Deadly Portfolio
Reviewers Cannot Make Allowances When Writers Self-publish Without an Editor’s Help.
If a person wants to become an electrician or plumber, entrance to the trade is gained by becoming an apprentice. Before being licensed, the apprentice takes classes and works with an experienced journeyman until a command of the basics is tested and certified as having been achieved. Not so for writers, however. Aspiring authors are…
Read MoreRevised Priorities Dictate a Change in Format for this Web Site.
I started this web site nearly two years ago. During that time, I have posted 109 different articles on a variety of subjects. The web site has built up of a following of approximately 450 visits on a rolling 30 day period with nearly 70% of those visiting the site doing so for the first…
Read MoreSelf Publishing for Fun and Profit
I spent most of my career in sales. When I retired to devote myself full time to writing, I did not expect that my experience would translate meaningfully into my new venture, especially when I decided on self publishing. Writing is art, after all, and not to be sullied with coarser toil like selling stuff.…
Read MoreDeadly Portfolio Holds Autobiographical Material. This In Memory of My Father.
My father died on May 28, 1980. I was in Oak Ridge, TN at the time. I returned to my motel room after dinner and found the message light blinking on the telephone, as I tell the story in my novel, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds. In the book, the man taking the…
Read MoreStepparent. Not a Role to Be Undertaken Lightly.
#stepparent #stepchild #blendingfamilies Over the years, Matt and I grew closer and closer. When Melinda decided to pursue an MBA at night school, Matt and I prepared, shared, and cleaned up after the evening meal twice a week—no big productions. We had a great time. Today, I love him as I do my own sons. We…
Read MoreDeadly Portfolio Detective James Raker Resigns Melville County.
John J. Hohn and dog Jessie I ran into Detective James Raker on the streets in Charles City yesterday. Readers will recall that Raker was the detective who lead the investigation into the rash of murders on Pelican Bay of Lake Heron last summer. Local papers dubbed the murder spree as Deadly Portfolio, a title…
Read MoreThe Best Time to Buy or Sell in the Stock Market.
As a retired financial advisor, the question that I am asked most often is, “Is it safe now to get into the stock market?” I answer, “No. It’s never safe to get into the market.” When the market is falling, I hear, “Do you think I should get out?” Again, “No.” Investing isn’t like swimming…
Read MoreChristmas Once Again. An Agnostic Salute to Its Passing
#christmas #agnostic Agnostics can rejoice at Christmas. Christmas is one brief period of the year when Christians at least pay lip service to establishing peace on earth. They do it, of course, against a backdrop of carnage in the Middle East where life for the ordinary citizens in several countries is a never-ending nightmare, where…
Read MoreDeath and Taxes — Life Certainties
Life contains its certainties. Gravity is one. Death is another. Recently, the GOP majority proved that taxes are not, at least for the wealthy few in the nation. Most everything else is open to further investigation. Life certainties would seem to be the province of science. But theories are advanced only to be disproved and…
Read MoreInternet Sales Require Trust Building Skills of the Salesperson
Recently, I was asked if my experience as a successful career salesperson transferred into the world of Internet sales, an area in which I am actively promoting my novel, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds. My initial response was that no, that it did not. Then I began to think about it. My publisher…
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