Devil’s Pocket (Phoenix Island #2) by @johndixonbooks | Spotlight, Guest Post & Giveaway { @MyShelfAndI }

The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Phoenix Island, which reads like "Lord of the Flies meets Wolverine and Cool Hand Luke" (F. Paul Wilson, creator of Repairman Jack) and inspired the CBS TV show Intelligence.

With a chip in his head and hundreds more throughout his body, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman was turned from an orphan with impulse control issues into a super-soldier. Forced into the mercenary Phoenix Force group, he begins to fear he'll never escape. Sent to a volcanic island to fight for them, he'll compete in a combat tournament that awards teens with survival for merciless brutality. But just when all looks lost, he spies a friendly face...and possibly a way out.

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PRAISE

“Dixon, using his experience in boxing, creates a fascinating young character in sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman. Phoenix Island is an excellent book that shows Dixon is well on his way in becoming a great storyteller.”–Suspense Magazine on Phoenix Island

“Fantastic… superbly suspenseful… unpredictable and frightening. Phoenix Island will blow you away.” – Mark Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Rogue and co-author of Private Games (with James Patterson)

"Lord of the Flies meets Wolverine and Cool Hand Luke. A tribute to the indomitable human spirit that challenges the mob and chooses values over expediency." -- F. Paul Wilson, creator of Repairman Jack.

"Crisply written and imaginative... Dixon's page-turner will keep readers of all ages enthralled." -- Kirkus Reviews

Guest Post with Author John Dixon... 

How do you stay on schedule and focused during writing?

Disclaimer: if you’re an aspiring writer, you should probably file what I’m about to say under “confession,” not “instruction.”  While I’ve always respected the machine-like efficiency of prolific, regimented writers like Stephen King and Jonathan Maberry, my own efficiency resembles not a sturdy diesel engine but rather some kind of sloth / otter hybrid, with sleepy, unfocused periods followed by frantic dashes.  

I am, however, a blue-collar writer by nature. I believe in word counts before wonder, ass-in-chair before muse-on-shoulder. In fact, if I even have a muse, he definitely wears combat boots. 

When I was a teacher, I got up at four in the morning to write before work. I’d hustle around, drive the empty roads to school, and score an hour or two of writing before the kids arrived and ate my brains.

Some days, it went well. Others were brutal. I frequently slept only four or five hours a night, and sometimes, I ended up falling asleep on my keyboard. Other sessions generated absolute gibberish. I must’ve been sleeping while typing, because these “sentences” literally made no sense. Crazy, crazy, crazy… and at times, it was really discouraging. How could I ever break through when I couldn’t even stay awake at the keyboard?

Over time, though, it worked. That’s been my way. Go in with the best of intentions. Write as frequently as possible. Generally feel disappointed and frustrated with myself. Then win out over time simply because I spend a lot of time writing.

That’s the way it worked when I was working full-time.

Then I wrote PHOENIX ISLAND, and suddenly, I didn’t have to teach anymore. It was awesome… my lifelong dream of becoming a full-time writer had come true. After all those years of struggle, surely I would be able to triple or quadruple my output if writing was my full-time job!

It didn’t work out that way.

Before writing full-time, I had avoided all social media. No Facebook, no website, no blog, no Twitter… you get the idea. It was great. But then my agent and my publisher explained the importance of social media – Do it or die, fledgling, do it or die! – so I got on board.

Unfortunately, I was not a quick study. I spent a lot of time figure it all out and trying to do it right. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it – especially Facebook. I enabled notifications on my phone, which dinged constantly with comments, tweets, texts, and messages.

At this point, emails were pouring in all day every day. PHOENIX ISLAND launched January 7^th, 2014, the same day that INTELLIGENCE, the CBS TV show based on it, premiered. The two months leading up to that date and the two months following it are pretty much a blur. Interviews, phone calls, non-stop emails, and social media consumed me. I couldn’t keep up… and meanwhile, I was supposed to be writing the sequel. Where had the time gone?

