Episode #224: To Whit, To Write, To Writhe, To Wit

Memorial Day is usually the unofficial starting day to Summer. It is also, more or less, my birthday weekend. In a refreshing change of pace, today happens to be my birthday. My age is one of the following: {5+9} or {5*9} or simply {1965-present}.

I haven't done much of a writing update in a very long spell of enchantment, so I thought that now would be a good time as any to break that spell. 

1} Actual production of content: I'm currently nine chapters in with the fourth and final volume of my dubiously titled Hot Mess series. The current challenge that I'm facing, in addition to the judicious trickling of background info on all the characters, is having to introduce a few necessary tangents to the main plotlines, so as to finish flushing out the story.

In short, we've done the following: palace intrigue due to a sentient being looking to perform a coup d'etat {this is actually the villain of the series, as he's been peppered throughout the previous two volumes}; a new friend to the Queen's sister who is a hybrid human/sentient; and two sisters who have received a competing offer from their Incan deity of death to divert their intended delivery. This is in addition to the other four plot lines unfolding at the same time to varying degrees of satisfactory conclusions.

Finally, we've managed to cross the 400k word plateau, which translates out to 86 chapters. I am now working on the chapter plot summations, of which hasn't been touched since the end of volume #3. If you recall, I started doing it because going through all of my three ring binders searching for a particular snippet of info {curse you consistency!} was becoming increasingly frustrating.

2} The involuntary migration to Draft2Digital: It has concluded, somewhat satisfactorily, I might add. Now, we're having quite the adventurous time in learning first hand what I can and cannot add to my e-books/paper books, at least going forward {mostly links to competitor platforms, which prevents me from listing my books on certain other retail websites}. I'm also finding minuscule content issues {e.g. a character name on the back print cover that was changed inside prior to re-issuing} that are better left untouched due to factors beyond my control {money and a basically defunct graphic designer}.

And I've received a reality check when it comes to pricing print books between Amazon and D2D. I just  uploaded my first book to D2D, and the suggested price they're giving based on the cost factors, is about $3 higher than what I have listed on Amazon. So, it looks like going forward, I will have to upload my print books first on D2D to see what the suggested price point is, before doing Amazon, with the working theory being that I need to be consistent with my e-tail pricing, and only doing the discounts with my own personal store.

In general, it will take me some time to upload my other three books {officially}. Because I need to order proofs for each upload, I have to budget my money accordingly, in order to do so. My saving grace is that I don't plan on publishing another book until 2025, as by that time, I should have my c/c debt whittled down zero. Oh, and, if go to my book store page, you'll find a direct link to my author's page there, which has all of my books at various e-tail vendors.

So that's where we stand in regards to our writing: learning a new publishing platform and making slow and semi-steady progress with my book series {whoever said that it gets easier as you work towards a final ending is foisting a massive untruth to the unwashed writing converts}. 

Tune in next week when we explore the mega power that words secretly weld, and why our brains go swiss-cheesed upon reception.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #223: Let's Talk About Shiny New Books!

This is another example of The Completion Backwards Principle. If you can possibly manage the time, please play both sides at one meaning.*

*the intro to the Tubes album, "The Completion Backwards Principle", right before it goes into track one, "Talk To Ya Later."

Oh and the clock is from the Quad at Quinnipiac University, from which my lovely daughter Jenelle graduated from last Sunday May 12th.

So last week, we held a genteel talk about the eclectic tastes in my used books purchases. This week, we're going to have a not so genteel talk about my new book purchases.

In general, I am not a major acquirer of new books. For me, new books cost money, and I do not have a lot of excess income to play with. So I have a tendency to really space out my new book purchases {much like I do with my music purchases}. 

To give you an idea on how spaced out my new book purchases are, I have made a grand total of 14 new book purchases since 2019. Yes, you read that number correctly. That averages out to about 2.8 books per year, and if you take out a four book set that I had purchased directly from the author, that drops down to 2 books per year. In fact, for this year I have already met my quota, but I do plan on purchasing one or two more.

Today, I'm going to share with everyone nine of those books, along with the reasoning as to why they were purchased. So come along and join me on what's sure to be a very eclectic ride of books, some of which were written by Internet personalities who actually know how to write.

1} Once Upon A Time In Carrotland by 'Josh Carrott': The reason for the quotes is that Josh Carrott's lifelong friend/YouTube channel co-host {channel is called JOLLY} Ollie Kendal, actually hired ghostwriters for this autobiography. This is very much a lighthearted romp about Josh Carrott, with all of the proceeds, I believe, donated to the Ohakune Carrot Adventure Park, New Zealand. Highly recommend this fluffy read.

