It’s been a roller coaster of a year since I released Move To Fire. Here are the highs and lows:

• Shortly after its release I get a wonderful reaction from best selling author Seth Godin and he gives me the book’s first blurb (a personal and professional highlight).
• Publishers Weekly not only gives it a starred review, it follows that with the placement of Move To Fire at the top of its first ever IndieWatch booklist, a new quarterly feature listing well-reviewed, independently published books (ditto that personal/professional parenthetical above).
• Award winning author — and friend — Brian Fies gives it a heartfelt, objective, great review.
• Amazon reviews come in and they’re positive; readers really like the book; as a bonus, many write that “I couldn’t put this book down,” which is very special because that’s exactly what I had wanted to achieve.
• I get representation by one of the best nonfiction agents in the business
• The book gets a nice mention by stellar journalist Robin Abcarian in her LA Times feature about the attorney featured in the story
• My screenwriting partner and I start to get a sliver of legitimate interest in a film project based on the book

Notice the lack of anything mentioning sales? Yeah, it’s tough, and I find it hard to express just how much I appreciate everyone who bought a copy. It’s a struggle, and your loyalty, and leaps of faith, will never be forgotten.

Let’s use the lack of sales thing to transition to the low:

• We submit the book to major publishers for consideration — names that even only occasional readers would recognize —  and ALL praise it (“…astonishingly well written…”), and pass on it, because “we just don’t know how to ‘position’ it…”, or, as one summed up, “books about guns don’t sell.”

Been fighting that idea, that this is “a book about guns,” constantly.

But I know, I got nothin’ to whine about, really.

So this is an update, a thank you, and to whatever the next year brings. I’ll keep you all updated… (think movie, movie, movie).