RPLA Showcase: Jim Pons

2017 Published Book of the Year

Hard Core Love
Jim Pons

A story of spiritual evolution in the world of fame, Jim’s book winds its way from the Sunset Strip to the NFL and finally a long-sought peace with God.

At the 2017 Royal Palm Literary Award Banquet, author Jim Pons won Published Book of the Year. Each year at the RPLA Banquet, authors experience the joy of earning accolades for all the hard work that is often done in the privacy of the home with little to no recognition. We’re showcasing the best of the best with our First Place winners spotlight. Not only does RPLA recognize extraordinary talent, but we’re giving readers an opportunity to sample excerpts from the winning stories.

Click the link to read a sample:

Excerpt from Hard Core Love

Q: Where do you get your story ideas? (It may seem obvious because it’s an autobiography, but many people who write personal stories don’t always know how to select what to include in a book.)

A: As with any autobiography it was just a matter of recalling events that happened in my life. I started by jotting down things that came to mind and then embellishing them as I recalled more details. I didn’t give any thought to chronology or continuity at first. When I decided I had enough interesting stories I started putting them in some kind of order. In a book with topics as diverse as Sex, Football and Rock and Roll it presented quite a problem.

Q: Anything in particular about your award-winning RPLA entry that you’d like to share?

A: I still haven’t gotten over the fact that it is an award winner. I was blessed with a life full of interesting people, places and events, and I just wrote about them. I admit I was hoping for some consideration in the Autobiography competition. Book of the Year is like some kind of dream I’m having.

Q: Who do you credit with inspiring your writing?

A: If I had to name a single person it would be Neale Donald Walsch. He was a hero of mine before I met him. I told him how people had always told me to write a book. I knew it could entertain people but that was never enough for me to undertake such a thing. Neale told me it needed to be written. He said it could help people. That was all I needed to hear. He even offered to write a Foreword for it.

Q: Any tips for new writers?

A: I’m not qualified to advise anyone writing fiction or serious non-fiction. For anyone writing their autobiography I would suggest following the steps I described above. Start jotting things down at random, separate them and add detail when anything comes to mind. Don’t worry about order or continuity or even grammar at first. The time for editing comes later. And don’t be surprised by that very important part of the process. For me that took a lot more time and energy that the actual writing.

Thank you for sharing, Jim, and congratulations! Visit his website: www.jimpons.com

Ready to read the rest of the book? Click the link to purchase Hard Core Love.

A message about supporting literacy in Florida:

If every member of FWA went to Smile.Amazon.com, chose Florida Writers Foundation, Inc. as their charity and, instead of logging into Amazon.com, logged into Smile.Amazon.com, FWF would receive 0.5% of the purchase funds. Every time.

We could significantly fund the literacy efforts of our organization. No money out of your pockets…just some invested time to set this up.

How easy for us to make a difference. To see all of our work, please read the pages of our website www.floridawritersfoundation.com. You’ll be proud.

Tom Swartz, President, FWF