2} Out of Dreams: Nightmares by Charles Gramlich: I actually wrote a review about this book earlier in the year. Charles is a well known author in the Western, Horror, and Sword & Sandal Fantasy genres, whose books and stories can be found in various e-zines and e-tailers like Amazon and B&N. If you like fantasy horror, this book is for you.

3} The Verge- Reformation, Renaissance, And Forty Years That Shook The World {1490-1530} by Patrick Wyman: Patrick is a creator of two podcasts, Fall of Rome (inactive) and Tides Of History. At the time when this book came out, he was covering world history between the 12th and 17th century on his podcast. If you enjoy world history, this book, with an emphasis on British and European history, is definitely for you. If you enjoy world history in general, I highly recommend his podcast, which is presently covering very early world history {BC to about 500 CE}. You can also find his musings on Substack.

4} Razored Land by Charles Gramlich: This is another excellent fantasy novel that originally was two novellas released as e-books, Crimson Sacrifice and Blackest Of Hates, but recently released as a full length novel. Thus the reason why I'd purchased it, since I do not own a Kindle, or any other e-reader for that matter. I did have one back in the day, a NOOK, but it got to be a bit of a pain to deal with on consistent basis.

5} Grappler-Memoirs Of A Masked Wrestler by Lynn "The Grappler" Denton and Joe Vithayathil: This one came to me as a recommendation from a Facebook group page about all things wrestling. Believe it or not, I am a fan of pro wrestling {insert insults here}, but I haven't watched any since the early 2000s. I am, however, a fan of the product that I grew up with, the 1970's through the late 90's. I found it to be very informative, especially about the wrestling era from the 1980's through the early 2000's. Highly recommend it, and I also recommend any pro wrestling memoirs that are out there today if you want to get a really good inside look of the industry back in the day prior to the WWWF/WWE blowing up nationally.

6} The Monster And The Magpie by Brianna Fenty: This is a fantastic debut by Ms. Fenty, and it came to my attention as she is a member of a FB writing group that I belong to. It is very much a violent psychological thriller in the same vein as the series "Killing Eve". Took me about a week to read it, and I highly recommend it.

7} Me vs Brain by Hayley Morris: Hayley Morris is a wickedly funny TikTok/YouTube content creator who does shorts featuring anxiety battles between herself and her brain, as well as the rest of her body. This book was basically recommended to me via one of her video shorts. A very excellent memoir and I highly recommend it.

8} American Murder Houses-A Coast-to-Coast Tour of the Most Notorious Houses Of Homicide by Steve Lehto: Steve Lehto is a lawyer from Michigan who also has a popular YouTube channel. He is also an accomplished author who mostly writes true-crime and non fiction. This one came as an indirect promo when he happened to be referring to the book during one of his videos. This is one of two books that I'd purchased from B&N, due to the fact that I had a gift card from them. Fun fact: he has a running "Where's Ben Franklin?" gag as he hides a fake C-note somewhere in his on-air studio.

9} Death In Yellowstone-Accidents And Foolhardiness In The First National Park {2nd edition} by Lee H. Whittlesey: One of my guilty pleasures in non-fiction are books that feature what we like to call "Darwin Award Winners", and this book is not an exception to this rule. The author in question is actually a National Service Park Ranger who is also a historian, and this book covers almost every conceivable accident/Foolhardiness that happened in Yellowstone Park. This book was referenced in a YouTube video that caught my attention a couple of years ago, and because it was so offbeat, I just had to purchase a copy. It's scary that a 2nd edition had to be written for this title. This was the other purchase at B&N for me.

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this little behind the scenes peek into what I like to read, and I hope you have the opportunity to check out the books/YouTube channels mentioned in this post.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #222: Let's Talk About Gently Used Books

His name could be George, and one could hold him and squeeze him and love him and pet him. Or...his name could be Anonymous as he was just strolling through a nearby front yard on a sunny afternoon before returning to the mountain.

I often go off on strange tangents about the gently used c.d.'s that I've purchase at my local library, who do year round fundraisers via the Friends Of The Library, but it's very seldom that I go off on a strange tangent about gently used books.

My local library will often put two types of books on sale {roughly 98% off the hardcover price}: donations and culled.

The first type are self explanatory, in that because they get donations throughout the year, they have created a lovely used bookstore within the library that carries all types of books, from fiction to non-fiction and all types of YA, MG and Elementary. The price range for those books are often between $2 and $3 per hardcover and softcover.

The other type, "culled", are books that have been removed from circulation, and instead of being recycled {yes, some libraries actually do this} or offered to third-party e-tailers/vendors, they will often add them to their small used bookstore to sell them to the general public with the aforementioned price range.

I have restarted buying books in general about a year ago, and I have been very selective on what I like to acquire new, which is strictly due to budgetary concerns. Obviously, these concerns are thrown out the window when it comes to used books, due to the massive price point differential. 

