Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

Good morning.  And welcome to Marketing Monday.  Today's offering is UNEQUAL.

Starting today, this dystopian suspense - UNEQUAL - is absolutely free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Get your copy today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

Saturday Reading Wrap-up 11/15/25 + Marketing

I don't really have anything exciting to report on the Reading Wrap-up.  I'm still working on reading The Martian by Andy Weir.  But there's an issue...  I made the mistake of reading the quotes on the back, wherein people, at some point, talked up the book.  All in all, not a bad thing, but there's one that says the book is like a cross between Castaway and Apollo 13.  Not that it's not an accurate representation.  Actually it is, but it's killing my reading enjoyment.

At first, I was like 'hey, yeah... it's Castaway on Mars... cool'.  Now I can't stop thinking about those two things in relation to the story I'm trying to read and making comparisons instead of enjoying the story. 

For starters, I loved both Castaway and Apollo 13 once upon a time.  Then Hanks went leftist and now I can't even watch the dude.  (I have a tough time enjoying entertainment once I learn the entertainer's politics are antithetical to my own.  It's definitely me.  Don't get me started on Bette Midler.)

Then I get to wondering... Is Watney supposed to be Tom Hanks?  He was played by Matt Damon in the movie.  First, I picture the character as Tom then I picture him as Matt... It's confusing.  

When Watney gets home is he going to learn his girlfriend married someone else?  

Anyway, we'll see if I actually finish this book.  I think I need to take a few days off from it and see if I can't get over it.

Now, onto the marketing portion.  This weekend only, get UNEQUAL absolutely free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Pick up your copy of this dystopian suspense today. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

This is probably it for the weekend marketing experiment.  I didn't move that many copies of Blink last week, and I'm not seeing much hope for moving books this weekend.  The energy output is not equaling the return, so make it stop.  

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

It's Monday and you know what that means - Marketing!  Today, we're focusing on UNEQUAL... if it's possible to focus on anything at 4am. lol

Starting today and going through Friday, UNEQUAL is free. This dystopian suspense focuses on a future where everyone is 'equal' and anyone who is better or worse than the average is labeled Unequal and is then disappeared by the government.  Pick up your copy today.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

It's Marketing Monday and even though I'm a little late, I did remember!  Yay!  

Starting today UNEQUAL is absolutely free. (Always free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.) Get this action-packed dystopian novel today. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

Humpday Optimism

It's been a week and it's only Wednesday.  Nothing really to point at, but there it is.  :shrug:

I've been spending a lot of time reading the news and, for the first time in 5 years, I'm feeling optimistic about the present.  (I write dystopian, so it's hard for me to get optimistic about the future.  So many things can go wrong between here and there.)  

It seems like people have finally gotten a clue.  Maybe that's one thing the whole Kung Flu thing did for us - it taught people that not everything you hear or see from the supposed experts is right or true.  Especially those that point at things as being dire.  People are learning to laugh at it rather than take any of it seriously.  At least I hope that's what I'm seeing.  

Oh, I'm still seeing crap.  Yesterday, Turner Classic Movies did a whole run of Nazi movies.  I don't think January 21st was a day of note regarding WWII or the Holocaust, so I couldn't see a reason there until my conspiracy senses started tingling and I wondered if it was some kind of backhanded stab at our newly inaugurated president.  Or Elon.  (He wasn't giving a Nazi salute, by the way.  Watch the video.  He was throwing his heart to the people.)

Anyway, like I said, I'm feeling optimistic.  The big T is already doing awesome things with more to come.  If he can push a majority of the crap into the dump truck and hold the line for the next 4 years, AND JDV is the man I think he is, which will make him worthy of the 8 years after that, then we might avoid living the dystopian nightmares I have written about.  

Speaking of which, UNEQUAL is free until Friday.  I wish I could say I planned to make this book free because of the above, but it was just a happy coincidence.  I'm not that smart a planner.

Read that one.  Then read BLINK OF AN I.  Then let out a sigh of relief that we no longer appear to be headed in those directions.  Jus' sayin'.  

