The next story, also for the barn challenge, was Shelter of Providence. the characters were mentioned in The Magic, and they are the beginning of the Hammond Family. We find out about the origins of the barn.

The next prompt was a slice of chocolate cake. The story is called Waiting for Cake, and details a woman’s wait for the man she loves returning home after a war. Will he remember her and still have the same dreams as when he left?

The third challenge in the SFS was about a brown paper package. In this episode, the widow of one of the Hammond men gets a surprise visitor. He delivers the last effects of the man he knew while they were together… shortly before her husband’s death. The Visitor.

The next two stories are more connected. Love Grew Among the Marigolds required a marigold to be mentioned. The action in this story moves from Ohio to Alabama and New York, all set in post Civil War America.

But all was not certain. For the bull challenge in the SFS, there was a duel. The bull watches as a life ended in the field next to his. The Rest of their Days is the recounting of their events leading to the duel.

Dancing in the Sky was the SFS entry for a story requiring a green light. Again, we join the Hammond family as one of the members travels from Ohio to Canada, and then back to Michigan, driven by a desire to see the Northern Lights.

The Frozen Pond prompt was very different from most of the previous pieces. It is more contemporary, with one of the children of the main characters from the first story revisiting the property to recharge. Break Away.

The final SFS challenge entry needed a pear tree included in the story. I decided that the pear tree would be integral to the story, as the main characters moved through time, the tree helping to document their lives and providing a type of allegorical parallel. Through The Lens served as a nice wrap up to the Hammond Saga.

The second challenge involved a chocolate cake. Again, I reached into my novels and pulled out one scene from Lies and Omissions, but again, the end result is very different. Burger, Meatloaf and Cake is about a young man’s conversations with his father before the father’s passing.

Viewfinder is completely different. The brown wrapped package in a camera that frees one young man from his visual limitations. It is based on an experience I had selling cameras. I obviously didn’t know everything that happened away from the store, so it is highly fictionalized.

Because I love writing action, I knew I needed an action story. Death by Any Other Name was the entry for the marigold prompt. We have an assassin with something to prove.

For the raging bull, I stretched a little bit. We have Colt Dixon, from Unknown Caller, but this is a new story from the time before he shows up in the novel. There are allusions to his life before being sent to St. Croix, and this is one of those stories. Colt Dixon and his LM002. The marquee badge for Lamborghini is a raging bull… exactly what I needed for the story.

For the green light challenge, I picked the most obvious green light I could think of… a traffic light. Add in some illegal street racing, a ringer, and some terribly cool cars, and the resulting story is Thunderbolt.

After Thunderbolt, the next prompt was writing including a frozen pond. This one has had some great comments on the FB groups for Vocal writers… A middle schooler walking home takes a shortcut in An Adventurous Boy.

The final prompt was to include a pear tree. In most of my stories, the prompt was featured prominently, but in this one, because of the inspiration for the story, the pear tree isn’t nearly as visible. It isn’t a central part of the story, but the story is fun and lighthearted. I was really looking for another word to add to the alliteration, but settled on Vodka and Vanity.

The first was for a challenge. The subject was confessions, and I have to admit that mine was pretty light… not the deep, dark secret for which they were looking. But it is funny. Now. Trapped in the Closet.

It didn’t get much attention, and I guess that’s because it hasn’t been promoted very much, but there was a challenge about animals, and I wrote about a dog I rescued. She was a wonderful dog, too. Little Orphan Annie is her story.

My father has snuck into some of my writing (as has my mother), but this one was written for his birthday. Often, in my old blogs, I would pen something to him each year. It is simply Happy Birthday, Dad.

The Culvert Pipe has become one of my most popular stories. I don’t remember much about the original incident, except what I have been told for years, but the conversations with my father are very much in my mind. Still. Often.

Again with a challenge entry, A Tale of Two Stories made me push to figure out what to write about bedtime stories.

The first one is fans. Not just those that drop a like on FaceBook or other social media platforms, but that take an extra moment and hit the share or retweet button. It can’t be overstated how important that is for our success. Most of the platforms limit our organic reach through our social media channels. Even though my FB has thousands of followers, only a couple dozen will see the posts, the result of “the algorithm.” For the rest, they would have to go looking them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday when I post to it from the blog, or on Tuesday and Thursday when I post up a link of a book for sale, or Saturday, when I post the summary of the blog.

If they don’t hunt down my page, they don’t see it. FaceBook wants me to buy ads so that people that have already “liked” my page will see what my page has posted.

It is only marginally better on my personal FaceBook profile. More people will see the “share” I post on my profile. But the algorithm limits that, too. What is more effective… not only because it hits more people, but hits different people… is when my friends share my posts.

Not just on FaceBook, but also on Goodreads, MeWe, Parler, Gab, Twitter. Anywhere. And not just me, but ANY friend that you have that has any sort of “business interest” they are promoting through social media.

The second one is reviews. I can’t overstate the importance of reviews, either. They are the ultimate marketing. Books that have good reviews, and lots of them, sell. And the books that sell are pushed up in the rankings… getting more exposure… because they sell.

Amazon and every other retailer is in the business of selling. So, if they are going to use their limited space to promote something, they want to promote something that converts. I can pay for ad space (which I do), but those ads only pay Amazon if the viewer clicks through. So, if an ad doesn’t deliver clicks, they are less likely to serve it. At the same time, they make MORE money if after the clickthrough to the ad, there is a sale. Reviews can help drive both of those.

I do spend a little time reading books with no reviews. If the premise seems good, I will give it a rip. But many readers will not spend their precious time or money on a book with no reviews. They want to know that someone else took one for the team and read it… and enjoyed it.

Not only that, but some of the marketing platforms won’t let me promote a book that doesn’t have some minimum threshold of reviews. So, I can’t even pay to GIVE AWAY free ebooks without having reviews on file for it. Oddly, the reason an author will give away books is to get reviews.

Catch-22.

That is why I will often offer up free reads to people, gifting them book through Amazon. The other option is to “buy” reviews. I don’t like that. I have run across several paid reviews that really weren’t “reviews.” In fact, it was pretty obvious that the reviews weren’t real. And fake reviews are worse than bad reviews for conversion… so I won’t buy reviews.

In fact, if I give you a book to read, as I hope for a review, I won’t hold you to it, nor will I be mad if the review isn’t a five-star masterpiece. I’ll hope that you’ll give me four or five stars, but after you get the book, it’s free-will.

So, fan-shares and reviews are the two things that really drive everything for indie authors, and others with a similar business model.