And the Podcasts Keep on a Rollin'

Hi, all! Just a quick note to let  you know that the May podcasts have been posted.

My video podcast this month is the fourth and final installment of my series, Hiking the Gulf Coast which is based on my book of the same name. This month I share with you photos and videos from my treks down only a few of the best hiking trails along the Florida Gulf Coast. I had just purchased my first GoPro video camera for these hikes and was learning to use it so pardon the sometimes shaky video (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! 😊

Florida was my absolute favorite destination while researching the book. They really know how to build and maintain trails to some amazing eco-systems!

Of course there are more trails in the book than I presented in the video so please, buy a copy today And if you would like to know even more about the trails of Florida please visit my friend and author Sandra Friend's definitive guide to hiking Florida, FloridaHikes.Com. A great resource.

My audio podcast this month is another short story and yes, it is loosely based on faulty memories. It's called Get a Job and harkens back to the day when childhood ends and we become adults. It's when our parents rip our summer vacations right out from under us by saying those dreaded words - "Get a job!" My first job was because I wanted to go see a new James Bond movie featuring Jane Seymour. I was a stock boy for the W.T. Grants Company in Ramsey, N.J., and like most of us, I REALLY didn't want to "get a job". I thought my life was over at that moment. And, as always, it was an adventure with tough life lessons.

  

Hope you enjoy them. Next month I have some really special podcasts cooked up.

Thanks for listening and reading!!!! Joe

Where Do We Go from Here?

Got to tell you, being on the outdoor panel at the 2017 Alabama Book Festival was a real joy and honor. My co-panelists, Renee Raney ("Hair, Scary, but Mostly Merry Fairies") and Larry Davenport ("Exploring Wild Alabama"), were fantastic and we bounced off of each other well during the panel and I think our topics were well received.

  

I had a chance to sit in on a couple of other panels and workshops with my favorites being with Dean James (aka Miranda James and the "Cat in the Stacks" mystery series) and Carolyn Haines (the Sarah Booth Delany mystery series). Both are unbelievably talented mystery writers who had a lot to offer us "would-be's". The drive home had me planning on digging out a mystery I wrote several years ago called "Dead Air". It has been tucked away on a hard drive for MANY years now. I was excited to dust it off and give it a once over.

 

One thing I walked away with was that both authors didn't believe in outlining their mysteries, that is unless there is a deadline involved. Most of the time it's "see where it leads to" which contradicts everything I was taught while attending several writing workshops over the years but it seems more natural. Let it flow then come back and tidy it up. And that's how I write.

So, I walked away with a new determination to get my murder mystery back out into the light of day, I'm not confined to just writing about hiking trails and Alabama (that confuses some folks, but more on that in another post). In fact I have three other books in the works currently and now "Dead Air" is back on the list.

"Dead Air" is a murder mystery set in the war years of the early 1940s at a small radio station on the Gulf Coast where the station's star performer is found murdered in one of the production rooms. Her estranged husband, Ralph Bandera, is accused of the murder but the radio station's sound effects or "foley artist", Art Foley - yes, his name is Art Foley and he will tell you it's just a coincidence - believes Bandera is being wrongly accused and sets out to find the real killer.

It's a mix of drama and suspense filled with laughter. I've posted a sample of the first chapter if you'd care to view it. I'd love to hear your opinion of the opening chapter. Mind you, this was the first take not edited in 6 years.

More to come on my new book projects in the weeks to come. In the meantime you can catch up with my latest articles for RootsRated.Com and don't forget, you can catch the latest installment of my podcasts on my website, The latest audio podcast is a little short story about pulling practical jokes as a kid. Enjoy won't you? Till next time...

Only Days Away from the Alabama Book Festival 2017

I am very excited to have been invited to this year's Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery. The event features some of the best writers not only from Alabama but writers whose work focuses on the state as well. The event will be held April 22nd at Old Town Alabama.

When I was contacted by Kirk Curnutt to do the event I was a little hesitant but when he said there will be food, I was in! Just kidding.

I'll be on a special outdoor panel at 11 a.m. representing my latest Falcon Book, "Hiking Through History Alabama". It's a bit of a different take on the subject, this time focusing on the history surrounding the trails we walk from Native American history to the Civil Rights Movement and everything in between.

