Guest Post and Giveaway: Mute Witness by Rick R. Reed

Please joining us in welcoming author Rick R. Reed today on the tour for his novel Mute Witness. Enjoy Rick’s guest post, and then be sure to click on the Rafflecopter widget below for the chance to win an e-copy of his paranormal thriller Third Eye.

Good luck!

A Day in the Life

Sometimes my husband comes home from work and asks who I talked to that day. Often, the answer is nobody or, “I said hello to the guy on the front desk at the gym” or something like that.

Writers’ lives can be lonely and isolated. But I’m not complaining. I do get to live with the people I’ve made up all day long and, unlike real life, I get to decide how things will go for them. I may put them through some awful stuff, but in the end, I usually give them a happy ending.

Anyway, I thought for the blog tour for Mute Witness, I’d give you an idea of what a day of my writing life looks like.

First, let’s assume I’m in the middle of a work-in-progress because that’s how the bulk of my days go. That’s the meat of the work and of my life.

Surprisingly or not, I do not immediately rise from bed and hit the computer and begin writing. No, I put that off to do the following (in order and these are all, I believe, necessary to facilitate the writing that will come later):

1. Walk the dog. My Boston terrier, Lily, is up early every day. I like to think it’s because she wants to make sure I get up and get to work, but that’s a bit fanciful. Anyway, because we live in a condo in the city, there’s no letting her out into the yard to do her business. I have to get dressed and get her leashed and harnessed.
2. I make coffee, the life-giving elixir that allows me to clear the cobwebs from my head. I know, it’s a bit of an addiction, but it works—and it’s reliable. I usually make some breakfast for myself as well, usually an omelet of some sort.
3. I read. I usually take an hour to read whatever book I’m reading for pleasure currently. Right now, it’s Lisa Unger’s thriller IN THE BLOOD (really gripping!). I am constantly reading a book and I think this contributes powerfully to my own abilities to be a professional storyteller.
4. I meditate. For me, meditation consists of letting go of the clutter that’s in my head and concentrating on what I believe are essential truths, such as we are all part of a universal spirit. I could go on and on about my beliefs, but this is not the place.
5. I head into my office. Since we have a two-bedroom condo, my office is also the guest room, but I have a lovely space set up for myself at the window (which overlooks Seattle’s Lake Union—an inspiring view if there ever was one).
6. I check e-mails and social media. I try to answer what can be answered quickly and save as unread what I need more time to deal with. I check birthdays on Facebook and send out greetings to anyone turning whatever age they’re turning that day. I respond to friend requests and messages. I plot out what I might want to post on Twitter and Facebook and schedule some of it through an application called Hootsuite.
7. I blog. I try to post at least three times a week (often only ending up with two times—blogs are hungry beasts and never satisfied). I might be promoting the work of another writer (good Karma, I think) or pimping my own stuff (a new release, a new review, my thoughts on the craft and the business of writing).
8. I play a game of two of Spider Solitaire. Yes, it’s necessary.
9. I shut off any music I might have playing.
10. I open my current work-in-progress and begin. I start by reviewing what I wrote the day before and intensely edit. This is how I work—I don’t work through rough draft like some people will tell you to do (and by the way, there’s no wrong or right way to create—there’s only the way that works best for you) and then edit later. I edit as I go. It’s an important part of bringing me to the point where I can then move forward in my story. By the time I’m finished reading through the book and making changes I deem necessary, I am already half-immersed in the story and the lives of my characters.

And that’s a pretty standard writing day for me. The rest of the day, I run, do household stuff, and, when needed, do editing or promotional work on things that are already in the publishing stream.

I hope this was interesting and/or illuminating, or at least not boring!

Blurb: The abuse of a little boy turns a community against a loving gay couple, and nobody comes out of it unscathed.

Sean and Austin have the perfect life: new love, a riverfront home, security. Their love for one another is only multiplied when Sean’s eight-year-old son, Jason, visits on the weekends.

And then their perfect world shatters.

Jason goes missing.

When the boy turns up days later, he’s been so horribly abused he’s lost the power to speak. Immediately small town minds turn to the boy’s gay father and his lover as the likely culprits. What was a warm, welcoming community becomes a lynching party out for blood.

As Sean and Austin struggle to stay together amidst innuendo, the very real threat of Sean losing the son he loves emerges. Yet the true villain is much closer to home, intent on ensuring the boy’s muteness is permanent.

Buy Links: DSP Publications (e-book) || DSP Publications (paperback) || Amazon US || Amazon International

About the Author: Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love.

He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation and The Blue Moon Cafe). He is also a Rainbow Award Winner for both Caregiver and Raining Men. Lambda Literary Review has called him, “a writer that doesn’t disappoint.”

Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever “at work on another novel.”

:: Website :: Blog :: Facebook Page :: Twitter :: Google+ ::

The Giveaway

Blurb – Third Eye: Who knew that a summer thunderstorm and his lost little boy would conspire to change single dad Cayce D’Amico’s life in an instant? With Luke missing, Cayce ventures into the woods near their house to find his son, only to have lightning strike a tree near him, sending a branch down on his head. When he awakens the next day in the hospital, he discovers he has been blessed or cursed—he isn’t sure which—with psychic ability. Along with unfathomable glimpses into the lives of those around him, he’s getting visions of a missing teenage girl.

When a second girl disappears soon after the first, Cayce realizes his visions are leading him to their grisly fates. Cayce wants to help, but no one believes him. The police are suspicious. The press wants to exploit him. And the girls’ parents have mixed feelings about the young man with the “third eye.”

Cayce turns to local reporter Dave Newton and, while searching for clues to the string of disappearances and possible murders, a spark ignites between the two. Little do they know that nearby, another couple—dark and murderous—are plotting more crimes and wondering how to silence the man who knows too much about them.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Tour Dates and Stops:

February 9: Prism Book Alliance
February 10: Gay Media Reviews
February 11: Divine Magazine
February 12: Love Bytes Reviews
February 15: Bayou Book Junkie
February 16: The Land of Make Believe
February 17: The Novel Approach
February 18: Diverse Reader
February 19: Joyfully Jay

The Fine Print:

*Entrants must be 18 years or older to qualify
*All comments must be relevant to the author’s prompt to be eligible (when applicable)
*The Novel Approach will not be held liable for prize delivery unless otherwise specified
*Void where prohibited by law