Because I have such eclectic tastes when it comes to reading material {always lean towards non-fiction}, I've been able to indulge those particular tastes with a few used book purchases. These four titles are equally split between gently used donations and culled from circulation. I have read three of the four, but I will offer a short opinion behind my reasoning in choosing them.

1} Come On Shore And We Will Kill You And Eat You All by Christina Thompson: I am a history buff. I love reading all of the various sub-genres under the History classification {900-999 in ye old Dewey Decimal System}. This book is part memoir and part history about the country of New Zealand. Highly fascinating and very nuanced read about the history/people of New Zealand.

2} Of All The Gin Joints by Mark Bailey and Edward Hemingway: This book gives a fascinating peek of Hollywood via the various well known saloons that the famous and infamous of the movie era visited from 1895 through 1979. Lots of salacious stories of the saloons, the people and a few drink recipes to boot.

3} The Oregon Trail-A New American Journey by Rinker Buck: This book is part history {The Oregon Trail} and part adventure, as the author and his brother traveled the entire Oregon Trail {Missouri to Oregon} via a covered wagon and a mule team during the summer of 2015. Highly enjoyable read about the history of the Oregon Trail and the history of westward expansion. I put this book on the same level as "The Blue Highways" travelogue.

4} American Mirror-The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Dorothy Solomon: I've always liked memoirs and biographies, and I must admit, I was always curious about Norman Rockwell. Just started reading this book, but this looks like it's going to be an interesting read, if only because of the participation/cooperation of the Norman Rockwell Family and Museum {I've read bios that did not have the participation of the subjects being written about, and I always felt it was wrong to write a bio w/o the subject's participation}.

The total cost of all four of these books was $8 {no tax}, and the monies spent went to a very good cause. Lately I have found that this has been the easiest way for me to support my library, if only because I haven't checked out any books since the very beginning of the pandemic. My reading habits have drastically changed, in that it now takes me longer to read a book than the length of time I'm allowed to have a library book {I believe the current loan period for our library is three weeks}. I really do not want to check a book out, only to return it half completed, as that feels off. So spending my limited discretionary funds judiciously seems to be the best way to get my reading fix in.

Tune in next week, when I'll do a short review of the books I had recently bought on Amazon, and those choices are just as eclectic as the used books mentioned above.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #221: More Ye Olden E-Mail Humors

Another good sign that Spring has sprung...Flowers!

Having no real idea on what to blog about this week (well, actually I do have one, but I'm certainly not in the mood to inflict my whining on my readers), I thought I would trip down my work memory lane and dig out a 15 1/2 year old e-mail to share.

Now I'm going to tweak a key word here, because I don't quite remember if I had posted this in a previous blog of mine or not. Also, I just realized that tweaking that one word will probably give everyone conniption fits afterwards. Enjoy!

Because I'm A Woman!

1} Because I'm a woman: when I lock my keys in the car, I will fiddle with a coat hanger long after hypothermia has set it. Calling AAA is not an option. I will win.

2} Because I'm a woman: when the car isn't running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what I'm looking at. If another woman shows up, one of us will say to the other, "I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start." We will then drink a couple of White Claws and break wind as a form of holy communion.

3} Because I'm a woman: when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You're a man. You never get as sick as I do, so for you, this is no problem.

4} Because I'm a woman: I can be relied upon to purchase basic groceries at the store, like wine, milk or bread. I cannot be expected to find exotic things like 'cumin' or 'tofu'. For all I know, these are the same thing.

5} Because I'm a woman: when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.

6} Because I'm a woman: I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch t.v. If the thing has been misplaced, I may miss a whole show looking for it...though one time I was able to survive by holding a calculator.

7} Because I'm a woman: there is no need to ask me what I'm thinking about. The true answer is always either sex, cars, sex, food. I have to make up something else when you ask, so don't ask.

8} Because I'm a woman: I do not want to visit your mother, or have your mother come visit us, or talk to her when she calls, or think about her any more than I have to. Whatever you got for Mother's Day is okay. I don't need to see it. And don't forget to pick something up for my mother too.

9} Because I'm a woman: you don't have to ask me if I liked the movie. Chances are, if you're crying at the end of it, I didn't....and if you are feeling amorous afterwards....then I will certainly at least remember the name and recommend it to others.

10} Because I'm a woman: I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it, looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?

11} Because I'm a woman: and this is, after all, the year 2024, I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, cooking, the cleaning, the vacuuming, and the dishes, and I'll do the rest.....Like wandering around in the garden with a glass of Chablis wondering what to do.

This has been a public service message for men to better understand women.

Here's to a fantastic Monday and a fantabulous rest of your week.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved