{"id":61108,"date":"2026-07-05T15:34:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61108"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T22:09:40","slug":"why-i-started-minds-edge-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61108","title":{"rendered":"Mind\u2019s Edge Publishing: Novels, Storytelling, Creative Freedom and Decades as a Newpaper Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-61110 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"453\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM-850x850.png 850w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-02_13_43-PM.png 1254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 453px) 100vw, 453px\" \/><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 28px;\">Why I Started Mind&#8217;s Edge Publishing<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Someone once asked me why I didn&#8217;t publish my novels under a publishing company&#8217;s name.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">My question was simple.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Why would I put someone else&#8217;s stamp on books I&#8217;ve spent decades writing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">What would I gain?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Nothing<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It didn&#8217;t make sense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;Why can&#8217;t I use my own trademark?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;You can.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">So I did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-60507 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/crushfuneralimage-3-2-850x850.png 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>That&#8217;s how <strong>Mind&#8217;s Edge Publishing<\/strong> was born.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I&#8217;ve been writing novels for decades. It&#8217;s in my blood. I launched my website in 2014 and use it to sell my books.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">People ask, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you want to sell more books?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Sure. I&#8217;d like to make some money. But I really don&#8217;t give a damn about chasing bestseller lists or building some carefully manufactured author brand. I don&#8217;t do book signings. And if I give someone one of my novels, I don&#8217;t come back a week later asking, &#8220;Well? What did you think? Huh? Huh?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">The book belongs to them now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-60770 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-663x1024.jpg 663w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-768x1187.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-994x1536.jpg 994w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-1325x2048.jpg 1325w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-300x464.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-850x1314.jpg 850w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/front-cover-for-the-rivera-girls-scaled.jpg 1656w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 244px) 100vw, 244px\" \/>Making money is fine\u2014as long as it doesn&#8217;t become an obsession or leave people bruised along the way. Publishing can be a game that&#8217;s more expensive, more artificial, and more ruthless than Monopoly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Talent is a gift from God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">So God gets His cut.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I give back to charities whenever I can.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Do I want my writing to earn money?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Of course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">But that&#8217;s never been the reason I write.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Writing is an addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Cut me, and I bleed ink.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It&#8217;s also therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">When I write, I disappear into another world. I climb inside my characters&#8217; heads. I walk their streets. I hear their conversations. Sometimes that&#8217;s hard as hell.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-43790 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/SerapePosterSigned-196x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"237\" height=\"363\" \/>It&#8217;s also one of life&#8217;s greatest joys.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">When I sit in front of a blank computer screen, I don&#8217;t see an empty page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I see a movie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">The characters start moving. They begin talking. I simply try to keep up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Music helps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">A chase scene demands one kind of soundtrack. A love scene demands another. Before long, the music and the words take over, and your fingers start dancing across the keyboard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">The funny thing is that I often think I&#8217;m taking my characters somewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Instead&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">They take me somewhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I can&#8217;t explain it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">No, it isn&#8217;t ghosts or goblins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It just is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Maybe it&#8217;s a little like quantum entanglement. Scientists struggled to explain it for decades. Even Einstein questioned it. Yet in 2022, three physicists won the Nobel Prize for proving key parts of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-61112 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-03_25_19-PM-300x241.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-03_25_19-PM-300x241.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-03_25_19-PM-1024x821.png 1024w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-03_25_19-PM-768x616.png 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-03_25_19-PM-850x682.png 850w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-5-2026-03_25_19-PM.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Look it up. It is mind boggling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Some things are simply real before we completely understand them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">That&#8217;s what writing feels like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">So what is Mind&#8217;s Edge Publishing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It isn&#8217;t some company promising you&#8217;ll become a bestselling author for $19.99.