Numbers Don’t Lie

But like words, numbers can be interpreted to serve a person’s agenda.  When confronted with the news that New York families are staying in homeless shelters 30% longer than they used to, the city mayor took a rather large leap of illogic.  Living in a shelter is “much more pleasurable” these days he’s quoted as saying in the article linked below.

Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg isn’t the only powerful, rich person who is out of touch with reality when it comes to homelessness.  That misconception is shared by way too many.

Read the article below to hear more about Bloomberg’s example of politicians putting a spin on facts to further an agenda outside of reality.

“The Mayor’s assertion that homeless New Yorkers are staying in shelters longer because they are ‘much more pleasurable’ is shocking and offensive,” said Mary Brosnahan, executive director of the Coalition for the Homelessness, in an emailed statement to the Wall Street Journal.

“Mayor Bloomberg systematically closed every single path to affordable housing once available to homeless families with vulnerable children,” she said. “His failed policies are the major factor leading to the record shelter population this summer. Blaming homeless families and suggesting they are luxuriating in ‘pleasurable’ accommodations shows just how badly the mayor is out of touch.”

via Mike Bloomberg And His 11 Homes Think New York Homeless Shelters Are Too Damn Nice. Homeless Disagree – New York – News – Runnin’ Scared.

How’s The Book Doing?

Now that I work from home so much, I have a lot of catching up to do when I finally get a chance to talk to a friend.  One of the first comments I get from people these days seem to be, “How’s the book doing?”

They’re not asking about the new book I’m working on, they’re asking about Painted Black which was published last December.  That much I can usually count on.  What I don’t know is how to answer them.

How do you judge how a book is doing?  If I answer based on the reviews and feedback I’ve gotten from people, I’d say the book is doing great.  The ratings that I’ve gotten have all been four or five stars and almost everyone has mentioned how reading the book has made them think seriously about homelessness.  Some have even said they now see homeless people through new eyes.

This, above all, is the measure of success I hope people are asking me about.  But if they really just want to know how many copies are sold, that’s where my confusion comes in.  In the first place, since I didn’t self publish, I don’t have immediate access to sales numbers.  Even my publisher only gets print sales information once a quarter.  In the second place, if sales are minimal, wouldn’t telling people that make it sound like Painted Black is not a very good book?  How do I even know how many copies sold equals a book’s success or failure?

I can say that Painted Black has not made any best seller lists.  It has not made me or the publisher rich.  It hasn’t even made me any money yet.  Do I wish more people would buy the book?  Hell yes!  But not so that I can say my book sold xxx,000 copies.  I want people to buy the book for the same reason I love to read books: to learn, to enjoy, to be touched by the world within its pages and maybe have their own lives influenced as well.

Borrow Painted Black

A friend of mine recently requested Painted Black from his local library and was rewarded with a notice that the book now resides on their shelves for him to borrow at any time.  This is almost as exciting as the day New Libri Press offered me a publishing contract!

If you want to read Painted Black, ask your local library if they have a copy.  Or you can buy a copy of your own by asking at your local bookstore or going to Amazon.com.

Postcards From the Streets

Reblogged from Debra R. Borys:

Suspense Magazine gave me a chance to share two "postcards" of real people I knew on the streets of Chicago and reflect on how they impacted my writing.  I hope you will click through to read the entire post and get a glimpse of Chris and John.  These people influenced my portrayal of Cry and Samuel Walker in Painted Black…

Read more… 103 more words

Stranger than Fiction?

Fiction: an excerpt from suspense novel Painted Black:

Sidney frowned and tilted his head to look from another angle.  Walked to the other side of the tray table.  Lifting the left breast slightly, he moved the padded brace close enough so the bosom remained in place.  Satisfied, he consulted the work order once again.

All that remained was the positioning of the legs.  She would be sitting in a chair so he had built a metal, crate-like frame just the right size to prop the legs up.  He would have liked to cross the legs in a more natural pose, but the specs drawn for him were inflexible.  Men who paid this much money to get what they wanted were seldom happy with creative alterations.

Reality: From today’s headlines:

Soon after, the funeral home manager, Susan Birkencamp, met with Shular-Cameron’s two children, Marc Nail and Amber Thebeau-Tunison. She told them their mother’s body had been “mistreated,” Nail told The Blade that another employee had witnessed his coworker Lawrence Clement “fondling” the corpse.

via Funeral Home Employee Arrested  – Careers Articles.