Saturday Reading Wrap-up 8/31/24

Since I didn't do one of these last week, this is two week's worth.  (I forgot, but last week was pretty boring, so no great loss.)

I picked up one new ebook that I'm not really sure of the genre for.  It sounded interesting, so we'll see.  No new hardcopies.

Books Read: 

21) James Herriot's Dog Stories by James Herriot (8/30/24) - Literature. 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Who doesn't love Herriot?  Don't answer that.  I don't want to know./
Review: "This is a lovely collection of stories from James Herriot."

20) Brother Assassin by Fred Saberhagen (8/24/24) - SF.  5 stars. The author isn't new to me, but I'd only read one fantasy series of his.  It could probably use more review, though.  I got this for at a 2 for 25c sale.
Review: "Interesting story told in three parts. I really enjoyed it and I loved the end."

DNFs:

8/20/24 - literature.  I picked up a little known title from a well-known author.  I just couldn't get into it.  It's up on the keeper literature shelf, but I don't hold out a lot of hope that it'll ever get read.  :shrug:  It was only like 13c so no biggie.

Currently reading... Not quite sure what I'm going to pick up next.  I have a few ebooks I could read and loads of hardcopies.  Tune in next week.

What were you reading this week?

The Choice Ahead

Below is the link to an interesting post about politics and the upcoming election.  I'll just leave it here and you can read it or not.  If you're at all confused about what we're facing in the coming election, you probably should read it.  There's kind of a lot at stake.

https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/08/30/lines-of-departure-2-2-the-choice-isnt-trump-or-harris-by-tom-kratman/

This week's local paper had a scathing letter to the editor ripping Trump, which is 1) weird because this is a mostly conservative county and 2) not really all that unexpected because the editor of our local paper is a leftist.  I expect the editor will get a ton of letters refuting this one, but I don't expect she'll allow any of them to actually go to print.  Or she'll post one that will come across as the ravings of a conservative lunatic rather than one of the many well-reasoned letters she'll receive.  That's her style.

:heavy sigh:  

Now, it's time to go grocery shopping.  It should be a breeze because the VP says the economy is doing great - while she's promising to fix it out the other side of her mouth.  (If it's great, why does it need to be fixed?)  I expect to get next to nothing for double the price.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll find marked-down, almost-expired ground beef.  It'll be nice to have beef again.  It's been too expensive to buy at regular prices.  Wish me luck.

2024 Books Read

 Yeah, yeah... this is way later in the year than I would've started one of these lists, but I was working and not reading up until recently, which meant I didn't actually finish many books before now, so I didn't see the point.  However, I'm reading again, so I thought I'd make a reading goals thing on Goodreads.  And this post.  If you've been here before you know the drill...

(psst... * means ebook, # means underappreciated)

22) Biker Funeral by Jamie Mason (8/31/24)  - Hard-boiled Crime*#

21) James Herriot's Dog Stories by James Herriot (8/30/24) - Literature

20) Brother Assassin by Fred Saberhagen (8/24/24) - SF

19) The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife by Erle Stanley Gardner (8/12/24) - mystery

18) Oblivion's Cloak by Dylan McFadyen (8/9/24) - epic SF*

17) The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie (8/4/24) - mystery

16) The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks (8/2/24) - fantasy

15) The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (7/24/24) - mystery

14) Cinder by Marissa Meyer (7/21/24) - SF dystopian

13) Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney (7/19/24) - YA mystery

12) The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (7/15/24) - mystery

11) Sweet Smell of Revenge by Pam Clifford (7/10/24) - mystery*

10) The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brook (7/8/24) - fantasy

9) Midnight Clear by Silver James (7/1/24) - SF holiday romance*

8) Hercule Poirot's Casebook by Agatha Christie (6/30/24) - mystery

7) Perfect Pending by Lucia Ashta (6/25/24) - paranormal romance*

6) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (6/14/24) - mystery

5) The Case of the Mythical Monkeys / The Case of the Angry Mourner by Erle Stanley Gardner - mystery

4) The Goggle-Eyed Pirates by Lee Falk - adventure/mystery

3) The Case of the Green-Eyes Sister / The Case of the Spurious Spinster by Erle Stanley Gardner - mystery

2) The Case of the Darling Divorcee / The Case of the Runaway Corpse by Erle Stanley Gardner - mystery

1) Award Science Fiction by Various - science fiction

0) Rumor Has It (Duke Noble, Private Investigator #1) by B.E. Sanderson - hard-boiled crime

Random Thoughts on FB Groups

I've been joining different groups on Facebook lately.  It's to increase my social media visibility and thereby to increase sales.  At least, that's the hope.  Anyway, I'm encountering all sorts of new people.  Sometimes this is a good thing.  Sometimes it's not.  

Yesterday, I joined a couple book groups - strictly for book readers, no sales pitches allowed.  Cool.  I can interact with people and when they see what a lovely person I am, they can ostensibly go to my page, see I'm a writer, and buy my books.  That's the theory anyway.  One particular group has like 500K members, so I was figuring on a good reach.  This morning it reminded me why I don't hang around with very many people.  

The first post I saw in my newly joined group was one admonishing people to not say the book has a twist at the end when recommending a book.  Just saying a book has a twist is ruining it for people, apparently.  How can they possibly enjoy a book when they're constantly waiting for the twist?  Umm... I read every book as if there's some kind of twist.  Shouldn't there be a twist in every book??  I'm confused.  I left the group.  

Come to think of it, I hadn't really joined the group.  It was another one that was asking for promises I wasn't comfortable making.  And since it's a non-marketing group, I didn't want to accidentally get it confused with all my marketing groups (it has a really similar name to a couple) and then try to market in it.  I got partway through the process of joining the group and then stopped.  This morning, FB tells me I was accepted into the group and then it was all over my newsfeed.  :shrug:  Like I said, I left the group.  Life is confusing enough without having to worry about which unwritten rule I may or may not be violating.  

