Here’s the thing. At our house, most nights we watch “family shows.” Bear in mind that many people would not so classify all the shows we watch together, since they’re not exactly 100% G-rated…but that’s the thing. We watch them together, as a family. It’s fun, mostly. Sometimes contentious. Overall, it’s good.

But.

I used to watch B movies, when I watched movies by myself. And I used to watch far less TV in general. Sure, TV’s better these days, with the lack of commercials, a “pause” button, and the ability to watch whatever whenever. That’s all great.

But.

My reading time is…well, there’s less of it. And I keep trying to use it to be productive. (If there’s anything less productive than reading what people who aren’t me, aren’t in my situation, choose to publicly claim is working for them and ought to for all others? I don’t know what that even worse time-sink might be. Nevertheless I persist, because it “feels” potentially useful. Though. It ain’t. I should learn this lesson sometime.)

So…the TV/movies we watch together? The shows are generally well done. But they’re not typically what I actually want to see. Does that affect my writing? I mean, do I need me-type ideas and entertainment to stimulate my imagination? Maybe. I don’t have any useful data with which to answer that. No control for the experiment, thus nothing to say. Does the choice of tropes affect my happiness? Probably, but overall I’m much happier with the family around, you know? So does it really matter what we’re watching? Generally I think it doesn’t. This acknowledgment definitely means I am sometimes…often…just waiting for a show to end. Not the end of the world. But it happens.

Then this happened instead, one day: everybody agreed we could spend a few hours watching “Dad movies.” Not just an hour or two watching family stuff, as usual. But an entire afternoon dedicated to…me. And then they all followed through!

Here’s what that meant:

1. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). I mean, come on. The plot was weak, the acting ridiculous, the special effects horrible even for the time, and in every possible way it was simply a bad movie. Moved slowly, too. But I’d always wanted to see it. I mean, Bela Lugosi! What else do you need? And, yeah, I loved it. Might even watch it again someday. My favorite comment from a non-me viewer in our home: “It looks like a boob with a nipple. It’s the mother-ship!”
2. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988). This was kreepy for sure. I loved the klowns’ sense of humor. Reminded me of the aliens from Mars Attacks! but with more variety and scope of expression. And, okay, sure, other than being entertainingly kreepy I’m not sure what this movie brings to the table. I mean, I liked the colors too. The popcorn spider concept could have used more screen-time, but I keep thinking of it. The bodies preserved in pink cotton candy, the use of a straw to drink their blood…these things just made me happy in general, and I keep smiling when I think of ’em. Plus: one of the kids had already seen the movie separately! How cool is that?
3. Attack of the Killer Donuts (2016). Okay, not all the kids made it through all three movies. But, man, I loved the effort. Also: this one wasn’t even my idea! It made the list, for sure, as soon as I heard the title. But the actual suggestion was from a smaller-type human. So, stipulated, not the greatest movie ever. I did like the donut-fangs. Also the pulsing green mostly-liquid bowel evacuations. That stuff was fun. Reminded me of Stephen King’s shit-weasels in Dreamcatcher.

You know what else makes me happy? I hyphenated “mostly-liquid” above. Technically it’s incorrect. The hyphen is redundant, as “mostly” clearly modifies liquid. And yet…I did it anyway. I think it’s funnier with the hyphen than without. It emphasizes the near-liquidity a bit more than correct usage might. And I’m an indie! I don’t have to use the Chicago Manual of Style, or any other stylebook! Sounds minor, I know, but for me it’s not.

Back on topic: The family blew me away. Even after they agreed to watch the movies, I truly didn’t expect them to actually do it. And not one complaint was heard.

I am such a lucky man.

Have fun out there!

The post Proof that my family loves me! first appeared on Caveat Lector.

I’m looking for new recommendations. I just had a blast reading Jeff Strand’s Cemetery Closing (Everything Must Go), his latest Andrew Mayhem book, then dove into Lawrence Block’s Dead Girl Blues. The latter of which gave me interesting dreams.

I remember, roughly 20 years ago, reading a bunch of Jeff Strand’s books for free. Maybe he was published by Tor? Or Baen? I think both of those publishers were offering free ebooks at one time or another. The idea was to discover what that did to print sales. It increased them…the lesson from that was probably something along the lines of obscurity being worse than piracy. Obviously context-dependent. Anyway, I had Strand’s books in a .lit format that probably doesn’t exist anymore on a PDA running Windows CE. And I’d never heard of him. So, 20 years later, here I am loving his stuff. Buying it whenever something new comes out. I guess it worked.

Some of Strand’s stories are a bit more involved. A bit more bizarre. And with, you know, believable characters. That’s not what he does with Andrew Mayhem. This latest had pirates, cannibals, macabre death, and tons of humor: par for the course. As I said, I had a blast. (Strand often plays with a mix of horror and humor…sometimes supernatural stuff, sometimes not, but generally I love it.)

Then, the same day (yesterday) I finally started Lawrence Block’s latest. Oh boy. I want to say a lot about it…but what I really want is to converse about it. It is, in a word, dark. No fantasy/supernatural stuff here, as that’s not what LB does.

Okay, two things I guess I can say without worrying about spoilers, but if you’re not interested in occasionally reading really, really dark stuff maybe you should just skip this paragraph: (1) It reminded me, as far as “feel”/mood, of Donald Westlake’s The Ax, which was a very good book I may never reread, and (2) LB himself dropped this into his newsletter prior to publication…um…in the first chapter, the protagonist rapes and kills an innocent woman. And not in that order.

Hey. I said it was dark.

Anyway, the book is hard to talk about. I guess it’s safe to say it explores the limits of forgiveness and redemption. And left me thinking about just how much more disturbing a sociopath can be, once it becomes clear that he/she/they/it can actually love others. Some others. Clearly a limited offer there.

Still. LB wrote it. I’ll read anything he writes. And it was fun. In its own thoroughly disturbing way.

On the writing front, I’m making some progress. Lots of things have come up and redirected me in the last couple of weeks. Normal, I guess. More of that today, and tomorrow too (going to the river with the kids!). But, still, some progress. Trying some new stuff. More about all that later on.

I’m serious about looking for new authors/books to try out. I tend to read everything by anyone who can hold my interest–something that’s apparently more difficult as I’ve aged. I like to think it means I’m more discerning, but whom do I kid here? My capacity for paying attention has fractured into pretty focus-shards, good for a moment’s diversion but possibly not making me a good candidate for directing traffic. Especially not airplanes.

Ooh! I could write a story about airplanes….

Well, you see what I mean. Let me know if you have any ideas/books/authors to pass along?

