the top of the leader board, but if he misses a putt on one hole, he can drop several spots down and never regain the lead. A bowler? Same thing, really. The hardest split in bowling is known to be the Greek Church. It’s where pins 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10 are left standing after your first throw. Even professional bowlers have trouble picking up this split, and I’m no professional bowler, so I might as well aim down the middle to get what I get. 

I like baseball, but not as much as other sports. But take a pitcher. He needs to throw precisely, or else! I cannot imagine a reliever. He trots in from the bullpen, facing no outs and runners at the corners. Can you imagine the pressure? He throws one strike but in reach of the batter, and one or more runs score. He “fails” at his job- to secure the out or the win. 

Aaron Rodgers, one of my favorite players- no matter that he is now a Jet- threw several Hail Mary’s to win games. He can throw darts sixty or more yards down the field. The throw to Richard Rodgers (no relation) at the end of the Packers-Lions game was a masterpiece by any description. But as last year went, fighting injuries and without trusted receivers, he was near the bottom as far as quarterbacks rate. 

Yet, as I pointed out earlier, how often will a reliever or a quarterback or a golfer miss? Mostly, I am willing to bet. Michael Jordan, as great a player as he was, stated, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Henry Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intellintly.”

I think the important thing is that while precision is important and necessary in sports or in life, the lack of it might not be the end of the world. It means we go back and do again “more intelligently” as Ford would say. We go back and try again, and we succeed because we learned. 

Each step is learning. Each failure is learning. And, each success if learning.

We can never stop learning, nor should we. We can never learn too much. Learning is a joy, a discovery. It is what we were meant to do. Imagine if our ancestors, the caveman, decided that cold is all there is to know. What would have become of them … of us? If Columbus wouldn’t have traveled to see what was beyond the horizon, where would we be?

Precision and accuracy are important in life. We need to be able to depend on various people to be accurate in what they do and in how they do it. But sometimes, where a lack of precision isn’t life-threatening, it is okay to be imprecise. As I wrote in a previous post, mistakes and failure are merely stepping stones to success. In essence, in those instances where a life isn’t in jeopardy, it is okay to make a mistake and to be a little to the left. Something to think about …

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

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Fan Mail: New Release! A Maxy Award Finalist and a Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner!  

A barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat. Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.

As these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his face and arms healed, but not his heart.  

Would he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with that choice, will he? https://amzn.to/3eNgSdS 

Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Crime Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers! A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann.

The killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP 

Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1^st Place Fiction-Mystery; and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!  

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS 

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!

He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm 

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com 

Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay. 

Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696  
 
The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5 

Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ  

Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:

The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2 
 
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:

Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives    

Photo courtesy of Matt Seymour and Unsplash