Oh Where Has My Blogger Gone?

Updating this blog has been on the list of things to do....was thrilled and saddened to see that several people visited today....alas....to a mostly empty blog.  Getting the news out about The Chronicles of Guiamo Durmius Stolo is a lot of fun and takes a lot of time.  Marshall Best began writing this series about five years ago and spends a great deal of his free time working on the next book.  He is currently about half way through book five in the series.  In addition to writing, he is the father of six children and a business owner.  He is not a huge fan of technology...not that he thinks it's bad...he just prefers pen and paper and doesn't have the time to learn all the ins and outs of so much of the social media.  He has officially appointed his wife Tracey as his marketing director....remember the earlier sentence about the six children?  Now you understand partly why the blog has not been updated.  We have established a presence on Twitter and are making connections to many other authors.  It's a whole new world to discover out there.  Marshall's wife Tracey has often referred to him as a "walking encyclopedia."  He is a voracious reader and is constantly reading something.  He enjoys many kinds of books...Tom Clancy, Bernard Cornwell, Tolkein, Frank Herbert's Dune Series, Star Trek, Star Wars,  history of any kind and even Loeb's Classical Library.  His wife wonders how he can read some of the things he does.  He often flips from something non-fiction to fiction which he calls "brain candy."  The Guiamo Chronicles started in the heart of a father tucking his little girl in bed.  WHAT? you say.  Well, let's explain a little more.  While putting his young daughter to bed he began telling her stories that he made up.  As he continued, he decided that they were pretty good and he would write them down.  They became known as The Princess Meredith Bedtime Tales and will someday be published as well.  He decided after writing five or six of these stories that it would be a great idea to write a story for each of his children.  He came up with ideas for three story lines and began with Guiamo......NEVER realizing that it would grow into the epic story it has become.  He has the skeleton of the story all mapped out right up to book nine.....it will just take time to put it all on paper so he can share it with you his readers.
   
Marshall has done extensive research in the writing of this series.  He has binders of info he has collected about the actual people of the time, places, legends, Roman calendar, battles that took place.  He has masterfully woven actual places, people and events into a magnificent story.  It truly is right up there with The Lord of the Rings.  The picture he plans on putting on the back of his books once they are available in print is of him sitting on the beach writing....pen and paper in hand.  Wherever he goes whether it be to a family gathering, the beach as you see in the picture, lunch at his favorite hang-out Stake-N-Shake, vacation....his binder goes with him.....he writes all his ideas out longhand and then transfers them to the computer where he prints the latest copy and marks it, changes it, reworks it....  He is often heard to say..."wait a minute, I need to write this down before I forget it."  Whether the world of readers decides his work is worthy of their time, only time will tell.  He has given copies of the book before it was published to many who have enjoyed it.  One fifteen year old who is an avid reader said it was one of the best books he'd ever read.

Regardless of it's success, the story itself has been a gift not only to his children, but to himself as well.  In a world where pressures abound, challenges assail us and there seems not enough of us, our money or our time to go around, his writing has been a true joy, a place of peace, excitement, discovery.....  It will continue to be that for him for many years to come.  I'm sure many other writers out there would wholeheartedly agree that it has been the same for them.