And have fun out there!

The post What are you guys reading lately? first appeared on Caveat Lector.

Well. Of course you do.

Mine kind of went like this:

1. I had planned to go hiking/dictating in a park today. First thing in the morning. Finish up a story, maybe. There’s a trail in the woods that goes for about six miles. I thought maybe I’d duck off the trail for privacy, though.
2. My wife had already left with the Prius…which, I realized, had my truck keys in it. So I stayed home. If I’d fixed the other car, I could have driven it. Or I could have ridden my bike. Didn’t wanna.
3. I went into the back yard. Thought perhaps I’d do some writing. An old lady on a porch, who may or may not have been knitting, sat watching me. I moved to the left side of the yard. Yep. Watching. Moved to the right. Yep. I mean, it was funny, and if I’d been actually writing at the time I’d have been tempted to put her in the story. Maybe do something horrible to her? I mean, it could happen. Instead I went inside & irritated the children till my wife came home.
4. Went to Panera Bread. Figured I’d just type up the ending of the story, because it was all so clear in my head and might not take very long. Then I looked at the first part I wrote weeks ago–2000 words–they weren’t at all what I remembered having written. I mean, the characters were kind of the same, but somehow it all grew in my head. So my ending wouldn’t work. I then spent a couple of hours rewriting the first part to match the (unwritten) second part. By then I was feeling uncomfortable at taking up their booth, and was thoroughly over-caffeinated in the bargain, so I texted my wife and received wonderful news: the back-yard tent was free for my use!
5. I came home. A kid sat in the tent, listening to music I’d rather not hear. Good of him, really. So okay, I got stuff set up to pace and dictate outside using an E-ink Kindle for the display. Went outside.
6. I got hot. The kid did too, and he went inside. I carried a fan out to the tent/office, sat there for a bit, and decided I needed extra help: got my shirt wet with the hose. That was better.
7. Somehow I added nearly 4000 words to the story.
8. I used a completely different ending after all. One I didn’t see coming.

You know what I mean? It’s all fine. I’m not sure what I think of the story itself, but then I never am. I could see it being a prologue to something else, or an origin story for a character I use later. Something like that. And, after all, it was fun to write.

The title image ought to link to its page on my site, if you guys would like to check it out. Email subscribers can also find a link to it on the members-only download page…I sent the links out in my last email, if you missed it. But if you re-subscribe (no need to unsubscribe first), you’ll get re-sent the link anyway.

I’d love to hear what you guys think of the story. It’s going to live its life on its own terms, as they all do, and I can’t do much with them once they’re done. Mostly because I’d rather learn what I can and apply the lessons to the next thing. But it’s nice to think they might find friends in the world. You might like it. Hate it. Buy it dinner?

Meanwhile. Have fun out there!

The post Another dark fantasy story: Sins of the Mother first appeared on Caveat Lector.

Here’s the deal: I posted 16 of them. Except it was really 19, because I made a three-story “omnibus” out of my Marvin tales. I mean, why not?

All of them are available via free download from BookFunnel. These guys are supposed to be good at delivering ebooks in a useful format to the devices readers actually want to use–in my testing it all seemed okay. They even have tech support, which is cool. But please let me know if you run into problems they don’t solve for you!

Each story has a separate page on my site, with a cover image (I definitely like some of those better than others–hey, at least it’s “done” for now) and a description/blurb. And this page lists all the stories, while also giving some idea of the genre for each, which might be helpful. Not everybody reads everything, I’ve been told. I mean, I knew that already, because there’s just no time for it, but I actually have been told this, and I’ve even read it in some books intended to help writers. I don’t know why it had to be said. But it was. So I thought I’d tell you. In case it helps.

Plus! Those of you who get this via email, if you’re reading the email, will see a link to a “members only” download page right here, also with genres, only with the links going directly to BookFunnel rather than to my site: (not actually a link)

What’s the advantage there? Well, maybe if we walk through it this will make sense. (If not, please let me know?)

If someone wants to read a story–or even potentially all the stories, but we’ll assume they’ve picked one to start–when they click the link from my site, they’ll be transferred to BookFunnel. BookFunnel will then ask for an email address, and send a link to the story to that address.

Right after that? Another email should show up, this one from me. With a link to the members-only page, from which the BookFunnel download links have no email address requirement.

Then whoever navigated this maze will be signed up to get future updates from me via email (this is not done covertly, if you were wondering). But! It’s hackable. If they really don’t want the updates, they can unsubscribe right after getting the download page link. The page will still work. It will still be updated in the future. They could bookmark it, if it seems interesting. It’s pretty much up to them. As it should be.

So, what’s my goal? Well, I’d like people to be able to share my stuff with their friends. Anybody who might be interested? I’m not really into the social media gestalt, if there is one, but there are dinguses on the site that purport to help with the sharing. I dunno. Maybe. I mean, I actually might get into Facebook soon. But that day is not today.

If you find a story you like? Well. You could let someone know.

Oh yeah! There are also two novel-length books available from the members-only page. I’m calling ’em that because they’re really just a single longer story. But, anyway, there they are. One of them, the first, is also available as a direct no-email download on my site. And it’s free on all the retailers I’ve been able to reach. Hint: I’d like people to try it. If they like it, well, there’s a link in the back of the book to a free copy of the second one as well. The third one costs money. Probably because I’m mean like that. There are a couple of other books out that are also non-free. If you’re strapped for cash, though? Let me know. I’ve got ya.

But how, you might reasonably ask, is this world domination? Simple: I’m not trying any other method of becoming Emperor of All. So, I mean, if it happens, I’d like to have predicted it. (You’re welcome.)

More stuff on the way. Soon? Well, we’ll see. I was kind of happy to get this part done.

Have fun out there!

The post World domination! Kind of! first appeared on Caveat Lector.

So this is a pic of my new office!

I’m sure you’re thinking the same thing I am. Here we have a near-inescapable reminder of an old joke:

Patient: I’m a tepee! I’m a wigwam! I’m a tepee! I’m a wigwam!

Psychiatrist: Ah, I see your problem. You’re obviously two tents.

Though, to be fair, I’m only showing you one tent. Not that I don’t have many others, and a hammock that works well for backpacking in treed-but-not-flat places like Southeast Alaska. But this is the one I’ve been setting up in the back yard.

Why would I do such a thing, you ask? Well. Because reasons. (Bonus: I’ve written large chunks of three novels on that particular folding table. Maybe that’s relevant…?)

