Meet Indie Author Jason Zandri

Greetings, dear readers. It is my pleasure to once again take part in a 4 Wills Blog Tour. This time around, my special guest is none other than indie author Jason Zandri. Please give Jason a warm welcome.

Take it away, Jason…

 

 

One of my favorite things when talking about “Another Sunset” is telling people the story about how I wrote it in six weeks over the summer of 2014. 99,000 plus words and 350 plus pages – six weeks.

Of course, editing it came afterwards and took nearly the same amount of time, but that main draft of the book really did happen from the last week of July to the first week of September.

The whole story really starts thirty some odd years ago in high school. I loved my Creative Writing class but I hated many of the writing assignments. Some were forced topics and I didn’t feel comfortable writing them. Imagine a football player in a tutu. Some assignments just didn’t work for me and they shook my confidence. I know it was skill building and stretching (now that I am 46) but as a 15 year old kid, with little family support, it took the wind out of me more often than not and the character building aspect didn’t correctly offset the “trauma”.

When I was out of high school I left writing behind me and I took a shot at professional radio, trying to be an on-air personality (among other things). I made more money flipping burgers and making pizzas. Time marched on, the car needed work and the rent was due, so I moved on to other things that actually earned me a moderate living.

I wanted to get back to writing regularly somehow. I always kept my appetite whet by writing “letters to the editor” for the local newspaper (they even gave me an op-ed column twice a month for a couple of years) and I wrote on my many blogs (local news and events, technology tutorials, and so on). These were all mainly hobby related mainly and I made very little if any money from them, but like any hobby that you love to engage in, you generally never do.

In the end, I always hoped that I would get back to writing a story and getting it published. The ones I wanted to write, many were already “finished” in my head.

Then “Fifty Shades of Grey” came out. Many of the issues in the book series from the detractors’ points of view included the layout, storyline, grammar, and the incomplete editing. All the nitpicky stuff I was worried about in my own finished product, yet despite those major issues, the book series sold hundreds of millions of copies.

I meant to sit down to catch up as soon as my kids left for Poland (they go away the end of June through the end of August every year) but catching up on things at home, enjoying that first couple of weeks around the house like Al Bundy with no Peggy, threw me all off schedule.

Eventually, I decided to get serious and figured the best way to do that was to stay out of the house. This way I wasn’t distracted by the lawn, the garage, the lawn chair out in the yard…

I have ownership in a timeshare that was opening up a location in New York City three blocks from where I work. I decided since the family was gone and I had ownership to leverage, I decided to spend time there instead of wasting it on the train going back and forth to an empty house.

I found this awesome bar at 515 Third Avenue in New York City, (aptly named “Bar 515”), which had just enough ambient noise to keep me actively working, without getting burned out.   It was conducive to writing and the beers were only four bucks, too! Really?  In New York City?  You had me at “Hello.”

So, there I sat, (like I am this summer righting posts for this blog tour), each Monday thru Thursday night after work, getting this story out of my head that had been there for at least fifteen years. Six weeks, and probably 100 or so beers later, “Another Sunset” was complete.

Six weeks, and probably 100 or so beers later, “Another Sunset” was done.

I’m not yet selling millions of copies; heck, I am not even selling thousands of copies (yet), but I am a published author and that is more than I was at this time last year.

I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

About Another Sunset

David Stephenson is a kind drifter who comes to settle in the small Texas town of Westville. His sense, empathy, and awareness are well received by the residents of the failing town as they welcome and befriend him. During his stay he helps a small local girl try to realize her dream and while doing so excites and energizes the whole town to help out. Lives change as fate takes a critical turn. The local would-be reporter, tasked by David’s longtime friend, takes off on a mission to unravel the mystery of his travels, where he came from, and discovers why he is on his journey.

 

Another Sunset Reviews – http://amzn.to/1RHrdES

“The author has a nice way of weaving together a touching story that definitely tugged at those heartstrings”
http://www.amazon.com/review/RE23H0HC4YBXY/

 

“Endearing characters, well-paced dialogue, and valuable lessons…all the components of fantastic book”
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3KETK9GVPLVIV

 

“Instead of the fast pace of stories that tell too much, too soon, Another Sunset moved its pace along with detail that helped really form its characters. It gave plenty of time to delve into the story and not be able to fully discern where the story was going (which I like – I don’t like to be able to script out what’s going to happen! Surprise me!)”
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3DJBKJG5DVFM1/

 

Another Sunset – Three Chapter Excerpt – http://www.zandri.net/PDF/Another_Sunset_8_9_15.pdf

 

 

Books and links

Before Another Sunset (The Sunset Series Book 1)
http://www.amazon.com/Before-Another-Sunset-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00T11GKYE

Another Sunset (The Sunset Series Book 2)
http://www.amazon.com/Another-Sunset-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00QD2FQU8/

I Hero: The Beginning
http://www.amazon.com/I-Hero-Beginning-Jason-Zandri-ebook/dp/B00Y3LA41M/

I Hero: Nathan Returns
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011AOPE64

As Life Goes: Elementary
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Goes-Elementary-Jason-Zandri-ebook/dp/B00ZXVB7SK/  

 

As Life Goes: The End of the Innocence – (expected November 2015)
As Life Goes: The Reunion – (expected April 2016)
As Life Goes: The Wedding (expected July 2016)
As Life Goes: The Funeral (expected October 2016)

 

I Hero: Untitled Book 3 (Expected first half 2016)
I Hero: Untitled Book 4 (Expected second half 2016)
I Hero: Untitled Book 5 (Expected first half 2017)

 

 

 

Social Media links

Twitter – @GUNDERSTONE https://twitter.com/gunderstone/
Facebook Author page – https://www.facebook.com/jzandri
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonzandri
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+JasonZandri/
Author blog – The GUNDERSTONE Review https://gunderstone.wordpress.com/

ABOUT JASON ZANDRI

Jason has been working in the information technology field in one form or the other since 1996. He is currently employed full time at Bloomberg LP as a Systems Engineer in the R&D group. Jason lives in Wallingford Connecticut, with his wife Renata. He is the father to four children, three boys and 1 girl – 11 years (Andrew), 9 years (Angela), 7 years (Adam) and 6 years old (Alex).

“This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com.”