In light of the recent tragedies with the hurricanes and now the fires raging in California, many families are misplaced – forced to live away from their homes.  Some won’t return to those homes, because they’ve been destroyed.

Then, there are those who live on the streets year-round…many out of necessity, because they have no home.  We refer to them as simply… “The Homeless.”  It is for them that I write this piece…

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A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

People wish for presents

That fit ‘neath a Christmas tree

But, I’d like something more special

Gifted just for me.

I want a place to come home to

A place to call my own

I’d like to feel the shelter

Of my very own home.

Living on the streets

Or, sometimes out of a car…

Is the most horrible feeling

I’ve ever felt thus far.

I pray for this hell to…

One of the hardest thing to watch on social media is an author, usually a debut author, getting excited about their upcoming book launch and knowing they are about to get hit around the head with a hard dose of reality.

They’ve done the right things, built up a twitter or Facebook following, blogged about the book, sent copies out for review, told all their friends about the upcoming launch, pulled together a promo video and graphic, maybe taken out some adverts. The first few days after launch are filled with excited tweets, mentions of early positive reviews and chart rankings. Then, after a few days, maybe a few weeks, the positive tweets stop and an air of desperation sets in as the reality of life as an indie author hits home.

Part of the problem is that the authors most vocal on social media are those that have already seen self-publishing…