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Noooo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">That&#8217;s the kind of nonsense sold by dream merchants and scammers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">If someone asked me how to become a writer, my advice would cost exactly zero dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Read novels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Then read hundreds more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Write.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-60385 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SteppingDevilTail2026Feb5-850x850.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Then write some more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Research everything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">For example, while writing <em>Crusher&#8217;s Funeral<\/em>, I discovered the word <em>crackhead<\/em> didn&#8217;t exist in 1970. So I couldn&#8217;t use it. The correct slang was <em>junkie<\/em>. One word. One small detail. But getting it right mattered.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Research isn&#8217;t a chore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It&#8217;s an adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">You&#8217;ll learn history, language, culture, publishing, contracts, formatting, marketing\u2014and you&#8217;ll probably get burned once or twice by people selling shortcuts that don&#8217;t exist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">There aren&#8217;t any.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Dickens wasn&#8217;t created overnight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Neither was Shakespeare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Creative mastery is earned one page at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I write four or five hours every day because I love it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Not because I have to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Because I can&#8217;t imagine not doing it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">If you&#8217;re dreaming about writing a novel, don&#8217;t wait for permission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Don&#8217;t wait until you&#8217;re &#8220;ready.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Write one page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Then another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Ask questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Accept criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Keep improving.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Most importantly&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Keep going.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">There are no shortcuts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Who&#8217;s Behind Mind&#8217;s Edge Publishing?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I&#8217;m Raul Hernandez.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">For more than three decades, I worked as a newspaper reporter in four newsrooms across two states, chasing real headlines before turning to crime fiction and dark comedy. Journalism taught me to listen, observe, question every<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-58698 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/qtq80-Z8yTHJ-300x201.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/qtq80-Z8yTHJ-300x201.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/qtq80-Z8yTHJ-1024x685.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/qtq80-Z8yTHJ-768x514.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/qtq80-Z8yTHJ-850x569.jpeg 850w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/qtq80-Z8yTHJ.jpeg 1252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>thing, and never waste words. Those lessons found their way into every novel I&#8217;ve written.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">During more than 30 years as a newspaper reporter, I met plenty of people who would eventually find their way into my novels in bits and pieces. Some tiptoed. Others with sharp elbows on street corners. Some came from the cop beat. Others handed me their quotes under oath in a courtroom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I usually plucked out the good quotes. Lifted them from all walks of life during my years of reporting. Wrote them on a piece of paper and stuffed them in my pocket a few years later, <em>voila<\/em>, they became a gold mine for my novels many years later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Not only to mine for quotes but character descriptions, mannerisms and quirks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">The Tough Guy Quotes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_272\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-272\" style=\"width: 435px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-272\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ImageAvatarCjnotebook1-e1389064496606-300x222.jpg\" alt=\"Tools of the Trade\" width=\"435\" height=\"322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ImageAvatarCjnotebook1-e1389064496606-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ImageAvatarCjnotebook1-e1389064496606-1024x760.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ImageAvatarCjnotebook1-e1389064496606.jpg 1563w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 435px) 100vw, 435px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tools of the Trade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">The best quotes, however, came from tough guys on the witness stand. I mean two-legged pit bulls, not street punks playing gangster. Most of the pretenders cried when the stakes got real. But the prison gang members. They delivered lines you couldn\u2019t invent. Cold eyes. Flat voices. You could almost feel the ice running through their veins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">The name behind <em>Crusher\u2019s Funeral<\/em>, my novel available as an audiobook, came from an unusual kind of encounter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I was in the crowded locker room at the former downtown Gold\u2019s Gym in Santa Barbara. A tattooed guy sat on a bench, loud and obnoxious, while everyone around him tried to pretend he wasn\u2019t there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Then he spotted my sneakers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">\u201cSir, do those come in men\u2019s colors?\u201d he asked, laughing at his own material.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I stared at him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">He introduced himself, gave me his real name, then supplied his street credentials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">\u201cThey call me Crusher.