Tag Archives: books

Morning Pages Entry – July 15, 2014

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So, yesterday, we got everybody out for a bit of a sail. Nothing too dramatic, but we were sailing none the less at about a knot or perhaps a little more. It was actually an ok sail for having 10 people on the boat. The kids were mostly well behaved. It’s certainly a different experience with them, but one I wouldn’t trade for anything. It’s neat having the kids around. We even got to anchor for a while which was kind of nice. I went around with my snorkeling gear, and cleaned up the bottom of the boat a bit, which wasn’t a bad idea, considering how much crap was on the bottom of the boat when it came out last year. A bigger boat would be nice now, as sleeping arrangements are getting a bit tight. Sam was giving me a hard time, about me making her share the v-berth with Jessica, while I had the whole aft cabin to myself. I just like having all the space to me. So, the book is kind of just strolling along these days, at 30+ free downloads per day, which is ok, and the occassional sale from the second book in the series. I’m pretty pumped to get the third book out in the series, so I can start doing some promotions. Either free, or through facebook ads. There are a few fiverr gigs that look pretty good as well, which is a nice, because the cost is so low. Gonna have to try that one as well. I found a few new threads on kboards that should work pretty good for that. I’m getting a bit tired of hanging out at the cottage colony every night these days. Although, it does have more space for everyone, I’m starting to feel like I’m living in a trailer park boys episode. Especially with all the dogs up there, and some of those incredibly obese people wandering around the place. Yesterday, was a pretty fun day overall though, and today looks pretty good as well. It rained again last night, but seems to have stopped now for the rest of the day. It’s sunny, and cloudy, and a bit breezy. It would be pretty good for sailing actually. But, I have a feeling that’s not likely to happen today. I’m going to inflate the dinghy again, and hope, that maybe I have the last leak plugged, but I’m not overly optimistic. We’ll see how it goes. I did put two more patches on the thing, so here’s to hoping that it’s working. The bailer seems to be leaking as well though. I’ll have to probably replace that thing at some point. Can probably order a new bailer online or something. I didn’t get to paddleboard this morning, and I need to get up on that thing a little more often. I need to do more of that, if I’m going to get my fitness back up to where I want it. It’s my best shot at fitness here this summer I think. The weather hasn’t been really encouraging in that regards though. Still, should learn to work around it. I need to come up with some ideas for the blog, to write about I think. Something, that would be of interest to readers and maybe other writers? Hmmm. Not too sure about that. I do suppose, that identifying my target audience is the first step to go with before writing. Maybe, I could even put up a few writing examples to see what happens. The blog really is, a way to interact with my readers. Maybe a publishing schedule would be a good thing. That’s something to work on. It could be a way for more readers to commit to the series, if they know that there are more books coming. Building a little anticipation and all. Maybe, take a look at other writers sites, and see what you see there. Some seem to cater to other writers, and some just to readers. What do you want yours to be?

TIGERBLOOD: ok DAILYMOOD: sailing good LOCATION: boat bayfield WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: patch dinghy TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: nuts DINNER: leftovers – ham, burgers, sausages, salad SNACKS: orange, cherries, strawberries, blueberries ALCOHOL: 4 beers, baileys irish cream BEDTIME: 1:00 AWAKE: 9:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – July 14, 2014