I'll be joined by two other great authors talking about the art of writing about the outdoors. First there is Renee Raney author of the book "Hairy, Scary, but Mostly Merry Fairies". This is a really fun book that encourages families and classrooms to get out and explore nature with fun activities and as the synopsis on the book jacket says, it's a "cure for nature deficit." And Renee should know a thing or two about that - she is the Director of Conservation for the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust's Conservation Education Institute.

Then there will be Lawrence Davenport, the co-author of the University of Alabama Press book, "Exploring Wild Alabama". Along with his writing partner Kenneth M. Willis, the book does a deep-dive into over 150 amazing destinations in the state you can hike to with detailed info on the geology, flora, and fauna.

It should be a fun event and I encourage all of you to join us. And don't forget to bring along a copy of any of our books (or you can purchase them onsite) and come on up so we can sign the for you!

Latest "Hiking the Gulf Coast" Video Released

Hi, again, everyone. For those of you who have been waiting the second of my videos taking you on some of my favorite hikes along the Gulf Coast has been posted. In this installment (2 of 4) I'll take you to the dark swamps, bayous, and marshes of the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

Crankin' Up the Podcasts

I'll be posting more and more podcasts this year. You'll be able to find links to them on my Facebook page or on my website, www.joe-cuhaj.com.

There will be audio podcasts with more stories from the past which are the basis for many of my short stories and more videos podcasts like this. This is the first of a four part series based on my book, "Hiking the Gulf Coast". In part one I'll take you to the great hiking trails along Alabama's Gulf Coast. The next edition will feature coastal Louisiana.

Enjoy, won't you?

Hiking the Gulf Coast Part 1: Alabama

Starting to do more podcasting. I've dabbled but time to do more with it. This is the first of a four part series highlighting the amazing trails along the Gulf Coast from Tampa, Florida to Corpus Christi, Texas, all of which are part of my book, "Hiking the Gulf Coast".

Hiking the Gulf Coast Part 1: Alabama

Resuscitating the Dream

Many of you may have noticed - OK, two or three of you may have noticed - that my eBook Living in a Banana Dream is quickly disappearing from eBook store shelves. While I would love to tell you that it’s because it is a New York Times Bestseller, or even a Home and Store News Luke Warm Seller (that’s a nod to my friends up in Jersey), it’s for a different reason.

Living in a Banana Dream is being revamped. Several new chapters are being added; terrible editing is being corrected; rights are being wronged. No, wait. Wrongs are being righted. This is all in an effort to bring Banana Dream to not only digital readers but to brick and mortar shelfs as well in paperback form.

After putting it off for quite some time for a variety of reasons I have finally gotten the opportunity to duck in full force and I am working my way through the process of having the book picked up by a publisher right now. It’s a tedious process but let me tell all of you aspiring, un-agented authors out there, take it serious. You will learn a lot about yourself and your book in the process.

The hardest part, at least for me, is not overselling the book, making it more than it is. For my outdoor recreation books like Hiking Through History Alabama or Hiking Alabama I am very familiar with the publisher so either they ask me directly for a book or I know exactly what is expected when I propose a book. I know the right balance of enthusiasm.

It’s different with Living in a Banana Dream. I’m delving into the literary publishing world, a much different beast. Banana Dream has been brewing for quite some time and when you work something that long and hard you can’t help but be excited and are willing to promise a publisher the moon to get it to print. I’ve learned a lot about gauging the audience, the submissions manager, from this process and how to talk about the book in glowing terms but not going off the charts, even subduing my marketing plan from doing a 10,000 city book tour down to something more reasonable (I exaggerate about 10,000 cities…but I can dream, can’t I?)

The main thing is that the process gives you a chance to review your book again. In the query letter of a proposal you need to give the publisher a little excitement, that this book belongs in their catalog. I did that and realized that there was a disconnect between my initial “hook” and the book itself. I have since revamped that section and now the feeling of the book is summarized nicely in a single paragraph, much better than my rambling diatribe.

So, the process begins anew. I’ll try to share my exploits with you as the journey progresses for Banana Dream and two new manuscripts almost ready to hit the circuit, a murder mystery called Dead Air, and an historical book on the soundtrack of World War II music, GI Jive.

To be continued…