I am an idiot writer

This will be the first post in the adventures of being a stupid writer.

I have to say that of all of the things to be in this world, why would anyone want to be a writer --- especially now?

I am not sure what being in middle school is these days, but when I went to school, we were required to read certain books throughout the year... what a crock. I had better things to do than read. I think most of the time I copied my neighbors answers to the 10 question quiz we had after each reading assignment.

It wasn't until I had this bright idea in 1996 to write a book that I thought reading added anything to society. That's right - 1996. That was before "Harry Potter", before the Internet craze and before the absolute saturation of wanna be authors - yours truly included.

It is amazing what one can do with technology these days - meaning - CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE THIS STUFF STARTS OR STOPS? What do I mean by stuff? Exactly, have not one clue.

I have gone the self-publishing route - and let me be the first to say - DON'T DO IT!! Unless you want to pat yourself on the back. There is virtue in self publishing though - once you go through it - you'll know where you made your mistake, and you'll be cleaning it up for some time afterwards.

I will say I have a product due to self-publication - it is not a bad product - but what an agent and publishing house can do for said product is daunting to say the least what one can do with that product themselves.

You see - I have done everything that everyone says a self-publisher should do - but yet no one reads my book. The reason? Well - this is hard, but the reason is that I have not a clue how to market, distribute, publicize, or anything else to my audience.

So yes - I have the social media stuff...nothing. I have a blog...nothing.

Maybe my story is not good enough.......hmmmm....maybe, but I don't know that because I can't reach a larger market, and the money it would take to do so is something I am not willing to pay - especially since I am some thousands of dollars in the hole.

Being published in a house with an agent gives you one thing self-pub will not, and that is being legit. Save the sermons, please, until later. I know all of the cliches and sayings and everything else.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but there is also a winner of the lottery - and what is the chance in that?

I still think it is easier to make in Hollywood than it is to be a writer.

I love success stories - yet I am not one of them. I am probably one of the millions that are not - though I will not give up. I just want to do it right.

It is a brand new world out there as far as publishing goes. Anyone with a computer can be a writer nowadays. I have probably seen my window open and shut, but we'll see.

So I have 3 followers of my blog as of this post.....this should be interesting.

www.facebook.com/jmarkboliek

Press Release: J. Mark Boliek Featured on "The Bookworms: Young Adult Book Reviews" Blog

To discuss the songs on his new book’s soundtrack CD

August 19, 2011 -- J. Mark Boliek, the author of The Mahogany Door and composer of the book’s accompanying all-original soundtrack CD, was the featured guest on "The Bookworms: Young Adult Book Reviews” blog.

The Mahogany Door is a 353-page urban fantasy-adventure novel about three friends – JT, Michael and Kali -- who have been separated for years by a tragedy, but who must reunite to return to the fantasy land of Bruindeur beyond the mahogany door to fulfill a destiny before that world collapses. The journey back to the world behind the door leads to self-discovery and to the realization that things in life are not always as they seem. The songs on the CD capture themes and emotions from the book.

For The Bookworms blog, Boliek focused on his three favorite songs from the CD: “All Alone,” “In The Afternoon,” and “Goodbyes.”

“All Alone” is the theme song of the book, he said. The main characters “find themselves alone in their own little space in the world, and it is not until they are able to reunite will they be able to face the demons from their past and conquer them.”

The song also speaks to the reason he wrote the book: “Many bad things have happened in my life, and along the way I have felt very much alone. It is when I started to find my true inner self that I could move forward, in some cases dealing with the mundane of everyday life.”

“In The Afternoon” addresses the way a single event can drastically change one’s life in just a few hours. “For JT in the book,” Boliek said, “he wakes up on his farm bee-bopping around, and by the afternoon his whole world has been turned upside down by a little boy who comes to him and tells a crazy story about his past.”

Boliek told The Bookworms that “Goodbyes”, however, is the most special song on the CD to him, yet it’s also the most difficult for him to listen to even today.

“I wrote it during one of the worst times in my life. It is so hard to say goodbye to the ones you love, but sometimes it is closure that humans need to move on,” he said. His character Kali “wants closure to everything that has happened to her, but it will not be easy for her to find.”

The Bookworms blog provides audio files for listening to the three songs from the CD. To see the entire post, go to http://thebookworms.org and click on “Guest Post: J. Mark Boliek” under Recent posts.