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Met Helens new friend yesterday Richard. A british guy. Not sure what to make of him yet. He seems very friendly for sure. Quite talkative about a number of things, including sailing, and very informative. In his late 60’s and in incredibly good shape for someone of that age. An avid swimmer and pretty active fella. So, it rained again last night … the weather seems to be conspiring against me, to sink my dinghy. I really should, haul it out of the water today, and see if I can get that 4th hole patched. I certainly hope, that it’s the last one. It’s a very obvious one for sure, and if I can get the thing to hold onto air, that would be great. I’ll use the patches that Wayne gave me, and try to return that stuff I got from Ron’s shop yesterday. That stuff was definitely way over priced. $50 for a big honkin can of glue. What the heck is that all about. I need to stop drinking beer, and get some real writing done. This hanging out with the brothers is fun and all, but not so good for my writing career, that’s a given. The free book out there is doing pretty good, I suppose. It continues to see bout 30-60 downloads per day, so about 1000 per month, which, I would hope, would translate into some sales of the second one, and there have actually been 3 sales of the second book. I know, their not the greatest books, but that’s ok, we’re just getting going. I think, I’ve had about 400 downloads, so we seem to be converting at around 10% or a little less. Not to great, but a start. If I can get that higher, and get some longer better quality books, then advertising will begin to make more sense. We’ll see. Here’s to hoping that the rain is done with us for the next little while. I’m getting a bit tired of it. Although, I do suppose, that it did chase us off to bed at a decent hour last night, instead of staying up too late, and drinking too much. Haven’t checked the weather report for today, but it would be nice if the sun comes out and gave us a bit of a breeze to go sailing with. Will have to see how many people we have … 10 I guess, which is quite a few to go sailing with, especially with the little ones. If the conditions are good it would be ok … meaning if the conditions are light, it would be ok, but we’ll have to see. The first thing, would be to get the dinghy out of the water today to start with, then go from there. I wish I had like 6 books out there on the shelf to sell. I really do. Then, I think things would really be clicking along money wise. I so, need to see some progress in that department. Sure, doing it for the love of the writing is the right approach, but getting some reward for doing it that way, is important as well. I need to have a little more financial freedom to move and do some more interesting stuff. Gotta get to more writing. I should be doing more writing on the blog as well I think. Even, if your offering rebuttals to other writers out there, like Hugh Howey and Kornath. That may get you some attention to start with. Not a bad way to get going.

TIGERBLOOD: uh huh DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: bayfield boat WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: patch dinghy, go sailing, write TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: nuts, avacado, DINNER: hamburger, sausage, salad, tomato SNACKS: orange, nuts, grapes ALCOHOL: 4 beers BEDTIME: 11:00 AWAKE: 7:45

 

Morning Pages Entry – May 24, 2014

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Well, here we are, at 52 years and 1 day old. Whatever. It’s a very nice looking weekend, but it seems, like the I’m not getting up to the boat until later. Which I suppose, is ok. I’ll steal Sam maybe later, and get her to come up with me this afternoon. Then perhaps, we’ll have a chance to get the leaky window out of the boat, before everyone else comes up. I could, always, just duct tape it back it, if I can get it out and cleaned up today. Or, perhaps, I would still get the whole thing done. Either way, I have options. Jessica, doesn’t swim until much later, so that would give us at least six hours of work to get it done. That’s probably not so bad. I could use, another putty knife. Maybe 2, that way Sam and I could both work at it at the same time. Maybe get the clean up done a bit quicker. One on the window, and one on the window sill on the boat. That would probably work. It would be very nice, to get that damn window fixed. Then, I could move on to the next window. Well, we’ll see, it’s not a bad plan. Should check the weather, before you go to much further. I did get a bunch of editing done yesterday. I think, I now have less than 5K words to edit, before I go back to add and do some rewriting. That’s kind of nice. I haven’t done any real writing in a while. Really, not since that 25K week. So, it’s time to get back into the real work again. The fun stuff. There was a time, when I didn’t mind the editing all that much. I think, I should run over to Canadian Tire this morning, and get a few things. Some bags of sand would be good. Maybe, look through the garden centre and see what they have. Even, if you just go some bags, and filled them up from the beach would probably work. Just till the stuff sets. Not sure, how good the screws will work for keeping the window in place. That’s all their really there for. So back to the writing. Keep reading more success stories on the Kindling page on FaceBook. I really need to join the party, and start making some money. I’m sure, I can get my first two books out there in the next month. And, then start up on the next one. That would be pretty cool. I would really like to have all three books live, before the family gets here this summer. That would be pretty fricking awesome. Then, just write write write. It would be so much simpler, if that’s all I had to do. And, if I was making $40K per month, like some people. That’s pretty fricking damn awesome as well. Then, you could do whatever you wanted. You will of course keep writing, because you have a long way to go with getting better, and it feels like a new lease on life, to think that way. It’s been a pretty long struggle to get to this point, and I really like the possibilities. I’m so close, to having both books out there, and the third one as well. You’ve got a process almost in place. You have a product almost in place. It’s just a question of pushing to get it out the door, and then polishing your work, and improving your writing as you go. I can already see glimours of potential. The section I edited yesterday, where Alex and Chaz rescue Christa from the laboratory, was really good. It actually caught me emotionally. I liked that. And, I’m getting better, at describing people in the story. There’s more to a character, then one that just smiles, smirks and shakes their head. I liked the piece I read the other day, about not just describing the characters face, but their body movements as well. Body language is a bit part of human communication, and to neglect it in the story, is like leaving so many things unsaid. It needs to be included, and I need to include more of it. I’ll keep that in mind, as I carry on with the rest of the editing. Especially when I go back to the beginning. Having the beginning shine as much as possible is great. That’s what people will first read in the sneak preview, before they decide to buy the book. So, make it good.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: editing PUSHUPS: 2:00 plank TODO: canadian tire, menu planning TV: science fiction prophets series BOOK: none GAME: 2048 EXERCISE: walk 1 hour WEIGHT: 171 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: singapore beef SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:15 AWAKE: 7:30

