Successful Book Signing in Silver City, Idaho

I completed a successful book signing in Silver City this last weekend. I hand-carried 24 books to this picturesque little ghost town, and sold (and signed) the last book on Sunday at 1:05 pm. This is the first book of Nor Things to Come: A Trilogy of the American West. The title is The Perilous Journey Begins. I hope to make it down again next summer after the second book is published. I should mention that I have written the entire trilogy, so I already know how it ends.

Book Signing in Silver City, Idaho

Greetings my friends. If you happen to make it to Silver City, Idaho on the weekend of September 17 to 18, I will be available to sign copies of The Perilous Journey Begins at the Fire & Rescue Store. I will donate all profits to the store. You can find more information by following this link:

Book Signing Silver City

And here is a nice photo of Silver City to convince you to make the trip. Don't forget to bring a four-wheel-drive vehicle (with good ground clearance) and sufficient drinking water.

Rich Ritter Facebook Page

Good evening my reading friends. I would like to direct you to my Facebook page. Please take a look when you get the chance. You can find it here:

Rich Ritter: The New Voice of the American West

A One-Line Fountain Pen Doodle

It appears that I can't help myself. Now that I've rediscovered my thirty-year-old fountain pen, I have this peculiar itch to doodle with it. I created this doodle yesterday with only one line. See if you can find both end points in less than 10 seconds.

An Old Fountain Pen and a New Doodle

I found my old Montblanc fountain pen earlier this week. I also discovered seven ink cartridges hiding in a tattered box near the back of the drawer. After fiddling with the pen for several days, I finally decided to find out if the darn thing still worked (I think I last used it in the late 80s). I loaded a cartridge, uncapped the pen, got ink all over my hand, grabbed a sheet of paper from the recycling bin, and...doodled. I probably should have written a poem or short story, but I couldn't think of a good first line. No worries: the doodle tells a rather poetic story without words.

Free eBook Giveaway of Toil Under the Sun: A Novel

Good morning my friends,

I'm currently offering a free eBook giveaway on Amazon of my first novel: Toil Under the Sun. Check out the photo montage in my last post. You can find the link to the giveaway on my website blog:

          Rich Ritter Books Blog

You can also read a Kirkus review of the book by following the link to the right. The first 14 people win a free copy and the giveaway runs through Tuesday night, so please make haste.

Toil Under the Sun Photo Montage

Just for fun, I created a photo montage for my first book.

Toil Under the Sun is a novel of the Korean War and an adopted son who does not believe he is worthy of love. My wife, who is a talented architect and graphic artist, designed the cover. Both the canteen and Chinese helmet were brought back from Korea by my father, who served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant. Unfortunately, he departed this world several years ago and never had the chance to read the novel. Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.

Please follow this link to purchase a copy of the novel:

Toil Under the Sun: A Novel (eBook)

Doodles by Rich Ritter

Five doodles from many years ago. Now I write instead of doodling. I guess that means I'm not very good at multitasking.

Radio Interview of Rich Ritter: The New Voice of the American West

I was recently interviewed by Jeff Brown on A Juneau Afternoon about my new book, The Perilous Journey Begins. You can listen to the radio broadcast through the following link. The interview begins at 37:00.

A Juneau Afternoon: Interview with Rich Ritter

Upcoming Events in Juneau

I have two upcoming events to announce:

Radio interview with Jeff Brown on "A Juneau Afternoon," Tuesday, March 1st at 3:30 pm (Alaska time). Jeff and I will discuss my recently published novel, A Perilous Journey Begins. This is the first book of Nor Things to Come: A Trilogy of the American West.

Book signing at the Senate Mall on First Friday in March. Look for me in the atrium between 4:00 and 7:00 pm. In addition to The Perilous Journey Begins, copies of Heart of Abigail and Toil Under the Sun will also be available for purchase and signing.

Please tune in to the radio broadcast or drop by the Senate Mall to discuss writing.

More Not Yet Famous Quotes (Not About Writing)

I decided to write some quotations not about writing. I hope that you can apply the lessons to every facet of your personal life. Actually, now that I think about it, you could apply these quotations to writing too—if you think about it enough.

“Always do your best. If someone doesn’t like it, the hell with them.”  —Rich Ritter

“If a parent tells you that you can do or be anything you want, understand that they are only experiencing a natural episode of rapturous delusion. If you are lucky, the episode will not last beyond puberty.”  —Rich Ritter

“If words have the power to hurt your feelings, you might remedy this personal shortcoming by spending more time with sarcastic people.”  —Rich Ritter

“The best lesson I ever got was to lose a Little League baseball game 27 to 4. I didn’t die. The sun still rose the next day. My family still loved me. And best of all, the coach showed up at the next game so that we could play again.”  —Rich Ritter

“Jerks are very important to your personal development. Do not retreat from them. If everyone was nice, you’d never amount to anything.”  —Rich Ritter

You may use these quotations without my permission, but only if you give me proper credit. Thank you.