The balloons have gone, the indictments have been submitted and The Hague is meeting in secret – my birthday was a success! I was taken out to Red Robin and had their burger (I recommend the Bacon Cheeseburger with Cheddar) along with some sweet potato fries – tasted really good actually. I was somewhat surprised at the taste. For presents:

The Cinnamon Sugar Kettlecorn is amazing! It’s like Cinnamon Toast and Kettlecorn had drunken sex and decided to keep the baby anyway. The book Gun: A Visual History is going to be used a great dear for research into some of my other novels. The Forbidden Kingdom is one of my favorite films – Jackie Chan and Jet Li are both outstanding actors in this movie and it was a visual treat to watch work. Yeah – I love HK films (one of my favorite ones is The Bride with White Hair).

Anyway – enough of that – I am on Vacation until the 8^th of November when I return here (I took that short movie to show people something. If you look, we start at GEM and go through Research, Banks, Merchant Services, Quality Control / Retention and end up at Tech Support, then reverse that route. Notice that everyone else has some cutesy little Hallowe’en ornaments and we don’t? You know why? We have a job to do and no time to hang tchotchkes). During this time, I am going to try to get something going, something finished and something limping – with all luck, I won’t be the limping.
I am going to run down and get the ravioli for tomorrow and – oh, I need to tell you this: I found something called a chocolate stout. I am not a huge fan of beer, but I am definitely going to try this out Monday after the work out. I have also ordered a bottle of Gold 68 and I should get it soon – hopefully before I have to go back to work. I have a good idea for a novella in my head and I want to have the time to really get it out on paper and get it neatened up and posted on Kindle before summer. I have confidence in my abilities. The quiet will help, too.

On the TV front, I finally finished up Doctor Who and got in the premiere of Sons of Anarchy. This is going to be a good season for our friends at SAMCRO – with both the King and Crown Prince deciding to leave after they make enough money to step down. The staff and actors do a really good job of paining them as a close knit band of brothers that we root for, but I am trying to remember where I’ve seen the actor who plays the DoJ lawyer – oh, wait! He’s the pastor from Deadwood! This is going to be a great season, then!

Well, dinner is almost burned and I still have to watch another episode of SoA before I break down and get to work on the novella with the current title of “I/O Error”.

Until later, Good Reader

Seething With Apathy

That’s right one and all – I am going to be on vacation starting at 4:00 PM this Friday and not come back to jib myths about the toy pins on unsuspecting towns that are sly to a cinematographic folly. I am looking forward to it for a lot of reasons:

1. No more getting up a half-hour before God to get ready for work. It’s bad when I consider waking up at 8:00 sleeping in.
   
2. Getting a project done for a change (anyone out there who’s actually subscribing to this blog – any suggestions?)
   
3. Perhaps getting caught up on some of my overdue series (Doctor Who anyone?)
   
4. Hey – it’s a vacation on my Birthday! I also get paid this week – might see if I can get some glorious add-ons for my X-Box.
   

I haven’t looked at Amazon or Barnes and Noble (I am going to link them however), but I am going to make this statement: I can see where an agent would come in handy. Getting these little stories out there is going to cost me more money… money which I am not going to spend on this anthology until I have volumes 2-4 done and bound together in one story. I think the advertising money would be better spent on a novel. A novel which I should try to at least either finish (with one) or get at least half way through (with the other) – and I might even get a steadier schedule for this blog. I’m not going to turn this blog into a commercial for anything I do – it’s more of a combined therapy and resume.

Speaking of volumes 2-4, I do have three short stories to get written up. I just have to keep on hammering it out in my head.

Oh – note to advertisers: a rain montage in a commercial about a colon cancer center? That’s just wrong.

The Walking Dead and Dexter are going along in some nice directions. I like seeing Dexter having to grapple with matters of faith and its unspoken implications for what Dexter does as a hobby. I also like his slide box falling and becoming jumbled (with one slide being broken!) as a metaphor for what’s happening to him this season so far – I just wonder if the broken slide is an indication of his faith in science being broken, or his notion of him being a monster destroyed by Brother Sam. Who knows? We’ll have to watch.