 

Morning Pages Entry – May 19, 2014

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Well, this is fun. For the first time since starting to write morning journals, I get to write one form the cockpit of my boat. It’s the first night we spent on the water, and Jennifer and I stayed over night last night. It was a really cool night. We had just one slot open in the companion way open, and the heater was going full blast. I slept with socks, long pants and a t-shirt, and I was still pretty cool. Oh yea, and the heater was going full blast. We went and socialized a bit with Marty, Ingrid, Jacqueline and her new boyfriend Jordan last night before heading over to the fire on the beach with Tom and Ryan, and the two Katies crew. Jennifer stayed up for a bit of it, but eventually was smart enough to go to bed before midnight. She’s still sleeping this morning, but it’s looking like it’s going to be a pretty nice day today. It’s supposed to be. It’s cool, still sitting here in my hoodie this morning, but it should get warmer later. There’s hardly a cloud in the sky, and the sun is shining. Today would likely be a good day to put some sails up on the boat. Probably a little too cool to head out on the water, but, just as I say that, I see a nonSuch heading out up the river. There’s really no breeze yet today, but if it get’s warm enough, who knows, maybe we’ll venture out a bit once the sun is up and working at full blast. This is such a great place to sit and write, I think I wuld do some serious damage with the zombie novel, writing from this cockpit. It has to be better, then sittin at the table down below. I’m sure, that’s sort of what messed my back up last summer. I really want to avoid messing that up again this hear. I remember, not even being able to site, to write. All I could do was lie there, and surf around on the WritersCafe fourm at the kindle boards. I suppose, I leared a lot of stuff, but i didn’t get a lot of writing done during that bad back period. Certainly, something to avoid. The basin, is not too full this morning, there are maybe 30 boats in so far for this victoria day weekend. But, victoria day did come early this year, so that’s understandable. It’s a bit early for us to be in this year, but that’s ok. Know how quickly the summer goes, it’s nice to sit here and think about all the days ahead of us here on the docks, and the open water. It really is a great place to sit and be a writer. Your mind frees up a bit and lets you think just about the task at hand. Ouuu, I think, I hear Jennifer getting up and going. She didn’t have a lot of sleep the night before, so she need to catch up a bit last night. I think, I need to run up to the grocery store, and pick up some bacon this morning. We’ve got eggs, but no bacon to go with them. Oh, and some spices as well. I pretty excited about the prospect of writing from up here this summer. I should get so much done. It will be cool to get the first couple of books out, and the third, if I can, before the end of July. That’s an attainable goal. Just the thought of knowing that they are out there and getting into the hands of readers, and maybe even making a ton (or a little) or (a little more) money would be so awesome. If that happened, then, it would be safe to say, this could be the best summer I’ve had in a long time. Talk about a way to boost the spirits of an old guy. Just imagine, having books making some good money, and then looking for the next boat to buy would be pretty cool. Just knowing, that your not totally dreaming, based on the book sales. That would be a pretty unbeatable feeling. Something I would truly like to experience. It’s kind of funny just sitting here, watching people walk to the washrooms from their boats on the river wall. Some chubby old guy just walked there in long polka dot pajama pants, and lime green flourscent flip flops. You definitely get some strange types up here. And this soon to be successful writer fits right in.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: happy happy happy (first night on boat) LOCATION: Cockpit of my boat at dock in Bayfield WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: put sails up, have fun, go sailing? TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: waxing boat? WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: none DINNER: chicken breast, avacado SNACKS: orange, apple, 2 lara bars ALCOHOL: 1 bottle wine BEDTIME: 1 am AWAKE: 7:30 am

