TenderFoot’s Corner 09-27-11

I got manhandled……..
by a couple of West Coast chicks.

 

I have your attention now, don’t I?

It’s not what you’re thinking, they didn’t beat me up but I
would have felt better if they had.

Ever since my book charles@afghanistan was published last
month, I have been riding on cloud nine. I have had so many people contacting
me saying how much they love it. The book has been described as a breath of
fresh air, light hearted, tear jerking laughing funny and a one of a kind in
its category.

For eight weeks, the book stayed on the top 100 Hot New
Releases published by Amazon with my highest ranking #6.

The book charles@afghanistan: crazy encounter from the
not-so front lines was described by my publisher as the runaway hit for the
summer.

Well I must say I have enjoyed the popularity it has brought
me and the interviews have been wonderful. I have been blessed to have people
interview me that have actually read the book because that makes for a great
show.

What does this have to do about getting manhandled you ask?

My book sales have been sliding a bit lately so I was really
looking forward to an interview I had lined up for a Las Angeles based
audience. After every interview I would see a jump in sales and was on the
verge of making the New York Times Best Seller List from all the attention my
book was receiving.

I had to drop out of the lime light for a while by taking a
job that was going to actually put food on my families table and pay some
bills. I had to postpone any more interviews even though it is critical to keep
the book hyped up at this early stage. Oh well….. you have heard of starving
artist….. Well I am a starving author, lol.

I accepted an opportunity to interview on a call-in radio
show last week. I knew it was going to be fun because the letter they sent
stated they would love to have a witty author such as myself on their show, it
would be great fun, they said.

What was I expecting? Another fun interview describing how
the book came to be? A lot of laughter to go along with some of the crazy
stories that I wrote about? I was prepared to really plug my book and get
everyone excited about buying it just to see how a Texas boy acted when he was
abroad.

That didn’t happen.

My wife and I listened to the first part of the show before
I was queued and I started to worry. I was listening to two women that were the
host, bashing men and laughing at the stupidity of the stronger sex………… then it
was my turn.

These two women had an agenda that I was part of but not
aware of if that makes any sense. They took control of the show and headed off
in a direction completely opposite of where it was supposed to go. My book is
funny, they thought it was sad. My book is uplifting; they could only compare
it to Americas 9-11. My book is told in my own warped sense of humor twisted up
in the pages to let people know what this Texas boy thought about the world
around him, they wanted to know if the military helped me in any way for all my
mental anguish.

How can anybody that reads my book think I needed
psychological help to get on with my life? Don’t answer that.

This may not be the place to vent my frustrations but by the
time the interview was over, I felt like I had been put through the ringer. We
listened for a few minutes when my interview was over and one of the host
stated “wow…. That was sobering”……………. I wanted to throw something. I wanted to
fly to L.A. and smash the radio microphone… hehe   I really did but I did what a grown man like
myself should do. I went to bed, and waited for my wife to come scratch my back
and tell me it was all OK.

I suspect those women radio show host didn’t even read my
book.

Remember you can find me on facebook and read more of my
stories at www.charlesmacdonaldholt.com

Look for charles@afghanistan: crazy encounters from the
not-so front lines at www.amazon.com