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radioDon

radioDon

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Hello

I've been hanging out around here for some time. I did post a comment about AI critiques a while back. I could fill pages of critical critiques about those myself... alas, that must wait for another day.

Brief bio:
I am a 73 year old medically retired broadcast engineer. I worked for WNKJ Christian Radio for my entire career of right at 40 years. I also worked parttime at numerous radio and a couple of TV stations during those years.

I am a widower and lost my oldest son to a MRSA infection in his dialysis shunt at around age 40. My wife died the day before our 50th wedding anniversary. I am father to 3 living children, 10 grandchildren and 4 greatgrandchildren with two more on the way.

I was born and raised in Clarksville, TN but have resided in Hopkinsville, KY since shortly after joining WNKJ.

My writing:
I have written four books, none of which have been published. I am hoping to start doing that soon.

The series is called The Martyrs' Path

The books in the series are:
Prequel: Christmas at Shadowlands' Edge
1. The Recanter's Tidal Pool
2. Until the Day Breaks
3. The Smoke of Their Torment

The prequel is character driven story of grief, destructive anger and hope through it all. But it establishes the dystopian world, the supernatural elements and introduces many of the main characters who appear throughout the rest of the books.

The 3-book series take actual historical Christian martyrdoms and reimagines them in an altered historical setting. They are predominantly supernatural dystopian thrillers.

Because of the theme of the books there a lot of dark moments in them. Some parts are gritty but not gratuitous. There is no explicit sexual content and no profanity beyond the antagonists taking God's name in vain occasionally. There are horrific moments, but I do my best to imbue them with faith and grace.

While I believe anyone 16 or older could benefit from the books, my target age is 30 and up.

Information about them can be found at my website shadowlandsedge.com

All books are self-edited.

If you're interested...
The prolog to Christmas at Shadowlands' Edge is posted in my first blog post there. It is a bit whimsical but quickly establishes the central conflict of the story.

Thanks for making this forum available. I plan to make more posts in appropriate areas.
 
Hello, Don! Welcome to the gang! So glad you've joined us. One thing that is essential is to have your books professionally edited. This is not something that should be skipped. And before you decide on your publishing route, please check with us as there are lots of scammers out there. ::D
 
Welcome, radiodon, to our family of Christian Writers! I do share one thing in common with you: I, too, have had the pleasure of working at a television station. I was the front desk and security relief person at WCCO television in Minneapolis, Minnesota for about a year. And, because one of our main anchors had a radio talk show, they added a second location so that he wouldn't have to "jet" across the city when he was scheduled to anchor the evening news.

The salary was minimum wage. And, I had to "brown bag" my lunch. But, I am sure that you can attest to the "electric" atmosphere of working in an environment that always has its pulse on the current events of "all that's newsworthy". ( I was working there on September 11th, 2001. I will never forget that day.)

The anchor's radio show was located just to the right of my desk so that the public could watch and listen to his show while sitting in the downtown mall. I made coffee for the guests and got to take a few photos. It was almost a dream job for me as a single mother, for many reasons. One being that FOXSPORTS NET had an office there. And, they would give me comps so that I could take some of the low-income kids in my neighborhood to sports events. Their parents didn't have "extra" money for such things. Most of the tickets were for the women's basketball team: The Lynx. And, I am sure that they will never forget what it meant to meet and get autographs from legends like Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes. Toss in a "box seats" adventure and that would complete the dream. I, myself, met some interesting "legends": One of the Supremes - Mary Wilson and gold medalist/international champion ice skater: Katarina Witt. Those were only a few of the "highlights".

Thank you for sharing part of your biography and pursuits with us. I hope that you have much success in this adventure we call "writing". Blessings from 'Bama.
 
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Thank you for your kind welcome and comments on my other thread.
 
lynnmosher said:
Hello, Don! Welcome to the gang! So glad you've joined us. One thing that is essential is to have your books professionally edited. This is not something that should be skipped. And before you decide on your publishing route, please check with us as there are lots of scammers out there. ::D
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Thank you for your kind welcome and comments in my other thread. With regard to the self-edited books, I simply cannot afford a professional editor.
 