The Walking Dead is showing some signs of breaking away from the comic, but there is a scene (baby seat) that really throws the whole ‘zombie apocalypse’ thing back in our face. As someone who doesn’t shock or scare easily… I find that one scene – not even over a minute – is the most disturbing scene of the series so far, and serves as a reminder that this is indeed a horror story: not everyone is going to get their happy ending.

Well, there is little other news right now – I did find a place (previously mentioned here) that sells pasta by the sheet, so I am going to make some ravioli to get ready for the Thanksgiving experiment. I am also going to buy a bottle of Gold 68 when I get paid again and drink it down during vacation. I love Gold 68 because you can mix it with any citrus drink (I prefer lemonade) and there is no taste. Better still, you don’t need to add sugar to it (unless you have a sweet tooth like me).

I am going off to bed, so I wish everyone a good night. 7 days and counting.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy

OK – I just finished the premiere if “The Walking Dead”. If this is one of Darabont’s episodes, I can see why he was let go. If not, they why did you let him go? This is kinda going a little further away from the comic book series, but not ‘It’s the CDC! We’re saved!’ far away. While I understand that they want to have some distance from the series, but… come on, man. I’ll have to re-read the series, but I don’t think that happens. I’m also trying not to say anything out right in case someone reading this blog hasn’t seen the series. Here, let me put the main part of my argument in white text and hope none of it goes awry:

Stealth text to follow – spoilers for both the series and the comics:

Carl getting shot through a deer? Is this some sort of way of trying to establish that we’re neither Darabont’s nor Kirkland’s ‘Walking Dead’? In the series, I know that Carl gets a bullet to the head in the latest volume, but are we going to have him shot this early? Does this mean that they’re not going to have the Governor? That’s the only thing I want to see. Not the Prison, certainly not the Town until much later on (it gets its horror from the idea that in the middle of this madness, there is an island of normality… and our intrepid group – which has survived much worse – won’t stay happy long here.) in the series. Like I said earlier, I would have to read the series again – I remember Carl getting shot only once.

Stealth text done.

Well – the book is still chirping along. Thanks to my writer’s group, I was able to get at least one more sale. Someone however gave a bit of advice that she had gleaned from some other side: if I want to have my book sell better – make it free. Now, given that this book really is nothing more than a way to get my name out there and to see what all entails. I am understand about visibility – the higher something is rated, the more visible it is – and if it’s only a $1.50 and it is ranked way above 150,000 – it might generate more hits. Really, I have no notions that this is going to be a huge hit – that’s for the novels, but this will at least get my name out there, which is what I am looking for. So – with that in mind, I’m going to let it ride until after my break. It goes free and then I work hard to get a novel finished. I guess the need for visibility should take a higher priority. With any luck, one can feed the other. It’s still on the Nook, so maybe I can keep it paying there and use the visibility of the Kindle to get more sales. But not until after November 8^th – I really want to get some cash off of the book club. Hey, I love the business, but it’s still the business.

Well, sweet dreams to you Gentle Reader.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy

Well – it finally got on line. You can find it here. So far, I’ve had at least 5 sales (totaling $2.12 cents) and ePub is still dithering about. Something about my social security number not matching the IRS records. If worse comes to worse, I’ll just try to get a tax ID number and try that. I’m trying not to stress out over it, but it would be nice to another stream of income. With the anthology behind me, I can now focus on my big novel project… if I can find some uninterrupted time. What’s killing me is that by the time dinner is done, dishes are cleaned, I have maybe 30 minutes at best to write something, and I have some interference — a bedridden honey handing me a thorn and wilt salad almost as soon as I walk through the door at times. By the time that everything is done, I am too tired to really get something done – hopefully having the book out there will help me get some money and get out of where I am working now.

