As I mentioned a month or so ago, my newest novel deals with the topic of illegal immigration. In the past few weeks I've realized that, for whatever reason, this is an issue that doesn't get discussed much outside the media. At dinner parties, for instance, people don't usually begin to debate the immigration issue, though they'll gladly discuss terrorism, gun control, religion, global warming, the presidential race, and Britney Spears. I have no idea how my friends feel about illegal immigration.

So I'm asking you to give your opinion. How do you feel about illegal immigrants? Can you understand why they come to the United States? Would you do the same thing if you lived in a different country? Should we try to tighten the border, and if so, how? What sorts of threats, if any, do illegal immigrants pose to our country? Under what circumstances should a person be allowed to immigrate (or emigrate--I get those two confused) to this country?

If you have any thoughts about this topic, please share. If you want to comment anonymously, please do. You can also send an email directly to me via my website (www.benrehder.com) if you'd rather not post here.

Joe. V. sent me the following joke (typos and all). I'm not posting it because it's funny--far from it--but because Joe is a powerful man and I shudder to think what might happen if I don't cater to his whims. So here goes...

A man kills a deer and takes it home to cook for dinner. Both he and his wife decide that they won't tell the kids what kind of meat it is, but will give them a clue and let them guess. The kids were eager to know what the meat was on their plates, so they begged their dad for the clue. Well' he said, 'It's what mummy calls me sometimes'. The little girl screams "don't eat it, don't eat it, it's an ass hole!"

Authors are always trying to come up with new ways to reach readers, or to somehow burrow their way into the public's general awareness. Postcards, web sites, MySpace pages, viral trailers, blogs, ads, emails, appearances on Letterman (if your last name is Bush), etc.

A few weeks ago, I came up with one angle that, as far as I know, other authors haven't explored yet. I'm using YouTube as a promotional tool. Might not be a completely original concept, but what the hell. What I've done is post a couple of short videos, with a small "ad" at the end. Maybe the promotional aspect will piss some people off, but I haven't gotten any negative feedback yet.

Below is a link to one of the videos I posted. Take a look and let me know what you think. I shot it about twenty yards from my back door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa0Bz3wWSkA

I get that question a lot, and sometimes I'm not sure what it means. Do they mean how many months or years? If I say it takes me nine months to write a book, that's misleading, because I'm not working on it every day or sometimes even every week. And I don't work on the book for 8 hours a day, unless I'm near deadline. Some writers (very few) work on their books 8 hours a day, but most don't. Stephen King probably works on his for 18 hours a day, but he's a bit of a freak in that regard.

One thing that stops me from writing for 8 hours a day is that I don't outline my novels beforehand. I have a concept and some key storylines, but not much more than that. So I tend to like my chapters and scenes to percolate before I write them. If I wrote 8 hours a day, my books would be quite different than they are now. I'm not saying better or worse, just different.

Taking a wild guess, I'd say each book takes me 500 to 600 hours of total time, including percolating, research, rewriting, etc. So you can see that, in a full-time sense, I could possibly finish one in about three or four months. Some authors do that, and it must be grueling. I prefer slow and steady.

Also, I should mention that even though there are times when I'm not "working," my mind is still cogitating on the book, whether I want it to or not. This is true especially when I've got a lot of momentum going, or I've written a scene I particularly like, or I've just come up with a storyline or new hook that excites me.

If I was under a strict deadline, I could see writing a book in about four months. But since most publishers only want a book a year. I take nine to ten months. Could be done faster, but why? Why not let it build slowly, after I've explored a thousand different plot twists and possibilities? I'm convinced that makes for a better novel. It works for me, anyway.

The Texas Deer Hunt

1:00 am Alarm clock rings.
2:00 am Hunting partners arrive, drag ou out of bed.
2:30 am Throw everything except the kitchen sink into
the pickup.
3:00 am Leave for the Hill Country.
3:15 am Drive back home and pick up gun.
3:30 am Drive like hell to get to the lease before
daylight.
4:00 am Set up camp - forgot the damn tent.
4:30 am Head into the woods.
6:05 am See eight Deer.
6:06 am Take aim and squeeze trigger.
6:07 am "Click"
6:08 am Load gun while watching Deer go over hill.
8:00 am Head back to camp.
9:00 am Still looking for camp.
11:00 am Realize you don't know where camp is.
Noon Fire gun for help - eat wild berries.
1:15 pm Ran out of bullets - Eight Deer come back.
2:20 pm Strange feeling in stomach.
2:30 pm realize you ate poison berries.
2:45 pm RESCUED
2:55 pm Rushed to hospital to have stomach pumped.
4:00 pm Arrive back at camp.
4:15 pm Leave camp to kill deer.
4:30 pm Return to camp for bullets, see partners deer.
4:45 pm Load gun - leave camp again.
5:00pm Empty gun on squirrel that's bugging you.
6:00 pm Arrive at camp, see Deer grazing at camp.
6:01 pm Load gun.
6:02 pm Fire gun.
6:03 pm One dead pickup truck.
6:05 pm Hunting partner returns to camp dragging deer.
6:06 pm Repress strong desire to shoot hunting
partner.
6:07 pm Fall into fire.
6:10 pm Change clothes, throw burned ones into fire.
6:15 pm Take pickup, leave partner and his Deer in the
woods.
6:25 pm Pickup boils over - Hols shot in the block.
6:26 pm Start walking.
6:30 pm Stumble and fall - drop gun in the mud.
6:35 pm Meet "Wild boar".
6:36 pm Take aim.
6:37 pm Fire gun, Blow up barrel, plugged with mud.
6:38 pm Shit pants.
6:39 pm Climb tree.
9:00 pm Wild Boar, departs, wrap %@#!!%* gun around
tree.
Midnight HOME AT LAST!

Sunday Watch football game on TV, slowly tearing
liscense into little pieces. Place in envelope and
mail to Game Department with very clear instructions
where to place it.