More specifically, the shared-office space I thought I had paid for weeks ago (“for which weeks ago I thought I had paid”?) has apparently gone goofy on me. Multiple delays. It’s for safety’s sake, of course, and who could argue with that? Not I. Hell, I barely argue at all. I mean, I got myself ordained online, in more than one place, but one of them was the Church of the Latter-Day Dude. Yes: I am a Dudeist minister. So that tells you something. (Someday I might tell you about how I used an online “doctorate” from a similar establishment as proof of an advanced education, in order to become a foster parent, not that I was at all sure it mattered either way to begin with–I mean, my intentions were either pure or at least amusing to me at the time, so it was all okay in the end.)

But then. I mean. Am I trying to work/think/write at home? Sometimes. At Panera Bread, where they foolishly offered me all the coffee I can drink for $9/month, and the employees/management are both congenial and interesting? Sometimes. How about just in the car, then? I’ve tried that too.

I have kids. I love them. They love me. It’s all quite horribly awesome. Examples, all from the last two days:

1. Dad! Can you set up my new hard drive in my Chromebook? Depends. Maybe. This is because you want to be a rapper on YouTube, right? Yes! Okay then. Sure. Where’s your Chromebook? (BTW this actually means swapping out the lame 16GB hard drive it came with, putting in a 512GB birthday present, and installing Linux on that to create a usable laptop.) Uh…it’s not charged right now. So? I mean it’s dead. And I don’t know where the charger is. Why don’t you get back to me on that? Okay!
2. Dad! My keyboard doesn’t work! What does that mean? Um, the “D” key doesn’t work. This is what you get for being such a gamer. I know. Can you fix it? Not really. So here are your options: get a new keyboard for your laptop–and just so you know, the last time I tried that I went through three of them before I found a replacement that actually worked–or you could try an external keyboard. I really, really want it to work. Okay. [1.5 hours of research ensues; kid spent $34 and borrowed my mechanical (“It’s so loud!“) keyboard in the interim.] Hey Dad, I can’t find a USB power source. Please, please don’t do that! Please plug my very nice keyboard into the very nice computer instead. Oh yeah! [smacks forehead] What was I thinking? I, um, really couldn’t say.
3. Dad! Do you have gloves we can borrow? It’s summer. Why the @!#$%…? It’s so we can do pull-ups from the tree! Uh. First off, that tree you’re talking about (I’d asked more questions) is actually on the neighbor’s property. Second, that limb you’re talking about is quite thoroughly dead. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be fun to try it and see what happens, but… So what can we do? Well, two thoughts: either get some nylon straps, or some chain. We can use those on the trees that are actually on our property. Cheap either way, too. We have some hand-dinguses we can attach to those, and you can even adjust the height with the carabiners so it’s right for whichever of you is using it. Cool! Or, you know, you could use the bar and resistance bands we bought last month and achieve pretty much the same thing. Oh yeah! We forgot about those! Okay then.
4. Dad! Can you take me to the store? Sure.
5. @!&$%! Language!
6. Come help me! There’s some @!#$% bots on my @#!$% @$$! Grammar!
7. Bedtime! Seriously, Dad? Again? Give it a rest. (Yeah, that one was my fault, and I tend to shout it out at random times. I don’t know why. For some reason it makes me happy.)
8. Dad! Can we get one of those pull-up bars that fit in a door frame? Um, maybe. If you want to spend the money. Do you want that, or nylon straps, or chain? Or do you just want to use the bar and resistance bands we talked about an hour ago? Oh yeah! Um, right. Let me know.
9. Dad! Can we go to the river tomorrow? Sure!

So maybe my overall position/stance/attitude makes sense. And maybe it doesn’t. Thing is…I don’t mind the summer-ish heat. I’ve always enjoyed temperature extremes more than others find reasonable. But the sunlight? With a laptop’s screen? So I spent a few hours figuring out how to use my 2012 Kindle Paperwhite as a secondary display. It works really well, and it’s easy to do (now), but figuring it all out was a bit of a…well, not a challenge…an enjoyable exercise in frustration, maybe. Something like that. Anyway, as I said, it works now. The E-ink screen is very good even in direct sunlight. And, since I’m connecting via Wi-Fi, I can even wander around the backyard (the microphone also works via Wi-Fi) while I dictate. If I want to. Now that it’s set up. When there’s time.

Meanwhile, there are the other things I “need” to do soon:

1. My 1970 convertible VW Beetle? It needs new CV joints. I mean, probably. Kind of hard to narrow down the problem. But that might be it. It’s not terribly hard to replace them. I just need to do it. When? Soon…?
2. We have a batch of mead fermenting. It’s more than ready to go into a secondary fermenter. My wife and I both prefer “dry” wines/mead to the stuff you can typically buy, so it probably makes sense that we’re making our own. We’re going to split the current project into two batches: plain and grapefruit. Which just means putting some grapefruit peel, wrapped in cheesecloth, into the fermenter. (Fancy word for “Mason jar” btw.) So, when will we deal with transferring that, and so forth? Soon, right?
3. The AC in our truck isn’t working. I don’t use it anyway. My wife does. I noticed, at Walmart the other day, that coolant is really inexpensive. Maybe I need an adapter? Or maybe I don’t. Either way, the actual “fix” will probably only take a little bit of time. When will I do that, again?
4. There was that one time when it was raining. And that guy ran into our Prius while we were stopped at a red light. And I could fix that with some Bondo and some paint. When…?
5. Speaking of the Prius, does it actually need more air in the driver-side rear tire? Or did the “Slime” screw up the tire-pressure sensor? I mean. It’s probably one of those. Not a lot of options. So when will I check?
6. Also, how the @#!% did all that trash end up in our vehicles? I didn’t do it. So, kids, really…?
7. Um, hey, guys? Did you notice that none of the above was about making money? I mean, some of it will save some cash compared to other options, but shouldn’t I really do something relevant to one of our various small businesses…?

Yeah, well. That’s how it goes.

What I’m getting at: seriously, I want to get some more stuff published, if only to my own website. And I will. But it’s hard to know when the stars will align. Not tomorrow, because we’re going to the river (and that will be fun!).

Soon?

Oh, the title? A manager-guy at Panera Bread asked me for a recommendation for a science fiction book for a newbie. He mostly reads biographies. I figured To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer would be a good choice: lots of historical figures, and a damn good book in the bargain.

But he can’t get that book from his local library. Any suggestions?

The post To Your Scattered Projects Go! first appeared on Caveat Lector.