I'm not sure if any of this is doing any good.  It's early yet.  I figure it's worth a shot.  Can't hurt, and all that, eh?  Who knows, I might make a friend or two?  Sell a book here and there.  Something.

Twenty Years

Sometime in September of 2004, I finished the first draft of my first novel.  I called it SPECTACLE. (Yeah, that's partly why this blog is named what it is.)  I started writing it about 9 months before, which I guess was fitting for my first brain baby.  And it was a big one.  Spectacle weighed it at about 147,000 words.  It's epic.  EPIC.  And it made my husband fall in love with me, but that beside the point.

Last week, I finished the first draft of what will become my 18th published novel.  Spectacle is not one of them.  It's epic but it's also not ready for public consumption.  I've learned a lot since I wrote that.  Oh, I still believe it's pretty damn good, but my writing style has improved and my voice has morphed some as I grew as a writer.  I did look into having the thing edited a few years back.  The cost of editing was and is a tad prohibitive.  I think I was quoted over $1000,  Not surprising because it's a behemoth and I'm too close to it to want to cut anything to even get that price down.  I think that's a fair price... I just can't afford it.  

I spent A LOT of time writing query letters and synopses and blurbs.  I spent a lot of time and money mailing out queries and SASEs (that's a self-addressed stamped envelope for any youngin' who happened to be around - we used to have to put those in with the queries we MAILED in order to know for sure we'd been rejected).  Finally, I gave up and wrote another book, which went through the same process - query, rejection, giving up.  And another.  And another.  And... you get the picture.  It was a process I would repeat for nearly ELEVEN YEARS.

For all those years, I followed all the rules.  I researched a lot, learning everything I could about writing and the subjects I was writing about.  I also wrote a lot.  And I edited until my eyes were crossed and I thought my head would explode.  I had betas and first readers and critique partners.  I used every resource available.  At one point, I even re-edited Spectacle for the hundredth time, renamed it FEAR ITSELF, and sent it through the query mill again.

Then in the late summer / early fall of 2014, Hubs and I had a discussion.  This whole 'trying to get an agent' thing was not going anywhere.  And with the state of self-publishing... it becoming more widely accepted and so much easier than it had been ten years before, we made the decision to stop trying to get an agent or get my books traditionally published.  I found an editor, I found a cover artist, and we went for it.  In February of 2015, DYING EMBERS made its way into the world.  

The rest, as they say, is history.  

I'm not sure if I'll ever send Fear Itself into the world.  I should.  It's still a good book.  But we always think that about our brain children, don't we?  

So, yeah, it's been twenty years since I entered the game.  Threw my hat into the ring to become a published novelist, if you will.  I'd have an anniversary celebration if I could remember the exact date I typed THE END on Spectacle and meant it.  I'll probably do something for Dying Embers in February.  A sale or something.   If I remember.  We'll see how it goes.

Randomosity

Yesterday, I had several good ideas for a blog post, but I was too lazy and didn't write them.  This morning?  Nada.  So you're stuck with this. I really need to at least write the ideas down when they're hanging out in my head.  You'd think I'd know better.  Derp.

We had free Starz movie channels this weekend.  Not a whole lot on that I wanted to watch, but we did catch two sleepers - Ordinary Angels and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.  Both lovely movies.  Yes, tears will be involved, but they're good tears.

Men do not generally understand that women need to cry.  The idea confuses them and the act makes them very uncomfortable.  Eh.  If I don't have myself a good cry every now and then I get emotionally constipated and cranky.  Gotta open the pressure valve and let it all out.  Better to do that then have an explosion of monumental proportions wherein you do or say things you will regret.  Jus' sayin'.  It's also better than drowning it in food or worse, booze.  Go for it.  Have a good, old-fashioned, ugly cry.  You'll feel better.

Finn is the funniest little kitty.  He likes to drink water off his paw.  He'll actually stand with one paw in the water bowl and then lift it and lick all the water off.  Repeat until his thirst is quenched.  Unfortunately, this leads to wet kitty paw prints all over the floors.  And on my shirt if I don't notice his feet are wet before I pick him up.  He's so pick-up-able that I don't really mind.  Finn's my little love muffin.

Speaking of cats, I took three pieces of paper, folded them in half and I use them to make a little paper tent tunnel that the boyz love to knock down or try to run through. And once the paper is all flat on the floor, they like to lay on it.   It distracts them for a while, which is always a good thing.  

With the WIP on hold to marinate, I need to decide which book to work on next.  I also need to figure out if I should pick up where I left off or start over from the beginning like I did with Duke Noble #2.  I do not plan on starting anything totally new.  I have too many unfinished projects to forge into unknown territory.  For now, though, I'm just marinating.  

Okay, time to pour some more coffee down my gullet and get the day started.  I hope you enjoyed this thoroughly random post this morning.  I'll try to remember the post topics I thought of and write those for this coming week.  Wish me luck. LOL

Sunday Update 8/24/24

Well, hello there.  Thanks for stopping by for my weekly update.  In case this is your first time here, I'm a pretty boring person.  All the exciting in my life is fictional.  

Day before yesterday, I finished the WIP.  It'll become my 18th published novel.  It's Duke Noble, book 2 - tentatively called Thicker Than Water.  (Not sure I love that title.  We'll see.)  It ended up being 47269 words for the first draft.  I really like how it ended.  There's a lot I have to go back and fix - continuity issues, gaps, a dearth of description... the usual.  I'll probably start that next week.  With my brain, I don't really need too much time to step out of the story so I can look at it objectively.  