During this period, I had planned to chip away at DEVIL’S POCKET, but somehow I’d lost my blue-collar consistency and focus. After several months of worktime, I had very little to show. I couldn’t get traction, and when I did sit down to write, I was distracted by my dinging phone and echoes of the day’s responsibilities and communications. My focus felt like a battered piñata.

Finally, my deadline acted like a grandmother of the tough-love variety and scheduled an intervention. With five weeks left till my delivery date, I took a hard look at my life. In the previous ten months, I had written only 100 pages. I had to write another 250 pages in just over a month. This was it. Crunch time.

For those five weeks, I silenced my phone, listened to Metallica’s RIDE THE LIGHTNING, and ignored everything other than writing.  And suddenly, I was writing. I pounded away ten or twelve hours a day, seven days a week. I grew superstitious and refused to change the music and so listened to RIDE THE LIGHTNING hundreds of times as I finished the book. And I did finish it – on the very last day.

So it worked, and based on the praise DEVIL’S POCKET is receiving, it apparently worked well… but it just about frigging killed me.

Since then, I’ve made a conscious effort to enhance focus, maintain consistency, and improve productivity. I still don’t have my act together, but I’m trending in the right direction.

Five things have helped me.

1.     I write every day. I’m best when I write at least 1000 words a day. I kill myself by overthinking and overwriting, so the rough draft of any project ends up needing two or three times as many words as the revised manuscript.

2.     I say “no” a lot. I hate this part, but it’s been completely necessary. I skip social events, decline invitations, and limit conventions and guest appearances. When people very kindly ask me to blurb their books, I almost always apologize and tell them the hard truth: I just don’t have time. This has been the hardest part of becoming a fulltime writer. 

3.     I killed my notifications and now keep my phone on mute. It’s great. At first, it caused some anxiety, but once I settled in, I realized that suddenly I was once again managing incoming communications… rather than allowing incoming communications to manage me.

4.     I cut way back on social media, email, and marketing efforts. I rarely Tweet and almost never blog. I’ve cut my Facebook time in half. I’m horrible about responding to emails. I know that I still need to market my books, but I also know that if I try to do too much, I won’t have time to write new stories.

5.     I keep a schedule. I use Google calendar. I used to get up whenever I got up and trust myself to sort it all out on the fly. Now my weekdays begin at 4:30 AM and end when my wife comes home from work, usually somewhere around 6. At any given point in time, I know what I am supposed to be doing, whether it’s writing, eating lunch, or getting in a little exercise. This simple step has been incredible helpful. Ironically, it has given my life a regimented quality reminiscent of my teaching days, but I don’t mind. I’m more focused, more productive, and better rested… after all, I’m sleeping in half an hour later than I did as a teacher!

If you’re a writer, I hope that your own approach is more efficient and pleasant than mine. If, on the other hand, my struggles sound all too familiar to you, I would highly recommend examining your life and making necessary changes. If you don’t know where to start, try muting your phone, using a schedule to maximize daily writing, and learning to say “no” to both social media and social events. Ultimately, though, every writer must find his or her own path to productivity.

Good luck, and hey – if all else fails, give Metallica a try!

Tams: Okay, I have to say my favorite lines out of all that was the "Ass-In-Chair" and "My muse wears combat boots!" And who doesn't love Metallica?? 

John Dixon’s debut novel, Phoenix Island, won the Bram Stoker Award and inspired the CBS TV series Intelligence. A former boxer, teacher, and stone mason, John lives in West Chester, PA, with his wife, Christina, and their freeloading pets.

www.johndixonbooks.com

One winner will get a signed copy of PHOENIX ISLAND and DEVIL’S POCKET

(Open To US Only | Must be 13+ To Enter)
You can also leave a comment for the author below. Thank you Mr. Dixon for stopping by today, hope to host you again soon!

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July 29th A Dream Within A Dream REVIEW
July 30th Me, My Shelf and I QUOTE STOP
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