The Mahogany Door is currently available at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC, on the author’s website, and in e-book versions at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. For more information on the book and the accompanying CD, visit www.jmarkboliek.com.

The U.K.'s Fantasy Book Review Publishes Interview with The Mahogany Door's author J. Mark Boliek

August 2011

Magic swords, secret potions, holy grails – these are some of the objects that colour most fantasy-adventure novels. But what happens when marvels and magic, secrets and spiritual beings represent real-life events and emotions? The story that evolves represents feelings about friendship, perseverance, and about accepting help from someone larger than one’s self along the way. This is the story Durham, NC, author Mark Boliek shares in his new novel for young and young adult readers entitled, The Mahogany Door. Read more...

Katie Basden To Perform During First Dream Factory Fun Day in Graham

Her Performance will include Songs From “The Mahogany Door” CD.

June 6, 2011 (Graham, NC) – Katie Basden, a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from Durham, NC, and a new name in country music, will perform for the first annual Dream Factory Family Fun Day in Graham, NC, on June 11, from noon to 1:20 p.m. On her song list are two songs from the new soundtrack CD for “The Mahogany Door.”

J. Mark Boliek, author of “The Mahogany Door,” a fantasy-adventure book for young readers, will be on hand to sell autographed copies of the book and to donate the proceeds to the Dream Factory of Central Carolina.

The Dream Factory is a national non-profit organization founded in 1980 that serves critically and chronically ill children ages three to 18 by granting “dreams” for them. The local chapters are run entirely by volunteers.

Basden will perform “Rear View Mirror,” a song she wrote that she allowed Boliek to use on his book’s soundtrack CD. She plays acoustic guitar and provides the vocals on the CD track.

She will also perform “Goodbyes,” a song written by Mark Boliek with Mary Alice Bell specifically for the soundtrack.

“With her charisma and big voice, Katie is a terrific young talent with a bright future ahead of her,” said Boliek, who also co-owns Split Rail Multimedia LLC in Durham with his wife, Jill. Split Rail Multimedia produced “The Mahogany Door” CD.

The Dream Factory Fun Day will go on until 4 p.m. and include three bands, inflatables for kids, a fire truck, and an information book offering the latest efforts of the Dream Factory as well as volunteer opportunities. For more information go to www.dreamfactoryinccnc.org.

To hear Katie Basden’s performances on “The Mahogany Door” soundtrack CD, go to www.jmarkboliek.com/the-music. She also maintains an active Facebook page.

About Katie Basden:

Katie Basden grew up in Durham, NC and attends Belmont University in Nashville, TN. As a singer/songwriter, she was inspired by country music from a young age. The daughter of singer Anne Basden, Katie honed her talents during years of singing in her church and in school. She hopes to leave her mark on country music much like her favorite singer/songwriters Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, and Victoria Banks. Katie can be found on Facebook and YouTube.

In The Media:

Fantasy Book Review: The Bruinduer Narrative Trilogy - A New Fantasy-Adventure Book for Young Readers

"The Mahogany Door,” book one of J. Mark Boliek’s The Bruinduer Narrative series, is told by an unnamed grandfather who captivates a group of children with his fascinating story, first out on a beach then huddled around the fireplace of a beautiful mansion by the shore as a fierce thunderstorm rages outside.

Click HERE to view the entire article.

###

In The Media:

YA Fantasy Guide, Small Press section:
"The Mahogany Door by J. Mark Boliek"

Click HERE to view the entire article

###

Press Release:

The Mahogany Door: A New Fantasy-Adventure Book for Young Readers
Split Rail Books releases the first book in The Bruinduer Narrative Trilogy


May 23, 2011 (Durham, NC) -- After the last Harry Potter film is released this summer, what will young fans of fantasy-adventure fiction have to look forward to? Split Rail Books in Durham, NC, suggests its new title, “The Mahogany Door,” the first novel in a new fiction-fantasy-adventure series written by J. Mark Boliek of Durham especially for young readers.

And it comes with an original-music soundtrack CD.

“The Mahogany Door,” book one of Boliek’s The Bruinduer Narrative series, is told by an unnamed grandfather who captivates a group of children with his fascinating story, first out on a beach then huddled around the fireplace of a beautiful mansion by the shore as a fierce thunderstorm rages outside.

