[Guest Post]: Weird Writing Quirks by Collin Glavac, the author of a spy thriller “Ghosts of Guatemala”

My today’s guest is a thriller author, Collin Glavac. His spy thriller “Ghosts of Guatemala” was published in November 2019.

Collin Glavac’s Weird Writing Quirks

I’ve been writing for a long time now, and I suppose I was bound to develop some strange habits along the way. Here is a weird list of my writing quirks:

Fingerless Gloves: I like to wear fingerless gloves when I write because they keep my hands warm and add a bit of protection but mostly because they make me feel super cool. Sometimes I light incense or candles so I get a mystical vibe going on too.

Coffee: I like to have a steady IV drip of coffee going. Tea is also acceptable. While the nectar of the gods flows, so do the words. I also keep water at my desk because drinking coffee doesn’t quench my thirst, so I sort of alternate between the two. Surprisingly, I don’t need snacks while I write (but snacks are always good, let’s be real). My guilty treat is late-night coffee. I write some really weird stuff when that happens.

Hoodie: I really like writing with my hood up so I feel all hunkered-down when I hit the keys. I sometimes wear a cloak as well to really bundle up, and sit cross-legged in my chair. I stopped being self-conscious about how this looks a long time ago.

Headphones: Big noise-cancellation over-the-ear headphones are key. I listen to whatever will keep me in a flow and rid me of distraction, but I need up-tempo stuff to keep me moving. I wish I could say I listen to beautiful sweeping fantasy soundtracks but I actually find trashy pop music to be the best thing to listen to while I write.

Tech: Besides headphones tech-wise, I also LOVE my mechanical keyboard and dual monitor setup. I like to bang my keys so each letter feels like a hammer working at an anvil. My mechanical keyboard (blue switches, thank you very much) make me feel like I’m typing on an obnoxious typewriter. It’s great, although not for anyone unfortunate enough to be in the next room over. Once I upgraded to a dual screen setup there was no going back. I keep my writing document on my primary screen and use the secondary screen to display my notes, music, and any research I need to pull up. It is chef’s kiss perfect.

So there you have it, my weirdo writing quirks. Basically, I look like a gremlin in a cave when I write. Don’t worry what you look like when you write! And honestly, what I’ve learned to appreciate most is being able to write without any of these things. This is a wishlist. I used to only write when inspiration came, and I realized how much I was limiting myself. Inspiration doesn’t always come, and it only chains you to the muse. I think it’s important to murder your muse so you can write anywhere, anytime, with only a pen and paper if need be (yes, even without coffee).

What are your weird quirks? Happy writing! 🙂

About the Book

Genre: Spy Thriller

Date Published: 25th November 2019

Who can you trust when corruption and danger are a way of life?

The CIA never left Latin America, and is facing catastrophic blackmail at the hands of an erratic Guatemalan drug lord: the infamous patrón of Antigua – Pablo Puentes. Desperate for a swift solution, the agency calls in their black operative fixer: John Carpenter.

John is a cold-blooded professional ready for the job. But the mission doesn’t have a simple fix. Pablo has a disastrous kill switch in place.

John is still haunted by the mysterious death of his best friend who died on a far too similar mission, and now is uncertain about how much he can trust his handler or his sensual partner.

Back at the agency, tensions are running hot as the stench of corruption is growing to a boiling point. If things aren’t put to rights – and soon – the entire mission will go up in flames and take the CIA down with it.

Only John Carpenter can bring this drug lord to justice and get the answers he deserves.

Because this mission is personal…

If you like the relentless tension of Daniel Silva and the gritty reality of Lee Child then you’ll love this first book in the John Carpenter Trilogy.

About the Author

Collin Glavac is a Canadian born actor and writer who lives in the province of Ontario Canada. He has written, directed and acted in two original stage plays, In Real Life, and LoveSpell. He completed his Dramatic and Liberal Arts B.A. and M.A at Brock University.
Ghosts of Guatemala is his first novel.
Collin loves hearing from readers, so please don’t hesitate to contact him by email at: collinglavac@gmail.com

Contact Links

Website: http://www.collinglavac.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Collin-Glavac-Books-1121304391410779

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CollinGlavac

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48946944-ghosts-of-guatemala

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collinglavac/

Purchase Links

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosts-of-guatemala-collin-glavac/1135107120?ean=2940163708420

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/ghosts-of-guatemala

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1489118360

Giveaway

eBook or signed copy

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/408264011359/

[Release Blitz]: Killing Time by Mike Murphey

Physics, Lust and Greed Series, Book 3

Genre: Humorous Science Fiction

Date Published: 11th May 2021

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

At every crossroads he has encountered in life, Sean Brody has made the safe choice. In the year 2046, at the age of ninety-three, Sean is given one final opportunity to deal with his greatest regret.