So, with finishing that sucker, I wrote 6657 words last week.  I'm hoping to start writing again on something else sometime this week, then write at night and edit TTW during the day once I get to editing again.  I've done this in the past, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.  I do wonder whether I still have the chops to write one book while editing another, though.

This past week, I ran a sale on the Once Upon a Djinn books.  I ended up moving 106 copies of WIOH (free), two copies of IDW, and one copy each of UWC and WHTF (99c ea).  On the bright side, the rankings thing on Amazon is finally moving again, so here's hoping it equates to residual sales and page reads in KU.  WIOH reached #91 in free urban fantasy, so yay.  That usually helps.  :shrug:

I didn't post a Reading Wrap-up yesterday because, frankly, I forgot.  Honestly, though, I didn't really have anything to talk about.  I didn't finish a book last week - just DNF'd one, which was annoying.  Then I picked up a SF and finished that last night.  I'll talk about it all next Saturday.

In baking news, I made a batch of Peanut Butter & Cocoa Oatmeal Cookies.  Hubs was jones'n for something chocolate, so tada.  

On the activity front, I walked 3 days for 2.55 miles worth, then yesterday, I cut down my lilac bush with this nifty new hand saw thingie I bought.  (Poor Linus.  He up and died this year, all but one lonely trunk and 3-4 suckers.  I left all that, hoping to resurrect him.)  It was quite the upper body workout and I'm feeling it today.  I haven't weighed myself.  I don't need that kind of negativity... LOL.

I can't think of anything else from this past week worth talking about, so feel free to go on about your day.  And if you want to, drop a comment and tell me about your week.  I hope it was a good one.  If not, we can commiserate. :hugs:

Property Rights

The other day I saw a video clip someone posted on FB and it's kind of concerning.  It was of Harris talking to some of her cronies about how they could just take someone's patent.  And to her it seemed like something funny and fun to do.  Like it was nothing.

A patent is a property right.  You come up with an invention, you patent it so everyone knows it's YOURS.  This thing you created came out of your head and you made it real.  You should profit from it.  I'd say in perpetuity, but those things don't last forever.  Still, for as long as they last, they're yours.  

Kind of like copyrights.  

If someone in power is willing to steal a patent, it's not that big a step for them to just go ahead and steal your copyright, too.  Basically, if they want something, it's theirs to take.  Sort of like a whole section of our populous these days.  (If you haven't been paying attention, there have been hoards of people taking things that don't belong to them.  It'll get worse, trust me.  Sort of a 'if she's doing it, why can't I' mindset.)

Sure, they'll probably start with the conservatives and other people who aren't on their side, but before long, they'll come for the liberals, too.  Or, if a liberal's property is desirable to them, they'll skip the line and go straight for the throat no matter who is it.

Jus' sayin'.

I mean, I've even seen it here on my little plot of land.  Some people who occasionally come up from a rather large city south of here decided it would be okay to wander the woods... woods that do not belong to them... and one day they just popped out of the woods into my yard.  They were going on 'an adventure', they said.  They didn't even bother to ask if it was okay to trespass on my property.  I would've told them no, but still.  (And maybe that's why they didn't ask.)  We have our reasons, but we don't really need one to stand up and say 'this piece of property belongs to us - stay off'.  Hell, we don't even need to say it.  Property doesn't have to be posted No Trespassing for it to apply.  (It's easier to prosecute when there's a sign, but you don't need it.)  Those people don't see us walking on their land - and they have waterfront, so it would be awesome to just walk across their lawn and fish off their backyard.  We don't do that because those people have rights.  We respect that.  

Our books are our property, too.  We sometimes share our property for free.  Get the word out there, maybe pick up some residual sales.  Sharing it once for free doesn't mean it's always free, so you can take it and share it, too.  It means for this space of time, we would like for you to read it and appreciate it without having to pay for it.  Pass your love of the book along, not the book itself.

I find really quite concerning and more than a little depressing that the second in charge of our great nation has so little regard for property rights..  The only thing I can do is write posts like this and hope that come November enough people realize the truth and vote accordingly.

:shrug:

Thursday This n That

Getting back to writing wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Getting back to marketing was okay.  Actually getting back to sales?  Umm... yah.  Not as sparktastic as I'd hoped it would be.  :shrug:

I started this post an hour ago and then got lost in the comments section for a really interesting question about editing and self-publishing.  Just someone asking when it's time to stop self-editing and publish the book (with a request not to suggest paying for an editor, since they have no money to do so).  For the most part, the commenters were spot-on and sympathetic.  A few were snotty, but not many - especially since the group is supposed to be about being supportive and a safe place to discuss this sort of stuff.  (For the record, I did not actually join the group because it asks you to agree to making it a 'safe space' and I don't do 'safe spaces' as a general rule.  One would hope adults wouldn't have to agree to a 'safe space' promise to be civil and courteous to one another.  Those that would, wouldn't necessarily follow the rules - as seem in the snotty comments to that one post.)

Anyway, it was an interesting comments section.  Which is something because most comments sections irritate the crap out of me.

I distracted the cats this morning with pieces of paper.  Sawyer was up to his usually mischief, so I threw a piece of paper on the floor.  He investigated that for a few minutes and then went back to mischief.  So I threw two more on the floor.  Investigate... mischief.  So I took those three pieces of paper, folded them, and made a little tunnel.  Now, Sawyer is laying near them after playing with them and Finn is playing with them.  And Sawyer just got up to attack Finn, so the distraction worked.  Rumble amidst the papers.

The WIP is almost done.  I have to finish the climax, write the denouement, and wrap it all up.  Woohoo.  Scratch that... the first draft of the WIP is almost done.  The book is still nowhere near ready to publish.  And I'm okay with that.

