Upcoming WOW! Women on Writing Book Blog Tour for Blind Spot by Robert Hoffman

  

WOW! Women on Writing Presents

 

Blind Spot

 

 

By Robert Hoffman

 

Tour Begins November 22nd 

 

Book Summary:

 

In this comedy/drama, based very, very loosely on my own experiences, a middle aged father of three named Doug Kaplan appears to have it all.  An attractive and supportive wife, three healthy boys, and a successful career.  He doesn’t shy away from his responsibilities as a father or as a son to his aging parents, and he is valued and respected at work.  However, all his life he has been plagued by the accusation that he does suffer from one significant character flaw, a subtle but substantial penchant for being selfish, a flaw that he is largely oblivious to.  

 

Doug Kaplan’s life was progressing about as well as he could have hoped for.  In addition to his loving wife and family, he and his wife Kelly had finally purchased a house in lovely Seaford, Long Island, and while it may have been a fixer-upper, it was still going to be their dream home.  Despite his selfish streak, which by his wife’s own admission could be off-putting, he might never have found his blessed existence sidetracked, until he encountered the elderly woman next door who proved to be a seemingly unavoidable obstacle.  Who knew that their home on the cul-de-sac known as McGregor Court would be nestled next to the biggest know-it-all and budinsky in the entire Metropolitan area.  Yes, Trudy Fleischmann was a force to be reckoned with.  Emigrated from Germany as a little girl at the end of World War Two, Trudy has known suffering and sacrifice, but she is also wise and caring, and why shouldn’t she share her knowledge and opinions with the young couple who has just moved in next door.

 

Already having to look after Kelly’s widowed mother as well as their growing family, Doug and Kelly end up seeing their responsibilities increase exponentially as not only does Trudy’s husband Burt die, and remove the one pleasant buffer that lay between Doug and Trudy, but Doug’s father passes as well, and now he and Kelly must provide care for three elderly widows as well as their three young boys.  However Doug’s entire existence will become, much to his chagrin, inextricably tied to Trudy after he accidentally runs her over with his car one beautiful summer’s day in a supermarket parking lot.  Can Doug overcome his selfishness and provide the care and patience that the badly injured Trudy requires?  Doug’s family, career, and sense of who he is as a person are all on the line as he tries to summon his better angels and do the right thing.  

 

 

 

This book is perfect for:

anyone trying to balance kids, career, marriage, and aging parents, all while being judged by a nosy neighbor! 

 

If I were to compare Blind Spot to similar works of fiction I would say that it is written in the comedy/drama style of Richard Russo in his novel, Chances Are.  The telling of the story in my novel is similar to the style used by Gary Shteyngart in his novel Lake Success where he jumps back and forth between antagonist and protagonist.

 

You’ve heard about this delightful comedy/drama

AND..

 

now it’s YOUR turn to get your hands on BLIND SPOT!!

 

 

 

 

 

We have e-book copies available now with print copies in a few weeks. And for those of you looking for a guest post – there’s a few of those to choose from too (see google form for details)

 

 

Find out more: 

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1732681163417438

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoffman_files/

Website:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/burtpurdy 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Spot-Robert-Hoffman/dp/B099TL5ZXY/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

         

  

About the Author:

Who is Robert Hoffman?  It’s about time somebody asked that question.  Rob Hoffman is originally from a town on Long Island called North Massapequa.  He attended SUNY Oswego where he majored in Communications, a degree that it turned out he had little use for.  He did however meet  the woman who would eventually become my wife, the former Michelle Lindell.  Rob and Michelle lived in the aptly named Flushing, Queens for six years before moving to a town called Clifton Park, New York just south of Saratoga Springs.  Finding little value in his degree in communications, Rob became a social studies teacher, teaching in Long Island City, Queens for four years before spending the remainder of his career in Rensselaer, New York, a small city on the banks of the Hudson River just across the water from Albany.  Rob taught for 31 years before retiring in June of 2021, only to come back as a part-time teacher in September of 2021 at Rensselaer High School.  Rob had always been interested in becoming a writer and he began his blogging career as a contributor at the “Times Union” of Albany for six years.  In this time Rob also blogged for a variety of sites including Fark.com, Crooks and Liars.com, Albany.com, and Knees and Fists.com.  Rob has remained happily married to Michelle for 34 years and counting, and has two grown sons, Andrew and Alex, ages 29 and 23.  Most recently, Rob and Michelle became grandparents to the newest addition to the family, Sam Hoffman, son of Andrew and his wife Katie.