It’s actually the first half of what used to be called Shiver on the Sky. And it may become free on Amazon as well–that’s a black art I don’t necessarily feel I fully understand. I’ve set the price at $3.99 US at the ‘Zon for the moment, hoping to discourage sales until the price-match if any occurs. Last word from an Amazon person? They’ll get back to me by the end of the day Tuesday. Maybe so. My understanding is that if the price-match is denied I should just try again. And again and again and etc. as needed and eventually one of their folks will give it the nod. Okay. Sounds efficient to me.

Confession: the freebie ends in a total cliffhanger. On the bright side, it also includes a link to get a free download of the second, non-cliffhanger, book in the series. Though it also signs them up to get more stuff from me at the same time. So I figure it’s only semi-evil? We’ll see how folks react. Could be a good thing, or a bad thing, or, you know, maybe nobody will even notice.

Also, if someone signs up and then unsubscribes immediately? No harm, no foul, and in the process they’ll get a link to a “members only” download page (more about that later) that will not only keep working for them…it’ll be updated with more freebies as time goes on. So they can keep checking back for more to read, if they want to. If not, not. It’s all good as far as I’m concerned.

Book descriptions and such are up on my own site. I’ll be including retailer links once they’ve all come in. IOW I’m a little bit lazy and don’t want to mess with it more than once per book. Google Play and Kobo were by far the fastest to make books actually live-and-for-sale, if any of you are interested in such things. Weird Google Play Books issue: their site insisted there was a problem with each and every cover image. Half an hour later, when I did nothing in response, all was magically well. So, okay, doing nothing? That’s in my wheelhouse.

Hey, I want to say this: these sites are all really good and easy to use, these days. Google in particular used to be a semi-nightmare. But aside from that weird non-error, they, Draft2Digital, and Kobo were super-smooth. Amazon’s KDP remains annoying (especially the “feature” of going back to a previous page, losing my work, when I use the backspace key while editing a pricing field), but it doesn’t seem to be any worse. On Smashwords, I’ve only listed the freebie so far. I’ll probably get around to the others. But D2D is so much easier to use that I’m not entirely certain Smashwords will distribute anything farther than their own store for me. Still. I do like the company. So I don’t want to leave them out entirely.

I thought about publishing directly to Apple’s store, since they’ve apparently made that possible for non-Mac users lately. But, nah. I’d have had to install iTunes to create an account. Or at least that’s what it looked like when I spent a few minutes looking this stuff up. And I really didn’t feel like doing that. I’d have to totally wipe all traces off my computer afterward, and what if I “needed” it again for some damn thing later? So Draft2Digital will handle distribution to Apple for me, for now.

Oh yeah! Funny thing. Pagan Sex is still “In Review” at Amazon, more than 24 hours after I submitted it. Ha! I mean, I know the title is ridiculous and off-putting and not as clever as I want it to be. And Amazon says 72 hours is typical. But, typically, in my actual experience, the review process (if any) finishes within a couple of hours. So that’s making me giggle.

(And hey! I just checked: in spite of what I said earlier, that book’s still “publishing” on Kobo, and so is The Blood Between, so my ill-informed but amusing-to-me guess is that title keywords are relevant to these processes. Once upon a time I got annoyed and pulled all my books from Kobo for several months, because they were not only censoring “erotica” but being draconian about anything that might potentially be sneaky hidden erotica…as if authors had some reason to do that in the first place, which was a weird-but-apparently-PC notion that never made sense to me…and they were especially draconian with regard to indie authors…I mean, fine, if that was how they wanted to roll, but I don’t have to like censorship even though I do claim I don’t personally either read or write that kind of book–anyway, it’s interesting to watch what people do…and also to write really long oddly-punctuated sentences from time to time.)

Much more to come. Those of you who get these posts via email will be receiving a link to a members-only free download page. So far it has the above freebie and the second book in the series…I want to get some more stuff ready before I send that out. Short stories, mostly, for now. They’ll only be available via my site–well, my site plus BookFunnel’s for the actual download/transfer. I’m playing with their service as a way to distribute ebooks in various formats to readers who may need help getting them onto various devices. They handle tech support? Kewl. Maybe it’ll work!

Anyway. Have fun out there!

The post Making some progress! first appeared on Caveat Lector.

Oh yeah. The reason I asked. Because there was this glee club…they called themselves “New Directions.”

Come on. High school kids? Really? And nobody on the show ever said “Nude Erections” instead? Or thought about it? Or complained about the name? Not even once? (“Shut up, Dad!” said my kids….)

Okay, never mind. Maybe it was just me after all. Moving on.

I have some stuff to publish. Some new things. A bunch of old things. Lots of it is going to be on this website. Some of it is going to available on online retailers. ‘Cause, see, some of it will actually be, no-foolin’, exclusive to the site. Like, maybe almost all short stories? I don’t see the point of putting them up elsewhere. But it’d be fun to give people a way to read them if they want to.

I mean: look, I’m an indie kind of guy. Not that I set out to be that way, really. I just wanted to write. So, starting back in 2005, I sent out over two hundred query letters to agents. Lots of them were actual snail-mail letters. Expensive. Time-consuming…it took me about a year and a half to do all that. Kind of hard, to keep doing it over and over.

You know how many agents asked to read one of my novels? Ever? One. Then she suddenly left the agency, and I never heard anything from them beyond that.

So, for a long time…it really didn’t matter how good my stuff was. Or wasn’t. Nobody saw it but family and friends. I kind of got used to that. It wasn’t so bad. Though…how much did I write? Not a lot.

Along the way I figured out that I mostly wrote to explore new ideas and perspectives. Part of why I can’t plan/outline fiction is that, if I could, I’d have no internally-motivating reason to write a given story in the first place. Stuff gets weird on me, though…I wrote a story about a time-traveling ant from the future, with a dark sort of sense of humor, here in our world to defend/promote his own timeline against agents of other species/civilizations. Then I threw in a bunch of magic and the second half of the story is sort of a homage to Lord Dunsany. With gratuitous political commentary. Did that make sense, as a story? Not really. I loved it. It was fun to write. Also fun to read afterward. For, uh, me. Otherwise, well, not even my mom (Hi, Mom!) liked that one.

I also enjoyed the one I wrote after reading a tweet saying something like “You don’t read many stories about lost goldfish finding their way home.” So that got mixed up in my head with this idea of a gorilla, in a zoo, haunted by the spirit of Walmart. I started typing, suddenly there were two kids complaining about old technology, and a story happened. Sort of dystopian science fiction, I guess. Great fun! For me. For anyone else? Not so much. Okay, maybe two other people in the world, but I’m pretty sure they haven’t read it even though it’d be perfect for them. Too bad!