On to other things: Nook finally got their act together: it’s here. Only took two phone calls, three re-typings of my name and a solemn oath that I am an American citizen. A good friend of mine forwarded the link I supplied to his friends; I am hoping that it’s going to translate into some sales later on. The novelty of all this has as of yet to really wear off. Of course, now that I have one thing out there, I must follow it up… with what, I have no idea. I’ve got a few good ideas in my common book that I am going to flesh out. Oh – I also got Changeling: The Lost. I like the themes in this particular game – way, way, way better than the earlier incarnation. I’m going to get Promethean next… and I am considering getting Geist and seeing if I can fold it into the current idea or have it branch off into something else. Who knows? I can only hope that this will get me something – a freelance gig or something. I’ll even take a half-eaten cheese sandwich – just something to show for my efforts.

Nothing much else here of note – just trying to find a fourth short story so I can get started on the second volume of “4 Bits and a Dollar” and have that done in 6 months (looking at a March deadline for publication, with an eye for 4 volumes to be put into dead tree version for wider selling). I also joined a Kindle message group in hopes of getting some more sales. Yes – I hate sales people, but hey – if I want to get out of where I am now, I need to put forth all efforts – “Who Dares, Wins”.

I am off to bed – sleep well one and all.

With all sincerity to you, Good Reader,

Seething Apathy

Well, believe it or not – I might let a little private information get out unaltered. I will have a book published by Kindle this time tomorrow called “Four Bits and a Dollar”. On my next blog entry, I’ll put up the link. I am looking more forward to changing some of my statuses to “Published Author”. This excites me more than anything. Even when I got the weird idea that I could be published waaaaay back in 1997 with joining the company of the grilled and abashed vets on the Internet. I should give a thank-you note to “Salon” for their article on fan fiction, which got me started in all of this. I am very interested in see what happens – this isn’t a way of making money immediately (I mean, come on – 35% of $1.50 is .53 cents – that ain’t walkin-round money), but it shows me what I will need to do when the Big Book comes out.

OK – for those of you who are considering this, here are the pros and cons of the two big services:

Kindle:

Pros:

• Up and running in about 24 hours
  
• Amazon has high visibility
  
• Two words: Amazon Flame
  
• Two more words: iPad Killer
  
• Two Tiered Royalty structure – either 35% or 70%
  
• Don’t have a Kindle? Kindle readers can be loading into almost everything.
  

Cons:

• Formatting: for Pete’s sake – who cares how I made the paragraphs?
  
• That two tiered structure? Dependent on how much I am charging in the first place.
  
• While e-books are definitely on the upswing, there is still nothing better than having that book in your hand.
  
• Kindle’s format is exclusive, so you have to have their reader to have their stuff.
  
• Takes forever to get it looking just right. Took me hours to get it close to right.
  

Nook

Pros:

• The format is fairly open – means if you don’t like the Nook, there are other places to go to.
  
• Fairly easy to use and set up. WYSISYG.
  
• As easily available as the Kindle’s program.
  

Cons:

• 48 to 72 hours… only after you’ve been vetted – which I still have to go through in between the hours of 9:00 – 5:30. Very
  convenient for those of us who have [censored] day jobs.
  
• When someone says e-reader – quick, what’s your first thought. I can guarantee it ain’t Nook.
  

Well, I will definitely keep everyone here up to date about what goes on with the Kindle and the Nook. With any luck, I can get both readers with the anthology, and hopefully be able to break even one day: ($215.00 is the break-even point).

On to other things: just watched the premiere of the Season 6 of Dexter – and I like the two Big Bads this season: Bill Adama and Tom Hank’s kid. I also like the burgeoning theme of religion in the series. I doubt that Dexter is going to find Jesus and repent by the end of the series, but I like the idea that each season has him evolving as a human in one way or the other… and the nudity is always nice, too. Speaking of movies, I went to go see Moneyball. The trailers say ‘wacky comedy’, but the movie is a rather stark drama. It’s a good movie, but I have to admit that I like to see Brad Pitt in lighter things, like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Fight Club.

Well, this will be all for now. I’ve only had 4 hours of sleep total over the last 48 hours (thanks, Kindle!). I hope that tomorrow I will have better news and a link to the anthology.

I commend you, Dear Reader.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy