Stepped away

I’m really never not here, unless I’m away from wifi. This weekend, I stepped back and ignored everything. I’m sorting through a couple of things, and just needed a breather.

I probably missed some blogs, but I’ll be back online tomorrow. I also have the Story Empire post tomorrow, so I’ll be hanging out there.

I had a house full of company, and needed to devote some time to them. I didn’t write or do much of anything that required a computer. (I checked some baseball scores.)

Do you ever need to step back for a day?

That’s a wrap

It was a very productive weekend for me. It didn’t involve any new fiction, but I got a lot done. For three days I worked on interviews for Lisa Burton Radio. I never got them all done either, but I did all I could.

I should be able to move everyone to the next level next weekend. Some of these people have been waiting a long time. I can maintain my schedule without putting all this effort in right now. A couple per week keeps the line moving. However, I’m not patient at all, and don’t want people to think I’ve forgotten them. I shouldn’t expect my guest authors to be patient either.

As far as scheduling goes, if everyone returns the stuff I sent out this weekend, I can schedule interviews through June. I’m trading one logjam for another one, but at least folks will know something is happening.

That’s the funny thing about this slot. It’s feast or famine. It’s entirely possible that sometime in August I’ll be out of authors seeking promotion. It would be great if they would tickle in about one per week. They never do.

Still, it was very productive. I also finished reading a book. I started it on the way home from NOLA, and read 7/8 of it then. A two week gap, forced me to read back a bit, but I finished it. I also wrote a very short review.

Reviews don’t have to be long. A few lines about whether you liked the book, or not, and why, is all it takes. Think about this if you’ve finished a book lately. The review counts, it’s tallied based upon how many stars you gave it, and nobody expects a lengthy book report. These reviews mean a lot to the author.

I found some things on Pinterest and saved them to my Piracy board. I’d love to write about them, but it might take a couple weeks before they hit my story. These involve sea monsters and the like. I’m excited about them, but they will have to wait their turn.

If I can get the rest of the interviews on my flex day, I might get to new fiction on Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Checking in

By now, my regulars are probably aware that I’m in the midst of a blog tour. For more details, see other posts on this site recently. The Hat is doing well, and the early reviews are all wonderful. There is one review that won’t seem to go through, but the reviewer told me about it and let me read it. I wish it would go through, but that’s likely an Amazon issue.

I’ve been reblogging everything I can find, because it gives a little bit of support to those wonderful folks who support me. You might be asking if it even matters to the bigger bloggers. Does Chris the Storyreading Ape need another follower? You bet he does, and if I can find one for him it makes my day. This goes for everyone, no matter how big or small they are today.

I have a house full of company right now, so I’ve been doing little more than bouncing from site to site and keeping up with comments. I’ve also been scrolling through the Reader to see if something shows up that was unexpected.

My family will leave tomorrow, then I can focus on Lisa Burton Radio posts and some tours I agreed to host for others. I’ll probably be pretty busy with it tomorrow.

The only other thing I’ve managed, other than visiting family, is Pinterest. I never thought I’d be a Pinterest guy, but I’m such a visual person it really works for me. I started a couple of new boards. One is all about cast iron ranges. They used to be more common, but they are kind of rare these days. Many of them are beautiful, so I started a board. One day, if I win the lottery, I’ll build a new house and find a way to put one in as a kind of wood stove, one that can also cook my sourdough bread.

The other one is more interesting on a mental assessment level. I called it The One I May Never Write. This is stuff for a book that might be too controversial to ever write today. It involves deepest Africa in the early 1900s. Because a bit of hunting would be required for that era, it probably wouldn’t go over well with the 2018 mindset. It would not be realistic for a young man of that era to not want to chase something big and dangerous. This is different than harvesting food, or taking on a man eater. Kind of an odd thing about fiction; kill a human and it’s no big deal, kill an animal and people go crazy. As one of my stories, it would include a bit of black magic too. Anyway, here is a link to The One I May Never Write.