I really should wear my glasses when I write these blog posts.  Thank goodness for the wiggly red lines that let me know when I've truly f'ckd something up.  (Like the word f'ckd. LOL)

Okay, I should probably go do something else constructive this morning.  Have a great day!

Warning: Rant Ahead

Life really shouldn't be this damn hard, ya know?  This is the year 2024 for petesakes.  We should have flying cars by now.  I can't even get my freakin' phone to work and my internet is so slow I feel like I'm in 1998, using AOL and dial-up.  All I'm trying to do today is post some damn marketing stuff to Facebook and the damn site won't load half the time, and the other half the time, it only loads partially, so I have to refresh and hope it loads the next time.  

Most days, I can't comment on other people's blogs because I can't get the comment thing to load without refreshing a half-dozen times, and I just give up.  (So, if I don't comment, it's not that I'm ignoring you or have something better to do.)  Hell, I can't even comment on my own blog without logging in as a guest.  

Yes, I realize that this is partly my fault.  I live in the back of beyond and I exist on a shoestring budget.  Services here are not what one would expect to find in, say, a city.  And although we do have access to something like Starlink, the cost is prohibitive.  C'est la vie.  Or suck it up, buttercup.  As for the phone, the tech supervisor told me it could be like this for 2-3 MONTHS.  Yeah, I have a cell phone, but talking on it for more than a few minutes makes my hand cramp, and if I'm not holding it JUST RIGHT, my mom has a tough time hearing me.  

Don't mind me.  I'm just ranting.  

I really need to win the lottery.  If I had all the monies, these little issues wouldn't be so dramatic.  I'd pay Elon his money and pay some other person to install the equipment, and life would be better.  I'd also not have to worry about how much groceries and gas cost either.  (Except I probably still would because it's all just ludicrous.)

Sometimes, I just want to give up and walk away.  I do in little instances, from time to time.  I could walk away right now from this whole idea of marketing.  But I'm in the middle of a sale and if I walk away now, I won't get any additional sales...

Which reminds me, what the hell is wrong with Amazon's ranking system??  WIOH is still showing in the paid sales rankings and that's over a million.  It should be in the free sales rankings and way higher than it is now.  Don't they know they're hamstringing me.  Do they not want books to sell???? Turds.  BLERG.

:end rant:  Thank you for stopping by.  I'll try to be more positive and upbeat tomorrow.  Have a nice day.

Wished for a Free Book? Tada!

For a limited time, WISH IN ONE HAND is FREE! And its sequels are only 99c each. Which means you can get the Once Upon a Djinn series - all four books - for less than $3. Pick up your copies today!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074C8Y2LJ 

(All of them are always free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. This is for the rest of us.)

Marketing Monday

 Yeah, yeah, I'm no expert on book marketing.  Like so many authors, I pretty much suck at it.  Half the time I feel like a kid jamming my book in people's faces, begging them to buy.  "Please, sir, will you buy one more?"  And people hate it when you sound needy.  Ever date a needy guy? (Or if you're a guy, a needy girl?)  It's a total turn-off.

So, anyway, how does a person who totally sucks at something pull it off?  I can't answer that question.  I can give you a few tips that could bring you some minimal sales, though.  What I'm talking about is using Facebook Groups to generate sales, movement, and interest.  

First off, it's free.  My marketing budget at the moment is $0.  It does take time, though, so if you ain't got the time, then this probably isn't for you.  But, seriously, if you don't have 20-30 minutes a day to devote to marketing, then you'd better find some funds or something.  It doesn't cost you anything to join a Group in Facebook.  Find the group, join the group, post to the group.

Second... okay, there is no second... just more thoughts... 

I have a list of Facebook Groups I belong to (only 25, but I'm working on building it out).  These groups are for any books, for the most part, but I usually post to them when I have a book on sale or free.  Actually, if memory serves, free usually moves more books - naturally.  People like free.  Hell, I like free.  So, what I do is I set a book up for a freebie set of days, then I print out my list of FB Groups and I get to work.  The first morning, as early as possible, I start going down the list and posting my marketing stuff for that book to each post in turn.  When I post, I mark it on my printed list - date and time.  The next day I post to the groups again, just a little later.  They tend to get testy if you post more than once in 24 hours.

Of course, you need to come up with some snazzy marketing verbiage.  Do your best.  I come up with something, post it.  The next day, I change it up a little.  I do this for every day my book is on sale or free.  Typically, five days in a row.  (If you're going to generate residuals, you need to go at least 5 days or the 'Zon doesn't pick up on the fact that your book is moving and needs to be in the KU 'woohoo look at this book' lists and junk.)  It also helps if you have a marketing image of some sort.  Sure, if you post a link, it'll show your cover.  Sometimes that's not enough.  Get something pretty or make something pretty.  It doesn't even have to be that hard to do... but that's a topic for another day.

Okay, so full disclosure, in case you were getting ready to rake in the sales.  I might move 75-100 free books over the full 5 days.  I occasionally sell a couple books, too, and get a couple people reading it in KU.  I'm not making a ton of cash here, folks.  But for a book that hasn't moved at all in a couple years, like mine, doing this can at least make your books visible again.  And if you have been selling books all along, you can find new readers.  Maybe readers who will go through your whole backlist.  

Anyway, like I said, it doesn't cost anything but time.  And these days, you can't beat that price.  

Any questions?  This isn't comprehensive, I know.  It's just a quickie splash of advice.  If you have a question, leave it in comments and I'll get to you as soon as I can.  I will be jammed up with other stuff this morning, so if your comment/answer doesn't appear, check back later.

Have a great day!  And good luck!

Sunday Update 8/18/24

 Whew... just got back from a morning walk.  I hope to start making those a regular thing.  We'll see.  Now, onward to the update...