But, okay, in spite of myself, I have tried to learn about writing along the way. Giving people complete stories, maybe even paying attention to genre boundaries. I do have a series of stories about a teenage wizard for hire. Sort of. That’s reasonable enough, right? Another about a middle-aged man who thinks he’s a normal guy living in a suddenly post-apocalyptic world, though he has no idea what actually happened to the world…only to realize it’s all a malicious sort of imposed misunderstanding and the world in general is doing fine–but, you know, he himself has become a zombie. So there’s that. It’s almost in a genre! And my novels, while possibly a bit odd, aren’t totally unreadable. I think.

(But OTOH there’s a bunch of stuff that exists only because I wanted to play with some idea or other, and it ended when I stopped wanting to go further, and that may or may not be the greatest way ever to create a story to entertain other people who may not be similarly entranced, or for a similar length of time/words/story even if they do decide to come along for the ride to begin with.)

I have a point? Maybe. I only barely care about sending fiction out for other people’s eyes at this point. I think it’d be neat to make some money…but I’m not willing to spend a lot of time or money on advertising, marketing, promotion, book covers, ritual sacrifices, artful interpretive dances, and the like. That sounds like a horrible job. I don’t want it. If it came with a guaranteed paycheck, vs. participation in a semi-lottery, I might consider it. I mean, there was a period in the past when I made money from my fiction. Did it last forever? Nope. Does it mean I know how to make it happen again? Nope. The world and I have both moved on, and not necessarily in the same set of directions. Even if I suddenly started getting paid for fiction, I wouldn’t trust it to last. So how hard can I really expect myself to work in this area? Not very, I’m afraid.

Similarly, though it’d be easier to just put the stuff in one place (Kindle Unlimited on Amazon?), that idea just irritates the God out of me–as my grandmother used to put it. So I’m going to focus on my own site first and foremost. Then, yeah, for much of my fiction anyway, all the retailers. Or at least all of them I can reach without much hassle. Smashwords and D2D are going to handle that for me, is what I’m saying. Plus I have this grandfathered-in publishing account at Google Play, so I can put stuff there. But that’s about it. (Though I did read something recently about them opening that back up to indies sometime soon, or recently? Maybe? I don’t remember the details. Didn’t care a whole lot, I guess.)

Since at this point there’s next to no built-in demand for my fiction out in the world, most of it will be free. At least on non-Amazon sites, since the ‘Zon is occasionally annoying about that, but in most places. Maybe people will post reviews. Maybe they’ll read about the (“EXCLUSIVE!”) content on my site, and come get some of that. Maybe a few of them will buy stuff. Maybe they’ll tell me fun stories of their own. Maybe it’ll turn into something. We’ll see.

So, that’s one new direction. Another: I paid for access to some shared office space this month. Not that the $9/month coffee at Panera Bread was a horrible deal or anything, but after an hour or two I start to feel awkward about occupying a table that theoretically could be used by somebody spending a bit more. (I do tip, so that’s something.) (Also, lately, there haven’t been too many other customers.) (But still.) (Yeah, but they serve absolutely nothing I’m willing to eat, so they can’t reasonably expect–) (Shh. People.) (Okay. Got it. Moving on.)

Oh, I’m also going camping for a couple of days. By myself. I may type or dictate something or other. Not sure yet. Leaving tomorrow, sometime.

And this email, for those of you getting this post via email, is coming from a different place. Different email service provider, I mean to say. I was kind of rolling my own, using software called Sendy, sending via a service from Rackspace called Mailgun…and frankly it wasn’t working very well. Lots of glitches. A lot of people didn’t get my email, one way or another.

Not that I think that’s a crisis for anyone involved. It clearly isn’t. But, anyway, it’s something else that’s changed lately.

I’m not sure how any of this will work out. But, hell, who ever knows stuff like that?

Meanwhile.

Have fun out there!

The post New Directions? first appeared on Caveat Lector.

Smee:
I’ve just had an apostrophe.

Captain Hook:
I think you mean an epiphany.

Smee:
No… lightning has just struck my brain.

Captain Hook:
Well, that must hurt.

Yup. No doubt.

Also I kind of grabbed the title from another source, maybe. More about that later. What I’m getting at is that I’ve had two(2) potentially significant, life-changing, universe-expanding random thoughts lately. To which I attached significance. And in both cases they were mostly inspired by other people! I knew there was a reason for all these damn monkeys.

First, in chronological order: Chuck Pezeshki. Fascinating guy. I’ve had a lot of thoughts of my own regarding system(s) design, most of which boil down to distributed > centralized. For all kinds of things. And, yeah, I mostly almost actually mean ALL kinds.

So what Chuck did was tres kewl. He (for me) reframed that notion as “empathy,” which for my $$ is a better term on multiple levels. He has tons more to say, and it’s pretty much exploding my head right now. I started here, via a semi-random recommendation via a Twitter account I had set up (maybe more about that later too…but, nope, it turned out I didn’t include that stuff). Then Chuck suggested this post to me, which of course spoke to me more directly. Though it might have been even more apropos if I’d played, or at least seen, a game called Mario Kart. And here’s a reading list. What I’m going to say now, before I callously abandon the topic: this is a paradigm shift of the first magnitude.

AND I really hope I can help him publish his book. Seriously, I’d say more, but there’s this notion-detritus in my head right now & I think I can probably do a better job of describing it all later.

Okay then. Moving on.

Then there’s Becca Syme. I’ve enjoyed her books. She has this “Question the Premise” thing going that appeals to me. Sadly, or so I thought, she’s had her cognition kidnapped by this ridiculous Gallup “CliftonStrengths” groupthinkly morass. I read her stuff, watched some videos, and sighed a little. More than once. Yes, okay, these guys claim they have “science” behind their sales pitch. Kind of yawn-worthy on that front, honestly. But the interesting part for me boiled down to three ideas:

1. We have, via experience/practice, trained our minds to process information of various sorts in specific ways.
2. These ways are not all the same between individuals. Thus, different people have different preferred/specialized/optimized modes of operation on multiple levels.
3. It’s more productive to focus on what we already do well than to attempt to address weaknesses.

That last is especially interesting. Lean into strengths? Hmm. We learn faster by doing that than by focusing on ideas/processes that are essentially alien to us? Okay. Might or might not be true. But it’s an interesting idea. Obvious value to it, if it works. If not, not.

Now, does that mean that the various “themes” Gallup identifies/espouses have any particular objective value? Nope. Is there any reason to believe their classification of people will apply across problem domains? Not that I can see.

So  I sat on all that. Until yesterday, when I bit the bullet and (via a discount, I admit) took their test. And my mind started blowing up in all-new ways. Except that they weren’t new.

