Introduction

Hello.
My name is Mark Stephens. I live in Central Florida. I am a self-published author and a waiter. By self-published, I mean I write books, short stories and the like, but haven't quite reached the heights where a publisher would notice.
A brief history of my universe - I grew up in Ohio and moved to Florida 15 years ago by way of a short stop in Asheville, NC. Throughout grade school and high school and into college, I was always lauded as an inventive and creative writer. I never pursued it until 2011 when I began to write my first full length book, Time After Time. Why did it take so long? Mainly because of my own pragmatism. Knowing the chances of writing a book, finding an agent and a publisher, and then actually selling said book was at best a long shot. I still wrote, but never with the intention of shopping it around.
Then, back in 2010, I heard about the burgeoning self-publishing craze. Here was a forum where I could write and publish whatever I wished without worrying about a middle man. Although I would love to have a publisher be interested in  my work, now I don't have the onus of waiting for their approval.
And here we are. 2014.
Now, what exactly do I need a blog for?
In researching marketing and publishing e-books, I ran across many blogs from aspiring authors. These granted me much insight and helped me to avoid certain pitfalls as well as giving my a plethora of ideas of getting my name out there. If my trials and tribulations can afford another future writer the same insight, then it's a win-win since they may have the next best seller that I read.
Of course, this is a blog. For the casual fan of mine who reads it, I also hope to use this forum to give them an inside look at me. For example, I love movies so I've already written a post on the summer movie season. In future posts, I may tackle some controversial topics and my opinions on them or just some flights of fancy that caught my eye.
I'll be the first to admit that I refuse to shy away from those polarizing ideas and this blog will definitely explore some of those. You may not agree with what I write. You may distinctly despise me for my beliefs. All I ask is that you remember that I respect you for your opinions, please respect me for same.
With that in mind, I realize that most people do not want to hear my opinions on some topics so each title will be clearly labeled so that the reader only has to read what they want.

Thanks for reading and being a fan,
Sincerely, Mark Stephens