I wrote 5 out of 7 days this week for a total of 6097 words.  TTW is now at 40604 words total.  Last night, I finished writing and went out for a smoke, during which my brain formed one of the final scenes.  I had to come back in and write it down before I lost it.  I never write out of order, but apparently, it was necessary this time.  Then last night while I was failing to fall asleep, I hashed out a bunch of other stuff.  I should've gotten up and written it all down.  I didn't, so it's a crap shoot whether it'll be there when I'm ready to write today.  

As for marketing, nothing was on sale this week, but I did join a bunch of groups on Facebook for when I have another sale on.  Maybe I'll talk about that tomorrow.  I also did some spreadsheet work - pulling out my old marketing spreadsheet that I haven't touched since 2022.  And my Pages Read tab in my Sales sheet got unhidden and I worked on that a bit.  Some lovely soul read all 3 A Model Curse books and then read all 4 of the Once Upon a Djinn books.  Which puts my KU at 2446 pages read this month.  Cha-ching.

My reading week wasn't all that special.  I read one book and DNF'd two others.  Yesterday, I started a not-famous book by Aldous Huxley.  We'll see how that goes.

In cooking news, I made another stab at the yogurt coffee cake.  This was also a fail.  And I failed down, so this one wasn't nearly as yummy as my previous failure.  I'll give myself one more shot at it, then I'm calling this recipe quits.

Activity this week sucked.  I walked one day and cleaned one day.  The walk was 1.7 miles, though - which was why I didn't walk the rest of the week - I overdid it and hurt afterwards.  I'm going to have to work up to that mileage in smaller increments.  Derp. (Today's walk of .75 miles counts toward next week.)  Weight: 170.8. 

I can't think of what else to say here right now.  I'm kinda sweaty and in need of a shower, due to aforementioned walk.  Leave me a comment and tell me about your week.

Saturday Reading Wrap-up 8/17/24

 Hello!  It wasn't an exciting week in reading, but here goes...

I picked up one new ebook.  It's a romance.  And I have one unread ebook from last week - a mystery.  No new hardcopies.

Books Read:

19) The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife by Erle Stanley Gardner (8/12/24) - mystery - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  I picked this up at the thrift store for $1.
No review.  

DNFs:

8/17/24 - free - mystery.  The writer had this weird way of writing - like tons of little asides in parentheses (if you know what I mean) and thoughts that weren't italicized or even really set apart, and sometimes the thoughts of one character would be in parentheses inside the dialogue for another character.  I muddled through but in the end, I decided I no longer cared enough about the whodunnit to keep slogging along.  Derp.

8/15/24 - free - Paranormal Mystery.  Bleh. Totally unlikeable MC and TSTL other characters.  The premise was good and I kept hoping the story would get better, but it didn't.  

Currently reading... I DNF'd that mystery a few minutes ago, so I haven't had time to pick up another book to read.  I'll probably grab something off the shelf when I get ready to read again later.

What was on your reading list this week?  I hope yours was better than mine.

Thursday This n That

I actually had someone read the entire A Model Curse series in one night.  And then they started on Once Upon a Djinn.  I hope they go through that whole series, too.  I love that you can track the progress of readers using Kindle Unlimited.  I just wish more people would find and love these books.  It certainly would make life easier if sales went up.

Last night, we watched Free Guy.  I'd seen it before, but this was the first time I caught it at the beginning so we could watch it all the way through.  Good movie, if you haven't seen it.

I also got writing done, so don't go wagging your finger at me.  =op

I had some plain yogurt sitting in the fridge, so I decided to make 'cream cheese' with it.  Put a coffee filter in a mesh sieve, put the yogurt in the filter, put the whole thing over a bowl, and let it drain.  In a day or two, you'll have something that's the consistency of cream cheese.  And it can pretty much be used in the same fashion.  Although, I'm not sure I would try to make cheesecake with it.  Yogurt can be heated but from what I understand, it separates at temps over 350F.  Anyway, I'll probably use this to make dip.  Or I'll make a coffee cake recipe I found yesterday.  :shrug:  

Which reminds me, I think I figured out why my sour cream coffee cake failed.  I substituted yogurt for the sour cream, but that wasn't the problem.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of butter and I only used 1 stick (1/2 cup).  Derp.  I had planned on trying the recipe yesterday and noticed the error I'd made.  Unfortunately, I don't have two sticks of butter to bake with right now.  Maybe after I go shopping this week, I'll try it again.

I keep sleeping in.  I mean, I'm getting up at 6:30 but that's sleeping in for me.  I usually get up an hour earlier.  Yeah, it relates to not being able to fall asleep every night, which is getting annoying... which makes me mad which makes it harder to fall asleep.  It's a vicious circle.

Okay, I'm off to do things and try to accomplish stuff.  Have a great day and leave me your this n thats if you get a chance.  

So-Called Experts

 Yesterday a FB friend of mine posted about a so-called 'expert' who was going to be on a panel at some writing conference.  My friend decided to look into this person's background to see what made them an expert on writing.  They had one book for sale and its ranking was over 3 million.  My friend posited that the aforementioned expert had to have not sold much in the past few months.  Umm...

I took two years off all things writerly and as of last week - before the sale - Dying Embers was at like 2.5 million, so that begs the question of how poorly this person's book ever sold to be lower than a book I haven't marketed in two years?  If sales are that poorly, how does one rise to the level of expert in writing?

I don't pretend to be an expert in anything writerly, but it seems to me that the goal of writing is to get people to read your work.  If people aren't reading your work, you've missed the goal somewhere along the way.  Of course, this person's writing may be amazing, but they suck at advertising and marketing.  Then again, if that was the case, how did they get on the list to be picked for a panel on writing?  Jus' sayin'.

The above dovetails into something I've talked about before - taking care to be mindful of the persons from whom you're taking your writing advice.  Gah, especially when you're paying for the privilege as with a writing conference.  

