Filed under: Amazon, Failure, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: jim downey
As noted, Sunday is the actual 40th ‘pre-anniversary’ of the discovery of the artifact on Titan. And as noted in that blog post, I had intended on having a free Kindle edition promotion all day to celebrate that, but had also decided to add in tomorrow just in case someone thought that the Sunday listing might be some kind of April Fool’s prank.
Well, it looks like the joke is on me. Or I’m the Fool. Take your pick.
See, because of some glitches in the Amazon scheduling system back on March 4 when last I did a promotion, Amazon decided to give me an additional promotion day (you get 5 such days during each quarter you’re signed up with KDP Select). That’s cool – so I intended to use it this weekend.
Except I screwed up and didn’t note that said additional promotion day needed to go through Amazon’s bureaucracy, rather than just being scheduled directly by yours truly. Oops.
So I have contacted said bureaucracy, and submitted said request. But whether they’ll get it in place by Sunday is an open question.
So let’s just assume that tomorrow may be the only day this weekend for you to get your free copy of the book, and plan accordingly. Should Amazon get the extra day in place, I’ll let people know. But for now, help to share news of Communion of Dreams being *FREE* all day tomorrow! And remember, you don’t even need to own a Kindle to get your copy: there is a Kindle emulator available for just about any computer/tablet/mobile device – ALSO for FREE!
This was my screw-up. And I’ll make it up with another free weekend sometime in the next quarter. But for now, spread the word that Communion of Dreams is going to be free all day tomorrow (and maybe Sunday!) We had over 5,000 downloads last time – and I keep hearing that people really love the book – so let’s make the world a little better for others who would enjoy it!
Thanks.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Failure, Feedback, Gardening, Hospice, Marketing, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Society, Travel
A good friend was visiting last weekend. We see each other fairly often, communicate regularly. But there are things best discussed in person.
“How’s your mom doing?”
“Not bad. I think we’re getting to the point where we need to have that conversation about her driving.”
“Ah. That’s a hard one.”
“Yeah. But my sister largely drives her everywhere as it is, anyway. So that will make it easier.”
* * * * * * *
I mentioned a week ago that I was surprised that Her Final Year hasn’t done better.
Well, I had been waiting for a couple of additional pieces to appear in different publications in the hopes that would spur awareness of the book, as well as sales. One of those being my college alumni magazine. Yesterday I saw that they had posted the Fall 2011 issue as a .pdf on their website, so I took a look.
It’s a blurb, not a review. You can find it at the bottom of page 39, if you want. Next to another book blurb, and one of about a dozen in this issue. My fellow alumni are intelligent, accomplished people.
* * * * * * *
After discovering that, I went out to pick tomatoes from my garden. The very wet summer we had meant that there was a big delay in a bunch of the tomato plants blooming and setting fruit. But I am lucky, since many people I know have had a horrible year for tomatoes, while mine were just delayed.
I was able to pick about 25 pounds of tomatoes, a nice mix of Lemon Boy and Brandywine and Black Prince and Better Boy. Most look great, have a wonderful taste. We had some with BLTs last night for dinner, and I made up two quarts of sauce from the ones with slight blemishes. I’ll probably go ahead and can or sauce the rest in the next day or two.
But I didn’t get to picking them for about two hours, because first I had to completely re-do the netting around the garden (about 40×50). Deer had gotten in, then tore the hell out of everything getting out.
Yeah, they munched on the tomato plants, and that was annoying. But they also ate the tops out of my habanero plants. Well, not all of them. Just the ones which had done the best.
See, as bad as the summer was on tomatoes, it was worse on the habaneros. They just started setting fruit a couple of weeks ago. And it was a race to see whether any of the pods ripened fully before I leave for New Zealand.
Now I doubt whether any of the pods will ripen. Oh, the deer stayed away from the fruit. But with the bulk of the leaves eaten out of the top, I don’t know whether they can ripen. We’ll see.
* * * * * * *
A dear friend used to always say “Live as if you were going to die tomorrow. Plan as if you will live forever.”
She passed away over 20 years ago from breast cancer.
* * * * * * *
“Still, once you tell her that she has to stop driving, things change.”
“I know.” He looked at me. “I got copies of your book for all four of my siblings. Told them to read it.”
“Thanks.”
“No, thank you – I don’t think any of them have really thought through how this is likely to go with Mom.”
“Every experience is different.”
“Yeah, but at least having *some* idea of what to plan for, what to watch for, will help.”
Jim Downey
*from this. Cross posted to the HFY blog.
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Guns, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Writing stuff
No, this isn’t a “Find Jimbo!” puzzle. Just a reference point for those who wonder about my sparse posting here.