Sean is the only man Marshall Grissom and Marta Hamilton can find who might be able to save Sheila Schuler, their friend and fellow traveler lost in the distant reaches of time. If Sean accepts the task of traveling to his childhood in a parallel universe—with no guarantee that any aspect of the past can be changed—Sean must also accept his death in the only world he knows.

About the Author

Mike Murphey is a native of eastern New Mexico and spent almost thirty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. He left journalism in 1998 to form a business related to adult amateur baseball. At the age of 60, he stopped procrastinating and revived his life-long ambition to write a novel. He is author of Sections, an award-winning coming of age novel set in Eastern New Mexico where Mike grew up. He is also author of The Conman … a Baseball Odyssey, another award-winning novel. Killing Time is the third novel in his Physics, Lust and Greed Series. Mike splits his time between Spokane, Washington and Phoenix, Arizona where he enjoys life as a writer and old-man baseball player.

Contact Links

Website:  http://www.mikemurpheybooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.murphey.author

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/mandnmur

Purchase Links

Giveaway

$5 Amazon Gift Card + eBook Copy

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/408264011348

[Book Blitz]: Parker’s Choice by Mike Nemeth

Genre: Suspense, Mystery

Published: March 2021

Publisher: Southern Fried Karma

Framed for murder and on-the-run an innocent man is forced to become an outlaw. Hiding from his troubled past in Atlanta, Parker can’t escape his enemies. His former business partner blackmails him and when she’s killed, Parker becomes the chief suspect, but he fears his wife did it.

His boss coerces him to commit fraud, but he and his clever colleague, Sabrina, uncover evidence that his elusive birth father is involved in the scheme and Parker’s innate moral code is stressed to the limit. Parker must solve a riddle within a quandary within a puzzle within a mystery to save the lives of those he loves.

Excerpt

Three Years Ago

Parker watched her on the doorbell camera on his phone. It shouldn’t have to end this way; his future shouldn’t depend on the risky odds that he was right about what would happen tonight. He weaved around over-sized furniture and peered through the small square window in his front door. She wore a red, V-neck sundress exposing two inches of cleavage, reminding Parker once again that this woman’s sexual magnetism radiated like heat waves off a blacktop road. Her body an eye-catching confluence of tanned, sweeping curves, her hair long and blonde, and her eyes sapphire blue, she was a woman in her prime who Parker knew enjoyed the attention of men of all ages. He wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts and opened the door. On-time and all smiles,  Meredith walked into his arms as though she were his lover arriving for a romantic evening.

Awkwardly, Parker extricated himself from her embrace. He led her to the dining room in his cramped beach bungalow where the papers to dissolve their partnership in Advanced Fraud Analytics, LLC were laid out on the table.

“You surprised me by agreeing to this,” he said.

She shook her head, and her long hair flew off one shoulder and onto the other. “Time to get off the investor-schmoozing merry-go-round and kill our ‘baby.’”

“Sad it’s come to this, but it’s a good deal for you. You’re relieved of all company debts and obligations and indemnified against any lawsuits; in return, I retain full ownership of the fraud detection algorithms and computer programs. Okay?”

She tapped the stack of papers with her ruby nails but did not take a seat. “Let’s do this outside. It’s such a lovely evening.”

Outside, Parker knew he would lose a measure of control, but he had planned for this situation. He swept up the legal documents and carried them to the pebbled glass table in his lanai. Five feet beyond the wall of screens, a swimming pool filled the backyard that ended in a gentle slope to the Intracoastal Waterway. A wooden shed, in which his center-console boat sat in a lift sling, flanked his rickety dock and to the right of the pool a large, four-person hot tub squatted on a slab, shielded from his neighbor’s sight by thick hibiscus. The sun was a dying ember on the horizon, so Parker turned on the underwater pool lights. It wasn’t a romantic gesture; he wanted a little indirect lighting.

“Do you have any wine, Parker? May as well make this pleasant.”

He hesitated; he had no weapons in the house. “White or red?”

“White if you have it.”

He nodded. “You can read the documents while I’m pouring the wine.”

When he returned to the patio with a chilled glass of Chablis and a sweating bottle of Tecate, he found Meredith standing at the edge of the pool with her naked back to him. She stepped out of red thong panties and flipped them with her foot onto the Cool Crete surface surrounding the pool where her outer garments and lacy bra were strewn in disarray. Naked, she grinned at him over her shoulder. He returned her smile as he admired the perfect contours of her high ass and the smooth tapering of her legs.

“Come on in,” she said. “You can’t have a free show.” Then she dove into the pool.

