Thursday This n That

I'm starting to feel better about life in general, so that's a step in the right direction.  I saw where some person was saying they were terrified and that's kinda sad.  Personally, the thought of another 4 years of the march toward communism scared the shit out of me, so I'm not sure what's scaring them.  The thought of having to take responsibility for themselves and their own lives when the nanny state gets taken away?  :shrug:  

And I'm ready to stop talking about all this.  I want life to return to normal.  I'd like the opportunity go get groceries and not have to choose whether I want meat this time or toilet paper because I can't afford both.  I realize that this probably won't turn around on a dime, but it would be nice to have it sooner rather than later.

The deluge here finally ended.  We got around six and a half inches of rain so far this month.  The lake level jumped up about 5 feet in 24 hours.  The river near here was flowing at 75 cubic feet per second before the rain and jumped to 25000 cubic feet per second and then jumped again to 48000 cfps.  I haven't driven out or walked down to see it yet, and it's starting to come down, so I won't see it at its worst, but gah.  Hubs just showed me a photo someone had taken of the river.  It's full of crap.  This totally harshes my chances at fishing.  Blerg.

The cats let us sleep all night last night.  Progress.  Yay.

I'm reading a Zane Grey right now.  It's interesting.  So far, not my favorite of his, but it's okay.

The bucks are back.  Right now, they're chasing tail all over the woods.  Horny bastards.

I've really been a toad these past couple weeks.  I need to cut that shit out.  It doesn't do my body any good.  It doesn't do my brain any good either.  And let's not even talk about my attitude.  That's in the crapper.  I said I was going to edit every day this month and so far, I did it once.  Yeah, not the most banner of times.  I'd like to say that ends today, but I can't promise anything.

Okay, I think that's about it for me today.  How are things in your world?

Waiting for The Other Shoe

I have this affliction where I can't get excited for happy news.  It seems I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop.  You know the shoe... the one that drops and makes all your happy go away and generally makes you look like a fool for ever being optimistic?  Yeah, that one.

Maybe it's a function of the era when I grew up.  Gen X'ers are not the most optimistic of people, as a general rule.  Or something.  Maybe it's yet another thing I can blame on my head injury.  It could also be due to some crushing disappointment somewhere along the way that I can't point to specifically.  :shrug:  

So, I'm reserving my glee until Big T actually gets sworn in.  Until then many things could actually derail it.  I don't expect the Dems to accept this defeat with grace.

We'll see.  

Election Day

Today is Election Day here in the states.  I don't think I'm overstating it when I say this is the most important election in America since Reagan beat Carter.  Maybe more important than that even.  This great country of ours has been on the slow slide to collectivism (socialism/communism/fascism) for decades now.  Today will either signal a stop to the slide or we'll see the slide reach its ultimate destination.

You know what to do.  And if you don't know what to do by this point, I can't help you.  

Hubs and I will be going to the polling location later in the morning.  Then we'll wait.  I guess the Hyena is cackling about how counting the votes will take days.  It shouldn't, but her handlers will make sure they drag it out.  

Tomorrow we should have some idea of which way the vote is going.  It'll either be a WOOHOO and hope will spring forth or it'll be a :sad trombone: and we will continue to muddle along.  

Keep your fingers crossed.

Marketing Monday

Today, I'm trying something a bit different.  Instead of a freebie, I'm offering PROJECT HERMES for only 99c.

Here's the graphic I made:

And here's the text:

PROJECT HERMES - a fast-paced, political/medical thriller - is on sale for 99c this week only.  Save $4.  Get your copy today!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017Y6G0EW

We'll see how this does.  I've been posting to FB Groups this morning.  

Side note: I got a notice from FB that I'd committed trademark infringement. They're saying that HERMES is trademarked.  It's a freakin' Greek god, for pitysakes.  I haven't dealt with it yet, but if they throttle my reach because of this heinous crap, this week's sale could be a total wash.  Derp.

Sunday Update 11/3/24

 Good Morning.  :sips coffee:  Welcome.

This wasn't the most exciting of weeks here at Sanderson, Inc. LLC., but there should be some things to talk about today.

No writing.  I did some editing... one day.  I'm having a crisis of confidence again.  Blah blah blah... meh.  It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last.  Anyway, I've gotten 11 pages done now.  I'll try to get over myself and get some work done today.

On the marketing front, I did the 'posting to FB Groups' thing again.  This time for Sleeping Ugly.  I moved 116 copies.  Last night someone read 12 pages of SU, so there's hope.  Tomorrow, Project Hermes goes on sale for election week.  It'll be 99c.  (Or 99p for the UK folks.)  I need to work on some graphics for that today.  We'll see if I can move copies that people actually have to pay for or if I'm only popular when I'm free.  