Sent this in a friend a bit ago, in an email exchange:
Have a good weekend,
Yeah, thanks. The latest round of unexpected storms cleared out early enough for me to get in a walk after my PT. Now a shower, and then lock in for a prolonged session of looking for typos and formatting errors on HFY. Following that, due diligence with Amazon’s print-on-demand system so I understand what tweaks we need to make for that formatting.
In other words, the book is coming together pretty quickly, and we’re in the final stages of that. Got the necessary LLC bank account opened this week, next week I’ll set up the stuff with Amazon and Paypal. Tomorrow Alix, I, and John (the co-author) have a Skype session and we’ll probably outline the website design – the FB, LJ, and Twitter accounts will all follow suit, once that is up. We should be able to test drive the whole thing a few days before our scheduled July 1 ‘launch’, but that arbitrary deadline can be moved easily enough if we need to do so.
It’s fun doing this, I admit. Nice to be using a lot of different skills I’ve acquired. Regardless of how the book does, at least I have that.
And then there’s the book conservation & binding backlog, getting articles to guns.com, and general life stuff.
It’s good to be busy.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Civil Rights, Constitution, Emergency, Predictions, Preparedness, Terrorism, Travel, YouTube
Gah. One of the things I kept seeing/hearing from those who support the TSA security procedures is that if you don’t like the groping or scans, just take a train or bus. When countered with the response that these procedures at the airports could be extended to train and bus stations, it’s common to hear the comment: “Nah, they’d *never* do that.”
Guess again:
Jim Downey
Via We Won’t Fly.
In the movie Shakespeare in Love the Philip Henslowe character has a line which is invoked several times to explain how incredibly bad situations always turn out for the best when it comes to theatrical performance: “It’s a mystery.”
I’m hoping I have something similar happen to my current situation.
Because that’s basically the word I got from my doctor this morning, about my ongoing chest/lung pain: it’s a mystery.
The CAT scan I had last week didn’t really turn up anything. Oh, I have a small spot of calcification in one lobe of my lungs where the pneumonia had settled, but that’s not really sufficient to account for the pain and shortness of breath I’ve had. But there’s nothing else indicated from that scan.
Good long discussion and examination (who gets more than a quick 5 minute consult these days?) by my doctor didn’t really point up anything else. She’s having some blood work done, just to be thorough, but the area where I have been experiencing pain doesn’t really make sense for anything like liver function or heart problems (both of which looked normal on the CAT scan, anyway). About the only thing that makes sense is just ongoing soft-tissue damage, which is being slow to heal. I’m going on another course of Prednisone, which should help with that if it is the problem. But even that doesn’t really make sense, because it has gotten worse in recent weeks, rather than just slowly improving.
So. Treat symptoms. Try the Prednisone. Get on with life. Hope for the best and see how everything works out.
It’s a mystery.
Jim Downey
As I sipped my first cup of coffee, Alwyn (my dog) came up and sat down next to me, tail wagging vigorously on the carpet.
I had just let him in a few moments previously. “What is it, bud? You want to go back outside?”
He bolted for the door.
I followed, let him out into the yard.
* * * * * * *
I walked into the bedroom, still damp around the edges from my shower.
The window was open, and there was a stiff breeze coming through. Temps outside were only about 54 degrees, so it was quite crisp.
But the first thing I did, in spite of the cold, was not to put on some clothes. Instead, I checked my phone to see if there had been a call while I was in the shower.
* * * * * * *
My friend’s email was to the point: if something happened, and the publisher with whom I am negotiating for publication of Communion of Dreams went out of business, I needed to have it clear that all my rights under the contract would automatically revert to me.
I thought that was a given, since if one party in the contract no longer existed, then the contract be would null and void. But I’m not an attorney. I included a note about the matter in my email to the publisher.
* * * * * * *
Alwyn ran off to the side of the yard, looking up. In the thin morning light, I could see a raccoon, caught in a tree.
Alwyn ran back and forth, looking up. The raccoon climbed higher.
Thing was, the tree he was in was on the other side of the fence. Alwyn couldn’t touch him if he came down and sauntered off.
But the raccoon didn’t know that.
* * * * * * *
I’m still waiting.
I’m still waiting for a phone call, or an email, from my doctor’s office, with some information about the results of the CAT scan I had on Friday.
I hate waiting.
I particularly hate waiting when I feel worse day by day. The right side of my chest hurts more. I now get a bit short of breath just standing or doing *anything*. I’ve started to experience moments of light-headedness.
I’m hoping that I’m on the other side of the fence, able to just walk away from the threat.
But I fear the dog below.
Jim Downey
Update: I have an appointment to see my doc tomorrow morning, 9:15. CAT scan is “basically normal”. So now I wonder what we do.
Communion Of Dreams 