The story centers around three friends, separated years ago by a traumatic event, who are compelled to reunite so that they may once again pass through “The Mahogany Door” and into the fantasy Vryheids world of Bruinduer. They must fulfill a destiny they left undone nine years before to keep Bruinduer from collapsing. One of the friends lost his parents and his memory in a horrible accident and has no idea what to expect. One knows too well and has tried to forget. The third friend’s insistence that they must return to Bruinduer is mysterious and suspicious.

The friends’ journey back to the world behind “The Mahogany Door” leads to the book’s “teaching moments,” which resonate with the author’s own life – about things in life not always being what they seem, about the value of friendship and the importance of completing tasks, and about the secret to tapping into the power of a their only “guide” along the journey, a monstrous being they call “Billy.” And the end is designed to leave young readers anxious for book two.

Author J. Mark Boliek is a former football player and military man, a computer programmer and musician, and the son veteran broadcast journalist Dave Boliek of WTVD-TV. He began working on The Bruinduer Narrative nine years ago. His initial 157-page draft turned into three distinct stories in which the first tale, “The Mahogany Door,” evolved into a 353-page children’s fantasy novel. He is currently working on the other two books in what he expects to be a trilogy.

“The Mahogany Door” features cover art an interior illustrations by California artist Lauren Gallegos. It is published in paperback with a typeface and size optimized for young readers ages 10 and up. The songs on the accompanying CD, written primarily by the author, reflect certain themes in the book, from “All Alone” to “Here Is My Anger, Here Is My Pride.”

For more information about “The Mahogany Door” by J. Mark Boliek, published by Split Rail Books, go to www.jmarkboliek.com. Each track from the accompanying CD can be heard at www.jmarkboliek.com/the-music and the book with CD can be ordered directly at www.jmarkboliek.com/cart.

Facts about The Mahogany Door:

Author: J. Mark Boliek. Publisher: Split Rail Books. Publication Date: May 2011. Genres: Fantasy-Fiction, Adventure-Fiction. Illustrator: Lauren Gallegos. Age Group: 10 and up. ISBN: 978-0-9832900-0-1. Paperback: 353pp. Retail Price: $24.95. Currently available: www.jmarkboliek.com.

All Alone, In the Afternoon, Here is My Anger, Here is My Pride

Hello All-

A few days until the The Mahogany Door, the first book in a series of fantasy-adventure books for young readers, is available at www.jmarkboliek.com. We are in the process of making it available at other outlets. But at the moment, if you order from my online store, you get a signed copy, the CD, and free shipping. I hope to be able to sign your copy.

"All Alone" and "In the Afternoon" are pretty special songs to me for the sole reason that I wrote them. It is a pretty cool thing to put something together that you never thought you could and it actually sounds pretty good. Of course I had a LOT of help. Jon Murray let me borrow his pipes by singing the two songs because I can promise that I would not have sounded up to the part. As my wife tells me, "Mark, you can sing, but you should never be recorded."

Scott Jackson lends his music ability on the guitar and my wife lends her voice for the backing vocals. Of course, without the skill of John Plymale's engineering and producing, well, none of it would have been good.

I picked "Here is My Anger, Here is My Pride," which Scott and Jon wrote for a former band they were in because the original song was very powerful.

What is so interesting is that I really liked the sound of its hard rock flare. But one day last year, Scott played it on his acoustic guitar, and I actually liked that sound better. So we started to fiddle around with another arrangement. Originally, the song was only vocals, acoustic guitar, and strings. But John Plymale felt that it needed balance so he added an R&B flare beat. I think it came out great, which proves that the song is so strong that it can work in different styles.

When I heard the finished arrangement, I felt it described my antagonist -- named Charlie -- exactly. I felt that the argument in the song the singer has with God not only speaks for Charlie, but it also speaks for me when I found myself in a very dark time in my own life some years ago. I almost felt that God had abandoned me. In reality though, it was I who abandoned God. My anger and pride got in the way of what is truly important in this life: my relationship with others and my relationship with God. I thought my way was the only way, and it got me in some pretty nasty trouble.

I hope you like these songs we'v inserted on the player. Jon Murray provides the vocals with a little help from my wife, Jill, on "All Alone" and "In the Afternoon." They will be up for a couple of days, then I will preview the entire album for you in context and order as we release the book.

