First, let me say that I am truly appreciative of everyone who took the time to enter my contest. When I began to brainstorm about what the title of my second poetry book should be, I quickly decided to turn to my readership in order to come up with the best title possible. And, when I engaged you, the reader, I was not disappointed at all. So many ideas poured in, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the added quality of so many; that made my job of picking just one so much more difficult. I was patient and diligent in coming to my decision, and I turned to some of those people within my inner circle that did not submit an entry into the fun title contest for some added input and opinion. To them, I am also extremely grateful!

So, after putting many hours into this decision, I am excited to announce that the winner of the “Title My Next Book” contest and hence recipient of a signed copy of the upcoming book upon its release is (drum roll… ) Andrew McLaren! Congratulations! I have selected “Guerrilla Wordfare” as the title of my next book. This title really speaks to the heart and soul of the content that will fill this book’s pages! Again, I am thankful for the great contest participation, and I look forward to providing book release details as they become available!

Thanks again for swinging back by. Many of you have requested the link to the chapter preview of my next poetry book, and I appreciated all of the feedback and your time to check out the progress of my new book. In an effort to fill the current and future requests for this preview, I am including the link here! The preview is a PDF, and it is password protected, a decision made because of spam bots, etc. Therefore, once you open or save this PDF, the password is simply 61110! If you have any questions or issues, please do not hesitate to comment below. Also, I would enjoy hearing your feedback and insight as you get time! Have a great day!

Currently, I am wrapping up my second poetry book. I anticipate that this book will be published and available to the public sometime in the late spring of this year. My first book, Reflections on Life’s Roller Coaster Rides, contained 100 poems and coming up with the title was pretty easy as the book described how life has its ups and downs, just like a great and terrifying roller coaster. However, my follow-up book of poetry will be a bit longer (currently enlisting 260 of my most recent poems over a vast array of life changing topics). The overall theme of the book is that of famous battles within our lives, and I could envision my cover, which has yet to be drawn, as a battlefield of some sort, but that is by no means set in stone. This is where you, the avid reader, come in. I would like to engage you, my creative and intelligent reader, to come up with what the title of this book should be. I set out to write this book with the goal of enabling each reader to make it his or her own, a book that he or she could relate to in some way, shape, or form.

Here are some of the book particulars that might help you visualize and conceptualize my next book’s title. The book has three main sections and a total of 13 themed chapters. Below, I have listed the current outline of my book (example: theme – current chapter title).

Section 1

1. Beauty – Battle of Beauty Bay
2. Hope/Future – Humbled at Hope Harbor
3. Inspiration – Invasion on Inspiration Island
4. Love – Attack on Lover’s Lake

Section 2

1. Challenges – Covert Ops on The Challenge Chamber
2. Disappointment – Destroying Disappointment Dungeon
3. Frustrations/Stress – Assault on Fort Frustration
4. Loneliness – The Landing at Lonely Lodge
5. Reality – Raid on Reality Ridge

Section 3

1. Honor/Integrity/Trust – Intrusion on Trusting Times
2. Promises and Commitments – The Climb to Promise Peak
3. Courage – Infiltrating Courage Cove
4. Wisdom – Sneak Attack on Wisdom Warship

I ask that you comment to this blog below with your recommended book title (a subtitle is optional) so everyone else can see. Just to clarify, this is a free-spirited contest. This contest will remain open until the end of January. On February 1, 2010, I will take only those recommended titles that are submitted via this blog’s comments and declare a winner. I will post the name of the contest winner as a new blog post and via Facebook, Twitter, and on MCH Publications’s website! By entering a name in the contest and being chosen, you are giving the name and all rights to it to me and my publisher. In exchange for the winning title, I will acknowledge the winner in the book, and I will send (within North America) a free, signed copy of the book to the winner upon the book’s release.