Nicole from Tribute Books is starting 2012 by introducing us to an amazing and inspirational author. So without further ado, please help welcome, Mr. Paul H. Magid as our guest today.
ABOUT PAUL H. MAGID
Paul H. Magid started writing his debut novel, Lifting the Wheel of Karma, twenty-five years ago while still in high school. It took him so long to complete because he tried repeatedly to abandon it, but the work refused to be forsaken. Eventually he realized that sharing this story with the world was, in fact, his Dharma.
Along the way he has worked as a Wall Street financial analyst, a waiter (not a very good one), a Hollywood Agent Trainee, a real estate developer, a summer day camp director, an award winning screenwriter, and independent filmmaker—including his autobiographical film, A Life Unfinished, which screened in The Hamptons International Film Festival.
GUEST POST
Topic: researching and/or concept for premise of book.
Research takes much more legwork than premise, but it’s also hands down the easier of the two. In the case of my novel, LIFTING THE WHEEL OF KARMA, I knew I needed multiple forms of research, because I chose not only an unfamiliar locale of a horse ranch in Montana, but also predominantly in another country with over 5,000 years of history and culture.
For me, for research to be “authentic”, it must have hands on, first person experience to come alive. Just as a person who learns a foreign language only from books will always speak only an “academic” version of the language, lacking in its true texture, idioms, colloquialisms, and lively nature, I believe research is best experienced as well as studied.
For India, I read dozens and dozens and dozens of books –everything from history, to religious texts, to mythologies, to social constructs, but I knew this would only at best form an accurate foundation. No matter how many books I read, nothing compared to actually living for months in India with little more than a backpack and a Lonely Planet guidebook.
Feeling the heavy heat and intoxicating spices that filled the air only came alive by being there, and I think it’s urgently important for an author to know first hand how to convey a new environment to properly enable a reader to embark vicariously on a journey.
The same truths applied to Montana. I was lucky enough to find an amazing and authentic mentor who knew what my needs were and selflessly taught me what I needed to know.
Setting the premise of a book in infinitely harder, because once that has been established by the author, every fiber of the story must work tirelessly to achieve that goal. I think that’s one of the reasons my novel took me twenty-five years to write. It wasn’t just the amount of research required, but I knew that I had chosen a premise of such depth, that it would not be easy to properly convey.
For me, every moment of the twenty-five years it took to write LIFTING THE WHEEL OF KARMA was worth it, because readers and reviewers around the world have universally lauded how much the story touched them emotionally and how much they enjoyed reading it, sometimes more than once.
You can find Mr. Magid at the following sites:
website, Facebook, Lifting the Wheel of Karma FB, Tribute Books Blog Tours FB, Lifting the Wheel of Karma blog tour site
ABOUT THE BOOK
A Profound Spiritual Journey of Extraordinary Healing and Redemption
Joseph Connell is a gifted high school athlete from Montana, loved deeply by his family, yet tormented by nightmarish visions he can neither explain nor escape.
He believes the answer to what threatens to crush him can be found in the knowledge possessed by a mystical old wise man, who lives deep within the remote Himalayas of India.
If Joseph is ever to find the peace he so desperately seeks, he must get this wise old man to reveal what he truly knows, but that will not be easy…for this sage knows far more than he admits.
A modern tale that harkens back to the myths of antiquity. It takes you on a remarkable journey, while exploring the themes of healing, redemption, forgiveness, sacrifice, and ultimately…peace within.
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 9780984016068
Pages: 192
Release: September 23, 2011
Amazon buy link
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984016066?tag=tributebooks-20
Barnes&Noble.com buy link
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=dcSBhG3Rj8w&offerid=229293.9780984016068&type=2&subid=0
eBook
Price: $9.99
Kindle buy link
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005TJ3I4C?tag=tributebooks-20
THANKS TO AUTHOR PAUL H. MAGID,
I HAVE THREE (3) COPIES OF
THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.
Researching 5,000 years of history and culture could not have been easy! Thanks Cheryl for sharing Paul’s painstaking journey to create “Lifting the Wheel of Karma.”
Dear Cheryl,
Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to connect with your readers, and for thinking of me as an amazing and inspirational author -sentiments such as those are priceless to any author, and in particular to me.
Gratefully,
Paul H. Magid