OH YEAH! Another thing that makes "In the Afternoon" so satisfying is that Jill hated it when I first wrote it on an acoustic guitar. But now, with all the bells and whistles of production, it is one of her favorites. Nice!

As always, thanks for your support,

Mark



http://www.reverbnation.com/themahoganydoor

The Cue. Chapter 4 drawing.

It is pretty cool to have comments about things you are least expecting.



I have placed five chapter illustrations in one of the albums on my Facebook author page, and I received a comment on one of the illustrations that I really like a lot, but never really thought of it as an eye-catcher. That chapter is number 4.



It depicts JT standing under Gregory's big, old, oak tree looking out over a field that he farms, and by his right foot, the first leaf of Fall tumbles to the ground.



In the book, the scene is used as a visual cue to let the reader know that this is where the adventure starts to get interesting. Have you ever wondered about the very first snowflake that falls from the sky on a winter's day, or for that matter the very first of anything? I have often thought about those things.



I do believe (and she may correct me) that Lauren Gallegos, my illustrator for The Mahogany Door, mentioned that the leaf falling stuck in her mind and just seemed pretty important.



It's interesting as well to play your life in "rewind" to see some of the decisions that you have made to get you to that one particular point. In that context, it IS very important. For example, one day two very dear friends of our offered to let my wife and me use a time share in Alexandria, Virginia. At first I really wasn't so sure. We had studio time to prepare for, and, if you know me, you'll understand my disdain for driving around Washington, D.C. In fact, by taking the trip I would have driven through the area twice within the last month. But I digress.



My wife immediately wanted to do it, but I really, kind of, maybe, not so sure, maybe, wanted to say no. I really didn't want to have to drive back from D.C. at night and then have to go to work (wow, I am just too exciting). I then remembered how much that our friends mean to us, so I said yes.



As I barely got the word "yes" out of my mouth, my wife immediately says, "So do you want to go see your uncle and aunt and cousins? They do live in D.C., right?" Granted there are many personal things in my life I do not talk about, so for the chance for my wife to corner ANYONE from my life and ask questions about me, she's willing to do it at the drop of a hat.



When I was younger, my family was pretty close. But things in life happen, and the separation of time takes its toll. I think we can all relate to the "I love my family, but there are some things I just don't want to do with them." I confess: I am one of those people. Yet as a gesture to my wife, I said, "I think that will be nice."



Again, if you know me, and you know my wife, you know I will say that I will be glad to do things. But it's the "doing" that is the problem. My wife promptly sends a note to my aunt, knowing that I will probably forget or wait until the day before we should show up.



Long story short: I got to meet my uncle, aunt, and cousin again and meet a couple of first cousins once removed (so I am told). I was told a hundred times that I need to get a dog, I was encouraged to talk about my book with people very interested in it, and I got to look stupid wearing a head thingy while they guessed "What I am?" And Jill got some of her questions answered. She found out that the Hunter (my mom's maiden name) apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, and that we all - I mean ALL -- have the same eyes (squinty inset ones). It was not only a nice seven hours - it was fun! Something I hope that I can do again soon.



It was a good lesson for me to revert back to the real reason I wrote the book. There are some things we have no control over, but there are some things we do. We don't have control over the first leaf of Fall making its way to Earth, but perhaps we have control over what takes place after it metaphorically floats to the ground in our lives. Saying "yes" sometimes may just be a good thing.




I was reminded a couple of times during the process of creating The Mahogany Door, the first book in my series of fantasy books for young readers, that I really need to try to do some of the things I write so eloquently about. I think those people who have reminded me of this were right. (Of course you can probably guess who that person is.)




Always,



Mark

Days That Seem to Never End

Hello Friends:

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.


As a note, I'd like to let you know that The Mahogany Door, the first of a series of fantasy-adventure books for young readers, will be released next Spring. Unseen circumstances have dictated a later release, but I believe the extra time we are going to put into the soundtrack and marketing will be well worth the wait.


In the next few months I'd like to show you some of the final chapter headings, the passages behind them, and why I wrote those passage - before unveiling the cover art at the beginning of the year. That might seem like a long time, but it's actually only three and half months away!