 

“Blind Spot” represents Rob’s first true attempt at writing fiction, an experience Rob both fun and exhausting.  Rob had thrown around several ideas as he began to think about what it was he wanted to write about, and then one day his wife had sent him to the supermarket on an errand where he saw somebody he really didn’t want to spend any time talking to, so he raced out of the store, got in his car, turned it on, slammed it into reverse and was about to speed out of the spot when he stopped himself and said, “Dumb-ass, be careful, you could hit somebody.”  Then, as Rob began to slowly and carefully pull out of his parking spot, he thought for another second and it occurred to him how ironic it would be if he accidentally hit the person he was trying to get away from and “Blind Spot” was born.  The character of Doug Kaplan, while not autobiographical, is sort of based on the best and worst of Rob’s traits.  Doug is at times the guy Rob always wanted to be, and yet at the same time, Doug also represented the guy Rob was relieved to know he never became. The other characters according to Rob are combinations of people that he knew from his childhood, as well as college and work experiences. 

 

If you'd like to participate in this tour - I can get you the PDF IMMEDIATELY! Please fill out the google form below:

 

The 'skinny' on Book Blog Tours

 

This is an email I just sent out to an author who approached me about doing a blog tour with WOW! 

Keep in mind, there are lots of different options to choose from, but this particular author is a friend of a friend and already had an idea that he wanted to do a tour just like his friend had done. So here's the 'skinny' on what I explained to him:

Rob, 

 Thanks for your patience - the tour David had was the WOW! Women on Writing $350 Basic Book Blog Tour which is what I would recommend to most folks. 

Let me just quick outline briefly what that tour includes: 

A launch day interview on The Muffin (The WOW! blog) - here's David's: https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2014/04/novelist-and-playwright-david-kalish.html1

10-15 "stops" (during a month long tour) along the blog tour at various blogs - check out David's launch day post and if you scroll down, you'll see the blog tour calendar. The stops are a mix of reviews, interviews, author spotlights, and some guest blog posts. 

Each of the reviewers is asked to post their review on social media as well as Amazon and/or Goodreads 

 So - that's the 'skinny' on things.

Email me anytime: crystal@wow-womenonwriting.com  but I'd also like to outline the steps once you decide if you want to do the tour. 

 1) Send me a copy of your book  

2) Pick a date 6 weeks or more into the future to "launch" your tour 

3) Pay your WOW! Invoice (we generate that via paypal once you choose a date) 

4) Come up with 5-6 guest blog topics you'd like to write 300-350 words about. Bloggers will chose one of your titles if they're so inclined - so make the titles catchy (they can be writerly or otherwise - whatever you'd like) 

5) Provide me with your book summary, author bio, head shot .jpg and book cover .jpg as well as the pdf version of Blind Spot 

6) Sit back while I send out pitch information to bloggers - I'll be busy filling your tour 

7) Answer your interview questions from me for our launch day post (I will send these to you once I'm done reading) 

8) Take a look at your tentative blog tour calendar (I'll send you an excel spreadsheet with proposed dates and any other housekeeping) and approve everything so we are on the same page 

9) Send out physical book copies as requested by bloggers/reviewers 

10) Email your guest posts out as requested by bloggers 

11) - This is a me thing - but you'll receive a copy of an email I send to bloggers called a media kit and calendar; and this email will remind everyone to post their reviews on social media and such, but it is also a reminder to you that you should stop by each blog tour stop and comment as well as sharing the stop on your own social media 

12) Enjoy the tour - interact with bloggers etc... 

13) Send our copies of Blind Spot to anyone who won a copy as part of your tour 

 That's about it - I don't think I missed anything. Even if you decide not to do a tour, feel free to send me a copy of your book and I'll read and review it on my personal blog: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/ Hope this helps and thanks for reaching out! Hugs, ~Crystal