There's an upcoming writing conference in my area.  Ozarks Writing something or other.  I hear about it every year.  Several of those years, I've checked to see who's on the panels to see if they're anyone I might even think about going to see or hear.  Nine times out of ten I've never even heard of these people.  I can't afford to spend money going to one of these things to meet people I'm not even sure could add any value to my life.  

Hell, there's a writing group I've been seeing in my local paper.  I could join.  I just can't see the value.  Like the cost-benefit analysis is lopsided.  I'd spend money (gas, mostly) and time, and I wouldn't recoup those investments.  There's also the possibility that I would give my pearls of wisdom and get none back.  (Or worse, give them pearls and have them be swine about it.)

I think I got off track there somewhere.  Anyway... Yeah, experts.  Watch who you're taking advice from and take everything with a grain of salt.  Also, watch who you're throwing time and money at.  The usual.  

Sunday Update 8/11/24

 Well, wouldja look at that... it's Sunday again.  Let's get started.

I didn't have the best writing week and it's all on me.  I got a little lazy.  Even so, I did manage to get 3452 words out.  The WIP is now at 33507.  I still have no idea where I'm going, but I'm forging ahead with the great hope that this will all get figured out in edits.

Dying Embers and the other SCIU books were on sale this week.  DE was free and the other two were 99c.  I moved 75 books - 73 free and one each of the others.  Not quite as good as the last sale.  :shrug:  I discovered mid-sale that the Amazon rankings were messed up and not moving at all, which probably screwed me for residual sales based off those rankings.  I had a great first day which probably would've put DE in the top 100 free suspense category.  Then :sad trombone noise:  Hopefully they get it fixed before I run another sale.  All of this is hard enough with glitches in the system.

This past week, I made Raisin Applesauce cake, which was awesome.  Then later in the week, I made a big batch of PB&C Oatmeal Cookies.  What are those, you ask?  Peanut butter and chocolate oatmeal cookies. Total yumminess. I posted the recipe to my FB page.  If you don't have FB or don't follow me and want it, let me know. (And if you don't follow me, please do.)  I also made pizza yesterday.  I got the dough all done and raised.  I cut it in half for two small pizza and got half of it on the pan.  Then I went to get out the toppings and discovered I was out of shredded cheese.  Derp.  All I had in the way of cheese was cheddar slices and American slices.  Not really pizza cheese and I wanted pizza.  So, I hopped in the car, drove ten minutes out to the Dollar General.  I got the last 2 packs of mozzarella they had and I also bought a brick of cheddar to make tacos today.  Anyway, the pizza got made, but while I was gone, the dough on the pan continued to rise (naturally), and the pizza actually turned out better.  I plan to do this on purpose from now on - let the dough rise on the pan for 20-30 minutes.  

On the activity front, I got in three walks for 2.7 miles, not counting walking while I grocery shop.  I also did some cleaning.  I haven't lost any weight, but with all those yummy baked goods to eat, it's no wonder.  

The day I went grocery shopping, I stopped in at the old office.  I got big hugs from my two guys who were in at the time.  Yay.  I do miss my guys.  I crapped out on seeing one of my other guys by 30 minutes, which kinda sucks, but stuff happens.  The place hasn't burned down or imploded since I left, which is good.  I really don't wish them ill, I had just had enough and it was time for me to get back to being me again.  

Other than that, not much else going on.  The baby deers are getting big.  The baby kitties are doing fine.  So is Hubs.  And the rest of my family.  Tomorrow Owl turns 31.  (How am I old enough to have a kid who's 31??)

How are things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up 8/10/24

Dang.  It seems like every day I'm apologizing for being late.  Today, I'm blaming the internet because I actually tried to post earlier but I couldn't bring the page up.  Derp.  This is the wrap-up for two weeks' worth of reading.

I picked up some new ebooks this week.  Read one and have three left to go.  No new hardcopies, but I have a ton of those, so no worries.

Books Read:

18) Oblivion's Cloak by Dylan McFadyen (8/9/24) - epic SF*# - 5 stars. New to me and underappreciated.  Picked this up for free from The Fussy Librarian newsletter.
Review: "This is a long and intricate book, which I didn't expect when I snagged it during a freebie promo, but it's enthralling and kept me reading - sometimes to the exception of everything else I was supposed to be doing. There are harsh bits in it, but they fit. The characters are hard people living hard lives, but the author still managed to make them sympathetic. Plus, in the end, good guys win and bad guys die. And you cheer for both events."

17) The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie (8/4/24) - mystery - 5 stars. Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  I snagged this one at the thrift store for $1.
Review: I can't get the Goodreads page to pull up.  Click the link to see my review.  

16) The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks (8/2/24) - fantasy - 5 stars. Neither new to my nor underappreciated.  I bought this one for full price from Amazon - $6.99
Review: I can't get the Goodreads page to pull up.  Click the link to see my review.

No DNFs.

Currently Reading... I haven't picked anything since I finished that SF yesterday.  My eyes needed a break.  I'll probably go with an Erle Stanley Gardner or a Western next.  We'll see.

What was on your reading list this week?

Thursday This n nThat

Sorry I'm late posting.  Our internet is so slow, I try to stay off of it until Hubs doesn't need it anymore.  And even then, doing anything is just barely better than using dial-up.  And yes, our internet is run off our phone lines, so that oughta tell ya somethin'.

Our phone is still sporadic.  We had dial tone this morning.  It'll probably be gone again by afternoon.  

I just got back from a walk.  1.1 miles.  Woof, it's hot out there.  I'm Sweaty Spaghetti.  