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

 Okay, so I'm up late again and totally uninspired about marketing.  Stuff happens, eh?  

Today begins a five-day freebie for UNEQUAL.  I didn't make any graphics for it.  Luckily, I have a previous one that was made by a friend of mine.

I'll post that today.

And I have this one I made...

which I'll post tomorrow.

We'll see how it goes.  The freebie thing for Ugly and the Beast went pretty well last week, considering I only posted 3 out of the 5 days.  I moved 119 copies of that and sold 4.  Fingers crossed for KU page reads in the near future.

Anyway, I'm running late, so I'll let y'all go.  Have a great day and stay warm out there.

Thursday This n That

Firstly, Unequal is on sale starting today.   I really wish more people would read it.  It's kind of awesome and I do love it so.

On a different note, Kira has fleas.  How does an inside cat get fleas?  We assume somehow or other the little bastards came in on our clothes and then decided to make a home on the cat.  I have not yet actually seen a flea, but she's got flea dirt.  (Little black specks that dissolve and turn red when you get them wet because they're actually blood that the flea has pooped out.  Ew.)  Anyway, I have flea stuff on order and it should be at our local Wallyworld by tonight which means I'll get it tomorrow.  Actually, I already had flea/tick spray for cats in the house, but as I was applying it, the bottle got knocked off the counter and the spray nozzle broke.  Bugger.  This other stuff will work better anyway.  After we start the treatment, we'll clean the hell out of the house.  All in all, she doesn't seem overly put out by it.  Her neck's itchy where I found the flea dirt, but she's not constantly scratching at herself.

This too shall pass.

It's so freakin' hot right now.  And so humid.  Argh.  Everything we have to do had better be done in the morning or it ain't getting done.  And even then, I'm sweating.  Blerg.  Poor Hubs had to change his shirt mid-mow because he was soaked.  Every walk I take is total sweat-city.  Gross.

This'll pass, too.  I can't wait for fall to arrive.

Right now, I'm reading this book about a half-human/half-fairy who's never left fairyland until her full-fairy sister is stolen.  It's kind of paranormal suspense/mystery and kind of UF with a hint of romance set in London.  So far, so good.

Speaking of cats, the fiber thing is working.  (Wallyworld version of Benefiber.)  I sprinkle about 1/8th teaspoon of it on her food every morning and she's pooping like a champion.  No more constipated kitty.  Yay.

I've been using Pinterest a lot.  I still have only three followers, but that's okay.  I'm finding lots of pretty things to look at - art and birds and horses - and some good quotes to help inspire me.  I'm not sure how much its helping my book sales yet, but I did sell a couple books and get some page reads out of the blue (DE and FG, so far), so maybe that's where the readers found those books.  Yay.

Okay, I'm about tapped out this morning.  Not enough coffee in my blood stream yet.  Have a great day and drop some this n thats of your own if you feel the urge. 

Peace out.

Sunday Update - Week 50

Two more weeks to go before we put 2018 behind us.

My week was devoted to getting Unequal ready to publish.  Yesterday, I finished the last of the editing/polishing.  Did a couple hours in the morning and then worked from 2pm to 7pm with a short break for dinner, but I got it done.  Today will be formatting and uploading so it will be live tomorrow.  As promised.  (Unless Amazon delays it for some reason.  I have no control over that.)  I'm sure things aren't perfect.  They never are.  As I told Hubs last night, I could probably pick up any of my published novels and find things I would want to change, but at some point, I have to say 'enough'.

If there's anything in there that doesn't make sense or is flawed for some reason, the fault is entirely mine.  AWE tries to whip me into shape, but she doesn't always succeed.

Got the Goodreads listing up.  Go forth and Want to Read it, if you're so inclined.

I finished reading one book at the start of the week.  Didn't even bother to start anything else.

I got out in the woods and did some trail raking for about an hour.