Bit of background: there are 34 “themes” in this scheme. They’re kind of listed in order for each person, based on blah blah a process blah whatever. In principle, to the extent you buy it, they’re giving info about what sort of processing/perception/action/reaction might in theory exist, and in any/some of which each test-taker might excel.

Yeah. Sounds kind of like voodoo to me too, except that vudu at least involves sacrificing animals and kewl ritual-dingi. Maybe zombies!

But anyway, as I said, I took their test. Here are my TOP FIVE STRENGTHS (bc nothing is a weakness in this world):

1. Learner
   SHARED THEME DESCRIPTION People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
   YOUR PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS What makes you stand out?
   Chances are good that you yearn to know a lot. It makes little sense to you to skim through a book and read only the highlights. You delve more deeply into intriguing subjects than most people do. You love to gather all kinds of information. This explains why you take time to grasp ideas that appear in print. Driven by your talents, you usually equate education — formal and informal — with understanding more about something today than you understood about it yesterday. By nature, you desire to acquire additional knowledge and gain new skills. Why? You are naturally curious. You often work alone to commit information to memory. You probably have a solitary place where you can practice your art, craft, sport, or science. Because of your strengths, you channel your efforts into the task at hand. You persevere until you have gained the knowledge and skills needed to attain a goal. You can toil for many hours to secure your objective. You probably work hardest and most productively at a particular time of day. Instinctively, you are an individual performer. You typically welcome opportunities to acquire knowledge and ponder ideas on your own. You often seek and find solitary places where you can think without being distracted by people or noise.
2. Ideation
   SHARED THEME DESCRIPTION People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
   YOUR PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS What makes you stand out?
   Driven by your talents, you bring new thoughts to most discussions and meetings. Your reputation for innovative thinking explains why you are recruited by groups. You derive satisfaction from mental activity. You recognize when you are especially creative. By nature, you frequently opt to systematically study various subjects, rules, processes, mechanisms, or programs when you work alone. In your opinion, having the freedom to decide how to approach a project is one of the advantages of being an individual contributor. Because of your strengths, you usually find novel and fresh ways to do things. People turn to you when they find themselves struggling to generate ideas. It’s very likely that you favor conversations where information, facts, or data are considered objectively — that is, emotions do not distort the truth. You pose questions, evaluate answers, and figure out how things work. Reducing an idea, theory, or process to its most basic parts provides you with many insights. You are likely to archive — that is, preserve — your discoveries so you can use them later. Instinctively, you welcome opportunities to understand people one by one. You carefully examine each person’s strengths, shortcomings, character, choice of friends, interests, goals, and history. This enables you to draw conclusions and make judgments about individuals.
3. Strategic
   SHARED THEME DESCRIPTION People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
   YOUR PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS What makes you stand out?
   Instinctively, you might enjoy a group problem-solving technique that involves the spontaneous contribution of ideas from all participants. When you have acquired specialized skills or possess specific knowledge, perhaps you can suggest alternative solutions for certain issues. Now and then, your expertise excites your own or others’ imaginations. Maybe this occurs when you are encouraged to think what will be possible weeks, months, or even years from today. By nature, you pay close attention to what is going on around you. You listen. You quiz people. You read. You probably take notes on key points. As you accumulate lots of information, you disregard what is unrelated, and pay heed to what is really important. The more you reflect on what you know, the more problems begin to reveal themselves, and eventually solutions start taking shape in your mind. Finally, given the situation, you select the best plan from your list of options. Driven by your talents, you may be viewed by some people as an innovative and original thinker. Perhaps your ability to generate options causes others to see there is more than one way to attain an objective. Now and then, you help certain individuals select the best alternative after having weighed the pros and cons in light of prevailing circumstances or available resources. Chances are good that you may generate numerous ways to enhance, upgrade, revise, correct, or revamp certain processes, action plans, or itineraries. Sometimes your suggestions influence how a project will unfold in the coming months, years, or decades. You might find fault with your own or another person’s talents, skills, or knowledge. To some extent, fixing people or things ranks in the top half of your list of favorite activities. Because of your strengths, you long to know more so you remain on the cutting edge of your field or areas of interest. Your inventive mind usually generates more possibilities than you can handle or fund. Nonetheless, you are committed to acquiring knowledge and/or skills. You study everything involved in a situation and conceive entirely new ways of seeing or doing things. What you already know prompts you to ask questions and delve even deeper into a subject or problem.
4. Responsibility
   SHARED THEME DESCRIPTION People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.
   YOUR PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS What makes you stand out?
   Instinctively, you are an individual performer who wants to be held accountable for your results. Why? You generally accomplish more when high expectations are established. You probably set these high expectations for yourself when no one else does. Because of your strengths, you conduct yourself in an exceptionally mature and orderly fashion even when your teammates, classmates, friends, coworkers, and colleagues are acting childish. It’s very likely that you are quite comfortable being honest about yourself with others. You harbor very few illusions about who you really are. Furthermore, you can openly acknowledge your mistakes and shortcomings. This is apt to distinguish you from most people. By nature, you are naturally open and honest about who you are, what you have done, what you can do, and what you cannot do. Your straightforward explanations and stories help listeners see you as you see yourself. You reveal your strengths and limitations. You are forthright and plainspoken. People generally seek your company and want to work with you. Many are impelled to move into action by your words and examples. Driven by your talents, you probably want to work on your own because you thrive in settings where you can function independently. You have a strong need to know each task has been done correctly and ethically before you declare it is done.
5. Intellection
   SHARED THEME DESCRIPTION People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.
   YOUR PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS What makes you stand out?
   Driven by your talents, you prepare for important conversations or discussions by collecting lots of background information. It is not unusual for you to set aside at least five hours of quiet time each week to consider what you have discovered. You are likely to use this time to expand your thinking. A new piece of material can send you hunting for additional evidence to support your theories, concepts, or proposals. Chances are good that you value education and scholarship at any level and at any age. Your thirst for knowledge causes you to explore many topics of study or specialize in one particular subject. You thoroughly enjoy opportunities to acquire additional information, skills, and experiences. It’s very likely that you are more comfortable talking about ideas than issuing orders or dealing with conflict. You gravitate to conversations with intelligent people. You intentionally cast aside emotions and concentrate on the facts. You continually search for evidence to make your points and wish others would do the same. Because of your strengths, you prefer having quiet time to mull over ideas as well as read and examine interesting topics. Periods of uninterrupted thinking give you great pleasure. You probably excuse yourself from noisy, active, or distracting situations to thoroughly process your ideas. By nature, you may place great value on moments alone with your thoughts. You might consider whatever arouses your intellectual curiosity. Setting aside time each week to explore particular ideas might be a pleasurable or necessary activity for you.