I have been trying to grow my hair out.  I kept it short while I had a job.  Now I don't need it short.  However, it's starting to irritate me.  Every time I shower, I threaten to cut it.  I did do my bangs yesterday.  I still hate it.  :shrug:

The book I'm reading it s lot longer than I anticipated.  I should've known, because it's SF, but I guess I didn't notice it's like an epic SF space opera.  Still, it's pretty good, so I'm motoring through.  As long as it continues to be pretty good, that is.

I ran into a neighbor just now.  Her dog was taking her for a drag.  Nice gal.  Nice dog.  It's just a bit undertrained, so it drags her around the neighborhood.

It's dry here.  We need rain.  If you have extra, please send.

Hubs got some junk mail and threw the envelope on the floor.  He's not a pig or anything.  He just put it there for the cats to play with. When they get bored, he'll throw it away.  I do the same with boxes.  It's funny watching Sawyer try to fit himself in the box the fruit bars come in.  As I've said, he's a moose.  Right now, Finn is under a shoebox we left for them to play with and Sawyer is trying to dig him out.  Heh, the Turtle Game.  Yay.

Okay, I'm done.  Leave your own this n thats if you're in the mood.  Have a great day!

Sleep Deprivation ala Sawyer

Last night, we decided that it would be a good night to let the boyz have free run of the house.  We have great hopes of someday just letting the cats out so they can do their things and still being able to get a good night's sleep.  Let's just say that didn't happen.  I got maybe 4 hours of sleep.  Hubs got about the same.  Needless to say, we're dragging ass today.

The problem... now and every other time we've tried this... is Sawyer.  He's a moose.  He's also kinda spastic.  And he doesn't quite know what to do with himself most of the time.  Finn, loose at night, generally just picks a different place to sleep.  Sawyer wants to know why we aren't paying attention to him.  He meows loudly, scratches the walls (sounds like nails on a chalkboard, folks), and generally creates mayhem until one of us gets out of bed.  This is also why I can't take naps these days, by the way.

If you don't remember or haven't seen where I've said this before, Sawyer's name at the shelter was Chili Pepper.  That was a big hint there.  We understood the hint at the time, but we were thinking jalapeno and this boy is more ghost pepper.  And, like I said, he's a moose.  I haven't weighed him in months, but he was 16 pounds then and he's probably 20 now.  Not fat. Just solid.  And if big kitty doesn't want to do something, good luck trying to get him to do it.  He's a toddler with knives.  

He's gotten a lot better, but he's still... WOW.  Especially juxtaposed against Finn who is laid back and calm.  (Not quiet.  Finn's my talker.  But he's also not in an 'in your face' kinda cat.)  

I read somewhere that larger breed cats take longer to mature.  Finn, who seems to be part Siamese, was an adult cat at a year.  Sawyer? We think he's part Maine Coon. And, let's just say we're still waiting on him reaching maturity.  I hope he outgrows this.  

It's not like I don't know how to train a cat.  I have tried everything.  Water bottle squirts?  That worked for like a day and then he decided water squirts were fun.  Orange peels to keep him off things?  He was all like 'yay, new toys' and batted them around.  I put essential oils around.  He made a face and then attempted to lick it off, so I had to wipe it all off before he ingested it.  I've even swatted him on the butt.  He thinks that's just playing rough and he's all WOOHOO! MOM WANTS TO PLAY!

Don't get me wrong.  He's a boo and I love him.  This too shall pass.  I hope.  Until then, it's either lock the cats up at night (No worries.  Our office is huge, it has all their toys, it has the litter box, and we put food and water in here before we close the door.) so I can sleep or get used to dragging every day.  Sawyer has no problem with spending his nights in the office.  He sleeps, he eats, he sleeps some more.  Finn, on the other hand, hates being closed in here.  He sleeps, too, but you can tell it's under protest.  Unfortunately, Finn also hates being left out of the office, so where one goes, so goes the other.  

Right now, both of them are sleeping.  In my bedroom with Hubs.  Sawyer on the bed and Finn on the dresser.  If they could do that at night, life would be awesome.  Since they can't... :yawn:

Promo Monday

The sale has started! Get all three Serial Crimes Investigation Unit books for less than $2 now through Friday night. DYING EMBERS is FREE. FERTILE GROUND and EARLY GRAVE are only 99c/99p each in the US and UK. Read them all!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078MQ9RX9

Sunday Update 8/4/24

 :blink blink: It's morning, isn't it?  Bleh.  :chugs coffee:  Okay, let's see if we can rebuild the week.

I wrapped up JuLoWriMo on Wednesday night.  And only wrote one day since then.  I did put out over 1300 words that night, but I'm guessing that I still didn't acquire the habit of writing every day if it was so easy to not write.  Gotta work on that.  The book is at 30055 words now.  

Yesterday, I did set up the SCIU books to run this week as a sale.  Dying Embers will be free.  Fertile Ground and Early Grave will be 99c (US and UK only).  I updated one of my previous sale graphics to go with it, which I'd show you but Google won't let me access the damn thing.  Derp.

I forgot to post a Reading Wrap-up this week.  It wasn't exciting or anything.  I only read one book.  I'll add that to next week's post.

In baking news, I made homemade pizza again.  Woohoo.  Otherwise, it really is too damn hot to bake.  Today, I'm going to make a pork roast in the crockpot.  It'll be yummy and still not add too much to the house heat.

On the activity front, Monday I walked the loop here - 1.1 miles of terrain.  Unfortunately, they've re-graveled the unpaved portion and it kinda makes for unsure footing.  I didn't fall, but I slipped around a couple times and must've pulled my calf muscle.  That sucker hurt.  This basically shut down my walking for the rest of the week.  It's finally feeling okay again, so I'll try to get a walk in this morning.  I also need to get back to cleaning.  Weight: 170.2

I don't think I've mentioned it, but I started doing crossword puzzles again.  We get a magazine from our electric company every month and each one has a crossword in the back.  Being the packrat I am, I have several years worth of the magazines, so I'm working my way through the puzzles.  Each time I complete a puzzle, I throw the magazine out.  Exercising the brain AND decluttering.  Go me.  (Not really a lot of exercise for the brain. The puzzles are kinda lame.  Plus, I cheat at crosswords.)