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Okay. In a battle of wits, I sized up this mammoth of a brute as an unarmed combatant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">\u201cCrusher, how long have you been stomping on aluminum cans?\u201d I asked and smiled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">\u201cThat\u2019s funny.\u201d he said and laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">He got a laugh. My character got a funeral.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Years later, I named a character Crusher.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><strong>Side note<\/strong>: Looking for an alias for a character &#8211; go to court and look at an indictment for racketeering involving gangs or cartel members. The names all come with aliases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\"><strong>FEMALE CHARACTER QUOTES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-18edaye\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"chat-messages-content\" data-empty=\"false\">\n<div data-message-id=\"0bLqLzL\">\n<div class=\"css-1k5junr\">\n<div class=\"css-190hmfm\" data-message-content=\"true\" data-role=\"assistant\" data-latest-message=\"true\">\n<div class=\"css-w44tyx\">\n<div class=\"assistant css-h0utq9\" data-testid=\"text-chat-message\" data-latest-message=\"true\" data-is-error=\"false\" data-isratelimited=\"false\">\n<div class=\"css-1ks6zk5\">\n<div class=\"css-0\">\n<div class=\"space-y-4 whitespace-normal [&amp;&gt;*:first-child]:mt-0 [&amp;&gt;*:last-child]:mb-0 prose dark:prose-invert flex-1\">\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27353 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Reporters-notebook-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Reporters-notebook-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Reporters-notebook-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Reporters-notebook-45x35.jpg 45w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Reporters-notebook.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>My novels are also stitched together from the voices of the women who shaped and enriched my life\u2014girlfriends, co-workers, and relatives, especially my aunt. I dedicated my novel, The Rivera Girls, to my Tia Maria. Much of the first chapter is about her: the two-room apartment on Magoffin Street in El Paso, her toughness, the occasional swear word, and the comic books she read to me. That fed my runaway imagination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I was a relentless and restless kid with a thousand questions. &#8220;Who washes Superman&#8217;s cape?&#8221; I&#8217;d ask. &#8220;Why did people walk so fast back then?&#8221; I said after watching an old newsreel. &#8220;And when did they slow down?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, they just did,&#8221; she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">No, much later I found the reason. It was the highly flammable nitrate film. Seriously, check it out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Then there was Janet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"> &#8220;I swear to God I won&#8217;t go out drinking and playing pool during the week,&#8221; I pleaded after she slammed the door in my face.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe you,&#8221; she shot back, &#8220;and neither does God.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Snatched that baby and put it in my book, <em>Stepping on the Devil&#8217;s Tail.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Years later, I needed another quote, a good one, for a female character in <em>The Serape Notebook<\/em>, and I was drawing a blank. So I called a female friend who became a good friend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;Go to Alaska with me.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Long pause.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;When?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;This weekend.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">&#8220;No, it&#8217;s too cold&#8230; besides, there isn&#8217;t a serious Neiman Marcus to go shop.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"chakra-text css-1ltj640\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">A few words changed, more added and boom. I had the solid quote I was looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 28px;\"><strong>The world of the printed word<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Today, I publish the news through my federal courthouse website, <strong>CJNotebook.com<\/strong>, while spending four or five hours a day doing what I&#8217;ve loved for decades\u2014writing fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">When I&#8217;m not behind a keyboard, you&#8217;ll usually find me in the gym, rowing like a man trying to outrun his own deadlines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">I&#8217;ve written several novels, including <em>Crusher&#8217;s Funeral<\/em>, <em>Stepping on the Devil&#8217;s Tail<\/em>, <em>The Dead Sea Bar and Grill<\/em>, <em>The Rivera Girls<\/em>, and <em>The Serape Notebook<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">Mind&#8217;s Edge Publishing isn&#8217;t about building an empire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It&#8217;s about building stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\"><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It&#8217;s about creating the kinds of novels I would have wanted to read when I was a kid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">It was the comic books and <em>mi tia <\/em>that stirred my imagination.\u00a0 It was fellow wordsmiths who lived\u00a0 in newsrooms and novels that taught the fine points of writing good stories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">If these stories make you laugh, make you think, or keep you turning pages long after you should have gone to bed, then Mind&#8217;s Edge has done exactly what it was created to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">That&#8217;s the art and beauty of weaving a tapestry of words.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\">If I can help, send me an email at cjnotebook@gmail.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why I Started Mind&#8217;s Edge Publishing Someone once asked me why I didn&#8217;t publish my novels under a publishing company&#8217;s name. My question was simple. Why would I put someone else&#8217;s stamp&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Internet Videos to Watch and Much More<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why I Started Mind&#039;s Edge Publishing Someone once asked me why I didn&#039;t publish my novels under a publishing company&#039;s name. My question was simple. 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