If he didn’t suspect that she wanted him in the water so he’d be less mobile, Parker would have been tempted to join her. He squatted at the edge of the pool and extended the glass of wine to her. He couldn’t resist watching her wade toward him, her breasts parting the rippled water like the prow of a ship plowing through ocean waves. She gave him permission with her eyes, but she couldn’t resist a quick glance over her shoulder at the bottom of his property where it met an inlet off the Intracoastal Waterway. He followed her gaze and saw it then, a white Boston Whaler silently drifting up to his dock. He had thought the odds would be in his favor, and now they weren’t. She noted the look of recognition on his face and made a grab for her purse at the edge of the pool, but Parker was quicker. He snatched the unusually heavy bag and tossed it into the deep end of the pool. Then he kicked her clothes into the water.

Shrieking, “Help! Rape!” Meredith climbed out of the pool and dashed into the house.

A rangy man in military fatigues, wielding a double-barrel shotgun as though it were a natural extension of his hand, leapt onto the dock and advanced toward Parker.

“Get the fuck off my property,” Parker snarled.

The man raised the shotgun with one hand as Parker ducked to evade the blast that shattered the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. Bent at the waist, Parker hustled into the protective shadows at the side of his house. Cowering behind his hot tub, he watched the man slowly approach in a stealthy semi-crouch, like a big game hunter stalking his prey. The terror Parker felt was what an antelope feels when it is about to be eaten alive by a pride of hungry lions. Now would be good time to rescue me.

When the hunter reached the hot tub and crept around the far side, Parker shuffledclockwise to remain on the opposite side. He took shallow breaths through his nose to mask the sound of his breathing as he listened to the blood coursing through his carotid artery—whoosh, whoosh. Where is she?

When they had made half a turn around the hot tub, and the predator’s back was to the boathouse where she had been hiding, he saw her emerge in the crepuscular light, fifteen feet away on his dock, and assume the shooter’s stance she’d been taught at the gun range. She never said a word, gave the hunter no warning, just fired her compact Beretta once, and the man crumpled onto the Cool Crete surface with a thud and a rush of expelled air. That hadn’t been the plan. She was only supposed to balance the threat Parker suspected Meredith had posed. She wasn’t supposed to shoot anyone. But Meredith had out-schemed him. It’s so easy to get these things wrong.

A scan of the house’s back windows revealed no sign of Meredith. Parker motioned for the woman to hurry into the shadows and put a finger to his lips—don’t talk. The wounded man moaned softly, and Parker’s quick glance confirmed that he was semi-conscious and neither moving nor watching. Parker took the woman’s pistol and shoved her toward the neighbor’s property. The snowbirds who owned the place were away enjoying the Canadian summer during the Florida off-season.

“Run,” he whispered.

She did as she was told. He counted to twenty—one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi—then he dialed 9-1-1.

About the Author

Mike Nemeth is an Army vet and former high tech executive who lives in suburban Atlanta with his wife, Angie and their rescue dig, Scout. He is the author of the Amazon bestselling and award-winning novels “Defiled” and “The Undiscovered Country.” Creative Loafing Atlanta named him Best Local Author for 2019.

Contact Links

Website: http://mikenemethauthor.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nemosnovels

Facebook: https://facebook.com/people/mikenemethauthor

Promo Link: http://bookbuzz.net/blog/mystery-suspense-parkers-choice-by-mike-nemeth/

Purchase Links

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/parkers-choice-mike-nemeth/1138982602?ean=9781970137149

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781970137149

[Book Blitz]: The Sun at Twilight by N.L. Holmes

Empire at Twilight, Book 4

Genre: Historical Fiction, LGBT+ Historical Fiction

Published: February 2021

Publisher: WayBack Press

Which would you choose: love or peace in your Kingdom?

In the twilight years of the Hittite Empire (1230s BC), Tudhaliya IV comes to the throne as a usurper’s younger son, determined to rule according to the traditional values of justice and clemency, despite the harder advice of his ambitious mother and his questionably loyal older brothers.

When his cousin Kurunta, with whom he was raised as someone dearer than a brother, decides his own claim to the throne is stronger than Tudhaliya’s, the latter must decide whether to apply the brutal pragmatism of his advisors or risk appearing weak, and how to manage to leave his own son an empire that is finally free from civil war. The cost will be the sacrifice of his deepest friendship.

About the Author

N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel, and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun.

Contact Links

Website: https://www.nlholmes.com/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nlholmesbooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nlholmesbooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/n.l.holmes/

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nlholmes

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nlholmes

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/n-l-holmes/

Purchase Links

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sun-at-twilight-nl-holmes/1138854967

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-sun-at-twilight/id1554292879

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-sun-at-twilight