The passage that Lauren drew for Chapter 19 is as follows:


"A mysterious bang rang across the floor and JT woke from his mesmerized state. He walked out of the small inner room and the stone wall slid shut and JT was stopped in his tracks. He turned to face the bed, and all around him, was a very disturbing site.

On the stone walls surrounding the bed were counting marks. The lines were grouped by five with four marks vertical and one mark slashing across the others. After studying the groupings for a few moments, they appeared as though they were in uniformed rows and columns and seemed to have started from the top right corner across from where JT stood and dressed each of the three walls entirely. The neatly stacked groupings stopped to his left just above his ankle directly beside him. The last grouping of marks was only four vertical lines. As each collection of marks receded and labored down the walls, the lines became shakier, jagged, and deep. A sense of sorrow penetrated JT’s body. His heart sank and he felt powerless. He remembered Charlie stating in the great hall of the Triton pyramid that he had counted each day he had been in Bruinduer and in his bed chamber is where he had done the deed..."


" ‘Do you have any idea what it feels like to be totally alone?!’ Charlie screamed at the top of his voice toward his guests.."




The theme song for The Mahogany Door is called "All Alone." It's driven by the fact that in my personal life there was a time when I felt all alone, as if there were no one there to catch me if I fell. During that time, the days never seemed to end. One after the another, the morning sun and the monotonous bounce of life continued relentlessly. I never thought that I would be able to move forward. In fact, some of the time I felt as though I was taking steps backwards with my life. Depression set in and ripped not only my psyche apart, but also my body, physically. To this day, I have yet to recover fully as pain is a daily reminder of that awful time in my life. The last grouping of four lines in the passage represents the reminder that there would be at least one more day I'd have to face.

Slowly, with the help of my father and a release to the Holy Spirit, I was able to get the hands of time moving again. My life started with a new purpose and I moved to Wilmington, NC. There, sitting on the beach and through regular counseling sessions, I allowed myself to let go of a lot of anger. I found that I could love again and support myself without always relying on my parents. It was a tough but satisfying two years.

One of my assignments from my counselor was to write a journal. Instead, I started remembering the good days of being young and I tried to figure out where my life went wrong. Out of it all, I began to develop The Mahogany Door.

Writing didn't save my life. I believe the story God gave me did. I know it's not Shakespeare. Some may even think it's not very good. I don't mind. I'm not alone anymore.


Thanks for keeping up with me - you have no idea what it means.


Mark

The Most Unfortunate word, Goodbye.

One of the themes of The Mahogany Door is the unfortunate evil of having to say Goodbye.

Whether it is saying goodbye to our loved ones embarking on a long trip, just leaving for the day, or in the most undesired time when they may depart your life forever, it is my belief that there is always a bit of our heart that is erased every time we must utter that most horrific word, "Goodbye".

There was a moment in my life when I had to say that word that changed me eternally, and that one second in time haunts me to this day, and I am sure that there are many times in your life when you had to say goodbye to the most loved in your life. Trust me, I know that it hurts.

The clip of the song on the fan page wall, called "Goodbyes", that you hear has an interesting story. At my most desperate time, I had a very hard time dealing with my loneliness as I had to say goodbye to a girl that means the world to me.

As I searched for a way to express what I felt, I came across my sister's notebook of poetry. I don't recommend scrounging around your sibling's room, but I turned to a poem called 'goodbyes', and as I read it, and tears flowed, I knew how to express my anger and sadness.

I took the words and put them to music.

After writing The Mahogany Door -- the first book in a trilogy of young reader fiction-fantasy-adventure books, it was then I realized that the theme of saying goodbye is littered among its pages. And even as tough as it may be to tell the ones you love goodbye, there will always be a memory to go back to. And even though that fleeting thought seems sad, just remember that when you first felt those memories you shared with that special someone, it was a very happy and special time.

The song is not complete, but somehow I just want to share the clip.

The young lady you hear singing is Katie Basden, a very talented and special young lady. Remember her name, because I can almost guarantee you'll hear her voice over the radio.

I still need to add some more background vocals, but in this clip, Jill, my wife, does an excellent job. Now all i need is for Anne to come over and finish the job.

I hope you enjoy the music clip, and as we continue on this journey of completing the fantasy book series, I hope we can get to know each other a little better, even if at some point we must say goodbye.

Find the facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/J-Mark-Boliek/148758373139