A Bridge To The Past

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On Thanksgiving Day, 2014 I will be releasing my 20th publication, the sub-title is "Christmas cards from the old neighborhood"... I have invited others to be a part of it by telling their stories and sharing photos of their best memories of growing up in the old south end of Columbus, Ohio and what Christmas was like for them. I am especially interested in hearing from other so-called baby boomers who can help us remember what it was like at Christmas-time from the 1940s through the 1970s in their homes, at their schools or on their favorite frozen pond or sledding hill; perhaps the best gift they ever asked for and received; family holiday traditions or anything else that allows us to reflect and compare notes to see just how similar we were when it came to the weeks and days leading up to Christmas.

A book like this, although localized in content will still be one that is fun to read for anyone who remembers holiday seasons before TV traditions such as "A Charlie Brown Christmas"  which was first aired in 1965. Were you here before that, and if you were did your family make home-made decorations or did you go Christmas shopping with less than ten dollars to spend...get the idea? I have already completed the author portion of this eBook and in doing so I have shared a ton of my own memories and you can too. I have received a few old black & white photos and short stories from my peers who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s and they make a heart-warming inclusion to the project but the more the merrier; as many as others are willing to share are welcome. There is no compensation for becoming a part of this other than seeing you or your family gathered within pages filled with others you may have known or only had something in common with, but keep in mind, what we are willing to share with one another will be seen and read by persons around the world and this could become a cherished community diary for you and your family to share and reflect on for years to come.

If you think about it, the holidays, especially the Christmas season is a time when many of us boomers really feel nostalgic and long for the past; a time when we can remember and discuss all of those people we have loved and lost and how they made our Christmases special; that era in our lives when everything seemed simpler and when we could block out the stresses we no longer can because we still had all the time and energy we needed to just be happy or excited. It is why we look forward to again scanning the TV logs to see when "A Charlie Brown Christmas"  or "Miracle on 34th Street" will be on. So if you are not shy and if you are willing to become a part of another Christmas story than please, let me hear from you. You can send whatever you are willing to contribute to me at... imjustrick@aol.com  and I will do all I can to make you a part of something special.

After all, this being my 20th book is a milestone for me so what better better way can I celebrate it than to make others a part of it, and what better time of the year could there be to reach it? The deadline to be assured a spot within these stories was originally set for November 1st for editing but I can extend it a few more weeks if needed; but please, the earlier I hear from you the more likely it is that your stories can help us cross that bridge to the past together.

Author With No Boundaries

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In order to be an author with no boundaries I had to make a decision when I began writing and publishing my stories; either not be one and concern myself with how readers will perceive my work and write only in a polite manner hoping they will like it, or, not strive so much to be well received as much as understood. I chose the second pathway to be reckoned with as a competent story teller. You see, it really isn't about volume or quantity with me, that isn't who I am. Instead it is about really being the same person I have always been and being satisfied that I never had to change a word or a thought or an emotion to tell what I hope are good stories. Whether they are or not is up to the reader. Those who do follow my work expect that, or they should. Before I was a writer I was a cop and before that a radio broadcaster and before that just someone wondering what my future would hold. That was a lot of years ago and through each one I met a lot of people from all walks of life who left me with volumes of stories to tell.

Some of them are about those people and what I took from them or they from me and some are only about places or things, but all of them are topics that meant something to me somewhere on my journey to becoming a writer. My work may have angered as many as any who felt nothing at all after reading it but those readers are in my rear view mirror and may never be disappointed again by anything else I have written or will write; they didn't find what they may have hoped for and they probably found something they didn't expect or couldn't understand, but that's okay because it doesn't change anything for either of us, at least not in anyway that matters much to me. Does that sound arrogant of me? It may to some but arrogance is necessary for a writer who hopes to write with no boundaries. What some might see as arrogant I see as brutal honesty and I would rather deal with truth wherever it goes than to leave anyone guessing or thinking I write and publish books only wanting to be liked.

"finding...True Hollow Road"  is a short story that I wrote and published and somewhere down the road I hope to write the sequel to it; anyone who has read this one could probably imagine what would be in the follow-up to this book because finding the road was only the story of why I wanted to, the saga cannot continue just yet, but I believe it will because I believe it has to. I wrote and published 18 books before this one and of  them all, this one is my favorite because this one is the closest to my heart. "finding...True Hollow Road"  is the shortest book in my catalogue of personal compositions but it needn't be any longer than it is. Only a few more than thirty pages in length but if I had chosen to write 300 pages it could not have possibly told anymore than I felt was necessary. Many writers go for the length of a story believing that more words and more pages can better tell it and that is true sometimes but not all of the time. I would not have released this one if I didn't honestly think I captured all I wanted to in it.

As a reader I would rather invest in ten pages that leave me feeling what the writer shared than 500 pages if it told the same story without offering more to it. In this regard I feel as if "finding...True Hollow Road"  accomplished something very special for me; that as a writer I can set up a tale that cuts to the chase in a hurry without a lot of clutter and tell it in a way that delivers it to the end and stays good from start to finish. A good book doesn't have to contain a lot of pages to tell a good story if the writer believes the story is good, and when one can do that then the author has pulled off something that required a measure of skill as well as confidence in his work. This one has elements that might anger a few subjects in it but keep in mind, I have chosen to write stories with no boundaries. There is clear evidence in this one that I did not search for ways to be nice to anyone for the sake of not offending anyone. If I did, then the book may have required a few more hundred pages and if I did that then my reasons for going in search of the road would have left the reader wondering why I wanted to, because none of us go in search of anything hoping to be disappointed.

I found True Hollow Road and this book will explain why I went in search of it. Just an old country road out in the middle of nowhere.

Get it here for just $2.99

http://www.amazon.com/finding-True-Hollow-Road-Minerd-ebook/dp/B00O992U2Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412978043&sr=8-1&keywords=finding+true+hollow+road+rick+minerd