(Next five in order, if anyone cares or even if they don’t: Individualization, Achiever, Analytical, Competition, Developer. Sort of interesting to see what they’re said to mean. Ish.)

Okay. Right. Fine. All descriptions are flattering. It’s how they roll. Nothing wrong with that.

But…weirdly…since I’d decided to play the game, take it seriously for argument’s sake…it made a certain amount of sense to me. And led to some of them epiphanitis whatsits.

1. There’s nothing in my “top 5” about focus. About successfully limiting my options.
2. Also, nothing much about other people other than feeling responsible to them. They don’t motivate me at all? Hmm.
3. So, uh, it might be a mistake (within this paradigm) to self-define success and failure according to whether I accomplished a predetermined task? I mean, if I’m mostly a guy looking for new ideas…maybe trying to do a non-new thing isn’t going to be a great fit?
4. So this might be “why” outlining/planning won’t ever seem to work for me? I don’t know how to stop having epiphanies/ideas as I write? So the outline just can’t work. I mean, I rebel against it & come up with new stuff. The ideas in the outline might have worked, if only I hadn’t written them down and attempted to self-constrain….
5. Maybe the barriers to task-switching I’ve been attempting to set up (phone off, operating system only for writing, full-screen emphasis on one project, etc.) are actually counterproductive? Maybe I should instead minimize costs of switching from one activity to another?

Look, there’s lots more, and as I said about Chuck’s stuff above…it’s pretty much blowing my mind. Maybe distractions aren’t as bad as I’ve told myself (and others)? Maybe I get irritated when I’m “trying to focus” and people dare to breathe nearby, not so much because they did that gas-exchange thing with their lungs, but because “focus” itself really isn’t my forte? Maybe I need to find a way to make things new/interesting, not only sometimes, but ALL THE TIME??

Okay. Well, whatever. We’ll see how things develop. But I can see why, maybe, “hiking the Appalachian Trail” ended after a month. Or riding my bike from New Orleans to Alaska ended just south of Minneapolis. But how I maybe also built a lot of things, from scratch, on my own. Because they were new/interesting.

Maybe focusing on a project is the wrong idea. Maybe a project can only work for me in that context if it’s sufficiently complex that I can actually switch to different sorts of effort without (apparently) abandoning my goals? So, actually, project boundaries are sort of fluid/nonessential/arbitrary, and it might make more sense to give myself opportunities instead of trying to restrict them?

Well. Hmm.

I don’t actually expect this will make sense to many of you, of those few of you who are you who read these things. But I do love me a paradigm shift.

You know, it wasn’t too long ago that I identified “epiphanies” as my primary goal in both reading and writing fiction. So, uh.

I still say it’s fuckin’ voodoo. But I’m heading off on a path that’s, you know, other than others. To see how it goes from here.

Oh yeah! The title of this post! I think I remember a book by James P. Hogan of the same title. I haven’t found a reference to it online, though. Instead I found a Wikipedia article about him…the article called him a “Holocaust denier.”

Well, ouch. I liked his stuff. The Holocaust seemed like a bad thing. But here’s how my mind works: I got curious. Not enough to actually do any research, at least not yet. But in that CliftonStrengths world there’s a “Strength” called “Harmony.” It’s apparently about valuing the experience of having people all get along. Well, there are 34 strengths, so-called, and for me that’s #34. I really can’t think that way.

What I thought: “Huh. Hogan was pretty smart. No idea whether he was right/wrong, or whether he in fact said/believed what’s being said here, but it might be fun to research the topic and see what’s out there.”

Because, really, I don’t care about which hypothesis/theory turns out to be correct, in any area at all. I’m not interested on any level in “consensus” on any topic. I just want to play with ideas. See where they lead. And violently disagree with those that make no damn sense at all. AFTER I look into them.

So there’s that. It may offend some/most/all/none. Frankly, guys, I don’t care. And it’s fun to see a test that agrees I’m not supposed to do. Enabling! You should see what I do to cows when nobody’s looking! If anything! (Couldn’t get away with that on my home planet. Them cows is mean.)

Have fun out there!

The post Epiphanies and Apostrophes first appeared on Caveat Lector.

Just a quick progress note, plus random thoughts. I screwed up my big toe somehow–no idea what happened–and have spent a lot of time lying in bed lately, keeping the toe elevated, figuring this is probably what it feels like to be old: stuff stops working, you have no idea why, and it seems basically unfair.

So, wah.

I’ve gotten a lot of things done, though. Haven’t repaired the passenger-side quarter panel of my car–an insurance-free individual skidded into that while I was stopped at a red light a couple of weeks ago. Kids were in the car; my daughter in the seat next to where the guy hit us. Just a very slippery road, not really the guy’s fault beyond that. It was interesting to watch him driving away afterward, shredding a totally flat tire, in order to avoid having his car towed by the police. Basically? He had no money for insurance. Unfortunate, but my primary thought is this: if I hadn’t been paying for insurance myself all these years, paying for the repair would easily have been covered by the otherwise entirely useless-to-me premiums.

Never mind. No, wait, two more things. First, I’ve been involved in three (3) accidents in my life to date. In all three cases, I was stopped and the guy drove into me. In no case did the other driver have insurance. This time, I saw him coming and heard his tires skidding–ran the light myself (no oncoming traffic) to try to get away from him, but he still hit me. Second, I found it interesting that Geico’s “comprehensive” insurance does not in fact cover collisions. I’m pretty sure we weren’t offered collision coverage separately when we set up the policy a few years ago, so my suspicion is that was no accident. Oh, a third thing: after this, though they said it was in no way “my fault,” my rate went up quite a bit. So, insurance shopping, from bed. Fun.

Oh yeah. Writing. That’s been going pretty well. I’d written “Undue Death,” an odd little witch-hunting-vampire novel, in present tense. Because it was fun to write it that way. So, I had that fun and all, but I knew all along it was unlikely to be the best choice if I wanted anyone else to read it. Which I did. So I’ve nearly completed going through the thing again and changing all them words to a more sensible past-tense arrangement. Well, probably all of them. I may have missed a few. More editing needed, still.

I want to publish something on the first of next month (personally my wife and I prefer to celebrate the New Year on November 1, because we can). So will UD make it in time? I’m not sure. Another possibility: it’s always seemed to me that my first novel, previously titled Shiver on the Sky, had a really strong division between its two halves. Almost as if a new novel were starting in midstream…though I didn’t have that thought until recently.