Whendancer64 said:
Welcome, radiodon, to our family of Christian Writers! I do share one thing in common with you: I, too, have had the pleasure of working at a television station. I was the front desk and security relief person at WCCO television in Minneapolis, Minnesota for about a year. And, because one of our main anchors had a radio talk show, they added a second location so that he wouldn't have to "jet" across the city when he was scheduled to anchor the evening news.

The salary was minimum wage. And, I had to "brown bag" my lunch. But, I am sure that you can attest to the "electric" atmosphere of working in an environment that always has its pulse on the current events of "all that's newsworthy". ( I was working there on September 11th, 2001. I will never forget that day.)

The anchor's radio show was located just to the right of my desk so that the public could watch and listen to his show while sitting in the downtown mall. I made coffee for the guests and got to take a few photos. It was almost a dream job for me as a single mother, for many reasons. One being that FOXSPORTS NET had an office there. And, they would give me comps so that I could take some of the low-income kids in my neighborhood to sports events. Their parents didn't have "extra" money for such things. Most of the tickets were for the women's basketball team: The Lynx. And, I am sure that they will never forget what it meant to meet and get autographs from legends like Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes. Toss in a "box seats" adventure and that would complete the dream. I, myself, met some interesting "legends": One of the Supremes - Mary Wilson and gold medalist/international champion ice skater: Katarina Witt. Those were only a few of the "highlights".

Thank you for sharing part of your biography and pursuits with us. I hope that you have much success in this adventure we call "writing". Blessings from 'Bama.
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Thank you for your kind welcome. Your TV life was a lot more exciting than mine. When low power TV came out the local newspaper put one in. It was only a 1000W station and the way the antenna was designed you could not even pick it up in town. It was designed to feed neighboring cable companies. However it had a full news crew with news at 6 and 10 as well as local sports coverage. My last two books lean heavily on that experience. My other TV job was for a PaxTV network hub in Nashville. About the only thing they produced there was commercials and that didn't last very long.
 
radioDon said:
Thank you for your kind welcome. Your TV life was a lot more exciting than mine. When low power TV came out the local newspaper put one in. It was only a 1000W station and the way the antenna was designed you could not even pick it up in town. It was designed to feed neighboring cable companies. However it had a full news crew with news at 6 and 10 as well as local sports coverage. My last two books lean heavily on that experience. My other TV job was for a PaxTV network hub in Nashville. About the only thing they produced there was commercials and that didn't last very long.
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Really? Wasn't PAXTV the network that took a chance on the series "Sue Thomas-FB-EYE"? I loved that show. I still watch reruns on YouTube.:)
 
radioDon said:
I simply cannot afford a professional editor.
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You might find an English teacher who is willing to do it for much less. Check with your grands or greats (depending on their ages) and see if one might help you. You might acknowledge in your request that teachers (especially English teachers, especially Creative Writing teachers) have limited time, as they are grading their students' papers, so you know not to expect a quick turn-around.
 
carolinamtne said:
You might find an English teacher who is willing to do it for much less. Check with your grands or greats (depending on their ages) and see if one might help you. You might acknowledge in your request that teachers (especially English teachers, especially Creative Writing teachers) have limited time, as they are grading their students' papers, so you know not to expect a quick turn-around.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I am a great grandfather so there aren't many left to up the line to check with. I do have five living aunts but none were teachers. I am also medically retired and my only social network is doctors and infusion nurses.
 
radioDon said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I am a great grandfather so there aren't many left to up the line to check with. I do have five living aunts but none were teachers. I am also medically retired and my only social network is doctors and infusion nurses.
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You never know, one of your docs or nurses might need something to read, lol. Doesn't hurt to start random conversation and drop hints to check possibility.
 
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