 

Morning Pages Entry – May 11, 2014

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I’m having thoughts this morning, about breaking out my current novel, into multiple books. I had thought about it a while ago with going to two seperate books. It’s over 300 pages right now as it stands. It would be pretty nice to have multiple books, and it’s not without precedence to have multiple shorter books do very well. Jeff Olah is doing very well with his “Dead Years” series that are all under 100 pages each. I was thinking, if I went that way, I could release 3 books now, make one of them free, and then even issue an obmibus of the first 3 books. I think, that jeff has his prices at about 1.50 each. If you did that, it would give you at like four books out there. That’s sort of cool actually. I’ve got time, before my editor is ready for me, to likely flesh out the stories a bit more, and then have her edit all of them as one big book. I would just have to give it some thought up front, about where I would make the splits. You would still want each individual book to be complete. There would need to be some resolution to each one. You can have some exciting cliff hangers to a degree I think. But you also need to give the reader some resolution to each story. I don’t want to be getting bad reviews over too short stories, that don’t do anything but leave big cliff hangers. I could, go from zero books to having four different releases out there pretty quick. That would be pretty cool. It would definitely still take some marketing to get them off the ground. FaceBook ads might be a good thing to consider in that case. The ads seem to be a good boost for getting the money flowing in a little bit faster. I do have to do a bit more writing, I think to get this done, in time for my editor. But, wow, it would be nice to have those books out there before I plunk my butt down at the boat this summer. Not that I’m really going to get that much time at the boat I don’t think. By the time the kids are done school, then Mark and Family will be here for their visit. You could have all those books out there before that happens. That again would be nice. It would be nice, to have those out there and making some money before I have to make small talk with everyone about how business is doing. That’s for sure. I really like the idea of having all those works out there in the public eye. I just, need to do it in such a way, that each story is good, and stands on it’s own. I don’t want it to look, like it’s just a marketing thing for the books. Even if it sort of is. Of course, you can always change things up later on. Combine books, or promote them differently. I need to do some research about pricing with the books as well. A first free book always seems to be a good way to go, but some authors are having success, with 99 cents for their first book as well. This could be a game changer, I think, if I pull it off appropriately. You get to write a few more thousand words before going to the editor, and getting the books a first or second round editing pass by yourself. It would be really nice, if you could be making some money before the summer is in full swing. Then, if you started cranking out two hundred page novels every few weeks, that would make things even more interesting. Normally, it does take time for the novels to get traction, so you may still have to do some waiting. Unless of course, you can get the facebook ads to speed things up a bit. Not sure. There were some posts in the Kindling FB page about releasing multiple books all at once. I can’t remember what Geoff said, but I would think, that putting them all out there at once is OK. Especially, if you just keep writing the next ones in the series. It might still take some time for things to kick into gear. I’m going to have to mull this over a bit. It’s not irrevocable, if you do it with multiple books. You can always pull the shorter ones if you wanted, and just leave the omnibus versions out there with different covers.

TIGERBLOOD: some DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: swim meet, edit, write, read, wash dodger / bimini TV: dinosaurs BOOK: hyperion GAME: none EXERCISE: paint boat WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: none LUNCH: none DINNER: bacon & eggs SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:00 AWAKE: 6:00