So, I’ve been going through and updating/editing the whole thing. Also sort of upping its magical content, because that piece was always a little slow getting started. (I don’t know that I’m any better at writing now than I was when I wrote that book, but I do think I’m probably a better editor these days.)

Maybe it’s actually two novels? It’s easily long enough for that. The only arguments I can think of that might dissuade me are that not all threads are resolved and the first one would end on a bit of a cliffhanger. A less-than-happy cliffhanger, at that. I suspect I should do it anyway. New title, by the way: The Shivers Between.

Hell, maybe both of them will be ready. Maybe neither? But I would find that irritating, so I doubt I’ll go that way.

I’ve got a sequel to UD in mind. But I also have stuff written in a couple of separate novels–all in the same fictional universe, but not involving the same characters. Each of the others actually seems like the start of a separate series. So…is it a thing, I wonder, to publish an interleaved sort of series, with different titles not necessarily–but maybe sometimes–involving the same characters? Maybe alternating the three main branches, at least most of the time?

I kind of want to try that. But I’m pretty sure it’s not a good idea. At least not from the perspective of getting the things read by people who are not me. New author, Book 1 of a series, Book 1 of a different series, plus Book 1 of a third series? Or a series published with no detectable continuity? Worse, potentially somewhat different genres: urban fantasy, young adult horror, and quirky humor/horror, all together? Possibly not the best move there.

Though I’m not sure I care. I’m not sure I even have a choice about what I write, really. I’ve never felt especially in control of the story. I’ve tried to impose control, and that has stopped me utterly from writing. Long story there, most likely not worth going into. But if I’m going to write, I really need to just play with it. Let the stories come out as they choose.

That said, there are still publishing-type decisions to be made. Should I actually hold off on publishing Book 1 of a series until Books 2 and 3 are ready? Quite possibly so. That being the case, if I split Shiver into two books as mentioned above, should I publish both of them–plus the third book, previously known as the second book, at the same time? Thing is, that last book was also written in the present tense. I know, I know, but it’s what I wanted to do. It would take some time to change it to fit the others.

Eh. I’ll do something. Do you guys have any preferences? On the publishing side? At this point, starting over as I am, none of it is likely to matter for a while. “Matter” in a financial/readership sense, I mean. Maybe I’ll just publish stuff as I get done with it, then look back at some point in the future and decide what to do with it all.

On the publishing front, though, short-term? I still have to decide whether to make stuff exclusive to Amazon. Financially, if that ever matters, there is more money available that way. Amazon has the largest E-bookstore in the world. The second largest? Kindle Unlimited. Plus, borrows in KU count as sales for purposes of calculating a book’s ranking in the Amazon store. Better ranking means better visibility. Plus, a single upload to a single retailer is far easier to manage than a bunch of them.

Against all that, Amazon seems lately to have changed to more of a “pay to play” marketplace: sure, royalties are okay, but from what I’ve read lately? If you don’t spend money advertising your books, Amazon probably won’t put a lot of effort into showing them to people. If people don’t see the books, it’s quite unlikely that they will buy them. Or read them, obviously.

If you’re not aware, putting a book into KU means agreeing to keep it exclusive to Amazon (in ebook form, anyway) for 90 days. It’s not forever. But I still don’t like it. I also don’t like this advertising-almost-required setup they’ve got going.

Frankly, I don’t want to get caught up in all that. I don’t want to be exclusive to Amazon. I don’t want to figure out their advertising system right now. It almost doesn’t matter anyway–the advertising is quite expensive, and I’m not aware of anyone who’s tried it who feels it’s worth doing for a standalone book of any sort. First in a series? Maybe, viewing it as a loss leader, to be made up as readers move through future books.

I did publish The Apocalypse Bug into KU. I haven’t checked sales…but i suspect there haven’t been many, because I haven’t advertised it. (And it’s a somewhat reasonable test, since the book did pretty well when I released its original version without advertising a few years ago.)

Which is fine, actually. If that’s the case, I have no reason to bother with KU at this point in time. Except of course that KU is actually less trouble than dealing with multiple retailers…but anyway having very few sales, potentially even no sales, would be a useful thing in a decision-making sense.

As a writer, I need to write the stories that flow out of me as long as they’re willing to do that. As a publisher, I need to make whatever decisions I can from a financial perspective. Truthfully, with exactly one work of fiction public at the moment, none of the decisions are going to matter a whole lot.

Ah, the hell with it. Whatever I publish on the first, I’ll “go wide” with it. Put it up everywhere. It’s a bit more work, but I can’t possibly lose a lot of sales at this point, and I’ll feel better about it. That has to count for something.

Maybe I’ll revisit all this in a year or so, when there’s enough published material that thinking it over might be productive. Till then, I most likely ought to put it out of my mind and get on with the writing.

So. I’m sure it’s past the time for me to stop rambling/musing (see, dictating all this, so those happen simultaneously) and do something more productive. Thanks for your indulgence, if any of you have read this far!

Meanwhile. Have fun out there!

The post Valid? Musings from a semi-invalid writer. Hmm. first appeared on Caveat Lector.

Yo! It’s not exactly a secret, or even The Secret, but I’m trying a non-advertised, non-pushed, timed release of several books over the next few months. First up is the one named in the title, now available on Amazon as of yesterday.

I’m curious to see how it goes. I’m using the name “DH Young” rather than the longer form, and if Amazon permits (current technical difficulties exist) it’ll be an entirely separate thing from my previous name.

I want to find out: if I release regularly, without doing anything else, will readers find the books?

See, if it doesn’t work, or doesn’t work well, I can always just pull them down and try again, only with ads and such. Current indie wisdom is that launching by itself is no longer sufficient. Probably it’s true! But what if it’s not, especially with titles put into Kindle Unlimited & thus free-ish for many?

I’m not against advertising. But I’m also not about to try to focus on that any time soon. So, here’s the entirety of my scheme:

• Release something or other on or aroud the first of the month, starting yesterday.
• Check to see if there have been purchases or reviews, but don’t look until 3/15/20. You know, the Ides of March.

This sets me up perfectly, in case absolutely nothing has happened, to pull everything and re-launch it all on April Fool’s Day. No harm, no foul. If people have bought stuff, and left even a few reviews, then I’ll leave the books in place.

Maybe a silly idea, all in all. Maybe not. I’ll let you know how it goes. I want to find out, for sure, what a totally-organic publication-only rapid release strategy will achieve, starting from nothing, with the covers and books as good as I can currently cause them to be.

Meanwhile? Have fun out there!

The post Released: The Apocalypse Bug first appeared on Caveat Lector.