I actually read some stuff that I didn't write this week.  See yesterday's post.  

In baking news, one day, I made chocolate oatmeal cookies and pizza.  Yummers on both.  Another day, I made ham and scalloped potatoes.  Mmmm.  

As for activity and exercise, my knee was still squonky from the fall back on 10/19, so I didn't get much done.  Then I said 'screw that crap' and yesterday, I went into the woods.  I got the remainder of that pile of sticks moved to the other pile.  Consolidating, doncha know.  No weight loss this week, but no weight gain either which is a win, I guess.  Weight: 175.2

Also, I did some gardening.  I took all the seeds and stuff I'd gathered, went through the steps, and got some stuff planted in pots.  The redbud seeds and the spicebush seeds are in the dirt, along with four acorns.  Meanwhile, the dogwood seeds and the buckthorn seeds are in baggies in the fridge for what they call stratification.  (Cold shocking to make the seeds germinate.)  Now, we wait.

Here in the states, Tuesday is election day.  I'll be glad when it's over.  We'll either see the country start to move back toward being America again, or we'll know for sure that the country is done for.  And at least the phone calls, the ads, and the whole 'vote yes on..., vote no on...' stuff will stop.  We'll trundle ourselves on over to the big auditorium behind the Baptist church and cast our votes.  Then we wait.  And we wait... because I have no illusions that if the Big T wins it'll be accepted by the other side and they'll drag out the actual notification of the winner for as long as they can.  I will have done as much as I can.

Oh, and in case you weren't paying attention, the time change was last night.  I hate this crap and I wish they'd just be done with it.  I'm not sure I know anyone who thinks this is a good idea, so why are we still doing it?  Ask the bureaucrats, I guess.  Derp.

Not much else going on around here.  Keep on keepin' on.  Hang in there.  And all that.  :hugs:

Saturday Reading Wrap-up 11/2/24

Hi Folks!  I know it's been a while since I did one of these.  I've been so wrapped up with my own stuff I haven't really been reading.  Well, I did do a little reading this week, so here goes...

No new books, but I have to rectify that because I'm out of unread ebooks on my Kindle.

Books Read:

24) Love Blooms by Jennifer Faye (10/31/24) - Romance* - 5-stars.  New to me but not underappreciated. Free from the ENT newsletter.
Review: "Cute book with just enough tension to make it interesting."

23) Moonstruck Mafia: Boston by Silver James (10/27/24) - Paranormal Romantic Suspense*# - 5 stars. Not new to me, but underappreciated.  This is a new release and I hope it gains the appreciation it deserves.
Review: "EPIC AND AWESOME - Don't be afraid of the big bad Wolf, or in this case, the big awesome book. This latest offering from Silver James is epic. I mean, you get several paranormal romances filled with suspense and interwoven into one amazing story. What's not to love about that? And she's taken a different turn with her Wolf shifters this time. All new heroes that skirt the wrong side of the law and all new heroines for them to love. You'll fall in love with them, too. I know I did."

DNFs:

10/29/24 - free - ??genre - I made it about halfway through thinking this was one kind of book and then it switched to something completely different from what I was thinking it was.  The effect was jarring, so I didn't bother finishing the book.

Currently reading... I picked up another of my two-fer Erle Stanley Gardner volumes.  I finished one of the books inside yesterday and start the other, but I won't add it to the 'books read' until I finish both.

What have you been reading lately?

Pretty Graphic for Sleeping Ugly

I know you know that SLEEPING UGLY is free right now, but I just wanted to post this graphic I made because I think it's pretty.

I splashed that sucker all over FB this morning, so if you've got any critiques, it's too late for that now and you will only harsh my morning.  

I'm sure some of you know exactly how hard it is making marketing graphics :cough:Silver:cough: but for the rest of you, this isn't just a matter of POOF there it is.  You have to find just the right background and just the right text to go with it.  Even then, you have no clue whether it's actually grabby to anyone but you.  (Unless you're already a marketing genius... this is for the rest of us.)  I've made graphics I thought we're really da bomb, and when I look at them later, I'm all like :sad trombone noise: so there's really no telling.  

One thing I have learned is that it all seems to go better if you have a graphic to splash rather than just letting the link in the text populate a clickable image.  That seems a little counterintuitive - like I would've thought that having a larger space to click would be more attractive - but in my experience, it's true.  More people click through and buy with a graphic and a link, than with just the link and its clickable image.  :shrug:  Also, some groups won't actually let a post without an image go through.  They're auto-blocked.  :additional shrug:

Anyway, I just wanted to leave this out there for anyone who might be contemplating this marketing plan.  Learn from my mistakes and all that.  And look at my pretty graphic while you're at it.  And get a copy of the book, then buy the rest of the series, okay?