Yesterday, during my morning break, I ran down to Wallyworld and picked up our Christmas present to ourselves - a carpet cleaner.  Walmart on the Saturday before the Saturday before Christmas is an interesting experience.  Especially since I did not get there as early as I usually do.  Whoa, Nelly.  It was very peopley out there.  But the cleaner we wanted was on sale, so I braved the peopley.  Our carpets will be cleaned by the end of the year.  (We both promised to not clean carpets until our work was done.)

Let's not even talk about activity or exercising.

Last night, after I had finished the typo-checking, and after a pot of coffee, I was WIRED.  Holy cow.  You coulda put me on a treadmill and powered Des Moines with the energy.  Then I crashed, which was good because I really needed sleep.

The plan for the rest of the year is to enter a vegetative state.  Unfortunately, I have spreadsheets to do and marketing stuff and a sale coming up and...  I'll vegetate sporadically.

How are things in your world?  Ready for the end of the year?  Ready for Christmas?  Ready to read Unequal?  ;o)

Sunday Update - Week 48

Well, would ya look at that... It's the last month of the year.  Where the hell did 2018 go?  Bleh.

No new words this week.  And I got the editing back early, but I didn't make much use of that time.  I'm still planning on having this release on or around the 17th, though, so it's all good.  Edits, formatting, upload.  No prob.  Heh.

The sale on AD ended last Sunday.  It went pretty well, for varying definitions of well.  I cleared the cost of the ad and made a little scratch over that.   Saw some more page reads throughout the week and a couple additional sales.  Saved my November from totally sucking.  Let's see if we can save December. 

My reading week kind of sucked.  I DNF'd two books.  The third book was really good, but it took me a while to read.  Here's hoping this week will be better.

Thursday blew apart.

Friday night we had whopper storms blow through.  Didn't effect us that much other than a short power outage.

I made a meatloaf.  That was pretty good.  And we had loads of leftovers.  I love me some leftover meatloaf.  And I made a turkey pot pie.  Always a fan favorite.  Again, loads of leftovers, but hey, I do love leftovers.

With everything going on, I managed to get the Christmas tree up and the house decorated.  And the holiday shopping is done for another year.  All I have to do now is box up the Kid's stuff and ship it to her.  And do those x-mas cards.

We also got a lot of raking done.

And that's about it.  How was your week?

"Wow, This is Really Bad"

As I sit here, reading through Unequal and attempting to whip it into some kind of okay before it lands on my editor's desk, I hear the words whisper in my head and pop out my mouth.  "Wow, this is really bad."

Wooden dialogue.  Lame descriptions.  Purpley prose. 

Yuck. 

Not the entire manuscript, mind you.  Just the scene I'm reading now.  It's BAD.  Blech.  I feel like I need to re-write the whole thing.  But I only have until Saturday to get this ready.  Hell, I'm not sure I could fix it if I had a month. 

And I have to ask myself, is it really that bad, or am I having a crisis of confidence?  (No, I won't subject any of you to it.)  I mean, I don't write bad.  But I am prone to crises of confidence on a regular basis. And the current crisis is a whopper. 

With the entirely lackluster roll-out of Sleeping Ugly, I'm wondering again what the hell I was thinking becoming a self-published author and wondering why I ever assumed anyone would want to buy my books. 

And then there's the review thing.  Losing one review wouldn't be so bad if I had loads of reviews, which I don't - a fact that whispers in the back of my head that if I was any kind of good, people would get an overwhelming urge to write a review.  I don't even spur people into writing a bad review, which would at least mean I evoked some kind of response. 

And the more I think about all the reasons why I could potentially be craptastic, the worse the crisis gets.  An endless downward spiral of crappy internal dialogue.  :shudder:  So I try not to think about it.  Except when I can't NOT think about it.

I'm not sure what I'll do to resolve the issue with this book.  I might just leave the scene alone and see what AWE thinks.  If she comes back and tells me it sucks, then I'll deal with it.  On the brightside, no one out in the world has seen it sucky and no one ever will.  It's not due out until late November / early December, so I have plenty of time to fix it.  Unless AWE proclaims the whole damn thing unfixable. 

Gah.

Do you suffer from crises of confidence?  How do you overcome them?  Or do you just motor through and hope they'll go away, like I do?