The deeper topic is, why did I start this board in the first place? Am I subconsciously preparing to actually write it one day? Am I seeking someone to twist my arm? Why did I write about it here? I really don’t know. Maybe I just like the pretty pictures.

As predicted…

I didn’t get much done this weekend. It was fun hanging out with my parents, and I even got to finish up my beer tour at Old Chicago Pizza. I earned a really nice hooded sweatshirt.

Last night we ate at The Yardhouse, and there were plenty of good beers there. I ordered the Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout. That’s one of my favorites, and I always have at least one when I go there. I was about beered out, so it was mostly to wash down supper. I was feeling adventurous and tried something called vampire tacos. These consist of a small flour tortilla that has been grilled somehow in a blanket of crispy cheese. I have to say they were awesome. If you live near a Yardhouse, you might want to check these out.

After Mom and Dad hit the road it looked as though I might find some reading time. It wasn’t meant to be, because I had a string of interruptions. I managed one chapter, and don’t know if my retention was all that good.

Ultimately, I decided to bag it. My son and I played Borderlands on the X-Box all afternoon. I feel like a slacker, but that’s how it went down.

In bits and pieces, I managed to get some blog things scheduled. I am a guest in a couple of places, and am hosting others here. I think I have a conflict one day, but I’ll deal with that after I figure it all out.

Back to work tomorrow for four ten-hour shifts.

I could have gotten more done. I could have gotten less done too, so I’ll take it and look forward to next weekend.

Is it safe to come out yet?

Honestly, is there anyone out there who doesn't know I have a new book out? I've hit it hard over the last month or so on the promotional front. It takes time to write all those pieces. Then I have to organize my volunteer hosts, and participate in any comments we might get.

This is harder than it sounds, because I don't assign specific dates to the tour posts. I give the hosts some loose parameters, and live with what I get. I asked my hosts not to post on Thursdays, because Lisa Burton Radio is that day. My own guests deserve their day in the spotlight.

There were a couple of review posts that I didn't calculate into the mix, but I tried to support them too. I know there has been a lot of reblogging on my site through this phase. If I can benefit from my hosts' traffic, maybe they can benefit from some of mine too. It isn't much, but it feels polite to me.

Then there is the fact that all of the posts were unique. It wasn't like reading the same thing over and over. I also liked the Lisa Burton posters for this book. If you missed any of them, I included them as back of the book material. For 99¢ you can have all three of them.

The tour worked out well for mid summer. I moved about a dozen copies per day at first, and it's now trickled down to one per day. That may not sound like much, but that's all the promo I've done too. I was going to advertise on Facebook, but they've pissed me off lately. They push me to boost or advertise every single post I make. Let's face it, not every post is worth spending $20 on.

You authors out there would have met some wonderful supportive hosts if you went on the tour. Don't underestimate the value of knowing a few people like that. Someday you'll want to make a blog tour too, and there's no time like the present to make a few friends. I owe these hosts a lot, and you may see some of them over here from time to time.

I'm pretty happy as it stands now. Reviews are trickling in, and every book needs more. The point is that I have some. I got within three notches of one of the Amazon charts, but never did hit the top 100. It would have been great, but it could still happen. The Amazon machine is strange. Sell three or four in an hour and land a review on the same day and poof – top 100.

I'm checking for reviews a few times every day, but I'll calm down soon. I always have. The reviews have been positive, and that makes me very happy. This book was a risk in my mind, and those who took a chance seem to have enjoyed it.

Tomorrow I need to work on more Lisa Burton Radio posts. I have next week's post ready, I only need to assemble and schedule it. This isn't enough though. I also need to finalize the week after, and work up a couple more shticks.

I have some editing on my horizon too. Depending on how things go, I may even tackle some micro-fiction for October.

Hope you guys enjoyed the tour. Thanks for sticking with me through it, and thanks for reading and reviewing my newest book. There are more on the way.

Did you notice my restraint? No book title, no purchase link. If you're dying to know, scroll through my recent posts.