Oh, I almost forgot.  We were without phones again - Monday through Friday night.  They're back, but I'm not holding my breath that they'll stay that way.  The techs are doing the best they can, but the equipment out here is in desperate need of an upgrade and Brightspeed isn't interested in spending the money for an area that brings in so little revenue.  I get it, but it sucks.  We're still back and forth with the idea of ditching the landline altogether.  We'll see.  UPDATE: as of 9:45am, we are without phone again.  For the record, I hate Brightspeed.  If you can avoid using them, do so.

Other than that, not much really going on around here.  The life is pretty boring, which is good thing.  After two years of stress-stress-stress, it's a needed break.  

How was your week?

JuLoWriMo Wrap-up

Okay, so Silver and I did this thing in July that we called JuLoWriMo, wherein the plan was to do something writerly every day.  The idea was to use the month to get back into the saddle after our extended periods of not-writing - hers due to medical issues and mine due to working outside the home for a couple years (which, frankly, sucked the creativity right out of me).

All in all, I think it worked for both of us.  She's back to working on her stuff daily and I'm back to putting words on paper.  I didn't do every day.  I wrote 27 out of 31 days, though, and managed to add approximately 24000 words to my WIP.  

For this, I chose to work on the next Duke Noble.  I'm calling it Thicker Than Water right now.  I'm not sure if I'll use that as the title at the end.  I liked it better when I first started the book than I do now.  :shrug:  Anyway, I started writing on this story on May 30th when I laid down 198 starter words.  I was creeping up on the end of my day-job and the ideas were starting to pop, so I jotted one down.  I did some more words in the month of June - like revving the engine before the big race.  This gave me 4564 at the start of July.  

The hardest part, at the beginning there, was getting my hands used to cranking out words again.  I did not have to remind my hands how to type, thank goodness.  I did do a lot of that at work, just not for any extended length of time.  And writing requires extended typing.  So, my fingers were fairly flying over the keys, but after 30-40 minutes, my hands would start to cramp and my wrists would complain.  The next morning, my digits would be pork sausages.  Gotta work those bad devils until they get over it, doncha know.  Eventually, the ouchie got less and less and I could produce more words without paying for the deed the next day.  I'm not up to previous numbers, but I did manage to whip out 1304 in one sitting.

The other hard part was learning to focus on writing again.  Sit here in this chair with my hands on the keyboard and let words flow out of my fingertips without distraction.  Hubs was awesome and wrangled the cats on several occasions, so I could work in quiet.  But life doesn't work that way most of the time, so I needed to get used to working with things going on around me.  I think I accomplished that, too.  I was in the middle of my writing session Wednesday night when Hubs got stung by that wasp, and after I took care of him, I sat back down and got about 500 more words out.  

What I need to do from here on out is continue to write every day (or most days) and for longer stretches of time.  And if I can't do longer stretches of time, then I need to start having more than one writing session a day.  In the old days, I could crank out a 

Anyway, I think JuLoWriMo was a success.  If you've never done something like this, I highly recommend it.  Even if you're not a writer.  They say it takes 30 days to form a good habit... I think.  This is one way to do that.  Write every day.  Or exercise.  Or paint.  Whatever it is you want to do, pick a month and go for it.  You might be surprised at the results.  

Thursday This n That

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is now my favorite movie.  If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it.  It's was made as a tribute to Harold Ramis and it totally rocks.  I can't explain what it's about without dropping spoilers.  (I tried.)  The main character is this girl, Phoebe, who's smart and funny and courageous.  She makes friends with this boy who calls himself Podcast (and steals the show).  And it's set in Oklahoma.  With ghosts and strange things happening.  I find something new to love about it every time I watch it.  If you even slightly enjoyed the old Ghostbusters, watch it.  

The saga with the phone was over... and then it wasn't.  Last Wednesday, it was fixed.  Monday morning, we had no dial-tone again.  They're supposed to be working on it, but the one tech told Hubs they're having trouble finding parts for equipment as old as we have in this neighborhood.  Fortunately, we still have internet.  (Albeit only slightly speedier than dial-up speed some days.)   :shrug:  With the way this is pissing Hubs off, we may end up chucking the landline altogether and using our cellphones instead.  Which sucks.  Have you ever tried to carry on a long conversation on a flip phone?  Hand cramps in a major way.  I need a cell phone that looks and feels like a handset.  Better yet, give me one that looks like an old receiver from a corded phone.  I could talk for hours on one of those without getting all crippled.

Speaking of crippled, I pulled a muscle in my calf when I went for a walk on Monday.  So, I've been limping which threw my gait off and now my hips hurt.  Growing old is so much fun.

Trash dude is here picking up our garbage.  

Speaking of garbage... last night Hubs went to take the trash up to the road and discovered the hard way that paper wasps had built a nest in a crevice on the garbage receptacle. He was stung twice - on his thumb and on his forearm.  Benadryl gel was applied followed by ice packs. Needless to say, the nest is now a smear on the concrete and the bottom of my shoe, and one wasp was flattened.  The other one made its escape.  War has been declared.  No truce in sight.  To paraphrase Sean Connery in Untouchables, you sting one of mine, I kill a hundred of yours.

I hear Hubs moving around.  For once, I got up earlier than he did.  Neener neener boo boo.

We've named Lumpy's fawn Speedy.  And her grand-fawn - Sissy's baby - is Patches.  

And on that thought, I'm outta here.  Have a great day and feel free to leave some comments with your own this n that.